Last Post for the Semester/Class!!!

My last and final post for THR 104.
When I look back on all the classes we had, I think I really enjoyed going to class and listening and talking about all the different plays and films that we watched.
This was one of those classes where you can breathe and relax and just talk about stuff.
About life, and about movies (and plays).

As I look around in the North Reading Room of the Melville Library, I can happily say that I am finished with everything. This is my last post for the class (though it is a day or so late).
I feel like I've accomplished so much this semester.
I started to blog, I studied way more than I did last semester. (I practically lived in the library! My roommate would only see me when I come back into the room, and most of the time she is already sleeping.)
But next semester is going to kill me.

6 lectures and 2 labs. A total of 19 credits.
And these aren't just any classes. They are mostly classes that I need to take in order to get into the Nursing Program here at Stony Brook University.
What we do to get the job that we want...
Or is it what I really want?

Lately people have been telling me that I should have pursued pastry art. (Which is basically baking.) I love love love love love baking. And I really wish I was able to learn more about the different types if pastries and the different ways of making them!
If I had the perfect oppertunity to go into pastry arts, I would.
But alas, this world calls me into a different place.

So long THR 104. It was great being here.
Hope ya'll have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Finally Finished!

SIGH.
I can finally breathe normally and eat normally.
I am finally, FINALLY, finished with all of my final exams.
I emailed my WRT 302 professor my 10 page research paper.
I took my BIO 202 exam yesterday morning.
I took my PSY 240 exam this morning.
And I just finished my EST 201 exam.
And now, I am almost done with all the posts for this THR 104 class.
What a wonderful feeling.

I have such a bad habit of not going to sleep and not eating while I study for exams.
I have so many things that I want to be done and so many things that I want to study that sleep seems like a total waste of time. (But then again, because I didn't sleep the night before, I was falling asleep during my BIO exam....)
Eating also seemed like a distraction and if I ate, I would get sleepy from eating.
Yeah, it seems really extreme.. but the past few days, I think I ate a total of 4 meals...
If I were put in a situation where surviving meant eating, I would lose. I would probably wait until everyone got something then start to eat.
But by then, everyone would have finished the food by then.

This world is so harsh and so unfair.
Exams are a total GPA downer. I don't do well on exams but I do really well in the field.
I'm not the sort of person that can read and just remember what I read.
I learn really quickly, but it takes time for me to remember everything important...
Oh well. Untill the new year starts, no more exams for me!

Mothers

This will be the last post for now, since I still have my psychology exam to study for...

The last two will be done afterwards.

This post is about the different mothers that I have encountered over my life time.

Sure, my life hasn't been lived for a long time, but the people that I have met makes me feel much older than I am.

There are those who care, and just care because they do.

There are others who don't really care too much.

And then there are those who really, truly, and honestly care.

My friend's mom is like the ones who really care for me.

She is like an extension of our family. Though I only get to see her once in a blue moon (I live in New York, they live in Honduras, Central America) they take me into their home like I'm one of their family members.

I really can't wait to see her this winter!!

Though I hate getting on the airplane and having to put up with the airport security, I'm glad that I will have some relaxing time with her.

And hopefully we will get to go to the beach!!

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

In the group that did the RUR reading, a few of them were in a play recently done by other Stony Brook Students called The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

I went to watch it because one of my friends were in it.

It was actually a pretty good play. The story line was funny and not too serious, and the actors were really good.

Though there were parts that were not perfect, they were more or less really good.

Better than what I would have done.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle is about a girl who decided to take care of a baby that was not her's, looking after it day after day.

Though in the beginning she did not want it, the more she spent time with the baby, the more fonder she grew of him.

Near the end of the play, the girl encounters the real mother, who was the grand duke's wife (for the girl was a servant to the grand duke's wife). The wife wanted the child back, but the girl had already created a special relationship with the child, and fought to have custody of the child.

The judge, seeing as how each of the mothers were, decided to make them do a trial.

The judge had a circle drawn on the floor and had the child be put in the middle of the circle.

He then had the mothers take each hand and at the count of three, the one who gets the child to their side of the circle would be able to keep the child.

The girl, not wanting to hurt the child, decided to let go before any harm came to the child.

Seeing this, the judge decided to hand the child over to the girl, for she should more love and care for him than the real mother.

How much care and time and struggle mothers go through for their child.

RUR Reading

The RUR reading, done by the theater majors during the gig at the Tank, was pretty interesting.

Even though they were only using their voices, I still got the feeling of the whole play.

The parts that are supposed to be funny, or scary, or serious, or whatever else, were what they were supposed to be.

I guess that is the difference between someone who is just interested and someone who loves the whole concept of being an actor.

So basically, RUR is about the future, where robots become just like humans, and at times, more than just human.

This reminds me of the movie I, Robot.

It's pretty much the same concept, just put into film.

This topic is also used in a few anime shows that I have watched before.

With technology improving more and more, it's a wonder none of us are robots yet.

Sure, people have robot parts attached to them because of certain circumstances that they were in, but none of us are yet 100% robot.

To be totally honest, I'm not looking forward to our future.

What would happen if everything was done by robots?

How would we learn how to take care of ourselves without the help of robots?

How would we learn to be human if we are taught by robots?

What if I liked the way that we are today?

What if I didn't want the world to change into something cold and metal?

After the Tank

Doing the gig at the tank was such a new experience to me. It felt so real and so unreal at the same time.

Was I really doing this? Was this really what our class and other classes put together?

It was odd, yet, somehow refreshing.

The day consisted mostly of walking around in Manhattan and eating lunch before going to Starbucks to wait for Jeeuk.

While I was waiting for him, it felt surreal being in the city after so long of not being part of it.

My high school was located in Harlem so I would have to take the subway and the buses everyday.

I really enjoyed the city then, but as of right now, it's more of an annoyance.

Too much people at once trying to go in the same direction. Doing the same things every day.

I've done it so many times, that its become a bore to me.

Sure, trying new things is fun, but trying it at the same place for years is betting somewhat boring. Every time my friends and I want to hang out, its either in Flushing, Queens or somewhere downtown Manhattan.

Is it just me, or has the luster and the shine of Manhattan begun to wear off?

The Tank

Hmm. As of right now, I really should be studying for my psychology exam.

But I really want to finish off the last few blog entries.

I don't know if they count, since Dec 15th is over and the 16th is just beginning.

But I'll do them anyways. For my own peace of mind.

So here are the pictures that I took during our gig of "Hamlet Skin" and the Theatre major's reading of "R U R".

It was pretty crowed since the theater was pretty small.

Some of us had to sit on the floor, the steps between the seats, and even on the stage steps.

Break Time!

While studying for a psychology exam, I came across the topic of love.

Hmm.. I never knew love could be so complex.

I just thought of it as having strong feelings for something and doing everything for them unconditionally.

Unconditional love.

Seems to be the something that everyone wants and looks for, but could never find.

Sigh...

This psych test is going to be the difference between me getting another C in a psychology class or me finally getting a B.

But I should be happy, right?

Just two more finals to go, and then I can finally rest and chill.

Most of my senior friends are already finished with their finals.

Hopefully, during this holiday season, people will find love and be able to spend time with their beloveds.

(hahaha.. my friend is humming to this chinese song that is playing in my room in her sleep.)

Hamlet Skin (Video 5)

The link to the vlog for ACT V.

[Hamlius (5 unedited)]

The edited version on YouTube.

[Hamlius (5)]

Hamlet Skin (Video 4)

The link to the vlog for ACT IV, unedited.

[Hamlius (4 unedited)]

The edited version on YouTube.

[Hamlius (4)]

Hamlet Skin (Video 3)

The link to the vlog for ACT III, unedited
[Hamlius (3 unedited)]


The edited version on YouTube.
[Hamlius (3)]

Hamlet Skin (Video 2)

Yeah.. So blogger is acting up and I can't seem to put the video on the post directly...

This post and the other posts will have the links to the videos on my YouTube account.

Unedited version of vlog for ACT II.

[Hamlius (2 unedited)]

Edited version on YouTube

[Hamlius (2)]

Hamlet Skin (Video 1)

This is the vlog for ACT I, unedited.

(yeah.. my phone vibrated near the beginning of the video.)

Edited version on YouTube

[Hamlius (1)]

Hamlet Skin (Update 5)

So, in the end, we ended up not going through with the iPod app.

The one major complication was getting the app up in the market, and that was definitely not happening....

Instead, we decided to do video blogs.

It's basically the same as our last idea, but instead of just regular blogs, we decided to do a video blog (or vlog) for each act of the play.

The vlogs will be in the perspective of Claudius.

Filippo would pretend to be Claudius in his room after each act and vlog about the different events that have occurred in that act.

I actually like this one better than what we thought of before....

I don't know why we didn't think of this before...

The next few blog posts will be the videos and a short description of each.

We wanted this to be as modern as possible, so Claudius' outfit is regular casual clothing.

His "crowns" are everyday hats and the objects used are all from my room.

His speech, especially, is really modern and ghetto like.

Each of us read an act and pretty much told what Filippo should say in each vlog and he improved from there.

The whole process of creating the videos was pretty hilarious.

Cheesecake (Part 2)

In continuation of my last post, I'm going to talk about my favorite hobby.

Baking. :D

I think it all started when my mom would bake my siblings and I a cake for our birthdays.

But then came a time when she became too busy to bake it so she left it up to me to bake the cakes for everyone.

And I did.

Like the beginner I was, I started off with the cake mixes that are sold in the groceries.

Then, after an experience of buying expired cake mix from one deli, I decided to bake everything from scratch.

And so my hunger for trying out different recipes grew, but was limited by my wallet and my lack of knowledge.

I started with pretty simple things, like sugar cookies, regular vanilla cakes and cupcakes.

Then I started to venture out and baked things like red velvet cakes/cupcakes, different types of cookies, and now even cheesecakes.

I see baking as my way of relaxing and venting out all of my frustrations.

The importance of the way that the ingredients are supposed to be mixed together helps me to calm down and the physical work of mixing them together helps me to take my mind off of the things that have been bugging me or overwhelming me for the past few days.

Then the smell. The smell.

The wondrous smell of something baking in the oven.

I live for that smell.

The smell of deliciousness, the smell of all of my hard work put together into one thing.

The smell of victory.

(Mint Chocolate Cheesecake)

- This was made from the leftover batter from when I baked a cheesecake for my Secret Santa.

- The filling is cream cheese with melted Andes mint chocolate mixed in.

- The topping is sour cream with green food coloring, in lu of Christmas.

- The brown stuff on top is shaved pieces of Andes mint chocolate.

- It tasted pretty good.

Cheesecake (Part 1)

It's 1:47 in the morning, and my friends and I are in my dorm kitchen "studying".

Hahaha..

And this isn't the first time that we are doing this.

Like the last time, I'm baking something while my friends are busy talking to each other, keeping each other awake, and trying to get some extra studying done.

What would I do without them?

If it weren't for them, I would be fast asleep right now, forgetting about the cheesecake that I'm baking for a Secret Santa Gift Exchange thing for my christian club.

I'm pretty excited about this!

One of my friends told me that they tried the batter for the cheesecake and said that it tasted pretty good. I hope it comes out the way that I want it to.

Since baking is the best thing that I can do, instead of buying something for her (my secret santa) I'm baking her favorite dessert.

Cheesecake.

Yuummmm.

Tumblr

This class has actually got me started on blogging.

I created a tumblr account and I'm not used to it yet, but it's slowly growing on me.

Blogging has enabled me to refresh my mind in so many ways.

Reading about other people's experience, seeing what they are doing nowadays, and being able to post up my own stuff.

It's like, I get to do my own stuff, and whether people read it or not is up to them.

So in case you are interested or curious to what I blog about....

My tumblr account is withlovedeb.

The City

The final show is only three days away, and I feel... somewhat excited.

Excited because of the potentially good time we will have, together as a class, putting on a good show for the audience. Even getting the audience to be part of the show.

I'm not so excited about going to the city though.

I don't know why.. but it might be because I grew up in the city.

Granted, I grew up in Queens, which is very different from Manhattan, but I went to high school for four years in Harlem.

And for some reason, whenever I hear the word "city" I think of Manhattan.

Usually, for my friends and I, when we say that we are going to the city, we really mean Manhattan.

You don't really hear about people going to the Bronx, or Brooklyn, or Queens, or Staten Island if they are not from New York City.

Passing all the "historical" sites everyday and having gone to almost all the museums that tourists go to, dampens the excitement somewhat.

To me, it's just another trip to the city.

Another mindless walk, surrounded by the "heartless" wall street people.

Trapped (Part 2)

Next semester, I will have no life outside of studying.

I have 8:20/8:30 morning classes everyday. I have a huge break between my morning classes and my afternoon classes which will be used for eating, sleeping, working out, or studying.

I have two labs and five lectures that I need to take in order to be able to apply to Stony Brook University's Nursing program.

Which means that I have a total of 16 credits for next semester. Not including the psychology class I need to take but could not enroll into because of the credit limit.

I feel trapped. Not able to do anything that I really want to do, like work at the library and to volunteer at the hospital and to be more active in my Christian club.

I feel trapped.

Enclosed on all four sides, the walls too high to climb over.

These walls, called life.

Trapped (Part 1)

I feel like I'm falling into this endless mind game of life.

Everything seems to be moving slowly, and yet, too quickly.

There is never enough time to study and to do all the work that I want to finish.

There is too much time between now and the future that I want so badly.

Every day is the same thing.

Wake up. Wash up. Eat. Go to class. Eat again. Study. Maybe go to the gym. Go back to the room. Get annoyed by the roommate. Try to study. Maybe eat. Sleep. Wake up....

And so on.

Everything around me seems to be demanding more than I can offer.

Everyone around me expects me to be this person.

I can't keep up with the demands of my classes, my friends, my family, and the courses that I have to take in the future.