New York.
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There's nothing you can’t do,
Now you're in New York.
These streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
Let's hear it for New York,
New York,
New York.
Nikki's dreams, coming soon. :D
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Galvanized
Recently, I've come across many instances where I find myself sighing with inspiration and driven even more to accomplish my goals. Today, I had the liberty of hearing and meeting Steve Lopez, an LA Times columnist and the author of The Soloist. He told us this wonderful story of how he helped a musician get his life back on track and live his passion. I was inspired by this story in more ways than one. It has always been a goal of mine to help someone dramatically as Steve has done for Nathaniel Anthony Ayers. He took this man in his worst state and essentially gave him his life back. While not exactly as it was prior to his breakdown, he helped him live his passions again. I would LOVE to help someone in that way. This is partly why I am a sociology major; I want to understand society in and out and learn how I can do my part to help a person in need. The story Steve told really reignited my interest to get out there and do what I can. I also was inspired by Nathaniel's passion for music. It was breathtaking to hear the joy he had when he was able to play his music again. I want to have a passion like that. A passion so overwhelming that I will do whatever just to live it again as Nathaniel did. I think sociology is my passion. Prior to choosing this is my main focus, I was up and down about what I wanted to do. I jumped from one topic to the next and finally, I took a sociology course and literally fell in love. This topic interested me in so many unfathomable ways, I decided it needed to be my major. I thank Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers for making me realize my purpose in life once again.
A couple weeks ago, in my Social Problems class, we had a guest speaker come from the Midnight Mission organization talk to us about the condition of homelessness. Orlando Ward, a man who underwent the condition himself and rose above, came to talk to us about his organization, their purpose, and what they stand for. He told us of the times when he was homeless and the things he endured while under this condition. He explained the messes he got into, the help he refused, and the turn around he made to be where he is today. I was deeply touched by his stories and this also made me want to fix the issues presented in the world. Midnight Mission is an organization which helps the homeless in and around LA, right where Nathaniel Ayers was living. The fact that these two correlate give me the chills. Call me crazy but I see this as a sign to pursue my career in sociology and eventually help the world as I have been so desperately wanting to do. I sent in an application to volunteer and I will begin doing this as soon as I have my schedule figured out. Bless the world for providing me with amazing opportunity.
Tomorrow I have an appointment with Mike Johnson to talk about the last of my requirements to transfer to NYU. My applications for colleges are due in the span of November to March. I have been lagging and I really need to start writing personal statements and filling out applications. I am actually excited for this process; I have a good feeling things will go my way this time. I know exactly what to write for my personal statements but I just don't know how to go about doing this. I'm going to crack down this weekend and start.
On Friday, I have a job interview for Forever 21. I need money, hahaha. If that goes well and I am hired, I need to work my schedule out so I can volunteer with Midnight Mission, work, go to school, and still have somewhat of a life. It's a lot to take on, but if it helps me get into college, especially NYU, then I am more than for it.
I also need to start getting letters of recommendation coming. The thing with this is, my professors like people who participate and are actively involved in class discussions. I prefer to listen and take in what everyone else says rather than speak aloud all the time and this probably won't work in my favor. I know my professors would prefer me to be more vocal with my opinion and I really need to work on this. Weekend project, part II.
I have a big future coming up and I pray things work out for me. If they do, I am one step closer to helping the world in the best way I know how.
End.
A couple weeks ago, in my Social Problems class, we had a guest speaker come from the Midnight Mission organization talk to us about the condition of homelessness. Orlando Ward, a man who underwent the condition himself and rose above, came to talk to us about his organization, their purpose, and what they stand for. He told us of the times when he was homeless and the things he endured while under this condition. He explained the messes he got into, the help he refused, and the turn around he made to be where he is today. I was deeply touched by his stories and this also made me want to fix the issues presented in the world. Midnight Mission is an organization which helps the homeless in and around LA, right where Nathaniel Ayers was living. The fact that these two correlate give me the chills. Call me crazy but I see this as a sign to pursue my career in sociology and eventually help the world as I have been so desperately wanting to do. I sent in an application to volunteer and I will begin doing this as soon as I have my schedule figured out. Bless the world for providing me with amazing opportunity.
Tomorrow I have an appointment with Mike Johnson to talk about the last of my requirements to transfer to NYU. My applications for colleges are due in the span of November to March. I have been lagging and I really need to start writing personal statements and filling out applications. I am actually excited for this process; I have a good feeling things will go my way this time. I know exactly what to write for my personal statements but I just don't know how to go about doing this. I'm going to crack down this weekend and start.
On Friday, I have a job interview for Forever 21. I need money, hahaha. If that goes well and I am hired, I need to work my schedule out so I can volunteer with Midnight Mission, work, go to school, and still have somewhat of a life. It's a lot to take on, but if it helps me get into college, especially NYU, then I am more than for it.
I also need to start getting letters of recommendation coming. The thing with this is, my professors like people who participate and are actively involved in class discussions. I prefer to listen and take in what everyone else says rather than speak aloud all the time and this probably won't work in my favor. I know my professors would prefer me to be more vocal with my opinion and I really need to work on this. Weekend project, part II.
I have a big future coming up and I pray things work out for me. If they do, I am one step closer to helping the world in the best way I know how.
End.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Thaumaturgic
Last night was legiiiiit.
Let's recap:
The Dodgers game was so amazing. I went through hell times twelve to get tickets, though. Calling, e-mailing, setting up a hundred thousand accounts, being rejected twice, blah blah blah but I finally found a woman who was selling two great seats for cheap so I jumped on it. After a bit of a fiasco, the payment goes through and she e-mails me the tickets but SURPRISE, the images don't show up and they're virtually useless. So she suggests leaving the tickets at will call. We left Moorpark at like 5:45 and it was traffic galore on the way. We didn't get to the stadium til around 7:45ish (two bloody hours for a 40 minute drive). We park and now have to look for will call. After many staircases later, we find the will call and go up to the counter, hand her our IDs, and she says, "there are no tickets here under your name." Yeah, by this point we were in fury. We called up the chick and she didn't answer for a good twenty minutes. FINALLY, she called us back and was like, "I swear I left them there, I don't know what happened. I will meet you at will call and figure this out." So we wait. Then she sends me a text saying, "your tickets were fixed, please go to will call and get them." We stood right there the whole time and never even saw her face. Very incognito, hahaha. Anyways, we got our tickets and headed up. The moment I saw the stadium, my heart jumped. It was so incredibly amazing, so surreal. The crowd, the energy, the waves of blue and white, it was fantastic to be there. We went down to our seats and got situated only to have two guys come up to us and say, "these are our seats." We almost died. We went to the wrong section, hahaha. We got to our REAL and FINAL seats just one section over and were home free then. The game was pretty good, even though they lost. We did the typical ballgame thing and got Dodger dogs. They were so delicious. The crowd was throwing beach balls around and Carmen and I caught one, wrote our MySpace urls and phone numbers on there and threw it back, only in my attempt to throw it back, I hit a kid in his face hahaha. Second try was more successful and now I can say my personal information is now circulating Los Angeles. JOY. The game just kind of ended after Ethier bat and everyone jammed out quickly to avoid traffic. They did a fireworks show so Carmen and I stayed and watched it. It was so cute. Then we walked around a bit, went to the merch store and bought balls and bats and headed out. Since there was so much traffic getting there and getting back, we took to music for entertainment and dubbed my car as "Club A4" (because we have nothing better to do). Going home, I ended up taking the wrong freeway (of course) so we exited, landed in downtown somewhere and turned around. On the 110 North going to the 5, the carpool lane has these epically adorable lights that illuminate the lane. We thought it was the best thing ever until it distracted me and I almost hit a post on the curvy bend from the 110 to the 5. We decided that was a lawsuit in progress. We went to Del Taco on our way home and Carmen and I had a LEGIT freestyle sesh in my car. It was so weird! We didn't even know we could do that, hahaha.
Yeah, I know this is long but I wrote it so I could remember the vast details of my night as they happened. Thanks for reading. :)
Let's recap:
The Dodgers game was so amazing. I went through hell times twelve to get tickets, though. Calling, e-mailing, setting up a hundred thousand accounts, being rejected twice, blah blah blah but I finally found a woman who was selling two great seats for cheap so I jumped on it. After a bit of a fiasco, the payment goes through and she e-mails me the tickets but SURPRISE, the images don't show up and they're virtually useless. So she suggests leaving the tickets at will call. We left Moorpark at like 5:45 and it was traffic galore on the way. We didn't get to the stadium til around 7:45ish (two bloody hours for a 40 minute drive). We park and now have to look for will call. After many staircases later, we find the will call and go up to the counter, hand her our IDs, and she says, "there are no tickets here under your name." Yeah, by this point we were in fury. We called up the chick and she didn't answer for a good twenty minutes. FINALLY, she called us back and was like, "I swear I left them there, I don't know what happened. I will meet you at will call and figure this out." So we wait. Then she sends me a text saying, "your tickets were fixed, please go to will call and get them." We stood right there the whole time and never even saw her face. Very incognito, hahaha. Anyways, we got our tickets and headed up. The moment I saw the stadium, my heart jumped. It was so incredibly amazing, so surreal. The crowd, the energy, the waves of blue and white, it was fantastic to be there. We went down to our seats and got situated only to have two guys come up to us and say, "these are our seats." We almost died. We went to the wrong section, hahaha. We got to our REAL and FINAL seats just one section over and were home free then. The game was pretty good, even though they lost. We did the typical ballgame thing and got Dodger dogs. They were so delicious. The crowd was throwing beach balls around and Carmen and I caught one, wrote our MySpace urls and phone numbers on there and threw it back, only in my attempt to throw it back, I hit a kid in his face hahaha. Second try was more successful and now I can say my personal information is now circulating Los Angeles. JOY. The game just kind of ended after Ethier bat and everyone jammed out quickly to avoid traffic. They did a fireworks show so Carmen and I stayed and watched it. It was so cute. Then we walked around a bit, went to the merch store and bought balls and bats and headed out. Since there was so much traffic getting there and getting back, we took to music for entertainment and dubbed my car as "Club A4" (because we have nothing better to do). Going home, I ended up taking the wrong freeway (of course) so we exited, landed in downtown somewhere and turned around. On the 110 North going to the 5, the carpool lane has these epically adorable lights that illuminate the lane. We thought it was the best thing ever until it distracted me and I almost hit a post on the curvy bend from the 110 to the 5. We decided that was a lawsuit in progress. We went to Del Taco on our way home and Carmen and I had a LEGIT freestyle sesh in my car. It was so weird! We didn't even know we could do that, hahaha.
Yeah, I know this is long but I wrote it so I could remember the vast details of my night as they happened. Thanks for reading. :)
