Spring Break

My spring break was simply ah-mazing. For the first few days I had the complete mistfortune of total boredom. Luckily, that lasted only 2 days and I got the rest I would later need. In my white-with-pink-touches bedroom I rested, read and surfed Facebook. Every few seconds I hit refresh to find the devastating truth: there was nothing new! Everyone else was at the beach, having fun with the sun while it kissed their not-so porcelain skins. But on day three of my glorious vacay (tion), the household got a new member: a Puppy! He's a big cocker retriever with beautiful golden hair and a smile the size of America. He was given to us with the name of Simon but I believe his truthful name is Marley.

The first night, Chuchito (that's one of the dog's three name/nicknames: Chucho/Chuchito, Simon or Sitka) slept in my sister's room, and so did I. He was supposedly trained and he caused nothing but love and excitement in the household. The only surprise we got was his automatic self-positioning to become my mother's 24/7 shadow. If she went into the bathroom, he would cry and scrathc the door. On his second night, he slept in her room, in her bed. It seemed weird that my mother wouldn't mind. I have my guesses (which have been indirectly prooven) that she only allowed it because the next day we left the town and went...
SKIING!

Yes, we took a plane from Vallarta to Salt Lake City and eventually hit the sloped in a resort called Park City and also in Deer Valley. It was even more exciting because there was fifteen of us. My two uncles and three aunts along with my six cousins. Make that eleven plus the four of us (dad, mom, sister and I) and you have fifteen incredible Mexican/Americans/Skiers/Animals. Yup. You could even call us that at times. We were loud, fun and proud. My small family of four stayed at the Marriot Summit Watch: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/slcvi-marriotts-summit-watch/ (See link.) The others stayed at the Marriott Mountainside. They were both nearby, they were both beautiful and they both had ski lifts to a short walking distance.

In the whole trip we dined in great restaurants and had a lot of laughter. We made snowmans, skied and went into Nastar. I even won the Platinum medal. Honestly, we are all good skiers. We also ate fondue and walked through the Christmas-like lit streets of Deer Valley's and Par City's snow covered towns. It was all an amazing experience and my family is so blessed to have these people to share it with. I am really thankful to the Lord, too, and in Mexico he's the reason Spring Break exists. So amen.

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CLARISSA

THE GIRL WITH THE TICKET

There was, one day, a certain girl named Clarissa. Her friends called her Claire, but that's unimportant; we are not friends. Anyway, Clarissa spend a lot of time thinking about ways to become famous since she had a crazy obsession for teen actor Taylor Lautner. She had the hope that if she was famous, she would star on a movie with him and they'd fall into a passionate and fierce love relationship. So when she made up her mind that Taylor was her destiny, she brainstormed ways to get famous.

The most obvious would've been to audition for a movie or a TV show. Clarissa was really considering that option and even joined the school play. However, after seeing a Hilary Duff interview Clarissa realized that the chances of getting cast, or even a callback, were extremely slim. More brainstorming... and finally, she got it!

Everyone who had power had the ability to get anything. "Power? Power equals money," she thought. To get money she could: a) Sell and Industrialize a product, b) Steal and Sell Valuable stuff, or c) Win Money. Clarissa crossed out "a": too much work! She also denied "b", since it involved illegal acts. That left her "c". The funnest of 'em all! Who would give money for a price. Why, the Lottery would. Clarissa laughed evilly to herself as she got her plan straight.

The very next day Clarissa was on the doorsteps of Velma's victorian house. Velma, a gypsy fortune teller, was a beautiful dark lady. She wore a long, beaded skirt and a silk blouse that had embroidery with golden threads. Her pale green eyes would hypnotize anyone in a matter of seconds; most men enjoyed that. However, Clarissa was not here for fashion advice, or to get a glimpse of Taylor's real life. She wanted to know the number of the $50 million dollar winning lottery ticket. After much pleading, Velma revealed the top secret to Clarissa. However, she warned about possible misfortune and charged twenty dollars.

Clarissa didn't pay attention to the world, she was waiting for the revealing time to come. Was Velma right? YES! SHE WAS! But when Clarissa went to claim the money the ticket was lost. Of course, she wasn't able to proove her purchase and was therefore not given a single cent. Since she was so nasty, instead of crying, or fighting for her rights she gave up. That easily and after all she had done she just walked away.

The next day, she came in to school and decided her new life. She would dedicate it to something much more amusing, and that is to torture and make my life impossible. To mock me. That's why we're not friends.
What Clarissa doesn't know is that I am Tayl0r Lautner's cousin. :)

Ro-two-ball... and blogger thought

This is my SECOND post about the rotoball, because Mistermark messed up. Sorry people, but this IS a copy-paste of my last blog. Sigh...
Anyway thanks to him I actually have this blog which is cool, in a way, because I'm going to keep it forever. I will always be able to look back on this blog, probably like "Julie & Julia" although this one is not very personal. I might make a personal one though, hmm.. good idea. Well, I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile here's my roto-thought:

Well, for me, making this video was a piece of cake. It was very easy to
figure out what to do and how. However everything was based in delicately
tracing the person's outline which eventually resulted in arduous work. I
have proved myself to be useful when animating a movie and I am honestly
proud of that. I know that this project was meant to be easy and long: it
was. I just hope that we, as a class, and as respectful students, never
forget the basic functions of flash. I f I were to make this project
different I would constantly change the background and I would use better
and more modern computers and programs to do so, that way we would not have
to do such horrible work.

Now, you may not know what I am referring to so here's the URL for the website in which the video is (guess which part is mine!):

8th Grade RotoBall from mistermark on Vimeo.

Thanks for watching/reading this!

Rotoball Review

Well, I think that this video is great and It is honestly better than what I tought it would be. I actually didn't know that this video was going to have ALL of our videos mended together but now that I've seen it it looks amazing. However, I believe that some backgrounds look exactly like the person's outline at times so the backgrounds should be changed. I loved it in gereal, though.

Rotoball

Well, for me, making this video was a piece of cake. It was very easy to figure out what to do and how. However everything was based in delicately tracing the person's outline wich eventually resulted in ardous work. I have prooved myself to be useful when animating a movie and I am honestly proud of that. I know that this project was meant to be easy and long: it was. I just hope that we, as a class, and as respectful students, never forget the basic functions of flash. I f I were to make this project diferent I would constantly change the backround and I would use better and more modern computers and programs to do so, that way we would not have to do such horrible work.

THIS IS THE URL TO MY FABULOUS AND BEAUTIFUL VIDEO: http://vimeo.com/10012348

RotoBall Idea

My Rotoball idea is amazing. The ball will first enter from the left in the shape of a bird. It will carry a message that the character will read, no one know what it will be like. After that, I want the

ball to transform into a kid's jumping ball

and have my character jump and jump on it, then make it small and let it transform into a bird. The bird will fly around the character's head. Finaly the character will write "I love you on a paper" and send it with the bird.

Sixth Sense Technology

Wow! This video just BLEW MY MIND. I cannot believe that anyone could finally come up with this. I say this because ever since the iPhone came out I have been picturing this my whole life. I swear,I had already pictured this type of technology, so transportable and easy to use. I definitely think that this product should be used. It looks great and practical. It is an insightful step in the technological world. I am happy that this now exists. Wow! Way to go, India!

I feel that Everything is great about this. I mean the fact that you can just TAKE it with you wherever you go. Snap a picture, literally with your fingertips. No need to take out ANY device. You can have internet access wherever without literally an iPhone or a computer in sight. I am amazed at how you can have a screen in front of you any time and how easily you can access files and use your fingers to write without actually touching any screen. This is amazing. (It is) Something that truly blows my mind. I definitely want more of this 3D technology!

I am also very happy about the fact that it is cheap to make. I can't understand, though, what he means when he says he will be sharing his software "open source". It sounds to me as if he were going to give away his secret to success. If that's it then he isn't very bright. He should sell it to a big company. The product then could go global and it would definitely be a phenomenon. EVERYONE (that could) would buy it. No more of Apple's super-expensive new technology or Window's economical second- place computers. This product would sell like hot pancakes.That would be amazing because it would be of utility to EVERYONE! I love this new product and, once again, I think they should commercialize it!

Digital Media in School

I think that when schools use and support modern media, it's GREAT! I mean, the school sends us a lot of e-mails and they ban facebook because it can be distracting. To me that doesn't make a lot of sense: similar thing it helps two or more sources communicate! Also, if facebook "distracts" us so much then they could easily find a way to fight it. IDEA!: Get a school facebook account. I don't check my e-mail nearly as much as I check facebook.

All my classmates love and use facebook daily,

if possible to them. Another problem is cheating. Our english class prohibits us to cheat; we can't use any computers. There are also solutions to that like the infamous website "Turn it in". Well, I have something to say to all teachers: the Internet, more than helping us cheat, it will help us learn and I believe that there IS a way for computers to exist and be accepted in school during all clases, with excellent results.

After all, what isn't on the internet?

Parenting, Privacy and Control

First of all: OUR PARENTS CAN'T CONTROL US! We are not babies who depend on anyone, and we have all the right to create an account and use it in whichever way we want. It's free and it's personal and it's our buisness. I don't think that our parents should know our password, that is a boundary between friends and family life. I think, however, that they have all the right to be conserned. In this FRONTLINE movie we are watching there is proof that anyone who gets abused of with social media contributed with the abuser. For example, kids go and meet an unknown person and it usually turns out to be a predator. THEY search for danger. So I believe that we can be on facebook, myspace and msn without our parent's aid and concern.

Identity Play

With the computer, comes a big responsibility. There is a big fear, especially from parents, that predators are stalking and going to get us.

All of my classmates have facebook,

but we all use it to socialize with each other and other friends, posting pictures of gatherings and chatting. We have total control on who we accept in facebook, and who sees anything we post. We can untag ourselves from other's pictures and choose who knows what information. We can even hide everything, and just show our on-line name. I think that the network is safe, if you know how to use it. I just have one last thing to say: my generation definetely knows how to use the Internet safely.

Growing up online: The computer at home

As we saw in this video, the computer IS now very common, especially now that teens are using it a lot. In my house, and I bet that in a lot of households there is one main desktop computer which all the family can use. I think it'd usually be on the TV room, but my parents moved ours to their room so that they could check what my sister and I were doing. Still, my sister and I have our own laptops since we use them SO much. I honestly use mine a lot for school and I know that she does as well. We also use them for facebook and msn, but my sister and I don´t spend that much time in the computer. I think that we spend, on average 20-30 minutes daily on our computers unless we have a lot of computer homework. My mom barely uses the computer, or so I think. She uses facebook to chat and connect with her high school friends. I think that in our household, the computer is not exactly a necessity and that i they took it away for two months we could totally survive. I am glad that we are not addicted because we can also spend free time riding our bikes and living life the way God meant it. BTW I am doing this for computers class.

My Winter Vacation

I spent my winter vacation her in Puerto Vallarta. The day after we came out school my cousins and my aunt came over. They are called Pau (8), Jero (3), and Victoria (1). My aunt is also called Paulina, and her husband died last year (that's why he didn't come). All of them stayed at my house and my grandma also stayed in my house. A friend of my dad came for a couple of days (five or six days before Christmas) and he also stayed with us. As you can imagine, we had a really full house. Every day my aunt, sister and I went jogging. Afterwards we came back and ate breakfast with the whole family, It was chaos. Eggs rolling on the floor, orange juice being squirted and fruit flying around... well not literally but it was pretty intense. After breakfast we usually hung around in the morning and did something in the afternoon, like going out on walks playing boardgames and going on a boat.
By the time my dad's friend had left, on the 21st, all of my cousins came over from Guadalajara. They rented an apartment in the marina so that they could all fit. There were two grandparents, my aunt and uncle with three teens and my other aunt and my other aunt and uncle with two small kids. Almost every day we saw each other in my house, eating there in the BBQ and using our bicycles and having a lot of fun. They showed me really cool youtube videos and we played soccer in the neighbor's huge soccer field. Finally, the 42th came and it was time to REALLY start the holidays. Every 24th we celebrate "Nochebuena" and it is a big dinner with turkey and all. Everyone dresses up very nicely.
We had my mom's turkey that evening. The kids and teens made a creative gift exchange. Since a lot of us were having financial problems the parents agreed not to have any gifts, which is why we did a creative exchange. That means we have to MAKE the gifts. I had to make something for my cousin Juan Pablo. He is five and he LOVES Star Wars, so I had an AMAZING IDEA! I made him a customized Star Wars t-shirt because I made an image in photoshop where his face is in the movie star's body, so it looks as if he were on the movie. Then I got a special paper, printed the image on it, and ironed it on. He LOVED it. I got a headband from another cousin that she made. I kinda like it. I also got a present from my sister and my parents. I only got 5 presents for other people because I was kinda broke, too. I got my mom a pajama, my grandma a red sweater, my sister a dress, my aunt a t-shirt and my dad a packet of golf balls and a jacket. I think everyone liked what I gave them and I also liked what I got. Anyway that night we also had a small speech time about the meaning of x-mas and it was kinda nice. I like my family a lot.
But, the best was christmas morning because I got... (Drumroll) A computer! It was what I had wanted ever since I could remember. Yeah, and I also got a surprise which I didn't expect at all; a camera. I is small and red and beautiful. I honestly would've NEVER baught a red amera but when I got it it was PERFECT. Of course I use it practically every day taking cute pictures of all my baby cousins that are still here. That day we also had "recalentado" when we do all the leftovers from the day befor like the pineapple cake and the chocolate cake. They are delicious and my uncle brought them from Guadalajara the day before Christmas. Christmas day we all took pictures and went out walking and swam in my house. The only bad thing was that my cousin left with his girlfried and I didn't even get to see him that much. In all, It was a great Christmas! And today the three wise men will come!