Yanaaboo

The 37 of 2007

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:59:03 -0800

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Fall in love

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I forget what my 2007 resolution was

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
nope

4. Did anyone close to you die?
yup

5. What countries did you visit?
didn't

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
I lacked connection with certain people...I tend to work harder in keeping them now that they seem to be connecting better as the year is approaching its end

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The summer in general...it was a whirlwind of happiness and sadness

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting a 3.0 for the first time...hey I'm not much of a great student

9. What was your biggest failure?
...

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
common cold during season changing

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My own digital camera

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My best guy friend who of course I'm in love with lol

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
....

14. Where did most of your money go?
FOOD and bills

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Heroes, my grades, my Macbook!!, my iPhone!!!!

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Soulja Boy up in dis hoe!!!!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? more muscular lol
c) richer or poorer? richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
building up existing friendships

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
being soo emotional and missing the opp to have a bf but hey I learned...so now I know for next time right

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
with the fam in NY

21. What was your favorite TV program?
Heroes!!!! Even though this season sucked ass most of the time then the friggen Writers Strike rushed it to end early

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I wouldn't say hate...but highly dislike one of my so called teammates

23. What was the best book you read?

Uh when did Harry Potter come out? This year ok..then it was that cuz I sure enough didn't read leisurely much

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Emily King

25. What did you want and get?
Macbook and iPhone

26. What did you want and not get?
an SLR, a fixed car

27. What was your favorite film of this year?
I don't remember

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
21 and had a mini party with friends

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
being his girl

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
trackwear as usual

31. What kept you sane?
running track

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Andre3000 my celeb husband (every year of course lol)

33. What political issue stirred you the most?
the Education system

34. Who did you miss?
close ppl of course who I don't see much of anymore

35. Who was the best new person you met?
Cal

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
How to stay patient, how to move on even during times of grief, how to love someone unconditionally, how to go after what you want (jobwise), how education really is key, and money isn't everything...also learning to be happy even when no one is around (beating boredom)

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
[i'll get back to this question later]

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Gossip Girl

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:14:01 -0800

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Screaming in a Movie Theater = Uncool

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:35:12 -0800

One thing that irks me so much when I'm at the movie theaters is people clapping like they're in a concert. Granted the movie This Christmas was pretty good with Chris Brown's singing, I felt it unnecessary to clap to the beat of his song or even clap to end of the song like they are there. But ultimately I was very irked by the multiple squeals and screams every time Chris Brown enters the scene the first 10-20 minutes into the movie. Teens man, so squealish. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Christmas4

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If it were real, I'd be rich

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:14:52 -0700

I had a real crummy day today. I woke up this morning not wanting to do anything at all. I pretty much got up and did the routine of everything I do on a Tuesday. Wake up, lift weights, go to class, jumping practice, class and homework. Only thing I changed was go to class the second time. It was to the point during jumping practice that I wanted to cry over the mundane routine. I don't want to be in a rut! Anyway I ended up going to my advisor meeting to find out I'M NOT GRADUATING SPRING 2008! You know what...I always thought I was going to graduate in four years but now I don't care. I will be done with all my classes for my major and minor but this school says there is a minimum of 120 credit hours you must earn in order to graduate. That's BS really. I will end up having 107 credit hours done by spring 2008. Not sufficient to walk during the commencement. It doesn't really mean too much for me to walk but of course it means a lot to my dad.

"I tried dad, I really did to figure if I could walk even though I won't get the degree. But my advisor said that it won't be possible."

Anyway, I'm not totally upset. I like my school and the area and maybe I could do a whole new year being part time. I don't want to grow up just as yet and school puts my full adult life on hold. I like school and being apart of the school community. After school is done its harder to keep up with the school activities because your always working. BOOORINNNG!

Speaking of school activities/events the event tonight made my day ultimately happy again. Other than going to the school newspaper to edit crappy articles our new writers had written, the staff and I went to our Student Activities Center (aka the SAC lol) for free food. The event was Casino Night with MOCKTAILS (fake cocktails) lol. I really only wanted the free food and was going to resist the pretend gambling but after I ate some almost burt wings lol I was tempted to try the Roulette Table.

SP_A0311

I hadn't realize how gambling can be addictive till tonight. I started playing just a little bit. We got play money of $50,000 which I really wish I had but anyway I ended up playing for about 20 minutes and ended with $350,000! So I told myself if I ever really do gamble this is MY game to play. I wish it were real because in all honesty I won a lot of money and I really didn't know how I was doing it. Of course gambling is all about luck but still I was having some good luck tonight.

So I wouldn't mind spending another year here even if I'd be a part time student. I can take BS classes and boost up my GPA and graduate with honors. Or I can still take some semi-hard, challenging courses that I can get good grades in and also learn something for real and still graduate with a higher learning aspect of things lol. Either way I will be graduating no matter what. I'm not a college dropout (aka Kanye lol) and I've learned so much during my college years. Another year wouldn't hurt. :-)

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I HATE PLANES!

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:15:14 -0700

Summary of my weekend (copied and pasted from an aim convo):

friday i aint get home till 3am cuz the plane couldn't land on white plains due to fog so they landed an hour away from my house where i had to rent a car with 6 other strangers....TODAY!!! they say we are on time but we waiting in the plane ont he groun for 2 hours cuz they can't leave due to weather so its got cancelled and then wait another 2 hours to get our luggage back from a plane that aint even leave

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My Love for Photography...

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:21:15 -0700

IMG_8988

My love for photography comes from somewhere out of the norm for me. If just seeing me in my public form you'd see an athlete. Nothing artistic all athletic. But I'm tired of that facade because that is not all I am. Since this is my last year of college life I must break out of my athletic shell and show my other talents. I'm not saying I am a fantastic photographer but it is one of my dreams. I really want to become something great in my eyes. Not totally sure how far I want to be as a photographer but it would be nice to be in a magazine of some sort. Either way I want to be published. Not too sure if I want to be well known but it would be swell.

Last year I joined the Student Media (UTIMES student newspaper) and I was the photographer for Bits&Pieces. All I really did for that section was go around campus to ask people random questions and take a head shot. After two months of taking photos I was bored. Taking head shots doesn't really show my talent for picture taking. So I quit last year. This year I wanted to do something different. I went back in the beginning of the school year asking to be a Copy Editor for the simple fact I always seem to find mistakes in the paper I felt could be avoided before publication. Little did I know I got paid the most out of all photographers and writers. Whoohooo!! Not only do I get paid for just reading articles (not writing them) I can still write articles and take photos as well.

IMG_8997

Tomorrow is my big day. I signed out the camera yesterday which you can see I took a wonderful picture of a white flower in the previous post. I also took pictures of my lovely roomie above and edited it. Today I took tons more. I felt like a little kid with a new toy. I was taking pictures all over the place. This is the kind of camera I really want as my own but they are "oh so" expesitivo! The flower pictures touches me. I made it look antique like just because it just needs to be! I like taking pictures, editing them and seeing if people like them. It has to be pleasing to the eye.

After a grueling practice at the track my other roomie wanted to have her own photo session. Thing was she didn't have a glamour kind of shoot like my other roomie. She still had her athletic gear on dirty still lol.

IMG_9066

They came out good though I must say. It almost looked like they could have been in a sports magazine. She was wearing all Nike so basically she looked like an AD. I'm not totally sure what to do with these pictures after I retouch them. I really need Photoshop to do what I used to do two years ago when I was into graphics more. But seeing as I have a Mac now there is no excuse to not get one. But why why WHYYYYY does it have to be so darn $$$expensive. It hurts my heart and my pockets!

This camera isn't mine and I have yet to really understand it but I will use this camera like it is mine till the day I OWN one! I can't wait for tomorrow because I will take soooo many pictures UTIMES is gonna have a hard time figure out if they should use all my pictures or the other photographers. My name will be all over those pictures "taken by Ayana W." What!! You better believe it lol!

I will continue to practice these photography skills while I read up on famous photographers and on ways to take great pictures. I want to succeed in this because its a hobby I have always wanted to really achieve but was too poor to really do it. This is my opportunity now to build a portfolio without the high expense of it. OH YEA!

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I Want to Show Off Too!

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:19:26 -0700

IMG_8892

I just got this Canon that I'm suppose to use for this weekend for an on-campus event. I'm being a photographer for the school paper this weekend. I've been testing it, taking random pictures in the apartment and outside. So far I think all of them are crap! Plus I haven't taken any pictures outside in the daylight so none of the pictures I like except a few. This one above is my favorite. I edited it a little using GIMP but I hate that program and I really don't know how to use it. I want Adobe Photoshop!!!! I had this disk where I could put it on my computer but its only for a PC. Gah the only downfall when I got this Mac. Either way I just wanted to show this picture off for myself due to the fact it seems like everyone little freshmen on my track team has other artistic talents. I want to show off too! Lol but one I really will in front of all of them before I graduate this year. They will be in awe and I will be proud of myself when I really do show off some talent other than running. I need to really buy my own camera soon and get Photoshop!

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A Family is a Family is a Family Even in Times of Trouble

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:06:09 -0700

TrackFam

My family! I gotta say I really love them because we get a long so well. This is the track family I've always wanted. This may not be entirely everyone but it is mainly the ones I am around the most (the sprinters/jumpers). My senior is the year I want to do the best and get out with a bang! Only thing is I can't do that with an unstable relationship of my track family. Even though it is only September and we have many more months to go that can potentially have upsets, I am not worried because the way things are going now...we can handle it. We really don't want any drama because drama hinders all of our performances in some way. I get affected a lot by stuff like that therefore I try to be careful in what I say and do. Plus, I'm a captain! So I gotta be in the right state of mind. Coach did a great job recruiting this year and I'll be so sad when my year is up. My buddy Aja (she a cross country runner now) told me to red shirt, aka not compete this year so I can stay another. That is not in my plan of success so I will just sniff sniff, suck it up and enjoy the time I have now.

Here we are supporting our fellow teammates who are in the midst of the cross country season. Most of the time, well all of the time our XC teammates go to away meets and never have a home meet but this year was our FIRST home meet ever! Wow is all I have to say. Every year the track season gets a home meet but not cross country, I don't know whats up with that but I'm glad they finally got a chance to have one here because we love to support are teammates when possible.

It's such a great feeling to know you have people that you can call your family even if they are not your blood. I swear if I did not have track in my life I would not have experience such family ties with a bunch of used to be strangers ever. Last Friday was a crazy night in the beginning but with my ingenious ideas I was able to get my teammates to bond more. Go me! Go captain!

It started off with all of us going to this party where JCSU (a HPCU) students were also invited. As soon as I saw them get off the party bus I knew some trouble was brewing. Probably about a half hour of dancing and warming up to the music there was a fight. The fight got semi-serious and they stopped unexpectedly. Some people saw one of the guys try to get something out of his pocket which implied he had a gun. He backed up some into the crowd which I was backing up on and he said "I can shoot up everybody up in here!". I have never experienced anything like that and I was scared because no way do I want to get shot let alone any of my teammates that I love. After he was carried out I was hardly in the mood to dance anymore. Standing around to most of the songs I started to warm up again since some of my teammates were getting warmed up again. Some were just standing around as much as I was. Another hour into the party we found out there was a shooting outside of the club. That really made me not want to be there. The party ended up ending early (Thank God) but even before that we couldn't leave just as yet because the police had ordered that no one could get out until they cleared the area of the shooting. Because it was so early (12am early for a party night) I felt like we were robbed of our pockets for this club. I decided to invite my 'mates to my apt, asking my roommate first if it was okay. She said sure seeing as she loves when people come over but when I actually announced that people can come over she got all worried. Why? Because her room was messy. She trips me out but we ended up having a better time at my apartment than the club. Plus it was safer!

That night added on to my list of crazy experiences (not that I have much anyways). Its not something I ever want to get into again and some of us were saying we don't even want to go out to another party for a long time. But I just told them we really shouldn't go to a party in that area (it was the dangerous party of Charlotte) and also go to a party where JCSU is invited. That just spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Here we are chillen in my apartment. We danced a bit, talked a lot, and even had a little sing-a-long when we was getting tired. Once 5am creeped up everybody was entirely too tired to go back to their dorms/apt. So I hosted a sleepover as well! :-)

100_4355

Here goes my teammate trying to keep the covers on him in the morning. This boy is a fool but he cracks me up in the process.

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Words Unspoken: In the Heart of a Blank Book...I Write

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 16:16:25 -0700

Lately I have been having difficulties writing...period. Don't know where the road block is coming from but my friend gave me an idea (an old idea at that) to begin journaling in a book. I used to do it a lot in my growing years but of course stopped as soon as college started. Started to get too busy to do any of that and felt that it was childish when in reality it isn't. I saw the 1000 Journals Project online and loved the fact some people journal with clippings, pictures, and drawings. It is just like blogging only in a book. I always envied my talented friends who are so artistic and can draw almost anything when they doodle. Me on the other hand doodle like crap. Only once in a while my doodles look good. But looking at the 1000 Journals Project I realized how ugly some of the drawings looked but yet looked very creative. My problem is that I'm always striving to have my works look perfect when I already know I'm not perfect at it. So I decided to grab one of my very incomplete leather bound journals I bought a year ago to start over. I tore the few pages I wrote in it already ju

Blank Book

st because this is a renewal of my journaling. I couldn't have old entries in it polluting my new beginning. I already wrote two entries in it since I started last night and I'm hoping to just write away and not care about my spellings, grammar and mistakes I know will be in there. Just to write should be relaxing to my soul and channel out any stresses I've been harboring since my mom's passing this past summer. It took a toll on me and has been showing a little in the night when loneliness can kick in. In fear of having another scary anxiety attack I will continue to do this so called journal writing/drawing to help my negative energy turn positive.

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Vox Hunt: I'm Saving Up For This

nobody@vox.com(Yanaaboo) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 10:49:14 -0700

Show us something that you are saving or budgeting for.
Submitted by foxsydee.

I was saving for a Macbook but my dad just bought me one for my 21st!!!! ^_^

Macbook

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