USC: Year Two!

Remember when, last year, I published a bunch of videos about my first semester at USC? It was fun, wasn't it? Yeah well I'm not doing that again. I'm also not posting another One Second a Day, because I'm a miserable failure my phone has been out of storage since June.

What I can do, however, is share a cool anecdote that will lead us all into a wonderful recollection of the adventure that this past semester has been. So here goes...

In order to end our last RA staff time of the semester on a positive note, our supervisors gave each of us a blank sheet of paper and told us to list everything we had accomplished these past few months. I, staying true to myself, stared at the empty page for a good ten minutes, then announced that I hadn't accomplished anything.

Now, as expected, this didn't elicit the best of reactions from my fellow RAs, with one of them tearing the sheet of paper out of my hands and threatening to write the damn list for me, so yeah that happened, but at the end of the day, this whole thing really made me think. Shortly afterwards, I had my RA evaluation meeting, which was essentially my supervisors glorifying me for half an hour, then telling me that the only area I'm lacking in is self-confidence. And, I mean, this is not news to me. But by now I've basically accepted it as a fact of life (which, again, points at me not having self-confidence) and I didn't think that this was something particularly worth worrying about. That is, until it led to me receiving a '2' for it on my evaluation sheet, at which point my perfectionism kicked in and I decided that I do need to do something about it.

And this whole ordeal was exacerbated with a conversation with one of my friends, which went as follows:

Me: I think I'm too negative.
My friend: Yeah, you are.
Me: Wait, really?
My friend: You just said our world is declining to shit.
Me: Oh. Right.

Therefore, in an attempt to turn things around and heighten my self-confidence a little bit, I've attempted to list all the things I've accomplished this past semester. So, in no particular order:

1) I've been an RA for an entire semester! And what a semester it was! 3 am incident reports, creepy FaceTime calls, vomit on my doorstep, programs where no one showed up, name what you want, I've done it all! And what's even better, I somehow found a way to enjoy all these things (weird?). Of course, the best parts of my job are my wonderful residents and my staff team, aka the fRAmily of the Century. Also, longer post to come on the RA life, so stay tuned.

2) I survived marching band! And I've got my sophomore jacket to prove it! The Silks also won Section of the Year and USC is going to the Rose Bowl. Oh yay! As part of band, we also took a charter flight to Dallas (so fancy) and headed back to the Bay Area to beat stanford (SUCKS). Fun fact, I also happened to quit band for a day, but that's an entirely different story (because sometimes you can't appreciate something until it's gone, or some cliche like that).

3) I took some of the best and most challenging classes possible, and got As in all of them. For more on that, click here.

4) I worked as an assistant director on two short films, which both turned out very impressive, and I'll share the links with you when I'm able to.

5) I learned how to cook pasta. Little things, everyone, little things. (I also failed to turn off the stove after my first attempt at cooking, leading to a rather passive aggressive exchange with my roommate.)

6) I got myself a turntable. Or more like, I rewarded myself with a turntable, because sometimes, you just gotta #treatyoself. Sounds a lot more appealing, right? I essentially justified this purchase by claiming that this is a gift to myself because I got the RA job. I still don't have any records, though, because I buy too many shoes they're expensive. But yeah, again, little things. I'm not really sure why this is an achievement, probably because I spent so long debating whether I really need it or not. Also, if you're curious, the exact one I bought is sold out, but this one is really similar (yes it's from Urban Outfitters, don't judge).

7) I was asked to sit with USC President Nikias during his annual Thanksgiving Dinner, gave an interview to KTLA the same night, and was the subject of an article for USC News (which, as it is, didn't turn out so bright, so I won't link it here. They misspelled my name in it, and that was just the least of issues. DISCLAIMER: my name is not Lillia, and if you call me Lillia, please don't expect any positive interaction with me ever again).

8) I went to New York City for winter break, with my roommate, and we planned everything all on our own and I put together the itinerary all on my own and we managed to survive five days there and you can read more about it here.

Aaaand I'm sure that there were other things as well, but if I can't think of them now, they're probably not that important. Also, I've got to reserve some things for the 20 Thing I Did at 20 list.

(And also, I know we're talking positivity here, but just to be fair, for every achievement there were about two failures, so there's really no need to get jealous of me lol. I'm seriously considering starting a blog titled "Fail of the Day," that's how bad it is. But then I feel like 50% of my friends stick around just to listen to my anecdotes of the times I messed up.)

Fall 2016: Breakdown of My Classes at USC

Hey all,

This is a real tradition now, isn't it? But yes, for the third time around, you can read all about the classes I've taken at USC this past semester! I've had some really fun ones this year, though Fall 2016 also brought about that one dreaded class I just couldn't stand, so I can sadly no longer say that I've loved all of my classes at USC. Those bragging rights will be missed. But anyway, every cloud has a silver lining or some happy shit like that, and at least I'm done with it now, so without further ado, let's get into it.

I swear it wasn't as bad as it looks based on this schedule. 

CORE 101 | Thematic Option Honors Program | Symbols and Conceptual Systems: Icons

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. This class was just as great as I expected it to be, though it took a while for me to actually recognize how much I was learning. The professor is one of those people whom you either love or hate, but she definitely knows what she's talking about and was deliberately trying to get us to challenge her. It's difficult to put this class into a category, but if I had to, I'd say it's a mesh between art history and popular culture. We looked at more general art theory, religious icons, urban icons, celebrity icons, fictional icons, iconic photographs, the interaction between high culture and low culture, and ended the class with Andy Warhol and Walt Disney. And, of course, a field trip to Disneyland, with free donuts and a complementary stay at the Disneyland Hotel. The best thing about this class, though, was that there was so much overlap with CTCS 464, and that I could apply so much of what I had learned during my winter break trip to New York. Also, my TA was the best. 💕

Grade Received: A

CORE 103 | Thematic Option Honors Program | The Process of Change in Science: Searching for Life in the Universe: Mars and Beyond

Again, this class was phenomenal. The professor is the funniest and kindest and most knowledgable person you'll ever meet, and he even wrote us a song at the end of the semester, titled the Lowdown Irritating Melancholy Aggravating Life in the Universe Blues. And he performed it. With a banjo. We also took a field trip to the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and had some crazy amazing guest speakers. Now, the first half of this class was mainly geobiology, and we learned about things like extracellular electron transport and layered microbial communities, which are sure interesting, but I'll shamelessly admit that I had no idea what was going on. The second half, however, was when things got good, and -- again -- although I definitely won't remember everything I've learned, I now sure know what not to invest money in (hint: don't move to Mars, it's pretty miserable there). Also, did you know that there are such things as orphan worlds, which are planets that don't orbit a star? And that there are places called water worlds and-- Okay okay, I'll stop.

Grade Received: A

CTCS 200 | History of International Cinema I

Well, at least I'm done with this class. The professor isn't nearly as bad as her reputation, but the class is. I don't even know how I got an A, as my TA was the harshest grader and the assignments were impossible. I wish I had gotten more out of this class than I did, but it just simply wasn't happening. It also didn't help that I fell asleep during pretty much every screening. Tbh, the only thing I remember from this class is that in China, they called moving pictures electric shadows. That's kinda cool.

Grade Received: A

CTCS 464 | Film and/or Television Genres: Shot on Location

This was such a fun and easy class! We watched films like Rome, Open City, Double Indemnity, Safe, She's Gotta Have It, District 9, The Fall (2006) and The Darjeeling Limited and discussed some really interesting concepts, like the opposition of centrifugal and centripetal space, heterotopias, orientalism, and Third Cinema, while also talking about the business of location shooting and runaway productions and such. It also helped that for our midterm, we basically had to analyze a Coldplay music video, and for my final, I got to write about my favorite of favorite films, Paris, Texas. Also, the professor is very friendly and an easy grader.

Grade Received: A

LING 210 | Introduction to Linguistics

This was a GE for Quantitative Reasoning that I started out taking Pass/No Pass and felt rather apathetic about. However, it turned out pretty interesting and I was doing really well, so I soon changed that P/NP to a letter grade (then proceeded to get a 77 on an assignment lol). But yeah, the professor is funny and friendly and ngl very cute and explains everything very clearly, so I'd definitely recommend it. Also, this class made me use the suffix -ception far more often than it is okay. (Seriously, just head over to my NYC posts to read all about artception).

Grade Received: A

What the future holds:

CHEM 205 | Chemical Forensics (GE, taking Pass/No Pass, apparently on the easy side, sounds interesting)
CORE 104 | Change and the Future: Church, Sex and State (last Thematic Option class, about the changing perceptions on marriage)
CTCS 192 | Race, Class and Gender in American Film (major requirement, professor apparently a little dramatic, but amazing)
CTPR 290 | Cinematic Communication (the infamous film production class simply known as "290," you basically make films all on your own and then people shit all over them)
CTWR 321 | Intro to the Hour-Long TV Writing (writing a spec script for an already existing TV drama, should be current on about 20 TV shows, none of which I've seen so far, so fml)

And that is all for now, everyone!

New York City: Day 5

This was it. Our last day in New York City. And once again, we wasted half of it sleeping. There was change in the air though, and by this I mean literally in the air, as it turned out to be a lot warmer than it had been the previous days. It was almost bearable. And contrary to the rumors, it wasn’t even raining, so it was the perfect time to visit Washington Square Park and spend money at the NYU Bookstore on NYU merch that I would never even be able to wear at USC. Oh well. It’s no secret that I want to go to NYU for grad school, though, so you know what, I feel like I can get away with it. After months weeks hours just one hour of deliberation, I picked out a sweater and a magnet, both of which were surprisingly cheap, and we continued our journey to MoMA. Also, let me say, USC SCA is so much prettier and more collegiate looking than NYU Tisch. Now I get what people mean when they say NYU doesn’t have a campus.

Washington Square Park

When you're waiting for Selena Gomez on Waverly Pl, but she lets you down.

I'm a traitor.

On our way to MoMA, we happened to encounter one of the famous LOVE sculptures, and so naturally I had to stand in line to take a picture of it. Also, seriously, there was an actual line of people waiting to take selfies 🙄🙄. We also got lost once again, but this shouldn't be news to anyone.

But then, once at MoMA, something crazy happened. As I was waiting to check my coat, I heard a familiar voice. It couldn’t be, but it was. As a person who’s literally known for her anecdotes of her misfortunes, who’s famous for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I couldn’t possibly – for once – be at the right place AND at the right time. But alas, it was true. After checking my coat, right in front of me, it was her. In front of me was standing the one and only Patti Smith*. Reading a poem casually for a crowd that had assembled around her and with a guitar placed next to her, she was holding what later turned out to be a surprise performance. I mean, it couldn't have been that much of a surprise, since The New York Times was covering it. But there were all these people, gathered around her and listening attentively, silently absorbing her words. And me? Nah, I was high-key fangirling. I was crying. I’d seen Patti before, last January at a concert at The Wiltern. She was far away and the ticket was expensive and it was a weird day anyway, but I though it would be my only chance to see her. But now, here she was, right in front of me, just like that.

Yet we only had a limited time at MoMA, so even though it broke my heart into ten million pieces, I couldn’t stay for the entire performance. After all, I had an entire museum to see, and I didn’t want to skip any of it, because let me tell you, MoMA is AMAZING. It’s probably my favorite museum ever. Especially the 3^rd and 4^th floors. They have the soup cans. They have the gold Marilyn Monroe print. They have Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Their 60s section is the best exhibit you’ll ever see. It’s perfect. And if you’re one of those people who’s into them consumer goods, their gift shop will have you shell out some serious money. Not that I spent like over $40 on a single print or anything… But seriously, museum gift shops have the most adorable but useless shit. Like the New York skyline as page markers. Or a magnetic wishbone. Who even needs any of these things?

Fun fact: In her memoir Just Kids, Patti said that she didn't like Andy Warhol, because she "preferred an artist who transformed his time, not mirrored it."

Patti "hated the soup and felt little for the can." Yet here she was, two floors below Warhol's famous Campbell's Soup Cans. However, the very fact that Warhol's subject was something of his own time made it transformative. He took the world as it was and transfigured it into art that represented the world as it was, something nobody had done before. In this sense, therefore, he did mirror his own time, but he transformed it as well. Can you tell I just wrote a final on Andy Warhol?

A reproduction of Van Gogh's Starry Night. "The camera, by making the work of art transmittable, has multiplied its possible meanings and destroyed its unique original meaning. [...] The uniqueness of the original now lies in it being the original of the reproduction." ~John Berger, Ways of Seeing

*Side note: I feel a little weird taking photos at museums. I can't explain it that well (if you follow the link above, you might get it a little better), but essentially, you go to museums for a reason. To see original works of art. By taking photos, I'm sort of defeating the purpose of going to a museum by showing you what's there. Photos, however, are only reproductions that can never do the originals justice, and are only destroying the uniqueness of these works. So yeah, go to museums, side note over.*

I would have loved to stay at MoMA for the rest of the day, but we had tickets to the Natural History Museum, and we weren’t going to let those go to waste. Also, Holden loved that museum, and after all, he said that his favorite thing about the museum was that nothing changed there and based on that, the museum I was going to see would be the exact same museum that he saw in the 1940s. (I mean I know he didn’t really see it, because he doesn’t exist and all, but you know what I mean. “I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.” (page 110))

At the Natural History Museum, we were greeted by two bushes shaped like dinosaurs holding wreaths (I bet those weren’t around in the 40s. Holden would have thought they’re phony) and a long af line that we spent over half an hour in. By the time we got inside and made an unsuccessful attempt to check in our coats, it was time for our dark universe planetarium show, which was amazing, except once again, I fell asleep. It was a 25-minute show, and I fell asleep. I think I have a problem. The rest of the night was a frantic attempt to get through the planetary science section and then try to see everything else that Holden talked about, because, y’know, a 65-year-old book about a teenager who thinks everything is phony should be your ultimate museum guide. Needless to say, this attempt quickly failed, so somehow I once again ended up being a victim of consumer culture and browsing the Christmas tree decorations in the museum shop. Also, I’m so glad that I don’t have a Christmas tree (the tiny one from Target that looks like a copper toilet brush does not count), because the amount of adorable Christmas tree ornaments I saw during these five days is insane. There was a jellyfish ornament that I almost couldn’t resist, though (along with that mini-Guggenheim one I saw the previous day).

Phony dinosaurs.

"The best thing, though, at that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. [...] Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you." ~Holden Caulfield, obviously

After the museum closed, we went back to Times Square to do some last-minute souvenir shopping (hint: Hershey’s chocolate was purchased. And a Hershey’s Christmas tree ornament was also purchased, although by Joanna. Also, I may or may not have already have eaten all that chocolate). Then, once we were out of money and had realized it had gotten cold again, we I decided to ignore both of these facts and head over to the Flatiron Building. While this might not have been an objectively smart idea, it was worth it, because you have to see that building up close. Just trust me. The last thing we did in New York was get dinner at Joe’s Pizza, recommended by my co-RA Maddie, which – again – did not disappoint. It turned out to be a pretty famous place, so I’m upset I’d never heard of it before, and it was also right next to NYU dorms, which made NYU even more appealing to me. Now I’m even more serious about going there for grad school.

More Hershey's lol. I don't even like Hershey's tbh.

Sadly, however, Joe’s Pizza marked the end of these beautiful five (4 ½) days we got to spend in New York City. It was a melancholy subway ride back to Carroll Gardens, where we packed our stuff, took a quick nap, took one last glimpse at the New York City skyline, and called an Uber to the airport, once again, at 3 am. As you can assume, we were done with shuttles for good.

Our trip home was its own adventure, with us frantically running across the Chicago airport during our 40-minute layover and me leaving my phone in my check-in suitcase, but that is a story for another time.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our NYC adventures. Stay tuned for more posts.

*If you, at this point, don’t know how obsessed I am with Patti Smith, shame on you.

New York City: Day 4

I woke up to the most beautiful snowfall I had seen in years. Well, mostly because I live in California and all, but that’s a minor and insignificant detail here. People were building snowmen on our way to the subway station, Joanna was throwing snowballs at me (lol) and it was almost perfect.

We headed straight to the Guggenheim, which was…well, it was what it was. The building itself was beautiful. The Agnes Martin exhibit was a little too abstract for me (and, like, if it’s abstract even for me, that’s saying a lot), but I really enjoyed Sun Yuan & Peng Yu’s Can’t Help Myself and Maurizio Cattelan’s America, aka the well-known 18-karat gold toilet. (Side note: this toilet stood for everything that we learned about in my Icons class. It is a readymade that makes art accessible to the general public by showing them something they are familiar with. It is making a collective experience into art: everyone uses the restroom, the way everyone drinks Coke, which is what Andy Warhol attempted to depict in his Coke bottle painting. You see, not everything you learn is useless.) The best thing about this toilet is that it’s not even in a glass case or anything, and as long as you wait in line, you can go ahead and use it. I’m pretty sure no one did, though, they all just went in, took a picture, and flushed it.  

If all of my dreams turn to shit, at least they should go down an 18-karat gold toilet. (yes, reusing my Instagram caption, but you know what?)

It's a work of art containing works of art. It's artception!!!

After the Guggenheim, we went back to Central Park for a bit (we found a duck!) and then headed straight to Broadway to pick up our tickets to see Chicago. We had lunch at the Starbucks on Times Square (because we just love exploring local food) and then found our way to our seats in the second-f@#%ing-row! It turns out Joanna did a good job with the tickets. Now, I'm not too keen on musicals myself, but Chicago was great. I had seen the movie version before, but I still enjoyed it, except for the part when I fell asleep and woke up to find one of the dancers staring straight at me. Whoops. But it’s all good, as in the end, I was one of the people to catch those roses they throw into the audience, which had always been one of my life goals. Well, not really, but anyway. It was nice.

It's a little ironic that we went to New York to see Chicago.

Once we were done with the play, we headed straight to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, and stayed there all the way until closing. Now, the museum itself is really good, and you can expect to spend quite a bit of time there, but it really emotionally exhausting and definitely not for everyone. 

After the museum, we walked around for a bit, went into the Westfield World Trade Center, which is a mall that looks pretty much like a Venus flytrap, although Joanna couldn’t really see the resemblance. Then we went to Burger King and had chicken fries, because – once again – we just love local food.

See what I mean about it looking like a carnivorous plant??

But I honestly wish we had malls like this in LA.

Following that, I had the sudden urge to go see the iconic Hotel Chelsea, the “informal artists’ colony” of 20^th century New York that was once home to the one and only Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, Arthur Miller, Jackson Pollock, and many other people you should really have heard of. So we took the subway all the way to the Chelsea, got lost in the process after turning on the wrong street corner three separate times, and after that entire venture, got to the Chelsea only to find the neon sign completely dark and the hotel cloaked in darkness with scaffolding all around it. I mean, I should have expected that tbh, since the hotel officially closed in 2011, but still. It was truly tragic (well, not really, because a tragedy implies an irreplaceable loss and all that, but you know what I mean). In all my sadness, I snapped a few photos, and returned to the subway station, defeated.

"Dystopias always begin as utopias, and the Chelsea is no different."
(I highly recommend you follow that link)

On the way back, Joanna convinced me that our stuff wouldn’t be there by the time we got home, so that subway ride was somewhat stressful, but it turned out to be a false alarm. And that’s it for our penultimate day in New York.

Click here for day five.