Justin Chin: June 2008 Archives

The last time I posted, I ranted about the improvements needed at BAMMA. In retrospect, I also forgot the main things that BAMMA has to offer. BAMMA is an opportunity for teenagers to immerse themselves in the world of real-life journalism and the growing importance of multimedia today.

The main thing that made things awesome at BAMMA were the staff and people. I’d like to give my thanks to each and everyone with a small commentary~ In no order:

Aaron (Dad)- You are awesome to the greatest extent! I love your funny faces that you give to awkward situations as well as your understanding of what goes on in teenagers’ minds. Thank you for helping me to polish my multimedia piece, without you, it wouldn’t look as awesome as it does now.

Dolissa (Mom)- You are quite knowledgeable in all you do. The conversations we have help give me another dimension in the thoughts of adults. Your perseverance to get things done is a role model to all of us.

Mary Anne (Journalism Teacher)- You helped make the beginning of our days memorable and fun with class. Your genuine concern and ideas for solution helped us created our final newspaper. You may have won us over with your generosity in donuts/coffee on a cold day and soda on a hot one, I loved your bubbly personality

Christine (BAMMA’s Rihanna)- You are one awesome person to talk to! You communicate with us easily and can relate to us more easily than older people. Your cheerful smile and inclusive hug always makes my day better, especially when the day hasn’t been too good. And you are fashionable and pretty!

Craig (Photographer Extraordinaire)- Thank you most of all for teaching me how to use a camera that was not point and shoot. You opened my eyes to the beauty in shooting in manual as well as automatic. You also taught me about Hail Mary photos. I am definitely going to incorporate some of the ideas I learned in my school’s newspaper.

Kory ( My Editor)- Thank you for having the patience on hot sweltering days to help me edit my article. You are always cheerful and have plenty of ideas on multiple subjects. I also want to thank you for introducing me to the BIBLE of Journalism, the AP Stylebook!

Michelle (Professor Counselor)- I love how you are always there to listen to others or me when we have problems that we are uncomfortable talking with other staff. You are the epitome of cool (along with Christine). I also learned from you especially how to see things from another angle.

Eric (Joel’s Twin)-I love your spontaneity and the random faces you do. You really remind me of Joel. You bring flairs of fun to usually drab situations. Although I didn’t get to talk to you very often, you definitely have a personality that make people want to talk to you.

Molly (FinalCut Ruler)- Thank you for taking the time to teach me some things with Final Cut when I forgot them. The professor you introduced to us at the Chronicle was fun and interesting (meaning you got good taste in people).

Ronnie (Assistant Prison Warden)- Thank you for having the best sense of humor that I’ve ever seen. Instead of getting mad at us for exaggerating the risk factor and safety, you played along and make he time fun! I hope that we made your first BAMMA memorable.

Dr. Azocar (Prison Warden)- Although we didn’t get much time with you personally, you strike fear into our hearts!! (Just kidding) When we asked for water and air spray, you compassionately supplied us with what we wanted. You did an awesome job for shaping BAMMA this year.

Jesse (Newspaper Editor)- We also didn’t get to work with you much, but you helped us produce a stunning newspaper, worthy of college level work. Thank you! You helped us create something we can be proud of.

Ryan (News Editor)- Although I never actually talked to you, I still appreciate you helping my fellow classmates. You helped make the learning environment even better.

LaToya (BAMMA Buddy)- Thank you for taking time out of your summer to help in the first week of BAMMA. It would have been nice to get to know you longer, but thank you for the time you did spend with us.

Zoneil (Indescribable)- It would be amiss if I did not wrap up with the most dynamic character at BAMMA. You may be sarcastic and mean at times, I know that you are always genuinely concerned and caring for us. I also want to thank you for helping me edit my article down to under 500 words

Yesterday, Dr. Azocar alluded to “burning bridges” and how you have to careful as to what you say. I sincerely apologize to anyone that took affront to the inflammatory rant posted earlier. I, however, take a different turn on “burning bridges”. I truly believe, not matter how hard we may try, we can never burn the bridges we made during BAMMA. We are now interconnected as a family, people that has shared two weeks together with a common goal. For the rest of my life, I can never forget the awesome memories that I have gotten at BAMMA.

Well, today is my final day to blog. Tomorrow is graduation…

May good fortune rule over you
Peace live in your hearts
And the stars watch over you

Justin Chin, signing out~

Yesterday was a real bore-fest! We had to get our articles down to under 500 words,which really hurt. After chopping done by Kory, Mary Anne, and Zoniel, the article was hacked down to 469 words. After that we had to copy edit everyone else's articles, which took forever... Luckily, Mary Anne and Ronnie bought us donuts and coffee/hot chocolate, to keep us awake. Afterwards, we went to the picture editors to claim which pictures were ours.

One problem I had with the pictures was that the one that Yaya wanted to use for her article was a staged picture that I just randomly took. Instead, Craig and I chose a couple from Los Angeles who had a ring of media around them. They gave an awesome quote about how they didn't know why media were surrounding them and that maybe it was the dress. The only problem now was to find their names. I had written it down when I took the picture but could not find the paper. Luckily I ran a specific search on Google which led me to the SF Chronicle's profiles about the ones who registered.

After dinner, we went back to CIIJ to figure out what we could incorporate into our multimedia parts of our story. Recycling, Oaktown Jazz, Subway, Judo, and Same-Sex Marriage were the ones chosen to have multimedia pieces. I got paired up with Joel and we started sifting through what I had. At first we couldn't find anything we liked because we were to critical about the shaking in video, but Aaron said it was alright. Aaron also suggested that I put in a map of the subway.

In the dorms, CiCi, Brenda, Edgar, Ramon, and I all discussed what we were going to do for BAMMA Idol. The thing was, that CiCi, Edgar, and Brenda could sing REALLY good. I was thinking OH C***!! Brenda and I settled for What I've Been Looking for from High School Musical

I really don't have anything to write about this early in the morning. I am not functional in the morning and my best work during the afternoon or late at night. I don't think having to write a blog this early in the morning is effective because people just do it to get it done.

I also think it is unnecessary to block all the sites such as facebook, myspace, youtube, etc., during lunch because that time is our relaxing time and we should be free to do whatever we want. I missed many important message on facebook in regards to cheap textbooks sold by upperclassmen. I have lost a difference of $300, because I now have to buy the books online.

I HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY BAMMA (crude stab at sarcasm)

Have a nice day!

Today is another humid day here in the City. Before I expound on the fascinating things that happened this morning, I would like to talk about yesterday afternoon. As a BAMMA reunion, the leaders decided that we would have dinner at Pizza Orgasmica, a pizza place on Clement Street. Getting to there from SF State, however, was a heated affair (literally). All of BAMMA was wearing back that day in honor of Oscar Day, a day created by Aaron to make Oscar, a person in our class, feel special. That day was really hot so we were all sweating in lack shirts, waiting for the bus. On the bus, there was no air conditioning, making it almost unbearable. The worst part was when a guy with a tank top came in. I swear that he has never heard of deodorant.

Pizza Orgasmica wasn’t that great. I mean the name of the place was interesting, but I don’t think the pizza was a standout. I had a lot of fun that day, especially singing songs with Brenda. One thing that sucked was the Joel overheated or got sick or something. Monica and I were really concerned for him, but by today, he seems better.

Okay, time for today’s thrilling story! Since I wake up pretty early, I am the first one in the shower room. I usually don’t bring my key because I leave a doorstop holding the door open. Today, however, Ramon, my roommate, kicked the doorstop out as he was going to the shower. He always has a key on him, but today he didn’t bring it. We had to wait for a really long time before a front desk person could come and open it.

Aaron wanted someone to blog about the incompetent people that cannot protect our newspapers from being poached. T

oday is already the fifth day since the newspapers started disappearing. Aaron believes that the people who live in the Science building (where the newspapers are dropped off at) are taking them to read. What freeloaders! Come on! How low can you stoop, stealing from students? They are college aged or some even older. That is disgraceful.

The best way would be if the front desk attendant would courteously DO THEIR JOB and stop people from taking them. If they did not want to be confrontational, they can take it and hide it behind their desk, in accordance to Aaron’s REQUEST! When the complaint was brought up on the first day, they said they would try to do better and are working on it. Aaron believed them and wanted for the situation to improve. The same thing happened on the second day. By the fifth day, Aaron lost confidence about their ability to protect newspapers, therefore calling the people in charge.

Some more creative ideas for protecting the newspapers are such:

1- Draw intricate pentagrams with Latin/Egyptian side runes saying that if anyone is stealing the newspapers, they will be cursed with impotence for the rest of their life.

2- Place watchdogs around the newspapers and train them to bite those who are not supposed to touch them. The teeth of the dogs will be coated with rattlesnake poison while the dogs are immune.

3.Wrap the newspapers with a plastic wrap and coat with hydrochloric acid or cyanide.

If you readers haven't noticed, my titles reflect the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". As another side note. yesterday was BRENDA'S BIRTHDAY!!!

Yesterday I didn't really get to do much..it was pretty boring. We got some more lessons from Mary Anne and began our articles. My articles is on the Chinatown Central Subway. I called people to set up interview and will be going to Chinatown today.... Not much to say. Getting information and making a B-COPY is hard..

OK..thats all for now... cant' think of anything to talk about

Today starts my second day at BAMMA. When I woke up I was really excited because we were going to document the historic second day for the LGBT community to legally marry in California. Before that, however, we had to work on our articles with our editors. I went with CC and Oscar to work with Kory, to find some sources for our assigned articles. My article was to be on the Central Subway stations that are to be built through Chinatown to Union Square. My main beef with the decision by the SFMTA is that in all the articles and media that were published, there was no coverage on the people that would be directly affected by the constructions of the subway. Would the construction hurt business? Would local residents have any benefits or be able to even use it? Who would shoulder the enormous costs (which are estimated to be in the billions, when it would be only less than two miles? I sent emails to various people such as the District 3 Supervisor as well as MUNI/SFMTA.

After lunch, we got ready to head out to San Francisco City Hall to witness and record the momentous event. We also got to showcase our multimedia skills with audio, video, and photography. I got to work with the camera and then with the video camera. Our group had the theme of protesters. One problem, was, that there were NO protesters. It seemed like everyone supported gay marriage. There were people playing instruments, throwing rice, and shouting congratulations to recently married couples. One of my favorites was when our group entered and saw a mob of reporters and media do a circle around a lesbian couple near the Grand Staircase. When we got there, we had to fight our way in to take some pictures. A subsequent interview later, the coupe was bewildered as to why they garnered so much attention. One of the ladies cleverly joked, “Maybe it was my dress?”

As with my first entry, I want to continue with friends, as they are the most important assets that one can attain. I had fun with Brenda, coining the phrase “Brenda rhymes with Splenda”. I got to talk with CC, especially with our fun conversations and teamwork for the fieldwork. We had even more fun during dinner, when we were laughing so much it felt like we were high on something. I hope I get to know these people even better.

Today I was blown away by the first full day of BAMMA. This morning was the earliest I have woken up this whole summer. I usually wake up 4:30 AM during the school year, but my body has already disengaged into summer mode. One funny thing that happened in the morning was my roommate, Ramon, had set up alarms to wake him up. Unfortunately, he set his alarms on the wrong times, setting off an alarm at ONE THIRTY IN THE MORNING!!!! I was ready to swing my body off of bed when I looked at my own cell phone and saw the correct time. I almost flipped out, but kept my cool and tried to go back to sleep. At 2:30, however, I was rudely awakened again by banging noises coming from the left of my room. I tossed and turned in bed, fitfully waiting to go back to sleep. After another 30 minutes, I finally drifted back to sleep for another 3 hours until wake up time. As I woke up, I wanted to take a shower to truly wake me up. The shower was a cold affair, as large windows blowing cold San Francisco air into the room ventilated the room. Nevertheless, I got my warmish shower done and changed, getting ready for the day.

In the academic parts of class, our class got to use the computers in relation to a lesson. We got our first lessons from Mary Ann and Jesse. Their teaching styles were both different, each contributing different things to the learning environment. Truthfully, I could not stay awake through the parts taught by Jesse because his voice was really soft. Nevertheless, I learned plenty of things from him such as the “gold, silver, bronze” tiers for getting great news sources, with gold being the most reliable source. After lunch, our class was split into group of four to attend various small seminars to prepare for tomorrow’s trip to City Hall. Our group was CC, Oscar, and myself. Our first class was about photos. We learned the parts of the camera and how we were going to use them tomorrow. It was really fun because we got to run around and jump up and down.

Our second class was the video one, which wasn’t really interesting. It was basically the same stuff as the photo one and the instructors were not really sure of themselves. The last one was the audio one which was really fun. We were assigned to record the three types of audio. I had fun recording the sound of shoes and my elevator excursion to the fifth floor. After I was done, I was ready for some fresh air!

The most important part of the day, however, was getting to know more people. I talked with Ramon on how early we had to wake up and generally figuring out our routines in the morning. I got to know Joel and his Tabasco and “garbage disposal” eating antics. I got to know CC and Oscar with the group activities and class learning. I had fun with Yaya, Goldie, Joel, Monica, and Oscar with our contagious dinner laughing. I usually do not talk with people when I first get to know people. But, our BAMMA was really easy to talk to.

I look forward to see how the rest of the weeks play out.