"Where's Your Head At" Video

Choreography: Robbie Anderson

Wrap it up Folks.

So after a full day of rehearsals Sunday, it was finally time for the show Sunday night. My family and girlfriend met me in Chapel Hill for dinner before the show. I was especially excited that they made the drive to come see my show as well as all my friends from UNC who came.  The show was awesome! Memorial Hall was almost completely full, which says a lot, and all of the performances went great. I was a little concerned about my dance looking bad, because everyone just looked tired during rehearsal and were forgetting to perform and smile. Anyways, from what I heard, everything went well. I know I promised to post a video, but the girl that videotaped my dance has not responded to my email yet. If I get a video sometime this week, I will post the video. If not, well most of you are now friends with me on Facebook after last week’s Facebook talk, and I am sure it will be uploaded soon. If you would like to see other dances I was in, checked my tagged videos on Facebook.

So today was very exciting for me. After a third hour-long phone interview, I received a job as a Cabin Counselor at Victory Junction Gang Camp. If you haven’t heard of Victory Junction, you’re missing out. This summer camp is for children with illnesses and medical conditions and is honestly one of the coolest places I have ever visited.  Sorry for the random news, but it has been an exciting day.

As the semester winds down, I got to thinking about my first year at Carolina. I honestly am really sad to leave in two weeks. Carolina is my new home and as much as I love being at home with family, it’s going be hard to leave all my friends I have met this year. I know we will all be back in August, but it’s kind of the same feeling as leaving high school to go college. (Except leaving high school to come to college was the best thing that has happened in my life). I hope next year will be even better than this year. I personally feel like I have grown as a person, student, and a teammate. Through crazy weekends, all nighters in The UL, football and basketball games, and every other aspect of college, Carolina has been amazing. I can’t wait for next year.

Where's Ya Head At

This Sunday is the Blank Canvas Dance Company Spring Showcase. The performance will be in Memorial Hall at 7:00 pm. Tickets are five dollars in advance or seven dollars at the door. You can get your tickets in advance any day this week in the pit. I have been a dancer in Blank Canvas both semesters here my first year at Carolina. The cool thing about Blank Canvas is that there are 300 dancers and 5 different levels for each style of dance. You audition for a level at the beginning of the year and get placed in a level for each style of dance. After being placed into your levels, “The List” is sent out to the listserv and you sign up for the dances you want within your level.  “The List” gives a brief description of the dance and what skills are required of the dancers. Every dance is led by a single student choreographer and meets once a week for forty-five minutes for rehearsal. I only signed up for two dances last semester because I was worried about getting adjusted to college with the heavy workload as well as my long practice schedule for cheerleading. After the amazing show last semester, I realized I wanted to be more involved this semester. I found a song I really wanted to choreograph to and applied to be a student choreographer for the Spring Semester. After being chosen, I was ready to begin rehearsals. This semester has gone by so fast and I can’t believe Sunday is the show. I had my last rehearsal for my dance tonight and was very proud of all the hard work my dancers have put into my dance.  The style of my dance is jazz and the level is five. The song is called “Where’s Ya Head At” and is the Klass Remix version.  You should listen to it.

Here is the YouTube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDGY6aikr7Q

The goal of my dance is to give the audience a headache. I plan to post a video of my dance hopefully next week on my blog so stay tuned for that. Please come to show! I am also in four other dances this semester. I know the show will be entertaining and will be worth your money and Sunday evening.  If you can’t make it, I will post a video of my dance on here next week hopefully. I hope to see you Sunday!

Contemplation. Decisions. It's LIfe

As the semester starts to wind down, I am getting more and more concerned on what I am going to do with my major.  I am currently a Biology major with the Pre-Med track, but just not one-hundred percent sure if this is what I really want to do. It scares me that I am about to sign up for classes again and I truly don’t even know what I should or want to be taking. It occurred to me last week what I have always really wanted to do. Teaching and helping others has always been a passion of mine. I even told my parents in elementary school that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. Yes, I know this makes me look like a boring child since it wasn’t anything awesome like an astronaut, but I really just wanted to be a teacher. This dream continued in middle school where I also first became interested in the medical field. As I transitioned through my high school years, I lost my gut feeling about being a teacher and decided to enroll at Carolina as a Biology major hoping to one day advance to medical school. As I was thinking about this the other day, I realized I never really had strong reasons for why I all of a sudden dropped my dream as a future teacher. I thought to myself, is it the money? Is it the lifestyle? Even though I feel being well-off is important in order to support a future family, this shouldn’t affect my career decision. I am currently in contemplation over whether to major in education, or just receive my Master’s after I graduate. Luckily, I am setting up an appointment to talk to my advisor soon. I feel like my life decisions for my future career are over the place, but I hope one day soon I will just be able to decide. I feeling like being a teacher could open a lot of doors for further occupations. Even though I would be more well-off as a doctor, my gut feeling of being a teacher and making an impact on a child’s life is more important to me right now.

Also, is anyone going to the Spring Football Game Saturday afternoon? I am cheering at it and am already excited for the fall season. I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Guest Blogger: Kathryn Frye

Robbie asked me to be his guest blogger, I guess I should feel honored, but I feel like he was just trying to get out of writing it himself. My life is not nearly as exciting as Robbie’s; I’m not shipped around the country by the university to cheer, but last week for my spring break my best friend and our mothers went on a Caribbean cruise. I was disappointed because in previous years the senior class from my school rents out a house at the beach where the entire class stays together. However, this year we all went our own way on vacations. In the past my parents have designed vacations around sites that they deem to have either historical or educational value. I must have by this point walked every hill of each civil war battle field in the country and if there is a maritime museum within sixty miles of where we were staying it was a sure bet my family would hit it. For this trip my mom and I set out one ground rule for the start: nothing educational. We left from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and cruised to Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Martin, and Half Moon Key. At the stops we stayed away from anything that involved learning and instead opted for excursions such as snorkeling, zip lining, and parasailing. On the ship I enjoyed the luxuries of the boat and friendly crew. Ironically enough it was the same ship that my mother and I sailed on in the eastern Mediterranean this summer, where of course we did properly educational touring. I was incredibly surprised when the maître d' I met this summer remembered me and welcomed me back. I enjoyed being back on the elegant Neiuw Amsterdam, this time with my best friend who I was able to show around and have some great times with. One amenity I was not able to take advantage of over the summer was the casino, but now that I was 18 I got the chance to try my luck on the slot machines where I won a whole quarter. The trip was a lot of fun, the perfect break from the stresses of school and college decisions. I know that it is something my friend and I will always remember as a special time before we head off in separate directions next year. And most importantly we were successful; I did not learn a single thing the entire week!

Travel

I just got back from Albuquerque, New Mexico at 6 am this morning. After five days in New Mexico, I was not ready to come back. The women’s team pulled out two wins in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament this past weekend. I will be traveling and cheering for them this weekend in Spokane, Washington for the Sweet Sixteen. We left Chapel Hill at 1:30 last Thursday afternoon. I boarded the plane with all the other cheerleaders, band members, and the Women’s basketball team. I was born in Maryville, Missouri, but only lived there until I was one years old. This was furthest out west I had visited until this weekend’s trip. I was really excited to fly all the way out to New Mexico for the tournament. I was especially excited for the warm weather, even though everyone has been bragging about the weather in Chapel Hill over the weekend. I went downtown the first night to experience St. Patrick’s Day in New Mexico. Never before have I felt like a minority in crowd like that night. The streets were crowded up and down with people. Unfortunately, most of the clubs were 21 and up which didn’t help most of us out. We finally found one all the way on the other side of downtown but it was about to close. One thing that really surprised me in New Mexico was how everything closed so early.  Every restaurant we tried to go to at 9pm was closed. I realized it was a Thursday night, but it was like this for the rest of the weekend as well. Old town Albuquerque didn’t consist of much, but it was neat to see a town that was so historic. I enjoyed sitting by the hot tub at night and lying out by the pool in the day. My stunt partner and I took some really neat stunt pictures in front of various places. If you are friends with me on Facebook, check them out. Even though there wasn’t much to do in Albuquerque, I enjoyed a relaxing trip. The women’s basketball team is awesome if you have never watched them play. Look for me on TV this weekend at the Sweet Sixteen in Spokane, Washington. I can’t wait for another awesome trip! Go HEELS!!

Did you know?

Most of time when we are in class we don’t get to talk about our hobbies and passions so I thought I would share two of my favorite hobbies. Ever since age three, I have been dancing on my feet more than I walk. I started out in an acrobatic dance class after I cried to my mom because I wanted to tumble like the Power Rangers.  After two years of acrobatics, I started to take tap and jazz classes. I eventually adopted all styles of competition dance throughout the years including tap, clogging, ballet, lyrical, jazz, modern, acrobatics, and hip hop. I started competing when I was nine years old and always competed every dance competition season until I came to college. My junior and senior year I took dance classes three full nights a week and taught one night as well. Dance has always been my artistic escape and is my passion.  I also was a male gymnast from fourth until eight grade. Even though I never competed with this, I gained much of my strength and tumbling skills from gymnastics. I competed with the gym’s All-star Cheerleading teams as well for four years winning two National Championships the last two years. This encouraged me to tryout of the cheerleading team at UNC. Even though most guys come in with no experience with cheering, tumbling, or stunting, they always are happy to take experienced male cheerleaders. Cheering at Carolina has been my favorite part of college. I am currently on the JV team with mostly freshman and sophomores working hard to gain all the stunt skills needed for varsity. I came to Carolina with all the tumbling requirements and have advanced my skills as well. I cheered at all the home football games and cheer for Women’s basketball. I hope to be on Varsity by basketball season next year, but it depends on how many new guys come to replace those currently on JV. I am really excited this weekend to travel to the Women’s NCAA Basketball tournament in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I have never been out west past Missouri, so this is exciting for me. If the women win both of their games this weekend I will travel to Washington the next weekend. Dance and cheerleading are my current hobbies at UNC and are my stress reliefs. Even though they both keep me busy, both of these hobbies make me happy and keep me working hard.

Rando

Spring Break has been great so far for me. I am currently at North Myrtle Beach with six of my high school friends at a resort on the beach. I cheered at the Women’s ACC tournament in Greensboro all weekend and then came to the beach yesterday. The Women’s team played awesome until the last four minutes against dook in the championship game on Sunday.  At least we got one huge victory over dook this weekend.  It was really fun to cheer at the tournament though. Little kids would even ask me to autograph their shirts and posters. My girlfriend and I shared our one year and six months anniversary this past Sunday. I can’t believe we have dated this long and honestly couldn’t be happier. I also got to watch her school’s musical production of “Guys and Dolls” where she played one of main roles, Sarah. We got to the beach around 5:30 last night. We settled in and went to Hamburger Joe’s right up the road for dinner. This my favorite place to eat at Myrtle Beach because of the cheeseburgers and wings. If you have never ate there before you should. It’s always a good time. We met some college students also on Spring Break from Ohio, Minnesota, and Michigan last night and today by the pool and hot tub. We hung out with some of them last night and today and are probably all getting together tonight. My friend Blakely who goes to NC State nicely made our crew eggs and pancakes for breakfast this morning. We had a late start but were also up really late. Our room has a mini hot tub in the room so after the outdoor hot tub closed last night we just chilled in the room. It’s been nice to catch up with my old friends and hear about their college experiences so far. All the guys are currently lying around while the girls went grocery shopping to find something to cook for dinner.  Hopefully they will make something good. A couple of people I also know down here are coming over after dinner to chill. Some other friends from UNC also came by for a while last night. The beach is not crowded at all and is mostly full of just college students on Spring Break.  I also might be traveling to Roanoke, Virginia this weekend but have not confirmed those plans.  I hope everyone is enjoying their break!!

Costa Rica anyone?

Spring Break 2011 here I come! But where am I going?  Most freshmen are just ready to just go home and relax while others venture out on the crazy adventure of College Spring Break. I might be going to the beach, but I will most likely just go home.  Hopefully next year I can plan a good trip in advance. During high school, my family each year made a trip to the Pigeon Forge, Tennenese. Last year I luckily got to travel to Costa Rica with my AP Biology class which consisted mostly of my best friends.  We traveled to many parts of Costa Rica including the rainforests, beaches, and volcano sites. My favorite part of the trip was walking down a large path of steps to a waterfall. At the waterfall we were able to swim in the water and enjoy the breeze. We also did a zip line through a rainforest at one site we visited. This was intimidating at the first drop, but actually turned out not to be scary at all. I did have a minor accident though where my nose barely scrapped across the zip line causing the outside of my nose to bleed. I was ok though and really enjoyed this experience. We also did white-water rafting at one site. This was entertaining because nobody in my raft had any experience with white-water rafting. We turned out to be pretty good and only flipped the raft one time. Halfway during this adventure we stopped and ate the most delicious watermelon and pineapple. We also were able to jump of a rope into the water which was fun. The pineapple in Costa Rica was probably the best I have ever had. The food in general was different and unique and consisted of at least some assortment of rice and beans. The fruit was always fresh and the coffee was amazing. I purchased like six bags of coffee just for my family on this trip. One hotel we stayed at always had monkeys running around. I tried communicating with them one day and ended up making them really mad. The biodiversity of plants and animals in Costa Rica amazed me. I recommend anyone who is interested in traveling to Costa Rica to do it sometime in your lifetime. I really enjoyed this trip and eye-opening experience.

FOR THE KIDS!!

So yes, I am one of the crazy kids who did Dance Marathon and stood on my feet for 24 hours this weekend. I was very anxious going into the experience but was excited to see how it would turn out. The first couple hours were awesome as everyone just danced like it was a normal night going out. One thing that was really interesting throughout the 24 hours was seeing live performances by all the acapella and dance groups on campus. I didn’t even know some existed, so this was neat. Oh and I saw Georgia and we took a picture.  After like six hours, I began to feel extreme pain in my heels, knees, and calves. As I would try to position myself in any comfortable position on feet, nothing was working. I constantly was doing stretches as my body became more and more tight and uncomfortable. The middle of the night was dreadful, but we headed outside to Kenan Stadium to see the sunrise at 6:30 am. Even though it was chilly outside, I had never appreciated fresh air as much. Yes I understand I am making this sound like a prisoner who was finally set free, but I really enjoyed going outside. If you’ve never watched the sunrise in Kenan Stadium you should. The dance team was even out there dancing to cadences being played by the drumline. I was amazed at this point on how enthusiastic the team leaders were. I had no energy, but being outside sure was a good prerequisite for an 8am flash rave. This flash rave was honestly insane and so much fun. As the flash rave was going on, I realized the more I moved, the better I felt. Yeah, this theory didn’t last too much longer. Around lunch time on Saturday I looked like a Zombie. My eyes could not stay open and I pretty much kept falling asleep while standing up. The last three hours were very inspirational as families from the Children’s Hospital shared their unique stories and how Dance Marathon helped them afford everything. Seeing the actual kids made it all worthwhile. The end was very emotional, but definitely made me realize I was meant to be there. I strongly recommend doing Dance Marathon before you graduate. This experience was nothing like anything I have ever done before, and really has made an impact on my view of helping others. Do it FOR THE KIDS!!

Cupid Wears a Diaper?

Valentine’s Day: some describe it as a celebration of love between couples, where as others refer to it as Single’s Awareness Day. It’s whatever floats your boat. Even though most people think Valentine’s Day is overrated, I find it enjoyable. I miss the days in elementary school where I would make a Valentine Box and everyone brought Valentine cards and candy for every classmate. I used to get so excited to make a trip to Wal-Mart to pick out my Valentine’s each year. In fourth grade, I had a huge crush on a classmate named Morgan. She had a boyfriend named Brandon at the time.  I decided to get her a huge plastic heart full of skittles for Valentine’s Day.  When I gave it to her, she started to blush and said thank you. The next thing I know she is talking to Brandon in the corner of the room. She walked back over to me and asked me to be her boyfriend. Apparently Brandon didn’t get her anything for Valentine’s Day, so I had won the girl’s heart. I look back on this and laugh because it sounds like typical elementary school. My question is: Why should the present you get your boyfriend or girlfriend matter? I took my girlfriend to Build-a-Bear this weekend because that is what she wanted. It sounds elementary, but it meant a lot to her.  I also took her out to eat at The Chop House Grille.  My brother didn’t even get his girlfriend anything, and she was happy. Each relationship is different and unique, but most couples get each other something for Valentine’s Day. I’ve never pulled off a surprise on Valentine’s Day, but would like to next year.  I am amazed at the guys who always seem to do this. Next year, if time allows, I would like to do something really special for my girlfriend. And no, this doesn’t include actions like the UNC student who dressed like Cupid in a diaper and brought roses to his girlfriend in Poli 101. I found myself crunched for time this year as Valentine’s Day approached, and wish I would have planned in advance. I do feel very lucky to be in a healthy relationship with an understanding girlfriend. She even gave me gift cards to Franklin Pizza and Pasta and my personal favorite, Biskis, in a heart box full of chocolate kisses. Valentine’s Day can be seen as overrated, but always seems to be a positive and thankful day in my life.

Rock Your Body

The first memory that comes to mind when I hear about the SuperBowl halftime show was Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction in 2004. I was in sixth grade when this happened, so still very immature. If you don’t know what happened, here’s a brief memo. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake were singing Justin’s song “Rock Your Body” together.  As Justin sang the last lyric “Bet I’ll have you naked by the end of this song” he reached across Janet’s chest and ripped off one side of her costume exposing her right breast for a second. Yes, very ironic with the lyrics. After this incident, There was much controversy over whether Justin accidently or deliberately ripped the costume. After watching a video on YouTube of this halftime show today, I realized it looked deliberate and meaningful. Even though this occurred seven years ago, it’s still a memory that pops in my head every time I watch the halftime show on Superbowl Sunday. Even though most shows since then have been unenjoyable for a younger population, I was really excited this year to hear that the Black Eyed Peas were performing during halftime. I was especially excited because I love their new song “The Time” and just because all their songs are fun to listen to in general.  However, I was a little disappointed with Fergie’s voice and performance.  Despite this fact, I thought it was a step-up from years past.  I have hated hearing people complain about Fergie’s performance though this week. Even though she sounded less than amazing, you have to take into account where she was performing. The Superbowl is in my opinion the biggest sports event of the year and most Americans even if they don’t care at all about football watch this game. I really get frustrated when all people do is point out the flaws in a performance such as this one. Even though Fergie’s voice was weak, the performance was not horrible and reached out to all Americans. I do have to say that Usher killed it though and was my favorite part. Moral of the story is that people don’t realize how hard it is to put on a show in front of millions of viewers. I definitely couldn’t sing in front of this many people. I am excited for the halftime show next year already, and I do have to end with this…GO PACKERS!!!!

Like this Blog

Facebook: the definition of procrastination in my book. I love the fact I get to socially network with friends from all over, but honestly I could live without it most of the time. However, it seems like others live their lives through Facebook everyday. There are multiple things people do on Facebook that drives me crazy. I know I’m guilty at times, but I just have a couple pet peeves.  First of all, this whole posting a single picture for thirty days is weird. As much as I love photos of myself, it’s a little obsessive to post a unique photo from your life every day. As it may look like a fun scrapbook of memories, it’s a sorry cry for attention in some cases. Another thing that drives me insane is 50,000 notifications of people liking pages. Everyone loves ice cream so you don’t have to like a page to show everyone. Next is the fact that some people always have song lyrics as their status. Yeah, we get that song is either your favorite or something depressing that describes your life, but come on..learn how to post something else interesting. A status every hour is also not necessary. Go read a book or go to the gym. Also, excessive bragging as well as sappy depression statuses only make you feel better..not the rest of Facebook. The weird photo tags with characters and words are sometimes funny but they get old. What’s the point of tagging yourself in your own photos? I know occasionally I have done so because I want it to show up in my tagged photos but tagging yourself in two-hundred photos in one album is a bit dramatic.  Along with multiple tagged photos, a changing profile picture every day or so is also annoying. When you have more profile pictures than tagged photos, it’s a problem.  So your relationship is Facebook official? That means nothing. Just because you write “I love you” on your honey’s wall everyday doesn’t make your relationship stronger. Finally DRAMA on Facebook is uncalled for. Learn how to talk to people in person instead of being “cool” by posting something  mean about them. So the point of this is not to yell at anyone in particular but just list my Facebook pet peeves. I am guilty of a few at times but try not to live on Facebook. Does anyone else have any specific pet peeves on Facebook?

Déjà vu

It blows my mind how it's been a year since I found out about my acceptance to UNC. My little brother as well as girlfriend were accepted to UNC last Friday. This time last year I was filled with a lot of pressure, apphrension, and excitement. I didn't know what to expect when applying to UNC last year. It was my first choice and what I had dreamed of since I was little. The moment I got my acceptance I immediately knew this is where I needed to be. I always wonder what separated me from the other thousands of students who got rejected. Although I had impressive grades, a heavy course load, and multiple school and community involvement with leadership roles, my SAT score was lacking what it needed to be. Did coming from a smaller high school and smaller city really increase my odds of getting in? This occurred me last Friday when I found out that one of my best friends from Governor’s School was rejected from UNC. This girl, in my opinion, was more than qualified for UNC. I don’t want to go in details of every reason that leads me to this conclusion, but I do want to mention that she attends a big high school in a major city in North Carolina. She said that around sixty students from her high school get accepted every year. I was extremely shocked when I heard of her rejection but this is the first and only conclusion I can come to. There were six students that were accepted from my high school last Friday. Personally I find my friend more qualified than all of them. Another example of this is my brother’s girlfriend who got deferred last week. She has a higher SAT and AP scores than my brother. So the point I’m trying to prove is that smaller in-state qualified students have the best chance of getting accepted. I hate to say it, but I believe it helped me last year. Even though I feel qualified for UNC from every aspect, my scores did not match with the average. So my question is…what is the most important thing UNC looks at..or does it depend on the individual and where they come from? This I know is not that interesting of a question, but recent events have caused me to wonder. Does anyone have a specific opinion?