Day Fifteen: Selfie Photo Manipulation

6/30/15, 11:14 PM PDT

Today, I found out that UCLA Athletics' Student Section had a selfie contest for people who were buying their den passes last minute.

Free hats, hmm?

Luckily for me, I completely put off buying my Den Pass until the very last day, so I got to be one of the few people eligible to compete in this. I saw that one of the criteria was "funniest" selfie. So, using my background in video editing, I took this very strange, cringe-worthy selfie...

Ignore the Post-It note on my webcam or the fact that I have a look of
pure despair in my eyes.

Into this, equally strange, much more cringe-worthy picture.

Jesus Christ.

YES. I KNOW IT'S A HORRIBLE PICTURE. But let me explain my design process. So after I took that selfie, I realized that I had accidentally clipped off the top part of my head. I was too stubborn to retake the picture, so instead I tried to cover it up with something.

I didn't want a repeat of this picture where the hat was so obviously fake, So instead, I opted to cover it with a more reasonable beret. Then, I thought, since I had the beret, might as well put me in France so it makes sense, right? So I slapped the Eiffel Tower right behind me.

Then I thought, that's not a very funny or memorable picture, so I slapped the mustache and the (really crappy) cloud art behind it. And, as the French people say, voila.

Fifteen minutes, and some serious deliberation later, I decided to scrap the Eiffel Tower idea completely and go for something ridiculous to blow the judge's socks off.

This was the result.

Yes, that is USC on fire behind me. Yes, Godzilla is a Bruin.

After posting it on Twitter (and getting a boatload of likes)...

The Den tweeted this out:

It's even better when you can see the gif.

Helllllll yeaaaaaaaah.

Later today, I went to Sam's house to meet some of her family members that were staying for two weeks. One of her cousins drew this picture of us:

BMOM stands for "Batman  or Michael." Because my voice was so deep
they decided to call me Batman when they first met me.

I'd say for the most part, it's pretty accurate. We're both squares, and I'm at least a tiny bit taller than she is. Telling you, this cousin's going places.

Afterwards, we all baked brownies, ate said brownies, and finished off the day with karaoke. One of Sam's cousins decided to sing this song:

Although soon after, the mic got handed to me because I had the deepest voice in the house. So I turned the knob on my throat to the "angry smoker" setting and sang my best Louis Armstrong impression.

They were laughing pretty hard whenever I sang "What a wonderful world" so I don't know whether or not I did a good job on that song.

What I do know is that I got some GREAT footage of Sam singing a certain Taylor Swift song...

RFotD: Samantha actually entered a Taylor Swift lookalike competition. She came in 5th, but she would have ended up in last place had it not been for her stellar moves.

Day Seven: Kazoo Hero

6/18/13, 11:10 AM PDT

Watched a bit of The Amazing Spider-Man on TV today. I don't understand why everyone hates that movie, I think it's a great new perspective on Spider-Man, much more loyal to the original comic too. But I guess people just love Tobey Maguire and Mary Jane and Green Goblin.

Don't get me wrong, I love Raimi's trilogy, but I like the new one so much more.

Anyway, gonna be finishing my story today. Lot of work left to do on it because of how unmotivated I've been, so wish me luck!



Same day, 4:01 PM PDT

Ended up procrastinating even more. Started out watching the Spill review for The Purge just to see if I agree or disagree with their opinions and inevitably, that spiraled into TWO HOURS of watching Spill reviews, which eventually led to a hell of a lot more procrastination.

Now I'm back on track, typing away at the rewrite of The Purge. Don't you worry.



Same day, 8:52 PM PDT

Lots and lots and LOTS of work to be done on my story. Jeez, I procrastinated WAY too much. Curse you, Skype Group for being so entertaining with your karaoke parties and your Tumblies. *shudders*

Oh, more on the karaoke, absolutely ROCKED IT. Even at songs that I didn't know, I always got in top three out of the four of us. Always got first place except for one song, "Skyfall" by Adele, because Kayla practices that song in the shower and Angela used her AutoTune there.

Yep, I just rock. My vocal prowess is unmatched.

Well... vocals prowess and kazoo skills. And it's not even really a kazoo, more like a comb and a piece of paper, which is a pretty viable substitute.



Same day, 10:16 PM PDT

Realized that I forgot to exercise today, so I did a few push ups, sit ups, and a few parkour related exercises with ridiculous names. Seriously, my coaches come up with the strangest names for exercises. Salmon jumps? Diddy kongs? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

To be honest, a salmon jump looks exactly how it sounds like. You go in a squatting position, jump up, flop your body like a salmon, and return to starting position. It sounds silly, but my coaches say "it works out your abs and your legs at the same time." I guess it works because after a few of those, my stomach ached. Or maybe that's because I swallowed an entire chicken drumstick a few minutes ago, can't really tell.

As for Diddy kongs... they're too weird to describe, you have to see it.

Also, a bit disappointed that I won't be going to the Del Mar fair with the Skype Group, but I guess it's a bittersweet thing since I'm getting my braces off that day and I do get a lot of time to work on my stories which I haven't been able to do for a lot of summer, so there's that.

Still would rather go to Del Mar though, but my parents are complaining that I'm doing too many things with my friends even though they complain all the time that I'm on the computer 24/7. But I guess that's life, all about finding the perfect balance.

Ooh, random thing that just popped up in my head, I should learn to be more social. I'm gonna go talk to random people when I pick up/drop off my sister tomorrow.





RFotD: At 325 pounds, William Howard Taft (1857-1930), who was dubbed “Big Bill,” was the largest president in American history and often got stuck in the White House bathtub. His advisors had to sometimes pull him out.

SGAT: None yet.