J. Biebz

Justin Bieber, the international 17-year-old teen pop-star phenomenon, has experienced an unprecedented amount of worldwide fame and success over the past year. His career is a perfect example of how social media has proven to be a major vehicle of globalization over the past decade. As the world continues to become more interconnected and geographic distances continue shrinking due to our growing use and dependency on the internet, social media and entertainment sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are thriving.  Justin Bieber comes from a small town in Canada where he entered a singing competition and his mother uploaded videos of his performances on YouTube to share them with family members who lived in other cities. Scooter Braun, a young rising record executive in Atlanta, was searching the web one day to look for interesting videos on YouTube and he came across a video of Justin that had reached a couple thousand views. After hearing the angelically pure voice of this fourteen year old boy, Braun knew he had to get a hold of this undiscovered raw talent. He hounded the family via contacting Justin's school, family members, friends, and even local government officials until Justin's mother agreed to come down to Atlanta on an all expense paid trip to explore Justin's potential future in the music business. Justin recorded a few songs in the studio, met some record executives and producers, signed with Def Jam Records, and the rest is history. Topping the charts of iTunes downloads and making appearances on the front cover of  the most popular magazines every week, Justin has gotten a taste of what it feels like to be on top. With the recent wrapping up of his worldwide My World tour, the premier of his MTV film "Never Say Never", and a rapidly growing fan base following him on Twitter, Facebook, and of course, YouTube, Justin shows no signs of stopping. He has collaborated with music sensations such as rapper Ludacris, Sean Kingston, and most recently with Rascal Flatts in his song "That Should Be Me." While he is the teen heartthrob that has captured the hearts of people spanning from all nationalities, ages, and musical tastes, Justin still acknowledges and respects his roots. He knows that he would not be where he is without the support of his fans, who feel as though they were the very ones who discovered him on their home computers on YouTube a couple of years ago. His humility, irresistible charm, incredible musical talents, and of course that gorgeous head of hair has caused the multitudes to experience an epidemic that can only be described as "Bieber fever" and it seems as though there's only more "Beliebers"to come in the future.

Spring Break...what else?

Obviously spring break is coming up and I almost can't contain myself. The thought of having well no thoughts is incredibly exciting. I can literally stare at a wall for hours thinking of nothing, doing nothing, and feel completely unashamed. There won't be any tests, papers, or other various college issues to deal with. Fortunately, I won't do that. But the fact that I have that option is great. Since you are all clearly extremely interested in how I'll be passing these lovely ten days of glory, I'll tell you. First, this afternoon, at roughly 4:15 I'll be shuttled to the pisgah national forest in the north carolina mountains to embark on a staff backpacking trip. I'm looking forward to being completely cut off from society, no phone, no facebook, none of that nonsense. It's only for four days however, I return monday evening only to drive to my hometown, Charlotte. Queen city :) My stay will be short lived as I head to Flo Rida the following tuesday morning. Then it's rest and relaxation to my hearts content. There are always classic beach activities I enjoy doing with the family. We always put up a puzzle to entertain ourselves when the sun gets too overwhelming and we need an excuse to be indoors. Fishing with this massive net, even though I don't enjoy seafood it's still fun to fish! Ah the childhood memories.

Speaking of childhood memories, I know everyone has those random sentimental smells or games that bring them straight back to the glory days. My childhood can be summed up in a few words. Candyland and The Fox and the Hound. Favorite board game and favorite movie. At least when I was little. Apparently I watched the fox and the hound 8 times in one day. My movie addiction started early. Some things never change, I can watch the same movie over and over again like it's my job. I watched Slumdog Millionaire every night for a week and Shakespeare in Love I could literally watch on repeat continuously. There are some movies that just never get old for me. I'm a sucker, I gotta say. Amongst my other favorite movies are 127 hours and the diving bell and the butterfly. Haven't seen those quite as many times, but I would never turn down an opportunity to watch them. I'm afraid this blog has been pretty self-centered. Sorry for chatting about myself and only myself. I'll be more engaging next time.

The Great Debate

I think it's time we brought everything out into the open. The elephant in the room, at topic that actually most people discuss but nobody ever steps up to the plate and confronts the issue. North campus vs. South campus. What's the deal? When I visited last year, checking out the campus and whatnot, I stayed with a girl living in granville one night and I stayed with a girl who lived in Eringhaus the other. Polar opposites I must say. North and South are extremely different feels. Maybe that's where the tension comes from? Who knows. Anyways, my friend who lived in granville hardly even knew how to direct me to the Pit...and my friend who lived on south campus complained incessantly about the snobs on north. That one weekend and my initial exposure to UNC was just the beginning. I live on south campus, but most of my friends live on north campus, so I'd like to say I get a vibe from both. Many of the people who live on my hall make snide remarks about those in granville who are basically "living in a hotel," or don't ever leave their "granville bubble." While when I visit my friends who are supposedly living in luxury, they constantly make jokes that I live on another galaxy, 13542352 miles away. A dorm is just a dorm. Why must we stereotype so harshly? Part of me says yes, those on north don't usually venture to south campus and when they do it's like touring the zoo. Part of me says yes, those on south can get over themselves and stop complaining about north campus and how "nice it is" we could live there too if we wanted. Can't we all just meet in polk place and hold hands? Maybe I'm the only one who thinks there is such tension, but I'm pretty sure it exists. Coming from a small private school with the majority of those living in granville, most familiar with my school assume I live there too and insta-judge me. I often get a little eyebrow raise when I tell them I call Craige my home. Let's just move on and call it a day.

Ps. I hope I didn't offend anybody. Like I said, a dorm is just a dorm. Soon we will all just be living in apartments and houses and there won't be any feud between the north and south poles.

Weeeee. Kend

My oh my, where to begin? First of all, I was pretty pumped starting out friday because we just found out MARY COOPER! has advanced to the the runoff round of elections. These elections have been a little crazy, with the lawsuits the threats and the 4-legged animals. I genuinely hope Mary Cooper comes out on top after this friday. She has the students' best interests at heart and she would be a fabulous presidente! Anywho, psyched about the elections, I powered through the weekly econ quiz and had all day to relax in the GORGEOUS weather. I almost got a little tan line going woop woop. I knew in the back of my head dance marathon wasn't going to let me completely appreciate the day. I took a solid nap, and prepared for the evening.

SO MUCH FUN. I've never been to a rave, but I can imagine it would be something like dance marathon, except sober. They did play some songs repetitively, I might know every word to Club Can't Handle Me by now. I dug the line dance too. Mighty creative those dance leaders are. Now, disclaimer, I had planned on leaving early, meaning I wasn't fully equipped for the full 24 hours. No toothbrush, deodorant, change of clothes, etc. I must admit, the 1-4 am stretch was rough for me. Sometimes I would rather just dance than stand around and watch other people talking or dancing or singing. It kept me off my feet, which were somehow already swollen. Btw, Robbie, excellent run-in mid-marathon :) Anywho, my friend got reeeeally sick and I asked the people at the front desk if I could walk her back (it was 2 am at this point). they were hesitant and argued for a while but eventually I was able to breach the fortified volunteer walls. Once my friend was safe and sound at Craige, I surprised myself and turned back around to dance some more. The cool air felt amazing compared to the stuffy gym. After returning to the 2 gyms, I slowly regretted my decision. As the guy who looked like my high school english teacher in a sweatervest played the guitar, I slipped into the "game room." I hula hooped for a good hour. Excellent ab workout. I colored. I got really into a puzzle, but I must say it was a tough one too. I sorted out the brick pieces, kind of a big deal. Then, I started slipping. I was losing it. I turned to bouncing a tennis ball against the wall. I've never felt like I was in an insane asylum before. I had to do something. My partner in crime and I knew we had to make a change.

At 6 30, there would be a sunrise walk to Kenan stadium. We devised a plan to sneak away from the group mid-sunrise walk and make a run back to our dorms, at the 12 hour mark. I probably shouldn't be sharing this information, but I believe my prison break is worth recording. After scoping out all exits, we discovered that by the women's bathroom, there was a small opening in the sheet/curtain by the front door. We gathered our things, and casually peeled back the curtain. A mere 5 feet away was the exit. Acting like we belonged, we slipped out the front door, hoping on our life the volunteers wouldn't question us. As soon as we got out that door, I've never run so fast in my entire life. What an adrenaline rush. Unfortunately, our safe pathway to freedom was blocked by herders of dance marathon moralers directing people to kenan stadium. We turned around and sprinted around the bell tower, behind the stone center, and around kenan stadium. On the other side of kenan, we got curious and decided to stay and watch the sunrise from our own point of view. My first all nighter. Excellent, excellent weekend.

What to do?

So I normally wouldn't advocate not paying attention in class, but I'm getting desperate. I have exhausted my options of sporcle.com addictinggames.com MLIA.com whenparentstext.com and many other time wasters. I have already covered the daily doses of word scramble, minute morsel, and word ladder from sporcle.com. I have done roughly every single possible disney sporcle puzzle. I have played playing with fire one too many times. MLIA just isn't funny anymore, I'm immune to it's humor. Texts from last night? that got old after one class period. I was never obsessed with FML so it still has some magic every now and then. But I thought the internet was supposed to have the world's largest collection of time-killers, distractors, and basically biggest wastes of my life! Come on internet, step up your game as I sit here listening to my economics professor drone about the total marginal benefit and opportunity costs. No worries english class, I never feel the urge to whip out my comp and sneak a peak at facebook. But those large lecture halls are oh so tempting. I've never skipped a class in my entire life btw. Fun fact about me. There are moments when I believe I could genuinely spend my time more efficiently than distracting myself with almost humorous one-liners.

Is anyone excited for Dance Marathon? For those of you who have signed over your soul for 24 hours, please come cry with me. February could possibly be the busiest month of the year, and dance marathon just happens to land in the middle of it? excellent. If anybody wants to leave at 12 noon on saturday, come find me. I will be making a run for it. By that point it will be for the sake of my sanity. I will be so incredibly decrepit that I will most likely be willing to do anything to escape the flow of peppy moralers. Then, I will proceed to sleep for 24 hours straight, maybe it will be a nice balance. Doubtful. I don't mean to sound like too much of a downer, I'm all for fundraising and dancing around for maybe 8 hours. But I face two midterms the following week, and not even my English 102 boyfriend will be able to drag me from such a level of fatigue. Sorry for complaining so much. I don't suppose this blog is an intended vent page. On the other hand, the weather it beautiful! Go outside and get some Vitamin D.

Loco Pops

The only reason the title of this blog is loco pops is because Trang has a loco pops sticker on the top of her laptop. That's all. I don't think I've ever had a loco pop actually, well one was offered to me but it was pumpkin flavored...ew. Don't get me wrong, I love pumpkin pie, especially right after exams in december. Nothing beats coming home from the most ridiculous week of examinations to a wood burning fire, a cup of hot cocoa, an adorable cat to curl in your lap, and a wonderful slice of pumpkin pie. I'm getting nostalgic because it's cold outside, february is a rough month for weather. Winter isn't exciting anymore like it is in January and December, but you know spring won't really kick in until late March. It's rough. Plus, one owns only so many sweaters. Zilla is the name of my cat, by the way. I only have a small obsession with my big ball of white fur. My brother named him Catzilla, after the demon cat from our childhood favorite movie, Mousehunt. Now he is just Zilla, so fierce. I'm offended by those cat haters. They've probably never even met a great cat, or they had a bad run-in as a young lad. The cat vs. dog debate will never end I'm afraid. If you want an idea of what my cat looks like, I google imaged this one. I hope it's not too creepy I'm posting pics of other people's cats...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2164/2305175514_32a2450c4e.jpg

But that's actually what he looks like. :) We feed him well. I had tried to refrain from talking about my cat this soon into the blogging process, but it appears I failed.

A few weeks ago, my brother (junior at UNC) approached me and requested we put together the ultimate indoor coed soccer team. My competitive nature said YES. I recruited some girls, and he recruited some guys. Now, the only thing we lack, is a team name. Feel free to help out if you have any suggestions. Also, if you are considering entering coed intramural indoor soccer this spring, watch out. You have been warned that the (insert team name here) will crush you. Kinda cute right? brother and sister coming together with the common goal of intramural domination. Well, my s'mores poptart is calling my name, along with the preparation of my speech for english. Btw, I picked up the suit my mom sent me, I'm gona look snazzay.

The Jamba

So here I am staring regretfully at the "strawberries wild" I just purchased from the infamous Jamba Juice. Yea, it's a decent flavor. But that's just it, it's decent. I hummed and hawed between strawberries wild and caribbean passion for a good 8 minutes but am now deeply regretting my decision. Too late now. For a moment I considered pulling a satisfaction guarantee slight but that would be a "female dog" move. I have heard of people storming into the grocery store after their roast beef seemed slightly spoiled and they are given a weeks supply of said roast beef to keep them from complaining further. One girl even sent a letter to the M&M company out of frustration because her bag of m&ms didn't have the printed M on her chocolatey morsels and she was given literally a lifetime supply of M&Ms. Companies are so weird.

But none of this solves my Jamba problem. I suppose it's only a fruit smoothie...however I paid 3.72 for this concoction of strawberries, bananas, sherbet, and immunity booster and on a college budget, you don't want that go to to waste. This was supposed to tide me over until tonight when I could munch on my stash of Luna bars and stale bagel crumbs. I'm too scared to delve into my roommate's collection of lettuce and carrots that I swear she grew straight out of her garden hidden by the backside of Craige dorm. I wouldn't want to eat away the hard work she has put into cultivating her lettuce bundles. I'm actually kidding here, she doesn't have a garden behind Craige. But she does fill our fridge with healthy organic food that puts my piles of poptarts and popcorn bags to shame. I envy those with the self discipline to survive on a vegan lifestyle. I would give anything to be able to consume this simple Jamba Juice and tell myself I am eating healthy but I can't even get past this simple task. I know everyone has that friend who is roughly 45 pounds and complains about the HUGE breakfast of half a cup of cheerios. Not cool. I would rather be oblivious to the obnoxious amount of food I inhale each day. Now I sound like such a girl. I eat a lot and I'm proud of it! And yet, the blend of fruits and chemically enhanced sweeteners isn't appetizing right now. Maybe I should stop worrying about food and fill my time with better things to do. Like my annotated bibliography? I think so.