Friday, February 28, 2014

Horror Film, The Sports of the Gods, Balancing, Rainstorm


I noticed the lights flickering at work once the rain started to pick up. Each drop became more vicious hitting the ground like it owed the sky something. I left the door open,  just so I wouldn't feel lonely and the rain could accompany me watching the clock's hands move cautiously. I tried turning on the computer to check the schedule for today, but it was static, which was strangely fascinating. I had to turn it off before I got sucked in. I decided to finish reading my book entitled "The Sport of the Gods" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. After several pages, the thunder became the rain's accomplice, and interrupted my reading. I went outside to watch them high-jack the day. Several minutes past and I decided to retire to reading again until the phone rang. I answered "Steve Morris Defensive Driving School this is Kiki..." and nobody answered. The lights flickered once more, while the phone rang. This time I could hear someone getting out of their car, they hung up. I looked outside from my desk and rain picked up again.

I decided to write my day at work as a horror movie. This actually happened though, the phone rang, lights flickered, and the computer was static. I texted my friend and told her I was in a scene from a horror film. It sounds more mysterious when I describe it this way. Oh and I finished reading "The Sports of the Gods" by Dunbar, it was pretty amazing, I finished it in three days.


This week was been tough for me because I've been trying to balance work, school, my social life, and making time for myself. I also haven't' been giving myself enough time to sleep, which explains my erratic behavior. Sleep is pretty important as well as taking take to be with family and friends. (Jaz, Cookie, and I on the left) I hope everyone is enjoying this rain, Santa Barbara really needed it. Here's my ultimate rain storm playlist:

"When it Rains" By Paramore,
"Eavesdrop" The Civil Wars
"Distance" Christina Perri
"Same Old Sam Old" The Civil Wars
"The Cave" Mumford and Sons
"A Beautiful Mess" by Jason Mraz
"Route Around" by Rebelution
"I Wanna Be Yours" Arctic Monkeys
"No Letter" Iration,
"Only Excpetion" Paramore,
"Gravity" Sara Bareilles
"Thinkin Bout You" Frank Ocean

(My beautiful backyard taking a break from the rain)

I absolutely obsessed with "Route Around"
by Rebelution, definitely my favorite song at the moment. Well have a great weekend, catch up on your sleep, and maybe try to start your homework on Sunday morning, instead of Sunday evening. Just a suggestion.

-KIKI REYES 

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Deadlines, Job Fair, Monday

Hello everyone, I hope your finally adjusting to school now that we're entering week four. If you're not, well I'm sorry.
 
Here are some important deadlines I want to remind you about:
These are due by next week!
 
Also if your looking for a job or internship there's a fair going on Wednesday, February 26 10am-12pm on the West Campus walk way! These are great opportunities and I suggest you guys take advantage of them. If your indecisive about applying for a scholarship, do it anyways it never hurts to try, this includes FAFSA too. For example, I actually wasn't going to apply to schools for Fall 2014 and I ended up being admitted to a CSU. Moral of the story, take a chance if its there, because its there for a reason...


Also for different perspectives on Santa Barbara City College, check out some of my colleague's blogs:
http://www.sbcc.edu/socialnetworks/studentstories/


Happy Procrastination Sunday, hope you have a great week!


- KIKI REYES



Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Celebrities hide in Santa Barbara, Weekend, Procrastination, I Can't

Santa Barbara seriously does attract not just tourists, but celebrities.

I'm not a huge fan of this particular boy band, or maybe not a fan of any boy band... Okay Backstreet Boys were my favorite several centuries ago. My friend, Andrew came over to my house, so we could record my sister's dance music for her performance in a showcase entitled "Legacy" in June (I'll keep you updated on that). And he told me casually that he met a certain teen pop sensation named Harry Styles. I was like your kidding right? He showed me his picture of him and Harry. Apparently, this One Directioner was at Franklin Elementary for the Menudo Festival. I thought to myself, Why? I checked on edhat.com and google to see if the paparazzi got any photos of him in town and nothing... And that's why they come here to escape the horror of Hollywood. 

(Harry and Andrew picture above) I told him he should of asked Harry Styles to come collaborate with us at my house. 


So my four day weekend, that was suppose to used for catching up on homework, turned into a huge procrastinational mess. On the bright side I was able to relax and catch up on my sleep sorta... My sister came for the weekend as always, but this semester we're trying to alternate. I visited her last weekend, which was a disaster because I got so sick. As you can see we are extremely close so its important we have our "sister bonding time." The picture below was taken last month during the Martin Luther King Performance at the Arlington. 
I hope your weekend was adventurous and random, like mine was. Here's a quote I want to leave you guys with "It always seems impossible until its done" its by Nelson Mandela. It's true right now I feel like getting all this work done is impossible, but once I get past the negativity its going to feel rewarding when I actually get it done. 

-KIKI REYES

P.S: This is a new song I wrote and probably my favorite one I've written this year. It's called "I can't" https://soundcloud.com/kikisrey/i-cant-kiki-reyes

Friday, February 14, 2014

Acting Class, Brave, Valentine's Day


Something that has been inspiring me lately, is my acting class. Three weeks ago I was extremely awkward in front of my classmates, but I'm suddenly seeing myself improve in my confidence and my public speaking. I guess I didn't find the point in taking risks because I was afraid of failure or in this case freezing and stuttering my words in front of my class. I'm not sure why people imagine other people in their underwear to face public speaking I think that would make me even more uncomfortable. Anyways, this class has made me dismiss any thoughts of people criticizing me because the only way to be a better actor is to loosen up and push yourself out of your comfort zone. I mean I don't think I'll be the next Jennifer Lawrence, but at least acting will help me with my confidence. (To the left is the recent acting skit we had to do, it was an hour in your life. You had to list ten things you do in one hour. I chose 5:30-6:30pm after work and the actions I do include, changing into sweats right when I get home from work, tuning my guitar, starting homework, and dancing around like a maniac. You can imagine me acting these out right?)


I was able to introduce this class to my musical side. We had to present who we are right now, so I sang them a song that makes me who I am today. This song is entitled "Brave" by Sara Bareilles. Some of the lyrics are so inspirational and while singing this song I myself felt so moved, I even teared up. I'm so relieved my classmates enjoyed it and I might just post up a video of me covering it this song. Might :)



I hope you all had a random Valentine's day. All I wanted was a heart-shaped pizza from Rusty's and I got it! I hope your weekend plans go swell.

-KIKI REYES

 



 

Saturday, February 8, 2014

#SBCCLOVE


So in honor of Valentine's Day, we would like to know what you LOVE about Santa Barbara City College!

Go to instagram and take a picture regarding what you love about SBCC using the hash tag #sbcclove

Then, follow the official SBCC Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SantaBarbaraCityCollege)

*The winner's picture will be posted on Thursday February 13th 3pm sharp on the Official SBCC FB page!

-KIKI REYES

Santa Barbara Film Festival 2014, Leonardo Dicaprio, Prankster hugs again



My favorite actor and celebrity crush, Leonardo Dicaprio made an appearance at the Santa Barbara Film Festival last night (Thursday Feb. 6). Leo and Director Martin Scorsese came to accept the Cinema Vanguard Award. I had a tough week adjusting my schedule for spring semester because I suddenly began feeling the pressure of doing better than last semester and I also felt a bit overwhelmed by the few faces in my classes and the new first impressions I had to make. It's chaos. One thing that was holding me together was seeing Leonardo walk into the Arlington Theatre, where I had a dance performance just last month. It sounds sort of ridiculous, but I'm sure everyone is a fan of a band, actor, director, writer, etc.

The actors usually make their appearance at around 7:40 in the evening before walking into the theatre. I got to the railing at about 6:20 and it was packed. I think the time to start claiming your spot was around 5 or 5:30 and I had just gotten off of work at that time. The only thing I was determined was to get a picture for my blog to show you guys how hectic it is but how amazing that celebrities like Leo are able to take time out of their crazy schedules to come to Santa Barbara.

While waiting a few celebrities walked by including Karina Smirnof and Jonah Hill (Picture on the Left). Suddenly, the third black SUV came and the dashing Leo finally made his appearance. At this point the crowd went insane pushing through the railing and fighting the security guards. They were not able to hold the crowd back. This was when famous prankster Vitalii Sediuk jumped on Leo and hugged him near his legs. This was one of his many pranks including his inappropriate kiss on Will Smith, during the 2012 premiere of Men and Black 3 (http://www.eonline.com/news/508495/leonardo-dicaprio-gets-his-crotch-hugged-at-the-santa-barbara-international-film-festival-see-the-pic).

Comes to show what the Santa Barbara Film Festival attracts, many famous celebrities. Aren't you glad you live here? Or are at least considering to live here?

- KIKI REYES


 
Here's the Video Enjoy!
(Video Credit: Martin Pascual)
 

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Santa Barbara Friday Night, Santa Barbara Film Fest 2014, Westmont Performers

I would describe Santa Barbara as a cultural city. For example the intrigue Spanish architecture we have displayed here in town and the diverse crowds of people one can see walking downtown. And that's where I was this weekend embracing the cultural environment in downtown Santa Barbara. This was the first weekend of Santa Barbara Film Festival, which attracted many people from all over, to our movie theaters, specially the Arlington (http://sbiff.org/). I was fortunate to meet Amy Adams last year, while interning with the Festival. I was also able to meet Jennifer Lawrence and Ben Affleck, they were so modest and humble.
 
This was the perfect weekend to display your talent for massive crowds of movie goers. Santa Barbara has many talented street performers, not just on these weekends, but every weekend. My friend, Alexia and my sister Jasmine, and I decided to get frozen yogurt at the popular, Yogurtland, and went for a walk this Friday. We suddenly came across a group of musicians singing a song entitled, "Rivers and Roads" by The Head and the Heart, and decided to sit down and listen to them for what we thought would be one more song. We got completely mesmerized by their enriching singing voices that intertwined so beautifully with their instruments (Guitar, drums, viola, violin, even ukulele) . They displayed an emotionally performance of many crowd requested songs including, "My Girl" by The Temptations and "A Team"  by Ed Sheeran.  I talked to them during their brief breaks and they told me they were all Westmont students and were all apart of the music department there.




(Right to Left) John-Vocals/ Percussion, Katrina- Viola, Emily- Chello/vocals, and Trey- Guitar/Vocals                       




(Right to Left) Trey, Michelle- Percussion/vocals, Martin-Violin, and Lalia-Violin   

(Video above is a song they dedicated to all the ladies in the crowd, " Love Song" by Taylor Swift) You could only imagine the crowd of people they attracted. A couple sat next to us and watched the performers for a song or two. They were a man and women, who looked like they could of been visiting for the weekend. I noticed the women had some sort of disability because she had a cane in her hand and her partner was helping her walk. Soon, I saw them slow dancing passionately and enjoying each other's company. The women started crying while holding on to her boyfriend, and I suddenly realized what her disability was. She was blind. I, myself began to hold back tears, but I felt at peace listening to these gifted musicians and witnessing such a powerful moment. Crying was essential at this performance, but I suddenly started to cry of laughter because of a new friend we met that night. He was also watching the performance and sat in place where the couple were before they left. I think we were there for an hour until it got a little late then we all expected. The performers ended with "Rivers and Roads" and we all headed our separate ways.


 
Jaz, Alexia, and I went back to my house to re-watch the Grammy's that took place last weekend. This was a great night, a night I'd like to call a Friday in the Beautiful Santa Barbara surrounded my many amazing people.
 
-KIKI REYES
P.S: My Westmont friends said they perform every other Friday near Macy's