oiceTheI r v i n g t o n H i g h S c h o o l - F r e m o n t , C a l i f o r n i a

Photos: Selina Mahesri

ihsvoice.com Volume 18.4 February 11th, 2010

Maine-iacs, Tree Huggers and Vikings Unite!

Ritmo Latino: A Celebration of Latin American CultureThe sixth Annual Ritmo Latino show raises $5000 for college scholarships and Haiti earthquake victimsBy Raji Ramanathan

Wong and junior Vansh Jain, the hosts for the night. One of the highlights of the show includes the opening dance, “El Ritmo No Perdona”, a Reggaeton dance, choreographed by MeChA club members senior Julia Cerna and sophomore Maritza Padilla. Mr. Alberto Ballado’s fourth period class performed a classic Merengue piece. Irvington’s Indo-Pak Club came into the limelight to dance for a Latin/Indian fusion song. Led by junior Sonia Patel, dancers hit the stage for a Michael Jackson tribute- “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough,” in Michael Jackson’s classical stage costume.

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“Ritmo Latino, lasting for two days, went very successfully this year,” said Mr. Ballado. “We were almost sold out both nights and instead of just using the money on MEChA student scholarships, we also decided to donate $1,000 to Haiti.” The show raised over $5,000 this year, five times last year’s amount. Act Two started off with a Quinceañera dance which was followed by junior Smitha Patibanda singing “Por Siempre Tu.” Belly dancers danced to “Whenever Wherever,” led by senior Lindsey Ricigliano, sophomore Brenda Gamboa and junior Gabriela Padilla.

A Hip-Hop routine, “Drop it on Me,” was followed by “Tu Sonrisa,” a Merengue dance performed by Mr. Ballado’s period six class. Mr. Ballado’s third period class performed a Bachata dance, “Si Me Dejas Muero.” The final act of the night was a Reggeaton and Cumbia mix known as “Mas Maiz”, which was choreographed by senior Gabriela Padilla, senior Michael Avina and sophomore Mariana Andrade. Junior Priyal Fadadu said, “As Mr. Ballado would say to us, ‘you better be there for next year’s Ritmo Latino, pancho’.”

Irvington High School was named America’s Greenest School during the 2008-2009 school year. Thanks to the efforts of current Juniors Alex Chen and Jasper Lin, who wrote the winning essay, Irvington was not only honored with the title of “Greenest School” but also won a $200,000 hybrid bus and a feature performance by The Maine. The five person band composed of John O’Callaghan on vocals, Kennedy Brock on rhythm guitar, Jared Monaco on lead guitar, Garrett Nickelsen on bass and Pat Kirch on drums played hit singles “I Must be Dreaming”, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” “Everything I Ask For” and “Girls do

What They Want”. As partners of the non-profit organization America’s Greenest School, the band flew in from their home in Phoenix to perform at Irvington.

“America’s Greenest School talked to us about their competition and we thought it was for a great cause so we were glad to help,” drummer Pat Kirch said, “This was our first time performing for a high school and we all thought it was really fun.” The Maine, formed in 2007, has one full-length album, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. In the past, they have toured alongside bands Boys Like Girls, Good Charlotte and Metro Station. A couple of hours earlier, the

plug-in hybrid school bus rolled on campus. Throughout the day, students got to enter the bus and go inside. According to both school administrators and district officials, Irvington does not have the certification or actual resources to house the bus on campus or to own and use it solely for IHS purposes. Instead, the FUSD has assumed control of the bus and will be allowing all schools to use it, for a certain price. Principal Pete Murchison has been working with district officials to award Irvington 12 free trips over the course of the next school year. Several IHS students agree that Irvington should get privileges regarding

bus rides as IHS students won the contest. “I think we deserve the bus more than the other schools, because it was our school that had implemented the energy saving changes that made [Alex and Jasper’s] essay win,” says junior Smitha Machinackial. Regardless of the amount of hybrid bus rides Irvington High eventually receives, one thing is clear: there will be one less yellow school bus spewing greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.

To read more about Irvington’s green advisory and Mr John’s experience on the TV show Living With Ed go to www.ihsvoice.com.

Top Left: The Maine, from left to right John O’Callaghan, Garrett Nickelson, Kennedy Brock, Jared Monaco, and Pat Kirch; Top Right: Alex Chen and Jasper Lin; Bottom Left: The Maine performing; Bottom Right: Alex Chen and Alex Chung

America’s Greenest School unveils a new hybrid bus and celebrates with a feature performance by The Maine

By Neetu Puranikmath and Selina Mahesri

On January 22nd and 23rd, parents and students spent an hour and a half inside Valhalla Theater to watch MEChA’s sixth annual Ritmo Latino, a cultural dance recital that showcases the Latin culture with a variety of performances. The different types of Latin dances included Reggaeton, Salsa, Cumbia and Merengue as well as a Bollywood dance by IHS’s Indopak. Junior Nicholas Yurong said, “I liked the different types of dances that they incorporated into Ritmo Latino.” The show kicked off with an introduction from senior Margaret

N2 | The Voice 18.4

ews

AP Calculus AB students were in for a surprise when they discovered that they are going to be taught by a new teacher for the rest of the school year. Mr. Gary Leinweber, who taught four periods of Calculus AB, will not be returning for an indefinite period of time due to health issues.

“It’s strange,” said junior Janine Myint. “There is a new way of teaching, a new grading system and new tests, so it has been a hard adjustment.”

For three weeks after winter break ended, the administration looked for possible qualified math teachers to teach

AP Calculus AB. Mrs. Beth Rothfuss, Mr. Clint Johns and Mr. Vincent Wu were some of the teachers considered for the post. Administrators finally reached a decision after considering these teachers’ schedules, and Mrs. Rothfuss and Mr. Wu began teaching in January. Students were asked to go to their respective new teacher’s classroom instead of their old classroom in Room 219.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wu gave up his Algebra 1 class to a substitute and Mrs. Rothfuss gave up her Honors Geometry class. She is now teaching five

AP courses in place of her old class schedule. Honors Geometry is taught by Ms. Anne Chung.

Junior Heeral Patel said, “It will be very difficult for us to change teachers for Calculus right before first semester ends, but it’s better to have a qualified teacher teach us than any substitute. Hopefully we’ll be fine by the AP testing time.”

As of now, Mrs. Rothfuss is teaching calculus periods three, five and six, while Mr. Wu is teaching period one. Both Mrs. Rothfuss and Mr. Wu will collaborate on making tests, forming lesson plans and getting the students adequately prepared for the AP tests as well as the new curriculum. Mr. Wu said, “It’s never easy to get a new class halfway through the year, but I’m getting to know my Calculus students.” The curriculum remained the same for the rest of the first semester, but the grading policy will be different from Mr. Leinweber’s. Being taught by a new teacher means a different teaching style that students will have to adapt to. Students predict that classes will proceed normally after first semester as the AP Calculus students get ready for AP testing and adjust to having a new teacher.

Calculus Gets Even More Confusing

AP Calculus AB students receive new teachersBy Divya Gowthaman

What happens when you mix red, white and blue (the colors of the Haitian flag and Irvington’s school colors)? You get students from Irvington High School helping out Haitians in their time of need. A handful of Irvington clubs are doing their part by raising funds to send over to the earthquake-stricken country. The Making Music! Club plans to organize a concert in order to raise money for Haiti. The Asian Club is doing its part by donating some of the money they have earned over the past few years to Haiti as well. The recent earthquake in Haiti, which occurred on January 12, 2010, around five o’ clock, is the strongest that has occurred since 1770. The seven-magnitude quake left three million people in need of emergency attention and aid. Approximately eighty percent of the ten million natives live under the poverty line and are forced to live on less than $2 a day. This developing country was just restored to a constitutional Democratic rule in 2006. Haiti does not have enough money to organize any type of military forces, making foreign aid even more critical. ASB and the French Club are collaborating in order to spread the word. Both are working together to inform the school about Haiti by educating the advisory classes with facts about the country as well as raising money for the impoverished country by placing donation boxes in every classrooms.

“French Club is planning to help Haiti as much as possible,” said club secretary Nicole Gronski, a junior. “Haiti is a French speaking country, so this directly relates to our club. We hope to spread the word and get more people involved.”

Key Club plans to sell ribbons in red and white or pink and white in order to raise money for the Haitians.

“There is no better way to combine Valentine’s Day and Haiti Relief,” said Key Club Vice President Nidhi Kaul, a junior, “because, after all, Key Club’s main goal is to help children all around the world.”

MEChA, Irvington’s Latin American student association, held their annual Ritmo Latino dance on the 22nd and 23rd of January 2010. The proceeds normally go to a senior scholarship, but in lieu with the recent earthquakes in Haiti, they decided to donate a portion of the money to the Haitians. MEChA also made donation buckets available during Ritmo Latino for anybody who wanted to spare a couple dollars for Haiti’s re-development.

Irvington students were also able to donate money in their advisory classes, making generosity easier than ever than ever before. ASB also held a two week sale in which a dollar would be donated to Haiti for every item they sold. Numerous students around school are doing their part to help out, so reach into your pockets, get out a spare dollar and help save a life.

Haiti’s Helping Hand Irvington students help HaitiBy Anooj Desai

Photo: Divya G

owtham

an

Mr. Wu teaching his new Calculus AB students

Text “Haiti” to 90999 and the Red Cross will charge $10 off of your next phone bill toward Haiti relief

Photo: Anooj Desai

Musical Melody for Helping Haiti Irvington High School’s Making Music! Club will be hosting a benefit concert on Monday, February 15th, featuring talented performers from the Fremont community as a fundraiser for the recent Haiti earthquake in January. With a range of styles from classical to popular, “A Concert for Haiti” will emphasize that aid is still desperately needed to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake rebuild their lives amidst the rubble of th recent catastrophe. “This is a great opportunity for Irvington students to make a difference for the victims in Haiti,” said senior Deborah Huang, a pianist. “We really hope you will come join us to make this charity concert a success!” With help from Irvington’s band teacher and club advisor, Mr. Charlie

Rodda, and the Thornton Avenue Baptist Church, Making Music started hosting auditions on February 3rd. “I feel like I am helping people who really needed it in Haiti,” said junior Jaclyn Tseng, who will sing in the concert. The concert will take place at the Thornton Avenue Baptist Church (4500 Thornton Avenue) from 7 to 9 PM. Tickets can be ordered from the performers or bought at the door for the price of $10 for general admission and $8 for students, seniors and military personnel. All proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross to help rebuild Haiti. “When we saw the anguished faces of the victims in Haiti,” said club president Alex Wang, “we felt we should take action to try to ease the suffering they are enduring. It is a big task, but we hope, with music, we would send our prayers to Haiti.”

Courtesy of Guest Writer, Junior Alex Wang

SFebruary 2010| 3

New

On Saturday January 30th, 24 teams from the Bay Area met at Sandia National Laboratories to compete in the regional qualifiers for the National Science Bowl. At Science Club’s main event of the year, Irvington was represented by two teams of five players each, with Mr. Alex Lee and Mrs. Beth Rothfuss as coaches. The A-team was comprised of sophomore Irving Hsu, juniors Denon Wong (captain) and Vishnu Sundaresan, and seniors Kyle Chiang and Quess Liu. They placed 4th overall behind Mission San Jose’s two teams and Grenada. The B-team was comprised of freshman Andrew Wang, sophomores Aileen Cheng and Anthony Ma (captain), junior Anand Lakshminarayan, and senior Alan Chan. They

qualified for the afternoon rounds, but placed 5th overall. Both teams remained undefeated until their final match of the round robin, losing against Grenada and California. In a round-robin format, each team plays every other opponent once. The top two teams advance. In the afternoon rounds, both teams were defeated by Grenada’s A-team, which narrowly lost to Mission San Jose in the final round. Science Bowl, sponsored by the United States Department of Energy, is a fast buzzer competition in which two opposing teams answer a

variety of science and math related questions. Subjects include all aspects of Earth Science, Astronomy, Physics (inc. particle, quantum, and relativistic), Biology, Chemistry (inc. organic), General Science (inc. computer science) and Math (up to calculus). Both teams are given five seconds for a toss-up question, answered individually without consulting team members. If correct, a team is given a 20-second bonus question. A round-robin format was used in the morning, with the best eight teams later competing in a double-elimination bracket in the afternoon. Only the top team qualifies for the national competition in Washington D.C., while trophies are awarded to the top three teams. This year, Mission San Jose won with a team of underclassmen.

This year, Irvington had over 30 students join Science Bowl, many of them underclassmen or juniors. In fact, only three seniors from this year’s teams will be graduating. President Kyle Chiang predicts that we will be stronger than ever next year. “Next year, we will take it even further than we did this year,” said Kyle. “As for my goal, I want to be able to make it to the National Science Bowl Competition in D.C. next year. I have also invited promising 8th graders to practice after school with us. That way, our freshmen will be more prepared.”

Science Bowl Swings to Success

IHS places 4th and 5th at Regional Science Bowl By Quess Liu

Photo: Ques Lui

On February 3rd, 2010, former Oakland Raider Bobby Brooks came to Irvington during advisory to speak on “The Power of the Dream.” Brooks, who played in the National Football League from 1999-2006 for the Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars, gave the students insight on what it was like growing up having to balance sports with academics. Valhalla was a full house as many IHS students did not want to miss this opportune event. Brooks’ 6’2, 240 lb. frame impressed the masses as he showed that he’s still been in shape even after retiring from the NFL. Brooks’ main question throughout his speech to the students was, “What are you willing to do to fight for this dream?”

This “dream” that Brooks was referring to was the dream that many of our students in Irvington aspire to reach, whether it be playing professional sports one day or attaining the goals in life that any average student has. Brooks began his speech talking about how to overcome the different hardships in life that one may encounter. He said, “You will have temporary setbacks in your life, and it depends on you to make sure they are temporary.” Brooks then went on to talk about the temporary setbacks in his very own life and how those setbacks molded him into the person he is today. One of those setbacks included the death of his father during his NFL years. He admitted that he considered quitting football for that very reason, but Brooks went on to explain that he didn’t let his father’s death stop him from what he was doing. Brooks then continued to dedicate every game he played afterward to his father. Another temporary setback in his life was when he broke his hand during one of his seasons with the Oakland Raiders. After noting the seriousness of the injury and the fact that he may miss more than a year, Brooks still told students how he kept on training and how one and a half years later he returned to the field with full strength.

Brooks then told the students about his high school life, where he was a star in football, basketball and track. After being asked by a student the most difficult part of his high school life, Brooks told students that balancing studies with sports was one of the biggest difficulties of his high school life, if not the biggest. “Definitely the most difficult thing was missing out on time with my friends, because I had to hit the books hard to get the grades that I needed,” said Brooks. He talked about how his family had been an amazing “support system” throughout his life, emphasizing throughout his speech how his family was with him through thick and thin. After missing a scholarship by 10 points on his SAT, Brooks told us how he worked hard academically during his freshman year of college to ensure that he got a college football scholarship. He was able to earn a college education at Fresno State without having to pay a dime. After the motivational speech, Brooks was rewarded with a plaque from Irvington as a tribute to him for taking the time to come and talk to the Irvington students. He signed autographs and took pictures with the students. Currently, Brooks is employed as a correctional officer .

The Power of a DreamFormer Oakland Raider football player Bobby Brooks visits IrvingtonBy Shajee Syed-QuadriPhoto: Shajee Syed-Q

uadri

Upcoming EventsFrench Connexion Mardi Gras (2/16)Dodgeball Tournament (2/19)Freshman Orientation 6 P.M (3/1)FAFSA Deadline (3/1)ASB 2nd Round Elections (3/12)

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Bobby Brooks speaks to students about his life.

The science bowl team prepares for their first round at the Sandia National Laboratory for the National Science Bowl.

Opinions4 | The Voice 18.4

The VOICE is a student-run newspaper with the sole purpose of providing an open forum for student expression. Any-thing printed represents the opinion of the writer, but not neces-sarily that of the VOICE staff, the administration or faculty of Irvington High School, or any person affiliated with the Fremont Unified School District. The VOICE does not discriminate against race, political orientation, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orienta-tion, or disability. Although the VOICE will never refuse to publish student guest submission based on the aforementioned factors, we reserve the right to edit or not publish them.

Advisor MAtthew PhilliPs

Editors-in-ChiEf: Shilpa Sharma* Columnist: Justine Yan staff WritErs:

Sri Ravipati* BusinEss managEr: Quess Liu

nEWs Editors: Selina Mahesri*

Niveditha Puranikmath* Copy Editors: Katherine Wang

fEaturEs Editors: Anisha Babbar* Xiaoshan Bao

Kim Ngo* WEB Editors: Brian Chin

EntErtainmEnt Editors: Karishma Patel* Sahil Pandya

Raji Ramanathan* photographEr: Katherine Wang

sports Editors: Jonathan Horng* Asst. Photographer

Shajee Syed-Quadri* and Cartoonist: Shirley Lin

humor Editor: Arjun Panda*

irvingtonvoice@gmail.comCheck out our new website! http://www.ihsvoice.com (510) 656-5711 ext. 46398

*Deadline Workers

POLICY STATEMENT:

Disagree with the writers? Bring your letters to the editor to room 223 or e-mail them to staff@ihsvoice.com. We welcome all

comments.

VOICE STAFF 2009-2010

Anooj Desai

Divya Gowthaman

Sukhbir Kaur

Ramya Kaushik

David Lo

Alexandra Perlegos

Jennifer Siew

Dion Wu

The VOICE is a student-run newspaper with the sole purpose of providing an open forum for student expression. Any-thing printed represents the opinion of the writer, but not neces-sarily that of the VOICE staff, the administration or faculty of Irvington High School, or any person affiliated with the Fremont Unified School District. The VOICE does not discriminate against race, political orientation, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orienta-tion, or disability. Although the VOICE will never refuse to publish student guest submission based on the aforementioned factors, we reserve the right to edit or not publish them.

Advisor MAtthew PhilliPs

Editors-in-ChiEf: Sri Ravipati* Columnist: Justine Yan staff WritErs:

Shilpa Sharma* BusinEss managEr: Quess Liu

nEWs Editors: Selina Mahesri*

Niveditha Puranikmath* Copy Editors: Katherine Wang

fEaturEs Editors: Anisha Babbar* Xiaoshan Bao

Kim Ngo* WEB Editors: Brian Chin

EntErtainmEnt Editors: Karishma Patel* Sahil Pandya

Raji Ramanathan* photographEr: Katherine Wang

sports Editors: Jonathan Horng* Asst. Photographer

Shajee Syed-Quadri* and Cartoonist: Shirley Lin

humor Editor: Arjun Panda*

irvingtonvoice@gmail.comCheck out our new website! http://www.ihsvoice.com (510) 656-5711 ext. 46398

*Deadline Workers

POLICY STATEMENT:

Disagree with the writers? Bring your letters to the editor to room 223 or e-mail them to staff@ihsvoice.com. We

welcome all comments.

VOICE STAFF 2009-2010

Albert Chin

Anooj Desai

Divya Gowthaman

Sukhbir Kaur

Ramya Kaushik

David Lo

Alexandra Perlegos

Jennifer Siew

Dion Wu

My Universal HoroscopeI’ve got you covered for Valentine’s Day and beyondBy Justine Yan

“Horoscopes are colorful.” “I love being a Virgo because the picture is always so cute.” “The predictions always come

true!” “The stars don’t lie…” Whatever the reason for consulting horoscopes, I person-ally scoff at those little blipsSorry, horoscopes are comforting, but they’re also very unoriginal. And you will probably get differing predictions between any given issue of Seventeen and Women’s Health. What will you do then? I’m sure I could write a horoscope myself. I can remind you of your common sense; I can pat you on the back for acciden-tally doing things “right.” I can offer you just the boost to get your month off to a great start! Yeah!

After all, horoscopes rely only on generalities and optimism. And I do not lack optimism. In fact, I would en-joy prophesizing about other people’s lives. Thus, I’ve de-cided to try a little, unconven-tional horoscope myself. Call me a hypocrite. I did it out of love for my friends Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scor-pio, Sagittarius and Capricorn. Rest assured – I promise I won’t contradict any of your fantasies. In the spirit of V-Day, here we go:

Singles, your love life will improve astronomically if you sleep a lot. First of all, you’ll have many delicious dreams. Second of all, you’ll look better, and you’ll know what to say during awkward pauses in a first-date conversation. Also, stay away from hot things, unless the “thing” is a person. This month will be an auspicious one if you make sure to balance your priorities and wash your hair frequently. Try a new look: the universe is on your side. When people compli-ment you, they actually mean it. Couples, your love life

Extra-Curriculars for CollegeForcing oneself to do extra-curriculars has surprising resultsBy Raji Ramanathan

On January 10th, a pleas-ant Sunday a couple weeks ago, John Smith walked onto BART at the Civic Center stop with the intent of running some errands in the East Bay. He sat down, preoccupied with his own t h o u g h t s , when he happened to catch an odd sight with his peripherals; sickeningly pale, hairy a p p e n d -ages. Look-ing around, eyes widening, he noticed that no one is wearing pants. No, John Smith prob-ably doesn’t exist, but this event actually took place. Organized by Improv Everywhere, a “pub-lic acting” organization based in New York, local people are re-cruited to engage in random acts throughout the country. Sounds cool? Well it wouldn’t be possible without the planning capabilities of the website Yelp, which played a large part in the publicity of the event. Without the internet’s

odd ability to bring people to-gether, there would be no No Pants Day on BART, or anything else like this. Unfortunately, not everything about our youth-

ful infatu-ation with the World W i d e Web is so e x c i t i n g. A c -c o r d i n g to a study published by Youth-Net, an o n l i n e c h a r -ity group,

kids are living in internet-real-ity “hybrid worlds.” Nothing irks me more than hearing, in the middle of a conversation, “Damn, my iPhone isn’t picking up any wifi here; now how am I going to update my status about how we just ate Taco Truck?” Oh, you’re one of them? One of the pitifully chained, I-text-even-when-there-are-people-to-talk-to-around-me, d-bags? Well then. This is awkward. No, but there is hope! Not everyone is an internet gang-

The Internet is Real Life...If you believe in itBy Arjun Panda

banger, a 4chan pervert, or a Facebook junkie. The web makes our real lives more productive, in-stead of taking away productive time from real life. Irvington’s own ASB tactfully uses the internet to do everything from promotions to election campaigning, getting word out quickly and effectively. Or maybe you have a new dance movement in mind, where one jumps backwards in a very un-intuitive manner to music that ‘slaps.’ Start your own blog and Youtube channel, get a following on Twitter, and your idea is sud-denly out in the real world! Even if it is terrible! Wowwaweewaah! The internet is like a yin yang; it has a dark side to it. But alas, it is but a reflection of what humans make of it, and since there are more pragmatic, productive humans than sick, obsessive ones, the internet’s ef-fect on humanity must be propor-tionately similar. But maybe I’m just a romantic. One things for certain, however: trying to get a train full of pant less people, sit-ting with straight faces on the BART on a Sunday afternoon will prove impossible without the mighty help of the internet.

will be filled with adventure. Midnight is a magical mo-ment; don’t be afraid to howl. Remember to believe in your ideals and make lots of phone calls. A phone text on V-day is probably bad news. Tooth brushing increases your luck. You’re on top of the world. Be nice to singles; all bad things will come from your mockery. C o m p a t -ibility: Everyone is com-patible with everyone!Enjoy the rest of the month, you adorable celestial beings, you.

Dolls Are DeadBy Selina Mahesri Whatever happened to the “good old days?” Why can’t today’s children go back to the times where they would sit in their rooms happily pushing a toy car around or dressing up a collection of dolls? It’s probably because with his or her remote control car, today’s child will probably gain better hand-eye coordina-tion and spatial awareness than yesterday’s child. As the world around us is rapidly changing and evolving, the transition from child to adult has become a com-pletely different process. How-ever, while it may seem healthier for children to play with toys that leave room for imagination, mod-ern toys are able to achieve the same feat in modernized form. Although these new toys often tend to include a computer or a remote control and can often alienate people who were in the age of Slinkies and Legos, these modernized toys do not restrict imagination. Statistics show that 60% of students have problems in areas such as speech, short at-tention span, poor listening, and general learning problems. By exposing children to toys that induce them to use their motor skills, problems in development

may be avoided. In any case, a remote control robot that can move by voice command is much cooler than a robot that has to be pushed around. Some of the bitterness of new toys stems from jealously. The truth is, new toys are much cooler these days. Although new toys may present a more disciplined type of play, they actually present imagination in a different form. While it may seem being exposed to modern toys forces children into one direction, by having toys capable of many different things, children are able to do more with one toy conveniently. Electronic toys also tend to have an educational value, giving it worth in multiple disciplines. Whether it be in a card-board box or using some intri-cate gadget, children can always create their own world where they are robots fighting crime in outer space. Often it is the adults who overanalyze and forget the power of imagination. Why not expose toys to children that parallel the world around us?People have an attachment to so-called vintage products and old customs. Not every-thing old is cool, you know.

I’m your average stu-dent that rushes to class every morning, does my class work, and finishes my day worrying about the load of homework I have. All this hard work for just one thing: a good GPA. In addition to that, col-leges also look at a student’s ex-tra curricular activities to see how well rounded he or she is. And for this reason, many stu-dents end up doing something

that usually is not in their mean-ing of fun. Is this a good or bad thing? Obviously, it seems to be a bad thing to force someone to do something, but in the long run, it actually becomes a part daily life. Suddenly, in high school everyone has new talents. Stu-dents realize they need to impress colleges and begin school ac-tivities. However, I do not blame these students for I am one as well. I have been doing an

excessive amount of service for the community so that colleges will see that I have good mor-als. But the twist lies here: even though I forced myself to do dif-ferent types of service activities, I eventually began to enjoy them. I always used to think, “Jeez, can these eight hours just end? I rather be watching The Office right now.” But when I’m spending hours of volunteering and young children ask for help, I don’t grunt

at their faces. In a way, volunteer-ing has brought me to become a good role model. All of a sud-den, it wasn’t about college, but instead it was about that good feeling to do service for people. Junior Michelle San, a JV tennis player, was a stu-dent that fell into the trap for good college admissions. “At first it was both, I kind of liked tennis and I thought it would be a great addition to my

college résumé,” said Michelle. “But after I playing my heart out everyday, I just felt like it didn’t matter if it was on my applica-tion.” In Michelle’s case, it was for the recognition at first, but it soon turned into just pure enjoyment. Many of the activi-ties that students participate in are for a fine college appli-cation, but they have a happy ending after all, resulting in new experiences and talents.

Photo: Justine Yan

Photo: yelp.com

New toys do not compromise the younger genera-tion’s imagination

opinionsFebruary 2010 | 5

It’s interesting how the media—newspapers, magazines, TV—generates so much publicity for plastic surgery. From Michael Jackson to Heidi Montag, all we h a v e seen are the neg-

ative effects of a nosejob or Botox treat-ment. The truth is, we neglect to see the

p o s i t i v e effects of plastic surgery. But the

benefits are just too hard to accept when we see so many ce- lebrities develop health problems after getting plas-tic surgery. However, when prop-erly performed, plastic surgery can improve lifestyle, boost self-confidence, and even save lives. Medical plastic surgery is used to correct birth defects and deformities caused by acci-dents. Contrary to popular belief, many patients opt for breast re-duction instead of augmentation to reduce strain on the back. The NYU School of Medicine stud-ied the effects of breast reduction surgery on lives of small-boned women. They found that these women reaped significant health benefits from breast reductions. The women in this study reported less lower-back pain, neck pain, headaches and bra strap “grooving” after their breast reduction. After the pro-cedure, the women were able to exercise more, play sports and wear a wider variety of clothing. Cosmetically, plastic sur-gery also offers a range of ben-efits. Our looks have always been the first thing people notice about us. Today, the difference is that we

now have the technology to change the things we despise about our bodies. For young adults and teenagers, plastic surgery is not limited to rhino-plasty (a nose-job), but it also includes chemical peels to remove acne scars. Whatever the proce-dure, to have the option of chang-ing yourself can be a tremen-dous emotional boost and can also aid in social acceptance. Although slightly expensive, plastic surgery can also be considered an investment. For actors and singers, enhanced physical features can increase popu-larity and fan base. Even for regular people, studies have shown that physical attractive-ness is correlated with job suc-cess and has a very biasing effect on employers. Even when there is no medical necessity, plastic sur-gery can have very positive effects. To dispel a common mis-conception: many people believe that life-threatening risk is associ-ated with plastic surgery. A survey by the American Society for Aes-thetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) found that in 400,000 opera-tions performed in accredited facilities, the rate of serious complica-tions was less 0.5 percent, and the mor-tality rate was e x t r e m e l y low—one in 57,000 cases. So yes, Mi-chael Jack-son, Kanye’s mom, and Heidi Montag probably overdid their plastic surgery and encountered some complications. That doesn’t mean every plas-tic surgery will turn out like theirs. In fact, most plastic surgeries achieve satisfactory re-sults—why else would they cost so much?

By Quess Liu

It seems plastic surgery is on the rise. Just in January, Heidi Montag, a celebrity most well-known for her role in The Hills, admitted to undergoing 10 plastic surgeries in a single day. It turns out, she’s not the only one who is willing to

pay for a chance to change her ap-pearance. While plastic surgery

was first created for medical purposes, studies show that cosmetic surgery is becom-ing significantly more popu-lar in recent years, with 12.1 million cosmetic procedures reported just in 2008 (3% more than the year before). Plastic surgery ranges from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand and comes not only with a high cost finan-cially, but also physically in some cases. The surgery can lead to other problems, such as skin death, nerve damage, and scarring. As many may know from the passing of Donda West, Kanye West’s mother, in 2007, the surgery can also lead to death. In fact, surveys conducted in 2000 report that more people die from liposuction (a common type of

plastic surgery that removes fat) in

the United States than automobile a c c i d e n t s every year. It’s simple, really: they want to be b e a u t i f u l . In fact, as much as 40% of women

worldwide would have plastic surgery if given the chance, and an increasingly large amount of people do not feel beautiful as they are now. Much of it can be attributed to the increasing impossible standard of beauty, one that is de-fined by the beautiful models that grace maga-

zine covers and highway bill-boards. The truth is, though, the majority of people simply are not models, but as statistics would show, some are willing to pay a great price to look like one. Plastic surgery is not only extremely risky, but it also pro-motes a distorted view of beauty. Because of the current standard of beauty, many today are left with an unrealistic expectation of how they should look, and plastic surgery is one way they try to at-tain such beauty. However, a study conducted in 2005 shows that while some surgeries result in pos-itive outcomes, such as improved self-esteem, many patients end up dissatisfied with the surgery and do repeat-surgeries or surgeries to other parts of their body. In fact, 44% of cosmetic patients are repeat patients, and it’s not hard to see why. Someone who would be dissatisfied enough with their body to spend thousands of dollars f i x i n g it is most l i k e l y uphold-ing too high a stan-d a r d of beauty. P e r -sonal choice? Sure. But, plastic surgery affects not only the per- son but the world, one that is already ob-sessed with an unrealistic defini-tion of beauty. Perhaps instead of trying to change their looks entirely, people should instead work on fixing their own percep-tion of beauty and realize that it doesn’t take a couple thousand dollars and a knife to be beautiful.

By Katherine Wang

The harms and risks of plastic surgeryIt’s not what you think

How is plastic surgery viewed in today’s society?

Cartoon: Shirley Lin

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Phone: (510) 490-7000 www.exceltest.com email: info@exceltest.com

Say Cheese!I don’t care if you’re not having fun, smile any-ways!By Jennifer Siew I remember when I was younger, my dad used to go through rolls and rolls of film, taking pictures of abso-lutely everything. Look! There’s a statue! Go stand next to it and smile! Oh, oh! There’s a ran-dom sign, take a picture with it! Every vacation, my sis-ter and I ended each day with sore cheeks and a newly-found hatred for the camera. And just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, they invented the digital camera. Thanks a lot. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like to look back and see memories of the good times I’ve had, but am I really sup-posed to believe that I was that happy visiting a museum, visit-ing historical sites, or even just walking down random streets? Shouldn’t I be looking at pictures of times that I actually enjoyed? But that’s the thing with taking pictures nowa-days. It isn’t about document-ing good memories anymore.

Continued on Opinions at www.ihsvoice.com

Awesome Websites

Features Seach

Like to LOL? By David Lo Let’s be honest. The majority of a high school teenager’s life is spent wasted on the com-puter. Sure there’s always AIM, Facebook and Twitter, but the following list is but a sample of what the internet has to offer. TweetingTooHard.com find humor in putting down those who are arrogant beyond belief. Tweeting Too Hard takes the most egotistical tweets from Twitter every day and puts them on their website for viewers to enjoy (and mock.) What makes it even funnier is that these people are actually serious about their tweets. With posts like, “Apologies again if you've seen me in public and I haven't acknowledged you - can be quite oblivious at times not being rude :),” it’s hard not to laugh at the ignorance of these people. We all have conversations with our friends that seem to be so incredibly random that we find ourselves laughing hysterically. Imagine a huge chatroom filled with people spouting anything that is on their minds. That essentially sums up the content on Bash.org. Although this type of hu-mor is hit and miss, there is a lot of content to look through and those with a more random sense of humor will enjoy. Twwss.com stands for “That’s what she said stories.” (I kid you not.) Taking on the tradi-tional format of FML.com, TWSS is basically a collection of stories people have come up with that ultimately end with the oh-so-popular catch-phrase “that’s what she said.” Needless to say, this site has a particular humor, but it can be enjoyed by most audiences. Lamebook.com captures the essence of Facebook and puts it all in one tidy “fail” package. You got it, the biggest fails of Facebook all on one site. One stop on Lamebook will have you literally laughing out loud.

Top Blog Spots By Shilpa Sharma Journals and diaries were tossed out with the turn of the decade and in its place, blogging has become an integral part of the online world. With over 100 million blogs existing today, any newcomer would be baffled by the massive amount of online records occupying the blogosphere today. Modern blogs have now become more than just online diaries as they serve as powerful media tools with subject matters spanning from politics and business to health and lifestyle. However, that being said, only the top blogs are able to get the subscriptions and regular attention from their followers—and with good reason. Take a look at Design*Sponge (www.designspongeonline.com), a home decoration and product design blog run by Grace Bonney. The blog has daily posts dedicated towards showcasing modern, chic pieces for graphic design, interior design and other artwork created by students and professionals inter-nationally—any art-lover’s dream! Other features of the site include helpful city guides, which highlight the major style hubs of cities like Beijing and Berlin; and podcasts, some of which share interesting commentary on trendy food reci-pes such as Confetti Cakes and Pomegranate Galette. While Design*Sponge mainly attracts the more artsy and modish type, there is a little bit of something for everyone. If anything, the high-quality pictures and elaborate design products are worth a glance. If this seems even a little appealing, I suggest you try another blogspot, Shiny Little Things (www.shinylittlethings.blogspot.com), which features creative jewelry art-making and other ornamental pieces fitting for trend-setters. And of course, if style isn’t your thing—but then again, who’s to judge?—check out Angry Asian Man (www.angryasianman.com), a humorous blog dedicated towards “pointing out racism and noting any and all appearances of Asians in mass media and popular culture.” If you can look past the fact that the blog is really only a mishmash of trivial and frivolous matters, I assure you, the witty (and the not-so-witty) humor will generate some laughter. Check out the post, the “30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30”, in which the not-so-angry man presents television personalities such as actress Brenda Song and the “extremely cute” Gosselin children. Now, isn’t that something?

Latest Fashion and Trends By Karishma Patel Style.com is a great site to look at for pictures of new lines features in fash-ion shows, which are held in various countries in the world. The website also includes a shopper’s guide for high-end fashion. You can view helpful blogs and forums about fashion, beauty and shopping. Style.com also features a “look of the day” which gives viewers an opportunity to vote for their favorite look. The quality of the overall web-site is great; but it caters mainly towards upper-class women and men. However, there are more diverse and universal fashion websites out there as well. If you’re interested in a variety of dsigners, Fashion.net showcases some of the best lines as well as an array of artwork. The different types of artwork displayed include architecture, museums and galleries, design, music and photography. Fash-ion.net also helps provide services for those interested in the fashion and modeling industry, and it can also help with travel guides. Some of its services include informa-tion on special design schools, modeling agencies, artist agencies, fashion shows and traveling accommodations. The website also provides a great list of fashion books. Fashion.net is not just a website about fashion; it goes beyond that to cover all topics related to arts and creativity. Teenvogue.com, Glamour.com and Seventeen.com are also websites great websites to check out. Not only do these websites include fashion, but they also include advice on beauty and health.

Trolling and Memes By Albert Chin What exactly is trolling? Urban Dictionary defines trolling as “being a prick on the internet because you can.” The definition sounds less than promising, but the cyber trend had picked up like wildfire. Internet trolls create bogus accounts and post obnoxious messages in order to provoke an incendiary reponse. Among the most popular trolling sites are: Ytmnd.com stands for “you’re the man now dog!” and contains the most ran-dom assortment of pictures, animations, videos, and trolls. Similarly, 4chan.com is home to an assortment of trolls who troll other trolls by creating troll threads to bait other trolls to come and troll when in reality they are getting trolled themselves... Enter at your own risk. Memes can also be seen around the internet. A meme is a meaningless trend that starts out on the interenet and eventually gains popularity. Often times, the less sense memes make, the more popular they become. Popular memes include the “Over 9000!” fad and the ever famous “Rick Roll.” However, there are several other hilarious memes that deserve more attention: Playhimoffkeyboardcat.com features a video of a cat (Fatso Schmidt) playing the keyboard. Icanhascheezburger.com has spawned the huge internet craze revolved around kittens. With pictures of cats on the computer to cats stuffed in drawers, icanhascheezburger.com contains the biggest collection of kitty pictures on the inter-net. And it gets thousands of hits a day. Go figure.

Best Sports Websites By Shajee Syed-Quadri Fantasy sports.com. No doubt has this website has revolutionized the way we watch our favorite athletes compete. On Fantasy Sports, the user can assemble a hypothetical team of professional players and, based the players’ real life successes, your team earns points. This craze is most commonly found on Yahoo Sports but can also be found on the official website of any professional league, such as NFL.com, NBA.com, MLB.com, etc. Various leagues use the gimmick of giving people who participate in Fantasy Sports the opportunity to win free tickets. Its definitely one of the most popular form of sports entertainment on the internet. Along with its entertainment value, it is also a convenient place for all sorts of statistics and info, making it so that you don’t have to manu-ally hunt them down on the internet. However, if you’re like me, you’d rather just want to know the latest news on what's go-ing on in professional sports. Sportsillustrated.com is the way to go. Definitely one of the coolest things about this website is the fact that you can type in si.com for short and it'll lead you directly to its home page. What sets it apart from other websites is the plethora of awesome, high quality pictures. Sports illustrated also provides a thorough, in-depth view on professional sports game with some of the best syndicated columnists, such as Mike Wilbon and Jay Marriotti. However for the most current and updated sports news, espn.go.com trumps all. It is literally updated every few seconds with info on a variety of different sports as well as a variety of events within a specific sport. There, you can catch the latest sports rumors, gossip, and news as quickly as possible.

Game Sites By Brian Chin Got time to burn? Then hop on over to www.omgpop.com where you’ll find a plethora of games to occupy your free time. If you’re a casual gamer you’ll find that this site is perfect for you as it is filled to the brim with pick-up-and-play games. On the other hand, hardcore gamers may not be all too impressed by the selection, as the games offered serve as a nice, quick 15-30 minute distraction and cannot be played for hours on end without becoming extremely stale. From Connect Four to a computer-friendly version of Guitar Hero, Omg-pop has a little bit of something for everyone. Fans of fast-paced action games can partake in a little hover cart racing battle while others who prefer games of logic and strategy can enjoy an online game of checkers or chess. Unlike various other game sights, Omgpop only hosts online games meaning that you’ll have the chance to interact with other players so that you won’t just be solving jigsaw puzzles, you’ll be solving jigsaw puzzles with friends and other gamers! Omgpop is also home to many favorites such as Blockles and Letterblox that, for a brief while, were all the rage here at Irvington. And while these classics are certainly fun, I encourage you to try out the other diverse games available as well. When compared to the various other mass-game sites such as addicting-games.com, Omgpop’s games tend to be of higher quality. This higher degree of professionalism is also apparent in the appearance of their main page, although why they decided to stick, “Draw My Thing” next to “Fourplay” remains beyond me.

Websites for Education By Jonathan Horng Cramster.com is an online community with a mission to educate its users, whether they are high school students or teachers. It has over one hundred thousand knowledgeable members available to help you with your academic problems. Cramster is a very useful tool for students because students can ask questions on the Q & A boards as well as take advantage of the online study groups for math, science, and engineering courses which are available at all times of the day. While the Q & A boards and online study groups are undoubtedly valuable, Cramster’s textbook help section is probably the most useful. The textbook help section has step by step explanations for the odd numbered problems in many math, science, and engineering textbooks, many of which are Irvington’s math and science textbooks. By following their step by step solutions to problems in textbooks, you can become more efficient at solving similar problems. If you still don’t understand the problem after viewing it, you can chat live with others about the problem and ask questions about it in forums. It is especially beneficial to ask questions on Cramster it is generally full of many knowledgeable members eager to answer questions of those trying to learn. After you finish studying the textbook problems, you can test your knowledge with the available practice tests and quizzes and then you can determine which areas you still need to work on. Other useful educational sites are Fastweb.com and CollegeConfidential.com. These sites can pro-vide you with the resources you need to tackle the daunting college application process. College Confiden-tial is a forum filled with knowledgeable members who discuss everything from SAT strategies to college choices. Fastweb is another useful website that can help you find a lot of scholarships to help you pay for college. Check them out!

Music and Downloads By Shirley Lin If you’re a music fan, you’ll appreciate Purevolume.com. Purevolume users can download music as well as share their own music with the public. Purevolume features a variety of artists from the big stars of today to ones who are currently making their break in the industry. Free downloads can be found on each artist’s profile page, as well as information about the artist in-cluding their genre, bio, albums, photos and blog posts. A media player at the top on the page is convenient for listening to songs while reading along wih lyrics. If you create a Purevolume account, you can add music tracks to your playlist, which you can open up in another window. Other features that make Purevolume a worthwhile website to check out include: recently released albums, featured artists, and an easily-to-navigate homepage. Everything is neatly organized and simple to find; the search button allows you to find songs or artists by genre, name, or and song title. If you feel adventurous and want a taste of new music, click “browse artists.” You can even sort through artists based on your pefered genre. The “events” tab will allow you to be able to track musical ap-prearances near you. You can regularly check then top songs and downloads on the homepage as well. The downside to this site is that the tracks on artists’ profiles are sometimes taken off without notice, and some songs on some artists’ pages may not be free to download. However, a free membership at PureVolume is worth these few cons. Spare a few seconds someday, and go check the website out. For other music downloads by legal means, 4shared.com is a great website. Users upload their music tracks, videos, photographs, and more and share it with the public. It’s a great place to find less known songs that you wouldn’t be able to find on other download websites, such as “Sorry Sorry” by Super Junior. You can listen to each track first, and if you find it to your liking, just click, and the file is yours.

Top Blog Spots By Shilpa Sharma Journals and diaries were tossed out with the turn of the decade and in its place, blogging has become an integral part of the online world. With over 100 million blogs existing today, any newcomer would be baffled by the massive amount of online records occupying the blogosphere today. Modern blogs have now become more than just online diaries as they serve as powerful media tools with subject matters spanning from politics and business to health and lifestyle. However, that being said, only the top blogs are able to get the subscriptions and regular attention from their followers—and with good reason. Take a look at Design*Sponge (www.designspongeonline.com), a home decoration and product design blog run by Grace Bonney. The blog has daily posts dedicated towards showcasing modern, chic pieces for graphic design, interior design and other artwork created by students and professionals inter-nationally—any art-lover’s dream! Other features of the site include helpful city guides, which highlight the major style hubs of cities like Beijing and Berlin; and podcasts, some of which share interesting commentary on trendy food reci-pes such as Confetti Cakes and Pomegranate Galette. While Design*Sponge mainly attracts the more artsy and modish type, there is a little bit of something for everyone. If anything, the high-quality pictures and elaborate design products are worth a glance. If this seems even a little appealing, I suggest you try another blogspot, Shiny Little Things (www.shinylittlethings.blogspot.com), which features creative jewelry art-making and other ornamental pieces fitting for trend-setters. And of course, if style isn’t your thing—but then again, who’s to judge?—check out Angry Asian Man (www.angryasianman.com), a humorous blog dedicated towards “pointing out racism and noting any and all appearances of Asians in mass media and popular culture.” If you can look past the fact that the blog is really only a mishmash of trivial and frivolous matters, I assure you, the witty (and the not-so-witty) humor will generate some laughter. Check out the post, the “30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30”, in which the not-so-angry man presents television personalities such as actress Brenda Song and the “extremely cute” Gosselin children. Now, isn’t that something?

Trolling and Memes By Albert Chin What exactly is trolling? Urban Dictionary defines trolling as “being a prick on the internet because you can.” The definition sounds less than promising, but the cyber trend had picked up like wildfire. Internet trolls create bogus accounts and post obnoxious messages in order to provoke an incendiary reponse. Among the most popular trolling sites are: Ytmnd.com stands for “you’re the man now dog!” and contains the most ran-dom assortment of pictures, animations, videos, and trolls. Similarly, 4chan.com is home to an assortment of trolls who troll other trolls by creating troll threads to bait other trolls to come and troll when in reality they are getting trolled themselves... Enter at your own risk. Memes can also be seen around the internet. A meme is a meaningless trend that starts out on the interenet and eventually gains popularity. Often times, the less sense memes make, the more popular they become. Popular memes include the “Over 9000!” fad and the ever famous “Rick Roll.” However, there are several other hilarious memes that deserve more attention: Playhimoffkeyboardcat.com features a video of a cat (Fatso Schmidt) playing the keyboard. Icanhascheezburger.com has spawned the huge internet craze revolved around kittens. With pictures of cats on the computer to cats stuffed in drawers, icanhascheezburger.com contains the biggest collection of kitty pictures on the inter-net. And it gets thousands of hits a day. Go figure.

Photo Sharing Sites By Alexandra Perlegos Flickr.com is a photo and video sharing website where amateurs and professionals can display their pictures. You create an account, just like on YouTube or Facebook, and upload your pictures to your profile. Other people can view your pictures, leave comments, and tag different parts of them in order to give you compliments and/or constructive criticism. Flickr is a great way to meet other photographers, because you can join photo groups you are interested in. The wide variety of photo groups make Flickr relateable to all types of photographer. Images are organized using tags, which make it easy to locate a particular type of picture you are looking for. There are two different free accounts you can use which have limited amounts of upload space. However, there is also “Pro”, which has unlimited amounts of uploads. In short, Flickr is a useful, convenient photo scharing site for those who are inerested. As Flickr would say “Share your photos, watch the world.” However, other less known websites may be even a better option if you’re a ore advanced pho-tographer. Unlike Flickr, Zoomr.com has no limits on uploading and storing photos. Some features include LightBox, which is like a slide show-like program that allows users to add short audio commentary to photos. Other main features are Notes, Portals and PeopleTags. These applications allow the user to links photos and the name people in them. The feature that most people enjoy on Zooomr is the GeoTagging, which finds the location of the picture that you have taken and allows you to find this location in other pictures. The social networking aspect of Zooomr is “Zipline” which allows users to send messages to and see uploads from their contacts. Zoomr.com is a widley enjoyed webstie, however its con is that it lacks the simplicity of other sites. If you’re interested in other photo sites, Picasaweb.google.com is partnered with Google, and of-fers about 1GB of free storage. Picasa works closely with blogspot.com, and is mainly for users who want to send images across the Internet and publish them in their blogs. It includes many features seen on Flickr and Zoomr. Give these three sites a try if you enjoy photos.

ntertainmente 8 | The Voice 18.4

To: Urban NinjasFrom: Ice HavenHON 8 pm tonight. Bring Jamba Juice and Chipotle.

To: AnonymousFrom: AnonymousI like oranges violins elephants yogurt orcas umbrellas :).

To: Vivian TsengFrom: Anonymous“This is the Greatest Happiness of them All.” I won, You Lost the Game

To: Robert KuriharaFrom: Alexis LeeHey Robert, what’s up baby? I wanna be your valentine. You’re my shining Prince Tybalt forever and always. Love you. <0

To: Gabby WuFrom: A.N.Roses are redViolets are blueFlowers are prettyAnd so are you

To: Stanley ChingFrom: Lina KudinarHappy Valentine’s Day moose <33

To: Puukani TiwinakFrom: Lina KudinarHAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY JUDITH! nobody loves you <3

To: Celine JeremiahFrom: Lina Kudinar I love you hoebo! Happy Valentine’s Day!

To: Sarah HardinFrom: Lina KudinarI found a donutella on Valentine’s Day!

To: PuukaniFrom: Brown BrownMay there always be women in rubber flirt-ing with you.

To: V.M. From: Secret AdmirerI love you honey and happy 6 month!

To: PadiFrom: Nick JonasA doessa she hassa da gumm?

To: MEChA ClubFrom:Mr. BalladoThank you for work-ing so hard. You are amazing.

From: BalladoYou are amazing. I hope this year we can rock the world at state competition.

To: DECA Club

To: DFrom: JLYo D! Happy 4 in 5! “I think that we got some-thing special.” You’re amazing.

To: Awkward SidFrom: Cool JustineMembers of the BEST UNIT EVER! And you got swag, so you’re defi-nitely a member of my wolf pack.

To: ClaytonFrom: EmilyI’ve been spending all my time, just think-ing about you. I don’t know what to do, i think I’m falling for you. < :) 3

To: Naptime ChieriFrom: Cool Justine“It’s not a MAN PURSE. It’s a satchel! Indiana Jones has one.” Unit 6 Love!

To: Jenny SiewFrom: Cool JustineUnit 6! Let’s get in our car and drive over speed bumps. Awk-ward love.

To: Diane, Kevin Le From: Cathyyy@ Dian: Love you!@ Kevin Le: Best senior Ever!

To: Dion WuFrom: kCh3n__Get money. Get paid.

To: David LoFrom: Chi CityHit ‘em with a freeze pop.

To: Dion WuFrom: Anson KidF.O.F.S. You da coobs.

To: Jason LacanlaleFrom: Your secret admirer It’s a love thang its got to be, your heart’s on LOCK and i got the key.

You have nice hair. And big eyes. You are a great friend.

From: Sharon LinTo: Lavanya Kumar

To: Yi ZengFrom: Aditya KumarWill you marry me?I love you!

To: THE TABLEFrom: JeLiFrom Lady Gaga duets to apbio stories, we’ve stuck thru it all. Hap-py Singles Awareness Day.

To: Alexis LeeFrom: Robert KuriharaIt’s been around a year since we first met, and you’ve made every day special. You’ve giv-en me so many great memories, and I hope it never ends. I love you.

To: Ashley CheungFrom: Lina KudinarHey wetard! I’m sorry I cut off your leg and your head with a chain-saw. <3

To: Stacey YiFrom: Your not-so-secret admirer Happy V-day, Starshine! You blind your enemies from pure A W E S O M E N E S S ! Love-sauce.

To: Mrs. Cook-KallioFrom: Mr. SwaggIt’s probably not hard to guess who this is, but on behalf of all of us I’d like to say thanks for everything!

To: Team USA OlympicsFrom: A.C.Good luck in olympics trials.Vancouver 2010!February 12, 2010

Happy Valentine’s Day!From: PilseyTo: Pants

To: Budget BustersFrom: BalladoYou guys are really per-sistent, I am really excit-ed to work with you. You Rock!

To: Tiffany LinFrom: Mr. ChowdhuryKorean turtles! ;D <3

To: Shirley LinFrom: Mr. ChowdhuryYou’re too tall. You need to grow back-wards >D

To: Esther ShinFrom: Mr. ChowdhuryYou, me, Adi. Kpop band.

To: Ernest WongFrom: Mr. ChowdhuryI love you <3____<3

To: Shernn LinnFrom: LKYou have nice hair. And small eyes. You are a good friend.

Valentine Grams

To: Priyal FadaduFrom: Aashish BhandariThere isn’t enough space here for me to tell you how much I love you. :)

To: Heeral PatelFrom: Rahul BhatiaRoses are Red, Vio-lets are Blue. So smile honey, cause I lve you!

entertainmenFebruary 2010 | 9T

Interview by Sukhbir Kaur

Which celebrity would be your Valentine?

“Harry Potter because he is a charming wizard.” - Katie Kelly, 9th

“Peter Pan because he can take me to Wonderland.” - Robin Hu, 10th

“Edgar Allen Poe because he can write a psychotic Valentine’s saga for me.”- Wesley Lau, 11th

“Taylor Lautner because he has really hot abs.” - Lalli Venkat, 12th

“Elvis Presley because he’s awesome, he’s the king, and he’s sexy as heck.” - Mrs. Cohen

Bring on the Bluegrass

“Special” music comes to IrvingtonBy Justine Yan

In an effort to bring “different types of music” to Irvington High School, math teacher Mr. Ray Spooner in-vited the professional Bluegrass group, Special Consensus, to Valhalla for a performance on Wednesday night, January 27. A band composed of Irvington’s faculty members, including teachers Mr. Marek Breiger and Mr. Scott Lewis, as well as several Viking students, performed several energetic songs to start off the night of music. Mr. Breiger was featured on the harmonica, and Mr. Lewis played the guitar. The band’s exciting drum solos and interest-ing lyrics helped warm the au-dience up for the professionals. The renowned band, Special Consensus, is the “real thing” of bluegrass. Even as an inexperienced music critic, I can say that the members’ soft south-ern accents and ringing voices seemed to come from anywhere but California. In fact, the mem-bers are from Chicago, Nova Scotia, Kansas, and Alabama.

Ignorance is not bliss in a blood streamBloodstream deserves its place among other great medical novels By Xiaoshan Bao

Many IHS staff and stu-dents showed up to bask in the feel-good tunes, bobbing their heads and stomping their feet. Special Consensus’s joyful lyrics and charismatic stage presence even caused a handful of stu-dents – many of whom were clad in fencing gear – to dance. It was a simultaneously funny and inter-esting sight to see students swing each other around right beneath the stage, as if they were par-ticipating in 9th grade Physical Education class square dancing. Even the lead guitar-ist of Special Consensus, Ryan Roberts, smiled at the sight as he tapped his boot to the beat. “It looks like we brought the rain here with us,” said el-dest band member Greg Ca-hill, who plays banjo and sings baritone and tenor vocals. Mr. Cahill formed Special C in the 1970s, and has even played the Banjo for the Jerry Springer show. Well, the rainy weather might just be the only “blue” thing associat-ed with this Bluegrass band.

If you’re into televi-sion shows like House, M.D. or CSI, then you should read the book Bloodstream, by Tess Gerrit-sen. This is novel comprised of medical and criminal suspense. It features Dr. Claire Elliot and her fourteen-year-old son Noah, who have fairly recently moved to Tranquility, Maine. There, Claire runs a pretty unsuccess-ful medical practice, but the town is shocked by the news that one of her teenage patients has committed a shockingly violent

act. Other teenagers have also started to have lethal outbursts, but, as Claire finds out, this vio-lence has occurred before. Claire thinks that there is a biological cause, and she believes that the town’s Locust Lake may be part of it. As she tries to save the town from harm, Claire comes across a plot that manipulates nature and slaughters the innocents. The plot and writing style of this book are kind of creepy, yet compelling. There are many twists and turns to the

plot so it may be a bit confus-ing when the characters start using medical terminology. Even though the book contains a lot of violent scenes, there are also some romantic bits. While the characters were interesting, I think some of them were on the shallow end. Another down side is that it becomes a little difficult to dis-cern who is who, as time goes. Overall, this book is definitely a must-read. Very few novels have plots as intricate and

realistic as this, and the writ-ing style is easy to read. Even though the characters can be overwhelm-ing, they do play an essen-tial role in the book. So don’t be surprised if you stay up all night reading.

A Korean movie that will make you tear upBy Karishma Patel To venture away from my norm, I decided to watch an “ethnic” movie from a differ-ent country—with English sub-titles of course. That’s when I came across the South Korean movie, A Millionaire’s First Love. The movie would be con-sidered part of the chick flick and drama genre, but this shouldn’t stop you boys from watching it. A Millionaire’s First Love is about a spoiled young guy named Kang Jae-Kyung who has to complete his schooling and graduate in a small village before he can inherit his grandfather’s fortune for his eighteenth birth-day. Throughout his journey to

graduate, he stumbles upon a young girl with whom he ends up falling in love. The movie ends with a twist, so to find out what really happens you will just have to watch it and see for yourself ! In the beginning I didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out to be fairly dramat-ic. Similar to the movie A Walk to Remember, the girl instills hope into the boy, making him change from being selfish to caring. I enjoyed the building suspense, which kept me engaged throughout the movie. The ac-tors and actresses did a great job of showing their emotions by drawing special attention to

By

Kim

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their facial expressions and body language. Their actions helped add enjoyment and dramatic ef-fect. The movie is not hard to understand as long as you read the subtitles. Do not let the fact that it is a different ethnic movie discourage you from watching it!

Cupid?A Millionaire’s First Love

Photo: Justine Yan

Photos: Sukhbir Kaur, Raji Ramanathan and Katherine

Photo: yeehan.files.wordpress.com

There was a time when Maria Sharapova used to be the Kobe Bryant of women’s tennis. Back in the day, the 6’2” blonde diva used to saunter on court, decked in designer brands and expensive earrings. A few sets and dozens of g run t s later, Sharapova would

smile and wave at the crowd, fluttering

about in victory. The Sharapova

machine was known for looking good, d r e s s i n g c l a s s y , and well,

winning the t ou rnamen t . These days, h o w e v e r , S h a r a p o v a has shown a tendency to arrive in a rather uncoordinated

f a s h i o n

PORTSS 10 | Voice 18.4

Going up, one shot at a time

The freshmen boys basketball team played against Washington High School’s Huskies on Tuesday, January 26th at home. The Vikings lost 39-53 but played vigorously and put up a good fight. In the first quarter, the score was close with Irvington being only 2 points behind Washington. Halfway through the first quarter, freshmen Darrelle Canete and Ben Gau and a Washington’s player grappled for the ball. During the last three seconds of the quarter, both teams hustled to score. Freshman Hong Zhou stole the ball, dribbled past multiple Washington defenders and scored. The Vikings got into foul trouble later in the game. This allowed Washington to earn more points at the line adding to their lead. Near the end of the first half, Hong missed a jumper but Darrelle was able to fight for the rebound and put it back up! “I think we did really good in the first half of the game because we had a lot of energy—everybody wanted to play,” said freshman boys basketball Coach Robin Grewal, “but in the second half, there was less energy and I think that’s what killed us.” After the break, the freshmen boys seemed to lose their concentration. The ball was stolen more often as their defense was broken. However, the Vikings continued to play aggressively by driving to the hoop and initiating contact. One of the referees seemed to be extremely critical about Irvington’s aggressive play. Any accidental bumping was called a foul. In the last quarter, both teams grinded it out to finish the game. The Vikings dribbled around Washington’s defense and battled their way past the Huskies trying to score. “It was a competitive game, the effort was there but we were too careless.” said Hong Zhou. Despite their efforts, the Vikings still lost by 14 points. If the Vikings can combine their intensity next game with matched concetration, they have the potential to crush future opposing teams.

Frisbee FrenzyBy Dion Wu

Old Favorites Fizzle, New Talent SizzlesBy Neetu PuranikmathAustralian Open 2010 draw results shock tennis community

By Shirley Lin

Freshman basketball comes up just short

ensemble and rarely makes the finals of the tournaments she plays. Her once Top 5 WTA ranking has fallen to the mid-30s. At the 2010 Australian Open, she was out in her first round, succumbing to Maria Kirilenko at 6-7, 6-3, 4-6. Sharapova is not the only star to “pull a Kournikova.” The trend of the old stars to internally combust is becoming apparently rapid. Former #1 Servia Ana Ivanovic, has taken to doing modeling contracts due to the loss of endorsements following her lackluster year. Ivanovic, a childhood friend of ATP #2 Novak Djokovic, was heralded by magazines such as Inside Tennis as the “next big thing.” Now she is struggling to maintain her ranking which has fallen to double digits. Ivanovic also lost in the preliminaries of the Australian Open. On the men’s s i d e , Former #1 (Current # 2 ) Spaniard Rafael Nadal was one of the crowd favorites going into the tournament. His 2009 victory over Current #1 Sweden’s Roger Federer made him

almost a shoo-in for t h e

finals. Well, not quite. Nadal, who is known for his buff physique, suffered a devastating knee injury when he was playing a Quarterfinal match against Great Britain’s Andy Murray. Nadal was forced to withdraw in the third set (6-3, 7-6, 3-0), and Murray went on to the finals before losing in straight sets to Federer. American hopefuls James Blake and Andy Roddick also failed to make the Quarterfinals. Blake who was playing his last match before retirement lost in the prelims to Juan Martin del Potro and Roddick lost to Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals. Roger Federer soared to win his 16th grand slam title with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 win over Andy Murray. On the women’s side Venus and Serena Williams made it to the Quarterfinals before Venus lost to China’s Na Li, rank 16th in the world. Li defeated Venus 2-6, 7-6, 7-5 to make it to the semifinals with Serena where Serena defeated her 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The final results though were pretty much what one would expect. World #1 American Serena Williams beat former world #1 Justine Henin-Hardene. Serena displayed a better courtside manner in Australia and seems to have recovered from her emotional implosion that occurred at the 2009 US Open. In doubles, Americans Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Nestor and Zimoniic 6-3, 6-3. Serena and Venus Williams won the women doubles tournament by defeating Black and Huber 6-4, 6-3.

Ultimate Frisbee, or commonly known as Ultimate, is a very fast-paced and competitive game that emphasizes teamwork, sportsmanship and fair play. For those of you that don’t know, two teams of any number (normally four or five players on a team) face off against each other, switching from offense to defense very rapidly. The objective of the

game is for a player on the offensive team to catch a frisbee in the “endzone”, which will score his or her team one point. The first team to get to 15 points wins!

Rules1. Teams start on their respective end zones and the defensive team throws the frisbee towards the offensive team to initiate the game.2. Once a player is in possession of the frisbee, he or she cannot move, but can pivot around on one foot. (Some people allow the player one or two steps.)3. A player can only be in possession of the frisbee for ten seconds max (the defending player must count to ten out loud). If, after ten seconds, the player still has possession of the frisbee, the frisbee is “dropped” and the other team will take possession of it from that spot.4. If a frisbee is thrown out of bounds, dropped from a missed catch, blocked or intercepted by the other team, or if the person has violated the ten-second rule, the team loses possession of the

frisbee and it is turned over at that point.5. Fouls can be called! If the player in possession of the frisbee is physically fouled, he or she can call it out and the ten-second clock restarts. (Note: sportsmanship and honesty are key to making this game work)

How to set up a game!1. Get all your friends together on a warm sunny afternoon!2. Get a frisbee. You could use LED-lighted frisbees if you want to play intense Ultimate at night.3. Find some cones or any type of markers, and find a wide open playing field (grass or concrete)4. Set up the court similar to a football field. This consists of two end zones on opposite sides of the field and a neutral play field in the middle. You also will want to mark boundaries around the field.5. Split up into two teams and begin playing!6. Don’t forget to bring water! And a small snack if you need that energy boost.7. Bring a boom-box for some music!

How to set up and play ultimate frisbee

Photo: Shirley Lin

Photo: gycdonline.blogpsot.com

Photo: www.renet-web.net

Team plagued with instability puts its foot down

SPORTS11 | February 2010

It’s true. There are actually colleges that play Quidditch, but with strikingly big differences: no magic and no flying (darn that gravity!). Quidditch, Harry Potter’s favorite sport, was created by J.K. Rowling and soon became a popular craze. Xander Manshel, a student from a college in Vermont, adapted the game from the Harry Potter series into a land-based sport. To make up for the fact that Quidditch is a fantasy sport, students make up their own rules.A playing field for the land-based sport usually contains three hula hoops held up by pipes, which serve as goals. Each team consists of seven players, who include two Beaters, one Keeper, one Seeker and three Chasers. The Keeper must protect

Irvington Wrocks WrestlingBy Arjun Panda Ten seconds left on the clock, senior Kevin Mangat, up 7-2 in the third period in the 215 lb varsity weight class match, finished off his opponent with a dominating pin. Unfortunately, this was the only match of its kind for us in the near shutout Logan at Irvington meet on January 27th. The next closest win was senior Greg Huey’s match, who was up 12-2 at the end of the second period, only to be pinned in the third with 1:30 left on the clock. For those of you who do not know much about competitive high school wrestling, points are rewarded to wrestlers throughout three two-minute periods for takedowns, escapes, and reversals. However, if a wrestler is able to make his or her opponent’s shoulder blades touch the ground for two seconds, the victory goes to him or her regardless of points accumulated. Irvington’s wrestlers are not bad comparatively; on January 20th at a tri meet, Irvington beat Kennedy 48-48 on technicality, while suffering a close loss to Washington. As far as injuries go, senior Dane Burgess has been having a mysterious abdominal problem previously (and incorrectly) thought to be related to the appendix, while senior Renee Tran has been suffering from a prolonged flue-related sickness. Several other wrestlers

are injured variously, but are managing the injuries and getting out on the mats. One reason why Irvington’s wrestling program has not reached its potential is because of the lack of a solid team show-up, says assistant coach Gary.“We simply need more guys on the mat. Since there are so few freshmen coming out to wrestle, we barely have any fourth year senior wrestlers.” In the last three years, our wrestling program has had a new coach each year; leading to a cycle that’s only detrimental to the team. The instructional instability leads to a weaker team, which in turn leads to a smaller show up.

According to several wrestlers, the new coach, Mr. Mike Damaso, seems to be slowly but surely turning around the brittle program with intensive and skilled training. After live wrestling and drill workouts, the team regularly finishes off practice with 100 repititions of sit ups, pushups, and/or squats. Of course this is only a glimpse into the diverse wrestling workouts. Additionally, the team has the second largest group of wrestling girls in the state, which opens up several tournament opportunities for the team. Check out the team as Irvington takes on American this week.

the goalposts, while Chasers score goals by throwing the Quaffle (in this case a volleyball) through the hoops. Dodgeballs take the place of Bludgers, which are hit by Beaters using tennis rackets. The seeker’s job is to capture the Snitch, usually a sock stuffed with tennis balls or, in some versions, an actual person dressed in gold. If a team catches the Snitch, it wins 30 points, and the game ends. In Wizard Quidditch, Chasers score by sending the football-sized Quaffle through the goal hoops. The Keeper then throws the Quaffle back into play. Similar to Muggle Quidditch, the Seeker must capture the Snitch, which is worth 150 points and ends the game. The first Muggle Quidditch World Cup was held two years ago, and since then,

more than 200 colleges have started Quidditch teams. This unique sport even has its own governing body: the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association. Next time you want to play Quidditch, grab a broomstick and hop on because playing Quidditch is definitely possible!

Seek the Quidditch World... In Real Life Wizarding Quidditch finds way into the Muggle worldBy Divya Gowthaman

Photo: Lan Hoang

Hip, Hip, Hooray for the Underdog of Dodgeball!Sports camaraderie is a lot more important than winningBy Sri Ravipati

“We’re going to beat Chaos Klan!” “Let’s show them they aren’t all that!” “They’ve just been getting lucky.” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard these phrases or some variation of them. First of all, here is my prediction for the 2010 Dogdeball Tournament. (Please don’t eat me after you read this.) After watching previous performances, I believe that Chaos Klan is going to win for their third year in a row. You can’t deny the fact that they have worked hard to get to where they are right now. However, some people will lead you to believe that winning is the most important part of a sport. Have nothing to do with these people. You can also lowse when you play a sport. In fact, losing is one of the most important parts of playing a sport and people do it all of the time. There are many ways that you can lose: shamefully, disgracefully, pathetically, triumphantly, courageously and honorably. I would have to say that losing with humility is the best way to cope with defeat. Dodgeball, like most other team sports, elicits school spirit. I attended the last two dodgeball tournaments (and I plan to go to this year’s too) and I noticed the people who were sitting there in the crowd were not exactly your typical sports-followers. The crowd was filled with people from all areas of the student spectrum—all brought together with the common interest of supporting their friends. It was a beautiful sight. What makes a sport worthwhile is that sense of camaraderie and banning together in friendly competition. In addition, if we did not have a team that that ripped their shirts with their bare hands and screamed “we are victorious!” then the sport would be boring. Think about it, in every situation, there needs to be balance. Apollo and Dionysus, Ying and Yang and in this case, brawns and brains. To have a great tournament, we need everyone—winners, losers and friends of both. According to Times sport’s writer Simon Barnes, victory is for wimps: it is in underdog that the true spirit of sport is to be found. This is exactly why I love the underdog. While Chaos Klan will probably win, I will be cheering for the new teams with clever knock-off titles like Underdog Billionaires. Teams like the Organized Klan and the Hard Knocks will be sure to cause an uproar in the crowd as they challenge the two-time defending champions. People often gear themselves toward winning and lose sight of what a school tournament is supposed to do for students. Instead of focusing on bringing down the champions and veterans, get past the inevitability of defeat. And if after doing this you somehow win, victwory will taste all the more sweet. Either way, you will surprise yourself by how much fun you’re having. Sports are a huge part of the high school experience, and nothing should stop students from giving it a try. The sight of a team of freshman being pummeled to the ground by a team of seniors and coming up smiling has never been more endearing and more evident to the idea of camaraderie.

Photo: publishersweeekly.com

Photo: Jonny Horng

umorH12 | The Voice 18.4

Burrito MadnessBy Ramya Kaushik

Ronald McDonaldAfter a freak accident in-volving a cow, a deep-fryer and a 5 tub of lard, Ron-ald finally saw the error of his ways. He retired the clown shoes and makeup for a quiet life in the suburbs. Soon after, he became a vegan and now lives on a strict diet of soy and lettuce rolls. Despite these life changes, Ronald still felt his life had very little depth. As a result, he gave up all his material possessions and set off on a quest for enlightenment. Now he is residing as a monk in a Buddhist monastery situated in the remote Himalayan Mountains.

Winnie the Pooh On a recent hunting spree, Sarah Palin somehow found herself in the middle of the Hundred-Acre Wood (poor thing, she

t h o u g h t she was in Yosemite). U n f o r -tunate ly, Pooh just happened to be s a u n t e r -ing down the road

just as Palin was loading her rifle...What remains of Pooh Bear is currently sprawled across Palin’s bedroom floor as a door-mat. Rest in peace, Pooh, rest in peace.

Tony the TigerIn a recent drug test, the childhood icon was busted for excessive steroid use. He was caught red-handed by the CCSF (Committee for Cartoon Sports Fair-ness), which r e p o r t e d that his level of ste-roid use was 20 times that of Barry Bonds. He now faces up to 10 years behind bars and a suspension of his contract.

Dragon TalesTurns out that Max and Emmy never ac-tually traveled to Dragon Land. All those d r a g o n s peeling off the wall were sim-ply hallu-c inat ions caused by the con-sumption of grade-A marijuana. Where, you ask, did two tod-dlers get their hands on some quality weed? Well…just ask my editor.

The Sesame Street CountUnfortunately, the poor old Count has been plagued with Alzhiemers disease, c a u s e i n g him to for-get how to count...and spell. Re-ports state the he repeatedly leaves out certain let-ters in his own name, most often the “o.”

The SunMaid Raisin GirlIn the middle of her 60th botox…this week. Hey, it takes some work to look flawless even after 90 years of picture perfect mod-eldom. I mean, think about it. Without her weekly touchup she would look just like her namesake- a raisin.

Where Are They Now?Our favorite childhood icons, and where they are nowBy Sukhbir KaurCartoons by Shirley Lin

F. M. L. You thought your life was bad? Well, it’s noth-ing when you consider the plight of Irvington Vi-kings and the ghastly ordeals they must suffer through day to day. Indeed, it makes the starving children in the outskirts of Uzbekistan look cozy in comparison.

By Shilpa Sharma

REJECTED! Valentine’s Day. For so many Irvington students, it means bitter memories and heartless rejections by classmates shocked to learn of your unending love for him or her. Since it is basically unavoidable, I might as well help along the process by helping you out breaking the news.

Article and photos by Alexandra Perlegos

1. Man: “How do you like your eggs in the morning?”

Woman: “Unfertilized.”

2.Man: “Want to dance?” Woman: “No, thank you.”

Man: “Don’t thank me, thank God somebody asked you.”

3.Man: “What’s your number?” Woman: “It’s in the phone book.”

Man: “But I don’t know your name.” Woman: “That’s in the phone book too.”

...and the one that takes the prize...

6. Man: “What do you for a living?” Woman: “Female impersonator.”

4.Man: “How do you like your eggs in the morning?”

Woman: “Unfertilized.”

There they were, hundreds of them, lined up like savages, pushing and shoving, screaming and pulling the hair of the people in front of them! Sounds like a sadistic orgy? Well, its not. It’s free burrito, that’s what. On Tuesday, January 26th, thanks to some mysteri-ous string-pulling, ASB was able to score free Chipotle burritos for our school (no one asked how, I mean, free burritos. Af-ter hearing about the in-sane offer, students were lined up in hundreds for hours to receive their $5 burrito. Some students rushed a f -ter school or left five minutes earlier from their sixth period class, claim-ing they had a “doctor’s appointment,” others were ahead of the game and camped out in front of Chipotle; they wanted to get the freshest guacamole. In the end, sacrifices were made by all.

“The line gave a new meaning to the holiday Fat Tues-day,” said sophomore Nicole Nel-son, “It was better than Black Friday.” Thankfully, in all the bustle, there were only two K.Os. Don’t worry, only one was Mortal Kombat status.

Although the burrito-give-away could be determined as a

success, few are speculat-ing Chipotle’s motives. While supplying food for IHS students, they

also managed to distract college-bound students for

their upcoming Wednesday finals. Could this be a plot devised by Chipotle to have high school stu-dents fail by distracting them by offer-ing “final food,” when in they are look-ing for potential Chipotle employees? We’ll never know. Whatev-er, I got my burrito.

5.Woman: “Wanna go out to lunch to-morrow?”

Man: “Uhh..uhm..sorry, my Charman-der has swine flu.”

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Photo Ramya Kaushik

Freshman Rishi Jethi“My biology notebook was due for a notebook check next day, but I left it on my couch since I was studying there. After school, it wasn’t on the couch. I called my dad and asked where it was, he said it was thrown away. The notebook was worth 50 points. FML.”

Junior Jessica Diesta“Last Wednesday, I thought that the next day was Friday. I was so pumped and ready for the weekend. The next morning I went to school and realized that it was only Thursday. FML.”

Junior Amit Piple“I told my seven-year old cousin how to flip someone off. And then he chose to show my uncle...on Christmas. FML.”

Senior Andrew Phung“In sixth grade, I was feel-ing really nervous and anxious. I was too nervous to ask my teacher to go to the bathroom, so when I finally raised my hand and she called me, I had already peed in my chair. HAHAHAHAH SO EM-BARRASSING. FML.”

Staff Writer Shilpa Sharma“I went around trying to get the most outrageous FML moments of all time...and this is all I have to show for it. So much for a good article. FML.”

There is no free lunch