First Thanksgiving Away from Home

This Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving away from home and not spending time with my family.

Before the week of Thanksgiving came around, two of my three roommates have left home for California for the holiday to spend time with the ones they love and care most. I would have loved to flew home for Thanksgiving but I still had class to attend and didn't have the money to by an airfare ticket with already spending about $500 to go back home during winter break.

After I got out of my last class on Tuesday, almost everyone on my dormitory hall have left, and by night it was just me and my roommate from California in the hall. Usually, the hall is loud and obnoxious. Although it does get annoying at times, it bring a little life to the hall. This time, it reminded me of a ghost town. No one was here. Just dead silence.

During this time, I had some time to think about what was going on with my life, what should I do to get ahead of school, and so on. But what I was thinking about most was that I wish I could be at home relaxing, worrying about nothing, and just sharing some laughters with my family.

Honestly, I was a little sad thinking about my family. I haven't seen them in about 3 months, with the exception of via Skype. Although I am a Japanese-decent, we celebrate Thanksgiving because it is a time where we all sit down at the dinner table and eat as a family. Usually, four or five days out of the week, someone is always missing at the dinner table since my mother, my sisters and I have different schedules.

Once Thanksgiving came around, I really didn't know what to do that day. It was only my roommate and I on the floor and most likely, restuarants weren't probably going to be open. But I got a called from one of my teammates staying on campus to come play basketball down at the outside court at the school. So my roommate and I went down to go play, an hour after he called, and ended up that everyone wanted to go back inside.

There were about 10 of us including my roommate and I that stayed here at Mount Mercy for the holidays (Not to mention, they are all from California except for one). One of them told us that they were doing a Thanksgiving potluck. I was pretty stoked to here that. I, then made a trip to Walmart with two of my teammates and got my recipe to contribute to the potluck; I made some garlic rice with spinich.

At the end of the day, all of us gathered around and said grace before we ate (which I never do at my house hold). It was a feast. I got full with only one plate down. I could have never been more appreciative and thankful for my teammates. The days I wish I could be home, they are the one that made days like those so special.

Overall, my Thanksgiving away from home and family wasn't such a bad experience. All I have to say is I am thankful for my family for support me in any shape or form, through thick and thin while I'm out here in Iowa, my friends for always being there for me whenever I need a person to talk to. And my teammates that I got to spend my time with this Thanksgiving.

I can't wait until I get to go home for Christmas break. It's so close I can taste it.

-Jun

From a big city to a big "small" city

I have lived in a suburb in Los Angeles, Torrance, my whole life and even though there is everything to do in the world, go to Major League Baseball games, go to an NBA game, go to Disneyland, Universal Studios, go to the beach, etc, I always complained that there was nothing to do out there.

I never thought I would be moving out of Torrance and was dying to get out of there. Until an oppotunity came upon me to play baseball at Mount Mercy University...IN IOWA!?!?! I thought to myself, "Iowa!? There's probably nothing to do out there."

Although I got accepted to University of Oregon and University of Hawai'i academically, I decided to sign my letter of intent with Mount Mercy University to continue to purse my career in baseball. I talked to a friend that went to college in Iowa and he really got me interested to coming out here. He told me that one, I get to play baseball. And two, I should just go out to where ever I'm going, in this case Iowa, and just experience something new because you only live once and might never be able to do this again. He also mentioned that Cedar Rapids was the second biggest city in Iowa so it shouldn't be that bad, and i could head out to Iowa City if I had free time to get more of a College scenery.

This is going to be my 12th week here in Cedar Rapids and I couldn't have asked for a better time here. I really didn't except much at first but my teammates and  the people I met at school has made it a pleasant experience so far.

However, I do miss spending time with my family and my friends back home. I'm not saying Iowa is a horrible place or anything, but I cant wait to go back home for winter break and spend some quality time with everybody.

Until then, I have to stay on the daily grind of school and baseball.

-Jun

First Time Playing Fantasy Football

Every year, my friends from high school would be talking about Football. Who was doing good, who was doing bad, who won the fantasy game of that week and bragging about their wins.

This year, I decided to join in a Fantasy Football with some friends I know. Although I have experience in Fantasy Baseball and Basketball, I thought I would participate in another sports this year.

These past four and a half years, I really never got to pay close attention to the National Football League since I was working at a restuarant on Sundays, which ironically, was when the games are on.

Ever since I decided to attend aschool in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Mount Mercy University), I was pretty excited that I wasnt going to have to work on Sundays and actually get to watch some football. Better yet, my roommates are all into football and two of my three roommates are in a fantasy league of their own so we all tune into the games that are on.

Although I know the basics of football (touchdowns, rushing yards, sacks, etc), I am not really familiar with the some of the rulings and regulations of football. So every time there is a penalty or a conflict during the game, I would feel stupid but ask what just happened on a certain play.

Now...it is week nine of 16 in the NFL and personally, my fantasy team is in 3rd place with a 5-3 record with a Monday Night Football game to be played this week. Its funny to reflect how I started off as a participant of little knowledge to knowing what everything goes on during the game.

So far, my experience with Fantasy Football is pretty exciting in comparison to Baseball and Basketball because football is only played once a week and you hope the player you drafted on your team does well for that week or you are screwed. In baseball and basketball, since the league plays almost everyday of their season, you just hope the players on your team are consistant, rather than expecting big things in one game for the week.

I recommend that people take part in Fantasy Football, especially for those of you who doesn't know the basis of football. As you play the game, you get the hang of it. Plus it give you something to do on a Sunday if you don't have anything to do.


-Jun

Not your typical so-called "gym"

This summer, I was introduce to a exercise I never knew that existed before...

It all started around late November early December when I asked who I call my friend and brother Taylor Gelbrich if his brother knew a lot about working out. You know, just curious about if I haven't done a lifting movement before. So I go to his brother, Logan, and I remember he asked me, "What's your goal in life?" I was thinking to myself, "What does this have to do with lifting?"

Logan mentioned that he was willing to train me to become fit at the time. I really didn't have time with school, work and wanting to go out with friends before they left for summer ball and whatnot. To be honest at the time, it was during baseball season and I wasn't lifting at all and I also didnt have the drive to get up to workout. It almost becomes a lifestyle. Not the kind I want.

As months went by, Logan kept on checking with me if I still want him to train me. I would come up with excuse and would have legitimate reasons why i wouldn't be able to make it. I think the most part was me being lazy and not having the drive to workout.

Then as the month of April came along, Logan mentioned that he was going to start up a workout in Santa Monica. I was thinking to myself, Torrance to SANTA MONICA!?!? Really? With L.A. traffic, that's going to take about an hour. My thought at first, "f-that!" At the same time, I did ask Logan for some workout tips before and I told him I was willing to train with him so I thought I give it a try.

After a hour long drive from North Torrance to Santa Monica on a early Tuesday morning with horrible L.A. traffic, I was late to my first ever class (I am never trusting Google Maps for directions again). I thought Logan was going to yell at me for being late and along with the other coaches, Annie Mello and Danny Lesslie. As I walked up to them, they just greeted me with comfort and just smiled and told me "Welcome to the bluffs!"

Logan told me to hope in the warm-up that was going on that day. I was doing thinking, "This is it? This is easy." I guess I spoke too soon. The workout came along and I remeber it well:
100m Farmers Carry
20 KB Cleaners
200m Run
20 KB Swings
100m Farmers Carry
20 KB Snatch

After the workout, I was exhausted. Never wanting to do the workout again, but with a little post pep talk from Logan and Danny, it all changed from there.

Since that Tuesday, I went to most of the classes during the week except during finals week and when I got sick. I changed me into a different person with a different perspective not just in a work out but in life as well. The coaches were a big part of this transformation. Without the coaching, I would be doing every workout or if I went to the gym and lifted, I would be doing evertything wrong. But not just the coaches but the other functional fitnessers that were always attending the class well influneced me in many ways.

I recommend everyone to at least go to a work out at the bluffs, but now they are located at a different location on Ocean Avenue and Marguerita Avenue at Palisades Park. It may be a drive from where ever you might be. And It might not be your typical lifting in front of the mirrior at the gym. But in the end, you'll get results that you would never have imagined you would have in the past year.

Check them out at http://www.ffotb.com/


Special thanks to Logan Gelbrich, Taylor Gelbrich, Danny Lesslie, Annie Mello, Nikki "MF" Pounds, Tyler Nilson, Lindsay Mathews, Crossfit LA.

Facebook Hiatus Day #18

Facebook Hiatus Day #7

It has been seven days since I have signed off Facebook. I still don't have that temptation of going to check what's going on people's minds. I feel like I am getting things done which I would always have before until the last minute in the past.

My research paper I just finished for example. Yeah, I finished it just now and it's due tomorrow at 9:15 a.m. but in the past, I would be on Facebook, clicking on the refresh and home button to check what was going on every second in people lives, which time would fly by within a blink of an eye. I would have probably been not even half way through right now. But I got a head start on this paper and I feel really confident about it. I also took time to go to my professors office to go get it revised. I also found out that I received an A in one of my Journalism classes I'm taking this semester.

I think being signed off Facebook has been a good sign for me lately and everything seems to be falling in place because of it. For those you don't know, I haven't been accepted into any colleges yet. Until yesterday I got a letter from the University of Oregon saying that I got accepted in there. So there you go ladies and gentlemen, I have a opportunity to be a Duck. I have yet to hear from Hawaii and I hope I get in there too so I would have options.



I also received a recruit letter from the Mount Mercy University in Iowa to maybe play baseball out there. I'm pretty excited that I got something from somewhere to play ball.

Now comes the hard part. If I got the chance to play baseball, would I choose to go to Iowa? Or would I choose to go to Oregon to have the time of my life? I most likely choose to go to the school in Iowa because when am I going to have a chance to play competitive baseball ever again? Some people told me that I should go play because you might not have another opportunity and do it while I am young.

This week is somewhat bitter-sweet. First, my main man JT came home from Virginia and John Hein came home from North Carolina. It was all fun when we were hanging out on the weekend but then 3 of my teammates I became brothers with, Vop, Cooper and Pulido, are leaving to play summer ball this week. Vop and Cooper are going to Pennsylvania and Puldio is going to Washington. It makes me kind of sad but they are doing it big some place else. And speaking of doing big things, I want to Congratulate Kellen Moen for being picked by the Kansas City Royals in the 7th round of the MLB Draft.

The only thing in my way from summer is turning in this research paper and a geology final on friday. I cant wait until this summer.

Facebook Hiatus Day #2

I dont know why people are so tempted to go on Facebook all the time. Even though I go on Facebook almost everyday, I'm tyring not to go on it for a month to see what non-social networking is like and to get out of the house more.

Yesterday, June 1st, was Day 1. It wasn't so bad. I logged Facebook off my computers, my phone, and my iPod touch. I left a status saying that if people need to contact me, they should call me or text me. After I logged off I was on my iPod touch the whole time playing some baseball game on there. Then I went out to dinner with a good friend of mine. Went to Coco Ichiban. It wasn't bad compared to Curry House but I think Curry House is better. After I ate I thought I would be productive and went to the batting cages and saw Drew working there. Talking to him about where I might be going next year.

Today, my alarm went off at 6:55 a.m. to go to FFOTB (Functional Fitness on the Bluffs, for those of you didnt know and haven't read my other posts. And who even reads my blogs???). Took about 40-45 minutes to get there and took my routine 15 minute nap when I got there.

Our WOD (Workout Of the Day) was:
50 mountain climbs (2 counts)
5 push ups
25 squats
10 push ups
20 squats
15 push ups
15 squats
20 push ups
10 squats
25 push ups
5 squats
400 meter run
My time: 8:36
    With warm ups that consisted of:
   High Skips
   Long Skips
   Burpee Frog Jumps
   Duck Walk
   And 1 minunte Squat Holds
      And a skill work out we did before that was:
   Planks with hands and feet together.
After a long weekend in Yuma, Arizona, doing the workout was a killer and ended up paying my respects to the trash can, once again.

When I got back home, I washed my dog and took him to the vets for a rabies shot. I passed by the the church that Rudy had is funeral at. Kind of made me sad and realize that I have to live life to the fullest when I can....Then After the vets, went home to grab my things to go study at Strabuck, which here I am once again, trying to get my homework done but am blogging instead.

I guess not beign on Facebook is a good thing because I tend to get my priorities straight. We'll see in a couple of weeks if I really get a withdrawl or not.

-Jun

Journalism 1 Blog #2

I know so much about current events because I like knowing what goes on in this world.

What I do to keep up with the current events that happen about the world around me is since I am on the computer most of the time I use, Yahoo as my main source of news. Yahoo provides everything that is happening within that day from news to entertainment and from sports to feature stories.

I also use CNN as another source of getting news. I can always rely on CNN because it is always up to date and it is reliable, especially CNN reporter Anderson Cooper. He is one of the most credible and well-known journalist and with his blog, AC360, every breaking news or big events that happen is on there right away.

Although it might not be a source of news, I get a lot of information through Facebook. Everyone that is “wired” on Facebook are always posting things from news to entertainment and from sports to feature stories. Of course, I would look it up by using Yahoo or CNN to see if it is true.

For example, the earthquake that happened in Sendai, Japan. I didn’t know anything about it at first, then as I logged onto Facebook, I saw that people posting their “status” and they were talking about a earthquake that happened in Japan. So I looked it up on CNN and what people were posting was true.

Sometimes a non-major source can be informative, like Facebook. News spreads like cancer, good or bad. People are going to be talking about it but if you want the details, you should always use the big name news sources.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com

Journalism 1 Blog #1

Interviewing Christopher Vopinek was probably the hardest thing did as a student in a journalism class. It took time to figure out what I was going to talk about, when I was going to do the interview, where I was going to interview Christopher, and how I was going to interview him.

Since Vopinek is a baseball player at El Camino College, I knew that I could do the interview at the baseball field and talk about what it's like being an athlete at the college level and also ask if he went through any adversities while playing baseball.

Vopinek said he was busy most of the time with school work and baseball, it was hard for me to get time from him to do the interview, but I was lucky enough to catch him after a practice and got to ask him some questions.

Now how I was going to interview him was the hardest part. I didn't whether to start off friendly or go in there with a serious attitude and ask the question right away.

Then I remembered learning in Journalism 1 that we should loosen up the environment a little bit by talk him to person we are interviewing. So I took that advice and just started talking to him like I would in a normal conversation, first by asking him how practice was, how his day went, etc.

When I was interviewing Vopinek, I asked him if he went through any adversity in his time playing baseball. He said that when he attended California State University, Sacramento to play baseball, he had a shoulder injury on his throwing arm that cost him a whole season.

Vopinek showed me a scar on his right shoulder, as there was still stitch marks from after the surgery. He also had a scar on his right elbow, which that doctors removed some muscle from there to replace it in the shoulder.

"This injury was probably the rough part of my life since I was injury-free in high school but never took care of my arm," Vopinek said. "But that also made me want to work hard to get better so I can get back on the diamond."

After the interview, Vopinek ran off the field through the center field gate with pride. He said that he wasn't going to take anything for granted because not being able to play of an injury was already hard enough on him.

Vopinek said, "I want to be an example to everyone on the team. I want to be remembered as the person that worked hard and never gave up, even when I hit a rough patch in life."

So struggled getting up from bed this morning, not being able to feel my legs at all from CrossFit.

I get to my Geology 1 class to find out that a have a 77 percent in the class, which was better than I thought I was doing. Pretty stoked about that. Now if I can keep that up in all my classes, that would be awesome

I get to my second class, waiting on the red bench before class starts, and this time, I was going to ask the girl in my class on a movie date. I told myself the night before, "Don't be a pussy about it. Just do it. You'll never know until you try." So as I waited, the professor came walking down the hall to open the room. Still, no sign of the girl.

As I sat down in the class and the professor called roll, I noticed she didn't call her name because her name would be the first one called and some other girl was like, "Oh, I guess my name is first from now huh?" I assumed that she dropped the class because the few times I talked to her, she was saying she didn't need the journalism class. Kind of sucks cause I was looking froward to going to class to talk to her. I hope for the best for her.

It's finally Friday. That means work. I need something new in my life.

On the bench

Hey all,

So basically, my body is taking a beating right now from the CrossFit workout I did yesterday morning. Waiting for class to start. Nice weather out today. Hopefully today turns out to be a good day.

First CrossFit work out

Hey all,

Woke up this morning not motivated to work out at all. I had to drive out to somewhere nrarPalisades Charter High School for my first CrossFit training gig. Took me about a good hour to get there to find out that Google Maps gave me some wrong directions (Way to google). Lucky, I had my GPS navigation in my car so I found my way there.

Got there, met some new people and had a pretty good work out

Workout Of the Day:
3 rounds of:
100m of Farmer's carry
20 Kettle Ball Cleans
200m Run
20 KB Swings
100m Farmer's Carry
20 KB Snatches

My total time: 18.55

Not too bad I guess for the first time.

Just another day...

Hey all,

Woke up feeling like I didn't want to go to school. I didn't want it to remind me of transferring because I already got rejected by my top choice of college. I got my test for Geology I took last Monday, found out I got a D-. I felt very unsocial today. Just didn't feel like talking a whole lot today. I think I would have talked to that girl in one of my classes before class actually started but I just wasn't in the mood too. After class I had a baseball team meeting to go to. We chose our MVP, Pitcher of the Year, and The Taylor Gelbrich Award (kind of like most inspirational). After that, went home and one of my best friends called me to go get lunch with her. Went to L & L, talked, and went home. Pretty boring so far.

Then after that, I went to Home Depot with my mom to buy some light bulbs for the kitchen (which I think got burnt out or the wire got messed up), and went to a Japanese Market to buy some stuff. That's where I saw some U of H merchandise. I hope that was a sign for something.

Later, my buddy, Dalton called me to go hit some softballs at the park. If you didn't know, I'm going to Yuma, Arizona to play in a softball tournament. So I did that, went home, then headed for Bellflower to drink with some friends.

Pretty boring day overall.

My coach told the sophomores on the team to list some schools we would want to play at and to make calls for. I would really want to play in somewhere in Hawaii. Can't beat the weather and lifestyle out there.

Well, I guess today was just another day and tomorrow is always a new day....and it starts off with CrossFit training in the morning...

My University of Oregon Essay

Hey all,

Like I mentioned in my other post, I applied to University of Oregon. During the application process, I had to write a essay no more than 500 words. I thought I share it with you

Prompt: Tell us something that you did in the past two years that made you feel good about yourself

Essay:

People have always encouraged me to go for what I want. Some think otherwise but this one time, I proved someone wrong.

 Two years ago, I transferred back to El Camino College from Barstow College. I played my freshmen year of baseball at Barstow and it wasn’t quite the experience I was expecting. After I transferred, I tried out for the baseball team. He told me anyone has a chance to make the team but you have to stand out. That summer of 2009, I worked harder than I can imagine. I would go get extra work in off the field and ended up making the team.

As the fall of 2009 came along, I was again working harder than ever to remain with the team. I know I didn't have the talent that other guys have on the team so I would go to the field early and be the first one there to go hit and take ground balls after class and be the last one off the field doing field jobs after practice.

After the long 4 weeks of practicing with the team, judgment day came for me whether I would make the team or not. I went into the coach’s office and as he talked to me, he gave me two options: 1. Stay with the team and not get playing time or 2. Quit. In my mind, I never thought of quitting but not getting playing time was a big issue to me but I know I would regret giving up baseball so I decided to stay with the team.

As a long fall semester of practicing, spring came along, which meant baseball season was under its ways. At this time, I have decided to redshirt but by watching this team, I learned so much about everything.

One day, one of our captains came up to me and talked about his leadership and how he can improve on it. Then one of our assistant coaches walked up to us and started talking about leadership. One of the things he mentioned was even though I was a redshirt sitting on the bench, I was a leader because of how hard I worked. When the coach gave me two choices, he was originally going to cut me but our assistant coach told him I was something special.

            At the end of the year meeting with the coach, he just talked about me. He told me that, “Look, I know you didn't get to play this year, but you made a big impact on the team and I think you were one of the reasons why we were the team we were.”

            After that day, I never took anything for granted and worked hard for everything. Even until this day, the people that I thought that inspired me would call me to thank me for the hard work I put in and they learn a life lesson from me that they would never forget, working hard.

Killing Time

Hey all,

I thought about what would happen in the next two years or so. Most likely, I would be transferred to another college (hopefully) and my both of my sisters would be graduated from high school. So that leaves with my mom selling the house after my youngest sister graduates. My mom's thinking about moving into a small apartment but big enough to where if any one of us were to come visit, there's room for us to sleep. 

I been living at the house ever since I moved to Torrance in 1999. I seen a lot happen to this house; my dad tore apart the backyard, broke the patio to make a small back room for himself, my dad took apart little bit of the drive way, etc. I told me that he was going to beautify the house by himself, and to save money. After he did all that, he caused a mess, and left my mom. The house hasn't been at its best ever since. Everything got old, the grass died, and with my mom being a single parent and all, she couldn't support us and the house at the same time. Of course, I tried helping out to make the house clean but since we have three dogs, nothing ever stays clean. As years flew by, we kept unnecessary things in the garage, the back room that my dad built, in our closets, and just stacked random things around the house. 

That came to a conclusion that I cant take all the things I own when/if I move. So I went through my room yesterday, four full trash bags of just junk I never used in like the past 5-7 years. I think I kept those things from the past because when I was younger, I thought it would be cool to look back at it and say "Oh yeah, this was when..." But in the end, what am I going to do with it? Store it in my closet and let it sit there for another decade and just take up space? So like I mentioned earlier, 4 full trash bags of junk. It consisted of pencil boxes from elementary school, pencils and pens I used, stuff animals I won at carnivals, 100 Sports Illistrated magazines, old Japanese comic books, Japanese work books from the 3rd/4th grade, shirts I never wear anymore, 4 pairs of jeans I dont wear anymore, notebooks, papers, receipts, newspapers, and the list going on forever. 

Time will come when I eventually after to let go of certain things I have. Even if it is something that is really worthy to me. I guess its part of everyday life for a human being. No one said it was going to be easy...

Wasting Money

Hi all,

So basically, I spend too much money on random stuff in general. Recently, I applied to University of Oregon and University of Hawai'i and with sending the transcripts and all, it was about a wooping $200 dollars. Would be a waste if I don't get into any of them.

I also purchased an iPod touch last night at Best Buy. I thought that it would be nice to have a iPod touch but since I don have wifi in my house, its kind of  useless because I cant do anything on it besides listen to music, which isn't a bad thing. The grand total came out to be like $320 dollars. I mean its been only a day but I think I should have got the iPod Touch Nano that the cute girl at best buy was talking about, plus it would have been cheaper.

Stress

Good morning to all,

I checked my UCSB admission status for the past couple of the days because I was eager to know if I got in or not. I logged onto my UCSB account yesterday to know that i didn't get admitted into UCSB. I got one of the those heart broken feelings that you see in movies after the protagonist gets some type of denial. I seriously didn't know what to do; for the past years i been busting my ass off to at least get into UCSB. My counselor even told me I would probably be able to get into UCSB if I followed her ed-plan. I guess I have to hope that I get into University of Hawaii or University of Oregon. I always tell people this but no one said life was gonna be that easy I guess...Shit happens for a reason

Past couple of months

hi all,

First blog

For the past couple of months, things haven't been going the way I wanted it to go, or I just haven't had time to myself. It almost getting close to May and I been rejected from 3 of the 7 colleges I applied to and haven't heard back from the rest of them.

But on the brighter side, every week I look forward to class.