Annnnd, we're back! I'm so sorry I've been on hiatus. This summer got so busy and then all of a sudden I'm three weeks into my quarter! Let me top 5 the things I've enjoyed since I've been gone.

(My friend brought to my attention that I haven't been using my Top 5s as a countdown really, so I figure I'll try. I just dislike placing things in certain orders, but maybe that won't be such a bad thing? :P)

5. I moved!
Yes, I used to hate moving but I'm actually quite settled and it's working out very well. I'm a 2 mile bike ride from campus and about the same from work, so it's working out well. Much better than my 100 mile commute before! I've never really felt like a college student since I've always worked full-time while going to class and don't have much time to hang around campus and just do nothing, so it's kind of nice to feel like I have some free time. :) I spend most of it reading or writing in the library. Does anyone still go to public libraries? I love them! I've been checking out books and DVDs lately. It's been years since I'd previously done so! I rented Atonement. SO GOOD! I'm trying to save money by not buying as many books because they just add up, I feel bad for all those trees and boy are they heavy to move!

4. Anticipating the Holiday Season!
I love the holiday season! It's been ridiculously hot in my area (90 degrees!) and I can't wait for it to cool down so I can wear my turtlenecks and scarves. As much as I love the beach, I also love bundling up with a book and some warm food to keep me warm. I can't believe this year is already winding down, but I'm excited for 2009. I might graduate (I love my school way too much, and want to pick up a few minors...maybe), I'd like to travel, and hopefully I'll have a novel or collection of short stories polished. :) 2009 is full of many possibilities as far as I'm concerned.

3. Events!
Last Sunday (10/12) I helped coordinate Life Rolls On's 5th Annual Night By the Ocean Gala. It was a wonderful evening and seeing so many people that I admire and respect come together for a cause that I feel so strongly about is really something else. Something quite ineffable, and it fills me with something wonderful. =] This whole summer I was running around, helping out with their Golf Tournament, the US Open of Surfing, various They Will Surf Again events, and helped them raise $10,000! It was very productive and I'm excited to be working with the Reeve-Irvine Research Center to get some things going on my campus too. =]

2. Quality Time with Family/Friends
BBQs, beach days, and random fun filled my summer. I got to hang out with Roman and meet his lovely friend Nichola, as well as grab some yummy ramen and explore Little Tokyo with Christine Lu. My friend Emily Ibarra is a very talented photographer and I got to catch her as the Portugal. The Man and RX Bandits tour came to a close. They are all such amazing people. It's really nice instantly connecting with people, and I experienced a lot of that this summer with new and old friends. Lovely! My aunt gave birth to a little baby boy this past month too so lots of wonderful things have been going on. :)

1. Writing!
I have been working like a madwoman to learn as much as I can about writing various forms of literature and prose. My workshops with Ron Carlson and James McMichael have been fun and challenging! Poetry has always slightly intimidated me so it's nice to have it knock me down every now and again, challenging me to look deeper. Both of my professors are highly respected and much lauded writers, so it's wonderful having them as mentors. It's a very fortunate quarter. I'm also taking a class on "Devils and other Boundary Crossers," involving a lot of folklore. My professor, Carol Burke, is very knowledgeable and fun!

I've also recently taken on a challenge to write 50,000 words (a novel!) in 30 days, as November is National Novel Writing Month. I'm really excited and don't think I've really thought about what I've gotten myself into, which might be a good thing so I'll just dive in and come out 50,000 pages richer. :)

I'm also attempting to raise money for the Office of Letters and Light to support reading and writing programs that inspire kids, teens and adults to write. I'm hoping to attend a Write-a-thon in San Fransisco November 15th to join over 100 authors for a night of food, drinks and fun as we write into the night. Please sponsor me if at all possible! I'm already 78% of the way there thanks to some very wonderful people. :) You can find my fundraising page HERE! =] I've also started a new blog to track my progress in completing the 50,000 word challenge.

Well, that's my Top 5 and I'm sticking to it. I hope you've all been well and I'm sure you'll be seeing me more often!

With Love,
Tiana =]

TAGS: Top 5, Hiatus, National Novel Writing Month

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Has it really been a month since I’ve been Top-5ing?! ☺ Why yes, yes it has. Happy Monday! I would’ve posted sooner but last week was full of transitions that kept me super busy. Let’s do this:

1. Congratul-8-tions to the class of 2008—pre-school, elementary school, middle school, high school and college! I went to my friend's English Department graduation at UCLA and lo and behold James Franco was also walking the stage! I didn't know he was also a creative writer and hoped to pursue an MFA. I'd love to workshop with him one day. I wanted to see my friends walk at their universities in Northern California, but I'm sure they were too busy being enlightened by their commencement speaker—Oprah—and making speeches of their own. ☺

2. Now that its summer I kind of have more time to read whatever I want, so I've taken up quite a few. There are what I’m starting with:

Dubliners by James Joyce
America's Best Short Stories 2007 by Stephen King
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Yes Man by Danny Wallace

My Amazon shopping list of books to read is endless. If I were a super hero, I'd want my super power to be able to touch any book and acquire all of its data, and be able to search for whatever answer I want and find it. Basically I want my mind to be the ultimate search engine data base. Paper beats rock and brains most definitely beat brute any day in my book!

Also, since it’s summer, my friends feel compelled to prevent me from falling into my workaholic tendencies and take me on spontaneous adventures. We were hanging out in Long Beach last night and when we left the bar my friends decided we should go check out Laguna Beach since we’ve never been down to the actual water. It was midnight. So we drive down. It just so happened that the grunions were hatching so we got to watch them flap back out into the ocean. Then they couldn’t remember where Pacific Coast Highway ended so they decided to find out. We followed it to a path that led us back on the 405S and ended up heading down to San Diego. I’m in and out of sleep at this point. Once there they decided the only reasonable thing to do at 3 o’clock in the morning was to go ghost hunting, so the first thing that pops up on my friend’s iPhone was “screaming” tree. We drive down to the creepy, isolated hills on the outskirts of San Diego, and I wake up in the car at 4:15am to us driving past an abandoned slaughterhouse down a very narrow dirt road toward a sole tree standing alone in a clearing. It was creepy. After that freaky encounter I directed them to my favorite optical illusion—gravity hill. We let the car roll backwards a good three times. ☺

The sheer randomness of this account has inspired me to write a story, if not my own slasher film. We’ll see if this goes anywhere. ☺

3. eBay Live! was last week and I was painfully jealous :) I will make it in 2010 (Orlando). I must! I love this year's location, CHICAGO ! The Navy Pier and the water surrounding the city and so much more. I think Roman is obligated to Top 5 with me, since he IS in the city where High Fidelity was filmed. ☺

4. I’m in the middle of moving and it’s prompting me to go through all of my stuff. I’ve heard people say that you should give away 30% of your possessions each year, and I definitely agree. In fact I’d like to give away more! I want to keep my life portable because I intend on traveling a lot throughout my life, so I must leave my pack-ratting days behind.

I have a TON of paper—notes, bank statements, and so many other unless sheets of paper from the pre e-statement age. I’m going to type up all of my paper notes and am thinking about scanning all paper documents that I don’t really need. Is that the best route to go? Tell me what you think, or if you have a better method for downsizing your life. Also, being an English major and avid word enthusiast I have a TON of books. I need to plant lots and lots of trees to balance it all out. ;)

5. I’ve always enjoyed Dave Matthews Band and their music videos but only recently have I finally sat down and taken the time to look into their career. I was amazed and have been very much inspired by their path and by their charitable measures. I am completely enamored and have a great deal of respect for them as individuals, and hopefully I’ll get to catch them live or meet them someday. ☺

Speaking about bands who do wonderful things, I just checked the results for the 30 Seconds to Mars auction and they raised over $8,000! Lovely!

TAGS: Top 5, graduation, UCLA, James Franco, Stanford, Oprah, summer, reading list, books, adventures, grunions, eBay Live!, Chicago, High Fidelity, down-sizing, Dave Matthews Band, 30 Seconds to Mars

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1. School is out! Summer school starts in a few weeks for me, and I’m very excited! I was also admitted into an advanced poetry writing class in the fall AND I just found out I am also admitted to the advanced class in fiction! I had to submit work to each class and the directors select whom they work with, so I’m shocked that they see something in me! I’m REALLY excited for this upcoming school year! I get to workshop my writing under an award-winning author and poet. It’s nice to be able to take classes I love toward my degree.
2. It’s almost father’s day! I hope you all have a nice one. Take your dad out to do something he loves, or have a nice relaxing day in. ☺ Either way, enjoy it!
3. Design for Humanity is a wonderful charity division of Billabong and they recently had a fundraiser/concert/art/fashion show! I wasn’t able to attend, but I won a contest with their organization and the lovely people over at DFH sent me a bunch of goodies. They rock! Check them out sometime.
4. I have always worked extensively with children. I don’t necessarily want to become a full-time teacher but I love inspiring them as often as I can, and they often inspire me. I love their energy and uninhibited nature—they often remind us of things we forget as we grow older and they have no filter so they just say what they feel and I love it. This past school year I helped teach 3rd-5th graders poetry lessons. There was one girl in particular that I encouraged to go up in front of the class to read her work. She was soft-spoken and shy but produced wonderful poems, and slowly became confident in her writing. Toward the end she seemed very comfortable with her work and really came out of her shell. On our last day there the kids were running around, asking for all of our autographs and i signed their papers with little notes like "you rock!" "poetry rules!" "keep writing!" i think i told her "you're brilliant! keep writing!" then walked away to sign other children's notebooks. She came back to me, tucked a folded up piece of paper into my hand and gave me another hug. I opened it up once I had left the classroom and it said "tiana i will always rimember you!"

Talk about heartmelting! This is why I love what I do. I'm going to continue working with kids throughout the summer and school year, and I might even start teaching them art as well!
5. Last but not least, T.G.I.F. ☺

TAGS: Top 5, Tiana, Design For Humanity, Children, Father's Day, Friday

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