Well, that's embarrassing...

I'm labeled as a blogger, yet I rarely blog. As a matter of fact, what is even a bit more funnier, my topic is social media networking, yet I don't have internet access at home.

But, minus the dramatic introduction and suspense, I'd like to update my progress since the middle of summer.

June: Despair! Chaos. I have no idea what my topic is.

July: Ten hours of hard labor (not really, but...) is spent on the morning of the fourth of July at Hacienda Heights. Here, I realize that in fact parade managing is a great breath of fresh air for my tingling creative senses. I mean, I had loads of  fun doing crafty stuff and surrounding myself with people who wanted to help out their community. Although it was amazing and a great feeling, something was missing, and I couldn't pick my finger on it...

August: Sitting around still trying to put my finger on it...

Then, September happened: and, I quickly realized what the missing counterpart to my initial topic was - research. Here, was that very sad point in my senior project pursuit when I realized I was neither passionate nor determined to search the four corners of the world about public demonstrations that inspire activism. But then, school happened and that all changed when I discovered

• Our internet was censored
• Our bandwidth was slow... with no printer! 
• & finally, that it really aggravated me that senior students could not be treated like young adults and be granted basic internet to use as a tool in our education 

So, with the help of the darling Ortega.. it just happened. My topic including parades and foo-foo pretty stuff altered into social media networking. It was so surprising. yet inspiring to me that this random topic was now at my feet. It was actually one of the best decisions I made, because it resulted in something I never thought senior project would do: discover my passion.

Until I realized I needed a mentor. Yaaaaaaay.

With blood, sweat, and tears, it took nearly two months to get a break through. It came in the news of a phone call to LA Youth:

Amanda Riddle 5967 West 3rd Street #301   Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 938-9194 Needless to say, my reaction was a bit like this:

I completely agree that I could had definitely filmed a reaction video, 

Now, as October rolls by, I have successfully completed four hours of mentorship with LA Youth and plan on attending Saturdays until I graduate. You see, I know a lot has happened since the middle of summer, including:

• Citing 25 sources for my Research Check 
• Getting an AE (A for non ipoly students) on my 10 minute presentation 
• Finding a topic for my science fair project (the correlation between the economics of a country and the level of censorship in that given country) 
• Grasping the basic fundamentals of the internet and social media

Today can mark week one of my weekly update on my project. Sure, I'm about eight plus weeks behind, but it's never to late I guess. 

And, on one concluding note, here's the truth on how many people I contacted for mentorship prior to getting a place at LA (which, is a very scenic hour and a half of drive from my house on the10 ^_^) 

1. Nelson Chang for Parade Floats (had to turn him down)
2. Ellie Larez for Hacienda Heights (yes)
3. Ralph Rameriz at AE Entertainment  (yes, but disappeared) 
4. Raul Romero (the guy with the blue bird at the rose parades) (no reply)
5. Spoon from CalPoly (no)
6. Mt. Sac newspaper (no)
7. Chino and Rancho Chaffey newspaper (no)(no) 
8. Chino Champion Newspaper (no)
9. Alternative Press (no)
10. Alternative Press (no)
11. Alternative Press (no reply)
12. LA Times (no reply)
13. Cramer at Alex's Lemonade Stand (no reply)
14. Some random on some random site (no)
15. Some random on some random site (no)
16. Burton at Scripps College (no reply after saying yes) 
17. Some random at Pomona college newspaper (no reply)
18. Amanda Riddle at LA Youth <3  (Yes)