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All responses Most smiled responses
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I've always been a Communication major.
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Yes and no. E-mail me for juicy details. ;)
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Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu -- I just have good memories of playing it when I was little.
Ravel's Jeux d'eau -- one of the last pieces I played before I quit. -
Not byteresawu.com, but mymomisafob.com, yes.
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If I did, I don't now how I did...
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I started playing piano at age five with Ling Lee in Fremont before moving on to Lena Grozman, an awesomely crazy Russian lady in Sunnyvale, Calif. My mom used to tape record every piano lesson and beat my brother and me when we sucked, which was often. But it worked, I guess, because I went to a lot of competitions in frilly dresses and tight pigtails and usually came home with a shiny trophy or a check bigger than what anything’s willing to pay me now for legitimate services. In 1999, I participated in the “Young Virtuosos” International Festival and performed in the Gala Concert at Carnegie Hall.
That was the peak of my life. I also won a lot of competitions at the state level, but Carnegie Hall remains my gold star. After that I moved onto Dr. Jed Galant in Newark, but because of Leadership, journalism, community service, etc., other things started taking precedence in my life, and I stopped devoting nearly as much time to piano. (I played a minimum of two hours a day for like, 10 years.)
There is a weird niche community of prodigious musician kids in the Bay Area. On occasion I will get a Facebook friend request or e-mail from somebody that I used to compete with, upon which we will reminisce about those nervous anticipatory backstage moments or Howard the Hottie who rocked Lizst like no other.
Sometimes I wish YouTube had existed back in the day, because I will never, ever be half as talented as I was way back when. Excluding a couple of recordings that Lena has of my performances, I don’t have anything left.
In high school, I taught piano for CA$H MONEYZ. It remains the most effortlessly profitable job I’ve held to date, and I got free meals to boot. I should probably quit school and give up my drowning editorial career. -
I hope this is a joke. I am rarely beach ready, seeing as the last time I participated in voluntary intensive physical activity was September. (Involuntary: Sprinting down the terminal as so not to miss my flight.) And that eventful occasion in September was like, a 20-minute jog around my neighborhood before nausea overwhelmed me, and I came home to replete myself with Nutella. So to answer your question, no.
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I developed my appetite for the thrill of a byline in high school, where I was the editor-in-chief of the Smoke Signal. Alumni include my friends, the brilliant news anchor Steph Chuang and TechCrunch writer Gagan Biyani.
In my freshman year of college, I wrote for CollegeOTR.com and copy edited at the UCSD Guardian. That’s more or less all I had on my resume when I landed my first internships at Glamour magazine and Mediabistro. (You can see all of my work history at my LinkedIn.)
My advice is to start accumulating any experience and clips that you can — it’s OK to start small. Work for your school newspaper or magazine. You’ll learn to brainstorm story ideas, to work under deadline, to write in AP style, and to ask good questions in an interview. Interested in music? Ask your editors for entertainment stories. Write for free for blogs and websites. Build your clips base so that you have a selection of strong samples to show any editor.
Before you even see official internship listings or program applications available, e-mail the editors to introduce yourself, express interest, and ask about opportunities. Getting an internship with a major media company is actually much easier than people think it is. A professional cover letter and resume work wonders. And I’m always down to help! -
If I ever wrote a book about health/fitness, it’d probably be titled “Secrets to Eating Like a Whale and Only Slightly Resembling One.”
I would argue that I am quite the opposite of “fit.” The last time I actually did voluntary exercise (sprinting down the terminal when late for my flight does not count) was October, much to my health-freaky family’s chagrin (my brother and mother run and do yoga every day, respectively).
My one real nemesis is dining out: I can clear a huge plate of pasta and knock back a mountain of chocolate cake, no problem. But otherwise, I don’t touch soda or fast food and rarely buy processed junk. Though my portion sizes are probably out of control, when I cook for myself my diet consists pretty much of wheat, fruit, veggies, eggs, nuts and fish. -
I’ve been to China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Canada with my family. (I’m lucky — my parents are big on Southeast Asian vacations … my mother has developed an absurdly close friendship with our travel agent.) My dad lives in Taiwan, so I visit every year or two.
As part of my Cyprus study abroad program’s Euro-trip, I traveled to Hungary, Czech, Slovakia, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands. During the same semester, I also made excursions to Israel and Egypt.
In typical Teresa-indecisiveness, it’s impossible to pick a favorite. Bali, Indonesia was hands down the most visually stunning place I’ve ever been. Besides Cyprus, I’ve never felt so completely blissful as I did in Bali. I’d vacation there again in a heartbeat. If I had to live somewhere permanently, I’d consider France. The wine, the cheese, the romance — I’m a total sucker for all of it.
On my list of dream destinations: Brazil, South Africa, the Maldives, India, Spain, Italy and Greece. -
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Yesss it is hilarious! But I do like MLIA too.
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Promise — I’m not a trust fund baby.
You are absolutely right. I appear to take lots of somewhat financially indulgent semi-vacations (I feel like I’ve been at the airport more times than I’ve been at school this quarter). Here goes:
* Contrary to popular opinion, I work. (Blogging in bed may appear to be a low-exertion job, and my mom doesn’t acknowledge it as employment, but it pays the bills nonetheless.)
* I made a modest sum from our My Mom is a Fob book deal and generate intermittent revenue from advertising on our blogs — it varies month to month.
* My mother, bless her heart, pays for my flights home during holidays and end-of-quarter breaks.
* I saved up for my January roadtrip with my study abroad friends. (It turned out to be incredibly beyond budget nonetheless.)
* Intel paid for my flights and hotel stay in Northern California for my participation in the Youth Rock Stars Summit.
* My Boston flights and hotel room were compensated by ITASA, for whom I hosted a workshop with Annie.
* If we’re talking SXSW, Annie and I purchased $300 flights (and hurt all the while) but not the $500 badges, opting instead to ninja our way into panels. We were also taken care of by friends — our internet bff Kelly generously provided us with a bed in his hotel room in exchange for our nonstop entertainment. (We delivered, obvi.) I also probably owe a couple of good friends for expensing coffees and cab rides. It’s called having lots of big internet sisters!
* And lest you think I make a shit-ton of money, I very shamefully admit that for the first time in the history of ever, I maxed out my credit card paying for Cabo. -
HAHA. Cypriot boys are named one of five things: Michael, Yiannis, Yiannos, Andreas, and George. I also met a Hercules at one point. So no, probably not. I love the names: Chloe, Olivia, Madeline. For boys, I like Jordan, Jaylen, and … I haven’t given that much thought to boys’ names. (Though those totally sound like white kids.)
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Cyprus will always hold a little special place in my heart, just because I was just so damn blissful at the time. I’m not sure what it says about me that my happiness can be derived from 24-hour bakeries, nightly clubbing, and the slowest pace of life you’ll ever encounter. Seriously speaking though, it wasn’t the island itself that made the experience amazing — it was hanging out with best friends all day every day, the constant travel, the lack of real obligations, and the laughably out-of-world experiences (the absurd water situation, eating strangers’ food with no abandon, hitchhiking home) that made it once-in-a-lifetime. So I don’t know that there’s any one place I can love like I love Cyprus, but it’s not realistic to expect to, now is it?
In terms of places to live permanently, I’m a little obsessed with New York City. The hustle, the walkability, the variations of people, the endless dining spots and watering holes — you can be surrounded by things to do but still strangely alone, which is just how I like it. If I could make enough money not to live in an East Village hole as I did last summer, I’d move back in a heartbeat.
In terms of vacation spots, I love Bali, Indonesia. I don’t remember too much of it because I was young, but I do remember thinking it was the most glorious place on earth. Probably sometime between the $7 massage on the beach and taking an outdoor bath in our villa with locally made cinnamon body wash. -
Ayia Napa. It’s like Vegas, only on an island.
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I’m going to make new disclaimer that you can’t ask me hard questions. What do you think this is, my 8 a.m. neuroscience class?!
OK, OK, you caught me there. I might choose the internet, just because as obnoxiously euphoric as life on Cyprus is, it’s not something you could sustain forever. Well, maybe you could, but my brain might rot and the over-consumption of baklava would result in news reports about the first obese person on the island (Cyprus has a bad anorexia/bulimia problem.)
Also, I wouldn’t have some of my favorite int3rn3t friends, who are my life, heart and soul.
PS: I do not take any classes earlier than 11 a.m. And I certainly am not a neuroscience major. -
Cyprus wasn’t my first choice — I actually wanted to study abroad in Greece (solely based on Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I shit you not). However, Cyprus was much more affordable, and the program that I enrolled in included travel all across Europe. (I’m pretty sure Global Learning Semesters should give me commission. Or maybe, you know, the island of Cyprus, for single-handedly reviving their tourism industry.)
My second was Barcelona or Paris, but I speak about two words of Spanish and none in French. Also, those were revoltingly expensive.
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21-year-old freelance writer
