Formula 1

I originally wrote this for the paper I write for but it wasn't printed ughhh lol

Either way, I like it...

Every weekend getaway seems to pass with a rapid speed. The Memorial weekend Santa Barbara escape was not an exception. The pool, the parties, the beach, the basketball, the drinks, and the constant motion made me feel as though I was moving at the speed of light from one side of the city to the other, but once back in the hotel room, one glimpse of the Formula 1 race on SPEED network and I felt as though the world had stopped moving.

To tell you the truth I have neither been a fan of Formula 1 nor have I ever cared to. When I voiced this opinion in the hotel room, my friend sharply replied that this is not an American sport that’s why I never cared for it.

I did not even consider it to be a sport.

Regardless of whether I thought bunch of tiny cars racing was a sport or not, my nosy curiosity made me sit down with a few other people who were glued to the screen and witness an incredible action.

The tiny little cars were racing fast! I am not writing fast as in going 100 mph on the 101 Freeway. The speed that I was witnessing was almost unimaginable. The cars were going on average 200 mph.

Watching the cars race I began asking questions to my friends who to my surprise knew more about this sport than I could or would ever imagine.

As it turns out Formula 1 is the fastest race in the world. In addition, it is the most expensive sport in the world.
There are 11 teams; each team is given two cars. Ferrari is the most successful and endorsing Formula 1 team. The teams all travel throughout the world each season for the races. Each race has individual winners who get trophies for the first three spots.

The cars cost millions of dollars. To buy just the helmet that is similar to the one worn by the athletes driving their cars will cost you nearly 500 dollars.

Moreover, the drivers have perks like no other. Aside from receiving their contract salaries which tend to go over the hundred million dollar mark, the winning drivers are given special gifts from the teams they are representing.

The handsome Fernando Alonso driving McLaren Mercedes crossed the finish line first this weekend in Monoco. Apparently, his team was so proud of Alonso that it decided to give Alonso a model car made out of a diamond. Mercedes was quiet successful this weekend, Lewis Hamilton from Britain drove in second. He was followed by Felipe Massa who drove in a Ferrari. Massa and his Ferrari had won the two previous events held in Bahrain and Spain.

The Formula 1 races are one of the most famous races in the world. Their sponsors have broken all records in endorsement. The popularity of it in the United States is fairly little, however, there is one race on the schedule that will take place in the States.

On June 17 the Formula 1 race will take place in Indianapolis. And I don’t know if it’s my incredible need for speed or my major curiosity about this practically non-existing sport, but I am going to do all that I can to witness this event.

Lilip Pipoyan and Armen Movsisyan in my Class!!!

I love Armenian music, When I say Armenian music I don't mean Tatul or Armenchik (although he works after 4 shots of Grey Goose), but the ARmenian music that I have always adored is the melow and a little rebelious Armenian music.

It's not too popular, but whoever listens to this kind of music loves it !!! Lilit Pipoyan and Armen Movsisyan fall into this category....

So, Just to prove how awesome UCLA is, not that you didn't already know, my Armenian teacher got Lilip Pipoyan and Armen Movsisyan to come and sing LIVEEEE in my class!!!

It was one of the coolest experiences EVER!

You may know Pipoyan from the album that Rouben Hakhverdyan and her did together, EIther way, she sings the songs my mama sang for me when I was very little. Her voice is the nicest sound next to my mom's voice.

Pipoyan ended her line of songs singing Kilikia... (I have it on video, but don't know how to post it up).

A quick fact about her, She is also a professor in Armenia and she was SHOCKED that students bring their little pets to school with them...

Movsisyan was amazed that my professor told him to sit on the table, he was confused at how that was completely proper. After he sat down, he concluded that it's America afterwards.

He sang many songs we all love and ended with a song that we all could relate to... He sang a song that made my eyes wet, titled Վեր կաց եղբայր իմ. This song was about the men who fough in Kharabagh... he ended with a song about missing our homeland (Կարոտ Հայրենիքի Հանդեպ), our Home...

My Favorite Cool Freshy

Attending an incredibly competitive and large university can at times seem more like a chaotic movie rather than four years of memorable education. Everyday you meet people of different backgrounds, interests and outlooks, however, most students I meet have a commonality, they all seem to have similar careless attitude towards life and daily endeavors.

Needless to say, very few people have the ability to make an impression without even trying to do just that. And I have met incredibly small number of people who have made a lasting impression. One of these is my dear friend that I am going to refer to as Miss L.

Miss L is a freshman and I met her in the winter quarter during which we had two classes together. From the outside she seems to be just like any other 18 years old Armenian girl, but when you get to know her, you find out that she is easily one of the most endearing individuals you will ever meet.

Her naivete is pure, her clueless moments are countless and her love for the Armenian culture is undeniable. Miss L is genuinely nice to all the Armenians and admits that she mainly accepts Armenians as the only other human beings on this planet, particularly at our school.

In addition, she finds it necessarily to write down everything in her daily journals so when she grows up and has 800 grandchildren, she can show those journal pages to them and let them know that she was Cool one day.

On her free time, Miss L enjoys timing her walks from Kerckhoff to any part of the campus that she has class in.

Although, it may seem that I am mocking Miss L, in fact, I am simply admiring her passion for life and her ability to enjoy everyday that God blesses upon us.

So, I dedicate this little piece of blog to my Favorite Cool Freshy :)

There is and There isn't

ԿԱ ԵՎ ՉԿԱ

This is the name of the show that I am planning on attending this month without any hesitation. "There is and there isn't" is a one woman show by Anahid Aramouni Keshishian who is a lecturer at UCLA. She is my Armenian teacher and hands down she knows how to teach Armenian literature and culture.

However, I am incredibly excited to go and watch her one woman show because she fascinates me. I know there are numerous people who love her and many who cannot stand her viewpoints, yet, all of them would have to say that she has an amazing ability to grab everyone's attention when lecturing.

Currently I am working on an article about her for our school's Armenian newspaper, so I will not write much more except that this is going to be a biographical show with poetry, singing and dancing. That's all that I am aware of.

FYI

Place: Luna Playhouse

3706 San Fernando Rd., Glendale, CA 91204

When: Sundays: May 20, 27, June 3, 10 7:00 pm

Thursdays: May 24, 31, June 7, 14 8:00 pm

Tix: 25 $

To get the tickets call Christina at (818) 556-6122

This show will be sold out very quickly, in fact, I am pretty sure the first event is already sold out. Go out, enjoy a night in the playhouse.

Our Hollywood

Although I live in Los Angeles where all the glamour and glitz with gossip occurs, I have the tendency of not caring much for most of the "Hollywood world." My friends freak out when they see me with any gossip magazine aside from GQ that is. The Hollywood that I am familiar with is far from the glamour and glitz, but I won't go as far as to say it's free of gossip :)

Anyhow, today was my sister's prom. I took her to the nail salon then hair than make up... You get the idea. Either way, I was waiting for her to get all dolled up and and the boredom forced me to read the magazines dumped on the table.

Apparently, Prince William is still single and didn't marry the girl that he was with for three years. There were tons of pictures of that poor girl all over every single magazine :(

There was tons of news on Lindsey Lohan, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.... But inside alll that news about all these awesomely wealthy celebs of Hollywood, I also found a really cool celeb in the million pages of gossip.

There is an actress named Mary Lynn Rajskub -not a familiar name, but she's been in tons of movies (the pic above) - and this is what she had to say about being cool in Hollywood:

I saw Paris Hilton and she talked about all these cool clubs she goes to, like
Hyde and Suede. I've never heard of these places, so I felt like an idiot. But I
do some Hollywood stuff that people would think is cool... Sometimes I hand out
at the Armenian Christian center. We pray in Armenian. It's hot.

I totally think she's cool.... :) She is talking about the Hollywood we all know.

When I moved to US nearly eight years ago, my new home became Hollywood. I had seen the Palm Trees, the Beverly Hills sign, the Hollywood sign million times on TV when I lived in Yerevan, however, the depiction of Hollywood that lacked was the Hollywood that is ours.

It's the Hollywood with many new immigrants, it's the Hollywood with Baghdik's store, it's the Hollywood where there are more Nparatouns than markets, more food stamps than dollar bills, the Hollywood where you'll find more people who speak Armenian than English, it's the Hollywood that we proudly call Little Armenia.

I completely give huge brownie points to Mary Lynn for shining a tiny light on the Hollywood that has become home to so many of our people.

Fun in the Sun at Los Angeles Country Club

I write sports for a newspaper and I have covered numerous golf tournaments this season. However, I had never been to an actual golf match because most of the matches are held outside of CA, hence I usually write stories based on the statisitcs I receive and the interviews I conduct.

Luckily for me, there was a dual match between UCLA and USC at Los Angeles Country Club. The enthusiastic reporter that I am, I jumped on the opportunity to go and watch the match. I have to say that both teams wildly dislike one another, of course, that does not effect the respect they present towards each other.

The teams don't matter much when the tournament is held at LACC. THe Los Angles Country Club is the huge country club you see on your right when you pass Beverly Hilton on Wilshire. It's humongous and it's beautiful. Let me let you in on a few more fact: Lionell Richie, Nicole Richie's dad, has a house practically attached to the golf course. Chris O'Donnel, I dont really know who that is exactly, also lives by there. And most importantly the Playboy mansion is pretty much on the golf course. You could hear noises of animals coming from that side of the course.

Moreover, you could probably find every whealthy middle aged perverted person in the world hanging out there ordering vodka from Ramon who went around the huge golf course maybe one million times serving drinks to the country club members and the golfers.

Disregarding the members of the club, the picture on the top doesn't do justice to how beautiful the whole golf course is. I spent about five hours there and I must admit it was really enjoyable. THe whether was beautiful and I got much better feel for the game of golf.

The Man Who Sold the World

Maybe im a bit Americanized but I absolutely adore Nirvana and this is the lyrics to one of the best songs alive, I don't think they wrote it, but they perform it and I just fall in love with this song every time I hear it... The songs title is "The Man Who Stole the World"... I do not understand the meaning of this song, but it's too awesome :)

We passed upon the stair, we spoke in was and when

Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend

Which came as a surprise, I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone, a long long time ago

Oh no, not me
We never lost control
You're face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World

I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home
I searched a foreign land, for years and years I roamed
I gazed a gazeless stare, we walked a million hills
I must have died alone, a long long time ago

Who knows? Not me
I never lost control
You're face to face
With the Man who Sold the World

Who knows? not me
We never lost control
You're face to face
With the Man who Sold the World