The Royal Family of the Guitar

The Romero family is known as the Royal Family of the Guitar.

They are all virtuosic classical guitarists.

In the video below, Pepe Romero plays Recuerdos de la Alhambra (memories of the Alhambra).

The Alhambra (literally means 'the red one' in Arabic), is a palace/fortress built in the 14th century by Moorish rulers. It is located in Granada, Spain. Recuerdos de la Alhambra, is a piece written by Francisco Tárrega- my favorite guitar composer.

Some day I'm going to Spain, and when I do I am going to see the Alhambra. I'm also going to learn Recuerdos de la Alhambra, it is one of my favorite pieces.

I found out today that Pepe Romero is a classical guitar professor at USC. So is Scott Tennant, a member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. I first saw the LAGQ when I began taking classical guitar lessons- they came to Salt Lake and played with the Utah Symphony. He also wrote this book:

I totally own it. Everyone owns this book.

USC has a FABULOUS classical guitar program. I'm pretty sure I want to go to USC. They came back and offered me a 1,000 dollar gift card to the bookstore (hello, new computer). They also have a really good program for what I want to study. But then there's the University of Utah...they're going to give me a good deal and they have a good program too.

Anyone watching American Idol? I like Didi, but I am so sick of her crying and tearing up. It's getting old.

You know what else is getting old? Kara DioGuardi. I'm kinda sick of listening to her too.

Time for a new show, or at least time to cut TV out of my life and do some homework.

L.A. Not So Confidential

Did you ever see L.A. Confidential? It was pretty good AND Russell Crowe was in it.

Anyways....

I went to L.A. this weekend for a graduate school interview at USC. At first I didn't really want to go because it's becoming a pain in the butt to take so much time off school and work. I also didn't think I'd really like L.A.

Turns out I was wrong. I LOVED L.A. I really like the program at USC, and I definitely like the weather.

The campus is really nice too.

I even made some friends- this is my new friend Stacey. She's from Arizona but currently lives in California.

They wined and dined us. Seriously though, who doesn't like a little wining and dining every once in a while?

It's kind of nice that the students aren't the only ones kissing butt, the school has to kiss a little butt too. Most schools give out a certain number of offers each year and based on how many people accept, the school gets certain incentives or ranking increases. Because everyone is interviewing at numerous places, the schools have some incentive to focus on recruitment.

I made up for not drinking the wine by pigging out on food.

We each had our own rooms at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. This bed was one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in. I wanted to stash the pillows in my suitcase.

There were cool pictures all over the place.

Before this trip the only athletic club I'd ever heard of is the one in The Young and the Restless. Nothing goes on in Genoa City without everyone meeting at the athletic club at some point.

The highlight of the trip was eating at Yoshinoya. I haven't had Yoshinoya since living in Malaysia-even then we'd have to drive 4 hours to Kuala Lumpur to get to the closest Yoshinoya.

Yoshinoya is famous for their gyudon- or beef bowl. It's so good- especially with pickled ginger and some chili. I LOVE gyudon and haven't had it like this in years.

The Yoshinoya I went to was run by Mexicans, and filled with Mexicans. It was so great listening to the woman call out numbers and take orders in Spanish. It didn't quite have the same charm as the Yoshinoya in Tokyo, but it was a lot of fun.

One of my best friends from high school-Shinobu-is from Tokyo. I'd always tell her about my crazy obsession with gyudon and Yoshinoya. She told me that she had never been to Yoshinoya- apparently in Tokyo only businessmen eat at Yoshinoya and usually just during lunch breaks. It's really not as common for women or families to eat there. She was right too- when we went, it was nothing but businessmen in suits.

I really like L.A. I don't know about the traffic and living situation- apparently they recommend you don't live too close to the graduate school campus because the neighborhood isn't too safe. You've also got to be careful about where you park your car. I'd have to commute to school/work everyday if I ended up at USC.

The food might be worth it though.

It's All About The Fermentation

I went to Denver last weekend for another graduate school interview. The people at the University of Colorado in Denver were a lot more down to earth and friendly than the people at UC San Diego. Too bad it's cold and snowy in Denver.

After interviews, the current graduate students took us downtown to look around. We crossed Larimer street; my grandma lived on Larimer street when she was a little girl. Her father owned a dress shop on Larimer and she would roller skate up and down the street.

I love listening to my grandma tell stories of her childhood, they all include Larimer street.

I was under the impression that we were going to walk around and go to a couple of malls or museums.

Before I knew it, we were passing the Rockies stadium and heading into a microbrewery. Only they didn't brew there, they just sold the beer. Wanna know what's more boring than watching while everyone else is sampling beer? Listening to them talk about beer and their favorite pubs while they drink the beer.

It was decided that we'd take off and walk to another microbrewery called The Great Divide. They actually brewed there.

Apparently you can attend brewer's school to learn about the process. They basically boil the grain and then feed the sugar water to the yeast; the yeast ferment it into booze.

The beer ages in kegs for some time.

Here's where they bottle it.

Don't forget though, it's all about the fermentation.

I eventually broke off from the group and headed to the 16th street mall. Exploring a new mall or shopping center is never boring.

We've been having a lot of fun watching the Olympics, especially the figure skating.

We're so glad the American won gold.

The speed skating has been really fun too.

Blah blah blah

I don't want to do homework.

My homework for the past weekend has been studying this:

Exciting huh? Hemoglobin transports oxygen throughout your body... it makes your blood red. You know how the rock and dirt in southern Utah is bright red? It's from the oxidized iron- the iron in the dirt basically rusts and turns red. Blood is red because there are iron molecules that bind to oxygen.

I took my first biochemistry test today. I bet you can't guess what was on it.

I have a test in Greek mythology tomorrow. You've gotta love GEs. Ironically, I haven't read any of the Greek myths assigned to us. Okay maybe it's not ironic, just lame.

I'm know, I know, this is the most boring post ever. I don't want to do my homework. I have a presentation to give in plant physiology tomorrow, and an assignment due in ecology.

San Diego

Just before my flight to San Diego, my Grandma lovingly fixed the hem on my pants. My mom bought me a nice suit for my interviews at UC San Diego- I spent like 3 or 4 hours the night before screwing around with hem tape and then trying to simply stitch the pants when the tape didn't work. The end result looked like a sloppy Home Ec. job. What can I say? My whole life seems to be a sloppy Home Ec. Job, I don't even know how to iron-it seems like when you get one part ironed it wrinkles in another. I know, it's lame.

My grandma says that ironing is the secret to a good hem. My grandma is really good at ironing and sewing.

Did you know my grandparents are famous?

Their picture appears in numerous Ensigns, Friends and Lesson manuals.

Check out page 65 of your Teaching of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith manual- they recently appeared there too.

Thanks Grandma for fixing my pants!

I think the interviews went good. I met with 5 different faculty members and had a 40 minute interview with each. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm competing with Harvard lab workers and other Ivy- leagers for a position at UCSD- it would be cool if I got in.

Here's a view of the Salk Institute- named after Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine. If I'm admitted to the biology program I would have the option to pick an advisor whose lab is there. I could probably spend five years researching in this building...

Citrus trees at the Salk Institute

View of the ocean from the Salk Institute. There are some stairs leading down to the beach.

This is a view from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, if I was accepted to the program I might be able to do a lab rotation here.

They closed the Scripps Birch Aquarium to the public and hosted a private dinner there for the Biology "recruits." We had drinks (or diet coke) and cheese/crackers while we socialized with the faculty. Just before dinner, I took off to look around the aquarium.

Look at these creepy-ass eels. I tried to get some more pictures but they turned out too dark. I didn't want to freak out the fish with the camera flash.

Here's another picture of the UCSD campus on some benches between two of the biology buildings.

We went on a harbor cruise and saw some of down town San Diego (UCSD is located north in La Jolla).

I'm glad the whole interview weekend is over- it was stressful acting intelligent and alert to put on a good show for the faculty. I really hope they let me in.

Shawna Barker Rollins

Today was Shawna's funeral. It was a beautiful service. She touched the lives of so many people, and so many people love her and will miss her.

I'm sobbing even as I type this. I loved her so much. Our whole family loved her, and we love her husband Brad. Shawna was like family. This is the first time I've lost someone really close to me, and I've been having a really hard time dealing with it. I've been praying for her family and for Brad; the Lord is really helping me through this. It's hard to believe she's gone, but it's comforting to know that I'll see her again.

I'm so grateful for my wonderful family-it's a blessing to know that we are there for one another. I'm also grateful for wonderful friends who care for me. I'm grateful for the Lord, I honestly don't think I could have gotten through the past week without His love and help.