simonnerec-blog

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Alpha Gamma Delta - Alumni Weekend (report #5)

One of my favorite weekends is alumni weekend, when our older sisters come visit Chico. Usually, only local alums and most recent graduates come to visit.... but this year the girl in charge of the event did a lot of pre-planning and got a bunch of sisters from the 70′s and 80′s to come for the weekend.

It was so fun hosting them for the day. They had really funny stories about Pioneer Days, living in the house (which they used to be required to do), and wild nights. 

This event is a two hour brunch where alums get to hang out and get a tour of the house. A lot of them were in the chapter when our house was what is now Theta Chi’s house. I live in the house and there were a few ladies who lived in my room!

They sung a bunch of their songs (appropriate and non appropriate ones) which was so funny to hear. The planning and organization of this event was amazing, I’m so proud of our sister who did it. 

It was amazing meeting all my sisters and I can’t wait for our next one!

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Trinity Methodist Church

This past Sunday I sang at Trinity Methodist Church on E. 5th Ave. I’ve sung at a few churches around Chico, they like to pay students and mix younger voices with the older. This church specifically is my accompanists choir that she conducts. There is about 12 people in it, really depends on the weekend. Most of the songs we sang were from the hymn book, but she likes to take non-traditional songs as well and perform them during the service. 

I am confirmed Catholic, but I am not very religious. Since I went to a private Catholic school for most of my life, it is very interesting seeing how other religions/churches hold their services. Trinity is very passionate about their members. They even have a religious service dedicated to officiating new church members. I got to witness that this weekend. On of the choir members became a new member of the Church. They all wear badges with their names on it and literally everyone knows everyones name. It is a very tight knit group. 

The service lasted about an hour and a half. The Pastor sings in the choir as well (when he can). Afterwards they had refreshments and little treats in their recreation hall. One of my old Philosophy professors is actually very involved with this church, so it was cool seeing him around. 

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Universal Studios 3/24/17 Rec post

Two of my best friends and I went to Universal Studios over spring break. This was my first time there, so I was super excited to do the studio tour and see Harry Potter world. The weather was absolutely perfect on the day we went, wasn’t too hot or too cold which was so great!

The first thing we did was take a picture with Shrek, because Claudia loves him. Then we went to do the studio tour. We got to Universal right when it opened so there was no line to do the tour. I had no idea it was an hour long thing, and no idea that it doubled as a ride! I loved seeing Wysteria Lane because I watched Desperate Housewives (which films on that street) religiously when it came to Netflix.

After the studio tour we walked around a bit, then started doing some rides. We went to Harry Potter world and did the ride that’s inside the castle. It’s called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. A thing I noticed here is that they require guests to put their backpacks in lockers before going on certain rides. I actually liked that because then I didn’t have to worry about my backpack on the ride. The lockers were free too for the first 2 hours. We rode as single riders so we were only in line for 5 minutes.

After that, we got some Butter Beer and explored the shops. We tried on the Hogwarts capes. They are over $100 which is crazy! But people actually buy them and wear them to the park.

We left that area and went to the lower park which is where the Transformers, Mummy and Jurassic Park rides are. All of those rides were so fun, and we got soaked on the Jurassic Park one. Perfect timing since it was getting hotter outside. We got lunch and ate ice cream. By this time it was getting later and we were pooped. We sat down for a bit and looked at the scenery at the watchout point. We were so close to leaving but Kaela really wanted to do the Studio Tour. I’m really glad she convinced us because I ended up being chosen to be in the show! Literally right when they got there, they were “casting” and asked for a female who could scream. I screamed sooooo loud and then he said I was perfect. They took Claudia and Kaela inside and then took me backstage to sign some papers and put a lab coat on. Basically the show demonstrates how special effects are done. My skit was that my arm was being cut off by a knife. The knife spewed out fake blood but it looked pretty real, all I had to do was scream.

Usually when I’m in Southern California, I go to Disneyland but I’m glad I finally went to Universal Studios. It’s definitely a park for older audiences and Disneyland gets old after going a million times. I’m not sure I would go back anytime soon, maybe just to explore CityWalk which is like their version of Downtown Disney. If I am ever in Florida though, I will definitely check out the Universal there since they have the bigger Harry Potter world.

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On Friday, February 24th, School of the Arts Productions hosted Blake Morgan for an Artist Rights Rally and Benefit. I am the General Manager for SOTA, so I had a lot to do with the planning of the event. The concert was at the 1078 Gallery downtown, which is a really cool place to get creative. There were 4 performers total: Justin Kolas, MAWD, Blake Morgan + Janita, and finally Klez closed out the show.

It was great hearing Blake Morgan talk about Artist Rights and his #IRespectMusic campaign. He is very passionate to change the current laws so that artists are fairly paid for their songs played on radio, spotify, Pandora, etc.

During the show, I got to watch for a little bit but I was mostly running around and doing ticket sales.

After the show, Blake told me his stop in Chico was the greatest so far on his tour. That made me really happy because I was so stressed out about this event.

Aside from a few sound issues - the show was great and I am really proud of SOTA.

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                       GRAMMY SF NOMINEE CELEBRATION

 As a member of the San Francisco Chapter of Grammy U, I got the opportunity to attend the SF GRAMMY Nominee Celebration. The event was held on Tuesday, January 31st at The Fillmore.  They also held the Surrealistic Superjam concert which was a part of the Summer of Love 50th Anniversary celebration.     I left Chico around 12pm and headed for my friends dorm at the University of San Francisco. She was so nice to let me spend the night. Once I got to her dorm, we went out for some sushi since the event didn’t start until 6pm. I took an uber to The Fillmore and met up with my friends who were inside. Two of my professors, who are also married, came and hung out with us. They have a lot of music industry connections and introduced us to some important people including the head of music at Sony Playstation. One of them used to be the lawyer for a member of Metallica (who were supposed to come but didn’t show up).      I started out at the bar (21 and fun!!) and grabbed a drink. Luckily, I stuck with an $8 beer while my friend paid $22 for his drink! There was a photo booth next to the bar so some of us took pictures. The decorations inside the big room was amazing. The colors complimented the whole vibe so well and there were beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Small tall tables outlined the floor so we stood around those f or a while. People brought around yummy Hors ‘d’Oeuvres to eat. There were a few small acts playing, with a video of the nominees in the background. This was the time to socialize and congratulate the nominees.     Upstairs was more of a conversation room and is also where the VIP’s hung out. They had another area to take pictures as well in front of a Grammy banner. Hundreds of concert posters hung around the room, it was so cool to look at. We went up there for a while and met some other Grammy U students and friends of my professors.     The concert started at 8. Their last two songs were Somebody To Love by Jefferson Airplane and All You Need Is Love by The Beatles. The whole audience sung along and it was so much fun! After that, it was super late so I ubered back to my friends place. I left at 5 am the next morning so that I wouldn’t miss any of my classes.

    It was such a great experience, and I’m so glad I was given the opportunity to attend!