#chihohos

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Chihohos

Trainers : Frances Li and Lani Lam

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Kellin Carbajal

1. Name, Year, & Major

Kellin Carbajal, 4th Year, Pharmaceutical Chemistry

2. If you were a luxury brand, what would it be and why?

If I were a luxury brand, I would be Chanel. This is because it is super soft and femme.

3. Who is your personal hero and why?

My personal hero is my mom. She is my personal hero because she takes on both the roles of father and mother. She never seems to be tired or overwhelmed so I really admire her for that.

4. How do you react after a conflict occurs, and why?

Usually, after conflict occurs I try my best to keep an open mind. See what went wrong. I do this because I think it is important for everyone to be heard.

5. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would it be?

If I was granted three wishes what would be: One wish would be seeing my dad not sick cause my whole life he has been surrounded by his disability. My second wish is for my cat Zuko to never die. My final wish would be to be able to have any kind of superpowers.

6. What would you Google about your life?

I would google at what age I would die.

7. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

My favorite thing about myself is how considerate of others I am.

8. What's your toxic trait?

My toxic trait is that I can get grumpy sometimes.

9. Would you visit the future or past?

I would visit the future.

10. What are the biggest differences between you today/now and five years ago?

I would say the biggest difference between myself now and 5 years ago is how much I have grown up. One piece of advice I would give myself is to hang in there and it gets better :)

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Frances Li

1. Name, Year, & Major

Frances Li, 2nd Year, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2. If you were a luxury brand, what would it be and why?

I would be Dior because their recent looks have been on the black color side and that is my type of style. I also really like their scents and their bags are really cute.

3. Who is your personal hero and why?

My personal hero is my mom because of how strong she is. Dealing with 2 kids and having 2 jobs when she came to America was something that not everyone can do. Her passion and determination are something I want to have when I get older and wiser.

4. How do you react after a conflict occurs, and why?

If it is a conflict that involves me, I usually am quiet until I know what to say, thinking about a lot of things. I do this because I don't want to have excess drama in my life.

5. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would it be?

I would want a billion dollars, everyone I know in excellent health, and world peace

6. What would you Google about your life?

I would google if my dreams come true, if have good relationships with family, friends, partners, etc, and how happy I am in life

7. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

My favorite thing about myself is that I care for my family and friends a lot and love that I can splurge on their gifts

8. What's your toxic trait?

My toxic trait is that I worry too much about my future and that I am really stubborn.

9. Would you visit the future or past?

I would love to visit the past because I would love to visit ancient Asia.

10. What are the biggest differences between you today/now and five years ago?

The biggest difference between me today and me 5 years ago is my insecurity. I am most definitely more confident of who I am today then I was when I was in high school. My whole mindset about things has also changed too where in situations I would've reacted different if I was in high school then now. Some advice I would give to myself from 5 years ago is too enjoy being a high schooler. Have fun with your friends more instead of worrying about school and other things. Live my teenage life to the fullest before it's too late.

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Lani Lam

1. Name, Year, & Major

Lani Lam, 2nd Year, English

2. If you were a luxury brand, what would it be and why?

I'd be Vivienne Westwood because I love her designs.

3. Who is your personal hero and why?

My personal hero is my mom. She's a real cool lady.

4. How do you react after a conflict occurs, and why?

I usually try to calm down before any more interaction, but I also am quick to confront the issue. I really don't like letting things simmer or brushing them under the rug.

5. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would it be?

For everyone I love to be happy

No climate change

More wishes please

6. What would you Google about your life?

Is it normal for my elbow to bend like that?

7. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

I love my personal set of vocabulary.

8. What's your toxic trait?

I am so flaky and I am so sorry ;(

9. Would you visit the future or past?

I'd visit the past. I would love to revisit some memories, but I think knowing the future would make me even more anxious.

10. What are the biggest differences between you today/now and five years ago?

The biggest difference between you today/now and five years ago is my sense of self. I was pretty unstable when I was younger and very, very insecure. I was really concerned about how I looked, how I acted, etc. Nowadays, I think I've gotten better at reflection and taking that reflection in making myself a better person. If I were to give advice to myself five years ago, I'd tell myself to be more concerned with being kind, being generous, and taking more time to emphasize with others. I'd tell myself to slow down and not be so obsessed with growing up quickly. 

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Jazmin Adachi

1. Name, Year, & Major

Jazmin Adachi, 3rd Year, Biopsychology

2. If you were a luxury brand, what would it be and why?

Christian Dior because of the simplicity of the products but with details and elegance

3. Who is your personal hero and why?

One of my biggest heroes is Billie Eilish as she is my favorite singer. I believe that music heals, and she has opened me up to not only her music but other genres which have helped me through my personal life.

4. How do you react after a conflict occurs, and why?

I would try to fix the conflict in some way whether it is by communicating with other people or communicating with myself and figuring out a solution.

5. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would it be?

I would ask for a great sum of money, the ability to play any instrument, and the ability to speak any language.

6. What would you Google about your life?

I would google “What to Google about my life?”.

7. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

My favorite thing about myself is how open-minded I am as I strive to understand how other people live and behave on certain topics.

8. What's your toxic trait?

I have a tendency to have attachment issues and would always want to be with other people. It was a bad habit when I genuinely could not stand being alone for five minutes, but I’ve grown to enjoy it sometimes.

9. Would you visit the future or past?

The future is to know what my life would be like and if I could change anything that positively affects the outcome.

10. What are the biggest differences between you today/now and five years ago?

I think I was at the lowest point of my life five years ago as a junior in high school. I was constantly being compared to other students from my toxic school in terms of academics. It was really hard for me to be motivated to do anything, especially school-related items. I did not have the freedom I have now living with my strict parents, so I would say that the flexibility I have to do more of what I want to do is the biggest difference I have today versus five years ago. I think the pressure from my parents to succeed in high school affected how I perceived myself, so I never had the grit to do better. As a college student now, I’m still working on time management and finding better ways to effectively better to thrive in my career, I feel like I have more freedom and ability to have control of my life. I feel like I am a very self-aware person, so I understand what is wrong and right in my life and will try my best to work on gaining better experiences in my life. If I would give advice myself five years ago, it would be to take more control of my life but in a way that my parents would approve. There are so many ideas and activities to do even with the supervision of my strict parents but being productive even for little activities is helpful for future habits.

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Andres Gomez

1. Name, Year, & Major

Andres Gomez, 3rd Year, Communications

2. If you were a luxury brand, what would it be and why?

Playboy, I think I'm cute and I want to be a Playboy model.

3. Who is your personal hero and why?

I would say my parents but the older I get the most I realize the future me is my hero, and ill do my best to outcompete him.

4. How do you react after a conflict occurs, and why?

After conflict occurs I stop giving it any thought and do not care about it. I don’t let it live rent free in my head.

5. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would it be?

1. Succeed at anything I want to become 2. Be able to time travel 3. Binge eat and not gain weight

6. What would you Google about your life?

Do I ever go bald or am I going to just go gray

7. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

My discipline, hair, and rizz but mostly rizz.

8. What's your toxic trait?

Unstoppable rizz, gaslighting and overly flirty don't hate the player, hate the game.

9. Would you visit the future or past?

I would visit the future, let me be on a spaceship getting into space battles!

10. What are the biggest differences between you today/now and five years ago?

The biggest difference between me and my younger self was that I was more prone to fall into bad habits, and I was not as social as I am now. Nor was I as perspicacious as I am now, and humble, that's a big one. I’m the most humble person I know now. Back then I was always afraid to try new things and many of the things I did were not challenging to myself. Some advice I would give him? I would tell him to start any and all of his passion projects, “try on as many hats as you want, see what sticks. Maybe one of them will be the best thing you ever do in life, who knows? You could be destined for greatness if you just stay consistent.” Oh and I would also tell him to invest more into Bitcoin and remain a finance bro. And switch into the computer science major in UC Santa Cruz since that's what they're known for. Do I need more words? Okay I gotchu. So some more differences between us, younger me is about 200 pounds and has no muscle, so dude get into the gym. But I guess that's okay because when you are that big you rely on rizz and get better at flirting just by being yourself. But yeah, no, get in the gym chubby you’ll love becoming a gym rat one day. I know I do. I’ll give it to the younger me, he was about becoming a researcher, he took AP Research in high school. That was a 2 year academy where you learn how to read research papers, make presentations on them, and then make your own peer reviewed study. We’re published authors, told you we’re humble! Anyways, I would tell him, don’t focus on becoming a researcher so soon, not even grad students have papers out yet. I’d tell him to try public speaking more, especially when it comes to going in front of a camera or a microphone, it comes really naturally for us. Maybe we should try stand up comedy.

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Gabrielle Handoyo

1. Name, Year, & Major

Gabrielle Handoyo, 3rd Year, Computer Science

2. If you were a luxury brand, what would it be and why?

Cartier, I did a quiz on what brand since I am not knowledgeable in luxury brands; it told me I was a Cartier since it screams ingenuity, innovation, and thoughtfulness.

3. Who is your personal hero and why?

My mother, she has always been there for me every step of my life, always thinking what is best for me. Every time I encounter a problem, if I am unable to solve it by myself, she is the first person I will text or call for advice. I would tell her about the good and bad things that I am experiencing because I want to share my experiences with her. Without her I will not be the person that I am today, I owe her everything.

4. How do you react after a conflict occurs, and why?

First thing first is to cool down from the conflict, take a breather and think about the conflict in more detail on how it happened and what caused it to be a conflict that I am mad at. I’ll probably go ask friends who were there and those that weren’t there for their views, depending on their answers, I would try to kindly explain, ignore, make amends, or say sorry. I would like to see the conflict in an unbiased view as that is how conflicts are made.

5. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would it be?

1.     I wish everyone to be healthy

2.     I wish for a successful and happy future

3.     I wish to be able to control probability

6. What would you Google about your life?

How much information about me is on the internet. I want to be acknowledged but at the same time I do not want that much attention that every movement I make is recorded, or every decision I make and every word I speak might create a controversy.

7. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

My smile, people say I look like a different person when I smile; in a good way >~<. Second is probably my slim body. I feel lucky to have a body that does not need much food and doesn’t not easily gain weight; seeing people struggle to lose weight or needing to eat every 3 hours makes me feel very grateful.

8. What's your toxic trait?

I like being right, so if I am right, I might continue to tell people that I am right until it gets very annoying. I just keep pestering people until they get annoyed at me saying the same things again and again.

9. Would you visit the future or past?

Past, I would like to know what happens if I change the past and how it affects the future. But if I chose the future, I can’t go back, can I?

10. What are the biggest differences between you today/now and five years ago? And what advice would you give to yourself from five years ago?

Today: 18 years old, 3rd year university student.

Five years ago: 13 years old, 8th grade/secondary 2 student.

Biggest differences: I am more of a mature and independent person since I am away from my home country and my family. Becoming a university student also changed me a lot. I cared more about my grades, I studied more, got less sleep due to all-nighters, stressed a lot more about my grades and life troubles and became a workaholic. But I become more outgoing, and I think less on what people think about me, making me more of a risk taker. And because I moved to America and am out of my parent’s supervision, I live off my own money that I must survive with which makes me save more money, but I spend more due to living in America. I also became more of a gamer since I was able to get a laptop, and Valorant was released somewhere in those 5 years.

Advice: You say that you don’t have many friends. The ones that you have right now, just know that they are there for you and you picked the right people to be friends with. Do not care about the number of friends you have, or how other people have more friends than you and how they are friends with people of the opposite gender. Don’t force yourself to be another person so that more people will like you, the right friends will pick you for you.

There are many obstacles coming in life outside school. Know how to stand your ground, do not easily give up in arguments just because the majority of the people are against you. You know you are right and fight for what you believe in. You might think you are at a disadvantage due to not being able to speak well, that does not matter, talk as much as you want and if they don’t understand just explain it, do not be shy.

Appreciate Indonesia and other countries where you might live in. You know that you won’t stay in these places in the future and think it’s just a temporary home. But remember that you don’t get many changes like these in the future, appreciate everything you see, learn their culture, and experience the life in that country to its fullest because living in different countries has its own unique experiences. Also appreciate the home that you have in Indonesia, you won’t be there in the future, it will soon be gone so cherish your childhood memories that were made there.

As for love life, don’t be desperate to find that someone just because everyone in your circle has experienced it before, wait till you see that special someone. You don’t have to rush it, if you pick hastily, it probably isn’t right someone. Learn more about that someone first, see how they react to conflicts, look at their behavior, listen to people’s opinion about them, and see those red flags. Remember, you can say NO.

Finally, spend more time with family, you soon will be away from them and only get to meet each other a couple days a year, right now you have everyday to talk to them and participate in their favorite activity. Please don’t argue that much with each other, although we both know those arguments will always be solved in a day. Appreciate Popo (grandma) more, although she might be annoying, all she wanted was to experience the same thing that you experience; know that she just wants to know more about her granddaughter and what makes her happy. You need to appreciate her more; give her all the love she deserves.

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Sophia Baltasar

1. Name, Year, & Major

Sophia Juliana (Nickname: Sophie), 2nd Year, Global Disease Biology w/ Public Health minor

2. If you were a luxury brand, what would it be and why?

If I were a luxury brand, it would be Dior because I love their lip glow products.

3. Who is your personal hero and why?

My personal hero is my best friend. We’ve been best friends since elementary school and she relentlessly has my back no matter what, and I couldn’t possibly ask for better.

4. How do you react after a conflict occurs, and why?

After a conflict occurs, I usually stay silent to reflect on the situation, and how my possible actions will impact how the parties involved feel. I don’t want to escalate the situation, and usually seek the most peaceful resolution. 

5. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would it be?

If I was granted 3 wishes, I would wish for 1) to be able to talk with my grandpa again, 2) for my dog to live as long as me, and 3) for my siblings to be successful.

6. What would you Google about your life?

“How many hamsters did Sophie have in her lifetime?”

7. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

I like how I try my best to talk with everyone and get to know others :)

8. What's your toxic trait?

My toxic trait is how easily my facial expressions give away my mood – while people can easily tell when I’m excited, they can also tell if I’m upset just by looking at me.

9. Would you visit the future or past?

I would want to visit the future because I am curious as to where I would live! I’ve been in the Bay Area/Davis my entire life and I’ve always dreamed of traveling the world.

10. What are the biggest differences between you today/now and five years ago? And what advice would you give to yourself from five years ago?

The biggest difference between me today and five years ago is my source of happiness. I would advise myself from five years ago to seek happiness from multiple places, rather than to base my happiness on one thing. Growing up, I went to a competitive high school just like everyone else in the Bay Area. I based my happiness and view of myself on my grades and would spend my time constantly studying for AP exams, SATs, and community college classes. Every day felt the same, and yet I was in a constant cycle of school, homework, and sleep.

When the pandemic hit, I was distraught, as I really only had studying left as my only option in my free time. I began to hang out with my friends more on spontaneous activities to better our physical and mental health like running three miles to get boba, skateboarding at midnight, and group games over Discord. Life is so much better when you attempt to make the most out of everything you do – after all, you will always get out what you put in. I would tell my younger self to not be afraid to have fun, and that being spontaneous is okay sometimes. Strengthening my friendship with my best friends from home, opening up to my new friends in college, and not being afraid to leave behind what I felt held me back from personal growth were the best things I could do for myself. It might seem scary, but you’ll never grow if you don’t venture into the unknown.