NorCal and Oregon Family Road Trip

Last week (August 7 - August 13), I went on a road trip with my family (mom, dad, brother, and grandma to be specific), where we went to various places in Northern California and Oregon, including Napa, Fairfield, Redding, Crater Lake, Prospect, and Crescent City. Overall, I thought that the family trip was a good experience since I got to visit places that I've never been to before. Also, it was the first time that I ever visited Oregon. I thought that the trip could've been better if I didn't get a sore throat that was accompanied with a runny nose and lots of spit in my mouth. I made a TikTok video, an Instagram post (shown below), and a Youtube video highlighting the family trip.

August 7

Downtown Napa

Bale Grist Mill State Historic
Park (Napa County)

My family and I visited the Napa area. One memorable moment that day included talking to the people at the Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park – we talked about our personal lives, including where we're from and where I go for college. My family also bought pastry flour from Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park. Another memorable moment was seeing the Napa Valley sign and going to downtown Napa. I have seen pictures of Napa online before, so being able to see Napa's sights in real life was a fun experience.

During the evening, we drove to a Fairfield hotel, which was pretty spacious since it had 2 rooms for sleeping.

August 8

We started the day by going to Fairfield's Jelly Belly Factory. We were able to see how the Jelly Belly jelly beans were made, which was a cool experience since the factory involved both the use of machines and people. Moreover, the factory had plenty of artworks made out of jelly beans (including the Statue of Liberty and various U.S. presidents) and videos relating to Jelly Belly.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Another picture of Lassen
Volcanic National Park

After going to Jelly Belly, we I drove northward to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park. The national park was pretty mountainous with plenty of trees, although there were some trees there that were likely affected by fires that occurred during the last few years, such as the 2021 Dixie Fire. We also saw some hot springs in the Bumpass Hell area of the national park. We also saw some lakes, including Lake Helen and Manzanita Lake. At Manzanita Lake, the walk around the lake took quite a long time, and at one point my dad was not with the rest of my family, so we walked back to find him. However, the sky was also getting darker, and I remember my mom getting annoyed at my younger brother for walking too quickly in the dark because he could get lost too. It also rained a little bit later on, but we were eventually able to reunite with my dad and drive to a Redding hotel to stay there for the evening.

Bumpass Hell

Manzanita Lake

Lake Helen

August 9

During the morning, we went to Redding's Sundial Bridge. The design of the bridge looked cool, and the bridge functions like a sundial. Although the weather was quite hot (it was probably around 80ºF, which is pretty warm for the morning), I had a good time visiting the Sundial Bridge.

Sundial Bridge

Standing in the
Sundial Bridge
shadow

After visiting Sundial Bridge, we went to see various waterfalls: Burney Falls, McCloud River's Upper and Middle Falls, and Hedge Creek Falls. For Hedge Creek Falls, you can even go under the waterfall, which was a cool experience for me. Moreover, the Hedge Creek Falls area had some blueberries that could be picked and eaten (although they were sour compared to normal blueberries).

Burney Falls

blueberries at
the Hedge
Creek Falls Area

After visiting those waterfalls, we drove to Oregon, and it was our first time ever going to Oregon. On our way to Oregon, we saw some views of Mt. Shasta, which is one of the highest peaks in the Cascade Range and in California. Since it was summer, the Mt. Shasta did not have much snow on it, but more snow can be seen during the winter. For our first night at Oregon, we stayed in a Klamath Falls hotel.

Wizard Island can be seen
in this Crater Lake photo

August 10

Phantom Ship at
Crater Lake

We went to Crater Lake National Park. At Crater Lake, we saw the vastness of the lake and the islands on the lake (Wizard Island and Phantom Ship). We drove around different areas of the lake to have a better look at those islands.

Striking a pose at
Vidae Falls

In addition to Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park also had waterfalls, and we went to Vidae Falls. We took some photos with the waterfall, and my dad, brother, and I struck some poses in some of those photos.

Pearsony Falls

During the evening, we went to Prospect Historic Hotel in Prospect, a place in Oregon with a very small population (only 455 people as of the 2010 census). Near the hotel, we went to a waterfall called Pearsony Falls.

August 11

A panorama of Diamond Lake

My dad, brother, and I played horseshoes around the Prospect Hotel area. There were also some other things around the hotel area, including a bear statue and a farm (where we saw a horse). After that, we went to Mill Creek Falls and Barr Creek Falls, two other waterfalls in Prospect.

Barr Creek Falls

Mill Creek Falls

After going to those waterfalls, we went to Diamond Lake and ordered lunch there. While we were waiting for our lunch, we walked around the Diamond Lake area and noticed some blue dragonflies on the lake's water. There were also views of mountains and trees around the lake.

Watson Falls

We then went to see some more waterfalls: Toketee Falls, Watson Falls, Whitehorse Falls, and Clearwater Falls. Although we had to do some hiking to get good views of Toketee Falls and Watson Falls, we didn't have to do much walking to see Whitehorse Falls and Clearwater Falls. Out of all of the waterfalls, Watson Falls was the highest. Meanwhile, we noticed a rainbow on Whitehorse Falls.

Close-up view of
the rainbow at
Whitehorse Falls

During the evening, we stayed at a hotel in Medford. In that hotel, my dad, brother, and I went swimming in the hotel pool. The pool itself wasn't very big, but there was also a spa area. After swimming, although I did use a towel to dry myself up so that I wasn't too wet, I made the mistake of not bringing the towel with me when going back to the hotel room, which was a likely reason why I ended up with a sore throat, runny nose, and lots of spit in my mouth on the day we went back home.

Lone Ranch Beach panorama

August 12

We explored Oregon's coast, although we had to cross the California border first and then cross the Oregon border during one point of the drive because the highway that we drove on involved crossing the California border before going back to Oregon. We visited Lone Ranch Beach, Arch Rock, Thunder Rock Cove, and Natural Bridges. When visiting the Oregon Coast, my brother decided to use filters to take photos. 

Thunder Rock Cove

During the evening, we stayed at a Crescent City hotel that was on Highway 101. We also ordered food for dinner from a Chinese restaurant and visited Battery Point Lighthouse while we were waiting for the food. 

August 13

I woke up with a sore throat that was accompanied by a runny nose and lots of spit in my mouth. We were heading back home though, so I made sure to take a covid test once I got back home.

The drive back home took about 7 to 7.5 hours. We drove by many different places along the way, including Trinidad, Garberville, Willits, Hopland (which has a wine shop called The Golden Pig), Cloverdale, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Novato, San Rafael, Sausalito, and San Francisco. While the drive home did take a long time and that we could have gone home earlier if San Francisco did not have so much traffic, it was nice to drive by some Bay Area cities since I'm from the Bay Area. When I got back home, I did a covid self-test, which fortunately came back negative. However, my body temperature was quite high, although I'm feeling better now.

IV Apartments and University Apartments: The Pros and Cons

Next year, I'll be in my third year of college at UCSB. Although I'm looking forward for my third year at UCSB, I'm not completely sure where I'll be living. Initially, I was hoping to live in an apartment in IV (Isla Vista), but I wasn't successful in finding an IV apartment due to not getting into any of the ones that I applied for. I was told that the IV apartments that are still available are probably quite expensive, so I might end up living in UCSB's university apartments, which have applications that open on February 28. However, university apartments are further from the UCSB campus than IV apartments. Below, I wrote a list of some of the pros and cons for both IV apartments and university apartments.

IV Apartments Pros

• Closer to the main part of the UCSB campus: Walking from the IV apartments to the main part of campus doesn't take a very long time.

• 

  An apartment in IV (Isla Vista)

  Don't have to deal with unexpected fire alarms: I'm currently living in the dorms and experienced a fire alarm after 1 a.m. back in January this year, so I'm worried that there could be unexpected fire alarms in the university-owned apartments too. If I live in an IV apartment, I likely wouldn't have to deal with a fire alarm going off after 1 a.m.

IV Apartments Cons

• Need to buy furniture for the apartments: Unlike dorms or other university-owned housing, IV apartments usually come unfurnished, so there would be a need to buy furniture, such as tables and beds. Tables, beds, and other larger pieces of furniture can be hard to carry into the apartment and so it could be hard to put those pieces of furniture into the IV apartments.
• Noise from construction: I heard that some people that I know who live in IV apartments have to deal with construction around their apartments and were unaware about the construction, so their beds were moved and it can be hard for them to sleep. If I live in an IV apartment, it's possible that I might have to deal with loud construction noise, which could make it hard for me to sleep.

University Apartments Pros

• Rooms come fully furnished: There's no need to buy any additional furniture for university apartments, so I wouldn't have to worry about carrying any large pieces of furniture to the university apartments.
• Don't have to deal with bills, deposits, monthly rent, and co-signing: According to the UCSB Housing website, there's "no figuring out bills with various roommates, no deposit or first and last month rent, and no co-signing leases" for the university apartments. Instead, the billing for university apartments is done via BARC (Billing, Accounts Receivable, and Collections System).

University Apartments Cons

• 

  Sierra Madre Villages,
  a university apartment at UCSB

  Further from the main part of the UCSB campus: I might need to take the bus or bring my bike from home whenever going on the main part of campus, which is where classes are held. Currently, I've been walking to all of my classes since my bike is at home (there wasn't enough room to bring my bike over to UCSB). However, if I end up living in university apartments, because they're further from the main part of campus campus than IV apartments, it would take a longer time for me to walk to the main part of campus from the university apartments and so I might need to take the bus more often to go to campus or bring my bike over.
• May have to deal with unexpected fire alarms: Like I mentioned earlier, I experienced a fire alarm in my dorm that occurred after 1 a.m. back in January this year. Since university apartments, like the dorms, are also campus housing, I'm worried that I would experience unexpected fire alarms if I lived in a university apartment.

In conclusion, both IV and university apartments have their pros and cons, and even though I might end up living in a university apartment due to not being able to find an IV apartment yet and that many of the IV apartments that are still available are likely quite expensive, there are still some good things about living in university apartments. 

Opinion: UCSB Shouldn't Have Decreased the Amount of Units that Students Can Enroll For Passes 1 and 2

Back in October, UCSB decided to decrease the number of units that students could enroll in during passes 1 and 2 for Winter Quarter 2022. Prior to this unit limit change, the amount of units that students could enroll in during passes 1 and 2 in was 13.5 and 19 units respectively. However, for Winter Quarter 2022, the amount of units that students could enroll in decreased to 10 units for pass 1 and 15 units for pass 2. While this change was intended to address the course shortage at UCSB, I, a UCSB student, believe that this change did not address the course shortage any better. Besides, since 12 units is considered to be a full-time, students won't be able to be full-time until pass 2, which increases the amount of stress when it comes to selecting classes to take.

When I selected courses for Winter Quarter 2022, I saw that both PSTAT 122 and 126, two of the classes that I was thinking of taking to fulfill my major (Stats and Data Science) requirements, were both full before my first pass time began. Moreover, I couldn't choose Math 8, another class that I was thinking of taking, until pass 2. As a result, I ended up selecting 2 GEs (general education classes) during pass 1. A few hours before my second pass time, I noticed that Math 8 was full, which was upsetting since it was a class required for my major. I also couldn't waitlist it right away because I had to already have at least 12 units in my schedule to do so. While I was able to eventually waitlist that class, I could only do so with another class that was worth the same amount of units as Math 8. Because Math 8 was a 5 unit class, I was unable to waitlist it with a 4 unit class (most classes at UCSB are worth 4 units), and so I had to waitlist it with another 5 unit class. I was upset about this because when choosing classes for fall quarter this year, I actually did getting Math 8 but decided to link it with a GE class that I waitlisted for because I already had 2 major classes (CS 9 and PSTAT 120B) and so I thought that having 3 major classes would be too much for me to handle. I ended up getting off the waitlist for that GE class, which dropped Math 8 from my schedule. Looking back, I wonder if I should've kept Math 8 on my fall quarter schedule since I'm not sure if I'll get off the Math 8 waitlist for winter quarter 2022. It seems that the decrease in the amount of units that students can enroll for each pass time doesn't address the problem that courses are still filling up quickly. A better solution would probably be opening up more space for classes, especially the ones that students need to take but fill up quickly. After all, some of the Math 8 sections have less than 10 students in them. In addition, to address the fact that 12 units is considered to be a full-time student, it would be good to potentially increase the amount of units during pass 1 to at least 12 units. I typically have 4 classes in my schedule, and I add my fourth class during pass 2, so I think that the amount of units during pass 2 should increase to at least 16 units.

Overall, I think that decreasing the amount of units that students can enroll in does not address the course shortage at UCSB and could probably make it worse since students will have to wait longer to become full-time students (until pass 2). Instead, UCSB should consider adding more spots in classes that are popular and/or don't have that many spots to address the course shortage.

Population of Bay Area Cities In 2010 vs 2020

Recently, I saw some news that the results of the 2020 census were released. Being from the SF Bay Area, I decided to go to the census.gov website to see how the population of all the Bay Area cities (using the nine-county definition of the Bay Area) have changed from 2010 to 2020. Since I could only find population data for cities with a population of at least 5,000, the Bay Area cities with populations under 5,000 do not appear in the 2010 vs 2020 population table.

SF Bay Area Cities Population During 2010 and 2020

Comparing the population of Bay Area Cities during 2010 and 2020 based on population data from the U.S. Census Bureau

City Name	Population in 2010	Population in 2020	Percent Change (%)
Alameda	73,812	78,280	6.053
Albany	18,539	20,271	9.342
American Canyon	19,454	21,837	12.249
Antioch	102,372	115,291	12.62
Atherton	6,914	7,188	3.963
Belmont	25,835	28,335	9.677
Benicia	26,997	27,131	0.496
Berkeley	112,580	124,321	10.429
Brentwood	51,481	64,292	24.885
Burlingame	28,806	31,386	8.956
Calistoga	5,155	5,228	1.416
Campbell	39,349	43,959	11.716
Clayton	10,897	11,070	1.588
Cloverdale	8,618	8,996	4.386
Concord	122,067	125,410	2.739
Corte Madera	9,253	10,222	10.472
Cotati	7,265	7,584	4.391
Cupertino	58,302	60,381	3.566
Daly City	101,123	104,901	3.736
Danville	42,039	43,582	3.67
Dixon	18,351	18,988	3.471
Dublin	46,036	72,589	57.679
East Palo Alto	28,155	30,034	6.674
El Cerrito	23,549	25,962	10.247
Emeryville	10,080	12,905	28.026
Fairfax	7,441	7,605	2.204
Fairfield	105,321	119,881	13.824
Foster City	30,567	33,805	10.593
Fremont	214,089	230,504	7.667
Gilroy	48,821	59,520	21.915
Half Moon Bay	11,324	11,795	4.159
Hayward	144,186	162,954	13.017
Healdsburg	11,254	11,340	0.764
Hercules	24,060	26,016	8.13
Hillsborough	10,825	11,387	5.192
Lafayette	23,893	25,391	6.27
Larkspur	11,926	13,064	9.542
Livermore	80,968	87,955	8.629
Los Altos	28,976	31,625	9.142
Los Altos Hills	7,922	8,489	7.157
Los Gatos	29,413	33,529	13.994
Martinez	35,824	37,287	4.084
Menlo Park	32,026	33,780	5.477
Mill Valley	13,903	14,231	2.359
Millbrae	21,532	23,216	7.821
Milpitas	66,790	80,273	20.187
Moraga	16,016	16,870	5.332
Morgan Hill	37,882	45,483	20.065
Mountain View	74,066	82,376	11.22
Napa	76,915	79,246	3.031
Newark	42,573	47,529	11.641
Novato	51,904	53,225	2.545
Oakland	390,724	440,646	12.777
Oakley	35,432	43,357	22.367
Orinda	17,643	19,514	10.605
Pacifica	37,234	38,640	3.776
Palo Alto	64,403	68,572	6.473
Petaluma	57,941	59,776	3.167
Piedmont	10,667	11,270	5.653
Pinole	18,390	19,022	3.437
Pittsburg	63,264	76,416	20.789
Pleasant Hill	33,152	34,613	4.407
Pleasanton	70,285	79,871	13.639
Redwood City	76,815	84,292	9.734
Richmond	103,701	116,448	12.292
Rio Vista	7,360	10,005	35.938
Rohnert Park	40,971	44,390	8.345
St. Helena	5,814	5,430	-6.605
San Anselmo	12,336	12,830	4.005
San Bruno	41,114	43,908	6.796
San Carlos	28,406	30,722	8.153
San Francisco	805,235	873,965	8.535
San Jose	945,942	1,013,240	7.114
San Leandro	84,950	91,008	7.131
San Mateo	97,207	105,661	8.697
San Pablo	29,139	32,127	10.254
San Rafael	57,713	61,271	6.165
San Ramon	72,148	84,605	17.266
Santa Clara	116,468	127,647	9.598
Santa Rosa	167,815	178,127	6.145
Saratoga	29,926	31,051	3.759
Sausalito	7,061	7,269	2.946
Sebastopol	7,379	7,521	1.924
Sonoma	10,648	10,739	0.855
South San Francisco	63,632	66,105	3.886
Suisun City	28,111	29,518	5.005
Sunnyvale	140,081	155,805	11.225
Tiburon	8,962	9,146	2.053
Union City	69,516	70,143	0.902
Vacaville	92,428	102,386	10.774
Vallejo	115,942	126,090	8.753
Walnut Creek	64,173	70,127	9.278
Windsor	26,801	26,344	-1.705
Woodside	5,287	5,309	0.416

It seems that nearly all of the Bay Area cities grew in population from 2010 to 2020 (with the exception of St. Helena and Windsor), but the percent increase in population ranged from around 0.4% in Woodside to nearly 58% in Dublin.

Dublin is the fastest growing city in the SF Bay Area

How 2020 Went For Me

2020 has brought many major challenges. Not only was there a global coronavirus pandemic, but there were also record-breaking temperatures and fires. I started my first year of college online and met many people along the way. 

How the first half of 2020 (January to June) went for me can be found here, so in this post, I'll mainly be discussing about some of the major events that I experienced during the second half of the year.

July

Coco Movie

During the Fourth of July, my family and I watched the Hamilton musical for the first time. (I didn't watch the musical live, but I watched the recording of it.) The musical tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, including Hamilton's experiences during the American Revolutionary War, becoming the Secretary of the Treasury by president George Washington, marrying Eliza Schuyler, his affair with Maria Reynolds, and his duel with Aaron Burr. I personally liked the singing and rapping in the musical because it made the musical entertaining and interesting to watch. Shortly after watching Hamilton, I helped compile videos for my music group's fourth virtual performance video, which can be found here on YouTube. About a week after that, my family and I watched the movie Coco, where a boy called Miguel is deeply passionate about becoming a musician and idolizes the musician Ernesto de la Cruz, but his family forbids any music to be played. While I was slightly scared of some parts of the movie (such as seeing the skeletons for the first time), I thought the movie showed the importance of family members being there for each other and remembering family members as they pass away. Towards the end of July, I attended my UC Santa Barbara Freshman Orientation via Zoom (it couldn't be in person due to the ongoing pandemic). Despite my orientation being online, I was able to meet new people, learn more about UCSB, and choose my classes for the fall quarter.

August

An image of the Chinese drama I watched 

Anthony with his birthday cake

On August 2, Anthony, my younger brother celebrated his 9th birthday. Although my family could not have a larger celebration for his birthday due to the pandemic, we were still able to enjoy his birthday. During mid-August, the Bay Area suffered a record-breaking heatwave that lasted about a week. Palo Alto, which is where I live, reached 103ºF on one of the days. In addition to the extreme heat, there was lightning on one of the nights. While the lightning was accompanied with some rain, it also led to multiple fires around the Bay Area, which negatively affected the air quality in the Bay Area. 

From the beginning to around mid-August, my mom wanted me to watch a Chinese drama called I Don't Want to Be Friends With You (which is 我才不要和你做朋友呢 (wo cai bu yao he ni zuo peng you ne) in Chinese), where a high school girl and her mom do not get along very well. However, once the high school girl travels 20 years into the past and becomes friends with her mom, who was around her age 20 years ago, she is able to understand her mom better. I initially didn't like the drama that much, but as the episodes progressed, I thought that the show was interesting to watch. 

From around mid-August to early September, I took an online edX course called Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles, where I learned about different aspects to leadership, including knowing more about what leadership is, when leadership is necessary, and leadership becomes more dangerous if isolated. My music group's (Polar Bears Music Group) fifth virtual performance video was published during mid-August.

September

I promoted my music group via Instagram by encouraging people to join Polar Bears, submit performance videos for the next virtual performance, and describing my positive experience as a Polar Bears Music Group member. I helped compile videos for that performance, and the video can be found here. Additionally, my music group decided that it would be better to have virtual performance videos every 2 weeks instead of every month and so we had another virtual performance that took place later in the month. 

During early September, the Bay Area (as well as the rest of California) suffered an extreme record-breaking heat wave. Woodland Hills hit 121ºF, the highest temperature ever in Los Angeles County. Meanwhile, in the Bay Area, there were several places that were 110ºF and above. While I personally saw that the highest temperature for Palo Alto during that heat wave was 107ºF on September 7, it appeared that Palo Alto hit 108ºF the day before. Shortly after the heat wave, Palo Alto and the rest of the Bay Area experienced orange skies as well as significantly cooler temperatures (mostly 60s and 70s) compared to the triple-digit heat just days before. While temperatures did become warmer in a few days after experiencing orange skies, the temperatures were not record-breaking. However, during late September, the Bay Area once again experienced record-breaking heat, although the heat wave was not as hot as the one that happened earlier that month. Palo Alto did reach 100ºF, though. Additionally, the Glass Fire broke out in the northern portion of the Bay Area, which led to hazy skies and unhealthy air quality.

Promoting Polar Bears Music Group via Instagram

During September, I became more acquainted with other UCSB students by attending socials. One of the socials I attended was 99Rising, a virtual club fair featuring Asian student organizations at UCSB that took place during the evenings of September 28 and 29. Through those club fairs, I was able to learn more about those UCSB student organizations and join the ones that were the most interesting to me.

Among Us

I finally created a TikTok account during September (although I am not very good at it). I also started playing Among Us, a game that can accommodate up to 10 people. In Among Us, there are crewmates and imposters (1-3 depending on the amount of people, though I never played a game with 3 imposters). Crewmates have certain tasks to do, while imposters try to kill the crewmates. Once a crewmate is killed, he or she becomes a ghost. If crewmates see a dead body, they can report it and the people vote out who they think the imposter is. Crewmates win if they kill all of the imposters or if they all finish their tasks before the imposters can kill enough people, while imposters win if the amount of crewmates that are still alive equals the amount of imposters that are alive.

October

Classes for fall quarter at UCSB officially began during the beginning of October. The classes I enrolled in were Geog 3 (Oceans and Atmosphere), Hist 17A (American People), and Math 4A (Linear Algebra w/Applications). All of my classes were online due to the pandemic. For all my classes, lectures were pre-recorded, while sections (groups of students within a larger class) were live for Geog 3 and Hist 17A. For Math 4A, there weren't exactly sections, but TAs (teacher assistants) held office hours during the section times. There were weekly quizzes for all of my classes. Towards the end of October, I had my first midterm for Geog 3 as well as my first essay for Hist 17A (a primary source analysis).

I began participating in several UCSB clubs and organizations, including TASA (Taiwanese American Student Association) UCSB, Data Science UCSB, SASE (Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers) UCSB, and UCSB CKI (Circle K International). I attended the general body meetings for those clubs/organizations, as well as some of their events and programs. For TASA and Data Science UCSB, I participated in their mentorship programs. TASA's mentorship program is also called the Big-Little Program, while Data Science UCSB's mentorship program is also known as Big Data Lil Data. For both TASA and Data Science UCSB, I applied to be a mentee (which is more commonly known as a "little" in the TASA mentorship program). For Circle K, I participated in some of their service events. The service events that occurred in October involved transcribing various documents. For many of the clubs/organizations that I participated in, I was able to meet many new people and connect with some of them via social media (Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc.).

In October, the August Complex Fire between Eureka, Chico, and Mendocino County had burned over 1 million acres, which is the largest fire in California history. The total amount of acres burned in California this year surpassed 4 million.

2020 Stats on Fires

Heat waves continued to occur in the Bay Area during October. Palo Alto had temperatures well into the 90s during early and mid-October. For instance, Palo Alto hit 95ºF on October 1.

Because I was already 18, I could vote in the presidential election for the first time. I mailed in by ballot to a designated ballot drop box. I decided to vote weeks before the election because I wanted to ensure that my ballot would be counted.

In addition to having a virtual performance, my music group had a live performance on Zoom, which happened to be on the same day as my mom's birthday (although the live performance was in the afternoon, while my family and I celebrated my mom's birthday during the evening).

November

During election day, due to a large amount of mail-in ballots, the election results were not immediately announced. At first, it looked unclear whether or not Joe Biden or Donald Trump would win. However, given the fact that most mail-in ballots were for Biden due to Trump being against mail-in ballots, Trump's early leads in some states ended up with Biden winning in many of those states (such as Pennsylvania and Georgia). I even made a TikTok related to the election, showing how close the races in Pennsylvania and Georgia were. Even though Trump demanded recounts and lawsuits in several states, Biden still won those states, and most lawsuits were dropped or dismissed. Biden ended up winning the election, and I'm glad that he won because Trump has demonstrated poor leadership in handling the coronavirus pandemic.

Around mid-November, I began selecting courses for UCSB's winter quarter during my first pass time (a period of time where I'm able to select courses). Although I at first wasn't able waitlist Writing 1 (which was a class that I had to take), I figured that I could do so by linking the class with another class I had on the schedule so that once a spot in Writing 1 was available to me, Writing 1 would be added to my schedule, while the class I linked Writing 1 with would be dropped. In a few hours after selecting courses, I was able to get Writing 1 on my schedule. During mid-November, I had a take home midterm exam for Hist 17A that consisted of responding to certain prompts by describing the historical context and significance. I also had my second midterm for Geog 3. 

In Circle K, I went to service events that involved identifying animals. I met with my TASA "family," which consists of my big (my mentor), sibs (who are also the littles (mentees) of my big), and anyone else that is related to my big and sibs (such as sibs of my big and their littles). We met via Zoom to chat and play some games. For SASE, I applied for their mentorship program, although pairings will be decided next quarter (winter quarter).

My music group published a virtual performance video in November that can be found here. During early November, my family and I celebrated my dad's birthday.

December

I had my second pass time to select courses, where I added another course. However, the lecture time that course had conflicted with the lecture time of one of my other courses I chose. I wasn't quite sure what to do, but I eventually decided to email the professors of those classes. One of them replied that lectures would be live but recorded and so attending them isn't mandatory, while the other replied that lectures would be prerecorded. I also recently had finals for Math 4A and Geog 3 as well as a final essay for Hist 17A, though I was finished with them by Wednesday night. 

About a week before I began my finals, I helped compile the video submissions for my music group's next virtual performance, which can be found here. I also noticed that much of the Bay Area had temperatures in the 70ºF range (which is warm for December). Although that only lasted a few days, a few temperature records were broken. In Palo Alto, the temperature hit around 75ºF during the warmest day (December 8), while Palo Alto's high temperature on Accuweather was 77ºF on that same day.

Looking Forward

2020 has been a long year with many ups and downs. While 2020 was a difficult year, there were quite a couple of good moments that came out of it. While I can't expect 2021 to be much better than 2020, I do hope that things will get better. After all, Biden is going to be inaugurated soon, and he seems to have a clear plan of improving America in many different ways.