The Future Climate of the Bay Area

Over the past couple of years of living in the Bay Area, I have noticed more record-breaking heat waves, especially during the warmer months of the year. During the September 2017 heatwave, many places in the Bay Area exceeded 100ºF and broke temperature records. Specifically, I remembered Palo Alto hitting 109ºF, while San Francisco shattered its all-time record high temperature by reaching 106ºF. I am deeply concerned about these heat waves because they increase wildfire danger. During 2017 and 2019, the North Bay region of the Bay Area experienced severe wildfires that damaged structures and led to evacuations. In 2018, the Mendocino Complex Fire that occurred north of the Bay Area was the largest fire in California history. These wildfires worsened the air quality in the Bay Area, and I often wore a mask so that I would not breathe in the smoke. It seems that the future climate of the Bay Area – along with the entire state of California – is quite ominous.

Today, I stumbled upon a Climate Central article that shows the average summer high temperatures of 1,001 cities in the U.S. by 2100. According to this article, by 2100, summers in Palo Alto (average summer high of 81.14ºF) will be like summers now in Concord, North Carolina (average summer high of 88.29ºF).

By 2100, Palo Alto's average summer temperature is projected to increase from 81.14ºF to 88.29ºF, a difference of 7.15ºF.

In the table below, I included data from the Climate Central article on how summer temperatures are projected to change for many places in the Bay Area.

Bay Area Future Summer Temperatures

Bay Area City/Community	Current Average Summer Temperature (ºF)	Predicted Average Summer Temperature in 2100 (ºF)	Average Summer Temperature Change (ºF)
Alameda	71.38	78.66	7.28
Antioch	88.21	95.58	7.37
Berkeley	73.08	80.49	7.41
Brentwood	88.27	95.58	7.31
Castro Valley	76.62	82.99	6.37
Concord	85.78	93.58	7.8
Cupertino	82.87	89.89	7.02
Daly City	67.57	74.98	7.41
Danville	83.75	91.31	7.56
Dublin	85.57	93.22	7.65
Fairfield	87.22	95.22	8
Fremont	77.9	85.26	7.36
Gilroy	86.5	93.87	7.37
Hayward	74.97	82.27	7.3
Livermore	85.37	93.22	7.85
Milpitas	80.89	88.29	7.4
Mountain View	78.64	85.84	7.2
Napa	83.08	90.86	7.78
Newark	77.07	84.43	7.36
Novato	80.29	87.64	7.35
Oakland	72.36	79.61	7.25
Palo Alto	81.14	88.29	7.15
Petaluma	81.55	88.99	7.44
Pittsburg	87.19	95.22	8.03
Pleasanton	85.15	92.53	7.38
Redwood City	76.39	83.59	7.2
Richmond	72.21	79.61	7.4
Rohnert Park	80.82	88.38	7.56
San Bruno	70.77	77.94	7.17
San Francisco	68.61	76.17	7.56
San Jose	81.82	89.11	7.29
San Leandro	73.63	80.98	7.35
San Mateo	74.48	81.54	7.06
San Rafael	77.45	84.88	7.43
San Ramon	84.88	92.53	7.65
Santa Clara	79.97	87.12	7.15
Santa Rosa	80.62	88.09	7.47
South San Francisco	70.29	77.59	7.3
Sunnyvale	78.82	85.91	7.09
Union City	77.59	85.1	7.51
Vacaville	91.67	99.63	7.96
Vallejo	78.53	86.22	7.69
Walnut Creek	84.36	92.05	7.69

Based on this information, it seems that places in the Bay Area are projected to warm up from 6ºF to slightly over 8ºF by 2100, which is quite a drastic change.

How 2020 Has Been So Far

It's been a wild year for me. From getting acupuncture on my injured right thumb to my school being closed for the rest of the year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 has been far from normal. Here's some major events that happened to me so far this year.

January

New Year's Instagram Post

To celebrate the new year, I posted on my Instagram account (@jackieofcal) a picture and video of fireworks in San Francisco. In addition, I went hiking around Mountain View's Shoreline Park with my brother, mom, grandma, aunt, and uncle. One week later, I started second semester senior year, and I had an acupuncture appointment for my right thumb because I injured my thumb last December. I was frustrated that I wasn't able to play the piano due to my injured thumb, so my mom decided that I should try having acupuncture for my injured thumb to allow it to hurt less and heal faster. After my first acupuncture treatment, I noticed that my right thumb was able to move more, which made me feel better. I had some more acupuncture treatments afterwards (until early February), and I felt glad that I was able to play the piano once again. The acupuncture treatments involved some needles that were put into the injured area of my thumb, but they didn't hurt that much. Later in January, my family decided to celebrate Chinese New Year by inviting several guests over, including my younger cousin Justin and his family in San Jose as well as one of the acupuncturists who treated my thumb and his wife.

February

Around mid-February, I went hiking at Fremont's Mission Peak with my family. My brother and mom hiked for a bit, but my brother did not feel like hiking anymore. My dad and I continued hiking, though, and after a couple of hours, we managed to make it to the top. Some pictures from my hike are included on my Instagram (shown below). During late February, I participated my high school's elimination game (but only high school seniors could participate).

March

While I got a few college decisions earlier (I got accepted to Santa Clara University in December and SJSU in February), most of my college decisions came around March. I got accepted into Cal Poly SLO on March 4, UC Riverside on March 11, and UC Davis on March 12. On March 13 (which happened to be on a Friday), I received my first rejection letter from UC San Diego. On March 17, I got accepted into UC Santa Cruz and waitlisted by UC Santa Barbara. I got waitlisted by UCLA on March 20, rejected by UC Irvine on March 24, and rejected by both UC Berkeley and USC on March 26. Once I received all my college decisions, I narrowed down my college choices to UC Davis, Cal Poly SLO, UC Santa Barbara, and UCLA.

Aside from college decisions, on March 13, I saw news that my school would close for 4 weeks because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (but school eventually ended up being closed for the entire school year), which I had mixed feelings about. During the week of March 23, some of my teachers began using Zoom to teach lessons and help answer questions. The Zooms were effective for the most part (aside from occasional audio problems), but I missed physically learning in a classroom because I'm able to concentrate better and have more motivation in a classroom than in my bedroom. 

April

On April 11, I celebrated my 18th birthday. While I was only able to celebrate it with my family due to stay at home orders, I still had a nice birthday. Additionally, I was preparing for AP tests that were going to occur in May by looking over lecture notes and doing practice problems and tests. I still had Zoom meetings, but now all my teachers were using Zoom for lessons and/or questions. My music group (Polar Bears) also posted the first virtual performance video (we decided to have virtual performances because of the stay at home orders), which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Y5GMiRW2E. Towards the end of April, because I was not admitted off the waitlist from UC Santa Barbara or UCLA yet, I submitted my required enrollment deposit to UC Davis.

Celebrating my 18th birthday (aka adulthood)

May

For the second Polar Bears Music Group virtual performance video, which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hNRfMWDAPk, I helped compile all the individual performance videos together on iMovie. While most videos were easy to import to iMovie, I had to download HandBrake, an open-source transcoder for digital video files, to import a few of the videos to iMovie.

Less than a week I submitted my UC Davis required deposit, I received an acceptance letter from UC Santa Barbara. I felt happy seeing the confetti on my computer screen when looking at my acceptance letter, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to UC Santa Barbara since I still wanted to wait for UCLA's decision. Ultimately, I decided to go to UC Santa Barbara instead of UC Davis because I knew some more people from middle and high school that were going to UC Santa Barbara than UC Davis. Additionally, the UC Davis login portals weren't very easy to navigate: I sometimes was confused which password to use and had to change my password. UC Santa Barbara is a beach town, while UC Davis is more of an agricultural town.

When I had my AP Calculus BC exam, although I submitted photos of my work to both of the problems, I received a message at the end of the exam that stated that at least one of my responses wasn't received. As a result, I had to request for a makeup exam (which occurred in the beginning of June). However, I was able to successfully submit my work for my AP Macro exam (I typed my work on a separate Google Doc).

On Memorial Day, my family went on a morning hike in the Palo Alto Foothills Park. We decided to go hiking in the morning because we knew that it would be very hot in the afternoon (it hit around 96 degrees that day).

During May, I continued to have Zoom lectures for all my classes. It can be difficult to learn at home because my mom yells at my brother for playing on the iPad instead of going to sleep. While Zoom lectures do allow me to learn and I am still able to get work done, I miss getting to see my classmates and teachers in person. My nostalgia for simpler times is shown in an Instagram post consisting pictures of myself, friends, and family during the past (around 2008 - 2015).

June

Graduated!

During the beginning of June, I did the makeup AP Calculus BC exam. This time, there were no issues in submitting my work, and I felt more confident in my responses. Two days after my makeup AP Calculus BC exam, I had an unofficial high school graduation, which was a car parade to celebrate all the graduating high school seniors around my city. It was a really great experience, as I was really delighted to see people cheering for me as I waved in the car. Nearly a week after the car parade, I had two of my wisdom teeth removed. For the first few days, I used an ice pack to reduce the swelling due to the wisdom teeth removal. Currently, I don't feel much pain from my wisdom teeth being removed, but I still have to apply some treatment around the area. Last Sunday, my music group had an end-of-the-year party that was held via Zoom. We played two Kahoot! games relating to music and skribbl, an online drawing and guessing game (basically an online version of pictionary). It was really fun getting to see and chat with many of my fellow Polar Bears members. Additionally, the third Polar Bears virtual performance video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJTqVAznX9c. This month, my dad wants my brother and I to learn some coding basics as well as help cook some food (including noodles and vegetables). While I am able to find code online to use and learn, there are still some parts to coding that I don't quite understand (i.e. trying to explain the code behind creating an online analog clock). I also created a Twitter account mainly to keep up with the news and a WeChat account mainly to chat with some family members living in China.

College Decisions: Where I'm Thinking of Going

Two days ago, I received my last few college decisions. While I got rejected by a couple of notable schools such as UC Berkeley and USC, I did get waitlisted by UCSB and UCLA (although it's not very easy to get into UCLA if being on the waitlist). Additionally, I got into all of my safety schools, which includes Santa Clara University and UC Santa Cruz. Currently, I'm thinking about going to UC Davis or Cal Poly SLO as well as the aforementioned schools I got waitlisted by.

UC Davis

A photo of the UC Davis campus

I chose statistics as my major for UC Davis. UC Davis is between 1 and 2 hours from where I live, and my family knows more people who go to UC Davis than Cal Poly SLO. According to U.S. News, UC Davis is ranked #39 in National Universities, and College Factual ranked the school at #2 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. When visiting UC Davis last April, I liked how environmentally friendly the campus was, as there were many people who were riding their bikes. My UC Davis campus tour guide mentioned that bike theft is common on campus, although one can lock his/her bike to prevent it from being stolen, and students helped each other out when studying for final exams. The website Niche.com gave the professors at UC Davis an A rating.

Cal Poly SLO

A photo of the Cal Poly SLO campus

For Cal Poly SLO, I also chose statistics as my major. Cal Poly SLO is approximately 3 hours from where I live. According to U.S. News, Cal Poly SLO is ranked #4 in Regional Universities West, and College Factual ranked the college at #7 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. When visiting Cal Poly SLO last year during June, I liked the variety of recreational activities that were offered, and students often seemed to interact with each other. The college also offers a hands-on learning experience. However, most of the dorms didn't look too attractive, and Niche.com gave the professors at the college a B rating (although this ranking may not be representative of the statistics major in the college).

UC Santa Barbara and UCLA

A photo of the UC Santa Barbara campus

A photo of the UCLA campus

I chose statistics and data science as my first choice major for UC Santa Barbara and statistics as my first choice major for UCLA. UC Santa Barbara is between 4 and 5 hours away from where I live, while UCLA is over 5 hours. According to U.S. News, UC Santa Barbara is ranked at #34 and UCLA is ranked at #20 in National Universities. However, UCLA is more selective, with an acceptance rate of just 12% for fall 2019, compared to UC Santa Barbara's 29.7% during the same term. For UCLA, there is an optional info section, which I hope to get advice from my college counselor on what I should state. College Factual lists UCLA at #3 and UCSB at #4 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. I toured both UC Santa Barbara and UCLA last June. UC Santa Barbara is close to many beaches (my UC Santa Barbara campus tour guide stated that it took 42 seconds from where his dorm was to get to a beach), the recreation is good, and many artists perform at UC Santa Barbara. UCLA has a small class size, nice dorms, and is located in a safe area of Los Angeles. For both UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, Niche.com gave the professors an A+ rating.

Conclusion

It's definitely not an easy decision for me to decide where exactly I'd like to go for college, but hopefully I'll be able to come to a decision in the next few weeks.

The Pros and Cons of Closing School

Yesterday, I was informed that all schools in my school district were going to be closed for 4 weeks (from March 16 to April 10) due to the ongoing coronavirus cases. While the district does not plan to implement online learning, there will be flexible learning options provided. Currently, in a poll I posted on my Instagram story regarding the school closure, 78% of the people voted for while 22% of the people voted against the decision to close schools. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the closure.

The poll I posted on my Instagram story

The Pros of Closing School

• There's more time to sleep. I personally feel that I don't sleep enough during school nights and so it can be hard for me to focus during class.
• Schoology is where all of my teachers post assignments and lecture notes, so I can still keep up with the work they assign when staying home.
• I don't have to worry about tests. I often don't do as well as I hoped on school tests, especially in my math class (AP Calc BC). By closing school, I don't have to worry about any test anxiety I can get from any problems that I'm not quite sure on how to do.
• There's more free time. Since I'll mostly be staying home when school is closed, I can find more time to do activities that I enjoy, such as playing the piano.

The Cons of Closing School

• School will resume on April 13, which is less than a month from AP testing. Unless College Board decides to cancel or at least postpone AP testing, I don't know if I'll feel prepared to do well on my AP tests (particularly BC calc).
• I heard that nearby school districts (e.g. Menlo Park City School District) plan to implement online learning, whereas my school district does not. I would personally prefer having online instruction because although there may be difficulties (such as faulty Wi-Fi connection at times), it is the closest the school district can get to in-class instruction when schools are closed.
• In Audio Music Production, one of the classes I'm taking this year, all of my projects are done on a computer in the classroom. Closing school would hinder my ability to finish those projects, although it is possible that the teacher might change the guidelines to the projects or postpone the due dates to them.

Overall, closing school is definitely a big change in my school experience since it's the first time I've had to deal with school shutting down. Such a change will take a great amount of time to adapt.

Upcoming Bay Area Events

Personally, the San Francisco Bay Area is an amazing place to call home. Because I love the Bay Area so much, I've decided to write about some events that are happening soon.

Mill Valley

June 30 - From 5:45 am to 11:15 am, there will be a sunrise guided tour of Muir Woods National Monument (1 Muir Woods Road, Mill Valley, CA).

Moraga

June 27 - From 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, a Beatles Tribute Band will be performing at the Moraga Commons Park (1425 St Marys Road, Moraga, CA). Dinner will be cooked for purchase, with the Snack Bar opening at 6 pm.

Oakland

June 28 - From 7 pm to 10 pm, Khalid will be performing his Free Spirit World Tour at Oakland's Oracle Arena (7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA).

Redwood City

June 27 - In downtown Redwood City (2200 Broadway, Redwood City, CA), there will be a free movie showing of Despicable Me 3 that will start at around 8:45 pm.

San Francisco 

June 24 - During sunset (8:30 pm), the San Francisco City Hall (1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Pl, San Francisco, CA) will light up its exterior with over 220 state-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures of rainbow colors to celebrate Pride Month.

June 26 - Starting at 7 pm, the Colorado Rockies will face the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park (24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, CA).

June 29 and June 30 - The 2019 San Francisco Pride Festival is happening at the Civic Center Plaza (335 McAllister St, San Francisco, CA) from 12 pm to 6 pm on June 29 and from 11 pm to 6 pm on June 30. Also, the grand parade will occur on Sunday at 10:30 am. The event is the largest LGBT gathering in the nation and will include parade contingents, exhibitors, stages and venues, concerts, and speeches.

San Jose

June 30 - Comedian Kanan Gill will be performing from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Montgomery Theater (271 S Market St, San Jose, CA).

Santa Clara

June 24-26 - Silicon Valley International Invention Festival Expo is a free event happening at the Santa Clara Convention Center (5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA) from 10 am to 5 pm. There will be nearly 600 inventions that will be presented by 400 exhibitors from 25 countries. This event is an opportunity to directly interact with businessmen and representatives of international and local industrial companies and corporations.

Book Review: 13 Gifts by Wendy Mass

Summary of the plot

Tara Brennan tries to make friends with some of the popular kids in her school, as long as she pulls a prank. The prank does work out very well because she gets caught by the principal. When Tara’s parents found out about this incident, they punish her by sending her to Willow Falls to be with relatives she hardly knows during the summer instead of going to Madagascar with her parents. Although Tara arrived at Willow Falls realizing that her phone, her mom’s ipod, and two hundred dollars have disappeared, she has been able to quickly make new friends with the kids in Willow Falls and has been able to get along well with her relatives. She also meets a mysterious store owner who wants Tara to collect thirteen unique items for her by her thirteenth birthday, or else there will be really bad consequences. The adventures Tara experiences take her and her new friends to places they had never expected before.

What I liked

One of the things I liked about the book is that there are secrets in the book. For example, the reason why Tara and her family moved around a lot was not because her mom got a new job, it was because a mysterious person known as Angelica D’Angelo kept tracking Tara’s mom down by sending mails to her about meeting Tara when Tara turned 13. Another thing I liked about the book is that when Tara went to Willow Falls, she was able to make new friends easily. This is good for Tara because her mom wants her to make new friends. Also, at first, Tara didn’t feel like she would like Willow Falls. After making friends, however, she was able to enjoy Willow Falls more.

What I didn’t like or how could the author improve the story?

One of the things I didn’t like about the book was that when Tara and her dad were walking in the hallway to the principal’s office, one of the girls Tara tried to be friends with mispronounced Tara’s name by calling her “Sara.” Her dad, however, unexpectedly smiled at that girl. This feels like an unusual reaction because a person usually ignores or gives an angry look to someone who has antagonized that person or that person’s friend or family member. Another thing I didn’t like about the book was when Tara’s parents decide that she stays with her aunt, uncle, and cousin instead of going to Madagascar for a summer trip just because Tara did a school prank. It feels like that punishment seems a bit harsh for Tara, since she is away from her parents for the summer. Usually, kids are with their parents when going on a trip to somewhere interesting.

What I think my reader should do (your recommendation). Should the reader read the book or not?

My reader should read the book because it allows him/her to become more independent. Being independent is an important life skill to have when becoming older. When reading the book, the reader gets to know how it is like being away from parents for a period of time. Also, the book allows the reader to experience personal growth. For example, Tara at first thought that she was not going to enjoy Willow Falls. Later on, however, she realizes that Willow Falls is not so bad after all because she is able to make new friends. This will allow the reader to know that things are not as bad as they seem to be.

Personal Comparison Essay: Speak Up

One of the traits Malala has is that she speaks up for what she does not like. In the “Malala Yousafzai Nobel Peace Prize Speech” video, Malala discusses her life and offers thanks for getting the Nobel Peace Prize. When she was seventeen, she felt that she could not just stand by and watch the terrorists denying women’s rights, ruthlessly killing people, and misusing the name of Islam. She decided to raise her voice and tell the terrorists that the Quran states that killing one person is like killing the whole humanity, that Muhammad says to not harm one’s self or others, and that the very first word of the holy Quran is a word that means “read.” Malala and her friends’ voices about being against the terrorists of Pakistan became more heard since the day she and her friends stood up to those terrorists.

Standing up for what we believe in is important because it helps us become more independent and helps other people by making them feel better about themselves when they are being bullied. If nobody ever spoke up, then there is little to no change to the world. The world would not be very innovative. Speaking up also prevents someone from taking control of another person. When people stand up for what they believe in, other people will take notice of them and perhaps follow their lead. Successful people don’t always go with the flow.

I feel that I am like Malala by exhibiting this attribute of standing up for what I believe in whenever I am not sure or not satisfied of something. When I am not sure of something, I ask someone how that thing should work. For example, during the last school year when I had to do a presentation for my English class, I went to my writing tutor to give me advice and help me on my English TEDtalk presentation. Allowing my writing tutor to help me on that presentation gave me a 93% on it.

Whenever I am not satisfied with something, I go and ask someone how that thing can be made better or how it can be reduced. For example, during the last school year when I got a 58.33% on a math quiz, I talked to my math teacher. My math teacher told me that there was still another math quiz and finals that could bring my grade back up, so there was no need to worry much about my grade.

I am different from Malala by the fact that I am not willing to get shot in the head by standing up for what I believe in. I’m standing up for my own personal education and not for other people out in the world. Also, I grew up in a different world than Malala.

I will continue to develop my skills to speak up by first being able to talk more and be more confident while talking to other people. This will mean that I would have to avoid filler words, which include um, like, and such as. Then, I will make sure that I am maintaining eye contact to whoever I am talking to because avoiding eye contact is not very polite. Next, I will pay more attention to what my gestures are doing because gestures convey a powerful meaning in conversations, so it is important to use them correctly. After that, I will be more assertive by being the first person to start a conversation with other people.

I will continue this trait of speaking up for what I don’t like by using my voice and hands effectively, being more confident, and working on my communication skills.