Announcing Bird Bounce iPhone Game

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Over winter break, I put together a small game for the iPhone and iPad called Bird Bounce. It’s an infinite runner game of the Temple Run variety that replaces running with flight, which I’ve conveniently dubbed an ‘infinite flyer’ for lack of a better name. You fly through 3D worlds as a penguin, jumping across platforms, collecting coins, and unlocking levels. If you’d like to try it, here’s the link to Bird Bounce and a short promo video.

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I thought I might briefly describe the process of developing and releasing a small game. It was definitely different from what I expected.

Idea

The idea started when I realized everyone around me seemed to be talking about 3D games. From our school’s computer science club to an English professor who wanted to make one, 3D games were the thing. I’d always thought that 3D games were impossible to make quickly, but I’d heard recently that there were some new tools that simplified things a lot. So I realized that after years of dabbling in 3D design I should finally bite the bullet and try to learn how to develop a game. After hours spent trying to make a simple prototype, I came up with what seemed like an utter failure. I had a strange black and white bird that bounced instead of flew… infinitely.

 

I showed it to a few testers for fun and they immediately thought I’d made some sort of infinite penguin flying game. I couldn’t argue with that, so I began developing it further until I had a passable penguin and some working flight controls. Things were coming together serendipitously from the seeds of what I thought was a mockery of a mockup. Then came…

Art

It was then that it dawned on me what I had really gotten myself into. I should have seen from the start that 3D design might require some artistic ability, but it hit me a few weeks in that most of this process would require artistic skill. And if there’s one thing I can do, it isn’t visual art.

 

But I got over this hurdle somehow with the help of software that makes art possible even for those truly not inclined. My brother saved the day, too, by making my game icon and several of the scenic elements, and he is, in contrast, artistically inclined. Thanks, Steve, for saving the day!

And Music

I was finally back in my comfort zone when it came to composing the game music… music’s something I’m at least familiar with. After a few hours of culling together and orchestrating loose ends of songs I’d tinkered with and liked but never been able to package into anything, and composing a few new pieces as well, I had a basic score ready for all the game levels.

And Settling Score

Of course, when it comes down to the deadline, it’s the little things that you don’t anticipate. My goal was to finish the app by the end of winter break since I’d be on to new projects after that. Making mountains, snow, programming movement all paled in comparison to the amount of work involved in formatting the score text so that it was just close enough to the edge of the screen without being slightly out of view, or diagnosing a bizarre new bug that hadn’t existed moments before that made penguins fly backward. As the clocked ticked toward my final deadline, I eventually had to make a few compromises (that’s not a bug, it’s a feature!), but I had something that I could call final. Better than that, I had built a 3D game, and now I could respond to those wanting to build their own 3D games knowing a little bit more than I did before.

Want More?

While you’re at it, you can check out Bird Bounce and my other iPhone app, Circle Draw at my site

International Holiday

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As the holidays are finishing up I feel incredibly lucky to have had such an incredible few weeks. Finishing up classes and saying goodbye to Granada just before Christmas was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do so far on this trip. I survived finals, but saying goodbye to my incredible host mom and host sister, the 40 ILACA students, my new friends in Granada, and the beautiful city of Granada was no easy task. However, I was lucky enough to be invited to spend the holidays in Almería with a friend of mine who I met in salsa classes.

Saying Goodbye to Granada...

Saying Goodbye to Granada…

When we arrived in Almería we were greater by a large and delicious lunch of “bolas”… balls, similar to meat balls but with bread and other things. I was told this was a traditional New Years Eve meal for their family, but because her parents would be working this year they were eating it early. The rest of the trip seemed to be centered around food and family, and I felt lucky to be a part of a traditional Spanish Christmas. There was a ham leg in the kitchen that we slowly worked our way through by eating a little bit every meal an snacking on it when coming home late at night. On Christmas Eve we went to a suburb of the city and had dinner with her moms side of the family. They were all welcoming and more than willing to include me in the holiday tradition as we ate plum stuffed turkey, lasagna, seafood stew, and of course bread and ham. They wrapped up dinner by singing some traditional Christmas songs and waking up the 9 month old baby to join in the fun.

Exploring the Alcazar of Almería

Exploring the Alcazar of Almería

On Christmas day we ate lunch with her dads side of the family, just as loud, fun, and inviting. If I didn’t know better I would’ve thought they were arguing at the table as they yelled at one another between bites of food, but that’s simply the Spanish way. I got to try “caracoles” which is kind of like a snails ceviche and was actually quite good, along with the ham, fish, beef, and chorizo. This meal finished off with 2 giant boxes of desserts, one was pralines, the other bonbons! I was so full I couldn’t possibly eat another bite, but found room for a few more chocolates before we headed out.

A Christmas/Birthday Potluck in Almería

A Christmas/Birthday Potluck in Almería

Along with the traditional family meals, I got to meet a number of Alba’s friends from Almería and really get to see what it’s like to hang out with Spaniards. Up until this trip in Almería I was baffled by the night life of Spain (you’re not supposed to start heading to clubs before 2 or 3 am and can often be out until 8), but I now understand slightly better how this works. You start by taking a good siesta (2 hours) in the afternoon. You wake up around 5 or 6 pm and head for coffee with friends. You then go and grab some tapas for dinner between 9 and 11, and then head to a park or a friends house to hang out, chat, or occasionally play jeopardy games. Then you have a drink and finally go dancing. You hang out at the dance club until you’re bored and then go eat breakfast and head home where you sleep until 12. While I now understand the schedule, I’m not sure I could maintain it for any large period of time, but I’m told it’s uncommon to go out all the time.

The time spent in Almería was amazing for so many reasons… I was able to experience Navidad the Spanish way (or at least part of it since it technically goes until January 6th), I was invited to stay with a friends family and shown incredible generosity and hospitality by people who I hardly know, I got to delve into the Spanish lifestyle, and I think I learned more Spanish in 9 days than throughout my entire program because I never had an off switch.

I then headed to Barcelona for New Years Eve, and stayed in St Jordi’s Mambo Tango Hostel, which had an amazing staff and was relatively close to all the action. On New Years Eve Barcelona has an event which was referred to as the “Magic Fountain.” The fountain in their main square is turned on and colorful and there is music. Even better they have human pyramids where something like 20 people bunch together on the ground then 10 people stand on them, then 7, then 5, and so on. This was topped off by a fireworks display just before 12, followed by the eating of the 12 grapes at midnight in order to have a lucky year.

Finally Reunited with Maddie!

Finally Reunited with Maddie!

Finally on New Years day I headed to Prague and was reunited with one of my best friends. She is now on her way to Spain for the same program I just completed, but first we needed to meet up in an international location 🙂 Her family hosts professional paddlers from the Czech Republic every year and they showed us around the city and took us to Plzen, the original home of Pilsner beer. We toured the factory while there, saw the cathedral, and were treated to a delicious home cooked meal of traditional Czech food (potato dumplings, meat, and sauerkraut). We were invited to stay with the family of one of the boys who visits every year. His mother was an incredible cook and baker and gave us each 2 jars of homemade jam to take with us. The table had a cookie tray in the middle with about 10 different kinds of intricate cookies, all of which his mother had made for the holidays. This trip has also been characterized by a lot of eating… I’ve been full since I got to the Czech Republic and I’m pretty sure I’ll stay that way until I leave.

Making Potato Dumplings in Plzen

Making Potato Dumplings in Plzen

So I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to share my holiday season with incredibly generous and kind people from 3 different countries (my friend from the US counts too :))!

 

 

Daniel Wolfert Snapshot #5: A Between-Sort-Of-Time

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In which Daniel rambles, and looks to the glorious horizon.

            How fitting it is that, as I write this, my last blog post of this semester, I once again sit in a Starbucks, the sky overcast above me and my mug filled with green tea latte.  Yet this time, I am not in Tacoma, Washington, but Raleigh, North Carolina, where my family now lives, and it is to my family’s house, not Rat Skin Thong, that I return tonight.  And how things have changed!  I’ve wildly fumbled my way through what I’ve been told is the first half of the hardest year of college for music majors, my family is moving from one house to another in the North Carolina Triangle Area, Katy Perry came out with a new album, and I realized that I will always, if given the opportunity, lay on the floor.

Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing with my life.  Why, for example, am I writing this blog?  Purely for the fiscal compensation?  For the chance to assertively force my viewpoints on others over the internet?  To give myself a reason to sit in Starbucks for hours on end?   I have no desperate necessity for the money, no viewpoints I feel legitimately deserve to be forced upon others through blogging, and I’m willing to sit in Starbucks for hours for absolutely no reason, so none of these answers are correct.  I suppose I write this blog partially for the fiscal compensation, and mostly for the opportunity to have my writing published, and partially because I simply love writing, and looking at myself objectively, I believe that these are all good reasons.  But I’ll admit that with this, and all sorts of other things that I do often without second thought – going to college, finding any form of employment, making myself vaguely presentable – I will sometimes stop and suddenly be struck by the slight absurdity of what I’m doing.

I’m not trying to say that any of the things I listed above are absurd, per se, so much as that I will do them without thinking of why I’m doing them, so that when I do question them, I will be momentarily and forcibly faced with some sort of glimpse of what I suppose adulthood, or maybe life, is.  I will never be able to reclaim my childhood in Palo Alto, never be able to have another walk down the street to the park with my dog as a puppy; never be able to peruse the Mitchell Park Library in search of the poetry of Rumi; never be able to have another tickling-wrestle match with my friends on the trampoline in my backyard.  And I don’t necessarily want to reclaim it, for there are far too many things to which I look forward for me to spend so much time looking back, but the small revelations informing me that I am stumbling ever closer to being some form of an adult are just a little saddening, as well as a very exciting.

There is no moral to the story here.  I am caught in this strange between-sort-of time in a between-sort of place, between semesters of college and houses and phases of personhood.  It’s as if I am finishing the prologue in the book of my life and will soon turn the page to begin the first chapter, although I also cannot say when that will begin. But even as things change so much, they remain the same and I am still continually wondering what I am doing and why I am doing it, as I have been wondering for so long and as I will continue to wonder.  So, dear reader, assuming you have stayed with me thus far, I hope you have, to some extent, enjoyed my past semester of ramblings, and I look forward to one more semester of adventures that I may share with you.

Onward, dear reader, for the horizon is ours!

Exams and food

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It’s not the easiest to explain to my non-math major friends. “What am I doing this Saturday? Well, I’m getting up at 8 a.m. so I can take a six hour long exam, one on which there is a good chance I will get an abysmally low score, for fun. Hey, at least we get to go to the lunch buffet at Gateway to India in between the two halves!”

There you have the Putnam Mathematical Competition. I came, I sat, I conquered, and by conquered I mean that I had way more fun than I thought I would. What’s not fun about having six hours to sit down, look at twelve puzzles, choose a few of them to attempt, and mess around with those until you figure out the trick that makes it possible to solve? For instance, taking an icosahedron (you can look it up if you’re interested), numbering the sides with nonnegative integers that add up to 39, and showing that it is impossible to have such a numbering without causing two sides with the same vertex to have the same number. This was the first problem in the first set, so we got to talk about it over lunch. Rob Beezer is the professor who leads the Putnam Seminar, a weekly gathering to discuss problems from Putnams past, and so he was proctoring the exam for us and doing the problems right along with us. As we compared what we had done (and how long it took each of us to realize that the icosahedron appears in the logo for the Mathematical Association of America, and thus was conveniently pictured at the top of the page), Beezer told us how he’d used graph theory, taking the dual of the graph of the icosahedron. To be honest, I think my solution was a lot more straightforward! We’ll see if it was correct or not when we get our scores back.

Then reading period and finals week happened. My most difficult exam (abstract algebra) was on Monday morning at 8, so at least I got that over with right away! My professor brought us chocolate, and luckily for me he also likes the super dark stuff so that is what was provided us. 85%! My favorite. Almost as good as the time that my IPE professor brought in what I think were pork skewers and a dipping sauce to our final. The sauce turned out to contain a LOT of horseradish, and I had a coughing fit and runny nose in the middle of the test, but I’m willing to pay that price for delicious treats.

Daniel Snapshot #4: Aca-mmunity

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In which Underground Sound unites one final time after a semester of delightful struggle.

            When the movie Pitch Perfect was introduced to me, well after it had left theaters, my initial reaction was that of confusion, dismay and irritation.  The cinematic adventures of an all-female a capella group in the face of comical sexism was not, as I had thought I’d learned from my one semester of being in an a capella group, accurate.  Underground Sound, the school’s only mixed a capella group, was not capable for a riff-off, did no choreographed dancing, and had almost never been attacked with projectiles of Mexican fast food.

            Yet going through this fall semester with the group has been an adventure that made me reconsider my previous judgment.  There was, after all, chaos, competition, stress, poorly executed dancing, friendship, and, at the end of the day, Mexican Food (which was not thrown, thankfully, by anyone), and I had to admit that, although the movie was a remarkably poor depiction of the technicalities of operating a musical ensemble and vocal pedagogy, it was very correct in showing hardship and triumph bringing a group together.  Two of my favorite memories from this semester have been due to Underground Sound, the first being when we sang for the Board of Trustees and the second being when we had lunch together after a rather ineffective flash mob.

What’s that you ask?  The Board of Trustees?  Why yes, we did sing for them – at their fancy-shmancy retreat, I may add.  One early autumn afternoon, after a confusing car ride through the suburbs and overgrown himalayan blackberries of Western Washington, we arrived at the winery at which the Board of Trustees was having dinner during their annual retreat and sang for them WHAT?!?!?  We were given a tour of the winery, a very free and very delicious dinner, and a gracious hug from our school’s president Ron Thomas.

And then when I sang my solo of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”, I kind of got a standing ovation.  From our Board of Trustees.  It’s no big deal.  STOP BRINGING IT UP!

In contrast, Underground Sound’s final performance was a flashmob in the piano lounge of the Student Union Building, which, due to how soon it occurred after we had all woken up and how very tired we were from schoolwork, was rather on the tired and lazy side.  But did we care?  NO!  We had fun!  I cuddled with the handsome Eric Sculac during one of the songs!  And afterwards, we all bought lunch from the cafeteria and spent a good hour singing our songs as we ate, but changing the lyrics to “cats n’ poop”.

Classy?  You know it.

Our final adventure came almost as a shock to me, caught so unawares was I that the fall semester was truly ending.  After driving to, and subsequently leaving, an overfilled Red Robin, we ate at a Mexican restaurant (as I mentioned earlier) and shakily ventured onto an ice rink, where we collectively fell only once – a victory, I do believe.  But there was a delightfully self-indulgent, Kodak-camera moment when we all were skating at different speeds and, as if in clumsy coordination, held hands to form a chain of Usound – a momentary collection that would never again be together in exactly the same way with the same people.  It was only for a moment, of course, for then one of the basses slipped and the chain was broken.  Stupid basses.  But still, it was a beautiful moment.

So who are these wonderful people I’ve struggled so valiantly with, you ask?  Here is the briefest description of each:

Lisa Hawkins:

-Current Co-director

-Nickname: Silent Killer

-Voice Part: Alto

-Spirit Disney Character: Mulan

Sarah Brauner:

-Current Co-director, stepping down for next semester

-Nickname: E. Nigma

-Voice Part: Soprano

-Spirit Disney Character: Belle

Kyle Erickson:

-Nickname: Lief

-Voice Part: Tenor

-Spirit Disney Character: Lumiere

Bryan Soto:

-Nickname: Prince Abubu

-Voice Part: Bass

-Spirit Disney Character: Doug from Up

Chynna Spencer:

-Nickname: Japan

-Voice Part: Alto

-Spirit Disney Character: Copper from The Fox and The Hound

Kaylene Barber:

-Nickname: Curly Temple

-Voice Part: Soprano

-Spirit Disney Character: Rapunzel from Tangled

Daniel Wolfert:

-Co-director beginning next semester, Nickname: 34DD

-Voice Part: Tenor

-Spirit Disney Character: Mulan

Eric Sculac:

-Nickname: White Cheddar

-Voice Part: Bass

-Spirit Disney Character: Wall-E

Sophia El-Wakil:

-Nickname: BP440

-Voice Part: Alto

-Spirit Disney Character: Peter Pan

Austin Michael-Harrison:

-Nickname: Philosoraptor

-Voice Part: Beatboxer

-Spirit Disney Character: I don’t know, but something weird.

At the end of the day, despite the lengthy and often exhausting rehearsals, the frustration of editing arrangements and the confusion of scheduling performances, Pitch Perfect was right in saying that getting involved in something like this can make you inclined to stay when so many other things make you inclined to leave.  Some days I just want to burn my homework and curl up into a ball beneath my sheets, but at least I’ll always have the joy of singing Taylor Swift with Chynna Spencer and the rest of the group, as you can listen to in the attached mp3: Lisa Hawkin’s Arrangement of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

So you’re looking for a great musical performance?  Looking for a fun and rewarding experience?  Looking for the sexiest group on campus?  And, most importantly of all, IF YOU ARE A MALE SINGER HOPING TO JOIN AN A CAPELLA GROUP THIS COMING SPRING SEMESTER, come hit us up!  That, after all, is what aca-mmunity is all about.

Well, that’s what the movie told me anyway.

Finals

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Exam week was always something I looked forward to in high school. Many of my finals actually took place before the actually week and were more spread out so I was not extremely stressed all at once. In math we presented our portfolio of benchmarks, orchestra was sight-reading new music, English was timed writing, Japanese was a kanji exam and that left only a science & social studies exam to take. Those exam weeks were immensely easier than my first college exams this week. There is an infinite more amount of pressure just because I’m taking college exams now instead of high school exams. But while those easier days are gone, I’m glad that I’m continually learning more and pushing myself to become a stronger learner.

Since last weekend my friends and I have spent A LOT of time studying together. In high school the exams seemed just as scary but I could get away with less studying and above passing grades and so I made do. Now, studying more seems an integral part of the college experience. During classes, as soon as late afternoon hit we convened to study together before getting dinner and heading off. During reading period my friends and I would meet up for meals and then head straight back to studying.

I’m not saying we were extremely studious 24/7 for the last week in particular, but it nearly felt like that. We did stop at Diversions or Oppenheimer to grab drinks and some snacks before settling in, sometimes taking walks around or checking our email and social networking sites. I’ve perfected our Pandora & Spotify playlists to have different music for my moods of studying; when I need a major boost: my Girls Generation & Big Bang (kpop) station, feeling sad about studying: 98 Degrees & Oldies station, and getting into the spirit and feeling confident station: Contemporary Christmas Station. We’ve switched up our locations, 3rd floor Harned Hall to watch the sky, 4th floor library alcove to stay comfy and watch the rain fall, and in the Sub alternating.

harned sunset photo photo

And magically enough the time has passed by quickly enough my first exam is tomorrow morning bright and early. It’s about finding your own comfort level in studying, with whom, listening to what, where you are and telling yourself “You Can Do It!!” And the weather and atmosphere of Puget Sound left so many options me to find places to get studying done; hopefully it really pays off during exams and grades! Happy Exam Week everyone!

#tbt #first semester

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Since it’s Throwback Thursday and since I’ve spent all afternoon reviewing what I’ve learned this semester in preparation for finals, I’ve decided share a photo and section of a blog post from the beginning of the semester.

Scharrington residents taking a plunge in the Sound at the end of freshman orientation:

plunge

Blog post from the day before classes began:

Right now I am feeling inspired, a little dazed, and excited all at the same time which is typical of how I’ve been feeling all week. Lately I’ve had many strong feelings at once, making it hard to figure out how I really am. If I were to talk to you on the phone I’d probably tell you that life here is amazing and wonderful and that I am very happy, which would all be 100% true. But I am also a little sad, a little lonely, a little unclear, and a little homesick. I am the most quiet, vulnerable, and well-intentioned Kira I’ve ever been!

This week I left home, parted with my family, met my Puget Sound family, hiked through the Olympics, worked at a transitional house, and practiced 4 hours in a row. Tomorrow at 9am I’ll take a seat in my first college class, a seminar called Utopia/Dystopia. I already feel nostalgic for this summer, but I am ready to be worked, challenged, and exposed to different ways of being.

So what now? How has my way of being changed over the past three months? To be honest, I’m not sure. Whenever I try to summarize the time I’ve spent here at UPS, identify patterns within myself, and describe revelations, I risk extracting a little too much meaning from life. But I will say that I feel a certain responsibility for myself and my learning now that I didn’t three months ago. I haven’t become completely self-reliant– I absolutely need my family, friends, teachers, students, and caretakers– but I feel I’ve become my own independent person.

Bit by Bit Putting it Together

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For the first time in a long time, Thanksgiving break offered an uninterrupted half week of free time. I used a lot of it to revisit some musicals I hadn’t worked on in a while. I submitted my first musical, a couple years old now, to a festival and will hear back about it during winter break. But I also made progress on a short musical now almost three years in the making.

For a bit of background, I composed a ninety-minute musical in high school with my brother, which I was lucky enough to see performed as a staged reading. We started collaborating on another musical after that which was going to be full length but we trimmed it to a short, basically sung-through musical in keeping with my brother’s one-act play on which it is based.

I wrote many of the songs my freshman year of college and continued to add and tweak them basically until now. To perform it, the show would have to be scored or recorded somehow, and I didn’t have time to assemble another full piano vocal score like I did for the first one (while certainly an experience, it is extremely time consuming). So this time, I decided to look into some digital recording, which would not only handle a lot of the scoring for me but would also allow me to quickly orchestrate the piece for more than just piano.

I’d forgotten how entertaining digital recording is. In fact, I got so wrapped up in marveling at what my computer instruments could do that I quickly went  too far and produced some very complicated orchestrations. They say less is more with most orchestrations, but each song was a tad fast and a tad too dramatic, especially compared to most other arrangements I’ve heard. Of course, the anecdotal feedback I’ve received on my music is that my songs are already very energetic pieces and I need some mellower ones. What can I say – I’m a sucker for drama.

In any case, they made for some rather entertaining demo tracks, and since they’re just song demos, I’ll have plenty of time to polish them. At least I have started recording my second show. And even though I hadn’t composed anything new in a while, I was quickly getting accustomed to the formerly mysterious world of computer orchestration.

Then, just as I thought I had no more song ideas, a flurry came to me out of nowhere. That’s not entirely true – I’d been working on a ten-minute musical but hadn’t figured out how to put it together, and finally I came up with an outline for several different songs and an opening number. I guess hearing some new instruments and sounds was enough to get back into the swing of composing again.

Working at the Cellar (not the dungeon kind)

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Whenever most of my friends back home ask where I work I tell them an ice cream & pizza parlor, which is way easier than saying I work at the Cellar. And I think it makes sense to label my workplace so; that’s what we’re known for. And although we also offer jalapeno poppers, quesadillas, wings, smoothies, milkshakes and a mini grocery store it’s our pizza and ice cream many people come for. Surprising I’ve never thought of our Cellar in the traditional sense. Normally cellars are dreary, cold, stifling, dark and musty but my workplace is far from that. The pizza oven fills the room with heat as the many students that trickle through to eat or just hang out would attest to. I have some of the greatest co-workers in the world, granted this is my first job, but I love working with them. We don’t quite have a set order on shifts, everyone takes time restocking, cashier, pizza making, and ice cream scooping and lounging around. The warmth and ambiance really makes me look forward to work as the time flies by quickly.

There are quite a few regulars that come a visiting to the Cellar, often ordering the same thing and they know the routine already. Many of these regulars are male athletes, ordering large pizzas to build up on carbs during season; the bakers and chefs who select from the C-Store to purchase milk, flour, and baking mixes; they have fun groups that always get salsa, hummus and chips, and late night workers grabbing red bull and 5 hour energy drinks. We even have regular phone orders, like that Vince guy that always orders a gluten-free BBQ chicken pizza. It’s funny how people can and ASK if we serve pizza, what do you think? But the best phone orders are the people who know what they want, state their name (to identify who’s picking the order up) and know it’ll take 25 minutes or so to bake. And generally everyone who comes in are really great people, and that’s part of the reason it’s such to joy to work on campus surrounded by such amazing people.

Now that the semester is winding to a close, students are frantically trying to use up all their dining dollars (since you can only carry over $25) and coming into the C-Store to do so. Some students have a couple hundred in their accounts and choose to buy cases of drinks to store in their room over break and eat lots of pizza now. With so many people coming in to buy stuff, even taking whole boxes of granola bars, gum, chocolate, assorted candy and pints of ice cream that our shelves are nearly bare, with nothing else to stock with it. With so many items to ring up, pizzas to make, and items to restock, our team has been working hard this past week and will continue to do so during finals. Luckily enough our boss informed us there is another large shipment of items to restock all our shelves for all the students to continue to spend their money.

Music is a VITAL aspect of the Cellar. We have our Ke$h@ playlist, Christmas, Fall Out Boy, 90s Classics, Rock, Disney and so many more. Many times we’ve had arguments over which playlist to play, and what songs to skip. So many times if you’ve looked in the back you will see pizza making and karaoke happening in the back, even some smooth dancing. I always love singing in general and being with other crazy people singing karaoke while working is the best! There was even one time Zach wanted to punish Lev so for the rest of the shift (3 hours) we had Africa by Toto playing, all night. By the third time it was tiring but still oh so fun to listen too.

The Cellar is a student-run store, pizza and ice cream parlor known for our large ice cream scoops, funny drawings on pizza boxes, good music, loud karaoke, funny movies of sporting events playing on the TV and good company in the warmth. Sometimes it sucks when there are a million orders, pizzas to make, ice cream to scoop, pizzas to send out, and people to ring up but by far I’ve had some amazing memories down there.

Daniel Wolfert Snapshot #3: Holding Out for a Hero

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In Which the Man From Elsewhere ascends at last.

At the end of the spring semester of my frehman year, I was selected to become the Residential Student Association’s Director of Sustainability, a leadership position that wanted desperately but did not feel I deserved.  Little did I know when selected what adventures that would entail.  Along with four other sophomores – our down-to-earth, Frisbee-loving president Lucas Henken, the cunning and slightly conniving vice president/programmer Kaitlyn Vallance, the sassy Secretary Kaitlin White and lovable treasurer Scott Greenfield – and beneath the advisement of our glorious matriarch Assistant Director of Residential Life Jenni Chadick, we began the arduous task of assembling the Residential Hall Associations for each of the school’s residential halls.

There were barbeques is which I spilled hot dog remnants all over myself!  There were endless numbers of meetings to plan for other meetings!  There was the glory/suffering of Casino Night, for which I was entertainment chair, meaning that I contacted and arranged the night’s musical festivities, which included a school jazz combo, the student band Young Ones, and the school’s three a capella groups What She Said, Garden Level and Underground Sound.  There was laughter!  There were tears!  But most of all, there was PACURH.

What is PACURH, you ask?

The Pacific Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls is a ResLife conference held in the Pacific Northwest every fall, to bring together ResLife members from across the Northwest so as to share ideas, present programs and get NO SLEEP EVER.  It is a division of the National Association of Residence Halls (NACURH), which holds a national ResLife conference every year in the summer, and this year, it was superhero themed.  After weeks of preparation, wild essay writing, personality tests and the selection of our superhero names (mine being “The Man From Elsewhere”), I, the other members of RSA Exec Board, Jenni, and three other ResLife members drove through the dreary landscape of Eastern Washington, where on the beautiful and autumnally chilled campus of Gonzaga University, the rambunctious and sleep-deprived conference awaited.

I learned a great many things at that conference.  At a wonderful program entitled “Forming the Avengers”, I learned that the superhero that I am most like is Spiderman, due to my sensitivity and emotional intelligence, very closely followed by Iron Man because of my assertiveness and optimism. I learned that leadership should be defined by actions that actively better the lives of others, rather than by unattainable ideals of order and hierarchy, from a beautiful TedxTalk that can be found here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVCBrkrFrBE).  I learned that I know an insufficient number of Puget Sound cheers, and that dancing in a group of people that all look as stupid as you can be one of the most liberating feelings of your life.  I learned that Pacific Lutheran University’s sustainability programs are fantastic and excellently organized.  I learned the conference clap, and the PACURH stomp, and how to haggle for another school’s swag.  But what I cherish most of the things that I learned was, while sitting for the fourth hour in the van with all the delegates on the way home, how to harmonize with fellow delegate and all around beautiful individual Timothy Pogar on Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”.  I truly can think of few better moments in my life than when, as the last line of the song came to a close, Tim and I turned to one another and sang in mournful and beautiful harmony, “You wre-e-eck meeeeeee…”, to the delight of Kaitlyn Vallance and the chagrin of Lucas Henken.

I had never before truly had to go on an adventure with a small group like this.  I had never before had my notions of what being a “leader” – something I had never felt I was before – challenged.  Yet returning from this trip, I felt for the first time in my life that I was now qualified, if only in the vaguest, most idealistic sense, to be called a leader.  Strange how a few talks on heroism, three days spent in the frustrating and glorious company of my fellow Puget Sound delegates, and the act of calling myself “The Man From Elsewhere” could make me feel so powerful.

Also, if you see any of the people mentioned in this blog, don’t tell them about any of these descriptions of them.