Today ds106assignment we had to choose a scene from a movie that was the main part of the movie, or at least a scene that people would recognize. I wasn’t really sure what movie I was going to do but I decided on a Disney movie. I figured Disney movies are more fun and people would be able to tell what movie it was from. I chose to do a scene from the movie cinderella. In the gif it shows the moment where her fairy godmother bibbidi-bobbidi boo’ed (see what I did there) her up so that she could have a gown for the royal ball. I also chose this movie because it was one of my favorite Disney movies growing up.
Almost 65% of the population has some type of curly hair. I am part of that 65%. People part of that 65% either have curly, coil, wavy hair. Having textured hair requires a lot of maintenance and time to take care of your hair and to make sure it looks good. Over time and now there has been so much time and effort put into finding new products for people with textured hair, and that they actually work.
Types Of Hair Texture
Having textured hair goes beyond just having curly, wavy hair, etc. Each person can have a very specific curl pattern Which is good to know in order to find out how to take care of your hair and what products to use. Below are the different types of curl patterns:
Wavy Hair: 2A-2C
Wavy hair is considered anything that looks like a loose “S” and can be easily straightened
Curly Hair: 3A-3C
Curly hair is anything that deforms a more definite “S” that looks like a corkscrew
Coily Hair: 4A-4C
Which is a very tight curl and can for that “S” shape when stretched out
I fall under the curly hair category 3A, although I think I am in between 3A and 3B.
There are many factors that can affect your curl pattern as well as many other factors. Almost every “curl expert” number one rule is to stop using heat on your hair or if you do, minimize it to every 2-3 times a year or even less than that. Using a lot of heat on your hair can really damage your hair and take a while for your hair to bounce back to its natural texture. (which is what i am going through right now) Other effects of using heat on your hair are: dryness, frizziness, breakage.
Each person a hair is different which means each person’s routine for their hair is different, along with what products work best for them and what products don’t. Finding what products work for you and what products don’t is a process. Most of the time it is a guessing game and process of elimination. One way to help go through that process is taking a hair type quiz through naturallycurly.com. after taking this quiz it gives you products that might work best with you hair type.
Overall you know your hair best and you will know what works best and what doesn’t. Now there are even more people today trying to embrace their natural hair because it makes each and every person unique. They’re all also more resources now for people with curled hair and even more articles on topics people can relate to and see that they are not the only ones going through a certain hair problem. There have been a lot of advancements for people textured hair on how to properly take care of it as well as products that work and are good for textured people hair.
Virginia Volleyball Academy otherwise known as VAVA is a junior women’s volleyball club, that was founded in 2017 and is located in Herndon Virginia. Because they are from Virginia, this means that they are a part of the Chesapeake Bay Region Association. This club is fairly new but has had some success with their teams over the past few years and are doing really well this year throughout all their teams.
Virginia Volleyball Academy practices at Cassels sports complex which has 8 volleyball courts that can accommodate the number of teams that they have. Which allows them to have most of the teams practice at the same time. Virginia Volleyball Academy has 7 teams and each team practices 7 days a week. Teams are listed below:
VAVA 13’s
VAVA 14’s
VAVA 15’s
VAVA 16’s Blue
VAVA 16’s Orange
VAVA 17’s
VAVA 18’s (I played on their 18 team for my last season of club)
Their tryouts for their teams took place on November 5, 12-13 of 2021. Each team also goes to about ten tournaments during their season which are either one-day tournaments or multi-day tournaments which can occur and different states.
The club’s mission is to get the girls who play for them to love the sport and want them to continue to play the sport they love for as long as they can. Their coaches are a perfect example of that. Their vision is to be imperfect. That the always want their players to look for ways were they can get better and improve and it doesn’t matter how skilled you are or how new you are to the game.
The club also provides many clinics for the players to get better whether it be in a group or just a one-on-one session, to help the players advance in any skill. This club is a great club to make lasting connection whether it is between a player and another player or a relationship with a player and a coach. All the coaches at this club want their players to succeed and will help that player reach their goals especially if the athlete wants to play in college.
Did you know aside from the usual 6v6 player volleyball or 2v2 player volleyball there is also 9v9 player volleyball? This type of volleyball called 9 man volleyball is not very common in the states or not common in general. This type of volleyball is very common among Chinese communities and is mostly played in northern parts of the U.S.
9 man volleyball started in the Guangdong Province in China around the 1930s and was later introduced to the states. Leading to the first nine-man volleyball tournament held in Boston, MA in 1938.
Rules
I am not familiar with this type of volleyball so I had to do some research about how to play and what the requirements are. Nine-man volleyball has its own organization called NACIVT. Nine-man volleyball is only for men and no women can play, unless it was something put on together with your friends and not through the organization. But it goes a little further than just being a male. The organization also states that “6 of the players have to be 100% Chinese players on the court and the last three just have to be of an asian descent.
Aside from the number of people on the court all the mechanics are the same as the other two types of volleyball I listed, but there are some different rules of what you can and cannot due. In nine-man volleyball you don’t have to rotate the player like you would normally and you don’t have a set substitute like the other types of volleyball due the only thing with that, is the referee has to know of the substitution. The rest of the rules that are different are listed below:
Players cannot jump serve
If the player serves and it touches the net, the server is given a second chance
Cannot touch any other body part except the arms and hands
Allowed three touches and the block counts as one
Exception if the ball goes into the net in an attempt to get it over
Players from the back row can attack the ball from the front row
Scoring
Nine-mine scoring is based on a rallying scoring system and that means that you do not have to be serving in order to win a point. Each game is played to 21 and you have to win by two. If there is no two-point lead when a team gets to 21 then the first team to 25 wins.
When reading about where games of nine-man volleyball take place I could only find that there is one big tournament a year on labor day that is held in Boston and teams from Boston, Maryland, Los Angeles, Chicago, North Carolina, Huston, Montreal, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, Toronto and Washington, D.C. Below are the 6 most recent tournaments held:
69th NACIVT was hosted in Washington, D.C. in 2013
70th NACIVT was hosted in Las Vegas in 2014
71st NACIVT was hosted in New York in 2015
72nd NACIVT was hosted in Las Angeles in 2016
73rd NACIVT was hosted in Fort Lauderdale in 2017
74th NACIVT was hosted in Montreal in 2018
Nine-man volleyball is a unique way to play volleyball and is a space for Asian communities to get away from stereotypes and have the opportunity to play a sport that is part of their community
Article on if they should take away the race rule:
In my last post, I went over a type of skin disorder that I have and what it is, and what it does. In the post I am continuing the last post but talking about my experience with eczema.
When I was little I couldn’t really remember if my eczema was really bad and my mom hasn’t really said anything about it either. Growing up it was not as bad as it has been and I could treat it by just putting topical steroids and it to make the flare-up disappear for a little bit and stop until the next flair up. Around freshman year and up until recently is when I struggled a lot with my eczema and how constantly it would flair up. Freshman year it was mostly bright red splotches on my neck and it looked like I had some type of disease. I went to see a dermatologist and they just prescribed more steroids (which you will later find out is a trend) it started to go away on my neck and I just went back to my usual here and there flare ups. After freshman year it wasn’t bad and did not stay in a particular area and I could easily treat it with the topical steroid I was given and go on about my life.
Of course, being a girl in high school and now being in college I was self-conscious about my eczema when there would be a flare-up and I couldn’t control it right away. People would always say to me, “it isn’t that bad” or “don’t worry it will go away soon”, as if it will go away forever and act like it won’t come back in a couple of weeks. Worrying about my skin also was one of my stress factors on top of anything else that was stressing me out, which wasn’t good because stress also triggers flare ups so I was in a lose-lose situation.
Treating my Eczema
Treating my eczema and maintaining it is probably one of the things I dread the most. I normally put on my prescription steroids at night and for a reason. Every night after every shower I put on eczema approved lotion, and then I put on the steroid on areas where there is a flare up, but it doesn’t end there because I’m using the steroid, it drys out my skin so much, and also can discolor my skin. To help from my skin drying out I have to use a thicker ointment/lotion like aquaphor and cover every inch of my arms, neck, and face. I hated doing this because I always went to bed with all this stuff on me and it would stick to my sheets and clothing. Eventually the strength of the steroid wouldn’t work and my skin would get use to it so every time I went back to the dermatologist they would prescribe a higher dose or a new type of steroid. Which has been my life up until recently.
During the summer before my first semester year of college and into that my first semester, my eczema became uncontrollable. I would constantly have flare ups and my skin would itch so bad that I would scratch till I bled (and this happened more when I was working out and sweating). My skin was also so dry (mostly on my face) that no matter how much lotion or moisturizer I used I would wake up with dry/flakey skin (gross I know). This basically put a halt on my life. I felt so uncomfortable going out and doing things because my skin wasn’t clear and I kept worrying what other people would think and how my skin looked that day. It got to the point where depending on how my skin was that day, how my mood was.
I was so unsure that I went to another dermatologist who prescribed more steroids and went to an allergist to see if I was allergic to anything I didn’t know about. I did not want to use more steroids because I am already so used to it that once I try to go off it, it will be even worse. But, things started to take a turn when I went back home for winter break.
Turning Point
When I went back home for break my skin was still bad and my mom even said she hasn’t seen it that bad and was starting to get concerned as well as the rest of my family. My mom being my mom searched up different treatments to try that we haven’t yet. She came across an injection called dupixent. She found a dermatologist and made an appointment right before I had to go back to school. She made this appointment in hoping that the doctor would see how bad it was and see that I fit all the requirements for this injection and I can start using it. Which I did and started that appointment! A week after that appointment I saw huge results and was able to see less flare ups and noticed a reducing in the itching and dryness.
I have been taking this injection for almost a month and it has been essentially a lifesaver. I’m able to worry less about my skin and moisturize less and go back to doing things in my everyday life without having to worry about my eczema.
Overall I still struggle with my eczema but not as much as I use to. Every person who has eczema has a different story and in some cases worse than mine. Now that I have found a new medication for my skin I just hope that it continues to clear my skin and that my body doesn’t get use to it like it did with the topical steroids. I am also hoping that doctors and researchers eventually find a cure so that we can stop worrying about it.
In my two recent blog posts, I have been writing about things that are related to and things in my life in some way. For this blog, I am going to be honest, it is going to be no different. So lets get started.
Everyone whether young or old has experienced a sense of not feeling confident in their own skin and how they look. One of the main problems that cause that is their actual skin. If they have acne, dry skin, a scar on their face, or really any skin problem you can think of this causes people to obsess over every little detail they see or that appears, and the problems that have with their skin start to take over their life. I can relate to this 100%. When I was younger and up to this very day I grew up having severe eczema (and yes like the fine “you got eczema”). I have struggled with my skin and it eventually started to have an impact on how I am feeling that day or if I want to go. Before I dive into how it affected me, I’m going to tell you a little more about it.
What is Eczema?
Eczema affects more than 31 million Americans. According to the National Eczema Association, they said “eczema is an inflammatory skin condition that can cause dry skin, itchy skin, scaly patches, and blister”; and I know what you are probably thinking that’s gross, or that sucks, or you could be thinking both things and you aren’t wrong. Eczema comes in 6 different forms:
atopic dermatitis
contact dermatitis
dyshidrotic eczema
nummular eczema
seborrheic dermatitis
stasis dermatitis
But in this post, we are going to focus mostly on the first one, atopic dermatitis which also happens to be the most common. so what causes it?
Causes:
Although there are many contributors to eczema here are a couple.
extended exposure to cold or hot temperatures
bathing products like body wash, face wash
Certain jewelry metals and types of fabrics
Eczema flare-ups occur when an irritant from outside the body or within triggers your immune system and causes inflammation which is the flare-up. Although researchers don’t know exactly the root cause there are leaning towards the idea that protein called filaggrin is a protein that helps retain moisture and locked into our skin, but because there is a deficiency this could explain the dryness and itchiness of the skin.
Symptoms and treatments
I listed some of the symptoms at the beginning of this post but just to reiterate, you can have dry and itchy skin, oozing of cuts, swelling, and discolored skin. Today there is no known cure for eczema and make it go away forever. Right now there are only treatments that can be perscribed based of how serve it is and what kind you have.
Treatments
prescribed topical medications
Immunosuppressant and shots
natural treatments
bleach baths
cryotherapy
the most common one that is prescribed and what I have been on the most is being on the prescribed topical medications.
Overall each case is different and some people are able to get rid of it and grow out of it and others are not. In my next post I will go over how having this type of problem affected my day-to-day life.
There have been many different types of styles of volleyball. Over the years volleyball has been changed and different rules have been created to make the game better and help keep the athletes safe. In this blog we are going to be talking about doubles volleyball.
When people think of doubles volleyball, everyone’s brain thinks of beach volleyball during the Olympics which is one of two different types of doubles volleyball. The second type is grass doubles. between these two types, there isn’t that much different except the kind of terrain the players play on. When compared to the normal 6 vs 6 volleyballs the rules are a little bit different.
How the Doubles Volleyball is Different form Indoor
Scoring: indoor they can play up to five sets where four out of the five sets go to 25 points and the fifth set only goes to 15, whereas in beach doubles is best out of three and the first two sets go up only to 21 and the tiebreaker goes up to 15
Size of court: The indoor volleyball court is drastically bigger than a doubles court because you have more people to cover more ground wherein doubles there is only two of you
There are also changes in the way you are allowed to handle the ball when you play and example of that is in indoors you are lowed to use one hand or two for the first contact but in beach, you have to have your hands together for the first contact unless there is a hard-driven ball at coming at you and you don’t have the much time to react.
Most commonly in universities, they have indoor volleyball, but a good amount of D1 schools with a couple of D2 and D3 also have beach volleyball.
Top Ten Best Beach Volleyball (Division 1)
University of California Las Angeles
Stanford University
University of California Berkeley
Florida State University
University of Southern California
California State University Long Beach
Pepperdine University
University of California Davis
Tulane University
University of Washington
Louisiana State University playing University of South Carolina in NCAA Championships in 2018
Playing doubles can be a fun activity to do with friends, but keep in mind playing on sand is a lot harder than playing on grass. When I was a couple of years younger my sister and I would do a couple of doubles tournaments together which would be really fun because we connected well and ended up placing first which is even better. Although playing with my sister could be difficult because we would but heads a couple of times. In the end, watching doubles volleyball can be really entertaining and there is so much work that is put into that sport, to succeed. But it is also just fun to grab a couple of friends and play for fun!
Did you know there are over several types of twins? Most people always wonder what it is like to have someone look very similar to you if not exactly the same. People tend to assume that being a twin is amazing and think that almost every single twin is each other’s best friend and never leaves each other’s side. Which I am here to tell that really isn’t the case.
There are about seven types of twins that we know of
Mirror Twins
Conjoined twins
Parasitic Twins
Semi-identical
Identical
Fraternal
Being a fraternal twin can be many things, for example, you can be the same gender or you can be twins of the opposite gender
I am a fraternal twin. From the day I was born up until I went to college I always had my sister by my side. My sister and I are fraternal twins meaning we came from two separate eggs instead of one. I can tell you right now, my experience being a twin isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Being a twin isn’t always what everyone thinks it is and we are nice to each other all the time. When my sister and I got to middle school through high school, we had our fair shares of ups and downs. There would be days that we would be each other’s best friends. But there would be others where halfway through the day we would fight about something stupid and despise each other for the rest of the day, but depending on what the argument was about we would act like nothing ever happened a couple of hours later.
Me and my sister at dig pink night for volleyball. (In this one it is really easy to tell that we don’t look alike)
Being a twin does come with some perks. When playing the same sport and joining new teams, and or going to sports clinics; you never have to worry about not knowing someone there, because your twin is always there you will always have a partner for drills and never have to feel awkward trying to find a teammate to practice with during a drill. The main point I am trying to get out is that no matter where you go whether it’s a new place or not, you will always no someone there.
Although knowing someone wherever you go and doing everything together can have its downfall. When doing things with your twin-like being in the same class or playing on the same sports team, you are always being compared to each other. Your twin could be better at a skill than you are and people expect you to be as good because you look alike and forget that we are our own person and have different strengths and weaknesses. Being a twin means meeting new people as so and so’s twin, if your twin already met them first instead of just being known as you. Twins can always end up living in the other twin’s shadows, and it is hard to make a name for themselves or just be their own person. If there is one thing you took away from this post is that being a twin doesn’t mean they are exactly alike. The only thing that is probably the same is how they look, but they could have completely different personalties and interests.
