User:N3RD4L1F3

IT'S CHEN!~ :D HAI THAR!

Current Status: Raving lunacy of the dreaded college applications! ♫♪ FOREVERMORE, I WANT TO BE, FOREVERMORE :') ♫♪

CTY history

-09.1 EENG SAR (YEAR 1 :D)

-10.1 FCPS SAR ("god" year)

-11.1 IENG JHU (Most intense and satisfying nevermore year :( it's bittersweet.)

About Me

Hello! Chen here. I'm a generally very hyper and happy dude who loves music. And the CTY community of amazing people :D

I've had the fortune of having some cool RAs. '09 CAM MACK SAUCE. '10 DAVID SHORT! WHO YOU GONNA CALL? DAVE'S HALL! '11 CHRIS (Stuart) LITTLE! CHILLEST GUY EVER! YEAH!

So... random trivia time?

I have kind of a hat collection. Some of the more interesting ones include a Jester hat, a felt top hat, a duct tape top hat, and a giant sombrero. I also have several musical "instruments". Those are in quotes because I have a slide whistle, Ocarina, Vuvuzela, Melodica, and Kazoo. Oh, and a flute, piano, keyboard, and a bass guitar :D

What you probably know me from

Yeah, I'm not quite sure why you're here. I'm a pretty normal person... But if you're going "Chen? that sounds familiar..." This is probably what you know me from.

'09- Saratoga Springs: I was in a talent show act where I played the Pink Panther on flute while Adom and Jeshipio ran around the stage pretending to be detectives. I also did a cover of "Apologize" by OneRepublic on flute.

'10- Saratoga Springs: I was the guy with the annoying laugh. My hall was the one with the chant (Who you gonna call? Dave's Hall1 Short made us do it! Short made us do it!) and half-naked half-hour. hahaha... This was also the year where i got to be in 4 talent show acts playing various things. I did a cover of Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants on flute, "Kids" by MGMT with Zoey singing and George playing guitar (while i played keyboards), asked by Avery to join in on "Don't Stop Believin'" with my flute, and accompanied Jacqueline on "Castle on a Cloud" with the keyboard. And with Stefan playing the left hand :P This was also the time where two of the MC's, Max and Avery, made up all these crazy stories about fantastical thiings I "did". This resulted in "Chuck Norris-ification" for the last week of the session, as well as one of the kids continually bugging me to make a rubber chicken with my mind XD I Love CTY. Oh, someone actually wrote an article about this and put it on the Memories:SAR page if you're REALLY that interested. Thanks, friend! I'm flattered :D

'11- JHU: Not gonna lie, kinda miffed at first at not being able to return to Saratoga Springs. But, ended up with the closest, most bro-like hall ever. You might have seen me throwing around a frisbee on the gentle slope, or practicing raving in the trees of pole 9 (the RAs didn't let me practice if i was close to ANYONE.) I was the guy with the glowsticks at the second and third dances, where I raved (badly) and generally tried to lift the party atmosphere by waving my glowsticks around :D I also flew fireflies and drew hearts for couples :P Besides that, I was the student MC for the talent show, which had been my dream since my first CTY Talent Show :D I also played a cover of "Uprising" by Muse with Kiran on Saxophone, and did my version of "Four Chord Song" by Axis of Awesome with Louis and Charles (Yes, the 'Nice Guys' Charles.) Finally, I was selected twenty minutes before to run passionfruit :P That really was cool, actually. Although it made leaving a lot more real, it made it seem right somehow. I dunno, it's hard to explain.

My personal experience at CTY

Alright, so, if you're on this Wiki, you probably don't need this, but last year I wrote a testimonial for a fellow CTYer who I didn't know about why CTY was so awesome to potentially convince her parents to send her to CTY. I also kept some of these points in my mind for my passionfruit speech, so I guess I might as well write them down... This, by the way, was pretty much my first passionfruit speech.

When I was driving to CTY my very first year, I was scared. I was scared that the course would be too difficult. That the people would all be total nerds who were completely anti-social. Fortunately, I was completely wrong. The people here are amazing. It not only made me open up and make new friends, but made me more sociable outside of CTY. See, I had moved from North Carolina the year before CTY, and had spent a pretty angsty year with almost no friends and mo sense of belonging. After CTY, i became more sociable, happier, and an overall better person. I have to thank CTY, and the community for that. The three weeks of CTY are like stepping into a new world, where i have 7 hour classes but also friends who wear bowler hats all the time or are amazing at ERS. It's given me innumerable wonderful memories and numerable good friends. It's also shown me that there is a place for all the crazy, smart, awesome people. And that that place is pretty wonderful.

Passionfruit(s)

So I have actually given 3 passionfruit speeches in my CTY career. The first I gave at SAR in 2010, because I knew I wouldn't be going back the next year :( That one was completely ad-libbed because I wasn't expecting it, and went something like the section above. I don't quite remember. The second one was given at SAR in 2011 by my friend, the Emperor AJ. I sent a prewritten speech with a friend of mine to CTY, and apparently it made it to AJ somehow. Anyways, I was completely flattered, and although i haven't heard it myself, people say that it was a good speech. :') My third one was the one I gave at my actual passionfruit, JHU 2011. That one was written AND rehearsed, but I was too tired to give it properly :( sorry 'bout that, folks. The text for my last two speeches are as follows:

first, the SAR speech Yo, wassup dudes? Gotta say, these three weeks have probably been some of the most memorable in your life. You're probably made memories and friends here that you'll NEVER forget. Never. I'm serious. SAR is my home site, and i'm really sad I'm not here this year. But hey, life keeps moving. I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as I have in the past, and I trust that, like the last two years, someone's burnt ramen in the microwaves, ice pops have been stolen, and jonsson tower has been scaled. And hey, I haven't even talked about what you learned! Look, this camp isn't just about learning new stuff. My first year, I was so scared because I was afraid this camp would be full of total nerds. You know, the kind that spend all day in their lightless basement creating computer programs for IBM... at age 13. Fortunately, though that's not the case, as I saw that a lot of people got out into the light here. The CTY community is, I think, the most important thing I took away from my experience. What a group of talented, good-looking, and absolutely crazy individuals. Yeah, you're all crazy. Don't try to argue. You're all here, right? So you're all crazy in your own special little way. And that, I think, makes CTY seem like the caramel layer on a crème brulee, the chocolate part of the flan, and I’m not going to keep using adjective because you probably all get my point and I’m making myself hungry. Anyways, just the knowledge that a community like this exists makes me happy thinking of it. You guys here? Around the circle? Yeah, you guys. You're going to be the leaders of tomorrow. Today, our classes and GPAs, tomorrow, the world. In the words of my friend and forevermore Freddy Wang, “You'll all be famous someday. You'll get in the newspapers! Yeah, that famous.” So really, cherish your time here. For those of you outside the circle, seriously. This (indicate to circle) comes way faster than you think. CTY is really about getting cool people to meet other cool people, and to foster growth that way. I have so many crazy friends from CTY it's not even funny. In the last few years, through facebook, they have shared and discussed with me stuff that most of my normal schoolmates probably haven't even heard of. So keep that friend base, stay connected. Because hey, who knows? Maybe in the future you can say “Hey, I knew that guy who cured cancer! I went to camp with him!” I like you, I love you, I CTY you all. Love, Chen.

now the JHU speech. i wrote it at 2:00 in the morning while i was very depressed, so...

My name is Xinyuan Chen, but most of you know me as Chen. this is my ACTUAL nevermore year, as i thought that last year was going to be my final year. Fortunately i'm back to the wonderful world of CTY. And what makes it so wonderful? what makes CTY so different and awesomer than anythign else? well... From the first day to this moment when i'm in this circle, three weeks have passed. But because of all the experiences, friends i've made, and inside jokes that have come up, my brain is having a hard time wrapping itself around the fact that it's been three weeks. It's felt like i took a years worth of experience and chugged it down in only three weeks. This has felt like i've been plucked up and placed in a new world. it's a world that consists of dorms full of laughter, a dining hall full of food, and a quad full of friendship. It's in this world where i have spent what felt like a year. I can't imagine a better place for my time. In fact, it hasn't quite hit me that, in a few hours, i'll be gone from this world. In a few horus, i will no longer sit on the gentle slope and watch the frisbees lazily glide over a background of blue sky. I will no longer have to practice raving to entertain the masses durign the dances, and most sadly, i won't see most of you in person ever again. Right now, i'm thinking i'll get some breakfast, endure 5 hours of classes, and then go on to meet market. Just another normal day in this abnormal world. I am sad that i will have to leave this world. but even more, i am sad that i'll be leaving this community. In the course of this year, we have all grown to be like a family. CTY has taken us as individuals from all different areas, and made us into a community. A community where we are all accepting of each other. Where people can go and feel, some for the first time, like they belong. That there's a place for them. A place where they can follow their interests, pursue their interests, and find that they are not alone. During the sacred tradition of American Pie, when everyone gets into the large circle, everyone feels like they belong in the community with the rest of the site. That feeling, the bonds of friendship and experience that will never wear away, is what makes CTY special. Every day we have 7 hours of classes, but that leaves 17 hours to explore, experience, and dive into this multitude of bright minds. Someone here might find the cure for cancer, or grow up to be the next mozart or paul mccartney. For all the nevermores, take this as a step on your journey. Move on, but never forget. For everyone who still has time left, my advice is to savor it. Make new friends, try crazy things, and don't put it to waste. Because before you know it, you'll be here giving one of these speeches. Before you do, make your time count. Personally, i guess it really is time to say goodbye. i'm depressed, it's sad, and it's pretty painful. But clocks don't stop for one guy, and time will keep moving on. Soon i will take my leave of this place. But this place will never leave me. Thank you all so much for such a memorable session of CTY. I like you, I love you, I CTY you all. I love CTY and I Love the Passionfruit.

Wow, you're still here? Well, there's nothing else to be said. There's only a certain amount of things that can be expressed through pen and paper. If you went to any of the sessions with me though, find me on facebook (my first name's Xinyuan) and chat me up.

HEY YOU: go out and do something cool! Since you're probably a CTYer, I'm sure whatever you do will be amazing. If it's not, MAKE IT AMAZING. You can do it. :) I believe in you.

I like you, I love you, I CTY you all. :D

     Love, ~Chen