Calvin's Adventures

GOOD LUCK WITH FINALS EVERYONE! 

AND if you’re done… :) YAY!  hope this isn’t what you felt! 

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER EVERYONE! 

  Yay I got Calvin again! This is the second time I got him (the first time was the week of March 08 2010! so it has been over two years), and we did a lot of stuff with Circle K! 
  On Tuesday, we both went to the Public Relations committee meeting with Corissa, where we finished a poster for Study-A-Thon and then we went to Arjun’s Kiwanis Family committee meeting, where we made origami roses for our Kiwanians!

  On Thursday, we went to Kay’s Fundraising committee meeting, where we planned fundraisers for spring banquet. Calvin and I also went to Ricky’s Projects committee meeting, where we helped prepare the sale of clothes and other merchandise for students in Guatemala on Sproul. Then we went to Ayane’s MD & E meeting, where we helped make flyers for Cal Day! 

  On Friday, Calvin and I went to the Circle K family cookoff, where we ate a bunch of great food with pineapple and then we went to Ici’s for desserts!

  Finally, on Saturday, we went to R.O.C.K and we helped teach the kids how to play soccer! 

  Overall, Calvin and I had a lot of fun with Circle K! I’ll miss you, old friend. :) 

Daniel Ganz 

I got Calvin again! YAY YAY YAY
Muahahaha. Calvin missed me! We had a week of awesomeness. Dance Marathon for 12 hours, Relay for Life, committee meetings, etc! He even accompanied me to a party, but I wasn’t sure about his age, so he didn’t get to have too much fun, but he still had a good time. He then helped me make the drinks for the fundraiser and served as the taste tester. 

Thnx Calvin for the great week! 

Devante Allen 

**2nd time around

Thursday, April 9th 2012

All week, I had heard about Calvin, and today was finally the day that I would meet him. Since I’d always missed the general meetings for chorale practice, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Fortunately, our introduction went well. It was neat to see how many things people gave to Calvin, and how many entries there were in Calvin’s passport. I was charmed by how much Calvin meant to the club.

I brought Calvin back to my room, and my roommates excited to meet him too. Ariena was especially happy, since her bear, Furball, finally had a guest to hang out with too.

Friday, April 10th 2012

The mission was simple: all we had to do was stalk people in the BAM/PFA. Calvin and I spent about three hours people-watching for my anthropology project. We sneaked around corners, jotting down observations on a notepad, while trying to make it seem like we were actually critiquing the art instead. Needless to say, there were those awkward moments when either of us made eye contact with the museum visitors just before writing something else down.

We had a good time looking at the art pieces too; since all of the exhibits were so different, it was hard to choose a favorite piece. I think Calvin and I enjoyed the BAMscape the most, though. What isn’t fun about an undulating traffic-cone-orange sculpture? It was absolutely the best! It doubled as a

workspace and a playground. I did some homework as Calvin slid down some of the curves.

After that, we went to chorale practice. Luckily, this practice was a joint one between Men’s Chorale and Women’s Chorale, so Calvin fit right in with the rest of the guys. We learned some choreography for the “Rolling in the Deep” a capella arrangement (I was surprised by how quickly Calvin picked up all of the movements – I was having a little trouble remembering where and when to dance.)

When Calvin and I got back to the dorms, we decided to kick-start the weekend with a little bit of entertainment. We decided to watch Office Space with a couple of my floormates. The pacing in the beginning was a little slow. Luckily it picked up about halfway through the movie – it was funny in a “the protagonist is such a dork but it’s a little bit endearing” kind of way. It was a good way to spend the rest of the evening.

Saturday, April 11th 2012

We got up early the next day to go to Kiwanis OneDay at the Berkeley Marina. Our goal today was to renovate the garden areas by clearing spaces of weeds and putting in native plant species. We met kids from Berkeley High Key Club, a guy from Oak Tech Key Club, and quite a few Kiwanians from

Berkeley Kiwanis Club. It was really fun to work as a group, transforming the earth, and planting sprouts everywhere. Hopefully next year, they will bloom into something spectacular!

We left early because Cat and I had plans to meet one of our high school friends for brunch. Calvin didn’t seem to mind tagging along. Then, we realized that we could help out at Eggster too! We all went to the Campanile to sign in and encountered an outburst of Easter festivities. There were areas for facepainting and crafts, egg hunting, an ongoing music performance, and children running everywhere (they were all so adorable). Calvin and I worked on stuffing candy into eggs for the kids to find in the egg hunts.

Then, we met our friend for lunch at Brazil Cafe. The food was absolutely delicious, and it was good to catch up with James after we hadn’t seen him for a while. Cat and I knew James from Key Club, so we’ve been trying to convince him to join Circle K too. (James laughed it off this time, as usual.) Calvin had a good time meeting James, I think – since both of them were personable, it wasn’t a surprise that they’d get along.

After that, we went back to the dorms, and spent the rest of the day as any good Berkeley students

would do – yep, homework.

Monday, February 13, 2012

I met Calvin right after I ran to Barrows after my Bio 1A review session. Although I was flustered at missing the meeting, especially since I was member of the week, Calvin looked at me from his bag reassuringly. I could tell this was going to be a good week right then and there. I said, “hi there!” but he just stared back. Perhaps he wasn’t the talkative type, but that’s cool too! I think I’m more than talkative enough for the both of us. Nothing much else happened today: he watched me do homework—or attempt to do so (instead getting distracted and playing games). Calvin seemed to enjoy watching me get beaten at Heroes of Newerth, though, so it’s fine.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

 Today, Calvin accompanied me to lab lecture and watched me take my lab quiz. I think he must have given me good luck because I did fairly well on the quiz! He just sat there and stared at me while I was working—maybe he telepathically told me the answers. Who knows? He’s a pretty quiet guy. And also, I realized today that he’s quite photogenic—and quite a good model, too. I feel like he’s had a good amount of experience, though, so that’s not too much of a surprise.

He also joined me in going to the newsletter committee meeting, where all the long-time Circle K-ers were happy to see him again, remembering their time with him. Calvin, needless to say was happy to see them too, although I got the feeling that he talked a lot more to everyone else than he did to me; everyone claimed that he roared and talked but I was not graced with such events. Oh well, perhaps he’ll come around soon.

Friday, February 17, 2012

 San Francisco social! Calvin probably has been to San Francisco more times than I could ever imagine, but it doesn’t matter. He loves the fresh air and likes seeing new faces and places. He had some free-roaming time around the BART train and even managed to get himself stuck in one of the hand loops! Silly bear. We ventured to the pier where he got a look at all the chocolate, magic tricks, and night lights and life of San Francisco and all its tourists.

Soon after, we headed to Boudin for dinner and he decided that he wanted to stretch his legs out some more. Somehow, he got into an ideal position for a photo, and me being me, took a picture of him. We went to Ghirardelli Square afterward, pigged out on chocolate (which Calvin apparently has an unnatural affinity for), and headed home after a long day. Good thing it’s a three day weekend! Oh! And today, Calvin finally decided to talk to me! He said, “I had a great day today, Clifton, and I’m happy I won’t have to leave you this Monday!” which was true because there was no general meeting due to President’s Day. “Let’s have more awesome adventures!”

Monday, February 20, 2012

Oh god, where to begin? Calvin’s lost! What am I going to do? Oh god…oh god…oh god. I sure hope he comes back soon. Otherwise, Circle K is going to kill me.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I went to the newsletter meeting without my nervousness revealing that Calvin was lost. I was actually supposed to give it to the new member of the week—but thank god it’s Aretha, and she already knows about the situation. Even as I write this, I’m still thinking of how to find that bear…hang on.

You will not believe this. Even as I write it, I don’t even believe it. As I wrote the paragraph above, I was staring at the spot where I left Calvin before he disappeared and I noticed a faint brown stain much like the chocolate that I let him try from Ghirardelli Square. I hadn’t noticed it earlier because it looked like one of the darker brown lines on my wooden desk. I grabbed Aretha. Maybe this stain would lead us to our lost bear. The stain made its way off my desk and toward the balcony of my apartment. Now, we’ve never really been around my crappy little apartment complex, so it was all new to us. The stain went to the end of my balcony and disappeared. Strange. Of course, we follow the stain to the end, where it stops in the corner between the wall and the balcony. I touch the white, bumpy wall to examine it, but my hand passes through—not only passes through, but my whole body seemed to be pulled into that wall.  Aretha, whose hand I was holding, also got dragged in for the ride. We fell and fell and fell into darkness until I felt myself slowing down.

We landed in a foreign place. Honestly, it looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. We were greeted by villagers surrounding us and screaming, “Quick! Come quickly! There’s more over here!” We were quickly surrounded by what looked like knights in armor and we were bound, blindfolded, and taken away.

After a bumpy wagon ride, we were thrown into what seemed like a stone dungeon cell. Wouldn’t you know it, Calvin was here too! After a short celebration, we contemplated what to do next. However, judging from the light streaming in from a window too high to see out of, it was nighttime and perhaps a night’s worth of sleep would do us some good. Besides, I had spent the whole day studying for my econ midterm that I would probably end up missing tomorrow anyway. So now, I’m going to put the pen down so I can join Aretha and Calvin in their sleep. Aretha will take the pen as of tomorrow because she’s the new member of the week; so before I go, thanks Circle K for this opportunity, and of course, thank you Calvin for an amazing week! I hope Calvin won’t forget me soon, because I sure won’t!

Wednesday, February 23, 2012

Last night was certainly eventful…unexpectedly becoming the next member of the week, eagerly waiting to take Calvin under my wing.  However, with Clifton barging into my apartment, following a mysterious chocolate-like stain, and falling into some mysterious portal that leads us into this fairytale land (I swear, it looked exactly like one of the scenes from the movie Tangled) and being imprisoned, only to find little Calvin there!  The prison floor was a bit rough, but I slept well enough anyways because I was exhausted.

The three of us had to figure out a way to escape this prison.  We had no idea why we had been imprisoned (maybe these villagers had something against time travelers), and there was a high chance that they weren’t just going to let us out so easily. Other than the window that loomed far above our heads, there didn’t seem to be much hope for escape.  We searched every nook and cranny for a loose brick, maybe a secret trap door hidden beneath the layer of grime we had been unceremoniously thrown onto.  What were we going to do?  Suddenly Calvin’s stubby paws removed the little cloth he wore and twisted it up into a vine-like contraption.  With all his might, he threw the seemingly little stub of twisted cloth up towards the window… and the vine of cloth grew longer and longer and longer (I couldn’t believe it!) until it reached the window.  Calvin waved his stubby paws at us, beckoning us to follow him.  He began to climb up the rope like contraption.  (I still wonder what magical properties the items Calvin wear possess, such as this growing cloth thingy, but probably it wasn’t the best time to ask.)

Of course, it couldn’t be THAT easy to escape.  After Clifton and I climbed after Calvin, we were surrounded by guards armed with any possible type of weapon you could imagine: swords, maces, double headed axes (as if one weren’t enough), bows, arrows, and I swear one of the guards was holding a bazooka.  Great.  Now what were we going to do?

Calvin growled, his usually adorably cute demeanor visibly changed; suddenly he started glowing, emanating this white aura, and he began to grow… and grow… soon he was bigger than a SUV.  Clifton and I were stunned.  Clearly the guards were too.  Calvin stomped one enormous paw and roared; the sound waves were strong enough to knock all the guards unconscious.  “Hurry!” Calvin roared at Clifton and me, and we wondered what the plan is.  Calvin “kneeled” (if it’s possible for a gigantic bear to kneel). He clearly wanted us to get on his back.  Slightly perturbed at the idea of riding a giant bear, we got on without argument.  Once we were safely seated on Calvin’s broad back, he bounded off at an almost sickeningly rapid speed.

“How are we going to escape this mess?” I wondered.   Calvin assured me that he would lead us to safety.  Soon we were in the middle of a leafy green forest, and we were standing in front of this enormous oak tree with a huge gap.  We didn’t know what to expect.  Calvin told us to walk through.  Walking through the tree would lead us back to home.  So we walked through… and landed in an empty classroom in Dwinelle.  We turned to look at the place we walked through, but it was simply an empty wall now.  I saw Calvin on the floor, in his innocent little stuffed bear form.  “Why are we in Dwinelle?” I wondered, and then Clifton looked at his cell phone and realized it was movie night.  We didn’t want to be late, so we ran up to the room where the movie night would be held.  A nice quiet movie would be nice after a hectic adventure we had!  Lucky we had Calvin with us!

 - Clifton Ng and Aretha Yeh