Hi everyone!

My name is Tyler and I’m a freshman at UCLA.  I’m originally from the small college town of Davis, California, so getting away has been a wonderful adventure for me.  Most of my friends would call me a pretty friendly and smiley guy, I really like being around people and meeting new people too!  College so far has been a wonderful time in the gorgeous California sun; I’ve met tons of wonderful people, seen some great places in LA, and learned a whole bunch along the way.

One of my main passions is playing music.  I’ve been playing music since before I could even walk and have taken on various musical endeavors including jazz combos, big bands, piano pop, and solo competitions.  At UCLA, I’m the keyboard player in a band called Grape with three of my friends from school.  I love the group because we get to write all of our own stuff, record, produce, advertise, and more.  I’d categorize our group as a new take on a classic rock band; we draw influences from everything from the Beatles to Wayne Shorter to Sublime.  You can give our stuff a listen at our myspace!

Another one of my passions is sports, I’m a huge sports fan and I’m absolutely loving sports this time of year.  This year’s NBA playoffs with the story lines of Kobe/LeBron, the French Open, Major League Baseball, the NHL playoffs, and more have provided me with so many exciting moments.  Coming from northern california, my sports allegiances lie with the local teams, I’m a fan of the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, and San Francisco 49ers.  In fact, I was born on January 28th, 1990, when the 49ers beat the Broncos 55-10 in the Super Bowl.  Even though my father complains about being distracted from the game, I knew I was destined to be a sports fan.

I’ve also tried my hardest to follow in my walk with Jesus Christ.  I’m involved in Campus Crusade for Christ at school, a group that meets every week and builds community in Christ.  I help to lead worship for this group, playing synthesizer sounds off a small midi-controller run through my computer to try to make the band sound epic.  I’ve gotten plugged into an awesome church, Reality LA in Hollywood that has an awesome and dynamic pastor named Tim.  I’ve heard that sometimes the Jonas Brothers come to church at Reality LA, but I’ve actually never seen them there.  I think that really sums up part of the Hollywood culture.  =)  I’ve been so blessed with these opportunities given at UCLA and will continue to grow in my walk with Christ.

I love getting involved in things, constantly being active in fun and engaging activities.  Just to name a few things that I’ve just loved so far in my experiences at UCLA: Spring Sing talent show, visiting Venice Beach, shopping at the Beverly Center, exploring Griffith Park, seeing the Hollywood Star Walk, playing a gig at the Whiskey a Go-Go on the Sunset Strip, playing tennis at the LA Tennis Center, dancing on stage with Girl Talk, seeing a free Franz Ferdinand concert, winning an Intramural Football Championship, going to Six Flags Magic Mountain, and going to the Twilight movie premiere.  I absolutely love living in LA and love taking advantage of all this city has to offer.

A couple of more random facts about me: I love the color yellow, turtles are my favorite animal, I love seeing concerts, I love Disney, I am pretty clumsy, I’m easily confused, I won’t wear the color red (Go Bruins!), and I loved high school.

I hope that this gives you all a pretty good picture of myself.  Tune in for more stuff and all sorts of discussion on sports, pop culture, music, LA, and more!  Have a wonderful day! =)

Peace,

Tyler