Obligation

So. What's up..?

I havn't blogged in a couple days... I feel guilty about not talking to you... xP We have an odd relationship, huh..? You know almost everything about me, and I know next to nothing about "you".

Anyways, the Musical is going awesomely! Today was the third real show. Yesterday was the cappies night and refilming of the dvd and it was perfect! There were cast notes, we were warmed up on time, all notes were hit, all cues were followed, the audience was awesome, but today was lacking energy...

One left! If you havn't seen it and happen to read this before tommorow, You Should Go See The Musical. Absolutely everyone I've talked to has loved it. Everyone. Kids, Highschool students, University Students, Pastors, Principals, Teachers, "Foreigners", Everyone! Tommorow. MHS. 7:00pm. 2ish hours. Comedy. Be there!

So. ya. I am swamped in last-second projects, so I'll be staying up for a few hours. Goodnight!

D.Fa

Warm Fuzzies in the midst of Frozen Crystals

Hey, so.

Today. I wake up and my mom tells me it's snowing... I played tennis outside in shorts and a t-shirt yesterday and today I had to wear a coat... This is when Canadian weather sucks... Dx It was summer and now its winter again.....

Anyways. Today was our second matinee and it was awesome. Today there were a lot of younger kids, so they only really laughed at the simple jokes and physical humour. xP So, we were told to do bigger facial expressions, larger actions and stuff like that. The minstrel galloped when talking about the horses bringing the princess to the castle and it was pretty funny.

The only problem with the matinees are that I have a lot of homework piling up.

I got my cast notes done today. Yuss. 41 small pieces of construction paper, 41 slightly smaller pieces of blank paper, 328 staples, 41 green "peas" small circles made from hole punching green paper, some glue, and some of my favourite pen, and a lot of time. xP

Anyways, I should sleep...

D.Fa

80 minutes

So, ya.

Today was the first matinee performance of the musical. It went pretty well from where I was watching (from the wings, only every once in a while.) DA thought he messed up a song, but it sounded okay to me, although I missed the beggining and he did try to come in early after the tap solo....

Anyway, right before intermission there's this big dance that ends with confetti everywhere. I helped clean it up during the short five minute intrmission, but it got everywhere, so I was sweeping in the hall for a while after during act 2. So, ya, I'm not just Knight 3. I actually feel that Knight 3 is the smallest role I play in the musical. Aside from my actual part, I open / close curtains, I push / pull the bed around, I clean up the stage / hall / wings / moat, I help collect used props from the stage, I lift OC with the help of some other guys a few times, I serve as a bridge between the band and the cast in that angry cast members don't blame the band too much and vice versa because I'm in the way humouring them and mildly defending the other party, I try to keep everyone quiet and focused on the task at hand, and I help the director with anything else she needs help with. Lol... I make the bed everyday...

So, ya. There's an evil queen in the play by the end of the play the audience (like 5th-8th graders..?) were booing her. xP When the prince told her to shut up there was like two minutes of positive reaction to that that we had to just stand there waiting for the audience to quiet down before continuing... Anyways, that just means she's doing a good job if the audience hates the evil queen, right..?

Oh, so a bunch of people from church are coming to see the musical, so AL was asked to buy 16 tickets. Most of the money is from the people buying tickets, but 70$ were hers and 16$ were mine and 4$ were my music teacher's. lol. I had to borrow 4$ becuase I was asked to tell AL to buy two more tickets at 1:30 last night over MSN and we didn't have enough money in our wallets to pay the 30$ for the two extra tickets...

For the matinee the cast was released from their classes at 10, but since I had a spare period 2 (9:30) I ate lunch immediately at 9:30 and then at 10 I got makeup and costume before everyone else. So, when AL got there I was in full costume / makeup and she was in her regular clothes, so I offered to buy the tickets. After waiting a while for the real lunch period to begin (there were also no bells today so that they wouldn't disturb the musical) the ticket sellers were nowhere to be found so I had to go to the science office to buy them. The teacher in charge wasn't there at the moment so another 4-5 science teachers tried figuring out how to sell me tickets.

I also played tennis for a bit. Yuss. It was so sunny and my brother never does anything... but we did play for a little while and it was pretty fun. =D

So, ya. Today was pretty cool. I made my cast notes, if only without the paragraph of writing, but this is the first time my cast notes look like I put effort into them, and I actually did, maybe 80 minutes worth..?

I have to sleep...

D.Fa

Actions Speak Louder

So. Ya.

Today I had a bio essay due. Bio was first period, so I had to finish it before going to school. In other words, before going to sleep. This ended up taking me until about 2 am... Probably not the best idea to have youtubed kpop and msn up to distract me... I really dislike essays...

So, ya. Yesterday I went to church and then I went to work and then I did my bio essay. That's pretty much it, except for the details.

In Sunday school we were learning about John 3: 1-21. Also, there was banana cake. Mmmm banana cake.

John 3: 16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son to judge the world, but to save the world through him."

During service Pastor DB was talking about how the church shouldn't be the only thing attracting people to God, but that in the missional church the common believers would go out and bring God to others. He was saying how we should be prepared and practiced to share our faith with others and be able to act at every oppourtunity to share.

At some point, someone had taght me that the best way to show God's love is through your actions.

So, anyways, I go to work. It's a normal Sunday at work... Very little to do... One way I've found to bring God into my job is by having the radio on 99.1 when I'm in the back. It's often really cool, I just don't enjoy the gospel groove segment... Anyways, I was cutting watermelon for the fruit salads that I have to make. I cut watermelon differently then the other guys in produce. I cut the ends and then cut off the rinds from top to bottom until only the pink part is left.

Anyways, the girl in bakery saw me cutting the watermelon and asked me about it. She then asked if I ever eat any of the cubed fruit for the fruit salads. I replied "not anymore." She asked "Did you get caught?" "No." "Did you get tired of it?" "No, I realized that it was stealing." or something like that. She then said "I never steal" in a somewhat sarcastic tone and I think "I'm not one to judge you." because, ya, I had stolen in this manner a number of times a while ago.

I don't remember whe exactly, but I definately made an effort to stop stealing from work after some church event of some kind. I still get tempted to, like, eat a piece of pineapple or whatever, but it's not even worth thinking about. I mean, what is one piece of pineapple? So I just don't think about it and just finish making the fruit salad and move on.

Anyways, the point of that story was that immediately after I had that brief conversation I felt like I should tell her more about God and stuff. I also realized that everything I had learned earlier that day was true. My actions spoke louder than my words would have, just talking about fruit salad was an oppourtunity to evangelise, and that Jesus came down into this world to save people, not judge them.

Anyways, I felt really awesome right after that. Seeing the truth revealed in my own life. Also, they played "Who AmI" on the radio. xP

The rest of the night was cool, until I went home and had to work on biology.....

I also accidentaly knocked off my pokewalker and realized just after getting to work. I started freaking out, thinking like, "Where is it...? Probably at church in the couch... or the car,,, or somewhere in my house... probably at church... O wait, I can't go back to church until Sunday..! ... I'm sure it will be fine... It's a piece of plastic, what do I care..?" so ya. It's a piece of plastic. Why am I so attached to it..? (It was in the car... phew. >.>)

So, ya. That was yesterday.

D.Fa

We sang this song in Church and I wanted to download it, but I don't have a credit card...

Getting out of the Hole

Hey, So.

Today we had rehearsal at school from about 10-5... Oh. The biggest difference from normal run-throughs was the absence of YC. For various musical purposes she will not be playing piano with us for the matinees Monday and Tuesday and I also heard Saturday, but I hope that was just a rumour... So, anyways, today was the first time that the guy (who we are renting to play piano while YC is absent) had played with us. A few cues were really slow and a few songs were just messy, but ya. That'll just be the grade 7 and 8 days, so xP...

So, you remember MB, well, he's a very dramatic person.

Umm, I've pretty much decided I'm going to be helping JS with the props / cues for the actors during the shows. For a while props have just been left on stage or piling up during the run-throughs, getting in people's ways or just cluttering the stage. Also a number of people don't pay attention to the musical when they aren't on stage and forget their cues every once in a while... So, ya. JS is a very quiet person, so... I'm gonna help him as much as I can.

It was kinda sad... Me, JT and WR went to Quiznos during the lunch break (mostly because JT didn't want to go alone with makeup on. xP) and we were in line, we order, and then I look back towards the front of the line and JS is in line alone. He waved at me with a shy smile... I didn't immediately notice it was him, so I kinda did a double take but anyways, I didn't really respond and I felt kinda bad... I don't think most of the cast knows him very well. I know I don't really, but it was still kinda sad...

A number of people can't make it to all of the rehearsals or shows, so a number of other people have had to fill in for them. Overall it's been going well, but sometimes it's been kinda awkward... Like me and OD who was filling in for DS in the terrible ballet part of "Shy"... xP

Remember, Choose God's Justice over God's Mercy.

Also, "Victrebel I choose you!" *Victrebel eats James* "Victrebel chews me!" lol.

Anyways. I have to go to sleep.

D.Fa


P.S. I saw this video in YF tonight and it was pretty cool.

This Bad...

Ya, So.

Today was a Friday.

I really don't want that to be how I start all of these. The main reason I do that is that it's the only way I can start to remember what happened today... xP

So, today was our all day rehearsal for the Musical. Opening night is next Wedneday and we really weren't ready, so we rehearsed all day long. xP. It's far better then it was a week ago. No doubt about it. Mss CW was saying we should be able to do three full run-throughs in our time. (OMG I just remembered something horrible that happened today...) She was saying 8:30-10:30, 12-2 and 2:30-4:30. There's no way that would have happened...

We didn't start rehearsal until 9 and a bunch of people had various tests to do throughout the day, some people even went to gym class >.> not impressed. We only did two run-throughs and the first was cut in half with lunch in between.

I kinda don't want to go to school... xP I'd much rather hang out with friends all the time... xP I feel like this is a really bad thing to say, but at the same time I really don't want to go to physics class.... What happened to me..? Why have I done alomst no homework at home in a few weeks..? I've always been a good student occaisionally slacking but I've never been This bad have I..? The problem is that I also don't see myself catching back up very easily... The Chicago trip is the 5-9 of May and I'm missing classes Monday and Tuesday... and my second job starts soon and so does softball...

...

Anyways, that's enough negativity. Oh wait! The terrible thing that happened! nevermind...

...

So, every year around this time an event called "Merivale Detention" happens at school. For a few weeks students council goes around at lunch collecting money for the Cancer Society and then one day at lunch a bunch of teachers are forced to do embarassing things based on how much money we raised. So, the student council co-prez kicks us off the stage at abput 10:20 to set up for the event. So we close the curtains, get off the stage and go to eat our lunches.

During the event there was musical chairs, "invisible" doughnut eating, a sandwich making contest, the boots of doom i think, a pop-quiz, and a teacher shaved her head. So, I think a few of those need explainations...

Musical chairs, you know walk around the chairs then the music stops and everyone tries to sit down on the (n-1) chairs where n= the number of people still circling the chairs. Well, my math teacher was being his self and was cheating. He would sit on the chair until he had to get up because of the other teachers going around the circle, among other things. It kinda made me angry... His personality is a bit annoying.

"Invisible" doughnut eating: There were three blind-folded teachers trying to eat doughnuts that are suspended by string without their hands. xP half of the doughnuts were powdered... Mr. P got powered sugar all over.

Sandwich Making Contest: A teacher would stand in front of a table of sandwich ingredients with their hands behind their back. Another teacher would stick their arms through the first teachers arms from behind. The second teachers job was to make a sandwich and feed it to the first teacher. This is a little awkward, but very funny to watch.

xP I forgot. The teachers had to learn and then dance to the hoedown throwdown or whatever its called.. they mostly failed, but it was mildly entertaining.

Ewwww. The boots of doom were rubber boots filled with various condiments. Mostly ketchup, salsa, jam, and relish. There were two teachers forced to face the boots. They then had to run across the stage three times, do five jumping jacks, and 5 push-ups.

Now, for the Pop quiz and the climactic terrible thing I've been talking about. So, Mr. GG, he's a humourous science teacher, always making puns. He had the pop-quiz. There were three questions:

1. Pop-culture
2. Cancer
3. Science

He got them all wrong, probably on purpose though. For each wrong answer he got a plate full of whipped cream in the face. However, the first plate got more whipped cream on something other then his face than on his face. . . . . . . It got on the curtains! The second it happened all the people in the cast felt the same sinking feeling... The show is in less than a week and suddenly the already dirty, but clean enough curtains get a coat of whipped cream........

After Merivale Detention was over we imediately started freaking out and got a bucket of water and towels and a mop to clean up. It didn't look good, even after it dried....

Anyways, tommorow is our last real rehearsal before we have real performances that start Monday with the matinees for middle school kids. Kinda like test runs with an audience.

So, ya.

Good night.

D.Fa

Another Day

Ya, So.

It was Thursday.

Not much happened today. Steel band, school, rehearsal, band, pokemon... blog.

So, ya... Today CM who graduated last year and went into Biochem at Carleton was in our Bio class today talking about stuff. Just came back because his exams were done. xP He recomended staying at home instead of living in residence if you can because you'll get more done, ie less partying. Anyways, that took up a lot of the class and he used the words "really" and "super" way too many times.

During my spare I read more about Platonic Philosophy for my Physics project. It's kinda interesting...

At lunch I went to Music Council, but AL was having her hair cut and donated to cancer patients, so YC was the only co-prez there. Apperantly YC doesn't talk very loud normally.

In physics we were doing stuff on electromagnetism. The best part was playing with the magnetic stuff. xP

In Calc we had a sub again. Yesterday we had Mr. Cheeseman. xP That was his name. His dad is apperently lactose intolerant. Ha. It's ironic.

Musical rehearsal went well, we actually have the play down to two hours and it is starting to come together, but another mic broke... So Miss CW is going to get a couple new ones. Tommorow we have rehearsal all day long. xP I feel sympathy for the band. By the end of the day their lips are going to be dead. Yes, that includes the harp player!! jk.. String instrumentalists will have tired arms / fingers.

So, ya. All-star band is fun but today was the last rehearsal I will be attending. Next week is the last rehearsal, but I have the musical that night. Then the dress rehearsal is on the Saturday which I will be late to because of Japanese class, and it will make me late to the cast party before the closing night show... Then the [erformance is the following day. I will have to miss some / all of church that week........ It's troublesome, but it will be done soon.

My second job starts in a couple weeks. Should be fun, but I need a new racket. My second job is court steward, so I monitor the courts and can play with people if they need someone to play with until someone else comes to the courts. So it's a lot of nothing, but I get payed.

Ya. I should sleep. I wanna run tommorow morning. and its kinda late.... *crosses fingers*

D.Fa

Distracted

So. Ya...

Another unproductive night.. xP I even had time... the thing is that when my brother is in a good enough mood I want to humour him and keep him in a good mood... So, it was about 6:40, I had already watched anime and had supper. I was going to start my homework, but I had to play pokemon for just a second. Then my brother walks in wanting to battle. The thing is that my pokemon are all really weak and he has no weak pokemon.... so its a pretty one-sided battle... I couldn't beat his second pokemon..... He had caught that pokemon about 10 seconds before he fought me...... >.>

Anyways. I ended up playing until 10... and then rewatching some of AVPM with my brother. I thought it might cheer him up. It's quite funny.

Anyways... We get to miss classes on Friday to practice with the band all day long. xP btw. I am NOT robinhood! For the musical I'm wearing black tights, black shoes, a black long sleeve shirt and a green short sleeve tunic. And people seem to believe I look like robinhood. Well at least I don't look like peter pan. I'm pretty sure someone does, but I don't remember who. Oh, right, so to deal with the problem of short tunics and everyone wearing tights the people in charge of costumes came up with the "modesty panel" which will look like the end of a long white shirt except that it's actually a piece of white cloth torn from a bed sheet. xP

So. ya. tommorow morning I'm going to have to do some homework..........

Good night.

D.Fa

btw. this song was stuck in my head all day....

Desperate for Light

So. Ya.

Today was another day. I've recently been really tired in my classes and nearly falling asleep in each of them, but especially physics and bio... I feel like its going to get me an S in class participation or something on my report card this term...

Anyways. You know how I'm really busy..? Well, I get to school by 7 and leave around 5:30 or 6ish. The other day I happened to have a free lunch period and ate lunch with a few friends in the E-wing ramp. The ramp has glass on two sides and you can see outside. It was so nice and sunny it made me think that I havn't been out during the day in a while. I wanted to go outside sooooo badly. xP The grass was green, the sky was blue and it was all brightly illuminated by the sun because there were almost no clouds in the sky.

The next period it just so happened that we were going out to clean up for Earth Day, whenever that is. I was very happy that we would be going outside to clean a field or something. It turns out that our class' area was the parking lot at Harvey's. When I heard that I was quite disappointed... "We should be cleaning a field not a parking lot...." There was a small patch of grass, but mostly there were a lot of cigarette butts on the parking lot....

We got a popsicle afterwards. It was very tasty.

So. Ya... Tickets for the musical havn't been selling very well. As we do every year two or three characters would do a promo over the announcements in the morning. It's not going well.. xP On monday it was all like "Hey, Jester! bla blah blah. O ya, Ministrel..? blah blah blah." like not in character, but making it clear that they were characters... And today Prince Dauntless forgot that he had to do it with the Princess today, so she kinda just blurted out the information in a very desperate tone in about 15 seconds...

To combat these bad promos and because no one listens to announcements anyways, Miss CW asked us (VB, JC, NB, and I) to go around during our spare and act out a skit about the play to various classes. xP

So. ya....

D.Fa

"I'm Soooo Thirsty!"

Ya. So.

Today was a Monday.

It started at 1:20 am with the fire alarm malfunctioning. Fun. >.>

Then band, school, musical, supper, pokemon, AVPM, Study 6, and blogging. I really need to blog at a different time... I'm always far too tired to blog at 10:30pm...

Anyways, today was a run-through with full costumes. That means that all the guys get to wear tights and the lucky few also get nylons under them. Also, most of our shirts are not really long enough... xP Only a week left and we aren't even doing full run-throughs everyday... We should have just stayed until it was done...

So. Ya. our tights don't really have pockets and neither do the girls' dresses, so as we were dancing today my mic pack went down past my knee. xP It looked like a "tumor." So, we are all going to have "taping buddies" to help attach the mic packs to our bodies. We will have it taped around our waist height. The only real problem now is the people who have to trade mics repeatedly...

AVPM has a cheesy ending. xP

As it turns out I've done no work on my projects since yesterday...

I really am tired, so good night.

D.Fa

Broken Again...

Ya, So.

Today was Sunday. Wake up, church, work, eat dinner, watch more of "A Very Potter Musical", blog.

One thing I don't like is that I'm always really tired Sunday mornings. I usually end up kinda half awake and half asleep by the end of the sermon. It's not that the sermon is boring, it's that if I sit down and stop moving for that long I start falling asleep... How can I fix this..? Sleep earlier..? Wake up later..? Because today Pastor AN was speaking and I remember he told us that we should remember the acronym VISIT and he was explaining each letter. V - Vunerable, I - Intimate, and I don't remember what S, I or T stood for... There's a chance he stopped becasue he was running late, but I doubt that...........................................

Anyways... "Just once more" is no excuse and can be used far too easily.

So, at work today I finished the things I had to do in produce at like 7:30, and I was scheduled until 10, so I went and helped the girl in bakery. I got to bag the extra buns and then put the prices on the bags and I vacuumed the bins. So... hehe... when I was putting the prices on the bags, I kinda messed up the price label printing machine thing.... xP The sticker roll got off track and it took a while to fix it. It then immediately happened again. and again. Most of this was while another employee, whose name I know, but whom I have never actually spoken to for two years, was standing very close behind me waiting for the actually bakery employee to cut his bread. If that's not awkward, what is..? Then she told me the very specific way to rip the price sticker off the roll. Up and to the side Quickly. and then everything worked out. xP...

So, ya.. being tempted sucks. xP But your friends will always help you out if you just ask, especially if they are wiser then you are. The YA at church are pretty cool. xP JS is way cooler then I thought he was and JK earned more of my respect today and he already had a lot of it. Oh, and AL is a pretty great song writer. I really want to download his song, but it's kind of impossible, unless I go against his wishes...

I've watched the first act of AVPM and so far it's pretty hilarious. I will continue watching later, but I should really do homeowrk instead of watching it... xP

So anyways. I'll talk to you later. Hopefully once I've done some homework and stop procrastinating..... >.>

D.Fa

P.S. I figured out how to post Youtube videos... I think...
P.P.S. Manic Drive is awesome!

Possesed

Ya, So.

Yesterday was a Saturday. xP I got home at 10, played pokemon, watched One Piece and went to bed... xP

Anyways, I had school yesterday morning. School on a Saturday..?!?!? Ya. This is my second year taking Japanese on Saturdays. The problem is that this year I'm really busy.... I must have missed like 10 classes this year... Maybe not that many, but a lot.. Ok, so the original reason for this was that I didn't want to take french, extra english, canadian and world studies, social sciences, or anything like that in school after grade 10. The problem: that group 3 credit which lists those courses as the options, plus one thing... A Third Language Credit!

My friend HB had taken Japanese a couple years earlier and had told me about it a couple times, so I took a bus one Satuday morning in September and signed up. When I got back I had to get my parent's signature on the registration form... -_- kinda awkward for a little bit... but so is everything I sign up for and don't tell my parents until they find out...

So, I've been taking japanese since last September. Japanese had been interesting for a while. I mean I watch a lot of anime, and I have two cousins who are half Japanese, so it would be cool to learn Japanese.

Anyways, I left class early yesterday to go to rehearsal. I missed the character development thing, but I didn't miss the run-through, or the pizza.. xP

Ya, the musical is coming along.. The band and cast need to synchronize, but other then that it's pretty awesome.

After the rehearsal I had the pleasure of watching my other friend MB reinact parts from "A Very Potter Musical" (look on youtube.) I think it was almost better when he did it. Drama kids are kinda obsessed with it.. xP And it was pretty hilarious..

Anyways I have to go now.

D.Fa

The Bread of Life - Part 2

So, ya.

I was super tired last night. All I'd eaten that day was a egg mcmuffin thing, whatever they are actually called, a glass of milk, a tomato, a cup of rice, a juice box, and some water, and that scavenger hunt was intense... Don't ask about the tomato. xP Suntech tomatoes are the best ever. xP

All-star band was pretty fun. xP The other 1st Trombone player's nose moves when she talks. It's really hilarious in a cute way. She said no one had ever noticed, not even herself, and then she was being all self-conscience because we (me and the other three trombone players) were laughing at it.

So today in school, at lunch I noticed how everyone sits with their friends and eats lunch, I noticed how food is a regular part of my life, I realized how blessed I really am to have more than enough food all the time, I noticed my arms and legs felt heavier and I was really tired, I was kinda depressed, but mostly tired, and ya... food is really good. You should be thankful for every bite of food you are given. Some people only get half a cup of food each day... Thank God for the blessings he has poured out on you. So, at 3:30 (ie, the 30-hour mark) we got a piece of pizza. I had rehearsal, so I got there at like 3:36 and almost all of the pizza was gone. xP "Wow, everyone really wanted their pizza" or something went through my head.

Of course some people can take things too far. CS hadn't eaten or drank Anything for over 32 hours when I left school. This was after I had tried to make him eat/drink anything for like 15 minutes.

So, anyways, I'm going to sleep soon. I have school tommorow morning and I have to wake up early to start / finish an assignment I was given about three weeks ago...

D.Fa

The Bread of Life

So, I'm going to keep this short.

I am tired, cold and hungry and sleeping solves all of those problems... xP

Today from 9:30 am until tommorow at 3:30 pm I will not be eating anything (except that cup of rice and juice box they make us eat) because it's the 30-hour famine at our school. We have raised over 1300$. Normal, apparently there's usually an over night sleepover at the school with fun and games. This year it only went until 9 pm and I had to leave at 6:30... but it was fun.

The one thing I don't understand is why they would organize a "scavanger hunt" where the main part of the hunt is running laps around our school after not eating for 9 hours... My team won. xP I ran almost the whole time. Sometimes my team wasn't even to the next place and I'd have acquired the resource and would be going back already... xP

So. Ya, it was fun. Apparently this morning a bunch of people went to Cora's for breakfast period 1. I also hear that going for Pho afterwards may be happening. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Pho..... *drools* I really want a chocolate bar...

So, ya. ttyl.

D.Fa

The Vine and His Branches

So, ya.

Today was a Wednesday.

Wednesday is when I have Sr. Jazz Band at 7am, but for some reason always get up later then the other days. For Sr. Jazz and Dixie, Mr. CR is our conductor, while for Sr. Steel and Sr. Concert Bands Miss ML is our conductor. Mr. CR is a bit more strict about band being taken seriously, so it really doen't make sense to wake up later on Wednesday...

Anyways, today Sr. Concert and Dixie went to play a gig at Bethel Pentecostal Church which is just down the road from school. We got everything packed up and then took a yellow bus there. We actually only got the permission forms yesterday.. xP but I'm 18, so I can sign them myself now.. xP So, we got there, set up, warmed up, then we had lunch with our audience. Our audience was a seniors fellowship group of some sort that gets together every month and having the Sr. Band play is an annual event. We had lasagna, salad, garlic bread and a brownie thing. The food was very tasty, and free... xP But that's beside the point.

So, usually it's about four seniors and 2-3 students at each table, but our band is pretty small, so I ended up at a table with six seniors and no other students. I was sitting beside Bob. Bob used to play trumpet, but then there was some sort of accident (I don't remember...) and he had to have his fingers sewn back onto his right hand, but his thumb and ring finger died and the finger's movement was reduced, so he couldn't play anymore. So, he tried to find a left-handed instrument, apparently french horn is the only one. He was saying how you can play trumpet alone, but french horn is usually in a group. He used to come home from work and blow off some steam by playing trumpet, it wasn't the same with a french horn...

Anyways, we played and then we hurried back to school for musical rehearsal, OUAMPO was practicing with us today. We brought the stands and stuff to the music room and then went to rehearsal. Apparently SD and AS are both on the baseball team. Good job guys. SD isnt very good at batting though... but he can throw really far!

So, ya, about band. I am in five bands plus vocal jazz. Sr. Concert, Sr. Jazz, Sr. Steel, Dixie, OCDSB Secondary All-Star Band, and Vocal Jazz. I have rehearsal every morning at 7-8, brass sectionals for Sr. Concert Tuesday at lunch 11-11:30, and Sr. Jazz 2:30-3:30 Mon, Dixie 2:30-3:30 Fri (when we have a gig coming up), and I think Vocal Jazz is Wed and Fri at lunch..? Also, All-Star band is every Thursday until May from 7-9:30 at Brookfield HS. I play trombone in all of them except Steel, where I play the Cello pans (3 large oil drums or whatever they are), and I sing Baritone (usually the Tenor line) in Vocal Jazz.

With all that on top of Musical, work and homework, my life is very busy.

xP. Today I got Pokemon Heart Gold for the DS. It's basically a remake of Pokemon Gold for the GB Color. Every time me and my brother get pokemon games, we get opposite ones. I get the Red version and he gets the Blue version. So I've had Red, Gold, Ruby, Fire Red, Pearl, and Heart Gold. To be honest I wanted Diamond and Soul Silver because they both sound way cooler, but I have to get the Red one...

So, there's a new feature with this game, when you try to save, if there's a different file already you CANNOT save over it. You have to delete it and then start a new game... This is a problem because when we get new pokemon games we immediately trade starter pokemon, so we can have one of each. Not for our main party, but to collect them all. xP That would be my perfectionism... xP So, I go to trade the next starter pokemon and you know how you have to save before trading pokemon, well, IMPOSSIBLE!!! pops up and I'm like "What?!?!?! I just wasted 20 minutes for nothing?!?!?" My brother got his game a couple days ago, so he's already like lvl 50......

I always choose the fire pokemon and he always chooses the water pokemon... does anyone choose the grass pokemon..?

So, ya... I'm gonna be wasting a lot of time on this game in the near future.. xP I hope to not get consumed by the game...

30 hour famine starts tommorow at 9:30. We have raised over 1200$ at our school. =D I told my dad about the famine and he went "You're not going to eat for 30 hours..? Are you crazy..?" and he said I'd be 5 pounds lighter afterwards.... xP... He immidiately baked cookies so I wouldn't starve..

Anyways, I think that's it for now.

D.Fa

Tempted

So. Ya.

Today is Tuesday.

First of all, MY HAIR IS GONE! Yay! So, I was talking to a friend on the way home from school and I think I was behaving slightly irrationally about my hair... xP Sorry. But now it's Gone! But now its really short... hmmm. We'll see.

Oh, I got cut from the baseball team. That's not necessarily a bad thing... I mean my life is busy enough and I wasn't all that great in the try-outs. Like, some of the other guys were super competative and Way better then me. xP Anyways, now I can focus on the other pressing issues in my life such as the musical, or physics projects, or japanese projects, or other things... I'm going to play softball this year with the Parkwood Hills Softball Association anyways, and that's way more fun, so I'm not upset at all. Apparently MR is playing this year too, so I hope I'm on her team, it will be fun. xP

So, ya. I kinda want new glasses and / or contacts. Glasses really are annoying sometimes... Mine are pretty scratched now.. xP I think it's actually more painful wearing them then not wearing them... I actually get 30% off at hakim optical as a union benefit, so why not use it..?

Oh, my foot is kinda bugging me.. Since after last Thursday my (looks at hands) right foot has been bugging me. Like, it hurts when I bend my toes. When I put my hand on the top of my foot and move my toes I can feel this viscous semi-liquid moving and then I feel really weird.. xP. I don't like blood btw... like I can see the veins in my arm, and you can like press down on them with your thumb at the elbow then slide your thumb up to your wrist then watch the blood rush down and feel it too. I get the same uneasy sensation from feeling the liquid in my foot move. xP It's probably just bruised and the clotted blood is the semi-liquid, but it's really bugging me.. xP

So, I just watched Glee for the first time. It was being advertised all over animecrazy.net for some reason, so I ended up watching it... xP It's a really weird show. I will not be making time for it in my regular schedule. I actually fell asleep near the end of it. The main appeal of the show to me was that Rachael (I don't know how to spell Racheal btw) looks exactly like this girl at my school (HRD). She's actually leader of the Gleeks at MHS and has the same range and I swear they have the same face. The thing about the show is that it's really shallow. So I start watching the show and Racheal is Finn's girlfriend or whatever, I don't know why, but Finn doesn't really care. So, a couple cheerleaders ask Finn out and he immediately breaks up with Racheal. About a minute later she's really angry and sings "Gives You Hell" by the AAR. Right after the song she just happens to meet this other guy and now they are a couple, but they are the leaders of the glee clubs at different schools, so the whole glee club tells her to break up with him or quit the glee club. It really made very little sense and was way too compacted. I am not a Gleek.

Tommorow Sr. Concert band and Dixie band are playing a gig at Bethel Pentecostal. We miss the afternoon of school and get free food. I will probably blog about band tommorow.

Anyways, I want to sleep, so, ttyl.

D.Fa

I Owe You...

So, Ya.

Today is Monday. School again. I kinda missed Musical rehearsal today... It was really short for some reason... I went to baseball instead from 2:30 - 4:00. I had expected the rehearsal to go at least until 5:00, but it ended at about 4:20 or something...

So, today's post is about the Musical.

Every year at MHS we do a musical in the spring. This year is "Once Upon A Mattress" which is "The Princess and The Pea" but musical version. Exciting huh? No..? Well it should be. It's actually coming together now. XP

Auditions were back in December. There would be singing auditions Monday and Tuesday, Dance Auditions Wednesday and Callbacks on Thursday followed by the final list Friday when school is done. I sang "I Celebrate The Day" by Relient K Monday at 5 or so. You also have to read a monologue during the Singing Audition. Dance auditions are in groups. I was in the 2:30-3:00? group. We learned choreography for one of the songs in the musical and then danced it in smaller groups.

I had thought the auditions had done well in the auditions. I had also been a minor lead last year and I really thought I was going to be on the callback list. I was not and was really depressed Thursday... xP

On Friday I went to Montreal on an Art field trip and it was pretty fun. When we got back, me and a few others ran down to the Drama room to check-out the list. Although some of the cast had already found out early from certain friends or judges with loose lips... I ended up being a "Knight" basically a chorus member.

First read-trough was the next week.

The week after I got promoted to "Knight 3" and I got a line! It's something along the lines of "We had to get a rope and pull her out [of the moat]!" or something. I havn't actually memorized it word for word. But it doesn't matter word for word. I was promoted because some people drop out of the musical. People were still dropping out until a month ago, and now it's pretty much all the final cast, maybe. XP

Starting January there would be rehearsals everyday, except Fridays. Monday - Full Cast Vocals, Tuesdays - Full Cast Dancing / Blocking, Wednesday - Leads for a certain scene, Thursday - Review the certain scene. As a chorus member with one line, I didn't go to many Wednesday or Thursday rehearsals. I also didn't go to almost any Monday rehearsals. This is because of Jazz band. Jazz is Monday afterschool and Wednesday morning and I get a credit (half a credit...) and a mark and much of the mark is attendence, so I didn't have much of a choice.

Actually, there isn't very much singing for the chorus, just the opening, a chorus, a final chord and the finale. There were teasers for the show in November and February. We performed the opening scene at both of them, so I know that one well. I also went to a couple of rehearsals, so I kinda know the songs, just not the final chords because I'm stuck singing bass which gets odd harmonies sometimes...

So basically, I know the dances, I vaguely know my line, and I know enough of the songs that I just need to fake harmonies for the ends of songs, which I can do now since I've had a lot of practice on worship team.

Since March we've had rehearsals Everyday after school, all of us and it had to be off book, but that was not enforced. xP And since last Saturday we'll be having rehearsals on Saturdays from 10-4. Last Saturday I forgot my wallet at home.. xP So when we (SB, NB, KC and me) went to lunch I had to borrow some money or eat nothing. I was going to just skip lunch, but NB let me borrow some money. I owe her 6.88$. We went to Subway in Merivale Mall. It was good. I hadn't had a sub in a while. Since rehearsal ended so early today, I forgot to pay her back. I'll pay her tommorow.

Oh, I'm also in charge of opening and closing the curtains... xP

The cast is about 40 people and we also have a 15 piece orchestra "OUAMPO"! The set looks pretty cool and the stage has been extended significantly. Oh... the guys have to wear tights. . . xP.. On saturday it was the "costume parade" and at least 85% of the guys wore socks under their tights... XP All the girls were mocking them. I didn't have tights yet.. xP

The show is April 28-May 1 (7-9 pm approximately) in the Cafetorium with matinees for middle school students on the 26th and 27th. Tickets are 15$ for Adults and 10$ for students / seniors. The first 8 rows are assigned seating. To buy tickets in advance go to the foyer at lunch (if you go to MHS) or call (613) 224-1807 ext 228.

Ya. I think that's it for now.

Oh, I REALLY want a haircut.

That's it.

Ashita mo watashi no BLOG o yonde kudasai. Arigatou gozaimasu.*

D.Fa

*I will deffinately do a post on Japanese Class before next Sunday, so be patient. xP

Reinforcements

So. Ya.

Today was a Sunday. Only a few things happen on Sundays. Summary: Wake up, do laundry, watch One Piece, eat breakfast, go to Sunday school then English Service at church, immediately go home, eat lunch (optional), go to work, go home, eat dinner, sleep.

So, last night when I said I had to go to sleep or I wouldn't be able to run this morning, well I didn't go stright to my bed. I ended up sleeping in another bed until 1 then I got kicked out and went to my bed. At 1 I was setting my alarm clock thinking "there's no way I'm waking up in five hours to run..." It was hard enough waking up at 8... I might run tommorow morning, but I have baseball after school from 2:30 - 4:00 (shhhh, don't tell Miss CW or she'll count it as missing half a rehearsal!)

Ok, so after church today I was going to get a haircut, but there was someone else waiting for a haircut, so I had to go or be late to work... I really want one.... When my hair gets too long it turns into this afroish thing that just bugs me. I wish I had straight hair... instead I have lots of thin curly hair... Like if it were heavy hair once it got long enough it would go down right..? Well, I tried that once... It did not go down. Only up. So I really want a haircut ASAP, because if I don't get it soon it will still be really short during the Musical... I want it average length by then.... It's probably too late already, but I still want it cut for baseball too...

Anyways, I have baseball Monday and Wednesday. We're going to practice on the backfield even though we havn't been given permission yet. xP See, the arena is right behind school and some kind of construction is going on, so they took part of our field... probably temporary, but still odd.

So, this post was mostly going to be about work. Today is Sunday and since I have musical rehearsal everyday after school, I can't really work during the week anymore and so I only work Sundays 2-10... No time for homework. >.> That's why I need a spare.

Anyways, I work at Independent in the produce department and pretty much only evening shifts. At work I fill the tables and couter with produce, duh. I also have to face the displays... All apples must have the stem facing 3-o-clock and all pears must face 2-o-clock. I don't know why, but they do... and there's a lot of them....

I also have to do the production for Green Onions, Carrots, Celery, Romain, Iceburg, and Leaf Lettuces. The way they ship the produce to the store is that they kinda shove as many as they can in a box and then close it. When it gets to the store after being tossed around the outer leaves/stalks often need to be removed. I also have to cut off the bottom and also the tops for Green Onions and Celery, and I have to trim the carrot's leaves. Romaine, Leaf Lettuce and Celery also have to be washed, and then put in a twist-tie or rubber band then put in another box. It's painfully boring and some of the time quite gross. Since I'm a little bit perfectionistic I really dislike this part of my job... it takes me so long to do production because I always try to make them perfect.....

I also make fruit salad when closing produce. I have to cube watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and pineapple making separate containers of each as well as mixed melon (cantaloupe and honeydew) and fruit salad (all of the above but also with sliced strawberries and optionally other berries or grapes). It is more fun then production and you usually don't deal with any rotten fruit, except the odd cantaloupe and a bunch of rotton berries.

I also have to sweep, cull (look for bad produce.... eww....), cover for bakery, face the bulk shelves, change the ice bin, and close. When closing I have to cover the mushrooms and potatoes, turn off the lights for the side counter and put any remaining berries back in the cooler.

I've worked there for nearly two years and my uniform is kinda beat up... I want a new one, but I never ask for one... There are a few factors in this decision:

1. You know how I said it was awkward not thanking someone..? Well, when you work with someone for two years seeing them maybe twice or three times a week and you havn't been introduced yet, That's awkward.....
2. At one point JS said I should get a new job reasoning it would look better on a resume, this just added to my own desire to get a new job, not that his reason made any sense. I had been wanting a different job since like the second month, I enjoy learning new things, and a grocery store has very little change, just different seasons for produce... (I hate corn season!) but if I was going to get a new job I wouldn't want a brand new uniform to never wear again, would I?
3. I feel like it would be a waste of money to get a new one. I mean my old uniform works...
4. My old uniform does not work. Only three of six belt loops work on my pants, there's a tear about a foot long up my (looks at hands) right pant leg, and my shirt is kinda big and it has a lot of little loose strings...
5. I think they take it out of my weekly pay cheques bit by bit, not all at once...
6. I think I have to ask at the customer service desk for a new one, but there's always a customer there, I don't actually know any of the employees at customer service (I only know produce, bakery, service clerks, a few cashiers and a couple photo lab employees...), and by the time I have spare time to go ask customer service is closed (closes at 9 pm)...

So, Ya, I don't know when I'm getting a new uniform, maybe never..?

I'm also being rehired this year for my summer job court stewarding at the GB tennis courts. It's basically minimum wage for sitting outside watching people play tennis, or playing tennis yourself, or doing homework. The point is, there's very little actual work and I often get to play while working, if there's a free court, and the hours are much more reasonable, like 6-9, not 3-11. I think I'll be working once or twice a week, but probably playing on most of my days off. xP

Anyways, I need to sleep now.

Jaa mata ashita ne.

D.Fa

False Idols

Ok. So.

Yesterday I finished watching my second asian drama. It's called "Shining Inheiritance" and is a Korean drama. 24 episodes of insane plot turns and tension. It all worked out in the end, but all the stuff in between showed how sinful people can be when they worship things other than God. Seung Mi on a constant quest to win Hwan's love and her mother doing devious things to get a high position in society, money, and a good son-in-law made them do a lot of evil things to get their way. In the end they couldn't cover sin with more sin and gave up.

I felt really bad for Seung Mi... it was all her mother's fault, but she was the one getting punished for it.

Anyways, the point being, I probably watch too much and too many asian dramas and / or anime and should spend more time doing homework or rreading or something...

Currently I watch:

• Bleach
• One Piece
• Katekyo Hitman Reborn
• Fairy Tail
• Hetaria
• K-On (Season 2)
• Naruto Sippuuden
• Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood

During my spare time, when those anime all have no new episodes I watch:

• Deltora Quest
• Natsume Yuujinchou

Both of those have been finished for a while. When I have spare time and no anime to watch, I end up starting to watch a new anime. If it's a current airing anime that's one more show I'll have to watch each week, if it's old there's no pressure to watch it if I have better things to do and don't feel like procrastinating.

xP I'm pretty much only watching the mainstream anime... xP

Anyways, today was the first Saturday rehearsal for the Musical. It went pretty well. Most of the costumes were on their way to being completed. (lol JC) Mics worked out in most cases. Spots were mostly stable and on time. Lighting cues worked most of the time. Almost all of the lines were done by memory. OMG like 16 days until the matinee.

I didn't do any homework. xP I was at school from 10-4 and I didn't do any homework... I brought my homework, but didn't even open my bag...

Anyways, I should go to bed now if I want to run tommorow morning...

D.Fa

Study 5 - Know Yourself

Ok. So.

Not too much happened today. In summary: wake up, check my bank account balance, concert band, cramming during spare, bio test, 30 hour famine pledge form, commencement fees, dixie band, Math "Quiz", physics, Act 1 with UAMPO, Baseball tryouts, go home. I guess it was kinda busy... The whole day I was like "How long until the weekend..?" but it was Friday. It really felt like a Monday.

So, the 30 hour famine is next week. We had to get our pledge forms in by today. I kinda didn't ask anyone for any donations or whatever and there's a minimum of 5$ if you want to participate. I had always thought I would be donating some money, but I thought I'd have asked someone else... at least one person... xP Anyways, I go to write a chack and remember that I've just written a bunch this week and only had like 20 extra dollars in my chequing account, so I go to the computer to check. I sign in and scroll down the page to find out I got 186$ pay this week. I was pretty surprised.

It may have been the combination of having extra money and having gone without shoes yesterday, but I proceeded to write a hundred dollar cheque. When I went to my E-wing locker KN was at her locker. She's one of the girls in charge of the 30 hour famine, so I was going to give her my pledge form. She had to run off to class and told me to give it to her at lunch.

After that Bio test I went to my locker. She was there. I gave it to her. She thanked me for handing it in and then I ran off to pay the commencement fees in the foyer. 22$ to rent a gown and cap for the graduation ceremony... we get to keep the hat though. The line was really long because they have only been collecting since Tuesday and all the grads have to pay or they can't go to the ceremony. I then had to go to band. We have a gig next week.

Anyways, after school I was packing my bag and everything so I ask about other people's pledge forms, like how many have been handed in and how much she had collected. She replied that only a few people had handed it in and that the last day had been extended to Monday and that she collected about 30$. I reply showing no emotion just "I see." or something. She realizes that she didn't see how much I had "collected" so she gets it out of her locker. She then starts saying enthusiastically how great I am or something. It made me smile.

So, yesterday I really didn't get much studying done, obviously, so today being a Day 1, luckily I had my spare first period. A lot of people have a first period spare, so it's sometimes easy to study and sometimes very hard. It depends who it is that you are hanging out with. If JC is anywhere nearby nothing is getting done. Just saying...

So AP, RM, MR, RQ, and I were cramming in the back corner of the library. It was kinda funny. We all have Bio together Period 2 and we all didn't study enough. About 5 minutes into studying we begin to wonder maybe its a day 1 and we are missing the test, but its like what are the chances that all five of us got our schedules mixed up..? The test was okay. I really havn't done enough homework for this unit...

This year I've just been too busy and procrastinating too much to do all my homework so by the Unit test I cram all the knowledge into short term memory, pass the test saying "I'm gonna do my homework next time" then do my homework a few days then stop altogether until just before the next test when I cram again... xP

So, ya. Dixie was kinda reborn this year because they are easy to move around for gigs. Only seven people, seven stands, seven instruments, and many many gigs... So we had to have rehearsal at lunch to select two songs for next Wednesday's gig. Not a lot got done because DS never stops playing drums and a few of us had to pay commencement fees.

We chose two songs, but I don't really like the second one... There are a few parts in it I havn't fixed yet... and I forgot my trombone at school today, so I can't practice... unless I take it home tommorow after Musical rehearsal... but when will I practice..? I only have a few spare hours this weekend with rehearsal 10-4, worship team 5-7, YF 7-9, sleep sometime in between, church 9-12:30, and work 2-10... So I may not bring it home for practice...

Ha. So, on Fridays we usually have a Math "Quiz". Our teacher doesn't know how to teach according to some of the other students in my class, most actually, and his questions are always more complicated then he thinks they are, or they are phrased awkwardly, or maybe the question is impossible except for that one kid who has been doing kumon calculus for a while (I'm not sure how long..) Anyway, the "quiz" took the whole period and everyone was complaining. My complaint is that he didn't review trig or radians, but that's mostly because I took gr 12 Functions in summer school where you just cram for 2 weeks then forget everything.

Musical rehearsal, same as usual, but with the band and a malfunctioning set of lighting cues. See we have been rehearsing with a CD of the songs and the music is different from our musc, so whenever there's even a slight variation or we have to start over all the drama kids blame the band... OUAMPO (Once Upon A Mattress Pit Orchestra) has 15 people in it. It's much harder to get 15 people together in time then just the singer and a CD. Give them some slack...

I had to leave rehearsal at 4pm for baseball tryouts. We warmed up, did some grounder practice, hit some wiffle balls, then played a game 7 vs 6 with wiffle balls. All of this happened in the gym, so not much outfeild. The funny thing was when I went up to bat and got a homerun. xP Soon after everyone else started getting homeruns. And I struck out.. xP I still have room for improvement, especially with grounders in outfield.. but I impressed Mr. IO who likes the fact that some artsy students are trying out.

After the try-out I went back to the caf to check if the rehearsal was still going. It wasn't, but Miss CW and KC were resetting all the lighting cues again..

So, Ya. I'm gonna go to bed. *yawn*

Oyasumi

D.Fa

Trying to Move Forward

Ok. So.

There were two main events today. My brother "running away" if you can call it that. I still don't understand what happened... and "One Day Without Shoes" which was pretty intense. I think I took the idea a bit far and at the same time my feet don't hurt that much. I mean they aren't bleeding... ='( I was almost sure they would be, but I guess my feet are strong.

"Running Away"-

So. My parents left yesterday after I left for school. I get back my brother has made a bit of a mess in the kitchen / living room. He wants Wendy's for supper. I say "only if you clean up the kitchen / living room" or something. I go and come back. I had to walk, but its just a couple blocks, so whatever. When I get back, it appears clean again. It isn't really, just that the mess has been piled up in a less visible area.

So we have dinner in separate rooms. Then he goes to sleep. So the rest of the night I'm like blogging and stuff not paying attention to him. I go to sleep at like 11 and wake up at 5. I had to wake up to get him to school for the literacy test and everything. When I wake up the shower/bathroom is still a tiny bit wet. This is the only sign that he had been there at all recently. I couldn't find him anywhere. So at 6 or something I call my parents and tell them he's gone. Immediately after I get a text from my brothers ex-girlfriend "Is ___ in your house?" or soemthing.

Apparently he'd been planning for a while to run away and last night at 8 pm he said he was leaving. She didn't believe him so when he started texting her at 5:30 am she didn't know if he had actually left or not and texted me to verify. Anyways, I'm watching Bleach and eating Nuttella while stuck in the middle of this 3-way conversation between my brother's ex and me and my parents and me with information from either conversation being talked about in the other conversation.

My parents who were going to get back Saturday morning now start plannin gto get back asap, so I could no longer tell them anything because they don't have cell phones... They were using email to "text" me.

I decide to go to school to study reasoning that I'll get more studying / homework done there than at home alone.

At lunch I was sitting in the caf(etorium) with my brother's ex. She's sitting there nervously twitching and texting with all caps every minute to get my brother to text back and her friend is having a less serious problem but is also quite consumed by it. Something like her boyfriend is avoiding her friends or something because they don't like him..? My brother's ex skips last period to stay in the caf worrying.

By this point we had some responses. He had said "I'm too far away for you to come", "not in Ottawa", "I'm 3 hours away by bus and I'll be 3 hours further once you get there", and other comments, mostly useless answers that disclose no information, like "no where" as a response to "where are you?"

Eventually she tells me that he was coming back.

After Musical rehearsal (just an italian run-through with new lighting cues to test out. An Italian Run is when you go through a play really fast, so the dances and songs were really funny.. xP) I had time to go home before band. When I got home I didn't see my brother. Then suddenly I did. It appeared as though he had been there a while, two different soups, nuttella, and a jug of fruit juice had been consumed... I asked "where were you?" a few too many times in a louder voice then was necessary, and he answered "no where" and got a bit too angry. He calmed down, I had instant noodles and then I went to band.

My parents got home at about 8:45 pm. I got home at 9:45. I still don't understand what happened. He could have just hidden really well... or maybe he left and came back..?

One Day Without Shoes-

So, I will now tell the side of the story from my feet's perspective, almost.

So, I wake up at 5 am. Thinking that I have to get my brother up, etc. Then I remember I have to put out the garbage and recycling. I figure, if he's in the house, putting out the garbage isn't going to change anything, so I go to put it out.

This is when I remember the first obstacle for my bare feet. In the winter one layer of our window fell off and broke then got covered my snow and then frozen into the ice. This had only recently been dealt with and there were still bits of glass on the ground. I had known that getting out of hte house would be where I would get cut or step on broken glass, but I never thought I'd have to go over the area of broken glass repeatedly.

There were four full bins of recycling and two bags of garbage, so I had to take three trips back and forth over the glass. I had thought this would be one of the most difficult parts of my day with no shoes. It was not.

So I decide to go to school. I packed my shoes just incase I really needed them or was too weak to last all day. So I had to walk to school. Its normally around 10-15 minutes walking to school and the weather was not the best, it was scattered showers and 10 degrees or something. I learned very quickly of the choice I had to make: I could walk on the dryer, but more painful stabby asphault or the squishy, colder grass/mud. I chose the mud and kinda ran to school.

My feet were getting really cold... I thought of almost nothing other then frostbite most of the way. Stuff like "Is One Day Without Shoes so important that I lose a foot for it..?" but I'd reply "It's just One day." There are people who go day to day with no shoes, getting cuts and scrapes and infection, what is one day of that to me..?

When I get to school I go to the library becaus ehtere's carpet. xP I had to pass the principal and he said "I know we take pride in our school, but that's one thing I would never do: walk around bare foot in the school." or something.*

My feet had just thawed out when period two began.

I had been invited to hang out with the few people who would be in attendance to the vocals class. The class is mostly grade 10s so the class was cancelled. We decided to go to McDonalds.

There's a difference between asphault and sidewalk. Sidewalks are more commonly smooth. The sidewalks to McDonalds weren't bad. You know the old "no shirt, no shoes, no service" or whatever right? I knew at some point someone would deny me the right to do something because of my shoes, that's why I planned ahead and packed them in my bag. At McDonalds they didn't care. xP On the way back it was raining...

We get back, Period three begins, I go study for Biology, I have lunch in the caf, period four begins, me and his ex stand on stage as the director finishes inputting the lighting cues into the computer, I have musical rehearsal until four-ish. After that I walked home with my trombone, well, I ran on the grass again.

I get home, bring the recycling bins into the house (one trip =D) then the whole thing with my brother, I ate instant noodles then got ready to go to band. By now it was pouring...

I had planned to take the bus to band because my parents were out of town and couldn't give me a drive like normal. When I got on the bus the bus driver told me that I have to wear shoes to ride the bus. I explained that they were in my bag, but he said they have to be on my feet before I get on the bus, and so I was kicked off the bus.... This ticked me off. There wouldn't be another bus for 20 minutes and I had to be at BHS before 7pm for the rehearsal. It was 6:20 when the bus showed up.

This left me with one option. Walk. In the rain, with my trombone, and with my nonwaterproof windbreaker.

It was another "if I can imagine the whole way there it can't be that far" situation so I thought I could get there if I tried.

So, I began running down the street. I got a lot of weird looks. xP It was pouring and I was running down the road with a trombone and no shoes going through puddles and running through the "stop walking" signals. I just kept thinking "it's just ONE day."

I got there at 6:54. I apparently ran 4.3 km. When I got there I was soaked through. I walked into the band room and everyone looks at me. The teachers are all worried because my clothes are wet. My folder got "pulped" at the corner, but all the music was fine.

It was actually pretty cool that I ran all the way there, but sometimes there wasn't a grassy option and I had to run on the pavement, but its over now. Fun times.

I got a ride back, don't worry. xP

When I got home I took a shower and scrubbed my feet then came downstairs to post this blog.

So, Ya. I'm going to sleep. Bye.

*If you havn't noticed yet I'm bad at remembering word for word quotes.

Alone, But Not

Ok. So.

I deffinately thought it would take way longer before someone actually read these. xP... I thought I'd be talking to myself for a while.

Anyways, this morning I ran the same 4k and actually timed it. 24 minutes. I hope to improve this and then make the run longer because I really can't afford to just make it longer... I mean I had to wake up at 5 am so I could go for a run, but it's a sacrifice for better fitness, maybe at the expense of sleep... xP It was kinda cool, I mean while I was running it was cloudy and I could swear I felt rain once or twice, but then like half an hour after I get home it starts pouring. =D

At this point I can either begin talking about band or weather... hmmm.. I can talk about band later. There will be many oppourtunities. xP

Ottawa weather really ammuses me. Like one day in a summer maybe two years ago, my brother an I went to the park to play tennis. It was a warm sunny day with no clouds in the sky. So we are playing, I don't remember whether we were actually playing or not, I never care. Tennis is just fun. xP Anyways, these black clouds roll in. One second its sunny the next its super cloudy and dark. Then it begins pouring instantly. xP I think we had only been there for about 30 minutes.

The thing with weather in Ottawa is that it can change within minutes, somedays its rainy, sunny, windy and foggy, but never at the same time and only for like half an hour at a time. It'll be foggy, then sunny, then rainy, then sunny, then windy, then rainy, etc. I like indecisive and extreme weather. xP When you can see the sheets of rain coming down it makes me happy, but when it's just misting it annoys me... Make up you're mind are you raining or not!?

So, tommorow there's this event named "one Day Without Shoes" its to like raise awareness for people who go through their daily lives without shoes. You don't realize that shoes actually do a lot for you. Without shoes your feet would get cut and scraped and dirty, wet and they would hurt a lot. Rubber running shoes absorb a lot of the impact of just walking, without shoes tennis is painful.. Trust me I tried it...

So, I'm not going to wear shoes tommorow. The whole day I'll be barefoot. That includes walking to school, OUAM rehearsal, bussing to All-Star band. I'll leave my house at like 7am and get back at like 10pm, unless I have time to go home between rehearsals... and eat maybe.. xP

Tommorow is actually the literacy test for grade 10s. My brother's attendence is a bit lacking so I may have to spend some time pulling him to school. The grade 12s actually get an "Independant Study Day" so that our teachers can supervise. Our teachers were supposed to give us homework for tommorow, but most haven't, so it's mostly just a day off. Except that there's still Musical practice afterschool, but not directly afterwards, like an hour later for no real reason... So i still have to go to school.

xP I'm kinda intense about the musical. All the other grade 12s just want a day off, but I want to work on the musical...

So. My parents are out of town this week. They had to go to deal with stuff ivolving inheiritance and stuff, so I'm alone, ... with my brother.

That's it for now. I know I should stop apologizing for long posts, but it seems I can't be concise with my thoughts.

Oh, if you see a patch of aerated grass, could you ask it if it feels pleasant..? Thanks!

D.Fa

Good Intentions With No Action.

So. Yeah.

For a year now I've been trying to attend church regularly, ever since No Other Name* last year. No Other Name is an annual event for grade 6-12 students on Good Friday. There is a speaker, workshops, a concert, dodgeball, a talent competition and communion among other things. It goes for most of the day and it's a lot of fun and you always walk away feeling really good.

A while back a friend invited me to her youth group at church and I went to it every week. This is where my spiritual journey began. I had never been to church except for a funeral, at least as far as I remember. I made a bunch of friends and got to know many more. I'm still meeting people... xP... I actually got to be friends with someone who was my friend in middle school again too. As the weeks passed by I learned more and my group leader gave me my first Bible.

I often forget to thank people for things, mostly because it seems awkward at first and it gets more awkward as time goes by, but I really want to thank her for bringing me to church originally.

Anyways, I went to Youth Fellowship almost every Saturday night, sacrificing movie night with my parents and sometimes my brother. As time went by I participated in a sleepover, camping, chinese new year, valentine's day, and a bunch of different courses during YF.

When I went to No Other Name, during dinner I had a conversation with AL and SB about going to church on Sundays. At the time I had work Sundays from like 10am to 2pm and english service at church was 11-12:30, so I couldn't really go unless I told my boss... They were telling me different churches I could go to that had evening services and stuff. If you don't know yet, I'm kinda shy. Okay, I'm pretty shy, but I'll do things under peer pressure. xP >.> That came out the wrong way... I just need a little push from a friend to do things that I should...

No Other Name was really great.

Anyways, I started going to church on Sundays when I didn't have work and became friends with a couple of the YA (Young Adults) who were on the Worship Team that plays worship songs during service each week. I think it was a month later I decided to finally tell my boss that I would be going to church every Sunday. My shifts after that changed to 2-10pm... I would always watch the Simpsons and Family Guy Sunday nights. It was a sacrifice, but it wasn't a difficult decision. I mean a couple cartoons on Sunday mean nothing and I finally got to go to church regularly.

In September the Worship Team had a video games night and we had a lot of fun. They asked a few people if they would like to join the Worship Team. Of course I did, but I had never mentioned it because ... ya... I'm shy, so this was when I joined the Worship team.

The first time I kida didn't follow the dress code. xP Button Shirt and no jeans basically, but I only found out after the first Sunday I was on the team. Anyways, there was no problem and now I look forward to the weekends I'm scheduled for Worship team. At first I only sang even though I wanted to play bass. Once I got to play bass Irealized singing was better, so I've been learning how to sing while playing. I've also had to improve my ability to improvise harmonies because I'm never Worship Team leader, because I'm too shy and I don't think I'm quite ready to lead the whole congregation in praising Him.

Worship team has been a great experience. I've had the oppourtunity to have more fellowship with the people on the team and I met some other people too. I'm not one to just approach people just because I don't know them...

Anyways, the week before the church moved I went to Sunday School. Sunday school is okay. The Sunday school teachers often ask the group questions and only some of the time is there an enthusiastic response... Ya, ever since then I've been going to Sunday school too.

I also have been going to the special services too, like the candle light service Christmas Eve. Me and some of my friends and the Pastor performed a Relient K song the Sunday before and it was pretty awesome, except that I was sick...

So, ya. No Other Name this year was in Stittsville and it was pretty awesome. I saw a couple people from school. Our easter service ran late though so we were late getting to NON, but the whole day was awesome. I went to the "Sacrificial Non-Conformity" and "Worship is Life" workshops. The band that was playing worship songs and a concert was Atlantic. They were awesome so I bought their CDs. 1 for 15$ or 2 for 20$ clearly I had to buy both. xP I had also bought a CD back at Engage Your World about a month earlier.

Engage Your World was a similar event put on by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Manic Drive played. There was a "mosh pit", but that's not the point. xP They were really cool. They are like my favourite band now. xP

So, actually EYW was being run without a large spending budget, so all the advertising was done by students attending it. There were training nights for how to invite people and how to tell people about your relationship with God and I ended up being a councilor at the big event on Friday. Monday to Thursday there were smaller events. I tried inviting a few people, even one I didn't really want to, but felt like I should, maybe it was God telling me to. In the end only that one person went to the event, but only on Wednesday. Friday was way cooler. Oh. I even got to help bring someone to Christ. It was a big moment finally doing something and now I'm suposed to help disciple him, but I feel like I still need to work on myself...

So. Ya, I kinda have a problem keeping "sin-free". So after I had been going to YF I learned of how sinful my life was and have made significant improvements. I stopped "stealing" food at work like everyone else does. There's actually this one guy who just walks into the bakery freezer and takes cookie dough, and it's ok. I don't think so... not anymore. I have tried to read the Bible everyday. For a while I was reading maybe two chapters a day. It turns out I can't remember that much. So now its more like 20 verses a day. I started praying before I read and before bed, but clearly that wasn't enough, especially for a time there when I would fall asleep before saying Amen... I've been doing a bible study everyweek now which takes around an hour for each study and there's always a memory verse, which I have been memorizing. I have also been doing other things, but I always end up back in the same place at the end of every week, guilty and begging for forgiveness just once more swearing to not sin again, but falling short every time.

Each time I realize that I am sinful and need His help to get through it.

Ever since I got an mp3 player I've been downloading music off the internet. It was fine until they changed the Canadian law... and then I was "stealing" music. I've decided since buying those three CDs that I wouldn't download songs anymore and that I would only legitamately buy them from iTunes or something or buy an actual CD. The problem is that I don't have a credit card. How do I get one..?

Anyways, that was pretty long too, and I am procrastinating... I have like two hours to hand-in my Physics summative progress report... I have made little progress this month... I assume these posts will get shorter once I'm done talking in the past tense, well, distant past tense anyways...

D.Fa

Back to Square One... Again...

Okay. So...

I'm highly involved in drama and music and often I don't have time for athletics, but this being grade 12 I wanted to get onto a school team finally (I had tried out in previous years, but hadn't made it). I was going to try Volleyball, Badminton and Baseball, but only expected to have a chance in Baseball, because I had done another year of Softball and had more consistent batting. Also, I wanted to walk to school every morning (it's not that far, it's just that I always have band so i'd have to wake up earlier then I already was) this year.

In the fall I tried out for the Volleyball team and made it onto the team. The team consisted of 12 guys (only like 15 tried out, and only like 10 or 11 went to most of the try-outs). A couple weeks in I realized I had accomplished my goal but didn't really feel like I had done anything to get there...

During my time on the team I often missed Jazz Band (Most of the practices were after school and Jazz was the only after-school band rehearsal at the time...) Also, I missed practice for the Fall Production, but I felt like this was okay because my part in the play was like three lines in one scene, maybe 5 minutes on stage, probably less... The play had rehearsals everyday, but the schedule got mixed up, so I never knew which day it was that I was supposed to be there for and ended up missing most of them, and the few I did go to usually weren't my scene...

Anyways, if you didn't go to the practices you wouldn't get to play much/at all during the games which were usually once a week, sometimes twice, and I was not on the starting line-up, so I had to go to practices and get better if I wanted to play in the games. Practices were always about two hours long. During that time we'd practice serving, split the team in half and play small matches, or other things, but if you missed a serve you'd have to do 10 push-ups or 20 sit-ups, if your team lost a point you'd have to run and touch the wall before the other side served the ball again, and if your side lost (the matches were usually up to 7 points) you'd have to clean the floor with the boards (wooden boards wrapped in towels) across the width of the gym depending on the difference in points (ie if it was 7-4 you'd clean the width of the gym with the boards 3 times.) I'd usually end up doing a lot of the punishment activities... i think. I was pretty bad at cleaning the floors with the boards at first... My knees were actually bleeding... Then the coach gave me knee pads and I eventually got better at it........ The point being that by the end of the season I almost had abs. xP ...

I actually missed the last play-off game because of the feeder school tour at school where the senior concert band goes to middle schools and plays a concert for them. Also, if they had won I would have had to choose between the play or going to OFSAA... they were both on the same group of days, but OFSAA was in Stratford, so I wouldn't have been able to do both... I don't know why, but I felt like the play was more important, even though I barely went to rehearsals.... I kinda felt guilty about that...

This was one of those events that made me realize that being in Music, Athletics and Drama is nearly impossible...

When I got my mid-term report card it showed that I had been absent to Jazz Band a number of times. I thought that if I went to band then told my director that I was going to practice I wouldn't be marked absent because I did show up, but apparently not... After that I didn't care about attendence, becasue there was no way I was fighting with my director about that and with more then like 1.5 absences you can't even get one of the "Good" Attendence awards... Before this report card I would always rush to class to avoid being late, but I just didn't care anymore (although I actually still havn't gone to the office for a late slip in a really long time... I actually don't remember when the last one was....)

In the end:

• Volleyball was a lot of fun. You feel really good after a practice. Although I didn't really accomplish much (I did get to play some of the time and that time was really awesome, except for that one time the ball smashed into my face and messed up my glasses... lol) my time playing with the team was pretty awesome. (The company that made our shirts messed up my name though. My last name is kinda long, so I thought I would put my first name then my last initials "D F-A" my shirt said "D-Fa"...) ... I kinda don't talk to my teammates anymore because I never see them... kinda sad...
• I stopped missing Band and realized it was more fun then I thought it was. Dixie ended up being reformed and I joined Vocal Jazz.
• The play went pretty well... xP I messed up my lines one day and the audiences were kinda small, but it was fun. I feel like I didn't spend as much time with the cast as I should have... except for that one day when we had an in-character game of freeze to develop our characters and I ended up being a murderous nurse..? Lol. VB (This is how I will be censoring the names of people I know) actually screamed. That day was pretty great. I still see most of the cast because of the musical, so everything is okay. Cast notes were kinda sketchy and last minute...

Wow this is longer then I expected it to be... I haven't even gotten to the point I wanted to make...

After Volleyball, my next goal was badminton. I kinda missed it... Badminton is a Winter sport and I never really heard the announcements and all the practices were in the mornings (I have band every morning....) So... ya. I never tried out and would have had to miss band a lot...... (All of the morning rehearsals are for credit bands, so missing them would lower my average and band really raises my average. xP) Also, by here I was missing so much sleep that I could not wake up that early every morning and so I ended up getting driven almost all the time until it snowed then it was all the time...

During that time I kinda didn't do much / any athletics because I don't like skating (13 sprained wrists. Don't ask.) so winter sports are kind of a no go... At New Years I thought I would start excersising, like push-ups and sit-ups everyday increasing number everyday until the end of the month then about half as much then increase twice as much, for the whole year. XP .... I made it until like late January when I would start missing a day or two, but catch up. By mid-February, I was missing 2-3 days at a time, until it just stopped....

So. A couple weeks ago I hear on the announcements that Baseball tryouts are starting in a week and that there's a meeting at lunch somewhere. When I heard this I was like "Oh no... I'm not ready." and like I started planning to run in the mornings before breakfast or something. I began walking to school again since the snow was all gone (let's see how long this lasts. xP).

So last week I went for a run one night. I ran to Fisher and around and back. My legs hurt.... and this was only like a couple days before the first try-out... not a great idea.. xP

The try-out went okay. Rehearsal was almost cancelled (Jewish Holiday), so I didn't miss anything. Only like 14 guys were there. Not many outstanding players, maybe six or seven. The coach told me how to swing and it worked, so this should be good. It shows that I'm coachable and can improve. There was no running.. xP kinda ironic.

So ya. I've run twice(?) more since then. Once just around the track at my old middle school for a while at night and this morning at 6:30. I ran past school and the park in light rain. When I returned home I google mapped it to see how far I had ran. It was Four kilometers. I was kinda really happy about it. It was probably the furthest and longest I have run continually since Gym class last year*****. Also, my legs don't hurt. xP And I actually ran it non-stop while listening to my ipod blast my new music* **. (I need new ear buds... ones that stay in while I run...) Maybe running in the morning is better... that's what I had heard. I don't remember why though...

I have also played tennis with my brother at the park a few times this weekend. Only one net was up, but no one else was there, or at least no one else that could open the lock. xP ... We were walking to the park, no one on the courts.. We are like 50 meters away and a car drives up to the courts and a couple guys get out.. My brother is being pessimistic.. We get closer and they say that it's locked.. Immediatly my brother is much happier.. The day before we didn't lock it and I hadn't noticed a lock, so I thought it was a new lock for the year.. It was the old lock and just as they drive away we open it. xP

We only had three tennis balls*** and my racket is kinda falling apart... It's been falling apart for a while. I taped it up using a lot of electrical tape, but I will need a new racket before I start my summer job ****. It was fun. Normally my brother blows up with rage if we are playing for real, so I don't mind only rallying sometimes.

Anyway, the next baseball try-out is this Friday. Let's hope it goes a better then the last one, but whatever ends up happening is for the best... I mean the play is at the end of the month and I will probably not get to miss many rehearsals....

I hope my posts get shorter, because this took a long time to write.... and read probably... >.> And,I kinda have homework to do... xP

D.Fa

*fine I will use foot notes...

** I recently bought three CDs. This will most likely be in another post soon.

*** two of which are practice balls that only bounce about half as high as they should and so they are kinda annoying, but for the first day of tennis in about 7 months its probably better that way... xP

**** I will probably complain about / talk about my jobs in another post.

***** Last year I ran for half an hour non-stop on a treadmill at the Y the day before the beep test... Not smart. I only got like a 7.8 so I took it again on the make-up day and got like 8.5. I learned you should not run a marathon the day before a race, or something like that. But I have not put that into practice so far... probably procrastination.... xP especially if you relate it to doing projects the day before they are due...

Another First Attempt

Okay. Let's try this again...

I have just updated my profile instead of writing it all out here.

Let me just say that I have very little time and will only update this when I have free-time or when I am procrastinating...

This blog will mostly me composed of thoughts or ideas that I want to tell someone, but not tell some people in specific, and somethings that just happen to me that I think are pretty cool.

The title of the blog probably means nothing... I mean I would have prefered to have a blog with no title. I think adding a title immediately forces an idea of what the composition is about onto anyone reading it, like how naming a photograph takes away from the photo by giving you an idea of what its about before you actually look at it, or how sometimes its better to not color-in a sketch, because it could ruin the drawing.

When I was younger (like grade 5-6) I would often sketch or draw, but I would not color it in because it always made it worse then just having pencil smudge shading...

Anyways, I enjoy the format of blogs where there is a small anecdote or joke, so I shall try to keep my posts to a similar fashion.

Ignore my terrible spelling and lack of vocabulary.

Thanks for reading That. xP

D.Fa <--- my "nickname"