Merry Christmas to YOU

I need to say merry christmas to my readers, and since I know many of you by name, I will write my greeting here. I don't know why, I just will.

To Alex (Mingle):

You're the one who reminded me about the fact that Christmas is right around the corner, so you get to go first.
Social has been so fun with you sitting there behind me. Someone to talk to that understands what its like to be a nerd, and is really great with the philosophical talk. I always look forward to being able to chat it up with you about some topic that will make Mr. Kerr shake his head, knowing that we won't stop talking to work on the booklets anytime soon. I think he likes listening though...
Thanks for money towards Starbucks, even though it makes me feel guilty for not giving you anything in return. I got a Venti Strawberries and Blended Cream Frappachino for $4.60, and I will be sure to spend the rest at Starbucks as well.
Merry Christmas, and I'll see you in January!


To Melissa (Dreamer):
11 Pipers Piping!
10 Lords a-Leaping!
9 Ladies Dancing!
8 Maids a-Milking!
7 Swans a-Swimming!
6 Geese a-Laying!
5 GOLDEN RINGS!!!
4 Calling Birds!
3 French Hens!
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a CACTUS!!!

It's been great to have someone to talk to while I'm here in Arizona, and to have someone make my pocket vibrate on the golf course :P
After all we've gone through this term, with all the confusion, all the craziness, the miscommunication, I'm glad thats gone and that we can enjoy the company of one another. Its too bad we've only got a week of Social left, but I guess MSN will fill in the gap. Its so much fun talking with you, and even more so when I can know that somethings on your mind. So never forget that when something goes wrong, whether that be with family, Spencer, other friends, or whatever, I'll be on your side :)

Merry Christmas,

Graham


To Victoria (Shadow Stitch):
That is how you spell your username, right? I'm too lazy to look it up :P
You always have a way to bring plenty of confusion to the table, don't you? It certainly keeps me on my toes, as I never know what to expect.
We've already talked lately, but I want to reiterate that I still appreciate you as a friend. There are times when I get too much of a good thing, and might have to ask you to contain your enthusiasm a bit, but that's not saying that a friendship is over. That's just asking for a bit more space. But we'll work that one out later. For now, just have a great Christmas, and let what happens, happen. You can't change the past, as much as you want to, but you can decide what choices you'll make. Make them ones that you won't regret.
And now if any of that made any sense, have a great Christmas, and see you in the new year!


To Aaron (I hate MICROS!):
You didn't think I'd forget about you, did you? You said you read my blog, therefore it is my obligation to write to you. Now hopefully the gun makes it through customs in time for you to open it tomorrow morning, and then you'll be able to use it at the firing range and anywhere on "Blacks" property, if you get my drift...
So yeah, if you could just do a bit of 'renovation' on their house and his face... :P

Ok, maybe not. But its the thought that counts, right?

Merry Christmas,

Graham


To Bhavesh (No username :( ):
Hmmm, its been a while since we've talked...
So about our films, we really should get working on something. Hanging obligations was good, and maybe we should get on that, but we'll just have to see what happens in the new year.
On a non business related venture, its great to hang out with you, to talk things out and to come to our conclusion, often through debate, such as the definition of Assasination (in which I won) and the question of how good cultural diversity is for us (which I also won). :P
Anyways, can't wait to do some more editing of WikiChurchill with you on exam break, and I'll see you in the new year!

Graham

To Everyone else who I somehow forgot:
For which I am very sorry :(
It's been a great 70 posts, and I'm so glad to have you all here to read them. It's nice to know that these words actually go somewhere, and aren't just lost in the cyber cosmos. I'm so glad I can look at my analytics account an see over 200 views in just over a month. It's just so nice! So keep up the reading, and leave a comment if you want to remind me that you read my blog (I might even have time to write another letter to you).

Merry Christmas one and all, and thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!


Graham

Bon Voyage!

Well folks, Christmas break is upon us, and I am now just about to leave. For Pheonix.

Just in case something terrible happens, I'm on Air Canada flight AC1286. So we leave today, as in, right now we're leaving the house. And we come back on the 30th. I'm sure you can look forward to tons of pictures!!!

Graham

PS - if I die, I want a good picture in the obituary, and you can find my universal password in my documents on my home computer. ;)

Less than a week!

Merry Christmas?

Dear Person

(hereinafter called the wishee):

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the (mid-)winter (solstice) holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the of the generally accepted start of the proceeding calendar year, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make this/that/your country great (or any proceeding or proceeding calendar years notwithstanding). Not to imply that this/that/your country is necessarily greater than any other country. The preceding wishes are extended without regard to the race, creed, age, physical ability, religious faith or lack thereof, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or itself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Thanks for reading!

Just wanted to thank everyone who's been reading my blog. Here's a PDF of the most recent analytics report since I began tracking:

Analytics Report

Thanks again everyone!

Uh. Stress :(

Sitting in the Drama room, waiting for 7:00 to roll around. Until then, tempers will flare as most people have been at the school until 9:00PM for the Drama 30 shows. And there are 2 more nights to go. I'm scared of a few people right now, as I know that this is the time when things go wrong, and actors get upset.

Probably the most annoying and upsetting part for me was when last night during MY play, I was trying to listen to 3 things at once, and that resulted in me messing up the stage arrangement, which threw off the actors, directors, techs, and anyone else who knew what was supposed to happen. Thing is, under normal and less stressful moments, it would be laughed off, and no one would be upset about it. Thing is, I can't help but feel like the people involved are upset that it didn't work out, no matter how much they say its fine. Meh, it happened, and I'll live.

So now I've just got 3 more hours till the shows start, and 5 hours until I get home. And that goes on!

Tuesday: Tech till 9
Wednesday: Band concert till 10:30
Thursday: Tech till 8:30
Friday: CSC Orchestra till 8:30
Saturday: CSC Orchestra till 8:30
Sunday: CSC Orchestra till 9:00
Monday: Musical Theatre shows till ?

*snores*

You're Invited!

Yes, you are!

Please come!

You'll really like it!

I promise!

It's free!

How cool is that?!?!

2 posts ago I was writing about how unfair things are, and I linked it to a CBC article (just click the post title). And since I've subscribed to have Technorati ping my blog for different info, my blog turned up on the CBC website! Just scroll down to the bottom of the right-hand sidebar, under Blogwatch. SO COOL!!!!!!

C'mon people...

Write something in your blogs!!!
I'm getting bored of always seeing the same entries. Give me something, anything! I've got 8 blogs on my watchlist, and there hasn't been much action :(

Give me entertainment! :P

Unfair

All right, time for a rant that's been brooding in my mind for a LONG time.

So here's a story that's starting to bug me. Some school teacher in the Sudan allowed her class of 6 and 7 year olds to name a teddy bear "Muhammad". And so now she's facing 15 days of jail and deportation. People want her dead. The court hearing had police with full riot gear.

[Cut to next example]

On YouTube, I came across a video. Take a look:

YouTube

Ok, so what was that about? Someone VERY CLEARLY and PURPOSEFULLY made that film. They made Jesus into a JOKE. They had him run over by a BUS. It wasn't someone's mistake, it was outright SLANDER.
And now reading all the comments, people are saying things like, "Oh c'mon, it's a joke!", and "Lighten up a little". I'm going to use a very applicable idea now, called a Venn Diagram.



You see what I'm getting at here? People get upset when someone slanders the Muslim religion, but Christians are told to accept it, to get over it, and to be a little light hearted.

What a bunch of BS.

Here's a few more examples:

(This one's a rubber duck)

And because I don't want to waste my time looking for more, that is all. But honestly, why should Christians have to put up with this? It's totally unfair...

A review on Llyod's RollerRink

Lloyd's Roller Rink

Well it certainly wasn't the greatest place in the world. Let's go over what I did.

We arrived at around 3:15 (on a Saturday), and as soon as I walked in, I had a headache. It was loud, busy, smelly, and the lights were flashing like some big rave party. Personally, I wanted to walk right back out the door, but I couldn't because we had just paid to get in. Might as well give it a chance, right?
Well I get my skates (in-line all the way!) strap them on, and jumped on the rink.
Now let me get this straight: It's fun to spend 3 hours rolling around on 8 wheels in a circle? Since when?
But I like roller blading, it's fun, but I couldn't enjoy it for 2 main reasons:
1) It was SO BLOODY BUSY!!! I was cut off by little kids too many times to count, and there's the people who think it's fun to push their friends off course, which happens to be YOUR course, and the little kids who like to weave around people, then suddenly stop. *Shakes cane*
2) The music was awful! Maybe I'm not "with it" in terms of music, but honestly, not a single song that I recongnized, or would make skating enjoyable. *Covers ears*

So yeah, I won't be going back. I will buy a pair of roller blades to use OUTSIDE though...

Have you ever been to Lloyd's? Leave a comment then (or leave a comment even if you haven't)

Another one for those of you in Social 20...

Here's Part One Booklet in PDF Format:

Booklet

A social question that started a rant

Why is there usually a major conflict between tradition and change?

People often prefer to stick to their standard way of doing things, rather than to change what they and their parents and grandparents have done. Humans generally prefer to have a routine, to do things the same, and tradition is one form of routine. And so conflict arises when changes challenge tradition.

Take Christmas for instance. It is a holiday that is celebrated by nearly every country in the world, and has been since the year 800. It has always been a season of loving, generosity, gift giving, and family. But more recently, changes have been imposed because of things like political correctness and economic prosperity of businesses. For example, there have been many “Christmas Controversies” lately that have been a dramatic conflict between tradition and change. Many commercial retailers (such as Wal-Mart) decided to change their Christmas greeting from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” (this was not an isolated incident, as it continues to be used across North America in many commercial and private business alike. This caused an uproar from consumers because it was such a change that they felt was unnecessary. Those from a Christian background were the most upset because of the removal of Christ from the holiday, which has been the focal point of the Christmas holiday for centuries. The businesses argue that they need to for reasons of political correctness, as not everyone is a Christian. The problem with that is, no one has ever complained about Christ being in the word Christmas, it has just been accepted as another holiday. But when “Holidays” replaced “Christmas”, it was more than just Christians complaining. In 2005, Sears Holdings Corporation received multiple threats of boycott from their heavy use of “holiday” in their marketing campaigns. So why were people upset? Because their traditions [saying “Merry Christmas” as a greeting] were threatened by change [to using “Happy Holidays”]. Another related incident was the change from “Christmas Trees” to “Holiday Trees”. Donnie Hatt, the donor of Boston’s 50 foot Christmas tree, is quoted as saying "Ever since I was born, a tree was put up for Christmas, not for holidays, because if you're going to do that you might as well put a tree up for Easter.” This really captures the essence of just what “Holiday” means, that being a general term for a date. But that’s not the point of this.

When our traditions are challenged by change, we will most often stick to the familiar, and keep our feet out of the water. We don’t like change, we like things to be the same, and for there to be order in our lives. And so when some big corporation comes and challenges us to change the way we’ve always done things (such as the Christmas/Holiday example), we feel hostile towards them, and dislike it. Unfortunately for us, change is entirely inevitable.

For those of you in Social 20...

Here it is, in PDF format:

http://w4.media-convert.com/convert/?xid=zppulugy

Feel free to send it to other people in ours/other classes.

Well, the day's over

10:00 PM, and all's well.

That day just went WHIZZING by. I think I'll go watch the National for a bit, then head to bed. But you don't really care, do you. So my friend, I look forward to talking to you in person soon. And drawing some amazing graffiti on your wall.

Good night!

Well

It would seem that there are quite a few people not up to blogging lately. So I might as well.

6:47 and all's well.

So if you're reading this, I would like it if you would do one of two things:
1) Post something in your blog
2) Create a blog, and send me a link

There really is no reason why I shouldn't be writing more, it just becomes so hectic in this world as we get closer to Christmas, which I think totally defeats the purpose of the season. We're recognizing the birth of Jesus, and yet it seems all that gets celebrated is crass commercialism and retail profits.
I just read an article in Wikipedia about Black Friday. That's the day after Thanksgiving (in the US) when everyone starts Christmas shopping. Many employers give the day off, and traffic is a nightmare. Financially, companies that were "running in the red" are suddenly making a profit that day, due to the sudden increase in purchases.
So why is is so obvious in the financial sector, but we have annoying 'Christmas controversies'? What's with "Happy Holidays!" and "Holiday tree"? It's CHRISTMAS! It must be because there's some religion in the word. Do you see anyone wincing at the word Christmas? No. Do you see people wincing at the words, "happy holidays"? Yes, myself included. Why can't we just celebrate it the way we've always celebrated?
And then there's what is to me, totally rude, that being "Xmas". You put a big 'X' where Christ was, essentially taking him out of the holiday. :(

Merry Christmas!

Oh yeah :P

I'm 16 now...


That was.....anti climatic...


I hate birthdays in once sense because it's so awkward sitting there while people sing happy birthday. And what are you supposed to say when people write "Happy birthday!" on your wall? Just smile and say "Thanks [name] :)"? That's all I did...

Confusion, then happiness

I've been so confused in the past few days, but that's not important anymore. I realized that this is just how things work. You have to understand that not everything is going to go your way

AT

THAT

MOMENT.


It might take a while, but eventually the things that need to happen will happen.

So M, I'm sorry I dragged you into this whole post-relationship-confusion thing, and I hope you can forgive me, but when I saw that you were truly happy, and are in love with S, I knew I couldn't be angry with you. This is an affair of the heart, not the mind, and I will have no say in the matter.

Have fun, be happy, and love.

(I'm serious M, you've taught me so much, and I will always be happy for you. You made the call, and I respect that, and friends is now, truly, the best. We have struck the final chord, and this opera is over. The audience will leave, and be happy because the characters found resolution.)

This is directed to YOU

If you're reading this, then this is for you.

You know that thing you know you should do, but just don't have the courage to do? That thing you tell yourself you'll do later, or won't really matter? That thing you're sure will ruin your life, or have people hate you?


DO IT.


DO IT NOW.


Trust me, it makes you feel so much better, and people respect you for it.

For one reader in particular, you will understand the context/motivation behind this. Thanks (a ton) and a big hug for you.

Truth in a quote

"It's not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbles or how the doer of deeds might have done it better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat, and dust and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who spends himself in a worthy cause, and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. His place will never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

Peace?

Ok, this is making no sense to me.

I'm watching a CBC special on remembrance day, and a group of students who went to France to see what happened during WW2. Everyone's very emotional about it, and using that magical word.


Why?


Why did this all happen? It seems that everyone wants peace in this world. Everyone says that peace should be our number one priority, and yet there's still war.


The easiest answer is that there are people who like war, or that war supports the economy, or that people in other countries don't understand. I think there's a much simpler answer.


We just naturally fight. We aren't really peaceful beings. We just naturally don't get along. I can't put it into words right now, but you know what I'm talking about, right?


So really, we can't blame others when we're just as bad ourselves.


"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"
Matthew 7:2-4

I'm using a lot of Calvin and Hobbes references right now, and I think this will likely be the last one. I'm just reading through all them, and posting the ones I think are really applicable.

The sound of silence?

The silence rips your ears to shreds. It's cavernous, dark. Foreboding.


Nothing stirs.


Your pounding heart and your irregular breath are all that breaks the silence.


You have no way out.


The labyrinth spirals continually.


Who knows if there is any way out?


Who could know that true silence was so loud?


You wander aimlessly it seems.


Your only scrap of hope is the knowledge that if you continue to walk along one wall, you will eventually get out.


But what will you get out to?


Could this labyrinth be all there is left in this world?


The silence kills, but you are safe within it.


Do you want to leave?

Cool, part 2...

How cool are we?!?!

This one's for you

My blog reading, comic reading, street walking, furniture moving, all around fun, guy.

Time is of the essence

I have way too much work to do

-Social Unit Final
-Math Unit Final
-3 CSI Evaluations
-Social Textbook Questions
-Social Booklet Questions
-Math Midterm studying
-Orchestra Rehearsal
-Lots of other things I've forgotten.


I wish I had more time to do things. I hate the end of term :(

Little Hobbes

Music.....Part 1

Wheeee! Funky graphic, eh?

How often do you listen to music in a day?
The answer is probably more than you think. And how much does that music do for us? Well, let me give you an example. (Click icon to watch video example)
So as you can see, music has quite a large role in film. If you ever watch a film without the sound, you will again see just how much it subtracts from the film.

Music can also evoke amazing emotion in us. Open up your music player or turn on your MP3. Find your overall favourite song. What does that say about you?
For me, I have a few, but the one thing they all have similar is that they are instrumental. I like to think that the reason I like it so much is that there are no words, and I'm able to think about something other than what the words would normally want me to think.

Blogging about something as complex as music is no easy feat. It's just so vast and amazing. Instead, I think I'll let my examples do the talking. My next example is a song for you to listen to.I don't really know what else to say right now. It's taken 1 full day to write this simple entry, and I think that just reinforces just how amazing it is. Hopefully you found something a little deeper between these lines, because I certainly didn't write anything too profound. :(

Stay tuned for an entry that will make a lot more sense sometime soon...

Hypnotic Birds

They're so nice to just look at, even if they do the same thing all the time...

Trailer for "Music"

Music

It's such an amazing thing. We all listen to music everyday. It evokes emotion in us better than any means of communication. Coming soon to a blog near you, "Music" is a three part series on just how music drives our world. Be ready.

Physics...

2 trains are travelling in the same direction in a straight line. Train A travels at 100km/h and train B travels at [(speed of train A)+(i^2)]. If both trains are 500m long, and they leave the station at 1PM, when will train A completely pass train B?

Why hate love?

For the people who have read all my entries, that should be making sense right about now... :P

I hoped that someday it would happen, and I think it finally has. It's been my most common topic, probably because it is what I am looking for the most right now. I just have a compass needle inside me that's always pointing me in that direction. Now I pray it will have all payed off.

Ok, so maybe I use this example too much, but it just goes to show how simply it can be stated. Now medically, maybe that's what I'm feeling, but medical descriptions can only go so far. It's so much more than what you can just write out in words. Love is something you have to experience to know. That's why my only thoughts are on her. But now I need to take the next step. Question is, what is the next step, and how do you get your feet to move?

Egotistic much?

As humans, we have the internal need to be liked by others. We will do anything to gain approval. Some examples:

In social studies class, our teacher posted the range of marks for our position papers, from 10/30 up to 30/30. All I hear after that is, "I bet I got that 10." A very wise friend of mine once told me/reminded me that this behaviour is self seeking and egotistic. Do we honestly thing that we are going to so astronomically fail that paper? No. Why we say that is we want the people around us to say, "oh no, you'll do great. In fact, you'll probably get 30. I got the 10 I'm sure." And around & around it goes. SO what's happening here is people are subconciously asking for praise, and they get it. It's a har habit to break too. I've been trying, but it's just so natural.
"Just because you fail, doesn't mean you didn't try".
And now an additional note, all those people who said they'd get 10/30 got in the 20's. Ha!

That's my only example right now, but I might come back to it soon.

Graham

Love is in the air...

I love this comic. Fred does an interesting portrayal of how some people view love in a negative light, while Copper is optimistic.

On a side note, I want to name my kid Copper now.

K9

This is Jenna, and she is the most amazing dog. I won't bother to explain all the reasons I love her, because that can only be felt between the two. So I'm just going to let the picture do the blogging.

copper

It's an amazing comic I just found. The artist does one a month, but they're just SO beautiful. I put this right up there with Calvin and Hobbes.

copper

Health Concerns

What's up with people these days? Do we have no regard for our health at all?

Example 1:
I am sitting near the front of a bus (Calgary Transit), yet I can clearly hear the music from someone's headphones near the back of the bus. Like, what's the point of blasting your eardrums to nothing? To block out ambient noise? Well now the problem is that you're creating more noise, and people have to block THAT out. So why not just turn it down to a level where you can hear people talking? At least that way you'll still be able to 20 years from now.
That also brings to light the fact that hearing-aid companies are going to do very well soon. Time to invest I guess.

More to come later...

I saw a film today, oh boy....

It was called "Tough Guise" and it was about masculinity problems today. It may sound like a boring CALM movie, but it actually brought up some really good points. Really, as males, we will all at some point in our lives put on the guise of a tough guy, trying to prove our self worth. To me though, all it did was support my conclusion that the media we have today will eventually kill society. There's just so much violence out there, its bound to make an impact sooner or later...

Another film I'm going to see is Elizabeth: The Golden Age. That makes me more excited than no one in particular. I hope it turns out to be a good movie though.

Again, nothing deep. I really should spend more time writing, shouldn't I?

My goodness, I am tired...

This is something I really didn't want to fall into. Getting so slowed down by homework that it's difficult to remember time without homework. And really, I'm not looking forward to next year now. So as I try to figure out long division in math, and explain division of labour in social, (as well as factoring in math and factors of production in social), I feel like a nice, long weekend without homework is required for me to get back up to speed.

I feel bad for not writing something more profound in these past few entries, but I've got a few ideas, just not enough time to write them out.

Thanks everyone for your readership!

The new look!

This is just a simple post to introduce to you the new home of my blog. I decided it was time to switch to something geared a little more toward blogging, and this is sponsored by Google, so Blogger is my choice. You will also notice a little thing called 'comments' at the bottom. Feel free to use them a lot.

All the best,

G

Mrs. Martin

To a lot of you, this won't be very applicable. But it's been on my mind a lot, so I'm going to write about it.

I attended Simon Fraser Junior High school from 2003 to 2006. During that time, for two of the school years, I had the most amazing teacher. Her name is Mrs. Martin. She was the most amazing teacher I have ever had, and frankly, think that I ever will. Her teaching methods, though they seem strict at the time, taught myself and all my peers such great study habits that we cannot imagine what we would be like without her influence. Unfortunately, the time has come that she must retire, and that makes every one (that I know of) of her alumni quite sad. So to honour her, I was thinking it would be amazing to have a thank you present from all the alumni I can contact. Then, by collecting around $5 from every one of them, I would be able to have a large award produced, and we could all come in sometime and present it to her. So here's what my plan is.

First off, I need to go talk to her, and find out if the rumours really are true that this is her last year. That wouldn't be too much fun it it wasn't, and we awarded her before her last year.

Second, I would talk to Mr. Johnston about it, and see what he has to say. I'm sure he would be in full support, and would have many ways of helping us out.

Third, using the power of Facebook and many other means, I would try to contact as many alumni of hers as possible, and have them join a group.

Fourth, I would work hard to become a control centre, and collect/pool all the money that our members would (hopefully) send in. (A side note, I would be sure to use all the money possible, and any extra would be given to her directly).

Fifth, I would create an event so that everyone know exactly when and where to meet (likely the last day of school), and then we would surprise her (good spot for Mr. Johnston's help).

Sixth, we would present it to her, she would break down in tears, and we would all be so happy, because she has changed our lives :).

That is my plan, and I am going to execute it very soon. So, on Thursday I'm going to go talk to her after school, and make sure it's a go. Then I might talk to Mr. Johnston if there's time.

And that's all for now. Dinner time! (it's 7:00 now - I take breaks while writing...)

People Watching

I never realized how interesting people watching can be. Here I am, sitting in a van while the rest of my family shops for groceries in a small farm grocery store. I laugh as I watch the little kid that's overweight for his age carry the pumpkin that he wanted so badly into his equally overweight mother's truck. What a pair. There's another woman, and she's got a camera around her neck. A bald man walks beside me. A kid in those stupid heelies rides by (why don't they ever fall???)

Anyways, it's October. The month of Halloween. There are only a few things I like about Halloween.

• There's lots of candy, even if I don't get to go door to door.
• I get to be artistic;
• I carve a pumpkin, but instead of a face or something like that, I peel just the skin off, so that the light can shine through, and that makes it a lot easier to create intricate designs.
• I create my sister's halloween costume. Last year I made an iPod that was as tall as me. And it looked so realistic. This year I'm making a Starbucks cup, with a giant head of foam for whipped cream.

But other than that, I don't really like all of Halloween. To me, the idea of making things with the only purpose of scaring others just doesn't make any sense. That's really the reason I am so opposed to making a horror film. In my upbringing, I have not seen horror movies. It's really something that has been passed on by my parents. I the idea of making something that my parents don't approve of just doesn't work with me.

Is there any polite way of asking someone who's smoking to stop? It's just that even though I'm appalled by people who are addicted to poisoning themselves, I can't bring myself to get them to stop. [End of post - I ran out of time]

Farewell

No, you're not getting rid of me...

The sun was setting in the West,
The birds were singing on ev'ry tree
All nature seem'd inclined to rest,
But still there was no rest for me.

Farewell to Nova Scotia,
The sea bound coast!
Let your mountains dark and dreary be,
For when I am far away
On the briny ocean toss'd
Will you ever heave a sigh
And wish for me?

The drums they do beat
and the wars do alarm.
The captain calls, we must obey,
So farewell, farewell to Nova Scotia's charms,
For it's early in the morning
And I'm far, far away.

Farewell to Nova Scotia,
The sea bound coast!
Let your mountains dark and dreary be,
For when I am far away
On the briny ocean toss'd
Will you ever heave a sigh
And wish for me?

I grieve to leave my native land,
I grieve to leave my comrades all,
And my parents whom I held so dear,
And the bonny, bonny lass that I do adore.

Farewell to Nova Scotia,
The sea bound coast!
Let your mountains dark and dreary be,
For when I am far away
On the briny ocean toss'd
Will you ever heave a sigh
And wish for me?

I have three brothers and they are at rest
Their arms are folded on their breast
But a poor simple sailor just like me
Must be tossed to death in the dark blue sea.

Farewell to Nova Scotia - Traditional

You can ask me any time what my favourite song is, and that will probably be my answer. I've never been to Nova Scotia, nor do I have any emotional connection to it. I simply love the song, and feel a strong emotional connection with those who would sing it - sailors. It was introduced to me while sailing on the Pacific Swift with SALTS. I love sailing. It's just amazing. And the song just perfectly illustrates the heartaches and dangers those sailors went through.

When I think about it, I'm a romantic at heart. My dream jobs are

• Director

• Tall ship sailor

• Parks Ranger

• Philosopher

To be paid for those things would be quite amazing. So maybe they're not too romantic, but they're, different. I don't know how else to describe it.

So I"m sitting at this computer, typing into a digital journal. In the room beside me, my family and some friends are listening to some really good old music. The record player is turning slowly, and the music brings back memories, even if I don't have them yet. Then again, do I really want to think back to the good old days of the music of Eminem and all those rappers that do nothing to make us happier? What about the carefree lifestyle that can be looked back on so happily by the older generation among us? I don't want memories of the music I'm living with right now. It sucks. I hate popular music. That's not totally true actually. I do like lots of it, but certainly not all of it. If I were to listen to every song on a person's iPod, I would dislike about half of them. Especially if it's hard rock. Then I really despise it. In fact, I'm liking this old music on the records. Happy music that makes you smile, especially with friends. Now we've got that dark emo junk that does nothing to improve our lives, it just complains about it. Maybe I'm way out of line with my facts here, but that's just the way I'm feeling right now.

AMAZING GRACE!

^^^Best song in the world IMO^^^

I was practising my horn a while ago, and it was amazing, because I practised outside. And by outside, I mean right by the calmest water there is, and the notes just bouncing and hanging off the mountains. Filled with emotion, Amazing Grace found it's place among those stones and water drops. I'm hoping someone will take a picture of me playing on the rocks. That would be very photogenic.

Anyways, I've had very little to say of substance, just my musings. Then again, my quota of deep thoughts are written in my previous post. This is just because I wanted to write something. So thanks for reading.

Peace.

New Formats

If you've been reading this blog lately, you will have noticed some changes. First off, I've added a title to the newer posts now, and the addition of colour to the date/title and to some key words in the text. As well, even though it's not too important, the date format now has periods between the numbers rather than slashes, just be

cause I think it looks cool. Finally, the time of post is a part of the title. This is the time that I started writing. All times will be in Alberta time unless otherwise specified. So there you go, the summary of changes.

Addiionally, you might have noticed the absence of ads on this blog since it's inception. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, I've never liked flashy ads when I'm trying to read, and wouldn't want people being distraced by stupid ads when contemplating the deep philosophical topics on here. Second, because I'm not 18 yet, I wouldn't be able to get any profit from the ads. So basically, if I ever do introduce ads, you can be sure they will be plain text ads, and that I will profit from every click :D

Ok, I'll write up my last description of my 3 most powerful words in English. The last one is really actually a word that belongs with a question. I hear it all the time, and can be one of the hardest questions to answer. That word is why. Or more commonly, "Why?", because we almost always will phrase it as a question. In fact, can you think of any use of why that isn't a question? I certainly can't...

I allude to Calvin and Hobbes a lot here, but that is simply because they make such great points. This next strip illustrates one of his better why questions.

Just for everyone's information, I'm using transmogrifier.org to get all my Calvin and Hobbes strips.

It's not a direct why question, but it might as well be. And it really poses a good question. Why do we fight with each other? It just doesn't make too much sense. But the reason why is my third most powerful word is not because of the questions it poses, but because it creates a reason for change. If we just accept things for the way they are, nothing will ever change. Case in point, if no one ever questioned why we fight in wars, nothing could be done about it. So because of the use of why, changes can be made by those who ask it. Again, if we didn't ask why we do things, nothing would happen. It is because of why that changes happen.

I don't have many other arguments for the use and power of why, but I'm going to leave that to you. Think about what the words hate, love and why mean to you, and how they apply to your lives. Just keep it in mind when you use those words, and see how seriously you're using them. Do you really hate school? Do you really love those shoes? Are you serious when you ask why?

Graham

Love.....again...

When I first got into this car, I wasn’t too excited about traveling for 7 hours. This wasn’t helped by the fact that my parents couldn’t agree about who’s fault it was that we hadn’t left on time. So that made the first 2 hours awful, with everyone pouty and not too happy. Thankfully, we then had dinner, and put on some music. I swear, music can cure anything. I want to be a doctor and just write out prescriptions for music and laughter. They certainly seem to help. Either way, Stuart McClean has helped make the mood a lot lighter in this van, quickly speeding West to Shuswap lake.

I promised a second installation on those 3 powerful words.

My second one is the exact opposite of hate, and it might just be stronger. That word is love. Now, I know I’ve mentioned love many, many times on this blog. That’s one proof of just how powerful it is to me.

Here are my reasons. First, there are millions of stories, plays, songs, movies, notes, letters, sonnets, and blogs about love. When you think about it, there aren’t a ton of stories, plays, songs, movies, notes, letters, sonnets, and blogs about hate. If you have ever felt the feeling of love in your heart, (or your brain, if you want to be scientific about it…) you would understand how so many writers can spend their entire lives rhyming and composing about the word.

L, is for the way you look at me

O, is for the only one I see

V, is very very extraordinary

E, is even more than anyone could more adore…

Love is a powerful thing by any definition. I don’t have a dictionary with me, but love is not something easily defined anyways. There is only one man who defined it for me, and I believe him to be the best philosopher of his time. His name is Hobbes – not the French Philosopher, but the cartoon character.

Though it may not be a completely ‘medical’ definition, it does allude to the complexity and variation of feelings we feel when we ‘fall in love’.

As a side note, we have the phrase of “fall in love”. What does that mean? I once read about how cancer is seen as a much more harmful disease than it actually is (and that’s not to say it isn’t hard, I understand the difficulties) because people use war analogies to describe it – “Battle cancer” or “Fight cancer” come to mind. So if it’s possible for just the context of a word to alter one’s feelings towards it, can the same be said for love? What if you were said to ‘fly to love’ or ‘drift in love’? They sound awkward to say, but ‘falling in love’ doesn’t make much sense either.

When you’re in love, things seem to take on a whole new shape and form. Imagine that you are suddenly forced to look at everything with glasses that distorted the world in the manner of the bottom of a wine bottle. Everything is out of proportion to what we see normally. (That brings to light the thought that if we were raised looking at life through such distortion, would it become as natural as sight is to us?). We would feel as if every part of our life is thrown out of balance. I often find it amusing to talk to young elementary students (particularly the male variety) on the topic of love, because they view it as disgusting and strange. Perhaps that stems from the unease felt with such a topic. Indeed, at such a young age, not much is known about love and how one is to feel about love at that age. Being a great lover of the Calvin and Hobbes comics, I enjoy the progression of understanding I uncover from the words of those young philosophers. (Another story would have to be that I learned what a psychiatrist was because of C&H).

What I’m getting at here is, love is something that doesn’t make much sense to those who haven’t felt it. If you have never shared love with another person, I will attest that it is a wonderful feeling that everyone should feel.

The upsetting part about love today though is the fact that more people are unable to stay together nowadays. Divorce rates (though I don’t have access to actual numbers) have skyrocketed in the past decades. It seems that people just don’t love the same way any more. There’s the simple love, and that’s the just-graduated-love-of-my-life love, and the let’s-have-sex love, and the I-love-you-for-a-limited-time love. And then there's the intense-never-ending love. In the past, those couples would stick together for their entire lives, through thick and thin, dying in each others arms. Now if people stay together for 15 years, they’ll have surpassed the national average! It’s crazy talk.

Either way, love drives our world, if not less than it did in the past. That’s why I think it deserves to be one of the 3 most powerful words in English.

There’s a calm surrender,
To the rush of day,
When the heat of the rolling world,
Can be turned away…
An enchanted moment,
And it sees me through,
It’s enough to make Kings and Vagabonds,
Believe the very best…
And can you feel, the love tonight,
How it’s laid to rest,
It’s enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far…

Ok, I don’t want to write up another explanation on another word, so I’ll let you stay in suspense for one more day. Hopefully it’ll be interesting enough for you.

One other thing I’m thinking about right now is switching to another format of hosting. The only reason for that is for you, and your comments. What I’m thinking is having something like Blogger become my new host for this blog, and that would allow you to comment on what you read here. The only thing about that is that I enjoy the HTML abilities of Google Page Creator. If you just read my blog though, you don’t need to care.

Anyways, I’ve had enough of typing, and it’s getting pretty dark out, so I’m going to call it quits. Thanks for reading, and please send me an e-mail or make contact of some sort, and we can discuss any topic you want. I like talking.

Peace & Blessing,

Graham

Three little words...

They may be just three more words in the dictionary, but they really decide how we live every day of our lives.

Last night, as I was falling asleep, I was thinking about what I might want to write in my blog today. I was reading an article on WikiHow about how to write a good blog article, and it said to basically write deep, and to start with something to capture the readers attention. I couldn't come up with anything really deep, so the first line is my best try so far.

Anyways, the words. The first one is hate. Merriam Webster defines it as intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury and extreme dislike or antipathy. This is my first word because it has driven so much of our world, and it has such an intense emotional background to it. Using an example that we've been covering in school, Napoleon hated Great Britain, and therefore started many battles with them. This hate caused hundreds of thousands of people to die. When we say things like, "I hate this class", or "I hate this", we typically aren't doing the word justice.

If you've ever said "I hate you" to someone, and really meant it, that should really have shocked the person. I've said it about 3 times in my life, when I've felt extreme anger against someone (mainly my parents). Immediately afterwards, with a bit of reflection, I realized that I really couldn't hate my parents. It was just pointless. There are many reasons why hate is one of my three strongest words, so I'm not going to write them all.

And since I'm running out of time in this spare I have, I'm going to have to make you wait for the other 2 words in the coming days.

Ok, ok, I've been a bad blogger. Once again I've fallen into the trap of forgetting about this writing medium I've got. I know there aren't a lot of people who read this, but every once in a while someone does, and then talks to me about something I've said, and it just totally makes my day. Even better, some people will not just read my most recent entry, they'll actually read all the way to the bottom. And that's wonderful. It makes me happy to know that people like what I have to say.

A while ago, someone said to me "They must be running out of ideas, because they just keep redoing the same movies over and over again." Who ever that was, and I don't remember who, I think you're wrong. The film industry (and all the other creative industries) do not have a set number of ideas that will eventually run out. It's not like the big jar of cookies that's so huge that you can't ever think you'd reach the bottom of, but eventually do. No, the ideas are endless. One reason I could understand this statement though is, as an audience, there are just some ideas that we wouldn't be entertained by, and that's a limiting factor on creativity. So really it's not the ideas that are running out, but our public tolerance. Or something like that.

A wise man (my dad actually) once told gave me a description of Forever. Imagine, if you will, that there is a rock of fantastic hardness the size of your house. There is a man who will gently rub that rock with the softest cloth in the world everyday for one minute. Think of how long it would take for him to rub that rock down to the size of a grain of sand. That is nowhere near Forever. Now imagine him doing that again, and again, until he had as much sand as there is on Earth. Again, you're nowhere near Forever. Basically, Forever is something that Humans are not given the mental capacity to fathom. Forever has no end point. Forever = . What sparked this explanation was my question of eternal life through God. [Now some of you will want to skip over such a blatant religious topic. Please bear with me.] For those of you who do not know, God has promised us eternal life with him in Heaven, if we only accept his friendship - a club if you will. Now, eternal life sounds like something from a SciFi film, but it's not - it's totally real. When we die, our souls will leave our bodies and travel to the gates of Heaven. This is the final deciding point. Those who have accepted God as their Savior and friend will be allowed eternal life in Heaven, while (most unfortunately) those who do not will end up suffering in Hell. I do not treat this lightly friends, and even though people will always joke about the parties in Hell, I promise you there won't be. And I'm not afraid to say Hell, because it's as real a place as Edmonton or Florida. The thing is, some people just can't give up their pride and accept God. And that's going to end them up in Hell. I'm not a 'fire and brimstone' guy, but sin will put you right in there with the worst of them. Let me summarize a few books of the bible here. We are born into a world of sin, and that can't be changed by us. Fortunately, God loves everyone (really) so he sent his kid (Jesus) to live amongst us. That's no small thing either. Because Jesus was the son of God, he was without sin, and therefore was able to go to Heaven. But God had other plans. He made the rulers of the time have Jesus executed by the Cross (crucified), and put all the sin of every person in the world on his shoulders. Then Jesus died with the sin, and cleared the path for every person to go to Heaven. Some people call Jesus "a great man" and I agree, but there's so much more to it, as I just wrote above.

Now consider this. Your only son who you love so much has just died for others, and that's going to allow them to live without their sins. I'd be kind of upset at the people for sinning in the first place, so I'd want to make it hard for them. God's not like that. All he asks for is that we ask his forgiveness for our sins and that we will follow him. Sounds easy, right? In a sense, it is. You say the magic words, and POOF! you've been guaranteed eternal life in Heaven. And really, it can be just like that. But God also calls us to spread the word, to love others, etc etc, and to keep ourselves free of sin. That doesn't mean that once you're a Christian you can't sin. Heck, I sin all the time. The difference is, I can ask for forgiveness, and like the loving father that he is, he gives us his grace.

So I've gone off on a tangent here, but what I've really wanted to say was, eternal life is within your grasp. No one's going to make you jump into a Christian costume, you're just going to be asked to do what God calls you to do. And Christians are a nice bunch. I can almost guarantee you that you know at least one, and for the most part, they're some of the nicest people you could know. But enough about that for now. If you've read through all that, and are still interested, please e-mail me and I'd be glad to talk to you more.

I finally understand how people with a handicap feel. If you have somehow been left out of a large portion of the history of my life, then let me tell you now that I play the French Horn. And quite well too. Anyways, I just recently had braces installed on my upper and lower teeth. And sharp metal brackets and a solid metal mouthpiece with a flab of skin vibrating between them is not the most pleasant of all experienced. Anyways, because of the physics of French Horning, erm, French Horn playing, the braces and subsequent wax layer I use to protect my lips result in my not being able to play the notes that would normally be in my higher range. That may not seem like such a handicap, until you realize just how nice it is to play high notes. There are times when I'm playing a piece with a lot of passion in it, and the horn line just goes ripping up into the statosphere, and I'm stuck on the launch pad. I get to play the low harmonics, but it's just not as fun as showing off your high, high C (French Horns will understand). So yeah, after a 2 hour rehearsal, I can hardly play a high C. Let alone anything above that.

So now I'm stuck with the problem of what to do. As far as I know, I have 3 options. I can buy some sort of brass-players mouthguard that fits over the braces, except they're only avaliable online. Second, I can continue to go through cases of wax every time I play, and get my orthodontist to pay for that. Or, I can do as my dad suggests, and squeeze hot glue onto the top to make a semi-pernament cover for my braces. I'm just not sure I like the idea of that hot gun beside my mouth....

Anyhoo, that's my probelm. And handicap. And heartache.

TTFN - Ta Ta for Now

I'm just going to post a few simple thoughts, all of which are totally unrelated.

Life is such a rollercoaster.

Humans are stupid.

^ This one's for T. ^

Shuswap lake is such a beautiful thing. I can get up at any time I like, take whatever I want for breakfast, and laze around until noon. Or, I can get up at 6, jump in the lake, and go waterskiing. Today I stayed in bed till 8, made some coffee for those who wanted it, and now I'm here at the computer typing into my blog. I'm feeling quite relaxed as I head into today, and I'm wondering what it is that I'll do. So far I'm just feeling motivated to work on my future film Waiting for Yesterday. I don't think I'll say anything about it just yet though, to keep you in suspense. Oh, here's a good joke (unrelated to WFY).

The little boy says to his grandpa, "Grandpa, can you make a sound like a frog?"

"Well I guess I could, but why do you ask?"

"Because Mommy says that when you croak, we can go to Hawaii!"

From the mouths of babes... :P

I really wish I knew how many people are reading this. I don't mind if no one's reading it, but really, it would make me feel so much better if people did. So maybe it's boring and random, but at least there's some substance here. How about this: if I write something profound, will you consider sending a link to your friends? Or maybe bookmarking this page? Well, here goes:

In nature, there is one thing that drives every animal - the will to survive. Behind that is the idea of 'survival of the fittest'. That means that in a group of say, elephants, when they are moving away from their predators (lions), some will be able to move faster than others. The slowest elephant will be the one that is killed, and therefore the entire herd is that much faster. "A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link". Now, it sounds harsh that only the strongest animals should survive, but that's exactly how natural selection works. Now if we look at humans, we'll see the opposite - when a person is close to death, we spend thousands of dollars trying to keep them alive, when really we should be letting them die. Ouch, that didn't sound so nice, did it? But really, we need to let all the sick people die so that our species can be that much stronger. Is Euthanasia on humans legal in Canada? I think it should be. Hmmmmm, this argument is so much better in person. Still, it sounds kind of profound, right?

There's this guy called Aesop. He wrote a book full of fables, and I'm going to look for that as soon as I get home in 2 days. They're short little stories that have an often applicable lesson built in. If you ever get a chance, please take a look. I might start writing a few on here, depending on if I find it or not.

That's about all I feel like writing at the moment, so again, thank you for reading, and I hope you'll visit again soon.

Graham

I was wrong. I gave up on writing a blog because it took too much time, and I just didn't have enough to write about. This isn't what I had intended to have happen when I began – I had been wanting to be one of the rarities that was a blog that lived. That idea never took off too well. But now I've had a long summer of adventures, and really the only people I can share it with are those whom I actually am able to talk to. That might just be the best way, but writing is really a good skill, and even I could do with some practice. On top of that, I'm also learning how to touch type (without the stupid 'home row' technique). Right now I'm typing this on a laptop in a van traveling from Ucluelet to Calgary (though not all in one trip). I have just left Kamloops, and while typing this, I'm looking out the window, enjoying what little scenery it has to offer as we race by at 110 kilometers per hour. So this is really a good time to muse on my digital notepad to those few individuals, like yourself, will read. I'm wondering if anyone who has read my blog has also visited Kamloops. Where are all these people in their big gas guzzling vehicles going in such a rush? This big winding strip of black pavement just encourages us to go from A to B, while skipping the A.1 and A.2 in between. There must be billions of stories flying past me at this very moment. Why has that barn just become run down? What made that person build a house so out of the way? Who lives in that little house? Maybe they aren't all that interesting, but we'll never know, will we? Unless we stop and consider what is around us, we'll never know what we've just driven by at 110 kilometers per hour. That cargo container on that train could have anything in it, but I haven't the slightest clue. It could be the clothes I'll be wearing, the food I'll be eating, or something I'll never even come in contact with. What was the life of those little Chinese men who built the railway like? Who drives the trains? God, I could ask these questions forever, and really, none of them will ever be answered – because I don't look for an answer, I just expect it to come to me when I ask it. I know myself that if I want to succeed in the film industry, or anything for that matter, I'll have to ask less questions, and pursue more answers.

Story time. I was in grade 6, and my multimedia/music teacher Mr. Bottemly decided to try doing a little thing called a 'Middle School Update' – basically a short video presentation that showed what was going on in our school. Anyways, I was intrigued by that, and I really wanted to be a part of the next one. The problem was, I was too scared to ask if I could do it, because Mr. B had mentioned that he was going to get some grade 8's to do it. Then in the parking lot of the Brentwood Co-op, I had an epiphany (I think I'm using that right :P) and realized that I'm never going to get anywhere if I don't ask for it. In the end, Mr. B let me do it, and all went well. I still have the video, but I don't think I'll be showing it to anyone too soon as it's pretty bad. So the moral of the story is – if you don't ask, why would someone ever think of asking you?

Wow, I'm really liking this again. It used to be a chore, but now it feels almost like I'm actually talking to someone – mainly you. Being away on vacation means that I don't really have a lot of people to talk to. One exception to that was just a few days ago when I went Sea Kayaking with some friends of our family. After dinner, three of us started talking out of boredom, and we hit some really deep topics. I'm talking Scuba-diving here. For example, we talked about how we might all be blind, and really all we 'see' is made up. So when I'm looking at another person, they look like what I've always considered a human to look like, but if I saw what they were seeing, I would look totally different. Or, I was able to put forward a theory to disprove time travel. I'll write it out separately:

Firstly, time travel to the future is impossible, because the future does not exist yet. What that means is that we have not been presented with the options that we will be, and have not made our decisions that those options will require; therefore the future does not exist, and will not until it happens. Second, time travel to the past cannot exist (in the form that we would interact with the past) because there has been no time in history that someone has recorded a visit from the future. So imagine that you are going to travel back to the year 1999, December 31^st at 11:55. If you went to Times Square in New York, and then stepped out of the machine, hundreds of people would see you, and millions would see you on TV, and therefore the world would know that time travel would exist. That hasn't happened though, has it? So unless in the future there is some way that travelers are concealed from the past, it never will be possible. Period.

Those are two of the many 'deep' topics we touched down on. And now I'm going to have a go at another. One of the weirdest possible emotions and feelings humans can have – love. And in particular, who will I love? I'm going to be self-centered right now and only talk about myself. I have never had a girlfriend. But as I am now going into grade 11, I'm noticing that a lot more people are in relationships, yet I still have no one to spend my time with, and give my love to. This isn't a personals ad, nor a complaint, just musings, and questions that I'm am looking for answers to. Having just spent a week and a half by the ocean, I have been washed over with a wave of romanticism. I would love to walk down Long Beach at sunset, hand in hand with someone I have deep feelings for, and just talk about whatever comes to mind, or even just take in the sounds of the ocean rolling in. Not a relationship that is sexual, just one where I can know that my feelings of love are being returned in full. The only problem with that is that pretty much every time I've heard of this happening, relationships have fallen apart. If I said I loved her, I don't think I would be able to just stop when times were rough. I want dedication, but it seems as if in today's culture, that's a pretty big requirement that lots of people aren't able to commit to. Divorce, cheating, adultery – what will it take to have just honest, pure, unassuming and total love? Is it that hard to do? I guess I wouldn't know, as I've never been in the standard love relationship. Still, in the past people would stay together for life – the idea of divorce was hardly ever brought up. Now it's happening every day – no one seems to go untouched by it. You could say that the new standard is to get married, and then divorce as soon as you get tired of each other. That's really no way to solve a problem. If it doesn't work, give up and try again? What's the point of even getting married then? I might as well just say this then – to my future girlfriend: I will do whatever possible to love you in the fullest, to be as romantic as possible, and to know when we spend too much time and when we don't spend enough. I will listen to your opinions, and treat you like you should be treated – lovingly. In return, all I ask is that you would do the same for me, and love me till we can love no more.

I hope you didn't find that corny, because that's not what it was intended to be. I want love! Agh!

There is one song by ABBA (you'll be able to download it by Saturday on the right, even though I shouldn't) that for some reason just makes me come to the point of crying. Even though it's from a woman's point of view, it really just describes how I know I'd feel if she left me. Please listen. I want to know if anyone else feels this way. Send me an e-mail. I want to know. I promise that I'll respond. I like human contact. That's about all I can say right now. I'm arriving at my destination of ShuswapLake, where I'll be staying for a few days, and then heading back to Calgary. So depending on what the weather's like, I might write another entry before then. So, thanks for reading this (or skimming it), because I really appreciate having someone actually make use of what I've written. And, as always, send me an e-mail to let me know what you think.

Graham

This is depressing - last post = May 7th. I'm starting to understand why so many blogs just die. When you write something on a regular basis, you need some kind of motivating force to keep you writing, otherwise you'll just put it off for a few days, and a few more, until you aren't writing at all. This wasn't my plan, because I had wanted to be writing something every day, or every other day. Not once a month, like I'm doing now. Anyways, you might as well just assume that this blog is dead.

Bye!

Well so much for posting every day. Sorry for anyone silly enough to actually want to read this stuff. I promise that I will never just stop writing without writing a last entry to tell you. I don't think that would be fair.

A lot has been happening since April 25th - I went to Banff for band camp, I enjoyed the great weather and the not so great weather, all that fun stuff. So it's not that I'm unmotivated to write, it's just so nice to be outside without a huge winter coat on.

I've also decided to quit doing the question and answer things, because I'm finding them kind of boring. I might put out a question here or there, but not every entry.

I was reminded today of my love for a certain gemstone. The Tigers Eye. For quite a while when I was in grade 3 or around there, I was determined to become a geologist. Therefore, I began collecting rocks. Those little stands that have boxes of gems in a souvenir store were a favourite of mine. One such gem was the Tigers eye. As you can see from the image to the right, it's a very pretty gem, with a gold/bronze colour (although it can be found in many colours). I can still remember bringing in a piece of tigers eye to school, and my well informed teacher telling me that tigers eye is said to bring luck when you squeeze it. That just totally got me going. Of all the gems in my collection, the tigers eye was the prize of it. Over time, I realized that geology wasn't really my passion, so I kind of just let the rocks fall. I still have my tigers eye though. And now it's come back to me. And I'm thinking, well, tiger's eye is such a descriptive name. Tiger's eye productions? Looked it up, and it's taken. But what about a twist? Tygers eye productions? So now I have to decide whether to give up Canadian Scouter productions for Tyger's eye productions, or to stick with what I've got. That's the dilemma I'm in. Please let me know what you think of the name.

Question time:

If a new medicine were developed that would cure arthritis, but cause a fatal reaction in 1 percent of those who took it, would you want it to be released to the public?

That's certainly a question of morals. I am going to take the standpoint that if it causes a reaction, there must be a reason, so I say find that reason, and then only let people who won't be affected take it - make it a prescribed medication. For example, if one percent of people with arthritis had a natural deficiency of a chemical in their blood, to the point that it would kill them to take the medication, then require a blood test before prescribing the medication to anyone.

Life, as usual, is stupidly busy. When do we get some time to ourselves? I can't wait for the weekend, so I can have a bit of time to myself (then again, I'll be at band camp, and there's not a lot of free time booked.

If you could spend one year in perfect happiness, but afterward would remember nothing of the experience, would you do so? If not, why not?

Well, as questions usually do, this question leads to another question. What is perfect happiness? And how could we achieve this? I'm sure that everyone has their own definition of happiness, but may not exactly know what that is. I for one, really don't know what perfect happiness is. I guess it could be life without problems or obstacles, but then life becomes dull. Truly, how enjoyable would life be if we didn't encounter a stumbling block here and there?

Back to the question, I think I would take up that experience, because the idea of happiness is appealing to me (as I'm sure it would be to anyone). But to not remember any of it would be a bit of a let down, especially if you knew that you would forget all of it at the end.

And now for a little philosophical thought. When you own a piece of land, do you own it all the way down to the centre of the earth? If so, that would mean that everyone is neighbours with everyone else in the world, and that we all have oceanside lots!

Well I guess it's about time I wrote something new. Not that there's anything new happening for me right now.

Do you believe in ghosts or evil spirits? Would you be willing to spend a night alone in a remote house that is supposedly haunted?

Well, my gut feeling is that I don't want to believe in spirits, but I know that if I let my imagination run loose, I'll be tempted to think that there are. If I had the choice, I wouldn't spend the night in a remote house, especially if I were asked to spend it alone.

Ok, I've answered the question, and now I've got something to talk about. I was attempting to set up a movie for my sister, and after waiting for a minute, I realized that the disk wouldn't read. Looking at it, I found it to be deeply scratched all over it's face. What drives a person to vandalize? I spend enough time on Wikipedia to see that there are millions of people who would just love to ruin something for another person. I suppose it's the anonymity of it all - you can vandalize, and the chances of you getting caught are really slim. But think about it - the DVD rental place will have a record of who had the video out last, and can go and check to see who scratched it up. I'm not talking about little hairline things here either. These look like sand paper or steel wool. I mean, if people feel driven to do stupid things like this, then how can we defend our race as being intellectually superior? At least the gorillas don't feel the urge to make a mess of their lives.
We, being Homo Sapiens are pretty dumb at times. Ok, maybe not all of us, but when you average it out, I don't think it's very high. Would an intelligent race develop weapons of mass destruction simply to hurt some of it's fellow beings? Then again, we do so as a fight for supremacy and land, and the grizzly bear will fight to death for the same reason. Are we equal, if not lesser than a grizzly?