Posts for Sarah ... edition 1

So ... hmm ... not much to say yet. Flights were delayed everywhere. 

It's snowing!

I know I said there would be no more posts this year ... but it's snowing! For over 12 hours now :) (well ... not quite I guess ... but almost). We were having our house dinners last night and BAM! IT started snowing. So of course a whole bunch of people ran outside and started dancing around and screaming and stuff ... but the truth is that it wasn't really snowing. But then, after all the dishes were done it was really snowing. There was snow staying on the ground. People were making snowballs .... however the snow wasn't really all that sticky so they were more like handfuls of puffy snow. But the idea was nice! :) So Rhubs and I headed around campus in search of Sarah to fully celebrate her first snow (Rhubini's that is, not Sarah's!). Most peoples' first snow. However, not before I left the kitchen and found Rhubini hiding in her bed. She was excited when it was first "snowing" however when it got real she got cold and ran away to hide in her bed! Well ... that just wasn't acceptable! So of course, I found her, introduced her to the concept of ski pants, three sweaters, hats, ski gloves (which I still had from skiing last year) and other such important items of clothing. And one of the many many hills around here had been turned into a sledding hill. It was covered in ice because so many people had been walking up and down it as the snow fell in order to get their dishes into the cafeteria for washing. And Juan Pablo had the sledding cafeteria tray out. It's a passdown from when there were snows in past years. It has snowboarding stickers on it. Just an extra detail. So people were sliding down the hill and stuff. IT wasn't a very long route, but for some reason it was highly exciting, you sort of went down the hill and then it veered off sideways and you ended up outside the math room. However, after most of the people left, Juan Pa realized that if you started far enough to the left you could steer a tiny bit with your hands and not fall off the sidewalk, hence going much further. Of course, after the sidewalk, there was a drop-off. Basically, there was a thick tree stump (BC size trees ... not Manitoba size north-wind eaten babies) and then a grassy (now snowy) slope all the way down to the student common room. So when it was my turn to go down the lengthened route, I of course didn't manage to stop and ended up going around the stump haphazardly and all the way down the cliff. I use the word cliff lightly. Definitely more extreme than any MB sledding I've ever done, but for those of you who were there, you know it wasn't entirely a cliff! Anyways, I ended up going over the cliff.o the problem is, the first part is basically a drop off, which meant that the as soon as I passed the stump, the people at the top couldn't see me anymore. But it was so exciting! So that became the new game, achieve the precise steering required to go over the cliff. It was great fun. And then we woke up this morning (or okey, I woke up this morning, I think I may the one of the only one's awake!) and it's still snowing :) The trees are covered and the snow is almost a half a foot deep. The forecast says it is meant to stop snowing at lunchtime-ish, but the weather will stay below zero so the snow shouldn't be disappearing anytime soon. 

So yeah, that's my story. Just wanted to post it. But I promise, I'm not procrastinating. I'm actually working. Well ... sort of. I'm in the spanish room working the radio equipment for Dani's theatre project this afternoon. So you see, I'm just using time wisely. And now, I'm going to post this and then pull up my chemistry lab and work on it. While still working the radio equipment. Now what kind of multi-tasking is that ?! :) 

On another note, I'm concerned that we may not make it to church today. As of yet, Wayne and Peter haven't come out yet to plow the hill. Without that, I doubt the vans can make it either up or down the hill...

ps. I'm wearing shoes (sort of) ... what a tragedy. 

Happenings in the Life of Pi ... I mean Claire

Okey. Lame humour. I know. I haven't even read the book if that makes it any better. I dunno. You be the jugde. Anyways, here goes the last update before Christmas break. For several reasons. Reason One: During exams I shouldn't be procrastinating by doing things like writing blog posts. Reason Two: It's only seven days until I leave anyways. And I don't have a reason three. Because three is an overdone number. Waaay overdone.

So ... time for some funny stories from the life of Claire. I had a whole bunch yesterday and now I can't remember any of them. Oh! So yesterday, lunch hour. Location: caf. Meal: pizza day ... and about time too! It's been five weeks since our last pizza day! Rhubs, Chit and I sit down at a four person table. We start to eat out pizza. Sherdina joins us. I see a knife and fork on her tray, so I steal them to eat me pizza. She protests slightly but I signal that I'll give them back right away. Of course, I promptly forget that I told her I would give them back. A few minutes later I notice that Sherdina is using a knife and fork. But I'm holding a knife and fork. Following several confused glances, I realize she has stolen them from Chit's tray without her noticing. Nice. Lunch carries on. We really had a long lunch. Ten-ish minutes later (okey, maybe exaggerating slightly), I stick my hands in my pockety and realize that I have a knife and fork in my pocket that I took when I first got in the serving line and then forgot I had. I pull them out to show Sherdina and at the same time realize that Chit is using a knife and fork. By this point I am thoroughly confused. Funny thing is, I still am! Something abotu Rhubini giving Chit her cutlery and yeah ... well I guess that makes sense now. Anyways, it was a very entertaining lunch. Even apart from the cutlery episode.

So I was in a theatre project this week. Basically, some students take theatre as one of their courses here. It's a very intense course, jus tlike everything else here. One of the things they are assessed on is a play or IP (independent project) that they have to prepare, direct, make sets for, write in some cases. So I agreed to be in Chit's play because she wanted dancers. So Anouk and I agreed to help her out. The play itself was an interpretation of the lyrics from Bohemian Rhapsody. It was all about judgement and stuff. Basically, Anouk and I played the role of the chorus and acted out what the main character was sayign through dance movements. Further, she wanted to project newspaper headlines and controvesial court comis onto us as we danced. In order to do this, we had to wear white. But not just white. Oh no, tight skin clinging white. And you know what, white is see-through under stage lights. Thankfully, we discovered this during rehearsal so I wore a bodysuit and tights under my so-called costume. On the brighter side, I had really cool make-up. So yeah, that was my theatre experience this week. Argh. It was funny, we would be wearing our costumes and clothes overtop, because it wasn't hard at all to fit clothes on top when you're practically just wearing another layer of skin!, and then we could get backstage and count down and have that dreadful moment when we would take off the layers and be in those terrible costumes. That was just one of those random things that sometimes happens here ...

Speaking of make-up and dressing up, last weekend the french teacher (for the lower levels and hence not my teacher thank goodness) organized a french event type thinger. For any of you who know Hotel Negresco, that's what it was. But basically, all the french students in his class had to prepare a skit of a movie or a song or poem or speech or whatever and perform it during the evening at this event that he had organized. Then afterwards, there was a movie, a "discotheque", the monopoly set in France and then they all slept in the Max Bell (our theatre) and woke up to a nice french breakfast ... how nice it really was remains a mystery to me. As higher level french students, we didn't have to participate, but our class decided it would be fun to go dressed as different french icons. So we were in class figuring out who everyone would be and were having a lot of trouble with me because of my hair. Finally, it was decided that I would be the Beast and Eve woudl be the Beauty. So Saturday night I got all dressed up and did my make-up and everything. I actually looked realistic! I was so proud. I walked all hunched over and had a rose and everything. It was fun. I took lots of photos, which I will show y'all when I get home. They may be on facebook somewhere already ... hmm ... whatever. Y'all can wait seven days. But man, I could go on broadway with a costume like that. It was so good if I do say so myself.

What else has been going on, oh! On the topic of dressing up, we had our last national day (not sure if I told y'all this already) a few weeks ago. I dressed up as a yodelled. I had the too-high shorts, the white shift, suspenders. High socks. I have to wear shoes in the cafeteria anyways, so I wore hiking boots to fit the character. And I had the funny had and the German beer mug. IT was great. Unfortunately the only thing I can say in a moderatley authentic german accent is "ya, is goud" ... as a result I had a very limited vocabulary for the night!

Ho hum, what else. My bass is going well. I'm playing a concert tonight (the choir Christmas concert). Somehow I got involved in waaay too many aspects of the show. I'm in charge of setting up the technology to record the whole thing, I'm playing bass to accompany the choir as well as singing in the choir, singing in the Thursday singer's group and playing bass to accompany them, singing in a random small ensemble that we pulled together to sing our own arrangement of Go Tell it On The Mountain (I'm so proud of how it turned out! I will definitely be bringing the recording home to show y'all ... it's trully gosepl choir style. The neat thing was that we had no music, we just created the harmonies and decorations and such ... well mostly Falorna did and told us what to do but yeah, its a whole new foray in music for me ... very exciting), and then I'm playing a duet the Elena, my crazy good piano playing roommate. She's playing piano, I'm playing bass. Woot! The new big one mind you. So that's been keeping me busy the past few days.

Last weekend, I had me EE deadline (which I didn't meet, but that's another story altogether). So Sarah and I decided on Saturday night that we needed to isolate ourselves and just work all night and have an EE party. So after the Hotel Negresco we went to our rooms, packed up our laptops and any food we had stored away and headed to the anthro room. It's a nice isolated room where we figured no one would find us. We were mostly right. The people who did find us were friends so it was a good study-break time. I slept two hours that night. I think Sarah slept the same. Basically all I achieved was a lot of eating the good food I had bought earlier that day. The food that was meant to get me through block week (exam week) which in fact isn't till Monday ... however the food is already gone. Wonder how that happened ... ?

Anyways, that is the happenings in the life of Claire for this past while. Not all the happenings clearly, but enough to have some good stories and such. See y'all on Saturday (apart from those who are off galivanting in Toronto! whom I shall see later!).

November is OVER!!

Or at least mine is. And that means I can go back to leading the absurd life I love. Though I must admit, this past week I've been taking more time for the absurd and less time for the studies ... which has resulted in some very late (or non-existent) nights. But let's forget all that. Because my wonderful, wonky, wacked out life is back (how's that for alliteration?). 

So tomorrow is the last national day. European. It's good. I'm actually participating in this one (I just couldn't handle another show where I just watched!!!) despite the craziness of the past few weeks. I'm doing a modern ballet with Anouk and a few others. It's neat. Also, Irish dance and Greek dance. It's sorta interesting, there's a lot of folk dance (by North American definition) in this show. You know, not so many arm movements, lots of feet and lines and circles. It's sort of interesting. I hadn't realized that we didn't have that in the other shows. It actually makes for a bit of a boring show. But not entirely. 'Cause there is some really wonderful stuff in the show as well. Lots of spoken acts about political stuff or history of whatever. It's nice. A lot more informative than your standard show that is just packed full of dances. There's also a fair amount of songs and such. Woohoo! Anyways. 

So my bass has arrived. The BIG one. Yup. It's beautiful. Absolutely magnificent. The art students are crazy about it. Haha. I love it. And my bass teacher is really good. It's really motivating me this year to have good teachers and an exciting challenge in the form of a monstrous instrument to play with. I feel like a real music student again. I love it. I will send a picture someday. I have no idea how on earth I'll go back to just playing my boring electric after this. And not having access to such a beautiful instrument. 

So anyways, this another really short post. I just wanted to celebrate being done with November. Yay! You see, I just finished my chemistry exam. And that is really the last element of November for me. After that it's just normal work load. I'm actually going to town this weekend. First time since the second week of October. 

Life this week ...

Can't even remember when I last posted. Then again, can't seem to remember when anyone else last posted either ... hint hint!

So life has been interesting of late. Lots of strees (emphasis on the LOTS). But also lots of really great stuff. It seems as though the month of madness known as Novembermay be slowing down. And not a day too late might I add.

Some more than interesting stuff has been going on around here and since the deadline for the chemistry lab was just extended from tomorrow morning bright and early to Sunday morning, I figured I would take the opportunity to catch y'all up on the happenings around here. Starting with tonight and then tomorrow and carrying on in a backwards fashion until I get bored. Or my fingers start to hurt. Or I realize that I should really do my french reading before class tomorrow ... oh ... yes. I will need to remind myself of that one.

So tonight I was in the cafeteria eating supper and each Thursday night it is my student job (along with Petros) to empty the compost. This involves taking three monstrously heay bins to the back of the cafeteria, loading them into a trolley type thing (with wheels), dragging it downt o maintenance and emptying it in the compost bins. It's not hard work, but it is cold and wet. And smelly. And as we learnt tonight more life-threating than previously supposed. So we dragged the cart all the way down to the compost bins and they were extra full because yesterday's compost people forgot to empty it. I got there thirty seconds before Petros, just in time to see a monstrous (have I used that word twice already?) raccoon slinking around the compost. But it ran undre the bridge and I assumed there would be no problem. So Petros got there and went to lift the lid of the bins. He lifted it and then dropped it with a shout. "There's a squirrel in there!"
Me: Are you sure its a squirrel and not a raccoon?
Petros: Umm ... no
Me: Because raccoons are sort of dangerous. And I saw one sneaking around here jsut before you arrived.
Petros: Well ... it was one of those things that hangs around the garbage cans by the computer lab and looks at me at night but never does anything.
Me: uh ... yeah ... that's a raccoon ... and they bite.
It took us sometime to decide what to do. Finally Petros got a long stick and we started trying to lever the lid open to see if the thing had escaped. So he finally opens it and I peer inside (from a considerable distance might I add). And lo and behold there are eight eyes looking at me! Needless to say, I scream and Petros drops the lid. I explain that the things still hadn't escpaped. But that they were babies. So we spent about seven minutes playing with the lid and the stick and trying to prop the lid open for proper raccoon removal. Unfortunately we dropped the lid on one of the raccoon's heads after he got too curious. So now we had angry baby raccoons, and a mother near enough. Thankfully, the first year art class walked by on their way to the parking lot for a field trip. So we hailed them and a few of the mroe courageous ones went and opened it up and chased the poor raccoons out. All in all, it was a very harrowing experience in regards to usual compost duty!

And the computer is freezing something awful and I'm afraid to write more in case I lose it. So I will leave you all with this. And the faint hope that I may pos ttwice in one week! Eh?!?

timing is ironic ain't it.

a word before hand: for those of you who are grammar freaks (and I do know of a few who read this) please do not be distraught over the lack of capitalization ... :)

so monday and tuesday is first year first aid training. for second years, its reading week. however, our major english assignment was due on friday evening. so there's really no reading to be done. somewhat ironic. alas, there is still plenty of work to be done. these past few weeks (since getting back from project week) have just been a nightmare. i should have been prepared, everyone knows that november is the worst month at Pearson. but i was not prepared for it to this extent. so not much has been going on at all. at least in my life. nothing but the econs textbook and my math essay. latin american national day is coming up this weekend and for the first time ever i am not involved in anything. no dances, no choreography, not on the show committee, nothing. it's quite strange really. so i've decided that instead of getting depressed and upset about the whole affair, I will spend the saved time writing my EE. that way, when we start the prep for european national day i will have that much less on my plate to get done. 

so life did get exciting these past three days. on friday, all the second year economic students got the day off to go into town and participate in the Fraser institute economic conference. most people were really quite excited about the conference. basically, the fraser institute is an economic think tank which supports (and argues for) public policy rather than government intervention in economies. now, public policy sounds great and all, but as an economic theory it is not very viable and basically it means the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. as you may have guessed, pearson students are very much against such theories. so we had our own think tank on Thursday night with tea and textbooks and came up with a bunch of arguments to bring down the "other side" (being the Fraser folks). it was really quite exciting and a learning experience. boring subjects get that much more exciting when you get to use them practically and move beyond theory. so anyways, we hopped on the buses friday morning at 7:30 and headed downtown for the conference. but wait, I must back up. 

so on friday there were two major assignments due, my math essay and the world literature essay. so thursday night after music class (8:00pm) I went to bed. i intended to sleep only until 10:30, but i ended up sleeping till midnight. so anyways, i woke up at midnight and started work on the math essay, many cups of tea and four hours later i decided it was time to go back to bed. i wasn't done, but i planned to sleep for an hour then wake up, do another hour of math, go to prayer at 6:00 (i have no idea why we scheduled morning prayer at the end of the week where the average hours of sleep are the lowest for the entire year!!!) and then have breakfast and go to the conference. unfortunately, i ended up sleeping until francis and erica came to wake me up for prayer at six. kudos to me, i did not fall asleep during prayer. it was really good actually. we played the street invaders cd and just prayed. it was brilliant. then i went to the caf and had breakfast and go ton the buses at 7:30. this is where we return to the other story. 

so yeah, i could say lots about the conference, but i fear it would bore most if not all of you. basically, it was a really well put together conference. and there was good food on top of that! the presentations were short, about 35 mins. then there was an open microphone question and answer period about the presentation, then we would break off into discussion groups in separate rooms (which meant we got to get up and move about to get there) . the groups were small enough that you were comfortable speaking and that everyone got a chance to voice their opinion. and they changed each time. there were three such segments to the day, two before lunch and one after. all-in-all it was a great conference. and lots of economic ideas and discussion. i think samuel (our teacher) was excited to see us so excited about it. 

that evening when i got back to campus i went straight to the math essay. got it done a few hours before the final deadline. then i was meant to write my world lit, but i just couldn't bear it. i knew that the teacher was out for a vacation till monday morning, so i figured there would be no harm getting the essay in on saturday afternoon. turns out the deadline was extended to sunday night anyways. so i handed in the essay and went to find sarah, who was hanging out with sherdina. so after hanging out we decided that we wanted cheesecake. so we agreed to wake up at 8:30 the next morning and walk to metchosin for a nice breakfast and some cheesecake. so we did. it was nice. once we got back to campus i seriously considered working, but decided that i would rather go to bed for awhile. awhile that turned into 5 hours!!! but it was nice. and i really needed it. 

that evening was the first year theatre performance. in which my roomie Jn proved herself to be phenomenal. she stole the show. without a doubt. so so so good. i can't even get over it. absolutely breathtaking. the rest of the show was good too, but she was great. anyways, as soon as the show was over marina, rhubini and I jumped in andrew sewell's car and hitched a ride to town. there we met up with eve and sherdina and DANA! :) dana is our third year (sherdi and eve's roommate from last year) and she was in for the weekend. so we spent the night in a hostel just hanging out and having fun. it was nice to be away from campus, to be with people i love, and to see dana again. all in all it was a wonderful 24-ish hours. in the morning, we decided to go out for a nice breakfast. as we were leaving for the restaurant, i stepped on a piece of glass, now i've done this before with no repercussion, but this time it was different. it cut into my foot and i started bleeding all over the sidewalk and yeah .. it was interesting. rhubini just finished her first aid certification a week ago, so she was all excited to wash it and band-aid it and such. it wasn't really a big deal. but i was sad to see that somehow my feet had pansied up and become vulnerable to glass. it was quite unfortunate. i suppose i'll have to try harder. not sure how i really can, unless i start jogging on gravel! 

anyways, now i'm back on campus ( i wrote this on sunday night ... not sure when it will be posted) and trying desperately to finish my world lit. it has to be in tomorrow morning around 7:30-ish at the latest. shouldn't take me too long, after all its only a first draft. and then i'll still have two days of freedom. the most exciting part of that is that it's only three days of classes! later. 

I should be working ...

So as the title says, I should be working. But I haven't updated about project week yet and I should. Because it was awesome. So for those of you who don’t know, I was doing invisible theatre for my project week. Invisible Theatre is when you go on the streets and do a pre-planned skit or whatever, but the audience doesn’t know that it is planned. So they think it’s a real situation. The idea is that it forces the public to think about how they act in society and how they treat those around them. So that was my actual project. Marina and I were leading it. However, we were staying at a house that we rented with another two projects. So we worked for part of the day and then when we got back to the house we got to mix and mingle with other Pearsonites so we didn’t get sick of one another. There were only five of us after all. But five stellar people. And we had so much fun. 

SUNDAY: I’m running around campus packing, cleaning and trying to ensure that everyone in my group has cutlery and a sleeping bag. Not an easy task when everyone (including the people I’m looking for) is also running around making sure of something or other. (ps. I only have two hours of sleep because Marina and I were hanging out around campus all night talking and watching dance videos). I finally get to the buses 15 minutes late. But everyone DOES have cutlery and a sleeping bag. So it’s worth it. We get dropped off downtown, say our goodbyes to everyone else. It’s a slightly tearful goodbye as we think it may be the last time we ever see those brave souls who have decided to hike the Juan de Fuca trail. (Don’t worry, we saw them two days ago, they are back and fully alive). Our two groups head out to the house, suitcases in tow. Everyone has given me their money for the house, so my wallet is stuffed with $1680, mostly in $20 bills. We get there, settle in, pay Dawna and then decide we need to go back downtown and get some groceries. So we all head downtown to have a lunch and do some shopping. Bargains galore. Unfortunately, we went a bit overboard on the pasta and have been suffering the repercussions ever since. 

MONDAY: Day one of the project. The other group leaves the house bright and early, our project sleeps in and doesn’t really get started till 11 o’clock. Heck, we’re self managed we can pick and choose whatever hours we want. We decide we want to do a skit about monetary inequality. How? Well ... we decided to go to a restaurant and not be able to pay the bill. Here is our ‘script’. 

venue: White Spot

characters: all of us

idea: people can’t pay the bill

issue: inequality

Pareena and Marina masquerade as international backpackers. Not too far a stretch, they are internationals at least. They go into the restaurant and order their food. Zuzanna goes in a bit later and sits alone quite near them. She plays the sophisticated woman, drinking tea and reading her book (her roles is to intervene if the situation gets out of hand). Claire and Emma come in later and sit near the other two. They are gossipy Canadian teenagers. When the -eena’s bill come, they discover they can’t pay it. They make a fuss, digging through their bags and scrabling to come up with the cash. Claire and Emma start to laugh and point and generally find it really ridiculous that other people have come to eat in a place where they clearly can’t afford to pay the bill. This is where the script ends and reality starts. The waitress asks what’s going on. The -Eena’s explain that they can’t pay. The waitress heads off to find the manager and see what should happen next. A man from the table over goes over to the Eenas and asks whats going on. They explain that they can’t pay. He offers them the cash he has, which is $10. Unfortunately, the girls need about twice that. So he leaves, he doesn’t even leave them the $10. Interesting. So the manager comes over and talks to the girls. Finally, he sends Marina running down the street to a money exchange to change her Brazilian currency into dollars. The exchange doesn’t do conversions with Brazilian money. Oops, so she runs down the street to another one, which is closed at this point. As a last chance, she heads to the harbour (a looong way away) to try the money exchange there. Alas, it is also closed. Meanwhile the rest of us are in the restaurant, dragging on our meals as long as possible to still be there when Marina gets back. The waitress goes over to Pareena to comfort her and tell her everything will be alright. Marina returns about an hour later. She explains that the exchanges were closed, but that she “went back to the hostel” to get her credit card. Guess what? The card doesn’t work. But Marina didn’t know this. It WAS NOT part of the script. so now shes actually panicking. She really can’t pay for her meal. But alas she has another credit card so they finally pay and leave the place. The others of us quickly following suit. 

TUESDAY: We decide to do a piece about teenage pregnancy, but also sort of about judging people based on appearance. It only really involved three of us, and took place on a bus. We ran it several times. I got on the bus dressed as a twenty something (it’s a miracle what fancy clothes and a pair of shoes can do) and sat down quite near the front. A stop later, Zuzanna and Marina got on and sat next to another passenger. They pretended not to know each other. The following stop, Emma (dressed as a pregnant teenager) and Pareena get on. They’re talking and having a good time when I start to ask questions about her pregnancy. How old is she? How far along? Too late to abort? Yes, how unfortunate. Will she keep it? Does she really think she’s responsible enough to have a child? And such. Zuzanna and Marina’s role was that of animators-the people who talk to the public about what is going on and try to engage the public in a discussion or reflection. When we feel we’ve talked enough, we get off the bus in a staggered fashion. We had some interesting reactions. We ran the skit during the after school rush, so we were often on buses stuffed with teenagers. A few girls gave up their seat for Emma once. Mostly, people just judged me for being so harsh towards the ‘poor pregnant teenager’. Interestingly enough, we had no verbal reactions. No one ever took it upon themselves to intervene. 

WEDNESDAY: On Wednesday, we had a fairly relaxed day. Later in the afternoon we went down to the waterfront. Earlier we had gotten a bunch of cardboard boxes which we ripped apart and wrote quotes on. So we sat on the promenade with our poster-ish things and just talked with people. It was nice. We definitely met some interesting people. Our questions were taken mostly from our experiences in the theory of knowledge course, so they were things like “how do you KNOW what you KNOW” and “what is life? where is life? why is life? how is your life?” and “when did you last listen?”. It was good fun. 

THURSDAY: Day off, mostly. We spent the morning preparing our skits for Friday, but in the afternoon we took some time for ourselves. We went and lounged in the sun, watched the sun set, had pancakes and wandered around (not in that order). 

FRIDAY: We went to UVic to do a skit about bottled water. I saw Anne Bateman. Luckily, she didn't see me. The skit was funny. I'm getting tired of typing. Can you tell? 

SATURDAY: This day really deserves a full fledged report. I got to be a homeless person for an hour or so. The skit was me sitting and being a homeless person nearby a bus stop (that was so that people would be stuck there and have to listen and see the scene that went on). So I sat there as a homeless person with no shoes and grungy clothes (not hard, I rarely do laundry) and a college sleeping bag wrapped around me with my little bucket out in front of me for people to drop change in. I have told this story so many times its not even fun anymore. Basically, I made was given a hat, a sandwich, a cigarette, a bottle of water (ironic after the previous day's skit), a place to go to get free shoes, a place to stay for up to three months, $10.02 (more than minimum wage) and most importantly (in my eyes) two people stopped and had conversations with me. It was crazy. Totally changed my view on homelessness. I'm making a radio show about it that should be up fairly soon ... I'll post the link when I'm done with it. 

So that was that. Oh, expect that on Saturday afternoon when we got back to the house we discovered that the toilet was plugged. And in my attempts to fix it, I accidentally flushed it again which meant that poop water went spilling over the toilet bowl and all over the floor and because the house was poorly built it started seeping under the walls and into the carpet on teh adjoining rooms. It was a mess to put it bluntly. And the plunger didn't even work. So Marina and I ended up playing in this crappy water fo ra few hours trying to clean it up. We got quite giddy after awhile. Some say it was the situation, others say it was the vast amounts of Mr. Clean that were wafting through the air. Who knows, all I know is that it was a great experience. Which isn't to say I want to plunge toilets for the rest of my life, no siree bob. But that it ain't all that bad when you come down to it. Just make sure you're doing it with someone amazing and be positive. And try not to remind yourself that in reality you are playing in someone else's poo. It really doesn't help the situation. 

Anyways, I'm back on campus now, have been for a week. Not that it really feels that way because all week I have had my nose in the economics textbook, either for my internal assessment or the exam. But those are done now. This week I have the half interesting half nauseating task of writing my first math essay. Yes Bethany, you heard right. A math essay. Nasty. Yet intriguing at the same time. I also get to write my World Literature essay. Woohoo! My two favourite subjects :) But yeah, thats sort of all the stories I wanted to tell. Now I shall go to bed. We get to "fall back" tonight. So that should be exciting. IT's always a debate right, do you pretend as though you didn't know it was happening and so get an extra hour of work in, or do you take advantage of the strange flip in reality (really, these sorts of things don't just happen. time doesn't just appear!) and sleep in for the extra hour ... since its not taken out of anything. I think perhaps I'll opt for the later. It sounds more exciting. Well ... you know what I mean. 

So this is the photo post ...

Okey, its picture time in no particular order.

First: So those of you who know me will need a bit of an explanation for this. Basically, for house meetings each Sunday night we all dress up. The theme varies each week and you will see several photos from the various different nights over the course of the post. Anyways, one week it was dress like someone else in the house night. So I was dressed as Julia (hence the very un-me typ clothes), Marina in the background was dressed as Rhubini. And Diego (the child I am holding) was dressed as me. Samuel and Bernice our lovely housefellows have a hard time understanding me. They're quite intrigued with my whole choice of lifestyle, etc. It's a very interesting story for another time. Anyways, they dressed their one year old son as me. The scarf, a head band, glasses, and they even gelled him hair in mini dreadlocks, which you can't see in this photo. There is a photo somewhere of me dressed as me, with mini me. I'll find it someday and show it to y'all at Christmas. But you get the drift.


This is Erica and I heading off to church one morning early this year. Erica is Rhubs' roomie this year.

Yarin and I enjoying the sun at Taylor beach. Likely deep in a religious conversation. That seems to be our favourite topic of the season.

This is my hovel this year. Unfortunately the arm of my lamp cuts off parts of the photo, but you get the drift. It's lovely having a bottom bunk this year. I have a suitcase next to my bed covered with a blanket to make a table of sorts. I honestly think I have the most comfortable bed on campus, because I keep finding people asleep in it!!!

This is the photo you've all been waiting for, the roomies. But wait, this was after a house meeting. I promise, we aren't all goth. In fact, we were meant to dress as angels, but we though it would be funny to stand out and go as angels of death. Morbid, yes most definitely. Worth it to see everyones expressions as we entered the room filled with people dressed inw hite bed sheets? Yes most definitely.

Dress like an animal night. Again the room. I was a turtle, Aiya was a jaguar, Elena was a penguin and Jn (I didn't type it wrong, there are no vowels in it) was a duck.

Francis (1st year Bahamas) and I rocking the Junkanoo hats for Afro-Carib National Day.

This is my desk. Don't I look like such a studious student! the top shelf is completely full of books etc. Note the laundry basket under the desk, there is hope yet that someday I will wash the contents of it! :)

I had to put something about the EE experience. Afterall, the reason I'm uploading photos at all today is because I need to get all the photos of my chemicals etc onto my computer so I can start writing the paper. This is the brilliant sign Alex Yukon made for the fumehood. In case you can't read the small print it says:

DO NOT TOUCH

For your own safety/ Our chemicals are dangerous/ Students with ruined EEs are moreso.

This is an error in uploading. It's an ice cream night from last year. Rhubs looks pretty gangster. She's rocking the cornrows. As for Sarah ... well ... lets just say I have better photos. They happen to include her face!

Like I said, error in uploading.

The beautiful sign that adorns the door to Calgary Home Room Three!!!

And Pearson wouldn't be Pearson without a littl ebit of craziness from Rhubini and Claire !!!

I thought it was about time to post some photos. And because the work has hit a lull for today (and make note, ONLY today) I have time to sit around and wait while the dorky computer (who ever thought computers could be described as dorky!) slowly, slowly, ever slowly loads the photos. Here we go ...

oh. So I guess the photos get put at the top of the page ... and this site won't let you cut and paste text. How bizarre. Ah well, hop you enjoyed them!

ps. I better get comments on this one! And kudos to Melissa for *finally* updating her blog!!!

Guess What I Did Today?

So I know this is rare,  Claire posting more than once in a given week. Something must be wrong! Have no fear, nothing is wrong. Except that I have an essay due in math tomorrow. An essay in math! How deadly is that?!?! It's only a practice essay, which is a mixed blessing. In one sense, I don't have to worry too much about it and the marks it will receive. In another sense, I get to anticipate the day when the real one arrives and I have to put real effort into writing an essay about math. And not just nay math, I get a sheet of guiding questions that I have to do first to discover the theory behind what they (the IB) wants me to write about. Sort of a neat concept, unfortunately it means that not only do I have to write an essay about math, but I won't understand the subject I'm meant to be writing about! What a strange, strange world I live in. 

Anyways, it seems I've been doing a lot of complaining on here lately, so its more that time for some good news. My chem lab is almost done. The little bits of fabric have been dying for a few days, so that means all I have to do is weigh them and then I'm done the experiment aspect of the EE. I'm really excited. Strangely. I did enjoy the lab work, but chemistry is not NOT the career for me. 

On another note, I got to vote for the first time in my life today. Yes, I know today isn't election day. And the leader's debate hasn't even happened yet. But as a student I have the option to either vote in the riding here, or the riding back home. I have enough trouble understanding politics that I figured it was best to stay with a riding I knew, so I voted for the Churchill riding. Most of the Canadians eligible to vote decided that they also wanted to vote within their home ridings and so we had to vote early. So we got a van today and all went into the voting centre and registered to vote and voted by special ballot and mailed them away to the government so that our votes will be counted on October 14th. It was sort of a neat experience. I'm sure I'll never have such a fun voting experience again in my life. I was there with friends, no one else. We were chatting and having fun as we filled out our voting registration cards. Realizing that most of us had no idea who we were voting for. But it gave us a chance to talk abotu uniquely Canadian politics. Something we rarely get to do as a group, despite being at a very politically minded college. Usually our conversations are not centered around Canada at all, but rather global "hot spots" of political drama. So it was a more than interesting afternoon. Unfortunately it also took about three hours. Ugh. 

So tomorrow night there is the possibility that I will go the ballet. Yup, not just any ballet either. Alonzo King's Lines Ballet Company I. I realize that means nothing to anyone. But it gives me joy to just type it. Let alone watch it. Juliette and I are gonna go (all going well). We have tickets reserved in the front row of the lower balcony and we didn't even have to pay all that much. We're gonna get dressed up, have a nice meal and see the ballet. Make a right night out of it. It's time to pamper ourselves a bit. I'm excited. And as such I should get to work on that essay. So that I have the energy to wake up tomorrow and get my stuff done and then enjoy the show. Cause its gonna take quite some time to get out of downtown and all the way back to the college ... I'm thinking between 11:30 and 1:00 in the morning type timeframe. Hooray! Anyways, math beware. Here I come. And ye shall be conquered in under an hour. Ye shall. Even if it means my fingers bleed from blisters caused by excessive calculator-button-pushing. I shall conquer. Yeehaw!

life continues

Welcome to my life. I’m so glad you continue to join me for these dull and irregular posts. I hope your experience reading this provides you a glimpse into the life of an average over-committed Pearson student. 

Okey, sorry guys, I’ve just come from Media activity and a wild weekend (but not the sort you’re imagining). I can’t even recall when I last posted. I’ve been hard at work and not so hard at work all at the same time this weekend. Friday afternoon the first drafts of our EEs were due. So everyone was hard at work, me and my fellow chemistry EE students had assumed that there was nothing due for us since we weren’t finished our labs yet. So Sean and I were sitting in chemistry class on Thursday and figured that just to be on the safe side we should ask Garth if he expected anything to be handed in. Garth replied that no he didn't ... but that he did expect all our lab work to be done. Well, that was more or less impossible for me. Garth then said that he would extend it to Sunday, but that we needed to get it done. So I spent two hours in the lab on Thursday evening. And then Friday from 6:00 till 1:30 in the morning. And then Saturday from 10:30 in the morning till 2:00 and again from 4:00 till 5:30 and then again from 6:30 till 10:00. And then Sunday rolled around and I spent 8:00 till 10:00 in the lab, and then 3:00 till 5:30 and then 10:00 till midnight. Needless to say, the weekend passed very very slowly. I spent all of my time alone, wearing shoes (the travesty!) in a lab, listening to the same music playing over and over again. At first it was fun, but it got to be dull. On Saturday there were other chemistry students there keeping me company, but truth is most of the time I was all alone. It was sad. But I'm almost done. Even though its Monday, Garth realized that we couldn't possibly  get everything done (I think all he wanted to do was put a little fire under us ... clearly it worked for me). My little 3cm by 3cm pieces of fabric have been soaking for 24 hours, so I just took them out and hung them up to dry. That'll probably take around 48 hours. Then all I have to do is weigh them and I'm done the lab work. Then all I have to do is write the stupid thing. I haven't got a single word yet. I don't mind writing the 4000 words (though it will be a challenge) its the reading it over and over and over again as I edit that will frazzle me. But lets not worry about that yet. I have yet to get there. 

So what else has been going on in my life? Truth is, not much else (as I'm sure the last paragraph managed to communicate fairly clearly!). We're preparing for the African-Caribbean regional day coming up this weekend. We decided last year to make regional days much less stressful and everything, so the practices for this one have been relaxed and you're only allowed to be in two dance (not that there are many dances anyways as the show is only about 45 mins long). I didn't really have any trouble staying out of dances this time as they all seem to involve an incredible amount of shaking things that I either don't have or don't know how to shake. So I've been able to not fall behind in school work and not get stressed out at all yet. I've had breakfast every day of classes so far. Which means I've been out of bed before 7:45! Kudos to me. But anyways, I get a much more exciting job in this regional day show. I get to be the choreographer. It's sort of a new job when it comes to the College's shows, but one well worth the effort. Basically I watch the whole dress rehearsal and take notes. At the end of the run through I get to sit on stage with the all important technical and backstage crews and give notes to each and every act about their costumes, timing, staging, energy, size of their smiles or stage patterns. Or basically whatever I want that has to do with the visual aspect of the show. It's quite exciting actually. I enjoy it. Perhaps more than I should? But it does mean that I can't be in as many dances. Which is alright for this show, but will it be alright with me in the future? I'm not sure yet. I love being busy at rehearsals, but I also love being busy on the night of the show. Something to ponder I suppose ... 

Anyways, there is much more mundane drivel to tell you, but I should go and do some work. It's a much better use of my time. And then I'll be able to continue on my healthy lifestyle habits! :D Ta. 

i'm taking an unofficial sick day.

and so why not update the blog? it's also a friday and half the campus is off on a 56 kilometer walk around a lake. personally, i don't want to pay 40 bucks to walk around a lake and earn billions of blisters for no cause. but kudos to them who do. so we're preparing for our first regional day here ... the afro-caribs are in the spotlight this time. i got invited to the initial act auditions tonight to be a sort of show-advisor type of thinger. so i was fairly pumped about that. i think i'm going to do a nigerian hip-hop/club dance, a swazi dance and a dance from a musical about the apartheid (dang thats a hard word to spell!) in South Africa. so i'm pretty excited. but as a collective the second years decided to make national (this year renamed regional) days less stressful ... so its been a totally different atmosphere, but still completely fun and exciting. what else, what else? i've been waking up early this year. 7 o'clock. ain't that crazy! i never wake up that early! oh! and i've been working at my lab (i want to have it all done by sunday afternoon). it's great fun. but my goal is to go into the lab and do chemistry at midnight. how creepy would that be ... its the perfect image. claire the mad scientist with dreadlocks mixing chemicals at midnight in a dark lab lit only by the moon. sweet eh? so thats my goal for tonight. it was my goal for last night but i ended up going for a late night run instead. that was cool too, but it turns out there are no lights on pearson college drive. so going to the beach was not too bad (there were only two of us though) but coming back we couldn't even see the road! i don't know how it gets so dark that a whole road disappears, but disappear it did! the funny thing is we've been having problems with bears this year. i guess it was a bad summer so they're venturing into civilized grounds for food. we had a baby bear walk around the library at 5:30 in the morning a few days ago, and a full sized bear was seen on the bridge to the soccer field. so yeah ... i was slightly nervous to say the least. but i;ve joined a new activity called pearson raccoons whereby we go tree climbing and mud running and all types of madness at 5:30 in the morning on thursdays and 9:00 at night on tuesdays. im fairly pumped. 

we've also had a full week of activities at this point. i'm helping lead media activity due to my pc radio involvement (we're remaking the activity to include film and such ... mixed media of sorts. i'm more that slightly excited). then i'm in social justice (which we promptly renamed the justice league) on tuesday afternoons. its a discussion group mainly, but we're going to try and do some sort of activism as well. then on thursday afternoons im in the slightly more devoted group of musicians called singers. though we don't all sing by any means. but we are called upon to perform for charity events and when the sponsors come visit us in their fancy float planes and such. sorta neat. and then im doing yoga on friday afternoons. i had the first session of that today. definitely didn't enjoy it as much as i thought i would. the poses are just plain uncomfortable. i have nothing wrong with discomfort, but they aren't particularly stretching either. so yeah ... i may drop that one ... we'll just have to wait and see. the major benefit i see from it is that it will build tonnes of muscle and sort of keep me limber ... sort of. and its relaxing and a great way to end the week. 

so ... on the music front things are very exciting. the new teacher is not as great as i had hoped, though he is definitely better. i'm taking standard level, which means i have to do analysis (everyone does) and then i get to choose either solo performance, group performance or composition. though i had originally planned to do composition, it turns out im going to do solo performance. the school has rented me a double bass with a bow and everything! so i'm going to be a real bass player!!! and i get lessons at the conservatory each week. they haven't started yet, but likely the week after next. perhaps this week, but im not holding my breath. its definitely going to be a challenge, but im really excited. time to buckle down and actually apply myself to something! its pretty exciting in my opinion. 

what else has been going on lately, im trying to think. my room has started to bond (finally). last night i was meant to go to bed but me, aiya and elena got chatting and ended up staying up till 1 o'clock. now i know thats not all too late, but im getting up at 7:00 each morning! thats a huge stretch for me guys. huge. you have no idea. 7:00! and next week i'm cleaning leader so i can't even slack off and sleep in at all. hoorah. 

earlier this week i was definitely having some trouble adjusting to having so many new people on campus, there just seemed to be that summer camp attitude, where first years do stupid things because they don't realize that they have to actually live with these people for one or two years and such things are hard forgotten. and the fact that at the end of last year there was such a sense of community and now i still have that with the second years, but its not there yet with the first years. i dunno, it was hard for a bit for certain, but things are starting to settle down. life is actually happening, deadlines are looming, activities are starting, responsibilities are piling up and so people are realizing that this is it. and as such, (i don't know if any of that made sense ... ) the first years are starting to fit in as a part of the community. its good stuff. 

anyways ... hmm ... i don't know what else to say. i've started the seemingly endless hunt for university. it sucks. right now i'm focusing on scholarship applications because surprisingly they're due first. apart from that life has just been life. and life is good. went to church on sunday for the first time. it was so good. turns out im in charge of the catholic van as well as the pentecostal one (surprise to me!) so i put up the sign up sheets, had 16 people sign up for the catholic church and 14 for the pentecostal! papa jim (our lovely driver) said thats the most he's ever had in all his six years of driving for pearson college. and christian fellowship had 21 people show up two weeks running. we're on fire this year. its good. god is good. but anyways, we went to church and it was just so good. our (being the pearson students in general) favourite worship leader was leading, the message was good and yeah ... i feel more freedom in that church this year. im not afraid to go to the back and dance, to express myself however i need. god is good. 

anyways, i think thats it for now ... theres so much to say and so little to say all at the same time. isn't life strange. anyways. later. 

yes, hello, I am alive. mostly.

So I realized that everyone else has finally updated their blogs and figured that perhaps now that I am back at school and settled in it was time to update mine as well. So I got here about two weeks ago. Actually, two weeks and two days. It's so good to be back. And the place is so different this year! I mean , its the same place but things have changed. Some for the better, others not. Oh, and I only have 20 minutes till class and I have to run to the room first so this will be short, but hopefully will be sufficient for awhile. So my second year roommate is Aiya from Kazakhstan. She's absolutely off the wall crazy. I love it. I'm so pumped to have her as a roommate. So far we've had some great conversations and I can tell that by the end of the year we're gonna be great friends. An interesting thing about Aiya is that she's a very devout muslim. To the point where she wakes up around 4 o'clock each morning to pray and all that. So I'm going to learn a lot this year I can tell. But strangely, its one of those things that really brings us closer together, both of us being sold out for a greater power. Then I have two first year roommates as well (even though we're in a five person room ... which means that we have extra space because Peter our wonderful friend and maintenance man moved out the extra funrniture). Jn (Jennifer) is from Peru and also completely loco. The number of times she has jumped on me in the hallway is innumerable. Unfortunately for her, the number of times I have dropped her because I waas not expecting a human cannonbal is about equal to that. Someday she'll learn ... But she also has a deep and human side which is important. My other roommate is Elena from Italy. Shes a lot more quiet (a lot more) than the rest of us, but awesome nonetheless. That sounds really bad, as though quiet people can't be awesome, but you catch my drift. Elena is Orthodox (her family is half Greek) so she's going to come to Christian Fellowship with me. Yahoo! Hmm ... 12 minutes to go ... what else is important? It's been strange sort of, even though there are tonnes of new people to talk to and get to know, the most intersting and life changing conversations I've had so far have been with second years who I didn't really get to know last year. It's been good. I got to talk to a guy who lives in my house and studies martial arts as a spiritual experience. It was really an interesting conversation. He believes in zen and such, the discussion got fairly philosophical but I was proud of myself because I managed to follow his train of thought the whole way through without getting confused and lost. Definitely a good night. AFter ten days of orientation, we finally started classes, so this will be my first "real" weekend. And goodness am I looking forward to it. What else, what else. We went camping as a house one night, it was lots of fun. I took my sleeping bag outside and slept under the stars. And goodness were there a lot of them that night. A bunch of other people came out and joined me, it was really cool. And then on Wednesday afternoon when I was doing homework like the good non-procrastinating student I will be this year, Yarin came and invited me to the lake to go swimming with a bunch of other Calgarians (my housemates). So I of course said yes. When we got to the lake there were tonnes of people so we decided to keep walking adn go to the rope swing. Let me explain thsi wonder to you. It's a cliff. And a tree. And a rope attached to the tree. And you hang on to the rope, and scream your lungs out and swing over the cliff and then let go and drop in the water. Definitely an exhilirating experience. SO MUCH FUN! I did it twice, the first time I didn't grab teh rope high enough and so skimmed the water, but the second time I was flying so much I didn't want to let go. Everyoen on shore was yelling "let go, let go!" It was funny. Anyways, I have to run to chem now or ... well ... I'm sure some sorto f consequence will await me! Love y'all and miss y'all.

here we GO ...

So while you read this please keep in mind that these stories are so much better when actually told orally ... I'm doing my best to replicate what I would be saying, but its just not the same. So you are by all means invited to not read this at all and Skype me instead :) Here goes ... 

I just realized I'm sitting at a table when I could be curled up on a comfy couch. A very comfy couch actually. It's where I sleep and its amazing. And Anna's lent me the longest pillow you have ever seen. It's crazy. I just don't understand. But anyways, now that that is out of the way I can start. Finally. And before I go off on another tangent, I'm starting with the mission because I can't explain bootcamp over the internet. You will have to call me if you want those stories. 

And I'm starting at the end of the mission. Sorry to those of you who have already heard this story. 

wow. Just got distracted. For a long time. Oh facebook how I detest thee. Okey, but I'm back. And focused. So on the last night of the mission the team leadership was doing evaluations and stuff ... basically just boring paperwork. When we had had enough of that we started talking abotu what all needed to be covered that night at the last team meeting. One of those items we had to go over was what on earth we were going to do at the Praise Party. Wendell (our team leader) said he felt I should share. I wasn't so sure but I figured if he felt I was supposed to then I was probably supposed to. So I said sure. Not that I knew what I was going to say. The next day we arrived at the Praise Party, had worship and teams started sharing and I still had no idea what I was going to say. The only other person on our team had no idea what she was going to say either. So lets just say I was getting worried. I like to be prepared when I share, I like to know what I'm going to say, perhaps even have notes. Definitely have  a first sentence down pat. So I put my head in my hands and started to pray. Jenelle, who was both on my team and sitting next to me, leaned over and started to pray for me. Though she had no idea what was going on she just started asking that I would not be afraid and to trust that God would give me the words to say. So that was really reassuring. We were in the last group of teams to be called up to share, and as we were walking up to the front I realized I was going to talk about the first Sunday of the mission, so here are a few of the stories I told from that day ...

The day started off with church and the pastor just gave us the service, told us we could do whatever we liked and take as long as we liked (the church was VERY informal ... as I'm sure you can tell) so we did some dramas and dances, I shared my testimony. I think it was more of a blessing to me to share it than to them to hear it! There are some things you just don't realize until you speak them out. I guess I sort of realized the "message" in my testimony (apart from the message of God's grace and love of course!). Anyways, after the service we decided it was time to do some laundry. So we jumped in the van and headed out to the laundromat. We threw our laundry in the machines and then decided to go out in small groups and do some street ministry while we waited for it to be done. I went out with two first time Street Invaders who had never done street ministry before. Now, I'm not very good at street ministry. I have no confidence and find it really hard to get the conversation to the point where I want it. But these two had never done it before so I was the leader/model in the group. And they told me as much, thanks for relieving the pressure guys! So we're walking around, sharing our testimonies with each other and sort of avoiding approaching people ... not that there are many people to approach. So we walk past this bench where two younger guys are sitting eating McDonalds. And one of them calls out to me, hey nice hair! So I'm like woohoo, opportunity. So the three of us head over to the bench and start talking to these guys. And we were carrying our bibles with us so the guys told us that they were Christians (or at least had a Christian upbringing ... we got the impression it was sort of a been there done that type thing with the one guy). So the conversation goes:

guy: I have a Christian question thats been bothering me for awhile.

us: Well ask away, we'll see if we can help ... 

guy: I did something really stupid a few weeks ago. I got really drunk and was lying outside in the grass just looking at the sky and I told God  he didn't exist. That I didn't believe in him anymore. (pause) Will he forgive me? 

Well, God just threw a huge opportunity on our lap right? So we got to tell hime how God loves us always and forgives all sins and we just need to pray and ask forgiveness. And we didn't pray with the guy, but we got to talk a bit with him and yeah, it was good. And we didn't have to do anything. They called us over, they started the "god talk" and they said "nice talking to you" when they were done with us. It was good. 

So we headed back to the laundromat pretty pumped about that. And when we go there we had to put our stuff in the dryer, so we started talking to other people in the laundromat. And there were two french couples there. It turns out one of the couples was perfectly bilingual, but the others didn't speak a word of english! So I sat down and started talking to them in french. They told me they'd been travelling across Canada for almost a month. But it was fairly lonely because if they didn't meet anyone who spoke french they could only speak with this other couple. So I told them about Street Invaders and what we were doing and why and stuff. The rest of the team were talking to various other people in the laundromat. And then we got the idea to do a drama in the laundromat. So we did. I translated for the french folk and we did a play. Unfortunately, the key word to the play was sin ... and I didn't know it in french! (Neither did the bilingual guy so I don't feel bad at all!) But I got to just bless with conversation and love. It was good. And the play in the laundromat ... just one of those great memories eh? Anywho, thats all for today my fingers hurt. But two posts in one day ... congratulate me! :)

 

... shame ...

Shame because its been a long long time. I'm sorry guys. Well, yeah I am. I've just been so caught up living my life I haven't been documenting it. But whatever. I say that a lot these days. Anyways, so I have a tonne of amazing stories from Street Invaders, but this one is actually from after Street Invaders, like the final bit of the trip for me. I'll share the rest of the stories later, but its now 12:30 and I have yet to get dressed and generally start my day. But I was typing this story for an email, so I figured I might as well save myself the time and post it here as well. 

So the final event at Street Invaders is the Praise Party, as I'm sure you all know. It was held in Regina this year and since that's closer to BC than Manitoba, I figured I would just head straight to BC from there, you know, save some money. So I had it arranged that I would take a van from Regina to Calgary with a bunch of other Street Invaders and then catch a bus to Vancouver. I had organized a place to volunteer for the week, but I was still working on a place to stay. I had tried one friend who I was sure would be able to have me, but it turns out she wasn't. By the time I found that out it was Friday. So I emailed my school for a host family, but knew they wouldn't be able to get back to me till Monday. (don't mind the terrible typing etiquette from this point on ... this is copied from facebook :D ) So the day after the praise party i got in a 15 seater van with a bunch of calgarians. our air conditioning didn't work and the van was full ... so we were a nasty looking and smelling bunch by the time the ride was over! anyways, basically as soon as we arrived in Calgary I got dropped off at the bus depot along with Laura, another Street Invader, who happened to be on the same bus as I was (but only for the first nine hours). so we were there a few hours early so I opened my laptop and tried to get email to see if my school had found me a place to sleep yet (it was Monday ... duh). but the internet didn't work, I mean it was a bus depot. so whatever I still didn't know where I was gonna stay but there was not much I could do about it. i get on the bus. i fall asleep right away. oh no! first I made a friend in the bus depot. a little girl called April who thought I was "pretty cool" ... at least thats what she told her mum! anyways, thats random. so we're on the bus and I'm getting more and more anxious about where I'm going to stay once I get to Vancouver. so it's night and we're driving through the mountains and I'm getting worried about where I'm going to stay. all of a sudden we start driving through this lightening storm. there's no rain, just lightening. there's no thunder, just lightening. sometimes its behind the mountains and lights them up, other times its in front. because its dark the only time you can see the mountains is when the lightening goes off. so I'm sitting there just marveling at the beauty of it all and God brings up the "where I'm going to sleep" issue. and all of a sudden this wave of trust just sweeps over me. honestly guys, I can't describe it but at that moment every cell in my body, my entire heart and mind trusted God. it was so overwhelming. he was just like "trust me". and I did. entirely and completely. and it was him. He made me trust, because there is no way I could trust like that. it absolutely engulfed me. so whatever, theres still hours (and hours and hours) left in my bus ride (lets just say it was 16 hours total). I finally pull into Vancouver at 3:00. And lo and behold, I actually know where I am! There's only like two streets I know in Vancouver, and the bus station happens to be on one of them. So thats cool. So I take my tonnes of luggage, including the suitcase with the broken wheels and handle, and start hobbling out of the bus station. honestly, I look ridiculous. I have this broken suitcase, my bass guitar which is huge, my camping backpack which is also huge and then I have my trombone strapped to the bottom of it, which means that I can't go through doors straight, so I keep turning sideways to fit through doors. so after much confusion I get to this little pizza place which has wireless internet. so I order pizza, sit down and get onto my email. guess what? the school doesn't have a place for me to stay. so ... I start panicking a little. I send an email to a classmate of mine who lives in Vancouver ... but obviously I'm not going to get a reply within the next hour right. so I email Anna (my Street Invaders leader from last year), but same deal, I'll have to wait a few hours until she even gets the email. so I'm sitting in this pizza place with my tonnes of luggage, definitely a rough section of town, the owner of the place is yelling through the bathroom door at two people who went in together (yes, sketchy) and won't come out ... and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I have nowhere to stay. ridiculous amounts of luggage. and its getting later and later. so I'm on facebook, because what else am I supposed to do right, I'm still vainly hoping that I'll get an email back within the next two hours and I'm willing to stay there until I do ... or until the place closes. so Erin Leinberger starts talking to me. I tell her I'm in Vancouver and don't have a place to stay. there's a pause and all of a sudden a set of instruction comes up on the page. "get the sky train to here, then get this bus, then walk to this shopper's drugmart and he'll meet you there." I'm sort of like .. uh .... what? Adri and Billy live there and Erin called them and got it all set up for me to stay there the night. Our God is so good. so I start heading off across the city to meet these people who are opening their house to me for the night. of course I still have tonnes of luggage, but random people keep stopping and helping me, going out of their way to walk me to the next bus or up the flight of stairs. It was amazing. 

thats the bulk of the story. later that night I get an email from Anna saying I can stay there for the rest of the week. So thats where I am now. But guys, our God is so big, so lovely and so faithful. Trust in him. With everything. I believe, think about the power behind those two words. I believe. yeeah, anyways, thats my story. it's changed my whole faith. honestly, God is so good. Anywho, not I will start my day. Ta.

It's been a long time ...

I guess. Time really flies here in the past few weeks. To be honest, I haven't noticed time passing at all. Though I suppose Cla(i)re day was quite some time ago now ...

Well, okey, so it wasn't all that long ago at all. It's just that so much has happened since then that I've forgotten the wonder that was Cla(i)re day. It was really quite fun. People walked around in barefoot and wore scarves. We had cla(i)rrot cake and a tea party ... in true Cla(i)re fashion our centre piece was an old rusty bari horn stolen from the art room. But mostly, the day was spent on East house lawn (which was in fact Victoria house lawn but whatever right) where we were meant to dance every hour on the hour from 1:00p.m. till 8:00. Little bit of a problem there. So we danced at one o'clock. And then we said we'd come back at two o'clock for that shift. However when we got back at two we danced right on until three thirty. I can't even remember what shifts we did and didn't make it to after that, I think four merged with five and then we went as six but only briefly otherwise we'd miss supper. Then we fully intended to meet again at seven ... but it turns out that after supper we both crawled into our beds and fell fast asleep. I wasn't all that tired, but I hadn't exerted myself so physically in ages! So it was a very good day. Then we screened the Dead Poet's Society as a culmination to the day. It was overall very good. 

That weekend was also Easter weekend, so we had a four day weekend and a lot of people went off campus to host families for awhile. For me, it was a really relaxing weekend. It was basically the first time I've had a real rest since Christmas. It's one thing to have a project week without classes, but its another to have four days at home with very few people about and time to just sleep in, talk to random people, be anti-social and relax. It was very nice (if you couldn't already tell). 

Since then, no big blips on the excitement radar that I can immediately recall ... a lot of hanging out, a lot of work. We had exam week last week, but that was mostly for the second years. They are officially done learning, now they have to recall it all for three weeks as their major examinations start on may 4th. There's been a lot of depressing talk lately of next year and figuring out our futures. The Ivy League sent out their acceptance/denial emails last week ... definitely harder on some people than others. Frankly for me, I'm just trying to figure out my summer, forget about university. 

Also, pass downs are starting to get passed down. Which truly indicates that the second years are getting ready to up and leave. Today we had the fire pass down ceremony by the fire tree. It was sad. This morning the second years had their last ever fire fighters practice and then today they announced the new fire chief, the fire names of all the new fire leaders and passed down the fire hats. It was definitely neat to watch, but sad. 

I realize as I write this, how Pearson-ized I have become. This likely doesn't make sense to any of you at all ... but for me it's my life right now. And I've been thinking a lot about Pearson and how when we're here little trivial things are the biggest deal. Who got into what university, why the bay has suddenly turned brown (the plankton were in migration), who played the latest greatest prank. I dunno, its good in a sense but it sure makes me wonder. I won't elaborate on what it makes me wonder, just that it does. I'm sure you can figure out the rest. Anyways, I'm off to work on my composition. Farewell for now. 

p.s. sorry for the somewhat dreary tone. I was up till three last night finishing an english essay. I hate that class. I actually do. I never thought I would abhor something to the extent that I hate that class. It's not the people, nor the teacher. It's the subject. And I'm not being over dramatic either. I have just finally come to the realization that there is something in this world that I fundamentally hate ... and that is english literature analysis. 

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Tomorrow is Cla(i)re day. Clare and I have organized it. The schedule is as follows:

10:00 (caf) CLA(I)RE cookies

lunch (CAF) Cla(i)re tea party. this event is exclusive to peopel who have Cla(i)re in thier name, any aspect of their name, or who make an honest attempt to be cla(i)re-like. (ex. name tag, crazy hair, etc.)
the menu for this tea party will include: chocolate eCLA(I)REs, CLA(I)Rrot cake and tea :)

supper: surprise CLA(I)RE entertainment

10:00 (LLT) Cla(i)re movie

note: every hour on the hour (according to the Cla(i)re clock of course, there will be wild hippie dancing on East house lawn.

(I will have a tambourine ... woohoo. For those of you non-Pearson audience, let me explain this aspect of the day to you a little better. Both Cla(i)res at the school dance. And both of us like modern dance. And both of us are relatively hippie-ish people. And so .... )

So thats what the day will look like. We have soem fantabulous posters for around campus. Accrostics of CLA(I)RE with such words as

C
L usciously lazy
A
(I)
R
E eeek! There's a mouse in Claire's dreads

and the biggest poster we will be hanging in the caf read:

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME CLA(I)RES ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. - George Orwell
WELCOME TO CLA(I)RE DAY!

another reads:

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things. Of cla(i)res and cla(i)res and cla(i)res and cla(i)res. - Lewis C(l)a(i)rrol

On top of all this wonderful propaganda there is a dress code. It reads as follows:

- barefeet
- long skirts
- maniacal hair
- big smiles
there is something else but I forget what it is.

Anyways, that is cla(i)re day in a nutshell. I'm excited.

:)

How do you know it's spring? Well when the whooping cranes are mating of course! I'm not even kidding. They have a nest (sounds more like a colony though) on David's front lawn. And recently there has been a lot of wing flapping and an abnormal amount of whooping. Anyways, thats just an aside. So ... CRAZY TIME (S)! Where to start, where to start.

One World weekend was CRAZY! (I think I'm never going to write CRAZY the normal way ever again!) W e woke up on Friday morning to go to the theatre for our first chance to actually be on the stage and have a "real" dress rehearsal. Rhubini left the room early because she was crew and had to be there a few hours ahead of us ... all I really remember is that she woke up at 6:00. Sucker. Anyways, so when the rest of our room woke up at the slightly more appreciable hour of 7:00 (ack!) to get ready and find all our costumes and eat and make it down to the buses in time. So Joss has bought this individual coffee maker for our room (though shes the only one who drinks coffee), you know, one of those ones where you just put the mug under the machine and it filters right into the cup? So she plugs it in, tells Ashley that if it starts smoking its because there isn't enough water and that she should just turn it off. Joss exits to bathroom.
Ashley turns to me: You heard that?
Me: Yes...
Ashley: Good ... so you can deal with it.
Me: Nuh-uh. I wasn't listening. And I don't know where the off button is.
I make a quick exit to the bathroom so that I don't get roped into any more intimidating jobs.
A few moments later, I'm in the shower. Joss is (still) in the shower next to me. Ashley comes running in. Screaming. Joss there's coffee all over our floor!! Ahhh! (and other such noises) Exit Ashley. Still screaming. Sound of our bedroom door opening. Ashley and Joss still having a conversation despite being two rooms and a hallway apart. Indictive of the volume of their voices! Joss jumps out of shower. Runs into room. Which smells like a really nice blend of authentic Honduran coffee. Too bad I hate the smell of coffee.
Joss: Oh, I forgot to put the cup under the machine!
And all this before the day even started. Thank goodness everyone was in a good mood that morning, since we woke up anyone who wasn't already awake (though techinically if they weren't already awake they were probably going to be late). Laura came to our room shortly after to make sure we were all awake (trust me, this doesn't normally happen but on such a morning as this, they make sure we're all up and heading where we're supposed to be) and commented on our coffee crisis. I guess she heard us as well!

Anyways, the rest of the day was good but relatively boring. We had a run through of starting and ending positions so that the light, sound, backstage and stage management could figure out the new and snazzy technology at the Royal Theatre. And then in the afternoon we had a public dress rehearsal.

And then we all climbed back in the buses. And drove all the way back to campus. And crawled out of the buses. And dragged ourselves to the cafeteria where we collapsed in a heap of tired bodies. Those of us who finally woke ate those who didn't. Well, sort of. But you get the picture. WE WERE TIRED! But as I recall the caf had a usual supper but then there was a warm cherry crumble pie sort of thing. Mmmm ... And then that night, despite being ridiculously tired, I stayed up late hanging out. And then had to pack my things for project week, since I wasn't returning to campus after the show that evening and instead going straight to my skiing extravaganza (more details to come later). Hmm ... this is getting boring. Oooo! So we piled into the buses again at 12:00 on Saturday for them to drive us to the theatre for our 2:00 show. Now I know I have complained about the hill outside the college before, but just wait. When you hear this story you will agree (and sympathise?) with me. So the bus was driving up the hill. And then is started slowing down. And then it stopped. And then it started rolling. Backwards. Down the hill. I was sitting at the back so I turned around, and there were Sean and Laura in their fancy hybrid car backing down the hill as fast as possible! It was funny. So then the bus driver told us that some of us would have to get out of the bus and run up the hill so that we could make it up in the bus. It was funny.

Then we had the show. It was good. Then I went to a cafe with Mum and Dad and had a quick visit. Then I went off to start my project week extraordinaire (which is a) not parent friendly and b)far too long and exciting for this already tedious and overly long post) (oh and I'm lazy!).

Skip a week.

We all got back from project week. This is where I stop. Honestly, today is good Friday. A chance to sleep in. Everyone on campus is sleeping. It's ... well okey its 9:12 by now but I started at 8:15. So the question is, why is Claire awake?!?! Answer: she had kitchen duty at 7:00 in the morning. Yes, she is just that lucky. Farewell.

Time flies ... ?

Alright, I know its been awhile but I have what I would consider to be a valid excuse. I'm currenetly attending rehearsals for 11 acts. Yes, eleven. Now the rule is that we're only allowed to be in 5. I was in 9, but was told I had to drop some so now I'm only in seven. However, I got the assistant choreographer job that I had been wanting so terribly, so I attend the rehearsals so four other acts to help them with their expression, steps, staging, etc. It's really a lot of fun.

Hmm ... so an update on my life since the last update. How about we try point form.

1. We had another special topics day. This one was about religion. It was actually really interesting. We did our best to ensure that it didn't end up as a comparison between different religions, but more an evaluation of how each different person lives out their faith and the roles that religion plays in society, or should play in society. The day actually went really well. We had a big opening assembly where Drama with a Purpose (one of the campus activities) ran a really neat exercise type thinger where people from teh audience could come up and replace one of the characters in the play and thereby change their attitude or opinions to bring up a new discussion point. Sort of hard to explain, but it turned out well. After that I went to two workshops, one on freedom of religious expression and another on leadership within religion. It was pretty neat, they were both discussion based workshops, so a lot of ideas came up. Anyways I sort of forget teh section between lunch and teh final activity, but the day ended off with Speed Dating. Not normal speed dating though, religious speed dating. Okey, so perhaps speed dating was the wrong word for it, but thats what we called it. Basically you had 8 minutes with five different people, whom you chose for yourself, to talk about your beliefs and stuff. It was meant to be uncomfortable, it was meant to be confrontational. Personally, I found it more interesting, but I do know that it was hard for some people. There were questions on the main screen that we could refer to if conversation ran dry. Our views on abortion, homosexuality, religious teachings in school, our childhood influences, what role religion played in our culture. Interesting stuff.

2. I've completed my first official assignment for the IB. While this may sounds bizarre and not mean a lot to most of you out there, it's a huge deal for me. Basically its the first thing that will go towards my official final mark. And its done. It was my Theory of Knowledge presentation. I am really happy about how it went to be honest. I was persuasive and clear and I combined youtube clips with my talking and quotes to create a varied presentation. Andnow I'm probably boring you all ... but please applaud me, this is a BIG DEAL!

3. So I realize I haven't really updated at all since before auditions ... that was awhile ago. So ... my dance got in. The Red River Jig. We didn't expect it to get in. We did terribly at auditions. In fact, Dana never even bothered checking the final list of acts she was so sure we weren't in. But we are. And we've had to work like crazy to get even close to the standard we need to be at. But we're getting there. As for the other acts I'm dancing/participating in:
- Dai Peacock Dance: Siyu's traditional chinese dance, really gentle and the closest thing to ballet I'm in
- Stomp (which has been renamed Street Beatz for copyright reasons): you get the idea, its a rip off of stomp. We dance around drumming on ladders and garbage cans, sweeping the floor vigorously with big brooms. The guy who is leading it is a phenomenal drummer and has done a really excellent job. I'm really excited to do that one.
- Red River Jig : enough said
- Vellia Pookal: This is Rhubini's Tamil song ... we did it for Middle Eastern and Indian Subcontinent day ... a few guitars, a few singers, we've added harmony this time.
- Choir: duh. I'm playing bass in one of the songs.
- Fijian Stick Dance: This one is really cool. I love it to be honest. The guys walk around beating themselves being warriors while the girls dance all gentle and smily.
- Gumboot: This one should need no explanation for those of us who knew Lauren. We wear gumboots (rubber boots, wellingtons, whatever) and slap them and dance. It's traditionally from South Africa. The school does this every year, its sort of a big deal. Lots and lots of people, lots of fun.
So that's One World for me in a nutshell. The dances I'm helping out with are Ugandan, Indian, Peruvian and Swing. Yes, Swing got in and I had to drop it. I was so disappointed, but I had already done it and I get to work on it anyways with the choreography thinger so life is still butterflies and flowers (I'm on a tad bit of lack of sleep ...)

4. Project week is coming up. Let me tell you, it took sometime to get this one organized. Finally it has ended up, Tawab, Etta, Sherdina and I. We will be travelling by bus at a ridiculously early hour to Mount Washington, its a ski resort a few hours up the island. We looked and looked and looked for cheap accomadations, but by the time we got our acts together everyone else already had a project adn didn't want to join us so renting a house was just going to be too expensive. But it turns out that Etta has a family seh knows from Fiji who live in a town not far from the hill. So we're staying there. The plan is that by staying there we will save enough money that we can ski all three days instead of only skiing one or two. I'm really exicted for this trip, fun people, despite the fact that they're all going to snowboard rather than ski, living in a real house, even if its only for a week, eating home cooked Fijian food. That means that it will have flavour! Anyways, on Thursday we will leave and travel all the way to Vancouver to participate in the mini One World show there. That show will be on Saturday and then we head back to school. It's going to be a really great week. Though somehow I don't think its going to be as relaxing or productive as I had planned. But meh, why not live life to its fullest right. We all know how little it takes before Claire gets bored, which reminds me ...

5. Clare and I have planned a Cla(i)re day for March 21st. That's right. We're going to celebrate being Cla(i)re by being obnoxious and forcing everyone else to celebrate it too! Basically we're going to be happy all day (not that we're usually unhappy) and use our names as frequently as we can and put up posteres about famous people whose names were Cla(i)re. Maybe we'll even sing Cla(i)re songs and eat Cla(i)re food ... though I'm not entirely sure what that would be .

6. Today was crazy hair day. I mean, I could have won without ever doing anything to my hair, but thats just not my style. And so, despite the fact that I slept in a missed breakfast for the first time all week (congratulations to Claire ... thats probably her best breakfast attendance in teh history of her time at Pearson), I still managed to do something crazy. Soem of y'all mioght remember when Mum used to take lots and lots of hair ties and tie them up in our hair so tight that it stood out straight? Well that's what I did basically. Except that I didn't have enough hair elastics and so I had to decorate the ends with Sponge-Bob bandaids. But it was good. A lot of people couldn't take me seriously. The only difficulty came when I tried to take a nap during lunch hour and had trouble lying down because my hair was so tight and so awkward. But all in all the day was good.

7. So a few weeks back now the second years had their traditional ski day. Which meant that the first years were left alone on campus to do as they pleased with one whole day. So we arranged a bunch of events, had a guest speaker come in and such. Unfortunately we also had a mornign full of presentations, not fun presentations either mind you, streeful ones like Sumemr service projects, university applications and the dreaded EE (extended essay .... trust me, if you lived here you would understand ... its like the balck plague to the rest of the world). But after those passed (a lot of people just slept through tem to be honest), we had a fun day planned. There were several student run workshops. Bread baking, music exchange, class exchange, improvisation clinics. Then in the afternoon we had this speaker come in. I won't bother critiquing him, its a waste of breath, he didn't run a very good workshop and he was entirely masking his true identity, but some of the stuff he did was really good. What he is is sort of a motivational speaker. We invited him in to help us build community through a bunch of exercises and stuff. Some of the really neat ones I'll outline to you here. So everyone got a chair and we made two lines of chairs facing each other about four feet apart. And then everyone stood up infornt of their chair. You were supposed to face the person in front of you and tell them to "sit down". You were only allowed to use those two words. However, the catch was that the person across from you was only allowed to sit down when they felt that they had truly been invited to sit down, rather than commanded or pleaded iwth or anythign else, they had to be invited. It was interesting. And the langauge barriers didn't matter at all. Then the big finale persay was thig exercise where everyone found a partner and then made two circles, one inside the other, with both people dacing each other. We were meant to look in the eyes of the person across from us for five minutes while the dude running the workshop talked. We were supposed to try and get to know them. He was saying things like, " This person has cried. This person had laughed. This person has done great things. This person has fears. This person wants to be loved." All the while we were looking them in the eye. It was hard. But it was good. Personally, I feel a lot closer to the people I stood across from (we did it with three different people). Oh yeah, it was all done in silence (apart from the speaker dude), which perhaps made it that much harder and more uncomfortable. But all in all a good experience.

8. I haven't worn shoes for three weeks. The weather here is nice. It hasn't rained in three weeks (well ... until this afternoon that is). I went to My Chosen Cafe without shoes. I went to church (twice) without shoes. I only wear shoes during Outdoor fitness activity because it's somewhat necessary. And during gumboot rehearsals ... because gumbooting without gumboots just doesn't make sense.

9. Outdoor fitness random activities. I don't know why, but I am always pleased with my outdorr fitness activity. Well, perhaps not always but I always come out of it with impressive sounding stories. So one day, we did hill runs. Now this may not sound like anything special, but we have a very big hill here at the college. Carolyn, you'll know what I'm talking about. The one that leads up into the college, no the one that goes down. Mum and Dad, you'll see it, its hard to miss. Anyways, we had to run up that hill as fast as we could six times. Now, I can run. I can run for quite some time. But I'm from the Prairies. I really didn't even know what a real hill was till I got here. These are real hills. They are really long and lead to a big lack of breath and an even bigger cramp in your calfs, sides and major shin splints. But you feel accomplished when you make it up. After that, becuase it really only took abotu 45 minutes, which is short for an Outdorr Fitness session, Astrid and I decided to go for a run and climb some trees. So we did. We followed the Goose (a trail) down to the soccer field and then climbed one of the really good hills over there. Then we started back to campus on our soccer field trail, but we decided that we really hadn't climbed enough trees since that was what we had originally intended to do. So we saw a tree over by teh water, and it was hanging over the water, but the tide was out so it was accessible and the water under it wasn't all that deep. So we crashed through the bush (which was actually hard due to the extreme growth and, once again, the hill factot. But we reached the tree. It was an arbutus, nice and tough, really really slippery. And completely without hold to climb on. But beign the crazy Pearson students we are we simply took this as a challenge and climbed that tree. In the process, Astrid ripped herself open something good and had blood pouring down her leg. But we both made it off the tree. Then there was a dead falled tree that acually extended some ways into the water, so we shimmied along it until it starting bouncing adn then realized that we didn't actually want to fall into the water and so we shimied on back to shore. Then we decided to run along shore all the way back to campus. So we did. In the meantime, plowing through streams of freezing cold ocean water, aquiring mud masks and army crawling under the roots of a tree where the soil had eroded due to the waves. It was good. The we rock climbed along the bottom of campus and came up under the docks. From there, we climbed up and booked it all teh way up campus (we're on a hill) to the theatre for gumboot rehearsal. It turned out that rehearsal was starting late, so we went out behind the theatre and rolled down a hill. From when Astrid starting bleeding onwards, we realized that I needed to get soem blood too ... so our chant throughout the whole expedition was something along the lines of "blood, blood" when I did finally cut my leg open on a barnackle we celebrated.

Anyways, I would have loved to make it to ten interesting sotires, but I have to write an internal assessment and complete a lab report for Monday, and the rest of the week is pretty well full of rehearsals. So I shall mosey on off.