People are back!

Candace is back and Georgeanne is back and Joseph got back Saturday night!
Work isn't too too bad, people are generally fun. I have a new pair of dark blue pants and really nice new black shoes for work/debate.
I talked to Robyn Fulton for the first time in I don't know how long. It was fun. We're going to see what we can do to get together.
Arg that Meghan's fun summer party is while I'm off at SUNIA.
Devon, I'll see what I can do to get to your party, I'd love to come but we'll see what kind of shift I get that day or if I'm even scheduled *crossed fingers for another day off but doubts it'll happen b/c of the week-ish off for SUNIA*.
Cake is lovely. Mum made cake for Joseph when he came back and it's very delicious.
It definitely hasn't sunk in that I'm going to either SUNIA or that we should really start thinking about Debate org stuff and our trip and such.
Some people have already gotten their info for school, schedules and all, and I'm sad that I haven't yet and I don't know if I will or not as tomorrow's Heritage Day and all.
Joseph brought back fun French music which will be discussed in a later post some time.

Anyways, I'm going to have cake then sleep.

Bonne nuit à tous!

Me.

Guess who got an important package today?

ME!
Guess what was in it?
MY SUNIA INFO! :D:D:D:D

The Spanish phrase of the day:

Hay tan de cosas y yo no puedo hacer todo y yo sé que voy a matar alguien.

Rough translation: There are too many things on sale and I can't keep up with them and I can't do everything (check prices, see if suchandsuch is on 30% or 40% off or regular price, not go insane) and I know I'm going to kill someone today just because it's sooo crazy.

I don't pay attention to the world for a few weeks and look what happens!

North Korea goes all psycho and tests missiles over Japan and then very little afterwards.
One Israeli soldier is abducted and uncertainty grips Israel.
Two Israeli soldiers are abducted and Israel bombs and invades Lebannon to retrieve them and kill Hezbollah operatives.
Lebannon takes over Iraq's limelight.
A tsunami overtakes Java.
Nigerian oil pipes are attacked by militants.

The world is nuts!

I have decided what we shall do for the days off we'll have:

SALONS 17th century style!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon_%28gathering%29
A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "to please and educate" (aut delectare aut prodesse est). The salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical salons of the 17th century and 18th century, were carried on until quite recently in urban settings among like-minded people of a 'set': many 20th-century salons could be instanced.

Hay una senora a Sears quien habla espanol y ella me dijo que puedo practicar mi espanol cuando ella viene.
(There's a fun lady at Sears who's hispanic who said that I can speak Spanish to her when she comes by to keep it up to snuff.) [Note, not a direct translation].

Arg at my lost memory key!!!

I can't find my memory key and I'm trying to move files from the desktop to laptop and it's not working very well with the laptop internet-free and the floppy disk I'm using less than cooperative.

Blank = blank

Stampede = waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many people.
Work = fun.
Zidane in the Final = WTF?
Hanging out with people at Stampede when not being sardined into oblivion = fun.
Indie bands with amazing names = amusing.

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Mike's Past Lives

V V V

1348 BC: Chinese Emperor

775 AD: A fish gutter

1672 AD: A corrupt politician

I know I was really bitchy to people online and negative about my first day at work,

However my second day was astronomically better: I knew more of what I was doing, I felt more comfortable, I had breakfast outside on the deck with Mum for the first time that I can remember in forever and had a really chill morning so I didn't feel underpressure and I was early for work; as well, I SAW MME SALLOUM AND SPOKE WITH HER IN FRENCH AS SHE PASSED MY TILL!!! And, when she left she ended with "ça m'a fait plaisir" It was a pleasure to see you again! AND! I had a really fun customer who bought the slippers the ordered downtown at our location, but the important part was she was really prim and proper and had an Upper Canadian accent and exuded the desire to be called "Ma'am", so I did and it made me really happy to have such a traditionalist-esque customer who I didn't have to worry if she'd mind being called "ma'am" (which I reserve for older ladies, just to be courteous and such). Those two encounters made my day!!!!!

BUT! I'm going off with Oriana to wander the city for a while then I'll be home to bother Joseph as he's leaving tomorrow morning realllllly early for Québec where he'll stay for five weeks.

So, à plus tard,
Me.

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 30% Conservative, 70% Liberal

Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Guess who's now employed?

MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
Guess where? Sears! Coles wants me too but they can't guarentee me the hours I want to get money for Germany/Prague so I'll be over at Sears at a Customer Service desk 37.5 hours a week at 8.50$/hr!!!!!!!!!!
So yeah, little excited. Torn because the Coles people are really nice and I really wanted to work with them but I go where money and hours and good so....
How are the rest of you doing? :-)

Me.

Yay UDP, Nose Hill, Myspace music and MSN and people and Coles!

Meeting up with Gee, Caitlin, Sean, Devon and Kelci on Saturday in Prince's Island Park then debating with the Green Peace people, then up to Gee's for the BBQ, Twister games and Cranium then walking up to Nose Hill, seeing the deer on the way, and then being eaten alive by mosquitos and taking pictures for the UDP, then slurpees while waiting for the bus... A day to be repeated many times this summer!
I was on my Myspace for the first time in months last night and stumbled across Myspace Music and found a few new bands that I love: Panda (at myspace.com/pandalandia), an indie rock band from Monterrey, Mexico, Plain White T's, who Oriana told me about, (http://www.plainwhitets.com/) and Feeling Left Out (http://www.myspace.com/floia).
And MSN is lovely just because. Same with people because they're awesome as a rule.
Coles = happy so far because they called me this morning to arrange for an interview to get me on part-time. In other words, around 2.30 tomorrow afternoon I'll be tied up for a while. :-)

I'm going to go eat some more and then go sneaker shopping with Mum and Joseph then drop off applications at Best Western and another place...Econo Lodge, that's it...

Hasta luego!
Me.

Happy Fête Nationale!

Joyeuse Fête Nationale, everyone!

Art is love.

A HUGE thank-you to Oriana and Rosella for taking me down to Art Central today because, as the post's title suggests, art is love. It's moving and scathing and thought-provoking and generally unbareably wonderous. I'm going down when I have enough money to buy a print of the following painting: Prison-niée by Em Hunter (emhunter.net; quab.ca)

Look at his eyes, aren't they crying out for something?

Then we went to the EPCOR Centre to see two sculptures by the same artist that did Tête Cuivre series and the two that were so amazing yet deeply disturbing (and filled my mind with a measure of outrage and made me see visions of myself attacking the limbless figure on the ground) they were incredible.
Then we went through a plus-fifteen over towards City Hall and sat by the pool and splashed each other with water and had pretty good conversations then onto the train, up to Dalhousie where I took a bus up to Georgeanne's place.
Once at the Blue residence, we were shortly joined by Georgeanne's aunt and uncle and cousin; we ate a delicious dinner then us kids had tea then played Twister, after which we managed to convince the parents to play Cranium with us, which we won, by the way. Good fun all round.
I've really enjoyed the last few days and hope all of you people have as well.

I should get to bed soon as I'm supposed to do admin work for Dad tomorrow for his literary society SATOR (which I'll be paid for I hear) and be chipper enough to function and be happy doing so.

A plus tard!
Me

Things I like:

• people in general right now
• that Oriana introduced me to chai tea yesterday and it's delicious
• music
• life
• the prospect of jobs
• the thought of hanging out at the art gallery tomorrow
  

Jobs and World Cup.

I haven't gotten the chance to really watch as much of the World Cup as I've wanted to, but I must say I'm very pleased that Ghana beat the USA today, knocking them out of the rounds.
I love Aqualung today just because they're one of the bands whose music is working when I transfer it from the desktop computer to the laptop, that and they're pretty awesome.
On the job front, I have now given out six applications, including the worthless try at Safeway; the stores that are vying and/or considering and/or have an application are: Dalhousie's Chapters and their Starbucks location, Brentwood's Hula Juice and North Hill's Coles, Sears and HMV looks very promising (when I asked them if they were hiring the guy behind the counter asked if I wanted a full-time or part-time position and upon my saying "full-time" he asked if I could do part-time and I said sure, then about my availability and then the last three CDs I had bought and he said he'd probably call me in a few days! :-D).
Hopefully HMV'll work out and pay well and give me a good few hours.
And I went off with Georgeanne whilst job hunting and she brought the muffins she had made and we ate them and looked over her application for her uncle's shop down in the industrial South.
Tomorrow should prove good too as I'll be going to an art show with Oriana and Rosella and then to Georgeanne's dad's BBQ and Kate is also invited to it so yay!

I must go downstairs and sweep now, so 'til later people.
Oh! By the way, people with radios should listen on CBC Radio One, 1010 am, tonight from 7:30 to 8:00 pm because there'll be some interesting segments including this one:
Slavery's lingering legacy: blacks in Oklahoma seek a place among the Cherokee Indians that once held them captive -- only to find racism as pervasive now, as it was back then.
So listen to CBC tonight.

'Kay, bye now,
Me.

Safeway = no job.

However, today I did pick up an application for both Starbucks in the Chapters at Dalhousie Station and the Chapters itself at Dalhousie Station.
Yay Grey's! Sorry Candace, I was out with Kelci and Georgeanne today and we kinda watched the second dvd of the First Season, aka Episodes 6-9, which were reallly good.
And I will drop off applications with resumes tomorrow then meet Oriana for coffee. Should be fun.
Anyways, gotta go to bed to have applications dropped off (and applications gotten from Coles at North Hill, if they're even hiring, and Brentwood's JugoJuice) and info gotten from my manager last year at Safeway and general happiness and goodness to meet Oriana by 12.30pm so,

A plus tard,
Me.

So. I'll update about the magnificant excursion of yesterday later but for now something completely different....

I want my MP to Marlene Jennings of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Lachine because she's pretty fun, though of course Jim isn't bad, I was watching Question Period today while eating lunch and avoiding studying. She's the Deputy Opposition House Leader and asked some good questions today. Yes. This is what I do when I'm bored sometimes, and it was actually kinda fun to see how we were more civilized at Model Leg than the real MPs are overall.
Anyhow, I'll go back to doing Spanish/Math review. And keep waiting for Peggy from Safeway to call me back about a job there. She called around 11.30 this morning and after a quick exchange she said she'd need a few minutes to look over other applications and see who'd be working in August... The phone has only rung once since she last called and I'm really impatient for her to call back.
ANyways, hope people's Social finals went well today and all is right in your worlds.

Til later,
Me.

Hello world.

I am almost officially done gr 11. Go me! And I just got my hair cut and it's shorter! :-)
Yay bingo in Spanish (it's "¡Loto!" by the way)! And doing absolutely nothing in English today.
Um. So yeah, I'm gonna go be useless for a bit and try to remember how to write personal responses and short short stories and stuff for tomorrow's English written test.
And wow, I'm excited for CWS (the Cold War Sim we're running) on Friday! We worked on some of it last night, preliminary news stories/press releases and communiqués and such. I get to be LBJ aka the VP aka the President when JFK (Sean) was assassinated.
And I love Andy Stochansky, by the way. He is a beautiful musician and Rosella loves him tremendously as well. I shall go listen to him.

A plus tard les gars et filles, hasta luego, (I'll call you Candace re: tomorrow)
Me.

Today was the best day in forever!

So. I'm not going to write too too much right now but suffice it to say I had soooooooooooo much fun today!

I'm sick of expectations.

I'm sick of expectations and prejudices and insecurities and the coddling and useless fluffy words and all the people who have nothing to say and talk anyway and people who I gush to and never gush back or respond to my gushing in anyway and people who aren't there when I call their house and make me so sick of them.
And don't talk to me about this, I'll talk to you if I want to about it.

Me.

CBC has changed their website!

I don't know if I like it yet. :S

Afghanistan thoughts.

Candace's cousin Robin emailed me asking my thoughts on Afghanistan. This is what I sent back to her. I typed it out over the last hour or so of spare.

You wanted to know what my opinions are on Parliament’s decision to extend the Canadian mission in Afghanistan and Cpt Nichola Goddard’s unfortunate death. My opinions are varied and confused, I truly don’t know what to think. I remember when I heard on Power 107 that the United States had started its invasion on Afghanistan in October 2001, in the parking lot of North Hill’s Safeway. I was an immature grade seven student and I guess I thought that it was the best thing the world community could do, to uproot the bases of the terrorists and the fundamentalist government that fostered them.
You could say I was a supporter of the war then.
I was interested when I heard my then new friend Kate’s sister was in the military, she was out in Roger’s Pass triggering avalanches with her artillery unit, then later on she was fighting forest fires in BC that next terrible summer.
I guess when I completely realized that Kate’s sister Nich was in the military and could go on missions in dangerous places around the world, I was concerned for her safety and wanted to make sure that she’d be okay so that Kate wouldn’t have to deal with the trauma of losing one of her beloved sisters. When Nich was told she was going to be deployed to Afghanistan from about February to August this year, Kate was so scared for her, and I for the both of them. I, along with all her friends, reassured her that Nich would be fine and come home safe.
I have become slightly more pacifistic over the years, in a selfish kind of way: I wanted Nich to be safe and not have to fight but I didn’t mourn the other soldiers as much as I now know I should have. I didn’t support the idea of going in and bombing the country further into an abyss of underdevelopment and destruction and anarchy, but I felt like I had to support it because Nich was there, as many of our friends did. I listened voraciously to all the news reports and cringed every time I heard a soldier had been injured or killed, afraid that it would be Nich but it never was; when the reporter said “he”, in a terrible way I was relieved, not my friends’ family, not as dire a problem.
But then Nich did die and I didn’t know what to think. Do I support Afghanistan for Nich’s memory? Do I change my mind and cut and run and let other people take care of the people of Afghanistan instead? Let other people die for our security and freedom or send our friends and family?
It’s tough. I don’t actually have a solid opinion. If I were asked if I was in favour of the motion in the House of Commons, I would probably vote for it. But would I still feel bad about it? Yes. It’s a really difficult decision to make and I don’t know if I could really support one side or another.
Anyways, that’s my opinion. I hope it gave you food for thought and something to write about in your editorial.
All the best,
Michael Maher.

My favourites things right now: (in no particular order)

1. Spanish

2. Going outside during English on one of Rosella's adventures and signing people's yearbook
inserts

3. Reading people's yearbook inserts

4. Chocolate

5. THUMB!!!!! According to the crazy Menno people who taught Kelci's sister's Sunday school, THUMB is the acronym to remember the people who need to be converted-sortathing: T-tribal people (they worship spirits, etc, *shakes head*), H-Hindus (they have too many gods who are all false), U-unbelievers (they don't believe and they should or to hell they'll go), M-Muslims (they don't think as much as they should about Jesus *which is ridiculous because they think that Jesus was a martyr and prophet who was very important!!!*), and finally B is for Buddhists (like none believers)

6. French

7. The Republic of Nothing, my English book is soooo interesting and twisty-turny now and I'm really looking forward to our seminar tomorrow.

8. Lunch in the Debate room.

9. Stooping and chatting with Tania and Sally and people before getting lunch and that I'm going to eat with them on Thursday!

10. The Country Alphabet Game, but arg at the letters O and Q for each only having one country that commences with them in English (bloody Oman and Qatar...)

11. People in English.

12. Feeling useful during spare and actually working hard and feeling like I know what I'm talking about.

13. Functioning on ice, being damn sexy and my Pantene Pro-V hair, just for you Candace! :-)

14. Mum for being awesome and letting me babble about my day when I'm sure she doesn't really care too much, I described her as my alternate blog to people today.

15. Food in general.

16. The BBC

17. The CIA World Factbook, useful for the Alphabet Game, Country Edition

18. The Radio and CBC Radio for keeping me company and informing me while lounging and walking to school and waking up and getting ready in the morning.

19. The CBC booksale and all the wonderous books I bought.

20. The books Georgeanne bought from the booksale--Gee, I'm stealing the Canada book for a while I think, I'm on the third page of the intro and I'm thoroughly amused.

That's all for now folks, supper is wafting up the stairs and there needs to be a set table in order to each so hasta mañana,

Me.

Wednesday:
Gee and I went out with Kate to shop for her, shoes and a fancy top, out Market Mall and it was good fun. We talked and walked around and scrutinized the unbarable amount of shoes and tops. And Kate finally bought her shirt and cami then we went to CinneZone as a reward then we went back to the shoe store again because the bloody technology wouldn't work there, so Kate used her VISA.
Grad on Wednesday was so much fun. Kelci and Caitlin and I danced and the food was spectacular and Kelci and I had a good talk with Amlake. Then we all went over to Amy's and we played pool and talked and ate and about three Thursday morning Caitlin and Thomas and I left Amy's in a cab.

Thursday:
I went to bed at four. I was awoken at seven. I listened to a lot of music throughout the day. I went to the McInnis and Holloway funeral home in Crowfoot with Georgeanne. We met up with Kate and her cousins and fawned over the white SUV stretch limo. I went to Georgeanne's house after we spent our time with Kate and her family and we watched Josie and the Pussycats and played her "call out every brand name you see" game. Georgeanne's dad was incredible and drove me home in the driving rain.

Friday:
I got up around ten to eight and had my shower and had breakfast then got all dressed up. And I was a tie perfectionist. I had my tie fairly good but I managed to screw it up over and over because I needed to have it perfect. I tied it over and over, at least twelve or more times, twenty was the general figure today, in the car, in the bathroom in front of the mirror.
It was raining and I was glad to have my umbrella.
We were in the seventh row. I cried during the memorial video between ten thirty and eleven, not the whole time but whole body sobs and shakes. Jay and Tim were so composed and funny in spite of their overwhelming grief.
After the service when we were moving slowly towards the parking lot, we watched as Nich was moved out down the street and her coffin moving from the shoulders of her pallbearers to the artillery carriage to the white hearse. I was nearly at the entrance of the parking lot for the community center and I saw Anneliese standing by herself. And I walked towards her and I hugged her and she cried and I let her. We stood there together in the rain, my umbrella shielding us from it, and shortly after I moved towards her, a soldier with numerous medals on his chest checked to see we were alright and told Anneliese that it was the time to mourn. And we did. We drove her home.
We drove to the University for the reception where so many people were. Dad and Mum and I led some of the military people from the parking compound to Mac Hall. When we got there, I ran up the stairs to catch up with Georgeanne and Caitlin and Kelci and Lisa and Amlake. After some searching we found Kate and we barged into her biathalon friends' circle and took her over to get food. God I love Kate and Tim and Sally and everybody. We sat with Kate and talked about things with her.
Then nearly all of us, Kelci, Amlake, Lisa, Georgeanne, Caitlin, we all went to The House, driven by Mr Blue.
Then we went to Georgeanne's house, Caitlin and Amlake and I, and ate Gee's mum's amazing peanut butter cookies and talked and listened and bounced to music and played Twister.
When I was boring and wouldn't let Gee and Caitlin make my already product-filled hair into a faux-hawk, Gee evicted us and again Mr Blue drove Caitin home then me and Amlake here. We watched tv and chatted about the memorial and a good while later had supper.
Right near the end of dinner, my aunt Susan called, saying she'd been thinking of me all day. We talked about everything that has happened and how I'm a blogger and I write journals. This blog is for you all and for me, but my journals are a recapitulation of my day according to me for my eyes only. It's a good thing, to keep these seperate. To be true to you all but keep some things to myself but to see them on paper can get them out of my head or make me rethink them as the ink swirls onto the page. I enjoyed our conversation, I really did.
I waited at the bus stop with Amlake until her bus came around ten thirty.
I can back to the house and went upstairs and talked about things. I showed Mum the slideshow of what were the photos in the photobucket account we all set up for Grad.
Please just put up the Stars photos Kelci.
Mum and Dad and I re-interpreted some of our favourite stories from the eulogies and crazy Fire and Brimstone guy who you'll hear about later on.
Now I have to go to bed and have a good cry I think.
And Candace and Grey's people, Oh MY god.
We need to talk about that.

Gee, if you read this, or people who are interested for that matter, call me if you're interested in coming down to the CBC book sale at the CBC building tomorrow afternoon.
I can't wait to have nothing to worry about. I miss when I had nothing to worry about. Last year was so much simpler. Fewer things to worry about, I didn't feel as behind, I didn't feel as sad, I didn't... But I do now. And over the last year I've grown and admitted things to people and started working so many things out and lost my grandmother and we just lost Nich and things have gotten hard this year. I feel overwhelmed, even when I'm caught up I just can't bring myself to be caught up without being completely caught up.

So. I'll actually go now after that gush.

'Night all,
Me.

A picture from grad, updates to come...

Kelci and I at Grad Wednesday evening.

Ummmm...

Harper says he's finished with Ottawa press corps

Last Updated Wed, 24 May 2006 18:12:22 EDT

CBC News

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he'll no longer give news conferences for the national media, after a dispute led a number of journalists to walk away from an event when he refused to take their questions.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces Canada is increasing aid to Sudan's violence-plagued Darfur region as Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mackay looks on in Ottawa, Tuesday May 23, 2006. It was during this news conference that some reporters left after being told they would not be allowed to ask questions. (CP PHOTO/Fred Chartrand) Canadian Press

• INDEPTH: Stephen Harper

Speaking to A-Channel in London, Ont., Harper said "unfortunately the press gallery has taken the view they are going to be the opposition to the government."

"They don't ask questions at my press conferences now. We'll just take the message out on the road. There's lots of media who do want to ask questions and hear what the government is doing."

Since becoming prime minister in January, Harper has had a testy relationship with the national media in Ottawa. His staff has tried to manage news conferences by saying they will decide which reporters get to ask questions.

The press gallery has refused to play by those rules. "We can't accept that the Prime Minister's Office would decide who gets to ask questions," Yves Malo, a TVA reporter and president of the press gallery, told CP on Tuesday. "Does that mean that when there's a crisis they'll only call upon journalists they expect softball questions from?"

On Tuesday about two dozen Ottawa reporters walked out on a Harper event when he refused to take their questions.

That led Harper to say that from now on he will speak only to local media.

The CBC says it will continue to cover the prime minister. "If the prime minister chooses to take questions we will be there to ask them," said Ottawa managing editor George Hoff. "We will have a journalist there to ask questions," he said.

Harper's supporters said Wednesday they believed the conflict is being blown out of proportion.

"I think this will get sorted out over time," Conservative Geoff Norquay said during an interview on Politics on CBC Newsworld.

"I think both sides have an interest in sorting it out and I think they will over time. The reality is that every new government wants to keep a tight lid on its messages and this one in particular because it had the previous example of Mr. Martin who had so many priorities that they all turned to mush in the minds of the Canadian people. And that's why this government is tightly focused on its messages," he said.

So the CBE isn't totally horrible any more.

They've stopped blocking the BBC. :)

I just watched...

the final Will & Grace. It was good, I enjoyed it and it brought closure and revived old running themes and stuff. It was good. *nods in satisfaction*

Montenegro secedes

Montenegro 'chooses independence'

Montenegro has narrowly voted for independence from its union with Serbia, unofficial projections show.

Indications are that 55.3% of voters elected to secede from Serbia, just above the 55% required for victory.

Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic claimed early on Monday that his drive for independence had been successful.

But official results are not expected for several hours. If confirmed, the independence vote would erase the last vestige of the former Yugoslavia.

"Tonight, with the majority decision by the citizens of Montenegro, the independence of the country has been renewed," said Mr Djukanovic.

The question of independence has deeply divided Montenegro, with its opponents arguing that it will damage economic, family and political ties with Serbia.

The opposition leader who spearheaded the campaign against independence, Predrag Bulatovic, said his camp would not admit defeat based on an "arbitrary estimate by a monitoring group".

"The results are not final until they are confirmed by the state referendum commission," he said, urging the government to ask its supporters to leave the streets.

"Such a crucial decision must not be carried out by a trick," Mr Bulatovic said.

Serb politicians, Orthodox church leaders and Montenegrins from the mountainous inland regions bordering Serbia broadly opposed secession.

However, ethnic Montenegrins and Albanians from the coastal area largely back the prime minister and favoured independence.

Mr Djukanovic argued that an independent Montenegro will have a stronger economy and will be a better candidate for admission into the European Union.

Record turn-out

Indications that the pro-independence bloc may have won the vote prompted celebrations in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica.

The tooting of car horns filled the city and youths were seen waving the red and gold flag of the old Montenegrin monarchy. The country was last independent in 1918.

Guns and fireworks were let off in celebration.

Polls opened early on Sunday morning and turnout was said to have surpassed a record 85%.

Voters, some of them dressed in their Sunday best clothes, pondered the referendum question: "Do you want Montenegro to be an independent state with full international and legal legitimacy?"

In the days preceding the vote, thousands of Montenegrins living abroad were invited back to the country to cast their ballot.

The country has a population of fewer than 700,000 people, so the vote of the diaspora was considered as crucial by both camps.

Montenegro's loose union with Serbia was established in 2003, replacing what was left of the former Yugoslavia.

Both sides were given the option of electing to leave the union after three years.

The last time Montenegro was independent was nearly 90 years ago at the end of World War I, when it was absorbed into the newly-formed Yugoslavia.

In the days running up to the vote, thousands of Montenegrins living abroad have travelled home in order to cast their ballot.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/5003220.stm

Arg at Victoria Day closures of shops

So. The sushi place that I was meeting my friend Ty at was closed today. And he was, as is frequently the case, he was late, but I talked to Fiona quickly then he arrived and then when we went to another sushi place and looked at an Italian restaurant, they were closed. We ended up at Charly Chan's and it was damn good food. He had to run off because of his shift starting at 2, so I went over to JugoJuice and got a Summer Strawberry drink and talked with Oriana a bit.

I have math review to do so I'll go and do some of that. I've got a friend coming down from Edmonton who I'd like to have lunch with if I can but I need to have sufficient amounts of math done first.

Anywho, talk to you all later.
Me.

Nich's home.

I just saw the live footage on NewsWorld of Nich coming off the plane and the repatriation ceremony and I could just about make out Tim and Sally and Kate.
She's home, nearly truly home.

Today wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I managed not to break down today. School wasn't completely terrible.
I went in late thanks to spare first and I saw Nich's procession onto the plane.
I spent a bit of time in the Security Council and was for a few short minutes semi-secretary/page (once).
Math test. I hate triangles and forgetting how to calculate the aire d'un triangle, even though I had the formula I couldn't remember how to find hauteur for bh/2.
Spanish test after lunch. Pretty easy. Then we worked on superlatives and I ran over to the library because I had forgotten the papers I printed off last night from the Wikipedia article on anarchism for the English seminar. So I printed them off again at school and ran back to the Spanish room then over to the doors to the court yard hopefully but people weren't there. So I went upstairs to see people almost on their way down to the courtyard, so I joined them and tried to put my Spanish books away so I wouldn't be trucking them around but my locker hated me so I kicked it but it still didn't work so I hurried down to the courtyard and the seminar wasn't bad.
I just found out that Nich's being called "the daughter of Canada."
Um, so yeah. Not too much else happened today. I came home and watched some tv, rediscovered The Weekenders. Gardened with Mum a bit. Chatted on MSN with people. Had supper, did dishes, more tv, more chatting.
Tada.
I'm gonna end this post now but if you're reading this Kate, love and support from everyone, Analu, Anneliese, all the regulars, people you don't know send their support. I hear there are 17 pages of condolensces on the Herald's site. Not that it's makes it any better, but it might help, who knows... Mum and Dad went over to your house to steal some empty pots and return them full of flowers but it seems other people got there first, but we did try. :-)
I'm glad you and your family will all be together and I hope that lessens the load a little for all of you and just remember that we're all thinking about you and hope you're doing well.
Yay for it being less hot today vs yesterday. It was raining a little for a while but it wasn't a very satisfying storm. There were like twelve drops in the courtyard and then a little after, as in recently, it rained slightly. But not enough for it to really count, just a few seconds of pitter-patter.
And it's so annoying to feel powerless and to have to try to explain for the umpteenth time to Mum about blogging but because she's so non-e-savvy when I said you type in someone's address she thought like 1202 90th Ave... and I said no...
So basically, the media sucks a lot but the Herald had really good articles about Nich and the press conference yesterday so they suck a little less.
But I'm actually going to end this post now so adios for now all.

Love ya Kate,
Me.

I don't know if this is appropriate but I'm listening to Stars right now and this song is ringing so true for me right now.

Celebration Guns

So tomorrow there will be another number
For the one who had a name
Desert wind and a perverse desire to win
History buried in shame

Are the beating drums
Celebration guns
The thunder and the laughter
The last thing they remember

Are the beating drums
Celebration guns
The thunder and the laughter
The last thing they remember

Then the next day
How will you know your enemy
By their colour or your fear
One by one
We can cage them in your freedom
Make them all disappear

Six hundred sixty-six hundred sixty days
Two guards, one uncharged
This morning's paper's ink stains my fingers
My hands grow darker every day

Are the beating drums
Celebration guns
The thunder and the laughter
The last thing they remember

Are the beating drums
Celebration guns
The thunder and the laughter
The last thing they remember

Goodnight, sleep light, stranger
Goodnight, sleep light, stranger

I'm so sorry.

God, Kate. This is so unfair and overwhelming and all my love and support and thoughts and those of everyone I know and even people who don't know you are pouring towards you, you have to remember that. I can't imagine what this is like for you and if I've said it once I've said it a thousand times and I'll keep saying it for as long as need-be, I love you and I'll always be there for you, no matter what you want or need, I'll be there. Remember that.
Hugs from all the family to all of your's and hang tough Kate. We're all behind you whenever wherever.
And yes, I am putting this up on my blog for everyone to read. Put something like this up on all your blogs. The media needs to know that we're all behind Kate and they should put these kinds of things on the front page, not a personal message sent from her sister to her, posted for her friends to read. Fucking media.
That's all, I have to go to bed. I can't handle being awake, it's too stressful and tiresome. I'm not looking forward to my Math test or my Spanish test or my seminar in English. I can't handle it. My anger and grief and frustration ebbs and flows, resurfacing every now and then and this is one of those times. I can't be strong for anyone right now, I'm letting things pour out again. I have to get them out for all of you to see.
Every time I have to tell someone or explain it further or see Nich's face or read her name it becomes more and more real and harder and harder. I'm less emotional compared to yesterday but still... I can't imagine what it's like for you and your family to see her over and over. Like a stabbing pain over and over. I'm so, so sorry.
I have to make it clear that I never really met Nich. I saw her once down the hall in Grade 8 at Branton one day Kate and I had been working late in the library for debate. But I read her letters Kate sent and saw her photos from Afghanistan and she reminds me so much of Kate and I feel like even though I never met her I knew her. It's hard to explain but it's true.

I'm going to bed, all my love and sorrow and grief and all possible happiness that I can send to you all to make this easier.

Good-night all,
Michael.

Lalalala!!!!

Hello all. Not much to say right now. Just that aaaah English short stories tests and paragraph answers and yay being elected guy captain for debate and choosing to be Minister of External Affairs for Model UN!
Aaaaaaaaaaaand, I'm going to go home and work on math and read for English pretty soon. Voila, c'etait les informations nationales et internationales de Radio-Canada.
And I had a resurgence of a fraction of a song from James and the Giant Peach just a few minutes ago, it was a good time.

Bye for now,
Me.

Generally lazy weekends are always fun. :)

My weekend was splendidly unproductive:
Saturday:
Joseph's birthday and his registration at the U of C and his eventually being kicked out of Kilkenny's for using his new U of C id instead of another photo id and subsequent going over to Teale's for the night, I went to Meghan's almost-old birthday party (btw 17 = almost old, 18 = old) and relishing the innuendos in Disney's Robots and then watching the taped Desperate and West Wing and Grey's and going shopping for Joseph's birthday present and over at Home Depot to get perennials.
Sunday:
Waking up around 9 after 6 hours of sleep and managing not to cut myself while flaying and chopping up a pineapple to accompany Joseph's pancakes for Mum's breakfast on the deck, going back to sleep for an hour and a half and arising slightly more awake and lazing about then gardening and rediscovering FM radio. Ironically, the CRTC is having hearings to investigate the state of private radio and I heard CBC interviews about how teenagers are turning away from traditional radio, a la Jenna, in my English class, and myself to an extent, I turned away from private radio I guess...

Bell's ringing...English short stories test.

A plus tard,
Me.

About that math test on raisonnement...

I got 26/35, 74%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am pleased with myself. Let's hope I can carry over this skill to le cercle.

Candace!

I'm very impressed that you've commented on so many of my posts! :)

I have my math test for...

raisonnement in about an hour and nine minutes. Fun conjecture that M. Lam gave us yesterday that he said was his favourite énoncé from high school "Les poules n'ont pas de dents. Ma grand-mère n'a pas de dents." Conjecture: "Ma grand-mère est une poule."

Not looking forward to...

1. dentist appointment, I'm not crazy about them, but I don't really mind them, mostly because it'll take time out of my relaxation time this afternoon.

2. my report card, it won't be fun to bring home...

Bye now,
Me

By the way, we (the Prosecution) won the case in English Tuesday!
And I'm working on my English P&P project and I think it'll be good after all.
Me

Email back from Mr. Prentice's Office

Dear Mr. Maher,

Thank you for your message regarding Darfur.

Please be assured that Minister Prentice is aware of this sad and dreadful situation and will be continuing discussions with his caucus colleagues.

Sincerely,

Yvonne Hazeldene
Constituency Assistant
Office of Hon. Jim Prentice, P.C., Q.C., MP
Calgary Centre-North
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development

(Message I sent:

Dear Mr. Prentice

Today, the Calgary Herald contained an article mentioning a "take note"
Parliamentary debate to be held tomorrow on the genocide in Darfur. As one
of the Canadian citizens you are tasked to represent, I have a formal
request to make of you, sir.

Surely, your job obligates you to have some knowledge of world affairs. I
don't think I need to try and tell you that what is happening in Darfur
offends not only every Canadian value, but every human one. As my
representative, I encourage you attend this debate. Speak up if you can
about the need for your party, as government, to act.

The article I read this morning contained a very reasonable way for us to do
so. An all-party motion was described. It called simply for our government
to recognize the genocide for what it is, and for our ambassador to the UN
to join the many calling for an intervention. Signing on to this motion
simply asks us to ask, and can't possibly have a cost to Canada as a
country.

The "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine is a Canadian invention, and to
ignore it will destroy any claim (on our part) to being better than the
Janjaweid and their backers in Khartoum.

Thank you for having taken the time to read this.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Maher)

Why must San Marino be so detestable in its location? I don't hate them solely because of their geographical orientation and their preventing me from getting 100% on Sheppard Software's geography game....also I don't like FYRM. Darn Macedonians.

The bell just rang. Bye for now,
Me.

Today hasn't been that bad...

I was reluctant to get up, as always, but English went well as did Spanish. Then Double Math but I got a confidence boost when M. Lam handed out a sheet that I did almost completely right, only three little things but nothing to get unhooked about. At lunch I went with Sean and Lisa and Oswell to watch the Grand Final for Film Fest but it wasn't as good as I thought it might've been. *shrugs*
So here I am in spare, not really doing much now. I did do math homework for the first half hour and I'm feeling really good about it.
My life today.
How are you all today?

Oh, while I'm here....

you all have to read Jane Yolen's Briar Rose. It should be required reading.

My confusion is now lessened...

I am right that Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley look remarkably similar. Turns out Keira was Sabe, the Amidala look-a-like in The Phantom Menace, and Natalie was Padme Amidala. I was searching around Wikipedia and clicked on Keira Knightley's name and in her bio it said her and Natalie's parents had trouble telling them apart when they were all made-up.
Random fact of the day. That is all for now.

Stupid school schedule changes for grade twelve grad presentations that noone pays attention to...

So apparently the school changed the schedule today but because most teachers don't read the announcements, a hell of a lot of us thought we'd have a regular day with Period 1 first and a late start for me.
I'll continue this later.
Me.

Another post on this manic-depressive blog

Life is pretty good now. Kate's party on Friday and home-made pizza and bread and me and Caitlin winning (because we were ahead and we were all too tired to keep playing) the British version of Cranium, having people over to watch the game and look at Caitlin's pictures from Nat Sems, World Qualifiers and Greece and eating Chinese food, getting a book from Oriana that's actually pretty good and four books from Kate...
I'm not looking forward to English tomorrow, I put the assignments in Mrs Longinotti's mailbox in the office and hung around in the library as hardly anybody was in class and we had a sub anyway, but at least the trial will be fun on Tuesday. But shit, I don't have any idea what to do for my "multiple intelligences project" in response to Pride and Prejudice due this coming Friday, and I kinda want to hand it in early to make up for the other projects...
And the report card won't be fun this week either...
But hey, I'm going out to coffee with my friend Ty in about an hour and I'm working on math right now and listening to Bruce Cockburn's song "All the Diamonds in the World" and I ate the leftover pizza from Kate's for breakfast with tea and two pieces of toast so I am good. And Mum and Dad'll be back from their romantic 19th anniversary getaway in Banff soon and that'll be cool.
Oh, and remember my grade 5 partner from École Banff Trail? I was thinking about him this week and he emailed me this morning and between the two of us we've sent four emails today. It made me smile to see his email.
Any how, Georgeanne should show Kelci how to use Photobucket and I should do math so off I go.

Until later all,
Me.

Kate's luggage came!

When will I stop lying to myself and own up for what I haven't done and give back the more-worthy-than-I-deserve lauding?

Another bitchy post.

Well, not totally. I went off to Starbucks with Kate in the spare before lunch and lunch wasn't bad. Neither was Spanish or English. I suppose. And then I went out for a walk with said friend after school and talked about Calgary durant France and France durant France and she brought me a massive chocolate chip muffin then we went to her house and she gave me a fun random book she read with her French class in France. There are so many words I didn't understand but that's okay, I'll look them up later.

However, I fail at English. Not actually but right now I wish I could drop it but at the same time I don't. Fuck procrastination and locked doors and printers that don't believe in coloured ink.

I just want to sleep and not have to wake up and face the day before my damn midterm.

But yay for Nat Sems people doing us splendiferously proud!

And yay for a trial next week in English based on this poem by Robert Browning

Porphyria's Lover

THE rain set early in to-night,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
And did its worst to vex the lake:
I listen'd with heart fit to break.	5
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneel'd and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;
Which done, she rose, and from her form	10
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,
And laid her soil'd gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat down by my side
And call'd me. When no voice replied,	15
She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,
And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,
And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,	20
Murmuring how she loved me—she
Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour,
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer ties dissever,
And give herself to me for ever.	25
But passion sometimes would prevail,
Nor could to-night's gay feast restrain
A sudden thought of one so pale
For love of her, and all in vain:
So, she was come through wind and rain.	30
Be sure I look'd up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshipp'd me; surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.	35
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around,	40
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.
As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her lids: again
Laugh'd the blue eyes without a stain.	45
And I untighten'd next the tress
About her neck; her cheek once more
Blush'd bright beneath my burning kiss:
I propp'd her head up as before,
Only, this time my shoulder bore	50
Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorn'd at once is fled,
And I, its love, am gain'd instead!	55
Porphyria's love: she guess'd not how
Her darling one wish would be heard.
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirr'd,
And yet God has not said a word!	60

I'm going to do more studying,

Adios,
Me

Sometimes I wish I was invisible but then you wouldn't see me.
You don't see me anyway but that's besides the point.

Post # 101

I am displeased with myself.
Supremely so.
I fail at math, as I did my last test, I actually did fail this one and not by a nose, by enough for a true failing mark. On the upside we're doing "raisonnement", reasoning, so there's less math and more reasoning and logic to it. Well, some of it. Fuck math.
Spanish isn't too bad, Mum'll be mad that I didn't hand in the ridiculous poem with the letters of your name project because she was going to freak out if I didn't hand in an assignment. So fuck me.
English, I have this exterior to some people that I have under control but that broke loose today. Mrs Longinotti asked me where my art cards were today in class and I told her she'd get them in tutorial on her desk. Back to reality, they don't all exist, certainly not on paper. And I'm un-creative and I know I've been bitching about it but get over it, and another lie I told parents was I handed them all in when they were due. Not the case at all. Nor did I finish my Macbeth essay and I have no idea what to do for my Pride and Prejudice response project so I'm essentially totally fucked there too.
Fuck fuck fuck.

Now that that's out, how were your days?

Til later,
Me.

100th Post!

Kate came home yesterday, after a 15 hr flight and fun at customs and such. Yay Kate!
Um, but she isn't findable right now in our mutual spare so we'll see if she's in French (when I ask Georgeanne at lunch...and if Kate comes to Poirier's room for lunch for that matter), so I am currently sitting down, after having wandered around for about twenty minutes, in the library at a computer. What are the odds that I'm on a computer?!
So I really love Wikipedia. It never ceases to amuse and amaze me. For example, did you know that an American dog, Stubby the bull terrier, achieved the rank of sergeant in the First World War?
Anyways, I'm gonig to wander some more and possibly do some math homework, we'll see.

'Til later,
Me.

Just a few musings from Friday's English class:

Why is it that in the comparatively more conservative society of the 1950's, people knew their neighbours and said hi and smiled and waved to people on the street, even if they didn't know each other, while in our "liberal" society, where you'd think people'd be more open and friendly, you're seen as strange if you pass someone on the street and acknowledge them?

Why do people care more about the new Gucci bag that's coming out or that Angelina Jolie is having a baby and Brad Pitt's such a bastard for running off on Jennifer Aniston while throughout the world women are being abused and having acid thrown on their faces for being raped in Bangladesh or being circumcised in Egypt?

What can be done to encourage a grass roots movement to move away from media worship and towards fixing the world's problems of inequality?

Liz suggested something to me wandering in the halls Friday afterschool, do we want to be feminists or egalitarians?

4 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Last Updated Sat, 22 Apr 2006 16:45:53 EDT

CBC News

A roadside bomb killed four soldiers in southern Afghanistan on Saturday in the deadliest attack on Canadian forces since they began their latest mission to secure and rebuild the country.

The four were travelling in an armoured vehicle called a G-wagon when it was blown onto its side by an improvised explosive device, 70 kilometres north of Kandahar city, around 7:30 a.m. local time Saturday.

• INDEPTH: Canadian casualties in Afghanistan

The four Canadians killed have been identified. From top: Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Lieut. William Turner, Bombardier Myles Mansell and Cpl. Randy Payne. (National Defence)

• INDEPTH: Canada's equipment in Afghanistan

Three of the men died at the scene, near Gumbad, a small outpost established by the Canadians two months ago. The fourth died shortly after being transported to the hospital at the coalition air base in Kandahar.

The defence department has identified the Canadians:

• Cpl. Matthew Dinning, born in Richmond Hill, Ont., and stationed at Petawawa, Ont.
• Bombardier Myles Mansell, born in Victoria, B.C., and stationed at Victoria.
• Cpl. Randy Payne, stationed in Wainwright, Alta.
• Lieut. William Turner, born in Toronto and stationed at Edmonton.

The four soldiers were all in the same jeep, which was part of a mixed convoy made up of more heavily armoured vehicles, such as LAVs and Bisons.

• RELATED: Harper pays tribute to slain soldiers

"It's a sad day for Task Force Aegis and the coalition," said Brig-Gen. David Fraser, commander of the forces in Kandahar. "Those soldiers were conducting operations to enhance the security of the Shah Wali Kot [district].

"They were doing outstanding work, having positive effects. I had actually been in the area yesterday myself, talking with the local leaders [who] indicated that security has improved since we've arrived in the area."

A G-wagon, similar to the one attacked on Saturday. (Canadian Press)

Canada has 2,300 soldiers in southern Afghanistan and took command in February of a multinational force fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda members.

Taliban militants have been stepping up attacks in recent weeks against coalition and Afghan forces across southern Afghanistan, a former Taliban stronghold.

Sixteen Canadians, including a senior diplomat, have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved

Today.

Today in English we split off into small groups and discussed the new movie version of Pride and Prejudice and Mrs Longinotti wanted us to move outside of our cliques, which we sit in, about five or six, two of which are composed of two people each, and I was invited to join the young ladies sitting behind my group, Candace, Tierney and Bonita and they got David Ting over as well. Tierney and I spent a lot of the time juxtaposing the book and the movie and parts we thought we significant that were cut out of the movie and characterisations we agreed with and the shift of the focus from a more general societal commentary and a series of romances towards a Elizabeth-Mr Darcy-centred love story. Over all the movie was good but not the same as the book, which Tierney and I both preferred.
Then I had Spanish and we didn't do too much: we did other people's word scrambles (generally a verb written backwards) and started working on Spanish crosswords with past tense verbs, perty good all together.
Double Math wasn't too too bad; we reviewed yesterdays lesson on "les asymptotes" and they're rather amusing when they're easy to find.
Lunch was good however I discovered a few bites into my sandwich (that I thought Mum had left behind for me) was not chicken but tuna and thus Mum's. I'll go tell her soon... Apparently it's 4/20 and thus supposedly "International Smoke Marijuana Day" and to that end Wyll appeared rather stoned and Kees eventually reported he felt about half of his math class was high.
Spare was rather uneventful.
I came home after working on some math then listening to Wyll and later Josh talk to Erica and Sean about topics they could face at Worlds Qualifier next week. It was about 6.30 when I got home and when Joseph and Mum went over to Moores to get my brother fitted for his tuxe for grad, they also went to Marks Work Wearhouse and bought me some new snazzy shirts.
Joseph had made waffles for supper and I proceeded to fabricate two for myself and greedily scarfed them down.
Now I'm upstairs looking over my math notes some more and writing the crossword hints and making it more legible for myself, originally when I was creating it I just added words where they'd fit, irregardless of whether they'd fit when I wrote them out on the graph paper we'll get tomorrow for our "good copies".
I reaffirm my absolute, passionate love for wordreference.com and yay Nat Sems people!

I must go and work on that Spanish some more so until later,
Moi.

I was just listening to Pandora....

and Set Yourself On Fire came on and near the end where Torq sings "20 years asleep before we sleep... forever..." I was transported back to the concert and I can remember him intensely making each syllable count while he perched on that speaker.

I'm not going to finish the saga below right now, just a few things to say.

To start off, when I'm having difficulty with the photocopier, I don't want teachers to treat me like a 5 year old who looks bewildered by the broken pencil sharpener when the teacher wants to sharpen his pencil. I CAN do it myself but if I'm confused don't look down on me and do it for me, tell me what's wrong with what I've done and show me how to do it myself.
Now hooray for English essays occasionally and this is an occasion for celebration. I have an essay due for English tomorrow with the question (loosely remembered) "What does Shakesepeare suggest to you about the internal conflict in personalities (ie good vs evil)?" but we are also supposed to make it interesting and go out on a limb and such when possible. I was working on brainstorming his elements of good and evil within Macbeth's personality and had no idea what to do with them, until I came to the idea of his initial loyalty (to his king) followed by disloyalty (his murdering that king and later his friend and another thane's family, to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read or seen Macbeth before). Then I thought about contrasting the two and looked up on Google something about honour or chivalry and related concepts and I found the Japanese samurai tenants of Bushido and started jotting down how Macbeth managed to both exceed and fail to meet the basic social expectations of a samurai. I asked Ms Longinotti this morning if I could do it and she said that she looked forward to reading it. :)
Now, I'm going to go sit on the pink couch in Poirier's room and be a blob of relaxation until the bell rings.

Bye for now, (6 days Kate!)
Me.

The past few days and English

So, let's review the last few days, starting with Thursday.
Thursday:
Tutorial: got in because Dad drove me as to avoid the awkwardness of me walking to school with the Mexican dip and bag of nachos, looked over my Math test that I didn't do as well as I had hoped to on.
English: I don't really recall what we did on Thursday in English.
Spanish food party: I must admit I was somewhat skeptical of what my classmates would produce foodwise but I was absolutely stunned and very pleasantly surprised. We had to talk about our food, its background and ingredients and when nearly everyone did so, we ate and listened to happy Spanish music. I ran across the hall and invited Gee and then managed to see Kees and Sean in the halls back to the Spanish room to have some of the mountain of food on the tables.
Math: is dumb. No, I get most of it in class but I end up not really getting it later on so I'm going to go in and ask about what I don't get in tutorial tomorrow so hopefully I'll stop bitching about it.
Lunch: Wyll and Josh got Poirier a katana in San Fransisco and he was blubbering going "What da...? *laughs*" over and over. And I had some of Caitlin's plunder from her Spanish party.
More math.
Spare!: I walked home and helped Mum and Dad with last minute arranging and cleaning.

Then people from the University came and then Meghan and eventually Georgeanne (who I might talk about later). Loads of good food, fun people, interesting, deep conversations, chocolate mousse, the people our age (David and Audrey) stayed for about 5 hours and t'was so much fun.

Friday:
I went out for coffee with Audrey and met Georgeanne and Lisa down in Kensington around 4. We went to the Oolong (sp?) Tea House and Audrey ordered waaay too much tea accidentally and we all generally enjoyed our tea. Then Audrey and I walked Gee and Lisa back to the Sunnyside community centre and while there we met one of Audrey's soccer friends and we proceeded to accidentally stalk them by walking through a residential road two down from where they were.
Audrey and I went to the Wee Book Inn and then to the train station to call David and both of our parents to say we were going over to my house and he was welcome to come along.

That's all I'll post for now but I'll be back soon.

'Til later,
Me.

ACCORDING TO YOUR ANSWERS,

The political description that
fits you best is...

.

LIBERAL

LIBERALS usually embrace freedom of choice in personal

matters, but tend to support significant government control of the

economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net"
to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation

of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations,

defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action

to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.

The RED DOT on the Chart shows where you fit on the political map.

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 70%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 20%.
(Please note: Scores falling on the Centrist border are counted as Centrist.)
http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

I love Kate's random letters.

I got Kate's letter from the twentieth today! Yay communities bonding together to take care of the disfortunate after the Second World War!
I just took a picture that I hope will come up to say hi to Kate.
Today was pretty good. That is all *laughs*.

Michael -- [noun]: A real life muppet 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Life? Why must you hate me so?

To start off today I have a interesting travelling dream that takes me on an amazing bus trip from Rocky Mountains highway in Alberta to small town Texas really quickly then has me and various people from school and M. Poirier coming over the border at a toll booth sorta thing and we end up waiting for another bus or something to pick us up after getting off on the Canadian side of the border in the middle of the woods. It was pretty cool.
HOWEVER!!!!!!! While I wake up a few times in between episodes of my dreams, my official time that I get up is 10.06 am. FUCK! School starts in 14 minutes and I'm lying in bed.
I rush to have my shower and get dressed and find out I only have two socks in my drawer, one white the other grey(!) and I can't find my watch. I get all my stuff in my binder, cursing all the while and I get down to the main floor, grab two apples and guess what? It's 10.20. Shit shit shit. I rummage quickly to get a bus ticket just in case I'm lucky enough to catch it on my way to school so I won't be hideously late for Math but guess what? I am. I see the bus as it comes down Morley Trail on the other side of the street. Bloody hell.
I don't go to the last few minutes of math because it wouldn't be worth the humiliation and curse a lot and talk to Andrea in the library for that last few minutes then we go to Spanish. Life wasn't too bad thereafter but until then I wanted to curl up and die.
For anyone caring I did get the notes for the class I missed and started the homework in the second period of double Spanish because Trevor and I had already finished writing the presentation we presented later on.
And I guess English wasn't too bad, we did nothing, we had a sub and we just talked about the possibility of alternate realities and what animals we see each other being and how we would kill Rosella and I told the rat story again when we were talking about the whole death thing and I was told by Candice to get my hair trimmed and good things like that.
Hoorah for run-on sentences!
Um, yeah, so now I get to go tell Mum that while I had promised not to be late this semester and not be late for Math especially and that I'd work on my Spanish poem and English in my spare today and get lectured about why I need to get up early and go in for tutorial and all that jazz. I'm so disappointed in myself for frittering away two periods I could have worked in today. *beats head against the wall*
Bye for now, I'm going to go get a recipe for the Spanish party on Thursday. Who's volunteering a kitchen for me before then?
Me.

Life is better now...

so. I am happier than I was on Wednesday afternoon now.
I feel like I aced my math test on Friday, I had a good chat with Meghan walking her home Friday then I went back to the school because I didn't want to go home for no reason and hung out with the Mock Trial people (who won, by the way) then I went to the used bookstore across the street with Kelci and walked to the station just chattering away about feminism and the like.
I had a great conversation with Kate for just under thirty minutes yesterday afternoon about France and funny French people's lack of a grasp of the words in English songs. I also had a magnificant steak for supper last night and then watched a hilarious and touchingly personal performance from comedienne Margaret Cho on Bravo! and then comparatively mindless entertainment from Wanda Sykes on Comedy.
MSN hates me passionately. Fate is conspiring to make me do my English homework that I'm unsure about and completely uncreative in doing.
Anyways, the aroma of cooking pork chop is wafting upstairs and I can't wait until supper, but until then I'll return to my English...or Spanish homework.
Congrats to all the Mock Trial people and the people who went up to Edmonton for a tournament that could have effectively been held down here (minus the fun monetary prizes).
Bye for now,
Me.

I hate...

my pride and bitterness and determination to find things out myself rather than taking the easy way that would save me time, though almost compromise my morals. But I'm mostly fucking ridiculous and such. I'm going to go home and sleep, I am frustrated by life right now.
Me.

Welsh sheep on Al Jazzeera

Al-Jazeera buys Welsh sheep show A Welsh-language children's show featuring musical sheep is to be shown on Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera.
The Middle East broadcaster has brought the rights to screen 52 episodes of S4C's The Baaas, as well as the Welsh children's show Sali Mali.
The series will be shown in Arabic in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq and in the Palestinian territories.
Anna-Lisa Jenaer, head of children's programmes at S4C International, said they were "delighted" with the deal.
"The Baaas are colourful, entertaining and ultimately fun and we're delighted they'll be reaching new audiences in the Middle East thanks to this deal with al-Jazeera," said Ms Jenaer.
Delightful
The pre-school series, which will be shown on the al-Jazeera's children's channel, is described by S4C as "a live action series following the exploits of an extended family of musical, multi-racial sheep".
It follows Greek father Costas, his Welsh wife Baalween, their daughter and grandchildren - and the highs and lows of the family recycling business.
"The series gives viewers a taste of a wide range of musical styles, from opera to rap, while also placing a strong emphasis on the importance of recycling and family interaction," said an S4C spokesman.
The animated series Sali Mali is based on the 1970s children's books by Mary Vaughan Jones.
"The adventures of Sali Mali have delighted generations of Welsh youngsters, whether in book, cartoon or live action format," said Ms Jenaer.
"This sale to al-Jazeera is further proof of this delightful and engaging character's enduring appeal."
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/4872660.stmPublished: 2006/04/03 13:51:27 GMT© BBC MMVI

Random news of the day...

Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea's wife is going to have a baby!!

Is Preston after the throne?

C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y : Manning eyes premiership after Klein hints he may leave early Last Updated Sat, 01 Apr 2006 23:27:16 EST CBC News Leadership hopefuls, including surprise candidate Preston Manning, set their sights on the Alberta premier's office on Saturday, just a day after Ralph Klein hinted he may retire earlier than expected. Klein told delegates to the Conservative party's annual convention in Calgary that he was mulling his political future after delegates gave him just 55 per cent support in a leadership review. Former Reform leader Preston Manning says he would run for the premiership, if invited. Klein originally said he would remain at his job for another two years. Now, the premier says he will take a few days to consider what's best "for the party, the province and for me." That was enough of a hint to open the gates to a host of leadership hopefuls, including the biggest surprise, Manning, former leader of the defunct Reform party. Manning shocked many delegates Saturday by expressing interest in Klein's job. Manning, the son of Social Credit Premier Ernest Manning, said he would need to be persuaded that entering a Tory leadership race would be best for the party, the province and his family, as broad a hint that he would enter the race, if invited, of course. Manning move surprises other premier candidates Manning's intentions startled declared leadership hopefuls, including former Alberta treasurer Jim Dinning and Ted Morton, B.C. member of the legislature for Foothills-Rocky View, who have spent years with the Reform and Alliance movements. Morton said he suspects Manning's interest is not that serious, noting he would have to give up the lifestyle of an academic for the "griminess of trench warfare" in politics. Another hopeful in the leadership race, former cabinet minister Lyle Oberg, has openly questioned Klein's plans to stay in the job. But Oberg told CBC News that the vote results have nothing to do with a political showdown. "This is purely about the length of the leadership race and I think people saw that in the question, that it was the length of the leadership race, and they've decided that two years would not be good for the party and would not be good for the province, and I agree with that." The results of the delegate vote took the party, and Klein, by surprise. "I didn't get the result that I had anticipated, but I am going to meet with my staff and my caucus, of course, and members of the party, and determine what I am going to do," Klein told reporters on Saturday. "I will have something concrete for you next week, mid-week." Klein was "shocked ... and a little hurt" at hearing the results, said his spokeswoman, Marisa Etmanski. However, the premier said he still considers it a vote of confidence. Ralph Klein addresses the Alberta Progressive Conservative convention in Calgary on Friday. (Canadian Press) "I'm grateful for that," he added. Klein has led Alberta's Tories to four majority governments in the past 13 years and has received approval ratings as high as 97 per cent. Klein seeks support for keeping his post During his speech Friday night to delegates at the party's annual convention in Calgary, Klein seemed to plead for his political future, asking the party faithful to let him retain his job for another two years. "I ask you to give me, one final time, your endorsement to achieve what I have laid out for the duration of this mandate," Klein said. "If you see fit to give me that support, I pledge to you that I will work as hard as I possibly can to bring continued honour to this party and continued prosperity to this province we love." Ty Lund, the government services minister, said Klein deserves to be supported because he has eliminated Alberta's debt and has built the province into an economic powerhouse. Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved

Oh King Ralph, your subjects are displeased...

C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y : Klein 'shocked' at weak party support Last Updated Sat, 01 Apr 2006 08:34:27 EST CBC News Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is mulling over his political future after Conservative party delegates gave him just 55 per cent support in a leadership review late Friday night. The premier was "shocked ... and a little hurt" at hearing the results, said his spokeswoman Marisa Etmanski, adding that he will take a few days to consider his future. Ralph Klein addresses the Alberta Progressive Conservative convention in Calgary on Friday. (CP photo) Klein has led the Tories to four majority governments in the past 13 years and has received approval ratings as high as 97 per cent. The premier has said he wants to remain as leader for the next two years. But now some pundits say he may leave sooner. "Given the results of this vote, I intend to meet with party officials and my staff to discuss my next step," Klein said. "I will do this as quickly as possible and announce a decision about my future shortly." During his speech Friday night to delegates at the party's annual convention in Calgary, Klein seemed to plead for his political future, asking the party faithful to let him retain his job for another two years. "I ask you to give me, one final time, your endorsement to achieve what I have laid out for the duration of this mandate," Klein said. "If you see fit to give me that support, I pledge to you that I will work as hard as I possibly can to bring continued honour to this party and continued prosperity to this province we love." Ty Lund, the government services minister, said Klein deserves to be supported because he has eliminated Alberta's debt and has built the province into an economic powerhouse. One of the hopefuls in the leadership race, former cabinet minister Lyle Oberg, has openly questioned Klein's plans to stay in the job. But Oberg told CBC News that the vote results have nothing to do with a political showdown. "This is purely about the length of the leadership race and I think people saw that in the question, that it was the length of the leadership race, and they've decided that two years would not be good for the party and would not be good for the province, and I agree with that." Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved

Dr Condoleezza Rice isn't that bad a speaker after all...

There's a video of Dr Rice speaking in Blackburn, UK, on the BBC's website that's actually not that bad. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4865344.stm)
She could work on her looking up from her text and knowing her words better occasionally but really, Dr Rice wouldn't be a bad VP or President if she wanted it, even though she doesn't want it. I can handle listening to her which is more than I can say about her President.
It's a little long but then again it is a lecture made by a major American government official, the face of American foreign policy for now.
I really like her closing. She ties it back to the similarity of both Birmingham, Alabama, (her hometown) and Blackburn, England, (Foreign Minister Jack Straw's constituency) revitalization projects and how someday the people of Beyrouth (I can't spell it in English any more) and Baghdad and Cairo and even Tehran will look at their cities and wonder how there was ever any doubt that they'd be liberal democracies (as is the topic of the lecture).

I'm off to bed all,
G'night and sleep tight,
Me.

So, how do I describe V?

Bloody fucking brilliant. As simple as that. The best movie I can remember seeing. Or at least top 5. I need to see this one a few more times and read the graphic novel a few million times too.
I was skeptical when Devon was all excited for it. I thought it was one of her comic book movies, like Superman or something but wow, mindblowingly magnificant.