Happy New Year!

Just wanted to write to say Happy New Years everyone! I hope you all have an awesome evening!
Gill and I are going over to my sister's house for a quiet (but not too quiet) New Years... It should be really fun!

Seems like everyone is, as Barb B calls it, having at least one Pyjama Day, doing nothing but watching DVDs in their PJs. I did exactly that yesterday. Can you say Corner Gas? (and Monty Python, of course.)

But now I have to go get ready and pick up Gill so we can be on our way to the sister's place... Happy New Year!

Just writing to say I'm alive...

Hello everyone! I hope everyone's well and that you've had a good holiday season! I haven't been blogging much, instead I've been lounging about in PJs, watching Monty Python and making buttons... I feel lazy :P (which I am)
And because I have nothing interesting to say I shall pass it off to Monty Python, with a random sketch (from episode 2: Sex and Violence).

Working Class Playwright

Mum: Oh dad... look who's come to see us... it's our Ken.

Dad: (without looking up) Aye, and about bloody time if you ask me.

Ken: Aren't you pleased to see me, father?

Mum: (squeezing his arm reassuringly) Of course he's pleased to see you, Ken, he...

Dad: All right, woman, all right I've got a tongue in my head - I'll do 'talkin'. (looks at Ken distastefully) Aye ... I like yer fancy suit. Is that what they're wearing up in Yorkshire now?

Ken: It's just an ordinary suit, father... it's all I've got apart from the overalls.

(Dad turns away with an expression of scornful disgust.)

Mum: How are you liking it down the mine, Ken?

Ken: Oh it's not too bad, mum... we're using some new tungsten carbide drills for the preliminary coal-face scouring operations.

Mum: Oh that sounds nice, dear...

Dad: Tungsten carbide drills! What the bloody hell's tungsten carbide drills?

Ken: It's something they use in coal-mining, father.

Dad: (mimicking) 'It's something they use in coal-mining, father'. You're all bloody fancy talk since you left London.

Ken: Oh not that again.

Mum: He's had a hard day dear... his new play opens at the National Theatre tomorrow.

Ken: Oh that's good.

Dad: Good! good? What do you know about it? What do you know about getting up at five o'clock in t'morning to fly to Paris... back at the Old Vic for drinks at twelve, sweating the day through press interviews, television interviews and getting back here at ten to wrestle with the problem of a homosexual nymphomaniac drug-addict involved in the ritual murder of a well known Scottish footbailer· That's a full working day, lad, and don't you forget it!

Mum: Oh, don't shout at the boy, father.

Dad: Aye, 'ampstead wasn't good enough for you, was it? ... you had to go poncing off to BarnsIcy, you and yer coal-mining friends. (spits)

Ken: Coal-mining is a wonderful thing father, but it's something you'll never understand. Just look at you!

Mum: Oh Ken! Be careful! You know what he's like after a few novels.

Dad: Oh come on lad! Come on, out wi' it! What's wrong wi' me?... yet tit!

Ken: I'll tell you what's wrong with you. Your head's addled with novels and poems, you come home every evening reeling of Chateau La Tour...

Mum: Oh don't, don't.

Ken: And look what you've done to mother! She's worn out with meeting film stars, attending premieres and giving gala luncheons...

Dad: There's nowt wrong wi' gala luncheons, lad! I've had more gala luncheons than you've had hot dinners!

Mum: Oh please!

Dad: Aaaaaaagh! (clutches hands and sinks to knees)

Mum: Oh no!

Ken: What is it?

Mum: Oh, it's his writer's cramp!

Ken: You never told me about this...

Mum: No, we didn't like to, Kenny.

Dad: I'm all right! I'm all right, woman. Just get him out of here.

Mum: Oh Ken! You'd better go ...

Ken: All right. I'm going.

Dad: After all we've done for him...

Ken: (at the door) One day you'll realize there's more to life than culture. There's dirt, and smoke, and good honest sweat!

Dad: Get out! Get out! Get OUT! You ... LABOURER!

(Ken goes. Shocked silence. Dad goes to table and takes the cover off the typewriter.)

Dad: Hey, you know, mother, I think there's a play there .... get t'agent on t'phone.

Mum: Aye I think you're right, Frank, it could express, it could express a vital theme of our age...

Dad: Aye.

Good times :)

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
War is over
For weak and for strong
If you want it
For rich and the poor ones
War is over
The world is so wrong
Now

And so Happy Christmas
War is over
For black and for white
If you want it
For yellow and red ones
War is over
Let's stop all the fight
Now

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
War is over
And what have we done
If you want it
Another year over
War is over
And a new one just begun
Now

And so Happy Christmas
War is over
I hope you have fun
If you want it
The near and the dear one
War is over
The old and the young
Now

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

War is over if you want it

War is over now

***
Merry Christmas, guys!

First day of holiday break!

Very happy that I can finally relax and just help out in preparing for Christmas.
I had fun on the last day of school, even though I wasn't feeling very well (thankfully I'm better today).
We had the hypnotist in the morning, like every year. This year I actually knew quite a few of the kids on stage, which made it all the more enjoyable. I had about 12 'favorite parts', but the highlights included:

• When those on stage were told that they had just won 500 million dollars, and Andrew picked up Joel and madly spun him around.
• When Sheilagh thought she was invisible and started to dance in front of us and ruffled Vi and Mitchell's hair
• When Prabal did the rap version of 'I'm a little tea pot' for "American Idol".
• When Cam thought he was Micheal Jackson and signed a grade eighters foot.

Good times we had.

After an insanely boring lunch hour we had the dance. I hate our school dances. Loud, crappy pop music with everyone doing their dance moves they learned off of MuchMusic. Vi and I don't exactly always feel comfortable there, we always kind of end up watching everyone else. So we decided to go up to the computer lab and play some online games... too much fun. We played 'SnowLine' with John for about two hours straight :P

All in all I had a grand time with my friends yesterday... thought I would share it with y'all :)

I shall be seeing you before the holiday... see ya then!

Sisters... and the holidays

Woohoo! Only a few more days until Christmas! I'm really excited because my sister who lives in Alaska came home on Monday! She brought her new boyfriend here with her for a few days before he had to go home to the States- ooer!

But at the same time I'm missing my oldest sister, who went to Ontario with her boyfriend and daughter for Christmas (to spend it with his family)... we miss you a lot! Without their witty commentary and Gabi climbing over everyone the season just doesn't seem right, our family seems very incomplete.

And then I feel really guilty as the sister who's closest in age to me embarrassed in front of everyone without realizing. I got pretty annoyed and avoided her while we were leaving. Then I get home and find the package containing the Christmas present from her that had arrived for me (a subscription to Shameless magazine). It reminded me of the day in summer where I first discovered the mag and we were hanging out reading it, having a great time... and now I want to call and apologize because I completely over reacted, but she's not home. I'll have to phone her later.
Argh... sibling relationships are so confusing, but I love my sisters SO much and I wouldn't trade them for the world :)

More Blogthings (I'm sorry! I'm addicted)

You Are a Snowman

Friendly and fun, you enjoy bringing holiday cheer to everyone you know!

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Your Holiday Personality is Social

For you, the holidays are all about spending time with people you love - and even those you kind of like. Host your own party - maybe even a few. Get people together for baking cookies, watching movies, and playing holiday charades.

How Should You Spend the Holidays?

Knowing our family there will be a lot of holiday cookies and movies... a lot :P

Just over a week 'til break!

Christmas concert yesterday... oh joy. I still have The Twelve Days Of Christmas stuck in my head. The percussionists did an awesome job in 'African Bell Carol', as well as in the jazz band. But I thnk the clarinets were cursed, as Josh, Shukri and I all broke our reeds on the same song. Good times.

So The Hour's over until January. I can't say that I'm too sad. See, this way I don't have to go through the mini debate whether to watch it (and sit through people like Hulk Hogan) or not watch it (and do something productive). But if I don't watch it I feel like I'm letting the blog down, and then Sheilagh fills my niche of telling all the George jokes (which I can't say I'm too comfy with).
But I don't really like the "new and improved" Hour... it's no longer the show I first really went for. But I guess things change.

My sister, her boyfriend, Gill and I played Pictionary afterschool today. We actually play it quite often in my family during the colder months, but this was the first time this season. We had tonnes of fun! It was a close game (I won by one point... teehee).

According to this quiz, I am 76% Canuck Certified... all that watching Bob and Doug MacKenzie has finally payed off, eh?

Christmas Blogthing!

You Are Rudolph

Sweet and shy, you tend to be happiest when you're making someone else happy. Why You're Naughty: You sometimes stick that nose where it doesn't belong Why You're Nice: Christmas would be a sad affair without you!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Awesome! I love Rudolph!

A lot of rambling about my school (that you probably don't care about :P)

Had an ok day today... although I was awful grumpy this morning.
How is everyone? Good I hope :)

Everything went well today, although all my classes were rather boring ones. French class was a huge laugh, as per norm, but one can expect that sitting behind Matt, diagonal from Katie, up the from Dylan, in direct line of site of CK, up the room from Andrew and Alec... let's just say we have a lot of funny kids in our French class :D

This is completely off topic, but has anyone seen the Macys commercial on TLC that has the techno version of 'From Me To You'? Stupid Micheal Jackson... Andrew joked that at least they didn't make a techno version of 'Hey Jude' (you should see his impression of it... very special :P)

Speaking of Andrew singing, band was another joyful experience of getting annoying songs stuck in your head. eg. Twelve Days Of Christmas with the percussionists "singing" in the background, or all the band boys humming Carpathian Sketches in French class. Ahhh...

Anyway, after school we went to the volleyball game... I had to leave before it was over. But from what I saw the boys' team beat the girls' team and the teachers beat the girls... C'est dommage that I didn't get to see the boys vs. teachers.

Anyway, I am off to gifts... I love being the elf!

Dear Google,

I apologize my dear Google, but I'm not the kind who welcomes change. So when I got your message to upgrade to Blogger Beta I was reluctant, but tempted nevertheless. I switched, and at first regretted it.
See I didn't like some of the new features, I wanted to switch back. Alas, I could not... but that was before I upgraded my template.
Now I bask in the joy of the ease of changing my blog's look! Why thank you dear Google for this opportunity!
While you may be slowly taking over the internet, you do come in handy when blogging... and writing Science essays.
So because of this offer, my dear, I hope I shall be seeing you more often.
Love, Becky

Gotta love that U of A!

So yesterday one of my sisters and I went up to the U of A to see The Be Good Tanyas.

The sister who took me has been a fan for quite a long time, and when she used to live at home I'd always hear her listening to their songs. I absolutely love their song 'The Littlest Birds' (which they put in a Zellers commercial... argh).

Anyway, we left home a little after 7 and got to SUB about 20 to 8. We sat amongst the university kids studying for exams (SUB is open 24/7 this time of year) and played cards.
Finally, after accidently skipping the ticket line and walking around the building to kill time, we got in and to our awesome seats. It was a few minutes before the opening act, Ora Cogan, came on.

She has such a beautiful voice. It was very folky, all slurred and calming. She sang a few songs (and laughed her hilarious laugh) before a few of the Be Good Tanyas' came on to join her for 2 songs.
After that was the intermission in which we played "barebones" style of Crazy 8s, compared socks with the incredibly funny guy sitting next to us, and basically displayed textbook examples of sibling rivalry.

Eventually the lights dimmed again and the band came on for real. They played songs off of all their albums 'Blue Horse', 'Chinatown' and the latest 'Hello Love'.
They played a lot of their slower songs, with some more up beat ones every now and again. But, as expected, their voices were absolutely wonderful.

When they left the stage about 2/3 through the set everyone thought they were leaving, but it just turned out that their drummer broke his snare drum (Oops :P). So they came back on and all was good.

The band members were all quite witty and such (great sentence), deciding whether to drink their water or their wine first, or joking about their current obsession with covering Neil Young songs. One of the best parts of the night was when they were talking about playing at the Royal Albert Hall, but how the Queen didn't come. Trish Klein then joked that Her Royal Highness did send a note saying that she loved the music and that some of her songs helped her through some tough times. Samantha Parton then started to play 'Blister In The Sun' and Frazey Ford did a little Queen wave... teehee :)

Their second last song was the one I know best, 'The Littlest Birds'. They had the special guest of an Edmontonion musician (whom I unfortunately didn't catch the name of) to play the banjo. They started to play with many cheers from the audience. A couple verses in a tall guy with dreadlocks walked across the stage and gestured toward the piano (the band had been inviting people who could play instruments up on stage, although he was the first one to actually take up the offer). The entire theatre was cheering for him, as being at the U of A almost everyone (including my sister) knew him. So he sat down and did a wicked piano solo.
I felt kind of bad for the guest banjo player, as it was kind of supposed to be his song, but he played an awesome bit with Trish Klein. Anyway, it kind of turned into an Edmonton jam session!

That, added with a bit of reminicing about our wonderful city and Bill Bourne, was about it. It ended at about 11:30, and with it ended their tour of Western Canada. C'est Dommage.

I had an awesome time! I apologize for this poorly written post, but I didn't get to sleep quite late last night, and I'm still a bit sore from the fitness tests gym yesterday...
Anyway, I might just go veg on the couch... or practice the guitar :) (all that folk music has inspired me to practice more often).
I'll be seeing you!

26 years

October 9, 1940- December 8, 1980

Just wanted to say...

Had a much better day today, thank goodness.
Math class was fun, chatting with Shelly and Andrew, the latter of which is also a Beatles fan. That started the day off with on a good note.

Anyway, I've been so busy not posting and/or ranting, I forgot to mention something very important!
As many of you know, the Stroumboulopouli came in 3rd as Best Group Blog in the Canadian Blog Awards! I just wanted to say thanks for everyone for voted, we really appreciate it!
It was my sister's birthday yesterday, and when I phoned up to Alaska (where she goes to school) one of the first things she said to me was "Congrats about the blog!". Apparently her roommate follows this sort of thing and informed her of the win... creepy (but in a good way) :)

Has anyone been watching Mark Kelley's 'Seven' on The National? So good. I don't have time to write about it now, but I'll make sure I do in the future, as it's really well done...

Well, I'd better be going... see ya later :)

Guess what I'm listening to.

I'm not watching The Hour right now. Want to know why? Yes? No? Maybe? Well I'll tell you anyway.
I was in a horrible mood today. A lot of things added up to give me one massive headache.
So I sit down in front of the TV to watch George, which I thought would surely cheer me up. So I do, and after a few minutes I'm watching 'The News'. They have a story about Jimmy Hendrix's guitar estimated to go for less that Paul McCartney's hand written lyrics at a recent rock n roll auction. George then says "Jimmy Hendrix never wrote sh*t like 'Hey Jude'."
I left the room.
I know it looks like I overreacted, and maybe I did. But George's jokes at the expense of others have really gotten on my nerves. Hearing him say that about that song was so frustrating. I'd already had a bad day I didn't need to hear that.
'Hey Jude' was Paul's song for Julian (John Lennon's son with first wife Cynthia Lennon) when John and Cynthia were going through an awful break-up. John was off with Yoko Ono, virtually ignoring his young son. John told the rest of the group to not communicate with Cynthia at all. Paul was the only one to ignore this, and when driving up to visit her and Julian he wrote "Hey Jules", which was then changed to "Hey Jude" (easier to sing).
I've always thought that was such a kind thing of Paul to do. Julian later said that he remembers Paul being around much more than John was during those times. I think of that whenever I hear the song.
But George decided to just call it crap and end it there.

So George, what do you have planned for Thursday, the day before the 26th anniversary of John Lennon's death? I'm sure it will be equally insulting as that Sean Lennon joke you told a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure.

Warmth and snow!

It was so beautiful out today!! It was only -7! I could breathe and not get a frozen face!
It was so nice that our ENVOE class got to go out crazy carpeting. Mind you, there was about a foot of unpacked snow on the hill, so it mainly involved a lot of rolling in the snow (or Ty, Hank and Andrew's long jump, which involved a lot of front flips down the "slope"). We were covered in snow, but it was warm enough we didn't have to worry about it... we were a little wet for LA, though :)

Cold, much? (an angry weather rant)

We've been having quite the cold snap here. For example, today it was -25, with wind chill, -40. Not so much fun... and to that guy who laughed at me when I had my scarf tucked up in toque to protect may face: at least I'm not lazy and driving!
The huge snowdrifts didn't help either.
But on the bright side, here's what the CBC weather centre has to say about the next few days:

Tonight..Clear. Wind up to 15 km/h. Low minus 34. Extreme wind chill minus 46. Wednesday..Sunny. Wind up to 15 km/h. High minus 21. Extreme wind chill minus 44 in the morning.

Oh joy. I'm sure all the other Albertans who are reading this know what I'm talking about... it's way too cold for my liking. My sister in Alaska said she's rather be up there, than here in terms of weather.

Oh well, as a many cheesy songs have said "I shall weather the storm" :P

My weekend in review

Saturday night was Shelly dearest's birthday bash (teehee, I said 'bash' :P)
Just for the record, here's what we did:

-Made up a lot of inside jokes (eg. "that is not how you say my name" or "Vera, *cluck* Chuck and Dave")

-Played a lot of Dance Dance Revolution (I mastered the 'Butterfly' one!)

-Watched a lot of Potter Puppet Pals

-Ate pizza/cake and opened presents

-Completely by coincidence saw the 'Friends' "you just rolled over the juice box" episode (we had been talking about it earlier.)

-Watched:

• Rent (cheesy, but catchy)
• John Tucker Must Die (kinda crappy, but hey, it's totally a sleepover movie)
• Monty Python And The Holy Grail (the first time seeing it for Gee and Shelly... now they get all the random jokes I tell from that movie! There was much rejoicing (see?))

-Stayed up late (of course), chatted.

-Got up late (of course), went to Denny's for breakfast (I swear they make it a policy to not have any vegetarian food on their menu. I had pancakes with excessive amounts of butter)

-Got in a debate with Shelly's mom about Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas. I still maintain that Happy Holidays is more respectful :)

Basically we had a grand old time, even with my cold!

Random school stuff... wow, that's a great title :P

Having a cold sucks... it sucks even more when your good friend has her birthday party coming up! Oh well, I shall take Cold FX and some of those herbal cough drops and hope for the best :)

Everything has been quite well here in Deadmonton (as many affectionately call it).
School is going well, pretty average. Social class has been fun as we're covering the 1917 revolution and the Romanovs, which are subjects I loved to learn about when I was smaller.
I showed some school spirit and went to the last boys' volleyball game. I wish I could have gone to more, but the ones I did go to were very fun. For example, we won Thursday's game (woot!)
It sucks that I have to leave my beloved junior high school... and most (but not all) of the kids in it. I'm sure high school will be fun, though (if I don't die of vitamin D deficiency, Andrew :P)

Anyway, I'd better go rest up before Shelly's party! It should be fun!

Round 2, here we come!

The Stroumboulopouli have made it to the second round of the Canadian Blog Awards! We came in 3rd out 32 in our category of Best Group Blog. Thanks to everyone who voted for us! Round 2 voting starts on November 25th and ends on December 1st.
One again, thanks! I hope we can win your vote again in round 2!

Movies, much?

So I guess when I said 'see ya soon' I meant 'see ya in four days'.
Anyway, since I last posted conflicts have been settled and the world is now peaceful... ok, so my friend relations are peacful... kind of different from world peace... sorry about that :P

Just finished watching 'Erin Brockovich' with Gill and Vi as an ENVOE assignment. We have to do a report on what the environmental issue was and how to prevent it, which will be so hard *cough* follow regulations *cough*.
I felt the movie was really well done... it had the investigative portion which I always enjoy. The fact that it was based on a true story made it all the more moving.

A not-so-quite moving movie I saw yesterday was 'Dick'. It was a Nixon spoof on 'All The President's Men'. You definitely need to see ATPM to get all the references... it was completely pointless, but was a good laugh.

Remember 'JFK'? Another great movie I saw this weekend was 'RFK', about Bobby Kennedy. It was really good, and appropriate watch if you're planning the bigger budget movie 'Bobby'.

Vote Stroumbi!

Sorry I haven't posted/responded to comments in a while... just been a wee bit lazy/freaking out about school :)

As many of you know, The Stroumboulopouli are up for the title of 'best group blog' in the Canadian Blog Awards... so vote! The button's to your right --->

And on a completely different note...
What ever happened 'if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all'? And once someone does says something, shouldn't we know well enough not to pass it on to the person that it's about?
Because the way I feel right now (aka rage, hurt and used) could have been easily prevented by someone not passing on gossip. Cause you know what? The person who said that might not already have been my favorite person in the world, but it still hurts.
People have done this before, and I purposely distanced myself from them. I don't want to have to do that again. So please, a plead to all teenagers out there, keep yer mouth shut! Thanks.

Well that is my rant for this lovely day of November 17th... hope you enjoyed :P

Anyway, not that's out of my system I'm going to go chillax before 'October 1970' comes on...
See ya soon!

Ahhh the internet :P

It seems like everyone has done at least one quiz on BlogThings, and I can see why! I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon taking all the different tests, but apparently I'm only 23% addicted to it (I took the quiz!).

You Are Curling

What you lack in athleticism, you make up for in concentration. And while curling isn't much more of a sport than bowling, you *can* win a gold medal for it!

What Winter Sport Are You?

Ouch, I'm curling :P

Gotta love that Google video!

Hi there! I know I haven't posted in a while, but things have been a wee bit crazy around here...

Winter's back! It hasn't been too cold, only down to -15 (at the worst, it gets to be -35). It kind of feels like summer is a privilege and that winter is what it's supposed to be like here :P

Went scuba diving with my ENVOE class yesterday! It was quite fun, although the pool did get quite cold after a while. I was quite nervous as my family has had to deal with a tragic scuba accident before, but I made sure that I did everything extra carefully. All in all it was a pretty good experience, I think an open water dive would be fun.

So yesterday I was walking home and pondering 'understandings', you know, where two people never talk about something but it's just understood... anyway, I was feeling rather 'meh' (for lack of a better word) about this certain understanding. And what song comes on through my earphones? 'The Fool On The Hill'... how appropriate :P

I absolutely love this video...

I thought I'd share this one with you too (considering the recent election... it seems appropriate :D)

*I apologize if these don't work properly... you can always check them out by searching The Fool On The Hill video.

Welcome Vi 2.0!

So Vivi dearest made a blog (the bloggest), but unfortunately Blogger decided to hate her and made it so that she couldn't post. But Vi, like a boxer (kind of), has bounced back and has created a bigger and better blog! Good on you Vi! Anywho, check it out here! (I've fixed the link in the sidebar, too.)

I was watching the news yesterday and saw a piece about Canadian Cpl. Michael Seeley who, at the age of 27, was killed in Iraq. He was supposed to go home Saturday.
They talked to his mother and something she said really moved me. She said she understood that her son was fighting for what he believed in, and that the insurgents where fighting for what they believed in.
What she said was so touching. She saw beyond the "good and bad guys" and "us against them" that plagues our societies. We're all humans raised to believe certain things, and this woman, going through one of the most horrible times in her life could see what most people can't.

November 1st... blah

Candy! And a 'Equal' (fake sugar) packet. Riggghhhttt... let's get them hooked on aspartame while they're young!

So this is my sign for my "starving artist" costume... just imagine a painting smock, a beret, a really large grey wool coat and a paintbrush and you've got my costume... Halloween's so much fun :)

Trick-or-treating was fun, if not a bit cold... we got quite a bit of candy considering we aren't four... plus we went late so one woman basically dumped the last half of her bowl of candy in our bags. Surprisingly a lot of people got what I was dressed up as.

The dance was quite a bit better than usual. I didn't spend as much time being insanely bored and more time watching the dance-offs... the drama teacher's son does a wicked "lawnmower"! Although I basically went deaf, watching Andrew doing the robot in a way-too-small clown costume made it worth it :P

Halloween, much?

Hey there! We got free time in math class so I decided to come visit my dear blogger friends... how are you?

The student teacher from our LA class was just waiting by the bus stop (I know from English class that he happens to smell very good :P). Anyway, we were all watching him kicking at the snow, and we decided he looks like a good-boy version of George. We are so strange...

Going trick-or-treating today with Gill, so excited! I'm a starving artist and she's dust bunny.
There are some great costumes at school today. My costume's quite popular, along with a kid in Grade 8's, which has a sign that says "Will eat for fude". Ty has a cow costume and Hank hides in a box and then pops up through disguised head and arm holes to freak everyone out. Pretty awesome possum.

Halloween at school is the best. We got to watch Charlie Brown in Science and The Simpsons in Health. And don't forget the insane amounts of candy the enjoy giving to us... they always hand them out at the end of the class... I guess they figure they'll just make us hyper for the next class.

We have the dance in about an hour. Great... standing there "dancing" to music I can't stand. Oh well, my friends will be there... although Gill has a date with E-man. But I still have Vi and Shelly :)

Gotta love that EPL

Went to the library today for some music... here's what I got:

• U2- Best of 1980-1990
• David Usher- Hallucinations
• The Tragically Hip- Live Between Us
• The Tragically Hip- The Tragically Hip
• Feist- Let It Die (I actually already own this CD, but after a big mess with my MP3 player I need to upload it to my computer again, but I've misplaced it.)

After The Hour I wanted to listen to more Tragically Hip, as they were awesome on the show.

Having grown up with three big sisters they were all a huge influence on me. I really grew up with Moist, Bon Jovi and Our Lady Peace. I guess that's why I never got that into the super mainstream music (aka Backstreet Boys). I deeply thank my sisters for it :D

Anyway, I saw the David Usher CD and I immediately thought of this Moist poster that hangs in my sister's (now old) room, like the one to the left. (I always used to wonder why, if he was a boy, he had a hairband on :P)

So I got the CD and it's awesome! I know it's not his latest album but it's just so good! I plan on getting his latest CD, If God Had Curves, as soon as I possibly can.

Back from band camp

Back from camp. I hope everyone's well... I'm just trying to get some non-greasy/non-camp-food in me.
It was ok, but none of my best friends are in band, where as everyone else's are, so I'm always a bit of an outcast. Although my roomies (go peer support girls!) were awesome, and Josh, Lyle and I had some awesome ultimate-ping-pong experiences.

***

So there's this one kid at my school who everyone absolutely loves because, as one of my friends said, he's good at everything in life. He's somewhat of a celebrity you could say. I feel awful because a lot of girls just drool over him because of how he looks. I hate that! I mean, get to know the guy before you worship him. I don't know how he feels about it, but one would think that he'd get tired of all the superficial people falling at his feet all the time. I dunno, it's just really been bothering me lately.

***

Well... I guess I'd better be going :) Just wanted to update the blog to explain my absence. See ya!

...

Oh! Forgot to mention, on Tuesday another one of the three guys who teased me about The Hour informed me he had watched it! Mind you, he watched it on Sunday because he's a Tragically Hip fan, but still. So now two of the three guys have seen it, but I doubt the last will, as I tried most of last year attempting to get him to tune in with no luck. C'est Dommage.

And I thought I was offended yesterday!

So tonight on The Hour on of George's writers told a "joke" about Sean Lennon (George wasn't comfortable saying it himself):

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Sean Lennon is going on a tour of the U.S. Let's hope it ends in front of the Dakotas.

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I'm sorry, but that writer just went over the line. How DARE he? He took the "nothing is sacred" theory behind the show and just turned it into an offensive and morbid joke.

As if Sean Lennon hasn't had a hard enough time already. First of all his dad was John Lennon meaning:

a) He has to live with that legacy

b) He had to deal with all the pain of his father's assassination at the age of four. FOUR. You know what I was doing when I was four? Watching Mr. Dress-up.

That writer obviously doesn't know when to stop. Argh.

So I e-mailed them. Yesterday I was kidding around in my e-mail, but in this one I just told the guy to grow-up.

How could George say that?

So tonight on The Hour George was talking about the complications of Paul McCartney trademarking his name because there was a guy in the states with the same name. George then said "Just change your name to Ringo Starr, cause no one wants that name". Ouch.
So I sent off an e-mail to The Hour... saying:

George! I take serious offense to your comment about no one wanting to trademark Ringo Starr's name... how could you? I now nothing's sacred, but it's Ringo! My favorite Beatle is Paul and I still think that was so mean. Ringo's the nice shy guy who sang 'With A Little Help From My Friends'... he was in 'Shining Time Station' for God's sake!
Oh well... but still :P
-Becky

Maybe I'm getting a little too hardcore about being a Beatles fan, but Ringo was always the guy who dreamed big, had security issues and was super shy... I can definitely identify with him being so shy... And I've always had a thing for drummers :P

Welcome Vivi!

At lunch today my good friend Vi (pronounced like the letter) started blogging! Now all my best friends have joined the blogging craze (Gill, Shelly and now Vi)! So check out "The bloggest of the blog" here!

George: Hour 3

Listening to the Strombo Show... look at how happy George and Bob are :)
Watched the Tragically Hip on The Hour, and now listening to hour two of the radio show. Lots of George, but hey, who can complain :D
Right now on they're talking about the Vietnam war (the first U.S. casualty was sustained on this day in history) and the religious right down in America. It's really interesting!
Wow, and apparently the universe was created today in history. Huh... wow, all that and a lot of music history (Led Zepplin and The Supremes) happened on October 22nd. Who knew?
Better be going... still need to finish that book response. I just love that picture and had to blog it :) (There's another great photo of Alex Liu on Strombo.com, check it out)
See ya tomorrow!

Worst movie ever!

So Gill and I watched 'Click' earlier today. It was awful. It went from lame comedy to epic drama to one huge cliche. Never watch it, because as George says, you'll never get those hours back.

Well after that bad movie experience I headed over to my sister's place to do some yoga (and make a fort with my niece, of course)... we decided that we'll go work-out tomorrow. I'm so excited to finally get some heart-rate-increasing excercise outside of gym class, the likes of which I haven't done yet this school year.
Well, it's getting late and I still need to finish 'Flowers For Algernon' and write up the response for it by Tuesday (good book). So I guess I'll be seeing you! Sleep well :)

Umm...

Yay new hair cut! The one I got in June grew out and looked a wee bit special so I went up to the local hip student hair place and got it cut so it's just above my shoulder (so it curls at the end) with shorter bangs. Hooray for instant self confidence boost (and run-on sentences :P)!

***

Just came home from wall-climbing... there was a birthday party with a ton of eight year olds so it was quite chaotic. I might go to the gym tomorrow to work off the rest of the energy I need to burn. We shall see :)

***

Just got off the phone avec Gill... I shall being going now to her house to watch the movie 'Click'. It looks a bit silly, but those sorts of movies are always great to make a day with nasty weather (like today) more fun... sorry this post was so random, but that seems to be the pattern for my recent blogging... Hmm... I should really do some self-reflecting or something when I get home.

See ya then!

Maybe I haven't quite failed...

Andrew actually watched it!!! He actually watched The Hour!!! Last year every time I tried to get someone to watch it they would watch the line-up and then change the channel. But he actully watched yesterday, and get this, he actually LIKED it!!! Wow, that's so cool!

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Well, in science today we had kids by dropping our chromosomes (pieces of paper with some of our traits on them, eg. blonde or brown hair (bb or Bb/BB)) with a partner see what our kid would look like. Alex H. and I had twins, a girl and a boy, Jewels and Richard. So cute! The rest of the project involves writing up a fake birth announcement telling of at least five of the eleven traits and drawing/photoshopping pictures to look like our kids. Weird, yes, but very fun.

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Illustrator/Author Carolyn Fisher came to talk to the Grade Nines (aka my grade) today, giving us tips if we want to become authors/illustrators. She's written and illustrated "A Twisted Tale", illustrated "Two Old Potatoes And Me" (both kids books) and has drawn for The New York Times and The Washington Post... AND she's from Southern Alberta. She's quite the eccentric and is really nice! Check out her website!

***

So on that note, I shall leave y'all... have a good weekend (I'm sure I'll be back back tomorrow)!

I have failed the Stroumbi Sisterhood

So I apparently it's cool at my school to hate George.
Well, not really, but a lot of kids who know me as a "Strombohead" have either told me he's ugly (which he is NOT!) and that he's full of himself (also NOT!) and that the show's boring (98% of the time NOT!).
The only one who listened otherwise agreed to watch the show tonight... I doubt he did, but if he did he'll didn't exactly get to see The Hour in all it's glory... there were a lot of interviews and not as many set-ups and such that would hook action hungry kids. Just in case he cares I'm bringing the tape of Wednesday's show to school tomorrow. Chances that he'll care: slim to none, but ya never know :D

***

Not much else happened today. About thirty the Grade Niners were selected to see former Top Gun pilot and NASA astronaut Joe Edwards at the Edmonton Space and Science Center (now called The Telus World Of Science. Yuck). It was a lot like seeing Mark Garneau a couple years ago, although this time one of my good friends won a "space suit"... cool.

I also learned that 14 year old kids can find enough ways to re-word the "why did become an astronaut?" to fill up a two hour long presentation.

But hey, we got to miss some school :P

Random ramblings... yay!

I was in an awful mood today for no (super) apparent reason. I mean, there's crappy stuff for sure, but nothing was that bad. Stupid hormones :P
So, you know, if I made one of those super-sarcastic-stop-talking-to-me comments, I'm really sorry!

***

Boys continue to amaze/confuse me. As soon as you think you have them figured out you discover there's an entire new level that you haven't yet seen. I suppose girls are like that too, but that's the boys' problem :P

I guess, as The Beatles once said "Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time"... So true :)

***

George won best talk show host in the Geminis! The Hour also picked up two more of the awards last night! Don't forget that the viewers choice Gemini isn't announced until the beginning of November, so vote (the link's to your right)!

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Have you ever played Omnikin? It's kind of like volleyball without the net... kind of.

Anyway, every year we have a unit on it and ever year I get way too competitive with it. You know like those people who are crazed about winning at soccer? I'm like that. Maybe it's because it's the only game I excel at (I am definitely not athletic)... anywho, it's SO much fun! Our team won today and it was awesome possum!

***

So I know this was possibly the most pointless posts ever, but hey, it's an expression of my soul and I feel like I should do an interpretive dance... or, you know, not :P

See ya!

Weird...

Last night I had a disturbing dream where all my friends/classmates signed up to serve in Afghanistan/Iraq (I guess we were in the U.S.) I freaked out crying and screaming at them in the hallway, telling them not to, knowing that at least one person I cared about would be killed. The teacher who runs Peer Support had to take me on a walk to calm me down.
Then we all ended up in South Korea, locked up in an underground mall to avoid North Korean attacks. The Canadian military personnel had to wear masks and disguises to avoid standing out.
Surreal...

***

Well, in other "news" Edmonton's still in the game in terms in hockey! Ryan Smyth scored the fastest hat trick in Oilers record (beating Gretzky's record) Thursday, winning that game against the Sharks 6-4. Then again last night we beat the Avalanches 4-3. Roli's back, making 39 saves... he continues to amazes me :)

Anyway, I'm proud that our town is finally making a hockey comeback- without Pronger (I seriously dislike that guy, and his wife. I mean, how could you not love the City Of Champions?).

Friday the 13th sucks

Meh. The weather here today is rather gloomy, and my day seemed to match it.
School seemed to go on forever and along with my accidently looking like an idiot several times, the person I'm trying to befriend now seems to think that I am a stalker due to some ill thought-out comments by one of my good friends. Quite a few of my classmates tended to be rather superficial and although all my friends were going, I felt a trip to the mall would only worsen the feeling.

But it's the weekend now and that means not having to deal with anything school related until Monday. I usually like school, but I think the "stalker incident" really didn't help my mood...

I feel like taking a nap. Perhaps I shall :)
Well, see you later!

Another fun and incredibly pointless game :D

Found this on The Hour's website, and of course I'm awful at it. But hey, it's fun anyway :)
PLAY "WORDY"!

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So, how is everyone? It's been awhile! In the past week (actual week, not school week) I have only been to school twice due to PS retreat, Thanksgiving and my having the 24 hour flu yesterday. See, this would be a good thing, but unfortunately I tend to enjoy school and now I have to play catch up (which means I haven't done so great on the four tests I've had in the past few days). C'est Dommage.

...

The Hour started up again... I didn't really mind the new set. It does seem a lot less personal though, being so large. I can't say I like the new music... it's a bit too boy band for me (even if it does come from an indie group :P).

Anyway, Strombo.com launched! It's a bit disappointing how little info there is on the site. I didn't mind finally seeing what Bob looked like, though.

So this is quite pointless, but just so y'all don't think I've died or anything :)

I'll be seeing you!

How Canadian is that?

I'm over at my Aunt's waiting for everyone to arrive for Thanksgiving. On the way over I passed the house of a few University students who were obviously doing some housecleaning as they were beating the dust out of a rug... with a hockey stick.
Ok, so it's not that funny, but I love little Canadian things like that. Like when I walked home the other day and saw a six year-old on his driveway cleaning off his hockey gear and the next day when I saw him out there with his dad and sister playing.
So this is a fairly pointless post, but that incident made me giggle and I didn't want to forget it :D

Anyway... HAPPY THANKSGIVING guys! Have a good one! (Among many other, more important things, I'm thankful that The Hour starts tomorrow!!!)

No, really, it's ok if you flip the bus- not!

So how is everyone? Good I hope! I had a near death experience when the bus driver swung the back half of the bus off the road in the rain. Luggage went flying and so did some kids... AHHH!!! Saying we were shaken up is an understatement! Stupid bus driver. You know, we're only 24 do-gooder kids who are in some of their best years. Argh.

Just got back from Peer Support retreat... lots of fun (with the exception of the bus, but that did add some excitement :P)! This was my second (and last :( ) PS retreat, but it was much better than last year, maybe because I wasn't as shy/the grade nines didn't hate me (mostly because I'm a grade nine, but we were nice to the grade eights, unlike the niners last year).
Due to the confidentiality agreement I can't tell you what happened, but I can tell you what sort of activities we did. Basically we talked about confidentiality, listening, the stages of change and when to go for help. There was one very emotional part that I really want to share with you, but I really can't. Let's just say it was intense :)
I don't really know how to describe the things we learned about, but I'm very open to questions, so feel free.

I'm sad, and I was like this last year, that at retreat all students are equal, but when we go back to school on Tuesday Andrew and Katie will be popular again and I'll just be another kid who tends to blend in with all the others in the hallway. Oh well, I guess that's how things work :)

Well, it's my sister's birthday and she's having a party for her and her daughter (whose birthday was about a week ago), so I'd better go...
See ya!
P.S. I'll read all the blogs later, but my sister's party is in twenty minutes and I still need to eat supper, write in her card and get a ride over there :)

RMR starts tonight!!!

Well, I'm off to Peer Support retreat (3 days of intense training and fun) tomorrow, just thought I'd drop by (my own blog :P) to chat...
So... how are you? Let's reflect on our days together :P

So today in ENVOE today we got to go outside and plays games (again)! Ms. S is possibly the coolest teacher ever, and she feels we shouldn't waste all the nice days sitting in a classroom learning to tie knots, and I must agree! We've mostly been playing flags, but today we played a game where, in a group of six, everyone puts on blindfolds and gets led around by the one leader... pointless, yes, but it's lots of fun (especially when the leader forgets to tell you that you're about to walk over a picnic table (you're never going to live that down Gill :D)

Watched March Of The Penguins in Science... so sad :( I don't do very well when animals die (even of natural causes). I tried to distract myself by drawing pictures... teehee, Gill the penguin :P

Got our school ID cards today... my school picture is pretty bad. It looks like I have a dent in my hair! Argh. I usually don't worry about my school pictures, but since the Grade 9 yearbook is the one from Junior high that people usually look at, and considering that I don't want to be known as the girl with the red face and dented hair, I think I'd better get retakes :)

Oh, and watch out, Vi and I discovered that we are master stalkers. Today at lunch we followed Gill and Eugen (pronounced Oi-gan) around the entire school... maybe we should work for CSIS... or maybe even the CIA :P (Oh, speaking of the US, did y'all see Bob Woodward on Larry King last night? He's awesome)

Well, I guess I'll be seeing you either Friday night or Saturday morning!

I can't even think of any good title for this I'm so angry.

Why aren't the lessons the previous generations learned being passed on to the next? Why are our schools still filled with racist jokes and why are kids still laughing at them? Do they want to fit in enough that they'll throw all their so called "values" out the window? And why are there only three kids in my class who'll stand up against it?
These are questions we need answer and fast. Kids might know the name of Martin Luther King, but as Math class just made apparent, not many know what his name means. They don't understand what their parents and grandparents went through. I think that's awful.
Are we once again editing our history? Are we again giving racism a mere nod in our classrooms? If so, it's unacceptable.
The class clowns will push it to the limit. And when they step over the "line" set by the kids who find them funny, they think that telling a joke about their own nationality will make it okay.
It doesn't. And teachers need to make it known that any sort racist jokes are not alright before the first joke is told.
Do kids have to go through an awful experience like the early sixties before they understand?
I really hope not, because that would mean this society is a lot worse than I thought.

Oooh... Now I feel deep (Does that imply I'm usually shallow? Hmm...)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GILL!!! (AS YOU TOLD 'THE BOUNCE', YOU ARE NOW THE FOURTEEN QUEEN... YOU'RE RIGHT, THAT NEEDS WORK :P)

***

ROAR (the Edmonton spoken word festival) is on and one of my sister's best friends was presenting at one of the venues. So we headed downtown to a cafe right by city hall and listened to 5 poets, 3 of which were awesome. The best was my sister's friend (and it's true, she had the most thoughtful poems and everyone loved her) she wrote a moving poem about being half black and how she didn't own her body... "With my skin as my paper and my pigment as ink". there was another girl who wrote a poem about using 'was' when the person you were speaking of had passed away which was really touching. It was a great experience :)

***

And because this blog can not not be goofy, here's a pic of a guy I know playing dead in his back alley a couple of years ago. That guy who was on The Hour who takes pics of himself playing dead has nothing on this guy (Ok, so maybe he does, but who's keeping track :P). Sigh. How simple elementary school was :)

P.S. We had the coolest sub EVER today in LA. If you ever get the Mr. J who tells the true story about being clinically dead a few years ago, that's him :D

Splice Of Life

Tonight we went to 'Splice Of Life: A Genetically Modified Musical' at the downtown library. It was written to make the public aware of the GMOs in our everyday world... it was excellent! My sister is super involved in the group that put it on and therefore she (and I) knew most of the people in it... so great! It was their last performance, and was wonderful, they did a great job at taking old musical classics and modifying them (no pun intended). One of my fave parts was the fact that Geoff Berner (or as it says in the programme 'Accordian Man- Geoff "I was tricked into this" Berner') was really involved and played the accordian (of course). (My sister informed me that he's playing here in the city tomorrow, I might just have to go :D)
Anyway, it's a great cause! Check out biofreedom here!

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Argh, two of my sisters aren't talking to eachother and my sister and Alaska and I are caught in the middle. My mom's totally taken a side and I tend to find that sister's tactics to make me take her side offensive... yuck in general.

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And on another cheery note, my Great Aunt Vera out on the coast (who we're quite close with) is very sick and isn't expected to live much longer... my dad is going out there ASAP. I'm not quite sure how I'd deal with it... I've never been old enough to understand when any other family members have passed away. As much as I hate to say it, I guess it's a part of life.

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Well, I guess I'll keep you posted on everything then...

As Barbara W would say- Be Positive

"And why do all celebrities think they can sing? Cause they can't."

Teehee, George's new ads for The Hour on the CBC always get me :D I love the weird face/arm action thing he does in the middle of that statement... I CAN'T WAIT!!! (Little known fact: This is a cropped version of the pic I took with him in spring...)

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Not much has happened recently... On Thursday my sis and I did yoga, which really helped my back (which always burns after sitting in the crap desks all day). She's a yoga fanatic, and is really good at it. I've only done her program a couple times, but we've made a deal to get together more often.
Last night we (the same sister and I) watched 'Almost Famous' at her place. It's my third time watching it, but she's never seen it before (although her boyfriend had seen a part of it). Anyway, they enjoyed it, as did I (of course!).
Later today one of my other sisters and I are going bouldering at the "local" rock-climbing place. I'm really excited!

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Anyway, enough about me and my not-really-busy-but-I'm-excited-anyway schedule, I'm going to check out all your guys' blogs now! See ya soon!

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"Oh, so now we're cheating at go-kart racing... what's next, ripping the tags off of mattresses?"

Gotta love 'Video On Trial' :P

More opinions... like I said last post, go read one of the blogs in the sidebar if you don't like this one...

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How could we forget? It's my generation's JFK moment, our defining date. Everyone will remember where we were. I remember getting ready for school in Grade 4, my then 19-year old sister whispering something to my mom, saying nothing to me. When I got to school I was putting my coat away and my friend Erika came over to our group and started talking about a plane crashing into a building- the World Trade Towers. Being told by my sister that the WTO (the World Trade Organization) was not a good thing, I said something I regret to this day. I said "I'm glad"... I just didn't understand, I didn't understand people had died, but I soon realized the extent of what had happened. I remember my teacher, Mrs. Kirwin, crying infront of the class, telling us all that had happened, how terrorists (an unknown word to us until then) had hijacked a plane and flew it into a building full of people. Walking to music my good friend Katie explained how the people on the planes were phoning their loved ones seconds before their death. I remember Grace explaining how 9/11 was like 9-1-1.

Only being 9, I didn't get how this would change my life, how from then on I'd look up everytime a plane flew over the playground, seeing if they were dropping anything. I didn't understand how I'd think twice before flying, taking the LRT, being in a busy downtown building. I just didn't know.

I know now, and personally I'm sick of the media exploiting it. We know what happened. We know how many people died, how people jumped to their deaths.
Maybe the 5th anniversary is a good time to move on, stop all the media coverage. Maybe all the pain is holding us back... I know it is for me.

Today in school there was no mention of 9/11 (except for Nic saying how we should get a day off, but that doesn't exactly count). I don't think we should do that, either. I think we should remember the day, but we've all seen the footage of them collapsing, the people running away from the towers, the women going "OH MY GOD!!!".

I guess all I'm saying is that we should remember the date, and there's no doubt that we will, but please- to the media- stop exploiting the deaths of others, there's more going on in the world than what happened 5 years ago.

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Check out Allison's post on the subject. It's a really well written and makes a lot of good points.

Untitled

Warning: Opinions expressed here, if you don't like them, go to another page, there are a ton of great ones listed in the sidebar.

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I was talking to a friend of the family recently and was quite enraged. This guy is kind of a local celebrity, in a bizarre way, and is a bit radical in his thoughts, which I have no problems with.

I do, however, have a problem with how he is insensitive in his actions against others with opposing opinions. For example, he and a friend are having a competition to see who can collect the most 'Support Our Troops' car magnets. He said he wants to write 'Support Your Local Insurgents' on them.

What do they think they're doing?

I am definitely not in complete support Canada's involvement in Afghanistan, but I don't think his actions are in any way appropriate. We have a large military base in Edmonton, and how do they know if they're not taking those magnets off the cars of someone who has a friend or family fighting over there? How do they know if that car's family hasn't lost a mother, a brother, a cousin, a best friend?

We live in Canada, everyone here has a right to their own opinion, and no one should have to have that right taken away from them from someone being arrogant and insensitive. It's not our troops' fault that we're over there, nor is it their family's. Not all soldiers support the government's decision, but they're over there anyway. They have to. Our soldiers are a lot braver being over there dying for things they may or may not believe in that this guy is running around in his little bubble ripping off people's opinions.

So here's one for all those he has been such an idiot to, here's one that they can't take away.

One month to The Hour!

My life will be complete in one month! Well, not really, but it'll be nice to have an old friend back, if you will. I can't wait for that opening, it's like at the end of the Daily Show, where they have the "moment of zen"... The Hour's opening is my moment of zen :)
Here's a pic of Georgie's new pic off of The Hour's website... sigh.

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Community rummage sale was this morning... I've gone for as long as I can remember. It was nice because I hung out with kids that I never talk to anymore, but I still go to school with... fun fun! None of the three articles of clothing I got there fit, but hey, they was only $3, and I can pass them on to friends and family. And because Gill is out with tonsillitis, I got her a super tacky keychain of a sailor for a dime. I might just have to post a picture of it later when I get my camera working.

(Here it is... added Sunday... a crappy photo I know :P)

After the sale we (my mom, sister, "brother-out-law" (my sister's long time boyfriend) and dog) went out to the farm, a piece of land we own about an hour East of the city. We harvested the garden and just relaxed by the fire pit... it was really nice :) After that we were all pretty tired (I almost fell asleep during the car ride home), so we all went back to our houses to relax... and that's where I am now, avec you :)

I think it's been a pretty good day so far, as you can see by all the :)'s in this post.

Hope you too have a good one!

Let's see how many times Becky can say 'ya' or 'y'all' instead of 'you' :P

So I know my last post was pretty pointless and a bunch of rambling (in fact, I knew that then, that's why I put that warning), but I was in a crap mood after a bad day and blogging about it always make me feel better :)

The past couple of days have been a lot better, which is obviously a good thing... I guess this is my cue to tell y'all why.
Two posts ago I told ya about how our classes had 38 kids each (which was awful). Well, now they've split us up into three classes, ones I like way better, as all my really close friends are in it, there aren't as many disruptive/snobby kids, and we have the same teachers... yay!

Today in Phys Ed we had to do laps for 10 minutes (around the equivalent of the perimeter of the gym marked out in the ice rink)... it was tough, but I got 22, the average. Andrew kept lapping us, so I finally decided that I could run ahead of him (he's one of the best athletes in the school)... I caught up to him and did for about 3/4 of lap, but I could not keep up with his pace and had to slow down... it was fun anyway, though :P

Had a Peer Support (or Pee Suppor(n) as I lovingly call it) meeting. Unfortunately the head teacher forgot because he wasn't in his usual classroom, so we were waiting in the hall for him for most of lunch. It was awesome to hang out with the 6 other kids from P.S. last year, though :D

Ok, so I know most of you are going "greeaat..." because ya don't know any of the people I'm talking about. I'm sorry! But this is my life during the school year :( Sad, I know...
I'll try to make things more interesting in the future :)

And on the not-so-great side of things, Gill's out with tonsillitis. That sucks :(
Gill, if you're reading this GET BETTER! We miss ya!

I shall blog more on the weekend about more interesting stuff, promise!
Until then, see ya!

Stream of consciousness, much?

WARNING: This post contains slight to severe ranting and major sappiness due to the authors bad day and non medical depression due to mood swings.

Had the second day of school and I'm sick of it already. Sick of the boring classes and sick of the getting bugged by the 'popular' kids because I'm not crazed and athletic. But most of all sick of the way the guy I liked for 5 years (and known for 12) is possibly one of the kindest people I know, but all his friends hate me, so forget him... did I mention that I saw him at folk fest when Feist was playing 'Inside and Out'? How appropriate.

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Speaking of EFMF, I saw Lyle (a friend of mine in the grade below) at the fest, and I actually had a regular converstion with him about it today. We both think Hawksley Workman was great... it was nice because our converstions usually consist of
"Lyle!"
"Hey!"
*high five*
"My Grade 7/Folk Fest/Grade 8 buddy!"
"Yup."
And that's it.

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On a different note altogether:

Got my camp pics back today, but because my camera's batteries have run out again, my take-a-pic-of-a-pic-and-posting plan will have to put on hold. C'est Dommage. (Oh, we don't have the "C'est Dommage" French teacher anymore. It sucks because that class was always a blast, but it's also good, as I might actually learn some French this year :P)

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Well, that's what's on my mind right now...

Go listen to "In My Life" and "Here Comes The Sun" (In that order). They both mean a lot to me... just listen to the lyrics and you'll probably get it :)

Welcome Back! (Now I have that theme song stuck in my head)

First day back at school. All is well.
There are two English classes in my grade, each has 38 students. Awful, much? I mean, we're the richest province and we have classes of almost 40. Our gym class has 76 kids! Argh :(
Anyway, I have a lot of new teachers, only one of my three fave teachers is teaching me, which sucks, but I get two classes with her, so I'll survive.
We're now the oldest kids in the school, which is odd, and although I have a love-hate relationship with my current school, I will miss it and (most of) the kids in it when I head off to high school next year.

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Anywho, inspired by the sheer ugliness and conformityness (it's a word now) of our school-provided agenda, I decided to re-decorate mine. I could always get a different one from Staples, but I'm used to the 'Premier' format (we've has them since grade 4) and anyway, what kind of challenge would that be? :)

The writing on the bottom is a couple of lines from 'The Sound Of Silence', one of my fave songs of Simon and Garfunkel's.

I had to take the picture at an angle, so it kind of distorts the shape of it. So, you know, just ignore that :)

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Well, I'd better be going. We have to go and babysit the Gabsters soon...

See ya!

Becky's turn to be tagged :D

I've been tagged by Allison! I love filling out things like this so I find this rather exciting (odd, I know).

1. Things that scare me
Stalkers and crazed murderers

2. People who make me laugh
My family in general (but in a good way :P)
George
Colbert and Stewart (more Stewart... there are enough crazed right wing news show hosts that we don't need someone to pretend to be one :D)
Rick Mercer

3. Things I hate the most
Kids who pretend they know more and that they are better than everyone else when they're actually real jerks
Kids who don't show respect to kind adults who are just trying to do their jobs
People who call me too nice

4. Things I don't understand
Tattoos all over ones body
Reality TV
The appeal of racist/disgusting jokes

5. Things I'm doing right now
Filling this survey out
Uploading music to my MP3 player
Being nagged to take the dog for a walk (I will! But I'm still in my PJs :P)

6. Things I want to do before I die
Work for CBC
Travel, everywhere
Write a book (preferably a biography)

7. Things I can do
Um... I can store unnecessary amounts of information about my favorite things (movies, musicians, people) in my head
Speak a pitiful excuse for French
Watch 4 hours of Train 48 in a row (that takes talent :P)

8. Way to describe my personality
Too sensitive
Feisty, if need be
Nervous, about everything
A perfectionist

9. Things I can't do
Dance
Draw realistic pictures (only cartoons from this one)

10. Things I think you should listen to
Indie in general
More Simon and Garfunkel
The classics, eg. The Beatles

11. Things you should never listen to
Marilyn Manson

12. Things I'd like to learn
More french
How to be less annoying around guys I like (it's the truth)
How to actually play the clarinet

13. Favorite foods
Cheese pizza
French Fries from 'Friends and Neighbours'
Peanut Butter sandwiches

14. Beverages I drink regularly
Milk
Juice (particularily Orange)
Fresca

15. Shows I watched as a kid
I am kind of still a kid, oh well, when I was a younger kid then (I guess I'm technically a teen)
-When I was a toddler I watched:
Mr. Dress-Up
Sesame Street/Park
Barney (don't hurt me)
-When I was older, a tween if you will, I watched:
Radio Free Roscoe
The Weekenders
ALF

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Argh. Stupid Staples commercial :P
Mom's home! Yay! I am no longer the only female in the household. My dad was lots of fun, though :)

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On a completely different note...
Those of you who have my MSN might have noticed my name and message being slightly odd. Just an FYI, it's a quote from my sister and her boyfriend after our 3 hour adventure in IKEA. Fun fun! For those of you who haven't seen it, it goes something like this...
"It was fun in that 'I've just spent three hours in IKEA and now I have no soul' kind of way"
"Well, at least we sold our souls for cheap furniture."
My sisters are lots of fun :D

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On the topic of shopping, my mom and I went on a BTS (Staples commercial again) trip. Along with some paper and other boring school stuff, I got two very muchy so Becky pairs of shoes and a funky 'Hour' style photo album which I plan to put all the pictures of Calgary and Toronto 'The Hour' pics in. I'm very excited about it!

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Anyway, I need to go check out all the blogs and listen to the Strombo show (not going to miss it this week, oh no).

See ya!

One hen, two ducks, three laughing geese...

Hey there! Back from camp!
It was mostly fun, as per norm. We met up with two old friends from last year, and I made a few new ones also.
The schedule was very camp-ish: canoeing, rock climbing, zip-lining, etc. We did a lot more water activities now that lake Wabuman has been cleaned up from last years train spill (last year we weren't allowed to into the lake).
Our counselors were really nice, "Critter" was really awesome, and "Raccoon" was 'rad' (I only say this for that is his catch phrase, and he might just kill me if I called him awesome possum :P)...
There were some awkward moments, like when this one idiot girl chose to call Gill and I "too nice" (but not in a kind way).
Anywho, other than that, camp in general ran fairly smoothly (except for the huge traffic jam on the Whitemud on the drive home, but that technically doesn't count as camp) :)
I didn't take my digital camera, only a couple one-time-use ones, but I'll get them developed ASAP, and then I'll do the whole take-a-picture-of-a-picture-and-then-post-it deal. For now here's a picture of the camp's waterfront from their website. It's a much better picture when looking from the waterfront on to the lake.

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Anyway, life back at home is kind of 'meh', for a couple of reasons:

-My mom, the one person I know I can talk out everything with, is in Alaska... let's just say my dad isn't the best at making one feel better for he tends to take everything very personally.

-With only my dad and dog looking after the house, I came home to a slightly messier, different smelling house. I liked the way our house smelled before :P

-Missed the Strombo Show on Sunday. It's actually very disappointing, as I was here, just super busy, but everyone says it was a wonderful show and now I feel bad for missing such a big piece of George history:(

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But other than those things, most of which are fairly unimportant, it's all good. I think I just have post-camp syndrome. This happened last year, too. When you spend four days with eight or nine other girls your age, with tons of random excitement (aka Raccoon's twirling game) and an insanely cute counselor (aka Raccoon), sitting at home watching Colbert repeats isn't as appealing as it was before :)

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Oh well, my sister and I are heading off to IKEA to get her a new bookshelf (should I shop in slow-mo?) and to superstore to drop off my cameras now... See ya!

Off to camp!

Gill and I are off to camp in about half an hour... four days of cold-cabin fun! At least we'll know most of the girls there as we went to the same one last year, too...
Anyway, I'll be back on Thursday, and (depending on how tired I am) will probably be back to blogging then. So, you know, if I don't answer your comments for a few days, don't think I hate ya... cause I don't :P (that was a wonderful sentence)
Anywho, better go get dressed and such :)

Teehee...

Ok, I know this video is everywhere, but I just couldn't resist putting it on my blog... Now I want to go to Zellers or IKEA or something and shop in slow motion!

Check out more about Slo-Mo Home Depot and other Improv Everywhere jobs here!

The many binders of Becky

So on Thursday after the LIT wrap-up party was cancelled :( we went to hang out at Gill's house where we decorated her folder avec a very funky collage. This reminded me of my binder I decorated last year, and it inspired me to make another...

Last year's

(the inside was decorated, too)

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This year's

(I only decorated the front so I could add on throughout the year)

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They're so much fun to make!

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Anyway, better get going, time for supper. Global has 'Train 48' on for three or four hours in a row tonight... we're making popcorn and seeing if we can watch them all :P

Am I my own enemy?

Hawkeye eating a greenie ("the original green smart-treat!")...

he's such a little goof :)

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Anyway...

Special features on Syriana were awesome! They had an interview with George Clooney and a feature about what we can do to stop the corruption in the oil business and the huge problem with our wasting such a valuable resource. It was really effective (and Matt Damon looked like Anderson Cooper, with his hair done for the movie and talking about current events. Freaky). The deleted scenes also added a new context to the movie, show more of Bob's personal life. All in all, a thumbs up!

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All The President's Men's features are so far so good. Each feature is quite long, so we only watched two of the five last night.

The one, 'Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting The Fire' was really interesting, as it talked about how the movie inspired and still inspires many young people to become investigative journalists (cough, cough, Becky!) and how my generation of journalists will have to adapt to the great pressures of all the bloggers (therefore the title of this post) and the internet, etc.

They said that if Woodstein was around today they would be asked to reveal their sources, of course they wouldn't, so they'd go to jail, and Watergate would have never been broken.

One more piece of evidence showing I was born a generation too late :P

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Gabi eating her shoe when we went camping...

she's a little goof, too :)

I really hope he reads this...

"Vegetarians are nice people, like you. Anyway, you live longer."
Funny how someone saying something so small but kind can change everything... and all you can do is be a complete jerk (but not on purpose, you just realize it two years too late).
By the way, you were right, it was Toni Tortillini, not Tinotoni :P
But enough with the personal stuff I've been dealing with lately...

There was a huge thunderstorm last night, and there was a thunderstorm warning for the whole of central and southern Alberta... the sheet lightning made the sky light up like the sun was out, it was crazy! I stayed up reading old stories and journals I've written in, thinking... stuff like that. I guess one of the results is the paragraph above this one :) another is the fact that I didn't get to sleep until about two in the morning, so I'm about to fall over from exhaustion.

Made some pretty awesome buttons today! Some of the ones with the nicest designs on them broke though, so once I fix them up I'll take a picture of them all so y'all can see them... the button making "machine" on campus is an older one, so it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It was fun anyway, though! My dad and I figured out that we could make a killer profit from selling them (we are also constantly figured out the newest and most ingenious products for infomercials... watch out Miracle Blade! We'll show chef Tony and his drywall-cutting, shoe-sawing sidekicks :D). Anyway, I say we start a business!

Better get going, I think we're going to watch the special features from Syriana and All The President's Men tonight... Woohoo! Nothing like George Clooney, Deep Throat (the guy, not the movie) and popcorn... all rolled into one enjoyable evening!
See ya!

Syriana

Just watched 'Syriana'... man, it's moving.
I started watching it thinking that it would be a confusing movie, just like the critics said.
I did find it confusing- to a point. It wasn't like you didn't know who was doing what, it was just difficult, in my opinion, figuring out who worked for who.
And I had to skip the end of the torture scene (the one in which George Clooney hurt his back).

...

I have to say, the most powerful scene was where Bob (Clooney) is trying to tell Prince Nasir that he's about to be assassinated, and Nasir realizes, and just says "You're the Canadian"-and then the missile hits.
I'm sure it didn't help that there's a huge thunderstorm outside while all this is going on...

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Anyway, I just think it's one of those really influential movies that changes you perspective on things. I've always been a big fan of George Clooney, and good for him for doing such a great movie. He definitely deserved the Oscar he won for it.

Fringe, much?

Hey there! Typing this at Scona library, just got in from the Fringe (I do believe it is the biggest one in North America). I usually check out a couple plays, but I'm not really one to plan ahead. My eldest sister writes for a local magazine reviewing the plays, so she usually gives me a heads up if there's a good one. This year one of her reviewees (is that a word? Oh well, it is now) was called "A Road Less Gravelled"... ouch.

It's crazy hot out, and my youngest older sister (only ten years older than me) and I were looking for booth that one of her friend runs, when this creepy guy comes up and gives us these small rocks that say "Cute Women Rock Edmonton". He then goes into this small speech about how someday we should introduce him to his mother. We thought he was just off his rocker, but then when we did find my sister's friend's booth, we found out she and another girl she knows had gotten them. Eew! I am going to take a picture of the aforementioned pebble and upload it when I get home. If you see this man, kindly hurt him for us. Thanks :)

Here it is... *shudder*

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Anyway, this booth I'm talking about is awesome possum. They have homemade purses, wallets, ties, pillows, etc. The girl who sells them handmakes them all and types all the tags out on her typewriter. I was very tempted to get a brown corduroy one with turquoise flowers, but my bag collection is big enough already (at least that's what I keep telling myself). If you're here, check it out, it's right by the bus barns. Go now!

Right next to where creepy-pebble-man was sitting is a super cool booth that sells any kind of button (not shirt buttons, the kind that have band names of sayings on them) you could think of. Unfortunately, they are crazy expensive, but my sister volunteers at APIRG, where they happen to have a button making machine. We plan to go sometime, I'm really looking forward to it! I have this one button that I got at Earth's General Store (Go there, too) that has a cartoon cow on his back saying "You'd be mad too, if your destiny was burgers and jello!"
Aww, I love that pin :)

Well, my sister finished working on her laptop, back into extremely-hot-where-anything-that-will-cool-you-down-is-ridiculously-expensive-land!
See ya later!

A post-birthday post

The post I wrote on my birthday (yesterday) was put on The Hour's blogtracker! I couldn't ask for a better blogger birthday surprise!

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Yesterday my sisters- boyfriends and niece in tow, came over for a smallish birthday party... lots of fun!
My dad 'baked' (aka got a cake from Save-On-Foods and hid it in the oven) a delicious cake and we ordered in some Panago pizza. I opened up the awesome gifts (including stuff to decorate t-shirts with, a framed copy of the American Apparel-esque pic I took of Gabi, 'All The President's Men: Special Edition' and 'Syriana' (I can't wait to see it!)) from my dad and sisters. We sat on our porch ("like hippies", according to our neighbour's son) talking and then I went to listen to The Strombo Show.
The guy who's filling in for George et Bob was talking about the Edmonton police protocol with cops swearing. Personally, since they tasered (and killed) a guy for no reason right by my house, I think that cops swearing should be the least important issue on their minds.
So, to make my birthday less depressing, I went and watched Monty Python on PBS with my dad and my sister's boyfriend.
All in all, I had a pretty Jim Dandy birthday! It was sad not having my mom and my one sister there, but my family travels enough that I've learned to get used to it :)

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Today I've just been hanging out, watching Comedy Now!, the usual. I plan to watch a movie with Gill later on (she just got back from vacation and has yet to tell me all the details of her cliff-diving adventures in the mountains)- should be fun!

See ya later!

I am so strange :)

"It's a frickin tiger! That's what they do, they attack people. That's why we don't have them as pets."

Teehee :) I've missed Georgie.

How are my favorite bloggers this fine and lovely day? Just watched the season 1 highlights Barbara posted on Not Paid By The Hour... I've been meaning to watch it all year, but, as most of your know, I'm lazy and impatient. But I have now, and I lurved every minute of it! I've missed the last few Strombo Shows due to Folk Fest and other unfortunate scheduling... it was nice to actually hear his voice for a change :)

Little known fact: when I signed up for CBC shop when I purchased a The Hour t-shirt and a CBC duffle bag earlier this year, I was automatically signed up for a $5 coupon on my birthday. Hmmm... what to choose, what to choose.

Teehee, just taped George's eyes over Daniel Radcliffe's (Harry Potter) face in the paper. I shall show it to you...

Oh dear, the article's about Radcliffe's nude scene in a play he's doing. Hmmm... Shelly's birthday is in a few months, we'll have to get her tickets :P