Indecision 2007

I find myself very confused about high schools today. My whole life I've planned to go to High School A, but recently I've been more and more leaning towards High School B.
High School A has a really good IB program, and that's where my sisters went. But I only know a few kids who are going there, and since I'm out of district I'm not sure if I'll be able to get in (you're techinically supposed to be able to go into their IB program even if you aren't in their district, but all the kids from the suburbs who don't have any other school are getting in first).
High School B has a comparable AP program, which might not be quite as good as IB, but still pretty well put together. I know I'd be able to get in, as I'm in the district. It's also close, and is the feeder school for my current school.
What made me realize was a conversation in French class, where Vi said she hated our current school and would be happy to not see any of the kids in it again. I was upset to find out that she disliked where we go and she explained that she was made to go there, and while she was happy to make Gill, Sheilagh and I as friends, she was sad to leave all her other good friends. I grew up with a group of kids, most of which go to our current school. We were all really close in elementary, but once we got to junior high we spilt up. But now I'm getting close to them again, and if I go to high school A It'll be hard to keep those friendships going.
It's all very confusing! I want to talk about it with my family and close friends before I make a decision. Anyway, it's helpful to be able to writer everything down here!

Other stuff

Listening to Bob Dylan... Knockin' On Heaven's Door. Turned out that ditz on The One didn't ruin it for me after all. (She sang it with a huge smile plastered on her face. I don't think she realized it was about someone knowing they were about to die.)

I want to update the student teacher situation. She's not nearly as bad as she was, I think she realized that just because we're teenagers doesn't mean we're idiots. Just thought I should let you know, it wouldn't be fair to her otherwise.

Finished Oryx And Crake this morning. It was well done, although I found the ending was quite odd... but I won't ruin that for anyone who hasn't read it. I like The Handmaid's Tale better simply to the fact that it's about an independent woman who was put in an awful situation, whereas Oryx And Crake was about a sheltered boy who was desensitized to violence at a young age through the internet. I find I can relate better to the woman... I found both very effective in making their point, though.

Anyway... I had a good week. I'm lucky we only have mid-terms in math at my school, it makes things a lot less stressful. Some of our teachers are kicking lesson plans into high gear though, as our interim report cards are coming up *cough* social class *cough* :P

On another note, I've had Rae Spoon's 'Oil Rigs' stuck in my head the past couple days. Good song. It describes the Albertan experience pretty well. I really wanted to post the lyrics here, but I couldn't find them. I'll send you to his website, anyway :)
Check it out!

And on that note, I'd better go, Gabi's coming over to hang out. See ya!

Catching up

I've been quite busy lately, lots to write about!

On Thursday night we headed of to Grant McEwan, where Margaret Atwood was speaking. We got in, sat down and waited for the oh-so-lovely Todd Babiak (note the sarcasm... my sister isn't his biggest fan) to finish his supposed-to-be-but-not-really-all-that-funny intro. Then came who I believe to be the president of the college, who talked like the Glad Man. He kind of looked like him too. Creepy. Finally Atwood herself got up and talked for a few minutes about her book and how it relates to the environment today, cracking quite a few (good) jokes a long the way. Then she took questions. They'd set it up so she couldn't attack any specific member of the audience, as she has been known to do in the past. They had the question slips attached to your ticket, you submitted them anonymously, and then Babiak chose which ones she got to answer. It all turned out quite well!

Last night we headed up to the U of A campus to watch The U of A's Orchesis Dance Group Motif 2007.
It was pretty standard as far as modern dance goes, stuff like what Audrey Hepburn did in Funny Face. But some stood out. Like the one by Sara Martin, who used really hip music paired with different coloured 'listen' shirts to really give it the feel of young, new dance. Not really stuffy like everyone else's.
My favorite had to be the last, called 'Revolver: 6 Shots', all to Beatles music... with a serious dose of wit. It was written by guest choreographer Cori Caulfield. Think office workers dressed in various forms of deconstructed suits. I took a lot of pictures, but only a few turned out because I couldn't keep the camera still I was laughing so hard!

Taxman: They kept those positions for the entire song. Poor guy at the back who's upside down! Everyone cheered when he got up.

I love the guy frantically typing away.

They reveal the sticky-note submarine.

And ride away in it... this is a crappy photo, but I couldn't not include it!

How cool is this?

You Are Most Like John F. Kennedy

You live a fairy tale life that most people envy. And while you may have a few dark secrets, few people know them.

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

I highly respect JFK... I think it's awesome that I'm most like him :)

Margaret Atwood

Everyone in my family seems to enjoy Margaret Atwood books, so when I came across The Handmaids Tale in my LA classroom I was encouraged to read it.

You've probably heard of if not read the book. It's about a woman named Ofwarren, in future world ruled by Chrsitian fundamentalists. There she is placed in the class of the handmaids, a group of women whose only purpose is to breed for the upper class.

My father, who'd read it before, asked me when I was finished if I found it depressing, as he did. My overall emotion wasn't depression, rather thankfulness we don't live in a world where women are treated in such a way. Or where being a feminist meant you had to clean up toxic waste for the rest of your life. Where resisting the leaders ideals meant you were accused of being a rapist and subjected to torture and beating.


Just after I finished that book my sister (who's a writer/book reveiwer) got tickets to a lecture Margaret Atwood's having here on Thursday. Somewhere between 2000 and 3000 people are going and we managed to get what looks like some of the last copies of Oryx And Crake, the book she's speaking about. I'm a pretty fast reader, but this might be a bit of a stretch! Oh well, I know people who are going without even having read the book! It should be fun, though.

Dear student teacher,

Just wanted to say how much I hate your guts. Your chest revealing, caked on make-up wearing, ditzy, flaky guts. No, I'm not the kind of girl who spends an hour on her make-up every morning. I don't even wear make-up. Why? Cause why should I spend time making myself look fake for guys I won't even know in a few years. The kind of guy I want to end up with won't care if I do or not. But this obviously isn't case for you, as you, the 22 year old, hits on the only guy in our group. Don't pretend the rest of us don't notice, we're teenage girls, we know what flirting looks like.
And stop complaining about and pretending we don't know the first thing about university. My sister have already all graduated with degrees higher than yours. And when I said the principal was a doctor, you didn't have to tell me she wasn't an actual doctor in that snobby way. I'm not frickin seven years old! I know what it means to have a doctorite!
I am so sick of your saying we need to get back to work and then your going on and on about how hard high school is and how you just got in to university cause technically your school is considered an academic school. You can flirt with Nick all you want and let Vi and I write everything, but as soon as I talk you snap at me to be quiet. You're lucky I didn't talk more, but it just so happened that I was to distracted by the way your neon green eye shadow didn't quite meet up with your non-existent eyebrows.
Oh my god! Someone guessed you were 28 instead of 22, whatever will you do? It's 6 years. Stop being so immature.
And your going on about how kids in Catholic schools are so much better behaved than us, not cool.
Why don't you just do your job, and stop trampling our self-esteems?
Oh, and just because I'm not completely mainstream and don't dress like a prostitute Barbie doesn't mean you can treat me like you do. Like crap. I came in to this respecting you and ready to work. You obviously didn't. I've now lost all that respect.
Just thought I'd let you know.
Yours truly,
Becky

Way too excited...

Rick Mercer came to my home turf, the U of A! I'm not even kidding, I spent most of my time as a toddler on campus. That's where all my sisters went to university, and where I plan to go also! That nanotechnology building is where my uncle works, and I work out in the same area as the volleyball team! I find this so insanely cool! I know where all the places he went are! Anyway, check that story out here! Or, to see the rest of that program (or any other program), go here!

What Monty Python Sketch Character are you?

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Winter's in full swing

Thought I'd share some of the photos I took today... BarbW requested some pictures of snow, and here they are :)

This here province...

With Alberta's economic boom, there's been a lot of discussion about how rich this province is becoming. Frankly, I still see poverty in the streets, people who need jobs. The only result of the economic boom I see is more traffic on the roads and the building of more suburbs.

Despite these obvious drawbacks, I still love Edmonton, and having roots here, I think it'd be hard to leave in the future. I'm lucky to live in the Edmonton similar to that of the 1950s, when my mother and her family moved here from Saskatchewan.

And Alberta isn't all about big trucks and rednecks. We still have our agriculture and our beautiful landscapes, although the latter is being depleted by logging and the destruction of land for the oil industry...

Yesterday I was going through photos I took on a camping trip this summer, and it reminded me about how lucky I am to be able to grow up here.

Long gone

It's been about a year since I first started watching The Hour on a daily basis. My mom was driving up to Alaska with my sister, so it left father and I to fend for ourselves in our little piece of the city we call home. Now, this obviously meant dinner in front of the TV (almost like a tradition :P) We came upon The Hour and realized how great it was, and soon I was completely hooked. It was a month from then that my mom and I drove down to Calgary to see George at the university there.

By a month later I knew that I wanted to be a journalist. Although seeing All The President's Men years earlier did have an influence on me, George sealed the deal. I knew that's what I wanted to do.

When visiting Toronto that month I went to the CBC building and discovered the Strombo show on CFRB. George had such an influence on me. Through his show I discovered Feist, The Arcade Fire, Jian Ghomeshi, The National Playlist, The New Pornographers, to name a few.

Not so much anymore. He first lost credibility with me when he went for The One. He had always said music reality shows were a waste of time, and now he was hosting one. Not only that, but he was splitting hairs over whether or not The One was actually one of those shows.

Then came the infamous "late night talk show" announcement about The Hour. I was worried about where it might lead, but with everyone telling me not to fret, I mostly forgot about it and got on with my break.

But then the new season came and I knew it was only a matter of time before I lost all faith. It was like a show one would find on MuchMusic, just with a bit news thrown in to satisfy those veiwers that thought George had some journalistic credibility. But it turned out to be a waste of my time.

I can't even watch anymore. With it's poorly written shock value jokes and it's novelty guests, with few exceptions, I just tune out. I'm not someone who loves everything he does because he's George. If it's poorly done, I don't watch it. And this is poorly done.

Where's the show that inspired me to make a difference? That challenged me to get involved and out of my comfort zone?

As far as I can tell, it's gone.

Day 1

Happy New Year (it's 2007 for those of you who are very "tired")! I hope you all had a great night last night, just like I said I wanted you to yesterday.

Gill and I had a grand time at my sister's house (she's very fun). We spent a ton of buttons with the button maker I got for Christmas (Hi, I'm Becky, and I'm addicted to making buttons).
With old issues of some crap political magazines (with incredibly racist/sexist articles that were so awful they were laughable) and some not crappy magazines like Adbusters (the latter of which was brought by my sis's boyfriend), we made some great buttons! It was really fun...

That, thrown in with sparklers, orange peel fights, small explosives and random piano/guitar playing made the evening quite the blast (and also fulfilled my goal of having a not too quiet New Years)! To add to all the madness my sister's friend was hit by a car (but not hurt at all) on the way over... he was seriously laughing about it- creepy!
At the end of the night there was Gill and I, my sister and her boyfriend, and their friend Josh. Not to forget the couple other people who passed through throughout the evening... Good times!