Laugh, dammit!

Ah, exams. Wonderful, aren't they? The perfect balance of sheer stress and utter boredom as summer settles in.

But in amongst all the exams and tutorials and studying one cannot forget what truly matters in life. We cannot forget to keep on watching Indecision 2008... or as it is more lovingly known, Clusterf*#K to the White House.

So please, do us all (and yourself) a favour and go and watch some of The Daily Show. You'll be a better person afterward.

And how can you not love that face?

Utter and excessive sappiness that I'm surprised I feel

Well, tomorrow's the last actually full day of school at Mck. I'm so glad to be getting out of there, especially as it's losing a lot (not all, but most) of the good teachers. You know, the great teachers that connect with their students and inspire them. Ones like Mr. Carter (who left last year), Ms. Andrews, Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Sorenson. Ms. Mitchell and Ms. Short will still be there... the new kids coming into grade seven next year will be the luckiest kids in the world if they get Shorty. Ah, 7C... that was a fun class. 8B, too. And 9B.

I always feel trapped in my school, but those teachers made it bearable when it was at it's worst. They taught the type of class that you would look forward to, the type that always left their door open after school.

Gill, Sheilagh, remember Carter's room? I know you do. The time we hung Shelly out that window with the help of Mr. C? The metre stick he was given for his 12th birthday? Or his 'Office Space' stapler?

Or French with Mr. Mitchell? All those stupid hand signs that everyone still remembers... And his ballpoint pen wars with Matty. And those ridiculous plays that were so much fun. And how you could talk to him about anything, he had respect for all his students.

And of course: "A tisket, a tasket, the lost and found basket." Crissy's room was a blast. Peer Support retreat with them always made me laugh.

I talk about those teachers like they died. They didn't, of course, they're just moving on with their lives. Starting families, getting new jobs to provide better for the ones they already have. I don't think they realized how much of an impact they've had on me, and they'll continue on to affect kids like me. I hope those kids realize how lucky they are.

I really disliked that school, but I prefer to remember all those insane moments with all those hilarious teachers instead.

I love civil disobedience

I got an old copy of Adbusters from the library the other day... I grew up with them lying around the house, but I'd never really picked one up and read it thoroughly. So that's what I did. My favorite part?
A sticker some on posted on a pump in a San Francisco gas station that read:

Stop your engine.

No smoking.

Return nozzle to pump when finished fueling.

Pre-pay after dark.

Thank you for financing global terror.

Classic.

My love of hate for my school grows

This is a picture of boredom at a Thursday's "pep rally". It was hardly what one would expect from its name. It was, in fact, the anti-pep rally. Everyone just sat, bored out of their minds, while the jocks went up and "talked" about how they won some championship no one really cares about. I say "talked" because it consisted of:

"We powned."

"Yeah!"

"We won."

"Yeah!"

Glorious.

The year end dance was 80s theme, which one would think would be fun. Apart from getting to wear my 'Astros' sweatshirt, It wasn't. I should have seen it coming when the DJ said "we'll play some 80s and then move into some popcorny stuff." The 80s consisted of Thriller, the rest was Avril Lavigne crap. I could only stand about 2 minutes before I actually thought I was going to throw up. I felt physically nauseous. Luckily Lyle felt the same, so we snuck out of the dance. He and his friends had already gone once, the second time I tagged along. So I spent my last dance at that school outside playing catch and witnessing the accidental denting of the DJ's van. Best dance ever.

Yesterday was a much better day than Thursday (day of the pep rally, dance, etc). Although it was plus 30-something, I had a great time afterschool hanging out on the hill. We held off going home as long as we could, but finally we had no choice.

I got home for supper and then headed off for the airport to pick up Tracey (my sister who lives in Alaska)! We were happy to see her, and all went smoothly until we missed a certain turn-off on the way back. We ended up in Twin Brooks (Vi's suburb), and were late. But it didn't really matter because:

a) It just goes into our ever-expanding file of lost-while-driving/"interesting"-experiences-to-do-with-the-airport file, and

b) I got this shot while driving on Anthony Henday

Because I'm dirty and wonderful

Wow. All but two junior high kids I know cannot hold an intelligent conversation about anything bigger than our school. I mean, why not answer a serious philosophical question with "that's cool"?* Yes, I know I'm a horrible person, but I'm not the only one. (Oh, and this justification agrees with all my values*)
*I'm just going to assume that you all note how both of those lines were dripping with sarcasm

In other news, my book talk on '1984' went well. I wrote it last night, but I was passionate about the topic, so I could get deep into the theories put forward. Orwell's writing style is fantastic, so opening and closing with his quotes made my talk that much stronger... especially the haunting line "if you want a picture for the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face- forever."
On the topic of good books, Barb B has inspired me to put my summer reading list in my sidebar... I'm interested in seeing how well I can follow it.


This is possibly the best money I've ever spent... got this tote bag in the mail today. Makes me laugh: "Hawksley Workman's Dirty and Wonderful Books".
That's the great thing about Workman's music. It can be dead serious, but at the same time he has a great sense of humour. I'm excited to test drive the bag at school tomorrow. I'm also equally excited for all the scared looks from the kids who have no idea who Workman is... I might be known as "the girl who shops in dirty Amsterdam book stores" from now on. Oh well, I couldn't care less, as this bag makes me very happy.

I'm going to go off and share that happiness with the world now.

...

P.S. Welcome back Jay, Chris et Gabi! We are happy to have you (and your karate trophies) back :)

Scrabble

I discovered yesterday, whilst playing Scrabble with my sister and a few of her friends, just how creative the game can get. We were playing the version where the words don't actually have to be real words, just close to some. I realized that if you ever needed a good name for a band, you could just play this version of Scrabble... who wouldn't love a band called The Math Gurus, The Depofares or Le Japorn (Tamboars)? My sister has a "plan" to start up a bird watching club called The Beak Swoons, and we thought we should start a speech with the brave phrase IGreatBat...
Although I did love it when people added on to a word to the point where it almost became a sentence in itself, like TameFirstCall.
I also enjoyed how we completely ignored which way the letters are supposed to face.
Don't you just love board games?

Let us wake up and talk a while. I tell you I'm scared, I tell you I'd fight for us both ... And what would we do in our last moments in time?

-The Future Language of Slaves, Hawksley Workman

...

That song seems to sum up some of my feelings this week.

Firstly, I finished Nineteen Eighty-Four. Just like when I read The Handmaid's Tale, the book affected me deeply. It truly makes you think and be thankful for what we have. Towards the end I had to put it down for a while... I can't bear to read of human suffering in the hands of others that way. Everything Winston goes through makes me want to scream... and to think people live in states like that, I can't stand it.

And then today I was shocked at school. I noticed police cruisers outside our school and officers walking around as I went in. I thought it was odd, but I didn't realized what had happened until Maren informed me around Noon.
Ed, a kid who often hangs out with friends of friends, and whom I talk to on a fairly regular basis, had been threatening to kill several classmates. At first we thought that was it, but the police soon discovered a knife in his locker and a list of people to kill (and how it was to be done). I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of my good friends and I were on there, as we had a rocky relationship with him.
The school as a whole was surprisingly calm (especially considering the size of the school), but it still left us a bit shaken. What frustrates me is that no one from admin talked to us about, they left it to classmates to inform others.
However serious he actually was, it leaves you with Workman's lyrics rolling in your mind.

And other thoughts on this Friday the 11th

So now that Lyle's taught me how to tie a tie, I'm now tempted to wear them all the time. Not Avril Lavigne style (*shudder*), but more of the retro ties with band t-shirt look... very tempted. We had to learn how to tie them for band, as our band teacher bought the entire junior high band "smashing" ties (her words, not mine). As I like to say, 100% polyester, 100% fun :P

But on to less creepy subjects... the weather in Edmonton is gorgeous. This fine weather meant it was our school's track and field day. Basically we were locked out of the school until we did three different events (I did 100 metre dash, 200 metre run and shotput). I didn't mind too much this year, as I just ended up hanging out with my friends, playing soccer and the like. When all that was over we just headed to the hill, which is also what we did yesterday. We spend a good two and a half hours there a day, having a blast. It's nice to spend time with others who are willing to talk about anything that comes to mind. After all that sun I'm completely worn out... with the starts of a nice tan (I usually wouldn't care, but I couldn't stand having to look at those chalk white legs of mine anymore... I could bring down aircraft with them they were so blindingly white).

And one other note... just talked to Tracey (one of my three lovely older sisters). We had an interesting (and very funny) converstaion about the pressure to be different in our family. Anyway, she's coming home from Alaska for a couple of weeks at the end of May. I'm very excited, as I haven't seen her in quite a while... For some reason thinking of both Tracey and summer reminds me of FIFA world cup, The Arcade Fire and lavender sunblock. Guess it just goes to show that last summer was an awesome one!

The hill

So the Grade Eights are on Jasper trip, and I feel rather down about it. Now, I don't mind the absence of those insanely loud girls across from my locker, nor do I miss the bottleneck that is our school's hallways in between classes, but I do miss afternoons on the hill. Perhaps another day? We'll have to see... but for now we'll have to settle for gazing longingly at the photo I took yesterday.
It's so beautiful here, the tempurature's in the high teens, and sitting around laughing with your friends is the perfect activity. It allows you to get into conversations that are more meaningful than the ones crammed into 5 minute breaks at school. Ultimately, it gives you a chance to get to know your friends better than you already do, and that's something I find is very important.
I'll just have to wait until everyone is free again.

It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out

Another week's gone by and quite a bit has changed while still remaining the same. The weather has gone from warm and sunny to miserably wet and back again. People are my friends on and off. And I'm once again completely fed up with the lack of caring in my peers...

But on the bright side, Jay, Chris and Gabi are home! They had a great time in Florida visiting Chris' relatives, and I'm very jealous. And they even taught Gabi to say 'Annyang'- so awesome... By the way, check out Jay's new blog! (I officially apologize for the possible overuse of exclamation points in that paragraph.)

I've also been making a point of catching more of The Daily Show, which has certainly been making the dreary days more bearable. "We need a timetable just to withdraw from that metaphor!" Laughed so hard... and the guy who plays PC talking about famous economists in futuristic jumpsuits? Precious.

And yesterday the latest edition of Shameless arrived at my doorstep. I believe I posted about the zine last summer, but for those of you who didn't read it... Shameless is a great indie zine out of Toronto, 'for girls who get it'. It covers everything from music to social issues, DIY to book reviews. It's certainly a nice break from the Teen Prom mags floating around school. (I believe Barb B made this point last year, and I completely agree. You're supposed to graduate from grade 9... why such a huge fuss?)

Grad may be a waste of time, but I was ecstatic yesterday to learn that I was accepted to to the high school I wasn't sure I'd be able to get into. My district school is all about sports and stereotypical school spirit, neither of which I'm that in to. But I got my place in the more serious academic school, which is a relief.

Anyway, today I spent some time down on Whyte, and spotted this kid... he's my new hero. Bagpipes and busking don't usually seem like they'd work together, but he can pull it off... especially in those sneakers and skinny jeans!

That said I'll leave you with that wonderful image.