Dear Readers, For the past two and some years, Blogger has been my online home. I believe it is now time to do a little growing up and a little moving on. It's been a veritable jumble of all things from aesthetics through music to techy goodness. Here on Blogger I've ranted, reviewed, and posted photos of all things cool, funny, and emo. Now, I think it's time I migrated to a different host, much like how a student must graduate. Enter WordPress.com, a service that some friends have been using for some time now. I'm not ritzy enough, for the life of me, to pay out for hosting, so in keeping with my free hosting traditions (Blogger, I won't easily forget you!) I'll be on WordPress' online services. thankfully, I can (and will) import all my Blogger posts and comments onto WordPress' servers, meaning you'll be able to go back and read all the P.Pole v. 1.0 posts you want. For your information, the new page can be found at larker.wordpress.com and I've named it the P.Pole v.2.0 in loving memory of this place. Anyway, without further diddle dawdle head on over and bookmark away (unless something insane happens, I won't be coming back here to post, as sad as that is for me to say). As far as I know, Blogger has no "Import Posts" option meaning I will not be able to make a reversal migration from WordPress if things should go awry. And it just seemed like the other day where I was going on about not changing to the new Blogger template format... Fly-out menus, I will miss you. Blogger, you and I had a great run. You were fun while we lasted. I've grown to know you much better. You were my first real blogging host and now, to borrow words from Christ (simply for linking purposes and not for blasphemy), "Where I am going, you cannot come." - John 13:33.
This is the big 500th post! Woo! Thank you! Thank you! This place couldn't have come this far if it weren't for you (or me, I suppose). Last night's LoaH didn't really go as great as I'd have hoped but I suppose it can't be helped. Anyway, I still think it was alright (it could've been better... or could it?). The amps never came (in time) and I assume they are probably going to arrive between now and next week (right when we're done "needing" them). I guess it's probably best though, that we didn't get new bass and guitar amps to play with in the rain. I think we did what we were decided on doing. I just hope we've got some better weather foreknown for us in the weeks/Wednesday evenings to come. In other news, I've officially begun a new game of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together on my PSP as of two days ago. I finished Final Fantasy Tactics rather abruptly (I had no idea I was fighting the final battle until I beat it and credits were scrolling) and so I've put that aside now (I plan on going back to it and unlocking all the other special characters, weapons, and items for the hell of it some other time). TO is looking finer than ever on my hand-held screen. I remember I'd "accidentally" cheated in one run through of the game where I changed the level of one of my guys to 99 (when he had originally been level 30 or so) meaning that I basically skipped all the stat gains I could've had between levels 30 and 99. Of course, this made training my other characters easy (I had them throw rocks at the uber leveled guy and gain instant levels) but left me with a completely useless character (think... level 100 Magikarp with Splash). Anyway, this time I'm going clean and I'm not going to use any Gamesharks (even though there are such homebrew applications for the PSP). I rather enjoy strategy games like FFTactics, Tactics Ogre, and the super cool Disgaea series. There's something about collecting characters and setting them up how I want that makes for fun times. Of course, that sounds a lot like how little girls play with dolls and dress them up so I'm now going to sulk in my accidental revelation of homosexical tendencies. Just kidding. "For goodness' sake, it's a gay pride parade, not a gay shame festival!"
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage - IMO one of THE best games I've ever played/beat. This series has got a special place in my heart because I spent many hours with Grant beating Spyro games (and Crash games) in our childhood days (which are, sadly enough, coming to a close quite quickly).
Final Fantasy Tactics - I've always owned this game but I never took it up seriously because I was either too young or in the process of playing "Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together" which is another RPG/strategy type game that's about the same in style. Now that I've got it on my PSP and I've got the energy and mind for it, I've taken it up and let me say, this game is amazing. One the best, definitively, that I've ever played (and I've played a lot).
Metal Slug X - I technically don't have this exact game but I do have a few other "Metal Slug" games in my library. I'm generally not a huge fan of arcade-like sidescrollers but this one is one that I enjoyed because I used to play it a lot with my uncle Keith when he was a visa student here (that was WAY back in the day, when I was seven or so). Fun pick-up and play distraction is alright.
Vagrant Story - This one I've yet to actually start but I intend to soon. All I remember about this RPG game is that it had a weird way of doing the battle system. My dad loves this game and used to play it while I watched. It was pretty neat and so I intend on giving it a good thorough whirl myself.
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - Here's the last title to make the cut so far. I mentioned this game before. To give you an idea of how much I am a fan of this game, on my actual PlayStation game savefile I've achieved a 150+ hours of gameplay with all my characters uber'd. This game, I think, was the first of its kind that I seriously ever got into. I remember playing this after school when I went to my grandma's. I'd blaze through any homework and then get a-crackin' on the training. Now that I've got it portable... well, I don't see how I'll be doing much of anything else once I start. That's why I've got to put off starting a new game for as long as I can so I can finish the other games first.
Note: Click the titles to see their pages on Amazon.
I don't know why I need to stay up so late but I don't have anything tomorrow (actually it's today since it's 1:30 am). When I was small, I watched one too many vampire movies and a Discovery Channel special that either disproved or confirmed various urban legends. Their final chilling piece was about vampires and, calling all other urban legends false, the program actually cited real, unexplained cases of what seemed to be vampires roaming the night, hospitals, and whatnot. Needless to say, I was mortified at the thought that a reliable source would confirm my greatest fear, that something out there was out to get me (specifically, get at my neck) and had sharp teeth to boot. Perhaps that explained why for the subsequent years of my life I could not walk through a dark hallway or room without first pausing to weigh the risks and flipping on the light switch whenever possible. I seriously could not take myself around even remotely dark or shadowy places. I remember one habit of mine was to look over my shoulder every so often and especially right before starting to brush my teeth to check for said vampires. As a foolish child I would look intently at the mirror as I brushed at the spot just above my right shoulder, waiting for something to jump at me from behind. I have since then grown up and I no longer check in the mirror for vampires. Want to know my secret? Well, as one grows up, one learns to overcome one's own fears, gaining wisdom and rationality. In my case, I grew up and learned that vampires don't appear in mirrors, which is why it is futile to look for them in mirrors. What a fool I was. If one were to come at me today, I'd be ready with my beloved wooden Katana (which serves as a stake of sorts I imagine) and my mostly fit physical stature (don't look at my hips, they really don't lie). I've been preparing mentally for just such an encounter all my life, practically, ever since I decided years ago that I would not allow myself to be run by my fears of something I've yet to meet. I'm totally prepared for an attack by a vampire. Either I kick his ass or he bites mine. What's the worst that could happen? So I get bitten and turn into a vampire, big deal. Now I've got an eternity to get revenge and scope out the wicked-awesome fempires lurking around... It's either bragging rights or undead superpowers. This is what we call a win-win situation. Of course, I never much bothered thinking on the possibility that the one to attack me might turn out to be a fempire to start... Now that's an interesting one. Would I even bother fighting back? I mean, winning a fight like that would be like beating up a girl (something I'd readily do in Tekken but not in real life... not again anyway). And I mean, if she wants to bite me that badly I ought to be a gentleman about it and let her have her way with me. A woman's got to satisfy her cravings right? It's the only noble thing to do when you think about it. Now I'm off to bed before my insane nocturnal patterns make you suspicious of my secret night-prowling life... Blah! I vant to suck your blood!
Next Monday will mark the beginning of exam week at VPCI and as I've previously mentioned, I've come down with something like an auto-immune problem. Nevertheless, here's the run down:
Monday - Exam Review Day = massive skippage
Tuesday - Biology (2 h) at 9 am and Chemistry (1.5 h) at 1 pm
Wednesday - No exam! Break day for sleep and some review I guess.
Thursday - English (2 h) at 1 pm
Friday - It's the big one, Math (2 h) at 1 pm
So that's what I've got lined up for the coming week. Tomorrow night I'll be heading to Hosanna to have a night's worth of guys' sports without girls around (win win!). I'm actually quite glad we're having a guys' night since we never get to actually compete for real with girls around... (this opinion of mine is also why I could never play mixed for badminton). We were reviewing old tests in Biology today and I was quite surprised to find my results weren't half as bad as I'd thought (I've a terrible way of being relatively under-prepared for this class). Obviously, the marks weren't amazing but really, I'd say I did quite well. I could've done better but sometimes I don't really think it's worth the extra effort. While walking through Fairview Mall today with my good friend Shivon, I came up with a pretty neat idea. I'm not going to say what it is since I wouldn't want to give away this kind of thing but I am pretty fortunate to have friends like Shivon (and Kishon, even though he'll likely never read this) around to keep me company. I mean, they may not be the most tactful or comforting friends at times, but they sure are honest. Seeing as how I've shared maybe only 2 classes with Shivon in my entire high school career, I'm pretty surprised that he and I are good friends to this day (I tend to not keep friends with whom I don't have things in common very well). I guess it's all thanks to Frisbee and ranting about school stuff. Speaking of Frisbee, I've joined the TUC and the Junior's league in that club. Today was the second skills and training session of two but the first session I attended since I missed last week's. League games start next week and we get our stuff (rulebook and more importantly, one of their 1337 standard size and weight Frisbees) next week too. Today's scrimmage was pretty good and I think I played pretty well (not to mention the fact that my larynx burns when I breathe). See what I did there? I named the part that was on fire with Biology knowledge. These exams are going to be interesting. I just hope I get better sooner before later.
NOTE: Click title for Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" covered by Kanye West. This one was brought to my attention, rather appropriately, by Shivon so yeah, have fun.
I don't know if you know, but I happen to spend a large chunk of my day behind my computer. I've got everything I could need pretty much here (short of a washroom and food). My desk also happens to sit directly beneath the AC duct. My dad is insane about blasting the AC at <20>you've I've got some body core temperature problems. I am now a few days before exam week and am coming down with something along the lines of a pseudo-cold (since I'm only feeling sick because my body thinks something is wrong... or at least that's what I'm assuming from what I've learned from biology this year).
Today's a special day because it's the first info post of June as well as it being another 4th of ________ (month). Those have been special for awhile now and I've grown fond of commemorating them in small ways.
5 things that made me teary recently:
watching the Team Hoyt video (see end of the post) that was part of the "ASK" sermon yesterday--I don't even know how to begin describing how inspiring the story of this father and son is... watch the video and go to their site
downing a glob of wasabi the size of half a large marshmallow at Starwalk Buffet last Friday to stay in and win an eating contest between myself and Henry
yawning uncontrollably today during badminton at the club because I didn't get enough sleep last night
having to cut open the scrotum to reveal the testes (on my dissection pig at school)--I was the only one who could do it since David was squeamish and Amy, being the innocent little (and little as in petite) girl she is, wouldn't know her way around these parts
attending a Sunday baptismal service (Jessica Lu's, no less) at Morningstar Fellowship church (at Morningside and Sheppard, formerly Churchill Heights Baptist Church)
Something about yesterday's double whammy of Sunday services (first at TJCAC and then at Morningstar) made for a seemingly endless service. It was a good Sunday, a good day of renewal and refreshing of the soul's viscera. Morningstar Fellowship has something that I think Jaffray is lacking... but I can't place it exactly. Anyway, here's the video I promised.
Is the tentative title for the culminating movie project of my group (tentatively named Pointy Hat Grp./Ltd./Wtf.). It's a story that revolves around two brothers, one older and essentially the generic blessed and admired older sibling and the other one who is younger and conventionally jealous of the older brother's success and good reputation. One summer day, after some harmless sparring in the park (both brother conveniently happen to be martial artists, go figure), the older brother (played by Darren Guo, superstar in queue) suggests that they go for food together. The younger brother (Henry Leung, my doubles partner) brings them to a restaurant he heard about from a friend nearby. Upon exiting the shady cafe, the two brothers happen upon two mobsters (played by my good friends Kishon M. and Jonathan L.)headed the opposite direction. Some short bursts of dialog follow ending in the older brother fending off the two mobsters and a third one in hiding (played by Alex K.) with a sledgehammer while the younger brother makes a run for it. He is soon gunned down just as the older brother is beaten unconscious. From here, it only gets better, but you'll have to wait until the final product is out (via Alex K.'s editing). To say the least, there's a lot of revenge and sword busting-out-ing. I received a (pardon my French) fucking cool gift today from a school friend as a way early birthday present. Amy happened to be at Anime North, an anime convention of epic proportions I'm told, and I had originally asked our friend, Queenie, to pick up something in my stead for ~$20. Neither found anything totally awesome on the first day (past Saturday) of AN. On Sunday, however, Amy had to make a judgment call. Either get for me a bookmark with Fuu (from "Samurai Champloo") on it, a huge pin-up poster of Haruhi (from "the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"), or a mystery gift. The bookmark, she said, was too girly, even for my tastes. And she feared what I might do to the life-sized Haruhi poster, so she ended up buying a wooden sword for me because it was expected that I'd appreciate something so (pardon my French again) fucking cool. She was totally right. Here are the pics (click for a larger view):
The sword has some pretty sweet detailing etched into it's smooth black finish (it's wooden, remember?). Click here for a video groping of it.
Note: If you're wondering why, the sword came originally wrapped in gift wrap paper and then plastic cling wrap under to prevent scratching. I didn't wrap it in a huge latex--nevermind.
Today I woke up with a sharp pain in my right wrist. It felt like the tendon was off or something (like a cracked knuckle gone wrong, if you know what that feels like). I thought it was nothing but I soon found out my grandfather had actually fallen and broken--i.e. completely snapped--his wrist. i think the radius was what snapped. Anyway, this was, without a doubt, many times worse than my fractured wrist in grade eight. I think it was sympathy pains that I was feeling. The whole family headed for Scarborough Grace Hospital and had him admitted. During the time that I would've otherwise spent at church, I kept my grandfather company as he went through the normal paces of a hospital patient. It was particularly sickening (yet undeniably cool) to watch the doctor and nurse literally pull my grandfather's wrist apart (lengthwise, don't be scared) and put it back together. What was awesome was that my grandfather took it like a man and never made a sound. Or maybe the localized freezing was just that good... Either way, it looked Fing painful. Cool and painful. That was my morning. I'm sure my grandfather's going to be okay (he's home now, probably watching TV). What was awesome was that moments after getting it wrapped in a cast my he started swinging his arm around exclaiming "Hey! It doesn't hurt anymore. Let's go home." I think that doctor did too good of a job freezing the arm.
It's been almost twelve hours since I finished my last IB exam paper for this year and I'm still pretty exuberant about it all.
Paper 1 Section A
There were a whole slew of short readings. The first one was about Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Quebec and their various populations of francophones. The second had to do with some crackpot lady's trip to the capital of Niger. The third one had to do with a woman who crossed the ocean in a single-person boat--how did she go to bathroom (not a perv-question btw)? And the last had to do with plastic bags and their effects on the appearance of the countryside, wildlife, and future waste management problems.
There were also corresponding short answer type questions, including matching the correct endings to beginnings of sentences, matching the right synonym to vocab words taken from the text, and true/false + justification from the text type questions. Those were mostly easy and I'm sure I killed them all (with the exception of one tricky vocab word that I couldn't place until after I handed the paper in). "There's only one real answer and you can find it in there."
Section B
A short writing task of at least 100 words where one had to write an article or argumentative essay that would go into the school newspaper citing the problems associated with using plastic bags for many daily purposes (NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES IN CONSUMPTION!).
I remembered reading over the format/structure (worth a third of the mark for writing assignments for IB) of "les discours" in particular (I just had a gut feeling it'd be handy) and so I was well versed in how to write in this style. You're supposed to use exaggeration (OMG t3h b49s 4r3 4tt4ck1n9!), emotion (think of the dolphins and turtles!), and humour (plastic bags are like people with disgusting perfumes, they're grossness lingers even after they're gone) to prove/argue my points. So I did. I even came up with the title "L'attaque des sacs!" for my "discours" and I'm actually pretty proud of coming up with that on the spot (and in French, no less).
I also used (and slightly abused) idiomatic expressions which score big style points with IB. I'm such a nerd.
Paper 2 For paper 2 we were to choose one task from the 4 (or so) given and carry it out writing at least 250 words and using the writing style appropriate to the task (eg: essay, official letter, informal letter, guide, report, journal entry, etc...). Obviously each type of writing has its own quirks, pros, and cons. I took on the first task. Question 1 Write a page of your personal journal describing your decision to move in with three of your friends and the difficulties of living together.
I wrote down on my scrap piece of paper all the things I could remember about each of the different styles needed in the tasks mentioned, and I just ended up knowing more (than nothing!) about journal entries than the rest of the formats. I also didn't feel like writing another essay.
So I started out by drafting my introduction on scrap (I had 1 hour and 30 minutes to write >250 words so I took my time), mentioning how much I regretted my decision to move in with the three friends.
In my first body paragraph I talked about Joe. Joe is my imaginary friend from grade school and he's a big social butterfly. He also likes to bring home strangers and leave them all over the place without warning, so I wrote about how nervous it made me to come home to a random "inconnu" in my room. Perhaps an agreeable stranger (there's only one way to find out!), but a stranger nonetheless.
Then I talked about Tina, the studious Chinese (implied, not directly mentioned) immigrant who is a complete slacker at home. I complained about how she did all her work from school but never bothered to clean stuff. Frustrating!
Last was Gordo. With a name like that, you can't be surprised that he's the one who eats all the food. I whined about him eating the food I put in the "frigo" (I hope they like slang in journal entries). "DAMNIT GORDO!" I actually ended this paragraph off with the sentence "ZUT!" which, FYI, means "DAMN!" and not "F*CK!"
In my conclusion I pined on and on about how I've got to be more understanding of people (not entirely untrue for my real life friends/acquaintances) and less impatient. I also mentioned, in a rather emo fashion, that no one would like to be my friend otherwise...
And that was my IB French SL exam! Done within a total of almost 4 hours (7:30 - ~11:30 am). I'm really glad I went to Shivon's place yesterday to review. I also really don't think I would've done as well if his father, during the ride they gave me back home, hadn't challenged me by telling me to think of "someone with average intelligence" as my model to follow. He's a wise guy. "Expect the unexpected. You never know what will happen the next day. No one knows who will die tomorrow." And so I went home and frantically reviewed (but not too frantically) and rested up. Now I'm dead tired and totally satisfied with my performance in the past few days.
Note: You might be wondering why I chose to remember these details from my exams and write them up. It's not because I think most people with find it interesting. It's my way of being done with the anxiety of these exams for good and recording them for future reference/nostalgia. IB exams come once in a lifetime. Savour the nerdiness.
Today I wrote the second (final!) paper of my Economics exam and I must say, I'm feeling pretty good about it. It's easy to feel good about doing decent but not exceptional after writing a paper like yesterday's. I answered 3 of the 5 possible questions (don't worry, you're supposed to do that) and I think I related all three to development economics in one way or another. Before the exam I said to Shivon, "I'm heading straight for the market failure and development questions."
Question 2 dealt with malaria treatments serving as merit goods (market failure) and African governments encouraged to purchase large scale orders of the treatments (development).
Question 4 had to do with less developed countries (LDC) selling sugar on international markets (international trade) and inability of LDC firms to compete with subsidized exporters from more developed countries (development).
Question 5 discussed the effectiveness of the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for improving the standard of life and economic growth in LDCs (development).
So I kept my promise. Three times over. I actually didn't expect that many development geared questions (since there are usually only one or two per year that relate to each section) but some overlap allowed me to have my way (fun!) with the question. As soon as Uganda was mentioned, I knew I could drag in development economics. It's almost sick how I profited from their suffering... Well, not really. After the exam we had some two-on-two action in the field with four of us guys (we played frisbee). Then Shivon and I headed for SUBWAY for some quick eats (I didn't have any cash on me but Shivon spotted me with his debit card) before returning to school to meet up with Kishon who just finished writing his academic economics exam. Apparently, it was a joke. With a French exam tomorrow (both papers with 30 minutes break in between) I decided to hit up Shivon's house for some review. We basically spent 3 hours writing practice/previous exams. The ones from 2003 and before are insane. I averaged 80% or so on all of them but then again, they were, in Shivon's words, "F*ckin' hard." So if I can score decently on those (and before bell curve too) then I shouldn't do too poorly on tomorrow's since they've gotten progressively easier over the years. Confidence will either save me or screw me now.
Today's weather has been great. It's a shame I've spent all day couped up inside, working on homework, gaming, and breathing the odd breath of fresh air through an open patio window/door. It's days like this that really make me want to put the breaks on everything and just go take a nap under a tree or something of that romantic fashion. Of course, that will be next to impossible with my huge load of homework and my PJ's still on. (heaves a big sigh) A few more months and I'll be free from school. Then I can... well, then I can not go to school. Until then, I'll just have to watch the kids play outside in a non-pedophillic kind of way.
sleep: I've started to run into some trouble falling and staying asleep at night, and I can't figure out why. Perhaps it has something to do with a lack of quietness in my head. I realize this may sound a bit out there, but I've got a lot of noise inside in the quietest settings--especially so when I'm lying awake at night.
work: I'm not someone who generally works too hard or too little, but I do think I could stand to pay a bit more attention to what's going on. Some people think I enjoy the feeling of slacking off and finishing up stuff at the last minute but that's just the opposite of it all. I don't like to rush--who does?!
kill: I've got a thing for driving the bird at the net when I clearly have the chance to kill it... I mean, when I get the chance to make the winning shot, I usually choke and manage to screw it up. Not only does this piss me off, this pisses off Henry (the Greatest Partner** I've ever had) too. Oh the woes of not being able to finish.
move: Whether on or off the court, I'm pretty sluggish when it comes to moving or being moved. My parents will testify to this. Let's just say motivation isn't really something I... Oh you finish this sentence.
conclude properly: Need I say any more?
**I played with a terrible doubles partner/player today. Playing with someone of this caliber really helps to put things into perspective. Like Henry playing with Dennis as his partner, I wanted my "normal" partner back so badly I almost refused to play with this other guy. It seems we always treasure something more after/while its gone rather than when we've actually got it. Henry, don't go anywhere. You complete me in a completely un-homosexual/literal way. And I'll leave it at that.
a captain from another team recognized Canti on my t-shirt and asked me whether it was really him (I nodded offhandedly but I moaned a deep and satisfied moan of "Oh yes, yes that is Canti!" on the inside)
my entire team (totally the best team a captain could hope for) performed Brian's peanut-butter jelly time dance (with maracas and thrusting!) with Raf (the greatest co-captain ever) and I
Steven Hawkins' (not Stephen Hawkings, by the way) speaking was completely amazing to listen to; hearing his life story, you'd expect him to be either dead (he mentioned suicide and insane abuse), bitter, insane, or an atheist but the man's great at what he's been assigned
Michelle (a fellow Emu-mate who happened to be Vietnamese) and I won the TC Talent Search (talent show/contest) by doing an improvised rap (her) and dancing the Emu dance (me), scoring a duct tape wallet and a Whoopee cushion (signed by the AV team and REC team respectively)
all of team Emmanuel got to perform our cheer on stage after having came in third overall and second for spirit (doing the peanut-butter hump to all 600+ people in the audience felt satisfying... almost gratifying)
So this TC turned out to be many many times what I'd expected. Sure, I'd hoped to get some recognition for our team since, well, it leaves the team with a particularly good feeling, to know that we accomplished something together, but I didn't really expect to get as far as this. Personally, I wasn't hell-bent on owning. I even prepared an entire "Alright, it's okay if we don't win tonight, as long as we have fun" speech that we never had the balls to use. Raphael and I had joked around about dominating and blowing away the competition but most of that was just to get ourselves pumped. I sure was surprised when they called us out for third place overall. Seeing our entire team light up (screaming oh so passionately) made it all worth it. I doubt any of them will ever read this, but man do I love the Emus. Greatest. Team. Ever. It was a privilege and an honour to lead such a wonderful group of energetic, amiable, and unique youths. And with such an awesome pair of coaches! Firstly, Caleb's been to every single TC since his first in '96 (he's 24 y.o. at the moment, yeah, old), so he knows his stuff. The man's done it all, attending, captaining, worship team, coaching, etc... He was wholly dependable and Raf and I would often go to him whenever we weren't sure of what to do. Caleb served as our veteran who knew exactly what to say to our team and when to say it. Joyce, a complete n00by at all things TC (this was her first time!), was equally encouraging to work with. What she lacked in experience she more than made up for in cheer and energy. I found that personally, joking around with her about whatever (usually making fun of Caleb) served as my refresher at TC. She was that little bit of crack in my routine that got the good times rolling and the juices flowing. All in all, our coaches were amazing, giving us the guidance as well as the energy that we needed. And finally, we come to my co-cap, Raphael. Now, I've known Raf since we were but unicellular organisms (that might be stretching it, but you get the point), we know one another. We communicate and just feed off of one another's spirits. It's actually quite beautiful what we got going. I love him (not the BBM way) and I can totally feel his love. The guy is mellow and honest. What I love about Raf is his incurable sense of ease about him. He rarely (if ever) gets agitated and never ever does he lose his cool. It was great to work with him since he was always so agreeable. What happened to me last year was that I would be the main one leading team volleys of cheering (Hannah's a quiet girl, and I don't blame her!). This year, Raf and I shared that task, which explains why my voice isn't completely mauled by the end of TC like it was last year (another factor would be the fact that my team was loud yet smart--cheering only when REC leaders were around >_O). Raf was always looking out for the team. It was wonderful captaining with such a solid brother. So with all this mushy gushy stuff coming out of me at the moment, what I'm trying to say is that what we achieved as a team is all good and whatnot, and we should be happy for being blessed with "success", but the real blessing of success is found in the countless souls who came to know/recommit themselves to Christ at TC this year. After all, who cares about all the competition or points or winning, if God is nowhere to be found? You can have all these, but without love, it's meaningless (see Bible)! Oh, but was God ever here! On the first night alone, there were 54 people who made decisions to either accept Jesus into their lives or recommit themselves to a life worthy of our calling. Though this has nothing to do with quantity and everything to do with quality, it's still important to realize when God moves powerfully. Teens Conference was a fun time this year 'round and captaining was a total blast. There are TC haters out there who call it nothing but a sugar-coated fun-fest and not anything with real, spiritual content, and to a certain extent, they're... half right. It IS full of energy and hyperactive teens. But a lot of people actually come to know Christ through TC and so with that in mind, what's a little fun along the way if we are serving God's will? With sleep growing in my eyes and for lack of anything more to say, I bid all thee farewell and fortune in all your ventures (until the next post anyway). God with us indeed.
Listen up, we're loud and clear! [We'll] Show you all that God is here! E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el!** Ev'rybody clap and shout! [We'll] Show you what we're all about! E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el! Comin' down from heav'n above, To show us how to live in love! E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el! We are here to show you all, That our God's Emmanuel! E-man- u-el! E-man- u-el!
Cause... it's... Peanut-butter, jelly time! Peanut-butter, jelly time! (x2) Peanut-butter jelly, peanut-butter jelly, Peanut-butter jelly with a baseball bat! (x2) Emu. [strike a sexy emu pose] -Team Emmanuel of TC '07, The Emu Chant
**We actually had this refrain line down as "E-mu! E-mu! E-mu! E-mu!" before but we changed it to really push our team's whole/actual name. You've also got to note the awesome pumping action done while reciting these lines.... Maybe I'll show you sometime.
It's funny (not really actually) that I just finished writing a philosophy essay about morality (of various "isms" such as racism, sexism, and the like). I'm quite pleased with my work but I find it somewhat ironic that someone like me would be writing a piece on morals. Then again, perhaps that's all I'm good at, discussing rather than enacting. Maybe I'm just an "ideas guy" and not so much a "do stuff about stuff guy". I've got to publicly thank Moyee here for lending me her The Grand Inquisitor (by Fyodor Dostoevsky) as I used it extensively to explain and back up my arguments against prejudice, but also against equality as well. That's right, you read correctly. I was bashing equality of all things. In the end, I came to the conclusion that equity (as in fair treatment) was the only morally correct ideal as it stands as the "happy medium" (rather, as the "Golden Mean") between overemphasis on differences (prejudice) and complete rejection of the reality of differences (absolute equality). Anyway, I'm looking forward to my March Break as I'll be spending two days at Teens Conference, another two days frantically finishing commentaries for English and Economics (the Evil E's), and the last day (hopefully) going for a lark (hopefully) not alone. Here's a music update for all you Japanese-rock perverts out there: The Pillows - My Foot
5 reasons why this week is adding up to be a bottom-feeding one:
walked rather stupidly into a math quiz on a section whose lesson I happened to miss
got smacked by my math teacher for leaving my answer as a vector (I didn't see the magnitude signs/absolute value brackets)
wrote a biology test with next to no preparation because, not uncharacteristically, I forgot about it
answered a chemistry homework question on the board (not having done the actual homework beforehand) and had to correct the damned answer six times in front of the class
got hassled by my math teacher for scribbling on my desk and was subsequently forced to erase the tops of many other desks as well as my own
As you can clearly see, all these are to do with school. I think after hitting some pretty good peaks in my mental health/strength cycle, I'm now on the downside of that hill. If you didn't happen to already know this, your body and mine both run on biological cycles. There are three main ones, I believe, which are our emotional, physical, and mental cycles (I'm not sure about this but I learned it from a matchmaker quiz scam that my school ran last year). Each one runs on a different period length. Not surprisingly, the physical cycle runs on a 28 day period (my female readers above the age of ten should know what I mean instantly). The other two run on periods lasting approximately 22 days and... I don't really know, so we'll say X number of days. Anyway, the point is that at different times, your "performance" will peak and you'll hit some pretty remarkable clocking speeds (yeah I'm a nerd). Half a period later, you'll be at the trough of your biological cycle and you'll basically be getting massive ping. So let's take mental performance for instance (as this is what I'm chiefly concerned about at the moment). At some point in time, you're going to get maybe a week or so of awesome responsiveness from your brain. This is the absolute best time frame to have loads of tests and assignments as you'll fly through them and be able to make all the necessary connections to totally pwn. Awhile after, however, you'll notice your mind slowing down. You'll notice sluggishness and hardcore brain-death if you're anything like me. You're also going to become more and more scatterbrained, lazy, and generally stupid as you progress into this stupid period. And this stupid period is where I'm hoping I just passed. Generally my peaks and troughs aren't quite as long as an entire week but sometimes they'll last longer. Either way, I don't like feeling/ being stupid. I don't think anyone does. It's not really about marks here. It's more about getting things together and not being so unresponsive to stimulation (i.e. lessons, conversations, pretty stuff). Just yesternight I whipped out my bass and tried playing. And just as I suspected, I could hardly string together a coherent Hysteria (the one here I recorded just now).
That was printed in bright neon pink on a sign I saw for a clinic in the Finch and Yonge area. I happened to be on the return trip from this badminton season's first match (against Earl Haig of all schools--they were exceptionally good last year). Henry and I faced off against two mostly nondescript opponents today in Boys Doubles B, and lost. Score-wise, it was a terrible showing (the best score being 15:8 for them) but in terms of the actual rallies and overall skill level, I'd have to say we were on par if not better than them. They were... consistent. It's funny how consistency is my problem with my badminton game too. We played a good game and held our own, but gave up our serving opportunities (and thus, points too) far too easily (which explains the ugly scores). On another note, my talk with Arthur went poorly enough (as I'd predicted awhile ago). Without boring you with the details/flaming Arthur here, I'll just say it was an unpleasant ordeal that I won't be making the mistake of willingly subjecting myself to again anytime soon. A part of me (the less angry/bitter/brooding part) actually realizes the great tragedy that lies in a pastor being unable to connect healthily with his... what the hell am I to him? A "pastee" (or maybe a prospective paycheck... okay, too cynical)? Well whatever I am, I can't find myself being able to trust this person fully with my anything. Sure, I'll hear what he has to say about Scripture (God knows he's spent more time studying it than I have). I'll even assume his reasoning/logic processes are valid before he even speaks if I'm in a good mood. But time and time again I find that we've been unable to connect properly (like a Pokemon Silver to a Pokemon Red) and this wreaks havoc on our "discussions". I think Gob from AD said it best when he flipped out at Annyong with, "Augh--! Would you just --! Gaugh, this f--'n kid!" Then again, maybe I'm just a sarcastic, bitter, and unbalanced teenager who has got some major character flaws.
This happened a few days ago: I got up from bed and I was two bites into my breakfast when it decided to get up from my stomach. I threw up and I was confused. I thought I was pregnant but I didn't know what to feel. Was I supposed to be something similar to happy? Babies sometimes do that to people. But a mother at the tender age of sixteen and a half? It was too much to stomach--I like raunchy puns. I also like misusing yellow adjectives. I felt uneasy and so did my stomach. Whose baby was it? Who was the father? Of course I was. Who else could it be?! I couldn't ever digest the thought of my significant other being unfaithful. I was still bent over the bowl. Then I remembered something and a quick visual check confirmed my suspicion. Everything seemed to be in its place. Still intact I see. Good. I'll need you in a bit. I flushed. My day was beckoning. The end.
This is my Valentine's Day post. Yes, I'm surprised I acknowledged such a fluffy special day too. First off the bat, some Bible reading from 1 Corinthians 7:1-40 (longish passage). This will be the passage Hosanna will be digesting and working over this week at the church so perhaps it would be good for any attenders to read it over before coming. It has relevance to today since well, it's got to do with marriage. Since today's the day that many hopeful boys will be popping "the Big Question" to patient girls, I figure it'd relate.
3 things in short supply today:
Roses: Boys think girls like flowers, even though they don't understand why. Girls like flowers, but don't ask me to explain why.
Chocolates: These tasty aphrodisiacs are no doubt going to be going like hot cakes today. I never could figure out the connection between buying a girl a box of chocolates on Valentine's, but that was before I heard about this candy's magical pant-loosing properties.
Relaxation: What can I say? It could be a stressful time for anyone with any kind of romantic expectations. Will he? Won't she? Rinse and repeat. I think we all know about that funny feeling you get in your stomach (not the kind you get when you've food poisoning and hardcore diarrhea for a week) when you're with a special someone of the opposite sex... or of the same sex if you're into that kind of stuff.
Today was an interesting day (not exactly full of romance... but the night is still young!). Okay, I lied, it was really quite mundane (at least up until now). Had a normal school day with a good but short badminton practice after school. I've not posted recently, mostly because of school and Hosanna. I'll be posting later to report on this Friday's coffee with Arthur experience so watch out for that I suppose... I actually hate it when he's the one to ask me to go out for a drink since I can never tell whether he has anything specific he wants to bring up or if he wants me to talk about my life (not my forte with most people). We'll see what happens.
EDIT: And for the romantic musical types out there, here's She Is by the Fray. And as for Moyee's request, here's Question by Rhett Miller.
