Awards

So... it was closing assembly today, and it was also the awards ceremony. The academic awards are awarded every two years, at the end of grade ten and grade twelve, so your school average has to be kept up over two years. And, hurray, I got an academic excellence award :) It means that I've kept an average above 85. In all honesty, my average is probably higher than this, but we don't know.

I am also the recipient of the Arts and Leadership Award, awarded at the ends of grade ten and twelve. I got the only grade ten one :) and my friend Alie got the grade twelve one. I wasn't terribly surprised, but I was very happy. I love the arts, and I've been hoping to get this award since I heard of it.

This is a link of the awards ceremony. Watch it, it's pretty sweet. Awards Ceremony

Overdue careers post (it's the last day of class and I've been procrastinating)

So, some of the jobs that I was matched up to with the career matcher profile were a university professor, a classroom educational assistant, a high school teacher, elementary school teacher, actor, musician and such.

I was certainly surprised by the university professor part... I've never thought of myself as a university professor type. If I were to be a teacher, I would like to be a grade six teacher, simply because my teacher for grade six was absolutely incredible, and I'd like to recreate the experience for a bunch of other kids.

I was also surprised at how far down the list musician was. I mean... they didn't even ask me if I played an instrument! I learned that it was because I had put that I didn't particularly want to work on weekends and evenings -times musicians do work- because I hope to get married and have a family.

Pic of the day... Fishmonger!

Fugue!!

This weekend I worked about 18 hours on my ISU... which happened to be writing a fugue for music class.  Writing a fugue is alot more complicated than I thought it would be... well, obviously I knew that it would be complicated, but there are alot of rules to follow that I think would be there.

For example... a fugue is a piece of music, more complicated than a canon (which is a more complicated version of a round).  It uses imitative counterpoint, which means that every time a new voice comes in it imitates the theme.  But what I did not know is that when a new voice comes in the fugue, it changes key.  Yep.  Complicated.  But, I managed.  Here it is.

Darn, it didn't work.  :(

My obsession with Ireland

I officially have a fixation with the emerald isle.

First of all, my dad's family's Irish. So, therefore, I have Irish blood in me. Strangely enough, I feel much more Irish than I really am... my great grandparents were the last pure Irish blood in my family. But as long as I can remember, I've had a strange fascination with the place, and I've had an intense longing to visit there ever since a was a small girl.

Perhaps it's partly my love of fantasy, or more specifically, love of the Faerie culture. Ireland is so rich with stories of the Downe Sidhe that the whole country is a mix of ancient and modern. There are high rises in Dublin, but you won't find many people who will willingly build anything on a Faerie mound. In Ireland, children aren't the only ones who believe, most adults will not ever willingly give up their heritage.

I love Ireland with every bone in my body, and I have yet to go there. If I could go to any country as an exchange partner, or to a a foreign school, I would go to Ireland.

More Careers Stuff: Schools

There are a bunch of schools that hover in the back of my brain. I'm still not entirely sure of any of them. Of course, I'm thinking of music here.

1. U of T. Uber competitive, uber huge, uber mean. My piano teacher says that if you go into the practice areas while people are practicing there, you'll hear one person start playing a Beethoven Sonata, then the next practice room over you'll hear someone else start to play it faster, and then in another practice room someone will play it faster. U of T breaks more musicians than it makes them. That's why the nickname is "factory of music" instead of The faculty.

I've heard of the prestigious violin program at Julliard. I haven't really looked into it. I would assume it's also uber competitive.

One place that has been hovering in the back of my mind for awhile is Hillsong University in Australia. It has a Praise and Worship program. I'd love to go there if I took a one year program or something. But would I be able to do four years away from home?

9 days and counting

Hurrah hurrah.  School is almost out.  Ugh.  Nine Days!  Argghhh!!!

Sorry about that. That's just my pessimistic side showing through: you know, the one who doesn't think that it's possible to finish these nine days in one piece.  I'm not entirely sure why, but  every little problem and worry possible converges on the last few weeks of school.  I remember that the last three days last year seemed like a sink hole... 

Perhaps it's all the projects that are due (and the ones I've procrastinated upon), and perhaps it's just the call of the outdoors.  But I think that my "misery" is mainly for two reasons: the late assignments that I haven't done yet and need to very soon, and the fact that at least three of my friends are going through really rough times and are getting into some really messed up stuff.

*sigh*  I know, I know... just give it over to God... but why is that so hard sometimes?

To close off this self-pitiful blog entry, here's a picture that I think describes how school should be... :)  Kitties!!!!

                                    

Prom: popularity from the outside

       This Friday I went my friend's prom as his prom date. Apart from being quite wonderful, it was also slightly fascinating, because I was able to have an outside view on what was quite obviously a popularity contest.

      Besides my friend, I knew a couple other people from my orchestra: my good friend Andrea, her friend Amy, and Dave, who happens to be Andrea's good friend, my friend at the best of times, and quite pompous.  I also knew a couple of other people who had gone to my elementary school, and Jeremy, who is Dave's friend and is apparently a horrible person. :)  

      Of course, the evening was sprinkled with liberal amounts of "Prom Drama": furtive angry whispers about how one girl had apparently attempted sabotage on another's dress, dirty looks, and people running to the bathroom crying.  (The one girl that I personally saw crying wasn't actually a victim of the drama as we originally thought, apparently her brother had just died!)

      However, the thing that got me thinking the most was the "Class" slideshow, put together by one of the members of the prom committee.  They had apparently asked students to submit photos of themselves to put in the slideshow.  However, after those were finished off, the rest of the fifteen minute presentation was made up of pictures of the current reigning clique, and the friends of the girl who made the slideshow!  It was actually kind of ridiculous: I counted up to about twenty five appearances or more by some people, while some people I knew made it on there once or not at all.  It was almost as if it was some sort of statement: either you're on here or you don't belong.

      To follow this up, I was talking to my friend Red who is a graduate of that particular school, and he said that he didn't like his prom all that much because "it seemed like one giant popularity contest."  He had no idea how right he was.

Hi Jonas :)