Do You Have An Oragutan, Or Does An Orangutan Have You? Posted by Happy Blogger , 26.9.09 at Saturday, September 26, 2009, in

After a few days of staying at home because my face had exploded into a chipmunk, I finally went into school where I had finally built up the confidence to enter back into society where people might acually look at me like a normal human being, but this random Gr . 10 who asks me what happened to my face, I got out of the school as possible and drove myself home. Then I watched a whole other season of Smallville so I could catch up for the New 9th Season that Premiered Yesterday.


Smallville: By the way, is the most addicting TV show ever, well for me atleast. I used to love it a couple of years ago, but I kind of fell out for a little while, but now I'm back on. I realized how much of a nerd I actually am, because one year for Christmas I got a Superman blanket, and would tell people, "I sleep with Superman every night!", oh and my initials might just happen to be the same as the super heros alter ego, I attended a wedding in which, Erica Durance, the woman who plays Lois Lane, was there, and I brought my 4th season of Smallville so she could sign it, in which she actually did (Big smiles), and last but not least, I'm looking into Journalism as a career, I mean, I've always loved the idea, but Smallville might just have happened to help...


School: I'm sure you don't really want to hear about how boring Math can be, or how much work I did, but one day while my friends and I were super bored, we sat there writing random quote in one of my friends agenda's, not famous 'quotes', but just things that we thought of at the moment, and I could bet my life, if anyone read them, I would bet they thought we were high while writing them...


Some Quotes: Once upon a time, you Happy Blogger clanged a bell, and from that moment, she
created time...
The Hunchback of Notre Dame this week tells you to finish CALM
You can put pancakes in an oven to cook, just make sure it doesn't steal your look
Do you have an Orangutan, or does and orangutan have you?
Gosh Darnit, I don't remember anymore. Oh well.


What is it with this weekend with everyone wanting a Big Mac?


My dance school applied for a grant, and on the video I definetly said "Thank you for your consideration for grant for the North American ChampionshIT. and then I laughed. How excellent.


I'm kind of in love with all the songs from Rent at the moment.


'I don't care how many kids I have, and I don't care what kind...'


I love Eric Forman


I want to turn my van into an Icecream truck. And then I learned that that isn't legal. darn.


I love Fruit Gushers. Yum.


If you havn't noticed, my span for staying on one subject is very very low today.


The Mummy 3 is a ridiculous movie, but I kind of loved the ending...
"I'm gonna get out of China and move to Peru where there are no mummy's..."
- A few weeks later Mummy's were found in Peru.


I referred to the grown up question of "where do babies come from?" as "where do drugs come from?"


I drove around the safeway parking lot as if it was a go carting thing today. ( don't worry there weren't any cars)


I'm going as 'Sneezy' for Halloween!


Who wants to take Tango Lessons?...


After Highschool, I want to take a week off, Fly to China and walk the Great Wall Of China. Who's with me?


Mmm. I think that's enough brain leakage for one night.
Good Evening.


-Happy Blogger.

Good Things Part 3 Posted by Sad Blogger , 20.9.09 at Sunday, September 20, 2009, in

In the sixth grade, I met my first best friends. That was the first time I had a consistent group of friends that I could always rely on. We made each other laugh and we spent every moment we could together. we enthusiastically discussed TV shows we didn't understand before school and played Chinese Hopscotch at recess. We had fights over crushes and dumb things like why we didn't share out bologna sandwiches at lunch. But we were inseparable at school and I was happier than I had known. That was also the grade that I really discovered how good it feels to make people laugh. That's something that lives with me. I was so disrespectful in class but sometimes even my teacher thought I was funny with my little jokes. I remember dancing in the school yard to make the girls laugh and splashing around in the mud to get a few giggles. To this day, nothing makes me happier than seeing somebody's face explode into a laugh or slowly fold into a smile. If you want to know about good things, happy people are good things...my favorite.

I started homeschooling in the seventh grade and I lost touch with a lot of my friends. Although my best friend had also started homeschooling that year. We joined the same band and saw each other every Thursday afternoon and slept over at one or the other's house like every second weekend. I made some of my favorite memories with him. We took guitar lessons together and discussed whether a girl in a bikini was hotter than a naked girl or not. We obsessed over cars and dreamed up plans to buy school buses and fire trucks. Everything was funny somehow. We looked down on people who got upset over stupid little things. We laughed at all the other teenagers who complained about their parents and freaked out about how hard their lives were. We were just funny, happy people.

When I was in the tenth grade, my mom signed me up to be confirmed. This process required that I attend weekly preparation meetings at St. Michael church. I quickly realized how much I longed to be surrounded by people again. I missed that part of school. Sure I was smart, but what good did that do me if I didn't have anybody to show it off to? So I started going to Bishop Carroll High School. Where I met my next best friend. With him I discovered a whole new way to have fun. We spent every single school day goofing off and making life the most fun it could be. It's hard to imagine that we found a new way to have fun for six hours of every day. But it was beyond fun. The memory of that whole year altogether completely eclipses that of the Disney World trip. The whole year that was tenth grade is definitely in my top 3 memories of everything so far. Playing squash with crumpled up paper in the English resource center, dropping bottles of Pepsi from the fifth floor, emotionally torturing the CTS ladies (I guess the Religion, Library, and Math ladies too), making faces behind teachers' backs in seminars, silently laughing our faces off in the library, not-so-silently laughing our faces off there too, firing off pen rockets in the cafeteria, licking soda off the floor in the basement, smashing an apple into bits against the wall, making parkour videos in the stairwell, going deaf in the library...every moment was the best moment ever.

[insert clever title here] Posted by Happy Blogger , 16.9.09 at Wednesday, September 16, 2009, in

So, I just had one of the most eventful weeks of my life, and I shall try to put down in words as best as I can.


Let us start off with September 10. It was a thusday evening, and my mother organized a BBQ for my younger sisters school. So, as one of the major volunteers, and 'alumni' of the school, my older sister and I were forced to attend. So, we got the burger and watermelon and so on, and sat down just the two fo us, when the two priests at our local church came and asked if they could sit with us. We couldn't refuse, because we honestly didn't have anyone else we knew would be coming, so they took their seats, and started eating together. Now, they sit us down, and ask us some questions about how is school going, and what is our plans for the future, when this wonderful statement comes up. 'Hey, you should be a nun.' Now if you read my earlier blog, I just about died of laughter inside. My friend gave me a quote and said. "You would be the worst nun. You would either make them all want to kill themselves, or you would burn down the convent', and I cleverly stated ' And then their will be *nun*' Anyways. They tried to convince me for about 30 minutes, and they really got me thinking, that if all else fails in my life, I will go and be a nun, because like the priest said 'you get invited to places like this, and you don't have to pay'...


September 11. It's a friday, and the last day of my in- car drivers lessons. I was just so excited that I was finally gonna be done these lessons. So I'm standing there looking through the window, watching for his car to pull up. I got really anxious and nervous, but I'm standing there with my report card and license ready. So now he's 5 minutes late, and I put the items down for just a second to check the time. As I go to move, I dropped my license into an open drawer full of paper. [insert car noises here] driving instructor pulls up, and I have misplaced my license. So I run out and tell him what had just happened, and I stumble back inside panicking to look for my license. After 10 minutes of rumaging through the room, we decided we would just have to reschedule until after I find my license, when my mom opens up a pencil case, and looks inside to find my license. Excellent, now that I've had a minor heart attack, let's go driving down town, whaddya say?


...Later that evening. So I decided to have friends over for a little 'birthday' gathering, and I invited almost 20 people, mind you I'm socially awkward, and had no plans to do with the people coming over other than. Food, and Food, and Fire. So the first hour with all the people arriving was slightly painful, but overall in the end seemed to be a really fun night.


September 12, I got up, I danced, I went out for vietnamese food with my family, where we continously quoted Star Wars, and ate noodles. We came back, Ice cream floats, Beatles rockband ( which is ridicuously awesome if I must say so myself) and then went to bed


September 13, my birthday. It's 9 am, and I have to get up and go to work. I mean, the time went by really quickly, and I ate the most amazing sandwhich ever, I still managed to burn my wrist and now I have a beautiful scar. Thanks. So I'm leaving my work kinda tired, and I smelled bad ( I work in a kitchen) and I get out to a suprise. My aunt and uncle had come to pick me up and take me home. They drove me home, and I got in the door where my sisters came out with silly animal noise makers saying "Suprise. HUEUUEUE" It was awesome. I took a shower, came up, opened my presents, played some more rockband, and then instead of having birthday cake, my sisters made birthday trifle which was simply the best thing ever. Later, my dad took me out to practice my parallel parking. We went up and down the most narrowist streets parking and parking and parking. I felt slightly depressed, cause I didn't get all of them, and when I would get ones that were 2 inches from the curb, my father told me they were too close. IS there any such this as a park, that hasn't touched the curb as too close?! Got home, had some supper, and drove to Bragg Creek with my dad. This was probably my favorite part of my birthday, cause I'm driving down the highway in my gramma's van, listening to her old tapes, with the sun blazing in my face, so I put on her 'wrap around' sunglasses, and kept driving. I felt just sooo cool.


Moving On...


September 14.
Let's just say I got to school, band, social dance, [lunch] drama, social dance. easiest day ever right? but probably the most stressful. I didn't tell anyone I was going to try for my drivers during [lunch] so lunch time arrives, and my mom takes me down to Southland registry, where I sat there anxiously waiting. They guy comes out, I sign some papers, and I go out for my roadtest. I was super proud when I paralled parked on the first time, and hill parked on the first time, and everything was going awesome. I get back, and I park the car and he says "so, you've passed your test' That moment, I was just too excited. I got back in, told my mom, and I was jumping up and down. I knew at this moment I was going to be late for drama, but I didn't even care. I was just happy to have that done and over with. So my mom drives me back to school, and I get into class, and my best friend whispers in my ear. "your late", I looked back and said "I know, no big deal or anything, but I was kind of busy just passing my drivers..." Then she hit me. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!!!" That was a wonderful moment for everyone.


September 15. Wisdom Teeth.
I woke up, 7 o'clock. no pain killers or nothing, no sedation medications. Just me. and I get my wisdom teeth pulled. I get home. And did nothing. Actually, I havn't really done anything for the past 2 days now other than watch seasons of smallville and scrubs, and try not to laugh when people come home and give me nicknames like "Puff the Magic Dragon" or "Cocopuff" or make remarks such as "Holy man. your face exploded". So now I'm sitting here, hyped up on Tylenol 3's with a huge face, with nothing better to do than this. How wonderful.


Overview.
-It was my birthday
-I have my drivers license
-I am missing 4 teeth
-I look like a chipmunk
-I love painkillers.
mmm. I think that's about it.


-Happy Blogger.

Knowing and Believing Posted by Sad Blogger , 13.9.09 at Sunday, September 13, 2009, in

I recently found myself trapped amongst the sweaty, irritable riders of a crowded city bus, and having been put into this situation as a result of poor planning, I also found that I was without any source of personal distraction. So I instead looked to my bus-riding compatriots for entertainment. What I ended up stumbling upon, rather, was an intriguing concept. Across the aisle and two seats up from me, two women were loudly (fortunately for me) discussing an infamously difficult topic to explore whether among friends or strangers. That is to say, one woman was impatiently demanding of her companion how she could possibly go through life believing in God. Meanwhile, the other woman was just as vehemently insisting that it was foolish and even sinful to suggest that there was any other way. From their volley of sometimes profound, often incoherent arguments, I gathered that the first was a scientist of some philosophical persuasion and that the other was some variation of the stereotypical pastor's wife. They eventually exited the bus and went their separate ways, the discussion discarded and forgotten.

But it stayed with me. As the bus ride resumed, now in silence, questions and possibilities swirled around my head. The foremost question; what is knowing? Where, in the great bubble of perception, do the lines blur and faith merges into knowledge? On one end of the spectrum, you have the naive and obvious theory that your brain works directly with the real world. We know that we do all our thinking with our brains, and any information we receive is input from our eyes, ears, and other sense organs. But that's where this theory stops. Say for example, that I point to an apple and say to you, "is that an apple?" and you look at it and reply, "this apple?". I see you seeing it and having thoughts about it, and I conclude that it's really there, just as my eyes and fingers present it to me, and that when I think about it I'm thinking about a real thing. You see why I call it obvious? And at the opposite extreme, you have those in out modern biosphere of thought that will tell you that everything we think we know about the world outside our skulls is an illusion. Can we knowingly say that that's wrong, not really. But it doesn't make sense. And the other attitude is too blunt and restricting. There has to be a middle.

When we think about the world and almost anything in it, what we are really thinking about is a bunch of data, or givens, that have reached our brains from our eyes and ears and so forth. To go back to the apple, I am given a visual image of the apple and I am given a memory of what it felt like when I touched it, but that's all I have to work with, as far as that apple is concerned. It is impossible and unthinkable for my brain to come to grips with the actual, physical apple in and of itself because my brain simply does not have access to it. All that my brain can ever work with are the look and the feel, givens piped into our nerves.

That being said, the concept of 'knowing' understood, how do we classify the information we have regarding whichever greater being we believe in? We say that God is everywhere, for example, but at the same time say that He is more than just a tree or highway or a mountain. Otherwise, to worship God would be to worship nature and that completely defeats the purpose. But if we know that our brain cannot actually "know" something without information sent from the eyes, tongue, fingers...then what do we call our ideas about God or similar concepts? What the heck is believing? How did that all come around? I don't freaking know. I'm not promoting or persecuting any beliefs anybody out there has. I'm not even gonna spring a new idea on you. This isn't a persuasive essay. It's merely what I've been getting at this with this blog. Thought. Think about it.

From me to you,

- The Sad Blogger

Always Trust Stangers Advice. Posted by Happy Blogger , 6.9.09 at Sunday, September 06, 2009, in

World Skills was hosted in Calgary this year as you all hopefully know, so I decided that I wanted to go down one day during school. So I left school at 11:15, and took the '73' down to Chinook. Mind you, I was with my cousin, and neither of us had ever taken this route, and we had no idea where we were going. As the whole bus sits there in silence, my cousin and I get on the bus, and are talking kind of loudly, saying we have absolutely no idea where to get off, and we just kept giggling in our seats. Then, the lady in front of us asked us "Are you going down to World Skills, cause if you are, get off at Chinook station, and then take the C-train." Excellent, I finally had a little bit of a clue of where I was going. So we arrive at Chinook, and we get off.


Now I'm by the Pet Store and a Home Depot, and it was now almost 12, and we were getting pretty hungry. So I insisted on going in Home Depot and look for free popcorn. See, at 'Totems' they have free popcorn, I was just looking in the wrong store. So we come out a little bit depressed, and stilla little hungry because there was no popcorn, but we found an A&W, and got something to eat there. Yum. Now I was full, but I didn't know where the train station was. So once again, I was talking loudly again, and this random guy said, 'Turn left, and go straight, and it should be down there.' Excellent.


Now were in the train station, and we caught the first C-train that came up. We were headed northbound, and we were just hoping that we would end up at the stampede grounds somehow, and Thank God, we got to the Earlton station.


We walked around the World Skills, and got some free T-shirts, free bags, carpenters pencil, and I could lift up the 100 pound bricks in one of the 'try a skill' tents. Freaking Awesome.


Now. The Ride home. We now have gained 3 more people, and 3 times the stupidity.


So all we needed to do was take the C-train down town. Get off, and take a two. Simple right?
So, were on the C-train, and we were looking for the McDonalds that my sisters ate at in the morning cause that's where they got on. So we saw the Mcdonalds, and started looking for the next stop to get off at. Well, ofcourse it's our luck, and there weren't any stops while we passed over a river, and some trees and stuff. So now were headed, well, God knows where, and we very smartly decided to take the route all the way around. I mean, that would only take an hour or two right?


Once again. 5 people, all giggling on the bus, talking really loudly, and this woman looked at us and said 'Take my word of advice. Get off the train now, and take one back to your stop.' And then it clicked. We all piled off, and were laughing ridicously hard at our stupidity, and took the next c-train back. So that time, were were successful. We got off, and just had to wait for the 2. We get off and started walking, and we saw the 2, and I suggested 'Guys, we could run and catch that one', and ofcourse our legs hurt by now from walking all the way around, and my friend didn't want to run. She insisted that we would catch it. Ofcourse I have to say ' I would laugh sooo hard if it drives away...' On cue. Bye Bye #2.


So we had to wait around a little while, and there were alot of birds flying around, and my sister was terrified cause she hates birds, but that's besides the point. And were sitting there at the stop, when another bus driver told us 'that that was the wrong bus stop'. So we moved back a little, and waited some more. A bus that was supposed to take 2 minutes ended up taking 20 minutes. Then the 2 finally arrives, and we catch it, and we go all the way home. We get home absolutely exhausted, but we had some awesome pizza, and it was awesome.


Overall that day was very productive.
We learned:
- How to take a 73
- How to take a C-train, and remember our stop, and what to do if we miss it again.
- To read signs of moved bus stops
- And always trust stangers advice.


- Happy Blogger

Good Things Part 2 Posted by Sad Blogger , 3.9.09 at Thursday, September 03, 2009, in

So often, with seemingly everything in the world weighing down on us, we let it get the better of us and convince ourselves that everything is wrong. When that happens you have to remember the good things. You have to remember things that make your lips curl into a grin just thinking about it, things that make you giggle inside, things that make your chest feel warm.

In the first grade, some kids built a tree house in one of the trees surrounding the lot near our school. At recess I would follow the brave kids to the tree and watch them climb up to the top and hang out there 'til the teachers came and yelled at them to come down. One day I begged my mom to take me to the tree house and I spent 5 minutes working up the courage to climb up the old tree. When I finally got to the top, I was ecstatic! I felt like I was so high up! I don't remember too much from that time, actually. I remember taking trips to Calgary during the summer and seeing the Stampede parade. We'd also come to Calgary at Christmastime and sleep at my grandma's house. We managed to fit two beds into her little guest room and we'd all sleep in there. I liked sleeping with my whole family in one room. I could hear them all breathing and I felt like I was safe. Those trips to grandma's house were also my first experiences with real snow. Back in the day (haha!), the snow seemed so deep! Like it would come up to my eyes! I loved that snow so much. I still get that hint of a little kid feeling whenever it snows. Winter brings back all those memories...Christmas smells, Christmas tastes...I love it.

In October of 1999, my family took a trip to Disney World in Florida. That was an experience. I kept a scrapbook of that entire trip. I took a million photos, wrote whole pages of journal entries, and clipped information out of every guide and map I could get my hands on. That trip is probably in my top five happiest memories ever. Every moment was a good moment. Every long line was worth the gleeful few minutes that resulted. The exhaustion of 16-hour days didn't cause any problems either. The whole thing was amazing. I was too chicken to go on a lot of the bigger, faster rides. But even my family's mocking taunts couldn't ruin the experience for me. I was in child heaven. I'll never forget the magic of that trip.

You know me,

- The Sad Blogger

There Will Be Nun Of That. Posted by Happy Blogger , 1.9.09 at Tuesday, September 01, 2009, in

As of today, I never have to take another Religious course again. ever. DONE.

I came home, and told my mother the good news, and then blah blah blah, now she wants me to be a nun. A nun. Like a black dress wearing, nun. Now, if you really knew me, I think you'd understand that I would be like Maria from the Sound of Music, and everytime I would do something wrong, there would be a chorus of nuns, standing in perfect staggered positions, singing 'how do you solve a problem like happy blogger'. And then they'd insist that I leave, and then I sing songs with some random children, and we all live happily ever after, climbing every mountain...

A flippitygibbet, a willawisp, a clown...

Sorry 'Ladies and Gentleman', I have fallen short of ideas.
I don't want to be a nun. Just saying.
-Happy Blogger

Have a bit of fun Posted by Sad Blogger , at Tuesday, September 01, 2009, in

Because I'm a pretentious douche bag, I was reading poetry just for the heck of it this morning and I stumbled across Percy Bysshe Shelley's To a Skylark and the usage of the word fascinated me. So I did some research. And so the following was born. I'll start with the opening lines of To a Skylark.

HAIL to thee, blithe spirit!
Bird thou never wert—
That from heaven or near it
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.

The term "skylark", more commonly associated with the species of bird, was first printed in 1809 as a verb, meaning "to engage in harmless fun or mischief." Before that, sailors used the term to describe the antics of those that would scurry about the rigging of a ship in port. As the ship approached land, the crew would "lark" about with the anticipation of seeing their families.
It is not certain how the meaning of the word came about. One theory is that the meaning of the word is associated with the free-spirited nature of the bird it derives its name from. Another possibility is that the verb "lark" began as a misinterpretation of the old British verb "lake," which meant "to play or frolic."

I know the meaning of the word "frolic." When I was a kid, my family had some money problems and couldn't afford many toys. We had to find fun the old fashioned way. Honestly, we probably had more fun than the other kids. We lived in a duplex in Vancouver for a short while and our neighbor, Craig, was the most spoiled kid you ever could have imagined. He was the first kid I knew to own a Playstation and I remember his mom inviting my brother and I over to play with it and he never let us touch it. But we really didn't care. We'd hang out in the back yard and play tag or catch or soccer for hours. Now and then we'd see Craig in the back yard, riding around on his little electric Jeep. Remember those? Yeah, he had one of those too. But he wasn't having near as much fun as my brother and I were, tossing the baseball to each other, digging holes in the yard with sticks, using a volleyball as a soccer ball and taking shots.

Kids are so hypnotized by crap these days. There's so much garbage shoveled onto them by the Grand Market of Crap. They sit there all day and stroke their iPods, poke at their cellphones, scream at their video games. Even the toys for younger kids are ridiculous. And the kids watch so much damned TV that there's never anything that they don't want. They're exposed to an endless stream of toys and games that they must own. People forget how to make their own fun anymore. Nobody just sits in their yard and plays "She Loves Me Not" with a flower or pretends they're an airplane. I used to pretend I was an airplane all the time. In Vancouver, you could be in the backyard and it would be raining. You could run to the front yard and it would be dry. I would run back and forth for an hour, laughing at how magical and amazing it was. People hardly do that anymore.

What happened to that sparkle? That skylark in all of us? Think of the elation in those larking sailors as they came home to their families. Or how it must feel to the skylark to fly. To fly!!! Can you imagine? Percy Bysshe Shelley called it the "blithe spirit" of the skylark. That means to be completely filled; to be composed of happiness and lightheartedness.

Of course I'm not saying that that blithe spirit has gone from everyone. Maybe you haven't lost it. But it's just something to think about as the new school year takes off. Maybe you've been swept up in something too. Not just toys. Maybe your mind has dulled over the last two months. Well take 5 seconds to think about it...5...4...3...2...1...okay. Yeah? I know, right? It kinda sucks. But it's a new school year. Some might be starting high school for the first time. Or maybe even college. You're going to have a thousand opportunities to wake that kid up inside and have some real new experiences. Have a little fun. Promise? C'mon. Let that skylark out.

As always,

- The Sad Blogger