Remembering 9/11

It's hard to believe that ten years back from today the horrible tragedy known as 9/11 occured. I was only five years old when this happened, so I don't personally remember the day, however throughout the years I have been educated on the burning and the collapse of the twin towers. Although I wasn't directly affected, I can only imagine the fear and pain that people in New York and the world felt. It amazes me how people on this Earth can be filled with so much hate that they were willing to kill thousands of innocent people because they were mad. These people's lives changed on September 11th, 2001, to never be the same. Hundreds of people died heroes that day, firefighters, police, paramedics, and strangers attempting to save other's lives. And for people not only watching the event happen on TV, and listening to it on the radio, but to those across the river in New Jersey that were helpless, and couldn't do anything but watch and pray must have been awful. Below is a remix video of DJ Sammy's "Heaven", with a little girl talking to her dad whose life was taken in 9/11. I had to pause the video a few times when watching it because it is a tearjerker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr1pwZXf65w&feature=player_embedded

Delivery!

On Saturday Mom, Bailey and I went to Diane's condo and went swimming at the pool there, and afterwards for dinner I suggested that we order pizza. This was an important moment because I have only had pizza delivered once, and it took a long time. We have always been out of the delivery zone, so this was exciting. Afterwards, we walked down to the water where the Burlington music festival was on. We walked along through downtown and went to Starbucks and then walked back, and went home. An exciting day. I also got to use the key fob to get through the gate!

I wrote my last exam today, I think they all went pretty well, and now I am back to blogging! This is going to be blunt, but recently I have taken notice that so many people focus on the negative aspects in life and don't pay attention to the things we are fortunate to have. This bothers me, so I have created a list of 10 things I am grateful to have in my life:

1. One of the most obvious ones that should be on everybody's list, family and friends. Yes, my family can be a bit quirky sometimes umhum... Nancy and Tara (it must be genetic, eek) but that's what makes them unique from other perfectly normal families. I am happy my family is a bit abnormal, because it makes them so fun to be around.

2. My birks! Anybody who knows me knows that I absolutely love my birkenstocks, and that you won't see them on my feet without socks. I am aware that this considers me a dork to some people but I don't care, they are just so comfy!

3. My tiny, serene cottage. I don't know what I would do without summer cottage trips. The cottage is better than disneyland...that's how much I love it, and I love Mickey Mouse. The bugs, the campfire smell, sharing one bathroom with eight other people, and the outdoor shower are all part of the cottage experience, and what make it so special.

4. My baby cousin Desmond who is just over a year old. Something about little kids always make you feel so bubbly and happy whenever you see them. He is my cute baby cousin and it's great to know that someday he will look up to me.

5. All 20 or so of my hoodies. I have an obsession with hoodies but I wear them everyday, and many times people have pointed out to me that I do have a problem.

6. My poodle x wheaten terrier, Shilo. Although she does have the tendency to pee on people and ocassionally strangers, bad first impression, and puke on my bed as a surprise for when I wake up, she is a dog and runs to see me every time I step through the front door.

7. Country music. Aagghh... Not only does country music portray so many significant lessons through creative lyrics, but it has a down-to-earth vibe that I enjoy to listen to.

8. My voice instructor Erin Bree Pierce. She has provided support both personally and vocally in everything that I do, and every Wednesday I look forward to having our half-hour lesson. She is always fun to be around and interesting to talk to.

9. Wii... there have been so many nights where after dinner everybody picks up a remote and the band hero comes out or my personal favourite Just Dance. Congratulations Stacy, you have mastered the Spice Girls!

10. XM Radio. Coffeehouse is my favourite satellite radio station, hands down, and when I am a pro at the guitar I will definately be playing some of the songs that are showcased on the station.

Remeber that this list is in no particular order. I hope my list inspired you to be more positive and realize that the small things right in front of us that are often forgotten, are the most valuable things.

I'm still here...

Wow, I sure haven't posted in a while. I have been crazy busy lately with school work and exams. I am halfway through my exams though and will posting when they are over about my birthday and other upcoming, exciting things to happen. Until then enjoy the nice summer weather we are slowly getting, and only use spoons fit for your size. I'm off now to study for my last two exams.

Cheers

Check Please......again!

   My school will be performing the play we competed with for the Sears Drama Festival "Check Please!" once again, but this time it will be held at my school from 6-9 pm. Our show will be ending the evening of the literacy festival and the arts and entertainment festival, which I auditioned to sing at. The events will be taking place on May 3rd in the Ancaster High auditorium.

Romeo and Juliet

About a week ago in English class we were handed the book Romeo and Juliet as our next reading assignment. We are already into the second act, and I am enjoying it. At first I didn't understand it all too well but I have realized that there is a different way of thinking when reading Shakespeare. I don't like it as much as "Cue for Treason", but I haven't finished reading Romeo and Juliet yet.

One Of My New Favourite Books!

   As many of you know I am a book worm and so I was very excited about this book:  "Cue For Treason" written by Geoffrey Trease, which I was required to read for English, and to finish over March Break. After reading it I realized how much I enjoyed it, and considering I haven't come across the kind of book where you are so engrossed in it that once you start flipping it's pages you can no longer hear the people around you, and are isolated from reality in quite a while, I decided to put this on my favourite book list. This book was written in 1940 and takes place in England in the late 16th century, evolved around a plot to murder Queen Elizabeth I. I was actually surprised that I liked this book as much as I did becuase I didn't think I was interested in older, historic ones, but then again the majority of the books I have read have been modern ones, so I automatically assumed. Many have read this book for school, but for those who haven't I highly recommend it. I not only loved the story itself but I also learned various things. The next novel we are supposed to read is "Romeo and Juliet", which I have heard is a fantastic book, so I am looking forward to it!

Snowday......in spring?

Yestrerday was the first full day of spring and there was a warning about a drastic weather and temperature change scheduled to occur today. Well, I woke up this morning aware that it had snowed and that there was a lot, but then as mom and I were watching the news our schools were cancelled! So much for spring.....however this isn't the first time something like this has happened. It has snowed in April before. Today if the weather is ok to drive we are going to buy t-shirt transfers and t-shirts becuase I am making these geeky t-shirts for two of my friends and mom and Diane. A picture will be coming soon! For everybody that does have a snowday.....enjoy!

St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Tonight we are having a green dinner!

St. Patrick's Day!

   This Thursday is St. Patrick's Day! We don't yet know what we will be doing, but we always do something special, as this day is very special. Last year, we made a pretty festive, yet disgusting meal. However, on OLN from 7pm-11pm there is a live ghost hunt from Ireland for the Banshee ghost, that I will be watching.

SDF Award's Show

   Last night mom and I went to the last two performances of the Sears Drama Festival, and we stayed for the karaoke and the awards. We (as in the Ancaster High drama group) signed up to sing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", but the awards started before it was our turn. Even at 10:30pm listening to numerous people jump up to the mics and shouting out the lyrics to songs they don't know, with the mic volume set on high, the karaoke was fun. Songs such as Dancing Queen, YMCA and You're The One That I Want were played, and many people had choreography. Afterwards, the two main characters from our play got an award! Yay! By this time it was about 11pm and mom and I were hungry so we went to McDonalds and got fries and probably my favourite special, limited time only fast food item ever.....the Shamrock Shake!

Check Please

   On Wednesday the cast and crew for the Sears Drama Festival put on the show for "Check Please!" We went to our two morning classes and halfway through lunch we met in the auditorium to load our set into the truck. Then we got picked up, mom took James (a friend) and I for ice cream, and we met at Sir John A. MacDonald school for 2:15 and most of us hung out in Tim Hortons for a while. Once we got into the school we were shown our dressing room, and our 2 hour tech rehearsal started. We worked out the lights and we cleared up the rolling on and off of the risers. We used purple tape to strike our set and we showed the overall stage manager the tops and tails of our show. We practiced with a cue on cue and I wore a headset to practice the opening and closing of the curtain. We were all released from the rehearsal at 4:30, and most people went to Swiss Chalet for dinner in the 1 hour we had until we were to be back again in the dressing room getting ready. When I walked into the dressing room that was holding 20-something people and could probably only have about 7 comfortably, the mime had already started her makeup, some were in their costumes, and hairspray was in the air. Once the cast and crew were ready to go, we did some warm-ups, prayed to the theatre gods, and everybody took their places for the beginning of the show, with Olivia and I up in the lighting booth. The stage manager came up and told me I could start the show whenever I wanted....and that's when it started. The show went very well, and some actors added in small things that they hadn't before, that in my opinion, made the show better. The show ended and once Olivia and I got back down to the stage, the last riser was being hauled off, and the water that we used was being mopped up. Everybody was happy with their performance and the adjudicator had positive things to say about it. On Thursday, there was the private adjudication for our show and the other three that occured the night before. I took a notebook and pen to jot down notes as I learned many things from both our show and the others that I will put into use in the future. This Saturday I am going to see the last two shows, and then the awards are supposed to start around 10pm, with a cast karaoke party afterwards. I will miss my drama friends but hopefully our school will participate in the festival in the future, and we will all be a part of it again, or in a musical that might happen next year!

Ancaster High's 2011Performance in the Sears Drama Festival, "Check, Please!"

   This year Ancaster High is participating in the Sears Drama Festival and I am the stage manager. We are performing a play called "Check, Please!", that is approximately 40 mins. long, and it focuses on the two main characters: Girl and Guy (no kidding, those are actually their names in the script) that go on various dates that go wrong in many different ways, and at the end they meet up.....and they live happily ever after! The play is very funny and to name a few some of the dates include: a girl with numerous identities, a guy who has every phobia you could ever think of, and a girl who has planned out their whole relationship after meeting only 30 seconds ago, and not even knowing the guy's name. (We even have three brides to walk across the stage so she can pick out her wedding dress!) The show has been pretty hectic recently with people in and out of positions and with finalizing particular details. Today's rehearsal was definately crunch time, as we go on stage tomorrow. We are performing at Sir John A. MacDonald school at 7pm (we are the first show) and there will be three other shows after us. We get to miss our two afternoon classes tomorrow so that we can all figure out tech, set-up and strike time during the tech rehearsal. Then on Thursday there is the private adjudications for that night's shows, and on Saturday there is the award show after that night's shows and then there is a karaoke party to follow, so we will all be up all night. I am excited for the show, and I know that the cast and stage crew members will do an awesome job!

God's Glee Club!

   Recently Erin started "God's Glee Club", where the group (currently contains seven of us including Erin) performs every once and a while at Marshall Memorial Church as a glee club, singing Christian contemporary and inspiring popular songs as a part of the church service. This morning was our first performance and we performed "The Climb": Miley Cyrus and "Can't Live a Day": Avalon. However the service at 10:30 this morning was a special one where the congregation sang requested hyms, along with the choir singing some of their songs. It was a longer service this morning and we used our voices a lot, but following the service was lunch to follow. We didn't stay for the lunch though.....because we came home and ate pancakes and bacon. One of my favourites......breakfast for a meal other than breakfast! Speaking of pancakes, the official pancake day is March 8th and I am planning on making gingerbread pancakes with applesauce syrup if I can find the recipe. I always look forward to pancake day, so I am very excited!

Our New House!

   Just over one week ago we moved into our new house. We set up the living room and dining room along with the bedrooms and kitchen. The only part of the bathroom plan that has actually happened so far is the periodic table of elements shower curtain, the rest is yet to come. We have discovered many things about this house in the short time we have been here... in the shed in the backyard there are numerous tiles that match the ones in our bathroom (not my favourite tiles) and we found a duck/swan flower pot, which i'm sure will somehow be made into a joke around this house! There are also at least 7 bird houses on the property, but I have not yet seen any birds?????? Aside from the interesting things we have found, I have also dug up some of my belongings that I had forgotten I had. I found my valedictorian speech, my alarm clock, some money....and a Hannah Montana blanket with an identical pillow, which the dog now has because I grew out of the Hannah stage a while ago. I also found a hair bedazzler which will come into good use when Stacy comes over and two hair twisters that look like they are going to wrip your hair out. I am starting to become immune to particular spots in the house like the creaks in the floor, the noises that come from the basement and the heating vents, which for about 10-11 years I was not familiar with. I still haven't unpacked my clothes, I am cycling through a few outfits out of a laundry basket, but that is my goal tomorrow. Near the end of our time staying at Nancy and Barry's I did start to pack up and organize a few things. I alphabetized all of my cd's and I incorporated my mom's collection into them too. I have already acclompished organizing my cd's, books, and some pictures, and I have noticed that I have alot of stuff!

   This Thursday is the day we get our house, and on Friday we are starting to move in. We have already planned out our bathroom. We have a periodic table of elements shower curtain that I really wanted, so mom ordered one from California, and we decided to get towels that match the colours of the elements. Instead of stopping there, we are going to frame a poster of "The Big Bang Theory" for the wall of the bathroom, and to make it completely nerd mania we are going to have test tubes as toothbrush holders. I am very excited for the bathroom as we deck it out in geek decor.

Happy New Year!

   I know, I know, I am posting about the New Year now...when this should have happened last month, but I realized yesterday when I was on my blog, that the last post was about Kelly and Derrick's Wedding, and that was over 1 month ago. So, I decided it is better late then never to celebrate 2011. Happy New Year Everyone!