Coincidences

Have you ever heard of those?

I have the weirdest time right now:
Back last semester, when there were 8 to 11 Rockets players enrolled at KSS, I didn't really see a single one - and I always watched the masses to see the grey sweaters with the Ogopogo Monster emblem on the right side.
But to no avail - I would glimpse the sweaters, or something that might have been similar sweaters, but never really.
And now, where there are only 4 Rockets left at KSS (the rest graduated already), I keep seeing them everywhere.
Yesterday, for example, I almost ran over Chartier - okay, it would probably better to say that he almost ran be over, since he has something close to a foot and  more than 30 pounds on me, but fact is that he was hurrying through the hallway with his eyes lowered, I was hurrying through the hallway with my eyes glued to my kindle (no, I can't even stop reading for that long) and I looked up at the last moment basically and managed to jump into my classroom - but it was close.
And then I was waiting outside for Andy to pick me up - and guess who's standing maybe 15 feet away from me? Two guys clad in grey Rockets sweaters!
And today, while I was supposed to be in class, I excused myself to get my headphones out of my locker, and I think it's obvious whom I met in the completely deserted hallways, right? Chartier and the last Rocket.

Since I embarrassed myself with one question (I asked him what it felt like to be down on ice level when the National Anthem was sung and then clarified I meant standing on the blue line - being the starting line -, which is not something a rookie like Chartier would experience... And I didn't realize it until much, much later, so duh), I only ducked my head and took the stairs two at a time...
But I could have handled that smoother.

Other than that ... school was alright.
Since I'm running on way too little sleep (I just can't go to bed), I handed in the wrong, incomplete version of an assignment and got a C- for it, by far my worst grade this year. I hope I can remedy that tomorrow by presenting the correct version.

And in Creative Writing we formed Palindromes - poems you can read from top to bottom and they are dark, and then you read all the lines in reverse order - starting with the bottom most line and then going upwards (you're still reading the words in the correct order, it's only the lines that have changed).
Here is my attempt. The content isn't superb, but they're hard enough to write as it is, not to mention to find content:

They'd broken up three years ago
Even after having lied that
They loved each other
They didn't
All they did was mock and hurt
We'd thought
That they would get married
It was quite the shock

And now read it from the bottom up! :)
It was really cool to do that!

And that's about it... Nothing interesting...

Have a great day!

Julia

Whoopy

No, I'm actually not whoopy or anything, but I couldn't think of a title :)

Well, so I'm really tired and almost off to bed, but here's a short rundown of my day:

I woke up alright this morning, but thought I'd missed the bus - no, I was early and everybody else was late.

I am really looking forward to this semester, although I have now realized that it will be really work intensive.

Entrepreneurship 12 will be hard because we participate in "Dragon's Den Young Entrepreneurship contest", which is modeled after the TV show (you might want to google it, it's just another thing like X-Factor or American Idol or stuff like that, just that Entrepreneurs come to a jury and try to get them to invest into their business idea). We have to form groups and work on a business idea and work on marketing it and stuff like that - but the winning team receives $1,500, second place $1,000 and third place $750!

Spanish is probably my easiest course, just because I had Latin ... and the teacher last semester was a native Portuguese speaker, so it is doubly obvious that this year's teacher has only been to Peru for a year after graduation!

Then Math... is gonna be hard but fun. It's an incredibly intense schedule, but not that different than the German one - probably even a bit easier (remember, it's a grade 12 course - Pre-Calculus 12!)? But we're not doing Sine and Co-Sine (Sinus & Co-Sinus) functions, so duh:

1. Function Transformations
2. Radical Functions
3. Polynomal Functions
4. Trigonometry and the Unit Circle
5. Trigonometric Functions and Graphs
6. Trigonometric Identities*
7. Exponential Functions
8. Logarithmic Functions*
9. Rational Functions
10. Function Operation
11. Permutations, Combinations, and Binominal Theorem*

Those with an asteriks (* - that's what it's called, right?) are particularly hard - according to our teacher.

I think it's about what we would cover in Germany - at least in part. I'm pretty sure I've done part of most of the topics, my only problem is the language. I don't know what half of that stuff means, and honestly? I'm too lazy to look it up. I'll find out over time! (And I'll send that outline to my Math teacher in Germany, he can tell me whether it's similar or not!)

But it's gonna be a really work intensive course with lots of homework, if today is any indication! (I'm looking forward to it anyway... Isn't that at least kinda weird?)

And then Creative Writing is gonna be a lot, too, but the class is awesome. I mean in regards to the people. I think I would love to sit in the corner and just watch for a while, but I'm sitting right in the middle of the classroom, so I can't see everybody at the same time. Makes me a bit sad, but the buzz in the whole class was really pleasant.

Do you know what I mean?

English last semester, same classroom, same teacher, was always pretty quiet. There were groups, but those people had already known each other, so they were always on those same groups and almost exclusively talking to each other. It was ... cold. The atmosphere was still warmer than in Germany, but compared to the atmosphere now...
It's just everybody is really friendly and we all share a love of writing and our teacher has a Master in Creative Writing (and from what I've garnered whilst talking to him during lunch it must have been a very, very high mark he got on it... He's really awesome!) and it's gonna be so much fun - and so much work.

 We'll write for 15 minutes in class every day, so I'll need to take my laptop to school everyday ... my backpack is going to be so heavy! I'll start my daily journal up again, or something, because I don't know yet what I'm gonna write about.

But for some reason, I can't even mind the filled schedule. Especially since I seem constantly bored, but without any motivation to do anything.
I even started my homework today!

(If you wondered: Yes, I just copy&pasted it from an e-mail to a friend. I'm honestly too lazy to type it up again, so sorry for the informal style)

So, here's a funny thing a few of you (especially the mothers) might appreciate:

"Proefkonijnen - Dennis en Valerio krijgen weeën" is the original title :D Can you guess what it means?

Two Dutch television show hosts being hooked up to a machine simulating labour pain. Hilarious!
And honestly? I skipped the part where it says "Dutch", so I first thought they were talking English, then I was convinced it was German, before I finally realized it was Dutch. But it honestly sounds very much like a mixture of German and English, and I could understand most of what was being said without the subtitles! :D

Enjoy!

On another note: The Hawks lost again in a shootout against the Vancouver Canucks.
And the weirdest thing?
Brandon Saad, rookie filling in for Daniel Carcillo who hurt his knee pretty early on in the season, was the best man out there. He had an almost-goal (the whistle was blown before the puck could fully cross the line) and several brilliant chances, but in the end it was Patrick Kane once again who forced the game into overtime with the third goal of the season.
So they're still undefeated in regulation and got a point. I can't even be really disappointed - especially since it's been clear from the very beginning that the game would be abysmal. Passes didn't connect, they took a lot of stupid penalties and were generally all over the place. It almost seems like they're getting worse with every game (but they did step it up in the third period and especially in OT (4 shots on goal vs the Canucks' one...) but it wasn't enough in the end :/
And actually, I wanted to stay short about Hockey...

Well, anyway, I'm heading off to bed now, and we'll probably gonna see a Rockets game tomorrow! :D

Love y'all!

Julia

One Hundred!!

Okay, I know I already made a post today, but here is a second one.
And this is a special post:

This Is My 100th Post!!!

Well, and we have only 10 days left till Christmas! Okay, you guys in Germany have only eight (seriously, you're nine hours ahead of us and celebrating a day sooner, so you have two days less!!) to count towards, and that's like really unfair!

Okay, so that were enough exclamation marks for a full post, I guess.

I'm feeling like bursting - I ate so much chocolate, it's hard to believe.
The girls and I were fetched by family friends, and we went to Boston Pizza, where I had Chicken Bites - I had pizza for lunch, and pizza once a day is really enough. It was delicious, though.
Afterwards, went to another friends house in Winfield, where we got pop - I settled with Pepsi, and the caffeine isn't letting me calm down now, although it at least didn't have any sugar - caffeine and sugar is always a dangerous combination for me.
Then we went up to yet another friends house, taking a look at his display of Christmas lights - impressive, I have to admit, and I was a bit miffed that I hadn't taken a camera, but I can't change that now.
We got Candy Canes, and went back to the friends of the friends' house, where the girls and I got sweets, and then the former went to watch a movie (Santa Paws) while I stayed with the grown-ups.
I ate waaay too much chocolate, seriously. Who is gonna clean the mess of me from the walls?
We got back to the house by 10 o'clock, and now I am tired, but also hyped up.
Bwah.

And since Christmas is fast approaching, I have something to get you into the right mind set - aren't hockey teams adorable?

Belfast Giants: All I Want For Christmas Is You

Chicago Blackhawks: Sing-Along Holiday Album

Aaaaand: Last but not least the

Edmonton Oil Kings: All I Want For Christmas Is You (again)

But it's all just HILARIOUS!

Have a very good night, and of course, a laugh, too!

Just Another Manic Monady

... Which hits the nail right on the head today.

I finally sat my Biology quiz - 12/14,  which is my worst score yet but not so bad considering that I hardly learnt anything for it, my two Japanese tests (don't know yet how I did) and my Spanish exam (also no idea).
And then I learnt that we have to present conversations we had to prepare a while back tomorrow.
Great. We haven't had a single lesson where all three of us in this group were present, and I also haven't seen the corrected draft.

The girl who has the corrected draft has been ill for quite a while (or at least not present in class), so I have no idea what we're supposed to do.

Aaaaand: Japanese.
Wow.

Our teacher had a moustache, carefully groomed and  not just a Movember thing.
And then he suddenly leaves the classroom, and when he gets back, everybody is exclaiming and staring at him in shock:
He honestly shaved is moustache off during school! Well, do I want to know why he has a razor with him in school?
Nope, I do not. :)

Have a good day!

Japanese bad chairs

Aaaand another post from me!

Just a short, quick update.

Today was Photo day for the Yearbook . I got called out during English, but that was no problem (We've written a Diamante, a short poem during that time. But I was finished at home!)

My Diamante:

Seconds
Short, Forgettable
Slipping, Trickling, Accumulating
Sand in the Hourglass, Fusion to Glass
Stretching, Lasting, Teaching
Meaningful, Memorable
Lifetime

The funniest lesson of the day was Japanese. Even though we've learnt quite a lot - 15! - Hiragana!

a i o u e
ka ki ko ku ke
sa shi so su se

And tomorrow we'll write a test on those fifteen!

But whilst we were learning these signs, suddenly there was a HUGE crash.
We were quite surprised - and couldn't stop laughing once we'd realised our teacher was sitting on the floor!
His chair had given out, just like that!
We laughed for at least two minutes, while his face was a study in befuddlement, until somebody got the idea to ask our teacher: "Are you all right?" - "Yeah. Yeah I am" which only sent us into further gales of laughter. I almost cried!

Here is our Japanese "Song" that we currently are singing!

Lyrics:

Zou-san, zou-san
O-hana ga nagai no ne
Sou yo, kaasan mo
Nagai no yo

Zou san, zou san
Dare ga suki na no
Ano ne kaasan ga sukina no yo

English (they don't quite match up with what she sings in the vid, but that's alright!)

Little elephant, little elephant,
You have a long long nose.
Yes sir, my mother has a long nose, too.

Little elephant, little elephant,
Who do you like best in the world?
Well, I like my mother best in the world
And I should write a paragraph on comparing three texts in English we've read...

But the best lesson by far was Debate and Speech.
'Cause while that may be extracurricular, it's not a club. It's a normal four-credit course! :o

The teacher is very nice, and I have found two more girls with whom I get along very, very well.
One of them will take me to Tim Horton's on  Wednesday at lunch! :) She also will be in my Creative Writing Class! :D

I'm really looking forward to both of that!

So, love you guys!
Have a nice day, I'm gonna take a look at my Japanese signs (English I can do tomorrow at lunch, and he said he'd give a bit of time during the lesson; I anyway have to ask him for some assistance!) and I'm gonna learn a bit of biology - there's a quiz on Wednesday... :)

So, good night! (Or good morning, depending on your time zone!)

Julia