Adventures at School

Hey guys, so I hope you both have been doing well! I have been having such an awesome time at my new school, with the new staff, students and environment. It is totally different from what I was used to for SO LONG! But I am so glad I am in this program, participating in everything they have to offer. It has definitely opened up my eyes to what this world is like, rather than going to a comfortable environment everyday close to home. Sometimes, we need to break out of our comfort zones, be a little crazy and daring in order for life to reveal to us the next level. In these times, we learn the most, and it is very valuable.  

            The students here are extremely studious, yes it can be very intensive sometimes, but I am learning to persevere in every situation. We should NEVER EVER give up on life. We may want things to happen right away, see results immediately, but some of the most precious things in life are the ones we patiently wait for.
            There is less than two months left of school for me, and I am already starting to miss some of the things here, but I know in these two months, I will make everything count. I will work hard, and to keep an open mind to enjoy myself. I also want to leave a positive influence on every single student at my school. I know it was not a mistake that I got in, that everything happens for a purpose. Even though my purpose in life is not always clear, I know there is always the Lord I can trust in to straighten my paths.
            I have also learned this semester that happiness is not based on possessions, status, experiences, appearance, grades, career, age, abilities or circumstance. Real joy is everlasting, and it is something you have no matter what the situation is. Emotions may go up and down, but true joy is found in something else. The Maker of the universe. Sometimes if we feel like God is not there, maybe it is because we are not even quieting down are busy lives to even try to here the faint whisper God is conveying to us.
            Now to get into some of the specifics of what I do everyday at school...well…let me tell you guys the story of last week starting on Monday. We had Math in the morning, and oh goodie, we started out with our final Calculus test! Then we had Chemistry for two hours. We had an in class assignment where we had to build organic chemical reactions with what I call Chemistry Lego! Then we had to present our stop motions from the week before. Then after lunch, we had biology. We also had presentations, on biotechnology to prepare us for the next day. I bussed home after, which took two and a half hours. 

On Tuesday, we did a full day DNA lab. It was from 9:15 to 4:30 pm (got to sleep in a bit, school usually starts at 8:30!) and we got to pull out many of our hairs to get the DNA from the hair sheath. After many processes and steps with ultra cool high tech equipment, at the end of the day, we got our results of the D1S80 segment of our DNA. It is a very short segment, and scientists actually do not even know why it is there, but everyone has the same sequence of DNA bases there. The difference is the number of times the sequence repeats itself. I figured that my particular combination from my mother and father is one in every 150 people. Surprisingly, that is actually pretty common. Someone in my class came out with a rarity in the 4000s. Then I bussed home after, took a different route, and it took me 2 hours!!!

Wednesday came along, and we had homeroom in the morning. Then I had a three hour long spare, where I just lulled around doing nothing! I really should have been studying, but we couldn’t stop discussing our semester hoodie design. I can not wait when we finalize our ideas and get our hoodies!! Then in math class, we started Vectors!! So from now on, I will call math Vectors, just cause it is more accurate and it sounds cooler than “Calc”. It was all review from grade 11 physics. Then it was biology, and we also started a new unit, genetics. Then I bussed to the nearest subway station to get picked up by my mom.

Thursday, it was Chemistry first thing in the morning! We wrote our organics test, and I was so relieved afterwards! We got a diagnostic quiz question afterwards of grade 11 stuff to prepare us for the next unit, yeh, I remember nothing, do you hear that Taro King?  Then it was biology class, and it was pretty funny, because here at my school, we do not have substitute teachers. When educators are sick, the program still has to go on for that school, and so my teacher was not available at the beginning of the class. Instead, the principal had to substitute our class for the first half! Then after lunch, we had Innovation for the rest of the day. This time is pretty much homeroom, just it is more dedicated to our Innovation Project. This is worth 7% of our mark in all of our courses, and in groups, we have to design an exhibit for the centre, and present it to the design team to convince them that it should be on the floor in the future. So far in the past, only one exhibit has been approved! However, for this week, we had to write a biology competition/contest. I started the first question, and I was like easy enough, then after that, it was all in Latin…after about half and hour or so of torture, some people started to hand it in early. I joined in with them a bit after, and our teacher said we can have some free time outside to let the others who are taking a bit more seriously finish the competition. So we had some free time, and we just hung out at the piano and sang songs, it was like recess all over again! Then when it was over, we just had an Innovation meeting until the end of the day.

Finally, Friday! I got to sleep in for a little bit because physics was in the morning, and I did not take physics here. I arrived at school, about half an hour of spare left. Then it was homeroom, and it was pretty fun, because we got a guest speaker that day! They were grad students of immunology, and world Immunology Day is today! So they introduced to us the immune system, and some of the organs and cells part of it. My favourite has definitely got to be the macrophage, a monster engulf-er of pathogens! We then had an activity, where each group got a little test tube of liquid, and one group in the room had the infected one. (They were not dangerous.) We then used micropipettes, like the ones from Tuesday’s lab, to contaminate each other’s tube. At the end, we discovered that my group had the infected one, and we only mingled with one other team, so they got infected as well. Then after lunch, we had chemistry class. Even though it was an hour long, we did like two mini experiments and an activity. For the first one, we discovered what is inside diapers and feminine hygiene products that keep us dry. We put sodium polyacrylate with water, and the water was literally absorbed by the powder, and the whole thing turned not a gel-like consistency. Then we divided it up into three different cups, and added in different substances into each. Two of them, the water came back out, and the third one, nothing happened. For our activity, we were playing with beans. It was something to teach us equilibrium. Then our teacher showed us a demonstration using another form of sodium polyacrylate. It was so cool, because once again, the powder soaks up the water, and it is like if it growing upwards! She said it was fake snow, and she let us play with it, so awesomez. At the end, we had math and after another repetitive lesson on Vectors, we also had an activity. We had to pick a starting point and using our smartphone compasses, we had to formulate a path of adding and subtracting vectors arrive at a destination. When we were done, it was already the end of school, what a week!!!

Usually, we have a set timetable every week, but every week, something changes just because there’s so much stuff we have to do. We spend a great deal of time with each other, the same 28 students, everyday, all day. So this is one of the different things here, it is a MUCH smaller environment. Curriculum is the same, but I would say we focus more on teamwork, and sometimes, as an introvert, it can be kind of overwhelming!
            The last thing I will talk about is transportation. At first, I thought it was just the WORSE thing about going to school so far away, but I am actually starting to like it! I love the city more and more as I take part of it everyday, and having it reveal to me. Even though it may be boring on the bus, it is the only place where random people go on after a long day of work or school or errands, have some time to rest, and to be together and intimate in a way. We are all the same people, even if it seems like we have nothing in common with another person. People really are like M&Ms, we may be different colours on the outside, but on the inside, we all taste the same!

P.S. Just a tip, get to know your neighbours XP.

P.P.S. Do you like the new layout??

~ Wingless Aura

I AM SHER LOCKED

It's been awhile.

Second semester had just begun and I already feel suffocated. As I flip through the calendar, eyeing longingly at the months of summer, I realize the number of days I must endure before I can finally let go and breathe. Was life always this hard?

Just a couple of nights ago, I was on Facebook flipping through Timeline. Timeline is basically an application that allows you trace your footsteps on Facebook; it shows all your history - the posts you received, the pictures you were tagged in, etc. from the day you signed up. I saw old wall posts by my friends in grade 7, pictures when I was in grade 8, and birthday wishes from grade 9. To be honest, it kept me entertained for a good half hour. It's really amusing because those friends from 4 years ago, those people that I had shared special memories with....they're just people now. Looking at the conversations we had made me realize just how much we had drifted apart from each other all these years. Time is cruel. All these reminiscing reminds me of a movie I saw. 5 Centimeters per Second is the name and it's directed by Makoto Shinkai. He's no Hayao Miyazaki, but his movies leave a special feeling in you. The movie depicts a boy and a girl meeting and falling in love, but due to circumstances, they move away from each other. The film gives a realistic view on how time changes things, especially people, and how time can be really cruel and make us forget the things we once treasured. The music and graphics are amazing as well...it had me bawling for hours. When the tears have dried up, a wave of melancholy settled in me and I just didn't feel like doing anything for hours. All in all, if you guys have the time, please check out the movie! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxKn5AwOTis]

It gets me thinking, what's going to happen to this blog years from now? Will we even last a year? 6 months? We should do a get together sometime! Just the three of us. We can discuss deep philosophical things over cups of tea -- bubble tea, that is.

Hmm, what else to write. Nothing! What a surprise. Life is a bore. But I guess it's these boring routines that shape up what life is? I may say that my life is too boring and that I long for some excitement...I'll probably start missing these boring aspects of life if it should disappear. They say life is short, but it feels hella long to a soon-to-be 18-year-old teenager. At the same time, I'm scared of growing old. I can't stand at the thought of being an old lady (no offense to you old ladies out there), watching the youngsters take on the world like they own it while knowing that I will soon cease to exist. When I'm old, I'll probably be filled with regret. I'm already filled with regret, imagine 60 years from now. That's why my only goal in life is to die without any regrets. That, and spending a day with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. And buy manga. And have lots of money. Okay, so I have a lot of goals, but the point is, I don't want to waste my life, I only get one...unless you believe reincarnation and stuff, but that's another subject.

My fingers are cold, so I'll stop here.

Oh yea, it's leap year. An extra day to live before we hit Dec. 21, 2012! Treasure it well :)

Cheers,

Taro King

My Future....

Hi guys!

OMG I can’t believe it!!! Its 2012 already! I first hope that we all had a good start of the year and hope that everything is gonna go well afterwards.

The winter break has just ended, and it’s time to summarize what I had been doing. I partied (obviously), volunteered, watched dramas (no duh!), and APPLYING TO UNIVERSITY (the most important one). Ok yeah…no work or study.

For the whole break, I had been thinking about university applications for the whole time. It was like stuck in my mind for 24/7. I kept thinking questions like is this program good for me? Or like am I really suitable for studying business? I was just being very unsure when it came to actual applying, but I was pretty determined that I will be studying business like long time ago (I mean I really wanted to…). But when I was at the point that I really had to make my final decision, I was like I don’t think my personality will be good for studying business (adults around me had been telling me this also).

For my whole life, I was never unsure what I want to be when I grow up. I remember that when I was little, I wanted to be either a teacher or a doctor (they were the people that I saw the most), and also flight attendance. Later when I was a bit older, I thought of many ridiculous jobs that I want to do. For the last few years, my doctors had been asking me the same question every time I see them-What do you want to be in the future? I get really frustrated every time they ask this question because I can never give them an answer. I was always like umm…I am not really sure yet…or sometimes just said I don’t know. Whenever I answer their question like this, my doctors were always like well you are old enough to think about it now, tell me next time you come. And my mom gets mad after this also. It’s not that I don’t want to answer; it’s just that I am really unsure what I really want to be myself too! I had been thinking for the past years that I want to be like a pilot, a film director/editor, a photographer, a wedding planner, flight attendance, even an actress (this one was just a dream). I mean, so am I suppose to tell my doctors all these jobs that I want to do? First of all, I am not the type of person who can like talk to anyone. I can only be free/relax to talk only when I am with someone that I really trust or someone who is close with me. I am not close to my doctors, and I am always uncomfortable when I am with them. That’s why I never told them what I wanted to be and make my mom always gets mad at me.

I think at around last year or so, I made my decision that I will be an accountant (I don’t even know why I chose this =.=). At that time, I was like I am old enough, and really have to make up my mind! But when I took my school accounting course this semester, I changed my mind again! It was so hard that I couldn’t handle it at all. If I can’t even handle it in high school, how can I be a real accountant? And the path to be a CA is really long too. I mean, I don’t like to study, and it will be really tough for me to keep on studying for my whole like to be an accountant.

So now it’s time to apply for university, and I really have to decide what I want to study. I decided that I will either choose marketing or human resources and I can’t change my mind anymore. I am leaning more on marketing, but my mom kept on saying that I am not suitable to study marketing because of my personality (so discouraging eh?). But I thought that marketing would be really fun, so I just ignored her (it’s my future anyways).

I re-watched a drama recently that’s call Triumph in the Skies, which is about pilots and flight attendances, and it made me really want to be a flight attendance too. As mentioned before, it was one of the jobs that I wanted to do when I was younger and I still want to be one now. I guess this will be my backup job if I get bored of business. You guys might feel weird that since this is the job that I wanted to be long time ago, so shouldn’t this be my first priority instead of business? Well I want it to be but…..I am too short (I am 4 cm shorter than the require height…..but that’s not a big problem right? It’s just 4 cm) and also my health that matters. I think that business would be a better job for me and if capable, I would try to be a flight attendance too. I don’t need any university or college degree to be a flight attendance, so I can be one whenever I want and if any airlines will hire me.

Now it’s time to submit the university application and I really hope that I made the right decision. Hope that I can get offers from universities as soon as possible and I don’t have to worry about it anymore *crossing fingers*.

                                                                                                                                                                                                -Iciee