Blog This!

This blog is CLOSED!

Nobody is reading anymore, so I'm just not gonna blog. Bye.

Deep thought of the day: You don't want to know, so I just won't tell you.

Aight, that's all, forever.

Word, I just finished a week of university. School's goin' pretty good so far. The profs are nice, the classes are straight forward, and there's not much particular disturbance during lessons. There's a HELL of a lot of reading though, like wtf! Okay, at least that's better than tonnes of assignments and shit I guess, but that stuff is yet to come. Other than a lot of reading, I'm really enjoying school =).

On the other hand...One week into school and I'm already having girl issues?! AHH!!! Not as bad this time I guess...haha. Very complicated situations though already... o.O Oh well.

Deep thought of the day: Can't bother what isn't there.

Aight, that's all for now.

Day 6

Frosh activities: 9
People: 9.9
Girls: 9.9

This was a real thinker in terms of score. I won't lie, today wasn't exactly the most exciting day, and I didn't really spend much time with people outside of my group. This was the last day of frosh and we were on our volunteering exhibition for shinerama! So basically, we were sent to a McDonald's off the side of a highway where we hoarded the drive through asking people for donations and washing some windshields for a little change! It wasn't so bad, even being out in the sun the whole day I don't think I really broke a sweat. My mouth, however, was going numb because I was playing my saxaphone to help the fundraiser for almost 3 hours! Now that's like just straight playing with no real break in-between! Kinda tiring eh, but it was for a good cause. My lips were starting to turn a bit purple when I got back to my room, but they seem okay now =). The closing ceremony was kinda stupid and boring as predicted, but I went anyways as possibly the last time I would get to cheer with all my heart for a long time. The day really wasn't too exciting, but I concluded that this was the case because I didn't really get to chant out with all I had with all my new friends for the pride of our group. Cheering really does make things fun, regardless of how stupid the cheer is. It's just fun, and I'm glad I participated. Frosh week seemed disappointing at first, but I'm glad I got to take a part of it.

Tomorrow is my first day of school. I finished packing my bag in about 1 minute since I'm not really going to bring binders nor textbooks tomorrow. Just a clipboard and my moomin & florin folder! Opposed to my typical nature, I'm actually excited about school, and I can't wait to start and meet all the people in my class!

Deep thought of the day: You really don't know what you're missing until you try it, thus you have just added a new chapter to your life for better or for worse.

Aight, that's all for now.

Day 5

Frosh activities: 9
People: 9.7
Girls: 9.9

This week just gets better and better. The practicing for the cheer-off was pretty boring actually, and so was watching and performing the cheer off, as well as watching the bling bling competition. The only good part about today I guess was the talent show. It really was the main event of the day for me. The talent show acts were terrible! For the most part at least, as there were some interesting acts. Like, how often do you get to see some guy chug 5 hotdog weiners? Like literally, watching him slide them down his throat! THAT'S NOT NORMAL! IT LOOKS DISGUSTINGLY UNHEALTHY! He's my hero. Anyways, I got to perform on my beloved saxaphone, and the people loved me! A crowd of 2000 people really loved me! I hope. Yeah, but I had a lot of fun on stage anyways, going solo. I played Somewhere Over the Rainbow jazz style then pumped up jazz style and then moved it into Kicks and Licks somehow. It was pretty smooth. What really made my day though was that I met two people to help start a band! Kinda, at least. I met a wicked guitar player and I talked with some other guy about his piano experience. Own! Frosh is so good for meeting people. So is talent shows. I'm not saying why girls rating is going up, but it definitely is!

Deep thought of the day: Frosh just keeps getting better and better.

Aight, that's all for now!

WHAT WHAT!

Day 4
Frosh activities: 8
People: 9.5
Girls: 9.8

Wow, I actually had fun today! Okay, the morning was all retarded because a bunch of us woke up bright and early to line up and get our schedules fixed. So we got that done, and had a lot of time to blow because the frosh people were taking out the the amusement park, and I didn't really want to go because it was kind of wet and cold outside. Oh well. Me and Jay were jamming in the 4th floor lounge, but we didn't really have any music, so there wasn't much jamming, but rather more miscellaneous song reminscing. S'all good =P. So far this day doesn't sound too exciting right? Why would frosh go up to 8?! In fact, I think I recall going back to our frosh HQ for dinner and more miscellaneous cheers. Part of the fun was from the auction that we were doing. Personally, I'd say an auction is not really my taste because I don't plan on buying anything, although I actually did in the end. Me and the rest of the 4th floor King St Res brother side bought 3 icebreaker chicks for $130, so now they're going to take us to some kind of sports center for some fun! Now 130 might sound expensive, but 2 icebreaker guys got sold for a fucking $700!!! WOW!!! I wouldn't doubt that our buy would've been higher had it been later in the auction, but we got our chicks nice and early before people were really getting pumped in the auction. Another good part of the auction was the entertainment. You have no idea how hilarious it was for our male head ice give another icebreaker guy a lap dance! And then followed, GIRL ON GIRL LAP DANCE YEEEAAAHHH!!!! The auction was so surprisingly fun, I'm so glad. We were supposed to board the bus to go see a movie at some theatre at 8:30, but we didn't get on until around 9:45. Typically, I would probably be MAD pissed, but I wasn't. What kept me going was the SPIRIT that my group has! Like wow, I wouldn't be surprised if G11/G12 had the most spirit of all the groups in Laurier frosh this year. I love how I can actually feel proud to cheer and have fun with it. It's because it's not so much about the pride of the university, but we sing cheers for the pride of just our floor in our building! Haha, it's really a lot more fun than you imagine. Oh what a fun day ^_^. The movie was kinda boring, hence the falling asleep halfway in. Apparently I was snoring.

Deep thought of the day: Things can actually change for the better.

Aight, that's all for now.

Ugh, couldn't blog yesterday because the stupid Internet wasn't working. Well, actually, all my other net-based programs were working, it's just that for some reason ie wasn't connecting to the internet. It's really kind of annoying when I'm just trying to check my email or something, and it's like so close, yet so far away! Bah, anyways.

Day 3
Frosh activities: 6
People: 9
Girls: 9.5

Yep, frosh activities go up to a whopping 6! Not that the activities were any worse, but ceremonies and crap weren't so bad and much easier to bear. There was a really stupid part of the day though. It was around dinner time, and it started to rain. When it rains, our shelter location is at the stadium, meaning we have to walk all the way across campus and pretty much all the way to Waterloo College Hall for shelter, through the rain. The worst part is, we had to get our dinner first (pasta, it wasn't too bad actually), and carry an unshielded plate through the rain, holding our utensils, pop can, and icecream as well. I still somehow found a way to walk and eat, because I didn't want to arrive at the stadium with a cold and wet dinner, and consequently I finished my plate before we even arrived there -_-;. I really don't see the logic in our rain location: it's raining, so let's walk somewhere outside through the rain? And worse yet, once we get there, we have to gather in a gym, so we're all sitting on the floor with our wet and disgusting shoes, just looking for a dry spot to plant our asses. It got annoying, but I was able to bear it I guess. I'm really glad that the people here are so nice. Like honestly, if I just saw these people in the halls in high school, I would probably ignore them and assume them to be annoying jerks, but that's just not the case here. I could tell that some people have some more attitude issues that they're trying to phase out for the sake of meeting people, and I commend them for it and hope they don't change in that aspect. Girls go up another .5 just because, haha ;) . At the club fair today (which seemed a lot like university fair), I joined some kind of Chinese community club something or other. Now, some of the events they pose like karaoke night and the food fair don't sound particularly appealing to participate in (actually, I love karaoke so I don't know about that yet), but apparently the Chinese club is able to get random discounts at several shops at PMall! That got me all giddy, I can be such a fob sometimes I guess, lol. The Chinese people running the group are mostly from Markham and Unionville too, it's hilarious! Oh, I guess I should've saw that coming anyways.

Deep thought of the day: Ride ride ride the pony, ride ride ride the pony, ride ride ride the pony, this is how it goes! Front front front the pony, back back back the pony, side side side the pony, this is how it goes!

Aight, that's all for now!

I'm officially a part of Laurier!!! Or at least I was yesterday. This place is pretty interesting.

First off, the people here are very nice. I think that is the soul most important thing thus far, because everybody is trying to meet everybody, and consequently now I know a whole bunch of new people. Not that I remember their names.

I forgot to blog yesterday, but I wanted to start a little frosh grading (1-10) through out the stay.

Day1
Frosh activities : 2
People: 7
Girls: 4

If I hadn't gone to that stupid ceremony that lasted like more than 2 fucking hours in a crowded hot gym, I might've given the frosh activities a 4. WTF were they thinking?! That was THE worst setup for an intro presentation I've ever attended to. Sure it was well prepared, but nobody wants to fucking sit in a fucking gym yelling those retarded group cheers with 2000 other people there. It really pissed me off, and about 2000 other happy campers. Other than that, it was good to start meeting some people, shaking some hands, etc. The female population is a little disappointing, but at least I found some cute girl in my colour team! The girl to guy ratio here is 6:1 apparently, but for the ones I like, it's like 1:60 if I'm lucky.

Day 2
Frosh activities: 4
People: 9
Girls: 9

Wow boring! Wake up at 7:30 just to take a stupid campus tour for a couple of hours, followed by a stupid seminar that lasted another hour and a half. At least there was 4 hours of breather period afterwards before dinner (which wasn't much better). I need a doorstop, because when I'm spending time in my room, I feel bad that nobody really knows I'm here, and that I'm staying cooped up like a loner. It's not that I don't want to meet people, but it's also kind of awkward even if I want to introduce myself that I have to open up my door and just pop out of nowhere. Oh well. The people have been proving to be a lot friendlier, and I'm starting to get the names of some of them on my floor (word). The female population gets a HUGE mark up because 1) I definitely saw a really cute girl at the econ seminar, which means she's taking econ too (bonus!) and 2) I definitely saw that girl in my colour team again, and I got to affirmate that she was cute since sometimes forlorn glances from far away can be misleading (haha).

Anyways, frosh itself is pretty stupid, but it's always good to meet some more people.

Deep thought of the day: I don't hate the colour, it's just that it's sometimes very annoying.

Aight, that's all for now.

I'm moving in a couple of hours. I don't really want to sleep because this will be the last time I sit here late into the night idling for a long while. Anyways, I was searching through a pile of old papers and I found something special. This is possibly the best thing I wrote during my whole duration in high school, and I didn't even realize how good it was when I wrote it.

It's my interview assignment that was quite a project in grade 10. I think it's really well written and worth the read if you've got some time. For people continuing music, this will make you think.

Music Interview Assignment <---what a classic title
By: Kenneth Liu

What is music? Is it a bunch of sound waves entering our ear? Or is it just a bunch of dots and lines that we play during band class? It's not an easy thing to define, but what we don't truly understand should not have a boundary to it. Artifacts have been found that prove that music has existed among man for up to fifteen thousand years ago, yet we still struggle to determine the real meaning of music today. It is not a problem that we don't reuly understand something, but people are beginning to turn away and hide from what they don't know.

Articles Analysis

Why Johnny Can't Sing By Kenneth Whyte
Nowadays, many people are neglecting music as one of the move important subjects that one would take in school. For most school boards, the music program would be looked at as more of an "extra" program rather than a standard course that one should take like science or math, so if funds were beginning to get short or demands for something more in another subject arose, then the pull would be from music and arts.
One of the real questions now is what is the purpose of going to school and getting an education? One of the most common answers would be that it prepared us for the working world outside and that they were requirements to fulfill a proper career. So basically, they are the building blocks of our lives after school when we're old enough to get jobs. Unfortunately, we have only skimmed the surface of what we see as the most essential building blocks of school.
Music may not be a requirement or prerequisite to any subject in school, but it might as well be. It is thoroughly essential for building math skills like understanding pitch and duration, creative self-judgement, and gripping the concepts of any issue. In fact, many problems in life require more abstract thinking and visualization, and skills that could be enforced more with musical education.
People are still skeptic about these beliefs, but there is scientific proof that music enhances the mind of any person. After testing young children who took music for 8 months versus young children who did not take music, the children who took music showed that their spatial reasoning overall imporved about 35% where the other children showed negligible improvement.
Those that have not been under the influence of music would find it hard to understand the importance of it, but it is probably one of the most graceful and beneficial ways of expressing your emotions at a really understandable degree. It also helps to learn the important lessons of practice, discipline, and with multiple people, cooperation.
To be learning just science, math, reading, and writing is too bland and insufficient to live a full life. It will surely make you successful in your career, but to go all the way, you would need music to enhance your train of thought and creativity.

Readin', Writin', and...Rachimaninoff? By Andrew Nikiforuk
So we really are moving into the information age, but does that mean that we should dump everything that we used to do manually into the past? Everything that we want to know can be found on the World Wide Web just at the touch of a button, why should we waste our breath or energy blowing into a hollow piece of wood? The world is moving so fast, a mouthpiece won't need to be a seperate piece of equipment anymore; it might as well be INSTALLED directly onto the trumpet!
That is not happening in particular in the world today, but the fact that our whole education system is beginning to be influenced to a profound simpleton is. The computer is the most useful source to find any information you want with the daily expansion of the Internet and documents could be typed up and automatically corrected for grammar and spelling.
It is great that computers are helpful to many aspects of our lives, but it is making the learning experience too easy. Computers were designed to always be right, but instead of being the helping hand in an exceptional situation, we begin to turn to and depend on computers for all our needs. Even great computer people like Steve Jobs, David Gelernter, and Clifford Stoll all agree that computers impoverish learning rather than enhance it because while we believe we are learning, we are simply just being given the answers.
On the flip side of education though, music seems to have many positive effects on students. Rather than knowing the best site to find all the hottest stuff, music brings us to learn different heights of enjoyment and enrichment to the brain. It has been proven several times by scientists all over the world that music feeds the brain and helps the person think more effectively, yet school baords are denying the educational and cultural merits of music just because they believe it is useless in the career world. The fact that somebody can push a couple of buttons to gain higher stature is ridiculous.
So what is more effective then, music or computers? Well, the obvious answer should be music since it can open the minds of any student much more effectively than any PC on the market. The facts are not so obvious, but Zoltan Kodaly had proven that great importance of music over 50 years ago. Knowing that knowledge didn't get passed on automatically, he created a cost efficient way for schools to receive music, and through the cheap schooling, music was passed on to many students. Although the programs weren't of the highest standard, they were very effective.
"The research on the academic effects of such instruction is glowing: musical training increases speech fluency; folk songs improve a student's general knowledge of history and geography; rhythm training abets the development of math skills; and the learning of new melodies builds the memory." Music is still making more intelligent students daily, but school boards would rather spend money on computer hardware and software that will be obsolete tomorrow. Students can't learn from the face of a computer, but will prosper from the face of a human

Why Brain Researchers Sing Praises of Music By Top Siegfried
When you think about it, playing music is not a simple task at all. It requires you to read, comprehend, input the right fingering, input the right amount of pressure, etc. So basically, you are doing several things at once. Since playing music calls to do so many tasks at the same time, your brain has to work just as hard to perform those tasks. The concept of your task versus how hard the brain has to work is simple, but to understand what the brain is actually doing at this point is quite a knot to untie.
Compared to something like cooking a grandiose dinner to the emporer of China, simple listening and playing of music may seem more of a stress to the brain. For so many years, people have ignored the real difficulty of playing music since all they saw or heard was the music. Of course, people back then could hardly be blamed because of all the technology we have today.
Neuroscientists are looking at music as an ancient goldmine that was hidden for many millenniums. By observing the brain's reaction to certain things, we can vaguely determine some operations of the brain and from what side of the brain. Music requires many functions of the brain, so neuroscientists can test what certain functions like listening or playing independently may do to the brain.
You see, music is much more complex subject than meets the eye. Before, scientists were struggling to comprehend the reactions of the brain of much simpler concepts like smell and feel. Music has opened many doors to brain research because it introduces many new ideas like subconscious thought and actions during any association with music. For example, a pianist may sit at a piano and sight-read a piece of music on the stand in front, but he does not realize the other processes going on in his brain like converting the dots and lines on front of him to the black and white keys on the piano or the subconscious tapping of his left foot to the rhythm of the song. The human brain may be working furiously away, but if the pianist were to just sit down on a comfy couch and read over the paper music, other subconsious actions like the note conversions or tapping in his foot are less likely to take place, therefore the brain would react entirely differently, and perhaps in a less stressful manner (according to what we believe currently at least).
Another better example would be in the case of the French composer Maurice Ravel. He suffered brain damage in the last few years of his life, and that had affected his ability to compose since he couldn't comprehend it anymore, yet he was able to listen to and appreciate music that was played before him, and even detect any little faulty details if the music played was written by him previously. This case shows how different actions in music require different parts of the brain fo operate, and since Ravel was only damaged in the brain that enabled him to comprehend written music, the rest of his brain that appreciated music was still fully functional.
Music always seems so easy when you see somebody else play it, but when you try it yourself, it will seem ten times as difficult. Now, there is no wonder of why this happens, since music requires you to do so many different functions at once, it should naturally be difficult to play a piece of music right away. And since music exercises so many different parts of the brain, it should be reasonable to believe that music is the key to smarted and more hardworking students.

*skips the pointless boring interview

Conclusion
I think people have really underestimated the powers of music. Even the superficial part of music, which is the listening, can be interpreted in a thousand meanings and can be transformed into a whole new world. It's just that people haven't been digging deep enough into the real emotion of the music, and feel the music when they are playing it. I guess I am mostly talking about students at my age that take music as a subject.
A person can only be so good at music through reading, memory, writing down expressions, theory, etc. There are a thousand things to do to improve in order to be a perfect robotic player, but just caring about the music and believe that you can make a difference could change the whole piece all together. Self confidence will really take a person past the stage of dots and lines on a staff because you will no longer see it as strenuous playing and effort, but rather an opportunity.
Music is not something to be bored or annoyed, but I find that people are afriad of a challenge. True, playing music is no easy task, but no person in a band should be better than any other player in terms of skill just because he/she has had more experience, but the only thing that separates them is the level of maturity and confidence. You don't need to be necessarily good at music to be a good player, but you must be a mature one.
When playing music, often the dots and lines are just the task to accomplish like homework, but there is a lot more to it than that. There isn't a barrier keeping you from putting real feeling and meaning into what you play, but there is a consequence if you don't try. Nobody will care if you don't really put feeling or meaning into what you produce, but then, wouldn't all your efforts be for nothing? What a waste; to work and not be noted for it. I mean, you don't necessarily need to be outstanding, but just be showing you care, you make difference in what the whole band produces and you'll feel better about yourself afterwards.
When a person takes the time to write a compose a song, I believe it is disrespectful to not give any care into playing the music. There should be a purpose and dedication whenever you play, whether it be to impress the incredibly cute girl a few seats down or to prove plainly to yourself that your are truly capable. If there is a purpose, then you have just set a goal for yourself that you can strive for, and since music can so easily influence a person, why not just take the extra effort to do a good job of it?
These are most of my theories about playing music in a band situation. I have yet to understand why my ideas and emotions have not yet reflected on many other people, but there is something missing from music that we all don't understand, and I think we will never truly understand the power of music. I suppose I'm just a lovesick puppy without a mate, and music and imagination are my ways of escape and expressing myself. Music is not an assignment; it's an opportunity.

Deep thought of the day: OMFG I FINISHED PACKING!!!

Aight, that's all for now.

As high school finishes and summer finally passes, time takes it's toll and I don't even realize that I'm not going to see a lot of my old friends for a long time.

Reality hasn't really hit me yet since I've been spending time with my friends like everyday over the whole summer, and I'm so glad that I did. Every moment was worth it's while, regardless of how pointless or boring the situation was. The thing is, I know now that those are the times I won't be able to get back, and even possibly the last time that I can spend that kind of quality time with my friends. After watching the Florida video at Sean's house today, I wanted to start planning another huge group vacation and get away from everything like we once could, but I knew that it just wasn't possible. I only wish I could be with all my friends forever.

Although I'll probably see a lot of people when I come back for commencement, I think it's only fair to say good bye anyways, to all those people that mean so much to me. I hope you all realize how important you are in my life and that I will always remember you.

Deep thought of the day: More good times with Lo...cocktails and cornbread, cocktails and cornbread, cocktails and cornbread, that's what I'm talkin' about!!

Aight, that's all for now.

Donnie Darko is THE weirdest movie ever. If you're really itching for a night of confusion and seeing a freaky bunny rabbit costume, then this is the movie for you!

Deep thought of the day: Failure is the only solution. *Gasp* A paradox!

Aight, that's all for now.