Refraction

Lessee…. went to a hockey game on Saturday, which was interesting if not the most edge-of-your-seat even I’ve ever been to (I won’t say it was bad, though 😀 ‘Cause it wasn’t.) I never realized quite how many breaks there were in play. And darn it, that ref called WAY too many penalties. There was one every couple of minutes, for a total of 16 during the game. SHEESH. ??;; The wave is a pathetic attempt to try and get everyone involved and it horribly, horribly failed.

At least we won though 😀

Today was easily one of the most boring school days I’ve had in a long, long time. I was practically falling asleep in Chem class. History was more interesting. @_@ Maybe I should start drinking coffee in the mornings… French was French, as usual… TOK was TOK. Nothing out of the ordinary. But Chem was so much more boring than usual that it was VERY hard to keep awake.

And, dude, the university libraries are HUGE! And they use this weird cataloging system (I think it’s called “Library of Congress”?) And they have libraries for agriculture, a main library, an Asian library… it’s mind-boggling. @_@ Luckily, they’re all really close to the bus loop, so I shouldn’t get lost. xD

I’m back from camp/ retreat. Actually, I got back on Wednesday, but was simply too lazy to blog. And now I’m sick. T_T

Overall, the camp was okay; it was certainly better than Whistler last year. Most of the skits were hilarious, but some were drawn out and… boring. >>;; The talents weren’t as good as the skits; don’t think we should have had both.

Most of the activities were great; I like quilting especially. (I <3 my melting snowman. And Iris got a baboochka! xD) Kayaking was fun AFTER the wet exit; the anticipation was definitely the worse part. That water was so SALTY! >.>;; And I didn’t do it properly, but who cares? >>;; I hurt my foot, though, which, luckily, allowed me to get out of high ropes. Beading was pointless. Archery was okay. The bows are a little odd though. And…. canoeing was okay. ??;;

I don’t like it when people try to force me to dance ??;; Directors, take note. Far too stuffy in there anyway; I’m a girl who needs AIR, unlike some of the people in there.

The food was … camp food. Nothing special. The drinks were nasty, though. Nasty!

The beds were sagging! It was so nice to come home to a bed that you don’t sink into. Our cabins were okay. It was way too hot the first night, though. I figure we shouldn’t have closed off all the windows.

AND…. *drumroll* WE’RE HEADING TO TORONTO! ALL EXPENSES PAID! (Won’t say anymore here for fear of ruining it all xD)

I need the lyrics to “Ookina Tsubasa.”

I’ve never done one of these Friday Five things before, so… well…

1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why?
Easy one. Maaya Sakamoto. I love her voice. Dulcet tones indeed. Her songs don’t stick to one genre over and over again; there’s always variety. I like her stuff over Ayumi Hamasaki’s because well… a lot of Ayumi’s songs sounds exactly the same ??;;

2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why?
Probably Britney Spears. For the simple, simple reason that she is so FAKE. As Sam says, “All her songs are heavy on the backup singers. Because she can’t sing.” Not to mention the girl has no fashion sense at all v_v;;

3. If your favorite singer wasn’t in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person?
I’m not really sure how to answer this question; I most likely wouldn’t have heard of her if she didn’t release songs.

4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show?
No. Sorry.

5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums? Do you feel the RIAA is right in its pursuit to stop people from downloading free music?
Bwee hee hee hee hee! I’m going to have fun with this question!

I feel downloading is fine to sample artists; I won’t hide the fact that I have a very large number of mp3’s on my computer. However, contrary to popular belief, they aren’t all locked up in a top three of artists I have. I have a lot of different artists. (Yeah, and none of you believe me.) I also have a lot of Sailor Moon music on my computer, and a LOT of those CDs are out of print. Yes, I can still find bootleg versions. For me, the question then becomes: bootleg or download? I feel downloading is definitely the lesser of two evils there.

As for purchasing albums… licensed Japanese CDs are VERY, VERY expensive. No, that doesn’t really justify downloading music, but it’s likely I never would have bought the CDs in the first place had it not been for some random downloading by yours truly. It’s a hard question to answer, for sure. This isn’t necessarily the same situation as downloading music produced by North American artists: there aren’t many radio stations I can turn to that will play the music for free. My interest in these artists depends solely on downloading.

As for the RIAA (is that that Recording Industry Association of America?)… I don’t know. I can understand where they’re coming from… and I do understand that downloading is copyright infringement and stealing and all that good stuff… But I’m also not sure how this is entirely differently from recording songs from the radio. >>;

I don’t think a leader is someone who disappears and then comes back demanding to know what they’ve missed. This is getting VERY frustrating. >>;

I really, really hate it when groups are so disorganized that the leaders can’t arrange a single meeting. Heck, after the Amnesty and IB Bulletin fiascos of the previous year, I can’t stand weak leadership. It’s… just… bad.

And of course, I’m in a group that leaves everything to the last minute and in which the leaders are well… seemingly apathetic. I miss the ONE meeting that we have, and it seems NOTHING got done at the meeting. And I am not about to take on the entire group’s work simply because they couldn’t think of anything with five or six brains there. Argh. And here I was feeling guilty about going to a volunteer appreciation barbecue. Would anything have turned out differently had I been there? Likely not. I don’t like the talk that “since this doesn’t count for anything, we shouldn’t have to work hard.” First of all, you can’t KNOW that these things don’t count for anything. Secondly, it will look really, really bad if our skit is the crappiest out of 10 other groups.

Argh. -_-;; This is really frustrating. I thought I had a good, decent, hard-working group too. T_T

Ah, okay, well, school is definitely in full swing (you know you’re back at school when the endless string of Physics labs begins >>;;), and, well, despite the looming deadlines, and… everything else… I am managing to enjoy my time so far. If it weren’t for the timetable debacle, I would be perfectly happy.

Yesterday, as rep for Amnesty International, was really a lot of fun. We got tons of sign-ups (mostly IB students, I’ll bet, looking for CAS hours.) Ray was really great with his staged conversations; he and Anthony D. certainly attracted a lot of attention, which attracted a lot of people to our table, which resulted in me, Beibei, and Janet explaining things to people (and sign-ups!) Our poster (made by me!) was rather demure, but I felt it was simple and effective enough. I’ve really got high hopes for the club this year, I feel that with some proper planning, we can really go far. People stopped caring last year, but I know that in fundraising at least, we can really make some leaps and bounds. Beibei and I have some great ideas and if the execs seem more together, we can defininitely get a lot done.

Big Bang is working well too; I’m very fond of this move towards standardized templates. It’ll make things a lot easier for everyone. And it looks really good, too. ^_^ I think our crop of editors has certainly done a lot in terms of improving the BBSJ. We’ve branched out a LOT and well… the new juniors have a lot to live up to.

Reach is starting out well… We’re going to Smart Ask in a couple of weeks, so I really should brush up on quite a few things…. The game is the day after we come back from the retreat, though… I’m so worried @_@

I found a version of Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me” in Japanese. ^_^ Since I can’t find the lyrics online, I think I’ll try to transliterate it by ear.

I shall post the results later xD

I’m not very good at transliterating, but if the song is slow enough, then I can catch most of it. I tested myself on “ARUBAMU” a while ago, and I managed to get through the first verse almost error-free! Amazing!

Oh yes, then comes the problem of translating the thing, because I don’t think it’s a direct translation. Those tend to be very difficult.

Although I do wonder why they recorded a Japanese version in the first place…
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Once upon a time, I used to like school. It was a place where I could see my friends and we could hang out and make weird little clubs (okay, **I** made the weird little clubs) and just generally have fun. (Not to mention the library. *_*)

And now school is bad. ??;; Extended essays, grad, mock exams, real exams, HL courses, deciding where to go for university… You know, I’d never imagined that this day would actually arrive, when I would be entering grade 12 and deciding where to go in life. I never imagined not knowing. I had assumed that while going through high school, something would pop out at me, something that I knew I had to do for the rest of my life.

I’m scared. In several months I will have to make applications to universities… and I’m not prepared at all. I have no choice but to put my fear aside and survive.

These next ten months are not going to be fun. Well… the next nine months. I figure I can take June off.

I talked about an unofficial English version of “real Emotion” several entries ago, sung by Kritine Sa.

Well, Koda Kumi, the Japanese singer of the song, has recently released a single that includes English versions of “real Emotion” and “1000 no kotoba” (“1000 words”).

Um… well. The lyrics sound slightly awkward, for one thing… (Does “No more than I can do but I am/
Just too wrong” make sense to anyone? Anyone?) Her English is also heavily accented, which makes it that much harder to understand. On the other hand, this version is more faithful to the original, being dancy-pop; Kristine Sa’s seemed to have some techno elements thrown in there too. So, the final verdict? It’s okay >>; As long as Square-Enix subtitles the song, they can put this version in the English release of the game.

[goes back to toiling on EE. Currently needs thesis, outline, and 2500 words of an essay]

*sobs*

Weird dreams ??;;

I had a dream last night about taking an IB exam in Biology (which I don’t even take!) It was rather… interesting and involved the King of France wanting to hide his dog underneath my desk. There was also a practical part of the test which involved following directions to fill a metal baton with various materials. Except there were four variations and if you failed once, you could try again >>; Did I mention all this happened at my elementary school?

I can’t decide if this or “Bolshevik hockey” is worse. (Trust me, you REALLY don’t want to hear that one. It makes even LESS sense.)

Oh, {{link http://thorned.nu/bloggie dear}}, I’m absolutely THRILLED to have received your card at last ^_^ My mom kind of balked when she saw it was written in French though ^^;; Do rest assured that I have every intention of sending you one quickly~!

I went to the Fair on Sunday with my brother and my cousin to try and lose our stomachs on the rides. >>; Dragged him on the Coaster first of all (^_^) and then onto the log ride, which left me with “squelchy” shoes for most of the rest of the day. There was an Aaron Kwok concert that evening, but as I’ve never really heard his stuff (and I’m starting to think I should) I didn’t go. And you know, Hell’s Gate just isn’t the same without the water. *sigh* I saw an old elementary school comrade (too much \1984\) there; as luck would have it, he was selling mini-donuts. He recognized me, but I couldn’t remember his name (how embarrassing!) and once I got home I looked through my class pictures and found him in my grade 3 class. >D And now I’m about 80% sure his name is Tony. (I seem to remember a bunch of Tony’s in that class…) Found him also in the grade 7 graduation picture but since he wasn’t in my class (trust me, I would have remembered him if he had been) it didn’t help except to verify his identity.

Mars is a bright little dot in the sky! I wish I had binoculars. So I could see the thing properly. T_T