BASKETBALL 2013/2014

   Hey guys.
   Have you been dying for a look into my current life? Well, you've come at the right time!
   (Don't get too excited. My life isn't that amusing.)
    Going forward with the topic of the day, I am on my school's senior girls' basketball team! :) This is actually a very late announcement because that happened about a month and a half ago...whoops.
    We've played 5 schools and placed 2nd out of the 6 teams. I still play post, but the most amount of time I've ever gotten is 10minutes in a game. One game is 32 minutes long so, it's an okay amount of time, I guess.
    Yesterday, we had our first playoff quarter final game at home. We played a team that placed 3rd out of 7 schools, and we won! :D It felt pretty awesome.
     You know what felt even better though? The starters wanted me to start for that game. Unbelievable! All of the starters that nominated me play or use to play on an outside league all year long. I was sooo flattered, but at the same time, I felt sooooo nervous. They encouraged me to take on the role but I said no. You know why? I was afraid that if we were to lose the game, I would be a big reason why. I would hate to do that to my team and I would hate myself for it. So, I declined. No one understood my decision though even after I explained to them why. My teammates all encouraged me to do it and my friends were happy for me. Do you guys think I made the wrong decision? Do you think that the outcome of the game would've been the same?
     My coach has supposedly been ill since last Friday. We've played two games without him but to our surprise, this gym teacher who normally coaches senior boys basketball, agreed to help us. My team and I cannot thank him enough for doing this for us in such short notice. He deserves a special mention and some sort of award.
    As for my team, I love them. I've learned sooo much from the more experienced players from observing what they do and taking their advice. I am particularly overjoyed to hear from the captain of my team outrightly notice and say that I have improved. It's such a good feeling to know that putting in so much effort hasn't been a waste. I know that I have improved but for someone else to see me the way I see myself, makes me feel dem feels. Love love love my team.
    It will be very sad when our season ends because we will be losing 2 very important players. But, it's not over yet. We have an away semi finals game tmrw with a team that placed 1st out of 7 teams. When we win this, we will play finals at HOME. We are undefeated at home, so we really need to get there.
    (Side note: I even made a pre-game playlist for tmrw. They are all songs that are sports related or are inspiring. )
    I'm excited and anxious for the game tmrw. I hope I do my best and won't regret anything.
    LIONS ON THREE
     1 2 3 LIONS

Bloomed->Blooming~
-Melanie

StoryTime: My Most Memorable Birthday

     My birthday is on July 13th.

     On my birthday, my parents do the usual: invite some relatives over, have dinner and cake. However, on my 11th birthday, I got a surprise from a close group of friends that makes it the best birthday thus far.

     To help you understand how much it meant to me, you have to have some background information. When I was 10, I became really close to...let's call her Julie. She was the one who pressed me to join the badminton team that year. Before than, I had never played badminton at all. (In fact, I was probably the worst one on the team that year:$). From there, we bonded quite alot as we were both interested in around the same things. We would join the same sports teams, and gym class was the best!

     And just when I thought that it couldn't get better, we became friends with another group of friends that existed in the same school(shocker). One of the guys we met, was the funniest and most outgoing person I've ever gotten to be friends with. We would all just talk and hangout all the time- before school, at school, after school, on weekends, and online(MSN was pretty damn huge then.). We grew extremely close.

     Then one day, we decide to learn how to "c-walk"(Clown walk. Search it up.). It's a dance that's made up of foot motions that are usually performed alongside a song. It stemed from popularity on the internet, and so many of the guys wanted to learn it. As they were our friends, Julie and I began to learn. The guy I was talking about earlier even posted some YouTube videos up of themselves "c-walking". (Here's his channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleeDee/)

     I learned how to do some of the basics, but I wasn't nearly as good as the guy I spoke about earlier. However at the end of that school year, he had to move. It was sad because after he left, the group of friends that he pretty much created, were still close, but not nearly as much as when he was still present.

     In that Summer between the two school years, was my 11th birthday. I don't know what day of the week it was, but it was a week day. Usually if that is so, I celebrate with my family on the Sunday before and don't do much on my actual birthday. But that year...

     When I least expected it, 3 of the new friends I made(That guy and his other two friends), decided to show up in front of my house. At first I didn't know they were there until I heard some noise coming from outside(I have sensitive hearing, okay?). Real smooth, guys.
     So naturally I went up to the window and peaked outside: They were on the outside of my driveway, c-walking. :OOO

     I was slightly confused but the idea that it was for my birthday did come up. When they were finally done, they decided to knock on my door. Being that I wear my pajamas all day in the Summer, I didn't open the door. I actually really wish I did because after talking with them online, I found out that they recorded themselves dancing, and wanted to record themselves wishing me a happy birthday when I opened the door!!! D;

     They were planning to upload it onto YouTube but they never did(bummer...). I think they never got motivated enough to edit it. I'm sure that if I had shown up at my door,they would've been more excited about it and would've uploaded the video shortly after. So really, I never got to see what song they chose to dance to, what they performed, and what they said at the end of the video(if anything at all). A special thanks to them for doing this all for my birthday. It means alot.

     This was the most memorable birthday I have ever had. Even though my friends from my old school and I aren't close anymore, I'm glad that we shared some memories together(more than just this one!).

 

Bloomed-> Blooming~

-Melanie

     

 

Dodgeball

       This semester, I chose to take gym. Today, we decided to play dodgeball because the course is winding down, and my gym teacher was not feeling so well. Normally when this happens, we get to use like 7 of these colourful, air-filled balls that are semi-soft.(...If at this point, you think that I got hit in the head or something while playing, you are wrong. I can see how you would think that though. In the past, it did happen to me before.)
      We decided to play Elimination dodgeball. And then something amused me so much:
      I grabbed a ball and threw it at a friend of mine on the other side. She had a ball too. She used it to deflect mine. When she did this, it came rolling back onto my side. I grabbed it and threw it at her again. (At this point, I was laughing.)
      She deflected it again and it came back to me. I threw it. She deflected it. I got it again and I threw it. That happened like four times and we were both laughing xD I wasn't purposing targeting her; I just thought it was super hilarious.
      Like my story? No. Okay. That's cool too.

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie

Arts Night of 2012-2013 School Year

     Last Thursday, my school held an Arts Night where students and parents could come see the talent in the art departments. This included drama, vocal, visual, media, and music. Since I wasn't taking any art courses this semester (or year even), I wouldn't have been a part of it. However, I am a part of Band!
     Normally, to be honest, I slack a little when it comes to practices as I normally show up to one practice per week when there are two practices per week. Not this time. About a week before the performance, I was really committed and played almost everyday for an average of about one and a half hours to get my part together.
    I even went to BOTH practices that week PLUS the extra one that was scheduled in preparation of the performance AND the dress rehearsal! I'm on fireeeeeeee! (...okay, maybe I exagerrated it a bit too much...)
    OMG. This reminds me: I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE DON'T USE THE CORRECT NUMBER OF DOTS FOR AN ELLIPSIS. LIKE WHAT THE HECK? WHY ARE YOU PUTTING TWO PERIODS AT THE END OF YOUR SENTENCE, OR 5 DOTS? Get it together, guys.
    Sorry, I just had to say that because I just used two ellipses and it came up, okay? Man, those capital letters look so huge.
    Anyways, back to the topic. So, that day, I went home to do whatever until 8 o'clock, which is when I had to be at school for Arts Night. I distinctly remembered that I didn't want to fall asleep(this was at like 7pm, mind you) because I knew I was going to oversleep.
     And you know what I do? I sleep.
     I didn't wake up until 7:45pm, and that was only because my mom came upstairs to look at the new dining table we ordered(Yay! I shall provide a picture of it in the near future when my school work isn't piled on top of it.). By then, it was allllll instinct. I looked at the clock, got a mini heart attack that propelled me off the couch and headed downstairs. I then changed in like 8 minutes and left the house at 7:53pm, nearly panicking.
     When I arrived, no one noticed. I was actually like two minutes early...
     We didn't actually play until after 8:30. We played four pieces in total. It was awesome! I loved that when we played, all eyes were on the band and every little detail that made the pieces better was heard(even though you can hear me squeaking xD)
     Surprisingly I was gutsy enough to whip out my phone to record the pieces. I put it on my music stand and disguised it with sheet music :D I'm glad I didn't back down from doing it because I was honestly not going to do it at that moment even though I knew that I really wanted to. As of now, I've probably listened to all of the pieces like 3 times each, and a select two like 10 times. I won't be sick of them any time soon, that's for sure!
     Oh and one last thing before I go - that Arts Night was the best one that I've witnessed in the 2-3 that I've seen at my school. This ESL drama performance was HILARIOUS(I almost cried and laughed almost every minute of it) and the media arts class had excellent animations! They didn't all have boring plots and only used simple animating techniques. Well done!

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie

Rant #6: Parking + Update

    Just recently I forgot about how pissed I get about this topic until I looked at some parked cars while I was walking home from school. This may be because I'm a perfectionist, but it may also be because it makes me think that people are so god damn lazy. Get yoo sh*t together, neighbours.
     Your parking skills do not have to be perfect;they just have to be decent. According to my standards, I consider a very well done parking job as a car that is about an inch away from the curb. An okay parking job is about 3-4 inches from the curb. As you can tell, my standards aren't very demanding.
      You will not even believe how far this car was from the curb the other day: I swear it was atleast like 8 inches from the curb. Really? SERIOUSLY? You couldn't take 15 seconds of your to scoot back and straightened out your car?!?
      It honestly looked like the car was only stationary because of something like, the driver was picking someone up. The more upsetting thing was that when I was ranting to my mom about it and I tried to use a car that was parked on the road to compare it to, there was actually one right in front of my house! I can't believe how often it occurs now.
     The end.
     After typing this up, I realize how small of a problem this is and how incredibly big I made it out it be. In other news, this weekend is a long weekend for me. I have tomorrow off, which you may have already assumed since I'm posting this at like 2 o'clock in the morning. I really want to go running tomorrow. Just recently my school's dome was taken down for the Summer time (May - Oct). Yayyyy! Now I can go running without having to pay~ I've been meaning to go lately, like last week, then yesterday and even today with my cousins, but I didn't. Soooo, hopefully I go tomorrow.
      As for school, the semester is winding down, and exams will start in less than a month. I have two more physics tests, two to three more math tests, and three more stories to study in french class left!...I should start studying for exams soon. I always have a dilemma with what to study, when to study what, and what to do to effectively retain information.
      On a semi-related-note, I'm pretty much 75% sure that I'll be attending Summer School this Summer.(No, it is not a remedial class). I plan on taking Grade 12 Physics this Summer throughout July and then hopefully do some Summer work at the end of August. I've thought about not taking Physics because I may not even need it when applying to a university and it's pretty difficult. On the other hand, I really enjoy the material because it helps me understand why things happen the way they do, and that interests me. On top of that, my Dad seems to like my idea because he wants me to get out there more, meet more people, and overall, to just spend my time wisely(aka learning xD). (Love you Dad!). I could take Grade 12 Physics next Summer but I really want to concentrate on my Extended Essay and CAS(2 of 3 ginormous projects that come with IB). Soooo, I guess I'll be staying busy this Summer.
     That reminds me, I should probably look into a long-term volunteer opportunity that I can be a part of for next school year. I'm officially entering IB Diploma Year 1 in September of 2013. I can't even imagine how much more anxiety and stress will come then. Just thinking about it makes me worried.

Bloomed->Blooming~
-Melanie

StoryTime: Trees. Just trees.

     Don't get me wrong, trees are cool and all with their sturdy trunk, strong branches and admirable leaves, but they HURT.
     You can assume that whatever happened was entirely my fault, which it was, but it'd sound way better if I had a reasonable explanation.
     "Did you know that trees walked!?!?"
     No, they don't.
     That's right. They don't. I do though and that's exactly what I did: I walked into a tree(a maple tree to be exact).
     It happened in third grade when my friends and I decided to play Octopus in an area enclosed by 3 trees.(I wonder who's idea that was... -_-). Basically the game goes like this: One person is chosen as the 'octopus' and stands in the centre. Everyone else goes to one end of the area and tries to run to the other side of the area without being caught by the octopus. The last one standing wins.
     Anyways, I was trying to run across when the octopus decided that I was going to be her next target. So, being me, I decided to try and psych her out by quickly switching directions. I kept going in one direction and slowly came closer to the edge of the area. And guess who I had a visit with?
Yes, you're right. I giant fricken tree. How lovely.
     The result: Half of my face ended up with scabs(nothing too serious).
     I guess now, I can officially label myself as a tree hugger.

 

Bloomed->Blooming~
-Melanie, a Hardcore Tree Hugger.

OH! ...wait wat???

     I'm back! Well, at least for this blog post anyways. ...What have I been doing for these past few months?? NOTHING. The reason why I didn't write a blog post in a long time is simply because I had no desire to and couldn't think of something to write about.
      I've been thinking about what I want to write about on my blog, but nothing really sticks out to me. The topics I come up with are usually on the spot, and have little to no emotion or feeling behind it. The sad part is, when I do want to rant or just pour my heart out, writing a blog post on my phone(which is what I'm doing now, and is most accessible for me) takes too long, and I often lose that emotion half way through the post -.- Plus, I think that if I were to do that, my rants would be pretty short and probably redundant anyways. I'll keep trying, and we'll see how it turns out :)
      At the moment I am in my Physics class, doing absolutely nothing because the majority of the class is on a field trip to see a play. So, I took this time to explore my phone and I came across good'ol Blogger. I then decided that I was going to write about my forgetfulness. Now I'm here, writing words and letters, like the one you just saw. And that one. And that one too!
     Okay, enough of that.
     My forgetfulness is worst then ever before. For the past two or so weeks, I've realized how often I forget stuff. I'd be doing something, remember another thing, and about a split second later, I'd forget it! It is ridiculous -_-
     I mean, like just this afternoon, it happened to me twice. It is very annoying and makes it very difficult for me to do tasks that I can normally mentally remember. I think I can try to beat my forgetfulness to it, if right when I remember to do something, I do it right away(if possible of course) so that even if I do forget it, it wouldn't matter because I don't need to remember it anymore.
     ... Wow, just as I finished writing that, I forgot what I was going to write about next! Damn, I feel like I'm being controlled by "it".
     Should I be worried? I mean, it has been happening more often these days...maybe I'm not doing something that I normally do. Sayyyy, eating and exercising well? :/
      I don't know, but it is getting out of hand -_-

 

Bloomed->Blooming~
-Forgetful Melanie

Extracurriculars and School

     Mhm, I figure that after a month of not posting a blog, that it's about time to post one. Over the past month, it has been pretty stressful. School started again and we have two weeks before exams began. This is the third week. I have 3 exams this week and a final one next week. Other than that, everything else is done. I pretty much have nothing else to do except for studying until the end of January.
      I don't think that I ever mentioned this on here before, but anyways, in about mid December, the teacher's union decided to revoke extracurriculars from happening in schools. I have to admit, being in three different teams/clubs, my schedule was pretty full. I was getting tired, and I was getting stressed. You get the picture. Plus, I had a math fair coming up and it was due in one week(despite having four weeks to do it). Anyways, to be honest, I wasn't excessively disappointed with the action, at the time. But now, about a month later...I don't like it. At all. But I guess for now, to make up for it, I can start volunteering regularly now and keep busy... (The action was taken as a legal strike action by the teacher's union because of a bill that was passed recently, btw). After I let it sink in, I'm pretty bummed out because this year was going to be the best year, in terms of my involvement. I was on this athletic council that helped out with games, in concert band, on the basketball team and on the volleyball team. AND, I was also planning to join the Badminton team again, and maybe even the track team!! D; And now...I can't do any of it anymore. Those things are amazing compared to last year, which was when I was just on the badminton team.
         Moving onto another topic, I had to do three different presentations this week for my culminatings. I had to talk about laser eye surgery, play a character in a play, and talk about Vietnam draft dodgers that came to Canada. I learned a couple of things throughout this process. The first one is how wise I sound when talking about science...and it was all natural too, well, after I researched, but still! :P The second one was that I am horrible at controlling my level of stress. For the play that I was in, we had to put a book together on stuff about the play. We did it in the morning of the play -_- AND EVERYTHING WAS SO DISORGANIZED. Most of the papers were there, but everything was in different piles and some of the work wasn't even finished yet. The worst part was that I had to be the person who would put it all together. It took over half an hour to do! ARGH! I never want to go through that again.
       As for the play itself, it didn't work as smoothly as we wanted it to because of an incident on stage where one of my group members blanked out for 10 seconds, while my entire group had to stand there, helpless. As well, backstage, there were so many props and tables that belonged to the other groups scattered everywhere! I just hated it all. -.- As for the last presentation, it was for history class. The worst part about my presentation? When my history teacher corrected me in the middle of my presentation on a fact, and when he told me that my presentation was 7 minutes long, when I got 8 every single time I rehearsed, which is about 5 times.(For a level 4, the presentation had to be 8-10 minutes long.) At least everything is done now, and I won't have to worry about my horrible marks that will come out of the play and the history presentation...
(UPDATE: I ended up with like mid-80's for both the acting of the play and my history presentation)
      Anyways, I think that I'll end my blog post here for now, but I have a few more things to share soon, so hopefully I don't forget about them. Toodles ~

 

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie

Days on the Subway

     Hello. So I am currently on a moving train and was bored so I decided to write a blog post. I don't have anything in mind to talk about atm so we'll see how this goes.
      Of course I don't have internet right now when I'm typing this, but that's okay because I'll upload this when I get home.
      I'm going to pick up my cousin right now and I think I'm going to be late... It usually takes me half an hour to get there but I'm not even half way there yet and she's going to be at the station in 7 minutes :$ whoops?
       (Hey, for the record though, I've waited at her station for her for about 20 minutes before. Doesn't seem too bad now, huh?)
        I don't know what else to say... I don't particularly like to ride on the subway on my own just because its always so awkward when you don't have anyone else to talk to and you're staring all around pretending like you're interested in what all the ads say :P
        I think I'll end my post now because I'm getting slightly dizzy, as I am going backwards. I'm going shopping! :D

 

Bloomed->Blooming~
-Melanie

StoryTime: One Day After Badminton Practice

     I'm officially on Winter break! :D YAY! During the last week of classes before the break, we didn't do much in class either. Double plus!
     ...I don't think that I've ever used that many exclamation marks in one paragraph before. Unless of course, I was raging.
      So today's post will be very short. I just thought of this random incident that happened in grade 8 and decided to share it with you guys. It's probably one of the gutsiest things that I have ever done in my life in public.
      My badminton coach in grade school used to always bring us treats or fruit to eat after practice. (She's awesome.) One day, she brought us chocolate eggs that were individually wrapped. My friends and I grabbed a couple and left soon after.
      My guy-friend decided to litter by dropping his egg wrapper. We were by the fence of the school at the time. I'm guessing I was walking close behind him because I noticed it right when he dropped it. I told him to pick it up. He didn't. Sooooo...
      I started yelling, "LITTER!". Repeatedly for like 10 seconds or so. A truck driver even drove by and looked at me weirdly. My friends were trying to get me to shut up and laughing at the same time. And then I finally got embarrassed and just picked the litter up myself. xD The whole incident was kind of pointless but that's what I did.
     Those were the good days~ :)
      As well, today I cut my hair :D. It's a little shorter than I imagined it would be but I like it. I may even be dying my hair a dark brown tomorrow or later this week. Still not sure if I should die my entire head because I don't know exactly what shade of brown the dye is...
      Anyways, hope you all are doing well and Happy Holidays!

 

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie