Short Post: UPDATE

          Welcome to another Monday! I am currently fighting the urge to sleep, as I have to complete some assignments. I am working on some mini projects right now and one of my culminatings -____- . Good news is that I have only 3 weeks of school left!!! Then it's just an English and a Science exam :DDDD
         Okay, so like usual, I went running on the weekend. On Tuesday, I did not go running, I got lazy :P (I was going to insert another explanation but there really wasn't any). Anyways, I ran ATLEAST 2.5km on each day: Saturday and Sunday. I have to admit though, I was starting to have this "exercise block". I started to lose my motivation as to why I am "torturing" myself by running, especially that long of a distance -.- However, I pushed myself to just do it and I did (:
          A sad thing is though, I've heard that my school's track is going to be closed for the creation of a dome. It will be useful for the athletic department because it will allow students to use the track and the field anytime during the year. -sigh- I just hope that it will be open to the public :/ AND, it's estimated to be complete in November -____- Looks like I'm not running next weekend...maybe I could run at my old school's track...
         For my Science culminating, I have to wire a house. It's actually going okay, since I know that the lights and cells (battery) work, but I just haven't wired it to the house yet :/ I'm having fun decorating though :D
        For English, I have to do this analysis and commentary on a poem. We get to work in groups that were randomly chosen. I'm not going to say that my group is horrible, like last time, BUT, it is moving very slowly and I feel like I'm doing a lot of the work >:(
         For Band: All I can say is -Oh. My. Goodness. You normally expect band to be easy because it's like, "You just have to play your instrument. That's easy". That's what I thought too! (No, that was not the reason why I chose band but that was the only thing that I thought we had to do) But nooooooooo. My teacher is testing us on sight reading (playing a short piece after looking at it for a few minutes), rhythm (claps a rhythm with half/quarter/eighth notes and we have to write it out), a song analysis with melody, harmony, timbre, tonality, etc (<--I am currently have some trouble with this since I am not too familiar on how to find those in a song -_____-) GRRRRR!
         Thank goodness the year is almost over! Grade 9 wasn't the best year but I did learn to adapt to a new school, make a few new friends and I learned A LOT. Like my speech? :P     Till next time~

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie

Short Post - Rant #4 - Women on the Public Transit

          Helloooo. Since the school year ends in about a month, I'll be working pretty hard to finish various culminating projects and to study for exams. So, I'll probably be posting many short posts, like this one.
          So, as you all know, I went on the White Pine Trip last Tuesday. It was pretty good but because of a relocation of an author that I was not notified about, I missed one of the authors I really wanted to see: Don Aker. I gave up the Kelley Armstrong workshop to see him but ended up seeing neither! DDD;
         ANYWAYS, we traveled there by public transit. On our way there, I saw a stubby woman around her 50s - 60s with a nose like a witches'. Even from the first glance, she scared me. She walked past me towards this adult who was taking over 2 seats. This all makes sense because you'd expect that she'd ask the adult to move over, so that she could sit down, right?
          WRONG. She told her to get up and then did the same thing to the adult: take over the 2 seats. She didn't even say thank you or anything! That is rude!
          Next, she gets up and asks this couple on the subway, for change. SERIOUSLY!?! You're on public transit and you're asking for change?!? WELL, maybe you should have used the money to pay for your fare, on something else!! But, what made it even worse was that the woman actually got out her wallet and gave her some change! I understand that if she didn't, the woman may have disrupted the people on the subway but, you could always press this yellow tab that is used for harassment..o.o
          Sooooooo, some of the coins fell and she was stumbling while she was reaching for them. One even fell between these woman's legs. Then she went and sat back down on her seat.
         -sigh- This will motivate me work hard (:    so that I will not become like her.
         OH.OH. On the other hand, I went running on Saturday, Sunday and Today!!!! :DDDD I'm proud of myself. Running 3 days straight is a record for me :3 I ran about 2km - 2200m. I am even contemplating about if whether or not I should go for an easy 2 laps on that track tomorrow. It is much harder to run on school days though, so we'll see. OH. And I don't know if this is a bad thing or not, but, this guy from my class was there and saw me. O.O My secret life is now exposed DDDDDD; - was my first thought. Then I was just like, Meh. Whether he is there or not, I'm going to run on the days I want and the amount I want. "Stop trying to fit in when you were born to stand out" - a quote I found for the theme of an essay I just wrote. :P

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie 

Test, Newspaper, Practice and Trip!

          :DDDDD MONDAY. I just got a bonus for writing on a Monday xDDD. Anyways, yeah, I thought that since I only have a small amount of homework today, I thought I'd write a post about today, in general!
         So, today we got a Science test. I'm actually surprised that there were none of those random questions my teacher gives on tests >.< I'm saying this because he normally tries to concise info that is in the textbook onto this transparency sheet to put on the projector for us to copy and so he sometimes skips over some things that appear on the tests. Oh and I've been wanting to rant about this but, he sometimes writes sentences that are unnecessary and plus, his grammar is horrible. I think I did pretty good on that test though.
          Newspaper >:(. I WAS FURIOUS WHEN I FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS. So, our task was to create a newspaper that would likely be sold after a book we just read, Brave New World. We got about 2-3 weeks to do this but from my group, WHICH I DID NOT CHOOSE, they thought that it'd be okay to procrastinate. Really? Like, Really? Okay, so this person and I actually got more of the work than the others in the group. I was thinking, Oh. Okay then, she'll have more things to mark. So we start at about the last week and by this time, I was FREAKING OUT. I even told the teacher that I may want to create my own newspaper but of course, she wanted me to try to "work with others". -_____- (I'm more of an individual than I am a team member) Anyways, so the day before it was due, they said that they would put it together. Since I was busy with Mother's Day things at my cousin's house, which is across the city, I couldn't help put it together.
          They wanted to get together as a group to put it together but I would've been perfectly fine with putting it together myself -.- . Anyways, from our facebook convo, I also noticed that these people in my group still hadn't finished their part in the newspaper on the day before it was due AND they had less work to do than me!!! LIKE DSGBDSU! (Sorry, I really wanted to swear but I believe that there are alternative ways to express it) Anyways, so I thought that they had put it together the day before. TURNS OUT, THEY PUT IT TOGETHER AT LUNCH ON THE DAY IT WAS DUE , which was today!! The even worse part is, it didn't even LOOK like a newspaper. My English teacher specifically said, Make it look like a newspaper. You know what our newspaper looked like?  A FREAKIN' REGULAR SIZED BOOKLET. AHHHHHHH! I bet you anything, I'll probably get a bad mark in that....like I did today in my reading comprehension in civics class. -.-
         So, something we've been doing in Band class is preparing for Arts' Night, where we'll perform 3 pieces. We've been mostly focusing on tempo and dynamics, since note accuracy is no longer a problem anymore. There are loud(forte) and quiet(piano)dynamics in the piece and so, we've been just trying to nail those. However, it's hard for me because he keeps saying, Clarinets need to be quieter. This is because we have like 9 players and it is the largest instrument group in our class -____-. Therefore, I have to play at like a barely audible sound, while others are playing at like medium volume (mezzo) -.-
         Anyways, aside from all of this, I am going to the White Pine Awards tomorrow! I was actually looking forward to going canoeing in a pond but I think we had to get a permission form for it, and I didn't get one, so I can't participate DDDDD; As for the book winner, I really hope that The Fifth Rule wins! I loved that book! You guys should read it. However, I would recommend you read The First Stone first, since The Fifth Rule is the sequel to it. I did it in reverse though xDD Can't wait!

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie

TREE PLANTING, HIKING AND THEATRE TRIP!

          Okay, so it's pretty late right now, but I'm still going to write a blog post. Hopefully, my train of thought won't die off and not allow me to finish this post. Okay, so I went on 2 field trips these past 2 days: Tree planting & Hiking and West Side Story Play.
          I REALLY LIKED TREE-PLANTING!!! We were planting small Trembling Aspen trees. They're usually described as trees that have leaves that make sounds. Anyways, so we went through a demo of how to plant it and we got started. Many people planted trees on their own but because Hannah and I only had 1 shovel between us, we shared! :D (Even though the instructor should've spared her shovel to us, since there were none left and she wasn't even using hers!!) So, basically you stick the shovel down into the dirt, jump on it, use it like a lever and push the handle down, which scoops the dirt within the hole, out. Then once you get a shovel-head deep hole and a flat bottom, you remove the tree from it's bucket and place it in. Then you pack it with dirt and put mulch all over it.
          :P I forgot to mention that we had to put mulch into buckets and carry some to this truck that was quite far away. The instructor said that you could carry 2, 1 on each hand, OR if you're feeling strong, carry 2 on each hand, with a total of 4. AND OF COURSE, you know me, so, yup. I carried 4 buckets. Now I am feelin' the pain from my shoulders. It's like I have 2 giant bruises. When I touch them, it hurts DDDD;
          Next, we went hiking in the afternoon. I've got to admit, it wasn't too interesting. Basically we walked on a path then went over train tracks (BEST PART: When Hannah and I were walking across, I asked her " Hey, didn't someone get killed by a train before?" and she casually replied, "Yeap" xDDD) then walked up a "hill", that later turned out to be a pile of garbage covered with top soil. Next we walked on trails, passed over a small bridge, sat on some logs, took some stairs and walked over a bridge(which was AWESOME!!).
         OH. OH. OH. I forgot to mention that during lunchtime and before we left, we went to this school yard, where there was a string that was attached to a pole and a ball. The game you play with the equipment is Tether Ball...? -not sure if I spelt it right- BUT ANYWAYS, IT WAS SOOOO FUN. Basically you have to try to get the string to wrap around the pole by pushing the ball. Your opponent is trying to get it to go the opposite direction. IT WAS FUN.
          West Side Story. It was actually way better than I thought. The actors were great dancers, singers and...actors xP. The mini orchestra was AMAZING! They're timing was pretty good. Also, I really liked the equipment that they used: spotlights, doors, beds, windows, balconies, stairs, ambulance alarms, etc. IT WAS AMAZING! The bad thing was that I felt so tired after the first few scenes, since it was just dancing and singing going on and on with some foreign language being spoken occasionally by The Sharks (I'm guessing the language was Spanish?)  . THE FIRST ACT WAS AN HOUR AND A HALF LONG!! Also, we had to sit in the farthest row and my shoes were killing me (Had to wear these short heels that were a size too small for me. Ended up with blisters on my toes).
          Before the show even started, since we arrived early, the classes dispersed for half an hour. Hannah, this other friend of ours and I, tried to find a bathroom, which we found in a Baguette shop. Anyways, the point is that when we were crossing the street-walk back to the meeting spot, I DROPPED MY TICKET. And what d'you know? Lots of wind to top it off.
          So, as I was going to pick it up off the ground, it flew ACROSS THE STREET, INTO THE MIDDLE OF A LARGE INTERSECTION. So, I pretty much crossed the street-walk to the other side, ran in front of waiting cars and a turning bus and then finally stomped on my ticket and picked it up. I FREAKED OUT. Pretty much what was going through my mind was, OMG! I WON'T BE ABLE TO ENTER THE SHOW! , THEY WON'T LET ME IN!, MY TEACHER DOESN'T HAVE AN EXTRA TICKET! You'd think that I'd be more scared for my life xDD but no. I retrieved it in probably 2 minutes though (y).
         I also wanted to give you guys an update. After running 1600m on Saturday, I beat my previous time by 30 seconds! Probably the hardest I've run in a while. My face was red. Also, I ran on my own :DD. These high school girls entered the track that day and I thought that one of them was in my class so I waved back at one of the girls. She was already waving. Then when I got closer to them, I realized that I don't even know them. -EMBARRASSING- However, on Sunday, I slowed down by about 15 seconds, which means that to this day, I have beat my very first run's time by 18 seconds!! (: Not bad. I won't be running this weekend either, I have a special shopping trip to do on Saturday and it's my cousin's birthday on Sunday! I will, however, be walking alot for the shopping trip. Plus, I went hiking xDD
         Oh and since I've been talking about Hannah a whole lot in this post, and since she sort of advertised my blog on her DeviantArt journal, I thought that I would do the same: http://picklepiecow.deviantart.com/journal/   SHE IS AMAZING! (:
         I am not sure if I'll have a post up on Saturday since I'm planning this super surprise Mother's Day shopping trip thing with my cousin(s), so don't get your hopes up. If you're lucky though, I may  get a short one up. What are you doing for Mother's Day? (: SHOW YOUR MOTHER SOME LOVE! Take care.

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie
          

Being Awkward, Uncomfortable & Shy :$

          Surprised I wrote a post before Saturday? Hahahh. Well I did. And I'm serious. :P So, since I completed a English test today and didn't have much to do, I might as well talk to you about how I've been feeling lately: Awkward, Uncomfortable and Shy.
          I've been feeling awkward with my classmates and with the clothes I wore today. The worst thing is, I think it's my fault ._.
          So, last week, my English teacher assigned a newspaper project that we had to create based on Brave New World, which was a book we just finished. Anyways, she was debating on whether she should choose the groups or we should. I was actually silently voting for our own choices just because I know that if I'm put with anyone other than my close friends or even my friends, it'll be quite awkward and lonely. Plus, I have the worst luck ever -.-' . Sooo, my teacher decided to do a compromise.....sorta. She let us put down the names of the people that we want to work with and those that we can't work with. It was strictly optional though. But you know what? Pretty much half the class did it and I'm pretty sure that the half that didn't do it, included all of my close friends and probably most of my friends. My friends and I actually talked about how RUDE it is to have these people in our class write down names of people that they "can't" work with. I was actually starting to suspect that atleast 1 person didn't want to work with me. Insecurity >.<
          And last Friday she announced the group. I was stuck with NONE of my friends and with people that I rarely talk to. 4 best friends with one Melanie. Just think about that.....awkward. Also, I've heard people say and them themselves admit, that they're procrastinators soooo.....even though I myself do procrastinate, I wouldn't do it in a group. And so this entire week we've gotten about 2 hours to work on it and we only spoke about it for like 20 minutes -.- , while every other group has pretty much divided the work up and came up with ideas. Unlike us, we've only wrote down like 5 things -sigh- TOUGH LIFE.
          (The worst part was that my assumption earlier, about someone not wanting to work with me, was possibly right because think about it: Out of half the class, I get picked. Plus, I get stuck with people who probably wrote each others names down because they wanted to work with one another. The even sadder part was that my teacher spoke about how she thought how picky and incredibly rude some people are because they wrote down like 10 people's names and the same names were appearing on the "not wanted" lists DD; )
           Anyways, so, today I thought that I'd wear something different, which I do occasionally, depending on my mood like if I'm lazy or tired, I probably wouldn't. Anyways, so today I wore skinny jeans, a blue long sleeve shirt tucked into my jeans, a country-looking belt, a light, thin long-sleeve cardigan and the blue cheetah print scarf (This was my first time wearing it to school, since my purchase :P ).
          So, ALLL you teens be thinking, "That's pretty casual, my homie". And my response is: No. No, it's not. Atleast not for me. I prefer jeans/track pants, a hoodie and a t-shirt :D . So, this was a change. I felt okay wearing it to school but kind of uncomfortable because of my scarf, which was probably the most fashionable part of my outfit.
          The most awkward part was when a pretty friendly classmate said that she liked my scarf and was wondering where I got it from. I personally don't care much for the brands or stores (the only exception is probably running shoes, since I'm pretty athletic (;   ) as long as I like it but I know that some people do. And so I muttered, "...ardene..". IT WAS SO AWKWARD because the class was pretty quiet at the time that I said Ardene so I thought that everyone had heard me. I think my face even turned a little pink ._. #Shygirls :P
          However, to my SURPRISE, she didn't mind. She actually said that she has seen scarves in Ardene that were very nice and pretty. :DDDDD She is AMAZING! She kind of reminds me of my second-cousin Christine. I don't know either of them the best, but so far, I think that if they were to meet, they'd probably be best friends. You know because they're outgoing, love swimming, dancing, funny and pretty loud (:
          So back to the point: I feel like it's always me who makes it awkward. So, my question for you is, is there some way that I can become a little more relaxed, create less awkward situations or just speak up a little more??? I seem to be worse at it the more I think about it :/ But on the other hand, the good news is that after my run last Sunday, I beat my time by 3 seconds! So, now I'm at 7.23 minutes :DD . And to all you runners who think that that is a small difference, FYI, I jogged 400m BEFORE I actually started running the 1600m and timed that. Soooo, I think it's pretty good. 2km !! WOOT. WOOT. :P I plan to run this Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully I beat my time -crosses fingers- and somewhat conquer my shyness :$. Take care.

Bloomed -> Blooming~
-Melanie