Today I signed up for the, questionably named S-trip!
I think that this is an amazing opportunity that everyone should take part in if they have the chance. I am paying for this trip by myself because I just could not pass up a chance like this.
     First off, this trip is entirely based around what the students want to do. This trip aims to be a last hoorah before students graduate (you can go on the trip in any year of high school, although it is mainly for seniors). This means that they have tons of fun things to do, that you actually want to do. They have surfing lessons, zip lining, tours, tournaments, theme days, theme nights and tons more. Personally I find these activities way more fun than crafts or childish games that they usually have at trips booked through the school.
     Secondly, it is a trip with you and your friends! Why isn't that something you want to do? This trip is barely affiliated with CHCI. All the staff come from the resort you're staying at and the S-trip! team. They aren't constantly hovering over you, they let you do what you want under certain guidelines.

      Last, IT'S THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN MARCH! It's a gorgeous place to be and the city we're staying near has tons of things to buy and see. The resort we're staying on is gorgeous and full of readily available staff.
      Although I will be working my butt off for the next year to pay for this trip, I have a feeling it will be worth every penny!
Here's S-trip! promo video!

      People fall into 2 categories introverted or extroverted.  This is a huge generalization, but we all fit. Let's get to know introverts and extroverts!
   Introversion is "the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one's own mental life". This essentially means that an introvert prefers to be alone and "recharges" when they are alone. This is different from someone who is shy because an introvert prefers to be alone, rather than being timid during social encounters like someone who is shy. Introverts are very thoughtful and tend to spend more time thinking about the things they say before they say them. 
Common Misconceptions of an Introvert:
- Hates people
- Hates being social
- Doesn't know how to be social
- Is a shut-in
  Extroversion is "the act, state, or habit of being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside the self". This basically means that an extrovert prefers to be around people, and "recharges" from being in groups of people. They tend to speak without thinking, and is usually outgoing, talkative, and outspoken. 

Common Misconceptions of an Extrovert:
- Hates being alone
- Doesn't know how to be alone
- Can't be alone
     The thing about these personality categorizations is that every person is different, so they obviously have varying levels of these traits. 
     If we use myself as an example I would categorize myself as an introvert. If we put it on a scale of 1- 10 ,1 being extremely extroverted and 10 being extremely introverted, I am a 7. I like to be by myself and feel the need to be alone to recuperate after being with people for lengthy periods of time. But I do like to have lunch or coffee or spend the night with close friends, it's the matter that I can only tolerate people  for a certain amount of time.  
    I also encourage you to find out what category you fall into, and take this online test: http://funtestiq.com/personality/personalitytest39.shtml

      On Wednesday March 27, my class and many other FFP classes from the WRDSB went to the TEDx Youth @ Waterloo conference. This was an amazing experience, the people that spoke were truly inspiring to listen too. 
      The morning half of the day was excellent. The speakers were well prepared and all around good presenters.  There was a spoken word poet named Holly Painter. She was truly amazing, they way she used and manipulated words was incredible. She talked about bullying and the cruelty of children over the internet. When she wrote her poem, she said she was also reading the hunger games, She did a wonderful job of crossing and relating the 2 topics.  She was by far the best of the day.
      

Another speaker I enjoyed was Richard Mclean. He essentially delivered an autobiography. HE talked about his childhood and how he ended up being homeless. His story was one of redemption and coming back from bad times, and not accepting the cards you were dealt. 
     The afternoon wasn't as good in my opinion. The speakers weren't as enthusiastic and the topics they spoke about weren't as interesting, to me at least. 
     Overall it was a wonderful day and I am so happy to have gone. It's an experience I wouldn't trade or take back. Definitely not a day wasted.

When people talk about home, most people refer to being with their families.  I think that home is more than that, that home is  sounds, smells and feelings that make you feel welcome, safe and comfortable.
For me home is the smell of my favourite tea. Home is the sound of my boat bumping against the dock or cicada bugs in the peak of summer. Home is the feeling of sun on my skin while sitting on my roof. All of these things represent home to me.
If I applied chasing home to myself, I would be chasing these things. I wouldn't be chasing a certain place, but more the feelings that remind me of home: feeling safe and comfortable.

     We just finished off the first year in our simulated country Zugzwang. This year was a learning experience for all, but it was also really enjoyable.
     Starting off with elections, I somehow got pulled into the mix and found myself running for Prime Minister. Lucky for the citizens of Zugzwang I was not elected. I was however elected into the house of commons!  
     I really enjoyed being in the house of commons for this first year, being able to give my opinion the time that it mattered most.
     Next came the hex auction! This was probably the best part of the year. People were ruthless and crazy competitive, taking prices way higher than they should have been. I'll admit even I went a little crazy, bidding up the Prime Minister in the auction for the power plant. It was so worth it. Even though he kept his face calm, cool and collected but I could see him sweating on the inside.
     We had a town hall meeting just recently. This wasn't so much of a meeting but more of a throw-every-single-one-of-my-friends-under-the-bus rampage. There were accusations and angry comments flying. People used words as weapons in this meeting that's for sure. Almost everyone had something to complain about and it was interesting the our new Prime Minister Bobby wasn't there. 

Most of the angry comments were directed at members of the house of commons, our former Prime Minister Jake and Elijah (he basically screwed over everyone. I was not surprised.). At the end of this meeting, 2 cases were suggested to take place in court the next day.
      In the court room the honorable Kimberly Collins was our judge. I think she was the best choice for the job because she was  tough enough to actually tell people to be quiet. The court was very interesting, but much less orderly and formal than an actual court room. It was amusing to watch students become lawyers, clients and jurors. The way that some people worked the laws, found loop holes and were just full out good at being in court- albeit a fake court but that's beside the point. Our little court room was quite informative, and it also made me see flaws in the laws I voted for in the house of commons. 
That's that, the whole year done. This year was definitely a year for learning. Learning where to put your money. Where to put your trust and where to put your morals. Even though 34 people died and no one was pleased at our town meeting, I don't think the year was horrible; considering it was a year of firsts. 

On Sunday, two teenage boys were convicted in a rape case in Steubenville, Ohio. This case stood out to me for many reasons, one of which is the way social media, pictures and videos were used to publicly humiliate the victim, secondly the media made many undeserved vindications for the convicted and lastly she was raped, and that is appalling.
      First off, these kids and their friends had the audacity to take videos, pictures and put out tweets about this crime. This is disgusting in itself. There were tweets sent out making fun of this crime such as, "song of the night is definitely rape me by nirvana". There were pictures sent out of the sentenced and some other teens holding the victim naked. There were videos of them raping this girl in a car in between parties. This is vile and these are not little boys. They are teenagers. They know what they have done and know that it is wrong. In my opinion, the convicted should have been tried as adults. My reasoning behind this is rape is not a child's crime. Petty theft, breaking and entering- understandable how you would try the convicted as juveniles, but rape? If you rape someone, it doesn't matter that you’re only 16. If you rape someone, it doesn't matter that you cry like a child in court, only after being convicted. If you rape someone, it doesn't matter that you had a promising future. If you rape someone, it doesn't matter that your life is destroyed. If you rape someone, it should haunt you for the rest of your life. You raped someone and you deserve every ounce of justice we can place upon you in court of law. These sick criminals deserve to be put in front of a jury, with the option of being incarcerated for more than two years. 

The media and townspeople were no help in this case, justifying and sympathizing with the criminals' actions saying: "They had such promising futures," and "They were town heroes," when all they were, were football players. These people were actually attempting to get a lesser sentence for the condemned. This is all because this town is so football centered, that they couldn't bear to lose anyone off their team! Sounds to me like these people value football more than justice in this case and how horrific is that?
      Finally, this girl was raped. Yes, she had too much to drink and yes, she was wearing revealing clothes, but no, it was not OK for her to be raped. It is never OK to rape. She was used for the sole purpose of sex. One of the convicted sent a text that said, "Yeah dude, she's like a dead body. I just needed some sexual attention."  That is revolting. The fact that she wasn't even coherent enough to seem alive, that she seemed like a dead body; yet they still thought it was perfectly OK for them to sexually assault her. This girl deserved so much more respect than that, and now her life will forever be affected by this. 
The prosecutor said, "This case is about a 16-year-old girl who was taken advantage of, toyed with and humiliated. And it's time people who did this to her are held responsible." I agree with her wholeheartedly, and am glad that they were punished. But in my opinion, the punishment should have been more severe to compensate for what this girl has been through and for the convicted to pay proper dues for what they've done.

This is a poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye and it is my absolute favorite poem. I think the thing I like most about this poem is that it brings beauty to death. When someone dies you are sad, obviously. But this poem is about not being sad that your loved one is gone because they're not gone, they are in the earth, the wind, the snow; back into nature.
Another reason I adore this poem is because being as nonreligious as I am it's a nice way to think about death. You get the eternal life thing when you're accepted into heaven as a christian but I think that this is the atheist equivalent. 
Being able to always be alive in some way, and I think that's a nice thought to be in the wind or the snow or in the stars. Because let's be honest, no one really wants to die, including me. 

In class we are creating an imaginary country  using a website called civic mirror; to give us a taste of what life will be like outside of these windowless walls of Cameron Heights. 
Right now we have started the election and campaigning process, and that got me thinking about why some people don't exercise their right to vote. We live in a democracy, and one of the marvelous perks of living here in Canada, a democratic country, is that you get to have a say in who runs your country.
There are so many people out there in under developed, third world countries that would kill for a say in their countries leadership. 

North Korea, Uganda, basically the entire continent of Africa has no stable government; those people would give an arm and a leg to be able to voice their opinions freely.
It may not seem like a big deal to you, because the only thing you're paying is higher taxes, but these people are paying with their lives!
To them, you taking this right for granted, is  a crime; how could you take such a privilege for granted?
I know everyone has their reasons, but honestly if you're not voting, you're not being heard, and who are you without your voice?

This blog is supposed to be thematic, but the only theme I am finding is frustration.
Every time I start to write a post, I find myself erasing all of it.
Just now, I've written about 4 different posts, and ended up erasing them before I'm even half way through.
MommaC says I have writers block, but that's not quite right, I don't think. 
I think I'm just nervous, because the entire world could potentially see this, but then again it's not even that, not really.
Because I think that I'd rather a thousand strangers see these posts than 5 people I actually know, especially not my teacher. 
It's not that I'm posting awful things on here, like hate posts or anything, but when a stranger passes judgment, it doesn't count- unless you let it count. When your teacher passes judgment on you, now that counts. 

 It effects everything, once your teacher thinks something of you it will effect every single moment you are with that teacher, and it will effect how they treat you.
I see it every day, a student doing almost no work get's looks and prods to do something, anything. But you see the teachers eyes, you know that they're thinking "why even waste my time, this kid obviously has no intention of working." and with that the thought goes through their head: this student is lazy. 
This assessment may very well be true, but as many times as my teacher will say "no judgment!" we all know, he's already made it. 
Don't get me wrong, my teacher is an amazing dude and you can tell he actually likes teaching, unlike some teachers.
But I can't write freely with someone peeking over my shoulder passing- well hidden, but still obvious- judgments.

I just recently read A Thousand Splendid Suns and I absolutely adored it! 
There are so many good things about this book,  other than having  wonderful writing style and beautiful imagery is that it is an enlightening book.
This book honestly opened my eyes to so many issues which I had previously been unaware of.
This whole book focuses around the stories of two afghan women throughout the course of their lives.  It details the struggles of their lives, and of the lives of other women beginning in the 1950's; detailing arranged marriage, abuse, the Taliban,  dictators, the Soviet and American invasions etc.
It is an amazing book, and amazingly written, I highly recommend picking it up at a book store or your public library.