It's a Party!

You guys know Violetta, right? My best friend. If not, I'd like you to introduce you to her prim and proper self. Her birthday was on Thursday, and I tried to make it as unforgettable as possible. The night prior, I stayed up until midnight to finish baking all the treats she'd need. I made her some goat cheese and sun-dried tomato tarts because she had wanted to try those for a while now, and I made her a chocolate cake. Luckily, both turned out great and she got to eat them up. That was the lame part.
I came to school extra early that morning to duct tape her locker shut, so that she couldn't get into it. I mean, you can't blame me. Last year, I smashed a cream pie on her her face for he birthday, and this year, I was faced with the task of topping that?! It was hard and I'm not sure I managed, but I did try. Duct taping the locker was first; overtop, I put a rainbow coloured poem I had written for her. For presents, I got her a printed copy of my best blog posts about her. A whole twenty-thousand words - who wouldn't be happy? Alone, duct-taping a locker wouldn't be enough.
Obviously, it wouldn't have been a party without champagne! Since we aren't old enough to legally buy champagne, we got the next best thing - sparkling juice! After using it the way a champagne bottle is meant to be used and sprinkling her fancy dress with pink, artificial colours, she was understandably upset. I rushed to the rescue and spent the next half hour utilizing my laundry skills to eliminate the stains. With hand soap and water, her dress was clean in a flash. Sure, she did have to spend thirty minutes sitting in the girl's change room in her underwear, but I'm sure she'd agree that it was worth it! Okay, sure, she also did have to go home in a stupid looking combination of short P.E. shorts and a puffy jacket because the dress was too wet to wear, but still, at least it was clean.
After I finished my last class, (my friend and the boy who played accomplice to the boy who nearly destroyed her dress skipped their two classes after lunch) I met up with her. First, we had a nice chat about astrology with another girl. Then, after my friend was thoroughly confused, we went to a fancy, French bakery. We sampled macarons and talked about my dandy talents as a chef.
As it started to rain, we agreed that the celebrations were not to end today. We were to continue them at a restaurant of her choosing at a later date with some of our friends. (Due to her inability to choose, I should probably say "a restaurant of my choosing") There, I would give her the rest of her gifts and, more importantly, the rest of her memories.
Happy Birthday, Violetta! All the best for this year and for the many more to come!

The Manliest Man

This week felt faster than the ones prior. It felt normally paced. I finished all of my homework and prepared for everything, making me feel really good about myself. Academics aside, this week was lacking in the social aspect - that is, until today. Up until today, I had spent most of my lunches in a hectic array of studying and eating. It wasn't nice.
Three days ago, my best friend called me to pass on a message. "[Insert name here] sent me a really creepy message telling me to tell you to not skip school on Friday" she said. "Uhh… Cool, thanks for passing it on, I guess." was my response. Then, only after we had put down our phones, did it hit me! My friend from last year was coming into town for the weekend! To confirm, I asked around and learned, to my delight,  that it was true! I forced myself to complete all my homework for that day, so that I could spend the entire day in a free and relaxed state. When the day finally dawned, I was giddy. I packed my bag and headed out the door! Nothing could keep me down, not my alarm clock, not the weather, not even missing my bus.
Upon arrival to school, I found the my visiting friend's best friend and interrogated him about the whereabouts of the visitor. He didn't know, nor could he manage to get a hold of him, but assured me that he would be coming at some point during the day. That was okay. Second block proved fruitless, and at lunch, my hopes of seeing my friend were quickly fading and diminishing.
When lunch passed, I had realized that he wasn't going to show. When third and fourth blocks ended, that seemed to be the end of that. That is, until I saw his best friend yelling on the phone. My eyes widened and a mixture of joy and adrenaline flooded my veins. I ran closer to the boy on the phone and heard "I can't see you! Which exit are you at?" At that point, I was ecstatic, and as the boy on the phone followed the directions he was receiving, I followed him. Out the door, into the rain and straight into the arms of my friend. If I remember correctly, I even screeched out the boy's name. It was so nice.
When the boy walked into the school with me and his best friend, he was greeted by more screams and exclamations of adoration. After greeting everybody, we decided to go the the cafe near our school. After that, we raided a playground near the school; taking some pictures in the meantime. We went back to the cafe afterwards, at which point I had to leave. At the suggestion of my fabulous girlfriend, some the kids wanted to go to my building on the other side of town to sit atop of my roof. After some angry exhales from myself, and after the majority realized that I do live 50 minutes away, they changed their minds. I went home with my girlfriend, who was equally as happy to have seen our friend. And even suggested to maybe meet up again today, as he is only here for 3 days. We'll see how everything plays out, but for now, I can reminisce on that great day. And I can permanently remember who the manliest of the men truly is.

3 October, 2014

Can you see the non-grade 8 impostors? I mean you, Violetta and Lyly!

This week has been awkward. I still feel like school hasn't totally started, for it's only been a few days, yet I've been getting as much homework as I usually get mid-year. It's sad. Due to the strike, they've made everything so short; everything is crammed. This week alone, I already had three quizzes! That is unheard of for the second week of school! Regardless, it hasn't been all bad. I've had classes filled with opportunities for catching up and learning. Those classes, where the teacher decides to let you do whatever you want because they don't have a plan - those are the best!

I've met new people and things are looking up. Between the copious amounts of homework and lattés, I managed to squeeze in this beautiful photograph. It contains a group of obnoxious, rowdy and annoying grade 8s from my school, who ever so gracefully decided that they could infiltrate the part of the school where my grade 11 friends and I hang out.

Today, between the promiscuity, these grade 8s took about a thousand selfies on snapchat. I disregarded them, but my friend could not. He has already previously remarked that the grade eight girls look mostly like "Kim Kardashian", and today, he brought it to my attention that there were tens of thousands of pictures being taken, he was quite obviously annoyed; I was not. I saw the opportunity as ideal for joining in on the fun and taking a photo with them. I did this purely out of fun; in no way was I trying to undermine their intelligence or make fun of them. Aren't we cute?

It's been an ultra slow week. Class periods feel like days, days feel like weeks and this week  feels like an eternity. It may be because I have fallen completely out of rhythm with school over the break, but then again, it may not be. I just want to go home and rest; I'm already bored and tired. I feel like winter break is already overdue, and it's not just me! It seems that I am in for one snail-paced school year: I can't wait!

23 September, 2014

The first day of back to school is always a weird one. You're happy to finally be seeing all your friends again, but at the same time, you wish that you could stay in the whirlwind of absolute freedom that comes with summer break. My complaining isn't really justified. See, due to the 5-week-long teacher's strike, our break was more than enough time (I was actually starting to get bored). It's nice. Apart from the fact that I have to wake up at 7:00am, I get to enjoy the perks of school. Good people, fun times, frozen yogurt and Strawberry Tea Lattes. Today was no exception. Hugs were exchanged, along with stories of the summer. People were met, some of whom were cool and some of whom were, well, less than that. Due to all the condensing of the yearly schedule, today was also picture day. Picture day for not only our student IDs, but for ourselves as well. 

We exchange schedules to see what classes we have together, we throw around jokes as the sky throws around drops of water - things are back to normal. I am back at school.

This is one of those fabulous pictures that we took from today. It pictures some people who I truly missed during the summer, and who are sure to show up in a few pictures henceforth. I particularly like how, along with the camera-shy person, I am the only one looking into the camera. I feel that it gives the picture an old feel, you know? All those black and white photos that have the emotionless faces staring into the nothingness, ring any bells? I like that it illustrates how easily distracted we all are. Grade 11 is an important year; it counts towards university admissions. Looks like we're on the path to success!

Prelude

I had always wished that I could somehow document the going-ons in my daily life. Banal little adolescent things. The presents your friends give you for your birthday, the lunchtime chats about your peers, the feeling you get after completing a test, etc.. A scrapbook was actually the perfect option, but I was always too lazy to cut and paste and design and craft. 

A year ago, my English teacher asked that everyone in her class open a blog. They could write about whatever they wanted, and she would give them extra marks. I decided to do what I was good at. Using my debating skills, I would write critiques about politics and society. I love it - judging people. That's what I did, and that's how I got marks. It was so much fun that it made wish that there was something more to post about - something apart from my 2000-word political grievances. I observed certain happenings at school; little things that made an impact. The impromptu dances at lunch, the gossip, the chats; they were all prominent, they were all inspiring. I realized that I could finally make my wish of a low-effort scrapbook come true. Using technology, I could snap a photo, scribble up a paragraph and post it in an instant; preserving the moment and the memory.Once upon a time, I opened a website here on Weebly. It was the first site/blog I had ever opened. It was for a class project about feminism. A boy in my class had used Weebly in his project and I liked his idea, so I copied him. If you feel so inclined as to check out this grade 6 endeavour of mine, you can do so at this URL: http://nat-feminism.weebly.comWhen I started high school in grade 8, I was put in a gifted program. As part of this program, I was asked to discover a passion of mine and uniquely document my progress in this passion. I had no idea what my passion was (I hadn't uncovered debate yet) so I decided to open another site as part of the documentation process. My so-called passion was photography. Don't get me wrong, I like photography. I wouldn't be opening a blog that is based in part on photography if I didn't like it; it's just not my passion. So my site, which was dedicated to reviewing the arts, has suffered of lack of posting. Literally, I haven't done anything to it in two years. But of course, you are welcome to check it out here: http://reviewthearts.weebly.comI opened a blog or two afterwards. One was meant to be for cooking, the other for mentoring people in debate, but those two never got the love and attention that they deserved, and were thus never published. Then came my labour of love; the blog which started as a way to earn marks, but quickly developed into a passionate affair. I opened it on blogspot, at the request of my teacher. (Weebly's templates are a lot nicer, though) My political soapbox, my social judgement temple, my critical blog! I post a lot on it. Anything that I observe that inspires me, that annoys me; it's all on my blog. I've complained about everything and everyone on that blog. I've even discovered my passion - you guessed it, complaining. I would love for you to check out this blog, which is my main love in life. The posts are long, but informative. The URL is http://natsuhill.blogspot.comObviously, this blog is going to take a backseat to my critical one. The critical one is, and always will be, my baby. I want to have a virtual scrapbook, where I can turn when the years go by and laugh. I'm opening this one to make memories for myself and my friends, to share some shared moments with people who are close to me. I am going to enjoy my senior years in high school and I am going to document every bit of them. I'll try and post here at least on a weekly basis; at least, that's what I intend to do. I hope you enjoy reading and looking at my artsy endeavour of pictures and paragraphs!