It's A Juggling Act.

This week is a very short week.

With winter games and teacher convention, tomorrow will be my last day of school until Monday next week. Teachers are giving a lot of homework and such, but I'm finally starting to get settled into a new routine in school. I have taken on a grade eleven honors biology class this semester, and I defiantly have my work cut out for me.

Because I've been spending so much time getting used to my new routine at school, my schedule at home, after school, has really done a bit of a flip-flop. Between homework, my daily training, helping out with the house to get it ready for sale, etc. I haven't been going to bed at the same time that I usually do. So that's been really tough.

My strategy skills have really been put to the test these past few days. I have different alarms set on my phone to remind me when to drop and do push ups, sit-ups and squats; and when to bang out a repetition of a form or two. I've never really planned like this before and I'm struggling with it. My mind doesn't process this way, but I've been slowly training it to start. I'm getting there... but it's defiantly a process.

Everything else has stayed content though.

I get to make T-shirts in my Com-Tec class next week =)

Book 1 out of 5 : To Kill A Mocking Bird

One of my personal requirements for the UBBT was to read 5 books that have an impact on me and to tell a little something about each book on my blog. Reading books for me is easy; I read a lot of books. Each book impacts me in a way, but when I made this requirement, I wanted to make it clear that I would be picking books that I know will make an impact on me before I read them.

My mom ordered this book for me through the Scholastic book order when I was in grade 7. I think her exact words were "I want you to read this. It's a good book." Needless to say, the book sat on my shelf for 3 years untouched, just another dust collector. I didn't pick it up until we did it for a novel study in my English Honours class a couple months ago. But, the novel study was really rushed and still, I didn't get a lot out of it. It wasn't until I recently picked it up and read it cover to cover in about 4 days that I realized the huge impact it had on me.

First of all,
I loved the way this book was written through the eyes of a child. Out of the many books that I have read that shared this perspective, Harper Lee did an extremely good job of bringing out the innocence of a child towards the events in this book, but she also balanced in the more pressing issues that were talked about in a more adult tone.

Second,
Harper Lee teaches her audience about the issues that were faced towards racial intolerance and prejudice in the "Old South." But she also throws in many small, rich lessons in the mix. My favorite part of the book was the Tom Robinson trial. Although it was extremely dark, it definitely brought out the ugliness of racism. This is one of the few books that I have read that have not "turned a blind eye" towards how extreme racism used to be, and unfortunately in some cases, still is.

Lee also shows us the quick and judgemental nature of humans by using the character Boo Radley. We see how easy it is to misjudge and label people because they are different then us. I know that I have done it even though I know that it is wrong, and I'm sure that a lot of others have done it as well. In the book, we see how the impact and the actions of adults rub off on their children. All of the kids are afraid of him because he is different from them. Is it fair that we still do this everyday as a society? No, of course it isn't, and sometimes it isn't something that we can help. We've been doing it ever since we've been in preschool. We just don't see the impact that it has on others.

I loved this book, and it is one that I will for sure be reading again and again because I know that each time that I read it, I will get something new out of it.
One last thing that this book taught me was that you should keep reading a book, even though you don't understand the first chapter... You might miss out on something amazing if you don't =)

(The quote below is important to me because it was the part of the book that made my cry... Yes... I'm a sap for these things...

"When I pointed to him his palms slipped slightly, leaving greasy sweat
streaks on the wall, and he hooked his thumbs in his belt. A strange small
spasm shook him, as if he heard fingernails scrape slate, but as I gazed at
him in wonder the tension slowly drained from his face. His lips parted into
a timid smile, and our neighbor’s image blurred with my sudden tears.
“Hey, Boo,” I said."

A Change In Me.

Chinese New Year is tomorrow, which means the official start of this year's new I Ho Chaun program, and I would like to publicly post all of my requirements for everyone to see.

Set Requirements

- No Quitting

- 50, 000 Pushups and Situps

- Master Two Forms With A Minimum of 1000 Repetitions

- Log 1000 Rounds Of Sparring

- 1609 Kilometers of Running/Walking/Biking/Rollerblading or Equivalent

- Record 1000 Acts Of Kindness

- Mend A Relationship

- Journal Once A Week

- Qualify and Perform In At Least Three Public Performances.

- Learn To Lion Dance

- Compete In The Tiger Challenge

- Excel In Your Core Class Curriculum

- Memorize Mastery By Stuart Emery

Personal Requirements

- 1000 Repetitions Of Tai Chi

- 12,000 Squats

- Minimum Of 10 Minutes Of Stretching When I Wake Up, And Before I Go To Bed Every Day.

- Start A Photography Portfolio. Either Online, Or In A Folder With The Following Categories:

- Portrait

- Animals

- Landscape

- People

- Nature

- Miscellaneous

- Sports and Motion

- Receive An Overall Average Of Over 80% In My Core Subjects (the ones I need to graduate)

- Math

- Science

- Social

- English

- Religion

- C.A.L.M

- Read 5 Books That Have A Personal Impact On Me. Document And Journal About How, And Why.

- Create A Career Profile.

- Play THe Piano For At Least 1 Hour A Week

- Obtain My Drivers License

- Keep A Private Prayer Journal. To Be Written In Once A Week

My overall goal throughout all of this is that I see a change in myself spiritually, mentally, and physically.I'm really excited for this year, and I'm hoping for a year of success for everyone that is in the I Ho Chaun this year.

Time.

Happy New Years everyone! :-)

I'm extremely excited for this year, as there are so many exciting things going on for me.

I'm proud to be a part of this years UBBT team, I have been preparing for this for awhile and I am hoping for a very successful year for all of the participants.

My family is going to be preparing our house to put it up for sale; for we will be moving into our new house around the beginning of June!

In March, we are going on a trip to Disneyland with some friends that have never been before. I was pretty little the last time we went, and I can't remember bits and pieces of the trip, so I am really excited to be going again soon!

I am sending off my application to volunteer at the Stony Plain hospital. It is my dream to attend medical school, and even though it is still really early, I want to start exploring some of the medical fields, and begin to see what I would be interested in.

I have two wedding this summer, one of which is in BC. So I am also very excited to be going to those :)

I've got a busy year ahead of me, and with this in mind, I would like to share an entry out of my creative writing journal with everyone. I think that it really fits with this year, and it reminds me to always stay focused and in the moment while the small things fly on by...

Time

Take your time. Cherish the moment.

When we're young, we look forewords to so many milestones. Graduation, experiencing the real world, university, a job, and for some of us: marriage, kids, and grandchildren. We want them to come as quickly as possible so that we may move onto the next.

Sometimes, we have trouble staying in the moment; taking time to en grain this very second into our heads, so that we may remember it for a lifetime. We know that we'll always remember those big moments, because they're all we've ever looked forewords to. We become unfocused on the small things, which are just as important as the big things.

We need to become aware of our surroundings. We need to remain in the now and not in the past, or the future. The past is over, and we have no way of knowing the future, but we have control over what is happening right now.

Because when all these big milestones have passed us by, we're going to wish that we could remember the small things. Because when there's nothing left for us to look forewords to, we're going to with that we had more to look back on.

When You Think About Seuss...

Its going to be a really hectic week. I've literally got 35 hours worth of play practice for our upcoming production of "seussical the musical". Its crazy because I've been doing a lot of catch up for parts I've missed because of kungfu, appointments, etc.  But, its been really crazily fun :)

I recommend that when tickets come on sale, you should come check it out :) especially if you have kids. Its going to hopefully be a huge success, for we have some really talented actors, singers, and dancers on the cast this year.  We're all really excited!

That's all for now.

Goodnight!

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Busy Busy Busy

Everything has been so busy lately. I haven't blogged in a really long time, but here's an update on everything....

School:

Really busy. I've been struggling to keep my marks up.  We just finished our physics unit in science with two tests in the past couple weeks.  A quiz and a physics final. To my surprise I pulled off a 97% on my quiz and an 85% on my unit final. I was pretty excited about that.  And in english I got my first big essay that I wrote a few weeks back as a Shakespear final project. I pulled a 96% on that. One of the highest marks in my class :) I was pretty excited about that too. I really need to get my marks up for the career path that I want to take past high school... I need really high marks if I want to get into med school...

Extra Curricular:

I am currently involved in the making-of our schools production of "seussical the musical." Its been super busy. Dance rehersals, scene blocking, music rehersals... whewh.  Oh, and I got the roll of makeup-director... and I have to have all my designes, tutorials for each person involved in the play, and the makeup for each character bought by January 13... that gives me... 2 full weeks (school days)... this should be interesting....

Kung fu:

Its been pretty crazy. I've been working pretty hard at trying to develope a concrete demo for my class for the black belt promotion ceremony, and it seems to be going pretty well so far!  I've also ben trying (and struggling) to get all of my personal requirements finalized for the I Ho Chaun class starting in January. Where has our year gone...?

Other stuff:

I love my family, and my dog&lizard.  We're in lock-up out at the acreage. We're hoping to move in aroung June... that's pretty exciting.

Well that's all for now...

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