RIP Jack Layton

Who was Jack Layton?  Was he simply a politician, or the Leader of the Official Opposition of Canada?  Was he just another unfortunate individual who lost his life to cancer?  By now, everyone should know the answer.  No, he was not only that.  Jack Layton was much, much more:  A charismatic, caring individual who had the skill to bring people together (such an open, friendly personality is rare in the world of politics), and a true Canadian.

On August 21st, we all lost a great friend.  I remember first reading about his untimely death.  Truly shocked and devastated, I couldn't believe my eyes.  "Surely, this couldn't have happened," I thought.  But as I read through his last words to Canadians, reality sunk in.

"My friends, love is better than anger.  Hope is better than fear.  Optimism is better than despair.  So let us be loving, hopeful, and optimistic, and we shall change the world."  - Jack Layton

But how could we not be angry and miserable that such a fine Canadian had died so suddenly?  I tried not to cry, remembering the late politician's words.  But that night, I did.  Watching the news coverage with my mom, tears flowed down my face and I cried.

I am a supporter of the NDP, and I know that the party couldn't have done so well without all of Layton's contributions.  I was sincerely touched by his speech after the NDP stomped the Liberals in the federal election this year.  I thought, "This man is amazing.  He is able to touch the hearts of so many so easily.  Next election, the NDP will win for sure under Jack's hand."

When I received an update from the NDP on my email stating that Mr. Layton had to step down for a while to undergo more treatment for a second cancer, I wasn't too worried.  I was positive that Layton would be successful in his battle against the deadly disease.  "He's so ambitious, kind, and courageous," I told myself.  "Karma will help him, if not anyone."

...

Layton's death truly happened far too soon and too suddenly.  How fast time flies; Tomorrow is already his (state) funeral.  He will be hailed - deservingly - as a hero; The CN tower will be lit up bright orange in his memory and Canadians from far and wide will be mourning for him.  And so will I.

I pray for the health and welfare of Layton's family.  I express my condolences.  I hope that one day, we will find the cure for all cancers so that similar tragedies will not continue to happen.

Go NDP.

RIP Jack Layton.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

My First Fanfiction (>_<)

Only continue reading if you are a Naruto fan.

Just for fun, I've began a SasuSaku fanfiction.  =P  Please read and review!  I will be updating it as soon as I can!

Darkness and Light

Mametchi Ievan Polkka Animation

I do crazy things in my spare time, and this is one of them:



Watch it live on Youtube for more information about it.  Isn't it cute?  ^_^

Copyrighted to me.  DO NOT STEAL.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

1 Month Facebook Challenge: Results

At the beginning of the month, I decided to challenge myself to join Facebook.  It was a hard decision for me to make, for I am generally against the social networking site known to all as FB.  Why?  Well, if you ever heard my speech that won this year's District Speech Meet, it encourages cyberbullying, wastes time, and gives the illusion of socializing.  Blah blah blah.

But then I asked myself, "Then why?  If it is known to the public that Facebook isn't as great as it seems to be, why is it still so popular?  Why does everyone still go on it anyways?"  So I decided to see for myself.  (cue dramatic music track)

On July 1st, 2011, I created a Facebook account.  I added a few of my friends and classmates, and observed how they interacted with each other and how they interacted with me.

Twenty days later, I decided I would quit on the 31st.  I, who was hoping to see another side of Facebook, was disappointed.

I suppose the main reason why I was displeased with FB was the simple fact that EVERYONE sounded the exact SAME on it.  Truly!  Everyone typed with the same tone and used the same text-talk that is so common in our everyday lives.  The individuality I loved so much in all the people I knew was lost.

Now in real life, face-to-face conversations, it's easy to tell that everybody's personalities are different.  People react differently to remarks, use different body language, and say remarkably different things.  But on FB, I believe there are only two separate "personality" groups:  The Ones Who Type With Proper Grammar, and The Ones Who Do Not.  Honestly.  On Facebook, you can't get too detailed with your intonation, unless you did something like this:

(I'm smiling really wide when I say this, and my eyes are also opened really wide)  Oh, (pause) congratulations!  (I put an emphasis especially on the second syllable)  I never (hand gesture here:  my hands are in front of my face) knew you would make it!  (I say this sarcastically but my tone is friendly)

And that's not even enough.  :(  ikr yeah

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

 

Pledge to Increased Blog Activity

Dear probably non-existent readers,
As you may already know...My name is Vicky.  //Captain Obvious//  I have been blogging for approximately two years now. 

I used to be an extremely active blogger, posting every week and being awesome like that, but recently, I suppose I have let myself become rather lazy.  //wipes a tear away//

Today, I shall pledge to all of you that I will be more active from now on.  Furthermore, from this day forth, I shall be following my own Blogger's Code of Honour (based on the Knight's Code of Chivalry used in medieval times.  Social Studies does have its uses.

Blogger's Code of Honour:


To fear not Haters and maintain Peace on the Net
To serve the Blogger lord in valour and faith
To protect the weak and the n00bish
To give succour to commentors and readers
To refrain from the wanton giving of lulz
To live by honour and for awesomeness
To despise trolls and their subordinates
To fight for the clear minds of all who love this blog
To obey this pledge
To guard the honour of fellow bloggers
To eschew viruses, HTML glitches and internet scams
To keep faith that blogs > social networking websites
At all times to speak the truth (yet understand that online, truth exists not)
To persevere to the end in any blog begun
To respect the honour of the Internet
Never to refuse a negative comment as long as it's constructive
Never to turn the back upon a spam bot

---

See ya guys around.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Student Council Elections

These past two-to-three weeks, I have been rather busy campaigning for the student council elections that are currently happening at our school.  Yesterday was Election Day...And tomorrow, we will know which two candidates will become our new grade representatives.

It's funny, really.  It's really quite funny. 

Ah, how do I put it?  It's actually pretty hard to express how I feel right now in words.  But I suppose the closest adjectives I could use would be "disappointed" and "confused".  I'm disappointed that the whole election had been simply a huge popularity contest, and I'm confused about why people didn't take it seriously at all.

From the start of this, people have been campaigning.  Yet, barely anyone went beyond "vote for me; c'mon, you're my friend, right?"  People have put posters up.  Yet, based on an account from a girl in the grade higher than us, posters have been ripped off too, by unfeeling opponents.  And people have been trying their very hardest to show their grade-mates that they are suited to the position they are running for.  And yet, most of us are oblivious to the slandering that has been going on as well.  The trash-talk, the "oh, don't vote for ..." conversations that travel from person to person, the Facebook bullying. 

Yesterday, we did our candidate speeches.  The difference in the amount of applause for each candidate was laughable.  Some people got huge ovations from the audience; some people barely got any.  And the thing was, the amount of cheering wasn't based on how good the speeches were.  The ones who clearly were in favour of the audience were the ones who were...well, "more popular".

I'd like to quote a conversation I heard after our presentations:

Person A:  Who do you think is going to win?
Person B:  Oh, x and y.
Person A:  Why?  Were their speeches good?
Person B:  Well, there were people with better speeches, but they're still going to win.
Person A:  ...?
Person B:  Yeah, since they're really popular.

Not, "they're going to win since they're reliable, and mature", not "they're going to win because their speeches were powerful and captivating", and not "they're going to win because they stand up for what they believe in and would make excellent representatives".  Interesting, don't you think?

Today, a friend of mine told me that people were telling him that no one was voting for Vicky.  He wasn't the first one to inform me.  Then, this other girl told me that I shouldn't have made my speech so "serious".  She said that we, as grade x's, don't care about such things and that I should've made my speech funny instead.  But, reading over my speech again, I realized that no, I wasn't serious anyhow, unless telling people to vote for someone truly commited and responsible is being "serious".  And wait, isn't being serious better than being indifferent to the position's duties?  Huh.

And I could go on forever, you know, but you'd probably fall asleep.  So I'll stop now by saying that I know I won't win this, and I'm not saying that I absolutely should win this.  I'm just saying that popularity seems to play more of a factor in s.c. elections than does devotion and commitment.  Oh well.

I'll see tomorrow whether people actually know the difference between someone who would actually qualify as a potentially amazing rep and someone who's just there for show.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, everyone.  Go shower your moms with love and kisses!  :D

Here's a poem I wrote for my mother:

In a beautiful town in the big wide world,
There lived a lovely mom.
Who shined brighter than any star above,
And was sweeter than any song.

She was so kind, she was so gentle,
She always had a smile on her face.
And whenever I felt depressed or blue,
She’d lock me in a warm embrace.

My mom was always there for me,
Giving me faith and hope.
Her love gave me wisdom and happiness,
Helping me grow and grow.

Every day she’d be right there,
Supporting me by my side.
And when I’d fall, she’d lift me up,
“Don’t worry,” she’d reply.

And when spring came, and all was fine,
We’d share laughs and games galore.
My mom made everything feel alright,
Every day, I loved her more.

So today, on this very fine Mother’s Day,
I wish you health and peace.
And remember that, no matter what,
My love for you will never cease.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Amusing Anecdote #1

So I was in class one day when I noticed that the two people sitting around me were texting (!!!).  We were supposed to be doing our worksheets, but those two just kept on playing with their phones.  I ignored them at first, and did what I was assigned to do.

After finishing my work, I glanced surreptitiously at the girl to my left.  She had received a new text message on her BlackBerry from the girl sitting to HER left:

"haiiiiiiii what r u doing???????"

She giggled and texted back,

"im txting u"

I believe she also typed a few "lololololol"s but I'm not sure.

Her friend replied,

"hahahaha class is so boring"

The thing that puzzled me was that those girls were sitting right NEXT to each other and the teacher didn't say we couldn't talk.  In fact, there were people conversing around the classroom.  But instead, these two decided to Number 1, risk having the teacher catch them with their phones, and Number 2, waste money because texting usually isn't free.

...

The world just doesn't make sense nowadays.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

My Best GIMP Creation Yet

This is most definitely my best GIMP creation up to date:

Please do not steal.  Thank you.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Commenting on 2011's Canadian Federal Election Debate

(Background knowledge:  I live in Beaver-Land Canada, and we're going to be having a federal election in May.  Currently, all the parties are campaigning and attack ads are being broadcasted everywhere.  The latest one labeled our current prime minister Mr. Harper as a facebook stalker.  Haha, nice one, Liberals.  <_<)

Today, I sat down and watched two hours of pure win, also known as 2011's Canadian Federal Election Debate.  Four leaders from four great political parties in Canada got together and debated about some topics, and I found the debate rather interesting to watch, even though I must say that not letting Elizabeth May debate was an incredibly undemocratic act.  >:(  Maybe that's why the other leaders didn't debate about the environment too much...

Stephen Harper sure got ripped on a whole lot.  All the other party leaders were hating on him really bad.  Like, even when the other leaders were having their own one-on-one six minute debate, they were still commenting on how terrible and deficient Mr. Harper's government was.  Iggy (Mr. Ignatieff's hilarious nickname) kept on saying how Mr. Harper never told the truth and how he didn't trust Canadians enough.  He said that Mr. Harper didn't deserve a majority government, nor did he deserve a minority government.  That was very effective.  Yeah, he said a bunch of really good points, but I found that he repeated a lot of them over and over again throughout especially the first part of the debate.

To me, Mr. Duceppe just sounded like he was yelling some bizarre nonsense. I could barely understand him because of his obvious Quebec-French accent.  (Oui, j'adore le français, mais je ne pouvais pas comprendre Monsieur Duceppe parce que le fait qu'il est quebecois.)  But I knew he was criticizing Harper, talking about what he used to say and promise and how he had "changed".  For some reason, a lot of the party leaders were talking about how their colleagues "used to be" and how much they liked the "old them" better than who they were like right now.

Mr. Harper, whom I recognize by his ever-famous blue sweatervest, did a okay job.  He spent most of the time trying to make himself look better after his colleagues completely made him look like a fool.  He defended himself pretty well, I guess, but still.  Meh.
Since I LOVE NDP and Jack Layton, I saved him for last.  Probably due to my bias, I think Mr. Layton did a fantastic job.  Realistically, he did pretty well too.  I believe that he'll be able to steal a few more votes after an impressive performance in the debate.

One moment in the debate made me cringe a tiny bit.  I can't believe Mr. Michael Ignatieff actually told Mr. Layton, "Your party will always be the opposition!"  In other words, "you can't win and you'll never win".  Furthermore, Ignatieff called Layton by his first name a few times during the debate.  Dude, show some respect.  <_<
Another thing that left me feeling a tad annoyed was that Layton and Duceppe didn't get too much attention.  Yes, they aren't the leading parties, and their chances of winning are close to zero, but can't Harper and Ignatieff treat them as if they had an equal chance in this election?  I mean, barely anyone bothered to put their effort into debating against the NDP or the Bloc.  Like I said before, everyone was just rippin' on Harper.  And Ignatieff too, eventually.  Then again, Harper was ripping on him a long time before the debate.  (Type in ignatieff attack ads in youtube search to see what I mean).

Now, on a less serious note, I loved all their neckties.  I think Ignatieff's red tie was a good choice.  Layton's tie was great too, because, well, he's Layton.  And they all had really nice suits.  *nods*

You know who I'm going to get my parents to vote for?  You guessed it:  The New Democrats.

To all you Canadians out there who read my blog:  Please vote on May 2nd, 2011.  Your vote will make a difference, and remember, you have no right to complain about your government if you didn't even participate in the voting process.  Also, please give NDP a vote.  They value Canadian families.  They will create more jobs for Canadian citizens.  Furthermore, they will support health care which will benefit all of us.  And their leader is an amazing, charismatic person.  Go to their official website for more information about their party.  GO NDP!

And GO CANADA!

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Having a good memory does NOT mean you're a stalker.

I am blessed with a great memory capacity.  I can remember a lot of things, and I don't tend to forget information.  Even the littlest things stay with me for a very long time.

Having a good memory has its benefits.  For example, studying for tests doesn't take too much effort for me, and I can remember the names of everyone I meet.

But for some strange reason, people sometimes think I'm a stalker, since I have information about people, etc, that seem odd for me to have.  But I'm not a stalker.  People just don't remember telling me things about themselves and I can remember almost everything other people say.  One time, a friend of mine was explaining her school schedule to me.  A week later, I was talking to her again, and she said, "Gee, I forgot what my second period was for the next semester."  I looked at her curiously and replied, "You have Science."

The thing was, she stared at me as if I were crazy.  "Wow, Vicky...That's creepy...How do you know that?"  I told her about our conversation that happened a week before, but she didn't recall it at all.  0_0

Furthermore, do you guys think that knowing everyone's last name makes you a stalker?  Well, that's me, and the only reason I do know everyone's last name is through marking my classmates' papers and by hearing the attendance list every morning.  I don't remember these things purposely, but...I just do.

But honestly, I don't understand why having a good memory means you're a stalker.  It's not like I go search people up on Google or anything like that (I have a friend who actually does this, BTW).  I just hear something or see something, and it stays in my head.  Because unlike most people, I catch onto the little things too.  See?  Nothing extraordinary.

So if you feel like somebody in your life seems to be an "information stalker", stop and think.  Are you sure you didn't let something slip when talking to this person?  Because, 9/10 chances you did.  And I know this from experience.  Also, everyone should always try to remember everything that comes at them, or at least as much as they can remember.  Because who knows when those tiny pieces of info will come in handy?

Cheers.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

New Design!

Who likes it?  :D  It's a simple yet effective design, IMO.

(Confession:  I had to edit it multiple times before I finally got it right.  I'm not too good with Blogger.  I'm better at editting Invisionfree skins.)

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Two New GIMP Drawings

I love GIMP.  I just do.

Drawing #1:

Drawing #2:

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Technology Overwhelms Me Greatly

I am sad to say that I am definitely not caught up with modern day technology.  It's terrible!  I feel horrifically overwhelmed by all the new electronic devices on the market.  And it amazes me how these devices get updated.  Take the cellphone, for example:

So first, there was no cellphone.  There was only, well, the telephone.  But *gasp*, it had a cord.  Years later, *gasp* they took the cord away.  Suddenly, people no longer had to stay in one place while chatting.  Furthermore, there were less and less bruises on people's knees.  Like they say, you can't trip over a cordless phone.  Then, they added caller ID.  Now, you KNOW who's calling you.  There isn't the need to pick up the phone and ask, "Who is this?"  Now, you just KNOW.  *scary thoughts*

But then the industries thought, why not make an even smaller phone that could be used anywhere?  The cellphone was invented.  Our family has one of those really old cellphones with only black pixels and no WiFi.  I'm so glad we don't use that one anymore.  Now we have a full colour one with internet and pretty ringtones.  I thought that was pretty good already.  Mais un jour...J'ai découvert le iPhone.

What the heck?  There are TOUCH SCREEN phones now?  Where you can download APS?  And these "smartphones" are so smart that they can do almost anything?  Oh, wow.

Then I thought, "at least my laptop's pretty modern."  So I go online to YahooNews and in my face, I see a news headline about the iPad.  When did they invent touch screen laptops?  And they're so thin, it's creepy.  My friend has one of these things, and I was so surprised when the screen rotated when I accidentally turned it upside down.  Now, they have a new version of it.  I do NOT want to see what it can do.

Contact lenses are getting pretty cool lately as well.  Supposedly, there are these things you wear at night, and then in the morning, when you take them off, everything will be clear.  I believe they're dubbed "night contacts".

Not to mention 3D TV.  And TV glasses.  And cars that can parallel park for you.

...

My head hurts.  I need an aspirin.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Spring Break

So it's Spring Break now...You know, those two weeks when you don't have to go to school.  Your teachers get to take a break, and so do you.  It's the time when you can relax, have a sip of coffee (kids aren't supposed to drink caffeine; I don't, but a lot of people do), and just do whatever.  In some people's case, that usually involves playing violent video games.  <_<

Most people are like, "WOOHOO Spring Break!"  They start counting down to the wonderful last day of school and they start making a huge ruckus out of it.  School administrators must get so many headaches from those screaming students.  They must be counting down each year as well.

And now it's here.  Spring Break has begun.  But somehow, I feel so lonely.  T_T  My friends and classmates are all on vacation, and I have nowhere to go.  I'm at home with my spring break homework and my laptop.

Although it's a solitary time, I can feel that Spring is coming.  Suddenly, the weather seems nicer and the sun is beginning to shine again.  The clouds have moved away and new life has come.  Our tulips are growing and our grass is becoming greener (maybe just from the moss and the weeds, but whatever).  Spring Break is a beautiful thing.

I hope you guys all have a great break.  Have some fun and stretch your legs.  Believe me, the two weeks will go by super fast, so do all you can to make them memorable.  Hang out with the friends you can find, go out someplace, read some good books (the books teachers give you to read over the break are actually pretty interesting, by the way), and admire the wonders of nature.

And while you're at it, could I borrow some moss remover for our lawn?

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

I won the District Speech Meet!

On Thursday, March 3rd, Year 2011...A miraculous thing happened.  Something so amazing and awe-inspiring that it can barely be expressed in words.  I had done something beautiful...Ever so uniquely beautiful.  I had won the District Speech Meet for our grade.

The District Speech Meet was a speech competition for all the secondary schools in our school district.  There were two rounds.  First round was an impromptu speech where we had to choose one of three quotes and write a speech on the quote in 45 minutes.  Second round was a prepared speech that had to be between three and five minutes.

I did pretty well; in fact, I won first place for grade n, where n is a positive integer greater or equal to eight and less or equal to twelve.  I got to present my speech to all the 110 participants in the room, and I even got to shake the hand of our previous mayor, who was judging the finals.  I was awarded a huge, shiny plaque.  (Just by the way, 2nd and 3rd place were also from my school and those two got way smaller, but still pretty shiny plaques.)

I love public speaking.  It's simply an awesome thing to do.  Everyone should learn how to do a speech in front of a large audience and not feel nervous.

---

Gah.  Now I'm so tired.  I just came back from a provincial math competition and I feel like sleeping...

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Another GIMP Drawing

I've been experimenting a lot with the Smudge tool recently...I think it's cool.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Don't take speeches too literally...

Around this time, all the classes in our schools start doing speeches.  It's a time of horror for many, but in my case, I actually rather enjoy public speaking.

The topic I chose was "The Mozart Effect".  It's a theory stating that listening to (classical) music can make you smarter.  In my speech, I provided examples such as music can help your spatial temporal ability, which is useful for doing mathematics.

I did my speech last Wednesday.  I got up, eloquently presented, then sat back down.  I did quite well, in my opinion.  I didn't think too much of my speech afterwards.  I just continued on with my life.

Then on Friday, a girl in my IT class said something that made me feel rather guilty.  "Hey, you know (name)?"

I stopped.  "Yeah, she's in my Humanities class."

"She listened to your speech, like, how music can help you do better in math, right?"

"Uh huh..."  I was starting to feel nervous, for some bizarre reason.

"Well, she took your advice and just listened to music all day and she didn't study for her Math test.  She didn't do too well..."

"Oh...But I said that you have to be studying music for a really long time for it to have such a strong effect.  And you're supposed to listen to music right before the test, and you still have to study!"

"Really?  Well, then I don't know.  Still, (name) didn't do too well on her test."

---

Everyone, don't take other people's speeches too literally, and please please please study for your Math tests.  And also, if you are going to take someone's speech's advice, make sure you remember everything the presenter said...Okay?

The guilt I feel is terrible.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

It's official...The Twilight craze is OVER!!

I am happy to declare that the Twilight craze is finally over.  No more Edward vs Jacob fangirl fights, no more Bella fanclubs, and no more vampire obsession.

Phew.  What can I say?

I guess that at the end, Twilight was only just another fad.  It couldn't top Harry Potter, and it turned out to be only a one-year thing.  Now, I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up to me and said, "Twilight?  What's Twilight?"

And with the previous movies failing greatly in the critical corner, will the final Breaking Dawn film attract as many viewers as it did before?  Will it be as successful?  I think not really.

Oh well, on with life.  :)  The next craze just so happens to be Justin Bieber...

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Almost Valentine's Day! (Simple Gift Ideas Too!)

Valentine's Day is next Monday...Only three more days until the 14th.

I hope you guys  have a great day, and don't mope if you won't be spending it with a significant other.  Just smile and know that one day, you'll find that person.  ;D

What bothers me about Valentine's Day is that it's so commercialized now.  Our school's been selling roses for three dollars each and everywhere, you see advertisements about how stores are selling great Valentine's Day gifts to give to other people.  Personally, I think it's better to make something yourself.  Not only will you save money, it'll also show that you truly care from the heart and that you took the time and effort, unlike others who would just run to the mall and come home with shopping bags galore.

These are some of my ideas for Feb 14 presents:

1.  Homemade cards with really sweet sayings can make a great impression.

2.  Bake some heart-shaped cookies and sprinkle them with a lot of love.  <3

3.  Flowers are great, but since they can cost a lot, try only getting a small number and wrapping them with ribbon and craft paper.  Add some personal touches and they'll make a great but simple bouquet.

4.  Candy with a small greeting card attached to it can look pretty and it is easy to assemble.

5.  Try making a collage full of photos of times spent together.  Also cut construction paper into little hearts and put them onto the collage.  Finish with glitter and sparkle.

But remember that no gift can ever compare to true feelings and consideration.  Let your special someone know how much you care for them this Valentine's Day.

If you like someone and you want to let that person know how you feel about them, Feb 14th is the perfect day to do it.  Find a nice quiet place and talk.  Who knows what will happen?

(And if you're single and proud of it like me, use Monday to cheer on your friends and wish them a beautiful day!  :D)

Good luck!

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Debuting my newest comic!

To those of you who can't tell already, even based on my drawing style, I'm an anime fan.  I'm not a SUPER MEGA anime fan, but I think it's cute and therefore I am only just a "fan".

My favourite anime and manga at the moment is BLEACH by Tite Kubo, and my favourite character is Ichimaru Gin.  Sadly, he died some months ago, so I have decided to make a comic about him and his ghost.

Title page:  Ichimaru's Ghost

Comic #1:  Arrancar Enclyclopedia

I will draw another one soon, but I'd like to hear what you guys think of this one first.  Email me or comment here, thanks.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

GIMP Art

I've been experimenting with GIMP recently and I've been improving my skills.  My latest work, a portrait of Sakura from the manga Naruto:

I can say that this one turned out much better than my last one.  The last one was just plain creepy.

Cheers!

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Cookies are more powerful than Science

What did you enjoy the most about this event?  We ate COOKIES!  Now, is that something you put on a Science survey?

Our school went to a Math competition today.  Our team got second place, I made top 10, yeah, it was all good.  But I am not here to discuss the competition right now.  I'll save that for another day.  I am here to discuss something else.

Supposedly, it's the "Year of Science" over here.  So the government decided to survey us innocent students about the event we were attending and our interest in Science.  But the thing was, we were attending a MATH competition, not a Science competition.  What we did had nothing to do with Science.  So our group sat down and picked up the survey, then stopped and stared strangely at each other.  These were two of the questions:  (Probably not exact wording)

After attending the event, has your interest in Science increased?  Uh, we attended a Math event.

After attending the event, have you discovered that Science has a greater importance in your life?  Science is important, but our event was about Math, not Science.  (Obvious?)

The last question was "What did you enjoy most about this event?".  I thought long and hard about it, and finally I came up with a most brilliant idea:  "Hey guys, how about we put this?  WE ATE COOKIES!"  Because truly, the cookies they served us at break time were top-class.  Chocolate chip heaven.  And honestly, we couldn't think of anything better to put down.  S'not our fault.  ^_^

Our group agreed, and we each put down the same answer.  When we were handing our survey forms back to the teacher, my friend asked, "Who is going to read these surveys?"

The man looked at her and replied, "The government."

After he left, my friend turned back to our group and said, "Then the government is going to think that we don't care about Science!  Ohh..."  But you know, we DO care about Science.  And we love Science.  But our love of cookies is stronger!

Cookies > Science.

(BTW, I asked around, and almost all the other groups wrote that same answer.  xD  COOKIE FANCLUB!)

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

From a Bad Debater to a Good Debater

I'm in the debate club in my school.  I just joined this year, and golly, have I improved.  I remember in the beginning, I would've just stood there and stammered, not knowing what to say and how to say it.  But now, my partner and I have become way better.  And somehow, I feel like it was a sudden transformation.

It was the first week of December.  We had been paired up with two of our classmates who were...better acquainted with us.  We had walked into our assigned room, sat down, and began debating.

We didn't do very well.  That's an understatement, even.  Maybe it was because we knew our opponents too well and we couldn't stay formal and distant, but anyhow, we messed up.  I left debate club that day feeling down and depressed.

I went home and thought hard.  What had gone wrong?  What had happened?  I made a list of everything we could've done but didn't.  Then it hit me:  I knew how to improve.  And I was determined to improve.  I swore to myself that I would never do that badly again.

My partner also worked very hard, and I could see that she wanted to become a better debater just as much as I did.

The next week, we did phenomenally well.  We stated our points clearly and effectively, and I can say that if there was a judge in that room evaluating us, we would have won hands down.

Every week after that, we improved some more.  One time, we had a mini-competition, and there was a judge in our room.  We got incredibly good feedback.

Too bad that to this day, we never got to debate against our first-week-of-December opponents again.  They would be so surprised.  We could cream them now.  ;)  (And points wise, we did.  The mini-competition day, the judges gave us way higher marks).

We have debate club every Tuesday.  I bet that if my partner and I keep this up, we'll be able to achieve even higher heights and become true top-notch debaters.

(But considering that we're beginners, we are already pretty darn awesome.  :D)

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Now that French class is over

My Favourite French Class Quote:

Me:  "Pourquoi est-ce que 'bouche' est un nom féminin?"  (Why is "mouth" a feminine noun?)
Classmate:  "Parce que les filles parlent trop."  (Because girls talk too much.)

To those of you who know me personally, I guess I should apologize for constantly bombarding you guys with my favourite subject in the entire world:  FRENCH.  Le français est la meilleure!  And I'm SORRY that throughout the semester, I have loved to randomly converse with you in French.  My passion is strong, and that habit of mine is hard to break.  xD  Ah, French.  So happy I had you as a class right from the beginning of the year.

So why do I love French?  Gee, that's hard to say.  I just know that I have always enjoyed learning the language and that French will always be a great part of me.  I wouldn't be the person I am today if French wasn't taught at school.  Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais c'est vrai.

Maybe it's because I'm Canadian.  I mean, French is the other official language over here in our magnificent, beaver-loving country.  It's only natural that I'm interested in it, right?

I remember Tuesday.  It was the last day of French class for us, and I was feeling kind of low.  But everyone else was so happy.  I recall that they literally ran out of the classroom, flailing their arms and wearing huge grins on their faces.  A lot of them were screaming things like, "French is FINALLY over!"

I wasn't as high as them, however.  I had looked back at our classroom door, Room 112, and sighed.  For a brief moment, I just stood there and thought back on everything we have done in that room.  L'imparfait, les pronons, les grands personnages canadiens...Everything.  Then I had turned around and slowly walked away.

Next week will be the start of a new semester.  Which means, no more French class.  "..."  I'm pretty disappointed.

A semester without French...Now how will I survive through that?

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

The Zodiacs Changed!

So anyways, I was having a really good morning.  I went to piano class, had an informative lesson, and came home feeling great.  Then I turned on my laptop and went to Yahoo news, and a headline nearly made me choke.

Guess what?  THE ZODIACS CHANGED!  That means that your zodiac sign could be something completely different than what you originally thought it would be.

I won't tell you my birthday, but I used to be a Taurus.  I was a happy Taurus, loving my horoscope and feeling proud to be who I was.  And now the world is telling me that I'm an ARIES?  What the heck?

See the news here:  Yahoo News

Now Scorpio is only a week long and on top of that, they've added a new zodiac!  Ophiuchus, to be exact.  (Try pronouncing it; I can't).  My head is still spinning.

For me, my personality is actually more Aries than Taurus.  I'm a self-confident, assertive character who is rather ambitious and spirited.  I like the colour red, and diamonds and rubies appeal to me more than emeralds.  But somehow, it still doesn't feel right.

My sister changed from Cancer to Gemini, my dad from Aries to Pisces...Oh my goodness.  Now, a lot of people will have to start reading a new horoscope and I bet that there will definitely be confusion.

This is going to be complicated.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.