One Hello World

I glanced around the site, found a couple tracks, listened to what they had to say and I don't really know what to think.  Don't get me wrong, its great that people can find a way of expressing they're situations in way that is public, but not in a life altering way.  And the music is great as well its just, them together... I mean, if I was just listening to the recording of the phone call, would it be as emotional?  Important?  Adding the music seems like a hollywood move, make everything more dramatic and add music.  Couldn't we simply have a site that had these phone calls?  But then I started to realize there is another person involved in this circle, the guy making the music.  Music helps me deal with things, so why couldn't this be his form of catharsis?  In my head I was ripping on him for trying to improve the comsumer appeal to each phone call by adding dramatic music, but how can I rip on passion?  I can't, so needless to say I like the site.  Seems like a great way for everyone involved to express themselves and benefit from it.  I wish that I had knew about this site before now.  And kudos to Feick for linking something that didn't suck.

New Years Resolution

Oh, hello there, I didn't see you come in.  I was just creating a list of new years resolutions for 2011.  You want to see them you say?  Well I suppose you can have a peek.  Now before you read, I don't really enjoy new years resolutions, because 99% of the time people don't follow through on them, but today I'm suffering from blog-writers block.   In 2011 I want to...

• hug a koala bear
• give away something I consider valuable
• make a million dollars
• eat a pizza in Italy
• survive off the land for a week
• take a shower in Niagara Falls
• eat something bigger than my head
• build a meat smoker (just something I've always wanted to do...I know I know)
• figure out how to play all the songs I used to know on guitar but got lazy and stopped practising
• play basketball with Obama (I stole this one, but that doesn't change how awesome it is)
• tray and make someones life just a little bit better

It's not much, and as soon as I publish this I'll probably start thinking of more things but this is it for now.  Chow

Grinch or Who?

With most things, I tend to be the cynic, so usually I have a pretty bad outlook on society and things like that.  But who can possibly be a Grinch when it comes to Christmas?  No one.  The time with families great, gifts, just everything that encompasses the Christmas season is something that no one can have animosity towards.  However, even though we have all this stuff, the food the presents, it bums me out to think of those who don't have any of that stuff.  We take for granted so many things that we have, and yet we live in one of the best places in the world, free from oppression and -what I'm very thankful for- religious discrimination.  I love Christmas, but it seems like all the commercialize around this holiday is making it into a day to see who can buy the perfect gift, or have the most presents, what Christmas isn't about.  Of course I love getting gifts but it feel really great to give things too.  So I'm posting a link to a charity that really makes sense to me, its Operation Christmas Child (http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/occ/).  It involves packing a shoe box full of toys, or items like shoes and clothes, to be sent to people in third world countries, who have never been given a gift for Christmas.  It works with churches world wide, and while it is a religious based operation, it's undeniable that this is something worth while. If you feel like donating, or maybe even packing a shoe box, I encourage it, I my self and packing one for my church.  And let's not forget the real reason for the season, family and really really good turkey.

I Dunnoooooo

As the school year quickly passes, it occurred to me that "holy crap, I have to apply to schools", and I realized I haven't given this near enough thought.  It is my future after all.  So I decided to go to a couple of university seminars.  I went to the Brock seminar, and the Waterloo one and finally Western.  Now I know its the presenters job to sell the university as best as they can, but Waterloo and Western seem pretty alright.  But there's of course the most difficult choice; what I actually want to go for in those schools.  I'm alright at English, and while that is a pretty generic degree, it can lead to a lot, right?  Then I was thinking maybe history, but honestly, what can a history degree get you other than a job teaching history...not much.  Let's be real, I don't want to go to school for something I'm not sure if I'll need it for my future - especially when it costs close to $20,000 a year.  My marks are pretty decent though, currently holding a 89.5 average so if I keep it up, choosing a school shouldn't be a problem.  It just seems like its all happening so fast, it kind of sucks to be honest.

Oh Honest Abe

       I checked out the Letters of Note blog site and found it pretty dull.  The premise is fairly stimulating, but it lacks the viable resources to continue steadily at such a elevated commensurate.  While this particular post relates to a public figure such as Abraham Lincoln, I began browsing other posts to find a less than exuberant discovery of several post relating to the nothing of relevance; and why would one read for that of the irrelevant?  I did however find a rather interesting collection of manuscripts from Edward Mike Davis - former CEO of the Houston based Tiger Oil Company - to his staff referring to "rug hygiene".  I found the lay out disappointing; it is obvious the designers aimed for sleek and modern, but ended up more homely. 
       However, whilst on the topic of "honest Abe" I feel the necessity to point out the pulchritudinousness of the for mentioned facial hair.  And as Movember comes to a close I too will be regarding my salutations to the now disheveled figure known as my facial hair.  Honest Abe all the way.

My Secret Crushy Thing

Ever since I was a child I have had an undying love for Rudolph The Red-Nose Rain Deer.  BUT ONLY IN THE ORIGINAL MOVIE.  The way his nose is red, the way he's a little rain deer working for Santa, the way he overcomes obstacles and endures life hardships; I truly believe that if we were more like this wonderful creature the world would be a better place.  Has anyone else noticed that he had a really cute voice too?  Come on, he's perfect.  When I was five my parents bought me a toy of him and he was my best friend.  We ate together, watched all the latest movies, went skiing, biking (he was an incredible athlete in case you haven't noticed).  I watched his movie everyday and dressed up like Santa when I went to bed in hopes that when he was flying around he would get lost and stop by my house because he thought I was Santa Claus.  That never did end up happening but if it had, I was prepared with a tranquilizer gun, with enough rounds to take down a hippopotamus.  And when he woke up, he would have found himself in a 10 feet by 10 feet hole in the backyard, covered by 3 inch thick titanium steel bars.  Oh yes, this went way beyond a crush; obsession is more like it. 

Instant Transportification?

       Oh the places.  Oh the sites.  When you actually stop to think about this concept, that of ability to teleport anywhere, it is amazing to think of all the amazing possibilities that this planet holds.  But for me, travel has to have culture.  I mean sure, Disney Land was fun when I was 10 but now my future travel hopes are higher.  The place I would want to travel would be Italy. 
      There is such a rich cultural experience you just can't get this side of the world in Europe and the deciding factor is my love of Italian food.  And I don't mean pasta and pizza, I mean legit Italian food, even though I'm not 100% sure I know what "legit Italian food" is... I guess Itally is the place to learn it.  Plus it's always been a goal of mine to learn to speak Italian, so bonus.  Also, if I were to travel to anywhere in Europe, there are so many unique cultures in such a relatively small space.  If I am finished checking out Italy, then you can scoot over next door and visit France or Switzerland.  And, I hear that Italian women are pretty attractive so bonus!

Pet Peeves

Lately, I've noticed that more and more things seem to get on my nerves.  Maybe its old age, but who really knows why.  Just this morning I was watching a cooking show before I went to the bus stop, and this guy's accent made him say words that just made me shake with annoyance.  Two words, one was hot, only he said it like, "hAwGht" and the other was basil..."baasilee".  I'm not bashing this guys accent but he sounded perfectly Canadian until he whipped those words out and I instantly lost all respect for his dish.  I don't like kids who tantrum and cry in public.  I really dislike people (specifically grade nine's) who walk way to slow down the hall.  When its busy and there's a lot of people walking the opposite way down the hall and I can't pass them it just frustrates me.  So I find myself glaring at them when I manage to find a way around them, but they earned it!  I hate when I'm in church and am trying to pay attention to a rather dull sermon, and in the back row a baby starts crying uncontrollably and the mother has to wait five minutes into the cry session to decide to take the child out of the room.  I know that's something I shouldn't get upset at because...well...they're a baby.

Cole Doesn't Trust Me

What is the basis for a functioning society?  Does it stem from human nature, our drive to create a human world instead of being content in a natural one? Maybe it comes from mathematics and science need to discover, to explain the natural world.  Perhaps the opposite is true, maybe it is the human mind that creates its ideal world and attempts to work towards practical science and to create the basic from ideal.  I would argue that truth lie in both these forms. However, I believe there is some truth to say that intellectual society is that of emotions, of both science and literature working together.  And most important of all, trust.  BUT COLE DOESN'T TRUST ME SO THEREFORE HES DUMB!
I recently tried to help Cole, my long time high school friend, perform a simple computing task that ended with him refusing my assistance and shoving me back. Not only does that show an inability to preform cohesively with human reason, but also a brashness that stems from passion.  Not only are these emotions irrational but, as Plato argues, "feminine". 
Next time Cole, perhaps you will think twice before refusing the help of a willing person.  The world would be a much better place if science and literature can coexist and create a third level of mind, that which Cole does not posses as I have proved.
Just kidding Cole :)

The Best of my Childhood

I'm a pretty forgetful person, so trying to remember a fun time or a time of little significance is pretty tough for me.  I mostly remember embarrassing moments; so with that in mind, the childhood memory I would likely return to would be grade six.  I remember a number of different humiliating experiences I endured that year at Forest Glen.  I had to do a presentation on orphanages and how kids were treated and as part of that I wanted to get rules as to the treatment of kids within a orphanage.  But of course I couldn't find them on the internet.  So my mom calls up her friend who works at an orphanage in Kitchener and asks to call our house.  Good ol' dial up made me miss the call, and I was freaking out all night, only to wake up to find a list of rules soaking wet on the top my moms car in the driveway.  If I could go back I would have changed my topic as soon as the teacher assigned it, and spare myself the embarrassing 30 second presentation that was me reading 9 rules off of a soaking wet piece of paper. 
I would also like to go back and stop me from being so rude to my family...As it turns out, I was a pretty angry kid and I'm not going to give specific details as to what I did, but some of it defiantly was undeserved and rude. 

PostSecret

As much as I would love to attempt to make my own personal PostSecret, I don't really know how to do the visual aspect of it... Instead, I'm saying all the things I'm thankful for.  But is it bad that out of all the things I SHOULD be thankful for only one or two are things I'm actually thankful for?  Of course I'm thankful for good parents that love me, I'm glad I have a roof over my head, a place to go, friends; but there are so many things I should be thankful for.  Is it the times we live in that promote individuality and suppresion of emotions that are the reasons we're ungratful for things we take for granted everyday?  I'm glad that we live without fear of our lives for attending school, I'm thankful that when we turn on the tap that I don't have to worry about contracting a disease when I drink it, I'm greatful for believing that maybe we're not alone in this big crazy world.  I'm super glad that there are things on our planet that taste good. 
Okay, maybe my list isn't that bad but I bet Cole's list topped mine...I'll have to see when he actually starts it instead of looking at pictures of Marilyn Manson...

Alien's...

Recently I watched the movie Contact, directed by Robert Zemeckis.  The film is about the first message from ETs (extra-terestrials) in human history and the social, ethical and religious issues associated with it.  Now when I saw ETs I'm not talking about green people with glowing eyes, giant heads half our size.  Basically just people like us not from our solar system, or anywhere near us for that matter.  It got me thinking.  Thinking if there could actually be life out there.  According to the Darke equations there's actually a high percentage for there to be other life in our universe, but intelligent life is the big question.  I personally have a difficult time trying to think this because our minds are so bad with numbers and distances.  I can say that the closest star to the Earth is 41.5 trillion km away and we sit there and think "Woah, thats far".  ITS HUGE!  We can't even see past our own galaxy and theres estimated to be billions and billions of different galaxies.  So to imagine the probablity of there being another "Earth" is not difficult.  In fact scientists have already discovered a planet out of our solar system (120 trillion km) that they claim to be "liveable".  The only issue being it's about 5 times bigger than Earth and if anyone used to the Earth's gravitation pull was to step onto it, it would crush you.  But that aside it seems only more likely that there are other planets with life on them. 
Now, me being a Christian means that I believe God made all of this stuff.  And if we somehow discovered another planet with intelligent life I would be excited to learn about it.  I know there are some Christians I know who would be dead against it, but at the same time you can't say that if God wanted to make other creations like us that he couldn't?
Ethical issues like this make my head hurt...But maybe there are certain things that we should just never know.  Maybe the complexity of the Universe and all its mysterys aren't for us to discover, only appreciate. 

Cooking is Awesome

Hey there again fellow bloggers.  I come to you today with a food offering.  That's right, a food blog.  I decided to take inspiration from a movie I recently saw called Julie and Julia, where a lady would make a recipe book over the course of the next few months and would prepare every recipe in that book.  Containing a few fictional and quite unnecessary plot additions that somewhat turned me off the movie, it turned out to be a solid flick.  But, this isn't a movie review blog... it's a food blog. 

Every week (well hopefully every week) I will be making a recipe and sharing it with all of you.  This week I made a recipe I learnt from working the past year as a food prep, and it's an apple and oka cheese strudel. Its the perfect sized appetizer if you want to impress your woman/man that looks fancy enough to generate a few "wow"s yet simple enough and cost effective enough to cost only around $20 for supplies and yeilds 5-6 studels.

Here's what you'll need:
2 cups Button Mushrooms
2 cups Cremini Mushrooms
1 cup Granny Smith Apple
3/4 cup Leek
1 tbsp dried Basil
1 1/2 tbsp dried Oregano
2 tsp Pureed Garlic
1 package of Filo Pastry
Oka Cheese
1 tbsp Canola Oil
1 tsp Butter

Start of by roughly chopping both types of mushrooms into bite sized pieces. The great thing about this recipe is that you don't have to use a certain type of mushroom, whatever you have will work.  The first time I made this at home I didn't have Cremini's and instead used Mini Portabllo, but anything you have will work. Core and peel the apples and roughly chop to slightly smaller than the mushrooms.  Slice the leek fine but be sure to clean them before use.  The first time I worked with leeks I just thought you chopped and used them, and then my mushroom tapanad tasted girty with sand.  So I thew that out before the chef's saw what I did...just clean your leeks.  Heat oil in a large saute pan.  Add butter then leeks.  After 30 seconds or so (just until the leeks begin to lose their bright white colour, add mushrooms and apple mixture.  Cook until the apples are halfway cooked through (still have somewhat of a crunch) then add garlic, basil and oregano.  Remove from heat and store covered in a fridge until mixture is cool, if the mixture is hot then the filo pastry will turn to mush, and no one likes mushy filo. No one.  When cooled, prepare the filo pastry for use: take a sheet (storing the rest of the sheets under a damp towel so they will not become dry), using a pastry brush, bursh butter as to cover the surface. Place mushroom mixture in the bottom half middle (did that make sense? I think it did....) of the filo as well as as much cheese as you want to add.  I usually place a lot and you probably want to do the same. Wrap by folding the right and left sides over the mixture and rolling to the far end of the sheet.  Brush butter on the top and score it to help quicken the cooking process.

WHEWW! This is my first food recipe/blog ever but I hope it was clear enough.  I'll have pictures of my beautiful creation up as soon as I can.  Maybe my next reciepe will be shorter but if anyone has a recipe they would like to share, I love to cook and will give it a try.  Maybe your recipe will be on the blog! Lucky you.

Cellphone Debate

Last Friday in my last period class, as the school day was coming to a close something unusual happened that sparked an intense vigor within my peers.  Teacher A was getting mad at Student A for texting during his lesson.  To make a long story short, Teacher A asked Students A through T to place their cell phones in a box at the front of the room.  Me, in my innocence, handed over my cell phone (which I only used to check the time because of the oh-so inconvenient placement of the clock).  However, it became increasingly obvious that my once falling asleep peers were now wide awake; ready to give their lives in defence of their cellphones. 

The events that transpired that day are not unusual when it comes to teens and their cells.  I for one think that my teacher had the right idea when it comes to this issue.  Cellphones are a clear distraction in the classroom. 
I agree with people on the usefulness of cellphones.  Just one day before the events of that class transpired I used my cellphone to take pictures of notes on the blackboard, then email them wirelessly to my teacher who wanted to store them for reference.  The uses of cellphones are bountiful but just because they are useful does not mean that students need to have them during class.  How easy would it be to drop your cellphone of in a box as you enter a classroom?  If the teacher needs someone to time something, or look up a definition of a word that is not in the classroom dictionaries the cellphones can be easily grabbed.  It is clear that opinions on this matter among students are bias, I think that the problem also stems from the teachers. Yes, teachers messed up.  Inconsistencies exist within classrooms.  Some teachers will not tolerate them, while others will let you use them during independent work time just not during lessons and some will allow you full use.  I've even noted teachers sneaking a peek at their cellphones in class. 

The article seemed to have a biased undertone.  Using texting jargons gave an unprofessional tone to the article as well as a bias feel.  As the article continued it became only slightly more formal with the use of quotations.

Maybe teachers shouldn't be so surprised when they see students texting in class when they see the role models in the school disobeying the so called "cellphone policy".  If teachers really want to see cell phones off and away they should turn off their crack berries.

The Very First Blog

Hey all of my fellow Writer's Craft students.  It's Matt here and I would just like to start off by telling you all a little about myself and why I decided to take Writer's Craft.  My reasons for taking this course stem from my love of all things English and because I'm in my fifth year and took most of the other English courses, I decieded that this year my English twitch would be dealt with in Writer's Craft.  So far, I have to say that I enjoy it.  It seems a bit of a stretch writing creatitvely as most of my other English classes had been against the stuff. 

Some of my future aspirations for school include going to Bible college for atleast a year and living in Austrailia for a year or two.  I already have visited Aussie land in the summer, when me and my brother set out on a cross-Australia adventure for two and a half weeks.  It was a great experience and took us to some amazing sites.  We swam in the great barrier reef 40 km off the coast of Cairns, saw Uluru and Kata Tjuta, climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge and tried kangaroo jerky... and yes, it tastes as good as it sounds.  I would definatly recomend Australia as a destination for any avid traveler.

I haven't read that many books to be able to tell anyone my favourite, or who I admire as an author but I will shamefully admit to having dabbled with the four twilight books.

Oh and if anyone reading this has any spare time they would like to fill check out mine and my brother's myspace (http://www.myspace.com/forestethicband).  It's kind of a joke but apparently we're a big hit in the Dominican.