Canoein'

Another step towards indoctrinating me into the Canadian lifestyle is to force me into a canoe and put me on a lake; a step my Comunity Recreation 12 class has taken. Now, there wasn't much forcing involved, getting in was something I wanted to do... I'll get to the forceful activity later.

"Com Rec" is the oddest thing to a South African. It was not conceivable to me that one could come to school, and in the middle of embracing the academic lifestyle, spend an hour and a half of your day playing pool downtown or doing rock-climbing, lazertag, hot yoga (another new experience inconceivable to africans), dodgeball or in this case - canoeing.

We have a 3 day trip coming up soon involving canoeing/minor hiking/camping and awesomeness (as the awesomeness will be concentrated in sayward lakes, no awesomeness will be concentrated on my blog for that time, aweh). Fortunately, and unfortunately, we have to train for this trip. On the positive side, I get to go out and canoe between a Literature test and a History midterm and revive the braincells that were decimated while writing an essay on metaphysical poetry of the Renaissance. On the flipside however, you have to train for anything that may happen, including capsizing your hull. This is where the force comes in (not in the jedi sense).

If you're wondering why my title is " Canoein' ", I am not trying to be gangsta. I'm trying to emphasize how "Canoe" and "in" are in the same word - "in" to the water that is. Gunning it for the center of the lake, we congregated as the teacher had told us to; in a spread out formation - far from one another. After waiting for commands, I got bored, and as I looked the other way, our teacher signalled to my loyal german buddy, whom I dearly trust, that he should capsize the boat we were in without me noticing. I Turned to ask him, "What happens now?" but before I could do so, I witnessed a titanic showmanship of brute force as he rocked the boat left in a single motion. Needless to say, I was now "in" the ice cold water...but so was he; something which at first I knew not from sight, but from the icy squeels he made as I turned to drown him.

Ofcourse, the "drowning" part is absolute hyperbole, and it wasn't only him squeeling, it was me... as well as squeels of laughter from the rest of the sadistic class who probably thought the sight of my crazy, lush, immaculate, manly, godly (yes, both manly and godly) and tasty hair getting wet was a cruel joke.

I am alive to blog the story though. This picture - and here's the catch - was not taken today. It is today's picture of today, but it was taken on our first canoeing training day. Since then, I now know the intricacies of the J-stroke, and how to capsize a boat - both integral parts in my journey into becoming a member of the Great White North.

Word of the day: I think since I tried to start that trend, I have jinxed my subconscience and this phenomenon does not happen any more.
Location: Claremont Secondary School.

Yes, that is a beer bottle, a very large one indeed. If you're wondering why this is of any significance - because, ya'know, gargantuan beer bottles are commonplace in the modern public - this picture was taken at my school. Given that, this may raise even more questions for you; Beer brand? I don't know myself, but I could inform you truthfully that the eyesore of a metal structure holding the beer bottle in place is a new addition to the school. It is reinforcement for any seismic activity that may occur in Victoria.

As I understand it, I am now living on a fault line, something a South African is not familiar with, and after a year and two months of being connected somewhat to the ground, I am still not familiar with an earthquake. My mother claims to have been woken up by them multiple times which is perfectly reasonable, as I have been known to sleep in my tent through a pride of lions bellowing territorial roars which can be heard a staggering 8 kilometers away. Suffice to say, minor tremors have not yet factored into my life...at least in my conscious reality.

Rumour has it that Victoria is expecting a major earthquake. It comes every odd century or so and we're long past the average interval. Will it happen? Will it be my first experience with moving ground? More importantly, will the bottle be removed before the earthquake hits, and if not, will the bottle support the metal giant, or shatter into an array of filtered light, projecting it's flying shards of stained glass upon the school grounds?

Location: Back Courtyard of Claremont Secondary School.

Breaking my heart.

Well that's a misleading title. Today we dissected a pigs heart; mine was certainly - hopefully - not on the tar smeered dissection tray. My heart was not infact near broken as it has been well kept after lately...atleast I hope so. If a pig could keep such a healthy heart, and considering it is the closest thing to a human heart I ever wish to hold in my hands, then I think I will be just dandy.

On the topic of posting a picture everyday - wow... Tough to do when you're too busy to upload, or you've been too busy to take a good picture during the day, so when you can upload, there is nothing to upload; in other cases, your siblings might hi-jack your computer.

I've recently decided, somewhat, that this blog goes out to whoever comes across it/whom ever I let know about it. No secrets will be kept here, just me, rambling on about whatever it is that may have interested me in the day... You can choose to like it, or hate it... or "you", so to say, may not exist and I may forever be blogging to an abyss of no-one-ness.

I feel like adding a few things to each blog post. Maybe i'll start a trend with.. well.. myself.
I have words that hover in the haze of my thoughts all day. A single word, for each day. Sometimes they come from no where, rarely, they're made up, and more than likely, they're weird and I heard them subconsciously...

Todays word of today:
well, today I didn't have one, and unfortunately I can't remember the other ones because I did not blog them. I will put an end to that by blogging more frequently. (attempting to, atleast.)

Quack

I came home today directly after school for the first time in weeks to play guitar, again something I did for the first time in weeks. I finally sat in front of my computer, with my Pentax chilling in my bag next to me, and it occurred to me that I had not shot a good picture today because I had not gone anywhere or done anything interesting during or after school, besides playing guitar. So when I looked out the window, and saw the sun was slowly setting, I thought I'd do some exploring. I haven't shot a picture during golden hour and thought I would find something cool, not knowing what it was yet.

I moved here a week ago and know nothing of the area. I thought it would be fitting to longboard down the Lochside Trail. To cut things short, I found a dock on Swan Lake, and started getting bored with nothing interesting to shoot. THEN... A random duck came quacking in and landed behind me. So here it is, the picture of the day; you never know what will happen when you go on random treks with your camera and you're longboard.

Centennial Square - 420

So the story goes that everyday after school, a group of shool kids ventured out to a flag on the boarders of the school, and blazed everyday at 4:20 pm. The news spread, and thus, a revolution was born. On the 20th day of the 4th month each year, protesters, so to say, spring up around the globe in aid of the "Legalize-Weed" campaign, gathering in parks and public places to light up a joint and bask in the cloud of smoke manifesting around them. It was here, in the ominous purple haze hovering around me, that I realised... just what did I realise?

That I should whip out my... Pentax, ofcourse, and join in on the fun, documenting the event. There were youth, all the way to elderly... yes, people old enough to be my parents. Some old enough to be my parent's parents.

As for my veiws on weed being legalized, I cannot yet say what I feel. I can however marvel at how I did not see a single policeman, unless they converged undercover to join in on the "Pass the bong" session taking place under the tree's. What say you? You, being defined as...

Well that's another thing I should define:
WHAT AM I WRITING THIS FOR?
For now, Enjoy the pictures of the day, (I will be attempting to upload atleast 1 everyday), whoever you are...

First Post

So...

I've decided to take my first step in blogging, inspired by many things, namely, turning eighteen; an event I will elaborate on in another post. I am already 3 months into being eighteen, and so, you can see how much of a procrastinator I am. This blog will morph from time to time, to suit whatever it is that needs to be blogged, but for now, it will give me a place to showcase my photographs, practice my writing, document my life (from 18.25 years old), and attempt to mitigate the procrastinator in me.

The only reason I chose this picture was because I shot it today, but perhaps it has deeper meaning? A winding road ahead... Pffft... Who actually attemps to shoot pictures with deeper meaning? Apparently many people; this one was surely just a quick thought.

Location: Longboarding down lochside.