My Mom washed my little brother’s teddy bear, Ned, today. He was in a little laundry bag. I thought it was just the coolest thing in the world. All I could think of was a "bed-in-a-bag" from Sears or something. I gave Bryton Ned a few years ago because he couldn’t sleep at night. I thought he might just need something to sleep with. As all of my friends know, I sleep with my Dudley the Dragon EVERY night. Unless I forget him. Anywho, I gave Bryton my teddy bear, and he’s slept fine ever since. :)

Oh, and poor Ned. Bryton was talking to Britt in the bathroom, aaaaand... Ned got dropped in the toilet. Now he needs to be washed again.

I love all of my siblings because all three of them are just SO different. Brittany is really mellow and sarcastic; Brooke is really saucy (pre-teen); Bryton is sweet and energetic. The four of us are a rainbow of personalities.

Speaking of rainbows, there was Art Club today after school! I went when the bell rang, and Junior showed up a little later because he had to go to drama practice first. He’s an amazing artist! I think he’s currently drawing caricatures of our entire group. They’re beautiful. And VERY accurate. Maybe I’ll ask him to post some of them... I drew three hearts (one blue, one purple, one green) and shaded in a yellow background. It sounds simple, but it was cute. Nikita said that I should give it to her because I didn’t know who to give it to, so I did. (^^)

Art Club is always fun. There are so many crazy characters in there. So eccentric and AWESOME. Ms. Edmunds is really fun to be around too. She makes sure that you get your work done, but talks to you and carries on while you do it. It really makes class/Art Club more fun. World Religion is pretty cool because she teaches it. The class is really relaxed, and we still get everything done.

Mr. Crane, on the other hand, is amazing. I’ll probably say this a million times, but he’s terrific. This year, I’m learning to love English because of him. (You go, Sir!)

Now, where was I? Oh yes. Art Club. I was temporarily blinded by Mr. Crane’s awesomeness. At around 4, Daniel was finished recycling, so I left a little early. He was giving me a ride home. I had it pretty good today. David picked me up and Daniel brought me home. When Junior gets his licence, if he drives to school, I think I’ll bum rides off him (hint hint, nudge nudge, Junior). I always feel very loved around my friends. (^^)

Nothing else is really going on. I’ll soon be tutoring three people and trying to keep up with all of my own homework, pastimes, etc. so I’ll probably have something interesting to write one of these days.

- Bre :)

P.S. The background on my computer is a llama. An angry looking llama. Ah, good ol’ llamas. Gotta love them. I just figured I’d let you all know. Good night !

Waldon here, and I have a public service announcement. My last post is missing. I had a post about my math, my odd diabetes misadventure and info on the improv team. If any of you have seen it, please contact me. Reward offered.

Now, with the funny business out of the way, let me get down to making up for that lost post.

Today I went to school to hand in my Math assignment, you know that assignment right? Oh wait, you don't. That's right, the post disappeared. Anyways. It was a 4 or 5 page long assignment on Quadratic Roots. I've probably got most of it wrong, I've probably screwed it up big time with what I've got done. Math makes me cry, it really does.

Our school has an improv team, which I am a proud member of. Our group is there to get up and make things up. :P The name of this group is "Magic Cloud Experience". We're that good. We have practice tomorrow and the next day. But I'm afraid that we'll not be practicing on Thursday, seeing as how it's remembrance day.

Bre and I just got on the topic of Metrosexuals. I. Dislike. Metrosexuals. I really do. The majority of them are useless, they spend way too much time on their appearance and are totally based around the idea of being against the conventional man and using the difference to appear manly. I don't mind when girls spend an hour getting ready, I don't care that the girls want me to carry them over the puddle so that they don't get wet. I don't CARE if the girls can get away with stuff that guys can't because of their gender. MEN CAN TOO. I prefer spending time with girls, but on the odd occasion that I spend time with guys, I DON'T want to have to wait for the guys to do their hair and get their clothes perfect. Just grow a pair.  Before anybody tells me off for being biased and being afraid of my feminine side, I'll counteract those cat-callers by announcing that I am in Dance class, last year I was involved in Pointe Ballet and I do theatre. In theatre, I had to wear a tutu on stage with a woman's tights on. Don't mess with my feminine side. She'll slap you so hard that you'll have to eat through your ears.

Anyways, I don't want to get into my hate of Metrosexuals too deeply. I won't be able to sleep tonight as it is, I don't need to be angry too. :P I could spend ALL NIGHT ranting about those guys.

Ah, Junior. You appeal to my dark sense of humour. I love it. Junior said this (the title of the blog) to me tonight while we were hanging out. He was describing how they played floor hockey when he was younger and why he didn’t like it that much. I giggled.

That discussion came about after I told him that my brother, Bryton, and I were playing soccer and catch today. My brother is so energetic, it’s really easy to play sports with him. We were kicking the ball around for about an hour before he wanted to play catch. I wasn’t very good at catch because I couldn’t see the ball too well. Darn glasses prescription. Although I’ve never been much for soccer, I had a blast playing with Bryton today.

Bryton and I also went for an hour (or so) long walk this morning around 11 o’clock. He was on his bike and I was walking along behind or beside him. A couple of times, I ended up running with him. It was so much fun! He wanted to go visit Cody, but we couldn’t. He wouldn’t answer the door or our text. Oh well. His loss, haha.

What else have I done today? Hmm... Well, this afternoon, I went out with the driver’s ed guy. We did my parallel and angle parking, then went over one of the possible routes for the test. I can do my road test to get my licence in 19 days! :D

OH! Mom, Brooke, Bryton, Junior, and I all went to see Alpha and Omega tonight. It was quite nice. I love cartoons! Mom said that it was the sappiest cartoon she had ever seen. I must agree, but I enjoyed it anyway. It was about two wolves (an alpha and an omega) that got taken by humans to another national park to "repopulate" it. The alpha was supposed to get "married" to unite two wolf packs, but that didn’t get to happen because she and her omega wolf buddy were taken. Anywho, the movie is about how they get back to their pack. It’s very cute. I’d rate it family-friendly, and good for anyone who loves a good cartoon.

After the movie, Junior and I went back to his house for a bit. I curled up on the bed in an amazingly comfortable and soft blanket, he sat in his computer chair, and we just chatted. It was great. I LOVE to talk. And Junior is so interesting to talk to. It’s the perfect conversation.

Aaah. Another Saturday night blog. Sigh.

Well, enough of me for now. If I write any more to this, I’ll be rambling.

- Bre :)

Waldon here! Happy Guy Fawkes Day everybody! Or Bonfire night, whatever you want to call it. Today was the day that we celebrate or remember the attempted treason of Guy Fawkes on the British Parliament, I believe.

It would have been a night to remember for years, if it wasn't pouring down rain. I mean, the one night of the year that I'm expected to burn things really big and it's RAINING. Come on. Give a guy a break.

I had to go get my Influenza shot this morning. I went down to our local Legion, where they were holding the shots. Makes me paranoid when there's medical facilities outside of a hospital. I feel like I'm being tested on again. I went through with it, anyways and continued on to school. Did everything normal and eventually it was lunch time. I forgot my glucometer in my locker, so I resolved to check my blood levels after I ate. I did so and guess what I was surprised with?

My blood level was so high, that my glucometer couldn't read it.

That is a level of 33.3 mmols or higher. That means my blood was likely 9 to 10 times higher than a normal person's. Possibly higher. Of course, because I KNEW that I was high, I started feeling horribly sick. I was dizzy, nauseous, tired and almost incapable of coherent thought. I ended up going home early and giving myself copious amounts of insulin. Diabetes sucks.

But it doesn't matter, I'm not going to die until I've lived long enough to see all my friends lead successful and happy lives. :P

Anyways, later on Bre came over and played Harvest Moon again. xD She loves that game. I was reading some Psyren and drinking coffee and eating cookies. I got Bre some Green tea, which I SHOULD be drinking. It brightened up my night/day when Bre came over.

By the way, I'm still really sorry Bre. I told you I would hang out with you if I didn't have improv practice, but I guess this makes me a liar. I'll make this up to you, I really will.

Well, this Guy Fawkes day mostly sucked. And with that, I'm done!
-Waldon

This week has been great. I’ve been threatened to be beaten with a wet noodle by Mr. Myers (because I didn’t send him a picture), seen a Pre-cal "show" in Mr. Lawrence’s class, been overloaded with work, learned who NOT to work with, written a test, been sick, and learned that my brother has an incredibly large vocabulary.

Mr. Lawrence teaches me Pre-cal and Math. He’s smart. Like, REALLY smart. Ridiculously so. He teaches us so many things and if we don’t understand something right away, he just smiles at us and says something like, "Hehehe. Stay tuned. That’s tomorrow’s show." I think he was teaching us about solving for x using inequalities. Mr. Lawrence is perhaps one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. He’s right up there with Mr. Pippy. (Mr. Pippy is incredible. He’s done and seen so much, we can’t even fathom half of it! And, he’s a bit of a (game) nerd too. It’s lovely).

I picked a great day to get sick! I was out on Monday and we didn’t do anything, haha. Then, I got bombarded with oodles of homework and outstanding assignments. I had a test today, a quiz tomorrow, an assignment due Monday, another assignment due Wednesday, and a test the following Monday. HOLY CRAP. Although I feel like crying, I won’t. I’ll just rant about how stressed I am through this. I pity whoever reads it... Sorry ! (^^)

Okay. David is crazy. He’s absolutely delusional. He’s under the firm belief that he and I are going to get married and be an amazing couple. I’m fairly certain that it’s all a joke for the both of us, but sometimes I’m unsure. Apparently, we’re going to have a bunch of kids, a great house, and a pool. He’s going to work and I will get to sit by the pool all day and relax. Not bad, hey? Also, he and I might be going to the movies next weekend. Might be. Nothing is for sure yet. It’s not a date or anything! We just want to go to the movies, hahah!

Because I’ve been so busy the past couple of days, Junior did my blog post for me. Many, many thanks to that man! He’s a big help. :D

Enough of this poorly stringed together post. Anyone who’s reading this is probably bored out of their tree. Tomorrow’s Friday, and Guy Fawkes night, so Junior might have another interesting story for the late-night web surfers!

- Bre :)

PS. Speaking of Guy Fawkes night, read V For Vendetta. Beautifully drawn and written graphic novel. For anyone who enjoys serious, dark stories, V For Vendetta is highly recommendable.

A few weeks ago my sister called me and asked if I would be willing to help her with a project her group was assigned with for her classes in university. I, of course, told her I would help. Her group was doing a project on physical and mental disabilities that hinder learning in school, or something similar. Her group was assigned, wait for it. . . Diabetes. I am a type 1 Juvenile Diabetic. I have been since I was 4 years old. There is nothing to me that doesn't revolve around Diabetes. The sheer coincidence of this is astronomical.

Of course, I immediately got started working out a rough draft on the essay I was going to write on how my school life was effectively screwed up by diabetes. Within 2 weeks I had a 1500 word essay on the subject. But of course, I was stupid when I sent the email and immediately deleted the email after I 'sent' it, and deleted the video.

Within two days I hadn't heard from her so I asked her if she got the email. She didn't. So I got down to it and rewrote it. Didn't have time to do the video though. Called her, asked her if everything was alright.

ALL SHE WANTED WAS JOT NOTES.

So, being the dutiful brother I was, I revised the entire 600 word essay and did it in jot notes. 3 times I did that email. I hope she's happy. Anyways, I thought I'd take up some more space by posting the email here;

"When I first started school, I clearly remember people not understanding me when I said I was diabetic. They automatically assumed that because I was different, I was dangerous. So many of the other kids who didn't know any different avoided me or teased me. This could have been avoided much earlier by having the teachers prepare the students by explaining to them what Diabetes was.

When first starting school, having students tease me regularly made me feel horrible about myself. Diabetes was something that was out of my control. Having the teachers make me stand in front of the class to explain what was different about me usually had the effect of making me feel like I was less than the other students, or for lack of a better term- a "freak". I myself would have preferred if the teachers didn't tell the other students about my diabetes so directly and explained it to them in a better way.

When I was first starting school I had to use direct insulin injections with a syringe. I was a young child, it was hard for me to remember to do that when I was eager to go outdoors or to try and make friends. If I forgot, I was usually sick within a few hours. Having a teacher take a greater role in my diabetes management would have been a great help for this.

People also didn't understand diabetes in the school environment. Many of the teachers only had a passing understanding of diabetes. Several times I've had to fight to make my teachers understand when I was having an emergency with my blood sugars or my insulin pump. Substitute teachers especially. This could have been avoided very easily with some proper education. And usually, I did keep most of the problems away by being prepared. I kept a case or a small pack filled with sugar for low blood sugars, test strips, for checking my blood glucose when I felt sick or low, and usually ketone strips just in case of emergencies.

In school, there were many things that I needed to have, but didn't because of my own folly, or a collective mistake. Many times I got low on insulin while in the middle of class, and had to call for Mom to bring me another change of set for my pump to last the day. There should have been somewhere for me to store supplies that I know will be a safe place.

I am almost finished my last year of high school now, and there are still people who have known me for almost my entire school life, but don't know anything more than the bare basics of diabetes, if I had an attack in school, there would be very few people who would know what to do to help me.

My pump is normally attached to one of two areas in my body that i use regularly. My lower stomach and my upper hind thighs. So because of that, the tube from the reservoir for insulin in my pump is usually hanging around my thighs. It regularly gets hooked on desks or handles. In school where there are many objects that have the potential to hook onto my pump, I have to be careful all the time. On several circumstances I've had things or people hook and pull on my tube hard enough to pull off my site.

Also, with the changes in blood sugar I experience, I regularly feel my emotions changing rapidly, this makes it very hard for me to talk to people when I'm having problems with my sugar."

Yesterday night, I spent some time reflecting on everything that I've been blessed with in my life. I gave thanks to whatever deity or spirit governs us all. One thing that the oncoming cold of winter made me give particular thanks to, was the blessing of shelter and warmth. So many of us don't realize how lucky we are to be inside and warm, away from the bitter cold outside. Humans as a whole do that. We see winter as a season of beauty and serenity where the snow buries everything under it's pristine white. But what about the animals that live in the snow? They don't have anything to keep them warm besides themselves. The winter to them is just one long period of suffering and hunger. Thinking about this allowed me to reflect and thank everything and everybody that gave me the gift of warmth and food for this cold, spartan, desolate season.

So, of course. This brought to mind the people who don't HAVE a place to live. The homeless people across the country that don't have a home to come to this season. They don't have a loving family to welcome them. As distant as I am from my family, and despite never actually HEARING it, I know that my family loves me. There are people across North America right now that are scrounging for their clothes and food in the cold. I want to help them. Of course, just this evening, my mother handed me a hat with a small symbol on it. The profits from that hat will go to supporting the homeless. I know that it won't make much of a difference, but at least it helps, right?

I've been working on new art styles and concepts to try out lately. One of these is taking an animal and merging myself, in a similar position to the animal, with it. I picked a gorilla screaming. I don't know what to think, because when I laid the image of my face over the gorilla face, I didn't have to change any of the lines. Should I brag about that?

Anyways, I've done my part for this evening. Good night everybody!
-Waldon

Oh, how I dislike writer’s block. I can’t think of what to write about, let alone a title for what I’m about to write! I guess this is what I get for not going to school today. Nothing happens when I don’t go to school. No cool stories. No weird people. NOTHING. I’m totally going tomorrow.

So. I wasn’t feeling the greatest today. My back felt like it was about to snap in half. Trust me, not pleasant. Mom let me stay home along with Brooke, my younger sister. We ended up trying to clean up a bit, but I couldn’t really do much because I couldn’t stand for very long. All day, I’ve been hardly able to stand OR sit for a long period of time. It makes for a difficult day. Other than that, all I did was watch tv and go to the store with Mom (I got to push the cart, so I had something to lean on, haha).

The grade 12s/level 3s/whatever-you-want-to-call-us get to buy their grad rings this week! The grad ring guy is in today and tomorrow. I have to go see him tomorrow because I wasn’t in school today (DUH). I can’t wait. It’s so exciting! I also need to check with Daniel about what colour my prom dress should be. He’s my date, so he might as well have a say in it! I just have to remember not to ask what colour I look better in... NOBODY ANSWERS ME. Just because I am a woman doesn’t mean that you have to be afraid of how I’m going to react. I just want an answer, not an "Um.. Uh.. I have to... Go somewhere," and they take off. Or, even worse, avoid the question altogether. Let’s see how this goes.

At the moment, I’m listening to some Dream Theater. Surprisingly enough, I love their music. They’re progressive metal, for anyone who’s wondering. Cody listens to them, so, like Junior’s Poets of the Fall collection, I took the music from him and developed a love of Dream Theater. Their songs can be quite long, but I assure you - it’s worth listening to! Just look up The Dark Eternal Night, Prophets of War, and Forsaken. Then look up Goodnight Kiss. Then compare. Beautiful stuff, I tell you.

Why is this easier to write than a research paper?!

Now I have to go study. Ugh. I’m really not in the mood to study right now. But, I have to. Both are public exam courses so it’s important that I pass them. If I don’t, I don’t pass high school. What a thought.

- Bre :)