Ah, Math. It makes for a lovely title. For those of you who may not know, the title actually DOES make sense. It's something that we're doing at the moment in Calculus II called integration by parts... Basically, you have a little squiggly line with a bunch of x's and arcs and trig functions and lns and dxs next to it, and you have to find the original function. It's fun. We have a test on it tomorrow, so I need to get back to studying it soon.

SPEAKING OF TESTS, we have a bunch of stuff to do this week! So much stuff, in fact, that it needs to be put in a list.

Stuff that needs to be done/will happen this week:

- Math test tomorrow: not too bad. I'm pretty good at Math, so I'm not overly worried about the outcome of the test.

- Chem quiz on Wednesday: hm. A little worried, but not too much. I'm more worried about Junior and his... Difficulties with Chem.

- Chem pre-lab due Wednesday: I need to check qith Rami about something tomorrow, then I should be able to do everything no problem?

- English presentation on Wednesday: honestly, this came as a bit or a surprise for all of us. On Friday, Tony asked us to start writing our draft for our essay (we had to analyze an ad of some sort). We knew that we would eventually have to make a little presentation of it, sure, but today's news came as a surprise. Apparently, we need to do the presentation on Wednesday. Of course, very few (I won't say the entire class) had anything done, and I have a feeling that most will be in a panic soon.

- Physics test on Thursday: well. We had a test last Tuesday, but we did so horribly on one question that Ranjan took it out of the marking and told us that we'd have another test on the SAME MATERIAL this Thursday. He's going to be out of town from tomorrow to Thursday, so Rami will be watching us. :p

- Psych test Thursday: we all knew this was coming. Michelle told us at the beginning of the semester when all of our tests would be. This is just unfortunate.

- Physics assignment due Thursday: this is just the online stuff... No biggy.

- Physics assignment due Friday: what is this, you may ask? A typo? Am I going crazy? No. It's not a typo. I'm not crazy. We have a second Physics assignment that's due on Friday when Ranjan comes back. Yay.

And finally,

- English essay due Friday: sigh. Another one.

Yeah. We're going to have a busy week, but that's okay! I'll get everything done with enough time to help Junior out, haha. On the plus side, I got to work on the English presentation with Junior tonight! We're partners and, so far, it's working out well. I haven't had a panic attack yet. Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to study Psych with Cody for a bit, before I go to the airport with Nan. She's going out of town for a week to see my cousin's song release. It's exciting! Then, tomorrow night, Junior and I will be working on our English. Again.

Well. This was longer than I had anticipated. I need to go study! Good night!

- Bre :)

P.S. The cafeteria is STILL closed. I doubt it'll be open tomorrow. David and I have been doing Tim Horton's runs for the past couple of days, and I don't think I can handle anymore Tim's! xD

Whoa! First line is the topic. I'm being new and innovative!

Yeah! So, it's been really warm the past couple days, and I'm loving it. The snow is finally melting and I'm able to walk on pavement again. :P We've been wading through about 8 feet of snow for the past 2 months, so it's good to see some heat again.

I bought the game Dark Souls the other week. It's INTENSE. The tagline of the game is "Prepare to die." And that's seriously what it is. You just try and use a combination of brute force, skill and trickery to make it to various checkpoints of the game without dying. When you die, you have to start over at the last checkpoint. It's very easy to die. :P

So, Bre was over this evening, and we just sat there and vegetated while listening to music. You have NO idea how awesome that is. Unless, of course, you're like me. In which case you understand completely and are envious of me right now. I found an app that lets me control my iTunes from my phone, so we just sat on my bed and let the music lull us into a nearly rock-like level of mental activity.

We had classes all day today, and in about 3 of my 5 classes, something was due. As well, there was a bio test for a small mark today. It was... meh. :P

Yesterday we didn't have classes, because... the roof of our cafeteria flooded. Now, if you're anything like me, you just paused so you could comprehend that. Yes, I really did mean it. Our ROOF flooded. The water pipe above the mens washroom busted, and the water gathered up in the ceiling crawlspace until... well, it couldn't fit. :P So, the cafeteria is still being renovated for use again. Hopefully it'll be up soon, because in order to leave campus to get food, I've got to pack up all my stuff and go, and that usually means that I can't get any work done during that period. So, I tend to go without a meal instead. xD

So, without further adieu, I am saying goodnight!
It was a pleasure speaking to you all again, and I thank every one of you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with the blog and reading what we have to say. :)
-Waldon

Waldon here, and the smell of my hot chocolate is driving me crazy, but I don't want to get another one cause I'd wake up the house. XD

Anyway, for my first post since getting out for March break and Weebly letting me log back in, I'll finally do a post that I've been thinking about for a day or so; Music.

I'm branching out guys. I NEVER talk about music.

(Apologies in advance, I doubt this is very coherent. I didn't exactly plan it out before writing it.)

I was listening to Breaking Benjamin the other day, and I realized something about the genre of metal that linked it to classical; even to things like folk and spiritual music. You see, heavier rock or any of the sub-genres of metal (That's really vague, but believe me, there are hundreds of ways I could classify this. I'll just use these two categories.) ARE passive music. You can sit down and listen to it while working or relaxing, but it's also involved in the active mind processes. It is thought provoking and stimulating. It will give you ideas that you've never had before, or create mental channels that you've never used. Because you have to TRY to hear it.

When I'm listening to metal or heavier rock where others can hear it, numerous times, I've been told that it's not really music, or that it's just senseless noise. It's not senseless at all. It's HEAVY. That's the point of the message of that particular song. It's when the emotion is so strong in a piece that the singer has to yell it out. That song has to get out; it has to get out, or the emotion is gone. The genre is almost pure, if you look at it that way. But that isn't the point that I'm trying to get across here.

What I'm trying to say (albeit in a roundabout, convoluted way) is that you need to actively LISTEN to the heavier genres. You need to concentrate on the song itself and filter out the "noise" about it, so that the vocals are clear to you, so you can distinguish between the individual instruments and listen to the song itself; how they all fit together.

Now, I know at least one person reading this is going to wonder; where do genres like Classical come into this?

Simply put, classical music is open to interpretation as well. As is Folk, Trance, Spiritual music and all the other non-canon (I do not believe canon is the word I'm looking for, but alas.) musical genres that are considered weird by a majority of the population.

This is because a good portion of what ends up being mainstream music, or the music that the average person listens to, is passive. It allows you to just turn it on, and let the words and beat, rhythm and meaning come to you and influence you. It tells a story or presses an ideal forward that we can readily agree with, whilst that message may not even be what the artist intended, because we've all decided to make the song mean what we want it to mean.

People, en masse, do not want to have to work to hear a song or have to focus to understand a message. Music for most people is for relaxing. They listen to music to hear bands or artists that they relate to "talk" to them. People want to feel like they're listening to a friend. They want to turn on the radio or iTunes or browse youtube and listen to things that aren't harsh or directly related to themselves, and I completely understand that.

Think about when you listen to a song and the vocals aren't clear. Now, I want you to think about how often you subconsciously dismiss something that's just gibberish or pointless rambling? That's because we process all of those things on the same mental level; white noise.

If I may step back to a previous point; people say metal or heavy rock is just noise, and I personally I hear the most objections about metal or heavy rock that have to deal with how the words of the song are all just growling or too jumbled to hear. "White noise."

When I started listening to metal and heavy rock, I couldn't tell what the vocalists were saying. I didn't have a CLUE. But, I kept listening to it. I wanted to know what they were saying, I wanted to know what they were trying to tell me. Slowly, I began to actually hear the song itself and not just some amalgamation of cacophony (That would make an awesome band name, btw) that's blaring from my speakers.

And I slowly began to enjoy more, and more of the genre. I noticed that bands that I thought were just yelling at me, were actually just angry; angry at themselves, at the world, at the unfortunate things that happened to them. And then I noticed that people expanded that again, they made the genre into it's own breeding ground. Comedy, drama, serious musical compositions. It was all there. It was just under the surface of that harsh exterior.

Similar to the wordlessness of classical or trance, wouldn't you say? It's almost impossible to tell what the maestro is trying to tell you, exactly what the composer was trying to say, even though the sounds are clear and concise. Classical and trance music are the equivalent of images without pictures. You paint your own, you create an image from the sounds you're given. It's similar to hearing a soundtrack to a well loved movie; you can see the actors going about their assigned roles.

Since starting to listen to metal and the harder rock, I've found myself liking more and more of the other types of music. Including hip-hop, rap, blues, jazz, trance, electronic, folk, acoustic and classical. I started to really listen, and I guess I just couldn't stop.

The genres of metal and hard rock make you start to think. They make you sit down and process their music. It creates a fandom within itself. You feel more personally connected to the song. Like listening to a well loved soundtrack... right? It makes you actually hear what the band or artist is trying to say, because if you don't actually LISTEN to them you won't even hear the song. It'll just be noise. It makes you think and process... and if you listen to the music and say you love it just because it's harsh and you're an angry individual, all the power to you.

But you're not really listening, if you're making a generalization like that, are you?

Now, I may have just made a few people irritated with me after hearing that, but I want you to look up two songs by Breaking Benjamin, and one by the universally loved Eric Clapton.

Layla [Unplugged] - Eric Clapton
Rain - Breaking Benjamin
I Will Not Bow - Breaking Benjamin

You'll notice that Layla [Unplugged] and Rain sound fairly tame, don't they? They sound like something relaxing, pretty, even. But I Will Not Bow? I bet a bunch of you didn't enjoy it, even though it was by the same thought provoking artist that made Rain. Within metal and hard rock, it isn't all just "yelling" and sacrilegious intent. Is music about the sound, or the message? That's entirely up to you, of course. After several years of listening to metal and heavier rock, I don't even need to try to filter them anymore, the words are clear to me. Musical preference is subjective, and I'd guess that a good portion of people if they ever read this, just dislike metal and hard rock just because. But if you've read this far, then I guess you're of a similar mind to my own, and I implore you and everybody around you...

Listen.

Just please. Sit down, and actually listen to the song. Listen to the sound of the song, and how it influences you. Listen to the words being said, and how they change your mindset. Listen to them both, together. Listen to the actual song.

Don't just dismiss metal and hard rock as pointless noise. It's a message, and a message left unheard can only hurt you, in the end.

Every thought you have that you've never had before, will enrich you.

Thank you all for listening to me.
-Waldon

...you get so caught up in something that you enjoy that time flies without you noticing? :P

Waldon here! I actually meant to write this almost two hours ago. But! Then I found a new webcomic! :P It's called "Magellan" xD IT'S ABOUT SUPERHEROES. :D I love superheroes xD They're so corny that they're great. Also, gender inequality in hero comics is not restrained just to women. There's enough to go around. Sure, women wear all the skimpy clothing and become horrendous sex symbols, but have you SEEN Superman (Or Batman with his terrifying bat-nips from Batman and Robin?) How can a regular guy compete with a bod like that? Or that awe-inspiring coif he's been stylin' since his inception way back when?

Also. We have Aquaman.

Aquaman.

He can talk to fish.

That's just.. It's... No.

No more Aquaman, guys.

I think I heard the other day that (did you know this?) they're making an Aquaman comic where he's -wait for it!- in the DESERT. Yes. From what I've heard, the whole issue is how he reacts in the desert. From what I gather, he's kind of useless. :P

Today! Bre and I have been in school Nothing unusual. :P She had a math test today :( It was rough, from what I can tell. :S The lab ended up being about 20 minutes later than normal because nearly everybody in our chem class is in Bre's math class xD I had a pretty easy day, actually. Wednesdays usually are pretty slack for me. I love it. :P

Anyway, I suppose I'm done for the night! I have a Bio Lab Midterm tomorrow night, and I want to be ready for it (I.e. more than 5 hours of sleep). Good night all!
-Waldon

Waldon here, and I'd like to take a moment to discuss my intense hatred for all things individually wrapped.

I hate them.

There. I've taken a moment. :P

Seriously though. There's no good reason why when I open a box of chocolate, I should have to struggle with every individual one before I can eat them. I BOUGHT YOU. LET ME EAT YOU.

And therein lies the problem. :P It just bothers me! I want to eat! Not spend 10 minutes getting the darned [Insert name of individually wrapped item here] out of its casing! The individually wrapped hot dogs are the worst though. Cause if it wasn't for the writing on the plastic, you almost wouldn't know that they were wrapped, the wrapper is that close to it. And then by them time you've peeled a dozen, your fingers are sore and you smell like dog-juice and everything sucks. xD

Anyway! I had a pretty good day of classes. I found out that we're fairly close to the end of our bio class already, and we're not even halfway through the semester yet. But, speaking about that, I need to go. I've got Bre on Skype, and I've got two tests tomorrow. :P Good night all!
- Waldon

Hey! It hasn't been as long as I thought since I last posted! I'm doing good! :D  Before I fall asleep (it's almost midnight here), I'll get right into the blog. So!

This weekend has been weird. I don't know why. But it has. Read Junior's post for more info? MY weekend felt really... Off. As of about an hour ago, I have done between 6 and 10 loads of laundry since Friday. Crazy, hey? Six people means a lot of dirty clothes.

Friday night, I babysat Brooke and Bryton. We watched two movies: The Master of Disguise, and Kermit's Swamp Years. To be honest, I think I preferred the Master of Disguise. It's hilarious! I always get a giggle at the turtle club. That night, I also did my Math and my English homework, which, surprisingly, helped me out a lot the rest of the weekend. I didn't have to worry about it yesterday or today! I could focus on other things! :D  Like Chemistry. We have a test on Tuesday that I really need to study for. :(

Ah! The title! So. Since about 6:30 this evening, I've been typing up Psychology definitions. I've been at it for almost four hours with almost no break. This is my break. Wow. I need a life. Because what I'm typing are definitions, they aren't full sentences. This means that they're SENTENCE FRAGMENTS, as Microsoft Word so kindly tells me. Every second definition gets underlined with that squiggly green line because it's a SENTENCE FRAGMENT. WHY can't I figure out how to turn that off? (><)

... Other than that, everything is grand. Well, almost everything. Junior text me and said that his pump wasn't hooked up properly, and as a result he has high blood sugar. REALLY high blood sugar. Poor thing. :(

And on that sad note, I have to stop here. Four hours of typing really does your eyes in. Good night!

- Bre :)

Waldon here! You wouldn't believe the sheer volume of work we've needed to do over the past few days. I've got chemistry still due, I've got two math assignments due for the start of next week, some English, a bio test on Tuesday (I think) and a stats assignment.

AUGH.

By the way, most of that is for Monday.

So! Onto news! Bre and I finally got to spend some time together tonight! :) It's been a few weeks since we actually got to sit down and just watch a movie or something and relax. :( Something always comes up, or something always needs to be done, or somebody always has a problem that we need to help with. Tonight was exactly what I needed, I think. :) Hopefully, Bre had a good time, but I don't think I'm very entertaining to be around. :(

We have next to no time anymore. >.< As it is, I had to decline a woman who asked me to babysit for her tonight. :( I just have too much to do! I didn't finish my bio lab until 8 o clock, and it was due by midnight tonight. >.< I was working on it since Friday night. >.<

I hope that woman isn't too angry with me... :(

Just now, I was hearing a weird scratching noise coming from the living room and after about 15 minutes I was starting to wonder about it. Now, I should clarify that I'm ALWAYS hearing things in this house. Like, even Gladdale and Scottie and a couple other people have heard people calling out my name, and nobody was there or calling out anything. I've heard it too, and things regularly make noises in the walls. I got home from work during summer vacation while my parents were gone to the cabin for the day, and there was a massive chunk of bloody meat on the floor.

So, I figured I should probably check this out.

I walked out to the living room, and lo and behold; my dog Gunner lying on his side, the side of his face pressed into the carpet, scratching the floor with his feet like he was running sideways, his tongue lolling out. There was a crazy look in his eyes. His tail was going nuts.

So, I call out to him. He nearly explodes with happiness.

After about 3 seconds of extreme joyousness, he promptly lies down and goes to sleep, like he wasn't just channeling an "I just smelled 14 permanent markers and ate chalk" level of crazy.

I love my dog. :P

Oh, hey! The movie I was watching is over. :S It was Hellboy. I love that movie, and I think it comes on every Saturday night here. I must have seen it about a dozen times over the past couple months.

Now, I need to go to sleep. I've got a ton of math due Monday, and I need to start working on it early. :(

Good night, all!
-Waldon

... BUT I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT HE'S SAYING. So! You get no lyric. :P

Ah, on to some music that I can understand. I love me some Breaking Benjamin. At the moment, Junior and I are chilling out in my room, listening to music and doing homework. Well, I'M doing homework. Junior is just sitting there, looking good - as usual. :P  He said that he didn't want to do anything tonight, so he's taking a break. I can't take a break because I have an assignment due tomorrow that I have to do. Oh, he has one due tomorrow as well but he's done, so he doesn't need to worry about it.

What's been going on lately? Lots and lots and lots, mmhmm. We've been really busy. When Rami said that this semester would move faster than the last one, I believed him, sure; however, I didn't think it would move THIS fast. It's crazy! We've done four chapters in Physics, two in Psych, three in Chem, and... Well... A lot in Math. Junior just told me that they've done eight units in Bio. Holy. Crap.

Speaking of Rami! He got a spiffy looking hair cut! : 3

Okay. I cannot tell a lie. I have NOTHING else to say right now. Like, NOTHING. I'm drawing a blank. Nothing is -

WAIT! ERIC IS NEW. So. The new guy in the help centre at school is awesome. He has a major in Math and a minor in Physics. His job is to stay in the help centre and help people (obviously) with Math and Physics. I must say, he's doing a fine job. He's helped me a bunch the past few weeks. My last physics assignment was really hard, BUT HE GOT ME THROUGH IT. OH! Eric also dabbles in writing. He prints me off one of his stories almost everyday! It's wonderful! They're wonderful! I read them, then give them back. I'm too shy to ask for a copy of them. I'd feel silly! He can also juggle! He tried to teach me... But it didn't work too well. :P

Okay! That's enough of me for tonight. I suppose I'll go do my next Physics assignment. Good night!

- Bre :)

Waldon here! I know we don't update much, but there's always so much work to do be done, and sleep kind of needs to happen somewhat regularly or bad stuff starts to happen. :P

Anyways! On to the blog!

I started playing Pokemon again the other day. I think my fingers have almost melted to the DS. I LOVE POKEMON. I'm such a nerd. In fact, I just connected my DS to my Wi-Fi for the first time. I'm pretty pumped. I've got a team of dragons! : D And soon I'll be borrowing Bre's DS so that I can get a Charizard from my Heartgold! And a bunch of other dragons! : D I love dragons. xD

Man, I feel like I'm 10 and ranting to all the other kids in the cafeteria. See? This is why I should stop waiting until 1 in the morning to do this. xD

So, this week. Where should I start?

Well, firstly...

There is never an end to the work that needs to be done. Seriously.

Today was Friday, and I was informed that on Monday we'll be having a test in my Stats class that's worth 20% or so, and a math assignment is due, and a Bio lab is due, and... Something else? I can't remember that last bit...

Oh well, it'll come to me.

This week I had a bio lab that I loved. xD We looked at small protists. I was studying Paramecium. It was cool. :P Those little guys move REALLY FAST. We had to dope them up on methyll cellulose and hope they slowed down enough to watch them up close. :P

Also! I started playing Pokemon Yellow again too, and whilst doing research on Gyarados I discovered that it's name in beta was "Skulkraken." I can't believe they never stuck with that name. If I ever have a child, and that child is male, I will name him "Skulkraken" because the name Skulkraken Best would sound awesome on the top of a list for any new teacher during the school year.

Also, it inspires fear the hearts of all those whom oppose him, and isn't that what a father really wants?

So, tonight I went down to Bre's while she was babysitting, and that was fun :) We watched a lot of "1000 Ways to Die" after the kids went to bed. :P Being around a crowd of kids scare me. O_o I mean, I'm terrified of people regularly, but kids get all close and stuff. No joke, I'm terrified of my own species... That's kind of sad. But! I'm good with animals! : D

Yeah, so, this rambling, very tired blog is now done. It probably has very little coherence, or entertainment value (Aside from me sounding like a child.)

So! Good night all!
-Waldon

I'm pretty sure the title is a run-on sentence. Hm. I should probably change that. Tony would have an aneurysm if he read it, haha.

I have NO apology for not writing the blog. I have been busy. Period. "Doing what?" you may ask. Well, EVERYTHING. School is intense this semester. I come home every single day with a headache. Poor Junior is a tad stressed as well. Chem is a little bit harder this semester.. :(

Well. I need to make this quick because I'm about to fall asleep. The movie was good last night! (See Junior's last post). My weekend was good! I got a hair cut! I'm so excited! SO EXCITED. It's a little below my chin. Only a little.

And... I think I'm done. I'll write a better one later. I'll write it on my phone when I'm not busy and post it when I have a chance... That sounds like a plan.

Good night! :)

- Bre :)