Waldon here, and for anybody whom stuck around long enough, this post will be a gratifying message; I'll be doing daily blogs for the next 5 days, at least. You see, today is the first free day we've gotten in ages. I just finished my final essay/paper for my English course (As did Bre) just after dinner today (Bre finished before dinner xD).

So, now that I don't have some intense workload hanging over my head like a liturgical sword of Damocles, I can do a blog before bed without worrying that I'm going to collapse from exhaustion halfway between one sentence and the next.

So! I've picked up Skyrim again. In the span of about 5 days, I've gotten almost every location discovered, killed enough dragons to have finally gotten that achievement, and reached level 22. Now, that may not seem like much, but I'm a compulsive player. I get sidetracked so easily it's almost criminal. This is a GREAT runthrough for me. :P (That's also why Fallout is one of my favorite series of all time; getting sidetracked is encouraged. xD)

I found about 22 CD's under the TV in the living room that mom and dad never told me they had. It turns out that they used to love what's now classic rock and some of the more eclectic music choices of the 70s and 80s, which I love, and I am now uploading all of them to iTunes. Although, a few of them are CD's that I thought I had lost, but I guess mom just moved them when she found them around. And never told me. xD

So, I don't know if I should tell you which of my old CD's were found, simply for the sake of my dignity. They're pretty... damning. Like, "Pokemon World,""Beyblade: Let it Rip," and some odd Japanese Pokemon CD. I mean, what? I didn't say anything. Nothing embarrassing here.

I've finished uploading about 11 of them, and I want to have most of them done by tomorrow. :P

So I suppose I'm done for now, I'm getting a little sleepy. Good night all!
-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

... 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 just got back from a night out with Bre and Russell. It was great xD We watched that new Muppets movie, and I LOVED it. I was smiling for a solid two hours.
Tonights title came from one of the previews from a movie called Brave. I'm going to watch it. I don't care if it's for 5 year old's; hearing that line spoken whilst a man moons another man in front of an army is all I need in a good movie. Yeah, I know I'm rather young for an 18 year old, but you know what? I don't even CARE. :P

I did so much laughing tonight that I think I gave myself a sore throat. xD Not necessarily at the movie, even. Just being around Russell tends to make me break out into laughter. :P He's one of those funny ones.

I have a feeling that I'll be inserting in-jokes about the movie all night, so I'll try my best to keep things mostly spoiler free. Just in case you're one of those people that haven't watched the movie yet. But if you haven't by now, you really should. Like, right now. I think I just gave away a major plot point about that movie. Well, I should hope so, or else most of the readers will be really bored right now.

Anyways, the movie started at around 7 or so this evening, so after Bre got her haircut at 2 30 (Which looks amazing, btw) we went to her house for an hour and a half, ish? Then, we drove through Tims and then to her dads house to drop off her sister. After that, it was my house for an hour or so, and then to pick up Russell and go to the movie. Russell's girlfriend was out of town for the weekend, sadly, so it was just the three of us tonight.

After the movie, Bre, Russell and I went to Tims, and hung around there for an hour and a half or so. Russell looked like he was about to pop by the end of that, so I made sure to get him home. :P Bre came over for an hour or so, and then I took her home too. :P

So, I suppose I'll go to bed... Good ni-

MENAH MENAH!
Doo ooooo ooo oo ooo.
Doo ooo ooo oooo.
Menah menah!
Doo ooo oo ooo ooo
oooo oo ooo
ooo oooo ooo
oo ooo ooo oo oooo oooo oo.
Menah menah.........

Hey! Tonight's title comes from the song "Listen to the music" by the Doobie Brothers. I'm not going to lie, that's the only quote I can remember from it at the moment. :P

Yeah, so I've been out sick from school today, and it felt absolutely horrible. I woke up this morning at about 2 AM and then again at about quarter to four, that's when I decided that medication of a sort would be appreciated. I fell asleep again around 5. Then, I woke up around 7 30 to get ready for school, and by 8 o clock I went upstairs to get a shower. Within that half an hour I decided that having incredible dizzy spells and nauseating stomach pains combined with a head congestion worthy of Thor, that I would not be going to school. :P It was like I was suffering under the iron fist of the Triumvirate of Ick. Yeah. I don't think I'm making much sense tonight.

But that's okay.

Anyways. Nothing much really happened today. Bre came to visit me around 10 AM, which cheered me right up. Then I spent the rest of the day working at my math assignment that's due tomorrow that I was supposed to learn how to finish in class this morning. Alas.

Then, Bre came over after supper for a little bit, and we both got a tentative approval for a trip to my cabin this weekend! It's great! I love going up to the cabin. You can hear all the sounds of Loons and what I THINK are Harlequin ducks out on the pond. There are Whiskeyjacks/Grey Jays'/White Crowned Sparrows all around the cabin, and squirrels are always out on the deck chittering around. It's just a nice sounding place. :) Hopefully I'll have my hunting license by this weekend, so if I see any partridges on the way I'll have something to make for supper with our kraft dinner. :P

Anyways, I think I'm going to go on to bed now. I know that staying up late to work on a blog after being sick isn't good for you. :P

Good night all!
-Waldon

Waldon here, and tonight's title comes from the song "High Voltage" by Linkin Park. I like it because it just seems witty to me. :P I'm just weird like that. xD

Yeah, so, a couple things happened over the past few days that's seriously messed up my schedule. Firstly;

The other night I was about to check some files on my external hard drive, and after I plug it into the USB slot a message box with the word "Formatting" shows up. I have no idea what's happening and then it suddenly finished. My hard drive has two partitions now, and everything on it was deleted. I'm very unhappy with this development. I had almost 2 years worth of short stories and poetry that I've written that I didn't have on my Mac because I thought, 'well, what possibly could go so wrong that all of my data would suddenly be deleted?' and now it's gone. I lost all of my writing, all of my pictures, a lot of photography and a LOT of music. About 6000 songs or so, I believe. Possibly more. The worst though? I had about 7 poems written for Bre for christmas, I lost all of them. :

Anyway, that passed, it (unfortunately)  happened. Then, something ELSE happened. I laid down to go to sleep and I felt my heartbeat getting pretty fast. I thought that I was just cutting off my circulation, but I'm sure you all know me well enough by now to know that I never make it off that easy, health-wise. :P My heart kept beating faster and faster, until suddenly I could see my chest moving a good bit when I looked down. That's when I tried to sit up.

Yeah, I could hardly see at all. My vision went VERY blurry, and really dark. And light. You'd have to see it to understand. Actually, you'd have to NOT see it. It was almost like an absence of light or dark. So, reasonably, I figured it was my diabetes doing something to me, and when I finally managed to haul myself out of bed to check my blood, my legs were really weak. I forced myself upstairs and my heartbeat evened out. So, that was good. My blood was good too. :P

I went to the hospital yesterday to get looked at, and I got a a full body EKG done to see what my heart rate was. Then I got bloodwork and stuff done. The doctor came back and pointed out that on my heart rate chart, I had one beat that had a slope instead of a straight line. So she told me that it might be some sort of blockage or something in my heart at the worst. In the worst case scenario, I've got to get Heart Surgery. In the best case scenario, I got a good story to tell people. :P

I was supposed to hear back from the doctors again today, but I never got a call. xD

So, this evening I spent with Bre. :) It was great! We watched Watchmen and gawped over Sims. :P But first we had to run to the store with Britt for Bre's mom to pick up some stuff. I carried four 9.7 Kg shelves. :P

I carried the four shelves, through a crowded store, out to a truck that was in the rain, after recently being diagnosed with a Heart condition. Man, I just one upped ALL OF YOU. Well, maybe not all of you. Probably just a couple. I mean, the shelves weren't actually too large. Or heavy. So you know. Hopefully it's a good boast. xD It's fine, you can ignore my attempts at boasting.

And yeah, that's right. We watched the Watchmen.

Any other nerds out there? Anybody? xD Yeah. Oh well, if you don't get it, at least I got it. :P This week has just been a hard week in school, and I think Bre and I both needed a night off. That doesn't mean the rest of the weekend is free of course. It just means that I have to space my work out more efficiently.

I think I'm helping Bre with something tomorrow? Or we're hanging out? I sure hope so... it's weird not having her around. I end up always trying to say stuff to her and she's not there. :P Am I the only person that does that? xD

Yeah, there's more to say, but I'm tired. Good night all!
-Waldon

Waldon here, and here's the second half to that post I promised this morning! I have good news! I got an 84% on my English essay and I found two of my System of a Down CD's! It's great! : D

If you didn't know, the title is from "Revenga" by SOAD by the way. :P

Today was another school day, sadly. It seems that lately, school is taking up all of my time. Like, all of it. I'm usually doing homework until about 1 in the morning, and then I'm trying to fall asleep for at least another hour or two. But! I did manage to get my English essay (Not the one I got the mark for) done during my three hour break this afternoon! : D I love it. Friday is my one day with a more than one hour break. :P Bre and I only have one lunch break together, and that's on Friday. :( I usually spend lunch by myself. Actually, I spend most breaks by myself. Man, that's depressing. And lonely. :P

I spent this evening at Bre's house with her while she watched her brother and sister. She's always giving up her nights to do that for her mom, cause she's nice like that. :) I wouldn't have the patience for it, personally. xD I tend to be an authoritarian whenever I'm in charge. :P Either it's my way, or the punch-in-the-larynx way. xD Anyways, we watched a couple movies, "Gnomeo and Juliet", and "Megamind". :P I liked them both, actually. Megamind made me laugh out loud a few times. There's enough subtle jokes for it to appeal to an older audience, and enough rock that I can listen to it without cringing after the third generic pop insert. :P

So, I just looked at the date at this post and I was seriously confused. Because I knew I had posted that last post this morning, but somehow it was all of a sudden a day later! Like, how? Did I lose track of an entire day somewhere?  After a minute or two of panic, I realized something very basic; it is past midnight. Now, it's not often I make a mistake like that. I tend to be the that's so grounded in reality that everything is just incredibly silly. I've gotten so serious that I've crossed back over into silly. I'm just that cool. :P

Well, I guess I'll go to bed. I'm too hungry to stay up much longer. xD Good night all! :D
-Waldon

Waldon here, and tonight I've got a little bit of free time, so I thought I'd ask something new; What did you all think you would be when you grew up? I don't really need an answer, but just think about it.

When I was young, I was just like everybody else. I wanted to be an astronaut. :P I spent hours thinking about how cool it would be in space! But then I really got into the whole fantasy genre. Yeah, Knighthood is where it's at. I was dead set to be a knight for a while, no joke.

But, then I thought about how much good a knight could do today. Not much, really. I mean, jousting is awesome. There's no other way to describe it. There is NO problem on earth that can't be solved with a good solid lance. Got a raucous party next door? Joust it. An annoying friend that won't leave you alone? Joust them. Need to find the number of atoms in a 14g sample of Carbon?

Yeah, you guessed it.

But, I thought about it some more, and I came to the conclusion that too many people would take it the wrong way if I started wearing a suit of armor and righting wrongs. Even IF it's totally awesome.

So then I thought about the army. For quite a while the notion had been in my head that I could join the army and start making a difference. I could put my life out for my country, for my friends and family and for everything that I love. I would be able to stand tall and proud, wear the colors with dignity. I wanted to be a foot soldier. I wanted to experience everything face to face, and work my way up through the chain of command, to a position where I would be able to help people all over the world.

I couldn't. Diabetes is too debilitating for that. I'm not eligible to serve. That takes the RCMP,  and the police force out of the options as well. I would never get to serve, I found. It was a depressing day when I heard that.

But, then I thought about it. I can still make a real difference, I just need to do it in a different way. That's when I started thinking deeply about what I wanted. I wanted something that would affect people all over the world, I wanted to help this generation, and generations after, with living. With life. I knew I wasn't smart enough to be a doctor. I haven't got the perseverance to stick with such a long program, or the spine to know I hold a humans life in my hands.

So, I started thinking about the ecosystem. About Life. About Biology. I've always loved animals. Anybody that knows me would know that. I love everything to do with life, and what creates it. What better way to help this world, than to make sure that it's still around for us to love in the future?

My father is a forest fire fighter and a forest ranger. My grandfather is a forestry ranger as well, and a forest fire fighter in his prime. My family has roots in the forest. I want to be a part of studying life, and helping it grow.

What about you?

What do you want?

There is no reason you'll ever have to give up what you want. Just sometimes, you need to change the way you get it. I wanted to help people, and I am. Just not how I thought I would be.

Never let society tell you that what you want to do with yourself is impossible. If you want to be a florist or a painter, or a musician or a mathematician, the only thing stopping you from reaching some sort of conclusion with your goal is your resourcefulness. Maybe you haven't got the dexterity to play guitar? Try working as a Sound Technician. You haven't got the patience for Math? How about trying something with logical parallels? Designing electronics or buildings? Maybe you wont be exactly what you thought you'd be, but you'll still be what you wanted.

So, I suppose my rant is over for the night? Good night all!
-Waldon

Waldon here, and tonight's title is from the song Paralyzer by Finger Eleven because it reminded me of a section of The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy, where Arthur is on a giant flying party.

Yeah. I'm nerdy like that. :P

I really don't have time to write a good blog tonight guys, I'm sorry. I have two HUGE assignments due tomorrow that I've been trying really hard to finish, but just haven't been able to. I'll be working at those for the rest of the night. Everything is just stressing me out lately, and hopefully this will all resolve itself soon. If anybody has gotten the brunt of my stress, I apologize profusely. >.<

So, with all due condolences, I bid you adieu! :)
-Waldon

Waldon here, and I'm, again, offering my most sincere of apologies for missing another update. >.<

Yeah, so I've got a hospital appointment tomorrow at 2 30, and another on Tuesday at 9 30. Its going to be a bad two days for classwork. :S

So, what are you all up to? Cause all I'm doing is listening to music. :P Thank god for music. Did you know that there are theories starting to circulate now after a dormancy of a long, long period of time (the time of Charles Darwin) that humans used music before they used language? That music is how we used to communicate and pass on information, akin to how a bee dances to show where resources are found. Music, as Darwin saw it (if I'm understanding correctly) was a way for humans to gauge our sexual attraction to each other. As closely liked things like music and dance tend to be, they tend to be central to each other and good health. In order to dance, you must be fit, in order to play music or sing you must be dextrous and skillful. All of which are desirable traits in a human being. Playing a guitar or keeping a beat on the most primitive of instruments, i.e. a drum, creates a bond, a connection.

But, that isn't to say that if you listen to a man sing or a male player making beautiful sounds, as a man, that you are attracted to him. It might just be our instincts bonding us together on a primitive level. If we used to use it to communicate between bands and tribes of humans, could that not have carried through our genes? A sort of selective audio trigger for survival? If the human who sung well was fitter and we see the singer showing camaraderie, doesn't that mean that we're more likely to survive?

We now see music as commonplace, but before we had anything to record music on the only places we could have heard a piece of music or song was from a live player. Most people couldn't afford that regularly. Church provided this, and we all bonded over our mutual affection of the sound of music and their belief in a superior being.

Doesn't this still serve the same purpose? When we listen to a song which we can relate to our own lives or scenarios we've lived, when we hear a song about a God that some revere, we tend to empathize and associate ourselves with the singer and band. It creates a connection with them. So our bodies may just be reacting to music as a positive force, symbolizing our connection to each other. We get positive feelings from a song reinforcing our own ideas and emotions which in turn makes us feel like we're part of a larger whole.

I believe I've talked about this very thing before. How many of the people who read this have ever been to a concert where the band goes out of it's way to speak to the audience? I'll use hard rock and heavy metal now because I'm most familiar with it, but I'm sure they're not the only genres with this feeling. When you're part of a great crowd and you're all singing along with the band screaming out their emblazoned ideas alongside them, which knowing metal and rock is generally about unfairness and breaking oppression, you feel like you understand and being in a crowd of that size brings out the base emotions. In other words, a Mob Mentality.

But this isn't a violent state contrary to popular belief, it's a passionate one. Like feeling part of a greater whole like in church or within a group of friends singing together around a stereo on a car trip. Take the song "Die for Metal" by Manowar as an example of this very thing. Listen to it before reading on if you want, you might understand what I'm trying to convey.

The point that I'm trying to make with this long diatribe is that music is a part of us. An essential part of human culture and survival. It allows us to connect with each other, it allows us to talk to each other and comfort each other. Music, dancing, singing, moving, this is life.

I'm afraid I'm not very good at this whole "Explaining Theorem" thing. :P

I mean, if I was, I'd start talking about how music translated over into literature... which doesn't even have a defined defi

Anyways. I worked on my math today! :D I got Part A of my math assignment finished, thanks to Bre. :) <3 Thank god too. I had no idea what I was doing wrong with most of it. >.< I spent most of the afternoon at her house with her, and I think I got more done there than I did all week on my own. :P

So, Back to school tomorrow morning. I suppose I'll try not to bore you all again sometime soon? :P Good night all!
-Waldon