[Insert pretentious name here]

So I made a new template, this time by editing my current one though. I think it looks alright, though a little amateur as this is my first time creating one. I still need to change the blue on the sidebar, but I can't figure out how....I also need a new text color. Any ideas?

And I still have that huge space that the sidebar makes in my posts...anyone know how to fix that?

It was one of the younger kids who first pointed out the decrepit state of the camp. Very loudly. It was during the leader's speech after everyone had gathered that he shouted out, "This place looks like a giant porta-pottie!"
The sad thing was, it was true. The camp was made up of old log cabins forming a circle, with the odd bathroom thrown in here and there. Then, in the middle of all this, was the centerpiece of this work of art: the mess hall. The hall was exactly that. A mess. It was made mostly of the same half rotten wood that the cabins were made of, and was roughly the same shape too, except enlarged about 10 times. Inside the mess hall were picnic tables set up in a circle around a dirty old buffet table, almost exactly the layout of the outside.
"They really need an interior decorator in here!" was Marcel's first thought. "Good thing we are spending most of our time here camping and hiking!" he exclaimed out loud to Edwin.
"I agree. I don't think we will even need to spend a night in these disgusting buildings. From the little I caught of Leader Meyers' speech, the older group will be leaving just after we eat!" said Edwin, the nerves obvious in his shaky voice.

They would be going into the forest surrounding the camp for two trips of three days at a time. During these trips, the older scouts would be split up into five small groups, and taken on five different paths which meet up about 1 days hike into the woods. From there, the scouts would be taken on small trips just to learn about the local wildlife and plants.
As luck would have it, Marcel and Edwin were put in the same group. Of course, the boys were pleased to have been grouped together. By placing themselves at the back of the group, they could escape the boring lectures of Meyers' lectures and talk without getting in trouble.
"Our group is horrible!" complained Marcel jokingly. "I probably would have went back on the bus if you weren't here."
"I'm just pissed that we got Meyers. He's so boring! I heard that some of the other leaders are letting them build their own campfires. Meyer still won't let us make them, and we have been able to make our own since we were, like, 8!" said Edwin, joining in the complaining, even though he was glad that Meyers was their leader.
"I heard we get to build our own lean-to's tonight though! I read all the books I could find on them. I'll bet that I get mine set up first!" Marcel said eagerly.
Soon enough, Marcel and Edwin couldn't talk and were forced to listen to Leader Meyers, not because he told them too, but because the hike was becoming too intense! They had to keep their eyes on the ground to keep from tripping over roots, but at the same time, they had to keep their eyes up to look out for overhanging branches. The path, which was growing more and more thin as time went on, was also on a slight upward tilt.
"If I keep this up much longer, I'll be as skinny as you!" Marcel exclaimed, poking fun at Edwin's lean stature.
Edwin paused, looking Marcel up and down, "From the looks of you, it might help!" Edwin said, immediately sorry for his crude remark as he was aware of Marcel's self-consciousness towards his weight.
Marcel let out a quick breath that sounded like a can of pop opening and walked briskly to the front of the now single file line. He engaged Meyers in a conversation about the conservation of the southern flying squirrel in Ontario's deciduous forests, keeping his eyes fixed on the path ahead and determinably not looking back at Edwin. Edwin sighed and swatted a mosquito, knowing that it would be best to give him time to cool down, having dealt with Marcel's temper many times before.

Before too much longer, they arrived at their designated camp area and Meyers started them off on a competition to see who could build the best lean-to in the 30 minute time frame. They weren't given any instructions except "You can use whatever materiels you can find, as long as they don't belong to someone else." So they set off to build a lean-to with nothing but their minds and their own two hands, with the prize of an ice-cold coke in mind, heaven in the 33°C temperature.
After the given 30 minutes, all the scouts were standing proudly beside their completed lean-to's with the exception of Marcel. He had spent so much time trying to make his lean-to perfect that he ran out of time before he could finish it. To top it all off, he forgot to use spruce branches for the ground cover, instead used pine boughs, in which the needles are too long and too sharp for comfortable sleeping. Edwin's lean-to, to Marcel's disgust, was as close to perfect as it is possible to be in 30 minutes. His ropes were made of perfectly woven long grass found nearby, his knots mad of perfect figure-eight loops, his cross bar almost exactly the right height...Everything was good. Good enough for him to win the competition, much to Marcel's disappointment.

That night after the campfire, when everyone was asleep, Marcel was still fuming about him losing the competition to Edwin, so he decided to go for a walk. He had always found that a quiet walk helped him calm down and put things in perspective, and that was exactly what he needed to do then. He started to leave his now completed lean-to (which he noted with much satisfaction, was better than Edwin's) when he though about bringing his backpack. He finally decided to, as he had made enough mistakes that day, and wasn't planning on making another!
He picked his was across the pitch-black campsite, avoiding the ashes of the long extinguished campfire and made his way down the path, now able to see relatively well in the bright moonlight. He thought about how immature he had acted that day, starting with storming off from Edwin. Although it wasn't fair for him to make fun of him like that, he could have worked it out with him in a more adult matter. As he thought this, he came to the conclusion that he would apologize to Edwin that morning. About 20 minutes into his walk, Marcel suddenly came to a halt when he realized he was no longer on the path. He searched first calmly, the increasingly frantically when he couldn't find it. After about 15 minutes of running around aimlessly, he stopped and the buzzing of millions of mosquitos filled his head. A sinking feeling completed it's journey to his toes.

He was lost.

Well, as you may or may not know, way back in the day when Charlie lived on PEI, he taught me how to play the piano. Needless to say, I wasn't the best student ;) I dug my heels in when it came to practicing.(As I do with everything)

Again, needless to say, the lessons stopped as quickly as they started :D But tonight, I decided to set up the old keyboard and tickle the plastic ivories. Well, I can't say it was easy, but it wasn't as bad as I expected, and I seem to have gotten a couple songs from level 1 under my belt. (Such #1 hits such as: A Cuckoo in the Woods, Cradle Song and...well...you get the idea :D)

No real reason for posting this, just found it interesting how once I am stopped being forced to do something, I actually take an interest in it. Maybe if I take next year off of school, I'll become interested in it...I wonder what Mom would think of that one :D

Well: here it is. The long awaited "book". It will probably be a little boring, but it is only the first chapter, so stick with me! ...please ;)



It was Marcel's first boy scout's hike, and his mother was worried sick about him. She was running around the house, getting everything he would need, from a fully equipped first aid kit, to insect repellant, to SPF 50 sun screen. Marcel was a 14 year old slightly over-weight boy who lived in Toronto with his single mother, Jo-anne. Marcel was very slightly immature, though not in a bad way. He was very dedicated to everything he did, and he always listened to his mother, he just sometimes didn't act his age.
Marcel, the opposite of his mother, was a mirror of calm. He knew he was prepared for anything, even if he got lost. He had spent the last 2 weeks reading and re-reading the scout manual, and he knew exactly what to do, in every situation. None of this re-assured his mother though. He was leaving for seven days, and the longest time he had been without his mother was overnight at a friend's house.
Even though Marcel was the "perfect child", always doing everything on time, never disobeying his mother, she had her hands full. When Marcel was two years old, his father died of cancer, and ever since then Marcel's mother had had trouble supporting the small family of two, both financially and emotionally.
She stood there in her apron with the smell of fresh cookies wafting down the hall of their cramped two bedroom apartment gripping Marcel's shoulders with tears in her eyes, "You be careful! And have fun too, but most importantly stay with the group and...."
"I know Mom, I know," interrupted Marcel, "Stay with the group and listen to the leader. You've only told me, like, 20 times," Marcel said impatiently. "Bye Mom. See you next week!" Marcel said cheerfully.
"I love you," she whispered at Marcel's back as he ran down the steps, into the rain and down the street to where the bus was waiting for him.

Waving a last goodbye to his mother, Marcel finished the sprint through the rain and jumped into the bus. He immediately sought out his best friend, Edwin Adams who was saving him a seat. Marcel threw his kitbag on top of Edwin and threw himself into the seat blabbering about the trip before he finished sitting.
"Shut up already, Marc!" complained Edwin playfully, who had listened to Marc brag about how good a woodsman he was all week.
"You're just jealous!" joked Marc. "The only thing I'm looking forward to on this 6 hour bus ride is getting to go over the woodsman's manual a couple more times. I almost have it all memorized." bragged Marc.
"When will we ever use any of that stuff? We will be with the group and leader the whole time! We will never need to know what plants you can eat and stuff like that. It's a waste of time!" said Edwin, proceeding to take out his Game Boy, place his tongue determinably between his teeth and start to play "Sonic the Hedgehog."
About halfway through the trip, when Marcel had re-read the scout manual two more times, he got bored, so he started to rummage through his kitbag looking for food. He pulled out the first aid kit, and underneath that was his lunch. As he opened his lunch bag, he noticed something he hadn't put there. There, underneath his tuna sandwich, was a big, sleek silver Swiss army knife, with the white flag on a red background on the top. There was a note from his mother, saying "Have fun in Blind River!"
"Ed look at this!" Marcel shouted.
"Marc, stop shouting! People are staring." Edwin whispered.
"Look at the Swiss army knife my Mom got me!" Marcel whispered excitedly. "It has 10 parts! This will really come in handy in the woods."
"That's awesome!" whispered Edwin. "It even has a key-chain so you can put it on your belt. How much further to the camp do you think now anyway?"
"Probably no more than two hours... I hope. This bus ride is really boring" complained Marcel. "Did you know that sitting in public buses for prolonged periods of time can cause arthritis in your lower vertebrae? I read it in a book," Marcel commented dryly, tired of sitting in the bus.
"Mmmmmmm...." mumbled Edwin, already too engrossed in his Game Boy to pay attention to what Marcel was saying.
"Wow! The forests here are really varied! You can't even see two of the same kinds of trees together! We must be really close. The manual says the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forests are the most varied in Ontario, and that's where we are going. It also has the most wildlife." said Marcel, rattling off some facts that he had memorized from the scout manual and other books he had studied.
"Mmmmmmm..." replied Edwin, still absorbed by his Game Boy.
Suddenly a dry, monotonous voice crackled over the bus speakers: "We will be arriving at Camp Okonowga in five minutes, so if you could start to pick up your garbage and baggage, it would be greatly appreciated."
"Well, I guess it's almost time!" Marcel exclaimed excitedly. Looking at Edwin, he noticed he looked a little pale, and slightly nauseous. "Are you O.K. Ed?" asked Marcel.
"It's just that...I don't know. I have never been away from home, and I guess I'm a little nervous," explained Edwin. He sighed. "I guess I'm regretting not preparing like you did."
"Ah, come on Ed! I'm sure I studied for nothing. Besides, it's like you said: When will I ever use all of this useless knowledge? You'll be fine!" Marcel exclaimed.

Sorry for not posting for a while...I've been pretty busy.

So you may not see more posts for a dayu or two more, because I am working on something big. Seriously though, I started to write a book, and I may be posting bits of it on the blog. So you might see some of it later :D

BTW this post is just to let the pessimists (Nick) know that I haven't lost interest yet. Give me another week at least!

Oh and Maryse: if you are reading this, sorry I couldn't make it to the airport :( I miss you already ;)

...is not trustworthy. I find it strange that a lot of Christians practically base their all of their beliefs on a book made up of stories thousands of years old, and that were passed down by word of mouth only for hundreds of years. Just think about how much the story would get distorted with each telling! Poetic licence being so popular and all. Some people take the bible so literally, it literally makes me sick. Not only would the bible have been distored over the millenia, but a lot of the ideals in the bible are thousands of years old! It makes me so angry when people say being gay is wrong because is says so in the bible. A lot of things in the bible are wrong and outdated, and I believe this is one of them! For example; in Leviticus 1:19 it says that burning bulls on the altar creates a pleasing scent for the Lord. Leviticus 19:27 also forbids getting the hair around your temples cut. It goes on to say it is good to own slaves, that eating shellfish is an abomination and enen that you can't plant two different crops in the same field! Keep in mind that Leviticus is where you will find the bible saying that homosexuality is a sin.

While these things may have been acceptable, oh, maybe two thousand years ago, they most certainly are not today, and I would like to meet the people that think they are. If these things have changed, why can't things like homosexuality change? For once, Canada is leading the way in something with our recent legalization of gay and lesbian marriages.

I believe that a lack of youth in religion can be attributed to the fact that the church is (a lot of the time) unwilling to change, too in love with tradition. A lot of people I know feel this way, and I think the church could benefit with some fresh ideas.

Better Rushan? ;)

I found a quote that goes well with this post:

Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.

Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

I'm really bored and I have nothing to do, so I guess I will copy Nick and make a top 5 (because I won't be able to think of 10)

So here goes nothing :)

5. Blogger. The root of all evil :) Seriously though, blogger.com is a really good place for blogs and more than 10 million people have blogs, so you know it's either a fad, or it's a good website. ;)

4. BBSpot. Ever since Charlie showed me this website, I have been hooked! The articles on this website are hilarious! Specifically this one and this one.

3. Google. This is perhaps the most useful tool on the net. Especially for annoying forums noobs.

2. Maddox. This man is perhaps the most hilarious person you will ever read on the net. I can't even describe how funny he is. All I can say is: READ!

1. Of course...MY WEBSITE! (Until I lose interest in it of course) It has been a constant source of entertainment for the past 24 hours, and hopefully it will continue to be.

Any websites I missed? (Besides other people's blogs :)

I have been shopping around for a new template, and when I saw this one I had to have it.

Let me know what you think!

Will

Wow....I have so much to write about. Maybe I should save some topics so I don't run out. Or not.

So I followed along with the trend and bought the new Harry Potter book. I must say, I am quite impressed. J.K. Rowling really outdid herself with this book. Not only is it funny (I'm sitting here listening to my brother laughing away as he reads it) it is well written and very hard to put down. I finished it in 8 hours. Something I liked about this book is that Rowling at least started to start to wrap up the story. A lot of writers with long series (cough Robert Jordan cough) just dig themselves deeper and deeper with each book. While I can't see the Harry Potter series being finished in one (or even two) more books, you get al least the feeling that the plot is moving along. While I would love to read many more Harry Potter books, if you stretch the story too far, it gets tired.(cough Terry Goodkind cough)

I won't give any spoilers out but I would highly recommend Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Plus it's 20% off at Indigo.

I was reading a Guitar One magazine not too long ago (5 minutes) and I came across an interesting article/ad. Now, before I go any further, I will have to explain that music is a big part of my life, and (hopefully) always will be. I play the trombone and guitar and I love all brass instruments. I also hate all reed instruments.

Continuing on with my story.

I was reading a Guitar One magazine and I came across an interesting ad. It was an ear training "super course" called (obviously) The Perfect Pitch Ear Training Super Course. It claims that within 40 days, you will experience a dramatic advancement in your ear, your playing and singing and your enjoyment of music, or your money back. GUARANTEED!

Perfect pitch is a very interesting prospect for all musicians, and I was really intrigued by this. Of course, it is probably all a huge scam, but it would be interesting to try out.

www.perfectpitch.com

Let me know what you think.

Oh ya, I almost forgot to mention this:

Its $139.99.

I have finally created a blog. I have finally bent down to all the peer pressure and made a blog. I guess I have nothing to lose, so why not? As someone already told me, I will update it for about a week, then forget about it.(I have the attention span of a mosquito)

I guess I hope that this will be a place for me to vent my feelings into, as opposed to bottling them up. It's also a place where I will be able to keep in touch with everyone while I'm in France. (WOOOOOOOO!)

I guess that's it for now!