Guess What I'm Being for Halloween!!

After many. many weeks of deciding I finally came to a decision of what to be. I just finished the rest of my costume last weekend.

Can you guess what I'm being yet? Tomorrow I'm going trick or treating with my friend Ayden in St. Albert.



I'm being...


Hades - God of the Underworld!!

SNOW!!

Ok, that might have been a bit of a strong reaction but it's not a lie! We got about a millimetre of that fluffy white stuff this morning. I woke up got dressed and my mom sayed guess what. Right away I asked did it snow? I know it had to be coming for days now. But I think we got it quite late compared to other years. I just hope that the rest of the snow will hold off until Halloween.

It wasn't just over night too. As I walked to school alot of it was floating down in a curtain so that everything was white. Oh, and it was cold! I think it was just Monday that you didn't need a sweater to go outside! I even had a short sleeve shirt on last week for recess! It's crazy I say.

SNOW!!

Ok, that's once again an exaggeration. Like they say if you don't like the weather in Alberta just wait twenty minutes.

Cont. A Little Bit Of Canadian Political Wisdom

Scroll down to see the rest of this post.

Before as I said there were unfortunately (and scarily) much more stupid quotes than clever. Last time I showed the stupid quotes. This time I will show the clever ones! (Though there may be a bit less!!)

1. "Brian Mulroney is the head reptile among a party of political chameleons." Liberal MP John Evans colourfully critisizing the federal PC leader Brian Mulroney in the House of Commons on February 10, 1984.

2. "If you're a mayor and you have a problem what do you do? You blame the provincial government. And when you're the provincial governement and you have a problem what do you do? You blame the federal government. And for us, we cannot blame the Queen anymore, so we blame the Americans once and a while." Jean Chretien in an interview with Peter Gzowski on CBC radio, March 1, 1995.

3. "He is one of the most inflexible, obstinant Tories I have ever encountered. He's like the Pre-Cambrian Shield in human form." NDP leader Stephen Lewis referring to Conservative MPPDon Irvine in the 1970s.

4. "It's true, I speak out of one side of my mouth. I'm not a Tory. I don't speak out of both sides of my mouth." Jean Chretien on September 27, 1993, poking fun at his speech impediment, which was caused by a childhood illness.

Here is one last quote that I didn't know which section to put it in. Stupid or Clever, stupid or clever, stupid or clever. It's quite funny though so I saved it until the very end.

5. "Dalton McGuinty. He's an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet." Description of Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty contained in a news release issued by the Ontario PC on September 12, 2003. What's so funny about this one is that it was in a news release so they actually thought about saying it was were like oh, this sounds like a right description. An evil reptilian kitten eater.

So that's all the really good quotes from "The Little Book of Canadian Poltical Wisdom." There are many other good ones too though. If you really like it you can get it from the library the authors names are Rick Broadhead and Andy Donato.

A Little Bit Of Canadian Political Wisdom

I just got back from the Library where I got a wonderfully funny book called "A Little Book of Canadian Political Wisdom." It has a bunch of funny and stupid quotes that politicians have said. You wont believe how stupid some of the people who run our country are!!

1. "Okay we've won. What do we do now?" Brian Mulroney after winning a landslide victory in the 1984 federal election.

2. "Just as Lake Erie drains from North to South, there is an ongoing drain i nthe terms of our young people." Stockwell Day on October 24, 2000 during a campaign stop in Niagra Falls Ontario. (Lake Erie drains from South to North.)

3. "Seals don't eat beef. I was interviewed one day in France. I explained one of the problems is we have too many seals. A reporter came to me and asked if it is true that seals eat cod. I don't know, I'm not a seal. But I can tell you seals don't eat beef because the seals are not living in Alberta." Jean Chretien on July 8, 1995 speaking at a Liberal Party fundraiser in Calgary.

4. "My style of leadership, uh, and in my former role as well, was to state what my idea was but also encourage uh, you know, I know what I know and I know what I don't know." Belinda Stronach being interviewed on a Winnipeg radio station on January 21, 2004.

5. "Good afternoon, Croation people." Sheila Copps speaking infront of a Serbian audience.

Unfortunately, there are many more stupid quotes and it's quite scary too:) In the book there are many clever ones to and I will post some tomorrow but now I need to go to bed.

Throne Speech

On Tuesday the Conservative government released their throne speech which stated what would be happening in the next term of government which hopfully Stephen Harper won't be the Prime Minister of.

The main parts that it focused on was crime, taxes and extending the Afghanistan mission to 2011. If the speech is defeated then there will be an election. What I am confused about though is does that mean if people don't vote for it is that defeated? Anyway it is a very interesting matter. Unfortunately I didn't watch it becasue it was too early but hopefully some of you did. If you did please help me understand this more.

To read more about the throne speech visit the cbc website: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/10/16/speech-throne.html or you can wait until I write about it the next issue of Die Zeitung which will hopefully be coming out in the end of October.

October Penguins Challenge Swim Meet

Yesterday I finished my first swim meet with the Penguins swim club! It was called the Penguins Challenge and was just for the Penguins Swim Club. It lasted about four hours and was very fun! When I got there we had to figure out which team we were in becasue the Penguins Swim Club had been split into two teams before hand. They couldn't find my name so we asked Amanda who said that they forgot to register me but someone was absent so I took his place.

My first race was 50 freestyle and I was in lane one: the lane where my dad was timing. It was very exciting. The thing that I was most worried about my races were my dives. I think I did a pretty good dive, at least I didn't do a belly flop. After this I hardly had any time to dry off before I did my next race which was 25 butterfly. I think I could have done a 50 butterfly but the person who was absent wasn't registered to do a 50 butterfly. I thought my butterfly was pretty good and when I got out my dad said that he was very immpressed by my butterfly. My dive was good again, no belly flop at least. I had a little wait before I did my 25 breaststroke, once again I think I could have done a 50. I like breaststroke because I think it doesn't take as much effort as my last stroke which was butterfly. Once again no bellyflop. My second to last race was 25 backstroke. Here I think I could have definately done a 50! I find backstroke quite easy and I liked it because I didn't have to do a dive! My last race was a 100 IM. The boy I was posing as wasn't registered for an IM but they slid me into a spot. Unfortunately they slid me into a spot with the 18 and up year olds. My mom said the person in her lane was 23! It was VERY tiring and after I got out I just stood there, very tired. After this my dad told me that he thought that if I was in the next IM race I would have maybe even won it!

After all the races the whole Penguins Swim Club did a big relay. There were aproxamately 35 people an each team and every person did a 25 of freestyle so it took a VERY long time! The part I was most worried about though was the fact that to enter the water we had to dive over the person who touched the wall. I was worried that my dive wouldn't be far enough and that I would hit the person, but I didn't. My team won the race by like two seconds.

I had alot of fun at this swim meet. I also liked that both my mom and dad were timers. I was in my dad's lane about 3 times and in my mom's once. So I was only in another persons lane once! What I also liked about it was that there was a big age range. There was one boy who looked about 5 years old and then on this sheet I saw that one of the Master swimmers was 42! That's a difference 37 years! This swim meet was very fun and was a great experience!

Weakerthans Cont.

Scroll down to see the other Weakerthans CD's and Weakerthans concert review. On the right are the four Weakerthans Webisodes check them out!

Just a couple weeks ago the Weakerthans released their latest CD "Reunion Tour." It is probably the best CD yet, they also made four funny webisodes about making the CD's, I have all four of them posted on the right they are VERY funny! The first song Civil Twilight about a bus driver in Winnipeg who, every evening around twilight has to pass a house that something very bad happened. He might have seen something or someone for the last time or made a mistake and he was thinking about how hard it would be to do that. The third song is called "Relative Surplus Value" which is about a downfall of a compnay. A really funny song that they talk about in one of the Webisodes is called "Tournament of Hearts" which is obviously about curling any Canadian would know that but for those USians curling is a sport in which you throw a rock a try to get it in a ring of circles, it may sound boring but apparently the average Canadian curls at least four times a week. John K Samson even curls two times a week when he's not on tour. Probably two of my favourite songs on the CD are called "Sun in an Empty Room" and Night Windows." I think that "Sun in an Empty Room" has some very nice harmony and that "Night Windows" is quite haunting. Some other songs on the album include a song about someone who saw Bigfoot and about the countless bands that have gone on Reunion Tours.

Once again this is a VERY good CD and please watch the very funny Webisodes on the right.

Weakerthans Cont.

To read about the rest of the Weakerthans CD's scroll far down. To see the review on the Weakerthans concert scroll down.

In 2003 the Weakerthans released their 3rd CD "Reconstruction site." It has some of my favourtie songs that the Weakerthans ever realeased. One of my favourite songs is called "Our Retired Explorer" is about someone who was with Ernest Shackleton on his expadition to Antarctica is dining with Michel Foucault and they talk about Antarctica and Shackelton and such. It is very good and it is very hard rock. There is also a song called "One Great City" and it's about Winnipeg. It's about the bad parts though, about the cold, high gas prices etc. It is so, so good and at the Weakerthans concert they played it for the first encore. Another song they played was "Plea from a Cat Named Virtute" (Virtute pronounced Vir-too-tay) about a cats perspective of a depressed persons cat. At their concert the Weakerthans played that song and the sequel to the song call "Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure" which is in the CD "Reunion Tour."It also had many other great songs!

Now I have to go to piano lessons right now but check back later for "Reunion Tour."

Weakerthans Concert!!

I'm back from the Weakerthans concert!! First of all Jada, Risa, and Cheryl came from Golden at excactly 4:00 and we went to the park and just talked for a while. Then my mom came home and we went to the Weakerthans concert. We got there at about 5:45 and the interview was going to be at 6:00. I phoned the tour manager and told her that I was here, she said that it would be awhile but to wait downstairs. So we waited downstairs while City TV reporters came passed us and many other news reporters. Then finally someone came down and took me Jada, and Risa upstairs. At first she introduced us to Stephen Caroll who is the guitar player for the Weakerthans. We went into the dressing room for the opening band Last Town Corus and I asked Stephen Caroll if I was having the interview with him. He said yes. I told him that I had all my questions ready for John Samson and Stephen Caroll just said OK, I'll go get him. John Samson entered the room and the interview began.

He was very nice, he even answered in full sentences, I hate when they answer with just yes, no, 7 years yes okay we live in different cities, it's hard. I asked them all the questions I had prepared and he answered in great answers. I can't hwait to transcribe it and put it into the newspaper.

Then the concert was about to start. We went into the theatre nad the Last Town Corus played first. They were quite good they playedfor about 30 minutes. Then it was intermission and I went out into the hall. I got a Weakerthans T-Shirt. It is VERY nice. On the front is a Curling Club logo that says The Weakerthans then Winnipeg. It was time to go back in for the Weakerthans concert. They started off with Civil Twilight off the new CD. They played all my favourite songs except for One Great City. They left the stage and we all stood up and clapped. We clapped and clapped and clapped and finally they came out again. They played One Great City My Favourite Chords and three other songs. Then they left. We clapped and clapped and then they came on again they played two other songs. Then, they were gone for good.

After the concert my ears were still ringing with the drums and guitars it was very exciting though. Wit the concert and the interview! It was a GREAT night!!!!

Weakerthans Cont.

To see the first part of this post scroll down.

In 2000 the Weakerthans recorded their second CD called Left and Leaving. It's hard to place a genre for this CD as some songs are softer and folky where as some songs are much more rock. For instance the song Aside is more rock and the title song Left and Leaving is much quieter. Left and Leaving was the first CD I got of the Weakerthans which I got at the Edmonton Folk Festival. In the book with the song lyrics for Left and Leaving above some of the songs there is a quote. Above the song Left and Leaving it says: "And for a moment both of you believe you can hear the city breathing you are both tired you want to be done." And then the first line of the song is: "My city's still breathing (but barely it's true)." Then for the song History to the Defeated the quote above it is: "The stars are dead the animals will not look We are left alone with our day, and the time is short and History to the Defeated. May say alas but cannot help or pardon." I think that John. K. Samson is inspired by poems of other to write the lyrics for his songs.

I need to go help my mom to bring up the mattress from downsstairs but stay tuned for CD's 3-4.

Weakerthans

The Weakerthans are a band from Winnipeg that I was introduced to in 2005 at the Edmonton Folk Fest. They folk/rock band. I read somewhere that they've always been catagorized as a something slash something. They don't really have a specific genre. The lead singer whos name is John. K. Samson writes the songs as poems and then puts them to music.



They put their first album out called Fallow in 1997 during the flood. In the very back of the little booklet that has all song lyrics it even say: "Recorded on two-inch 24 track tape at Private Ear Studios (Winnipeg) during the flood of 1997." I think that this album was more folky. Also if you look on the back page it says: "For all your literary, caffeinated, and musical desires in Winnipeg please visit Mondragon Bookstore and Coffeehouse (91 Albert St.)" Almost everytime I go to Winnipeg I go to Mondragon which is a restaurant that is completely Vegitarian. My favourite dish there is the Elusive Pupusa by the way. Beneith this it says: "Long live the small and independant. Death to superstores everywhere." You gotta love them!

Right now I gotta go do my homework but stayed tuned for Weakerthans CD's two - four.

October Coquitlam Trip

I just got back from Vancouver where I visited my dad. It was very fun and I got to see my dad, Doug and Josh after what felt like a very long time since I last saw them. Mostly I explored the new house and worked on my newspaper. My dad works from home so I wasn't entirely alone though I did have to think of things to entertain myself while my dad worked. I got a lot done on my newspaper and I think it will be done by the time I want it to be finished - the end of October. But it wasn't just me and my dad at our house. At my house there was my dad, me, Josh and Josh's nanny. Josh's daycare is on strike right now so there is a nanny at our house from Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to about 1:00 Pm when Josh gos down for his nap. So actually there was quite alot of people there.

One day after work we all went down to Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver for a walk by the ocean. It was very beutiful. It was strange to see that it was still warm and everything was quite green even though it was October. In Edmonton the week before it was chilly and the grass had turned a yellowish grey colour in some places. After our walk we went to Fat Burger which is a restaurant that serves probably the best burger in Vancouver. It was very fun and when we went back home we watched a Planet Earth episode and went to bed.

On Saturday we went and bought some new tables for the living room. It was fun except for the never ending Dora the Explorer or The Backyardigans playing on the TV in the van, that was quite annoying. We also went to get Josh a haircut at this "cool" haircut place just for kids where there was a TV playing Dora the Explorer at every little spaceship that the kids got their haircuts in. The plus side to this was that I got a new book called Safe As Houses by Eric Walters about the hurricane called Hurricane Hazel that hit Ontario in 1954, I think that was the year. It was a great book you should definately read it if you are 11 years old.

The next day was almost the same. We went to return one of the tables that we got because the glass was broken on the top. Then we went to get some new lamps for the living room all the while with the never ending Dora The Explorer or The Backyardigans on the TV. Then we went to get another book by Eric Walters called We All Fall Down. This one is about the 9/11 attacks. It is also an excellent book.

Then on Monday it was time to go. It was much to short. Me and my dad drove to the airport in Abbotsford and I left on the plane. It's suprisingly a very short plane ride only 1 hour 9 minutes. Then, I arrived in Edmonton.