Ugh

So I'm back on P.E.I., I still have two shows left to do. The trip was good. We some how managed to get a tour bus despite the fact we weren't going to get one originally. THOSE THINGS ARE LOADED. There was a bathroom (we didn't use this out of courtesy for everyone else), A DVD player with screens for everyone. To top it off it was a 56 passenger bus, there was 11 of us including Fred (College president).

I'm starting to get sad now though. I've been informed by my parents that I'm coming home on Thursday night. This means that I won't be able to spend any truly free time with the friends I've made here. I'm going to miss them, they've become a large part of my life. I wish I could spend the two days before graduation with them before I have to go home and revert back to the introverted antisocial mushroom I am at home. 

This year has been great and I wish it didn't have to end, that it doesn't have to change. But such is life on this side of heaven. 

Excitement

I finished my exams yesterday, O don't think I did too bad. I answered all the questions on them anyway.

"Why is Ben up at quarter to six, and blogging?" There are three reasons for this. 

1. Ben is a fisherman and a morning person. My attitude goes down the later I get up, although I've worked on that over this year and I'm much less crabby when I stay up late, get up late, or lose 4-all hours my sleep for one night
   
2. I got that butterfly feeling in my stomach I get Christmas morning. 
3. Explains reason 2. Choir tour starts today, and I'm as nervous as I am excited. I still need to pack in fact. But I don't think I'll be able to blog while on the road. So I'm getting one in right now.

I almost don't want to do this, but I want to as well, because I've invested hours into getting my lines ready for this. If dad decides to come and get me after the tour like he's planning, this will be the last thing I do with my friends here. I'm gonna save the emotional blog for when I get back from the tour.

So close!

The end of school is so close I can almost taste it. But yet it is so far away... I want to go home. Not to sleep all day, but to sleep from 9-5. I want to stay here though too. I'm gonna miss everyone at the college. 

Something I know I'll miss for sure is road hockey. We played today, we may play again on Thursday. I had a pretty good game. I watched some You Tube videos of goalies to see if I could improve my game any. The only thing I gleaned from my short search was a quick tip on the initial stance. It said to hold the glove up, previously I'd hold the glove more or less at my side, the crook of my elbow pointed down like ^. I started holding the glove up so the crook was pointed like a v. My new knowledge was rewarded. My response time went up, I blocked more shots, and I made a beautiful glove save (I snatched it out of the air) that I know I wouldn't have made if my glove wasn't held up. 

I never liked playing any sports until I started playing road hockey here. The guys have been great, letting me play goalie all the time (I think I'm the only one who likes playing goalie anyway) giving me tips, and having the patience to let me learn my position. I'll miss it over the summer, I just hope I don't get rusty, or forget anything I've learned on how to play.  

Quicky

I'm just sitting here watching hockey night in Canada between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (Odd?). I'm running down the home stretch in school, not much work left to do except study. 

I've been thinking lately, but I'm not sure what I'm thinking about. I've caught myself randomly staring off in to space, my mind wandering everywhere and nowhere. When I catch myself I lose my train of thought and can't remember what I was thinking of/about. 

Ted would know what skit I'm thinking of when I say my mind has been forwarding messages to my fax machine. He was right, it is an inefficient process.

HOME! NOW!

I went home to spend the weekend relaxing. While home I discovered a number of intriguing things.

1. Books are more addicting than video games for me. 

True, I spent a good section of my weekend playing video games.  But I saw To Green Angel Tower Part 1 sitting cross ways on my book shelf. I realized that I had gotten it for Christmas, and I had reread the first two books over the final days of Christmas break, but had never returned to reread Part 1 and 2 of To Green Angel Tower. I spent 4 hours Monday afternoon reading 350 pages of that 750 page book. With video games I spend 1-2 hour increments, then I have to take at least a break before returning to the game. With books I can read as long as I'm awake. The only reason I stopped for supper is because I also had to use the bathroom and realized what time it was.

2. I miss home.

I went home and I went for a couple walks out in the woods, despite the stormy weather, and I realized that I haven't gone for a walk outside since I was home last. While I've been living in Charlottetown I've come to realize I hate living in the city. Oh sure, "This is the boonies" says John, but this is more than I can handle all the same. I feel no motivation to go outside at all. I only leave the building if someone says "Hey we're going ____. Want to come?" I just can't handle it. I did go for 1 walk in the city. It was at 6:00 in the morning and a blizzard out, and yet there was still a wicked load of traffic on University. I finally gave up on my plan to walk downtown and just walked around in the suburbs where there was peace.

3. Sleep is good.

I got my sleep cycle partially regulated while I was at home. Regular being in bed at 9:00, up at 5:00. And I discovered that my assessment in an earlier post was correct. I can do the 11-7 thing, even the 12-8 thing now, but I'm on a drain due to its abnormality. even though it's 8 hours, I just can't seem to fully adjust. When I was home my clock began to repair itself, and for the first time since I've started feeling drained and depressed last month, I felt rested, happy, and energetic.  I'm ashamed I'm breaking that so needed restoration even as I type right now.

I can't wait to get home. Regulate my sleep, go for quiet woods walks, read books for my own leisure and entertainment, and be done of school for another year. I'll post later about how sad I am that I won't see the friends I've made here.

Stuff

We played road hockey today. I had one of my better games as a goalie, I made saves that I thought weren't possible. I think I may have some bruises to show when I go home as the trade off.

I'm going home for the weekend. As much as I love the College, its in the city. I just don't really enjoy the urban environment. When I was home I would go for one or two 30min-90min walks, just because I enjoy them. When I got to the College I basically never left the building. I only leave if I'm going somewhere, I never just go for a leisurely walk. I did once. But it was during a snow storm, so there was no traffic, made me wish I was home.

There's a path in the back corner of the woods, if you follow it all the way it goes for about a mile, maybe two, into the forest. I love walking that in the fall and spring(no mosquitoes), because it's entirely private, no one uses it, and there's a forest between every road and house, so no one can see you while your on it. 

I can't wait to go home and use this path, it'll relive some stress for me.

Music

So I'm sitting on five chairs in the Chapel listening to Robbie and James jam (Robbie-guitar James-Fish). It reminds me of how much I love music. I don't think I've always been muscially inclined, I'd have to check with Mom and Dad, but the longer I live the more I seem to like music and wish I had really started earlier. I drum now, and I used to play the trombone. I kinda wish I could play the Piano. I love music though, I like to listen to it at all times, and I love making it more than I like to listen to it. 

I think I'll join them on the stage.

Lack of Courtesy?

The mundane first, we played ball hockey yesterday despite the dampness. Our shoes will take a few days to dry out though mine were soaked through, and I didn't run through any puddles. I am happy to say though that my team won two of the three games we played.

 

On to the meat of the post, the lack of common courtesy in our modern society. 

Yesterday was a bad day for remembering things. I didn't remember that we had choir practice in the morning (and set a new record for a non-sick sleep in 8:48) so  I didn't get to do the work I had planned for the morning. At 12:30 approximately I realized I wouldn't get any work in the afternoon either because we were playing ball hockey at 2:00. Then at ball hockey Lydia was nice enough to remind me that I was going to a movie with Shaneese, Abby, and Jeromie to celebrate Shaneese's birthday at 5:30. I did manage to squeeze in the time for a shower between the time I got back (5:00) and the time we left. While at the theatre though, I held the door open for everyone, just as I was about to let it close two people walked across the street obviously heading for the entrance I was in. So being the nice person I am I held the door open for them, but instead of entering through the door I was holding open for them, they went around and entered through the other door! I might understand if they were a little closer to that door, but they stopped right in front of the door I was holding open, turned left, walked around the open door, and then entered.

 

Were these people so unaccustomed to people holding the door open that they didn't understand what I was doing? Did they genuinely not see that the door was open? Or were they trying to avoid me? I've toyed before with the idea that such things as automatic doors have removed common courtesies (Like holding the door open) from our society. We don't remember to hold the door for people because we don't need that reflex. We don't say thank you to the cashier, they're just doing their job. We don't let people go ahead of us in a line; we have problems of our own. 

 

Our world seems to have become a cold place. I remember in MacLean’s magazine they had a nation wide courtesy test, they checked who would give them service with a smile for a small purchase (such as a pen, or gum), who would stop to help someone who fell down and dropped a large stack of papers all over the place, and who would hold the door open for them when they followed close behind. If I remember correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong dad) the highest scoring city only had 70%. The next runners up having 60%, and it goes downhill from there. One of the most common excuses for not stopping to help someone though war basically "I'm too busy." 

I think we are failing to teach things which make life easier to live in, things like courtesy and chivalry. Sooner or later we are going to have to deal with the effects, but for now I will be a hero of courtesy. Being kind, and promoting my view of chivalry on the world.

No point

So I'm sitting here in class and our professor is running late, and I noticed that the Blog needed an update so here it is.

The year photo is today. I don't mind that so much, but my shirts and my best pants need to be ironed (and I do know how to do that). I guess I'll have to do it imbetween classes. I can only hope that both sides of my shirt turn out the same, I start to get lazy after a point (and I will be in a hurry).

Tomorrow we might be playing road hockey, that'll be fun. I play one of the goalies so my job is to put my body imbetween a flying piece of solid rubber and a net that is slightly too large for my liking. That's OK though, I prefer that to running around and having to block shots without the equipment.