What I Would do if I Were in the Hunger Games II

First of all... I am the worst blogging partner ever. Apologies.

Anyway, I liked Mark's last prompt and so I'm stealing it. This is what I would do:

1. Not run away before they could put me in the games, because, sorry, Mark, they would totally just shoot you. However, pre-game suicide would definitely be a possibility for me so I could at least die on my terms. Again, though, being in the games wouldn't be as upsetting to me as it could be. At least I would have the knowledge that I'm depressed, so at least they're killing someone who doesn't care all that much rather than someone really happy and attached to this living thing.

2. Once I was in the games, I would run. Screw that cornucopia shit, I'm getting out of there ASAP!

3. Find water and a hiding spot with many escape routes. If I were like Katniss, I'd probably just chill up a tree for the entirety of the games, if possible. Sure, if they tried to burn me out, that would be an issue. But my strategy would definitely be to wait the games out. I have no desire to kill someone, nor do I really think that I could. Let's face it, even if I did, the guilt would probably kill me regardless. So... yeah. Hiding is the plan. Possibly helping the younger tributes and hiding them as well so I could at least go knowing that I'd done some good for someone.

4. If I were dying, I'd probably attempt to make an impassioned speech about how shitty my government was. Who kills kids? Seriously?! (on that note, I'm freeeee! I'm too old to go into the hunger games... ha!)

5. Probably die, but, whatever. As I said, I'm depressed anyway. I'd make an effort to survive for my friends and family, but if it came down to me and someone who deserved to live more than I did, I'd be okay with dying.

6. Oh, and, I'm vegetarian. I guess I'll just eat tree leaves. Maybe malnutrition will kill me! Honestly, that sounds preferable than turning a child into a murderer.

So, yes. Clearly, I am not a great candidate for the hunger games. Of course, maybe this is a bit idealistic and I would, in fact, be able to kill someone if it were in self-defence. However, I'm uncertain... I'm honestly not sure that I could. I guess that it's hard to know unless you are in that situation. I imagine that there's some sort of murderous, cold, unfeeling side to all of us that a situation like that could naturally release.

-Laura

What I Would Do if I was in the Hunger Games

Although this post may be slightly late to the party, it can't be denied that there's still quite a lot of hype over the Hunger Games series. Having read all of the books and having watched all of the movies to date, I've formed an opinion about the entire Hunger Games saga, which is this; The overall play was pretty good. In the end, however, theres honestly only one thing we care about; 24 people being tossed in an arena to kill each other! Oh, yeah!

We like a little action in our stories. We like the clutch moments. We like the "only one winner" aspect of it all. The first book gave us plenty of that. The second book was just boring, until the exact same idea was recycled and injected it with some action. As for the last book, well... that was simply boring. I'm sorry, Suzanne Collins. 

Perhaps it says something about humans if the one part we care about is people killing each other. Well, as terrible as it is, i'll bet it makes for a great blogpost! So let's get to it!

1. I've just been chosen to go into the Hunger Games. What can i do to get out of here? I don't know. Maybe... run?!
Katniss totally could have just done that! She might have even had a chance. They couldn't kill her yet, right? Then they'd be short a tribute! They'd have to somehow sedate her, which might be tough if she's trying to kill you. She could have at least taken out a capital soldier while they were re-capturing her. So I'd book it out of there.

2. Assuming that they caught me, which I suppose they would eventually, then I'd soon find myself in their funky training arena. Frankly, I wouldn't even try training. There'd be no point, as I could never learn to fight in a few weeks. If it ever came down to a fight, then I'd be useless, in the real world or dystopian world. I do take archery lessons, but unless they're standing perfectly still and under twenty meters away, I probably couldn't hit them. I highly doubt that I'd find a bow, either. So instead...

3. I'd spend my time talking to other people. I'm definitely not going to win this on my own, so I'll just have to find myself a team. Maybe I can find some other quite, non-fighting types to team with me? Unfortunately, those people would probably be useless fighters like myself. Maybe, though, just maybe, I could get everyone who wasn't one of those mean career tributes together to team up against them? Then I'd tell them my plan...

4. When the Hunger Games started, my plan would be put into action. First, we'd all rush the cornucopia and push the outnumbered careers away. We'd have all the loot to ourselves! The we'd camp out for a few days until half the careers had died from dehydration/crazy wasps/killing one another.

5. After most of the careers were severely dead or dying, my team would split into small packs to hunt down those remaining. With our awesome cornucopia equipment, we'd crush them if they did surrender, however, and didn't try to kill us first, we'd let them join our gang. The first sign of trouble, though, and they're out of the group.

6. Once everyone left was in my team, we'd simply camp out in the middle. Whatcha gonna do now, capitol peeps? We've got ten people left who aren't killing each other. Is this entertaining to people at home? I don't think so!

7. We'd continue to wait in the middle, talking, eating some of our food, and chilling. In case the capitol didn't let us out, we'd simply plant some seeds and make a farm. Trenches and walls would be built around the cornucopia. It would be a fortress, a safe haven in case the capitol decided to send wolves or anything like that at us. If we had to scavenge for food, we'd do so in groups. Nothing would be able to kill us.

8. After weeks or months of this, hopefully the capital would set us free. If not, then we can live on indefinitely, farming and building a community. 

See, it's perfect! I don't know why they never tried that before. I suppose that maybe they did, and the capitol just sent soldiers in to slaughter them... but they couldn't do that every year. At one point they'd get tired of it, and the people would get bored of it, and the system would be shut down. It's really not that hard, tributes.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

What I Would Do if I Could see the Future

I told you that I'd write an extra post to make up for my missed days! Laura, you'd better get on that too!
Fate scares me.

The idea that all of your actions have been pre-set, and that you really have no control over your own life, freaks me out. And the scary thing is I honestly believe that, on some level, fate really does control you.

I'm a non-religious person, and so I don't believe that my decisions are influenced by a higher power. I do, however, believe that it is inevitable I will do certain things in my life. Let me try to explain to you a concept that I hardly understand myself.

Everything in this world seems to abide by a certain set of laws. Therefore everything, under the exact same circumstances, will do exactly the same thing time and time again. I don't believe that anything happens totally by chance. 

Therefore, if we knew the state of every simgle atom in the universe right now, we could, if we knew all the laws, predict exactly what those atoms are going to do in the next few seconds. If we knew what they would do in the next few seconds, then we could assess their new positions and continue to calculate what they would do for years in the future.

And what's scary to me is that the human body is just a bunch of atoms. These are what give us our thoughts, our emotions. Given the circumstances in my body right at this moment, I think that it's inevitable that a certain signal will be sent to my brain within the next few seconds, which will them cause a different signal to be sent to my brain, which will then cause me to do an action... on that level, it is inevitable what we will do with our lives, and decision making is just an illusion.
And so, finally getting round to the title of the post... is there really any point in seeing the future?
As appealing as it sounds, I'm not sure that I would want to actually be able to predict the future. Because first of all; if you can see the future, where's the challenge in life?
To me, life is fun because life is uncertain. It keeps you on your toes. You don't quite know what's around the corner. If you knew what was going to happen, then that uncertainty would be taken away from you. And where's the fun in that?
What would I do, I wonder, if I saw myself in the future? If I was successful, and where I wanted to be in life, then I'd worry that seeing myself in the future would offset my course for that success. Or what if I was only successful because some terrible, yet avoidable tragedy in my life had motivated me? Would I let myself go through that tragedy again, even if it was at the expense of other people?
Alternatively, I could go into the future and find myself homeless, alone on the streets. In that case, I suppose that seeing myself in the future might be good for me. At least I'd know to change something about my life.
Let's just say, though, that I went into the future and did find myself to be successful, but, like I hypothesized earlier, some tragedy had happened. Although I'd like to stop that tragedy from happening, would it really be a good idea? Hardships in life make us who we are, don't they? Avoiding it would be like cheating on a video game. You beat the game and it becomes extremely easy, but the challenge has gone, and the fun with it.
And so if I could see the future, I'd want to do everything in my power not to do so. The future may be uncertain, but, really... that's the fun of it, right?

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

What I Would do if I Needed Another Night Off

So...


Midterms.

(In other words, I'm cheating again! I'm such a bad blogger buddy)

What I Would Do if I went 24 Hours without Electronics

 I've survived... barely.

Yesterday, I attempted to make it the entire day without using any electronics that are not useful or neccess ary to use. That meant no cell phone, or email, or plague inc. No chess.com, not even any youtube videos. And so I was forced, two days ago, to have my final fix of electronics and then go to bed. 

My terrible dependance upon electronics was made apparent the moment I woke up. My morning routine usually includes watching something on youtube while eating breakfast and brushing my teeth. With that option no longer available to me, I had to survey my other options.

That which seemed like the most logical option to me was to read a book, and so I grabbed my copy of Midshipman Hornblower (which is actually a very good book), and started reading.

This was a great replacement for youtube, I found- almost too good, as time passes differently in the world of books. As such, I lost track of time and had to run all the way to school! Still, I was happy with myself so far.

The school day, I'd thought, would be easy enough to get through. I'd already expected that I'd be using computers in school, and decided that I would allow myself some work-related electronics. I thought I'd prepared for everything... and then came 5 clicks to Jesus.

For those of you who don't know, 5 clicks to Jesus is an extremely pointless game where you are given a wikipedia article and have to get to the "Jesus" wikipedia page in five or less clicks, using only the links embedded in the wikipedia articles. This game just so happens to be my favorite school time-wasting activity. (Hey, I'm still a straight 90% student, alright? Don't judge me!)

Halfway through one of my classes, I found myself playing said game instead of doing my work. That was when I remembered my no time-wasting on electronics rule, and realized I'd had my first strike against me.

I cracked a little after this, and even allowed myself a few more rounds in a separate class later in the day. Nevertheless, I figured I was still doing well. 

Upon getting home, I found myself in a similar dilemma as I had found myself that morning. I couldn't play minecraft, or watch youtube videos. So what could I do?

In the end, I decided upon the interesting sport of reuning- reading and running. The game is simple; get on a treadmill, set the speed to a walking pace, and read. Every so often, put down your book and do a hard run for a mile. Then read once more.

I used this... interesting game to memorize most of my remaining lines for the school play. Afterwards, I practiced voice, and read some more.  

By the time my dad got home, I was feeling quite proud of myself. I ate supper, and then decided to bake some chocolate-chip cookies for desert. And that's when all of my plans crumbled.

By this time, I'll admit that I was feeling rather bored. Surely a youtube video wouldn't hurt, I thought to myself. I could multitask! I admit it, I broke one of my golden rules coming into the challenge, which was to stay off youtube. I'm afraid I just couldn't resist.

Naturally, this slowed my baking speed down to a crawl. I was distracted by the video, and perhaps as gods punishment, something went horribly wrong with my cookies. I mean, look at this!

Those when I should have had plain, chocolate chip cookies. I don't quite know what happened... they just melted in the oven. Laura can testify, this picture makes them look great compared to other pictures I have of them. I tell you, they didn't burn. They just turned to sludge!

Anyways, this brief contact with youtube made me crave more. Before I knew it, I'd watched way too many videos, and my day without wasting time on electronics had failed.

So what can we learn from this?

If I had to say anything, its that electronics are in everyones lives, everyday, and I've learned that it's even harder to limit yourself from them then you would imagine. As useful as they can be, they can also suck your time, and take it away from other, more useful things.

That being said, I think that I'm going to try this challenge again in the near future, and perhaps a few other 24 hour challenges as well. They're alot of fun!

Until next time, thanks for reading.

-Mark

What I Would Do if I Went 24 Hours Without Electronics (Preview)

It seems that electronics are everywhere.
Phones, Ipods, Ipads, TVs, computers... all of them take up a large chunk of our day. In fact, sometimes you just sit down to take a quick break from your work, and you end up searching youtube   for an hour. Sometimes you play a quick game on your Ipod, and then write a quick email, then play a short game of Minecraft Hunger Games, then watch a youtube video, and the next thing you know it's time to go to bed. The biggest danger with electronics is, I find, that sometimes you don't even realize how much time you're burning. It can be a series of short breaks that turns into one continuous time-wasting session, and that's where it becomes a problem.
And so I've decided, just for one day, to (partially) give up electronics. Starting tomorrow, I'll be cutting all electronic gaming from my day. I can't help but wonder how much time I'll actually save! I'm exited, and I'm nervous, and I'm also ashamed. Why? Because I'm setting down some loopholes. I'm sorry!
Some electronic things, I find, are not actually time-wasting. For example, writing. I consider writing a useful activity if I'm ever going to consider being a writer professionally, and so writing on computers is still allowed. Also, I'm not completely cutting e-mail. You see, I'm in the middle of an important school project that involves communicating with a charity in Edmonton, and so I'll be checking my email in case I get a message from them. Finally, I'll also let myself listen to the radio and music. I'll punch anyone that says listening to music is a waste of time. Besides, you can do practically anything while listening to music.
And... that's it! This has just been a quick post to pump you up for Wednesday's post, so I suppose I'll see you then. In the meantime, wish me luck!

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

What I Would do if I Made an Oscar Speech

I'm afraid that I need to start with an apology. Mark was very kind to me to assume that I had no internet - and I actually did have very limited internet - but I actually just forgot about posting. I humbly beg forgiveness, oh faithful Russian robot and Mark!

Anyway, since tonight is Oscar night and I'm currently watching the Oscars, I decided to write my own Oscar acceptance speech. Usually, they're rather dull, so here, let me spice this up a little bit:

I would like to thank my family, my friends, and my cat to begin. I would also like to thank the people who voted for me, the people who watched my film, and all my fellow nominees who deserved to win far more than I did. However, we all know that this isn't really an accurate representation of talent, but rather on who has money and who has the most friends, so no hard feelings... maybe we can cut this ugly statue thing into five. Thank you to myself for working hard. Thank you to Effexor for making me less suicidal. Thank you to people who offered me a smile when I was feeling sad. Thank you to everyone who has done far better things than I have and have yet to receive the same recognition as I am receiving.

And that's more than enough thanks. 

Yeah, I wasn't really expecting to win, so maybe I'll switch tactics now. The world can be a really shitty place. Fortunately, we have movies to remind us that many people - both fictional and real - have it far worse than us. So, finally, I would just like to remind us all to try to be gracious and treat everyone else with kindness. The world is hard enough without having other push you down. Remember that it isn't riches or fame that make us great; it's how good we are to others.

Thank you.

Seriously, there are billions of people watching. Make it count!

-Laura

What I Would Do if my Soccer Team was in a Major Tournament

I lover soccer. If you've been reading this blog for any lengh of time at alll, I'm sure this will have become apparent to you. I've been playing the game for years, but only this year has my team advanced to the level we had- the very top tier of community soccer.

Let me give you some perspective on this. In under-16 year old community soccer in Edmonton, there are several tiers, each with five or six teams. This year, my team has managed to make it to the very top tier! And not only that, we've done very well in this top tier. As such we have been put into a cities tournament, where we will be battling along with three other teams to decide who is the best U-16 boys community team in Edmonton!

We have already had one game, earlier today. Unfortunately, we lost 3-1. As an attempt to credit myself and my team however, let me just say that;

-No goals were scored against us while I was on, and

-The ref was rather lax, and so didn't produce cards when my teams players were, A), checked into the boards, B), pushed, or C), in the case of our goalie, pushed five seconds after he had the ball in his hands. I mean, come on, ref! To be fair, though, he also didn't call it when I illegally pulled on someones shoulder and brought him down by doing so as he was attempting to run past me.

Anyway, as such my team will play once more tomorrow, to decide who wins the bronze medal. There is, however, a problem. We're expected to be at the game 30 minutes early. It takes about 20 minutes to drive there, and I'll take a further 30 minutes to wake up, get dressed, and all that jazz. So all in all, it will take me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to the game from the time I get up. The problem? The game is at 7:00... AM. That means I should be waking up at around 5:40. It's 9:00 right now. Therefore, assuming that I get this done in the next ten minutes, I'll probably be in bed by 10:00, asleep by... 10:30.  That will give me just over 7 hours of sleep. SO I suppose what I'm trying to tell you is...

Goodnight!

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

(PS; I don't think that Laura has internet, which would be the reason why she didn't post yesterday. She probably texted me as such, but unfortunately my phone has run out of batteries and my charger has mysteriously stopped working. I'll take the blame for this one. Oh, and PPS... that extra post I promised will come soon, I swear. See you next time.)

Books, Self-Promotion, and a Dash of Gloating

Hey everyone!

Today, I'm going to break the theme of this blog once more (hey, I've done this three times over a 50-odd post period. Cut me some slack). Instead, I'm going to discuss a few disconnected topics that I felt like writing about today. As well, I'll gloat over what I'll rashly say is my first 'official' recognition of my prestigious writing ability :). Before we get into that, though, lets talk about books.

As you may know if you've read my last few posts, I run a second blog called Mark's Book Blog. As you may gather from the unimaginative title, that is where I reveiw the books that I'm currently reading. Unfortunately, I havn't finished a book lately, and so have not had anything much to post about. I was mulling this over a few minutes ago, when I suddenly thought to myself, "I can't really post a reveiw there yet, but I can recycle some material over at What I Would Do..." 

So let's talk books.

Naturally, I love books- why else would I try to write one? It's hard to read a book without wanting to write one yourself, and so here I am today. I remember my early readings fondly; the Redwall books, Tales of Deltora, but the more I read the more material I consume, and the better books I find.

For those of you wanting a book to read, allow me to make a suggestion or two. Perhaps you could read the best book of all time, according to the very reliable source known as myself?

Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you a beloved classic, a novel that has sold over 100 000 000 copies, and one of the best-selling books of all time... Le Petit Prince! 

Okay, a disclaimer; I don't know the first thing about reading in french. I do know how to read english translations, though. In all honesty, The Little Prince is amazing. It may sound like a childrens book, and, granted, at first glance it may even read like one. But the deeper truth soon becomes clear; this book is a philisophical masterpiece. 

To give you the merest taste of the books brilliance, allow me to quote one of my favorite parts of the book as I can remember it. Unfortunately, I can't access the actual words right now due to the late hour, I'll tell them to you as best I can remember them. To give you a sense of whats going on, the title character who has just met a salesman who sells pills that will quench your thirst and stop your need to drink.

"Experts have calculated that you can save 43 minutes a week with these pills." Said the salesman. "What do you do with those 43 minutes?" Asked the little prince.

"Anything you'd like."

"If I had 43 minutes to do whatever I wanted," said the little prince, "I'd walk very slowly towards a water fountain..."

Although I'm sure I messed that up terribly, you get the idea. And it's so true! What makes something satisfying is working to complete it, to spend time on it. If the little prince took the pills, he would get no satisfaction. If he worked to drink from the fountain, then the water would taste that much sweeter.

I'm telling you, even if you hated the little segment that I just tried to show you, read the book. As a non-religeous person, that book is like my bible.

And now that I've randomly told you about my favorite book of all time, let me tell you about that recognition of my writing that I teased in the start.

First of all, I love the app "plague inc." For those of you who don't know, it's an almost cruel game where you take control of a disease and try to wipe out the world with it.

Anyways, like many games plague inc has a wiki dedicated to it on wikia. Several months ago, looking for something to write, I decided to make a strategy guide for one of the disease types on the wiki. Soon after I stopped making many edits to the wiki, and more or less left it. That is, until today when I got an email notifying me that the main administrator on the wiki had sent me a message. I looked at said message and was pleasently surprised to see it say something along the lines of, 'Hey. I read your strategy guide and thought that it was high quality work. We need more good-quality strategy guides on the wiki, and I'd like it if you could write some.'

So, whataya know? Someone who isn't one of my friends or family actually likes my writing! Because I'm sorry, I just can't trust what they say. There's too much risk of them saying nice things just because they know me. Sometimes you just want criticism, you know? You take good reveiws with a grain of salt if that's all you get from your family. So it's nice to know that someone out there actually thinks that I can write moderately well. Anyhow, there's my gloating for the day.

For now, thanks for reading this disjointed and, I have the feeling, rather poorly written post. Until next time,

-Mark

What I Would do if I Had to Choose a Hogwarts House

Mark may have done this one already, but I wanted to give it a try myself!

Like a lot of kids of my generation, Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood. It took up a lot of space in my imagination and inspired many of my games. And, as I think is probably pretty common, I definitely daydreamed about getting to go to Hogwarts. You'd get to learn magic, live in a dorm in a CASTLE, and automatically live with people who are like you. Sorting ensures that, right? You're automatically put with compatible people.

I took the sorting quiz on Pottermore and got Ravenclaw. However, technically, don't you get to choose your house? So, on that note, I'm going to weigh out my option here.

1. Slytherin. Okay, this is obviously not my choice. It's the house of bullies! Ambition seems like a positive quality, but not when you achieve your goals at another person's expense. Plus, I don't want to be in a house of people who are mean and would expect me to be mean as well. Beyond that, they have a creepy thing with snakes. I don't mind snakes at all, but, still. Worst of all, though, they live in a freaking dungeon. I am cold all the time! Plus, as a music student, I already pretty much live in a  dungeon (aka a windowless practice room) and I wouldn't want to do that full time. Then, there's the fact that it's underneath the lake. I like lakes as well, but I believe I read that the dorms have windows out into the lake. I like swimming in lakes. However, I hate oceans. I hate freaky things that live in lakes. I would hate peeping Tom mermaids/mermen. No, no, no. Slytherin is not my house of choice.

2. Gryffindor. Everyone seems quite nice here. However, there are definitely some things that annoy me about this house. First of all, some of them seem quite attention-seeking. Bravery is wonderful, but I think that there is something to be said for thinking before you act. Also, I'm not sure that I would consider myself hugely brave. I like manners, which is maybe good for the whole "chivalry" thing, but am I brave? It seems a little bit immodest to assume as much. I can be brave, but I like to think that my risks are calculated. So, I'm not sure I'm brave to the point that it's a defining trait. I do things that frighten me, but I avoid being frightened if possible. I hate scary roller coasters, for example. Also, red is a little bit too flashy. Finally, I think that maybe I feel like I know Gryffindor too well. It's kind of the "average" house, at this point (sorry!). I don't think I desire heroism or the attention that comes with it. I would want to help people, but I'd rather stay in the shadows to do it. I have a feeling that's not very Gryffindor-ish.

3. Hufflepuff. I find the fact that they have to crawl through a barrel to get into their common room a little bit disconcerting, to be frank. It's basically claustrophobia, scraped knees, splinters, and men potentially seeing up your skirt every time you go into your common room. I feel like Hufflepuffs take a lot of flak, which isn't very fair. I like and admire Hufflepuffs because they seem generally kind. They're loyal and hardworking, correct? Loyalty is wonderfully important, so even if I wasn't in Hufflepuff, I feel like I would have many good Hufflepuff friends. I feel like I'm a very loyal person myself. I've also been told I'm very hardworking, and I think I am. So, maybe I am suited for Hufflepuff. However, I hate the colour yellow (sorry!). Also, I think having to be happy and friendly all of the time might be a little bit difficult for me. I mean, first of all, there's the depression. Then, there's the fact that I can hold grudges and have trouble hiding it when I dislike someone (although it's hard for me to dislike them in the first place). Anyway, I'm not sure I'm nice enough to be in Hufflepuff, to be frank. Kindness is something I definitely value, and I'd like it to be my defining trait. However, I also value other things equally. I also feel like I'm selectively hardworking, and I definitely value my alone time. In short, I'm torn on this house. I feel like I could be happy here, so it's definitely in my top two.

4. Ravenclaw. Let's talk about the downside first: that damnable common room entrance. I would hate to have to answer a riddle when I just wanted to go to bed!! I'm not sure I would ever leave my common room. I'd definitely go with a house buddy everywhere I went so that I would never be a crying wreck stuck outside of my common room at all hours of the morning. I think I'd enjoy the challenge, but I'm not sure how great I am at riddles! Agh! However, I do value knowledge. I think it's so important to learn as much as you can so that you can understand other people and treat them empathetically. I love writing. I love thinking. I love imagining. For this reason, I am drawn to Ravenclaw. I've also always had a fairly easy time with academics, so maybe I'd be well-suited to the house for that reason. I would be scared of being just "smart", though, and not having anything else. Knowledge is important, but only if it's supplemented, right? Blue is also my favourite colour. The thing that appeals to me most about Ravenclaw, though, is that it attracts all types. As a result, Pottermore tells me that Ravenclaws are very acceptant of each other, regardless of differences or what may appear to be odd. I love that! Celebrating differences is such a great attribute. It means that no one can be an outsider. Everyone must be accepted, particularly because they'd all share this lovely insatiable desire for knowledge in one area or another.

Sigh. I think Pottermore was right. Ravenclaw just feels right for me! I may have to just deal with those irritating riddles. However, I definitely wouldn't object to Hufflepuff (even if I would find the continual friendliness and happiness overwhelming after a while).

-Laura

What I Would Do if I was an Olympian

Whether it's winter or summer, indoor games or outdoor, men's or woman's, the olympic games have something for everyone.
For a few short weeks, there's always something good on TV, and you always want to tune in. In the summer olympics, I like to watch the runs. I myself will sometimes run a ten km race, and last time I did so I came home incredibly pleased about a sub-50 minute time. And then of course I thought back to the olympics, where they're running the same race in about half the time, and I feel ashamed.
When the winter olympics come around, I like to watch skiing and snowboarding. Why? Because you sometimes see people fall flat on their face, that's why!
All of which to say that everyone loves the olympics, which naturally leads many to have the desire to be an olympian.
When you go to the olympics, you represent an entire country, and it's up to you to represent that nation in a good light. I too have held this dream. So what would happen if I actually could become an olympian?

THE SPORT
One major problem is that I'm not sure what sport I'd be the best at. I can play soccer and run, but I'm not sure that I'd be confident enough in either sports. They're both mental games as much as anything.
How about ping-pong? I don't trust my reflexes. Skiing, perhaps? That might be fun! Okay, so I'll become an olympic skier. A racing skier, mind, not freestyle. I've tried, and it wasn't pretty.

THE PERFORMANCE
I don't know how I'd do on race day. On one hand, I must have done buckets of training to arrive at the olympics, and so I'd like to say that my training would carry me through. Still, I can't help but think my nerves would make my legs wobbly. At least there'd be no shortage of effort once the big day came- I'd never be able to forgive myself if I didn't try my hardest! I'll just pray that I'd be able to stifle the nerves, become immersed in the moment, and do the best I could do.

AFTER
The real fun would begin after the olympics were over. That would be when I could walk up to people, shake their hand, and say "Hi! My names Mark, and I was in the olympics! What have you done with your life?"
I'd make a lot of friends that way.

Alas, the olympic dream seems practically unattainable to me now. Don't all olympic athletes start at 2 days old and train 25 hours a day, 8 days a week? I couldn't keep up with that schedule unless it was something I truly believed in, and it seems too late now to start. Curling might still be available, though!

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

What I Would do if I Could Speak to Whoever Invented Snowshoes

I've always thought that snowshoes were a little, well... stupid.

I mean, you can just put on winter shoes and walk through the snow. Or shovel a path, right?

Wrong!

Yesterday and today, I got to experience the craziest blizzard I have yet experienced. It was a total white-out, with giant snow drifts that look like a snow version of a typical desert. The snow is above my head in some areas. I literally feel like I'm swimming through snow. It's crazy, and hilarious, and really crazy.

In short, whoever invented snowshoes was a certified genius.

If I could speak to that inventor, I would congratulate him. Probably with tears of gratitude in my eyes. And tears of sympathy, because he must have experienced the sort of snow we have today to feel the need to invent them.

Still, I have to admit that having this much snow, while inconvenient, is also super cool. (In more than one way).

-Laura

What I Would Do if I Could Talk to Winter

Okay, winter, listen up.
Up here in Canada it's said that it snows every day, and that everyone lives in igloos. it's said that we ride our polar bears to school and that every day, another ten feet of snow falls to blanket our barren country, so much so that our igloos are hundreds of meters high. And although this is not even close to the truth, let me tell you, winter... you're not holding up your side of the bargain.
Today, me and my dad went for a short hike outside. And you know what? I wouldn't have minded if there were piles upon piles of snow to plow through. I wouldn't have minded it being -20 degrees or so. Because I like the snow. But you couldn't have given me even that, could you have? Instead, you gave me ice.
Really, Winter? Instead of lovely flurries with a chill in the air, you gave me a semi-warm, snowless trail. You still wanted to leave your mark on the trail, though, and so you gave me ice. Lots and lots of ice. I don't think that you've ever had to do this, because you're a season, but let me tell you that hiking up any hill covered in ice is hard.
Winter, I'll tell it to you straight. I don't like ice. I don't like hockey anyway. I do, however, like snow and the season of winter, so I'll try not to be too hard on you here. Let me just give you some advice.

1. Stay cold all through the winter. No more of this freezing and thawing.
2. If you're going to turn water into ice, then don't become warm enough so as to melt snow. Let humans spray the water if they want ice.
3. Make snow slightly sticky, please. Only slightly sticky, mind, as super-stickable snow=water=ice.
4. If you're going to snow, do one of two things. Either snow very lightly, so that it looks nice for a while but doesn't require shovelling, or empty the sky of all moisture so that school is cancelled.

Is that fair, winter? All I'm asking is four little things from you. Please. For me.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being awesome. You are a pretty cool season, after all.

Sincerely,

-Mark

What I Would do if I Could Control Internet

Make it free and global!

Yes, that is why I wasn't able to post on Valentine's day and perhaps write a particularly stirring, cynical critique of the holiday; I'm currently in the country for Reading Week and without wifi. Let me tell you, you never realize how much you need wifi until you don't have it.

Hmm, I should get started on that history essay. Oh, but it's a critique of some articles that I can find... online.

Maybe I should make sure that my friend (who somehow survives without a cellphone) received the message that the book she left at my apartment is now in my locker in the music building. Oh, wait, that requires internet.

I need to get some opera listenings done for school. Let's go do that... oh wait, that's online too.

I should post a blogpost! On the... internet.

You get the picture. Internet has become important for all communication and almost all courses at school. I've become pathetically reliant on it for many things. At first I had hope that I just wasn't picking up the Wifi signal because it's currently Snowmageddon here (like, actually... walking to my grandparents' house, the snow is currently above my knees and I can't see ahead of me because of the blowing snow) but then I realized that no, the wifi is not working.

I really think that if our school system is going to be so reliant on internet, it needs to be a free and consistently available right worldwide (of course, having it for other things would be nice too, but saying the practical use first sounds better). Let's hope that happens one day.

Anyway, this is my post for yesterday!

-Laura

What I Do Do on a Long Car Ride

Road trip time!

Well, a roadtrip only if you count a few-hour drive to jasper as one. For Valentines Day, I’ll be swimming, eating unhealthy food, skiing… what are you doing this weekend, Laura? ;)
At this very moment, I’m sitting cramped in the backseat of my family’s car. My time in the car is, as is often the case, divided up into multiple rather useless activities. As the muse is not filling my head with inspiration right at this time, I thought I’d share with you some of the things that I can often be found doing in the car.

1.     Playing games. I’ve been blessed with a good head for avoiding carsickness, and can therefore do things like play video games without feeling sick. The nature of these games can depend from trip to trip, however whichever one I get into can often last me for a good portion of the trip.

2.     Reading. Again, I’m able to read without getting carsick. Although my books have yet to be accessed on this particular trip, I have a nice little pile of them in my suitcase. If you’re interested, right at the moment I’m revisiting the Inkheart series, which I haven’t read for years. By the way, now seems like a good time to advertise one of my other blogs, which I update on an extremely inconsistent basis. Nevertheless, check out Mark’s Book Blog if you want to read a bit more about the books I’m reading.

3.     Listening to music. My dad and I went to watch Into the Woods last Sunday, and the tunes have been hammering into my head ever since. Wanting music to listen to on this car ride, I caved and bought the album just before we left. I have now listened to the entire thing- yes, it’s that good.
By the way, Sis, have you seen the movie? I seem to remember that you liked the play. The more I listen to his music, the more I’m forced to admit that Stephen “Song Time” Sondheim is a genius.

4.     Sleeping. At one point in every car ride, the feeling creeps up on you. You’re bored, the constant noises of the car have been making you tired, and you just think, “there’s only one way I can make this go by faster.” And so you plug in your music and let it lull you to sleep.

5.     Talking. Ha! Never mind. I tend to just sit in my little bubble in the back, and let my parents do the talking. Scratch that one out.

I think that I’ve covered most of the bases now. Car rides can be boring, but they can also be vaguely entertaining- provided you don’t get carsick. Thank you, body, for not letting me be susceptible to that disease.
Until next time, happy Valentines Day, and I’ll see you on Sunday.

-Mark

What I Would do if I Were a Mermaid

Sunlight filters through the water as you flick your tail lazy, projecting yourself easily through the gentle waves. The sun is dancing, the water is a warm caress, and, just to top it all off, you're really freaking hot. Gotta love being a mermaid right?

Wrong. 

I think there are few things I would like less than being a mermaid. Think of the ocean realistically now. There's salt in your hair and you feel disgusting. If you go to close to the bottom, sand gets all over you. Or, maybe you get stabbed by a sea urchin or a sting ray. Okay, so you swim into deeper water. Oh, God, now it's dark, and you're surrounded by nothingness in all directions. Oh, wait, just kidding, there's a freaking hungry SHARK. And a hoard of jellyfish. And deep creepy caves. Getting lost is pretty much unavoidable. Oh, there comes a tsunami. Joy. Oh, and some seaweed. And look down there; there's a super deep part of the ocean. Want to swim down there and be blind and meet freaky fish and probably get crushed by the water pressure? Or would you rather take a moment to consider the fact that you are currently swimming in fish piss and blood in addition to salt and water and whatever nasty shit is floating around? Or, you know, the pollution (that island of plastic bags, anyone?). And where the hell are you planning to sleep?? 

Yeah, when you really think about it, being a mermaid sounds awful. So this is what I would do if were a mermaid. 

1. Attempt to move to a lake. Or a pool! Someone build me a water house in a pool. Preferably heated like a warm bath. No fish. No freaky ocean things. Regular cleaning would also be nice. 

2. If this is not an option, attempt surgery to become a human. 

3. If this is not an option, and I'm doomed to stay in the ocean, commit suicide. It's better than being eaten by a shark. 

And that, folks, is enough to remind me that I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER want to be a mermaid. 

-Laura

What I Would Do if I was Deciding on a High School

Hey guys!

You may have noticed that the past two days have been rather post-free. This is mostly my fault; I procrastinated a bit on Monday, and then by the time I remembered the blog it was too late to make any decent post. I started one, which was something along the lines of "What I Would Do if I Forgot to Post but Then Posted a Really Short, Really Terible Post." In the end, however, I figured that I couldn't post that on the blog if I ever wanted it to be even considered as good quality, and so I trashed it.

The next day, Laura was busy with... MidTerms? Was that it? I don't know. What I do know is that she had a much better excuse for not posting then I had had the day before. She called on me for aid, but once again I'd procrastinated and had to do homework myself. So that was a bit of a mess.

However, sometime in the next little while we're going to post twice on our respective days, to make up for the missed ones. Nevertheless, I'm sorry!

Now, lately I have been going to a lot of high school open houses. I'm in grade nine, and next year I'll be shipped out to one high school or another. At the moment there are two main contenders for my brilliance; Jasper Place high school or Ross Shepard high school. I've just finished going to both of their information nights for IB (and AP at JP). Although these aren't open houses, they've still given me an idea of what to expect. I'm having some trouble picking between the two schools, and so today I'm going to do a little brainstorm on the blog. I've set out a bunch of categories, and whoever wins in each one gets a point. And so without further ado;

The great high-school debate. This title is a lot less epic then I'd hoped it would be.

Round one; School size.

JP is the smaller of the two schools, where's Shep is larger. However, I don't really care about size. Next question.

Round two; Student representation.

At JP, about a half dozen people greeted you to their school with warm smiles and "welcome to JP!"s. At Shep, about two dozen did the same. First blood to Shep.

Round three; Presentation.

At both schools, they say us down and had a few speakers drone on about one thing or another. Both were extremely boring. However, perhaps due to the fact that their speech was the second one I sat through, Sheps presentation was even more boring then JP's. Point to JP.

Round four; Friends.

Among my friends, I'd say that most want to go to Shep. However, my best friend is firmly set with JP, as well as a handful of others. JP gets another point.

Round five; School focus.

JP is said to be very sports-based. I like sports and all, but I'm not sure I'd want to be immersed in sport. Perhaps other programs would suffer due to a focus on sports. On the other hand, Shep doesn't seem to have any focus at all. In the end, I don't really care about a school focus, so I'll just give Shep 0.5 points.

Round six; School rating.

Out of the schools of Edmonton, Shep is rated higher. Point to Shep.

Round seven; Food.

At both schools, they tried to bribe the students with food. Ross Shep had cupcakes, which weren't all

that great. JP had some, admittedly stale, cookies, along with some other treats which I forget the names of. Just for snack variety, I'm going to give JP this point. I did win chocolate in a random draw at Shep, however.

Round eight; External recommendation.

Both of my sisters recommend Shep. They snag another point.

Round nine; Vending machines.

Vending machines are important at a school. They give you food! After seeing both school's vending machines, I know that JP gets this point hands-down. While JP's machines were badly stocked, Shep was even worse. The killer in all of this, however, is that Sheps machine stole my money and didn't give me anything.

Round ten; Door prizes.

Shep had several, and I once Merci chocolate. JP had none. Shep gets the final point of the night.

And the winner is... Ross Shepard, by 4.5 points to 4!

Well, I know that Laura will be happy. This isn't over yet, however... I still have yet to see the sctual open houses! Look for part two... coming soon.

Until then, thanks for reading!

-Mark

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

What I Would do if I I Only Had 100 Words for a Blog Post II

I'm cheating a bit tonight, but I think it's okay because it's been a loooong week (the opera just finished tonight). I decided to borrow Mark’s nifty idea from several months ago, and I have to admit that I never realized that 100 words went so quickly! I was debating doing “What I Would do if I Could Only Use One Form of Social Media” tonight, but then I realized that I wasn’t exactly sure of the definition of social media (does email count?). Yeah, that’s a bit sad for someone my age. Anyway, now we’re at 100 words exactly!!!

What I Would Do if there was No Music

As much as I hate to admit it, music is rather fundamental in a lot of peoples lives.
To me songs are like little magic potions that give you jolts of certain emotions. You're feeling blue? Compile a playlist of ten of the happiest songs you know. If you are a human being, you will feel at least marginally better after hearing those songs.
Or maybe you're getting ready for a big sports match, and need a song to pump you up. The exact same rule applies.
This works in hundreds of different scenarios that would take much to long to go into detail about. To make you feel inspired, or thoughtful. Motivated. And there are no shortage of sad songs to, that are nice to listen to even if they do make you feel sort of down.
However, I have a bit of trouble admitting this. You see, at my school there is a it of a rivalry between classes, particularly the arts classes.
W have three options at my school; art, band and drama, the latter of which I'm in. Between these three classes, there is some (mostly jokingly) bad blood, especially between the band and drama kids. I am firmly on team drama, which means I spend my days finding reasons why band is inferior to it. Therefore I find it difficult to write this post, because I feel like I am betraying my drama buddies.
I am on the internet, though, a vast pit of content, and I seriously doubt that any of my friends are going to see this blog and this post anytime within the next few years. And so I believe it's safe to say here that, deep down inside, I'd rather be without acting then without music. There! I said it! Now moving on.
As music is such a big part of so many peoples lives, I thought I'd twist things around and see what might happen if there was no music in the world.

1. Everyone would be bored. In even the most dire scenario, music is a boredom-releiver. Going on an 8-hour car ride? Better bring along some headphones.
2. Laura would be out of one job option. it would sort of suck for her not to know how to sing anymore, but... hey! Now she can be a writer!
3. Everyone in my household would be a lot less annoyed with me, because I wouldn't be able to play songs like Viva la Vida anymore. And
4. I'd be sad, because no more Viva la Vida.
5. Movies would be lame.
6. Games would be lame.
7. Life would be lame.
8. Everyone would be sad.

So thank you, music. You ... rock!

I had to strikethrough that one. You'd never had forgiven me otherwise.

So thank you music. You take my blues away.

Whoops.

You Jazz up my life.

You make my life... pop!

You make this a better country.

Ah! Make it stop!!! I've got to end this quickly!

You've got real... soul.

Ah! Thanksforread- You make FOLKs happy.

THANKSFORREADING-MARK

What I Would do if I Understood Yoga

By this point in my life, you would be surprised to know how many people have told me to get into yoga. At a minimum I can include:

-One doctor
-Two voice teachers
-One roommate

Long story short, I have a score of health problems that these people seem to believe will be magically solved by going to yoga periodically. Are you depressed? Go to yoga! You have chronic pain? Go to yoga!

Anyway, I tried it for the second time today and found it quite relaxing even if I was probably the most clueless person in the room. By far.

If I understood yoga, I would:

1. Understand what all of these strange terms mean. Go into the cobra! Go into the climbing tree! Go into child's pose! Go into the toddler! (Insert Laura looking blankly around at other people to try to understand what the heck these strange code words mean)

2. (hopefully) be more flexible.

3. Know what the heck that random word they say at the end of the session is. It isn't English, I promise you. I'm assuming at has to do with whatever yoga originates from, but, seriously... every time I sing in Italian, I don't end by shouting "Spaghetti! Pizza!".

4. Bring millions of towels. Hot yoga had me dripping.

5. Be less frightened when I walked into a dark room to see dozens of people lying like corpses in a graveyard. Or else just looking like a brainwashed cult. And breathing like zombies. Really, if you actually pay attention to what goes on in there, it's horror movie worthy.

I'm not as anti-yoga as it may seem from this post. I actually liked it a lot! However, it is a little bit strange for someone who's new to this cult... I mean... exercise form.

-Laura

What We Would Do for our 100'th Post

Hellooooooo!
It's Mark here and I'm super excited to bring you this special, 100'th edition post.
This post is special in a bunch of ways. Let me just say it one more time... this is the 100'th post on this blog! 100 posts! Imagine that! In as many days! Well, in one or two more, I'd actually guess. We'll just say that we've been perfect.
Also, this is special in the sense that we're both writing on this post. I called dibs on writing most of this one, but Laura has gone ahead and added her input as well, which will be scattered throughout this post.
To commemorate this day, we've decided that it might be cool to look back on our best- and worst- posts so far.

Let's start off with Laura, who's gonna list her favourite posts that she's written.

1.What I Would do if I Could - I included this one because it was the first post I wrote on here, and I'm a bit sentimental. It was where I outlined my ideas and (unofficially) introduced myself. I was so excited to start this blog, and this post was where I got to do that!
2. What I would do as a Job - I liked this post because it was fun to brainstorm all of the possibilities and explore what I want to do. Since I'm in university, I'm struggling with that, and writing down ten concrete options was a nice way to help myself narrow down my future plans.
3. What I Would Teach Everyone in the World - I liked this one because the things that I would teach were all very important to me. I started with one that was less important, of course, but this was a post that was quite personal (and a little wistful). It's nice to imagine being able to change the world for the better.
4.What I Would do if I'd Never Heard of Christmas Before - I had a blast writing this one, which is why it made the list! I really don't have too much else to say about it.
5. What I Would do if I Could Talk to my Junior High Self - This made the list because this is the most personal thing I've written on here. As anyone who read this probably gathered, Junior High was a difficult time for me, and it was very interesting for me to look at how much I've changed since then.

Okay! It's Mark once more. I'm going to agree with almost all of the posts on this list. I've now gone through the entire list of our posts and picked my top five, but let me tell you... it was more difficult then expected! I had ten or eleven posts I wanted to feature. Now however, I think I've narrowed it down to my top five.
Note; I, to, would have picked the first post on the blog, but considering the number of great posts by Laura that had yet to be featured on this list, I've omitted my first post and her first post.

Okay, in no particular order...

1. What I Would Do if I Could Quit School - There were some definite truths in this one, which I agreed with. And this was only the third post written on the blog!
2. What I Would Do if I was a Pigeon - This one is so Laura. For those of you who haven't figured this out, Laura is rather in love with pigeons. I don't know what it is about them, but she could go on for hours about the distinct colours on a pigeons neck. ;) If you're looking for pure Laura-ness, head over to that post.
3. What I Would Do if I was a Hermit - This post is underrated! When I was cruising through all of our posts, this one caught my eye, and so I clicked on it. And what do you know, I rediscovered it and loved it. In my mind, this is on of the most entertaining posts on the blog. The little, few-word sentences listing the downward spiral of hermit-ness are hilarious! Definitely give it a shot if you haven't seen it already.
4. What I Would Teach Everyone in the World - Out of all the posts on the blog, this one was one of the most personal, I thought. I tried to make my own version of this one, but I don't believe that I ever posted it. Why? Because Laura summed up everything I wanted to say so perfectly in this post.
5. What I Would Do if I Could Eliminate one Human Emotion - Laura hit the nail on the head once more. A very thoughtful, honest post.

I honestly had such a hard time deciding which posts I wanted to write about. There were so many good ones! Now, let's switch back to Laura as we switch the focus over to my posts.

1. What I Would do if My Sisters were Here - reading this one made me melt a little inside. It also made me miss Mark more than ever, but it also reminded me how much I loved him and my sister. I'm a lucky gal to have such wonderful siblings.
2. What I Would do if I had 100 Words with which to Write a Blog Post - I thought this was a really cool idea! It reminded me for the millionth time why I invited you to co-blog with me: because you have a wonderfully creative mind and think outside the box.
3. What I Would do if I Could Meet Any Ten People in the World - I thought many of your choices were very intelligent. I particularly enjoyed your fun fact for me about Leonardo da Vinci... I think he and I would have been good friends! This post was just well-written over all, and reminded me, again that you are a) a very talented writer, b) an awesomely kind person and c) way too mature and wise for your age. Anyway, I'll stop gushing now in case I've gone into embarrassing big sister mode, but, seriously, it brings a tear to my eye.
4. What I Would do if I Could Fly - This one just made me giggle because it went in a direction I wasn't expecting at all!
5. What I Would do if I Wasn't Writing this Blog Post - The post where it all began for Mark!
6. What I Would do if I Could Live in Any Time Period - The post in which Mark - yet again - reminds me of his innate wisdom.


You put down six posts, sis! Not that I'm complaining. I'll take any compliment you want to throw my way ;).
Also, I was shocked to see What I Would do if I had 100 Words with which to Write a Blog Post on the list! I consider that the worst post on the blog! When I wrote that one I was super tired and just wanted to create a very short post so that I could get to bed. I just decided that I'd give myself a reason for making it so short, and so I made the quickest post I possibly could. If that made the top 6, what does it say about my other posts?

And now for my personal top five, again in no particular order;

1. What I Would Do if I Could Live in Any Time Period - I felt that I did a good job with this one. This may have been mainly because I felt all smart quoting books and speeches, but oh well.
2. What I Would Do if I Could Meet Any Ten People in the World - This was technically three posts, but I enjoyed writing all of them. Thats all I've got for you on that one.
3. What I Would Do if I Recounted my Acting Career (and why Joining a Play is the Best Thing you'll Ever Do) - I put this here just so that I can say it once more; acting is awesome.
4. What I Would Do if I Could Write a Letter to Peter Jackson Concerning the Hobbit Movies - It was just fun to rant at this guy. Those movies were awful.
5. What I Would Do as a Job (Top Ten) (Part II) - Again, this one was fun to write. I wonder if I could combine all ten of those jobs into one? I could be a professional soccer player in the space-leagues and write books about it, while cooking famous stuff on the ISS, and playing the oboe in my free time for tips... oh, this is never going to work. Seriously, though, they should install a soccer field on the ISS and make a youtube video of them playing in zero-g. I'd watch it.

And those are our lists! Seriously, go check those posts out. I'll have links up soon, but for now... there's more to come tonight. It's time for some shout-outs from Laura. Says she;

Shoutout to that awesome, religiously faithful Russian robot. Shoutout to my beloved brother and co-blogger Mark. Shoutout to my computer for not dying yet. Shoutout to my brain for being totally weird and having fun ideas. Shoutout to my fingers for reliably typing. Shoutout to my glasses so I can see what I'm typing.

And now for my own shout-outs. First of all, thank you to those two Canadian people who seem to give us most of our views. Wait...
Thank you to the american people and robots for your 218 views. It's because of you we have some weak faith that a real person is actually reading our blog.
Thank you to the following countries for your views; France, with 13 views, Germany with 5, Poland with 3, Indonesia with 2, and Belarus, the UK, Ireland, Malaysia, and Russia for your 1 view each. There may have been more countries but the blog only records the top few countries.
Also, thank you to google for letting people search us up. Apparently, people have found our blog by searching "If I had $100 writing," "what to do in harry potter land," and "who lived in the Louvre." Thank you, people who searched those phrases. I don't know why you then flipped to the 100'th google search results page and found us, but oh well.
I also want to thank the academy, and my parents. I want to thank both of my sisters. I want to thank my cat. And now, I'm going to stop, which I'm sure will make you thank me for doing so.

Finally, a few announcements. First of all, I have something rather exciting possibly planned, which I'd like to talk over with Laura. Second of all, I hope to have Julia guest blogging at one point, as I think it's high time you were introduced to her. Lastly, I'd like to set the record straight and say that right now we have 790 views. Lets see how that compares at post 200!

Until then, thanks so much for reading this, and all our other posts, and we'll see you soon.

-Mark (and, I'm sure, Laura).

What I Would Do if I was a Cat

Sleep.

...

...

Okay, so I won't just leave it at that, very tempted as I might be.

Cats are pretty awesome. They're good little companions, they're soft and fuzzy, and for the most part they aren't too loud. As well, they don't need to be walked and you have to clean up their poo much less often then, say, dogs.

I've often looked at my families cat and wished that I could be like him. He has so few duties! His life must be bliss. What if I actually could trade places with him?

1. I'd sleep. Thats half of what they do, anyway. 

2. I'd eat. You sort of have to eat, but I'd make sure that my owners weren't cheap. I'd refuse to eat only one or two types of food. No, I'd want at least ten options to choose from, dry food and wet, that they'd lay down on the floor in front of me. If they didn't let me choose in this manner, then I'd scratch all the furniture.

3. The only other thing that cats do in life is play. I wouldn't be like one of those cats that just stares at a string until it's an inch from their face, no! Instead I'd go wild, and would demand several hours of play time per day.

Yup, being a cat would be pretty simple. Eat, sleep and play. Just eat, sleep and play.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

What I Would do if I Could Live in any Time Period II

I have to confess that I didn't totally read Mark's post on this. However, I did read his beautiful reference to Le Petit Prince at the end, and I knew straightaway that I would never be able to measure up to his deep, existentialist musings (and ultimate conclusion that now is the best time of all). 

I won't lie; I don't mind being alive at this time. I like washrooms. I like books. I like that sexism and racism are diminishing for the most part. However, I am going to assume that I can't stay in the present time. 

That makes things a little bit more difficult. There are so many cool times to choose from. I've always been a history nut, so I have to say that my decision could change very easily on a day to day basis. Right now, though, I'm being heavily influenced by my music history class. When I first learned that we were covering music from Antiquity up until the Baroque period, I have to admit that I thought I was going to be doing all of the boring stuff. Then, I came to a conclusion: I really like medieval music. I don't love all of it - Gregorian chant can become boring after a while - but once they hit polyphony, things become pretty interesting. I love Medieval music from pretty much the start of polyphony onwards, mainly the secular stuff. Let me tell you, while those churches, troubadours, and trouvères were playing some boring monophonic stuff, the peasants were having a rocking time. They were fiddling and fluting and banging away on drums and having awesome dance parties. It's a shame more jongleur songs weren't recorded!

Anyway, because of that, I'd want to go back in time to the 14th century. I would probably want to be either a noble or a nun, though. I could be an awesome nun like Hildegard von Bingen and beat all of the men with my super creative music, philosophizing, and scientific studies. If I were a noble, I would bring all of the peasants into my castle - if they weren't diseased - and we could have rocking dance parties with their awesome superior music. I'd also sing all the time, because the songs back then are so singable! Oh, and I'd get to wear dresses all the time and not have to worry about my future, because I'd either be a noble or a nun, and that means my life would be pretty much entirely figured out. 

I would also travel to Notre Dame and listen to the polyphony they had there. I want to hear some of the pieces we've heard in class in person. 

Yes, I'll admit that wanting to go back to a particular time just for the music may be a little bit strange, but it would be so interesting! The music would be the best part for sure, though. If I have to hear All About that Bass one more time, I may have to hide in a hole and just listen to medieval music on repeat (tragic, right?). Seriously, how cool would that be? And maybe I could even meet Joan of Arc (she's my favourite historical person). Medieval times are looking better and better! I'd better hope I don't catch the bubonic plague, though. That might put a damper on this whole plan...

-Laura

What I Would Do if I Could Live in Any Time Period

Our world is slightly crazy nowadays.
People burn their time on electronics (I freeze, look down at my computer, and feel ashamed), most people seem to hate most other people, and nobody seems to be able to agree on anything. It' no wonder that sometimes people think that it might be better if we could live in a different time period. Perhaps we could live with the Romans, or the Egyptians. We could move back to the 50's, even.
I say that those people are all wrong.
Whenever I am asked this question, the answer seems blindingly obvious to me, although I'm sure that most people tend to disagree. I however stand firm by my answer; the best time to live is right now.
I know, yes I know, that I spent the fist sentence or two trashing the present day. And unfortunately, I still stand by the things I said up there. The world is still polluted, there's overpopulation, and there are a half-dozen crazy dictators running around shooting people. And maybe, in certain scenarios, it would be better to live a few years back. Life seems to have been simpler back then. Consider this, however.
If we go even 200 years back, there is slavery. Ethnocentrism runs rampant. Fundamental freedoms are taken away from certain groups, and to tell people that you're gay could lead to public scorn.
Rights were still being taken away from certain groups well into the 20'th century. Black people had to struggle for their rights in america. First nations groups in Canada were still being put into residential schools.
As far as world hunger goes, agriculture production has skyrocketed, allowing more people to leave for cities and the population to keep growing. Medically, penicillin was only discovered 100 or so years ago. Militarily, I'd say that we're actually doing pretty well right now. Sure, we still have wars. Russia and Ukraine. ISIS in the middle east. This is all of course terrible, but with a population of nearly 8 billion arguing people and considering the two world wars last century, I'd say we're doing pretty well.
And even with all of the discrimination still happening today, I'd say that we're doing better then ever before. In my generation, people can tell others that they're gay and generally people just shrug their shoulders and go are fine with it. Woman's rights are also doing better, with woman speaking out all over the world. People of all different religions are coming together, and sitting side by side without any animosity between them.
Said Martin Luther King during his "I have a dream" speech, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character." It seems to me that his vision is now starting to come true.
And yes, we have some big problems in todays world, and I'll not claim that we live in a world that is even close to being completely free of intolerance. Perhaps life was simpler, years ago. Perhaps our modern day gadgets are not really improving our lives, but helping us waste them. For as the book Le Petit Prince so eloquently points out, the time saving devices we use today can take the joy out of actually achieving something.
In the book, the Little Prince meets a salesclerk who sells pills that stop your need to drink. The salesclerk tells the Prince that taking the pills could save him 53 minutes a week, and asks the Prince what he would do with those minutes. "If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked," said the Prince, "I'd walk very slowly toward a water fountain..."
And that is so true of todays society, I think. We need to work at something to take any joy from completing it.
Even with these faults, I'd take the time period of now over any other. The past, I believe, was a bumpier road then today's is, and the future is uncertain. And so I have the pleasure of being happiest right where- or perhaps I should say when- I am.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

What I Would do if Every Time I Sneezed, I Could Speak a New Language

Regrettably, I have to say that this prompt comes from my sister (who got it from her boyfriend). Thus, the credit goes to her!

The rule is that every time I sneeze, I suddenly become fluent in one new language. Here's the catch, though: I can only speak this random new language. 

Here is what I would do:

1. Stock up on allergy medication. I would go home to Edmonton and switch languages every ten seconds because of cat allergies. The summer would also be problematic, since I apparently have an allergy to grass, of all things. Lawnmowers are the bane of my existence. Anyway, point being, I would need to prevent sneezing at all costs. 

2. While I was fluent in a current language, I would read books and poems in their original language to understand subtleties of the language that are lost in translation. I would also go through all of my foreign language music and understand it without IPA. Not having to memorize whether a vowel is closed or open would save me a lot of time, let me tell you! That's assuming that the languages I got hit by were opera languages...

3. Write poetry in millions of languages and feel extra smart. 

4. Travel to a country with my new language and not feel as much like a tourist (assuming I could keep from sneezing on my trip). 

Beyond that, I'm not really sure. Of course, I would love to learn languages, but I wouldn't want to lose my English. Of course, I am biased, but I love my language. I would just want to add new languages onto what I already know. I feel like losing your language constantly would be very lonely. How would you maintain friendships? In other words, I would hate this situation. 

I guess I'll just have to learn languages the hard way!

-Laura