The Couch Wars

Roger vs. Bell.  This is the story behind all the pictures of blue and red couches.  First I will describe the Rogers Campaign and then I will describe Bell’s counter-campaign. 

This is the Rogers campaign.  the blue and red sides are equal, but with one difference.  The red side/Rogers costs $25 less than the blue side/Bell in phone bills.

A week later Bell came out with it’s counter-campaign.  The blue side is much bigger than the red side.  representing that you get a lot more TV channels with Bell, for $25 less every month.

Rogers was just entering the phone industry at the time and so therefore lowered their prices to attract customers.  At the same time Bell was just entering the TV business and so they lowered their TV prices.  Either way both companies dropped millions on advertising.

Year End Trip

The end of year trips in middle school have always been the one thing to look forward to (other than school being over).  This being  said, there have been some good trips and then some bad ones. 

In grade six we went to Pine crest.  There our activities were fun and we were busy doing fun stuff.  The same cannot be said about our grade seven trip.  At Tanamakoon our activities consisted of: staying out of our cells during “free time”, standing on the docks over the water we couldn’t swim in, and playing bump with a deformed basketball and a tumour. 

The grade eight trip is rumoured to be the epitome of year end trips.  The trip consists of taking a coach to Ottawa where we get to spend time in the city.  We then go to Quebec where we are treated to a ghost tour.  Then we go rafting on the Ottawa river.  All in all it should be the best trip by a long shot.

Social-Networking

Yes a lot of people use them but not all.  I am one of the few people on this planet who do not have a Facebook account.  To me it is near a complete waste of time.  Simply having the option of going on Facebook instead of finishing homework is becoming a problem for many people. 

The whole idea of a social-networking site is that you meet new people and share information.  The problem with the information being shared is that you do not know who is seeing yours and you don’t know if the information you are seeing is legitimate.  This lets people be someone else online.  It also lets people access information you may not want them to.  Though the idea of Facebook is good people have twisted it and now use it for purposes that it was not originally intended.  Just remember, be careful.

Justin Bieber

Many people have very strong opinions about Justin Bieber!  Mine is that he has been crafted into what people want him to be.  That is very respectable because he is making more money than he could possibly use.  For that sole reason he is awesome. 

For those who say that he sucks I cannot honestly say that their reasoning is poor.  Justin Bieber does what he is told to do, and nothing else.  He also can’t sing.  Unfortunately there is nothing I can do (shot of killing him) to make him stop singing.

For those who say that Justin Bieber is an amazing singer I have no comment other than that what you know and see of him is what the producers want you to and nothing else.  For that reason he is a poor singer because he is not really singing but, more so lip singing what he is told to.  Justin Bieber still makes more money than me and for that reason, is amazing.

The Spell Chequer’s Poem

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

This is the spell chequer’s poem.  It is one of the most infamous four paragraphs ever written regarding spell chequers.  no one knows who first wrote it but it would have had to have been after spell chequers were invented.  It may be hard to read if you look at it carefully so just skim over the words and it makes sense. 

The irony of the situation is that I am writing this blog on a pea sea and I am using a spell chequer.  I am sure that there are many speling erors in this blog but please remember that I am writing about erors and therefore am exempted from punishment.  While you may not appreciate this poem, it will always have a special place in my heart along with all the other odd things in my life. 

Blogs

When Ms. Weldon walked into class on Wednesday and wrote several numbers on the board I  immediately knew they had to do with blogs, or lack of.  There are 15kids in 8A.  Unfortunately 7 out of these 15 students did not post their blogs last week, me being included in those 7.  3 students have not posted blogs since the end of March break.  To me not posting a blog in two weeks is a sign of disrespect, not posting a blog after 3 weeks would be simply unacceptable.  Fortunately no one has reached this point yet.

37.6 % is last weeks average.  This average includes the 7 people who did not post and got 0.  Once everyone posts their blogs and if they get the same marks as every one else, the average will rise to 80%.  Unfortunately many students are opting for writing all their blogs at once at the end of the year.  This is not a very good idea because the end of the year consists of exams and trips so finding time to write blogs will be difficult. 

Is it really necessary to make us post a blog every week?  Why not make a blog and a comment due every other week?  it would greatly reduce the work load hanging over all our shoulders.  You would also have to mark half the amount of blogs you do now.  When you say that we have 134 hours to write and post our blogs please remember that we spend over 50 of those hours sleeping.

Evensong

        Friday afternoon, 1:40, SJK Chapel, 35 minutes, lots of bored kids.  This is a common sight at SJK when Middle and Upper school congregate in the tallest building at St. John’s Kilmarnock, the chapel.  At 1:40 learning stops and the religious portion of the school week takes over.  The chapel itself is a grand building but has the potential to become quite stuffy with a few hundred bodies in it.  Based solely on the expressions of those participating in evensong it can become a tedious poses of sitting, standing, singing, then sitting again.  All in all it is by far the longest 35 minutes of my life.

          There are many issues orbiting in a roundabout fashion with Evensong at the heart.  First and foremost is the timing.  2 o'clock on a Friday afternoon is usually when I would prefer to enter the state known as sleeping, or at the very least a state of reduced consciousness.  Second is the setting.  A grand building with reasonable architecture and high ceilings is the optimal location for a large gathering. The chapel does fills this roll well, unfortunately at 1:40 every Friday too many people sit in it for too long and it becomes the most boring and stuffy room north of the tropic of cancer.

        Since someone decided that a blog can’t be someone complaining, and complaining, and complaining I have to give a possible solution.  In light of this complication I propose one of two things.  Option one being to cut a few holes in the roof to let in fresh air.  The second and more practical option being to shorten the length of evensong. 

             After you finish reading this and nothing happens to improve evensong I won’t be disappointed.  The simple fact being that a grade eight student wrote this and my opinion will be greatly overshadowed by the big changes at SJK being implemented next year.