I spent this afternoon at science club at St FX. We set up a Cloud Chamber to see cosmic rays. We watched it for an hour but absolutely nothing happened.
Anyway, here's an interesting link from someone who has spent way too much of her life surfing the internet: a collection of Google Holiday Logos.
There were four things that happened this week that made me ashamed to be an american.
First of all, I was very disappointed in the decision to drill for oil in Alaska. I mean, yeah gas prices are high, but on the other hand you could drive a more fuel efficient car and drive or walk more. We're going to run out of oil pretty soon, and we may as well get used to it being a rare commodity. Once we dig in Alaska we won't be able to dig there again, and we'll be affecting the natural environment as we do so. I feel like America is turning into a greedy little child who can't see beyond today.
Then there was the Ashley Smith affair. She saves herself from being killed and suddenly she's some sort of messiah who has been the middle of attention on CNN for over a week. She does seem to be a very brave heroine, but I see no need for the amount of hype she's been getting.
Next was Terry Shiavo. I can't believe this actually happened. Congress comes at the drop of a hat and why? To intervene in the private affair of a family to save a woman who is about as alive as a formadelhide corpse with a couple of electric currents running through it to blink and breath. It's also very hypocritical that these republicans will fly the flag of life high over our heads yet turn their backs to bombing civilians in the middle east.
And the fourth? Well I found it hard to believe at first, too. Certain Imax Films are no longer being shown in Science Museums in the south because they talk about evolution and Darwin's work.
Tuesday evening we went to this "Italian American Music Festival" at the Mann Auditorium. When I heard the title I thought, Okay, they're going to sing songs from the Opera greats such as Verdi or Puccini. It's not really my favourite thing to sit through, because I think that you really need to see operas from start to finish, or else it's just some guy in a tuxedo singing in another language. When we got there the stage, to my surprise, had not an orchestra but a swing band set up with for Saxophonists. That got my attention. However, the show was a big disappointment. It seemed to be a show for the offspring of talented people. There was Sandy Hacket, the son of Buddy, Deana Martin, Herb Gershwin, and some italian tenor who sang too loudly and with too much vibrato about religion, patriotism, and showtunes. It was something only fit for PBS primetime. In fact, I think my mother and I were the only to people whose age was anything under 50 in the thousand seat plus auditorium. It didn't follow its original theme either, except for the fact that two of the performers had italian backgrounds and having to sit through extremely tacky performances of "That's Amore" and "Maria". The tenor kept giving encore after encore after encore as the audience streamed out that I wondered, a half hour later, once safely home, whether he was still up on that stage, singing.
If I haven't updated this blog, as my Grandmother has duly pointed out, it is because my band director has been keeping his ever increasing load of practices. First the Stage band had to practice non-stop for the dance. Then we had to make a recording to send to florida. Next we'll be working on the provincial music festival in April, our trip in May, and university convocation in June. Lavinia, whose house I stayed in while my parents went to Hawaii, put it very well when I'd come home from school at seven thirty in the evening: "And how is that crazy band-man today? Has he had enough coffee?" she'd say in her thick Romanian accent.
Now I'm in Florida, far away from anything to do with band. Even a few hours before our I had to catch a bus to Halifax Airport I went to school to do the final recording. My grandmother and mother have a few concerts and activities planned, but to be honest, I'd rather just sit outside in the warm air next to the pool and read. I'll need to have my energy: a few days before we leave my aunt Marcia and her family are coming. I anticipate chaos.