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Change is in our design. If we want it to happen, we have to go out and do it, not just sit around hoping it will happen! There are many different organizations that try to promote students to help change the world: ME 2 WE/ We Day and many others. These are great organizations but not everyone can join stuff like that. So what do we do? We do it ourselves, on our own terms.

Futures Forum just got that much better! For our summative we have this
Grand Challenge. The Grand Challenge is to help out a cause using all the
different skills we have learned. We are not just talking about helping a cause, we are actually doing it! 

The cause I am helping is trying to prevent animals wondering the streets without homes, that are abused, abandoned and that may just need a bit of lovin’. Everyone has heard one of those amazing stories on how that one person saved an animal from dying on the streets. Now you need to think about all the other animals out there that needs help that haven’t gotten it. That is my Challenge. To try and make it so that no animal’s plea for help goes unanswered! To do this I will be helping out different organizations and charities that help this problem in small ways. 

One way to help is through awareness, the reason behind this blog post today. I am helping out at least three different organizations and charities.

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The first one is PAWS (Peoples Animal Welfare Society). This is an organization in Toronto that enforces the no kill policy.

This is what is said on their website:  “PAWS is the only rescue, of which we are aware, that routinely tests our cats for FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus – a.k.a Feline Aids), FeLV (Feline Leukemia) and FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), illnesses which can be life-threatening to other cats.  Because we do not want our adopters to endanger their own animal companions we incur this extra expense and effort.  If any of our rescues are diagnosed with one of these diseases, we DO NOT euthanize. We arrange suitable housing on an individual basis. Most often, these cats live full, healthy, normal lives.

 PAWS has never considered any animal ‘unadoptable’ and we DO NOT give up on those with special needs. We have many wonderful success stories to prove it. PAWS spares no
expense to save a life as the special souls who come to us are all individuals.  We trust you will enjoy touring our website and learning how PAWS has been going above and beyond for over 35 years.” Here's their website: http://www.pawscanada.org/index.html


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The other one is Pet Smart Charities. They have a few different charities like Rescue Waggin.

Most pet lovers have gone to PetSmart at least once to get something for their pet. Well here’s the chance to give back! If you have money to spare you can to help! You can go to their website: http://www.petsmartcharities.org/ and check out all they are doing! Also, on their website they have some amazing adoption stories that will warm the heart! Go check them out and tweet them to your friends to spread the word!


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The last one is Red Rover. Red Rover is an organization that helps pets that need special care but are unable to get it because it is too much money. They also give emergency sheltering, disaster relief services, financial assistance and education. I want this organization to get known!!

Check out their website: http://www.redrover.org/

If you read this blog post please tweet to #grcigc. This way you can help me spread the word!! Thanks for reading!!!

 
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Yeah, Yeah I know that Les Miz has been out for a while and that not many people are still taking about it. I just had to write about it. Yesterday was the Finale Concert at school, which I happened to be a part of. I was only in the choir, but still. The reason why I am mentioning this is because the last song played was in fact a mix of songs from Les Miz. It reminded just
how amazing Les Miz is. My friend and I even started to sing the words as the concert band was playing. So I thought to myself, why not write a blog post about it?

 So what is Les Miz? Les Misérables is an amazing musical/movie that destroys your feels (as mentioned in ‘Fandom, What's Your Posion?’) and leaves you with tears in your eyes and or tears running down your cheek. It’s a story of love, heart break, war, rebellion, death, and being poor. Les Miz actually started out written as a novel in 1862 by Victor Hugo. It wasn’t adapted into a musical until 1980. 

My one friend is absolutely in love with Les Miz. Since she got the movie, she has probably watched it over 18 times already. And that is not an over exaggeration either. She watches it every day and knows all the words to everyone of the songs in the movie. I actually first saw Les Misérables at her house. Even after she has seen it a million and one times before, she still bawls her eyes out. Even her dad, who is one tough and scary guy, would walk in during the movies and start to sing along! Just goes to show you how awesome this movie is, that it can break even the toughest of souls.

But really, the music and songs are all remarkable and tear dropping. I don’t even know what else to say. No words come to mind when I am trying to describe the incredible music. That is how good it is; so good that my mind is speechless (See what I did there? Huh, huh?). 

Not only is the music spectacular, so is the cast. There are so many well known actors and actresses that have a role in this movie. Some of the cast members include: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, and so many other astounding stars.

SOOOOO... to sum up everything...Les Misérables is basically the best ever and if you haven't seen it...WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING READING MY BLOG? WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING LES MIZ? Kidding...or am I?

If you were planning of never seeing it, well your life is just boring and not worth writing about. Just kidding...sort of.


Any movies you think are amazing and is worth watching? Please let me know through a comment!

 
"Beauty is not caused; it is." ~Emily Dickenson
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Beauty is said to be 'an outstaning example of its kind. But is that the true meaning of being beautiful? That beauty is something that is best of its kind? No it is not.

When you think of something as beautiful, you tend to think of something that in flawless and perfect. Never would you imagine something beaten down and imperfect. For example, say you are describing a tree as beautiful (Gosh what is it with me and trees!); you would probably think of a tree full of life and has leaves, maybe even a few flowers. Most people wouldn’t picture a tree with no leaves and with almost no colour to it. Same goes with people, we link beauty with models and movie stars, not your average person walking down the street. So why do we think beauty has to do with appearance? Can’t it mean a beautiful soul?

Beauty should be based off of a person’s personality not by how they look.

I mean really! Basing beauty off of models does nothing for your self esteem. Nobody, not even the models themselves can live up to that kind of beauty. Its Photoshop people, everything you see of models are all photoshopped to be the perfect person, when in reality that is impossible to achieve. 
 
Almost all beauty products all have ads and promotions that show the perfect person. These companies play with you self esteem, the way they are  think is that as long as you have an unattainable dream more people will buy your stuff to try and get there. This is why I love the people behind Dove soap. Dove soap is one of the only companies working in beauty products that actually promote being yourself and not changing your appearance. 

Dove has released many amazing commercials that support their idea. Here are just two of them:


  P.S. Sorry if you can't look at the videos at school, please make sure you take a look at them when you get home!



Really, this video just helps prove my point on how they photoshop models making beauty seem so far out of everyones reach.
Many of you might have skipped passed this ad when watching a video on YouTube. This ad shows how bad womens self esteem really is. That women put theresleves down even if they don't even realized they are doing it.
If you take one thing away from my blog post, I would like that to be that just like Christina Aguilera said, "we are beautiful no matter what people say."
 
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(I don’t what made me think about this idea…oh well!)

 I know everyone has had that one moment in their life where they wished they could turn back time and relive one moment. It could be to change something you did or it could be to return to a moment that you loved the most. I myself have had quite a few of these moments, for both  reasons. 

The moments I would like to turn back to and change are not my finest moments. They are the moments of my stupidity. One of these is when I accidently deleted all my pictures off of my camera. You’re probably disappointed with this answer, aren’t you? Well, on the camera at the time there was probably about 500 pictures maybe, that I didn’t get to upload on to my computer, yet (I couldn’t find my cord…). Some of these pictures include my trip to California (I had pictures of everywhere we went too!!!), pictures of my synchro team of that year and…umm…some other pictures that I can’t remember at the moment…

 I do have other times I would like to change, maybe to go back in time to get a better mark on a really bad test or to those moments that are so embarrassing that I can’t say out loud, that I really would like to avoid…

Moments I wish I could live again, there are many of those. Like, going back in time to those perfect moments where you are having the time of your life (Semi, spending you time with your friends doing your favourite things, my time in Aruba, going somewhere in general, spending those amazing minutes with your siblings where you are not fighting, etc.). Moments like these are where you wish you can remember every detail forever and that your eyes can take picture so they can capture exactly what you are experiencing. 

There are actually a lot of movies, shows and books about time travel. In the book I’m reading for future forum it even talks
about time travel or what they like to call ‘time walking’. The idea of time travel is everywhere. It makes that there is though. People tend to write or talk about things they wish could happen. It makes them feel better about not having something when they have their character or something have it. Making them think, “Well if I can’t have this, at least my character does.” It can make the person feel as if they actually have. As you can see, I have a lot of experience with this…

But I would like to say, even if there are points in your life you wish you can change, there is no way (yet) to do anything about
it. So instead of wasting your time thinking of things you regret, start thinking of things you can do to help it or just move on with your life. Kelly Clarkson has a song that I think is a perfect quote to think about when you are thinking of all your regrets, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” It is such true statement too. You can only learn from your mistakes. 

That quote reminds me of the poster on the future forum door…


~Keep Calm and Carry On~


 


So what about you? Any time you might want to go
back to?

 
"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same." ~ Elbert Hubbard
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I think this is a question everyone should consider. That everyone should know the true meaning of 'Friends' (and no not the TV show!).

We all have friends. Even if sometimes you don't feel like you do. Let's see... (Activate thinking face) We have friends from when you were younger that you don't really talk to much anymore. We have friends from those camps you went to over the summer that live so far away from you. We have the friends that had to move away, which caused you to have a mental break down when they told you they were leaving. We have friends from sports/music/clubs you were a part of. Those friends that are your families friends and you can't seem to get rid of them (Just Kidding!! haha love you guys!). And don't forget those crazy school friends. The people who help make those boring classes on your schedule more fun, who you spend six hours a day, five days a week with. See there are a lot of friends out there.


When I searched up the word friend on Urban Dictionary, I found there are many different definitions.  So instead of giving you an all inspiring quote that I found on the internet about how friends are missing pieces in our soul and what not (which is true, I did find that somewhere), I have decided to make up my own list with a mixture of all of definitions.


A friend is someone…

- Who knows you for the real you and stays just the same.   
- You can count on to make you smile when you are feeling down.
- Who you can trust with almost anything and can trust you back the same.
- Who hates to see you hurt, just as much as you hate to see them hurt. 
- Who has shared your brightest moments and your saddest moments.        
- You feel safe with and feel the need to be their protector. 
- Who you can act completely insane with and not feel embarrassed. 
 

Now a list that relates to my friends and maybe you people reading.
A friend is someone...

- Who understands you fandom pain.
- That shares food with you.
- You share inside jokes with.
- That will be accompanying you to the mental institute.
- That will sing Disney music out load and just as dramatic as you.
- That is the reason why I have no sanity in the first place.
- Who will randomly start sing classical rock music with you.
- Who has pictures of you that could be used as blackmail against you.
- Who got you addicted to your fandom.
- Who is the reason behind your stupid actions.
- Who gives you the weirdest nicknames and you don't even care.
- Who knows all your pet peeves and still does them.
- Who will continue on with your weird conversation like it was an everyday thing.

 
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Ok so a few days ago, our future forum class watch a documentary. It was called Generation Jobless, and I would just like to say it sort of scared me a bit. In a nutshell the documentary was about Post Secondary school students not being able to find a job.

This got me thinking. What about me? Will I be one of those students that didn’t get a job or a job that they want? I seriously hope not.

 Another thing that it got me think about is what will I want to pursue in the future, career wise? I have thought of this many
times this year. I still have not found that one thing yet. Yes I have many ideas. But am I any closer to narrowing it down to one? Not even close to it. 
 
Because I still don’t know, I decided to try one of my choices out to see if I like it. So, I signed up for the co-op program at
my school. Just a few days ago, I received a letter saying I got accepted into the program. This means next year in grade 11, I will be working part time trying out one of the many job choices I had. 
 
In Generation Jobless, many people didn’t have a chance to get experience for the career they want. Which leaves them as inters so they can get the experience. Co-op can help me get the experience I need, if I do truly decide that this is the job I want in the future. 
 
So a few of you might be curious as to what this mystery job I am doing for co-op is. The career I will be working at is
somewhere in graphic design. I found that I always liked designing things for all the different projects I have done for school. Also, I find myself to be artistic which will definitely help with graphic design. Do you know what’s weird? I never really thought about working in graphic design as a career before this year. Yes I heard about it and thought it was cool, but I never looked into it before.

It’s funny, it was actually course I took last semester that actually got me thinking about careers in graphic design. The
course I took was Communication Technology. In the course we touched upon photography, 2D animation, 3D animation, audio, video editing, game design, and graphic design. I loved every unit we did and actually contemplated on doing my
co-op for one of the other stuff we did like animation.

 Com Tech taught me many good skills and how to use different computer programs that most jobs in these fields use, like the
different adobe programs. And by learning all these technology skills it helps me prepare for when I am working. So that instead of having to learn how to use the programs at the job, I can get comfortable with using them ahead of time. 
 

Now that I said the job that interests me, it is time to see how many jobs there are available in graphic design. In Generation
Jobless, it talked about some fields that have more people looking for a job there then there are positions. Jobs in teaching for example have too many people qualified for the job, but not so many job openings. Luckily, from what I have gathered from the co-op teacher and online, there are quite a few jobs in graphic design. Looking at the possible placements for co-op can attest to that (like 4 or 5 pages full of placements for graphic design).


  The documentary Generation Jobless has helped me figure out what is needed to be done to ensure I will escape the Generation Jobless. So that I can get the job I want after I finish the secondary education I chose to go to. I hope more students are able to learn what they need for their job choice before they graduate.



 So, what are you thinking about pursuing in the future job wise? Are you planned for the future, or are you still figuring things out?


 
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    This idea came to me while I was listening to a really random playlist I made. It is filled with some of my favourite songs. Some of these songs are by: Maroon 5, The Script, Ron Pope, Ed Sheeran, P!nk, Edwin McClain, Hedley, songs from Tarzan, etc. (this just to list a few) 

    Yes I know...’Tarzan? Really? You have Disney music on your iPod?’, well you know what? Yes, yes I do have Disney music. The Tarzan sound track is by the way incredible and sung by Phil Collins. Who I might add, is an amazing guitar play and singer. But, I do have the Broadway version of The Lion King on there as well... 

    As you can tell from the crazy playlist, I like a variety of different types of music. Music wise, I like: Pop, Rock, General Rock, some R&B/soul, a little bit of the Electronic music, Dance, some Country, Alternative, Indie, Instrumental, and some Classical stuff too.  

    One type of music I am not really fond of is rap. Rap has taken over music these days. There are so many songs that have an amazing chorus, but are full of raping! Like the song Airplanes, I love the chorus but I don’t really like the verses. I mean, yes some are ok, but all the others? I can only really take rap in small doses.  

    One thing I have found is that my parents influenced my taste in music a lot. I grew up listening to old rock and old pop music. Long trips in the car, my parents would plan out the different CDs they were going to bring. My mom has this one CD that she always plays every time we travel by car on our trips. Some parents let their kids chose the radio station in the car, but with me... I have to beg and pled to get them to change it. But, most of the time I don’t even care if my parents have their station playing though, because I am most likely singing along too.  

    My dad has gotten me into a lot of different band and artists that he has been playing around me so long that I can sing along to most of them. These bands and artists include: The Who (dad’s favourite), Pink Floyd, Yes, Collective Soul, ELO (Electric Light Orchestra), Jack Johnson, Phil Collins, The old Train albums, Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Goo Goo Dolls, Queen, and so many others I can’t list them all. My dad doesn’t really like all the pop I listen to now, he’d rather his rock. 

    My mom also got me into some artists too. They are: Elton John, Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, Billy Joel, and some others I can’t remember at the moment. My mom compared to my dad is more understanding and kind of likes some of the pop songs. 

    When I hear a new song, I always listen for a guitar or piano. I love the sound that the guitar makes whether it is electric or acoustic. I actually always wanted to play the guitar. I know a little, but can only really play songs like Yankee Doodle and Au Clair du Lune that are from the guitar book I have. I also would love to play the piano too. I like these instruments for their sound, as well as the fact that they are the two main instruments people use when writing songs. 

    One of my all time favourite songs is Edwin McClain’s song I’ll Be. It is a beautiful love song that I just can’t not love it love. I first heard it from the movie ‘A Cinderella Story’ actually. A Cinderella Story is one of my favourite movies, even if it is one of those cheesy love stories.  



So what music do you listen to? Have a favourite band or artist?



^^here's the link from where I got the picture: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3qj05pw8s1rv94oxo1_1280.png

 
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Everyone has that one thing that they are good at. That one thing they love doing. For some people it would be playing a certain sport. And for others it may be performing music or acting on stage. Maybe it could be creating a work of art. Whatever it might be, everyone has one. 

For me, that one thing is swimming. Not just lane swimming, but synchronized swimming. Everyone that knows me probably already knows that I am obsessed with it. If you read my ‘What Happened In Aruba?’ blog post, you probably even know. 

I know I complain about my practices, all the time. But when I am swimming in the chlorine filled water I feel at home. The moment after you know you swam a good run-through, is probably the best feeling in the world. 

Just over the past long weekend I had a competition, Saturday to be exact. For both events I swam at, my team swam first. Our first event was the first event of the day. So we had to be there at 7 in the morning. That might seem that bad, but you people are forgetting that this meet was at the Etobicoke Olympium, which is about an hour drive from Kitchener. So that puts the time for 6 o’clock when we have to leave the house. 

Because of this early morning, we decided to gel my hair the night before. What do you mean gel, you may ask? We put Knox gelatine in our hair to keep it back and out of our face when we swim. You just mix it with hot water and paint it on, and it
will dry so that it is rock hard.

The two events I was in were: 16-20 team and Combo. The first event was 16-20 team, which I was happy about since it was the hard of the two. Out of ten we came third. The second event of the day for me was Combo. Combo is a mixture of all the different types of routines (solo, duet, team...etc.), out of the two routines and music, I like Combo the most. It typically has ten
swimmers on the team and it is more interesting to watch. For Combo we came first. Over the season, we have held the first place position in each competition we went to, except the one National meet (We went against National teams when we were in Provincial and we still came second...).

 There are many reasons why I love Synchro. One of the reasons is that it keeps me in shape. For Synchro, you need to be able to swim for one, have good flexibility, core strength, endurance, breath control, and muscle strength. It has been said that Synchronized Swimming is the second most physically demanding sport in the Olympics. 

Another reason why I love this sport is because of the team bonding. Being a synchronized swimmer you spend a lot of your time at practices if you are a competitive swimmer. Meaning you spend a lot of time with your team. When you are on a team, you have to work together or else the routine won’t work. One slightly wrong angle and something looks off. The club I swim at is Waterloo Regional Synchronized Swimming Club, also known as my second family.

 Out of all the reasons, the thrill you get when you swim your routine is probably the main reason. The moment right after the whistle is blown is the moment I get nervous. When the whistle is blown, it means that the team is ready to start. It is the moment of no return. But, when the music comes on...something clicks in. It is what I have been training for, the routine I
swam a million times before. The routine becomes second nature. Before I know it we are at the last figure of the routine. As we make our way to the wall, I get that feeling you get when you know you did the routine to the best of your ability. The feeling you get when you hug you teammates after is one of the best moments. 

There are countless other reasons why I love this sport, but I feel I should stop here instead of continuing and ending up writing a novel.
 
So what are you good at? What’s your passion? 

What is your element?

Feel free to check out my Team and combo swim from the weekend-
Team: http://vimeo.com/64673536 , Combo: https://vimeo.com/64673535

If you felt like synchro was interesting and you might want to try it, check out the Waterloo Synchro site: http://waterloosynchro.com/
 
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Have you even wanted to be something so bad that you used to pretend you were it? I think everyone wanted to be something really bad when they were a little kid. 

For little boys it could have been that they wanted to be a Power Ranger or your favourite superhero like Spiderman or A Fantastic Four member. For little girls it might have been your favourite princess or one of the Winx’s Club girls. 

But for me? I wanted to be a Witch. I wanted to go to Hogwarts and use magic. I don’t know why, but I was obsessed with magic. I love Harry Potter; I think all of you know that. But I also loved Twitches and Halloweentown. 

What is Twitches and Halloweentown you may ask? They are movies shown on Disney channel that have to do with witches and magic. The plot of Twitches is simple. Two twin teenaged witches find each other and learn they are from another realm full of magic. They have to control their powers and defeat the darkness! …Yeah I know cheesy. But hey, I loved that kind of stuff! And Halloweentown is about…well that. It’s about a town where all your favourite Halloween monsters and critters are good and live in peace away from humans. Then there are the Cromwell witches. They just found out about their magic and
have to save Halloweentown from evil bag guys who want to wreck it. Yes another cheesy movie. And for some reason, both those movies had sequels… Halloweentown had like three. And every year on Halloween, I still watch Halloweentown. 
 
ANYWAYS…as you can see, I loved magic movies and still do. When I was little I would always pretend I had magic and pretended to make potions and stuff. I am not joking! I collected shiny rocks thinking they were magical!

Tuesday April 16th is Harry Potter day at Grand River. I have never in my life gotten to dress up as a Harry Potter character at school in my life. Not even on Halloween. So right now I am jumping off the walls in excitement! My mom was able to borrow one of the grad robes from Lifetouch since I didn’t have a Harry Potter one for me to wear! I also searched my whole room
and found my Harry Potter Timeturner that I thought I lost. And they are selling Butterbeer! I’M SO EXCITED! It’s like a dream come true!


Sooo, what are your childhood fantasies?


 
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Nicknames. I think everyone has at least one nickname. Maybe it’s a name your mother calls you that you may or may not be embarrassed by. It could be a name your friends call you because of something awesome you did. You can have a nickname from people who cannot say your name because it is either a unique name or it’s just really long and is hard to remember. Nicknames can be funny; a name that makes you and your friends laugh. They can be a short form of your name or your name spiced up a bit like Lauren to Lorenzo (A friend from Synchro). 

Some nicknames though can be mean and teasing compared to ones that are harmless and fun. Bullies often use nicknames to tease and ridicule other people, young and old. Mean and nasty nicknames have been known to stick to you and never seems to leave your mind. If you don’t like a nickname, stand up and say that! Don’t just let the person keep teasing you! I stood up when someone was calling me a name I didn’t like, so if I can you can too! 

I know I’m kind of jumping around saying nicknames are good one minute then saying they are bad in another. But, even though they can be mean, nicknames can be great. Some nicknames can define you in a good way. Like if you were a soldier and your name was Ace because of something amazing you did. Wouldn’t you want to be remember as that, as something great because of the nickname?

 Some of my nicknames would be: Shan, Shanaynay, Shanono,Shanoonin, Fitzy, Willis (I don’t know why...), Shan Shan, etc. So as you can see I have many nicknames. Some of them are from school friends, some from my Synchro friends and one is from my mom. Most of the nicknames I mentioned, I still have no idea why I am called that. Willis? I mean seriously. How did that  come to play? Now that’s a question I ponder!

 What are your nicknames? Any weird ones? Feel free to comment your nicknames!



--here is the site where I got the picture^^ : http://bestuff.com/images/images_of_stuff/210x600/giving-funny-nicknames-to-the-people-you-know-207965.jpg?1248336210