Okay, wow, it's been a long time since I've been on this blog. I'm going to be putting this blog to the side for now, and if I have time and feel like it, I'll come back and post. I've just been too busy lately. I'm the City Youth Councillor for ward 16 on the City Youth Council of Toronto. You can visit my site in the meanwhile, and there's a blog on there that I will be updating, so if you feel like you'd rather not talk to a brick wall, you can visit my Site. You can also go on cycto.ca/maryzhu which goes to the same site.
I'll see you later!
lovelovelove
-T-
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Busy Summer Contest 2012
Remember the Busy Summer Contest last year? Well, it's summer again, and it's back! You can now start submitting schedules. Entries will be accepted until September 3, 2012 at 11:59 PM.
Click here or go to the page that says "Busy Summer Contest" and submit your summer schedule. At the end of the summer, I'll read every post, and decide a winner. Which of course is the person with the BUSIEST time this summer. This year, there will be no prize. Just the honor of knowing that you have the busiest summer. But even if there isn't a prize, keep on submitting!
That reminds me... I still have to come up with a prize for last year's winner...
lovelovelove
-T-
Weekend in the States
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| License Plate |
We then went hiking. And this was carved into the tree trunk:
We went to the Corning Museum of Glass ("Corning" as in Corning, NY) and hiking and also went on a cruise! (And shopping for a bit) The view on the cruise was picturesque and the air and wind... there are absolutely NO WORDS to describe it! Plus, the announcer (well, one of them) was really hot! (I couldn't help but notice...)
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| Daydreaming... |
I really wish I could've stayed for the fourth of July (Americans are so patriotic! There was an American flag on nearly every single farm and house that we passed! And the cookies and other foods had American colours on them! Oh, and this was in a Walmart in Watkins Glen, NY. If only Walmarts in Canada were as patriotic...) but sadly, I couldn't. We went for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Then, on Tuesday, I had my first day of summer school. :( Going to school in the summer is no fun, even if I get a credit for it. :( I was exhausted on the first day!!! We got back home from the States at around 2 AM, and I had to wake up at 7 AM in order to get to school on time. Not fun...lovelovelove
-T-
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Randomness on a Sunday
I haven't posted anything in like a month and a half!!! May was so hectic and everything!!! But now, it's June, and school's almost over! I've basically done NOTHING this past week, since all the grade 8s (or the majority at least) were away in Quebec, Halliburton, New Brunswick and wherever else, on our graduation trip. Since I couldn't go to New Brunswick (only 40 people were allowed), I decided not to go. There were about 30 that didn't go, and only 6 that went to school. Actually, it was more like 4. We went to the AGO to see the Picasso exhibit (which is actually pretty cool) and got to learn to make graffiti at the Harbourfront Centre.
Anyways, before I leave to go to drawing class, (we're starting painting today) check out this video of my friend Nicole, honking like Canadian geese. We were filming a French geography project at her place (a few weeks ago) but she had lost her voice at a One Direction concert the night before.
Anyways, before I leave to go to drawing class, (we're starting painting today) check out this video of my friend Nicole, honking like Canadian geese. We were filming a French geography project at her place (a few weeks ago) but she had lost her voice at a One Direction concert the night before.
lovelovelove
-T-
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Dad's Birthday (And Funny Story)
It's my dad's birthday today! In all these years, I've NEVER known his birthday. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true. I only found out when we were buying a cake (I was very confused at this point) and my mom nonchalantly mentioned that it was his birthday. (Then she gave my sister and I each a cookie)
Anyways, when we were in the car today, my dad randomly started telling us a REALLY funny story. And it's a true story. It actually happened. The story goes like this (And this happened in China, and it was told to me in Chinese. I'll do my best to translate): There was a guy who was driving. In front of him was a really, really old BMW. It was practically falling apart. On the back was a sign. It said "Old car, be nice" (Something along those lines) Underneath that, was something written in really, really, really, small writing. The person couldn't read it, so he inched his car forward. He still couldn't read it. Forward again. Still couldn't. He inched it forwards again. This time, he hit the car. Now he could read the small writing. What do you think it said? Guess. Seriously, guess.
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Did you guess? Anyways, it said, (It's a lot funnier in Chinese, because of the wording and rhythm of the words, but...) "See? You hit it." Did you get that? The whole point was that you had to hit the car in order to see the writing. And once you read it, it was like it was talking to you. Anyways, I thought it was hilarious. I laughed for a long time. But if you didn't find it as funny as I did, I guess we just have different tastes...
I have so much homework! And our play is on Thursday! Now, time to get started on the homework pile...
lovelovelove
-T-
Anyways, when we were in the car today, my dad randomly started telling us a REALLY funny story. And it's a true story. It actually happened. The story goes like this (And this happened in China, and it was told to me in Chinese. I'll do my best to translate): There was a guy who was driving. In front of him was a really, really old BMW. It was practically falling apart. On the back was a sign. It said "Old car, be nice" (Something along those lines) Underneath that, was something written in really, really, really, small writing. The person couldn't read it, so he inched his car forward. He still couldn't read it. Forward again. Still couldn't. He inched it forwards again. This time, he hit the car. Now he could read the small writing. What do you think it said? Guess. Seriously, guess.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Did you guess? Anyways, it said, (It's a lot funnier in Chinese, because of the wording and rhythm of the words, but...) "See? You hit it." Did you get that? The whole point was that you had to hit the car in order to see the writing. And once you read it, it was like it was talking to you. Anyways, I thought it was hilarious. I laughed for a long time. But if you didn't find it as funny as I did, I guess we just have different tastes...
I have so much homework! And our play is on Thursday! Now, time to get started on the homework pile...
lovelovelove
-T-
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Cherry Blossoms at High Park!
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| A close up of a cherry blossom |
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| An okay shot of a duck |
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| Is it just me, or does the poo look strange? |
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| The sign outside the restaurant |
They're closing the zoo down, because they can't get enough funding to keep it running. It doesn't have an admission fee, and the government isn't much help. So, they're trying to raise enough money to keep it running. The Honey family (if I remember correctly) is doubling the amount that they've raised up until $50,000. They've raised around $9000 so far. Don't let it close! The website at the bottom is torontoparksandtrees.ca.
After that, we started walking in a random direction, and we found ourselves in a dog park. Lots and lots of dogs, chasing each other. It was pretty funny to watch. 3 bigger dogs (think golden retriever size) teamed up on a really small dog (looked sort of like a doberman, but a lot smaller). It was faster than all 3 of them, and when they could no longer run anymore, the smaller dog was still going, not even the least bit tired.
There's this train that goes through High Park, that you can pay to go on. It takes you to all the main attractions. My dad decided it would be a good idea to follow it, and so, we RAN to keep up. What did we get to see? The place where employees of the park keep their cars. It wasn't very interesting. (I guess the train conductor was at the end of his shift) We followed a trail, and ended up at a playground. Earlier that morning, that had been the place of a fire. One corner of the playground was cornered off. But it was still really big, and is a really good place to play hide and seek. There's tunnels that go under the whole playground, that's only big enough for kids.
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| Cherry blossoms on a tree |
lovelovelove
-T-
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Easter!
Well guys, it's Easter. We've made it more than halfway through the school year. (There's only 56 more school days) We've had homework, projects, tests and teachers that we just absolutely disliked no matter how hard we tried not to. But for now, we get a weekend to rest, to put school and work out of your mind. Unless you're like me, you've probably been lounging on the couch, watching TV and basically doing nothing productive for the past 2 days. Now, we've still got tomorrow to rest up, and just enjoy our life without the everyday hassle of getting up early, work, work, and more work.
Now, for those of us that aren't so lucky, and are loaded with a TON of projects and tests, we've been using this time to do the things that we have to do. (Like those 4 French book reports that I have to do...) Or not... But the thing is, we were not procrastinating. We weren't! We were simply thinking about the homework, and trying to come up with the best way to do it, while we casually sit ourselves in front of our computers, listening to music. And we weren't surfing the net! We really weren't! We were looking for inspiration! That way, when we start the project or the assignment, we can do better. We'll be more focused. Ahem...
But seriously, we need more time to relax, to spend time with our family (yes, we do spend quality time with them...) and just more time to not have to worry about that big test you have coming up, or the HUGE Science project that's due in 2 days. We need time to de-stress!!
It's Easter, and we still have one more day of Freedom. Use it wisely. ;)
lovelovelove
-T-
Now, for those of us that aren't so lucky, and are loaded with a TON of projects and tests, we've been using this time to do the things that we have to do. (Like those 4 French book reports that I have to do...) Or not... But the thing is, we were not procrastinating. We weren't! We were simply thinking about the homework, and trying to come up with the best way to do it, while we casually sit ourselves in front of our computers, listening to music. And we weren't surfing the net! We really weren't! We were looking for inspiration! That way, when we start the project or the assignment, we can do better. We'll be more focused. Ahem...
But seriously, we need more time to relax, to spend time with our family (yes, we do spend quality time with them...) and just more time to not have to worry about that big test you have coming up, or the HUGE Science project that's due in 2 days. We need time to de-stress!!
It's Easter, and we still have one more day of Freedom. Use it wisely. ;)
lovelovelove
-T-
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
New teacher, New schedule
Today was the first day back after the March Break. And our class had a few [major] changes to our schedules and classes.
The HSP teacher at my school was a LTO, which means that she's a long-term occasional teacher. She left because of personal reasons (it was never revealed to us why) and so now, our principal has to get a new teacher to teach HSP. (It's the Homeschooling Program) My English teacher has a background of teaching HSP, so, our principal pulled him, and got him to teach HSP. Permanently. So, now we have no English teacher. Another teacher, a math and gym teacher at our school, is covering for our English teacher for the rest of the year. So he's teaching my old English teacher's classes plus his own. Every class except ours, since we have English the periods that he has to teach math. So now, our principal needs to hire someone to teach our class English. Our old English room, room 209, is now being used by the teacher teaching his classes. Now, we have English in room 104- the Family Studies room. There's stoves, ovens, refrigerators, washing machines... It's a really bad room. And, it's on the first floor, which is technically the basement, which no one likes. For the next week or so, we're going to be having supply teachers until they find someone. The only stability is our student teacher, Ms. Williams. The bad thing is, she's now supposed to be in 2 places at once- teaching us English and teaching another class (this morning, it was health). It's gotten all messed up.
The second change is that because of this shift with teachers, we have a new timetable. We have all the same teachers as before and same rooms (except English) but just a different schedule. I actually liked my schedule from before.
They say change is good, but I'm not so sure about this. I hope they get a good English teacher. (The previous one was... but I had just gotten used to his teaching style. Now, it starts all over again.) Let's hope this works out...
lovelovelove
-T-
The HSP teacher at my school was a LTO, which means that she's a long-term occasional teacher. She left because of personal reasons (it was never revealed to us why) and so now, our principal has to get a new teacher to teach HSP. (It's the Homeschooling Program) My English teacher has a background of teaching HSP, so, our principal pulled him, and got him to teach HSP. Permanently. So, now we have no English teacher. Another teacher, a math and gym teacher at our school, is covering for our English teacher for the rest of the year. So he's teaching my old English teacher's classes plus his own. Every class except ours, since we have English the periods that he has to teach math. So now, our principal needs to hire someone to teach our class English. Our old English room, room 209, is now being used by the teacher teaching his classes. Now, we have English in room 104- the Family Studies room. There's stoves, ovens, refrigerators, washing machines... It's a really bad room. And, it's on the first floor, which is technically the basement, which no one likes. For the next week or so, we're going to be having supply teachers until they find someone. The only stability is our student teacher, Ms. Williams. The bad thing is, she's now supposed to be in 2 places at once- teaching us English and teaching another class (this morning, it was health). It's gotten all messed up.
The second change is that because of this shift with teachers, we have a new timetable. We have all the same teachers as before and same rooms (except English) but just a different schedule. I actually liked my schedule from before.
They say change is good, but I'm not so sure about this. I hope they get a good English teacher. (The previous one was... but I had just gotten used to his teaching style. Now, it starts all over again.) Let's hope this works out...
lovelovelove
-T-
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Bill C-11
Okay guys, I'm not sure if you guys of heard of it yet, but Bill C-11 might be passed tomorrow! We were talking about this in IT and basically, it's the Canadian version of SOPA and ACTA. It permits the police to look at EVERYTHING that's on your computer withOUT a warrant on suspicion that you might be doing illegal activity online or on your computer, like child porn or downloading music, tv episodes and movies. They can go through EVERYTHING on your computer without you permission!! And all they need is suspicion that you might be doing illegal activity. SUSPICION, not PROOF!! Here's an email that might help you better understand it:
The Conservative government is getting ready to pass a Copyright Act that has one of the most restrictive digital lock provisions in the world. This bill will make it illegal to copy a DVD so you can watch it on your tablet - even if you are not infringing on copyright.
Liberals have listened to consumers, educators, artists, creators, innovators, and ordinary Canadians and acted transparently to propose amendments that strike equilibrium.
In less than 24 hours, Bill C-11 will be reviewed clause-by-clause in a Special Committee before being passed. This is our last chance to amend this bill and defend users’ rights. But we need your help to make them law. Now is the time to stand up for fair and balanced legislation. That's where you come in.
We have seen in recent months that, united, we can force the Conservative government to listen to you.
Please click here to sign right now - and tell the Conservative Government that it should not be illegal to circumvent a digital lock for a purpose that does not infringe on copyright.
Then please forward this email to friends and share the petition on Facebook and Twitter as widely as possible before the committee meets.
Tell the Committee: user rights trump digital locks
http://lpc.ca/digitallocks
Thank you.
Geoff Regan
Member of Parliament -- Halifax West
Room 645 Confederation Bldg. | House of Commons | Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
( 613-996-3085 | geoff.regan@parl.gc.ca | http://www.geoffregan.ca
If you need more information, search it up on Google. You'll find lots of information. After, sign the petition here or https://petition.liberal.ca/user-rights-trump-digital-locks/ . Tell your friends and family about it. It's tomorrow, and it's urgent. It's the future of internet privacy in Canada- NO PRIVACY!!! Keep spreading the word!
lovelovelove
-T-
The Conservative government is getting ready to pass a Copyright Act that has one of the most restrictive digital lock provisions in the world. This bill will make it illegal to copy a DVD so you can watch it on your tablet - even if you are not infringing on copyright.
Liberals have listened to consumers, educators, artists, creators, innovators, and ordinary Canadians and acted transparently to propose amendments that strike equilibrium.
In less than 24 hours, Bill C-11 will be reviewed clause-by-clause in a Special Committee before being passed. This is our last chance to amend this bill and defend users’ rights. But we need your help to make them law. Now is the time to stand up for fair and balanced legislation. That's where you come in.
We have seen in recent months that, united, we can force the Conservative government to listen to you.
Please click here to sign right now - and tell the Conservative Government that it should not be illegal to circumvent a digital lock for a purpose that does not infringe on copyright.
Then please forward this email to friends and share the petition on Facebook and Twitter as widely as possible before the committee meets.
Tell the Committee: user rights trump digital locks
http://lpc.ca/digitallocks
Thank you.
Geoff Regan
Member of Parliament -- Halifax West
Room 645 Confederation Bldg. | House of Commons | Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
( 613-996-3085 | geoff.regan@parl.gc.ca | http://www.geoffregan.ca
If you need more information, search it up on Google. You'll find lots of information. After, sign the petition here or https://petition.liberal.ca/user-rights-trump-digital-locks/ . Tell your friends and family about it. It's tomorrow, and it's urgent. It's the future of internet privacy in Canada- NO PRIVACY!!! Keep spreading the word!
lovelovelove
-T-
Monday, March 5, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The NeverEnding Story
Today, the grade 8s from my school went to watch "The Neverending Story" at the Young People's Theatre (165 Front Street east). It plays there from February 27 - March 17 2012 and is produced by The Roseneath Theatre. (Read the last paragraph for a funny story)
If you think you don't need to see it since you've already watched the movie, you're wrong. It's very different from the movie, but a bit closer to the book, using some details that the movie excluded. The props are quite impressive ( I liked the moving white drape the best) although the costumes could use a bit of tweaking. In this version, Bastian (Natasha Greenblatt) steals a book from a bookstore (without leaving a note) and begins reading in his school attic. Atreyu (Adamo Ruggiero) is an orphan, unwilling to hunt purple buffalo and the Childlike Empress (Kate Besworth) is dying, in need of a new name from a human child. All actors give a breathtaking performance, one that you won't forget in a hurry. However, the new name of the Childlike Empress could definitely be changed.
After the play, there was a Q & A session with 3 of the actors- Billy Merasty (Artax), Kate Besworth (Childlike Empress), and Richard Lee (Good luck dragon). First though, the "host" asked us who we thought was the hero of the story. One person said Bastian, another said Atreyu. A third guy from my school ( whom I shall not name) said the Childlike Empress. When the host asked why, his reply was "cuz she's hot". Those were his EXACT words. "Cuz she's hot". Kate Besworth, who plays the Childlike Empress turned bright red. Her face was really red and I was sitting in the second last row, so I can only imagine what colour her face was if you were closer to the stage. Of course, the guy that said that got into trouble by one of the teachers. But that was pretty bold of him. And really embarrassing for her, no doubt. This is truly a once in a lifetime Q & A session. ;)
lovelovelove
-T-
If you think you don't need to see it since you've already watched the movie, you're wrong. It's very different from the movie, but a bit closer to the book, using some details that the movie excluded. The props are quite impressive ( I liked the moving white drape the best) although the costumes could use a bit of tweaking. In this version, Bastian (Natasha Greenblatt) steals a book from a bookstore (without leaving a note) and begins reading in his school attic. Atreyu (Adamo Ruggiero) is an orphan, unwilling to hunt purple buffalo and the Childlike Empress (Kate Besworth) is dying, in need of a new name from a human child. All actors give a breathtaking performance, one that you won't forget in a hurry. However, the new name of the Childlike Empress could definitely be changed.
After the play, there was a Q & A session with 3 of the actors- Billy Merasty (Artax), Kate Besworth (Childlike Empress), and Richard Lee (Good luck dragon). First though, the "host" asked us who we thought was the hero of the story. One person said Bastian, another said Atreyu. A third guy from my school ( whom I shall not name) said the Childlike Empress. When the host asked why, his reply was "cuz she's hot". Those were his EXACT words. "Cuz she's hot". Kate Besworth, who plays the Childlike Empress turned bright red. Her face was really red and I was sitting in the second last row, so I can only imagine what colour her face was if you were closer to the stage. Of course, the guy that said that got into trouble by one of the teachers. But that was pretty bold of him. And really embarrassing for her, no doubt. This is truly a once in a lifetime Q & A session. ;)
lovelovelove
-T-
Monday, February 27, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day
It's February 14th, also known as VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!
Happy Valentine's Day, guys! How was your day? Did you get a lot of chocolate and candy? I know I did... ;)
And here's something that's come to my attention (it was during science class, second last period of the day) that there's not a lot of people sending out roses to people anymore. Maybe there is but I haven't seen it very often lately. Anyways, today, our secretary sent my math/science teacher a dozen roses of different colours. They were beautiful!! And they smelled nice. And no, secretary doesn't secretly have a "thing" for my math/science teacher. It was more something that she did to "bug" her. It might have been to bug her, but I still think that it's really nice. wouldn't you want to receive flowers?
lovelovelove
-T-
Happy Valentine's Day, guys! How was your day? Did you get a lot of chocolate and candy? I know I did... ;)
And here's something that's come to my attention (it was during science class, second last period of the day) that there's not a lot of people sending out roses to people anymore. Maybe there is but I haven't seen it very often lately. Anyways, today, our secretary sent my math/science teacher a dozen roses of different colours. They were beautiful!! And they smelled nice. And no, secretary doesn't secretly have a "thing" for my math/science teacher. It was more something that she did to "bug" her. It might have been to bug her, but I still think that it's really nice. wouldn't you want to receive flowers?
lovelovelove
-T-
Monday, February 13, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
RIP Whitney Houston
I'd like to say RIP Whitney Houston. Her publicist said today, that the famous singer, who was 48, has passed away. I'm not sure how accurate this information is, but according to a few people (who I shall not name), she died on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hills Hotel at 3:55. There were no signs of "criminal intent".
As a refresher, Whitney Houston was an American singer best known for her cover of "I will always love you". she's inspired many other singers such as Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige.
RIP, Whitney!
lovelovelove
-T-
As a refresher, Whitney Houston was an American singer best known for her cover of "I will always love you". she's inspired many other singers such as Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige.
RIP, Whitney!
lovelovelove
-T-
Monday, February 6, 2012
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