War Zone

Table? What table? This is no table - this is a war zone. Papers scattered across in an unorganized array, traps of erasers lying everywhere and the deadly arsenal of pencils, pens and the revered calculator all meshed across the wooden surface. Yes this is a war and not one for the faint hearted. The battle has begun, but it's not over yet. The current score? Two done, one to go. Tomorrow the final challenge shall be excepted and, with any luck, defeated. The circumstances haven't made it easy though, more than just a brain and a horrifying amount of information have been duelling in this war. Yes, even the elements have decided to get involved and have pushed the struggle to its limits.

Not understanding? Well consider this:

A fresh dump of snow encompassing the entirety of the lower mainland. Schools shut down, most high schools open only for provincials and some closing entirely. The effect? Postponement of exams in said schools. Undoubtedly there were some cheers of joy (from the unprepared or dangerously nervous) and likewise groans at the thought of postponing the inevitable terror. I was amongst the groaners and fearing the worst: that they'd have to be rescheduled to retakes... nearly two months from now. But my fears were in vain because (as any one who's ever attended it should know) Sullivan closes for nothing.

A foot of snow, what's that? Hours without electricity? Bah, no problem there. Yes, Sullivan is by far a champion in the raging case of Elements vs The Board of Education. No doubt an earthquake could hit and the moment the ground stopped shaking we'd be back at the remnants of our desks and continuing the slog. For once in my high school career however I was glad at this news and thrilled even, on a slightly irrational level, to be able to beat down the enemy and take another one out.

And so I'm done with the second and on to the third and by sixteen-hundred hours tomorrow evening the last vicious culprit of young-age-stress should be out of the way as well. Then it shall be goodbye semester one and Whistler (and free skiing) here I come. Let's just hope the saying stays true and the third one's the charm.

In the beginning

I'm starting this because I told my sister I would while she's away studying in Paris, how far I get with it we have yet to see. The days have been excruciatingly long since the departure, mainly because all I've done is studied, or starred absentmindedly at the textbooks in front of my trying to convince myself that the information was sinking in. Provincials are coming soon: Monday is English, Tuesday history and Wednesday math. And then it's over, or at least semester 1 is. It will be an incredible relief just to be done with it all and be that much closer to being done for good. But it's not done yet and right now I still have a jumble of presidents, literary terms and cosine and sine graphs sloshing around in my brain that I can't yet afford to forget.

This morning however I had a short repose from the slog, or attempt there of. It was range practise and an excellent day to feel Canadian, which doesn't happen much during a Vancouver winter. Today was frosty here in Vancouver unlike the 10C out in Paris. So cold in fact it snowed, not at the house but up a ways in North Surrey, nearly 15cm. Pretty and white and very, very cold (at least by Vancouver's standards). On this end of the city the whiteness is lacking but the skies are clear and blue, the clouds for us lie to the north, billowing out over the rest of Surrey. The air's got a snap to it though and I wouldn't be surprised if we could expect a dump of snow before the end of the next couple days too.