Pledge Week

Well, I have confidential insider info that the Surrey School District has a pledge in the works. That's right, every morning, everyone stands and repeats a motivational speech (ie. "I pledge to do my best, to work hard...etc.) That might be an interesting idea, except that I generally have very little loyalty or pride in things I'm a part of (example, Canada with its maple leaf-dunno why, guess symbols and junk aren't my thing, because to me a flag is just an ordinary, very flammable piece of cloth) and having to memorize and perform this pledge every morning... It would suck, yes. I'm not sure that BS Secondary is ready for such a cutting-edge motivational technique. Rizzardo, you said it: "At Burnsview we strive to exceed mediocrity." (why do the good quotes always come from goat farmers?).
It is incredibly hard to stay out of the angry complaint/tearful introspection/advice from the clinically retarded that I usually find in blogland. It's so hard to do, in fact, that it makes me want to kill everyone/cry/watch american idol.
Giving up on dreams is one of the most freeing things anyone can do: I'm happy about deciding not to apply to music school. It's alot of pressure to work hard for something you feel like you should do but don't really want to, deep down. Yup, that's just it. When I have to do something, it's no fun, it's just work. Music, I like, it's probably the best way I can think of of wasting time. The problem with music as a university program is that it has to be formalized into a degree (that can be used for a pre-law or what have you) and so must be serious and structured and all other adjectives beginning with s. It makes me anxious just thinking about music as a career, so I thought in order to keep my refuge I had to forget about making it my education too. More than that, I'm lazy, insecure, and okay with it.
I was talking to some hockey mom about her sons, and she actually said: "...he's a nice kid, but Jack... I don't like him. He's a bully." Completely seriously and detatchdededly. "I don't like him." It may be honest, but I don't think she deserves a subway sandwich. I hope mothers usually have more tact; I cannot take that kind of brutal honesty for long. Incidentally, Subway has more locations than McDonalds. Thousands more.
I watched "deal or no deal" today, and I think it was created by someone who felt that gameshows are in general too hard, that someone with the ability to count from 1 to 26 deserves to be able to win a million dollars. It's the first show I've seen where an ordinary (non-talking) horse could have a shot. And yet, like a very shiny, bald magnet, Howie Mandel's spherical skull sang its siren song, cause I wound up watching the whole stupid thing.
"Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups has wormed its way into my head. I tied to resist, but it's a perfect example of the undefinable something that makes a good song: the drums and bass are indiepredictable, the singer is an "emo" dude, the song's chorus is one chord, the guitar is...well, who cares. The important and interesting thing is that after hearing it a few times, it comes on and your brain says "yes, I know this, now bob me up and down in time to the music." There's a reason fans generally don't like hearing new things live (unless it's a first impression) because people want to hear songs they know. Songs that bring back memories of people, places, life. Songs they can react to in a pre-planned, totally unspontaneous way. OH, I know this one, it used to be on the radio, wait, here's the best part...Dah dum DUM! Not that there's anything wrong with it, I just think it's weird that when the Who come everyone wants to hear Pinball Wizard, but that literature's mostly about "the next book". I guess it's because albums are product, performances are art. Books are both. In conclusion, we should bring back those high profile "readings from the new book" things, the ones in theatres with everyone who's everyone there and dressed up. Yeah, that's what we should do.