So this one time, I totally kept forgetting to blog.
My last blog wasssss March 17? Right after the earthquake, now it's June 10th.
Point form, these are some of the things that have happened since March.
- April 14- ''Mystical Expressions'' (My school's concert which I sang at). I sang Pray For You by Jaron and the Long Road to Love. Our school is one branch of 4 schools called CEFEO (EOETC) (Eastern Ontario Education and Training Centre) or, as we like to call it, Adult Ed. All four branches got together and performed together.
- April 19- Got my grad pictures taken. There's a redheaded boy in my class, and we went to take our pictures at the same time but his tie was crooked, so I asked him if I could straighten it for him. He obliged, and as I was fixing it, a lady asked us the most stereotypical question ever: ''Are you guys brother and sister?'' ''No, we're not.'' Was his reply. It sure is a good thing we weren't dating, either, because I feel like that would have been super awkward.
- April 21- Easter Brunch at school. We re-sang all our songs for our school.
- April 28- I went with my school to see 4 Illusionists who are totally awesome. They amazed me. Their name is Evollusions.
- Throughout May I didn't do a lot because I had a deadline for my schoolwork. In order to graduate I needed to be finished my whole course by May 31. So I did a lot of homework.
- May 20-22, though, I was in Montreal for CJYC Montreal (Youth Conference). I had a rad time and realized a really neat thing. God is writing my testimony, but I always felt like my testimony wasn't bad enough to be a good testimony. Turns out that even though I've never gotten into drugs or binge drinking or whatever doesn't mean that God can't use me to help other people. I feel better now. :)
- May 31- I finished my last lesson and started on my final test. I was able to finish it on June 1, which means that I'm (finally) graduated.
- June 2- was the end of the year BBQ at school.
Since then, nothing all that exciting has happened. I haven't had to go back to school since the 2nd, although my graduation ceremony is on the 15th. On June 16, some people from school and I are going Cirque du Soliel, and I'm pretty excited for that because I've never gone. :)
June 18, I'm having a going away day at the beach, and then having a bonfire after with my good friends. My plane leaves Ottawa at 8:30am the next morning, which is Father's Day. My daddy doesn't know I'm coming home, so it'll be a nice surprise for him. :) Best Father's Day Present ever? I think so.
So yesterday, March 16, 2011, I woke up at 11 o'clock, ate, watched a food network show, and then went back to my room. I was at my desk, browsing (or creeping, if you prefer) through Facebook/ writing my last blog update, when suddenly, at 1:36pm, I felt everything around me start shaking.
Now. I've never experienced earthquakes before, I've only seen them in movies. One of which was A Cinderella Story with Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray (swoon). In the beginning of the movie, Sam ("Cinderella") is sitting in her bed and her dad is telling her a bedtime story. Suddenly, there's an earthquake, and he jumps up, grabs her, and runs to the doorway- which is exactly what I did (minus grabbing my daughter... because I don't have one). I heard my aunt Sylvie let out a yelp from downstairs, and she went to the door to look out into the hallway of our apartment. I stayed in my doorway. The quake lasted about 10 Mississippi's. Afterwards, I went downstairs to the hallway, and saw all of our neighbors standing around with, "what the heck just happened?" expressions on their faces.
We went back inside, and I went upstairs... to tell Facebook. :P
My grandma called and said that she and her neighbor where in the kitchen of her apartment, and the furniture literally moved.
The magnitude of said earthquake was said to be a 4.3 (or 4.6... I've heard both). Last week, Japan got 8.9. They had 500 million times what I experienced yesterday.
This being my first earthquake experience, my adrenaline was pumping; half an hour afterwards, my heart was still pounding, and my hands still shaking. Between the, "Did you feel that?" 's and the, "Oh my goodness, that was totally AWESOME!" 's, I eventually calmed my body down.
It was truly thrilling. :P
This is the CTV News report. :)
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110316/earthquake-felt-ontario-quebec-110316/
This is a story that happened to a friend of a friend of mine.
Just kidding. It happened to some friends of mine.... And me, cause I was there.
Okay, here we go.
Thursday, March 10, 2011, 5:30ish-pm Ontario time.
Patricia asked me if I wanted to go with her and Emanuel to Laval, Québec (across the river from Montréal) for youth group. Now, it's an hour and a bit drive, and in Québec, so that meant that everyone would most likely be only speaking French. I had mixed feelings about going, but decided to swallow whatever reason there was not to go, and said yes.
Friday, March 11, 2011. 6:00pm Ontario time.
I was on Facebook, and I noticed Emanuel was online, so I asked him if we were still going to Laval, and he said, "Yes, we're supposed to be leaving Hawkesbury by 6:15, but Pat isn't here yet." So I logged off Facebook, put my coat on, grabbed my mittens, put on my boots, and walked the 5 minutes to Emy's house. I figured it was easier to wait at his house, seeing as that's where Pat was going to first. When I got there, it was 6:10, and Emy explained that Pat had just called, and she was JUST leaving her house, which is a half an hour drive away.
When Pat arrived, she said that Roxanne had called her, and wanted to come too. So we left. We picked Roxy up, and started the drive to Laval.
About half an hour to Laval, Pat's car's transmission or motor decided that it REALLY didn't want to go to Laval, so it fell asleep or something. Pat pulled over to the side of the road, where (praise God), a tow-truck was hooking up another car. He came over and asked what was going on. He eventually called us a taxi which drove us to the Home Depot parking lot in a random town that had a big stripmall. The tow-truck brought the car there, and then left. We went into Home Depot, and Roxy called Jeremie who lives in Montréal to see if there was anywhere he knew of that we could stay for the night. Jeremie called his friend Daniel, and Dan came and picked us up from McDonald's (to which we had migrated because we were hungry).
Dan drove us to a Metro Station (the train- not the band :P ) in Laval, where we met up with Jeremie. Dan left, and Roxy, J, Emy, Pat, and I walked across the bridge into Montréal. We went to another station, and got bus tickets. We took the bus for about 25 mintutes and then got off to go to another bus station. Across the street from the bus stop was a car parked on the side of the road, stuck in some snow (that could have passed for a snowbank), so we ran across the road and pushed them out. Then we went back and waited. It was at this time, that I realized that J reminds me A LOT of my friend Richard Twiddy, which was pretty rad. For those who know Richard, I'll give you the similarities I noticed between him and J. Loud- they're both just loud guy. :P Tall- Which isn't really important, but I noticed it... 'cause I'm short. Their laugh- is the same. Sense of humor- same. I could go on and on, but I'm not going to.
We took the bus and got off it eventually. We then walked to J's house and he got us some blankets and pajamas for the night. THEN we walked to his church (which was Chinese Buffet at one point. :P )
We pushed two couches together, which is where Pat and I slept. Roxy made a bed out of chairs. as we were getting ready for bed, we looked to the front of the church and realized just how big the windows were- if anybody wanted in, all they had to do it raise a chair and smash the windows. We ended up pushing the couches and chair-bed as far from the window as we could, so no one outside would see us. Emy and J went to J's house to sleep because of logical reasons. At one point, we looked out the windows, and saw a man standing across the street leaning up against Subway, smoking a cigarette. We couldn't tell if he could see us or not, but we decided to go to bed so it wouldn't be obvious that we were there. :P
Saturday, March 12, 2011. 8:00am Ontario (& Québec) time.
We woke up in the morning, got ready, and put everything back to the way it was before we got there. We were going to take the bus to the Metro Station to get downtown, but J actually found us a ride which was God who provided for us. :) We got in the hippie van (which, by the way, is the COOLEST mode of transportation I've ever ridden in... I want a hippie van. Greg (the driver) drove us to his house which was close to the Metro Station that would take us to the mall where J works. We walked to the Metro and took it downtown. The mall, called Centre Eaton (or The Eaton Centre) reminds me a lot of a mall in downtown Calgary called TD Square. It's three or four buildings put together to make a mall... it's kind of hard to explain. Anywho, J put his coat and stuff away in the back room of the store he works in, West Coast, and took us down to the food court to get breakfast, which we hadn't eaten.
After breakfast, J told us that his break would be at 1, so we could go and spend lunch with him. So from 10:30 (which is when he started work) to 12, we walked around the mall. At 12, I remembered that J had told us about a room that had 8 Mac computers that had free internet for whoever wanted to use it. So from 12 to 1, we were on Facebook talking (to each other, cause we're just that cool) and other people who were wondering where we were, reassuring everyone that, "Yes, we are alive," and, "No, we don't know how or when we're getting back." My mom was freaking out and she doesn't even live in Eastern Canada. xD
Saturday, March 12, 2011. 1:00pm, ON & QC time.
As we were walking aroung the mall, an alarm started going off. This alarm was to signify what the Québecois were having a Strike outside. This Strike was HUGE.... I don't know exactly what it was about, but I don know that it had something to do with the Québec education. Anywho, Emy and Roxy wanted to go see it, so we went outside. I honestly was so afraid we were going to get shot or arrested or something. But yeah, we were outside for about a half an hour, when they (as in not I) decided to walk down Rue Sainte-Catherine Street, we walked and walked and walked for like, 45 minutes. When we were walking down Rue Sainte-Catherine Street, we went into an Anglican church (the churches here are BEAUTIFUL). As we walked in, Roxy started singing Amazing Grace. We reached the alter, and behind it was another room. The Priest/ Pastor guy came out of his office and said, "You know, the acoustics are better in the back room because we just got it plastered..." So we went into the back room and sang various worship songs for about half an hour or so. We decided to leave, and as we were leaving, the Priest guy said, "If you come back tomorrow, our choir'll be here singing, you can hear it if you'd like." We told him that we're from Ontario, and that we were only there for the day. Also that we had our own church to go to. :P
We left the Anglican church, walked a couple blocks and went into a United church where the choir was practicing. We sat two rows behind the last lady, and Roxanne sang along with them. The lady turned around and asked her if she wanted to go and sit with her so she could read the words, and Roxy jumped up. We sat there for about half an hour, and then decided to leave. It was fun, :)
We got to a Tim Horton's, I got a hot chocolate, and then we decided to walk back. The four of us split up, so Roxy and I kept walking while Pat and Emy stayed behind to look at a store. They eventually caught up with us and we made it back to the mall. J got off work at 6, so we met up with him, too.
Eventually, we met up with Emy's brother Ady and sister Dya, (Adrian and Adriana) and we went to McDonald's for dinner. (Which we actually walked ALL the way back down Rue Sainte-Catharine Street)
Saturday, March 12, 2011. 7:00pm,ON & QC time.
McDonald's. We'd made it. We went inside, ordered, and sat down. J prayed (kind of loudly :P) and we started eating.
Suddenly, a homeless man came in shouting at people. We ignored him. He started yelling at us... we ignored him.
He bought a burger, sat behind us and was yelling from his seat. At one point, J whispered something to Roxy, and the man yelled a response that fit well with what J had said... I was sitting across from them with my back towards the man, meaning that I was closer to him than them, and closer to them than he was. I COULDN'T HEAR WHAT J SAID TO ROXY, and yet the man could. We started to think that maybe this man was possessed.
He came over to our table often- many times asking Dya if she could read the nutritional facts for him. Eventually he went away and started yelling at other people. Then he went outside. J followed him. He talked to him for a couple minutes, and then came back in. J left to go home, and we stayed around for another half-hour or so. Then we walked ALLLLLL the way back to Ady's car.
It's really funny- all three of the other girls are tall and skinny. I'm short (I'm skinny too, but I have bigger hips and thighs than they do). BECAUSE of that (because I'm the "fattest", I got the front seat so their was more room for the 4 of them in the back.
Hahaha. Being not-super-skinny has its advantages. :D
My bloggings just keep getting put out of the way- I mean, I'd rather talk to people than to a blank computer screen, which is pretty much just myself. So by putting my thoughts down on this blog, it's kind of like talking to myself, except for when people like you read them, then it's like I'm talking to you.
...Sometimes I need to just stop thinking.
I slept really strangely last night, and now my body aches. And I say my body, because EVERYTHING aches- my shoulders, my lower back, my middle back, my legs- even my scalp and TEETH hurt. ...EVERYTHING. Annnnd I have a headache. And I just realized I'm hungry. :)
A couple weeks ago, I sent in my college application. It's to a school in northern Alberta called Peace River Bible Institute and yesterday, I received my "confirmation of application" letter! :)
I'm pretty excited!
Last night it snowed really hard, so today there's no school. Today is Thursday. I never have school on Fridays, and next week is March Break. I get March Break a day early! :D
Today I'll do some school work (to finish up this course) and maybe I'll watch some movies, which I LOVE doing.
So I was sitting in French class one day, and my teacher Diane was talking about "les fées" which are fairies. We have a Priest, Father Titus, in our class, and he's originally from Nigeria. Diane asked him if they have fairies in Nigeria. He looked a bit confused and she said, "I'm just wondering if there are any strories about them. I know they don't actually exist."
I decided to be funny and let out a, "WHAT?!?!" and everyone started laughing. Keep in mind, this is an adult class, so my friend Ashtton and I are the youngest ones there, everyone else is in the their 40's or older. So everyone laughed, and I said, "What, next you're going to tell me Santa doesn't exist, either." Ashtton looked at me and said, "Um, Natasha?"
I looked at him, changed my facial expession to pure shock, then total disappontment and said, "WHAT?!?! NO!!!!"
Yeah, I can make adults laugh.... cause I'm HILARIOUS!!
Nothing really all that interesting has happened in February. I didn't have a Valentine (for the 18th consecutive year in a row) but I didn't let that upset me. I sat in my room and watched The Notebook. I figured that if I couldn't have love that day, at least Noah and Allie could.
We had a SnowDay on February 1st. I stayed home and watched 3 of the Fast and the Furious movies. Tokyo Drift wasn't working, so I still haven't seen that one.
I've watched a LOT of movies because my cousin-in-law (my cousin's husband) owns a ton of movies. Every time I go over there I take like, 6 movies. But yeah, I watch movies quite often.
I cleaned my room today! And moved things around. :) My dresser and my desk switched places.
There's a magazine in our classroom for the Parenting course they offer for the teens. the magazine is called Today's Parent. The December 2010 edition's coverpage had the cutest little black baby I've ever seen. Actually, even take away the fact that he's black, and he's just the cutest baby I've ever seen. (I shall upload the picture to the group photo album). Anywho. I told my teacher that I was going to find this child and kidnap him. She told me I could have the cover of the magazine.... So I kidnapped that instead. Now I have a picture of the cutest baby I have ever seen on my wall. Call me a creep, he just makes my heart smile.
Hmm... It snowed a lot and there was a mountain of snow the height OF THE SCHOOL outside of it last week. It was quite wide, also. I told Ashtton that I was going to use it to build the Hobbit Hole I've always wanted.
I guess a snowplow must've come and taken some away, because now it looks like someone tried to tunnel through it, it collapse, so they just dug ALL THE SNOW OUT. Some of it is still there. It'd make for a sweet shelter if snowball fights were legal.
I read Kenny Sage's review of Staff Retreat and it took me 2 hours. 2 HOURS! It was totally worth it though, and knowing that its purpose of being made was 95% (if not 4.9% more) because of me made it that much more enjoyable. I was upset that I couldn't go because I was here, so he biased-ly detailed almost everything, which I am grateful for.
I've gotten two postcards from my friend Morgan Wolfe in New Zealand in the past month, and yet nothing from fellow Canadians. Ouch, people. I am hurt.
This is the cutest baby I've ever seen!!!!!
Again, my apologies for the non-updatingness.
UHMM. Christmas was good, we had 42 people all in our tiny apartment which was crazy, but cool.
In December I spent some time with my cousin Carl, along with my aunt Carole and her husband Michel, which I really enjoyed. Carl is supposed to be taking me ski-dooing sometime, but there's always either no snow, or the ski-doos aren't working. :P
I wasn't in school from December 16th until January 10th which was a nice, long break.
On January 9th, our church started a fast for 21 days, I chose to fast from Facebook. I was at my cousin's house on that Saturday (the 8th) and she doesn't have internet so I started my fast then, which was alright. :P
I did really well, I made it the whole 21 days and a still alive.
In music, I decided to stop playing the drums, because I think I have ADD and got bored of drums :P So now I'm on keyboard, but honestly, I don't know how long I'll be on keyboard for. I am going to be singing a song for the show in April, which is 8 practices away. :S It's a funny song called Pray For You by Jaron & the Long Road to Love [link below].
Hmm, let's see... I think that's pretty much it.... :P
Yeah!
Pray For You by Jaron & the Long Road to Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atBg9zLI2bA
First off, I want to apologize forgetting about the updates.
This past month, we got two "new kids" in our class, so I'm not the new kid anymore. =)
In music, we started doing Christmas songs. Now, Christmas songs don't need drums.... sooooooo I'm singing! Wooo!
If anything, this trip has brought me out of my shell.
Two of my friends and I are doing a trio to O Holy Night, which is loads of fun. Today we sang Amazing Grace individually (which, yes I know, isn't a Christmas song. My teacher wanted to see how well we could sing it.)
I still don't have a job... but my friend Marc-Antoine suggested I work at the bingo hall counting money... that could be fun.
Saturday night was Hawkesbury's Santa Claus Parade, and I was on our church's float as an angel! (Everyone always laughs at that like it's an ironic statement, but I don't think it's all that ironic at all.)
But yeahhh. That's my life since last time.
