Blog #7

My favorite unit we did this year had to be "The Road". I enjoyed the road, because unlike with some of the others units we did, we discussed and reflected what happened in the Road day by day, for example: After the father killed the man, we discussed what the boy and the father would be feeling internally and then discussed how they are displaying it internally. It involved more discussion and I feel that made most of the class emotionally attached to it, which later showed in the effort we put into our presentations. My least favorite unit we studied this year had to be "A midsummer's Nights dream" this is for the reason that, although the literature in it was great and comprehensive, it was often hard to understand what was going on in the story without having a teacher explain it and translate what Shakespeare said in the story. This as a result made it harder to relate to the story in other assignments such as Critical and Personal Responses. In addition to that; because we did not really understand what was going on in the story at times, it became hard to have discussions where we could reflect on our opinions in the story. In addition to that we watched the movie at the same time we were reading the book, and they both had discrepancies so sometimes it was hard to remember which scenes came from the book and which came from the movie, which presented as a challenge when doing assignments based on those. If there was anything I would improve in future English 20-1 classes, it would be to have more debates going on, where people with different opinions on a certain topic would debate why their opinions are better or more valid than other ones. I feel we didn`t do much of that this year, and we just followed the general opinion of the class rather than getting the opinions of others, who could have also then changed the opinions of the class.

Blog #6

My Spring Break was a complete and utter waste. So instead of depressingly reflecting back on that sad time, I will instead choose to reflect on Spring Break 2 years ago, when my family and I visited China. It was the complete package, filled of excitement, despair, drama, and plain happy memories. It all started when we left Calgary for Vancouver. It was a perfectly smooth flight and journey until we landed in B.C. That's when things started to get chaotic. When we landed, we could not find our gate for our connection to Hong Kong, and if that was bad, things were about to get way worse. After the hard struggle to find our gate, we finally sat there for the next hour and a half until the plane was ready for boarding. Finally we were ready to board. Then, panic ensued. I had just realized that my phone was missing. Trying to remain calm (which failed miserably), I started ripping through my hand-carry and triple-checking my pockets to find where my phone was. I had just broken my phone's screen a month back, and losing it now would give my parents the impression that I shouldn't have one. What was more concerning to me, was what had happened to my phone, who has it, and what would they plan on doing with it (for example, stealing personal information). Arriving in Hong Kong, I was quick to send in a lost-items report to the Vancouver Airport Authority which proved unsuccessful. What made matters worse, is that my parents and sister believed that I had lost my phone as opposed to someone stealing it from my possession, and they thought I may have dropped it in the last flight and it may have been thrown away by accident. That is until we got back from our vacation, and I received an awkward notification from Facebook regarding a sign-in attempt to my account from an address in Surrey, B.C. Personally, I wanted to report it to the police, as Facebook provided me with the exact address and location of where the sign-in was attempted from, but after already getting the new iPhone 5- of which I currently have, I decided it was better to avoid all the trouble and to let it go. And that capped off how my Spring Break started and ended.

 Probably what happened to me...

Blog #5

Personally, I find New Year Resolutions to be counter-productive. At times, it can of course be productive, but it can also lead to procrastination as people who are looking for a change will often wait until the New Year so that they can continue with their bad habits until that point, which in the end is just hampering their efforts to change whatever it may be in their life. Take for example if some guy wants to go to the gym. If he promises himself he will do it starting from the new year in September and then continues with his bad habits, it will 1) Lead to a harder amount of effort needed once he does starts to change and 2) He ultimately would be delaying what he wants. This applies to all aspects of change. If you delay it, ultimately you are not helping yourself, and you would be going against what you want. Procrastination can also transfer to other aspects of your lifestyle. If you are to apply it towards one thing, ultimately it will spread and control all aspects of your life whether it is work, or life at home. This is why personally, I don't believe in New Years resolutions. If you don't like the way you are handling something in your life, don't wait until New Year to change it. What is so special of starting a resolution during the New Year? How does doing something a couple of weeks or months later going to change the way you approach a resolution. The answer is nothing. If you have an intent on changing something you should handle it immediately, and not wait until a new year. You will get it done sooner and instead of starting the New Year with a resolution, you will start the New Year knowing you are completely satisfied with all aspects of your life.

Blog #4

I remember when a couple of years ago, my family and I went to Dubai for Winter Break, and it was amazing. The weather was perfect (15-20 degrees), people were outside enjoying the holidays. The mall (which is the biggest in the world) was massive. There was actually a fake snow park, where people could Ski, Snowboard, or just enjoy the snow INSIDE THE MALL! But that's not all. The mall boasts some amazing features such as a 10,000 litre-aquarium (one of the biggest in the world), a hockey rink, and a 76,000 square ft theme park. The real attraction to me though were the New Year fireworks. When it comes to celebrating New Year, no one is even on the same planet as Dubai. Their fireworks were absolutely amazing and it was definitely high up on the list on one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. I remember how we were on the streets which were packed and I remember looking around and seeing so many people from so many different places around the world, it was truly a gathering of different cultures. Strangers were greeting strangers they've never met before from the other side of the world. This truly teaches the significance of events such as these for the fact that amidst today's generation of hatred and fear, it can play a huge role in bringing people of different cultures and ethnicity's together as a whole, and that is an experience on its own.

2015 Fireworks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csQu9GSEVYA

The "Snow Park"at Emirates Mall in Dubai 

Blog #3

#472 Finishing your last exam

This is a great feeling. After a years hard work, you finally are done, It is when you finish that last exam you realize how quickly the year had went. All those times of struggles and all of those times of success are now behind me, its time for summer, time for relaxation. In a way though its upsetting knowing that summer has begun and that a harder task awaits you after it, but regardless its still summer where I can enjoy 2 months of freedom and pleasure.

#378 Finally making it past whatever was causing traffic to slow down

This is one of my favorite feelings, especially when i'm late to something because of traffic. You definitely feel a sense of relief when you get past the jam. I remember last year when I had a soccer game with my team. It was a crucial game, if we won we made it to provincials. I actually left home early that day but a massive accident on Deerfoot was sparking major delays, I was tense as I wasn't sure I would make it and I was worried I would be stuck in the traffic jam forever. All of a sudden it all clears and I get a huge sense of relief. I made it to my game 10 minutes before kick-off so I was late but I didn't miss the start. Unfortunately, we lost though, but it was still a relief.

Funny Memories

One of my favourite things to watch on TV are comedies. I enjoy any comedy whether its a prank show or a hilarious movie. I've watched a couple of hilarious videos. I'll also attach the link The first Funny #1: The Elevator Corpse Prank- The reactions were priceless. You would already be creeped out if you were in an elevator by yourself with a coffin, so imagine how scared you would be if the coffin were to open inside the elevator which got stuck. My second favourite prank was an Escaped Prsioner Prank- The nature of how it was done was hilarious. An actor (police officer) goes around in an apartment parking lot and warns people there is an escaped prisoner on the loose. The cop disperses after receiving information on where he might be, the "prisoner" then appears out of nowhere and the reactions are hilarious, most people just screamed and ran for their lives, still after they were told it was a prank meanwhile one guy actually confronted the prisoner and tried to manhandle him and take him down himself, so a bit of bravery and heroism involved I guess. Finally my third favourite prank had to be the room-mate robbery prank. The room-mate that pulled off the prank was telling his other room-mate about how burglaries were occurring in the area. He then left his room-mate all alone in the apartment and returned with a couple of friends with masks and fake guns. The prank didn't end well for the pranksters though, as the guy who got pranked unleashed a couple of fierce punches, leaving some of them with cuts and bruises. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H35SOGtW4P8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqijbANbiXY

Camping Memories

My favorite Camping Memory had to be the one time my cousins and I went camping in Egypt. It was a hot, humid day. I remember it fondly. It was just outside Cairo, with the weather being scorching hot at 40 degrees Celsius. My cousins pulled out their ice box, pulled out a couple of pops and we drank it like it was the last drink of our lives. I try speaking to them with my broken Arabic but they look at each other and laugh, but still applaud my somewhat  brave effort. Meanwhile, The sun is starting to go down, and a cool breeze is starting to settle in. In the distance I see Cairo. I see the pyramids slowly starting to fade away. My parents and aunts start start telling us stories when they were kids, meanwhile my cousin and I are playing Chess, Although I was very much capable of beating him, I let him win a couple of times. I look around and I see myself surrounded by family. and as the light fades away I go to sleep onlooking the big city, knowing this is a memory I will truly cherish and share for the rest of my life. That quickly turned bad. It was windy at first, but then it suddenly escalated out of nowhere. At first, we thought it was okay and the wind will pass us, but then things started flying in the air and thats when we started getting concerned. My phone which was laid down on the ground just flew away, I was trying to find it, meanwhile my parents were trying to pack up. Sand was viciously flying ito our faces. Arguments start flying out of nowhere. "Where is the car!?" "Its that way!" "No actually its that way, I can't see!" My little cousin starts laughing when instead he should be panicking, As for me, I was dejected as I couldn't retrieve my phone, and still panicking at the same time. My cousins, aunt and uncle meanwhile, just like us are trying to find a car or any shelter whatsoever. We just put our sleeping bags and whatever else we can find over our heads and calmly wait for the sandstorm to subside, which it did in half an hour. When we finally come out of cover, we start breaking into laughter. Truly, a memory to never be forgotten.