03.28.08
Relay for Life
Two years ago I had the opportunity to participate in Relay for Life, and it was one of the greatest things I have ever done. So this year, I am encouraging all of you to participate in this amazing event. I know you have heard about Relay For Life already, but hopefully I can convince everyone to go!
Two years ago, I had a group of ten people and went to sign up and three people backed out because they had “better things to do”.
Point one: There is nothing better anyone can do than help another person. Consciously making a difference in a persons life is an experience that changes you! After these three people backed out, another three people backed out because “they didn’t know anyone with cancer”.
Point two: It doesn’t matter if you know someone with cancer at all. When I entered relay for life, no one in my family had cancer, I didn’t even know anyone with cancer, I didn’t know anyone who knew anyone with cancer. Cancer doesn’t have to affect you personally. The important thing is to realize that it does affect so many people all over the world. It’s important to do something about it.
So, my team of ten slowly dwindled down to four participants.
Point three: you don’t NEED a team of ten to participate. Two years ago my team consisted of four people, and that was fine! If you want to participate, you can!
Now to the actual event… (of course this is what happened two years ago, and it might change!)
The relay started with the survivors lap, which was emotional for everyone involved. Watching the survivors walk around the ‘track’ (bus turn-around) encourages you to join the fight against cancer. If they can fight it ‘face-to-face’, we can sure help them!
Another emotional part of the relay is the… bag ceremony. I don’t know what it’s called but it was a very powerful moment. Everyone has a luminary bag and writes who they are relaying for on the bag. Even if you aren’t relaying for a specific person… you can write ‘keep fighting’ or something like that. Then the glow sticks or candles are put in the bags and they are placed around the track. I cried, a lot. It was very emotional.
To keep people entertained there are bands who perform throughout the night. It also helps to keep people awake. Hard to fall asleep with music blaring!
Another exciting event that happened last year was head shaving. I’m sure this will happen again this year. Many people participated in this and shaved their head and donated the hair to cancer. It was really emotional and powerful.
One of the ‘rules’ of the relay is that one person from your team must be on the track at all times. No, they don’t keep track and it’s not a big deal if you have to pee or something, but participating and following this rule makes it a lot of fun. You get to meet new people and talk with people you might not talk to very much when you’re walking. Since your close friends are most likely on your team, and only one of you has to be on the track at one time, you often find yourself on the track by yourself. I found that I strengthened friendships with some people I probably wouldn’t have talked to if it weren’t for the relay.
To avoid dragging on and on, I will close with this.
This year, I am relaying for my aunt, who has terminal cancer. She has fought this disease for one year now and her time is running out. For her, and for all others struggling with this disease… there IS hope, and this relay can help. It’s so important to participate and help other people. It is a life changing experience and I encourage all of you to participate in this amazing event.
03.25.08
Carrie Underwood & Josh Turner
My mom’s boyfriend Paul turned 55 on Sunday. My mom and I needed to find something fun for the three of us to do that wouldn’t cost us too much money. He’s a BIG music buff so my mom and I bought tickets to see Carrie Underwood in Hamilton. I LOVE Carrie Underwood (I know some of you might not 
), so naturally I was extremely excited for the concert on Saturday night! The tickets were actually relatively cheap, I think only about $45.00 per person.
Now… to the concert itself!
Country artist Josh Turner opened up for Carrie, and he was fantastic! I have never heard him before, and if you don’t like country music you definitely wont like him, but he has a fantastic voice. His voice is very VERY deep and soulful. He is a wonderful performer. For those interested, he did some amazing covers of ‘Long Black Train’ and ‘One Woman Man’, and sang some of his original songs including ‘The Difference Between a Woman and a Man’, and ‘Good Woman Bad’. If you like country music and deep soulful voices, you will definitely like him!
Carrie Underwood came out with her fast paced song ‘Flat on the Floor’ from her new CD Carnival Ride. She has an absolutely AMAZING set of pipes. You know when you hear an artist on their CD, and they sound awesome, and you HIGHLY DOUBT they will be that good live? Well she was.
She sang songs from her first album ‘Some Hearts’, and included a medley of four songs from this album. Her memorable performances from this particular album include ‘Jesus Take the Wheel’, where she had the audience sing two choruses and did a beautiful a capella (without instruments) chorus and she actually cried. Well, a little. She teared. . Her other memorable performance from this album was ‘I Ain’t in Checotah Anymore’. On the screen behind her she had a video playing of her hometown, Checotah. She had photos of the school, the corner store, her house, etc. It was really moving to see where she had come from and she had pictures of her family and her dog too. It personalized her and I loved it!
From her new album, she performed many songs such as ‘All-American Girl’ (changed to All-Canadian Girl!), ‘The More Boys I Meet’, ‘Crazy Dreams’, and ’Last Name’. All were performed to perfection and sung absolutely beautifully. She made changes to every song to keep the audience interested. She moved all over the stage and managed to keep the audience interested during her ‘costume’ changes. There was a neat light show while she changed . Her outfits were awesome, the band was amazing, the props (such as lighting and videos in the background) all worked together so wonderfully. She has really grown as an artist and put on an amazing show.
To wrap it up she came back for an encore of – get this – November Rain, Paradise City, and Before he Cheats. When she began November Rain I was a little worried about how the entire encore would play out… but it was actually really, really good. She performed this song acoustically (while wearing a Hamilton Bulldogs jersey, which made the crowd pretty excited…), and then moved to Paradise City and did a pretty good job with it. I mean, she’s no Guns ‘N’ Roses, but she did a good job with a tough song. It’s easy to sound very cheesy and amateur when singing that song, but she made it her own and did well. And of course, she finished with Before He Cheats, probably one of her most famous songs, and it was awesome.
All in all it was a fantastic concert. I would recommend buying Carrie’s new CD and checking out Josh Turner if you havn’t heard of him. Carrie’s new CD Carnival Ride isn’t as ‘country’ as you might think, so I’d check it out even if you’re not into country!!
03.09.08
March Break!
So I figured I’d write about what I’m doing this march break and then you guys can tell me what YOU are doing. If you’re away on some fantastic trip don’t brag too much 
.
So this week I decided to do some volunteering… I need about 10 hours to finish my 40 hours for school. My mom got me in at an Early Intervention office run by KidsLink. For those of you who don’t know… KidsLink is a huge organization that helps children all over Canada. Since I want to be a social worker I’m really glad I got in here to volunteer! What the office I am in does is work with children from 2-5 who are in preschool or kindergarden and are having difficulties learning. The social workers from this office go to schools in the area and teach these kids the fundamental skills that will help them to learn. They also run their own preschools and kindergardens for students who have so much trouble that they cannot be in a regular school system.
I had to get a police check done and fill out a LOT of confidentiality forms so that I could volunteer here, but it’s so worth it. They have this really cool way of teaching kids with learning disabilities. Friday was my first day, and I helped create a booklet for these kids… and it was to learn songs that most children know… (BINGO, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald). What the booklet was was a bunch of pieces of paper with pictures to describe every part of the song… and then as we sing the song wtih the kids we get them to point to the pictures. It’s really cool to see how this thing works… it may sound silly or something but it actually helps a lot. I am loving every minute of it right now. I was just going to volunteer Friday from 8-5 and Monday 12-5 but I am just having so much fun with these kids so I’m going to be volunteering with them monday, tuesday, wednesday, and next friday as well. I’m glad to have something productive to do!
On Thursday I am going to McMaster with my mommy for a campus tour. I am pretty excited about that and I can’t wait to see some residences and then apply for residence! It’s all becoming so real, I’m sure many of you understand what I mean! I can’t wait until Thursday!
Other than that I’m not doing anything wacky. Unless you include going on msn and talking to Jake about fish, Gene Simmons, catnip, and cheese exciting. In which case… I’m doing something exciting RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!! (happy Jake? lol)
Anyways… what are YOU GUYS doing over march break?
