rememberthename.

A little stupid something...

He remembered my name.

It's time for a quick warning: I just re-read this post, and it made me kinda sad, it may or may not do the same for you. But be warned. happy reading. ;D

In chemistry class recently, Mr.A was called on to sub for mrs. C. Apparently she had to be away for the badminton tournament, and left a heap of work for us to do while she was away.

And this is what opened doors for a perfect display of contrast. The teacher who took the first shift for "teaching" our class was a lady i've never seen before in my life. She pretty much sat at the teacher's desk, buried her nose into some magazine, and quickly became completely oblivious to the fact that the 18 students in front of her were not doing their work, and were in fact indulging in various card games (not that we complained. yay"literature".).

The bell rang, and in came Mr. A. The first lady bolted out the door like lightning, and neglected to even say bye to the class. She made it feel like a CHORE.

Mr. A quickly took a look around, and took in what he was seeing quite quickly. He wanted everyone back to work, and sitting in their places. I, not wanting to move, decided to give him a teensy bit of lip. "Is that right? You arrrrrreee doing your work well and thoroughly... (and here, he gave me a quick look up and down as if refreshing his memory) ... Mr. Justin?"

It took me by surprise. This man has not taught me for years. In fact the last time i was in a class of his was in Grade 9 religion, a class in which i consciously and actively maintained an under-the-radar status. I was most definitely not expecting him to remember my name at all. As I would expect from most other teachers.

Now, i'm not necessarily a huge fan of this teacher. In fact, i would say he's pretty average, but having had awkward confrontations with many of my ex-teachers during which they stared at me absent-mindedly... evidently trying to work out what my name was, even though they had taught me just last semester, I was happy to know that some people don't completely forget me. It was a tiny thing, him calling me by name, but just like many other small things in my days, it set off a chain reaction of thoughts.

It's a really dumb fear, but one of my biggest paranoias in life is being forgotten. And i don't mean "when i'm gone, will anybody care?". I'm going to be arrogant and say that at least one person would care. I'm thinking more along the lines of, will i fall into the background of people's minds, and just become another face that they've come across during their highschool years. Instead of that, i'd much more like to be remembered as "the guy who spent a lot of time with me just going out for an after school snack, even if it was just for an hour and a bit" or "the guy who failed miserably at school, but he failed along with me".

I'm petrified of having the people who are important to me, not see me as someone important to them somewhere in the future.

I don't know what i'd do if one day i was walking around in the Eaton's center, and i saw one of the guys and they just walked right past me without even noticing. That would just do me in. It would make me feel old, and maybe even a bit insignificant.

And then there's me, i can't put all the pressure on everyone else, i really hope that i will never be the one to act like that, to go so far as to forget one of the people that stuck by me throughout the years. Whether we drifted, or got closer, or fought all the time, i don't ever want to forget anyone.

As embarrassing as it is, i think about this almost every single day. And now with grade 12 coming to an end, it's recurring only more often.

Every day is one day closer.

I'm constantly thinking of doing the best i can to be one of those people that you guys will not forget. And i greatly doubt that i'll ever forget you guys. Even when i'm mad at you, i'm not.

So: rememberthename. ;D

Song: You Told Me You Loved Me - Cinematic Sunrise

amostlytruestory.

Paranoia must be at an all time high.
Or at least in a certain small Hamilton neighbourhood...

Last weekend, to end this year's ridiculously short-lived March Break, the family (Minus Jason who got substituted for Ja-Poa. cuzshe'sabetterhiker.) went on a mini hiking trip at a small park in Hamilton. There were a couple waterfalls to see, and just some all around nice-scenery. We took some pictures and mostly loafed around enjoying the view.

During one of the conversations which arose, we started talking about how my dad, the acoustic engineer, often works in Hamilton, and "Did you hear about the funny story of two years back?" I couldn't say I had, and so i was told it by my sister who was interrupted multiple times by her own laughing fits.

Here's my attempt to recount it for you, best as I can from the facts i've gathered. Remember, this is a MOSTLY true story.

One day, Justin's father, the acoustic engineer received an assignment at work, it was nothing special, he'd be going through the same motions as any other project he'd done in the years he'd been doing his job. So he definitely did not expect the events which would come to pass.

He drove down to Hamilton, unloaded his equipment, and upon a nearby lamp post, he perched a harmless sound level meter. It looked something like this...









His intentions were simple, to leave this meter installed for no more than couple nights, to take a string of measurements so as to determine whether the level of sound being produced by a nearby factory was excessive in relation to this neighbourhood. A completely good-willed act I'd say. [I'd like you to note at this time, regardless of how simple this instrument may appear, it is a deceptively pricey tool. The picture provided was some random model i found on the net, probably coming in at around $150.00, but the meters used by professionals are in the price range of an order of magnitude greater than $150.00]
After arriving at work the next day, Justin's father received a telephone call. The news he received was definitely not what he was expecting. Through the telephone, Justin's father was informed of some intriguing facts.

He was told that team of people now had his sound level measurement equipment in their possession... This would be unsettling news for anyone who was responsible for expensive equipment, but what was even more unsettling was the fact that they looked a little something like this:


















... i never did see the bomb squad as very elegantly uniformed. This poor fellow looks like his head is being engulfed by a mutant venus fly trap. I shouldn't make fun. They save lives.

Apparently, a worried resident of the neighbourhood being sampled had thankfully made the decision to notify the authorities of the explosive device installed on the lamp post across the street. Naturally, the best of the best were called in, and they wasted no time plotting a strategy for making this neighbourhood a safe place once again... This meant disabling the unkown device.

Fully adorned in their protective gear (refer once more the the above picture. can'tstoplookingatitlol.), the team took all precautions, remembering their thoroughly rehearsed training. But, when it was deemed too dangerous to approach the device, a new strategy was adopted. They called upon the heavy machinery:

[they sent in Wall-E's cousin]

Using this technologically advanced robot, the team began their approach. Slowly, accurately, repeatedly, the offensive was taken as this sophisticated robot was commanded to toss water balloons one by one at the unknown device.

As one of the water balloons struck the device and sent it hurling towards the ground, the squad braced themselves for the explosion. It didn't come.

Hearts beating fast, the team approached the apparatus, tools in hand, ready to rapidly diffuse the device, ready to cut the red wire, cut the black wire, thwart a terrorist ploy, to SAVE LIVES.

The first of the team arrived at the spot where the apparatus landed, frantically looking where to being, quickly but carefully lifting the device and inspecting it. When the squad leader discovered the phone number to an engineering firm, he dialed it right away. He soon discovered that he and his team members had spent many long hours shrinking away from, escorting civilains away from, and hurling water balloons at... a sound measuring device?

The good news is this. Were it not for these everyday-heroes, who knows what could have come from that unknown device? Who knows what terrible terrorist plot could have been followed through? How can we possibly repay them for the work that they have done in keeping our neighbourhoods dangerous-apparatus-free?

I actually have a lot of respect for bomb squads all around the world, and the work that they do. Their lives really are put on the line every day in their lives. This story was not meant to downplay anyone's line of work, or poke fun at certain people. It was just a fun, laughable misunderstanding.

But it does make me wonder how we got to this point. What has been happening lately that has brought us to constantly question our safety these days? It must be a pretty crappy world out there if a person was honestly led to believe that someone would choose an innocent neighbourhood as a bomb site. And that this person felt that it was necessary to notify the authorities.

I've gotten pretty paranoid too, after having heard of some of the crazy things that have been happening. And i'll say it now, i probably would have donned one of those venus fly trap suits before going anywhere near that harmless sound measuring tool had i not known what it was.

Butistillfinditallfunny.

Song: Eat You Up - BoA.

crashpicture.

I'm a mentor!
No i'm not...

The group picture for the Xavier Mentors was today. According to that picture, Ria and i are Xavier Mentors :D. We thought it would be fun to crash the picture-taking party. We weren't mistaken. Well, we both were Mentors last year so it wasn't a COMPLETE lie. I can't wait until the year book committee has to write out the captions for the picture, and them comes to our faces. "Uhmm... who the hell is that... and that?"

This simple occurence brought to my attention my inability to keep up the busy schedule. School should always take priority. And it has, believe me it has. I've had to give up on a lot of things that i wish i were still doing to keep open time for homework, and working the job.

Mentorship, Futsal, Soccer, Wrestling Club, Badminton, and (kinda Band). Have all taken the fall to keep me free for work. And i guess it was the right decision to have dropped them for the work, because if i were doing all of that, then my grades and performance in school would be MUCH worse than it is right now. But since i'm not getting 100% on nearly as many tests as i would like to, I can't help but feel like i'm not getting the return for the sacrifice. I'm a bit bitter.

All of those things that i have had to drop, even though i might not want to admit it, were all at least a bit enjoyable for me. And i miss all of them. There's so many times in the day that i just think to myself that i wish i had more time to be able to do the things i want to do.

My parents have already expressed multiple times their wishes for me to give up on wrestling. Because if i get injured during university because of wrestling, it would affect my work. And i don't deny it, in fact i completely agree with them. But it doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Any way i look at it, wrestling was an escape for me. I don't want to give it up.

What i'm trying to say is, if i feel like i'm being starved of the extra-curriculars as of now, i'm gonna be crawling on my hands and knees in a year's time, lamenting. There's so much that i could have done if a day had twenty FIVE hours.

It feels like i've been thinking a lot about time recently. I need to cut that out.

Song: Can i Have This Dance - HSM3