It's the last day of April already?!?

With the end of April comes approximately 1/3 of 2018 over. I have yet to understand why each year seemingly passes by quicker and quicker. Anyways, a normal work day followed by a bit of back and arms at the gym. Nothing out of the ordinary besides the unexpected construction zone on 52nd pass 16th Ave. It's like what they say in Calgary... there's only two seasons: winter and construction season.

Mundane days like this is good every now and then. I think I had enough excitement throughout this month. I can still clearly remember all the snow at the beginning of the month, followed by such nice weather a few weeks after. Science Fair was a hassle to coordinate, but being able to see my students in awe of other projects was well worth it. I hope it'll let some of them realize how big the world can be. Badminton was stressful, but fortunately I had help coaching this year.

Off to sleep!

1/100 MG RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03 Phenex

Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through the "torture" of building gundam models. In all honesty, I lost interest in building models after building the PG Strike Freedom back in 2011. Year after year, I would build a multitude of different models until I made a pledge after finishing the MG Hyakushiki 2.0 in January 2016 that I would retire from Gunpla. For those of you that don't know, Gunpla or Ganpura is the condensed form of Gundam plastic model. Not only is it a pain at times to build Gunpla, since I'm worried that I may snap a piece, lose a piece, decals, etc, it takes up quite a bit of space. I haven't begin to imagine how I would transfer them over when I do move out...

***

RG = Real Grade models. They're 1/144 in terms of scale (around 20 cm tall?)

MG = Master Grade models. They're 1/100 in terms of scale (around... 30 cm tall?)

PG = Perfect Grade models. They're 1/60 in terms of scale (... 45 cm tall??)

Typically, the bigger the model, the more expensive it is

However, with the release of a premium Bandai 1/144 RG 00 Qan[T] Full Saber in 2017, I somehow found myself coming back to building. I don't mind RGs since they're relatively small and don't cost as much as MGs or PGs. With that finished, I decided to relax my self-inflicted ban and limit building to one model a year.

In December last year, I had the sudden urge to build a Phenex model. It's probably due to me liking the general Unicorn Gundam design (Bandai sure milked my brother and I when it comes to the Unicorn Gundam model) and that I never built the SD Phenex that I purchased back in the day since I gave it to my brother to build. I ordered the MG Phenex, hoping for it to arrive at the beginning of Winter Break. It didn't arrive till nearly the end of break, so I placed it on hold to build for Spring Break.

Spring break arrived, and I lost all desire to build till halfway through break. Before work resumed, I finished building the main body. Saturdays were then dedicated to building, save for the last couple of few weeks because of my schedule. I did manage to finish building it today. The gold is extremely nice to look at, but seems high maintenance. I had to wear gloves while putting on the armor pieces, because the gold paint was a fingerprint magnet. It's going to be interesting when I start to apply the decals, since it's all wet decals...

Anyways, I'm done building.

For now...

Please don't relapse David. Please...

Active Noise Cancelling Headphones

Despite my birthday being three weeks ago, I decided to treat myself to a new pair of headphones. I've been thinking of a set of active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones for travelling for a while, so after some initial research on YouTube, I headed down to the local Best Buy to try on a couple pairs.

After trying a few pairs that I liked from reviews I read/saw online, I settled on one and proceeded to make my way home to try them out. Since it is my first pair of ANC, I'm not used to the "ear-popping" experience you get when everything is so dead silent. I'm amazed at how well they work.

Perhaps its due to the fact that I opted for a pair of wireless headphones, the sound quality was great, but not amazing. Fortunately for me, I want a pair mostly to muffle the droning sound from an airplane's engine, or from loud conversations that sometimes take place at home when I try and do work. =P

All in all, I'm quite pleased with my purchase, and look forward to trying them out on a plane this summer! Now all I need to do is figure out where do I want to go this year...

Japan for the fourth time in five years? =P I haven't visited the northern region of Honshu yet...

Sunset Drive

Despite not going to school, due to championships at Sunridge Badminton Centre, it was quite a busy day for me. Unlike last year, it was not chilly at the badminton centre, thus making the wait outside bearable. Unfortunately, we were not able to medal in any category, but it went by smoothly.

After badminton, I got the chance to try out Yunnan cuisine at a restaurant down 14th street. Perhaps I didn't sample enough dishes to register a new taste, but Yunnan cuisine tasted like any other Chinese cuisine to me. After dinner, I decided to drive around town since the weather was so nice. It wasn't great for my wallet (ie: winter tires + expensive gas prices), but I was able to venture down roads that I never gotten a chance to in the past. I somehow ended up driving through Britannia, which had breathtaking huge houses. After looping around the south for a while, I ended up at Southcentre Mall, in which I spent some time exploring. It was nearly closing time, so the mall was quite quiet.

Driving home was a bit of a hassle, for there was construction in downtown. At least, if I remember, I know not to take 5th Ave to escape downtown on Sunday!

Got a copy of the exam? No problem!

I admit -- I normally recycle exams since it saves me a lot of time. I may add/remove some questions year after year, but the vast majority of the exam is the same. My problem is, I normally give the copy of the exam to students as a way to study for their final exam. I always suspected that these students will pass down their exams to their siblings, and at times I will give subtle hints during parent teacher interviews that it's a way to study and that I don't make dramatically new versions of said exams.

Well today, I found out that a couple students took an old version of the exam and shared it with a bunch of their classmates. Now before you say, "you had it coming David", I have expected as such, and had a backup plan in mind. >=)

I created a who new written exam during my lunch break, and included material that was not on the previous written exam. (But still discussed/taught in class) When I actually distributed it to the students I have suspected of spreading the test, I could see the shocked looks on their faces as they were expecting something else entirely.

Fortunately, they admitted that they did what they did, and I thought that was enough of a punishment for them -- whatever mark they get on their written test. For the future, I'll have to make new versions of my exams (which eventually mean I'll be mixing exams to make another exam since there's only so many questions that I can write).

An interesting experience to say the least.

Last badminton practice for the year!

With badminton season fast approaching it's conclusion for the year, we ended our final practice today. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I had help this year from one of my colleague's son. He has been extremely helpful which made my life a lot easier over the past month.

After practice, I realized that I didn't have a copy of my test prepared to print, which put a bit of a damper on my mood. Therefore, I ended up going home to work on my exam. Apparently I did not save a copy of the Light and Optical system written test on my computer... meaning I had to redo certain sections.

Otherwise my uncle dropped by to deliver some soybean milk that he made, which turned out to be tastier than I expected, even though no sugar was added.

Other than that, it was a typical evening of work. I believe someone at work said there's only 44 more days of work left? Perhaps it's time to start a countdown?

I hope I'll be able to wake up early tomorrow since I have to remind myself to print off the exams...

Taiyaki Ice Cream

Being unable to sleep till midnight for the past couple of weeks, badminton practice three times a week after school, making notes for a new course and just everything else that come with teaching is starting to take its toll on me. Fortunately, I was able to put aside some time to go out and enjoy a nice dinner with friends after work.

Since we were in the downtown area, I finally got the chance to try out Uzu Taiyaki. Uzu Taiyaki specializes in soft serve ice cream in taiyaki, which is a snack eaten in Japan. Taiyaki is shaped as a fish and often filled with some sort of filling (ie: adzuki/red bean, chocolate, custard, etc). I got a Taiyaki cone coated with adzuki bean, filled with black sesame ice cream and topped off with sour keys and Oreo sprinkles. The soft serve ice cream was delightful, but I was not too fond of the taiyaki since I was hoping it would be softer than what it actually happened to be. Other than that, it was still quite good.

And off to sleep! Hopefully I can fall asleep in less than hour...

It's hard to believe that we'll have temperatures near the 20s this week

This is the time of the year where I'm not too fond of due to the extreme shifts in temperatures. This morning was around zero degrees, but the afternoon hit... 14 degrees Celsius? I know I shouldn't be complaining about the warm weather, but I'm looking forward to more stable temperatures!

Other than that, it was a typical work day. Day 5 at work meant no preps, but having no preps do make the day go by quicker, albeit busy. For my grade 5 gym class that I help the gym teacher with, I took my group outside. It was relatively windy which brought a slight chill in the air despite all the sunlight from the clear blue sky. We ended up playing Infection and Toilet Tag (where if you're caught, you have to pretend to be a toilet and wait for someone to "flush" you so you can return back to the game). 

Badminton practice went relatively smoothly, followed by a session at the gym for back and arms today.

Now onto some much needed rest today before work resumes again tomorrow! Hell month is almost over...

There's some things that cannot be truly expressed

I'm grateful that I did not read the light novel of Violet Evergarden before watching the show. I was able to fit in chapter 5 of the light novel today during a break between tasks. Without spoiling too much, the chapter discussed a prisoner as a client for Violet.

This chapter wasn't shown in the anime, but if it did, I would say it would be a momentous deal breaker for the show. The matter of perspective was the biggest theme in this chapter: in war, the victors are the one that are justifiable while the losers are evil and need to be eradicated.

The conversation between the prisoner and Violet was eye-opening, even when I'm aware of the clear distinction between winners and losers. It felt like such a huge change from the tone of the previous chapters.

They say that a picture is worth 1000 words, but sometimes I feel that a bunch of pictures are unable to express the intent of the author as well -- even with different artistic techniques (ie: color).

It'll be an interesting rewatch when I'm done reading the light novel.

And today marks the end of my third run through of Your Lie in April. I think I'm starting to become numb from all the melodrama... time to find something different to watch for a while!

 

Rocky Ridge YMCA

I wasn't able to fall asleep till 2:30 AM for some unknown reason, which didn't help that I had to get up at around 8:30 for a massage and chiro appointment. I ended up sleeping till 8:45 that led to a hurried breakfast before driving down to the core for my appointments.

Fortunately the roads were dry and traffic, despite it being busier than the last couple months (I book my appointments on Saturday so I don't have to take time off work), I made it with fifteen minutes to spare. I started off with my massage session, which was much needed despite not getting in solid workouts over the past month. Chiro went relatively well -- I been having issues with my lower back and hip flexors, so a session of electro stimulation therapy via dry needling (I believe that's what it's called... or was it intramuscular trigger point therapy?) was the medicine for today. It had worked for my knee last year, so I'm hoping that it'll help with my back (which has not been too bad as of late).

After my appointments, it was off to the gym! Instead of heading to the gym I normally go to, my workout buddy and I headed down to the relatively new Rocky Ridge YMCA. Having twelve squat racks available is nice, meaning that we didn't have to wait to squat for today. Also, the knurling on the bars at this gym is amazing -- no slipping at all! It's been a while since I last squat, but it went better than expected. After about an hour of squatting, it was off for some deadlifts and flat benching: three essential body building exercises. =P

And somehow, that marked pretty much my entire day. It's hard to believe that it's already 10:35 PM, but I'm feeling tired so I should be able to get a good night's rest today!

Late Friday Post

Like last week, Friday's post is late. Most of the time, I'm usually out on Friday nights and don't get back till nearly midnight. Therefore, most Friday posts will be written and posted by Saturday afternoon, save for today.

Fridays in general are interesting for a number of reasons. It marks the end of the work week for most individuals, which literally means a day that tends to be... how can I put it in words... more relaxed then normal? I'm not saying it's a wasted day, but it's rather a day that allows people to "loosen up the noose around their necks" and look forward towards the weekend.

For some reason, the grade 7s were a bit more hyper than normal... to put it nicely. It could be due to the student teachers' last day at our school. In the span of five minutes, we managed to settle on a plan for a surprise good-bye party for my student teacher.

It took another 10 minutes to have everyone in position though... fortunately it went through without any major hitches.

Other than that, it was a typical Friday. Chest Day at the gym. Somehow, when I injure my lower body, my upper body gains strength goes up despite spending the same amount of time on upper body exercises. However, I don't have enough data to back up my claim...

Other than that, please look forward to my Saturday post that'll be up in a couple of hours!

Now it's starting to make sense!

Analysis of a piece of work is never an easy task for me. I recall how I loathed English class back in high school and the one course I took in university, because we had to analyse the author's intent. Back then, I never found learning about the author's intent to be interesting to me. Watching certain dramas and anime has definitely helped me appreciate the importance of seeing things through the creator's lens.

With my third watch of Your Lie in April, I'm starting to pick up subtle hints about the plot line that I never got during my first two runs of the show. The one in particular is the relationship between the main character, Arima, and his two rivals in piano: Igawa and Aiza. From my understanding, Igawa wants to bring back a pure Arima pianist (before Arima became all "metronome" like with his extremely accurate playing) while Aiza wants to be acknowledged by "metronome" Arima. It's like now I feel like I understand, or starting to understand why things are going the way they are in the anime.

Only a few more episodes left before the series is finished. In other news, I'll need to rewatch Violet Evergarden to catch everything I missed through my first run-through (and after I read the light novel, in which I only finished three chapters).  

For the past month or so, I scheduled badminton practice three times or so after school. Like every year however, there seems to be an issue with students getting picked up on time (ie: 4:30), which means I usually don't leave work till 5:30-6:00 or so.

Today after practice though, I was able to leave work at around 4:50... which was unheard of since... I started coaching badminton!

There's only one more week of practice left before championships! I believe I mentioned this before, but it seems like each and every year seems to be faster than the year before it. Only two months and... 12 days to go before summer break!

3rd Place!

I've been the badminton coach at my school for the past four years. Our school is not known for badminton, but it has always been my dream to have someone reach the podium, even if it's just a preliminary tournament.

My wish was fulfilled today. I didn't expect them to place at all since they were put together at the last minute, but one of my mixed doubles team finished in third place! One of the members was disappointed in that they didn't place higher, but I was totally ecstatic. (Perhaps they'll work harder to try and place higher during championships next Friday).

Now if only all the snow melts in the next couple of days so I can swap back to summer tires and go for a rip... I mean a normal drive...

I believe that if I put my mind into something, commitment would not be an issue for me. I've been on Duolingo with a 266 day streak. I also, with some missed days, kept up with a 365 day challenge on Instagram.

This 365 day blog challenge will be a lot tougher, in terms of trying to keep things original and interesting to those who read my blog. Thank you all for taking time out of your day to read my thoughts!

Once again, a typical day at work with badminton practice at the end. I've been planning a trip to the observatory for my grade 9s, but I keep putting it on the back burner until I realized that there's only a couple months of school left. With a sense of urgency, I sent a request to the University of Calgary to see whether or not I can bring the 9s into the observatory for a workshop/field trip. Fortunately, they had open spots! Lesson is to never procrastinate this long... even with other things on your plate!

After what seems like an eternity, due to such a hellish week last week, I managed to make it to the gym at around 7 PM (after work). It was awfully busy, but it always seems to be busy on Mondays. Due to my bad back/glute/hip/something lower body, I've been restricted to doing either light leg workouts or upper body.

I loathe arm day...

But I guess all guys need some arms...

Sage Hill Plaza

Apparently there's going to be a huge snowfall tomorrow (10-20 cm)...

Karate was the normal affair this week, with nothing out of the ordinary. Afterwards, I  headed off to the Crowfoot library for a while before proceeding to the Sage Hill Plaza. I've never been to this particular plaza, but it seems rather "fancy" compared to plazas around here in the NE. Probably it's due to age, being a newer neighborhood and all, or it could be other factors.

Besides my excursion today, it was an ordinary relaxing Sunday. This upcoming week won't be as busy as the last, though work days are going to be long with badminton practice after work.

Violet Evergarden - A Brief Review

According to the Online Merriam-Webster dictionary, hype is defined as "promotional publicity of an extravagant or contrived kind". The anime series, Violet Evergarden, fits the criteria. The original light novel series won a grand prize at the Kyoto Animation Award's novel category four years ago, which was the first of its kind to do so. In the later half of 2017, the first three episodes were premiered in Japan to positive reviews.

Hype -- in my opinion a great way for the masses to be exposed to an anime series. On the other hand, with all the hype, it may not live up to the everyone's expectations. Fortunately for me, I strongly believe that Violet Evergarden lives up to its lofty expectations, and, despite being so early in the year, the best anime series of 2018.

 For this brief review, I'll be focusing on the story, art and music. This review is focusing on the anime, for I have yet to read the light novel. As of any of my reviews, EXPECT SPOILERS

In terms of the story, the titular character, a child soldier trained to be a emotionless killer is seen as she is forced to adapt to a world after the war. Not much is said in the anime about her early life, save being an orphan and trained to be a "War tool". The anime starts with her post-recovery after the decisive final battle as she write a report to her superior, Major Gilbert Bougainvillea. As a soldier, she's precise and gets straight to the point with her report, but little did she know at that time, that Major Bougainvillea is MIA. Soon after, the Major's acquaintance, Colonel Claudia Hodgins takes her in as a promise to Major Bougainvillea, if anything were to happen to the latter. The former colonel opened up a business after the war in which his workers are known as Auto Memory Dolls -- people that write letters to others since in this world, not many people know how to write, or write at least expressively. Violet starts off initially as a mail delivery/sorter, but quickly desires to be an Auto Memory Doll to learn emotions and to understand the last words that the Major said to her: I Love You.

Therefore, the plot focuses on how Violet transitions from having no emotions, to being a human being. The story is rather simple and cliche, yet the execution was well done. I was skeptical with the choice of making each episode episodic; how would they connect the main character development? The writer/director came through with Violet's transformation. As each episode past episode 3 (if I remember correctly) focused on a side character and how Violet had to write a letter for said people, you see a subtle transformation in Violet's personality. I can vividly recall when you see her smile for the first time, thinking about how she was able to get her client's feelings across to the man she loved. In comparison to Violet's first ever assignment, in which she humorously (I thought) wrote a love letter for a woman to her would-be suitor that she was a gold digger and needed the man to "procure more fortune first".

For me, her emotional development peaked in episode 10, in which her client wanted to write fifty letters to give to her young daughter during her birthday since the client did not have much time to live. Melodramtic for sure, but it was tastefully done with the time skip at the end of the episode showing the daughter reading the letters, written by Violet, expressing the mothers' feelings. 

Speaking of melodrama, Violet Evergarden would fit under this category. Many episodes aim to give you "the feels" and most of them were able to do so. There were certain episodes in the middle which were a bit dull, but when they were able to hit home for me, they hit home. Besides episode 10, to see the final progression where Violet writes/imagines a letter, instead of a report to the Major, really pulled at my heartstrings. Oh, and when she tells the Captain at the end that she did not need any more orders to live her life anymore.

If there were any gripes I had with this anime show, would be the lack of explanation at times for certain events/situations/relationships. I fully understand that a 13 episode series is definitely not enough time to flesh out everything, but it would be beneficial in my opinion to explain things like the initial animosity that Major Bougainvillea's older brother, Captain Dietfried Bougainvillea has for Violet. Also, more history behind Violet's upbringing and service in the army besides the short flashbacks halfway through the series would have helped as well. Despite all the "flaws" that I see, it is still a remarkable story.

Now for art... I cannot recall seeing such detail in an anime series. I know people rave about Makoto Shinkai's work (ie: Your Name) or Studio Ghibili for having amazing art, but Kyoto Animation is no slouch. Violet Evergarden is beautifully illustrated.

 Here is a link to a video that an individual created on YouTube:

Credits to the channel Light Raider

As you can see, the detail and color is amazing. Oh, and the opening sequence, where you hear music first and see the letters, in the language written in the anime slowly pop up was absolute genius.

And finally the soundtrack. Once again, having a classical music background, a great OST has a profound impact on whether or not I like a series. The opening and ending theme songs were beautiful. The music in the show seemed to come in at all the right times, to hit all the right notes. The last OST that I really enjoyed was Your Lie in April, but perhaps it was due to all the classical music that were found in that show.

To sum it up, Violet Evergarden lives up to the hype and to me, the best anime series of 2018 by far. The story line is simple, yet gets the point across with the emotional development of Violet Evergarden. For a person to live a life killing people to helping people express their emotions seem oxymoranic -- if that is a word. And to see that same person go from being fully dependent on someone to give them instructions to being self-autonomous... it definitely has it moments. The art and music helps the development of the story quite efficiently. Even if melodrama is not your cup of tea, I'm sure the art and music will be more than enough to please most viewers.

Friday the 13th Phone Glitch? - Science Fair and Korean BBQ

There's a spot in the University of Calgary's Lot 10 back in the day that was easily 1.5 times the size of a normal parking spot. I have to say that this spot was even bigger than parking spots located at Costco parking lots. Normally, I would try and grab this spot when I was a student, to ensure that I had ample space between my car and cars beside me.

With all the snow on the ground, I wasn't able to discern that special spot, so I kind of made my own... Fortunately, when I returned back to my car after the annual science fair, people gave me my space. Yes, I was definitely a hog today.

In terms of the Science Fair, I arrived at the Olympic Oval at 7:20 in the morning. I did not expect a huge line up, which stretched easily from the front of the doors of the oval to where the squash courts were located (approximately 100 m). Perhaps due to the registration of projects on Wednesday, once the lines started to move, we made it downstairs to the fair in no time at all.

I would assume it was an eventful day for students, but a long one for me since all I could really do was sit in the bleachers. My student teacher came along to observe, which helped time pass by as we discussed about various topics.

For lunch, I ventured back into Mac Hall. As to be expected, prices of food has shot up since I last had a meal (2013). I finally settled for Korean BBQ, and was pleasantly surprised that portion sizes were relatively large.. at least from what I remembered.

But that's all the blogging for today! Despite it being (or was) Friday the 13th, nothing extraordinary happened... well besides for my phone glitching for a while making it inoperable. It has never happened before in my last 6 months of ownership, which made things slightly spooky. As a plus side, at least it didn't emit spooky noises or images of a woman crawling out of my phone...

Lame joke to end the post.

Power Outage at Work

Weather: -2 with fog and snow

The fog and slippery grounds were perhaps ominous for what was to come this morning. As I parked my car at work, I saw a silver Evo to the side of my eye. I stepped out of my car, like how I normally would, but I didn't take into account how slippery the ground could have been... which had me ending up slipping and falling onto the ground.

Fortunately, I did not land on my face, for I do not want another dental crown so soon (6 years ago). I did manage to scrap my palms, and a possible bruise on my left palm, for it has a dull ache when I apply pressure on it (I really hope it's not fractured). Another positive note is that none of my clothes were wrecked from the gravel on the ground.

After settling into my class, I turned on my computer and headed down towards the office to post some announcements. After returning to my class, I chatted with a co-worker that stopped by, when all of a sudden the lights started to flicker and go out. The emergency lights came on, and lo and behold... my first ever power outage/blackout at work. And the ironic part was students were starting to come in at this time.

The blackout took about two hours to be restored, so I ended up telling ghost stories to my students for the first 30 minutes or so. For the last 90 minutes, students broke up and did their own activity -- that reminds me to bring some cards to the Science Fair tomorrow to keep students entertained if they don't have anything to play with as they wait to get judged...

Other than that, the day proceeded like normal once the lights came back on. After practice today, I ended up staying at home instead of proceeding to the gym. It's been an exhausting week for me, but it's coming to a close.

I'll be a lot less stressed once Science Fair and badminton is over! Though May is the month of field trips for me... and that reminds me of the grade 9 trip I need to plan out before the end of the year...

2.5 Tim Hortons in Mac Hall???

Today marked set up day at the Olympic Oval for the annual Calgary Youth Science Fair. Fortunately, I had a double prep this morning, so I was able to make preparations before we boarded the bus at 11 to head off to the University of Calgary.

We arrived 20 minutes early, thus being nearly the first ones there to set up for Science Fair. With being so early, we had literally finished registration for all 25 groups in 20 minutes. With the bus not coming for another 90 minutes, I had to improvise something on the spot.

First, we traveled to MacEwan Hall to see if we can find a spot to eat our lunch. Since it was lunch time, the food court was essentially 95% full. As I led my students further down, I looked towards the double Tim Horton stops that line one side of Mac Hall. To my surprise, they added a new, additional Tim Hortons Express between the double Tim Hortons! In the past, there used to be a Pizza 73 in between the two Timmies with literally no customers. I always pondered when they were going to add a third Tims, and it looks like they did, albeit not being a full shop. (Thanks Teacher) We therefore ventured outside and ate our meals. After eating, there was still about an hour to go, so I ended up giving them a tour of the university from the Education building, back to Kinesiology.

It was nice to venture through the halls that I once trodden down many years back. Much of it was nostalgic, though there were some new additions (Science B Building!) The walk seemed to tire out my students, with some claiming that they had to sprint since I was walking quite briskly, since they were extremely quiet on the bus ride back to school.

And thus marked the end of my busy day, with badminton practice after school. It's been nearly a week since I last hit the gym... I need to find time to stop by tomorrow!

Surprising upsets at the Singles Tournament

April marks the time of change for me. Besides my birthday in April, and the supposedly warmer weather that gives hints of what summer has to bring, it is a time of a new sport season: badminton.

Every year, we have a couple preliminary tournaments before our championship tournament at the end of the month. Over the past couple of years, there had been one student that I've seen remarkable growth in terms of skill level in badminton. However, perhaps by sheer bad luck, this student lost all of his matches. This student seemed a bit bummed down, but recovered rather quickly.

There were a couple other students that I had high hopes for, yet they didn't do as well as I thought they would. On the flip side, a few students did remarkably better than what I expected so kudos to them!

Now onto much needed rest before heading to the UofC to set up for Science Fair tomorrow.

A Badminton and Science Fair Week

Weather: High of 6 with a mixture of sun and cloud

I knew I would screw myself over by taking a nap yesterday afternoon... what made it worse was that I decided to nap at around 4 PM. I didn't wake from my slumber till around 6... which meant a restless night as I try to let my dreams entice me before a work week restarts.

And this week is going to be unlike any week I had so far this school year... badminton and Calgary Youth Science Fair.

Badminton I have done a number of times, but being the science fair coordinator at my school is a first for me. After a long day, with practice ending at 4:30, I didn't end up leaving work till almost a couple of hours later. I meant to take home some Science Fair material, but I ended up leaving it at work...

Something to do tomorrow as I await our annual single preliminary tournament.

At least the drive was pleasant going home with relatively dry roads.

Due to the lack of work that I brought home with me, I managed to get in both an episode of Your Lie in April (3rd time watching it, which is nice since I'm able to catch things I have missed the first two times I watched it) and Violet Evergarden. Perhaps a more detailed review of the latter anime series, though two melodramatic anime to keep my mind of work...

Snowy Spring Sunday

Weather: High of -3 with snow in the morning

I know that all my moping and moaning won't make the snow melt faster, or for spring-like weather to grace us from the tremendous amount of snow we had recently, but one can only dream right?

My weekly commute to karate was slippery in the morning, but relatively smooth on the way back. I long to put back my set of summer tires and just have fun driving on clear roads, but warmer weather is on its way... right, right?

In the good news department: I started with the basic outlines for the last set of notes for my grade 9's. Not as much progress as I planned for, but I normally don't meet my own expectations. Perhaps it'll be a goal to work on for the year...

Let's see how long this'll last... Day 1 of the 365 Blogging Day Challenge

One of my initial goals when I started this blog was to improve my writing skills -- being more technical and expanding my vocabulary. I would say that blogging did help me achieve my goal, but of course, there's always room for improvement. The last couple months of inactivity is mostly due to work and pure laziness.

To help encourage me to continue to write, I decided to blog daily for the last year of my 20's. I meant to post this earlier so that it'll line up exactly with my birthday, but I was preoccupied with gaming.

As to start off, I cannot recall having so much snow on my birthday before, and for being so cold! I lost all motivation to head to the gym, so I ended up staying home working on my MG Phenex. I always said I would retire after making the MG Hyaku Shiki, but somehow I ended up getting two more kits after my supposedly swam song.

At least I managed to keep it to one kit a year over the past couple of years...