Month: February 2024

PR: The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

I will be writing about what I like and did not like from this story, I will also be giving my opinions on the different characters.

The main characters of the story are: Dr Jekyll, a well respected scientist. Mr. Hyde, a sinister man and mysterious man. Mr. Utterson, Jekyll’s lawyer and friend. Mr Hyde commits many crimes in London, causing fear from the rest of the people that live there. Utterson tries to investigate the relationship between Hyde and Dr Jekyll. It turns out that they are the same person by the aid of the potion that Jekyll created. In the high point of the story Jekyll turns into Hyde without the help of the potion, he is unable to reverse the transformations. Causing Dr Jekyll to lose his life. I liked the story because it made me think of the both good and evil aspects of a human. Sometimes I want to do something bad, but I can’t because I will regret it and get punished. But with Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde he does not have any regret or shame for the horrible things he did.

The things that I don’t like about this story were how random the book was. I mean when I got the book I was not expecting to read a book like that when 2 different characters are the same character, that was a little weird, plus unrealistic. Another thing I am not to fond of his how old the book is, as I was reading the book its vocabulary just sounded old. Overall, it was a good book for many reasons that I have listed, but it was not my favourite thats for sure.

Pr to The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a mystery and terror novel by Robert Luis Stevenson published in 1886.

I liked this story more than the others we have read in class before, I find this story much more interesting and understandable to read besides I like horror and suspense stories similar to this one.

the story is about a scientist called Dr. Jekyll who made an elixir in his laboratory to transform himself into the negative part of his personality that he calls Mr. Hyde, this was a bad idea and it ended up getting out of his control because Mr. Hyde becomes more powerful and it was no longer possible to stop him, so Dr Jekyll decides to kill himself, making Mr. Hyde also disappear.

this story makes me think about the reason why Dr. Jekyll made that elixir, i mean, i know that if he hadn´t done that there would be no story but i think that it wasn´t that difficult or it wasn´t necessary to think a lot to know that it is a terrible idea that wasn´t going to end in anything good and wasn´t beneficial in any way. it was just an irresponsible use of what he is capable of, but well… at the end he took the responsibility and fixed his mistake even though the price of that was losing his life.

 

PR to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Is a story about a man who is tired of listening to the rules, and wants to be able to do bad things without consequences. This story shows the true nature of the human mind, and how in everyone’s head, there is the desire to do something which could inflict damage upon someone or something else.

From the beginning of the story, Dr. Jekyll does not seem too out of the ordinary; he is seen as your average doctor, just trying to help others. But, sometimes, the doctor will be nowhere to be found, and instead a very sinister Mr. Hyde will roam around the streets bringing havoc. Eventually it is discovered that Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll. Some readers of this book may believe that Dr. Jekyll changed as a character, and while he did change physically; i believe that his mental state did not change at all. From the beginning of the story, he likely still had the desire to do bad things, but it is when he acquired the potion that he was able to do those bad things. Leading me to conclude that Dr. Jekyll did not change throughout the story.

Overall, I think this story was done quite well, and I believe that the author did a great job of setting a mysterious atmosphere throughout the book. But to make the story better, The author could’ve made the final section a little bit easier to read.

PR to Jekyll & Hyde

I think that Jekyll and Hyde was an interesting book, however it was very predictable, and within the first chapter, when it was mentioned the doctor looked at Hyde in hatred, it was already evident there would be something wrong. It was confusing for me, about the little girl, when Hyde trampled over her, how did he do so? Obviously he was not in a car, mentioned they both ran/walked into each other, but wouldn’t the girl still have been big enough to not simply walk on? It was confusing for me, that part because he doesn’t try to trample over her, he does it, but he doesn’t try to do it, but how did he do it?

I think it was a confusing story, a lot of which because we don’t know a lot of pieces of the puzzle until later in the story, which we have to kind of go back to in the book to fit in place, it was sort of like the timeline was a little messed up, or maybe it was hard for me to understand. I also did not get how Hyde died, all I saw was Poole and Utterson open the door and Hyde was already dead, so maybe I missed a paragraph but otherwise, how would we know how he died?

A lot of this book raises questions out of me that it doesn’t answer itself, even in the end and that is kind of frustrating. A lot of people say this book represents Borderline-Personality Disorder, but what i understand more out of this is the fact that it was more of a guilt with himself, when you get raised a certain way to despise the other way, and when you begin to even think about the other way it disgusts you. I think it was more of a disgust with himself due to the way that religion was taught back then, how it was disgusting to even feel or think about things like alcohol, a lot of it was Jekyll trying to rid himself of these things, but I think some thoughts were if he died as himself together, he would go to hell for having that side, so he made a potion to split himself, I don’t think Jekyll even considers Hyde a part of him, whatever Hyde does as Hyde IS Hyde, whatever Jekyll does as Jekyll IS Jekyll, and in that sense he probably didn’t consider himself to be him, he thought that when split, if Jekyll and Hyde both die then Jekyll goes to heaven and Hyde goes to hell because they would no longer be the same person, right? It was more or less a hatred towards himself with a sense of guilt and confusion, Jekyll didn’t consider them the same person, simply because they no longer coexisted in the same body within the same time.

This book was more or less confusing unless we just talk about Hyde and Jekyll overall, that is which what i understood. However there is still many questions I could only wish for an answer to. It was a good book, but very predictable in a sense that I cannot explain.

PR to The Strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the story we read in English class, and I really liked this book, as someone whose first language is not English, I found this book interesting yet also understandable, compared to other books we have read I found this book easier to read than most books we read in English class. I liked this book because I found it really interesting, and I think this book at the end can have different perspectives or point of view about what happened at the end of the story, and it makes you think about how everyone has evil and good, and we should learn to make the good decisions and actions. I also liked that this book is a fictional book and I find fictional books very interesting and entertaining to read, this is one of the books that you just want to keep reading to know what happens next. Even if this book is a short book I enjoyed it a lot and the way that Dr Jekyll changed to Mr. Hyde and in one-point Mr. Hyde is getting control over him can be related to real life, even if this book is fictional I think it has many ideas that can relate to real life and situations that can happen. I also like the way this book tries to give you a message about human nature and how every human has good and bad in them, but it’s important to control yourself. At the end I really liked this book and enjoyed reading this could be one of my favorite books we have read in English class, and I really enjoyed it. 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde PW

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson was a surprising story, to say the least, that dives into the duality of human nature. Set in Victorian London, the story follows Dr. Henry Jekyll, a scientist who could hide his inner darkness with a mysterious potion. To be completely honest this book didn’t amaze me how everyone said it would. I found it to be very boring at times with most things being too straightforward for any imaginative thinking to evolve. Having said that it wasn’t as boring as some of the other books I have read in the past, which meant thankfully it wasn’t a complete bore.

Oliver’s PR The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

This story is about how people can act completely different depending the situation and the context. The author uses the supernatural element of Mr. Hyde to emphasize how how a person’s personality can change and look completely different based on the context. Anther way that this story uses supernatural elements is how Jekyll keeps taking the drug even though he can see how obviously evil and self-destructive Hyde is. Even after Hyde kills someone, Jekyll keeps taking the drug until he gets stuck as Hyde. In conclusion, The story The Strange Chase of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde uses supernatural elements to communicate the dual nature of people and the self-destructiveness of addictions.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: PR

Overall, I think that “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was an adequate book.

I found the story a little tedious, almost how the author didn’t just get to the actual point of the story, especially in the last chapter, which was especially hard to read, particularly because it was tedious and boresome for me. Although I didn’t really enjoy the story a lot, I did like the messages that Stevenson conveyed throughout the novel. I really appreciated the message conveyed about the dualities of human nature, and I think it’s a good takeaway from the book. An example of such dualities could be those intrusive thoughts that you have from time to time, where you may be on a tall building and have those intrusive thoughts to jump off the edge. However, the reason for these thoughts generally isn’t because you have a messed up mind, but it’s simply that you as a person, have those thoughts because you are afraid of such things happening, like jumping off that edge. Another element I found interesting in the book was how Stevenson showcased morality, and consequences. For Dr. Jekyll, his thought process had the idea that if he was transformed into Mr. Hyde, he didn’t have to worry about the consequences, or morality, or anything about being a bad person. Who cares? It would be Mr. Hyde, not him, and he could live with the ability of being able to commit heinous actions whilst still being a good person on the other side. Point being, this reference also has a connection to those intrusive thoughts you can have, and I think the message does a nice job of swiftly making the reference.

As for my feelings on the characters, I’ll talk about Dr. Jekyll, since he and Mr. Hyde were both the main characters of the book. I felt that Dr. Jekyll took things that we think about, like intrusive thoughts, and turned it into something that gave him the ability to actually follow through with those thoughts, and I found it interesting how it was done. I see why he did it, and I really found it quite interesting because of how the key events in the book unfolded. I have a neutral stance on Dr. Jekyll, because I don’t really think that there is much to agree or disagree on, as most of us do have intrusive thoughts, and it is natural. However, the destruction and lives taken during the novel are tragic, and there’s no dispute against it, as well as the morality of still committing such actions at all is still terrible. Just because he was a different individual whilst committing such actions, it’s still just the principle behind the actions at all.

I feel that this story was adequate, but definitely not as good as the novels we have read as a class during this school year.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson. I personally thought the book was pretty good and interesting because I like all this weird magic type stuff with having 2 personalities and all of Jekyll’s transformations to Hyde kind of relating to bad habits. I just mostly like all these fictional stories because they open up an amazing imagination of what most wish could be, but won’t, so they get to read fictional books or movies/shows to experience a whole new special world.

One thing this book made me question, is how is it, when you’re a whole new or different person, the old you are still conscious, because Jekyll in the story says he doesn’t like doing the things he does as Hyde, so if you were still conscious in someone else body, wouldn’t you be able to stop your actions? It all made me pretty confused but that’s exactly why I love fiction. Wonder.

On the other hand, the ending, the ending made me a bit sad seeing a man that used to love his life now commit suicide (I believe so) just because someone else ruined it, and he had no power no more than say in the situation. Jekyll even said, that if it weren’t for his fear of death, he would have suicided a lot earlier. Even though it had quite a sad ending, the book was absolutely great and I hope to read more like it.

he Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel that made me think and made me strongly interested in human nature and morality.

The story shows the struggle between good and evil within a person and the terrible consequences of trying to escape or hide the dark side within.

By contrasting the two personalities of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the author shows us the complexity and vulnerability of human nature.

This novel reminds us to be brave enough to face our inner self and try to become a kinder and more honest person.

PR – The Strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson

We have unfortunately come to terms with the evil that is committed in The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. While alcohol is considered a sin because it pulls a person further and further from consciousness, Henry Jekyll seems to have the same effect with this rather say “drug.” Many actual-life occurrences can be associated to this book to explain Henry Jekyll’s experience, yet Dr. Jekyll is a man who was encouraged to do evil by his “concoction.” As I comprehended it, Mr. Hyde embodied the damaging impact of illicit substances on human beings; given his “detestable” appearance and inhuman characteristics, we can see that he is the contradiction of Dr. Jekyll and, therefore, the result of stealing someone’s identity as well as a well-known case in the Victorian Era; Manic Depressive Psychosis, which is known for its delusional and hallucinative patients. Henry Jekyll, was the other side of which was enslaved to this drug in order to escape his “unhappy” lifestyle.

“Man is not truly one, but truly two.” (Pg 67)

Despite being a brief quotation, this captures the logic of the narrative in its entirety. In order to separate the two within him, Dr. Jekyll need the support of the potion. Though, from my viewpoint, Henry ultimately regretted the drug abuse he had committed on his body, hence the end where he gives up fighting to be his best self. The numerous “Imaginary elements” aim to blur the lines of the story’s true meaning, causing it to be an exercise in deception. If you didn’t appreciate Stevenson’s writing, it’s highly possible that you wouldn’t succeed in identifying the true elements. Stevenson himself experienced duality from an early age; his medical and mental illnesses prevented him from ever being a child. It is reported that in 1886, he was taking medicinal cocaine when he wrote this narrative, which gave rise to its two central characters, Jekyll and Hyde, who had originated from a recurring nightmere. Though the story is focused around its supernatural abilities and story-line, it’s a cover up for its true meaning.

The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is an really interesting story that has and explains mysteries of human nature. The scientist Dr. Jekyll makes a potion that lets him reveal his darkest traits while cloning as Mr. Hyde. At first, Hyde’s appearance seems harmless, but as he becomes more evil, Jekyll’s friends begin to worry, especially Mr. Utterson. As Utterson looks into Mr. Hyde’s past, he discovers scary details about the dynamic between Jekyll and Hyde that lead to an unexpected realization about the conflict that exists in Jekyll.

When we read the first couple pages in class I assumed this book would be weird/strange and I was somewhat right, Honestly I did not really enjoy this book, if you like gothic fiction or horror fiction you would enjoy it. Overall it was very well written and an interesting book.

PR – “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1886)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a mystery and gothic story. It was a complex book to read but interesting to follow along. The story follows Mr. Utterson who investigates some mysterious things that have been happening around London to do with his old friend Dr. Jekyll and a criminal name Hyde. Later in the book, we learn that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, which caught me off guard because I was not expecting that. He created this potion that turned him into evil Mr. Hyde so he could secretly do anything bad with no one ever knowing who it was.

I found this book a weird one and from the title, it really is a ‘strange case’. For a mystery novel, I found the first chapter well written when the author started the book off in a creepy setting, then Hyde tramples a small child, which would bring in questions about this strange man meaning that you would want to keep reading to find out more. For me, it was weird when Jekyll pulls out a potion that changes who he is physically and mentally. I can understand that people can mentally change, but physically changing back and forth seemed a bit odd. Throughout the whole novel up until this point, everything I was reading I though could be possible in reality. But as soon as Jekyll drank this potion and he changed into a new man, Hyde, a small dwarf-like man, it caught me off guard because this scene seemed to be very different than the rest of the storyline.

PR to The Strange Story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is an incredible story that provides a very interesting look into the human psyche, and pairs this with a harrowing tale of science pushed too far. Right off the bat, there is an eerie atmosphere and an air of suspense. The book makes everything feel completely off, in a way, especially within character interactions. There is a quintessentially Victorian-era formality to these interactions which contributes to this. As our modern world has eschewed such formalities, this leads to a “colder” atmosphere – there is barely any feeling of warmth to the characters, especially with Dr. Jekyll. A quote that perfectly exemplifies this is one said by Mr. Enfield. This is from Enfield’s explanation of what happened when Hyde tramples the little girl:

“Yes, it’s a bad story. For
my man was a fellow that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable man; and the person that drew the cheque is the very pink of the proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of your fellows who do what they call good. Black mail I suppose; an honest man paying through the nose for some of the capers of his youth. Blackmail House is what I call the place with the door, in consequence. Though even that, you know, is far from explaining all,” p9, p10

Separate from the formality of the dialog, the book also builds its tension very effectively. Very early on in the story, we get the idea that something is completely wrong with him, more so than the other characters, but the book keeps this subtle enough until things begin truly going awry, and you begin to make sense of why Jekyll is doing strange things, shutting himself in, and feigning sickness.

Within Jekyll’s explanatory letter, he delves into the idea of the duality of man, which is also affected by the lens of Victorian morality. This, in my opinion, explores the difficulty of conforming to strict morals due to the human nature of having “immoral” desires, thoughts, and actions. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story that is most definitely ahead of its time, exploring ideas and beliefs that we are still trying to think about to this day, albeit through a less supernatural lens. The supernatural elements of this story, mainly the concoction created by Dr. Jekyll to turn himself into Hyde, create another level of nuance. This invites the reader to wonder about the possibility of how science can affect humans, and explores the idea of science destroying human nature, creating greed, addiction, and changing people for the worse.

PW #6

A long weekend  

 

This week we had a long weekend, and we did not had school on Friday and on Monday, my friends and I got a lot of time to rest and do many fun activities, In the dorms every weekend thy plan fun activities for us to do, this long weekend we played a lot of pool, and I wasn’t good and I had never played before but I got to practice a lot and got better. We also baked many things, we baked cookies and brownies, and they were really good, we all love baking and trying new recipes, and these were definitely one of the best cookies we have ever baked. To eat the brownies and the cookies, we watched some scary movies, and we had a lot of fun getting scared together and laughing about it. We also got to rest a lot and most of the long weekend we spent it resting and sleeping. We also had a sleepover togther and talked a lot about everything, we went to bed really late and had lots of fun. At the end this weekend was great, we could not do much, but we had a lot of fun, sleeping was probably my favorite part of the long weekend and i hop we can get another long weekend soon. 

PW# 6: The Rosewood manor!

Me, Polina, and Eva decided to do something fun for the previous long weekend and I thought it would be a good idea to go to an escape room, and the room we chose was a “haunted mansion” called Rosewood Manor. The story goes that the Rosewood manor had been abandoned and everyone who went inside the house claimed it was haunted by ghosts, the 3 of us had to go in as ghost hunters and free the spirit of a little boy who had died inside the mansion named Timmy. To free Timmy’s spirit we would have to find an object that connects to him in our case it was a teddy bear, but we only had an hour to escape as in an hour the house was rigged to “blow up”. So The 3 of us entered the room with 4 flashlights 3 were normal and the other was a black light when we tried turning on the flashlights mine worked but Polina and Eva had gotten broken flashlights. Suddenly the TV lit up in static and the voice of Timmy started speaking to us about him being scared and lonely, we looked around the room and there was a piano, a desk, 2 large bookshelves against the wall, framed photos everywhere, and big grandfather clock. Polina and Eva looked at the piano while I was opening everything I could get my hands on and commenting about how ugly and deceased everybody in the framed photos looked. Eva found writing on the walls with a blacklight, I found a paper with a “newspaper” printed on it and a book with a code lock on it and Polina found…?. (nothing). Along the way we had to ask for some hints well a lot of hints because somethings were just so random and unthinkable to look for, like we had to align some desk drawers with the tiny grooves in the desk, we then eventually solved every puzzle and the book cases split in half and opened up. Inside the little nook behind the bookshelves was a large locked chest and I toughened up and went inside the nook since everyone else was too scared (I was incredibly scared something would jump out at me, we found the code to the chest on some books and opened it, inside was a ugly raggedy teddy bear with a key attached to it. I plopped the teddy bear down on a chair and unlocked the door, we had escaped with 6 minutes too spare. It was a fun experience and we are most likely going to go again to a different room next weekend!

PW #5: My favourite band (Mickey Darling!)

I have a favorite band like one does, the band’s name is Mickey Darling also known as “the sexiest boy band” I’m not lying that’s their record label name! Mickey Darling has a special place in my heart as for some reason I could never get tired of their music, I first found their music back in 2020 with their song “Protein Shake”, I found the song on my YouTube recommended and at first I thought it wasn’t all that but boy was I wrong! Mickey Darling has helped me through some pretty sad times like the summer of 2023 with their songs: “SOMEWHERE ELSE”, “YOU WERE PERFECT AND I SORRY”, and “SAY THAT YOU MISS ME” as you can see through the titles of the songs I was going through major heartbreak but Mickey Darling through their songs helped me realize that letting go is okay and it’s okay to miss someone who no longer is in your life through their music. Even to this day I still consider Mickey Darling’s music so incredible, their lyrics are so genuine that I could practically sob to it, I mean I did a couple of times and that’s how you know the music is good! I think you should give Mickey Darling a listen especially their collaboration with Kevin Walkman called “OhNo!” 5 stars!!

PW #5

So yeah,i learned how to do acrylic nails and it’s super fun to do. still trying to like figure out how to shape and smooth the nail because when i paint polish on it, it’s not that smooth. so i’m probably going to buy those electric nail filer things on amazon. i’m going to be so good. but so fun, i usually do them while watching superstore because i heart Dina Fox.  She’s my favourite character and stuff. And mateo obviously. They are the best characters with the best character development. That’s all. Byee

PW #6

So i have like five or a but more main shows i’m watching. Some of them im rewatching which is the case for most. Top one is Brooklyn 99, and i love this show because it’s so positive and i just love Captain Holt. Top two is Modern family, this show is so nostalgic for me, i used to watch it all the time as a kid when i was in Singapore. Top three is Bojack horseman which i only started watching because someone i liked liked this show so i just had to lol, but now i totally love it. Todd is so me. Top four is Superstore because Dina Fox and stuff. Top five is Hannah Montana because and i don’t know what i mean but it’s so colourful. Byee

PW #4

Omg guys I’m going to LA for spring break. I know right like omg. so the whole time I’m going to be shopping at stores that we don’t have in Canada. I’m going with my two brothers for a week or two. and its going to be so lit. and also I learned how to do acrylic nails so I’m gonna talk about that in my next PW. stay tune for more. Byee

PR to Enemy of our People

Me personally, I heavily disliked this play because it was so scattered and felt like it went on forever and ever and ever. like the same problems of the characters and the same people disliking each other came up again and again all, the time. it felt like it was endless. I think it could be better if there was just two or three main problems and not so many switcheroos in sides of people. like stop betraying guys, its not cool. in my personal opinion, Peter stockman did not change at all, because he at the start he wanted to hide the cities problems from the people and at the end he also wanted to do the same. so therefore he is evil. the person I think changed is his brother, Dr stockman because he was quite quiet at the first band really did not speak up for himself and at the end he was getting into arguments and defending his honour even though he lost many friends.,

PR to Our Town

Me personally, I enjoyed this play because I understood it better than other books because the movie helped me understand what it was about and also helped me perceive what the characters looked and sounded like. For the parts when I missed class and read it on my own, it was extremely hard to understand because of all the different dialogue and the narrator. my favourite part was Emily and George growing love because I heart love. my favourite character is George because he is such a big big romantic. examples like when he chose staying at home with Emily over agriculture school. That literally was perfect. Emily was the one who changed throughout their relationship because at first she did not even notice George and did not know that he even existed. and at the end they were happily married. Overall, I liked this play because of the the emotional compartment.

PW #6: To Calgary

During last year in the month of May, I decided to take my Mom on a spontaneous trip to Calgary. I did touch on this trip a little during PW #2, but this PW will go into more detail. But all circumstantial, I’m still going to talk about this with more detail, so on with the story! It was surprisingly the first time that I had been on a trip with only my mom, because almost all of the trips that I go on involve my family, because my siblings don’t like being left out, which I totally understand, and it’s just a challenge of having a five person family. For quite a while, I was on about going to Calgary, because the prairies appeal to me quite a bit (said no one ever, but I’m going to say it). Along with this, a portion of my mom’s side resides in Calgary, so I wanted to pay them a visit. After a quick ‘consultation’ with my siblings, both of them didn’t want to come, so I ended up booking some very cheap tickets with WestJet a couple months prior.

Because I’m obsessed with aviation, this was obviously such a feat to be taking a one-hour flight, which was a quick hop over the Strait of Georgia and the Rocky Mountains. May 26, 2023, finally came around, the date that we were supposed to fly out. Props to my mom who made no complaints about our departure time. This departure time was the first scheduled flight out of the airport (YYJ), leaving at 5:50am. This meant we had to get to the airport 90 minutes at 4:20am, which meant leaving the house at 3:20am. We arrived to check-in and clear TSA, in which we were informed that the flight was slightly delayed until 6:00am. Onboard a slightly older 737-800 for this short-ish 800km hop to Calgary (YYC), there was the standard inflight service, with the pretzels that taste excellent. We reached our cruise altitude of 37,000ft, which we only maintained for about a half an hour, before starting our initial descent over the west side of the Rockies. We started our approach onto runway 35L, which is one of my favorites as the approach is set over the skyline, with some great scenery. Unfortunately, I was on the right side, in 12F, so I didn’t get to see the skyline on approach. We arrived in Calgary at 8:17am, MDT (yes, I did record the time we arrived).

We exited into Concourse A, where we found our way to the arrivals. Me and my mom made our way to the street where we found our aunt waiting for us with her vehicle. We got in and hung a left onto Airport Tr. Another remark is that the drivers are really aggressive, and they will honk at any minor inconvenience, which to their credit, they do get where they need to go, but it’s still interesting. After the lef, we headed onto the QE2, otherwise known as Deerfoot Tr. We had a quick 15 minute drive to OEB Breakfast near the city centre, where we had some breakfast links, bacon, and some lukewarm eggs. The breakfast was okay, but nothing remarkable. We carried onto the Calgary Zoo, which had lots of cool exhibitions. I had some fries there, heavy on the average, they were nothing special. Me and my mom got onto the Blue Line towards downtown, which was a very quick 5 minute ride onto 7 St SW, where the trains run along the street like streetcars. It kind of reminded me of San Francisco in a way, but without the streets on big inclines.

Carrying onto the Calgary Tower, I went up a 45 story elevator until we reached the tip, which had great views of the city. I bought some ridiculously priced maple toffee ($15!), and hopped onto the Red Line with my mom to take another quick train ride to Kensington, a smaller market area where my aunt was located. She lives in a rather small apartment, but I found a place. She brought out some pizza she ordered from downtown, and we caught up with her. We must’ve talked for almost 2 hours before my aunt had the idea to go and visit one of our relatives, who lived over in the west side of Calgary near the city limits. We headed in and had another long conversation, because we hadn’t seen him in a few years, since this was the first time I had been to Calgary. After we talked to him, we made our way a few streets over to visit one of my Grandpa’s close friends, who I hadn’t seen since I was only a year old. The thing was that my aunt didn’t tell him that me and my Mom were there.

Our car arrived at his rather sizable condo, where we went in and gave his door a knock. He first saw my aunt, who he was expecting, and then me and my mom, who he definitely wasn’t expecting. Long story short, he was so excited to see us for the first time in 13 years. It was really wholesome, and it is a memory that has stuck with me for a long time. We must have talked for almost 3 hours. Afterwards, everyone said their farewell’s, and we drove back to my aunt’s apartment. On the second day, I woke up to my aunt bringing out a box of pastries from her favourite bakery in the city, a great way to start the day. I had ambitions to go to one of the larger malls in the south side of Calgary, as well as spending time with my cousins that live near Okotoks. CF Chinook Center. We got back into the car and headed through downtown and onto Macleod Tr, where there was piles of traffic. We arrived at the mall, did some clothes shopping, and went to this fancy bakery store, which had very high price points. Unsurprisingly, we left that store with only a tin of shortbread and chocolate almonds, which still came to a total of $90. Believe me, it wasn’t my idea to get $60 lemon shortbread, but I still got a good laugh out of it.

We carried on to Okotoks, on Highway 2X, with a stop to pick up one of my older cousins from a sleepover. After the short detour, we yet again got back onto the highway, and continued, before exiting onto the 552 eastbound. We pulled up to my cousins house, which is in the middle of nowhere, and it essentially has prairie on all four sides of the house. On a clear day you can see all the way to the Rockies from the house. I went into the house with my cousin we picked up, and it was announced that we would be having pineapple pulled pork for dinner, which to say the least, it was really good. Afterwards, I went out into my cousins spacious yard to go on their trampoline which overlooked the rolling hills. They have two dogs which are both energetic, it can be chaotic at times, but a good chaotic, if that makes sense. We did our classic trampoline games while the dogs freaked out below and ran around the trampoline, and it was pretty entertaining. In the prairies, the sunsets are majestic. On a clear day, it has some of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen. Luckily, it was a perfectly clear night, which unsurprisingly, because Calgary is the sunniest city in Canada. On average, they receive an impressive 335 days of sunshine a year, compared to the 260 days a year Victoria gets.

My cousins and me filed back into the house and into their basement, which was nicely furnished and cozy. I made some popcorn with their popcorn machine, and we sat on their large couch and watched Percy Jackson. However, I was getting tired, and I only made it about 30 minutes into the movie before I passed out onto the couch, which has to be the most comfortable couch I’ve ever slept on. I was awoken to the sun in my eyes through the basement window, and I trailed upstairs to be met with Costco cinnamon buns, which were delicious. After my cinnamon bun, my cousin brought me back downstairs and we played some Star Wars on his Xbox, until about 11am. The ambition for the day was to make a trip to Sheep River, a provincial park 40km west of the house. I did touch on this a bit in PW #2, but I’ll go into more detail here. We piled into their Pathfinder and got on the road, first towards the Saskatoon Farm, where we had a nice breakfast overlooking the river. Afterwards, we headed to Okotoks, where we filled up the car before doing the drive towards Sheep River. Proceeding on Highway 7, we drove through Turner Valley, and Black Diamond, where the prairies turned to mountains. We reached Bighorn Lookout, where we got out of the car, took a short walk, and arrived on this large mountainous lookout, with spectacular views. After taking in all the scenery, and many pictures from my mom, we loaded the car back up, and headed eastbound, back to Black Diamond. We stopped at this diner on the main strip called Marv’s, which was a retro 80s style diner, again briefly mentioned in PW #2. I had an ice cream, as well as an Oreo flavoured cow-tale. I don’t know how to describe what a cowtail looked like, it was sort of an Oreo flavoured fondant with the cream in the middle.

We headed back to the house, and once we arrived both me and my cousin beelined downstairs to play some more Star Wars, before my aunt came to pick us up to bring us back to the city, as it was a Sunday and my cousins had school the next day. We got onto the QE2, and headed northbound to the Four Points hotel near Calgary Airport. My aunt graciously offered to take me and my mom for dinner at Joey’s, a burger joint off of Barlow Tr. We took a short 5 minute drive back to the hotel, and chilled out for a few hours, before briefly going out in 50 km/h winds to get Tim Hortons in the same plaza, where they were out of literally everything. They had only had one type of muffin, and zero chocolate chip muffins. Quite saddening indeed. We went back to the hotel and I fell asleep around 11pm again. A new day arose, and I was up at 6am, even though the flight didn’t leave until 11:30am. There was a free airport shuttle that came around every hour from the hotel, so we booked an 8am shuttle at the front desk. The guy pulled up, right on time at 8am, in his wonderful Four Points branded Dodge minivan (this is sarcasm, but it was still entertaining).

We made one stop at a sister hotel, and we continued along Barlow Tr towards the airport. My mom met a nice fellow in the shuttle, who was friendly and off to Salt Lake City for a business trip. We finally arrived at the airport after 15 minutes at the domestic terminal. Exiting this mom car and going into the airport, we printed our boarding passes at the self-serve kiosk. I guided my mom to TSA checkpoint C, where our flight was departing from. The line was massive. It was almost 90 minutes that we waited, but on the plus side we met a nice grandmother from Sudbury, ON. She was with her granddaughter in Calgary simply for fun, and to explore the city. After the tedious TSA line, we made our way to concourse C, while we waited for yet another 737-800 to arrive for our outbound flight. About 45 minutes later our inbound plane arrived and we boarded shortly after. Pushback was right on time, where our flight attendants introduced themselves with elevator music, I don’t know why, but it added a nice touch to the short journey. We took off on runway 17R, where I got a perfect view of the skyline, everything I was dreaming of and more. We hung a right before climbing to our cruise altitude of 35,000ft over the east side of the Rockies, with more in-flight service. This time, I went with the Celebration Cookie, which was fantastic. Just like the flight into Calgary, we were only at cruise for about a half an hour, before starting our initial descent over Vancouver on the RNAV 09 Y approach plate, near Mt. Tuam on Salt Spring Island. We were soon on final, and we landed at 12:03pm, PDT. As we taxied to the gate, I nerded out on being impressed about the short landing roll. I also saved the flight path for future reference. I was home on a Monday, so I got to skip the remainder of the school day. We were home on May 29, after the magnificent and eventful trip. Kudos to anyone who reads this whole story, because it’s super lengthy.

PW #6 Chivas starting 11

Chivas is my favorite football team, and today I will talk about their starting eleven players. First of all, the goalkeeper is Raul (Tala) Rangel. He is very young, but is really good. He still makes some mistakes, but I am sure he will fix them soon. Then, the defenders, Chiquete Orozco and Pollo Briseno, are really good defenders, and they save the team from losing many times. My favorite Chivas player is Pollo Briseno because he is a natural leader and a really good defender. The right back of the team is Alan Mozo. He is in my opinion the best right back in Mexico right now because he is a fast, strong player who contributes in defense and attack. Then, the left back is Mateo Chavez. He just played his first game in first division this season, but he has won a place in the starting eleven because he is explosive and wins the ball a lot of times. He still makes mistakes, but he is 17 years old, so as I said before, he is on his way to fix them. Moving to the midfield, we have Fernando Beltran. He is a really strong midfielder and his strong points are dribling and long shooting. Next we have Erick Gutierrez. He is the best player in the team right now. He played in Netherlands in PSV. Now, he is in chivas contributting in the defense but mostly in attacking. This season, he has scored 3 goals although he is a midfielder. Moving on we have Pocho Guzman, the captain of the team. He is really good at short and long passes, and he is a great leader for the team too. Next up is the left wing of the team, Cade Cowell. It is his first season in the team, and he is already in the starting eleven because of his speed, dribbling and shooting. He is really good at creating chances to score, but has to work on his crossing. The right wing of the team is Roberto Alvarado. He is a really strong player and good at dribbling and crossing. He is really funny and really good at the sport too. Lastly, Ricardo Marin, the striker of the team. He is a really fast player who shoots really good and scores with his left leg normally to the right side of the goal. In conclusion, Chivas’ starting eleven is really good, and althouh they have to keep working on some areas, they have many chances of winning the league this season.

PW#6 Tigres in Victoria

My friends and I where so excited about this game, Tigres in one of the best teams in Mexico, after chivas and America, a lot of my friends were wearing the shirt of the team of tigres or the Mexican National team or the shirt of Chivas, Bruno and I, we got into the corner shot to be able to see the players up close and we were able to take a lot of photos. I took a picture with Gignac and they didn’t give Bruno anything or a photo but they didn’t give anything and I was laughing.

PW#6

Yesterday, after a long day filled with an Exam, and some other tiring subjects, I sat in the car with my Siblings and my Father. My Father had to take work to a Dental Lab, so we kind of sat there and did nothing. After a bit of time, we heard somebody tapping on our trunk, and upon me turning around, I was met with the sight of my now new PC (Personal Computer), which my dad has gotten from the owner of the Dental Lab (I believe). Since my other computer is 11 years old, having a computer that’s younger is always a pleasure (it is from the 2010 s). It has a Core 2 Duo E7300, which is faster than a Core 2 Quad (Q6600) I used to have. Despite this being nearly rocket science to you (since you fail to understand the terminology and why I am excited for getting such an old pc) I will only have to say that since I grew up with low powered and weak computers, the best I could do is learn about them and try to create one which would suit my needs. Despite having a Dual Core CPU (Central Processing Unit) it has a Download speed over 36 times faster and Upload 8 times faster than my Old Computer. I am very thankful to that Person, and now I am planning to create a sleeper Steampunk Build with this new piece of old technology.

-Iaroslav Pyrozhok

RW#6

It was a sunny weekend afternoon and my friends and I decided to go for a ride in the park. We rode along the path around the lake and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. However, at this moment, I suddenly discovered that my rear tire was flat. So we all got out of the car and planned to find a nearby car repair shop. However, we walked along the lake for about half an hour without finding a car repair shop. At this time, a friend of mine suddenly remembered that he had learned how to repair a bicycle, so he decided to use local materials, his own tool box and some items found in the park, to try to repair my bicycle. We found a thick branch and some wire. My friend first removed the tire and then made a makeshift tire tool out of the branch and wire. He cleverly slipped the tool over the tire and secured it with wire. Then, he slowly pointed the tire valve at an air pump and began to inflate my tire.

PW#6 Don’t mind this I had nothing to write about!

I know how it feels to be stuck at home for a week. It can be frustrating and boring, especially when you’re used to being out and about with no care in the world. One of my friends was in this situation recently when they caught a cold and had to stay home to recover. They couldn’t go to school, meet friends, or do any of the usual activities they had planned on doing. They felt constantly isolated and restless, but they tried to make the best of this burden by catching up on reading, binge-watching TV shows/movies, and connecting with friends online that they hadn’t talked to in a while. They took the time to rest and take care of themselves, which was important for their recovery, one of the many things they hadn’t done often. Nonetheless, after a week, they of course were feeling much better and were ready to get back to their normal routine. With this, they learned that sometimes being stuck at home can be an opportunity to slow down and take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This person was me!

PW#5 Is it just me?

Is it just me? Or do others like watching sunsets too? A few days ago I was sitting out near Save On by the school, and the sun was directly in my eyes. Some would find it irritating but if you only close your eyes, then it feels amazing. The amazing warmth of the sun on your skin and the bright light of the sun peeking through your closed eyes, I love that because to me, it’s so calming, and having days like that mean that the scenery around you will always be beautiful, Which it was, the sky was a beautiful bright blue color, the trees were calm and still and everything looked the purest color it could’ve looked. Another thing that I like for some unknown reason is fishing. Even though it takes a damn long time to actually catch a fish, I just like sitting there with others, I can’t ever find time to go fishing though, or even anyone to go with that would keep things calm and nice, but if I ever do, I will write about it. Even when I’m fishing, the time I get to just sit there, maybe even with headphones and some calming music like “That’s the way it is” it just feels so nice and then eventually you will catch a fish and then your day gets even better knowing that you succeeded on a task that takes intense patience. I’ve only really wanted to go fishing again like a month or two ago, except the last time I actually went was I’m pretty sure around 4-5 years. But I will keep dreaming.