Well, well, well. The year’s half over already. I gotta say, it’s been a bit different so far, a few things have changed; about me, about PLP, about the world, about everyone. We’re emerging from the ashes of the COVID-19 pandemic, I see the world in a different way than I have before, which is, of course, part of my transformation into a better person. PLP seems to switch up and adapt every year, which is, of course, what keeps it interesting. It’s also why I’m making this post, because even though it’s a good bit of work, it’s still reasonable and interesting, mainly because I can pour my soul into this post. For example, if I want to make a line that literally just says “cheeseballs” several times over, then there’s nothing that can be done to stop me other than breaking my fingers, threatening to kill me if I don’t rewrite it, or less drastic, but also less entertaining and dramatic, measures such as simply asking me to change it. The point is, it’s an amazing representation for PLP, as I can let my creativity shine, and truly produce work that I’m interested in making, which results in it being actually good.

Cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs cheeseballs

See? I’m so free, quirky and creative that I wrote TWO lines of cheeseballs! Really it came out to 3 1/2 after putting it into the blogging software, but that only proves my point further

Image source: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Utz-Cheese-Balls-23-Oz/10898644

So, it’s worth wondering, how did I learn this semester? Did I grow as a learner and is to the challenges presented to me? Did I fail miserably once again? As it was last year, I think I can simply say: “eh…”. What do I mean by that? Well, simply put, I believe that I truly did a pretty good job on my work, better than last year (partially because this year has had some of the most interesting projects yet!), and while there was certainly room for improvement, I think I can safely say I have accomplished work that I can truly be proud of through hard work, dedication, and F.A.I.L.ing. A shining example of this would be the several times I rewrote my script for our “Macbeth” adaptations for the winter exhibition. Buckle up, it’s quite a story. First, we watched parts of movie adaptations of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” to get an understanding of the play. Next, we worked on writing an adapted script which we would perform on exhibition night. The first trouble I ran into was the fact that the teacher didn’t like the Irish mob setting for my adaptation, then my seycove drug ring idea was shut down, bringing me back to the Irish mob, which was honestly kind of a win in my book. After that, I was told that the language adaptations I made were unacceptable, as I needed to use Shakespeare’s original language. I then found out (I wish I had known this earlier), that I needed to trim down the number of characters in my scene (Act V, Scene VIII) down to 3, from 5. That part was really tough, and after even more trials and tribulations, I finally had a good script. 2 years ago I don’t know if I would’ve even had the dedication to keep going.

Image source: http://crosslight.org.au/2015/09/14/political-power-and-passion-macbeth-review/

As I detailed in my “Macbeth” post, which I linked above, not everything went perfectly during the performance, and indeed nothing ever does go EXACTLY as planned. Fortunately, the ability to adapt and overcome is central to our PLP education. For example, while delivering a speech in “The Manhattan Project Project”, I admittedly forgot where I was in my lines, and indeed ended up improvising approximately 1/3 of the entire speech. It’s really a shame, as it was honestly a solid speech, but at the end of the day, I’ve been known to improvise anything that I can get away with improvising, so really it’s nothing new. As an example, I had actually fully improvised a practice speech for the same project that we were SUPPOSED to work hard on. I suppose that is probably one of my biggest flaws: overconfidence and arrogance regarding subjects of familiarity and interest. The number of things history-related that I’ve just breezed through like I knew everything already is staggering. The sad part is that my ego keeps getting fed by the fact that it usually works out just fine for me. Sometimes I think I could stand to be knocked down a peg. One thing that may help with that is the fact that the reason I didn’t link “The Manhattan Project Project” in this post is because, as of writing this, the post has not been completed…

Image source: https://blog.gaijinpot.com/teaching-japan-guide-english-speech-contests/

So, above all, I think that this year my worldview has truly broadened. My opinions on countless issues have changed drastically (let’s not talk politics!), my realization of my ever-approaching adulthood is becoming more prevalent with each year, as I even have a plan for when school ends, and a backup plan! It’s hard to imagine that I only have half a year left of the  notorious grade 11. I’ve been hearing about how awful and difficult this year would be for so long, but honestly? I’ve really been liking it! I’ve truly been having a lot of fun in PLP this year, and of course, would hope with all my heart to be reaccepted into the program next year, or even just next semester for now. Furthermore, from what I’ve heard, it’s all uphill from here! At least, until high school ends. I’ve heard your 20s aren’t a very fun time. After that I’m going to be deeply absorbed in my work. Then, considering my choice of career path, I may not be able to retire until I’m too old to really enjoy much anymore. Regardless, let’s not focus on the negative! Let’s focus on you, me, and more importantly the upcoming…

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*Brofist*

Good morrow, fine folk! By royal decree of the mighty king Nathan I of the domain of YoBoyNyate, prince of tardiness in regards to his blog posts, accomplished collector of mental disorders and frustrator of minor authority figures, thou shalt read through this informing and bounteous notice to ultimate completion on pain of missing out on this post! Thou’rt most decidedly wondering, what, praytell, could this strong and beautiful monarch be offering from his archives most plentiful in golden words? Thou shalt know the truth by, and only by, enduring this egotistical introduction for but a pittance of moments. In a few words, we mighty learners of the PLP program hath been educated most definitively on the subject of Shakespeare. For the boors in the audience ever present in all but the classiest establishments, here be thine context for the reversal of thy peasant mind.

Image source: http://www.yurtopic.com/society/people/shakespeare-facts.html

Ah, sorry about that, I couldn’t help but indulge my Shakespearean side. In all seriousness though, it seems “King Nathan I” left out the important detail of this also being related to our PLP winter exhibition. Notice how I linked the program. See, I realize I should’ve been doing that since grade 8, but it is what it is. Anyways, we do an exhibition showing off all our learning every year, which explains the title of this post for you dirty minded folks out there. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!

So, what to talk about first… hmm… need to think… unnecessary space fillers for comedic effect are good… they would also make this post seem far longer and more clever than it is… the reader either chuckled or rolled their eyes at that… the writer is grinning inside but outwardly showing off a serious case of RBS… oh yeah! I should talk about our amazing learning process! Hmm… what to start with… hard to be sure… oh yeah! We watched a lot of adaptations on our play of study, Macbeth, you know, milk of human kindness, ‘twere well it were done quickly etc. Naturally, we took notes, which unlike other years, I actually DID participate in, so it was only fun to a reasonable-for-school extent, but still, not bad! By studying these adaptations we learned a ton about the playwriting process, which equipped us for the future in which we would write our own plays. Let’s see… mine was about… okay, okay, I’ll stop doing that. Mine was a highly recommended-against scenario, specifically, I tackled the subject of the Irish mob. I’m not going to tell you ALL about my back-and-forth journey with all my writes and rewrites, just that I got a chance to F.A.I.L (first attempt in learning), S.A.I.L (second attempt in learning), T.A.I.L, F.A.I.L again, F.A.I.L again. S.A.I.L again, and I think you get the idea. In the end, I had a product that I believed I could be truly proud of. Not everything went perfect, mind you, but hey, that’s just what it it means to F.A.I.L. On a sidenote, I learned while writing this just how many numbers can be made into a _________. Attempt. In. Learning acronym.

image source:
site

Anyways, regardless of my last sentence, it’s not like I didn’t drop a huge bomb, with “not everything went according to plan” so I do believe I should talk about it. First of all, my scene was based around a huge knife fight, and the first issue with that was that I had completely forgotten to make fake knives, and I couldn’t really rewrite the whole thing on the night of the exhibition, so I managed to ahold of some butter knives. Remember that, it’ll matter later. Next was a mess-up with much more immediate consequences. So, I had volunteered to give the introduction of behalf of my theme group, which is a group made up of those who all decided on a common theme that describes all of their “Macbeth” adaptations. Now, this shouldn’t have been a problem, but I had the really bright idea of just improvising the whole thing based on some key points. That didn’t go over very well, meaning it started well, but I completely messed up and was promptly escorted off stage, then out of the building via one of those cartoon hooks they use to pull actors off stage. Just kidding, I kinda just walked away. Good news, my teacher wasn’t mad at me, as she said everyone would forget about all of this in 5 minutes. The real problem, however, came during my own performance. Aside from myself, it featured Jakub Hoffman and Logan Wickstone, and there was a little problem with line memorization, and not on my part. Regardless, the biggest mistake was mine to make. Remember those butter knives from before? Well, I may or may not have accidentally cut Jakub with one, both while rehearsing and in the play itself. Not much of the audience noticed, but I felt really bad about it. Jakub wasn’t mad, but honestly, it was a serious bad decision to use the butter knives so aggressively on my part. Like I said earlier, we all F.A.I.L from time to time.

Image source: https://thesurvivallife.com/fight-with-knife.html

In everyone’s life, they have things they want to do, and things they don’t. Furthermore, they tend to want some things more than others. I myself want to slack off, but I want to produce good quality work and get into university more than that, so here we are. It’s time to talk about the curricular competencies. Questioning is one them, and I’d say my questioning abilities are pretty solid, but not amazing, my reasoning being that I asked tons of questions of both my peers and my teachers about how to make my work better, however I could’ve asked even more, could’ve asked better questions, and could’ve been less demanding. On the topic of analyzing, I did pretty great. Why? Well, simply put, I worked hard on doing a faithful and thought-out interpretation of “Macbeth” that made sense on multiple levels, and it paid off as I see it. In terms of communication, I would go so far as to say I excelled. It seems cocky just to write this, but here we go. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s speak in front of a crowd with confidence, volume, and, more importantly, a lack of embarrassment. I truly let this, along with my rather apt proficiency in acting shine during the exhibition, and it honestly felt wonderful.

Well, when all’s said and done, that was a relatively easy and low-stress exhibition. Our teachers might disagree, but honestly, at least in grade 11, most of the work was done a while BEFORE exhibition night, and it honestly wasn’t even that much work. That’s really all I have to say, except for one other thing 

Ahhh, the second in this terrible two of summertime, ungradeable blog posts. Feels “good”. This is just going to be so fun, swell, and engaging.

So, what are we talking about? Why, another project about the significance of the North Shore. Do I sound like this concept is invoking some ire? Well, allow me to explain something my teachers hate, will hate, and have hated to hear: “The only reason anyone would care if all of North Van was destroyed would be that Ryan Reynolds would be gone” – Liam Erb. Like I said, the teachers would disagree, but I will say what I will. You can’t infringe on my right of free speech. This is a free country! This is an outrage! This is unfair! This is injustice! Down with the tyrants! Give me liberty, or give me death! ummmm… sorry… got a little bit… carried away there let’s say. Regardless, this is a project all about significance on the North Shore.

Image source: http://thetyee.ca/Culture/2018/01/08/America-Fractures-Beginning/

So, my project. As I may have mentioned before in this blog but am too lazy to go back and check, I have a great passion for history and politics. If you think that’s boring, then you are an unkempt, mundane, feeble-minded, boorish simpleton and I shall not entertain you any longer you provincial peasant. Wow… I’m a bit on edge right now… I went from Canadian, to American, to British. Ideally I don’t become Russian next. That reminds me, did you know that I have actually written posts on here entirely in Russian? This was BEFORE the invasion, mind you, so it wasn’t in poor taste at that point. Well, that’s not true, but it was LESS true then. Anyways, I created my project on the Korean war’s impact on North Vancouver, although I was allowed to extent it to greater Vancouver, as it was a bit hard to focus on Korea and North Van when it’s literally the most white area of the city. See, that’s a little thing called systemic racism, considering that non-white people are often set up for failure resulting in us crackers being far wealthier than everybody else. I think I did an ok job on the Korean War regardless though, as knowledge of history helped, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Vancouver has been one of the most important places regarding Korean War discussions.

Image source: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/gapyeong-stone-korean-war-memorial-langley

WELL… two posts in one day, a mandatory watching of night of the museum, a haircut, and then a 2:30 am departure for New York. If I wasn’t super privileged to have access to these things, I’d probably complain about this all taking too much time. That’s the end of this one, yet it ends like all of them do.

*brofist*

Well… haven’t done this for a while…

If you’re wondering what I mean by that, well, read my earlier blog posts. The short version is that it’s been a while since I’ve had to make a post about not having REALLY completed a project. What was that, you may ask? It was our “believe in good” project that focused on learning and growing as people via learning about the mantras, yes, that’s the tern I will use, of the book: “The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective people”. You’ve probably heard of this book, which we will now discuss.

Image source: https://www.simonandschuster.co.in/books/The-7-Habits-Of-Highly-Effective-People-Revised-and-Updated/Stephen-R-Covey/9781471195709

So, the Seven Habits were written and created by Steven Covey, a man who specializes in human relations. He went to the trouble to read success literature, in other words, self-help books, from the past 200 years. Specifically an American perspective, sadly, but nothing can really be done about it. Anyways he found, and keep in mind this was years before the turn of the millennium, that over the past 50 years, the so-called “Character Ethic” of BEING a good person had been overturned by the “personality ethic”, which shined light on the concept of LOOKING like a good person, and just focusing on other’s opinions of you. He concluded that people had forgotten how to be effective citizens, and so he compiled his own experiences and knowledge into a book.

Image source: https://knucklingdown.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people-is-life-changing/

Above you see the seven habits themselves. The habits that drove me to be unable to finish the project. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. I admittedly was turned away by the absolutely colossal workload that inevitably rears it’s ugly head as a result of being in PLP. Couple that with procrastination, extreme anxiety, and a lack of motivation, and things don’t always go very well. However, I DID make some interesting documents, in which I described the story of a hated man named Jimmy, who overcame his contemptible ways with the help of a habit doctrine I affectionately, in each one, said was fit for bishops and abbots. Not that I, don’t take this the wrong way this is just my opinion, have a very positive opinion of bishops or abbots, but it is what it is. I thought it was an interesting analogy.

Well, that marks the end of this contradictory post. In case you were wondering, it’s contradictory in the way that I actually IMPROVED as a learner this year. I’d like to say I’ve fully learned my lesson, but considering I’m writing this on summer break, less than 12 hours before I leave on vacation, with one more to do today, perhaps you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Fortunately, I don’t think I’m very old yet, as I’m still willing to say:

*Brofist*

Crayfish. Yes.

Sadly, the teachers would disagree. The pitch for having a crayfish projected on a giant projector screen was rejected, so we had to make do without it. The shrimp in the business section were, similarly, rejected. Sorry, I should back up a bit. Hello and welcome to our spring exhibition! Or, at least, the blog post I’m writing on it. You can’t turn back time, I’m sorry. The exhibition was good though, really good. As for the theme, impact. It was all about impact on the north shore, by individuals who have truly made a contribution to our community. These are people who’s legacies can be felt by anyone in North Vancouver, whether they know about the person or not. of course, now it’s time to get into that.

Image source: http://www.krcu.org/post/discover-nature-colorful-and-quirky-crayfish

So have you ever heard of Kevin Bell? No, I’m not talking about that one MLB player that kept getting in the way of my online research by having the same name. Anyways, Perhaps you have, perhaps not. Whether you have or not, by the end of this blog post, you will be convinced of his significance. So, Kevin Bell is a man who was instrumental in the designation of Maplewood Flats as a conservation area, and put countless amounts of time into volunteering there. His role in founding the wild bird trust, and saving the good ole’ mudflats, the best birdwatching area in North Van, from being turned into a shopping mall and an “Eco-Friendly” Marina, have truly earned him the title of a local legend. Want to know the best part? Just to lend credence to his status, I’d like to point out that it wasn’t me, him, or his family that I first heard refer to him as a local legend. That was a brief summary of a few of the fantastic qualities of Kevin Bell, now to move on to the research process.

Image source: https://www.nsnews.com/living/memory-lane-full-time-volunteer-works-for-the-birds-3050136

The research process was, as I mentioned earlier, made difficult by the interruptions from other people with the same name, but it was still possible. My main sources of information were an article written partially by Kevin Bell himself, and an interview I did with him over FaceTime. I actually first got in contact with his wife, Trisha after emailing him, and her reading it and responding to me. As for how I got that, well, you’d be surprised how easy it is to get people’s emails when attempting to do so. In other words, I got it by contacting the wild bird trust, got a reply, and was given his email, his wife’s email, etc. Due to the way I did the research, and the interesting person I was researching, it was a really cool experience.

There was more to this project, of course. There was our research on the apple ad campaign “Think different”, specifically the ad “Here’s to the crazy ones” that inspired the project. This was an ad that, while it never directly said “buy apple products”, showed several video clips of people who had been influential and made different decisions than was the norm. Whether or not they would’ve actually wanted to have any affiliation with apple whatsoever, that’s another story, for another time. We also watched movies, namely Schindler’s list and Erin Brockovich, that depicted people who truly worked hard to help others and make an impact, and I must say, movie studies are fun.

Image source: http://wallpapercave.com/think-different-apple-wallpaper

Well, all good things must come to an end, this post too. Please don’t take that out of context anyone reading this, please. Regardless, thank you all for your time, and thank you to our impact makers for changing our lives.

*Brofist*

Yet again, we are here. Yet again, we reflect. Yet again, it is time. Yet again, we present our learning. However, this time we have something better to say. Something beyond the simple childish regrets of times past. Something just special enough to truly be worth writing, as opposed to lingering within shadows of doubt. Today, we write about a time that Nathan Jack Fawkes Talbot decided to put a tiny bit more effort into school.

Image source: https://www.dailysquib.co.uk/entertainment/20781-the-science-of-surprise.html

Hard to believe, isn’t it? That yours truly would be putting some real commitment and elbow grease into something as hated as school. Whether you choose to believe it or not, keep reading, as this Tpol blog post is not a simple case of wallowing in the mud of regret and negligence, while simply scraping by off the pathetic fragments of laughably slipshod work. This time, I have at least put a little bit of effort into school, which is more than I can often say. Don’t expect this to be ALL sunshine and roses, but it will at least be little less grim than average for my presentations of learning.

Image source: http://www.uuworld.org/articles/story-light-darkness

So first off, how did I approach all of this differently than I have in the past? Well, simply put, I have put more effort in. I’ve taken more pride in my work, and learned to truly enjoy some of the more interesting projects. When I have fun or am at least engaged, I can truly do well, and some projects, such as project podcast, have really fuelled my creative spirit. I will include a link to my podcast right here. In my podcast, I had an opportunity to spread my knowledge and experiences to the world. I worked hard on it, and absolutely adored how it turned out, because I got to talk about video games, create music, and my research, well, that was the most fun part, for reasons I’m sure you can guess. Doing interviews was really cool, even if it was just people I already knew well. All in all, project podcast was a fantastic project, and it’s honestly heartbreaking that we don’t do it again in grade 11.

Of course, PLP work can be frustrating at times. Right now, I’m gonna share some experiences. So, one of the main characteristics of a PLP student is that they all constantly complain about PLP. It doesn’t mean we don’t like it, that’s just the way it is. Whenever I do that, some of my friends outside of PLP might ask: “Then why stay in PLP?”. To that, I always say that I like the program, and the work is really fun, it’s just that there’s a massive workload when compared to other courses, and it’s far more difficult to get good grades. I know this, and still, I’m staying in PLP, and hopefully, provided nobody intervenes, will stay in PLP for the entirety of my high school

Unfortunately, we now have to come to the grim part of this post. I may have done better in PLP than ever before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve done all that good. I have messed up, I have overdue work, and I understand that in that aspect, nothing has changed. However, we all F.A.I.L from time to time, nobody’s perfect, as long as I continue this trend of working harder, I believe that I will someday do truly great. No matter how many missing assignments I have, no matter how much I procrastinate, I will never truly give up.

Image source: https://www.teepublic.com/mug/381398-undertale-determination-heart

Wasn’t what you expected, now, was it? This different kind of post. This time, I was far more positive, and could safely say that I was being realistic the whole time, not optimistic, not pessimistic, realistic. I’m very proud to say that even if it’s just a little bit, I can safely say that I’ve improved, learned, and grown as a learner. Some things always stay the same though, such as the next bit.

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*Brofist*

“Jakub has a big long one” –Sophia Wu

Okay, I know how that looks, but let me explain. That statement was taken out of context by me, and is not nearly as suggestive as it seems. However, you’ll have to keep reading if you want the full explanation, after all, this all happened much later in the story.

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uoR1LIYttU

Speaking of said story, hello and welcome to another post, one where we talk about a far more interesting topic than usual, our first overnight trip in a long time. About an hour away from our school, and belonging to UBC, the University of British Columbia, loon lake was a place with exhilarating attractions and ravishing untouched wilds. In this place, we actually, despite what one might think, actually learned quite a bit. Now you, dear reader, may or may not, depending on who you are, know too much about PLP, but if you do, you’ll know that we can’t just have a vacation, we absolutely MUST learn something from it. Anyways, we focused specifically on goal-setting, and becoming better people, which, I daresay many of us undoubtedly achieved. I noticed people, specifically some of the more “popular” kids, actually holding and initiating conversations with people they wouldn’t normally go out of their way to talk to. Regardless that habit has in many ways persisted, and I can safely say I enjoy the newfound relationships I’ve formed. In brief, I’ve known these people for years, but until recently it felt like I didn’t even know them.

Image Source: http://workfos.com/10-tips-to-better-manage-your-conversation-skills/

My goal had been to be a more agreeable person than I normally am, and be more proactive when it comes to starting conversations, as I could really stand to work on that, and it’s safe to say that I, and several others, truly believed that I improved. How do I know this, you may ask? Well, near the end of the trip, we were read out anonymous comments from our peers, both our partners and any others who wished to comment, and, as much as if not more than anyone else, I got comments. It was quite nice to receive feedback about how I had been doing better at self-control, friendliness, and reading the room. Thanks to the mutual monitoring and advice of my partner for this exercise, Indy, it all worked out pretty well.

Image Source: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/goal-setting-the-first-step-to-achievement-2947147

Of course, there were plenty of fun activities as well, as could be determined from my earlier statements. To be more specific, I tried out sharpshooting in archery, though I still got beaten badly by Liam, who was actually quite practiced in the art of the bow, along with plenty of other people. I went canoeing out on the lake, partnered up with Ryder, and enjoyed both serene, calm padding and fast-paced races. I faced my fear of heights with great encouragement from my peers on the climbing wall, although the high-ropes course proved to be a little too much for me! Earlier on, we visited birds of prey such as the peregrine falcon, baard owl, and Harris Hawk at raptor’s ridge, and learned many stunning tales and captivating facts about these magnificent creatures, and finally, the last thing I will mention is the shelter-building competition, when we worked together to construct wooden structures to withstand the elements, and since wood was involved, and we needed large pieces of it, I think you can see where my earlier quote originated from. 

Well, that wraps up everything here, and I must say, it was a marvellous trip, filled with adventures and intrigue, yet also rife with academic instruction and learning. A true balance of happiness and education. I hope you enjoyed this post, as I’m gonna enjoy what comes next…

*brofist*

Yes. It’s back. The thing. The thing I, to a degree, can’t actually talk about by risk of disqualification even though we still have a lot to learn compared the other teams meaning that there won’t be any other competitions we’re a part of for months at least. The thing that, despite this, I must write about, because even though we’re now older than we normally would be doing this, covid is supposedly no excuse for missing a year of it. If you actually managed to guess that from this very vague and unhelpful description, kudos to you! If you didn’t, ah, well, I’m feeling good right now, so kudos to you too! I’m talking about Destination Imagination,  of course, known more informally and more widely referred to as D.I.

Image source: https://www.youtube.com/user/DIGlobalFinals

Now, if you’ve read my previous posts, you’ll probably know what D.I is, and I would guess nearly anyone reading this has indeed been in the domain before, but I’ll give a recap, just for fun. Destination imagination is a competition of creative and interesting minds, who select theirs challenges category as a team, and work collaboratively to form innovative solutions to their seemingly insurmountable plights. It is all about empowering minds both young and old, and teaching all about the most interesting aspects of life. Was that a good sales pitch? You decide. Regardless, we’ve got a post to continue.

Image source: https://www.blog44.ca/tamaras/2018/03/13/destination-imagination-2018-adventure-awaits/

My team opted to engage in the scientific challenge, a highly intellectual undertaking that required us to create and present a thrilling and riveting tale of at least one character, who enters a microworld of some sort, and encounters a mysterious object in the process, which must play a role in the story. The esteemed members of my great team, going by the Revolutionary name of “Yes” were Julien, Nya, Ryan, Liam, and Keenan. We combined our diverse skillset to produce an excellent final product easily worthy of our challenge. Utilizing combinations of leadership skills, technological skills, theatrical skills, craftsmanship skills, and anything in between, we felt true mutual synergy between us, and most importantly, we gave it our all. To be perfectly honest, not everything went completely according to plan, such as our custom-made light sensor not working, even though we tested it excessively beforehand and it worked then, and some of the sound effects were late or not present at all, but overall, it could’ve gone a lot worse. I could go into full detail explaining our presentation, but a picture’s worth a thousand words, and a video, more than that.

Overall, we went through a long process of hard work, labour, procrastination, anxiety, and planning to make things work. We were seemingly less productive in the first bit, although I daresay that was more of a planning phase than anything, thus meaning we did, in fact, get things done at a reasonable rate, though physical evidence of such had been put off. The second part of our project was mostly the same, with the foundations of the complex physical props and and tech stuff being completed. The third phase of it all was the culmination of our work, where we truly had a final product we could show off and be proud of. Anyways, what I’ve learned is that teamwork is the virtue above all when working in groups, and together, as a collective, we can make it all work, no matter the situation or predicament. On a sidenote, I’ve noticed that if you want to impress the teachers, you need “Wow!” Factor, not plans.

Anyways, that concludes this post, essentially everything has already been said, but despite everything, I can’t, or at least won’t, change my farewell that comes now.

*Brofist*

It is time. I’ve been waiting to do this for about a year. This is a post I was looking forward to, because writing it would mean that I did a project on the Second World War. A dreadfully intriguing topic, I daeresay it’s quite near and dear to my heart, the study of it at least. Today we’re going to be discussing not just WWII, but the thrilling podcast series made by myself and my comrades in tradecraft, by which I mean school classmates who may or may not like me. Regardless, let’s jump right in!

source: https://www.cbr.com/best-wwii-books/

Many people claim they know what they need to know about WWII, but as a (slightly modified) famous quote from George Santayana said: “those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it”. So here I am. Preventing you from becoming the next Hitler and starting a major global conflict with over 60 million casualties then surrendering to fate while completely insane in your bunker. You’re welcome. Now, a brief over view of said major global conflict.

source: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/george-santayana-221.php

Now, if you still think you know enough about WWII, refer to the quote above. Continue to reread it until you’re willing to learn. Perfect, now that that’s out of the way, let’s stop wasting time and actually write something productive. WWII in Europe started when, after a lot of suffering by the German people, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi party, was elected chancellor of the Weimar Republic, and, following the death of president and WWI general Paul Von Hindenburg, established himself as dictator for life, proceeding to then invade smaller countries until Britain and France declared war in 1939. That was quite a run-on sentence, but it is what it is. In the pacific, it started with The Japanese empire’s invasion of the China in 1937, but can be dated back to 1931, the first invasion of the Manchuria region of China. The European theatre started with an eight-month period known today as “the phone war”, which derives it’s namesake from the fact that nearly nothing important happened during that period. However, after that, things were turned upside down, and the Germans invaded France, overwhelming the French and causing their surrender within weeks, using a tactic called “Blitzkrieg”, meaning “lightning war”. To defeat a stronger military force than one’s own so easily, why even the German generals were shocked by their success. Keep in mind that many of them were opposed to war, and had proposed plans to Hitler, who knew nothing about military strategy, that were intended to fail. Annoyingly enough for Hitler, the UK was unwilling to surrender, and the two engaged in an air and naval war to take control over the English Channel to facilitate an invasion of Britain. Hitler’s disgusting nature betrayed him here, as his focus on London civilian targets for revenge of a minor bombing raid on Berlin allowed the British to get their Air Force in shape, and push back the Germans. Hitler was a megalomaniac, and decided instead of fighting back, he’d invade a massive country with the largest ground military of all time, the Soviet Union.

Source: https://www.famousbirthsdeaths.com/is-adolf-hitler-dead-or-alive/

Back to the pacific, the Japanese were scoring victory after victory, justifying their attacks on China with staged incidents, such as a Japanese train being blown up in Manchuria, or soldiers from both sides firing on each other at the Marco Polo bridge. Of course, both were done by Imperial Japan, and blamed on China. In this invasion of China, the Japanese soldiers committed horrible atrocities against the Chinese people. Many believe this kind of stuff was only in Nazi Germany, but sadly, this was not so. Despite all of this, and the fact they had taken the Chinese capital, the war in China was currently in a stalemate, so Japan started eyeing up the rest of the Asia-pacific region. There was just one problem. Countries like the United States and Britain had already colonized these regions heavily, meaning that in case of invasion, Japan would be up against the two strongest navies in the world at the time, and while it’s own was also very strong, it still wouldn’t stand a chance. In spite of these facts, Emperor Hirohito wished to claim these lands for Japan, and nobody could disobey the Emperor. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto knew this quite well, and even said that while he could put up a good fight for about half a year, it wouldn’t last, so he devised a plan to destroy the US navy before it could react. After much planning, Japanese bombers severely damaged American aircraft carriers in air raid at Pearl Harbour, where the American pacific fleet was parked for training exercises. This led the United States to declare war, and while he may not have actually said this here’s a potential quote from Yamamoto: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve”. 

Source: http://history.info/on-this-day/1943-death-admiral-yamamoto/

The initial invasion of the Soviet Union went astoundingly well. The Russians were unprepared, and their leader Joseph Stalin still held a vain hope that Hitler would keep to their 10-year non-aggression pact, giving him another 8 years to prepare for war, despite warnings from British prime minister Winston Churchill and US president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet again, the Nazis seemed to be scoring victory after victory, but come winter, they were completely unable to function properly, whereas the Soviets were in their element. After the decisive battle of Stalingrad (my podcast topic!) in 1943, the Germans began to be pushed back, and not just on the eastern front. You see, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, Hitler declared war on the United States as a show of support, meaning now, Hitler was fighting against two giants on either side of him, oh, and Britain was there too. Sorry Britain, it was a joke. If it makes you feel any better, I live in your former colony of Canada, and we did much less than you did, which I know my teacher isn’t going to like to see me write when she reads this. Anyways, with first an invasion of Fascist Italy, a German ally, by sea, and then a storming of the the beaches in the  Normandy region of France, the Germans were now in big trouble. Slowly but surely, Hitler’s forces were being pushed back on all fronts. As the Soviets marched on Berlin, and the western allies entered Germany from the west, hitler took his own life in a secure private bunker. Soon after, Germany surrendered, but the war was not over, because while Germany had given up, Japan had not.

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/sovietpoet1937/art/The-Soviet-flag-over-the-ruins-of-Berlin-1945-658879803

The Japanese had a quality that, despite their precarious situation, absolutely terrified the allied powers: they didn’t fear death. This wasn’t unheard of in European history, but most of that tradition had died out with the Vikings centuries ago. In Japan, however, honour mattered, whereas life, by comparison, did not. One might think that this was all just a piece of propaganda by the government, and most civilians completely disagreed. One would think wrongly. The Japanese fought to the bitter end on Every island the United States tried to take. They crashed their planes into US ships intentionally, called a Kamikaze attack, which was certainly more powerful than traditional bombs, but the cost of not just a whole plane, but a human life, was immeasurable. Still this continued, on and on and on. Of course, the Americans had an ace up their sleeve. Since before the beginning of the war, they had been developing a secret project, a very, very, very large bomb that would change the course of history forever. Using nuclear secrets learned from Nazi scientists in exchange for pardoning their war crimes, the USA developed the atomic bomb and told Japan that if they did not surrender they would face “prompt and utter destruction”. The Japanese did not surrender. The United States did not make an empty threat. Two atomic bombs were dropped, the “little boy” on Hiroshima, and the “fat man” on Nagasaki. After this, and the threat of a Soviet invasion from the North and an American one from the South, emperor Hirohito said “The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage”, and surrendered to the United States in 1945.

Source: https://un.globalcmf.com/2020/08/on-75th-anniversary-of-atomic-bomb-over.html

We in the PLP program here at Seycove Secondary School in North Vancouver, Canada have been hard at work educating the public about the truth of the Second World War, and it would be worth checking out the podcasts we made. If you’re interested, look up “Hidden Chapters Of WWII” on the podcasting platform “Anchor”. If you want to discover the truth behind WWII, start from episode 1, which talks about the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, or skip to the best episode, mine, episode 14, the battle of Stalingrad. A turning point in World War 2, it was the largest and bloodiest battle of the entire Second World War, but I won’t waste your time writing it here, when you can listen to a much better description yourself! While we had a great deal of freedom in this project, and I absolutely loved it, I think it’s time for me to tell you about what drove us, and the criteria we followed.

If you couldn’t guess from what I just said, we’re now going to discuss the core competencies, so, regrettably, here we go! Okay, quick! Causes and Consequences. A pretty strong area for me, especially in this project, which undeniably peaked my interest. I can say with certainty that I did my job, and did it well, on the topic of this competency. Not done! Comprehend Constructively! Go! My proficiency here was a bit of a Hot n’ Cold thing here. You know, like that one Katy Perry song. With the dancing sharks. Whatever, we’re getting off topic. I think when it came to comprehending text, an effective memory and high level of perception with regards to learning material helped, but my lack of on-time work and participation in the book chats we took part in would, reasonably, cause a bit of a drop in grades for that specific skill. There! Done! That was supposed to be fast! It wasn’t! Why am I continuing?! This is only making it slower!

Phew! That was quite the brick to slog through wasn’t it? Ignoring that fact, I’d hope you enjoyed it, because that would mean the hours that went into writing this weren’t in vain! Goodbye to you all, and despite the fact that a friend accidentally discovered how this blog and pointed out how cringe it could be, I’m still ending this the same way, because this being cringe was kinda the point!

*Brofist*

Well, well, well, look who decided to click on this post. You saw the name right? What brought you this far in search of satisfaction? Desperation? Curiosity? Quirkiness? Or are you so bored that you genuinely have nothing better to do? No matter. Whatever your reason, it’s none of my business. Henceforth, I shall graciously grant thou that which thou’s heart throbs everlastingly, insurmountably for. You liked that, didn’t you? Or should I say: dids’t thou? Well there’s more to come, for this is a post detailing a tragic love story, a tale for the ages, a rant about the strange and intimate relationship between a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old  created by a creepy guy who could genuinely be called insane: Romeo and Juliet.

Now, I’m sure you might be thinking: “you got to watch Romeo and Juliet for a school project? That sounds like you just had fun, and nothing else!” If that were all there was to it, I wouldn’t have to write about it in this post. First of all, we were asked to take some notes on the different adaptations of the story we watched. Specifically, we watched small segments of the 1968 version, the 1996 version, West Side Story, Gnomeo and Juliet, and Warm Bodies. They all had the same basic plot, being adaptations of the same play, however they all had a different twist on them, the only exceptions being that 1968 and 1996 were relatively similar. West side story took place in the 50s in the upper west side of New York, Gnomeo and Juliet took place in a more modern time period, in a garden, and featured the main characters being ornaments for said garden, and finally, warm bodies actually happened in a zombie apocalypse, with Romeo being a zombie. We also read out sections of the play, talked about them, did a few activities, and finally made a remake video of the play in our groups of 4, or in two cases, 3 or 5. I must say, it’s not half bad!

Despite all that’s changed in these posts, it’s still time to dwell on the curricular competencies. There’s connecting critically, for which I have come to the conclusion that I did quite well, due to the reasoning that I was fairly adept at weaving what I knew, what I learned, and what I wanted to know into one delightful basket, and what better to place in that basket than the next competency: constructing? As this is a similar concept, I have reached the understanding that I am equally capable in this regard. Thus, one hast performed one’s obligations dutifully, and with that, farewell!

*brofist*