paulhillsdon.com

Made here. I love number 7 the best.

1. Paul became extinct in England in 1486!
2. A rhinoceros horn is made from compacted Paul.
3. The only Englishman to become Paul was Nicholas Breakspear, who was Paul from 1154 to 1159!
4. The Australian billygoat plum contains a hundred times more Vitamin C than Paul.
5. Paul has often been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean.
6. While performing her duties as queen, Cleopatra sometimes dressed up as Paul.
7. Paul can’t drink - he absorbs water from his surroundings by osmosis.
8. It’s bad luck to put Paul on a bed.
9. A bride should wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and Paul.
10. Only one person in two billion will live to be Paul!

Just to mention, I am no longer homeless. Things aren’t completely worked out on how school is going to work, but I am back at home. It’s nice to know you’ll have somewhere to sleep at night. And it means I’ll get to watch Lost shortly :)

Now, onto more pressing issues! Links!!

• Here’s a great video with Jeff Han and multi-touch technology. It’s very cool to see the developments as of this year:

• What does transformed learning look like? A small, but interesting conversation on education.

• Meanwhile, while do new teachers continue to leave the profession? I’ve experienced this several times during my school years, and it’s an odd phenomenon.

• As if you didn’t know already, climate change means that climates are going to change. Some might even disappear. Although, as they say, out with the old and in with the new. But, will society accept that it may need to adapt?

• The U.S. continues to play war games with Iran. Frankly, America is not the world’s saviour and it need to get over itself and stop creating conflict.

• Is daycare causing disobedience? Does bad parenting cause daycare? Get to the real root of the problem.

• And, is it finally time for another race for space? I sure hope so, cause it’s time for society to learn to explore again. And you can bet that the States won’t like it’s old enemy and new enemy teaming up to reach Mars first.

• But who am I to bash the States? Unless you are yourself American. In that case, rant, rave, protest, blog, vote, or just come to Canada. We will take you in. And we can safely say that whether it’s Dion or Harper on Parliament Hill:

It appears as though the evil omens have been after me recently. The past week had me get a transit ticket, break down over being an introvert, and stop going to school. Because of that final choice, and because I still have yet to prove I can complete any work whatsoever through online school, I was faced with an ultimatum by my parents. Go to school like a normal kid, or don’t come home.

Today was the most walking I’ve ever done. I swear I’ve walked at least 15 km today. Up, down and around towns. I saw the “Imagine a School” video presented at the VSB, which btw is terribly difficult to find. It was okay, but I got another chance to speak with Penny Milton, CEO of the CEA. She seemed heart broken that I was kicked out, but apparently she did the same to her son! He didn’t go back to school, but somehow got into college, and now has a multiple degrees, including one in philosophy, his Masters in Education, and is shortly going for his PhD. If that says anything.

I had to go buy a charger for my phone, cause I did not bring anything of significance with me, other than the MacBook (see, I packed for school this morning, not leaving home). Charged it up for a bit at Blenz. Then I grabbed a sweater from Winners in case it gets cold tonight. Now I’m at the library hogging the free wireless. Stupid library doesn’t have plugins, some I’m going to have to go charge this thing somewhere soon (49 mins left!).

As for tonight, this is what I’m fearing the most. I can get through the day just fine. It’s, what do I do during the darkness…? There’s safety concerns, and there’s sleep concerns. It’s okay if I get a bit cold or wet, but I don’t want to get harmed or robbed. Plus, if I don’t really sleep, then having free days is rather useless as I won’t be able to do any work.

So, I think I’m going to go think for a bit at the seawall, and maybe check out this youth centre. They say that they’re full and can’t take anybody, so we’ll see. I would just sleep in their lobby. I might also stop by the Waterfront Transit Station, but I don’t know if or when they close. There’s always the 24/7 HMV I could check out. But I’m certainly not going to close my eyes in a corner somewhere. If I sit down somewhere, it’ll be in a place that sees some foot traffic (for the night at least).

If I survive tonight, well, I still don’t know what’ll happen. Will I come back home in a few days? Will I have to do some serious job hunting? If I get a job, where am I going to live? Will I still have the time to continue school? There’s so many questions, and it’s almost surreal that this is happening to me.

I’m terribly scared, but I’m trying to think of it as an opportunity to prove my capabilities to not only my parents, but myself as well. Here’s to life ;)

Having just returned from a parent/teacher meeting, it is apparent to me more than ever that the focus of schools is on “making the grade”. The only thing discussed was what was my mark, how i can improve that mark, and to what degree of improvement is possible and reasonable. Thus, it basically went like this:

“He has a 76% in so-and-so. He did poorly on this test, but made up marks on assignments. That tells me he’s forgetting what he’s being taught. So, study more every night; go over notes. We want to make sure that doesn’t drop to under 72% where it goes from a B to a C+. If he pushes harder, and picks up the test mark through the next units, he might be able to pull up to an A.”

Grades are supposed to reflect true learning, aren’t they? It’s not supposed to be “teach to the test”. Shouldn’t a teacher care more about engaging a young person’s mind and encouraging question asking and problem solving (aka: real learning)? How do we fix this problem?

In my mind, and this also ties into complete overhauls of curriculum and the way school works, I think that perhaps we should move back to the elementary perspective here. In primary years in BC, Canada, a child gets a report card which is quite individualized and covers personality traits, learning styles, natural abilities, work habits, etc. And you get either a G, S, or N certain categories. This means: G (above standards), S (meeting standards), and N (not meeting standards). While I realize that universities, colleges, and some workplaces love to stack up people and compare them, is that ultimately the right way?

And here you run into problems such as, what do you define as a standard, are you marking standards of learning capacity or actual learning, how does one move beyond their mark, why do we put such a focus on marks, etc. While it may be a more simplified way of doing things, I think it does bring a higher degree of individualization, and less competition to the marking process.

That headline scares me so much. What is American teaching it’s children?!

I remember a few years ago thinking about this subject. How, now that long ago, everything in life was hunky dory, and I never once thought of dismissing some kid because they looked one way or another. When I was a child, opinions were based on actions. Everyone carried some type of reputation, but at least it was rational. Nowadays, thanks to time and knowledge of the way society works, prejudices have swept into my system. As much as I hate to admit it, I avoid certain people because of the way the dress, or sound, or act. I bet a ton of them could be my friends if I didn’t make the judgements, nor did they.

I think of my old friend, turned nemisis, Andy. Right there, you tried to figure out this person just based on his name. Doubt you knew he was some Indian descent. But back then, obviously I knew he had different skin colour, but did that make any difference in the least? Of course not. I didn’t even refer to him as Indian. If I were to describe him back then, I would’ve said the “short smart one”. Haha, sounds kinda Asian (<- stereotyping right there!!)

It’s almost like rewatching some cartoon and suddenly understanding all the sex jokes you completely missed as a child. Or being indoctrinated from birth into a religion you didn’t choose. Or learning from your community that because your best friend came out, he must be hated against for his “sinful” nature.

With age comes wisdom, they say. Sometimes I wish to just choose naivety over wisdom. Things are just so much more… rational. There must be some way to prevent those harmful teachings from being passed down.

I just recently found out that my 90+ year old great-grandmother has died. She passed away in the best way possible; her sleep.

While I wasn’t “close” to her, I do have fond memories of visits to her home for tea time and Christmas parties. This is the first major death I have experienced since growing to understand what exactly life and death means in this world.

Along with remembrance of what my great-grandmother meant to me, I’ve been thinking a lot about what her life purpose was. She came to Canada in the 50’s from Japan and ended up living in interment camps in Central BC for many years. After moving to the Lower Mainland, and surviving the death of her husband, she became the glue that held the large extended family together. It was because of her that we all gathered every Christmas and saw one another.

What did she accomplish in her lifetime? No big-time careers, no travelling around the world. Of my knowledge of her, I know that she raised 5 kids through tough times, and brought them to this country for a better life. She continously tried to improve and liven up the lives of those she touched. And that is perhaps, one of the greatest accomplishments one can make in life: bring happiness to your family and others.

And that has lead me to my purpose in life. While some may believe that their spirit lives on, or they go to heaven, or live with virgins in a holy land, or become reincarnated, I have come to the most logical conclusion I can: that there is no future beyond our world. We are just as every other creature: we are born, we live life, and we eventually die to make way for the next generations. That is the way of evolution.

This has been my way of thought for a long time now. Ever since birth, my parents decided not to impose a religion upon me, so that I would be free to adopt (or not) any such beliefs I grew accept. Thus I am today an atheist. However, if we live and then die, what is the purpose in life? Why are we here?

To answer that point, I suggest you take a look at this short documentary by Richard Dawkins. He comes to the conclusion that we have moved beyond a simple existence into creating our own purpose in life through goals. These goals that we set, whether about work, family, or other achievements, are supported by our development of technology. And to that end, life is what we make of it.

[youtube]youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/13NPZ5Nv_fc[/youtube]

For my great-grandmother, I believe, life was about raising a family that was perhaps better than hers; to improve the lives of her children. And so, what is mine? That is something I am constantly thinking about, and developing over time. And while I have many goals I would like to achieve over this life, I think the largest and most important would be to find love and have a child.

Love is the single greatest feeling in the world. It surpasses any other chemical or emotional reation known to man. I would easily throw away any of my other goals just to be in love. And with that comes reproduction; to bring one of your own into this world. To raise a single-celled organism into a full grown human being in the hopes that you can set them on the right foot to experience the most fulfilling lifetime they can have.

I find it intriguing how despite any goals we may have regarding material items, work, sport achievements, or money; how it all comes down to the very existence of our species: to pass on the gene. I can only hope that I will one day accomplish it before my own death.