Music Day - O Canada

In honour of our Canadian athletes in the Olympics... O Canada like you've never heard it before.

Title: O Canada
Artist: Angelica
Album: Rock, Stock, And Barrel
Year: 1991
Label: Intense Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.

I'm hoping to post something more than music day soon... it won't be this weekend (this weekend is a total writeoff), but maybe the week after or something. I miss posting.

Closer To Another Dream

*total fangirl squeal*

A WHITE HEART REUNION TOUR IS IN THE WORKS!

It's all very tentative... no dates yet (and the odds that they'll come to Canada at all -- never mind small boring farmer-filled Alberta -- are slim to none), but IT STILL COUNTS!

Now, I've kind of got to temper this a little bit... a few years back there was a reunion tour in the works and the whole thing got cancelled rather far into the process, but eventually one of these tour plans has got to work out.

This is killing me... the suspense, the waiting, the not knowing -- not knowing if it'll even actually happen, not knowing if they'll come to Canada, having to face the very real possibility of knowing my favourite band EVER is actually on tour and there's a very good chance I won't be able to see them...

Man... if only I didn't have to pay for dance classes and college... I could spend all summer saving up so I could roadtrip to the nearest concert. Even if it is in the States. (Crap. In that case I would need to get a passport too.)

The announcement said six dates... well, Nashville is pretty much a given, so you've got five. Even Toront -- I mean The Centre Of The Universe would be hard-pressed to get one out of five when it's got the entirety of the States to compete with.

This is why we need an album. But touring is a good sign -- I hope (desperately).

Snippets

My thoughts aren't currently coherent enough for me to make a full post on one topic, so I'm going to throw down some sound bites because I miss posting.

So I've been working on a ballet for twelve. I was trying to do it start-to-finish in the month of September... didn't quite work out that way. At this rate I'll be lucky to finish it by the end of October.

Oh, but it is gorgeous. It's turning out even better than I'd hoped. The best I can say is that it's a bit like a symphony. A symphony of dance.

In case it's not obvious from recent Music Day posts, I've been on a HUGE White Heart kick. I have Servant's The Dance (I love this song), Michael Card's The Promise, and David Meece's Early In The Morning all lined up to be choreographed next and all my creative brain wants to do is White Heart, White Heart, and more White Heart. I may just have to knock out that Say The Word duo that's been simmering in my head just to shut it up. (And Early In The Morning has a deadline on it too...)

Okay, I know I've gushed about Rick Florian's singing before, but seriously, anyone who can sing Silhouette without bursting a lung is a truly amazing human being. I tried to sing it the other day and almost passed out (the fact that I had a cold and don't yet have the lyrics memorised is a mere trifle. That song is darn difficult).

NaNoWriMo is coming! I actually have a solid plot idea too -- a tap dancer, an ex-rocker, music, someone recovering from depression, road trip, concerts, touring... it is going to be SO. MUCH. FUN.

And in case I finish that one early (which I think is likely), I also have a second very good idea that'll easily make 50k (famous last words...).

Tap classes -- on Monday my teacher asked if I play an instrument. I said no. She seemed quite surprised and asked if I sing. I said, "A little."

Apparently, according to her, my musicality is very, very good. Earlier in the class, she had said I was a natural. And then she taught me this step -- I think she called it a pullback -- where you jump and while in the air, you tap your toes on the ground. I (mostly) got the hang of it in two minutes (according to the clock in the studio). She was clearly amazed and told me it takes most people weeks to figure it out.

Also, I loathe YouTube right now. Loathe. Excuse me for being in Canada.

Stream Of Consciousness -- The London 2012 Opening Ceremonies

(If I was on Twitter, my updates during the ceremony this afternoon might have gone something like this...)

~ Okay, the Rona commercials are officially the best of the Olympics. (I still miss Frank and Gordon though -- remember them from Torino 2006 on CBC?)

~ The music at the end of the opening bit, when they'd just forged the ring -- that was beautiful. I don't remember it anymore, but I remember thinking it was beautiful.

~ Can you fathom how many people were just dancing? And then how many people were technicians, working the lights and giving direction? How crazy organised was this? More crazy -- how much time did the choreographer spend on this? I'm sure he had assistants, but still -- I have trouble keeping track of a sixteen-person formation in my head. I can't even wrap my head around several thousand.

~ I seriously almost got my camera so I could take a picture of the rings against the darkening sky, even though it was on the TV screen. Stunning. The colour was fantastic.

~ OHMYGOODNESS IT'S MR BEAN!!!

~ Wow, Mr Bean got old... still just as funny though.

~ Holy man that's a lot of spandex... I mean, I wasn't around in the seventies so I don't know, but that still seems excessive...

~ That dance to Abide With Me was so cool! Though I wouldn't have put it to such a solemn song.

~ I would so love to be a part of something like this. It doesn't matter where or how or in what position -- I just want to be on that stage.

~ Ha, look at all those iPhones in the parade of nations.

~ Are you freaking kidding me? Am I seriously going to have to listen to that crappy I Believe song every hour for seventeen days -- again? No. No. Just -- no. (And to make this worse, I think this is a network decision, meaning we Canadians are the only ones who have to suffer... come on CTV, really? Really? There haven't been any half-decent songs recorded since Vancouver 2010 that you could play ad nauseum?)

~ I hope nobody in London planned on getting a 'decent' nights' sleep tonight. That light show would wake anybody.

~ I wonder just how many human beings there are in that place. You have all the athletes from all the countries, you have the spectators, you have everyone who shows up on the stage at some point in the show, you have all the technicians and the cameramen from who knows how many networks...

~ GO CANADA GO!!!

~ I so want to pull off something even a fraction of this magnitude.

~ Did you see the ceremony? Did you see how many people where there, giving their all for this? How much effort and detail and practice went into this? And Heaven will be something like this, only more so -- all the people praising God with this intensity and passion and exuberance. And it won't be over in four hours -- it'll go on for eternity.
Awesome.

Music News...

PFR IS EMBARKING ON A REUNION TOUR!

So far there doesn't appear to be a Canada date, but hopefully, hopefully there's a booking agent in Alberta who'll bring it about because it would be a total dream come true... right up there with seeing a White Heart concert and a Classic Petra concert.

Come on, tell me you don't want to hear Walk Away From Love live...


PFR website/blog here.
Source (as posted by the classicchristian247.com Facebook page).

Kicking Things Up A Notch... Again

Even after the rally on 5 March which boasted an attendance of approximately five hundred people (rather good considering there's almost no parking at the Legislature and it was the only cold-ish day we've had all 'winter'), the Premier of Alberta and the Minister of Education refuse to hear our concerns and continue to only patronise and mock us. (Odd that; considering nearly all of Alberta is against this thing by now -- I hear that even a few MLAs have said outright they won't run for this party again because of this.)

As such, there's going to be another rally at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton on 19 March (details here). This time it's put on by the HSLDA -- the Homeschool Legal Defence Association of Canada. (The last rally was from the Alberta Home Educating Association -- the province-wide people, in other words. The HSLDA are the proverbial 'big guns' here.)

This is a big deal. The president of the HSLDA is flying out here from London for this.

We need thousands of people to be there on Monday, starting at 10.30 am. (The main bit of the rally is slated to take place at twelve noon.)

Apparently the Bill could, if the hearts of the Premier and the Education Minister continue to be hardened, pass into law as early as Tuesday, the 20th of March. We cannot let this happen.

If you are anywhere even semi-close to Alberta, please consider making the trip out here and joining me and my family and friends in the several thousand. Take the day off work if at all possible, drive several hours if that's how long it'll take you to get here. Invite as many people as you can... this concerns all present and future parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings -- not just homeschoolers.

Our freedom, and more importantly our children's freedom -- perhaps yours as well, depending where you live -- depends on this. We would be so encouraged if you could come and support us in this.

But whether you can physically join us on Monday or not, we ask that you please pray. The same God who put the mountains in place six thousand years ago, the same God who breathed the sun into existence, the same God who holds the entire universe in the span of His hand at this very moment is the same God who hears us pray today. Let us not grow weary in working to bring the glory of His name to the next generation of children.

To get up to speed on the situation, read AHEA's blog here and the HSLDA's blog here (note that the post on the HSLDA site labeled 'HSLDA Launches Appeal To Supreme Court' is about an unrelated case, but almost everything else on there right now deals with the situation in Alberta).

There are also information sessions to be held in both Calgary and Edmonton on Saturday the 17th -- details on the event page.

Apologies that this has suddenly become a political sort of blog. (I'm not that much of a nerd, honest!) However, I think the freedom of my country for future generations is an issue of paramount importance -- especially since that 'future generation' may well include children of my own and if/when I do have children, I want the freedom to raise them as I see fit.

Music Day -- And An Urgent Request

(I had a different Music Day post all ready -- complete with pictures and everything. I spent more than five hours on the stupid thing. Oh wait, heaven forbid Blogger can just put one line of text right underneath the picture, not ten tab-returns below it or beside it. So now I guess you can just read part of the text because I refuse to blow the rest of my sleeping night swearing at Blogger. I might post the pictures part later when Blogger decides it has a brain behind its operation.)

Anyway.

(*painstakingly pieced together photo montage with scary-appropriate captions that won't work goes here*)







 

The government of Alberta is taking measures to censor Christianity and erase all moral and ethical code.

In fact, it's not just Alberta. Ontario has already passed similar legislation and I think at least two other provinces have done the same. This is going to sweep Canada unless the body of Christ suits up and comes to fight. This is clearly the work of Satan, trying to make sure the future generations of Canada will not ever get the chance to hear of the just, merciful, loving, holy, majestic God who created them.

Please pray this will not come to pass. That the church of Alberta will rise up and protest -- with love and respect, but also firmly.

And we need your help now. Yes, yours.

Whether or not you homeschool your children, whether or not you even have any children, whether or not you live in Canada, whether or not you're a Christian, today is your day to speak up.

I post this at approximately 2.00 am Mountain Standard Time on the ninth of March. Two of the legal representatives of homeschooling in Canada have declared the ninth of March as a day when the pressure on the Canadian government is turned up -- substantially.

They -- we -- are asking that everyone who is concerned about this, no matter for what reason or where they live, to contact the Premier of Alberta or the Minister of Education today and respectfully make their opinions known. There has already been a phoning and letter-writing blitz going on this week, but it's only been amongst Albertans. Since the Premier and the Minister of Education continue to push for this legislation with alarming determination, we are inviting Canada, North America, the world, to join us.

I'll be posting some links below that outline the specific situation. Suffice to say, if this legislation gets passed, all I can see is Nazi Germany all over again. One of the governmental higher-ups was even quoted as saying, "(Whatever the nature of schooling -- homeschooling, private school, Catholic school -- ) we do not tolerate disrespect for differences." (Emphasis mine.)

Of course the statement was later 'retracted,' but if that doesn't sound like Hitler, I don't know what does.

Please pray. The freedom of Alberta, indeed of Canada as a whole, hangs in the balance. Not just for Christians, but for everyone who doesn't fit the 'Aryan' mould our government clearly intends to impose on us.

Now for the song (I had a nice segway here but it wouldn't have made sense without the pictures).

The other day on the commute from dance, while listening to the ShufflePod (as I call it now -- the iPod nano I listen to on shuffle), this track came on. And immediately I thought of music day.

So here it is.

Title: WAR

'Artist': John Piper

Year: 2007

Listen to and download the free MP3 here. YouTube here.

I'll let the track speak for itself... all I can say is it's powerful.

Again, please help us put pressure on the Alberta government to retract the changes to Bill 2. Whether you pray for the softening of hearts or you actually make a phone call or send an email, I as a homeschool graduate, a Canadian, and a Christian, on behalf of my Christian homeschooling parents, my Christian homeschooled siblings, and all my Christian homeschooled friends, thank you in advance.

Contact information:

Honourable Thomas Lukaszuk, Education Minister

423 Legislature Building
10800 - 97 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
Phone: (780) 427-5010
Fax: (780) 427-5018
edmonton.castledowns(at)assembly.ab.ca

Premier Alison Redford

Office of the Premier
Room 307, Legislature Building
10800-97 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2B7
Phone: 780-427-2711 (ask to be connected with the Premier’s Office)
E-mail: Use this form.

Links explaining the details of the situation:

http://www.hslda.ca/blog

http://www.aheaonline.com/

Both pages also contain links to other very informative articles.

Music Day

Remembrance Day.

It's hard to do music day on Remembrance Day. The only song I can think of that might possibly be suitable also happens to be one I absolutely cannot stand anymore.

So today's song is not explicitly related to Remembrance Day, but it makes me think of people who've lost family members, be it to natural causes or death in war.

I feel like I can't really say anything that'll do justice to those who have fought. I personally don't have any family members who have served in any wars (at least, none that I'm aware of). My grandfathers were both too young to serve in World War II. But I'm very glad there were others, other future grandfathers and grandmothers, who went and fought to make sure my country didn't lose the freedom it was built on.

Photo by Kate

Don't just remember them today, remember them always, every day.

And now for the song.

Title: Light A Candle
Artist: Avalon
Album: Joy
Year: 2000
Label: Sparrow Records
iTunes here; YouTube here.

Light a candle
For the old man who sits staring
Out a frosty windowpane
Light a candle
For the woman who is lonely
And every Christmas it's the same
For the children who need more than presents can bring...

Why I Hate Spring

According to the calendar and the sun-watchers here in Canada, it is now spring. This is a revolting development if you ask me. I hate spring. And here are the reasons why (in no particular order):

1. Mud.
I live in a very rural area. The only roads for the next four kilometres are all dirt. In the spring, this means industrial-strength mud. I have seen tractors get stuck in the stuff. No lie.

2. Melting snow.
I love snow. I don't even mind driving through it that much (in fact, it's preferable around here to drive through snow because you can at least follow the tracks other vehicles have left behind rather than dry your eyes out trying to see the centre line that hasn't been repainted for fifteen years).
One of the most painful things in the world is to watch the lovely pure white snow melt. Even more painful is to listen to people callously say things like, 'hopefully the snow melts soon' and 'finally some sun -- maybe the snow will melt.' It's like they actually enjoy watching something so beautiful shrivel up and die a horrible lingering death (see also #4).

3. Standing water.
While admittedly fun to splash around in if you're dressed for it, when you're not dressed for it the only parking space you can ever find anywhere is right in the middle of a puddle deep enough to rival Lake Winnipeg.

4. Inanely cheerful people.
No offense to my dear friends who like spring, but collectively you tend to get very annoying very quickly. Especially on Facebook. Few things are more irritating than logging in and having to wade through posts from 72 otherwise fairly mature people saying 'Sun, sun, Mr Golden Sun, please shine down on me.' (See #8.)

5. Chronically warm housemates.
I don't care that the calendar says spring. That calendar was most likely printed in California. If you haven't heard yet, they have a completely different seasonal schedule than we do in Alberta. Do not tell me to put on a sweater; in case you haven't noticed I'm wearing seven of them already and in fact do not own any more sweaters to put on.
Furthermore I do not care that the weatherman says there might possibly, maybe, perhaps, if you're lucky, be one ray of sun peeking through the clouds for about ten seconds. One ray of sun is not sufficient to melt the thirty-foot high snowdrift on your yard, so stop squealing like an idiot. Nor is it sufficient to warm the air to the point where one can wear shorts and a t-shirt and go barefoot. I have a news flash for you -- it is still minus fifteen out; SHUT THE FLIPPING WINDOWS!

6. 'Fresh' air.
In the city, spring means fresh air. Like actual fresh air that I really don't mind breathing in because it's nice.
In the country, however, spring means fertiliser. Fertiliser means animal dung. Spread all over the abundance of fields around here. And trucked back and forth and back and forth across the roads you live on to get to said fields. Also, the increase of sun (see #8) means an increase of heat, which leads to an increase of smell.
Even more intolerable are the people who have been in the country long enough that their brains have been permanently warped by the smell and claim to enjoy it. These unfortunate folk will actually roll down windows, stick their heads out and breathe deep whenever they pass a fertiliser truck or a tractor fresh from the field. Then they will spend the next ten minutes asking if you were dropped on your head as an infant because you still have functioning olfactory glands.

7. Bugs.
I despise bugs. We don't get that many here in Canada (I'm told from those who have been Stateside), but the ones we do have are massive and seem to have an unnatural love for my bedroom. When you require three hours and a cement block larger than your dog to kill the three-inch-round spider on your wall, you have a problem. It's 1 to 4 am. You should be sleeping.
You also have a problem if a moth the size of a semi trailer gets caught in the fluorescent 'twisty' light bulb and literally burns half to death but can still fly fast enough to evade your cement block.

8. Brighter (and longer-lasting) sun.
I don't mind the sun -- to a point. However, when you spend an average of an hour a day driving into the sun, you get a pounding headache very quickly. Add to that logging into Facebook and finding an abundance of brainwashed robots singing the sun's praises (see #4), and it all makes you want to go out and buy yourself a firearm.
I'll admit that I'm one of those famed 'night owls.' I do my best work in the dark. The longer lasting sun forces me to stay up later to get anything of worth done and thus I oversleep the following morning. Mornings are bad enough without having everyone biting your head off because you're late for everything. (Also see #9.)

9. Daylight Savings Time. Enough said.

There are many other reasons why spring simply should be skipped over, but I'm sure you get my drift. Spring sucks, winter's cool, and that's all I have to say. Thank you for your time and attention to this very pressing matter.