2 unrelated pictures for absolutely no reason

This is how I feel I look on some Mondays:

And for all of you fellow music nerds out there, here's a nice punny photo for you! Enjoy!
Happy short week everyone!

Click here to vote

Alphabet photography

Check it out! Here's a super cool project for computer classes (we're going to start with IP 20/30 and go from there). It's "alphabet photography" - the name speaks for itself. It's amazing how you will see things differently when you start looking for letters in all of your surroundings! Once we have collected as many letters of the alphabet as possible, I will show you how to edit and compile them into collages like this.

I hope you all had a great weekend. My weekend was full of alphabet photography (stay tuned!), and a great experience of singing with a group of you lovely people at Sacred Heart for mass this morning. Thank you to those of you who were there to share the gift of music with everyone. Your service is very much appreciated!

Also, in mostly unrelated news (although still on the topic of music.... surprise, surprise!), check out this SUPER cool group that Brenna pointed out to me. Apparently when they got together they could only afford one guitar, and necessity is the mother of invention, after all!

Beans with crayons!

Check out the little artists! :o)

525,600 minutes....

Dear Jazz Choir,

This song is fantastic. Please listen to it and fall in love with it, and its fantastic energy and interesting rhythms and harmonies. We are singing it at today's rehearsal, as my new set of music just came in!

With (seasons of) love,

Miss Campbell :o)

IP 10 blog post archive

1. Intro post (testing)

2. Customizing blog template, colours, fonts, etc. - feel free to change this any time.

3. Countdown timer gadget - Create one for yourself on www.mycountdown.org

4. Video post (embedded from YouTube) - Click "Share" (under the video), Embed, then copy the html tag and paste it in your blog post.  Make sure that you have clicked the HTML tab (next to "Compose" in your blog compose window before you paste the code!

5. Photo post (Minimum of 2 photos and a write-up)

6. Things to do for fun on a limited budget - Minimum of 15

7. Travel destination post (3-4 photos, 1 video, flight costs, tourism information, travel appeal rationale)

8. Someone you admire (photo and/or video, and 2-3 paragraphs describing what you admire about him/her, their back story if applicable, their admirable characteristics, actions, etc.)

9. Odd jobs profile (Job title, job description, salary or wage if you can find this information, a photo that complements your post, and your own commentary - Would you do this job yourself?  Why or why not?, etc.)

IP10 blog post - travel destinations

Hi IP 10! Your next assigned blog post is your "dream travel destination." For this post, the following elements need to be included (but you are not limited to only these!):

- The name of your destination

- The cost of flying from Saskatoon to your destination at the time of the year you'd like to travel (you can search this on www.expedia.ca)

- At least 3-4 photos of your destination that appeal to you (touristy photos, landmarks, cultural or atmospheric photos, etc.)

- One YouTube video related to your dream travel destination

- A short list of tourist attractions available at your destination (do your research!)

- At least one well-written paragraph describing the appeal of this destination to you

- Any interesting facts about your destination

Remember to upload your photos before you start doing any text entry, as this will allow you to avoid any major formatting issues. Happy blogging!

Full list of all Comp 8 photo editing assignments

Assignment 1: PUBLIC MARKET

Begin editing the "PUBLIC MARKET" sample picture from www.picnik.com that I showed you on the "Share Screen" feature (see above - click to enlarge first!). Remember, we are practicing our selective colour painting techniques, which means that we want to change the entire picture to black and white and then paint back on the red lettering by using the circle brush tool. If you try to paint back on the original red and it's not working, chances are you accidentally saved it mid-process and now the computer thinks that portions of your original are black and white. You may have to restart this project.Please save your work as Last name, First initial, Public Market and submit to the hand-in folder (drop box).

Assignment 2: FLOWER

Choose a picture of a brightly coloured flower from Google image search. Daisies work well for this effect, as there are some great photos out there of high quality close-up images of vibrant daisies. If you would rather choose a different flower, that's ok too, but please choose an artistic photo rather than just a snapshot of a garden. Using selective colouring again, paint back on the most vibrant colours (likely the petals, and depending on the composition of the photo, maybe some green as well). In this instance, often less is more. Once you have finished the selective colouring, use the text adding feature to add the name of the flower pictured (i.e. Daisy, tulip, chrysanthemum, etc.). You may choose the font, colour, size, and positioning of the text, as long as the text is clearly visible. Be creative with your choices - choose a font that complements your photo. Also, remember that you can increase the saturation of colour on the original photo before you change it to black and white so that the vibrance of the colours is more intense against the black and white. Try playing with colour saturation and/or the "Boost," "Orton-ish," or "Lomo-ish" effects. You can also alter the percentage/fade of the effect by using the sliding bars if it's too strong (or not strong enough).

****** MAKE SURE YOU ARE SAVING YOUR WORK!!!! You will hand in these photos to my drop box when you are finished, so please label them with your name as well. The easiest way to submit your work may be to save the file to your desktop and then drag and drop from there to my drop box. ******

Assignment 3: COLOUR AND QUOTE

Choose a photo that has vibrant colour (a bowl of candy, a pair of shoes, a guitar, etc.) and do selective colouring (remember to change the photo to black and white and then paint on the original colour using a brush size small enough that you can be accurate in your lines), and then search Google for a quotation that will fit with the mood of your photo. You may need to put your quotation on more than one line. When you are finished, save the file with your last name and "Colour and Quote" and hand it in to my drop box. Happy Picniking!

Assignment 4: SELECTIVE BOOST

To continue along the same lines of what we have been working on in Picnik, today we will be experimenting with another form of selective colouring that I call "selective boosting." Basically what it entails is lowering the colour saturation of your original photo, boosting it, and REVERSING the painting effect so that whatever you paint back on will be boosted (higher colour saturation) while the rest will be more muted colours. So, to break that down step by step:

1. Upload the photo that is to be edited (you may choose from the photos above or select one of your own)

2. Under the "Edit" tab, click "Colors" and pull the saturation toggle towards the left until you have achieved the level of colour you desire (be sure that it is muted enough that your boosting effect will be noticeable and worth your time and effort).
er petals, etc.4. In the "Effect Painting" box, click "Reverse Effect." This will bring everything back to the lower colour saturation level. Now, when you paint back the original colour (just like we did when we experimented with black and white selective colour painting), it will be a more bold

3. Under the "Create" tab, choose the Boost feature. Adjust the level using the toggle tab until you are happy with the colour of the object to be singled out (i.e. a flower, a guitar, a person, etc.). Always make sure to alter it only enough so that it adds to it, not detracts by being too distracting or overpowering. For example, sometimes boosting colour will erase important details, such as creases in flower petals, etc.

4. In the "Effect Painting" box, click "Reverse Effect." This will bring everything back to the lower colour saturation level. Now, when you paint back the original colour (just like we did when we experimented with black and white selective colour painting), it will be a more bold and saturated colour. The overall effect will be that the entire photo is in colour, but one piece will stand out.

Selective boosting is much like selective colouring in that you are emphasizing one part of a photograph with bold colour while drawing attention away from its surroundings - you also use the same brush technique as you did with selective colouring. The difference with selective boosting, however, is that you are not turning the photo to black and white but rather decreasing its saturation so that some colour still remains, just not as bold as the original.

Assignment 5: SHADOWS AND SUNSHINE

Today's assignment is to choose an appropriate photo from Google Image Search (or from your own collection of photos, if you have one) that would complement the following quote:

"Most of the shadows of this life are caused by stand

ing in one's own sunshine." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The technique we will be experimenting with is that of changing the TEXT to emphasize certain words. This can be achieved by creating multiple text boxes so that youcan change the size, colour, and font of certain words.

For this assignment, I would like you to emphasize the words "shadows" and "sunshine." Save it as "last name, shadows sunshine" and submit it to the drop box.

Assignment 6: NATURE QUOTE

Choose one of the following quotations:

"In summer, the song sings itself."
- William Carlos Williams

"My profession is to always find God in nature."
- Henry David Thoreau

"All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within."
- Horace Friess

"Sounds of the wind or sounds of the sea
Make me happy just to be."
- June Polis

"Each moment of the year has its own beauty . . . a picture which was never before and shall never be seen again."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If one daffodil is worth a thousand pleasures, then one is too few."
- William Wordsworth

"The earth laughs in flowers."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The ocean . . . cold and wild the surf, rushing in to overwhelm the beach, the wind, stinging my cheeks, enveloping me in total freedom."

- Scott Holman

Choose a nature photo from Google Image Search that will complement the quotation you have chosen. Please be sure that the resolution of the photo you choose is high enough that you will be able to edit it with accuracy and that it won't be too "crowded" once you add your effects to it. You can choose the effects you add to the photo. Remember that sometimes less is more. Some suggestions:

- selective colouring (turn the photo to black and white or sepia and paint back on some original colour)
- selective boosting (turn down the saturation of the photo, boost the picture, click "reverse effect" and then paint back on some boosted colour)- text emphasis (pick out an important word or phrase in your quotation and change its font, colour, and/or size)
- vignette
- soften
- any other effect(s) that you deem appropriate

When you are finished, save your file as "Lastname, nature quote" and hand it in to my drop box. Happy editing, you creative beings, you! :o)

Assignment 7: FRIENDSHIP

Today's assignment, once you have finished your nature quote edit, is to edit a photo of friends (your own or one from Google) with one of the following quotes (or a friendship quote of your own choice, once approved by me):

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
- Anais Nin

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
- Donna Roberts

"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Walk beside me and be my friend."
- Albert Camus

"A hug is worth a thousand words. A friend is worth more."
- Unknown

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend."
- by John Leonard

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked."
- Bernard Meltzer

"Friendship is the golden ribbon that ties the world together."
- John Evelyn

"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies."
- Aristotle

"My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me."
- Henry Ford

"In a friend you find a second self."
- Isabelle Norton

"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."
- Helen Keller

You may add any effects you wish, as long as you feel that they enhance your photo rather than detracting from it (try to avoid too many points of focus, as the editing you have worked so hard on will be less effective if the eye can't decide where to focus). When you are finished, save it as "lastname, friendship" and submit it to the drop box.

Once again, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Assignment 8: SUBTLETY

Once you have completed the editing assignment from last class, you may begin on today's assignment. The name of the game today is subtlety. You will add text in a watermark fashion to a photo of your choice, that is, allowing some of the background to show through by fading the intensity of the text. Be sure to select a text colour that is similar to the object on which you are superimposing it (i.e. Dark golden text to place on top of an autumn leaf). For this assignment you may choose from the following word sets, select from a combination of sets, or simply choose your own words (upon my approval):

1. Live / Love / Laugh
2. Peace / Renewal / Life
3. Hope / Love / Joy
4. Stop / Look / Listen
5. Dream / Believe / Achieve / Inspire

The finish product should be soft, subtle, and overall pleasing to the eye. Try to avoid having any distracting features. Sometimes less is more.

Other effective features: Soften, Vignette (in a subtle colour and perhaps a smaller size or strength than the preset), Matte, Sepia, Black and White, possibly Focal Soften (depending on the nature of your photo), etc.

Save your assignment as "subtlety" (you don't need to put the title in quotation marks when you hand it in), and submit it to the drop box. Happy Picniking!

Assignment 9: ART AND COLOUR

Choose one of these quotes and find a picture that complements it. Bold colours, selective colouring, selective boosting, black and white with one striking splash of colour, etc. may be very effective in your overall photo effect. Save this assignment as "colour" and submit it to my drop box. Happy editing!

*********************

Colour has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it. I know that it has hold of me forever... Colour and I are one. I am a painter. - Paul Klee

Seek the strongest colour effect possible. The content is of no importance. - Henri Matisse

I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way, things I had no words for. - Georgia O'Keeffe

Why do two colours, put one next to the other, sing? Can one really explain this? No. Just as one can never learn how to paint. - Pablo Picasso

There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun. - Pablo Picasso

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. - Henry Ward Beecher

The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation. - Auguste Rodin

Assignment 10: SELF PORTRAIT

Assignment 11: RIVIER EDIT

Find the photos to edit by clicking here. Save it as "Rivier edit" (of course with your last name first) and submit it to the drop box. Please do not add text to this edit.

Assignment 12: DETERMINATION

We are turning our attention now to editing photos that will serve us well as portfolio additions. Introducing, the "Motivational/Inspirational" series!

Choose one of the following quotes and find a picture that compliments the text (either from your own collection or a high resolution photo from Google Image search). Save it as "Last name, first initial, determination."

***********************
“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” - Gail Devers

"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” - Unknown

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” - Albert Einstein

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” - Og Mandino

“When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.” - Wilma Rudolph

“When faced with a mountain, I will not quit! I will keep striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine, with God's help." - Robert Half

“The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.” - Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Assignment 13: REFLECTION

Choose an appropriate photo and include one of the following quotes. Save your photo as "reflection" and submit to the drop box.

***********************
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” - James Levin

“In water one sees one's own face; But in wine one beholds the heart of another.” - French Proverb

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." - Confucius

"I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me." - Anna Quindlen

"It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words." - Eric Hoffer

"Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment." - Lao Tzu

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." - George Bernard Shaw

"The world is a looking glass and gives back to each man a reflection of his own face." - William Thackeray

Assignment 14: FAITH

Choose your photo, add one of these quotes or one of your own choice, and save it with your last name, first initial, and "Faith."

********************

“When you have come to the edge Of all light that you know And are about to drop off into the darkness Of the unknown, Faith is knowing One of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or You will be taught to fly” - Patrick Overton

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” - Reinhold Niebuhr

“You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.” - Mary Manin Morrissey

“Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow.” - Unknown

“Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.” - George Seaton

“Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.” - Kahlil Gibran

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” - Oswald Chambers

“Faith is like electricity. You can't see it, but you can see the light.” - Unknown

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” - St. Thomas Aquinas

“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” - Mother Teresa

Final assignments:

Peace:

“There is no way to peace, peace is the way.” - A.H. Muste

“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.” - Peace Pilgrim

“Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.” - Robert Fulghum

“If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.” - Tenzin Gyatso

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it" - Unknown

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix

“To be at one with God is to be at peace ... peace is to be found only within, and unless one finds it there he will never find it at all. Peace lies not in the external world. It lies within one's own soul.” - Ralph Waldo Trine

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” - Mahatma Ghandi

Joy:

“Enjoy life. This is not a dress rehearsal." - Unknown

“Joy is the feeling of grinning inside." - Melba Colgrove

"Joy is not in things; it is in us." - Richard Wagner

"Joy is increased by spreading it to others.” - Robert Murray McCheyne

"One joy shatters a hundred griefs." - Chinese Proverb

"Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have." - Horace

Endings:

Choose an appropriate photo from Google Image Search or your own collection that would complement one of the following quotations:

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." - Orson Welles

"Every end is a new beginning." - Proverb

"In my end is my beginning." - T.S. Eliot

"Nature's first green is gold,
her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower,
but only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
so dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay."
- Robert Frost

"If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God." - G.K. Chesterton

“I didn't ask for it to be over. But then again I didn't ask for it to begin. For that's the way it is with life, as some of the most beautiful days come completely by chance. But even the most beautiful days eventually have their sunset.” - Javan

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." - Seneca

When you have completed this assignment, save it with your last name and "endings" and submit it to my drop box.

Summer:

You may create your OWN summer quotation, or choose from one of the following. You may also choose to Google search and find your own quotation to use.

In summer, the song sings itself. - William Carlos Williams

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Flip Flops
Belly Tops
Palm Trees
Cute Capris
Sunglasses
Backstage Passes
Top Down
Cruising 'round Town
As the sun Dims
Comes late night Swims
Tan Lines
isn't summer just divine?"

Save your edit as "summer" and hand in to the drop box. Happy editing!

Welcome back!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to Semester 2. I hope you had a great break during semester turnaround and that you're ready to get started with new and wonderful projects in Term 2.

On the music side of things, please remember to bring your instruments for band again as we will be back into rehearsals starting today. That being said, Level 1 and 2 bands will be singing instead of playing today (I'm teaching you the new settings of the music for the mass - Gloria, Memorial Acclamation, Amen, Lamb of God). Level 4 will be rehearsing in the dining hall.

Computers 9I, your first assignment is to complete either a timetable of your Semester 2 subjects or a Bathroom Reader (for any month, as this is a practice trial run of creating one in Microsoft Word or Pages). Our assigned months will be April and June.

Rivier is responsible for the music ministry at the 11:00am mass this Sunday, January 29th at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Please sign up to sing - it will take about an hour, and will be so appreciated by everyone (especially me). You can use this time as service hours too, which is an added bonus for your Christian Ethics classes! Rehearsals for this choir will be today, tomorrow, and Thursday (as needed) at 12:00pm in the music room. Instruments are welcome too - djembe, violin, etc.

Sound of Music rehearsals are getting very intensive now, so it's very important that every cast member is present at all rehearsals. If you must miss a rehearsal, it is your responsibility to inform one of the directors with as much advance notice as possible so that we are not wondering where you are when rehearsal time comes. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. We have 2 weeks until the show opens, and lots of work to be done between now and then! Time to pull up those knee-high forest green socks! :o)

Here's to hoping...

... that you didn't use this model when studying for your midterms and finals! Good luck everyone - it's time to "celebrate your learning!" :o)

Sound of Music posters and tickets

Rivier Players Drama Presents

Rogers & Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music"

Friday, February 10th - 7:00pm

Saturday, February 11th - 7:00pm

Sunday, February 12th - 2:00pm

Rivier Auditorium - 1405 Bishop Pascal Place

Prince Albert, SK

Tickets: Students $6 / Adults $10

Call 764-6289 for more information

IP 10 blog post - money-free weekend

The newest IP 10 blog assignment is to compile a list of things that you can do for fun. Sounds easy, right? The catch is, though, that your list has to include ONLY things that are FREE (or very inexpensive)! It's fun to brainstorm cheap entertainment ideas, and it might just open your eyes to how much there really is to do out there if you're broke. :o)

So, next time you heave a sigh on an idle Saturday afternoon, proclaiming dramatically, "There's NOTHING to do!" or "But I'm SO bored!", check out your classmates' blogs or refer to your own list of fun things to do without spending money.

Happy blogging!

IP 10 blog photo post

Hi ladies! Yesterday we worked on embedding videos from YouTube to our blogs. Today we are going to learn how to post pictures.

When you post pictures to your blog, it is best to upload them first before you write any text. Insert the pictures, and THEN write your text AROUND the pictures.

Choose a minimum of 3 pictures to post to your blog. They can be related or unrelated; just choose 3 that you are interested in and can write something about. Save them to your desktop (or anywhere else on your computer that you will know where to retrieve from). In your blog posting box, click on the photo icon (between the spell check and the video reel icons). Upload your picture as you would an e-mail attachment. You can upload multiple photos at one time by clicking "Add another image."

Once you have added the images to your blog post, enter your text around them. Tell a story about the picture, explain the context around where the photo was taken, or tell your audience why it appeals to you. Your finished post should have 3 photos and sections of text.

IP 10 blog video assignment

Hi IP 10 (those in the classroom today and those reading this post from a remote location!) :o)

So far your blog should be updated with one introductory post, an edited template with your choice of backgrounds, fonts, colours, etc. and at least one countdown ticker from www.mycountdown.org.

Your next blog assignment is to find a video on YouTube (it MUST be school appropriate - not of a bullying nature, no inappropriate language, suggestive actions, skimpy dress, etc.). Once you have found the video you wish to embed on your blog, click on "Share" underneath the video. Click on "Embed" and uncheck the box underneath that says "Show suggested videos when the video finishes." Once you have done that, copy the HTML code that pops up in the box (using Apple (Command) + C on your keyboard, if you remember your keyboard shortcuts unit from a couple years ago!). Once you have copied the HTML code, you can go back to your blog to insert it.

Your blog posting box has two tabs on the top right corner. One says "Edit Html" and the other one, which you default to when you create a new post, says "Compose." Click "Edit Html" and paste the code that you just copied from YouTube. Once you have copied the code, click back to the "Compose" tab and you should see your video, or at least the box that it will play in once it loads.

Write a post describing why you chose this particular video, or highlighting some interesting information about the content of the video. For example:

This video highlights the experience of Equinox at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. The Mayans who built the ancient city of Chichen Itza were brilliant architects, astronomers, and mathematicians. Those who have studied the great pyramid of Kukulcan ("El Castillo") have discovered many interesting formulas in the number of steps on all sides of the pyramid, the shapes of the steps, and most interestingly, the way the shadows fall on the Equinox. As the sun sets on the Equinox, shadows are cast on the steps of El Castillo, forming the image of the serpent Kukulcan.

I was able to see the pyramid of Kukulcan when I went to Mexico at Easter of 2011, and while of course I wasn't able to see the shadows cast on El Castillo, I found the experience absolutely fascinating. There was also a lot of neat shopping at Chichen Itza as well. As you walked down a long dusty path to the palapa that sold water (which we needed often!) there were many tables set up and Mexican people selling clothing, jewelry, carvings, and other items.

I am planning to go back to Mexico at Easter of 2013, and another visit to Chichen Itza is on my itinerary!

IP 10 blog assignment

1. Choose a background, template, layout, etc. that suits your tastes.

2. Edit the header font, colour, header background colour, etc. to personalize the look of your blog.

3. Create a post of your own choosing and publish it to your blog.

4. Go to www.mycountdown.org and choose something to count down to. Once you have created your countdown widget using that site, go back to your blog and embed it on one of your side panels. Your blog is starting to look more full and complete now!

Happy New Year!

Welcome back! I hope you all had a nice break. I know it was short, but hopefully you still managed to do some relaxing, some reuniting, and lots of memory-making. :o) I had a ton of fun visiting the twins (who are HILARIOUS now!), and making a road trip down to Bismarck, ND to visit friends from International Music Camp. Now we're back and ready to go with the last week and a half of classes before midterms and final exams.

We had an awesome choir rehearsal today! Thanks to the Senior Choir who had a wonderful sight-reading session of "Prayer of the Children" - a gorgeous 4-part SSAA a cappella arrangement in 4/4 and 5/4 time. Neat! Hilariously though, I may have mentioned that "if you can sing the first 3 pages in tune, a cappella, before the bell rings, I will BAKE YOU COOKIES!" Turns out, that will be happening in the near future as the rehearsal went beautifully. Well done, ladies!

The Sound of Music rehearsals will start again today in full force. We will be doing a full run of Act 1 tonight in the auditorium from 7-9pm. A full schedule from now until the run of the show should be made available by tomorrow.

Our beloved little blue betta fish, Bill Shakespeare, kicked the bucket so to speak on December 21st. He had a burial at sea (aka toilet). We will get a new little betta fish shortly. RIP Bill!