gold is for the honey
so last weekend, our "compilation dragon boat team" a.k.a. A.C. UNITED went for our first competition together out in kelowna (this is in a beautiful area of british columbia, 5 hours drive from vancouver, near lotsa vineyards and orchards. needless to say, the weather was awesome). we ended up doing really well in our prelims and qualifying races. and despite some almost disasters, we got into the jade division finals... and took home the gold! i really really like this team. we took practically whoever wanted to go to kelowna from both my team (apocalypse) and our sister team (cylone... hence the name A.C. UNITED) and threw them all in a boat and practiced together for a month. i knew we'd be bringing home some sort of hardware, but i didn't think it'd be the gold. but what a great way to end off the season. if anyone from the team is reading this, i would like to say thanks for being there... we couldn't have done it without you! we rule!!

tony and tina's wedding
oh man this was funny! char invited me to go with her and len, ai, meesh, and some of meesh's friends... i took eric with me at the last minute, even though he saw it already... what a sport. i don't know of many (i mean ANY) guys that would do the "broadway show" type thing. and i didn't expect eric to be one... for all y'all that know who eric is, you understand what i mean, right? but we had a great time. the show starts out at a real chapel... we are acting as guests at this wedding, so we "attend" the ceremony. i don't want to spoil anything about the actual show, but that nun who sang madonna was just SO funny! after the crazy ceremony, we were led to the hotel next door for the reception. this part was highly entertaining, because there were actors everywhere. something was happening wherever you turned. the actress who was ushering us in had hecka attitude (i swear, ai got so riled up, she was gonna feed this chickie a knuckle sandwich!!). we even got seated with 2 actors at our table. i went to the washroom and ran into the hired entertainment for the wedding. she and her "husband" used to have a show in vegas, so their story goes... and the bride's ex was in attendance to cause a stir... each one of these actors have their stories down pat! it was great. if you want a really different broadway show experience, this is it.

audition?
that was what jac asked me when she found out that UBC's CVC club wants to have us perform for some multicultural evening they're running. we both found out last thursday that we were being put down to audition for this thing. they just want us to sing (and boy can jac sing!!) and pump up the crowd. so we went to the audition last night and sang from this moment by shania twain, even though we were both not at our best (jac had a cold and i am still recovering from yelling in kelowna), and we got it. we thought it'd just be a simple little thing, but they're expecting like 700 to 800 people to attend this function (comprising of students, rich people, sponsors, and politicians). wow. but then again, jac and i aren't really the shy types. maybe this will be our big break!!... popstars, watch out now!!!

where to begin?
the last couple of days have been something i (or anyone else for that matter) have never experienced in my life. tuesday morning
i woke up 45 minutes before my alarm to my little sister's radio blaring what sounded to be some news channel. i remember thinking
to myself "since when did sarah start listening to radio news?... i thought this was the pop station... at least be blasting music
at 7am instead of news!!". i was so grumpy that i didn't even bother listening to what they were talking about. i was robbed of an extra 45 minutes of sleep, so i decided that i should just get up and get a early start on my day. i walked into the kitchen and turned
on the television to check out the local morning news when i saw this amazing sight of the twin towers on fire... i thought it was
some movie, or some stunt... then i realized that it had just happened and i was staring right at what used to be the world trade center. i was madly trying to turn up the volume and change the channel to cnn when i passed the french news channel and then saw
the pentagon was in flames. i was like "what in the world am i watching? is this all for real?!" cause i couldn't believe what
i was seeing. when i finally got to cnn, it was only 5 more minutes til i saw the second tower collapse. my mouth just hung open.

i was so sure that all hell was going to break loose sometime during the hours that followed. when work was over, i (literally)
ran home as fast as i could to see what was happening next. i heard about the missiles hitting in afghanistan. that made me so worried. then i heard about bush wanting 20billion (i think) for guns and ammunitions and gas to hunt down and punish the "folks" that did this...

all i can say is that i am upset. i'm 23 years old. i still have big plans for my future. this event will put my plans on hold, and i am not pleased about that. even a simple trip to cali this october is most likely not going to happen... all because some crazy people who hate americans decided to accomplish the craziest feat of terrorism ever. damn.

what bothers me the most is that none of this will be solved anytime soon. everyone is angry, and we all know how poorly one
can rationalize with a hot head. i hope things simmer down, but i have a really good feeling that they won't. i also have a really
good feeling that this will change a lot of people, kids and grownups... whoever. the kindergarteners were talking about a big building
blowing up on television, and the 4th graders were already talking about how young you are allowed be if you wanted to join the army.

wait... what about canada?
all we've been doing the last few days was accepting airplanes diverted from the states, cuz the americans were worried that there would be more terrorists coming in... step back for a bit. canada is a country too... it has people and cities and ressembles america
in some ways. so if there were a bomb on the plane, wouldn't it have the same chance of going off in canada as it does in the states?
we may be acting as the big brother who can help out, but i wonder if the united states would do the same for us if ever this situation
were to happen up here. i only think this way cuz i know that when "it" happens, the united states will be using all its power to drag
us canadians to fight right beside them (if not in front of them!)... it's not that i don't think revenge is the answer (that
i'll save for another blog entry), it's just that there is going to be a war... so i'm just scared.

back at it!
yipes... i knew i had a busy august, but who knew it would take this long for me to write in here again?...

so today was the first school day for students and teachers everywhere. for me, it was okay. nothing special happened at all. all i know is that i wish it was still summer vacation. i'm already looking forward to the thanksgiving weekend (for the americans reading this, our thanksgiving falls on your columbus day).

friends
i remember seeing a poem that was hanging in a kindergarten classroom a few years back, and i really liked it. it described the meaning of friendship real well. i dedicate this poem to all my friends.

you are my friend.

you are special.

you are my friend.

you are special to me.

you, my friend,

i like you.

(it just brings tears to your eyes, don't it?)

like
it sucks when someone likes you more than you like them. as much as they think you wouldn't understand how sucky that is, take it from me, we do. that's all.

*tune in next time when i'm bored and decide to write about my august adventures!*