Burning Theatre... 2 Years Worth

Today two fellow classmates of mine, Alex and Ben had a burning party where we ashed 2 years worth of notes from our IB HL Theatre course. We exchanged horror stories from the class and burning our major assessments and never ending piles of packets. We had no gasoline so we used trust Axe body spray which tends to make me gag, but it was worth it to torch the pains that class has brought! I can say that I wouldn't have rather spent it with anyone other than Ben & Alex though. Those two boys kept me sane. Here are some pictures of our burning party and then there is a short video of the remains at the end.

                                              Getting the fire started with a guide to theatre!!

                                                            Using AXE as a blowtorch.

Burning now.                                                              Irony? Yes indeed.

                                   

The remains..... Farewell Theatre. 

Triathlon- The goal starts now.

In my sophomore year of high school I signed up for my first mini-triathlon. It was short and took me less than an hour, but it spurred something within me to start pushing myself and do it again next year. My best friend Michael proved to be tough competition the following year in my junior year as we both did the triathlon together. I cut 3 minutes off my time and am looking to shave off a bit more this year as I have more competition with my friend E-man and possibly even Alex too. I have 2 weeks before my third triathlon and plan on doing rather well but this post is about something ever so slightly bigger than a teen triathlon hosted by my school. This past weekend a family friend of ours ran the Boston Marathon. That in and of itself is quite impressive if you ask me... but on top of that, Rebecca Hirschi ran it while she has been going through Chemotherapy for breast cancer. She's fighting off cancer and yet still trained for months and ran the Boston marathon in record heat.... what's your excuse? In honor of her, and for myself I set a goal today as well.

I plan on doing an Olympic Length Triathlon at least once in my life. That consists of  swimming 1500 meters, biking 25 miles and running 6.2 miles. The distance for the teen Triathlons I've been doing is only 350 meters swim, 5.65 mile bike and only a 2 mile run... Obviously my goal is over triple what I've been doing but that's okay! Yes it might seem slightly crazy... but I have to do it. It's something I'm setting a goal for now, because I know once I get older I might become a fat lard and never want to get off my butt again. Therefore, while I'm still active, the goal has been set. Utah has tons of Triathlon opportunities and there are many for next year and the years to come so I think 2013 might be a good time for my first Triathlon. I'll probably start with a sprint distance first which is about half of the Olympic distance. But then from there, who knows... maybe an iron man is possible? 

Here are some pics from my past triathlons. Obviously, they aren't the most flattering things ever, but hey.... it's flipping hot in Thailand!

                                                               First year- bronze :] 

             

             Last year- Gold :]   We shall see what this year brings. 

Songkran Action: Day 2 (video included)

Update: Day 2 of Songkran- Went with Pammy and Grant to the same road and had an eventful day of entertaining Thais boarding the Golf Cart.. And Grant got a bit more than he asked for from one lady but that's not quite appropriate for all those reading this blog. I got smart though and put my camera in a plastic bag to take some pictures today. Obviously they are not really high quality.. considering its in a plastic bag! Here are some of my valiant efforts none the less. 

                     People wear all sorts of masks- just to be silly. We saw someone wearing an Osamba Bin
                                Laden mask as well. Not entirely sure they know what that means.

                          Face is pretty full of powder! Still smiling. It started getting in my eyes and mouth though... -.-

                                         A truck passing by who had frigid cold water!

                   See that huge ice block? They put those in buckets of water to make the water uber cold...
                                       It makes it fun to hear the people who get splashed with it squeal.

                                           Check out that water.... Such a great festival!!

                                         Taking a break in 7-11 (Grant Pammy and I) 

Yay for water fights!!! Her hands are covered in the clay powder. 

This is what happens- face covered and this lady then tried to kiss Grant. That wasn't the worst thing that happened to him today though... hehe :] 

Here's a video of me getting attacked. You can see how they just make the golf cart stop and then cover us in water and powder... Enjoy! Sorry for the quality btw, it's tough to film when you can't see.

Songkran... Only in Thailand

There is one holiday which is so completely outrageous, so entirely outlandish, and so incredibly AMAZING that only one country could harbor such epicness... Thailand- home to the best holiday on the face of the planet: Songkran. A little history first: Songkran is the Thai New Year and is held in April of each year when the weather begins feeling the hottest. The whole country stops for 3 days and an all our water war rages. From trucks filled with ice water to people plastering you with white powder which is a mark to ward off evil spirits, this festival is unlike anything you will ever experience. This year, the holiday spans a 3 day weekend Friday-Sunday and its craziness is in full force. Here's a few experiences I had yesterday whilst driving down the streets of Samakii Road in a golf cart with Alex, Katie, and Tom (The golf cart is Nichada's preferred method of transport).

1. The Gas station... within a few moments of being out of Nichada, we were drenched. We drove past a gas station only to have a few unwanted visitors board the golf cart while we were stuck in traffic and cover our faces with powder. They doused us with frigid water too. I'm telling you, the Thais might seem loving, but they are pretty sneaky on these 3 days as they might add special ingredients to the powder such as Tiger Balm which certainly stings your eyes which is precisely what these gas stationers did. They also added huge blocks of ice to their water source to make it ever colder. It's all in good fun though!!  The same situation happened a bit later as a truck full of guys jumped off in a moment of traffic and proceeded to rock the golf cart while soaking us with water. so. much. fun.

2. The 'high' guy. Now I'm not entirely positive about this, but I'm pretty sure one of the guys I saw yesterday was tripped up on something. His red eyes were a pretty good sign (but that could have been from the powder). He stopped out golf cart and put some powder on our face and proceeded to dance around it. While this may seem strange it's actually an entirely common site during Songkran. People stop vehicals all the time to be able to have mini-fights with whomever is aboard. Trucks are certainly the most common mode of transport during this time as huge amounts of people can fit on them and huge tanks of water allow for the maximum amount of fun to be had.

3. The number one Songkraner!   As we drove, an older lady was yelling at us in Thai but the only audible thing we understood was "Number 1!!!!". Thus, we established that she must be saying she is the number one songkraner. Good times.

These are a few pics of this amazing holiday (They aren't mine, but I'm not quite willing to take out my camera during such a wet and hazardous time.)

                           An example of several guys crammed into a truck and ready for the fights.

                          This kid in a truck seems to be warding off the gun fighters. I'm telling you, it's impossible to escape the water during these three days- so if you come, be prepared to get soaked, and just enjoy it.

Some are well prepared. These backpack/waterguns are a commons item for little kids. 

As I posted my appreciation for Songkran on my Facebook status, a friend of mine said how jealous they are that America has no such holiday. How right they are. America would never be able to host such a crazy holiday- too many would get sued and too many uptight people would be outraged. If I tried drenching a buisiness man on his way to work, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't live to see another drop of water. Thus, to experience this amazingly fun three days, you gotta come where it happens, one of the best countries on this planet: Thailand. 

Lots of Paint

Today I was able to take part in a Habitat Build where I painted parts of a Thai school about 30 minutes from where I live that was destroyed by the floods in Northern Thailand from October to December of 2011. Can I just say how blessed I am? I had a blast. I met new friends from all grades at ISB. Things I learned today:

1. Paint fumes can make you feel rather high...... Yes I started to experience some of that. I'm not sure how high quality that paint was but it was pretty heavy duty stuff.At one point for a few moments it was so strong that I was feeling nauseous. The feeling past within a few minutes though and it was too fun to stop, so I kept going. Interestingly enough, however, I felt like writing a song about walruses or lucy in the sky with diamonds. Inspiration for a bit of songwriting about Rhapsody in a Bohemian style came to mind as well.
2. Freshmen and sophomores are so much funnier than people give them credit for..... I spent the whole day laughing at their terrible singing, ill-humored jokes, and fabulous skills in construction work. I'm so glad I was able to meet them. I also added them all on Facebook which is a CRAZY huge deal, if you know me, I only add people I actually talk to or think are uber cool to my facebook.
3. Make-up isn't really needed.. I woke up 5 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave from the school and thus grabbed my water-bottle and backpack and sprinted for my motor bike. I didn't have time for the make-up. Sure maybe someone noticed but you know what? It actually felt pretty good to be the real me. For the first hour, I felt pretty self conscious but I realized that no one cared or at least no one cared enough to say anything. The only time my face was mentioned was when Michael repeatedly exclaimed that I had green paint splotches on me ranging from my forehead to my nose. Therefore- it's okay to go without.
4. Service is entirely and irrevocably one of the best ways to improve your life.. (And others). If you're lucky enough to be sitting on a laptop, desktop, imac, iPad, or any other internet device at this moment which you obviously are right now, you're in very top richest people in this world who can afford their basic needs and more. If we are lucky enough to have these wonderful things, we better do something about it. Get involved in your community, even if it is just a day painting bathrooms for a local school. They will appreciate it more than you know and you'll find yourself better off than you were before. However over used that statement is, it is a true one. You get more than you give in situations like this.
5. I love the Thai people... By far the sweetest nation I have ever lived in. Their smiles seem to gleam brighter than possible sometimes. For example at the end of the habitat build today, the teachers at the school sang us a very sweet song that said "We are Thank You so much". In broken English and with gratitude in their gestures, they made the sun and heat and yes, even the pouring rain SO worth it.


Another highlight of the day- Michael Max and Eva getting completely dumped on with water from a tarp 

The new friends I made during the Habitat Build (left circling around right) - Max, Ana, Meghan, Victoria, Me, Ciel, and  Michael.

Wonderful day, wonderful school, I love ISB <3