hi, i'm jenn

Look! It’s me!

Here’s what’s going on: the rollercoaster is zooming down the tracks, and I want the girls to raise their arms and scream as if we’re actually *on* the rollercoaster. They, of course, think I’m nuts and want no part of it. That’s why my arms are up, while they stand looking on in horror.

The best part of that picture is how Wednesday (Monika) is *in* the picture, *taking* a picture – when the reason she’s taking pictures is so she doesn’t have to be in any.

That makes me happy.

And no, I don’t know where Era is.

I’m looking for a support group.

harry.jpg
Originally uploaded by jennschac.

Notice Harry has Hedwig with him, and Hermione has Crookshanks…

Today we built Lego Robots and had a competition in front of an audience of about 50 lab employees.
Our robot lost.

That’s okay — we also made up a team cheer, which my *entire* team (Wednesday included) performed in front of the audience.
So I feel like a winner!

Now, for a riddle: What’s sweatier than a day at Canada’s Wonderland in 35 degree (95 for all you Americans) heat?

The Go! Team Concert.

Yeah, so Carl and I made it to the venue at 7:15 (doors at 8, they come on at 10:30). We found scalpers, but they wanted mucho $$ so we decided to try our hand at finding tickets. Had a great time trying to pick out which of the people walking by would know what we were talking about if we asked if they had any tickets. If I had thought ahead, I might have printed us a bingo card to help pass the time. Instead we made friends with the scalper who told us all about the different metal shows he’s seen.

2 hours later, when not a single passer so far had any extra tickets, I made a deal with my new friend and bought one of his tickets. Carl, who is on a different budget, opted out. So at this point I’m totally psyched to be going to the show. I go to the door, hand the bouncer my ticket and he asks to see ID. No problem.

Yeah, right.

Turns out my wallet was sans licence. BAH. Figures, eh?

Lucky for me the bouncers were male and I looked good. After a little bit of coaxing they let me right in.*

I’ve never done the concert thing on my own before. Stood around the bar trying to pass myself off as “hip”. Then I recognized a kid who was also looking to buy a ticket outside, so I made friends with him. Adam, who has just finished First Year at Guelph, and I enjoyed the show very much. I can’t speak for him, but I know I’ve never danced so hard or been so sweaty in my entire life. Lucky for me, no one I know was there to validate that last statement.

And that’s the end to my EXITEing day.

*Okay, that’s not what really happened. It just makes me sound cooler than admitting that I called home and had my parents bring me my passport (I love you Dad! Thanks so much!). Though for the record I did look good.

This week I am EXploring Interests in Technology and Engineering along with 36 grade 7/8 girls at the Toronto lab. I’m a team counsellor, which means that 6 of these girls are mine — hurray for team orange.

Somehow, I ended up with the quiet kids. Now, I know I’m louder than some (ok, most), but these kids are **quiet**. For example, this morning we were sitting in teams around our tables. The other colours were chit chatting away, and mine sat staring at me. So I started asking each what they had done last night. The answers were brief: “Watched TV”, “Went to sleep”, “Went Grocery shopping”. But that’s okay.

Then my favourite response: “I did nothing”
So I say “Really? You did nothing?”
Her: “Yes”
Me: “You just sat and stared at the wall?”
Her: “Yes”

Alright then. Let’s talk a little bit more about this girl. We’ll call her Wednesday, because I shouldn’t use a real name, and that’s the character that I think of when I think of her.

An illustration of how fun Wednesday is – she named her roller coaster simulation”Suicide Canyon”, and in an acrostic of her name she used the word “Assasin”.

She also refuses to pose for pictures. Like, hands over face, no negotiation. So in an attempt to make her feel special, I now let her cary around the camera and be the “team photographer”. She still doesn’t smile, or raise her hand for anything, but at least she’s making herself useful (and now I’m in the pictures too). I could go on, but I won’t.

Lots of fun.

Anyway, this afternoon our teams built roller coasters out of knex (wow, it’s *way* harder than it looks) and the girls were actually FORCED to talk to each other because there’s no way to put together something this big without “using your words”. And amazingly, our teams’ was the FIRST put together, and (for the first time in the four years they’ve done it at the camp) it worked on the FIRST try. Loop-de-Loop and all.

It was so exciting, even Wednesday agreed to pose with the coaster for a pic.

And during the wrap up activity, she raised her hand to answer a question!

We’re making progress.
By Friday, I will have them cheering.

i really like finding new music. unfortunately, my sources have kept me one step behind the times.

for example, demone introduced me to the go! team (a band with a ! in it’s name!!) when i was in israel. i returned to find out that, to my delight, they are coming to toronto. and to my dismay they were already sold out by the time i returned from my trip.

last weekend on my seattle trip, benny (update your blog!!) introduced me to annie. tonight he let me know that she is touring this summer. at which point i discovered that i missed her toronto date by a week. figures.

oh well, at least i have tickets to the backstreet boys.

Via Elliot: iPod Flea Ad Spoof

IMG_3527.jpg
Originally uploaded by jennschac.

you should ask me about it.. i know, i should just blog the story, but i’m too lazy and it’s way different if you hear me actually tell it. and i think it’s better that way. so i’m making an executive decision and just posting the pic. for now at least.

i will tell you this much – I am now an Israeli television star.