Well, so tomorrow is April Fool's. A quarter of the year has already gone by, isn't that amazing?
I will be going to two more Raptor games in April, on the 5th and 12th. The 12th is Fan Appreciation Day, so that should be real fun. Speaking of the Raps, they've been doing quite well lately. Where was these intense efforts early on in the season? I think Bryan Colangelo needs to reshape this team over the summer. On paper, we're a middle of the pack team, but I think a few moves here and there could push us to the position we were in in 2006-2007.
The Jays season is starting next Monday. I can't wait! Ricky Romero secured the 4th spot in the starting rotation yesterday. That was a bit of a surprise for me. The fifth spot is still undecided, but I think Scott Richmond would be a good choice for it.
My leadership retreat over the weekend was incredibly awesome. I brought back a lot of new friendships, new memories, and new knowledge. I always have this way of measuring a long day. When I go to bed at night, I always think back to what I did that morning. If it seems like an eternity ago, then I count it as a long day. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all very long days. But they were fun too. It was amazing to share that experience with 60 other prospective leaders, and more than a dozen more members of the TDSB SuperCouncil. It's an experience that I will never forget, and probably one that will prove to be life-changing when I look back on it in the future.
-D
Tuesday 31 March 2009
Thursday 26 March 2009
Weekend Getaway
Was down at the Air Canada Centre for the Raptors-Bucks game yesterday. I have to say, that was one of the best games I watched this season so far. We led from beginning to end, won by 9. Bargnani poured in more than 20 points again. But the crowd was at best two thirds full. Can't really blame 'em though, Wednesday night, against an 11th place team, and the Raps aren't the most attractive team in the league right now.
I heard the Leafs had a 0.03% chance of making the playoffs. But that was earlier this week, so who knows, might be down to zero by now.
Blue Jays start regular season play in just 2 weeks! So excited! Last year, the roof was closed for all 3 games I went to. I hope I get to watch some outdoor baseball this year.
It's been a busy week, and I'll be at a leadership camp over the weekend. It's been gloomy and rainy here in Toronto for most of this week. But the weekend getaway should be fun/
-D
I heard the Leafs had a 0.03% chance of making the playoffs. But that was earlier this week, so who knows, might be down to zero by now.
Blue Jays start regular season play in just 2 weeks! So excited! Last year, the roof was closed for all 3 games I went to. I hope I get to watch some outdoor baseball this year.
It's been a busy week, and I'll be at a leadership camp over the weekend. It's been gloomy and rainy here in Toronto for most of this week. But the weekend getaway should be fun/
-D
Sunday 22 March 2009
The Arc of History
Since mid-November, I have been working on a writing project-a book.
The title is "The Arc of History" and the subject is, what else but the 2008 Presidential Election. Mainly, I wanted a record of history for myself, written by myself. I wanted for some way for the legacy of this election to carry on. And since I changed so much as a person during these past two years, I wanted to record some of the more personal moments during the campaign.
Right now, I have about 47 000 words done, and by my projection, the book should be about 95 000-100 000 words in length after it's finished. Since I'm extremely busy with activities in school, it's taking me quite a while to put the project together. I hope to have the manuscript done by late July. Then, I will decide whether I want to self publish this, or contact a publishing company. In the meanwhile, I wanted to share a few excerpts from the book with you. Feel free to make any suggestions! I'll need it.
So today, I'm going to share a bit from the chapter titled "IOWA":
Iowa is the focal point of every election, being the first state to cast ballots (or count heads in the Democrats’ case) in the primary season. For some candidates, Iowa is the difference between political termination and political stardom. The Iowa Caucuses cost a thick stack of money as well. The price tag on the 2008 caucuses was around $60 million. This encompassed the ad blitz which hit Iowa all throughout the holiday season. In virtually every city and town in the Hawkeye State, during practically every commercial break on TV or radio, Iowans were bombasted with campaign messages from literally every candidate, Democrat and Republican. And since Iowa is First in the Nation, this means that the slate of candidates has yet to be whittled. In 2008, this meant choosing between 17 candidates. This is no easy task, as candidates in the same party support, more or less, the same policies and present similar agendas. It ends up being much like a high school student council election, where most votes are won by popularity and character, not substance.
There was one thing that was abundant before Iowans went to caucus-the candidate debates. These debates, and there’s a massive stack of the tapes somewhere in Rockefeller Center, were solely between candidates within one party. Whether they were radio debates, or good ol’ podium debates, or even YouTube debates, there were 17 of them in total before January 3rd, 2008. The YouTube debates were arguably a little bit interesting, but the rest were generally bland in nature as candidates within the party pick at each other’s bones. The last Democratic one came on December 13th, 2007, three weeks before Iowans went out to caucus. That debate, held in Johnston, Iowa, part of Des Moines Metropolitan Area, was carried by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, three channels which would enjoy the highest ratings during the 2008 presidential election. In a turning point election like 2008, rigorous debate was for certain to be had.
Debate performance was one viscous yardstick to how strong a candidate was. The more set-in-stone and hard measuring tool was your polls. The pollsters were enjoying every bit of the ’08 campaign as well, for this was their chance to shine in national spotlight. Things were so tight for the Democrats in Iowa that multiple polls from multiple polling companies were released daily. For the first half of 2007, the polls in Iowa showed a competitive race between Hillary Clinton, the first viable woman candidate for president and John Edwards, who came in second in Iowa in 2004. But as fall came and the leaves started changing colour, the scope of the tide in Iowa started to turn as well. Barack Obama’s numbers began to slowly but steadily rise, thanks to his effective internet campaign and Edwards’ support began to fade ever so slightly. By December, Obama started jumping ahead in a few polls, and the race was declared a three way dead heat between the three main candidates-Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.
Ironically, I had absolutely no idea what a how the caucuses work when Iowans went out to do exactly just that on January 3rd. Though these words were tossed around in the media like a football, I was actually confused as to what the difference was between a caucus and a primary. Pundits expected you to understand their jargonous conversations, so naturally, I consulted the internet. And thanks to Wikipedia, the caucusing process was explained to me in a stunningly clear fashion. It turns out that Democrats and Republicans have different ways of going about caucusing. The Democrats use what I perceive to be a very traditional and kind of fun method of, basically, counting heads. All the caucus-goers gather in a spacious common room, usually in a community institution such as a church, library or occasionally, a neighbor’s house. Each candidate is assigned one specific corner/area in the room. All caucus-goers are welcome, as long as they are registered under the party whose caucus they plan to participate in, even if their registration was just 5 minutes old, or had just switched at the door. As well, a rarity in the Iowa caucuses is that 17 year olds are allowed to participate, provided that they reach the universal suffrage age by the time of the general election.
Again, each candidate is assigned a specific spot in the room, in which all his or her supporters will gather to form a “preference group”. Usually, the scene is pleasantly raucous once the actual caucusing starts. Everybody has 30 minutes to align themselves into preference groups, usually coordinated by energetic and vocal precinct captains. For half an hour, democracy shines! There is a plethora of debate in the room between the candidates, and some fierce competition for undecided voters. Preference groups attempt to enlarge themselves as much as possible by dragging anyone who is willing to stand with them. After this half hour period is up, a preliminary head count is done to weed out the “unviable” candidates-those whose preference groups account for less than 15% of all participants. One easy example to comprehend the process is if there are 100 caucus-goers, the candidates with less than 15 supporters after the first 30 minutes are deemed “unviable”. After that, a second 30 minute alignment period gets underway. Those in the “unviable” camps have two choices, join a group that is viable, or band together with other unviable supporters to form a larger, viable group for one of the candidates. Though the process demands little of the average caucus-goer-go to your local school gym, stand in line for 20 minutes, and go home-the negotiation that goes on in the caucuses is intense and indeed, very healthily democratic.
Comments?
-D
The title is "The Arc of History" and the subject is, what else but the 2008 Presidential Election. Mainly, I wanted a record of history for myself, written by myself. I wanted for some way for the legacy of this election to carry on. And since I changed so much as a person during these past two years, I wanted to record some of the more personal moments during the campaign.
Right now, I have about 47 000 words done, and by my projection, the book should be about 95 000-100 000 words in length after it's finished. Since I'm extremely busy with activities in school, it's taking me quite a while to put the project together. I hope to have the manuscript done by late July. Then, I will decide whether I want to self publish this, or contact a publishing company. In the meanwhile, I wanted to share a few excerpts from the book with you. Feel free to make any suggestions! I'll need it.
So today, I'm going to share a bit from the chapter titled "IOWA":
Iowa is the focal point of every election, being the first state to cast ballots (or count heads in the Democrats’ case) in the primary season. For some candidates, Iowa is the difference between political termination and political stardom. The Iowa Caucuses cost a thick stack of money as well. The price tag on the 2008 caucuses was around $60 million. This encompassed the ad blitz which hit Iowa all throughout the holiday season. In virtually every city and town in the Hawkeye State, during practically every commercial break on TV or radio, Iowans were bombasted with campaign messages from literally every candidate, Democrat and Republican. And since Iowa is First in the Nation, this means that the slate of candidates has yet to be whittled. In 2008, this meant choosing between 17 candidates. This is no easy task, as candidates in the same party support, more or less, the same policies and present similar agendas. It ends up being much like a high school student council election, where most votes are won by popularity and character, not substance.
There was one thing that was abundant before Iowans went to caucus-the candidate debates. These debates, and there’s a massive stack of the tapes somewhere in Rockefeller Center, were solely between candidates within one party. Whether they were radio debates, or good ol’ podium debates, or even YouTube debates, there were 17 of them in total before January 3rd, 2008. The YouTube debates were arguably a little bit interesting, but the rest were generally bland in nature as candidates within the party pick at each other’s bones. The last Democratic one came on December 13th, 2007, three weeks before Iowans went out to caucus. That debate, held in Johnston, Iowa, part of Des Moines Metropolitan Area, was carried by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, three channels which would enjoy the highest ratings during the 2008 presidential election. In a turning point election like 2008, rigorous debate was for certain to be had.
Debate performance was one viscous yardstick to how strong a candidate was. The more set-in-stone and hard measuring tool was your polls. The pollsters were enjoying every bit of the ’08 campaign as well, for this was their chance to shine in national spotlight. Things were so tight for the Democrats in Iowa that multiple polls from multiple polling companies were released daily. For the first half of 2007, the polls in Iowa showed a competitive race between Hillary Clinton, the first viable woman candidate for president and John Edwards, who came in second in Iowa in 2004. But as fall came and the leaves started changing colour, the scope of the tide in Iowa started to turn as well. Barack Obama’s numbers began to slowly but steadily rise, thanks to his effective internet campaign and Edwards’ support began to fade ever so slightly. By December, Obama started jumping ahead in a few polls, and the race was declared a three way dead heat between the three main candidates-Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.
Ironically, I had absolutely no idea what a how the caucuses work when Iowans went out to do exactly just that on January 3rd. Though these words were tossed around in the media like a football, I was actually confused as to what the difference was between a caucus and a primary. Pundits expected you to understand their jargonous conversations, so naturally, I consulted the internet. And thanks to Wikipedia, the caucusing process was explained to me in a stunningly clear fashion. It turns out that Democrats and Republicans have different ways of going about caucusing. The Democrats use what I perceive to be a very traditional and kind of fun method of, basically, counting heads. All the caucus-goers gather in a spacious common room, usually in a community institution such as a church, library or occasionally, a neighbor’s house. Each candidate is assigned one specific corner/area in the room. All caucus-goers are welcome, as long as they are registered under the party whose caucus they plan to participate in, even if their registration was just 5 minutes old, or had just switched at the door. As well, a rarity in the Iowa caucuses is that 17 year olds are allowed to participate, provided that they reach the universal suffrage age by the time of the general election.
Again, each candidate is assigned a specific spot in the room, in which all his or her supporters will gather to form a “preference group”. Usually, the scene is pleasantly raucous once the actual caucusing starts. Everybody has 30 minutes to align themselves into preference groups, usually coordinated by energetic and vocal precinct captains. For half an hour, democracy shines! There is a plethora of debate in the room between the candidates, and some fierce competition for undecided voters. Preference groups attempt to enlarge themselves as much as possible by dragging anyone who is willing to stand with them. After this half hour period is up, a preliminary head count is done to weed out the “unviable” candidates-those whose preference groups account for less than 15% of all participants. One easy example to comprehend the process is if there are 100 caucus-goers, the candidates with less than 15 supporters after the first 30 minutes are deemed “unviable”. After that, a second 30 minute alignment period gets underway. Those in the “unviable” camps have two choices, join a group that is viable, or band together with other unviable supporters to form a larger, viable group for one of the candidates. Though the process demands little of the average caucus-goer-go to your local school gym, stand in line for 20 minutes, and go home-the negotiation that goes on in the caucuses is intense and indeed, very healthily democratic.
Comments?
-D
Sunday 15 March 2009
Beautiful Day
Boy is it ever a beautiful day here in TO!! The sun is shining, the temps near 10 Celsius, the wind is still a bit chilly, but spring is all but here!!
I was originally supposed to go to the Raptors game today, but a slight change of plans brought me out to play some baseball. Mostly though, I was glad to be enjoying the glorious weather.
But I am a bit unhappy that I didn't get to see the Raptors slaughter the Pacers today, 110-87. They had been victims of 7 straight losses. And how bout 'em green jerseys for St. Pat's Day eh? Bargnani again with a huge day-27 points. This guy was on fire, now only if he had been that way all through out the season.
For this March Break, I will be working on a writing project that is big, and I mean really big. I'll talk more about it during or after the break. Other than that, the odd homework, movie, and perhaps, since I am 16 now, getting my driver's license.
-D
I was originally supposed to go to the Raptors game today, but a slight change of plans brought me out to play some baseball. Mostly though, I was glad to be enjoying the glorious weather.
But I am a bit unhappy that I didn't get to see the Raptors slaughter the Pacers today, 110-87. They had been victims of 7 straight losses. And how bout 'em green jerseys for St. Pat's Day eh? Bargnani again with a huge day-27 points. This guy was on fire, now only if he had been that way all through out the season.
For this March Break, I will be working on a writing project that is big, and I mean really big. I'll talk more about it during or after the break. Other than that, the odd homework, movie, and perhaps, since I am 16 now, getting my driver's license.
-D
Thursday 12 March 2009
16
Time flies.
I've probably said that a million times on this blog. But it really does. And you realize it even more whenever your birthday rolls around.
For me, birthdays have never been a "party up" occasion, just the usual family things, cakes, pictures. Not much more than that.
To me, the things that happen in between your birthdays should really be the cause for celebration. Last year's birthday was unforgettable, and I remember it quite clearly. It was March Break, as usual for my birthday, and I went over to a friend's house to work on an English project. The friend played Happy Birthday to me on the violin. I felt really good.
I might not have realized it then, but the friends I was working with that day would become some of the closest buddies I've ever had. They still humble me everyday, and teach me to look at the world in a different way.
It's been an eventful year, a stressful one at that, but also extremely satisfying. My older friends tell me that after you turn 16, your entire perspective on societies and relationships change.
And on this birthday, I've already been having a blast. Man, I never realized having a birthday outside of March Break would be this fun!!
I'm so looking forward to the adventures in my 17th year on this planet. It's going to be life changing, in an amazing way. I just know it. I sense it.
On that note, let's go enjoy it together!
-D
I've probably said that a million times on this blog. But it really does. And you realize it even more whenever your birthday rolls around.
For me, birthdays have never been a "party up" occasion, just the usual family things, cakes, pictures. Not much more than that.
To me, the things that happen in between your birthdays should really be the cause for celebration. Last year's birthday was unforgettable, and I remember it quite clearly. It was March Break, as usual for my birthday, and I went over to a friend's house to work on an English project. The friend played Happy Birthday to me on the violin. I felt really good.
I might not have realized it then, but the friends I was working with that day would become some of the closest buddies I've ever had. They still humble me everyday, and teach me to look at the world in a different way.
It's been an eventful year, a stressful one at that, but also extremely satisfying. My older friends tell me that after you turn 16, your entire perspective on societies and relationships change.
And on this birthday, I've already been having a blast. Man, I never realized having a birthday outside of March Break would be this fun!!
I'm so looking forward to the adventures in my 17th year on this planet. It's going to be life changing, in an amazing way. I just know it. I sense it.
On that note, let's go enjoy it together!
-D
Sunday 8 March 2009
Basketball/Baseball
Well well, I was down at the ACC on Friday night for the Miami game. We lost...again. It always seems to me like the Raptors play superbly for the first quarter, and suddenly runs out of steam come the second half. It's a different story today, however, the Raps are leading by 6 right now, at the beginning of the fourth quarter in their game against Utah. If they pull off this win, it will be one of the sweetest on the season yet. Utah came in here with a 10 game winning streak, and the Raps have been playing incredibly well, with heart and passion, stopping the Utah offense right in their tracks.
Bargnani has been amazing as of late, but the team needs to work together as a cohesive body if they intend to take advantage of what remote chance that remains of making the play offs. Nonetheless, I always find it fun to be in the house whenever the Raps play. My next game will be the 15th against the Pacers.
The World Baseball Classic has begun, without much hype really. It's a young tournment still, but to be honest, I don't find it very interesting. But who knows, with the sport no longer on the Olympic program, it could become very popular internationally very soon. Canada lost to the US 6-5 yesterday, was a decent match, with an enormous crowd on hand at the Rogers Centre. My pick for this year, however, is Cuba!
-D
Sunday 1 March 2009
Friends
*To divert from sports this time, this is for my best buddies.*
They're your companions, your pals, your buddies.
They're always there when you need them.
Friends are some of the best people in the world and I'm lucky to have many. They're the paddles in your kayak, your key to certain locks in life.
There are some friends who are my buddies, but every so often, there are people who you bond with so closely that they become part of family. I have a few of such best friends.
They're the ones who stay up until midnight to talk with me about the ups and downs in life, with whom I discuss the past and the future, from whom I receive some of my most trusted advice.
They're the ones who are willing to stand in the lunch line for me, because I've left mine at home, who then delivers it to the opposite corner of the school where I'm having a meeting.
They're the ones who live 35 kilometres away but enthusiastically comes back to watch movies with us, who invites us over so we can all go skiing together.
They're the ones who sit and chat with me for two hours in a coffee shop so I can make the right decision on things.
These are the types of friends I have. I am grateful for what they've done for me, and for what they've taught me.
I love you all!
-D
They're your companions, your pals, your buddies.
They're always there when you need them.
Friends are some of the best people in the world and I'm lucky to have many. They're the paddles in your kayak, your key to certain locks in life.
There are some friends who are my buddies, but every so often, there are people who you bond with so closely that they become part of family. I have a few of such best friends.
They're the ones who stay up until midnight to talk with me about the ups and downs in life, with whom I discuss the past and the future, from whom I receive some of my most trusted advice.
They're the ones who are willing to stand in the lunch line for me, because I've left mine at home, who then delivers it to the opposite corner of the school where I'm having a meeting.
They're the ones who live 35 kilometres away but enthusiastically comes back to watch movies with us, who invites us over so we can all go skiing together.
They're the ones who sit and chat with me for two hours in a coffee shop so I can make the right decision on things.
These are the types of friends I have. I am grateful for what they've done for me, and for what they've taught me.
I love you all!
-D
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