When winter break finally began I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I would have never guessed that I would be stuck at home with parental control (logs you off the wifi), doing chores, and listening to the torturing sounds coming from the TV which we all know as cocomelon. If you don’t know what cocomelon is, I will not be telling you because you will forever be traumatized with the sounds of ‘singing’ nursery rhymes and they will be trapped in your head. Like at this very moment, ‘Wheels On The Bus’ is playing in my head! I advise you to NEVER search it up. My 2 year old cousin came over and he is definitely an ipad kid. I always found cocomelon being stupid and despised those animated characters. I LOVE animations and I’m pretty sure I made that very clear, but whoever created cocomelon has put an eternity of pain upon many parents. I have never heard anyone saying, “I love cocomelon it’s awesome! It teaches my kid so much and is very entertaining!” Do you know why? BECAUSE IT SUCKS! It is so stupid. The worst part about it is definitely when my 2 year old cousin drags me to the couch and forces me to watch cocomelon and if I don’t obey, then he will throw a big tantrum until I listen. I am pretty sure that I am officially mentally insane and the only one to blame is cocomelon. Cocomelon owns me a new brain! One day, I was sleeping in because I don’t have to wake up for anything. I was having the best dream ever where I was saving the world and suddenly-
MY TWO YEAR OLD COUSIN IS SLAPPING ME ON THE FACE AND TELLING ME TO WAKE UP! Why is he up so early (it was 9:00)! I can’t forget the random beef he has with my glasses. When I least expect it or when he wants my attention, he takes my glasses and slams them on the ground. My glasses have been through more than many people in this world. Surprisingly, they’re not broken… yet. They do have a lot of scratch marks and I can barely see, but it’s fine! Even after all of the torture this kid put me through, he is still one of my favourite people and I love him to bits. Don’t ask why, I just do. I love this kid.
Author: Gurjas
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife- IRJE #3
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is about Frederick, who is an old man very a very kind heart and is always willing to help others out. He was still grieving about the loss of his beloved wife named Dawn. Frederick was getting evicted from his apartment. Nothing ever seems to be going well for him. He ends up getting mistaken as another old man named Bernard Fred (who his dead because of an accident), and decides to borrow his life.
‘Would you mind terribly, old boy, if I borrowed the rest of your life? I promise I’ll take excellent care of it.’
As he continues his life he learns to move on and meets a new girl named Hannah.
As Fred gazed upon young love and old love side by side, his heart felt fuller than it had in a very long time. If only he had a loved one to share it with. Yet to his surprise, this time, instead of Dawn, it was Hannah who came to mind (Page 159).
This quote indicates how far Frederick (or should I say Bernard) has come with this new chapter of his life. He didn’t expect his life to have such a sudden turn like this one, especially at his age; he thought that he was nearly done his last chapter before these series of unpredictable events. I honestly didn’t enjoy this book as much as I had thought I would in the start. Hearing about this book I was really excited to start reading it, but quickly changed my mind after reading a bit of it. This book may be interesting for those who like ‘dark’ humour (you’ll instantly understand what I’m talking about once you start reading it) and those who do not mind a disgusting amount of detail.
Don’t Go To The Library! It’s Chaotic!- PW#3
I had to push a car with my dad on the way back from the library. Let me explain. After school, my parents were running late (30 minutes), so I decided to go to Tim Hortons like any normal person would in that situation. Once my mom finally came, we went home. The moment I arrived I didn’t have time to rest or sit down, I had to deliver newspapers. My dad decided he would help me out and we both quickly got that over with. I asked hi if we could go to the library since we were done and I was looking for a new book to read. My dad said that we could, but first he had to give some money to one of his workers and he needed it instantly since he was buying a new car (he got a REALLY good deal that my dad helped him get). The thing is, this car, was a bit run down, but I didn’t care because it wasn’t my car.
Once we were FINALLY done with that my dad and I immediately headed for the library. We got there only to realize it was closed. We were heading back when my dad’s worker called him and asked my dad if we could give him a ride. My dad asked if it was ok and I didn’t want to be be rude, so I told him it’s ok. It was only going to take 10 extra minutes anyways. We go there and my dad drops him off. My dad’s worker gets into his brand-new-run-down car and my dad was following him because they were going to park the car in a different lot (and after that my dad was going to drop him to his house). We are turning right and it was a bit inclined, but that shouldn’t be a problem… or so I thought. I hear a loud noise. I didn’t think much of it until I see my dad’s worker’s car, start rolling in reverse. Is it weird that before thinking about my safety, I thought about my dad’s truck getting a huge dent? I cared more about the truck then anything else. I had the sudden urge to get out and try to stop the car from hitting my dad’s truck (I love that truck). Thankfully, my dad’s worker was smart enough to actually know what a break is used for and realized what was going on in time. If my tru- my dad’s truck got a single scratch, I would never let this man get away with it. HE WOULDN’T HEAR THE LAST FROM ME!
My dad and his worker were trying to figure out what to do, while I just mindlessly watched them, too tired to understand what the hell was going on. My dad had to park his car in a nearby parking lot and he made his way to help his worker. I personally would not even offer it and respond with, “Yeah, you got yourself caught in quite the pickle. Anyways, I wish you the best buddy, but I have to go do… uhm… something more important than this. So, bye!” My dad is too nice to do that and felt bad for the poor man (I felt bad for our truck, but sure). There was another parking lot nearby and in order to get there we had to PUSH THE CAR BACK! Can I mention that the last thing I had wad was half a bagel from Tims and it was 4 hours ago? Our plan managed to succeed and my dad tried figuring out the problem. It wasn’t working because it was still rolling back. I hate scammers even more now… they really do ruin lives…. After a bit of my dad and his worker going back and forth, taking turns to try driving this thing and figuring out what the hell is wrong with it, I was silently waiting for my dad to tell me get in the driver’s seat. I mean, it made more sense that two grown men would push the car instead of one grown man and a weak teenager who… wants to drive.
“Gurjas, get in the drivers seat.”
“LET’S GO!!! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO SAY THAT!!!”
Safe to say I was the life of the party. I was so happy imagining myself driving this on the actual road. Don’t worry… this is DEFINETLY NOT illegal. definitely. I did not complain about the incident after that- WE GOT HOME AT 8:26 PM! I HAVE HOMEWORK, I NEED TO SHOWER, I AM STARVING, AND I CAN BARELY OPEN MY EYES! I showered. I ate. I check the time. It’s 8:42 pm. That gives me enough time to finish my homew- I slept. I woke up at 4:00 am feeling restless and my legs are barely keeping me up right now. I would not be writing this in my uniform all ready for school if it weren’t for the fact that we are playing soccer today for PE. “Guess I’ll just do my homework,” I thought to myself, “as much as I can… and try to keep my eyes open for the rest of the day, but its not guaranteed. Man, I’m never asking to go to the library again. Except today. I want to go today.”
Moral of the story: Don’t ask your dad to go to the library because then your dad’s worker’s car will stop working and you’ll have to deal with that by pushing it up a small hill and arrive home very late. AND YOU WON’T EVEN MAKE IT TO THE LIBRARY!
My Reflection On The Two Essays
As we were reading these two essays in class, I couldn’t help but notice the contrary perspectives on these two essays. It’s a classic scenario of same story, different perspectives. The First essay, “The Moral Equivalent of War” by William James, he began by explaining how life was before the war. “The earlier men were hunting men, and to hunt a neighboring tribe, kill the males, loot the village and possess the females, was the most profitable, as well as the most exciting, way of living” (pg.1). He believes that people deserve the peace that we had before war. He also believes that humans are belligerent and that trait has been bred into us along by saying “thousands of years of peace won’t breed it out of us…” (pg.1). If we look into the perspective of the second essay, “Can real men live in a peaceful society?” By Eric MacKnight, he explains that men had softened after the war, as he claimed “The bourgeois men were too soft to make good soldiers” (pg.1). He also brings up that war is a necessity when it comes to hyper masculinity. Without war there is “marginalization and condemnation of hyper-masculinity in bourgeois society, because the consequences of men violating bourgeois taboos around masculinity range from the personal (e.g., assaults, domestic violence, rape) to the collective (e.g., gangs, fascism, and war)” (pg. 3).
Allies By Allan Gratz- IRJE #2
Allies By Allan Gratz, was recommended to me by my brother (the one time he is actually useful). This book was actually quite interesting. At first, my main purpose was to make fun of my brother’s taste, but I ended up loving it! I never really thought I enjoyed books about wars until I read this master piece. This book is about the Allied invasion of France opposing Nazi Germany. The main protagonist in this book is a 16 year old kid named Dietrich Zimmermann, except everyone formally knows him as Douglas Carpenter, but call him Dee (as a nickname). Dee is under this guise because he is actually German.
Would Sid care that Dee’s parents had disagreed with Hitler? Would Sid care that they had run away to America so Dee wouldn’t be brainwashed to hate everyone who wasn’t a ‘pure’ German? That Dee had been in America for almost his whole life, so long that he had lost any trace of his German accent? (page 18)
This quotation highlights Dee’s anxiousness as he thinks over Sid’s attitude towards him if his friend discovers his ancestry. He knows very well that Sid hates the Germans with every bone in his body (Sid is Jewish and is made fun of that often). Dee is a very close friend of Sid, but he feels guilty the more he lies. I could really understand Dee on an emotional level when the narrator mentions how anxious Dee feels about his background. He feels like an outsider. Which can be the situation for many people as I’ve seen in my life. He wants to tell people about his ancestry and be able to explain why he is there. Yet, at the same time, he finds a need of lying.
Surrey BC- PW #2
If you’ve ever been to Surrey, you’re going to be so confused why I’m writing about it (unless you know me). I know every little corner of Surrey by heart, probably even better than Victoria since the last time I lived here was when I was 11. I already explained that in my introduction.
I honestly I had no idea why I missed Surrey so much until I finally caved in and decided to visit my cousins after four horrible-dredged-tormenting months of not being able to see them (the longest time I’ve been away from them), I understood why. I realized that I missed the chaos of the screaming of my little cousins running around and being forced to take care of them (so no, I wasn’t talking about the shootings). I’m closer to some of my cousins then I am with my siblings. I only say that because I think I know a few of them better than my own brothers since I can connect with them on the same level (while my my age gap with my brothers’ cause some barriers). I am in Surrey right now, and this first visit after moving away, was very… eventful… At the least.
After getting off the most boring and normal ferry ride I’ve been on, we arrived at my cousins’ house. Scratch that. That place is basically mine. We arrived at my house in Surrey (because I’m definitely rich). The moment I came I hugged everyone except my LEAST favourite cousin (she knows very well she is my most favourite person in the world. I WOULD TAKE A MILLION BULLETS FOR HER IF I EVER HAVE TO (let’s pray that’s never the case)! I mean she saved my life a million times, but we’re not going to get on that topic much because she is going to sound like a hero, which she is for my dumb head). Both of us had been arguing with each other for the last 4 months to the point we don’t know what we were arguing about. All I know is that I’m not wrong. Both of us then looked at each other and knew what it meant. We both went to an empty room and kicked everybody out. We talked for hours like I never left, just catching up. Talking about how much we missed each other. Honestly, we could not see each other for 3 years and pick up the conversation right where we left it. Well, if I somehow survive that long without her, but I highly doubt that. Then, my brothers, cousins, and I watched a movie up ’til VERY late. The next day we went to their farm (they’re building a new house so they wanted to show us the progress that has been made). I also got my caramel ice cap after that (I’ve been craving that thing for such a long time). One thing I didn’t miss was the plaza near my Surrey house. They’re are a lot of homeless people and let’s just say your doing your lungs a favour if you avoid that place.
Now it is Monday, and I don’t want to come back because I don’t want to. Also, my cousins have a extra two weeks off (I used to get an extra break) and I deserve it more. Well, see you all tomorrow!
IRJE #1- “THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL”
The School For Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, is this fictional story about two best friends. One by the name of Sophie and the other Agatha, in this small village called Gavaldon. In this village laid a mythical (or known to be) story of The School For Good and Evil. Sophie dreamt of going to The School For Good and Evil (S.G.E.), meanwhile Agatha thought of it being as real as Cinderella or Snow White. People around them had a pretty… interesting perspective about them. They believed that Agatha is a witch since she lives near a cemetery, she wears black, and is weird (in addition to that her mom is a ‘witch’). Agatha knows she is weird, but she doesn’t really mind what others have to say about her. Though, at times she did want to be ‘normal.’
Agatha said nothing for a while. Then she touched Sophie’s hand. “Why do you want to leave here so badly? That you’d believe stories that aren’t true?”
Sophie met Agatha’s big sincere eyes. For the first time, she let in the tides of doubt.
“Because I can’t live here,” Sophie said, voice catching. “I can’t live an ordinary life.”
“Funny,” said Agatha. “That’s why I like you.”
Sophie smiled. “Because you can’t either?”
“Because you make me feel ordinary,” Agatha said. “And that’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted.” (Soman Chainani 16-18)
This scene in the book truly describes and shows us that the two girls really just wanted to feel whole. Like a completed puzzle and not feel as if there was a piece missing. If they weren’t enough. Little did they know they already did. When they were with each other. In my opinion, Sophie in the beginning of the story treats Agatha like a charity case just so she can somehow manage to get into the School For Good. At times I found Sophie being the most ignorant person on this planet and that really made me feel like slapping her. Other times I could feel some what empathy for her and could actually see where she was coming from. Many would disagree with me when I say she wasn’t all bad. She was just dedicated and wanted to reach her goal. Like any one of us. She just wanted to reach it no matter what, even if the cost was big. She really wanted her mother to be right about her being special. She lost her mother, the only person who truly got her, so she tried to patch it up in a way by trying to find The School For Good and Evil and have her happily ever after. At least that’s the way I saw it. In the end she found herself once more and that helped me humanize her better.
The moment Agatha was introduced I found her very relatable. I had a quite similar background to her. Being weird and an outcast. The quote above just really tied the knot. Everyone in the story differentiated the word ‘good’ and the word ‘evil.’ So much so that it became their reality. She didn’t believe that everyone’s perspective was right. She doesn’t believe that anyone is truly good or truly evil. The moment that she put that in my head, the moment my point of view began to change. Sometimes we tend to get distracted by everything and everyone around us that we start believing the act and lose sight of where we are or who we are. Agatha was backstabbed, used, and even felt disincluded at times along with being dumbfounded because of Sophie. Yet she still remained loyal to her. That makes me really look up to her character.
PW#1- My Experience at Cowichan Lake
Today I stared thinking about Cowichan Lake. I’ve been to Cowichan Lake a million times by now and I still love it. I grew up in Cowichan so my parents took me and my brothers there often (especially when my cousins come to visit). The last time I went was two years ago during the summer. That… was an experience. My cousin and I were begging my mom to take us to Cowichan Lake. We were very busy that day, but as a 13 year old I was very stubborn. My mom agreed, but only if we finished all of our chores before hand which we did. Once we were done, we packed everything that we will need. My dad was already in Cowichan for work reasons so we also packed his bag. I took my bag and put it in the trunk. We left for Cowichan.
When we arrived we first went to my dad’s worksite. It was really close to my old school so my brothers and I decided to roam around it for a bit and shared some memories about all the stupid things we did there. When we actually went to Cowichan Lake I checked the back of my mom’s car and saw only my cousin and my bag. I looked at her and she looked at me. I asked her if she put the other bags in the trunk and she replied by saying she thought that I PUT THEM IN!!!
“DO YOU NOT HAVE EYES?! I SERIOUSLY PUT MY BAGS BEFORE YOURS!!! WHY WOULD YOU THINK I PUT THEM?!”
“BRO I DON’T KNOW MAYBE ‘CAUSE I TOLD YOU TO!!!”
“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT I FREAKING TOLD YOU TO PUT THEM IN!!!”
We went on and on and my mom was getting mad at me. My dad (being the best person to ever exist) calmed everyone down along with saying that whatever happened happened, and we should just make the most of it. I honestly felt bad, but decided to go in the water anyways since that was the main reason we came and went where the current wasn’t as strong.
My cousin being the stupid being she is somehow moved towards the VERY DEEP END. At first I thought she was fine, but I saw her struggling and me being the AMAZING, AWESOME, AND COOL cousin I am thought to myself, “Yeah, I don’t really want her to die today.” So I started going towards her knowing THIS IS MY MAIN CHARACTER MOMENT (I was really scared) told my brother (Who was ten at the time and very dumb. We are not going to tell him I said that) to NOT follow me. Pretty clear instructions if you ask me. I mean he knows he can’t swim. So I start going towards my cousin, thinking I’m about to save her life and will never let her forget… even if she saved my life a million times; she starts to restore her balance and move towards the shore.
I see this and decide to turn around myself just to see MY BROTHER RIGHT BEHIND ME DROWNING!!! Since he was close to the other side of the river (close to the shore) and so was I. So, I grabbed on to a nearby branch and pulled myself up. I was about to lift my brother up and started thinking about how the hell my going to be guiding him back to the other side.
Luckily, there was a stranger willing to help. He was alone and I was shocked that he even decided to help because most of the time (the sad truth), people just watch. They don’t do anything they don’t really care. That’s just basic psychology (The Bystander Effect). He helped my brother get to the other side. I will forever be grateful to him.
After processing everything that went down in the last 30 seconds I decided to go back to the other side myself. We basically were all done with the day after this and all of us were starving so we went home. My mom (and everyone was) was shocked that I actually know how to swim (it had been a while). Honestly I was shocked myself. We all learned that day that we all really cared for each other and would rather put ourselves in risk then to watch the others suffer. Cowichan Lake brought us closer that day in a really weird way. Also irrelevant, but a few days later we went to Sooke Potholes and my brother also nearly drowned again.
WWI Readings: Prose 1 and 2 (PR- Personal Response)
All Quiet On The Western Front was written from the perspective of Erich Maria Remarque. The book was published in 1929. The protagonist of this story was a German soldier from the German Army in WWI who is known by Paul Bäumer. This novel was able to express the feelings, emotions, and help us understand what exactly the soldiers went through. Through reading this book, I learned that no matter what we know about what happened inside of the war, we may understand it unless we had actually been put in the spot and went through it ourselves. Paul had mentioned something like that himself, explaining that no matter what the people said they wouldn’t understand what he had gone through unless it was one of the other soldiers. To be honest, I didn’t truly find the book interesting because I had a problem connecting to it or the way it was written. I usually find war stories fascinating, but it was either I wasn’t in the mood for that type of book or I couldn’t get the main idea to stay in my head in general. I am planning on looking back at it though, just at my pace this time.
The WWI Readings, Prose 1 & 2, helped me see WWI in a different perspective and from different perspectives. I found Prose 1 to be more confusing and I had a hard time understanding anything, but when it came to Prose 2, I actually started understanding more. Besides the War itself, I also got to learn different writing styles (also from the WWI Readings: Poetry) which some I found to be more clear (like Chevallier and Barthas) and some sounded like Gibberish to me (like Herbert and Chevalier from Prose 1). I did find the poems to be more interesting though and it was easier to concentrate because I just thought of it as poetry (which I love) and nothing else.
About me and my background- Gurjas Kaur
My name is Gurjas Kaur Randhawa. This is my first year in Brookes. I am excited to see where this journey leads me. This is my 9th school and I’m in grade 10. I move quite often, but who knows, maybe this time I’ll stay longer!
I was born in Surrey, BC, on the 10th of July 2009, but I lived in Duncan, BC for the longest period of my life. I really miss Duncan. I’ve known that place for as long as I can remember. For the last 3 years of my life (grade 7-9), I’ve been living without my parents. I’ve been living with my cousins, grandmother, aunts, and uncles. Which meant a lot of ferry trips! I’ve been going alone on the ferry since I was 12 years old (when you’re considered an ‘adult’ for the ferry and are able to). I’ll be honest, it wasn’t all up hill. At first, I was having a hard time adjusting. The year before (grade 6) I was a very overconfident kid. I believed I was the smartest, coolest, funniest person out there. That I was the chosen one or something (we all went through that phase). Let’s just say that I was humbled. I learnt to not act so high and mighty today, for tomorrow I might fall on my face. That’s a bit of my background. My experience there has really shaped me into the person I am.
I have two pet rabbits. I recently got them last year (they turned a year old on September 1st). I can especially relate to one of them because he too is afraid of my mother. Growing up I had a lot of pets. I used to have two dogs, two cats, baby chicks, parrots, and two peacocks (my biggest flex) all around the same time. I also love sports (even if I’m not very good at them), especially soccer and swimming. I used to do a lot more before covid, but soon had to quit. So, I can officially say that I hate volleyball and field hockey (the two sports most people I know love). Ball hockey is pretty fun, though. I also used to be very good at it until I hit a girl on the face with my stick (by accident) by being too aggressive and nearly broke her nose… It’s safe to say that she never talked to me again after that and I never again held that hockey stick again during P.E.
I am the oldest of two siblings. I have two brothers, Arpan (two year age gap) and Gurditt (we call him Gavi. Six year age gap). I’m also the second oldest cousin (and the best at taking care of kids) so I always ended up being everyone’s babysitter (till this day). I’d say I am doing a pretty great job. No one died or has any brain injuries (that I know of) so I am doing a pretty great job.
I also love gaming. I don’t have much time anymore to game much, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like gaming anymore. Another thing I love are animations. On youtube I can usually be found watching animation channels because I find them painfully relatable and I really want to learn animating myself. Whenever I watch animated movies or shows, I always pay close attention to the background, what colours/shades they used, how well they lip sync the characters, etc. I have tried to animate, but it never ends right. One thing I do really love is painting. I know how I should blend the colours, what steps to take, and how I want it to turn out. I’m not good at drawing (in my opinion), but with colours I can be pretty creative.
I hope this post summarizes what kind of person I am; I’m excited to get to know everyone!!!