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My Bucket list

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc0RePBnH40

Authors Note: 

I am an 18 year old high schooler, 11 days away from graduating. It's a bittersweet feeling after having been in grade school for basically my entire life. Thinking about university gets my pretty pumped because of a few reasons, the main one being I will be living with my best friend. Another reason is what I want to study, which goes along with my bucket list. My dream is to be a photojournalist, so traveling will be my job. This way, I have 25 plus places I want to go to all planned out, and I won't have to pay for any of it! I hope that I can complete everything on my bucket list before I die, even though some of it seems unrealistic. 

1. Stay friends with the people I've grown up with

2. Go backpacking in Europe

3. Learn more about the Holocaust (partially complete)

4. See Hedley live in concert

5. See Paramore live in concert 

6. Go to Tomorrowland

7. Move into an apartment all on my own

8. Go on a road trip with my best friends 

9. Go hiking in the Canadian Rockies 

10. Go bungee jumping 

11. Go zip lining

12. Live on the east coast

13. Go to the cheerleading worlds 

14. See the ball drop in New York on New Year's Eve, in person

15. Be more flexible

16. Meet Channing Tatum

17. Donate Blood (partially complete) 

18. Donate $ to a good cause, anonymously

19. See the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

20. Eat at a fancy restaurant, dressed up

21. Go on a fancy date

22. Visit Québec 

23. Do something spontaneously 

24. Go backstage at a concert

25. Be a bridesmaid

26. Own a collection of old VHS childhood movies (partially completed) 

27. Spend a winter without snow

28. Go a year without pop or junk food

29. See Down With Webster live 

30. Go on a trip with mine and my best friends family 

31. Know an actor/actress on tv

32. Own a big house

33. Have a cabin on Lake Manitoba in St. Laurent 

34. Adopt my own dog (complete) 

35. Join a central cheer team

36. Be a flyer in a stunt at competition

37. Learn to tumble

38. Have a box tv when they aren't sold anymore 

39. Go skydiving

40. Get family pictures done every year

41. Be an auntie

42. Go to a drive in movie

43. Own lots of vintage things

44. Swim in the Pacific Ocean

45. Swim in the Atlantic Ocean 

46. Own every season of Friends

47. Own every season of One Tree Hil

48. Put my kids in dance or cheerleading 

49. Start a conversation with a random stranger

50. Go to a Winnipeg Jets game 

51. Be able to eat 'normal' food 

52. Have long hair and donate it to cancer 

53. Buy something from IKEA (complete)

54. Wear leather pants

55. Watch every episode of "Who's Line is it Anyway?" With Drew Carey 

56. Go horseback riding in the wild

57. Watch a full sunset

58. Get a tattoo

59. Go on a safari

60. Lock a lock on the love lock bridge in Paris 

61. Marry a francophone 

62. Be proposed to in an interesting way

63. Study in a coffee shop for hours (complete)

64. Set a world record  

65. Fishbowl Fridays (complete)

66. Do Humanitarian work 

67. Have a world map in my room of all the places I want to visit (complete) 

68. Dye my hair (complete) 

69. Get my oversplits further

70. Have a random coin collection (complete) 

71. Own a stuffed animal collection (complete) 

72. Travel to Europe (complete) (but I want to go back)

73. Write my bucket list in my room (complete) 

74. Go to my first concert (complete)

75. Win a soccer medal (complete) 

76. Win a cheerleading medal and/or trophy (complete)

77. Take a gondola ride in Venice in the Grand Canal

78. Fly in a hot air balloon 

89. Fall in love 

80. See a waterfall (complete)  

81. Cliff jump into the Ocean

82. Collect sand from every beach I visit

83. Buy a homeless person a hot meal

84. Start a new year off with an empty jar and fill it with good things that happen throughout the year

85. Flash mob

86. Study abroad

87. Lay in the middle of the road in the dead of might 

88. Be in two places at once

89. Change someone's life for the better

90. Kiss under mistletoe 

91. Celebrate Mahdi gras in New Orleans

92. Be on/watch in studio - Big Brother Canada

93. Meet Ryan Gosling

94. Plan my sisters wedding

95. Visit the Santa Monica pier

96. Sleep under the stars (complete)

97. Have a bucket list inspired anniversary 

98. Meet Matt Smith from Cheer Athletics 

99. Meet Jamie Andries from Cheer Athletics 

100. Own a pair of Nfinitys 

101. See Smoed, F5, CA Cheetas, Cali, Top Gun, Lady Bullets, Cheer X-treme, etc compete

102. Meet David Beckham 

103. Buy a keychain from everyplace in the world I visit

Go to...

104. Paris, France

105. Dublin, Ireland

106. Venice, Rome, Milan etc, Italy

107. Berlin, Germany (complete) 

108. Fiji

109. Sydney, Australia 

110. Rio de Jenerio, Brazil 

111. New Zealand

112. Cuba

113. Cancun, Mexico

114. Madagascar 

115. Panama City 

116. Athens, Greece 

117. Iceland 

118. Wales 

119. Poland (complete)

120.Switzerland

121. Prague, Czech Republic (complete) 

122. B.C. 

123. Scotland

124. Toronto

125. California

126. Jasper, Alberta

127. Bali

128. Spain

129. Croatia 

And much more!! 

My Short Story - The Art of Interactional Video Games

Waking up, I slowly glance around the room. Wires all around me, many of which are hooked up to me. I hear a loud crash... 

"Who's there?" I shout, but no other sounds were made. 

I blink, trying to remember where I am, and what happened. All of a sudden I feel a sharp pain in my arm as if I am being stabbed, and everything disappears. 

Regaining consciousness, I note that the things I see now are nothing like I remember seeing before everything went dark. Suddenly I realize, my arms are getting tired, and I can't figure our why. Looking up I see that I am holding myself up by a rope falling out of the sky. 

I think to myself. "How did I get here?" 

Then suddenly I realize I am no longer holding myself up, instead I am plummeting towards to ground, screaming, knowing I will be dead in just a few seconds. 

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 ... wait I can't even see the ground. What's happening? Where am I? Get me out of here!" 

Now I realize I am being thrown towards a great fire in the sky, instead of being flung downwards by gravity's cruel effects. Then without even realizing it, I am walking in a city that I have no idea how I got to. Though I don't feel any panic for having just arrived here. Confused, I take a moment to search my feelings. 

"This town, it's beautiful. The structure and the skies. Everything about it is magnificent" 

During that time, I also glance down, and notice that my entire outfit has been changed; I am wearing a dress, which is something I have never worn before, but have always longed to do. I also notice that everything has a shimmer to it, and seems to glow.

I make a foolish mistake to walk around, and soon find myself face to face with one of my old enemies whom I left behind during the Great War when we lost contact with earth. I greeted him cautiously, and then started running, it feels like I am running through a fog and my movements are difficult.

"How have you been?" He started 

"I've been good! It's been a while, we should catch up sometime." 

"Why not now? I'm not doing anything." 

"Jake, I'm actually on my way somewhere." I try desperately to ditch him.

"I'll walk with you!" 

All I can think of is how badly I want something; anything to happen so I can get away from Jake. The last thing I need is for him to say something bad about me and no one will ever talk to me again. After all, he is one of the most popular and has been for as long as I can remember. 

All of a sudden gravity decided to have a surprise in store for me, and I can't be more ecstatic. I discovered, once again its flawless cruelty. Rolling down the hill, I

desperately tried to get myself into a position where I could stop, and get

up, so I could start running again. I finally managed it, and discovered

that my left arm was broken. I managed to bind it up with some deadwood

from the forest ground. Ignoring my many cuts and scrapes, I once again

headed off to the caves.

Picking up my pace, I frantically ran back up the hill. The fires had just reached the tops of the tallest trees, and they were starting to flare up. It would not be

too long before the whole forest was ablaze in a fiery mess.

I finally reached the cave, although I still needed to find my

access key. Searching through my shirt, I was finally able to get it,

berating myself for refusing to get the chip installed, which would not

have lost me this precious time.

The door to the cave opened up. I walked along the hallway, and down

the stairs into the bunkers that were on level d25. The walk down there

would take me about a hour, and i heard echoes of laughter, which meant that other

people had managed to get inside as well. Reaching floor b26, i managed to

catch sight of the timer. It read fifteen minutes left until the bunkers

would be locked down, and I may not have a hope of surviving this. I cursed

myself for falling down, and reaching the caves from the other wing, which

did not have the slide that would have made my descent almost instantaneous,

but it was one of the more remote areas, and hardly used.

I started running down the stairs, making fairly decent time, but worrying

that i would not make it in time. The next moment I, again, find

myself flying upwards.

This time I try to fight it, I don't have time to lose myself in

another place.

All of a sudden I am in a long corridor.. At first i thought, i had

lost my sight, but then i realized that everything was shaded black.

Even my clothes, a long sleeved shirt with those old style gloves - I think they called them ballroom gloves back five hundred years ago.

Looking around I saw the light covered in black as well. The walls

started to close in on me and I ran down the hallway towards a door

that seemed to appear up ahead in the far distance. Oddly, the door

seemed to be as white and glowing as the last place I ended up.

I started to run down the hallway, and found that no matter how much i ran, i always remain where i first arrived. The walls were still closing in on me, if i reached out with both arms, i would of been able to touch them. I started to panic, the walls were moving faster, and faster, and i could not seem to move an inch from where i was.

All of a sudden, I was at the door, and very much out of breath.. Opening the door, i saw a screen that was playing a image from earlier on in my life - one of the times i was with my sister Alyssha. We were both pretty young, no more than eight or nine years old. It was odd seeing the both of us outside from my memories from that time, it had been years since our pictures got destroyed in the raging fire of ‘27, when everyone was relocated to one of the surrounding cities.

I start to walk towards the screen which seems almost transparent. I had just reached it when i was suddenly back at the stairs, and glancing at the time, it looked like i had only lost two seconds.

I start running again, faster this time.. Maybe i can reach the secondary level at least which has five minutes longer to get to, before it gets locked down too.

All of a sudden,  I smelled an odd scent, it reminded me of my mother during my years growing up within her house. I felt a sadness, since we’d lost her last summer during an air raid on the colony.

Not having enough time to discover where the scent is coming from, I turn and head down the next flight of stairs. All of a sudden there is a really sharp pain on my arm. I rub my arm, feeling nothing there and keep running.

As I reach floor d25 the ground starts shaking violently. I hear my name being called, and soft, faint voices in the distance. Trying to keep my balance as everything starts dissolving. I try to hold onto the world, but it doesn’t seem to want to keep me around. I become aware of a beeping noise, and I glance around. There are less wires then i remember before.There is a monitor that is counting down;

45 seconds left.

30 seconds 

20 seconds

10

5 

0 

A strange person wearing all white, walks in and notices me awake and starring around. She walks out quickly, and there are hushed whispers coming from the hallway. I try to listen in, but I can’t quite make out the voices.

All of a sudden my sister and mother walk in. Both of them walk to the bed and give me a big hug. I look at them confused; both of them had died.

I started to ask them how they came back alive then realized that that probably was not an appropriate question to ask.

They both start talking at the same time, laugh and then my sister reminds me of the experiment with the virtual reality machine I had taken.

All of a sudden memories flood back and I remember the special project I joined through Facebook. It was my job to test out how real the system worked. The painful prod on my arm was the reversal drug to stop the inhibitor on my subconscious and conscious mind which detaches me from the real world and makes the game seem more real.

I climbed out of bed excitedly; after fifteen years we finally had the proper drug to bring back memories so people don't end up forever trapped in the game world.

"So what have I missed?"

"Well honey, not very much has happened. You were only out for about a day."

"We missed you of course, but you know you aren't done yet, right?" Alyssha reminds me. "You have to document everything that happened during the game on Facebook."

And so it goes...

"This game has to be the most exhilarating yet most terrifying game to ever be invented. I would recommend it to anyone who is up for a good time and a challenge.

While I was there...."

So What

"Safari Inside a Bookstore"  -- The 'So What' of this picture that I think the artist was trying to get across is how, instead of just going out and making experiences, people tend to read about adventures instead. So I think the author is trying to get across that we need to get out of our houses and make our own stories. 

Personal Post - Tattoo Idea

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo for a while, and my mom recently told me that she wants to get a tattoo of a butterfly because of a disease she has recently been diagnosed with. 

This picture is something that means a lot to me because it says, "Jamais Perd l'espoir" which means "Never Lose Hope" in French. Throughout my life, so far, there have been many instances where I don't believe anything is going right for me and I give up. So getting a tattoo of this, I think will remind me that I have to keep going, even though it's hard and it doesn't seem like anything is going good for me. The symbol next to the phrase one of the many symbols of hope. I chose this one because I think it fits with my personality and also fits well with many things that happen in my life. 

TED reflection - TED x - DeExtinction

I recently did a biology project about bringing back the wooly mammoth through the method of either cloning or reprogramming cells. While doing research, I came across this website http://longnow.org/revive/tedxdeextinction/not-all-mammoths-were-woolly/ and noticed there was a TED talk on it. 

Throughout this TED talk, I was very interested in what the speaker; Hendrik Poinar, had to say. He talks about being able to sequence the genome of extinct animals, and thinking that 10 years ago, it was very unlikely to happen. Today, scientists from around the world have actually been able to sequence the human genome which is absolutely remarkable! Years ago, it would have been impossible because of the technology we had around then, as opposed to now. He also talks about reviving an extinct animal, being asked years ago; impossible. Today it is a reality, cloning an animal. The main topic he talks about is actually being able to revive an extinct species, which today is in reach. For example, the wooly mammoth. As long as there is well preserved cells and blood which has been found. He talks about the steps of taking the DNA from the wooly mammoth and extracting it from the bacteria and using this DNA to revive the wooly mammoth. 

Some fun facts that I recall from his TED talk... 

- comparing the chromosomes of an Asian elephant to the chromosomes a wooly mammoth can tell us how different the genome is and what sequences they need to be able to revive the wooly mammoth. 

- The mammoth genome is almost at full completion 

- The human genome is about 3 billion base pairs while the elephant and mammoth genome is about 2 billion base pairs larger than that of the human genome. 

- We can take an Asian elephant chromosomes, modify them so they match the chromosomes of the mammoth, put that into an e-nucleated cell, differentiate that into a stem cell, differentiate that into maybe sperm, artificially inseminate an Asian elephant egg and over a long and **arguous* procedure, bring back something that looks like the wooly mammoth. 

        -Because of certain parts missing from the chromosomes, it wouldn't be an exact replica, but it would be something that looked and felt much like a wooly mammoth. 

One major question which is turning many people away from wanting to bring back the wooly mammoth is "Where will we put it?". Well, Hendrik Poinar has an answer to that in his TED talk. There is plenty of area for 'housing' a mammoth in the north of Siberia. 

Though there is an answer to that question, there are many more posed as to whether or not we want to bring back the mammoth. 

QuickWrite - Worst Food

Over spring break, I was in Berlin (as well as some other places) and one day, we had to find our own lunch, and 5 or so people went over to a little kiosk that sold a bunch of different things. Knowing myself, I knew I couldn't have really anything there other than the fries which came with a sausage. I hadn't ever tired it and I was open for a new experience. 

This sausage tasted kind of sour, and was hard to chew. Though it was sour, I found it to be very juicy and had a lot of flavours to it I wasn't sure about. 

We ended up having this sausage for dinner a few times as well and the taste was, almost worse than what I had for lunch that day. For most of us, the sausage wasn't cooked so we didn't even try it. For myself I knew I wouldn't like it because of the experience I had already had with the Bratwurst.