Friday, August 31, 2007

8 things about me!

I have seen this on a number of other blogs and I thought I'd do it on mine too!
Here is 8 random things about me!

1. I loooove classical music.

2. I was born in Vancouver, BC and I love the ocean. I want to live on a small island a couple kilometers out to sea when I am older.

3. I own two Oriental Fire-Bellied Toads. I love frogs.

4. I'm a composer. Not a very good one, mind you, but I do love it.

5. I love reading. I like history and some fiction.

6. I am considered a nerd by some of my friends. It could be because I love learning and studying thing that they consider boring, like parlimentary procedures. I am reading Roberts Rules of Order right now.

7. I love to geocache.

8. I love making lists and have every thing organized neatly, but fail to do so in my own room!

Liber Youth Retreat

Okay, here is my promised post about the Liber Youth Retreat. Once again, it was great experience. I have been trying to think of somehow to write about it, other then just using a bunch of superlatives, but they are really what sum it up! I had two excellent counselors, both of whom I knew pretty well from previous events but it was great getting to know them better and to just hang out with them for a weekend. Our speakers were very engaging and their topics were excellent and applicable.

The simulation--well, I could write a whole post on the simulation. The "story" was about a water dispute between two African tribes. Because of this dispute, smaller disputes were happening: cattle were being killed, people were being killed, the other tribe was hunting on our land etc. We were split into two larger groups-the tribes and one smaller group-mediators from a peace organization. I was a delegate from one the tribes. We had come together at this meeting to come to an agreement. We argued and debated and finally, with about 3o seconds remaining on the clock, we came to an agreement! With only 3 hours, it was really quite a feat! Have you read The Anatomy of Peace? For me, this was a great example of always seeing other people as people. At first, I was seeing the other tribe as "them" but when I started to look at them as "us", I was able to see the situation in a clearer light, and think about solutions that would make us all happy.

I had some great discussions with really neat people. It is just so refreshing to see so many wonderful people who are really trying to become better people and make the world a better place. Its such a great atmosphere.

Phew, so much to write about, and I have really just touched the surface. I wish I could show you the photos that I took, but, to protect people's privacy, I will not post them on the internet.

I can't wait 'till next year!

-Daniel


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

PCOS

Have you ever had a time in your life where you become completely and utterly obsessed with something i.e. a type of music? I am going through that at the moment. For me, it is PCOS aka. Piano Concerto Obsession Syndrome. I looove piano concertos! Thats all I ever listen to now! I just went to the library and go out 10 CDs of them. The library lady looked at me funny. Here is is a list of some my favorites (feel free click the red X in the top right-hand corner of your screen now if you're not interested... :P)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2-Rachmaninoff
  • Piano Concerto in A Minor-Grieg
  • Piano Concerto in G Minor-Dvorak
  • Piano Concerto No. 1-Tchaikovsky
  • Piano Concerto No. 3-Prokofiev
  • Piano Concerto No.1-Prokofiev
  • Piano Concerto No. 1- Saint-Saens
The list keeps growing...

Please share YOUR favourites! Or other favourite classical music pieces, for that matter...

Monday, August 27, 2007

Sibelius 5

Wahoo!!! A few days ago, I got a computer program called Sibelius 5. It is music notation software that allows you to enter your musical compositions and it will play them back to you and you can print them out and they look "professional". You can read more about it HERE. It is AWESOME!!!!!!! I have been wanting it for a looong time, so I saved up my money and my parents paid some as my early birthday present. I'm really excited about it...!

-Daniel

P.S. For those of you who are still waiting for a post on the Liber Youth Retreat, it is still coming! I hope to have it done in the the next day of two. Maybe even tonight, but thats assuming I stop composing and playing with Sibelius long enough to write it!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Quebec

As some of you know, I just came back from almost two weeks in Quebec. The reason I went was to go to a large Scout Camp: Scouts Canada Jamboree 2007. There were scouts from Ireland, USA, Kenya, Switzerland, Taiwan( and other countries, I forget) and of course, lots from Canada! It was really great. There were almost 8,000 people there! Located about an hour north of Montreal, Camp Tamaracouta was the perfect place to hold CJ. It is right next to a really nice lake, and even though there were almost 8,000 people there, it really didn't feel like it! One of the highlights for me came when I got to meet Adam Baden-Clay, who is Lord Baden-Powell's great-grandson! It was neat meeting a living relative of the man whose started this great movement. I didn't bring my camera to CJ (intentionally, so I wouldn't lose it), so I don't have any photos to post, but you can find some on the site I posted above.