☆ Second Week of CAS ☆

Hey guys,

Just in case you’re wondering, I’m listening to some really good music right now so if you’re interested you should definitely check out some of The XX or Dire Straits. They both make some really good music so have a listen and let me know what you think. Oh and also, Maroon 5 has this new album out called ‘V’. You should definitely go check out the song ‘Unkiss Me’ from them, it’s awesome.

Other than that, in the world of CAS, we had the first week of activities so I’m pretty excited to talk about everything that happened. So, let us start with…

Creativity

So ummm yeah. Let’s be real here, there’s little to no chance that my artwork is going to be politically oriented, that was completely and utterly whack so let’s ignore that I ever said that. Sound good? ‘Kay, great then. I actually came up with a better plan for what I’d like to do during drawing club; I’ll work on making a full cyber-punk cosplay outfit for Halloween! 

If you don't know what Cosplay is, here's a link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay. And FYI, cyberpunk is a futuristic movement that focuses on "a genre of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology" or in other words is part of a lawless, dehumanized society where everyone is oppressed by their higher ups or the ultimate power. The costumes are very Judge Dredd reminiscent.

Anyways, I’m hoping that it’ll work since I’ve already got a lot of the gear I need to pull it off, I just need to adjust them. For example, I have some plastic weaponry that I need to papier-mâché into shape and paint which should be pretty easy. I’m hoping to get that done quickly because it’s something I’m good at, I should be able to finish it quickly and further myself in areas of strengths whilst working on it. As for the actual costume, I need to make a lot of armour which means that I need to find my old knee and arm guards and papier-mâché those into something useful, a more realistic shape for the costume I’m going for. This should help me develop areas of weakness in my cosplay endeavors. I also have the chaps and boots needed to make some proper cyber-gear but I’ll need to get some help to make them into footwear that looks like it’s made up of buckles and strips of cloth. 

 These are the short sword and staff that I've already made, mostly out of paper-mache and cardboard and a bit of painting.

 My next piece of work will have to be the actual sword seen here. I need to add some details to this, change the shape a  bit and make it look more futuristic.

 And of course the ciggy. 

(Not real of course, just rolled up paper and tape.)

Somewhat related to actual art, I’ve been looking at ways to paint my face into a cyber-punk design which means a lot of kohl in very intricate designs. I have yet to find a style I like so I’ll try a few and then put up pics, especially of the one I chose in the end. The cyber-punk look also entails a lot of funky coloured hair. I’m working on making coloured gel and in case that doesn’t work there is an alternative chalk colouring method I can use. Hopefully I’ll be able to get that done quickly as seen from the tutorial here : http://www.wikihow.com/Chalk-Dye-Your-Hair There’s also this other tutorial where they also show you how to do chalk dye here: http://www.littlepinkmonster.com/2012/03/20/how-to-dye-hair-with-chalk-pastels/ . The hair deal is actually something that is completely new to me so I fear I’ll be out of my depth but oh well, I will survive. After all, I’m learning a new skill and it’ll be something I can use in the future!

I’ve already made myself a fake cigarette as well to go along with the costume so now I’m getting really excited that it’s coming together. Here’s the picture of the cig and this is a staff I’ve already made (from a cosplay the previous year). I still need to change the stem colour to black though and I’m going to try and do some special goggles if I can so yayayayay I’m really excited if you can’ already tell XD

Ehem. Anyway, I need to discuss Action now so…

               

Action

So I’m doing fun footy which is, as its name suggests, much fun! I realized though, how bad I’ve gotten since I haven’t played for over a year now. That’s really sad but I’m getting back into the groove of things and hopefully by the next few sessions I should be able to get back on track. It’s also so strange playing on a team again. I find myself forgetting that I have team mates that are helping me play defense and it’s just a strange feeling. I have to keep in mind that the point of the team is to collaborate with others, something I tend to forget. 

You know how when you haven’t done something in a while and you have the opportunity to do it but because you haven’t done it in a while you feel really sluggish and unsure about what you’re doing? Yeah, that was my second session playing. I have to admit I thought about not playing after the second session because I felt utterly useless since I’d forgotten how to even trap a ball and I started panicking when I couldn’t pass the ball to my teammate. But then of course I had to consider that this was a minor setback, I simply had to persevere and stay committed and my skills will come back eventually.

It was really scary though, forgetting the basics, so I’m just going to keep at it till I get somewhere and re-remember how to play my game.

Talking about memory and remembering, I should talk about my service activity….

Service

I’m going to do a solely Service based post later but for now I thought it’d be nice for you guys to know what we’ve been doing. We only had two sessions so far and the first session was dedicated to planning for the year ahead. Since we don’t have a permanent supervisor, we have to plan everything ourselves so we decided to get the younger grades involved in our Alzheimer’s service. We figured we could get the Grade 6 kids to come along for our visits to the Alzheimer’s Society and help us out.

Along those lines, this Thursday we went and spoke to the Grade 6’s about memory and had them make some posters about an episode in their lives that they were forgetting. I was surprised by some of their comments, how when we asked them why memories are selective they said that ‘it’s because only the important things are remembered’. I was also speaking to the kids individually and they seemed fairly interested in service but we couldn’t really talk specifically about Alzheimers. 

Here are some of the posters they made though.

Welp, I’ve gotta go; work to do, places to be. Catch you guys next time J

~ Final Decisions ~

Hey guys,

No pretty formatting today, instead you get a mini rant because I am tired and really quite frustrated and annoyed and urgh, just no. This is turning out to be a pretty tiring day to be honest.

So we had the ASA assembly to get to know the activities we have coming up and apparently you have to have all three creativity, action and service activities running at the same time for every semester which really doesn't make sense to me because no-one can possibly have the time to do all three. Not when you're in your final year of IB and you want to seriously focus on studies.

I mean, I wanted to do SAISA Volleyball this semester along with my service activity but apparently I have to be doing a creative activity as well. But then if I do that I end up having only one free day in my whole week and I really can't afford to do that when I have to study for Finals. I can't do service all year round and alternate my Creativity and Action. What the hell, how does anyone manage that when you have a different activity on every single day plus a weekend?! This is really frustrating me because this is supposed to be my year you know? This is supposed to be the year that I juggle everything; sports, studies, service, but the schedule is just so flipping hectic and unorganized (depends on your choices) that it does not make sense to me. I guess this is what they mean by being balanced and not biting off more that you can chew but then again you shouldn't be offered activities that you know you can't do. Even if find a way to make it work and I choose to do all three CAS activities together then I have limited time in my day given that I have other things to consider (like taking my dog out for an hour daily) and tuition classes. I swear, there is just not enough time in the day -_-

*deep breath* Okay, so, my little rant is over.

Moving on, this is a quick update on what I've chosen for my final CAS activities...

Creativity: 

Drawing Club, continuing from last year to show commitment and perseverance and to further myself in weak areas and acknowledge strong areas. Also, I'm hoping to explore some of the ethical implication of art.

Action: 

Football, just playing after school for now until the season starts up. This will be developing new skills and hopefully learning new things and undertaking new challenges as I work with a new team.

Service: 

Alzheimer yes please let's do this! I just need to sign up next week and I don't want to put too much here because I have it in my earlier post.

So yupp, that's that. Sorry if this was more a rant than anything but it helps with venting frustrations. I'll catch up again with a more pleasant post once I've started on my activities. I need to go hunt around for my footy gear now and get some actual work done. 

So cya later little dudes.

Hang tight and stay awesome!

•:*:• Senior Year CAS •:*:•

•:*:• Senior Year CAS •:*:•

Hey internet peeps, I'm back! And guess what? That's right, it's around that time of year when I have to write up new CAS goals... and this time the goals are for Senior Year! Such excite, much wow (no sarcasm intended). I'm really quite excited to get a lot out of CAS this year so full steam ahead!

So yeah, first things first, if anyone knows where the quote on the top of the page came from ( "before we get started, does anyone want to get out?" ) well then, love and hugs and much kudos to you because yes, Captain America 2 : TWS was epic :D I reckon it was the best Marvel Phase 2 movie by far, but, I haven't watched Guardians of the Galaxy yet so I wouldn't know. I can already tell that this is going to be a great year aside from my ramblings :)

Now, uhhh, where was I with the CAS stuff? Oh yeah, I have to make my goals! Cool beans. To begin with, considering that I have a good idea of what I want to do for Action already, I think I'll write about that before moving onto Creativity and Service. Here goes...

*:•Action•:*

This year I really want to make the most of my opportunities with sports so I'm planning on trying out for at least one sport every season. I'm thinking of beginning with Volleyball, preferably SAISA, which is a sport I've never played competitively before. Still, I don't mind since I have casually played it with my friends and have enjoyed the sport. Hopefully this will give me a chance to undertake new challenges and develop new skills. I'd also like to take the opportunity to work with a brand new group of people which is an added bonus.

For the next season I was thinking of joining SAISA Football. I've played footy for as long as I can remember, since grade 6 I think which is a pretty long time since I've played it every year since I began. I'm hoping that if I make the team this year it'll help increase my awareness of strengths and areas for growth. It'll also be me showing perseverance and commitment toward the sport given how long I've played it for. I honestly can't wait for footy season because it is my one true love when it comes to sports <3 I normally play Defense, usually center or left, so I've already started getting my fitness up for it (after a lazy summer) by running with my dog an hour every day. I really really really want to make this team even if I don't make volleyball.

This could be me... if only I watched the World Cup :P

(And no, I don't watch FIFA, I only play footy)

The final season I will be playing will be Badminton again, hopefully, but that will depend on when exams are and how my studies are going given hat Badminton season is quite close to the final IB exams. I'd hate to trip up on my exams just because I was playing around so it'll have to be a well thought out decision. I'm also considering Basketball, a sport that I've played on and off, as well as Throwing in Track and Field but meh, I stopped playing them because I didn't like them so I don't want to go for them unless I can't make another team. So that's my backup plan...

*:•Service•:*

For service there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will sign up for Alzheimer's Association again. That group was the first activity I did for CAS here and was so far the only activity that really connected with me. I just felt so much for the Alzheimer's patients and connected with some them on a level that makes me feel compelled to go back and continue helping. It's hard for me to explain but this service activity is one that I looked forward to every week and I want to keep looking forward to it this year.

I think that this year in Alzheimer's will be a great year as Anjleen has asked me to help in planning and initiating activities for the group to do with the patients. As the only Sinhala speaking student of the group I feel like I could help get some of the Sinhala speaking ladies more involved in the activities and I hope to do so more and more this year. I'll also be directly tackling an issue of global importance given that Alzheimer's is a condition that every country in the world is faced with and really is something that people should me made more aware of.

Somewhat along those lines, I suspect that whilst working in this service group that I will come face to face with ethical implications specially in the way we present the condition and handle the patients. We have to keep in mind that the patients are people, with feeling, and not lose patients when they repeat the same things. I need to learn to gently steer conversation away from certain topics and refocus the Alzheimer patients attention on the task at hand. It's often hard for me to be patient because I need things done as soon as possible but at the same time this is a good challenge for me as it helps me identify areas for growth. It's a challenge I'm willing to take however given that it's a cause I'm passionate about.

*:•Creativity•:*

I've decided to sign up for creativity only when the Drawing Club rolls around toward the end of the year because I haven't really seen anything that catches my eye. However, if I do find an interesting looking group in the ASA choices I might just sign up. I guess you'll have to wait and see what happens. Whatever I do end up choosing, specially if it's a drawing initiative then I want to focus on exploring issues of global importance and their ethical implications through the use of art. You know, if it's possible. I guess I'll have to just update/edit creativity as it goes along :)

So little peeps, it's time for me to go for my run and do some (more) bio -_- I guess I'll catch you next time so hang tight, stay awesome and heil hydra ;)

(I swear if you get these references I will love you forever <3 )

☜♥☞ Final CAS Reflection ☜♥☞

☜♥☞ Final CAS Reflection ☜♥☞

So I finally got all the pictures to do this post~!

(On a side note, some of the things on this aren't my 

scheduled creativity activity but it was still a 

learning experience so I decided to put it in)

Alzheimer's Service:

As you can see, these are the photos from the beginning of the year right till our last service. I only just realised how much we've done and I think it's amazing that we really got to get down to level with this issue of global importance because it's a rare opportunity we have to do this.

These were really creative activities we did as part of the Alzheimer's group. We had every thing from baking cookies to painting cloth which in itself is a brand new thing to do, a new skill to learn.

 

And then we had dancing which wasn't really action but it was movement nonetheless. 

With this we had to work collaboratively with each other in order to make the dance

a success and quite often we ended up having to practice a few times which showed 

perseverance and commitment to the activity we chose to do.

To be honest, I wasn't here for the beginning of the year to write down proper goals for the service activity, however, I knew that I as a person tend not to be able to socialize as much as others and I had hoped in taking part in this activity, I would be able to reach out to others and connect with them. I like to think that I have fully achieved this because just from the monthly visits, I have made friends with some of the patients, two of whom that remember me after a few minutes of conversation. That in itself was a huge deal for me and made me feel so proud of all the work we've done.

 The two top pictures show planning and initiating activities when we sat down every Thursday to discuss our previous Alzheimer's visit and plan for the next one. Below those is a picture of the entire group, the people that we had to again, work collaboratively in order to get the best out of our meetings.

 Creativity:

For creativity I've been continuing with drawing club which is, as always, one of the best activities that I signed up for. Lately I've been moving away from my comfort zones and exploring areas for growth by working with poster paints and not only sticking to my usual pencil/charcoal combination. Here's the latest piece I've done (you can see my art supplies in the background~!) :

As you can see, the first sketch I did for the piece began in black and white pencil which simply highlighted my awareness of strengths and weaknesses, strengths mostly in this case. Then came the actual painting in black and white poster paints which was completely new and a great way of  improving weaknesses and developing new skills by way of using new media for my art. Also with new skills, I worked on the blended shades for the woman's face and contrasting, block shading for the man which was a new concept for me. This was the final product, not as great as I'd like it but not too bad nonetheless.

The previous piece I did was the best by way of developing new skills  because the piece below is a mixed media piece using watercolour paint, masking tape, tracing paper, watercolour paper, liner pens, sharpie and even normal pencil. It was just a huge experiment in figure (human figure) and I think with this piece I truly managed to achieve my goals.

So yes, this picture was the most important for me not because I liked how it came out particularly, but rather because I achieved my goals of working with new media forms that truly tested my skills (try drawing on masking tape!) and explored perspective in human anatomy which is actually something that I'm freaking happy about :D

Action:

My final action post can be found in the link below but this an extract from it...

I am, forever grateful and so flipping thrilled that I had a chance to play for the school team on such an international tournament. Through badminton not only did I manage to increase awareness of my strengths and areas of growth, but I also got to show perseverance and commitment  all whilst undertaking new challenges. I developed new skills and learnt to work collaboratively with others which means not only my own team but all the other teams, coaches and referees. I really had the time of my life. Through the wins and losses and deafening cheering, through the ups and downs and laughs and tears, I regret nothing. I made friends with some of the most amazing people I've had the pleasure of meeting both on and off the court, learnt what true sportsmanship is about, improved my game for the benefit of myself as well as the team and even learnt to wake up on time to make our practice schedule! So many things done and none of them do I regret.

 Other:

So, this is the post that isn't strictly school approved creativity but I thought it was good creativity nonetheless... so I decided to put it up :)

Have you ever watched Star Wars? Perhaps you're a fanboy or fangirl. Either way, you must have heard of May the Fourth Be With You~! It's this one day (May 4th) where people dress up in Star Wars type costumes and just go out to Cosplay. There's not a big following for this in Sri Lanka but hey, it was worth a shot, so a couple of my friends and I decided to try it out. This is what we got.

The thing about Cosplaying in Sri Lanka is that getting merchandise is hard. It's near impossible to be honest and with the work we end up doing for school and extra-curriculars, it's hard to even get time to go merch hunting. So the only option for Cosplayers is to make their own gear. For me, this was a way to increase awareness of strengths and areas for growth because I know (from previous Cosplaying experience) that I can make weaponry, armour, whatnot but costume making is incredibly difficult for me. 

In doing May the Fourth I had to undertake the challenge of making Anakin Skywalker's robes (before he turned to the Dark Side) which was undertaking a new challenge. The making of the light-saber however, was pretty easy because I do make swords, knives and other such equipment. The robes got to me though, it was a lot harder than I reckoned it would be... 

(note; I'm not in full kit here as these pictures were taken after the actual event)

The best part, I thought, was the face make-up though. Anakin has this scar on his face and I really wanted to make it look like a fresh scar, like he was just cut up so I had to play around with face paint for that. I developed a new skill by doing this because never had I ever done face-paint before. I thought it came out pretty well though despite the several washing on a putting on sessions I had to endure. It was so worth it though~!

Till next time, rock on little dudes \m/ 

۩۩.. A Slightly More Serious Affair..۩۩

۩۩ . . . A Slightly More Serious Affair . . . ۩۩

... getting down to business...

Creativity  
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 I believe that in my pursuit of art (my version of the pursuit of happiness) by joining the after-school Drawing Club is one of the best after-school activities I've ever joined. I've been drawing privately for several years now, for as long as I can remember really, and in actively continuing this activity and taking time out of other commitments to continue drawing and painting shows how much art means to me. It shows how seriously I take my painting (no-one touch my art supplies!) and displays perseverance and commitment. As well as carrying through with  my initial attempts at making fabulous new art, being in the Drawing Club also meant that I have a chance to develop new skills.

This is actually a really great thing in my opinion because quite often I stick to what I can do which is honestly one of my biggest faults. It limits creativity! I use a lot of pencil and charcoal and sometimes watercolours because that's what I'm used to but in going to this club I've had the opportunity to try new media and play around with new concepts. The Drawing Club also makes me well aware of areas for growth because I'm starting to focus on human figure and anatomy. In drawing the (realistic) human figure I have to perfect posture and perspective and build upon the basics I already have from cartooning.

Here's the first picture I completed at Drawing Club:

This is actually an... I don't know... it's a strange picture. When it first started out it was done in a variety of HB pencil with delicate shading like I always draw people but then it kind of escalated. I mean that in a good way, how I grabbed crepe paper and meshed it into the colours you see, but it was a sort of breaking experience because if you look closer the jawline of the face says 'No Fumez Pas'. That's 'No Smoking' in French, somewhat of a touch subject for me because my dad smokes. It's cool though, that in discovering a new media I discovered my true feelings about this issue...

Anyway, I hate how you can't feel or even really see the texture in this but the original thing has ridges and bumps over the colour and the mess of black whilst the woman remains smooth. It was actually a really cool experience making this because even the outline of the woman was done in crepe paper rolled up and set to the right shape using copious amounts of glue.

I'm really excited for the next class as well though 'cus I can't wait to explore more art and figure drawing. I already know the concept of what I basically want to do, I just have to do it~!

Action:

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Hey, hey, hey guess what?
 I figured out my action :)

So the plan is this... given that I go running with my dog every other day for at least an hour I figured I could count that time as my weekly action hours~! I was thinking I could also take some cool pictures of my neighborhood if I see anything worth photographing so I'd stay creative whilst on the run. This won't be an entirely new activity for me, running that is, but it'll be considered undertaking a new challenge because I could improve how long I run for as opposed to walk for. Say I start at 5 minutes running at 55 mins walking, I'll try to even out that ratio eventually by setting a 50/50 ratio as my goal.

And yes, these two labradors will be my running partners for 30 minutes each...
At least I'll have something to run for~!

Service:

(\__/)
(>’.’< )
(")_(")

I'm pretty sad to see our Alzheimer's Service activity drawing to a close but on a positive note, we have one more visit before we finish up I reckon. We've already planned and initiated an activity for this meeting by agreeing to draw out seasonal festival (summer, winter, autumn and spring) themed picture posters for the Alzheimer's patients to colour. I think this is a great activity to carry out because the elderly people really enjoy painting and colouring and they quite like it when we're there to talk to them whilst they take part in the activity. I suppose I'll be showing that I can work collaboratively with others  here when I have to maneuver around and with my fellow students and in helping the patients.

The biggest thing I like about Alzheimer's Service is that we really get to be up close and personal with an issue of global importance each time we reach out to help make the day brighter for the patients. Since Alzheimer's can affect anyone, anytime, anywhere, it really is a condition that people need to know how to handle. In taking part in this Service activity I get to understand how to communicate with Alzheimer's patients and this knowledge will, hopefully, prove useful in other countries and in other situations.

Beyond that, the Alzheimer's Service Group also offers a chance for me consider ethical implications in my everyday life. Do we not, as the younger, more able, more apt generation, have a duty to help the elderly, those who may be hindered in any way and/or need assistance? I like to believe that we as people have the responsibility to reach out to those that need a friendly and and I am glad to say that Alzheimer's offers me a chance to do so.







Mark my words, I'll be back in this service next year no doubt~!

 
Picture Post~!


Real quick, before I finish this post, I do believe I owe you some picture spam for my previous Action activity (which would have been SAISA Badminton if I'm not mistaken). I just have a quick note before we get down to the actual pictures...

I am, forever grateful and so flipping thrilled that I had a chance to play for the school team on such an international tournament. Through badminton not only did I manage to increase awareness of my strengths and areas of growth, but I also got to show perseverance and commitment  all whilst undertaking new challenges. I developed new skills and learnt to work collaboratively with others which means not only my own team but all the other teams, coaches and referees. I really had the time of my life. Through the wins and losses and deafening cheering, through the ups and downs and laughs and tears, I regret nothing. I made friends with some of the most amazing people I've had the pleasure of meeting both on and off the court, learnt what true sportsmanship is about, improved my game for the benefit of myself as well as the team and even learnt to wake up on time to make our practice schedule! So many things done and none of them do I regret.

Well, that was a fairly long note for a short note...
On to the pictures~!

 Our amazing team whom I have grown to love <3 And of course Mr. Andreas and Mr. Pradeep who were awesomesauce coaches~!

 Us girls, chillin' like villians... What a motley crew! Love 'em to death :P

 Chillin' like villians between games :)

 Just casually floating in mid-air . . . :D

 I don't even know...

 My doubles partner (Sam) who may have graduated this year but will always be in my OSC memories. We click!

 Sam in action, ain't she pro? :D

 I don't even... I don't know what to say about this except I'm sorry for whoever had to photograph me :P

 And all the OSC buddies :)


Huuuge thanks to Celina who took all the amazing SAISA pics.
Give her some love guys <3


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Peace out and rock on little dudes XD

(In case anyone was interested : in the time it took to write this post I went through Fall Out Boy's 'Save Rock and Roll' album three times. Three whole times on repeat. It's a great album in case anyone's wondering. I recommend it.)