Al Berta

Sooooooo-ooooooo-oooo-ooo-o-o....ooo...o....... We went to Calgary this weekend! It was pretty fun, other than being cramped in the car with a screaming baby for half the way there and back...which is a six hour drive, by the way. Anyways, my mom's cousin, Dave, got married, and Bri had a baseball tournament (the nationals!), so we all went down on Thursday and we got home late last night. Bri injured his ankle really badly, but he stayed with the team. He's still in Calgary right now, with them. They've still got some games. He'll probably be back tomorrow or something...
Anyways, so on Friday, we went to the Calgary Zoo, which, I have to admit, is about a hundred times better than the Toronto Zoo. :P They had a baby elephant and a baby giraffe and there were baby peacocks running around and all the mountain goats and deer and stuff had babies, which was really cool.
Saturday was the wedding, which was fun, we went shopping for a few hours and went out for dinner in between the ceremony and the reception. And then on Sunday we went over to Uncle Chuck and Auntie Lynn's place for lunch, which was fun. Then we went on our way home...long and boring...woot woot.
So yeah! That was my weekend!
-Kristen

Summer!

Alright, so VBS is over. It was pretty crazy! I had about ten kids in my group most days, which gets crazy.... It was a good week though. We went swimming afterwards, pretty much every day and stuff and I have a billion cuts and scrapes on my feet and I'm so tired but it was fun!
I taught two swimming lessons with Caleb this week, which went well and I'm starting with Ethan next week, and I won two free guitar lessons at Blue Water (again) and I've been playing on the Worship Team at Carol's church on Saturdays, which has been going really well, and I've been taking a new course that Grandma's teaching about hearing the voice of God, which is really cool. I'm also working on reading the Bible cover-to-cover. Plus there's the school work that I've barely had time to get started on. So I'm keeping rather busy. I actually went two days without using my computer at all, too, so that's a rather amazing accomplishment! :P
Anyways, I'm going to go write some songs and clean the cat litter (fun fun)...
-Kristen

Happy Canada Day & Such...

Alright so it's incredibly hot in Blind Bay. We don't have air conditioning, and it's about a million degrees out.
We've been working on the Canada day float for the last two weeks, and it looked amazing! And then as soon as the parade was over, they pulled the entire thing apart. I helped with some of the games at the celebration thing today and then Preston and I walked around for a while.
Travis left for school yesterday. He's now officially moved in. It's weird that he's gone, but I think he's ready :)
Darby's in Manitoba this week so it's just been Preston and I.
I start teaching swimming lessons tomorrow. I'm teaching two of the kids from church...for pay! Woot!
Bri's been teaching me how to drive, too. We've only gone out twice so far, but I'm getting the hang of it.
What else, what else...Um...that's about it. I'm so hot right now. I've been dripping sweat for a few days now... Ick.
So I'll post more soon...
-Kristen

June

Sooo...school's basically out but I still have socials to finish, which I'm gonna work on this summer.
I also officially got my learner's liscence. I now have actual photo ID. Sweet.
I passed science with a final mark of 87% or something...
Um...everyone's birthday is this month...so it's been busy.
I'm going to a movie with Brendan and Preston tonight, so that should be fun :)
What else...? Um...I guess that's about it. I can't do any school work until I sign my socials kit back out, which can't be done until the end of June. I'm also going to try and graduate with Preston next year, which is an enormous task, but if I work my butt off, I think I can do it!
Anyways, I've gotta go, but I'll post more soon!
-Kristen

POST #100!!!!!!

Wow! This is post number one hundred...that's a lot of posting! :P

SOOOO!!! Tuesday, I got my L, which means that I can officially drive while clearly displaying my L sign on the back of the vehicle, with someone over the age of 25 that has a valid Class 5 licence, and I can't drive between midnight and 5am and if I'm with a blood alcohol count of over zero, while driving, I will likely not be able to drive for quite some time. I also have to wear my glasses. Darn those restrictions. I wish I could drive by myself at 3 in the morning with a few bottles of booze and no corrective lenses. They've ruined my plans...

ANYWAYS! So that was good. It was just a written test, which I passed and now I can learn how to drive. Which is good because right now, I can't drive at all. In any way.

I got my report card last week, which I didn't even know was coming, but it was good. All A's, and I'm done most of my courses. I'll be continuing Socials 10 next year, or maybe through the summer because I started late and didn't get it done. I'm also almost done PE and Science and my independent studies in music. So, I'm doing pretty good right now!

And...yeah! That's about it! I'm going to see Travis's school play at the theatre tomorrow night with the youth group and Saturday morning I'm playing guitar with Carol at her other church, and then there's some youth rally in town as well on Saturday, so I'm keeping busy! :P

All for now!
-Kristen

History Maker 2008!

Alright so History Maker was one of the most amazing weekends ever. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone, and on top of that, there were great bands and some incredibly powerful experiences.
So we drove our fleet of vans to Chilliwack on Saturday morning. Darby and I drove with Shanan and listened to awesome tunes all the way there. After about 4 hours, we finally made it to Karen's mom's church, where we were going to stay. We unloaded all our stuff and then went to the kick-off thing. Revolution Band played. They were okay live but I doubt their recorded stuff is any good. :P Then we went to our Hubs, which are like, little sort of seminars. Darb and I went to the "Girls Only" one, which was pretty much only because we didn't want to do any of the other ones. That wasn't too bad. Then we went to one that was supposed to be "spiritual journaling" but the guy didn't show and instead there was a missionary that spoke and some girls who fell in the hole at the Starfield concert (if you don't know what happened, Google it). They're story was really awesome!
Soooooo....there was also this awesome speaker, Mike Pilavachi (sp?). He was this AWESOME British guy. He was sooooooooooo funny! :P He also had some really great stories and at one point, he had anyone who wasn't yet a Christian come up to the front and everyone prayed for them and they all got saved (why do they call it that?). That was very cool.
Then we went out to eat...mmm...endless fast food. (EW.) Anyways...so we went to see Stellar Kart (!!) at the late concert that night, which was awesome! We were in this huge mosh pit! It was awesome! Darby and I each bought a Stellar Kart button and I got a t-shirt, too.
Sunday, we went and had showers at the rec centre and then we went to the morning service, which was amazing. We all did communion, which was really cool because there were like, 2000 of us all doing it at the same time! Then Revolution band played some more and then we had our Hubs for that day. Darby and I went to what was supposed to be "making the band" with Parachute Band, but turned out to just kind of be a "how to give God the glory of your creativity" sort of thing, which was still very cool. Simon, the guitar player, and Sam, the drummer, were good speakers so it was cool. Plus they're from New Zealand and have amazing accents. Then we went with Preston to the "leadership" hub called "leaving a legacy", which was kinda cool. Some of it didn't really apply to me, though.
Anyways, so after that, Parachute Band played a bit and Omega, their singer, told the story of how he was born without a nose and had to have operations as a baby and he's always looked funny, and he hated it. He was going to kill himself but then he heard God speaking to him. It was really cool.
Then! Mike-the-awesome-Brit came out and was talking again, which was not as funny as the day before, but still very, very good. He had anyone who wanted to feel the Holy Spirit come up to the front and he had everyone pray and all the youth leaders come and pray over everyone. Darby and I went up and we just stood with our eyes closed for a long time. There were so many people trying to get to the front, so we were glad we went up right away. Sandi prayed for us and another youth pastor prayed for us. There were girls crying behind us, and we weren't entirely sure why and then suddenly, Darb and I both started sobbing, and I wasn't even really sure why but it was amazing. The most incredible experience ever. And then the band started playing a song and we were all just swaying to the music. It was incredible.
And then this annoying speaker came out and started taking. He wasn't very good. He was trying to be too cool. I only agreed with half the things he said. But hey, he was the only downside to the weekend.
Monday morning, the host-of-the-weekend guy came out and talked to us. We all got glowsticks, which represented all the miracles that were going to happen in us and through us and for us and it was so cool to look around and see thousands of "miracles" (which was the theme of the weekend).
Then Dilirious played! They were amazing. I'd say the best of the weekend, even though I love Stellar Kart. It was so powerful! They same some great songs (although not may favourite one) and at one point, the singer jumped down into the moshpit and got a security guard to give him a boost and then he was literally kneeling on the crowd. They were holding him up, and then he started singing and it was so awesome. The video is at the top of this post.
Anyways! So then we ate lunch and headed home. Our van LITERALLY rocked out until we got home. It was so cool. :P
SO THAT WAS HISTORY MAKER! There are pictures on Facebook for those of you who are my friends. If not, too bad for you. :D Anyways, have a nice day!
-Kristen

SIXTEEN

So I'm officially sixteen now! Woot! I can't believe it.
Bri's parents are here and we had a massive pig roast with a bunch of friends and fam'ly. It's was pretty awesome!
I've been playing Guitar Hero a lot lately...it's so awesome! I almost beat the game on medium and then I'm gonna start working on hard.
i've also been working my butt off in school because it's almost the end of the year and I'm really behind in socials. Ugh. But I'll get it done. :S
Anyways, I have to go buy some tunes on iTunes so I'll write more sooooon!
-Kristen

New Tunage Up Soonage!

Weeeeelllll....okay! So I went to Ontario for two weeks and had a great time hanging out with the fam and such. We had an early birthday party for me since my birthday's in May (I'm gonna be sixteen!!!! GAH!). I got Guitar Hero! Horrah! And two other Wii games which are awesome!
I also got to do two recording sessions with Amanda, which went soooooooo well! She helped me out a lot with my vocals and she changed the arrangement of the song a bit to make it better. It sounds sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo great so far! And we don't even have the drums, bass or lead guitar yet. As soon as it's done, I'll have it up on all my music pages. You can google my name if you don't know where they are.
Anyways, the song sounds great! It's really catchy and Amanda got me doing things with my voice that I didn't know I could do (like the supper high parts) and she got my pronouncing my words super clearly, because I have a habit of slurring, so you'll know what I'm saying.
So that's that! My birthday is approaching fast and we're having a pig roast (like...a full pig) when Bri's parents come and we're having some friends over and we're celbrating all four May birthdays! Woot!
So yeah! I guess that's about it right now...
-Kristen

April!

Hi there! How's it going?
So it's april, now! Woot! March was far too long. Lasted forever.
So I'll be in Ontario next week. Should be fun! I get to record a new song and Amanda Bentley's gonna help me, so that's awesome! And Matt Brann (Avril Lavigne's drummer) is gonna drum for me on it! Whoo hoo! :D
Anyways...so I'll be 16 soon...that's pretty awesome. Gonna have a party! And roast a pig on a spit! :D
Anyways...that's about all for now. I'm gonna go eat some pizza now.
-Kristen

Happy Bunny Day!

Hey, folks! So...how's it goin'? I hope everyone had a great Easter! I did! I think we ended up colouring about 2 dozen eggs...it was great! We had a red bingo dabber thing and if you used it on a wet egg, it looked like blood. So we made some bloody bunny eggs and stuff... it was pretty sweet!
Anyways...so there are a lot of big birthdays this year! To name a few: Preston and I and turning 16; Darb, Sam, and Dan are turning 13; Ky's turning 5; Arden's turning 4; Dad's turning 40; grandpa's turning 70...and I think there are more, but I can't remember them all right now! So there will be lots of birthday bashes this year!
The Ontario trip is approaching and the Mexico trip is becoming more real. The trip is booked but we've got cancelation insurrance on it, just in case. I'm so hoping I can go though. It would be incredible.
Anyways...so I working on school a lot, watching lots of reality shows, making extra cash where I can (which is found in not very many places), reading library books like mad...I dunno. Keeping busy. Trying to get my 120 hours of phys ed done and 100 hours of practicing guitar and such for my 2 Independant studies in music. Finding lots of new bands on the internet and through friends and the library. Music is amazing.
Alright...so that's about it. I'm gonna go write a few songs before American Idol comes on...Have a great day!
-Kristen :)

Music is cool.

You have to watch that. Jess showed it to me and it's pretty much the greatest thing ever... :D

Hi. So...I'm trying to get about $1000 to go to Mexico in October.
So we're at church on Sunday and we realized that there were only 5 spots left to go on the missions trip to the orphange in Mexico and then it was totally random but it ended up that we're trying to get me, Darby, Preston and grandma and grandpa to go. So Uncle Des figures that about 1000 bucks should cover the cost of the flight, hotel rooms and food.
So...I need money. For my birthday would be great. Or if you're just feeling generous :D
but yeah...if you can give me money for my birthday, that would be good. :)
Anyways...so yeah...I'm almost 16. Which is really weird because I need to start learning how to drive soon...and that's odd because I don't feel like I'm old enough to do that yet :S
But anyways...I'm excited about my Ontario trip! Gotta plan lots of stuff for that.
So.............Yeah. I guess that's about it for now...
have a nice day...
-Kristen

Dude

He's my sad little friend.

Okay, so hey folks! I've got my Term 2 report card and I'll have the marks up here soon because I don't remember them right now.
I'm starting an independant study or two in music because I can. And I can get some great credits from it!
It's March! A major month of birthdays for friends and family!
I'm due to be in Ontario in April and for the first time I don't have to fly alone!!! YAY! Grandma and grandpa are flying with me both ways, which makes things easier, safer, more fun...etc.
I've been really sick with the flu or something since around Saturday evening. I'm feeling a lot better now but my muscles hurt. Seems to have really taken a toll on 'em.
It is the season for reality shows! I've been watching the Apprentice, Survivor and American Idol, plus a new season of Beauty and the Geek starts on Tuesday (YAY!!!).
Anyways...so that's about all for now! More to come soon!
-Kristen

Aloha.

Hey folks. Soooo...this week, I'm babysitting lots of kids, having a bass lesson, it's Valentines day, Survivor's on (must watch), there's youth group, I have to do lots of school work and there's church on Sunday, followed by a birthday dinner for my mom at the grandparents' house.
So it's a pretty busy week and it hasn't even started yet! Also, I'm finished Planning 10 (which is a mandatory course out here). It's basically planning your future and all that jazz. Not all that interesting, but yeah. Anyways, I finished it with 100% so that's cool.
So, I'm writing a new story. I just started it on Friday. It'll either be really good, or production will stop when I'm sixty pages into it and realize that I have no idea where it's going. I'm not one for planning stories beforehand, so that's usually what happens. I only finished 2 of my stories...ever. And now that I look back on them, I realize that they weren't that great. But they were pretty good for my age.
ANYWAYS! So the story is about a girl who thinks everything is ugly and she can never see the beauty in anything. And it got me thinking that there are so many people like that! I know so many people who can't find the good things in life. Pessimists, yes. But also really shallow and misguided. I hate it! You'll be watching a movie and they'll say the stars are ugly because of a blemish or a little flab. Or walking down the street and they'll randomly point out someone who is not exactly glowing with good looks and they'll just laugh or say something incredibly mean. And ya know, I know that's kind of how the world is now, but it's horrible! And don't get me wrong I do it too sometimes without even noticing. And then I feel so horrible for thinking or saying something so shallow. People can't help how they look. And just because a tree is dead, that doesn't mean it's ugly.
I dunno...I could took about it a lot but I would probably end up repeating everything I already said, just saying it with different examples and such. All I'm saying is that everything has something beautiful about it and that it's important not to overlook that or you're gonna find yourself is a rather ugly place.

Okay... so I'm gonna go now because I feel like it. Have a nice day.
-Kristen

February So Far

Well...it's February. Don't know what happened on Groundhog Day because I really don't care. It was Superbowl weekend and we had the Arenses over. Apparently the other team should have won, but I don't understand football in any way, so I just watched Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers on the half-time show and that was enough for me. But Tom Petty could've shaved. At least the stage was freakin' awesome.
So...Apparently there's a new Jack Johnson album out today. Across The Universe comes out on DVD next week or something. Report cards should be ready next week or so.
So...currently, things are fairly uneventful. Went to a hockey game last Friday. Was fun. They left it at a tie game though, which was odd. :S
Anyways, that's about all for now...
-Kristen

News

Weeeeellllllll...There's not a whole lot of new stuff here. Heather from EOP says I've finished Art and Music 10 already, so that's good. Now I just have to focus on Socials, Science and Phys Ed. Yay. At least the only exam I have is for science.
So...I play Wii a lot. And I can't wait until we get Guitar Hero. THAT would be cool. We rented some games at Blockbuster and bought a Spyro game with my giftcard, so it's been fun :)
I finished reading all the books I got with my Chapters gift cards already so I'm going to have to start library-ing again.
Anyways, that's about all the news I can give you right now! Not much has been happening :P
-Kristen

Happy New Year!

WELL! It's 2008! It's weird to say that :P
So, I stayed up until almost 8 in the morning on New year's eve and finally crashed until 9:30. We watched a bazillion movies and ate tons of gummy worms and chocolate kisses and Cheesies and such. It was awesome :P
Anyways...so, school starts up again on Monday. Uck. I hate Socials.
I have lots of cool stuff from Christmas and we got a Wii!!!!! So that's awesome. Been playing that daily and I was playing Mario Olympics too much the other day and now my shoulders are sore. The rowing and swimming relay really take it out of you!
I'm writing a whole bunch of new stories...sorta, reviving the ones I started a while ago.
If you're looking for a good read, I'd recommend Sarra Manning. She's awesome. And she's british so you can just picture all the characters talking in this sarcastic british accent and it makes everything that much better :P
So yeah...I'm gonna go now but I'll be writing more soon!
-Kristen

The One Week Update

Weeeeeelllll....I've been in Ontario for a week now and it's SUPER busy :P It's fun though. Get to do lots of things I haven't done in a while. I've eaten out A LOT. I've had pizza three times and I've had A LOT of chicken fingers and fries (because chickens have fingers...) and I've been to a lot of different places. We went up to my dad's friend/boss Rick's place on Monday night and got to jam on his LES PAUL!!! That was rather wondeful. He's also got a nice Telecaster and my dad's drum set is there so it was fun! What else, what else...? Um...tonight, we're going somewhere with "the girlies"...not sure where though...no one will tell us. I'm at Toni and Sean's right now and I got some CDs!!! I miss HMV. Lots. So I got the newest Finger Eleven CD, a Feist CD and the new Rivers Cuomo/Weezer album, which has all demos from over the years. And then for Christmas, Toni and Sean got me the new Sleddogs CD!!! Yay! Been looking for that one for a while. Now I just need their first album! Anyways...I should probably go now. My dad is picking me up soon and then we're going out for lunch. Talk to you all soonly!
-Kristen

Ontario Update

Hello there! So I'm currently at Jess and Sam's house in Oshawa, Ontario!
Last night, we had a birthday dinner for Aunt Sharon, which was rather fun!
But, I didn't end up having time to get back to my dad's to get stuff before heading off to Jess and Sam's for the night, so I didn't have any clothes or anything and my phone died at like, 8 o'clock. So that sucked because the charger is at my dad's place right now.
SO! Now, I have the day to myself at Jess and Sam's and...yeah! I had a shower so I'm all fresh and not...plane-y. The flight was rather uneventful. Boring as usual.
So yeah!
Now, I think I'm gonna go watch a movie or play some Wii!!! :)
Hopefully I can update again soon!
-Kristen

December

Well then, it's December already! I leave for Ontario tomorrow morning!!
I got 73% on my math exam and my overall math mark is 84%, so that's good!
I also passed Bronze Cross on Saturday as well as my Red Cross babysitting course a few weeks ago. So I'm very proud of myself right now! :)
What else, what else...? Um, church is going great. I'm a regular Sunday School teacher/helper person...thing. So that's cool! I have my own group of kids (aged grades 2-4) and I teach them stuff every Sunday so that's fun. Um...I'm going to go see Amanda Bentley play in Kamloops today! And it's about time! Been waiting to see her live for a while now! :)
Christmas is coming and I hope everyone has a good one! I'll be in Ontario but we're having our BC Christmas on the 28th. Uncle Rich and Auntie Beth are coming for Christmas too!!!! Yay!
Anyways, I've got to get going. I need to finish packing and such...
-Kristen :)

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow

Well, there's about a foot of snow here now. Just in time for the Sorrento Light Up tomorrow night. That should be fun. It was last year! Our church does the music for it and then all the shops in Sorrento are supposed to turn their Christmas lights on at the same time. Then we have fireworks and hot chocolate and Santa comes in on the fire truck and hands out crappy mini candy canes! It's cool! :P
On Saturday, I have another 4 hours of swimming lessons. :S I cut my time on the endurance swim for 19 minutes down to about 15 minutes! That was rather awesome.
Anyways, I started Social Studies. It's really boring. When am I EVER going to use history in my life? there are a few paragraphs that area atiny bit interesting but it's so pointless!!!!!!! Plus, they're just reteaching it over and over again. dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.
ANYWAYS! Well...my math exam mark is supposed it some in about a week or so. Can't wait to hear it. I hope I did well.
I should probably go now but I'll post more soon!
-Kristen