A Day Where the Sun Was More Figurative Than Literal

Not even Melbourne's horrid weather could dampen my mood today. In fact, it was one of the things that led to one of the awesome things that occurred :D

It has, quite literally, not stopped raining since I woke up. Because of this, I was forced to take a form of public transport to school, as opposed to my preferred method of walking. Across the road from my house is a bus stop (which caters to two buses, one that stops right next to the school and one that stops about 300 metres [328 yards] away) and a tram stop, which is for a tram that stops at virtually the same spot as the latter bus. Wanting to take the route that would get me rained on least, I chose the bus that stops right next to the school building. So I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And it didn't come. However, the tram (as well as the latter bus), did. Figuring that I would have about half a minute less in the rain, I took the tram and thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if [Library Girl] (from this post) were on this tram too?" An attractive possibility, actually plausible, but dismissed nonetheless.

As a matter of fact, she was.

Although I didn't know until everyone got off. In spite of that, we did manage to strike up a conversation about the weather, how we both (normally) reach school and our respective first classes (though, I had to go to the music department before first period to discuss the possibility of me taking Music in Year 12 and that, surely, is MUCH more interesting than Chemistry - I may have also taken that opportunity to slip through the fact that I played guitar). So things are definitely looking up :D

A few days prior to this, I went up to a music teacher and expressed my interest in taking Music next year. He didn't recommend me to do so, as I didn't take it in Year 11, but after he quizzed me on the very basics of musical theory and I had answered him with relative ease, he told me to come back on Friday for the guitar teacher (not the guy I asked) to see how I played. This morning, I met the guitar teacher ever so briefly. He asked me things like whether or not I owned a guitar (I do) and if I knew how to play barre chords (I most definitely do). These seemed easy enough, so I figured I had a good shot of being let in.

We ended up making a time at lunch. Mark (the guitar teacher) just told me to do some relatively simple things like play certain chords in barre form and play some scales (he got me at the minors, though - I don't know how to play melodic or harmonic scales). Despite that, he said that I'd be welcome to join the class next year, provided that I read up on some things that he will give me before the holidays and join the informal lessons he holds for some Year 11s on Friday afternoons (I didn't join today because I had to finish some work).

But still, that's pretty awesome.

Doomsday Contingency Plan

With all the things that are going wrong with this world these days, it seems almost inevitable that a group of humans is going to be sent into outer space to start over. However, this solution brings forth one major argument: who do we send? Call me crazy, but I think I have a solution.

Us.

That's right. If anyone should be in charge of rebuilding an entire society, it should be this group of Sparklers. While this may be somewhat biased, I am not without arguments:

• Our age. Ranging from 13 to 21, we have the potential to be alive for quite a lengthy period of our re-development process. This gives us time to fully mature (if we have not already) and be ready to, uh, repopulate.
• Intelligence is another pro in having us start another colony. In all modesty, we do have higher than average brainpower, which is essential in coming up with effective and efficient methods of survival on this new location. This is also important to avoid the mistakes of Animal Farm - with all citizens placed on a relatively equal intellectual playing field, corruption of the governing party (should there be a specific one) can be more easily stopped.
• Diversity is the next reason behind this. In order to successfully procreate, we need a variety of traits in the available gene pool. We have all the races covered and the fact that our skills and interests vary gives us a chance to produce a next generation that can continue what we have been working on effectively.
• Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, we have proved that we can function as somewhat of a community effectively. Even when presented with issues, we act diplomatically and try to solve issues as effectively as possible. This is crucial, as any bit of friction that may turn into violence can threaten to destroy the delicate infrastructure of the new society.

Of course, this plan has its pitfalls - or, rather, one major one: a lack of males. However, this can be solved over a discussion on a more relevant date. Until then, we have a very strong case as to why we should be given this role.

That said, in case the world doesn't agree, I suggest that everyone pitch in USD 10 a week to raise funds for the construction of the aircraft that will get us out of here.