Michael Fagan, for all of you who were wondering, is the man who broke into Buckingham Palace twice. The first time, he wandered around for a bit, looked at the portraits, sat on the throne, and drank a half-bottle of wine (which he was later asked to pay for). In 1982, he broke in again and actually managed to reach the Queen's private quarters, where he woke the Queen and sat talking to her for about ten minutes before Security finally realised that this was indeed a real emergency. I mention this only because I think that it exemplifies the Queen's dignity and calm demeanour - if I woke up to a strange man staring down at me, I highly doubt that I would converse calmly with him for ten minutes.
Anyhow, there's the history lesson for to-day.
29 April 2008
09 April 2008
The $250 Haiku
I just got back from that little college in the middle of nowhere that I was talking about earlier, and it's decided: short of a tsunami, a major illness, or an attack of vengeful avocados, I will be attending that little college this fall. The visit was extremely profitable. Below is a break-down of the scholarships I snagged while I was there.
$200 - from the Honours Programme, for unscrambling names of famous people;
$500 - from the Music Department, for auditioning on piano and cello (they offered me $800 to stop early, but a musician's gotta have some self-respect);
$250 - from the English Department, for the best critique of a passage about a nervewracking flight experience;
$250 - from the English Department (again), for a truly awful haiku I made up on the spot;
and finally,
$125 ($500 divided by four team members) - for being on the team that TOTALLY SWEPT TEN OTHER ACADEMIES UNDER THE CARPET in Knowledge Bowl. No, I'm not excited about it. Really. It was just a friendly little competition between brothers and sisters (which just happened to involve a split-second race to the buzzer).
Considering that I wandered around for nearly four hours with my contact lenses in the wrong eyes, I think I did quite well, but feel free to douse me in ice-cold water if you think that would help bring down the swelling in my ego.
The haiku is available on request, by the way. And my heartiest congratulations to the team who gave us a run for our money in the final round - you know who you are.
$200 - from the Honours Programme, for unscrambling names of famous people;
$500 - from the Music Department, for auditioning on piano and cello (they offered me $800 to stop early, but a musician's gotta have some self-respect);
$250 - from the English Department, for the best critique of a passage about a nervewracking flight experience;
$250 - from the English Department (again), for a truly awful haiku I made up on the spot;
and finally,
$125 ($500 divided by four team members) - for being on the team that TOTALLY SWEPT TEN OTHER ACADEMIES UNDER THE CARPET in Knowledge Bowl. No, I'm not excited about it. Really. It was just a friendly little competition between brothers and sisters (which just happened to involve a split-second race to the buzzer).
Considering that I wandered around for nearly four hours with my contact lenses in the wrong eyes, I think I did quite well, but feel free to douse me in ice-cold water if you think that would help bring down the swelling in my ego.
The haiku is available on request, by the way. And my heartiest congratulations to the team who gave us a run for our money in the final round - you know who you are.
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