Rivalries, and some FOOBALL!

No, I didn't make a typo in that title (no promises about this post, but that title is right). It seems that when people get really excited about football (American, that is... Je suis de Pittsburgh, je ne suis pas de Europe.) that they get lazy and drop the t.

Take for example, my brother who (as of the time of this post) plays for the 7/8th grade team at Carlynton. He gets really pumped before a game and sometimes just stares at me and screams FOOOOOOBALLL! I look at him, being the strange articulate dude I am, thinking wow, we as a generation are seriously digressing here...

Nevertheless, we are met on an interesting day. Tonight is the beginning of a rivalry, that between the Carlynton School District and Bishop Canevin. Now, I think it's not as much a rivalry in the classic sense as it is in the geographic sense.

You see, the Carlynton School District's geographical location overlaps with Bishop Canevin's because Canvein is a private Catholic school. Carlynton as a district provides transportation to those district students going to Canevin.

I highly doubt that there will be a huge rivalry here, but it'll certainly be something interesting tonight.

[Insert 38C Downtown Bit Here]

So back a year and a half, I did this project called the CarLynTon project. (I'm working on a 2013 update to it...) on the history of the district. In the four months of research, one venture stuck out in my mind. I interviewed Mrs. Sandra Hugan (I believe she's on our school board) for information on the merger. The pivotal point in the project as it was to finally give an answer to how we became a district. There seemed to be a disconnect between the towns being founded and Carlynton existing.

During this phone interview, I was informed of two interesting points: 1) it was legislation that forced the current system (which I ran with... and if you've seen the project, fills in the gap) and 2)We could have had another town in Carlynton.

Carlynton had the option to add Scott Township to Carlynton, but due to a rivalry with Carnegie High, the district decided against it. Now, this isn't a huge deal... we just could have had more land for a high school and stadium, the site of the current Bottom Dollar plaza in Scott Twp.

A part I omitted from the project was the extent of this rivalry. During this interview, Mrs. Hugan told me about how every time there was a football game between Carnegie High and Scott Twp High, they would have to have Pennsylvania State Troopers on hand.

Forget? Never.

Taken With An Android... Click For Larger.

9/11/2012

I am as sick as a dog as I write this, but I needed to write nevertheless. I promise to write either Thursday or Friday at my regular time, but I wanted to post this one.

Every year on 9/11 I post a picture of the flagpole I built with the flag flying on it. It seemed that it was a 50/50 shot of the media caring about the anniversary. This is why we said not to forget. Don't interview a Kardashian during a moment of silence.

WCHS broadcasted a schoolwide moment of silence at 8:29AM, roughly 20 minutes before the anniversary of New York. We won't forget. The upcoming 7th grade may (they were born in 2000 or 2001) but we won't.

Thank you for what you do, and please remember the families of those affected in your prayers. They need it the most.

Football, Friday Nights, and WCHS

I don't think Fridays this fall will be the best time to blog. I apologize in advance for that, but please bear with me. I am announcing this year for the Carlynton Marching Band during all of their halftime shows and band festivals. So why not go there?

So anyway, this Friday was my first announcing gig with the band. It was an away game at Fort Cherry (Before you ask, we lost 31-21, but it was a FANTASTIC game!).

It's kind of weird being at an away game for the first time, and basically being invited into the press box to talk into a mic that plays throughout this entire stadium that, did I mention, is being listened to by about 300 people at their home field you don't know, and your alma mater's side containing your principal? Also, you are like the start gun to the halftime show...

Yeah, I overanalyze things, but at the same time, this is all going through my mind as I stand up to the microphone.

I have this amazing ability to do something and just not think about it. That is exactly what I did Friday night. I read off my infosheet and didn't think twice about it. I seem to snap into this mode when a microphone is live where I read everything smoothly and NEVER REMEMBER IT. Oh well...

So completely switching gears, we also start WCHS's new season tomorrow... and I'm proud to announce that we have an amazing crew including the likes of my brother on sound, internet-footprintless Greg on the video board, the great Clay Bodnar, and I am anchoring alongside Aidan from AK Productions.

SO we attempted a broadcasting test Friday to make sure all systems were go. Unfortunately they weren't. We couldn't get the cameras working, the broadcaster was on the fritz and we didn't have a host mic.

I spent my fourth period study hall working on that lab. I had to work with the breaker boxes, this stupid VHS player, and then everything was hunky-dorey. Whatever.

So anyway, we are set to go tomorrow during homeroom bringing you the latest on Carlynton sports, news, and when the Library will be open.

I hope to write Thursday... As Friday we'll be at Home Versus the Clairton Bears.

Happy Labor Day everyone.

Wuthering Heights: An Overview

Hey there. This is a preface. I promised that I'd post this now-semi-infamous review of Wuthering Heights. I am in my first week of school, so I don't exactly have time to post the original content this Friday (considering I'm announcing for the Golden Cougar Marching Band this fall). So, I'll give you the following. If I find time, I'll post more. I am also going to answer some of the questions my teacher had at the end. The <<number>> denotes the placement of these comments.

For the original Journal in its entirety: click here.



So I recently finished the novel Wuthering Heights.

If I were to describe it in a few words, it would be summed up as a dark love-story in reverse. I can see how this was hailed as a classic because for its time, this love-story-in-reverse is a revolutionary idea.

I guess I should explain why it is a love story in reverse. It seems that the only time everyone was truly happy was in the beginning of Mrs. Dean's tale. As the novel progressed, all of the characters seemed to get angrier in countenance as their stories and injustices deepened.

This novel basically follows the life and times of the (extremely) evil Heathcliff, incited by Lockwood meeting him, and asking Mrs. Dean about him.

If I were to assign a generic theme to this novel it would be: Don't be a Heathcliff. However, I don't think that serves as a theme as much as it serves as just good advice. So, I guess in a broader sense, a theme could be that love can prevail only if both parties pursue it.

Another could be along the lines of that of Romeo and Juliet, where the inevitability of fate <<1>> plays a rather huge role. It seems that every character is realistic in the sense of how they are their own person, and organically make decisions of their own accord without realizing how it affects one another.

Love plays a role in this novel in complicating itself. (I need to explain this...) Heathcliff loves Catherine I, and that's plain as day. However, because of his three-year absence, Catherine I moves on and marries Edgar Linton, writing Heathcliff off as escaped and possibly dead. He comes back, and is essentially told "you snooze, you lose" and he cannot find it inside of himself to move on. His life's mission is avenge this doomed love.

It appears that Heathcliff was doomed from the start with this love, after all, why couldn't he have just written her off as a sister, and loved her in that sense? <<2>> It probably would have made him less a devil and less a tortured soul. (Remember that in this universe, it is apparently okay to marry your cousin?)

I have been looking at this novel through the eye of a high school sophomore in the United States in 2012. My guess is that some of the goings-on in this novel would make more sense to me if I were a fifteen or sixteen year old living in the late 18th century. Nevertheless, it stands out to me as a reverse love story which Mr. Lockwood played as a vessel, and not a pivotal piece (I am still a tad bummed about that part...). <<3>>

I see love as an understanding between two people that there is something more between them. Love is this concept one cannot quantify in mere words, but rather through this mental understanding. There are ways of showing this love, but in the end the love itself is this understanding of one another. It seems that neither Heathcliff nor Catherine I ever understood that part.

Q&A Time:
1) (see note above): Is it Fate? Or is it social class conventions?

A: So I wrote "fate". Just looked this up, the dictionary definition is "The development of events outside a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power." However, it appears that I was wrong in it, but rather it is a percieved fate. They controlled most of their own life, that is Heathcliff and Catherine I. The only event that is fate in this sense is the fact that Catherine I died. Had she married Heathcliff, I don't think she would have lived any longer, but that is one man's opinion. As for social class issues, I don't think that anything other than Heathcliff's lack of last name qualifies for a class difference. If they were meant to be, love would probably conquer...

2)Because they are soul mates!

A: I am not qualified to answer this comment, but I'll give it a whack. I'll define soul mate officially as "A person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner." (google ftw!). Analyzing the traits of Catherine I and Heathcliff, they kind of are soul mates. If you consider two overly bitter people compatible. I don't know love. See my next post.

3) But why is Nelly telling him the story? What role might he play?

A: Simply, Lockwood asked. He plays the role only as the realization of the dream of Heathcliff. Heathcliff wanted to destroy Edgar Linton's happiness. He wanted to have Wuthering Heights AND Thrushcross Grange, only to keep one and rent the other out. The latter is the role Lockwood holds. I kind of thought that he could have written the next chapter, and maybe changed Heathcliff, or maybe saved Catherine II. I don't know.

Special Thanks to Ms. Oravitz for playing along!

For the original Journal in its entirety: click here.

Summer 2012: A Review

So I am on the eve of that day that ends the summer. I don't particularly like people who tell me "summer isn't over until the middle of September" or something like that... because I define the end of summer as the day school begins.

So I thought that I'd review and recap the summer that just happened. This summer to me has been like an awesome freefall... You get the rush in the beginning and then you just kind of cruise along.

In a Bullet list, here's what I did from the beginning of May through this evening:

• May 5th 2012: Ran marathon Scout Camp, Re(imagiNATION) contest, then greeted the bishop the following day
• Finished Great Expectations which never met mine
• Two Marathon weeks of scout camp (two separate camps)
• Spent 10 days in the non existent land of DelMarVa
• Re-vamped a video lab
• Reached 6,000 views on this site (THANKS AGAIN!!!)
• Participated in TWO flag ceremonies
• Spent many a weekend at my grandparents' camp.
• Drove at least two miles on my bike...
• Drove a lot farther in a golf cart.

...and no doubt did a bunch of other stuff that I'm too lazy to write.

This is the point in the review where I give my personal opinions on some things. I visited Delaware's Bethany Beach and loved walking the boardwalks there. I didn't particularly enjoy the more crowded Rehoboth Beach, but loved the view from atop an outlook tower in Cape Henlopen State Park. I also enjoyed the ability to google something one day, and visit it the next. Such a case is the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, which produced both the artistic bit to the left of the above text.

In essence, Summer 2012 for me was a time where I spent bettering myself through training, living partially in the outdoors, and above all, trying to live as much life as I can.

Monday marks the end of this fantastic ride, and I really hope, for my new school year's resolution (I'm not sure if that's a thing, but whatever!) that this year can be a fantastic ride also.

Song of the Summer:  

So with this, I end the "Summer" tag until next year :(. Thanks for riding with me.

The Devil In The White City: An Overview and Blog

Okay, so I just finished the final book (of 3... hear this one, Education Dept? Nope? Okay...) assigned to me for this summer. Granted, I have 4 days to spare. I consider myself somewhat of a procrastinator... which is a bad trait.

Nevertheless, one of the things I had to do for the one was keep a journal. Which I did on a parallel site, but due to issues I am not publishing the whole thing. I am going to just post the overview on my main site, next Friday. So, technically the following is the second written, first in a series of book reviews I want to do on this site. It's one of the new format ideas I have, and I'm going to see how this works. Here goes nothing.

The Devil In The White City: An Overview

So I recently finished the novel The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. 

The author's note is unlike any other author's note I've read... I'll quote it:

"However strange or macabre some of the following incidents may seem, this is not a work of fiction."

This alone intrigued me.

The basic premise of the novel, is alternating chapters. Half of it tells about Daniel H. Burnham, an architect that rose to fame by being one of the key figures in the creation of the Chicago 1893 World's fair, and the other half is devoted to the serial  killer (just blocks away from this fair) living under the alias H.H.Holmes.

I was warned ahead of time that parts may be boring. I found quite the opposite to be true. The whole book was up in the ranks of books that I've read... almost to the level of Jay Scribble.

The Architect's adventures start at being a small Chicago firm, and then arranging all of the best architects in the nation at that time to combine powers to build over 200 structures... with a timespan of less than three years.

This adventure gave new meaning of "down to the wire". But once completed, this world's fair was one of the defining moment's in our nation's history. And it seemed like an awesome time to be alive.

Alive, that is, if you aren't a beautiful young woman seduced by H.H. Holmes. He'd seduce women into working for him, and in some cases marrying him. The marriage count, at my last count, was like 5 wives... with no formal divorce ever finalized...

He'd have these women move into a building of his own design. Once she got too needy, Dr. H.H.Holmes kicked in and, well, killed her. His "Murder Castle" was home to a gas chamber, dissecting table, and of course crematorium.

He admitted to 27 killings, and only 4 were ever confirmed, with one estimate reaching 200. If you're as fascinated in this, I'd highly recommend reading Wikipedia about it...

I highly recommend the book... get it from a local library or something.

So that's all for now... Have you read the book? Comment!

The 38C to Downtown, and Other Adventures

So I kind of want to start a series along the lines of Rick Sebak's "Stuff That's Gone" video but I don't want to do it in video form, so I think I am going to do that in blog form. And I think I'm going to call it "The 38C" but I think I need to explain what that means.

I started writing a novel a while back, and it opens with a scene where the main character goes out lays on his front street. This pays homage to a game of chicken that the neighborhood teens would play on our front street when I was growing up. The idea behind this was to lay down, and run out just before the bus would run you over.

Yes, I do realize this was stupid. The important part is the next scene, where this main character realizes that bus no longer runs on his street.

This is a semi true story, minus the fact of lying in the middle of the street.

Once upon a time, there ran a bus line right in front of my house, the 38C Greentree Express that from an island at the end of the street, you could get a bus that would take you to downtown. They cut that entirely in August of last year.

If you ask anyone from Pittsburgh for directions, a true Pittsburgher will reference points/landmarks from things that aren't in existence anymore. We're not being mean, we just don't adjust to change too well.

Moving on, the first installment of this probably is my adventure with a few friends from school a few days back. We traveled through the back woods of Carnegie Park and found our way to a patch behind Chioda Field where there used to be a makeshift dirtbike pathway/obstacle course.

Apparently no one cared enough to fix up the old place after a little bridge was broken by some muggles, and it has been in ruins as a sort of paper trail ever since.

I plan in the coming weeks to do another one of these things, and I also want to publish a book-review esque thing, but I cannot due to some issues right now on my end. I want to, next time I feature this, look at Chartiers Avenue and Dawson Avenues: Local Paper Roads.

Lights Will Guide You Home: Quoting Songs for Blog Titles

Why Hello There! My guess is that you forgot I existed, due to my recent absence. Strangely enough, I have been experiencing somewhat of a writers block.

I guess I should start by explaining how I get the ideas that become these blog posts, and for that matter, all of my adventures and projects. I usually just decide "hey, it's Friday (or Thursday), why not blog" and immediately all of my thoughts flood into my fingers and as a result, the page in front of me. I am an idea person, I come up with about 100 ideas for a post per week, and only ever use one because I rarely finish a thought. I have had four draft posts in my queue to finish writing, but I almost never finish those in favour of creating a completely new one.

On an unrelated note, I have been out and about recently with my not-as-footprinted-on-the-internet friend Greg. He informed me about six months about this thing called Geocaching. It's basically a worldwide treasure hunt that requires a GPS (Which he has).

If you are interested in the trend, check out Geocaching.com. If you get a membership, check out my personal profile here: http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=436ec95d-027c-41a0-9351-8c0ad2776d88. I am, unoriginally, The2015Blogger.

Railroad Trestle: Built Circa 1901...
Taken with an Android Phone.

So we went on an adventure through the backwoods of Crafton on our adventure this past Monday. We were off to find a cache that required climbing like a 20% grade up this crazy hill and into an old coal quarry. However, we did get to see this awesome railroad trestle on our way back. 

Anyway, it quickly got dark as we walked through the woods and the entire 1.8 mile stretch all the way back to his house.

I guess a good question to ask is Why? I think I fell victim to that human urge to explore outside of what we know. I think that in the end, we are all bonded by this curiousity as to what lies on top of a hill. Without this geocache, I would never had seen this trestle, and never been able to see what Chartiers Creek looks like from a MUCH higher elevation.

Curious? The Cache is Called "You'll Find More Than Coal" and you can check out its listing here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e1d513cd-b61e-4f82-8304-f9b5c3a01b07
Tell them The2015Blogger sent you!

Vacation From God?

So, my father decided to join the blogosphere temporarily last week and wrote a Pastoral Reflection for UOCofUSA.org. It is a cool little reflection, so I've decided to rewrite it below.

See it online at: http://uocofusa.org/news_120711_2.html

UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA
Pastoral Reflections

"Vacation From God?"

By Rev. Fr. Robert Popichak

Ah, summertime! Each of us looks forward to the time of year where we get a break from our daily work and school routine.

In the United States, we call it vacation. Other countries call it holiday. Irrelevant of the name, it brings images of leisure time, travel, friends, family, and sometimes adventure.

Whether it is a trip to the shore, a cabin in the mountains, a tent in a park, a luxury hotel, or a cruise on the open seas, we all need a break from our normal routine to recharge our personal batteries. As each of us is different, we all have our own idea of what constitutes the best use of our time away from the office or the classroom.

As I write this, my family is preparing to go to a beach on the east coast for several days—our first true long vacation since our sons were born. Planning, sorting, arranging, packing—all of these take time and preparation. Maps are reviewed, online searches are made for attractions and sites of interest, arrangements to stop mail and newspaper delivery are made…all in the name of an orderly change. The destination is finalized, GPS loaded with our destination address, a temporary home is set for our Dachshund, and the car is packed…now what?

We spend a great deal of our lives looking forward to a break from the norm—whether it’s the typical long summer vacation from school or the ever-so-short week or two away from our jobs, it seems that planning for that getaway obsesses us for many weeks before the actual event.

Time away…from what? We never seem to give much thought about our spiritual lives when we plan a vacation…it’s just a Sunday or two missing church—God will understand! There are 50 other Sundays and other holy days to visit with Him…and of course, since He loves us, we don’t have to worry about Him! He’ll be right there when we get back…and if we need Him on our trip, He’ll be there as well!

Sometimes, we fail to plan for the most important part of our vacations—the spiritual recharge. My most restful, peaceful, relaxing, and recharging vacation was nearly twenty years ago. Pressures from my work were immense—the personalities were grinding my nerves to nothing—all was NOT WELL! I NEEDED a vacation!

For some reason, unknown to me at the time, I decided to visit a friend in Northeastern Pennsylvania—in the Pocono Mountains. Since their family worked as well, I would spend a weekend with them, then do something I had never thought of before—spend a week at a monastery! Arrangements were made and I arrived at the Orthodox Monastery of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. I was shown to my room, met my mentor for the week, Hieromonk Juvenaly—the monastery librarian, then was given the schedule of services…beginning with compline, vespers, and dinner. Church services were nice—quiet, peaceful, NO PEWS! Dinner was quiet as well…and my night’s sleep as restful as I had ever experienced.

At 4 AM, the alarm went off, I got dressed, then up the hill in the dark to the chapel for Matins and Liturgy…which began at 5 AM! I went up the road in the dark—no hint yet of the sunrise. The church was empty except for a monk lighting candles…and the smell! Beeswax candles were burning throughout the church—it truly smelled heavenly. The silence filled everything as I stood in the back, just letting it permeate every cell in my body, until the arrival of other monks and laity. Matins and Liturgy were just a bit more special, the words a little clearer, the hymns a little easier to sing, the prayers ever so much more REAL.

At the end of the Liturgy, when I went forward to kiss the cross and receive the Antidoron, I truly did not want it to end. I had truly been transported away from every care and concern…to be with God for those few hours in His house. Throughout the days, it seemed that there were not enough services, so I spent extra time in the church, just breathing in the scent of the candles, looking at the light on the icons, and thinking about what I was doing there. I even thought about a monastic vocation! Father Juvenaly told me that the life of an Orthodox monk was not for me—I must say I was crushed emotionally…but he said not to worry, God had definite plans for my life!

Now, two decades later, I can honestly say His plans for my life were nothing close to mine. I have loved every moment of my priesthood, but still fondly travel back to my week with God. Just the thought of it makes me smile…to truly vacation with Him, on His terms, in His house! I can take a microvacation just by thinking back to the first morning Liturgy.

As we travel to our family vacation spot, I will still think of that week. Each of us has been given the opportunity to experience God’s love and creation every day of our lives. Do not pass up the chance to see Him in everything around you—trees, hills, water, birds, animals, clouds, rain, storms—all are His creation!

On your vacation, take a few minutes to thank Him for everything He has given you—your health, family friends, and all good things come from Him. Visit an Orthodox church where you find yourself—go in and look around, breathe in the smells, experience a slightly different view of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Recharge your batteries…and save those memories for when the snow flies!

May God grant you a safe journey, no matter where you roam, a safe return to home and family, and His Love and Protection along the way!

Originally Posted on July 11, 2012 at  http://uocofusa.org/news_120711_2.html The Article was written by Fr. Robert Popichak for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America's
"Pastoral Reflections" Series. 

This entry appears here with permission from the author

Celebrating 3 Years!

Thank you so much for supporting my site! I'd like to especially thank all of my family and friends that have stuck with me since the start. If this published correctly, 6:30PM July the 16th marks THREE years that I've been blogging.

Got Bored... Made an Anniversary Logo

Walking into the Shot, Becoming a Photographer, and SIX THOUSAND VIEWS

Sample: Riding Shotgun Westbound on the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge in Maryland

Hello there! So I've been taking advantage of the sights around me and living life through the lens of the camera my brother found at a yard sale. This little thing takes fantastic pictures (see my sample) and I have been learning (through trial, error, and YouTube) to take better pictures as a semi-photographer.

What I've decided doing is from now on, attempting to illustrate whatever the heck I am talking about with pictures that I've taken. Granted, I can't wander aimlessly taking pictures of my whole life, but I can take pictures of some things.

I've been experimenting in a largely populated area which has a lot of awesome stuff to see, but it's one of those "you can see it, but you can't get there" area. So, I have to set the camera to super-hyper-shutter mode, and attempt to shoot from a car going at 30 or whatever through a windshield. To say the least, it's a challenge.

Anyway, one of the things that make it more challenging is people strolling right into the middle of your shot. As is, you may get one shot of the thing that you are highway-filming, and the last you need is a blur of old man in swimming suit, lack of shirt, and hat.

I am going to ask you (Most Pittsburghers are okay with this one) to look around as you're wandering in front of something semi-picturesque. If you see a photographer, STOP!!!!

I apologize for the brevity of this post. Hopefully pictures to come with the next one...\

and an ANNOUNCEMENT!

On Friday the Thirteenth, this site hit 6,000 views. I'd like to thank everyone that has been here for the first 6,000, and I invite you to stick around for the next three years and 6,000 hits...

IF you have suggestions for what I should blog about... be it Pittsburgh, Scouts, Q&A, whatever, comment or shoot me an email!

An Adventure in Public Transit

So on Tuesday I went to WYEP. I know this seems semi-repetitive, but I promise, there's an actual story to this one!

So mother dropped me off at the Carnegie Station on the Busway on her way to work this past Tuesday. A few things to non-Pittsburghers- 1)The Busway is a magic highway reserved just for Port Authority buses devised to make routes actually be on time [I realize if they keep cutting, there will be no times, but that's an editorial for another time] 2)I have only ever taken public transportation like once before.

Carnegie is the end/startpoint of this magic Bussuperhighwaythingy so it was kind of comedic having to stand there and wait for a bus that was literally 50 yards away. Granted, it was already comedic being a teenager standing there in my Green Day t-shirt and shorts surrounded by gentlemen in dressclothes and black pants. ANYWAY! So bus gets there 10 minutes early and I need to ask for a transfer once I get on. The bus driver groaned at me and asked me to "PAY QUICKER, I don't have ALL DAY". First off, I am paying HIS paycheck. Second, YOU'RE TEN MINUTES EARLY.

Anyway, I get into town, get off at the wrong stop and have to walk two extra blocks before standing in wait for the next 51 to take me out of the city and to the South Side. I stand for a few minutes before hearing "Hey, Alex!" coming from behind me.

I have been in Pittsburgh for maybe 5 minutes.... and someone already recognizes me.

I turn around, and there's Matt from WYEP. Matt is one of the radio education team that helped put on the made-of-awesome Re(ImagiNATION) event, and I've known for nearly a year now.

Turns out he is waiting for the bus too, and apparently it was his first time on a city bus---granted, he's like 20 something.

So we sit and chat on our way to the South Side and get off at the stop a block away from WYEP and are greeted by a gentleman making a delivery to WYEP as well as my friend Lana and her mother... the Marketing Director of WYEP (too much awesomeness in one lobby).

In this brief moment I was reminded why I love doing this. Through putting up with the old angry bus drivers semi-early on a Tuesday morning. I do it to get together with perhaps the best crew I will ever be able to work with (no offense, WCHS... you never took me to Occupy Pittsburgh or sparked a band competition). And yet on that day, no one from the group was there except for the directors of our little project.

Matt told me that he would be DJing that night from 12midnight-4AM and wanted to pre-record two hours of it. I, jokingly, asked if I could come along. He said he would check. Unfortunately, none of the studios were open for pre-recording then...

The gentleman I had talked to going into the South Side almost put me on the radio.

I took the 48 back with him into town. We missed the first bus by like 45 seconds because it wasn't marked 51 (we probably could have chased it...). We parted ways and I took the 31 and walked the rest of the way home (I wasn't about to run into the grouchy busway driver again). Fresh on my mind was all I had done down at the station, who I've met in my short time down there so far, and just how awesome the next 3 years will be.

Getting Back in Tune with Society

So, in case you forgot to read or noticed that your email had a surprising lack of 2015Blogger post, I spent the last two weeks in the woods of first Ligonier, then Indiana Pennsylvania. The first was leadership training and the second was summer camp at my camp-away-from-camp SEPH MACK!!!

I will post later about my experiences at both (Sorry Kurt [Camp Director @ Seph Mack that knows about the site]). What I want to post about right now is this weird transition period from living out of a tent to living in a real house.

First things first, if you've never lived out of a tent for even a weekend, let me describe it. You sleep on the ground or in some cot, under a temporary shelter that sways with the wind, surrounded by the elements. DON'T carry food into your tent either, because the raccoons will get to it. Rain hits, you deal with it. Lightning strikes, you better hope you can find a shelter. Not fun. But you learn to deal with it.

Anyway, you usually pack either a backpack, duffel bag, or something of that sort. Because you can't get cell reception in the wilderness, you live with the clothes on your back and whatever you packed (hopefully you packed well). It's an interesting, serene, and very lonely feeling.

I did this for a few reasons. First, I wanted a detachment. You may recall from "Becoming Attached to Being Detached" (http://2015blogger.blogspot.com/2012/05/becoming-attached-to-being-detached.html May the 26th) That it is a welcome relief for me to be able to focus on nothing but real people, and my own self.

I asked Mr. Y (Scout Leader) before I left what it was all about, and he explained that it was a lot of "Soul Searching."

I am finding the adjustment easier to make, yet at the same time so different. Given the chance to do some soul searching and reflection on nothing but the past, present, and future has (at least I think) changed me for the better.

I had a tough time adjusting to running water (You'll see on my NYLT Day Two reflection how that came into play) as well as adjusting to not having bugs swarming around you (You snap into a camping routine about day 2).

The one thing I have been able to snap into is getting back in touch with texting my friend, writing blog posts, and in general, Interneting.

It's the Anticipation That Kills

UPDATE: So, I lied. Never got a chance to type everything up… sorry about that.
-AP

So this past week I have been spending... well, freaking out. I have noticed that as soon as we get into summer, I have this semi schizophrenic mode that I switch into. I go inside and outside, inside and outside, and quite frankly my mother gets quite flustered with this constant in and out thing.

Most of all though, this week's flusteredness has come from preparations for next week's adventure... JLT. Basically, I am going to be throwing myself into the woods for a week to get Junior Leadership Training.

The eventual hope is that this week-in-the woods will magically make me a better leader and person. I believe the latter completely. My mission, if I get anything out of this, would be to become a better person.

So with this I am announcing a hiatus, with a catch. Starting today, I will be on hiatus until July 1st. While at camp (I have summer camp the week following) I will write one mock-post reflection thing per day. These will be typed up and published on the week of July the 9th. They will be posted two per day (depending if I actually can write everyday) during that week, as to avoid my brief July hiatus due to me wanting a break from everything.

I invite you to take a look back at the past year or so of my posts, to catch up on things, and I hope to be back with fresh stuff in July... including possibly posts on an Eagle Project???

Writing about Romeo, Pip, oh and it's SUMMER

That title means a few things. For one, my blogposts will not be regular until July. Sorry about that, but I have obligations to places all over, and have to meet certain ones.

So this past Thursday marked the last day of my Freshman year at Carlynton. I now get to embark on a semi-needed vacation from classroom work and the sort. My post today, however will be about the two days prior to the last day, and the day after that. On the first day of finals, we took a final for English. On top of it being unreasonably long, it included an essay referencing Romeo and Juliet and my favourite novel of all time, the great Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (Sarcasm Much?).

The prompt was asking to compare and contrast their views on love. Now if I had about four hours and a blogpost-esque format, I would begin by questioning What Is Love and Am I Qualified to answer that? But I didn't, so I didn't. (Sidenote: I just searched my blog for instances of the word "love" and it's like 15 posts... I think that deserves a medal or something... I have a feeling that I will just keep adding to it subconsciously.)

Instead I took on the analysis of Romeo's quick-to-love personality of being a Petrarchian Lover (Yay Context Clues making things redundant) and Pip's My-First-Love-Is-My-Only ideaology. Granted, Pip attempts to catch Biddy on the rebound and finds she is going to marry his adopted father (Weird Much?) [I am not ruining the plotline, there is none]

Anyway, I went into how different yet alike their styles were, and talked about how neither one ended up too well in the end. In retrospect, Romeo's rebound to Juliet wasn't exactly the best idea considering he is dead at this point.

The Moral? Don't go all out for trying to rebound love, and love in general hurts.

Delving further with a friend, I was talking about the topic of Romeo and Juliet. She brought up the thought that unconditional love is the thing that bound Romeo and Juliet together, and something that is dead. or at least dying.

I happen to disagree with that theory. I believe that true unconditional love is something that is rare, but in reality just as rare as it was in Shakespeare's time. Granted, we now have more distractions to blame for stuff, but it is just as alive as it was.

To be totally honest, I had no clue where that post was going. I am going to aim to make the next one about Microfilm and my Research Adventure(s).

Don't Know What to Write... CENTRALIA and WCHS

So the day before the day before yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of Centralia... and it's still burning!

Okay, so back story... Like 50 years ago (Wooh anniversaries making dates easier to remember things) there was a mine in a Pennsylvania town called Centralia. Technically, it's still there, but the town isn't.

In an abandoned part of the mine, they used to put garbage there as a dump. One night (fifty years ago) some genius either set the garbage on fire or it caught fire. Bottom line, the trash started burning in the mine. It caught the junk coal on fire, and next thing you know, everything under Centralia catches fire.

Due to health concerns, everyone had to leave Centralia, and the town is left to the weeds. It's quite eerie from what I gather. However, the fire is still burning. If you want to hear more of a brief history, click here: http://www.damninteresting.com/the-smoldering-ruins-of-centralia/

This week was also the week where we said good-bye to (in my opinion) the best crew WCHS [Morning Announcements] has had in a long time. Our anchors and sound girl graduated from high school. I first met the anchors two years ago when I started the announcements as a sound guy. Back then, we had a switching crew every month, and a total of four anchors that rotated. The two that stuck were the ones that had stayed this past year.

To say I've gotten to know them was an understatement. I was involved with chorus and the musical with these guys, and they have been all-around awesome people to work with. One is studying to enter seminary to become a Catholic Priest.

On their last day, I ran video board like I had the whole year. I asked them right before we went on air, like always, "You guys ready?" They hesitated, and then said "Yeah..." And that crew launched into the history books. I asked what the priest-in-study had in the way of words of wisdom when we had gone off air. He responded simply with: "Wake up each morning and thank God for being able to wake up." Simple, yet profound.

I took over anchoring the next day with my friend Dave Wovchko (Yeah, that Dave...) who will anchor next year. To say it was strange being on the other side of a camera is saying the least. I wasn't fully prepared to take the chairs the two senior had occupied just 24 hours previously, but we did anyway.

I have hope for this coming year, but at the same time I know it'll be different then it was. But in the end, I guess everything goes on... people never stop and freeze like Centralia. The people there moved on, and so must we.

On the Rank of Life...

So I came to the realization today that the Scoutmaster Conference that I just passed for the rank of Life is the last regular Scoutmaster Conference, well, ever.

Let me explain a few things. First off, a Scoutmaster Conference is the scout-equivalent to a military performance review. Essentially, your boss (Scoutmaster) goes over your accomplishments, or lack thereof, and then decides if you can be promoted to the next rank.

The ranks are posted in a picture next to these words... Essentially you start as a newbie and get to life (Where I am about to be at) and then Eagle.

So why do I say regular? For Eagle, a scoutmaster conference is essentially the troop's main representative's parting words to you. Let's be totally honest here, most Eagles don't stay hugely active within the troop. (I am planning on sticking around until I can instill wisdom and the sort... but who knows?). A Board of Review is essentially a panel interview version of a Scoutmaster Conference with other troop leaders. The aim is to satisfy a panel of troop leaders that you have the right stuff---character, work ethic, personality, et cetera---to represent a troop, and get on the right path yourself.

For the rank of Eagle, one hand-selects his board. If you have a group of leaders whom you feel would represent you well, or at least know you well enough to put their name on an application (Did I mention only 2.1 Million Scouts have ever made Eagle).

So back to what it all means. In order to rank-up, you must prove yourself worthy to get it.

This past Sunday we had a Memorial Day Parade. Every group who was anyone---Civil War Re-enactors, Local TV crews, Military personnel---shows up to this parade. We had a grand total of five scouts show up. Now I understand that there are people who have plans and whatnot... but seriously, only five?

This reminds me of two things. Number one, today's youth doesn't value citizenship nor doing what's good for others (our membership is down to like 15, so about 1/3 of a showing is pretty good in my eyes).

Number two, the trail to Eagle is very much a personal journey. It is kind of like religion in the sense of getting closer to a greater good, yet at the same time, it focuses on self-improvement.

No group gets you Eagle. You make those connections and create the group yourself. You meet fantastic people, and gain connections and references otherwise unattainable.This, my dear readers, is how you EARN an Eagle. You get as much out of this as you put in...

On a side note, without scouts I probably wouldn't have gotten into blogging, and this wouldn't exist...

Becoming Attached to Being Detached

So I spent this weekend (or at least the part that went from Thursday until Saturday) up at my grandparents' camp. They have this neat little trailer in a campground {it's called a CAMPING RESORT} off of I-80 where on occasion I will make my way to spend a weekend.

The cool part about camp is that it has all of the comforts of a home and the welcomed inconveniences of a camp... Let me explain that.

You see, because it is a trailer and not in a tent that could collapse due to your poor plan, and therefore not scout camping (Did I mention off of I-80... not exactly out of civilization either) it isn't exactly "camping" per sey. However, you spend 90% of your day outside either chilling around a fire (CAMPS!) or on a golf cart (preferred method of transportation), so is somewhere in the middle...

The inconveniences are quite minute. You don't have internet connection, or care too much about getting back to phone calls/texts (unless it is something important). The loss of internet is actually a tad welcome. I don't need to answer emails or worry about keeping up-to-date with a friend at school or whatever.

It is kind of addicting... just relaxing being care-free. You certainly aren't home, but sometimes it feels like one.

Sorry for the brevity of this post... With finals coming up and all, it is getting crazy here. I may post again before the weekend is out...

Stories, and Projects, and Some Cemeteries

I recently posted a thing on my Facebook account along the lines of complaining that I can't use the same name for all of my projects. Writress Lana Meyer commented that I should just begin calling everything "The Projects." Lana, this is for you.

So Wednesday I spent a few hours at our Scout Group's chartered organization's Cemetery somewhere in Collierish Township. There were like 8 of us painting this fence with a stain that now stains my work jeans.

Friday I spent on an island in the middle of the Parkway West right outside of the Fort Pitt Tunnels planting flowers. Our honor society has this strange tradition of doing this... as well as dragging along all 80 of us. Later that day I worked lighting and stage for a production at school.

Saturday morning I spent with my scout troop out at Chartiers Cemetery at the GAR Plot. For those keeping score at home, I have been working with the local Civil War reenactor group for about a year and a half now, and last year we started this annual Memorial Day project of cleaning up the GAR plot as well as shining up the monument and planting flowers.

The reenactor group had raised money to have the headstones that had sunk into the ground re-set, and as a result, the bottoms of the headstones were dirty. A few of us scrubbed off the dirt and generally made the headstones easier to read.

We also planted flowers at the graves of all of the veterans, as well as generically cleaned up stuff.

I took on the long task of placing a flag at each of the 120-something veterans' graves. I thought this was cool---a Boy Scout laying flags at the graves of the Union soldiers who after the war fought to get an American flag in every public classroom. I also (being my egotistical self) thought... now what would they think? Then it donned on me---a lot of the veterans died before the Scouting Movement started in the US. So, in a strange way, it came full circle.

I also took a pilgrimage around the cemetery containing a PA governor, Myron Cope, a monument to a fatality of the Titanic, and a fatality of a Flood in either California or Florida. Looking around at all of the graves brought me back to John Green video (which can be found here) about going to see a cemetery.

In short, it is amazing to look around and admire those who had gone before you, and to those you don't know... just imagining their stories.

Cemeteries fascinate me just as much as they disturb me. I love to look at the names and imagine the stories, but when you look at the permanence of it all, and the thought that you too will become one of those lost stories... it's unnerving.

But at the same time, in the end, it fascinates me. The least I can do for these people whom I never met nor will ever meet is to place a flag at his grave, or maybe plant a flower, or even read their name aloud.

Brief Bonus Blog Post Fun Time!

So this past week, shortly before I wrote the post of the week, I wrote a little reflection of sorts on Bishop Daniel coming to Slickville. They published it on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America's homepage. I am an internationally published author. This is kind of awesome.

Read the Original Here: http://uocofusa.org/news_120512_2.html

Or, Read the Text Version Here:

UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA

CONSISTORY OFFICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

PRESS RELEASE

Archpastoral Visit to Slickville, PA!
By Alexander Popichak

I am the teenage son of an Orthodox priest serving the quiet village of Slickville, Pennsylvania. Not many things come in the way of excitement to the mining town of less than three hundred, so when His Grace Bishop Daniel visited Holy Ghost Ukrainian Orthodox Church on May the 6th, he was welcomed as only Slickville could, with a buzz of excitement and open arms. When our parish president greeted His Grace with the traditional gifts of bread and salt, Bishop Daniel had said that he had never visited Slickville, but was glad to finally be visiting for the first time.

Shortly after, Divine Liturgy was served with four students of St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Bound Brook, NJ, Subdeacons Vasyl and Andriy, seminarians Yuri, and Ivan, who Bishop Daniel brought along with him, as well as two altar boys and parish pastor Father Robert Popichak.

The average age of our Slickville parish is around over 50, and the youth and energy demonstrated by four seminarians gave those in attendance a sense of hope for the present and future of the Orthodox Church as a whole.

I included this because I took
This picture myself...

After giving a brief talk about his personal history in the church, His Grace took a picture with our entire church family. We welcomed him, as well as his seminarians downstairs for a coffee social hour. Bishop Daniel was touched by the outpouring of hospitality our humble parish gave, and in response made it his mission to hug everyone there. The bishop and the seminarians were sent on their way eastward with bags of goodies, and muffins galore. Our parish family is extremely grateful for the visit, and can’t wait for His Grace Bishop Daniel to stop by again!

Originally Posted on May 12, 2012 at http://uocofusa.org/news_120512_2.html The Article was written by Alexander Popichak for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America.

Re(ImagiNATION) (a Two-Parter)

This part two of a two part post... see the one right before this to know what you missed (I doubt you missed much)

SO I wanted to reserve a separate post for my final thoughts on the first Re(ImagiNATION).

For those of you who don't know what that was, it was a high school band competition that my group at WYEP (Re(Imagine) Media) held back on May 5th 2012 at Schenley Plaza. I, as well as Neil, Mark, Ally, Alyssa, Sammie, Molly, Gabriela, Meg, and the rest of Re(Imagine) Media crew emceed the event introducing bands as well as putting into words what we do every other Saturday. Now you should be able to follow the rest.

Packing the Plaza

I got there about two hours before the start, and I am immediately handed this V-Neck t-shirt to wear as uniform for the event. Armed with this new-found (rather low-cut tshirt for my taste) uniform and some energy, I teamed up with one my friends to help publicize the event on the street with Frisbees. It was interesting, to say the least, explaining our event to people, however we packed the little gazebo-esque thing that is Schenley Plaza and began a freaking-awesome band competition.

T-B: Ripe For Theft,
Samj ft. Chuck Deze
Mos Lov, Jordan Montgomery, and
Jupiter Sampson
Hat Co.
Mount Royal

We kicked off with this group called Ripe For Theft with member Alex Zukoff (A friend of mine from WYEP as well as other places) and just like that all five acts flew by. We were entertained by a duo Samj ft. Chuck Deze whom I got to meet beforehand backstage. Chuck was a really nice guy, who gave me insight into his stage name. He had told me that in football, his nickname was "Chuck Diesel." One day, the gentleman who started it shortened it to just "Deze" and Chuck Deze was born.

We also met a group called Mount Royal (also quite nice) as well as rappers Jupiter Sampson and Jordan Montgomery and DJ MosLov. We met a school group called Hat Co from Hope Academy.

As all of this band awesomeness was going on, there were activities such as sidewalk chalk drawing, spray-painting a community canvas (Shoutout to Sammie for coming up with that one!) oh and there was a green room.

WYEP is a place that instead of being built of like bricks and stuff, is built of pure awesome. They built us a little WYEP tent to use at the plaza as a freaking GREEN ROOM! Essentially, us emcees got to hang out with the bands performing (did I mention these were bands that our group picked as a top 5 to play at this event to start with‽‽‽). To say the least, I was psyched.

The event's actual winnings was judged by professionals, and the winner receives a press kit, studio time to record a three song ep, and the title of first winner of the first-ever Re(ImagiNATION).

Mount Royal came out on top. However, each of the bands received a mentorship with a local artist.

I took turns co-emceeing with the fabulous Gabriela Latta as well as the always-bubbly and uplifting Ally Bair and overall, the event went very well.

The only way we were able to do this was through the generosity of WYEP, its listeners, and the amazing staff we have worked with since October-ish. I can't wait to see what's next from this group of people.

L-R: Alexa Belejac, Brett Bridges, Matt Spangler
Photo Taken By: Alex Popichak

Curious about the Bands? Check out the event page here.
To See more pictures of the event, click here.

My Weekend and Re(ImagiNATION) (a Two-Parter)

Warning: This may be hard to follow.

So my weekend began when I walked off of my bus and packed for the Camporee. I began texting a friend, and before I knew it, I was standing among tents that I helped put up (Note to the reader - Our Scoutmaster was last on the site. I was playing SPL and scoutmaster at original setup.). So I attended an SPL meeting where I learned that everything I knew as far as timing goes was a lie, and we had to wake up earlier.

I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of my troop surrounding my tent screaming "WAKE UP ALEX!" For the record, the only reason they wanted me up was because I was supposed to help making food for them.

We plugged through half of the day doing events such as lumberjack, this crazy memory game (more on that in a second) and a legit discus competition.

So there was this crazy memory game where there were 100 items on a tarp and we had to remember as much as we could after looking for 5 minutes. I was amazed at not only my own memory, but my troop's. They remembered close to 70 of the things.

Lunch rolled around, I had some ramen, and we had a shotput competition.

At this point, I had to leave my troop to join my WYEP group at our band competition in Schenley Plaza. My next post will be on my thoughts on that event.

I made it back to camp just in time for my father's interfaith service at camp, and got to listen to his sermon. Most people in general hate sermons but I kind of enjoy them. It gives me the chance to hear other people's perspective on things, and most of the time they are semi-profound. I like the profound ones... anyway, next topic!

So we went to the campfire in the parade field where troops sang songs, and we gave the best skit ever and other troop stole said skit and bottom line it was this amazing brotherhood-ish thing that is hard to explain fully but bottom line bonds scouts in general together.

I left the campfire at the end to attend yet another SPL meeting where they offered dutch-oven deserts and announced the winner of the patch design contest. I am proud to say that I am the designer of said patch. However, said patch hasn't come in yet from the patch makers as of 5/6/12 when I wrote this. When said patch comes in, I'll post a picture of it next to this rant.

We left camp that night, my father, brother and I for home. The next day we were to be in Slickville to greet the Bishop.

Slickville can be summed up in these sentences from a previous post:
"...Being the son of an Orthodox Priest kind of puts you in this alienated bubble. You see, my geographical church is in downtown Carnegie, Pa., but in reality I end up going to my appointed church in the center of the Universe Slickville, Pa. The median age in Slickville is 75ish, ergo I am the only highschooler other than my brother. But nevertheless I love it."

After church in Carnegie on the day that I posted about (link here) I invited Bishop Daniel (If you didn't click the link you are lost now) to come to Slickville. That was back in January. This past Tuesday we receive word that Bishop Daniel is coming to Slickville - because of my invitation. 

Slickville is this amazingly stark contrast from my hometown in the sense that it is a very simple town, where everyone knows everyone and greets anyone who walks through the doors. In the city if you did that, odds are that you would get mugged or something. 

So we are driving out to Slickville and we hit the half-way point of Export, Pa and my father turns around (Slickville is about 45 minute drive) and asks if his red bag which contains, like, everything involved with a church service minus the building is in the back. It wasn't. So he turns the car around and drives us back home, I get the bag and toss it in the back with lightning speed.

There is a lovely ending to this story in the sense that we were able to be back and ready before our regular start time of 10:30. We proceeded with a service in Slickville with a bishop for the first time in about 13 years. 

The neat part about the whole ordeal is that we didn't have enough time to call the presses, fix up some elaborate service, but rather gave the Bishop a truly Slickville Service. He recieved the raw un-rehearsed group of singers (We don't have a choir), the hospitality, and welcomed him as a visitor. And, I think to him he welcomed it as a change. 

In his words, "You guys didn't put on a show, you gave me a service."

That was my weekend, minus Re(ImagiNATION). That is my next post when I can get to it.

The Semi-Final Word on DROWSY and Re(ImagiNATION) and an Announcement of Sorts

That was a longer title than I anticipated. However, it is a three-thing title and covers all of the bases. Oh, and look at that! I don't need to give an intro now!

So this past Wednesday, the cast of The Drowsy Chaperone partook in an event called a "Set Strike." Basically, what happens is that we take a beautiful set that was used on Sunday and reduce it to a dumpster in back and a whole lot of wheels (I'll get to that soon).

So we started at about 6PM, our regular start time for a rehearsal and started moving wood and screws and the sort off of the floor.

When taking things apart, it helps to have some form of background music. Our director decided to play the entirety of 3 year's ago's musical My Favourite Year. I began dismantling anything with wheels.

If you saw our production, you would know that there were a lot of moving parts. Each of those moving parts were either dangling above a stage by wires, or had at least 4 pivoting wheels with 4 bolts each that needed to be salvaged while the things that they were attached to were being dismantled around me. Not to mention, we only had one ratchet that worked. 

All aside, as we progressed dismantling the set, the soundtrack progressed. We moved up to 2010's production of The Wedding Singer and then finally to last year's production of 42nd Street. Slowly, piece by piece, the set we had made great memories and laughed, and Toledo Surprised on faded. We finally made it to The Drowsy Chaperone with the stage looking more and more like just a stage. 

By the time the finale came on, the stage was bare. The cast lined up and performed with the Broadway Recording. One of the things our crazy vocal director kept on asking for was for a push on the final four measures of the show. 

Just as we began rehearsing with no set and nothing but a stage, ourselves, and some music we ended. We gave her those last four measures. We swept the stage one last time, and The Drowsy Chaperone passed into history as a Carlynton Musical.

I'll give this a line. Re(ImagiNATION) is May 5th. I am encouraging everyone to come out and show your support for the WYEP Re(Imagine) Media project, as well as the bands performing.

Finally, I leave with you with an announcement that I will be working on a journalism project with Carlynton High School. I was just greenlighted to create a somewhat blog-esque style journalism project within the Carlynton District Website. If you are interested writing (Sorry, out-of-area people, but this is really just relevant to Carlynton district content) feel free to email me.

This Week On Re(Imagine)...

Sometimes I feel like my life is a never-ending television show. There are certain things that happen all of the time, and others that are huge events (IE, this show that just happened) that are worthy of a marathon run of past episodes. One of the amazingly regular events that is just so much fun to partake in is WYEP's Re(Imagine) Media.

This week we sat round-table style in our conference room listening to the entries to our band competition, Re(ImagiNATION).

As in classic American Idol audition style, there were some bands we loved and others not so much. In the end, we narrowed it down to the bands that will appear at 4PM in Schenley Plaza competing for the top spot and some grand prizes.

The meeting sparked some interesting debates on music taste and content and other things of the sort. I didn't say anything two controversial, seeing that I was outnumbered like 7 to one by girls in the room. However, I must say that I did agree with most of the final choices.

This little meeting with the fourteen or so of us every once-in-a-blue-Saturday reminds me of a few different things. For one, there is a group of us who genuinely care about the world around us. There are a few mature individuals who want to be informed, have a heck of a fun time, and want to share it all with the world.

It reminds me that there is hope for the world, and that I can enjoy myself in the outside world.

Returning from the philosophical, I am again returning to my regular Friday-ish postings starting this Friday.

That's about it. I'd like to thank everyone who was a part of our show. The French word "to attend [a concert/event]" is "assister" which I think has the hidden meaning that for any production to go well, everyone assists. I'd like to thank from the bottom of my heart the whole cast, crew, staff, ushers, backstage people, and last but certainly not least, everyone who showed up and made the musical great.

On Musicals, and Singing

Note: I am taking a break from April 9th - April 23rd due to my show, The Drowsy Chaperone. I will post when I can. This post is pre-written.

So I was asked to talk on Tuesday when we took the Drowsy Chaperone on the road to the elementary schools about singing. This is what I wrote:

I joined the musical not because I have a dancing skill - Trust me, I don't - but rather because I enjoyed singing. I thought that it would be kind of fun to just try out this thing anyway. Just to put this into perspective, this is not only my first music, but back in January when we started practice I had never even heard of the Drowsy Chaperone.

Music is the thing that differs a play from a musical. Over the past three or so months, we spent hours in our vocal director's room running the same numbers until that room resembled somewhat of a musical prison. HOWEVER, in the end, the 46 or so of us cast members forged this bond based in rhythm and other various stuff. Those who know how to read music helped those who couldn't and by now everyone can conceivably randomly sing the entire show in our school hallways in perfect harmony. BUT we won't be doing that anytime soon because that would be weird.

Through it all, this weird rhythmic bond has grown tighter. The music sticks with you, whether you want it to or not. We've learned 10 or so numbers ranging from backup on a bluebird song main vocals about a monkey. Musicals are the marriage of having fun with singing and enjoying it all.

Four months ago, I had no idea how close 46 or so high schoolers could get with 10 music numbers. Wanna see it in person? Check out our show.

Love, Family, and Why That's Important

I am writing this on the couch in my grandparents' house with limited Cell service and internet in the beautiful village/town-ish place called Petrolia. I am here on the occasion of Western Easter* with my maternal family. It is kind of nice to be able to celebrate a holiday with most of my family.

In doing this, I have been default babysitter for my 6 cousins which is, to say the least, interesting for an age range of 2-12. Being in a semi-rural area, the older ones decide to burn some stuff in the back yard, and naturally the younger kids gravitate in that direction. The issue - IT ISN"T THE LEAST BIT SAFE to have small children around the older kids and their fire.

This is a recipe for me being semi-exhausted and drive me to three conclusions. Number 1, I am not in ANY position to handle small children in bulk anytime soon. Number 2, I have come to love these small children who seem to have no purpose in life other than to do exactly what you tell them not to do (Don't run out in the street---and, oh, he's gone) and Number 3, this is what family is.

By definition, family is relatives. Family is the lineage that bonds a group of people together who can trace to the same last name. However, there is a meaning that far goes beyond these simple technicalities. These are the people you love just because.

In reading for theme (I never do this unless prompted [Rather, Required], mind you) one looks for an idea that is universal. Now, every English teacher in history (except the crazy ones perhaps) would disagree with the idea that a theme could be, quite simply, family. It fits all of the definitions, and it bonds us all together. So, I am rolling with it.

I guess another thing one could consider is what the definition of this "love" truly is. {The next part or so of this post may prove irrelevant to anyone but me or those around me, so I recommend skipping it if you're not feeling particularly philosophical today}

Love, as defined by Dictionary.com, is "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person." That leaves a lot of room for interpretation. I see love as an understanding between two people that there is something more. Love is this concept one cannot quantify in mere words, but rather through this mental understanding. There are ways of showing this love, but in the end the love itself is this understanding of one another. The understanding goes as far as knowing who that person truly is as well as this universality of being human, and having an attraction to one another.

Now I tie it all into something amazingly profound. Bottom line, we can all identify with the ideas of Family and Love because we have all have attachments as humans. This is the closest thing I could manage to type to an Easter Sermon without a church service. Happy Easter.

*For those of you playing at home, I am Eastern Orthodox and celebrate on the Julian Calendar. In other words, 2012 Easter for us is on the 15th of April**.
**For those of you playing at home, my birthday is the 15th.***
***For those of you playing at home and feel compelled to do something, send cash.

Spending Some Time In The Studio

This past Saturday was spent hiking up yet another hill (This was a hill as opposed to the magical mountain of West Virginia (Wild and Wonderful) and then orienteering a bit followed by yet another trip to WYEP.

There's something amazing that happens when I am on a hike anywhere, call it a sort of awareness of what's around you or whatever, but bottom line, something amazing happens.

There's also something to be said for getting to a point where you have a map in the woods and need to decide how to get a group of eight people out of those woods and back to the cars from which they parked earlier. I don't know how to explain it, but something snaps and I go into this weird quasi-leadership mode, where I suddenly know more than I consciously realize.

After getting out of the woods, I hitched a ride down to the WYEP studios. I just love going down there. We start out in a conference room and then split off into groups working on the various projects that Re(Imagine) has taken on. We filmed a promo for the Re(ImagiNATION) contest that I am a part of, but (amazingly) I didn't make the video for.

Anyway, after helping take part in that, I went to one of their state-of-the-art recording studios with another Alex (not the Unicorn Alex, but another Alex) for about an hour just kicking around what will (Cross your fingers) become the podcast Alex Squared which will basically be our random podcast where we talk about stuff. It's still in EARLY development, but we're working on it.

There is something completely free, or possibly even carefree in radio that you don't have in television. Don't get me wrong, Television is absolutely amazing to work on. My point here is that you don't need to care about physical appearance to do radio.

Radio focuses solely on content, which I kind of like. Television and YouTube have this pressure of making things LOOK fancy as well as having good and short enough content to keep the viewer's attention, and it is stressful.

So keep tuned to our blog (moderated by me) at http://reimaginemedia.blogspot.com/ for more on our project.

Wild, Wonderful, and Apparently Not Wireless

So this past weekend, my backwards troop fulfilled a tradition that has been going on for about 15 years and took a trip to the West Virginian wilderness to spend a weekend at a Girl Scout camp.

It is kind of a feat just getting there. As with many places, there is no direct way to get from my house or for that matter, the Greater Pittsburgh area, to the tiny town of Bruceton Mills. So, what should take about an hour directly takes about two going further south than needed via the highways, and then the magical back roads to this camp.

I didn’t know why we went to a Girl Scout camp until we got there. The “cabin” we were in was basically a secluded ski lodge with indoor and two outdoor fireplaces, bunk beds, heated floors, and a huge kitchen. This “camp” was a hotel in comparison to winter camping in Guyasuta in tents.

So Saturday rolls around and our Scoutmaster Extraordinaire proclaims that we have a “mandatory hike” to a place called Coopers Rock. I am not a huge fan of large rocks, or hikes for that matter, but because it was mandatory I went.

He had proclaimed that this hike would take a little while and would be a short hike. What he hadn’t accounted for was the fact that the road leading to the part where we would have started was closed. So we start at the trailhead which proclaims about 3.2 miles to go.

Anyone that has been to Laurel Caverns can testify that the signs proclaiming usually one mile are in fact terribly wrong. Coopers Rock is no exception.

About 4 miles and a change in elevation of at least a good 300 or so feet brought us to the actual site which had a drop of about 1700 feet. To say the absolute least, the view was fantastic.

After successfully injuring my ankle and my knee, we hiked the 3.2 miles back to the car. Unfortunately, when I got back to the luxury cabin, it donned on me that I had not even tried getting WiFi to publish my previously written blog. A few clicks and it would have been published. But alas, the beautiful views and amazing wilderness-ism came at the cost of not having Wifi. I also attempted to text from there. I am however trying to piece together a hike video that I filmed as a “Thoughts from Places Video” a la Vlogbrothers.

I learned later (Keep this in mind) that our carrier (Verizon) does not have any towers in the entire state of West Virginia. (I am dead serious here – West Virginia and Verizon almost had a monopoly deal a few years back but decided that they didn’t need West Virginia, so consequentially there are no towers there) So, West Virginia is amazing, mountainous, wild, and wonderful but apparently not wireless.

The Education Continuum VIACOM'd

{Note - I wrote this post Friday during Eighth Period... I haven't had internet since as I was in West Virginia. I'll post about that next... but as for now, here is a lovely post/rant thingy}

If you were to go ahead and walk in during an English class, you’d probably see some form of the written word being, well, written. Odds are, we would be clacking away at some outdated laptops writing a paper about some old piece of literature, and giving our modernized thoughts on it. What you wouldn’t see is any actual literature being created.

I think it is a major flaw with our education system today that we study works that are out of touch and do not encourage the creation of anything new. However, as my last blog implied, I am not qualified to give comments on this matter.

 I think that we are victims of a flawed system. As a video that I talked about in an earlier post said, our education system is designed to work with the thoughts of the Enlightenment, not two hundred years later in a modern school system.

I believe that if we threw out the archaic thought that only PhDs should write a curriculum, and let retired teachers, or even teachers currently in the workforce write the curriculum, we will once again be on top of the education game.

I bring this to your attention not because I want to have a revolution, but rather to use it as an exaggerated segway into talking about writing itself.

This past Wednesday, our school had a community service day where we as high schoolers gave back to the communities in which we reside. I got to go (huge surprise here) to the Andrew Carnegie Free Library. I organized, dusted and went through their entire {American} Civil War collection, and also cleaned up a hallway or two and part of their storage.

In a period of downtime, I talked to the executive director of the library about the building itself, and if anyone had ever written a complete history of the place. The building is well over 100 years old, and yet she informed me that no one had ever taken on anything of the sort. I have made it my mission to over the next few years publish such a project.

I apologize for the brevity of this post, but I am strapped for time.

Qualifications, Kony, and Other Stuffs

So recently I have been working on too many projects. This usually leads to my temporary insanity as well as increased tiredness. Bottom line, if the below lines in this blogpost seem murky, that's because I am on limited sleep and a tad distracted.

Apparently in order to have an opinion, one now needs to be "qualified" to do so. All to often does the phrase at my lunch table get thrown out that "YOU CAN'T SAY THAT!" Which leads me to the question of what, exactly is qualified, and who Can say that.

Qualified as far as designing a corporation website (or at least helping) means having an incorporation myself or the three letters LLC (What does that mean?) tacked on to your name (Oh yeah, from now on I am calling myself "Alexander Popichak and Associates Web Firm, LLC") and did I mention you apparently needed to charge an arm and a leg?

Due to moral and practicality issues, I cannot charge much (So far I have never had a paying customer - YET; I have mainly been doing volunteer work) for a website design job. I do some talking in a prospective client meeting session, some fancy work on the part of my image editing programs, and coming up with something that looks pretty cool.

I work on the idea that the content builds the website, the images draw the users in. Basically, if you don't care about what you are putting out there as far as content outreach goes, no amount of flashy imagery can fix that. It WILL shine through.

Qualified as far as CPR goes is having a magical little card, and taking a course. Does that necessarily mean that you need to have an EMS or CPR certification to save a life? Heck, no! That's what the scouts are for!!!

Qualified for being an SPL on paper is a Star rank (yeah, I have one of those). As for in reality, one would need character, a sense of adventure (IM GOING TO JAMBO!) and a real belief in the people he leads.

Qualified as far as tech goes, well, you got me.

As for what I can and cannot say can be debated, and I welcome any feedback.

So one of the internet trends that made news this week was #KONY2012. You can Google all 900,000 different opinions on it but here is what I learned by watching CBS's take it. Basically, the firm pushing this ad campaign took in about $17 million last year, and of that only $3.3 million went to aid. The "charity" is pushing itself as a wonderful cause that is worthy of your patronage. Please please please look into any charity before donating anything! I am not saying that the KONY guy is not bad (in fact he is just plain terrible), I am just saying that these "action kits" that they are selling are not going to be as effective to direct aid as would be calling your congressman, and urging your neighbors to do so also.

I rarely plug my own things, but my WYEP teen group is sponsoring a band competition for high school students and we will be accepting submissions from MARCH 12 2012 UNTIL APRIL 14TH 2012.  If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at alex.popichak@gmail.com with the subject Re(imagiNATION) Contest.

As for the Re(Imagine) Media website project, it is still a work in progress, but I do have this awesome animation thing that I can't post here due to issues with my incompetence at 10PM with HTML coding.

Other than that, I'll give a shoutout to my secret sister Mikaela as I hope she is doing well.

Culture. Cultured. Culturing.

So I guess this week's "theme" if you will, was the arts. Tuesday morning I spent on Pittsburgh's North Side to see The Elephant Man (to be detailed later). Wednesday brought TIED to the arts. Today, well, I did the morning announcements — does that count? {The only reason I felt obliged to have three things in that sentence is because three-thing sentences are much better than two-thing sentences.}

Tuesday. So I went to Pittsburgh's North Side with my school's GATE group to watch The Elephant Man on stage. This group called the Prime Stage Tehater was putting this on at this neat little theatre called the New Hazlett. The show itself was about the true story of this man who was born horribly disfigured into a circus family (his mom was trampled by an elephant when she was pregnant-get it, elephant man?). Anyway, when I go to theatres I look at three things — the acting, the content, and the tech.

The acting was phenomenal. This theater is set in an intimate fashion, and the acting made you ask yourself whether or not they are talking to you, the audience, or to the offstage "public".

The content was not overly amazing, rather it was the way in which it was presented. Each scene was divided by a 30 second music break with a slide with a quote from the upcoming scene. The interesting thing about the set is that it started quite bland — Just a circle set with a drawing in the center. As the performance went on, things were added to the set — A Bathtub, a bed, a chair, a desk, etc. — But nothing was ever taken away. It was a unique technique, so that at the end of the show you saw this progression as well as what the final original set looked like.

On Wednesday, I took part in a Carlynton Event called TIED to the arts. Basically, it is a pep rally for the arts in our District. The chorus sings, the band plays, and the Musical — oh, the musical — Musicate. I have been on all ends of this event. This time, I was in the chorus and in the musical.

The chorus sang this lovely song about believing and whatnot, but I think the most interesting part from a Choral member standpoint is just how this whole song got put together. The High school learned our part, the Junior High theirs, the soloists theirs and the Elementary— well, theirs. It was only about an hour before our actual performance that we ran through the song all together— once. Amazingly, it was lovely and wonderful and all of those things that you don't hear choral directors say but parents told them to pass it on so they will... 

As for the musical, we performed one of the numbers in our show in our Musical Promo t-shirts as opposed to costumes; and sang unaided by microphones, or you know, a stage or orchestra. Check out the final performance April 19-22nd At Carlynton Jr. Sr. High school. Tell them the 2015Blogger sent you (that would actually be really cool, just to confuse the ticket people :-) ). 

It is very different to be on the other side of a performance. I think we all do something that has another end to it, it's just that we rarely get to be on that other side. If you get a chance, try it sometime.