Know Your Role

So it has been eons upon eons since the last post - other than the one that was supposed to go up before the summer that instead went up this month, but I know you catch my drift, don't you? Anyways, I am at the end of my first term of my second year of the program, and there's a LOT of things to go through. I'm not sure if I can cover it all in one post, but I'll try my best.

Anyways, the summer was eventful in the fact that I had a nice little opportunity going for me in terms of work. While others were out having fun in the sun and relaxing on the beach (or, if you're in Alberta like me, huddling for shade from the dry heat of Satan's breath), I had a pleasant time away from home working in the professional theatre industry! No, it was not acting, but I was stage managing a show for a few months, and that certainly filled up my personal coffers!

I was able to stay in a new city and work with and meet a lot of great folks (and a few self indulgent douches) all while being surrounded by all the artsy-fartsy stuff of the Fringe. True, the sheer amount of clowns and drag queens promoting their shows made me feel like I was in a San Francisco carnival, but it was a vibrant environment that I loved being a part of.

Fast forward to my first term back in school - the great game that it is:

I honestly haven't been this busy in my life. You know it'll be a busy semester when you've got an audition on the first day back, with a second audition two weeks later. Let's cram in a few projects here and there as well, and you've got the recipe for a full-on mental meltdown.

But let us not forget: I am in theatre! We are trained for this!

We are so often used to the judgment and snickers of those who see our work as an utter waste of time. They believe that all we do is play around with toys and balk at skulls. At some points, yes, this is what we do, but for the most part, we take on challenges unique to us - and us only. Jobs in science, finance, construction, etc. aren't not privy to as much personal criticism as we are in the arts. We are prepared for personal criticisms on our work. For some, it is a glorifying experience:

For others, it might be the biggest disappointment since the Easter bunny stopped showing up due to "an explicitly violent occurrence where his body disintegrated upon contact with a speeding 18-weeler."

If we can take that, we can take on work! We run on tight schedules. We meet deadlines. We get the job done. Like any other occupation. The only difference is that I am allowed to do it painted head-to-toe in white crackly paint while slapping a stripping pole with a fish and slowly reciting the speeches of Hitler. Performance art.

Anyways, I've also been busy as a part of a Directing class. I've had the opportunity to work on and direct two performances. They made me step outside of my usual aesthetic of weird, crazy, creepy, and gross and forced me to work on some "real-shizzit." I mean, I just love to watch a grown man plop clay on his face over and over again like a Guillermo del Toro outtake, but you've got to expand your horizons (or in my case, narrow them down.)

I got the chance to direct a piece from the first play I ever saw, Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw. Unfortunately, resources demanded that I could no longer work on my vision of lighting up an abandoned home and chucking a tied-up Joan in the attic. I was also unable to direct it as a Madonna/KKK video - burning crosses and all. But anyways, it still worked out better than I could imagine!

Cometh at me, brother.

I was able to take a short reprieve from my already busy schedule to see some very important people in my life - my kiddos!

I am always excited to come back and see them. No matter what my mood is, they always put a smile on my face! I always feel old when I go back because I treat a few them as if they were my own sons or daughters. Weird, I know. Oh well. Come at me, bro. At least I'm not Michael Jackson. (Too soon?)

Anyways, it was great to see how much they've grown. I genuinely felt that their performance had me laughing quite a bit! I actually tried to hold back my laughing, due to my banshee-like howl that emanates from the bowels of Hell to horrify those around me. It had been a LONG time since I had seen them, so the long hugs and kisses on the cheek gave me enough energy to finish up school for a bit.

I love those kids.

On top of all that, I was in two wonderful plays: A Midsummer Night's Dream and Peter Pan. I was finally able to show my God-given ability to shriek like a woman being slowly fed through a sausage grinder. Security actually commented about it. I was also forced to enter the dark side of left-handed individuals, seeing as a great metal hook replaced my right hand. However, I can safely say that I can cut someone to pieces effectively with a sword using either hand. Vertigo and all.

And now that it's the holidays, I've arrived to a different outlook on life, I suppose. I often have these weird epiphanies when the season changes. Anyways, I always carry around this particular journal that was given to me by a family friend once I made the decision to pursue theatre as a career option. This journal (seen in the first photo of the post) has a particularly strong quote that I always look at, but it never has had such a profound impact on me until now.

(Serious time, I guess!) I've witnessed moments these past few months where people I know and love have been tested by the fates to an incomprehensible degree. And I witnessed these people persevere with strength, grace, humility, and so forth. I've come to appreciate people like them even more, since they taught me how powerful a human can be. All of this is stemmed from having an immense faith.

Now, before you assume that I'm going on a religious tangent, you should know that I normally don't do that. What I mean by faith is the "complete trust or confidence in someone or something." (Thanks, Oxford.) That "someone or something" can be anything, from religion to politics. My faith lies in humans and their imagination - their capability of achieving anything and everything beyond their wildest dreams. I think that it is our goal to help others do just that.

It is in faith - in believing in something or someone - that we find our other goals in life. Our great pursuits last longer, our imaginations run wilder, and (in my case) people become even more important to me than ever before. I've worked to keep my friends close to me and cherish each and every moment and interaction. I've come to realize that even the strongest relationships aren't safe from the erosion of time and separation, so I want to make sure that something like that doesn't repeat itself in my life. I've already had people disappear, but the bonds and fellowships I've developed here leave no room for that loss. I will do my utmost to give all of myself to those I love and adore and appreciate. At the end of the day, that makes me feel complete. It makes me feel that by believing and trusting people in such a deep way, I have placed my faith in something worthwhile.

Here is one thing to have faith in: "The world is far better than what we make it out to be..."

...and if you don't believe that, then believe that we have the capacity to make it better.

And this happens to be the season just for that. So I'll just ask you to take some time out of your day and show someone how much you appreciate them. Take some time to make the world of their imagination real, even if it is in a small way. I believe it'll make all the difference in the world for them and for you.

Fun in the Sun

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was meant to be posted before the summer, but I had not realized that I did not post it. So here it is - two seasons late!

So, with the final year-end interviews have finished, the first year of my experience at RDC's Theatre Performance & Creation Program has officially wrapped up! A long year of working, leading, and playing has come to a close.

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I. Judgment Day

And many people know how much I appreciate the company of people. I'm pretty confident that a lot of these people will be ones that I'll be still talking to long after our college experience is over and we move on to living in a cardboard box, whoring ourselves for our craft. Never would've thought of sticking with these people. And yes, I'm a very very very cynical individual. My long hours spent watching Judge Judy and the People's Court have made me into a sharp and judgmental tool.

Then again, I've always been a bit judgmental from the start. But you know, sometimes you've just got to be a prick that way. The world would not be an interesting place if there weren't any people who laugh at every thing. I like laughing at idiots making further idiots of themselves through their idiotic acts. But I digress. Anyways, I'll echo a sentiment that I had mentioned in another post from a long, long time ago: I thought I would hate all of these people, but I've come to love spending time with many of them. I feel really bad that I'm not getting to see many of them over the summer, actually.

Holy shit, that was cheesy.

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II. Roadkill Cafe

The year also introduced many of my peers to my great fear of roadkill. I hate roadkill. It freaks the pants off of me. I don't like looking at crushed bodies of Disney characters. 81% of roadkill are mammals, 15% are birds, 3% are reptiles and amphibians, and 1% are INDISCERNIBLE. Indiscernible!

THAT MEANS THAT THEY'VE BEEN TANKED SO HARD THAT NOT EVEN GOD CAN RECOGNIZE THEM! IMAGINE CHUCKING A RAW EGG INTO A GARBAGE DISPOSAL. EXCEPT THAT THE EGG IS A LIVE ANIMAL. AND ALSO STINKY.

Things like that freak me out. Quite. I'll walk you through my experience.

As I sort of make out the shape in the distance, my mind attempts to prepare me for the worst:

And as the vehicle quickly closes in on the shape, my very being shakes from the likely possibility of the presence of an animal's ravaged carcass on the side of the road:

Soon, the body is in plain and clear sight and my human soul evaporates from my body like water on the Sun.

Eventually, I release all of my terror through a vocalization of primal trepidation, much to the bemusement of my peers in the particular automobile. I collapse into a heap of my own self-pity. I cease to exist, even for a moment.

As you can see, I fear roadkill with a passion.

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III.

Despite a very exciting first year, it had its share of cruddy moments.

The year also happened to be full of some... uh... difficulties, to say the least.

I suppose everyone has a Tyra Banks moment, where they seemingly snap out of nowhere, provide a verbal autobiography of their entire life in thirty seconds, have a giant acid-spitting iguana emerge from your cracking skin, burn an acid hole into the floor, devour a person, and slither away into the dark sewers below.

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In the end, despite any stresses, hardships, frustrations and arguments, we still came together as an ensemble. Each individual has something to bring to the table and we've got through the year by working together like a cohesive unit of lemmings - without the 'walking off a cliff' part, though that is debatable.

But now, I've got four months of the sun to look forward to. I'm going to make sure that I make the most out of it - seeing all of my good friends, enjoying some new places, and simply enjoying the summer!

A Curious Showcase

So I'm such a terrible liar about my posts. I did say I had a ton of stories to tell - in that they would turn into a various amount of posts - but they ended up being thrown on the back burner because my time management skills for this blog can be as bad as FDR's legs.

Anyways, it has been a wicked long time since I have posted here, and it makes me feel like a pile of poop to think about that.

I admit, I've been very busy since my last spiel; my life outside of school is practically non-existant. But now that my first semester is over, I have some free time to work on this nifty little blog.

The amount of work that I have had to focus on within the past few months has been astonishing. I've had projects, big scenes, performances, essays and a Showcase to contend with - among other things, for certain!

So firstly, I was involved in a few performances lately. There's these things called "Directing Scenes" that the second year students do, and they basically put up performances from what they learned in directing class - complete with auditions, rehearsals, performance space, etc. I had done one a while back with a scene from "Death and the Maiden" as a sadistic doctor who got caught by the woman he raped years ago. I was tied up, tortured, had water dumped on me, etc. I felt like I was in a play about CIA waterboarding starring David Carradine.

Lately, I've had to contend with two other performances of that fashion - but longer in length. The first one, Ethan Coen's "Waiting," was a 20-minute one act that focused on the existence of a loser of a man stuck in purgatory as his time spent there continues to increase. I found it to be ironic that my friend played that particular man as he is an atheist IIRC.

"Atheists go to atheist hell" - Rick Perry

Anyways, that was a fun one to perform, that's for certain! But, I admit, it won't be able to top my experience with the other performance: Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," complete with quarterstaff combat! Firstly, it's Shakespeare, and I am pretty darn fond of that bard. Secondly, it had quarterstaff combat - something reserved for second year students! We were lucky enough to get tons of experience in that field. Basically, Titania and Oberon take turns beating buckets of butt from one another in our scene - and boy was it fun! Nothing says old world like going all Chris Brown on that lady. And some people know that I bottle shit up, so I need some way of unleashing a relenting cascade of pure emotions upon this fragile land. Beating the shit out of someone is actually mildly therapeutic. That's why little kids like to punch me in the nuts. They simply release their emotions - and they can't really reach any farther than my groin level.

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And then there was Showcase...

Mind you, it was not as bad as that picture implies. In fact, it turned out to be a pretty good experience! Every thing worked out fairly smoothly and I didn't poop my pants from sheer fury. I kept my sanity during the entire process by living on memes, laughing at every possible thing I encountered, and drowning my sorrows with lemon Pledge. I admit, however, that there were some times where I was at my wits end, but it was all a part of the process in building a great show.

Frankly, I was surprised with how well it went! We full houses for each show, and we had to bring in more seating for people. Opening night was ridiculously great, and the response from the audience was electrifying. That totally continued on to the second night.

But on closing, our worst fears were realized: the dead crowd.

I attribute such an atrocity to the fact that the crowd was composed of parents who HAD to go there for their kids or, like in my case, don't understand a single word of what was being said. It's like we were performing our show at a wake.

Nonetheless, the run was great and my first semester of theatre studies ended with a bang - that's for sure.

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Now, my second semester begins, and I look forward to what lies ahead. In just the past two weeks of being back, we've already completed our auditions for a Theatre for Young Audiences show. I've got a poetry collaboration coming up. Auditions for a film this week are coming. Insane, exciting projects have already been assigned. Meisner is making me shit my pants in bricks. Auditions for our year-end show are coming. Lots of things to do - and I don't mind at all! I like the hectic nature of it all. I'm glad to have performed and to have more stage time than I have probably had within the past three years combined!

Come at me, semester two! I'm ready!

...and as long as I don't need to put up with some prima donna diva poop, I think I'm good.

Work and Play

So the combination of education and fun has finally begun for me...

Come at me, broh.

I actually meant to make this post last week, but I've simply been so busy with everything here that I couldn't just sit down and take some time making a meaningful post. BUT, now I have some time to do just that!

I am now in college, taking a program that can only be called amazing!

Honestly, this place has far surpassed all of my expectations.

As many of my peers thoroughly understand, I can be a very judgemental bastard.

Wut?

...and as such, I came to this school with some unusual preconceived ideas of what my classmates would turn out to be. Allow me to illuminate your mind with a select few of these preconceived notions of mine:

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Preconceived Notion #1:


PRETENTIOUSNESS

Since we were all amongst a group of thespians entering the competitive environs of a post-secondary institution, the idea of pretentious and snobby individuals remained foremost in my mind. I figured that there was bound to be one individual who would do nothing but provide a verbal resume of everything they have done. That's not the most admirable thing, in my opinion. I felt that arguments would ensue, such as the one in this example:

Buttface: "I've won thousands of awards for acting, performing in fifty-million plays and musicals."
Me: "Cool beans."
Buttface: "I've also attended workshops done by Merlin, Buddha and Richard Simmons."
Me: "Cool beans."
Buttface: "And I spent the summer backpacking through the Nepalese mountains in order to discover the depth of my artistic capabilities."
Me: "Cool beans."
Buttface: "I am the ultimate creature."
Me: "Cool beans."
Buttface: "I just want to say thank you so much, not only to God but to Jesus."
Me: "Cool beans."
Buttface: "How about you, gentle soul? What have you done to sate your artistry?"
Me: "..."
Buttface: "Nothing? That's perfectly logical for someone like you. Not everyone has the chops to make it in show business. *pretentious laugh*"
Me: "I will end you."
Buttface:

...and all hell would break loose.

But thankfully I was wrong! Everyone here is simply so spectacular, and I've never connected so quickly to a group of people in my lifetime! The first and second years have so far been absolutely amazing, crazy and just plain cool! Tons of my peeps know that I love the company of people, and the individuals here - no matter how loud, boisterous and crude some of them are - make everything superb!

CONCLUSION: I was wrong, and I'm glad for that! In addition, during the week that I worked on this post, "pretentious" has turned into some sort of go-to word for many an individual in my class. Now, it is the most annoying term that we speak of. I apologize! This is indeed a strange universe.

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Preconceived Notion #2:


HOMEWORK

Before walking into the halls of this school, I had come to the sad, sad conclusion that much of my college life would be comprised of ridiculous amounts of essays and research assignments. I told myself, hey, you might as well get used to the hard work and paper work. It's all a part of the journey.

I thought that my days would be filled with ridiculous essays about the importance of Ian McKellen in Shakespearean work, the flaming personality of Oscar Wilde or the answer to the meaning of life. I thought that everyone would look at me, as a theatre student, with utter disdain, criticism and contempt - sending me into a Charlie Sheen-esque meltdown. I thought that I would not be able to keep up with any and all of the work assigned to me.

I thought I would turn into the exact opposite of the stereotypical stigma attached to being an Asian. Oh, how I would disappoint all of the stereotypical individuals out there!

If that was the truth, I would be a very sad puppy.

However, a few days of schooling led to a wondrous revelation:

Homework here is ridiculously awesome!

I was pleased to see that some of my homework's assignments consisted of going to a farmer's market and stalking unusual individuals. Homework also involves writing thank you notes, volunteering, auditioning and reading from a very entertaining textbook. Of course, the usual hodgepodge of typical homework assignments remains, but it does nothing to deter me from the time I am having here!

I admit, the work can often make me feel like a weirdo - but we are all in the business of theatre. We have no shame. No shame at all.

CONCLUSION: Homework here isn't too bad! I don't mind being a crazy person.

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Preconceived Notion #3


NOSTALGIA

Many of you also know that I am horrendously nostalgic. I am bound to be that creepy old man sitting on a bus stop bench, talking to himself about the importance of wheat and how "kids these days" have ruined the notion of bread for him. I'm bound to be the shuffling, gross man who visits empty malls at six in the morning. All because of the fact that I am so nostalgic! It certainly is bound to creep its way into my mentality. If so, I would turn in to a great pile of mush.

Oh how I wished to avoid such a fate!

Gladly, that bitter-sweet sensation has yet to course through my nerves! I have been enjoying every bit of my time here, and nostalgia sure ain't settling in! I've been kept busy with multitudes of interesting projects, auditions and the occasional night out with some of my friends. A testament to this busy lifestyle is this blog post right here. I meant for it to go out a week or two ago, but I never got around to finishing it until now! But I don't mind! That time was well spent!

CONCLUSION: Nostalgic? Nope.avi

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I guess those are just three of my failed misconceptions. As many of you know, my seer-skills are as great as the hide-and-seek skills of Stevie Wonder in a dark forest.

Eh. I'm shameless.

Anyways, I don't mind being so wrong in such a case. I've been pleasantly surprised with my college experience, and as far as I can tell, it might be hard to pick out others who are loving it more than I am.

...and this is just the beginning. I've got two years ahead of me!

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PS: As some of you may have noticed, the blog has undergone a bit of a facelift - away from that black and white drab I had going on into what you see now! It looks like a Care Bear murder scene. Anyways, I felt that the place needed a cheerier atmosphere, so here it is! I might add some more new things as time goes on. I also have a ton of stories to share, and they might all make it as posts this week! Stay tuned!

Downtown Corners, Rural Crossroads

Celebratory Double Unicorn. Wut wut.

So it has been exactly one year since I started this whole blogging thing! We should celebrate with ice cream! A lot of things have happened - and changed - since this all began. I mean, I sure ain't getting younger, that's for sure!

Staying "hip" - without a replacement

Yup, I admit, there were times that I didn't record some pretty key events in this digital journal of mine - reasons vary from forgetting or being too busy to write, all the way to hiding in a wardrobe and fighting the White Witch. Yet, tons of things still happened that changed me and morphed me into the bunny-loving, Elmo-talking freak that I am. The last year has been full of plays, performances, new people, old friends, fun times, tragedies, bunnies, food, money (or lack thereof), fountain pens, video game raging, fish filleting, shawarmas, music discovery, fighting buttfaces, whale surfing and all that fun stuff! I've had many weird adventures in that time span. But that was the last 365.25 days! Now, there's a lot of things to look forward to (until 2012, when we are all to be conquered by super-intelligent mega dolphins)!

WILLEH!!!

First off, school starts again in just a few weeks. I'm going ahead and I'm taking theatre, and its at a place away from home. Of course, my parents (like many others) aren't too keen on me leaving home, especially my mother, who tends to make her pouting fairly obvious. It's only an hour and a half away (same time it would take me to ride public transit to the university here) from my home, but apparently, that amount of time and distance is truly an unbearable amount for my dear ol' mother.

Duckface

No problem! I'll find some kind of wild bird of prey out in the wilderness, fuse with it, and fly all the way home. No? Touché, that seems to be an unrealistic concept. There are far more primitive and effective ways of making the trip back home, if I need to:

She steals your DVD's when you aren't home.

But hey! It's a good chance for me to get away from the big city and enjoy a place that isn't so busy and hectic! Actually, I'm quite attuned to life in places away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. I mean, I did live for a bit in some rural areas in another country, along with thirteen dogs, some goats and a bunch of chickens. I was freakin' country.

With my free time and my new adventures, I hope to write fairly often once again! I got a new laptop, too, so I can work more effectively now! The factor of portability is a tremendous asset!

Dis iz teh 21st C3ntury, nurds!

On a side note, my last day at work will be tomorrow. Of course, someone probably called in sick and people there needed some help for tomorrows shift, so I let them extend my originally-5-hour final shift to a full on 8-hour war with angry and impatient Friday retail shoppers. Just my luck. More buttfaces.

Of course, my short amount of time working in retail has been enough to expose me to the greatest techniques in handling the multitudes of whiny moms and herpaderp-ing teenagers that flock to my store. This was not the case when I first started. Initially, I had one fool-proof plan to deal with these meddlesome creatures:

Huzzah!

Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to carry my sword into the store - let alone in public - so that option is scrapped. I had to think of another plan! So I thought to myself, "Self, what do these people really hate?" and after a few hours of pondering beneath the moonlight, I discovered the solution! I had to entail the use of my fellow partners from the animal kingdom! Only a species so revolting and perpetually annoying can keep these customers away from me - all while having the ability to encroach amongst the infinite depths of the clearance section of the store.

nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan

That's right: CATS. (Felis catus for you Discovery Channel buttfaces.)

Author's Note: You, person reading this! If you didn't know, I don't like cats. I really really really really REALLY dislike them. There is a sane reason why I owned thirteen dogs and half a farm's worth of livestock - because I hated cats. They're annoying, lazy, impatient and weird! Not to mention, they also ruin furniture and they can't pay for the damages because they don't have kitty-pockets to put away their kitty-wallets holding their kitty-credit cards.


Also, I hate cats. They are buttfaces.


And I'm using this font colour to contrast the gross amount of animosity I have towards cats.


Oh, but I do like this font colour! Fuchsia, I think? That's actually very pleasant... It reminds me of flowery fields and play-doh. Oh, and donuts! Can't forget that!


These evil kitties can hide away in the clothes, waiting for an unsuspecting person to try them on, only to feel the wrath of sharpened kitty claws once they put on that lovely sweater or those weird looking jeans. But apparently, there are some laws against that (ugh) and that plan won't go through either. In the words of Jack Bauer:

DAMMIT!

Well, I guess I'll just tack on a fake smile on my face and tell everyone that their jeans don't make their ass look big (when really, it does. Get a dress instead). Smile and nod, Glenndl. Smile and nod.

Tumms upp

Oh, but that was a bit of a distraction. Where was I?
Oh, yeah! The future or something like that!

I have to admit, I was actually not too prepared for what was laid in front of me. I had a lot of thinking and pondering (under moonlight) to do. And so, once I had time to do that, my sight became clearer. Moonlight does good for the retina, as well as your view into the future. Herpderp.

Once the school year begins, I'll be taking that theatre class that I've been eyeing. Small class, all theatre - just what I wanted (also ice cream). I've had countless people tell me opposite views about my choice, but in the end, I realized that my opinion about it was going to end up being the most important one. So, here I am, ready to have fun and work hard, make new friends and hunt prairie dogs!

So you'll have people who weigh you down, and it'll take some time to occur to you what you've given up to them. And now, you just got to fix it! Do something for yourself for once! Ride a horse, go hunting, look for treasure, take a trip, drink some cat's poo coffee - anything!

Hopefully, when I get there, I don't encounter any buttfaces. That won't be fun at all! I don't like buttfaces. :(
But even if they are a buttface, I'll still try to get to know them! I mean, I've had some friends who turned out to be major buttfaces (lower-case 'm' in major, to distinguish from the legendary Galactic Military Commander Major Arturius Q. Buttfaces), and some buttfaces who ended up being some of my good friends. You never know what can happen with those buttfaces!

It's just a fat baby, you pervs.

Anyways, it has all been a long time coming, with a lot of blood, sweat and tears going in to it... but I'm finally doing what I want to do! "Reaching for the stars," they call it. I mean, you are a "gift to the world" and you've got to make sure that the gift is one helluva good one! That's something I realized just now, and so I will work to make myself into a deftly crafted gift - almost as if I was wrapped up by Martha Stewart!

Yet, we're not completely there yet! Now, it's time for the waiting game, but I'll make sure to take note of it all! It's been a long year of hard work, and the next journey is just beginning!

For now, I'll just sit back, relax, and enjoy my ice cream!

Memories

On July 2, 2011, one of my oldest and best friends back from elementary school, Scott Behrman, passed away.

Hey Scott - Chief - we've only got memories left.

I found out about his death on my way back from a getaway in the mountains and I didn't know what to make of it. Shock and disbelief were the first things that came to mind, of course, but I chose to keep all my reactions inside. They're really starting to pour out now.

A lot of my personality came from him, for sure. Scott was an incredibly funny and caring person and the years of elementary school we spent together will be unforgettable, especially our last year. Whenever I thought about that last year, I always though of the good times with Scott. He was my best friend. During my time with him, Scott was one of the first people I could say that I actually trusted. He was a dynamo, but he was someone who would never let a peep out about you if you didn't want anyone to find out.

I'm thankful that you trusted me enough to share some of the funniest secrets you have. I remember telling you one time about that "dream" that someone had about you, and I almost cried from laughter because you looked so disgusted! Of course, in classic Scott Behrman fashion, you decide to confront that person about the dream. Then what followed was a crazy day indeed. But maybe not as crazy as the one time we went swimming. You were the first person to get me to go on that slide!

Undoubtedly, his sense of humour rubbed off on me. Every class had its comedic moments, and Scott made sure to point them out. We always sat together until our teachers would split us up because we were making too much of a ruckus! I grew to like his type of humor in life, and I can see why he loved it. The smiles that one can create are the best rewards anyone can get. I learned to take my humorous side and share it with as many people as possible, thanks to him. I'd be a different person if it wasn't for this change. I wouldn't have found so much happiness without sharing the spoils of life with him. Scott showed me the brighter side of life - and it is a side that I've come to embrace even today. I feel that I have a positive outlook towards life, and Scott helped to shape that.

You even lit up the most awkward moments! I had tried to wrestle a pencil away from you, but Mrs. Christie saw us and she told us to hold hands like a couple during recess only (a pretty bad moment for little kids like us). But you just ended up saying, "What's so wrong about holding hands?"

The last time I saw him was at church (when he still had his Bieber hair). I remember what we talked about. We talked about our confirmation many years ago and how he went to the ceremony with a blue tongue from a piece of candy.

Chief, you wanted me to have some candy too, and I did! Then we took a million photos with other people, our blue tongues sticking out! I know I have them somewhere, I've got to look for them...

Then we got to talking about the future, and what we wanted to do next. I remember him telling me to pick something I'd love and enjoy, and just have fun.

Scotty, tons of people have told me that, but when I look back at that conversation, I'm thankful that you said it too. I learned from the best. I'd kill to have one more conversation with you - to see how much you've grown and to show you what a difference you made.

It was a pretty mature conversation for both of us. We were even dressed up and were sitting in a fairly empty hall, just talking. I didn't know that was the last time I'd see him. I'm glad that it is such a happy and fun memory.

That long conversation itself really characterized who he was. Scott knew how to have fun but when it got down to it, he'd be able to show how mature and smart he really was. He had a sense of humor that rubbed off on me that kept a smile plastered on everyone's faces, including his. The only time his smile would go away was when he would be working - his work ethic was uncharacteristically great.

I still remember how hard you'd work. You asked me questions, and I'd answer them. You had a knack of really catching on and working at it. You'd tap that pencil constantly, but it never bugged me, that's for sure. That was your beat, and you lived by it.

But most importantly, Scott was a loving and kind person. He genuinely cared for the people he was with, even when he was at an age where you were focused on video games and first dates. He knew how to make you smile, and he knew how to warm your heart. I know, for sure, that as he got older, that love and attention he gave the people around him grew stronger as well.

He was fun, exciting, charismatic, and just loved life - and the people in his life. That is how I'll remember Scott. I'm so fortunate to have known him.

Undoubtedly, he'll live on in the smiles that he put on people's faces. He'll live on in the laughs that we experience. He'll live on because people were touched by his light. People will live for Scott Behrman, and I choose to be one of those people.

I'll miss you, chief.