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[Kagus]

Hmm, folkeh.  I wonder what caused that.


Anyways, it's good to have my ranting grounds back.  I've stockpiled a lot of really good stuff over the last week, and promptly forgot most of it since I didn't have a place to write it down (first person to mention "text file" gets a kick in the nuts).

Too tired to fix this up right now.  I just spent two hours dancing with Downs, and the washing machine is brutalizing my clothes.  I need to take a shower and put some more vinegar in my armpits before I offer someone a spontaneous foot massage and call it a night.


Yeah, it's me again.

[Asheron]

Text file.

*puts on a chastity belt*

 

Good to have Sandy Fjord back. One gets attached to such things as another one's misery and suffering.

[Spoggerific]

A pity we missed nearly a week.

This post is half to tag it in my "show new replies to your posts" thing, and half reminding you that some people do, in fact, read this, so you have reason to keep doing it.

[Kagus]

Phoo...  Okay, lemme try to recap. 

Obligatory choir seminar last Saturday, not much to say about that.  Sunday had a Red Cross seminar, which I thought was going to be something where they'd teach the students basic First Aid.  Instead, it was an info-thingy for the Red Cross/Red Crescent Humanitarian Movement.  Naturally, it included lots of pictures of children and a donation call (pay every month, get a free shirt!).

Monday has slipped my memory.

The music teacher took off for a few days, so my two music-related classes on Tuesday were led by different people.  Minichoir/voice training was headed by one of the helpers here at school.

Of note was Drops, who also has that class.  He disagreed quite loudly with the choice of song (For the longest time), stating that it was horrifically boring.  He kept interrupting the class to say we should take an Elton John song instead.

He also sang when he wasn't supposed to (intentionally), made a big show of being annoyed and bored, started flipping through magazines when everyone else was singing, constantly requesting that the class take a fifteen minute break, and generally making an ass of himself.  Eventually, he just walked out and didn't come back.


Guitar class was headed by a very soft-spoken guy who introduced us to some "advanced basics".  In essence, they were the basics of playing guitar, rather than the basics of playing certain songs on guitar.  If that makes any sense at all.

Then we had Wednesday.  Oh glory, Wednesday.


Every Wednesday (what a ridiculous thing to spell), the school holds a dance party for the mentally retarded.  This is hosted and attended by the students who had the heart to sign themselves up on the volunteer list (it counts as an after-dinner class, like ceramics and Salsa).

However, in addition to this, it has been ordained that every major will have a particular Downs-Disco night.  All the students from that major will attend, regardless of whether they want to or not.  The alternative is an absentee mark.

Wednesday was Film and TV's turn.


There are three points about this event that I would like to list.

I do not generally feel comfortable dealing with the mentally retarded, or those with afflictions resulting in reduced mental capacities.

I can't dance worth a darn.

I do not like the Barbie song.
[/list]


From those points, I hope you all can decipher what the evening entailed.

Not to say the folks who show up aren't interesting.  There was one guy with Downs syndrome who could really bust a move out there.  Quite the rocker, too.  And then we had one kid who spent the entire time staring fixedly at the breasts of whatever girl he happened to be dancing with.  Seriously, he didn't even blink.


When the evening was over, I was beat.  Two hours of dancing about is quite exhausting.  I took a shower while washing my clothes for the first time (I'm a cheapskate, and wanted to wait until I had a lot of clothes to wash before spending $1).  Which reminds me, they're still hanging up to dry down in the washroom.

And that takes us up to today, which has been somewhat interesting.  We've taken some action on what all we're going to do for our student night, and we've filmed an interesting scene from the comedy-action series we've been working on.  My legs are stiff as hell from dancing, and the fish dinner today wasn't particularly remarkable.


Some other things I forgot to mention include the fact that I had about a week of privacy, since my roomie was somewhere in Oslo practicing for a theater role.  Also, Film and TV is going to be teaming up with Clothing and Costumes for our respective student nights.  The reason for this being that the only major with fewer students than F&TV (10) is C&C (8), and only four of the girls from there are interested in doing something for their student night.  Little difficult to arrange 2-3 hours of exciting stuff if you're only four people. 

That's where we come in. 

And, in return for helping them out with their night, they're going to help us out with our night.  Being a class full of guys, we kinda lack the feminine touch when it comes to decorating and meals.


Oh yeah, my student-teacher conversation was on Wednesday.  It went quite well, actually.  Especially considering I told the teacher to his face that he had no imagination or mental flexibility concerning alternative viewpoints.

He seemed quite pleased with the whole affair, actually.  I told him the 2007 census for Las Vegas, and he told me how irritating he thinks Drops is.  Very important stuff.


That's all I can think of now.  Gonna go make my rounds.  Maybe play some more Resistance 2 with one of the guys from F&TV.

EDIT:  I also thought about the dope poster hanging in the Brit's room, and my mind conjured up a Monty Python "cheese shop" sketch with various varieties of Cannabis being used as the wares.  Thought you'd want to know.

[Kagus]

Okay, newsflash.  My laptop has been buggered by Daemon tools and will no longer start, we're having a school party for our parents/friends/romans on Saturday, and someone I know just got picked up for possession.

Of all the people who smoke weed here, he is the probably the one I would least like to see caught.  Why they picked him and not one of the others, I don't know.  We received a notice after lunch today, and that's where we found out what had happened.


There's a chance that he might be let off and allowed back into the school.  I hope he comes off clean.  A lot of people here miss having him around, me included.


And now for our other stories.  In a fit of depression one night, I asked English-speaking goth girl if she, as a woman, found me in the least bit good looking.  She said yes, and confirmed my likeness to Brandon Lee (at least while I had my Crow costume).  I confided in her that I wasn't feeling particularly attractive, judging from the reactions of the local girls.  I had caught her just as she was heading off for a little mini-party (more booze.  I just can't be bothered to deal with that), and after assuring me that I was indeed a worthy candidate for attention, she said that she would put in a good word for me among the XX-inclined.

The day after, I discovered a talent for moving a chopstick with my ear.  I also discovered a distinct lack of talent for Singstar.  I begin to fear if my skills lie in the wrong areas.

That's everything off the top of my head.  The only thing I have to add right now is a picture I just now found.  The timing still wasn't particularly good, but at least you can see me.  Cheers.




--Kagus

[Kagus]

Major news story today.


Shortly after the last update, I bumped into the accused student (I'll call him "John Smith" for simplicity's sake) in the hall, surrounded by his usual group of pals.  I was naturally surprised, and quite happy, to see him back at school.

His room had been searched, he had been put through at least one drug test, and he had been interrogated for a significant portion of the day.

He had nothing unlawful to admit to, the drug test(s) came up negative, and what they found in his room was a special "legal high" herb blend called Spice Gold and some "equipment" (a cigar roller and a bong that he had found the day before up in the loft in the big housing complex.  Bad luck that he thought it would make a nice decoration for his room).

But the happiness was short-lived.  Although he had not done anything illegal according to Norwegian law, the school had its own ideas of how to proceed.  John Smith is under serious threat of being permanently banned from school grounds.

He tried to give his side of the story to the vice principal, the person who told the school that he had been arrested for possession (not suspected possession, possession), but the door was slammed in his face.  Afterwards, he attempted to talk with the Film and TV teacher, but got just about as far.  He has been told that he is not allowed to defend himself in this matter, because he is "unwilling to cooperate".


So we gathered around, the people who love him for the crazy person that he is, and helped keep his spirits up during this rather stressful time.  If he is not allowed to defend himself, we'll just have to do it for him.

We spent some time cycling through the usual hangouts, just chilling out and talking about the injustice of the affair.  Eventually, we came upon the idea of gathering together our sleeping bags (and warm clothing), and going outside on the frigidly cold Norwegian autumn night to just lie about and look at the stars.


And so we did.  In a little circle of candles, we talked, took comfort in the company of each other, watched a star shower, and were simply "there" for John Smith until 2:30 in the morning. 


The main argument for the strict punishment being considered for John Smith is that he is destroying the school's reputation, and that his drug use creates a bad environment.

Quite frankly, I've never seen it warmer.



Admittedly, he's not exactly the most innocent person around.  He has broken certain school laws by being under the effects of Spice Gold while inside the grounds.  However, this in no way makes it right for them to ban him from the school.  If it was just a couple days or perhaps a week of suspension, there wouldn't be nearly as much uproar as there is now.  But since the school called in the narcotics department of the police for this matter, I think they feel the need for a scapegoat.

The teachers are currently holding council as to what to do with John Smith.  They have not yet received an official statement from the police as to what should or should not be done.  They will not allow John Smith to fight back.


Bad environment?  A hefty portion of the school has banded together to protect one student from injustice.  They have done so of their own accord, exposing themselves as supporters of a "lawbreaker" and "drug user". 


Today is John Smith day.  Regardless of what happens, this day will be remembered.

An hour to go before we find out the council's decision.  I'll update sometime this evening.


Heh heh...  John Smith's situation is generating more interest than Barack Obama getting elected (woohoo!, by the way).

[Torak]

Your right eye shining is rather horrifying if you see it at the right time.

[Kagus]

I knew as soon as I said "I'll update sometime this evening" that something would come up and prevent me. 

Well, it did.


Slightly crowded in here right now, so I'll see if I can sneak in a report later on today.  A lot has happened.

[Asheron]

You rebelled and formed the former Macedonian Republic of Sandy Fjord land?

[Kagus]

Alright, here's what went down: 

We werer called up into the big theater-room for the announcement from the teacher council.


Everyone was in a slightly down mood from the affair, teachers included.  Things only went downhill from there.

The principal came up first, still forced to hobble about with crutches after having his Achilles tendon worked over.  He used a presentation device to display a copy of the school's "laws" on the projector screen.  This did not bode well, especially considering John Smith had not actually broken any of the rules on that page.

The principal then gave a little announcement, stating that the council had been debating over this for a long time, and that they had come to a conclusion.

Smith was to leave the school, effective from the fifth of November through the rest of the school year.


This is the point where things started to get really nasty.  I really wish I could provide something more than just my faulty memory of the event, but this is all I've got.  Since I can't provide a full transcript, you'll have to settle for a general overview.

The students who were not shocked into silence began to question the decision.  The teachers would respond, citing some place on the list of rules or some piece of evidence, and the students would shoot it down by simply questioning deeper.

They started with trying to kick Smith out because he had used and was in possession of narcotics, something clearly listed on the rules list.  This was destroyed because the stuff Smith had was not a narcotic substance, and was not illegal to own or use.  They then moved on to the police having found "traces" of narcotics in Smith's room.  Admittedly, it was Smith's own damned fault for holding on to three empty bags that had held marijuana about half a year ago.  But the argument still couldn't hold, because there was nothing saying those traces were from narcotics taken to or used at the school, or even if they were Smith's.

Next came the statement that the police had "made some finds" in Smith's room.  This may sound very suspicious, but the kicker is that the teachers had not been told by the police what those finds were.  They were trying to kick him out based on what was, quite frankly, nothing.  You can't say evidence is damning if you don't even know what the evidence is.

There was a lot of back-and-forth between the teachers and the students, until finally the only thing the teachers could hold on to was a portion of a small-print clause in italics at the bottom of the screen.

What was it that eventually ended up Smith's one and only reason for being kicked out of the school for good?  "Unwillingness to cooperate". 

They tried to back this up by saying that Smith had lied to them, saying first that he had not ordered the package, and then admitting that he had.  Smith stood up at this moment and asked the teachers if they had ever been in a situation where several police officers, with drug-sniffing dogs, had taken them aside without warning and begun interrogating them about a package that, while legal, could be misinterpreted a something illegal and thus get you into a hell of a lot of trouble.

Smith said that he didn't know about them, but he had never been in such a situation before.  He apologized profusely for not having acted with as much calmness and rational thinking as would be best.  He admitted to being scared shitless, a reaction which I don't think would be too uncommon in such a situation.


Eventually, they just settled on Smith being "unwilling to cooperate" in regards to creating a drug-free environment at the school.  They refused to budge on that one.


Not like we really had a chance to begin with.  I mean, the thing started right off with the principal saying that they had already come to the conclusion that Smith had to go.  At least we got to get the other students in on it.


Furthermore, the deadline for Smith's departure from school grounds was 11:00 that night.  The principal had decided that, in order to create order amongst the teachers and the students, he would have to leave the grounds as soon as possible.

After the meeting, we were supposed to have a ten minute break before heading off to class, like nothing had happened.  Everybody was either depressed or confused.  Most were a combination of both.  This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

I headed up to the F&TV classroom in the little outlying building on the grounds.  I was just pacing around, waiting for the others to come up.  I looked out the window and saw Smith surrounded by a group of friends in the parking lot.

I've got an almost spotless attendance record.  I decided it could do with another smudge.

Just as the film teacher -who had been a raging animal in the theater room earlier- was sitting down, I walked out the door and down the steps to ground level.  I managed to catch up with Smith and a group of others who had decided to skip class in favor of just walking around town for a few hours.  I think it did Smith a hell of a lot of good.  I know it helped the others.


Afterwards, everyone was just trying to figure out how to make Smith's last hours at Skiringssal the best possible hours he could have.  We ended up taking over a room down in the cellar of the big housing complex and stuffing it with mattresses so that we could all just lie in a big pile of togetherness.  I don't know how many hours we spent down there, but I think they were probably some of the best hours anyone could have asked for.   People just kept coming into the room until the place was packed with mattresses, comforters, and well-wishers.  And, naturally, Smith's sound system and highly eccentric music collection.


When it finally came time for Smith to go, we had a little gathering outside before he was driven off by one of the other students.  While out there, Smith broke open a pack of cigars that had been given to him as a going-away present.  Eventually, as a ceremonial thing, we passed around a few things so that everyone in the circle of friends could touch it before it was given back to Smith.  First went the pack of cigars, then a pack of cigarettes which happened to be lying around, then a cigar-cutter (naturally, this was to be referred to as "scary drug paraphenalia"), and finally the lit cigar that Smith had been smoking.  Everyone was to take a puff, or at least go through the motions of doing so before passing it on to the next person.

First time I have ever stuck a smoking device into my mouth.  I can't say the experience was pleasant.  I wasn't daft enough to actually try inhaling from the damned thing, but even just sucking smoke into my mouth was enough to put me off.  Took me ages to get the taste out of my mouth.

After everything had made the rounds, and after Smith had finished off the communal cigar, we bid our final farewells and watched as the crazy hippy left Skiringssal.


Well, almost final.  We decided to have an extra little party for the grimy bastard, but the day of his departure didn't really work out for most folks.  As such, we're having it today at some time.  We'll head out to the house of one of the other students, and we'll bring booze.   

I'm still not a particular fan of drinking parties, but this is a very special occasion.  I won't drink, but at least I'll be there.  That's really all that's needed.


Although Smith has been kicked out of school, he has been given the right to make a formal complaint to the school.  If it is convincing enough, they may reconsider the decision and let him back into school.  He's looking around for a lawyer to help him write the thing.


I think he's got a much better chance of getting back into school than he did of staying in.  From the information that was revealed, it sounds like he got hung up as a scapegoat by the school after they embarrassed themselves by calling in the narcotics division without actually having anything illegal for them to find.  They felt the need for a criminal, and the need for that criminal to be punished.  So they made one, and they punished him.

Hopefully, things will have cooled down enough by the time he makes his complaint that they do reconsider.  A lot of people here really miss him.


This all makes sense to me, but then again I've been here the whole time.  If there's something here that doesn't seem to line up, bring it up and I'll try to fill in the spots. 

[chaoticag]

Just read through all of that. Kicking someone out of school because he is unwilling to co-operate? and they cannot even give an example of his unwillingness?

People that have been kicked out of my last school were at least given the reason, and it always was a much better reason than those up there.

Here to hoping he gets a good lawyer.

[Kagus]

"Unwillingness to cooperate in creating a drug-free environment".  A real stretch, but they're sticking to it. 

A few people drove out to see him last night, and they apparently talked him into driving back with them for a quick visit to the school.  He's not actually allowed to enter school grounds, but what are they gonna do?  Kick him out?

So we got to talk to him for a couple hours.  Standing out in an asphalt parking lot in the middle of a cold night.  We had a few good moments there, but I think it was probably a bit rough for him to be so close to the school again.

He actually pissed on the wall of one of the buildings.  We have since dubbed that spot "Saint Smith's Place", and are working on writing a blues song about "Going down to Saint Smith's Place".  We're considering putting it into the film we'll make which will dramatize his return to the school.


I got to spend a lot of the evening earlier that night hanging out with some people, and I managed to make myself seem like more than just a fifth wheel.  I mention that because it's not exactly a common scenario.


While I'm here, I'd like to mention something else.  The primary film teacher, who is well-known among the students for his rather short fuse (or lack thereof), has apparently had a few official complaints made about him to the school board.  If enough students complain about his treatment of the students, his employment here will be put into question.

He really does get frighteningly mad at times.  He has cornered students and yelled at them for not doing their cleaning assignment or something.  He swears profusely as well, and has even written a rather scathing complaint on the wash list that's hanging up on my floor.  If his position comes into question, that wash list will be shown as evidence that he is unfit to be a teacher here.


One of the guys from Film and TV said that if we were to get John Smith back and the film teacher gone, he would orgasm with such ferocity that the entire school would be covered by his gleeful spooge.  Someone else agreed.  They both began miming the action to make their point clear.

This place is incredibly weird.  I wouldn't want it any other way.

[Strife26]

Wierd places are everywhere. We don't remember the sane ones. Unless we remember the seemingly insanity of a place's sanity.

Why don't you continue Kagus, before I blow my head up with a paradox.

[Kagus]

Student night this Thursday.  We're still not done with our film project.  We have no other material.  We are screwed.

Film teacher was not particularly shiny on Monday.  He was simmering the whole time, but managed to keep from boiling over.  Still not a lot of fun to deal with, but better than it could have been.


We managed to squeeze in a scene last night, but the picture ended up being a bit dark.  I hope we can fix it to the point of usefulness.


This evening has been another grand example of some twisted magician showing off his "watch as I make every interesting student disappear!" act.   Gonna head out and start looking again.  I had hoped to get some filming done tonight, but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen.  Someone in the group is currently busy sleeping, so production has halted.


Whee.

[Kagus]

Just when they thought I couldn't get any stranger...  I discover the bread burger. 


When evening-breakfast is served, they provide two types of bread.  One that is large and slightly soft/fluffy (although not sickeningly so, like some popular American "breads"), and one that is smaller, darker, and denser.

I recently took a chance and decided to try something new (insane).  I took two slices of large-soft bread, slathered them with ketchup and mustard from the ever-open condiment table, slapped a slice of small-dark bread in between and finally added a piece of lettuce and several pickle slices (I don't think anybody ever eats those things otherwise.  At least I've never seen it happen).

The result is filling, tasty, and utterly ridiculous.  Not to mention 100% vegetarian.


I just have to laugh at the people who end up staring at me.  Which isn't really a good idea if you happen to have a mouthful of bread and ketchup.