The HCOS WeeklyFifteenth Edition

Unrealistic Expectations for the Opposite Gender

I.M.O. With Grace:

By Grace Kelly

Well I’m back for the second to last edition of the HCOS Weekly with a smackaroo (totally aware that that’s not a word) of an IMO. No, actually it’s a pretty un-ostenta-tious display of disdain for some-thing in the world. I felt like going low-key on this one. Okay, that’s a lie; I’m actually starting this two hours before the column deadline and the above subject was the only one that popped into my head while staring at our library’s carpet. #Fun #PleaseIgnoreThatI-JustHashtagged

Okay, before I get started I first want to voice my appreciation for the AMAZING HCOS Weekly team, especially Jubilee and Jennica. I don’t talk much on our Skype group but I am constantly lurking, and I know how much work goes into these editions. Thanks so much for keeping up with it the en-tire year.

Now back to the subject at hand: unrealistic expectations. This is mainly going to be aimed toward the girls, so if any guy reading this wants to skip to the end of the edi-tion for the funny pictures, I would strongly suggest doing so.

To start out this rant of mine, I’m going to paste a few ridiculous

things I found on my facebook timeline this week:

“Find a guy who calls you beauti-ful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep... wait for the boy who kiss-es your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you're just as pretty with-out makeup on. One who is con-stantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky his is to have you.... The one who turns to his friends and says, 'that's her.'”

Obviously the person who wrote this hasn’t had a boyfriend. Here’s another one.

“I want a guy who: Plays with my hair. Writes me notes. Takes the time to look into my eyes. Lends me his coat. Is good with kids. Picks flowers for my hair. Goes on walks with me. Knows how to make me smile. Talks with me for hours. Calls me beautiful. Is hon-est. Knows how to be goofy. Looks at me and smiles. Writes me songs. Always smiles. Loves life. Loves me more.”

I kind of want to slap whoever wrote this back into reality. And here’s my last one, a checklist writ-ten by a girl that’s encouraging all women everywhere to look for this kind of man:

tall, athleticIntelligentgood moralsrespects mevideogamersecretly has a sensitive sidesecret cat loverfamily-orientedsponsored skater (Sorry, what.)low maintenancesmells goodgood humoredlovingsweetspontaneousslightly awkwardadorable smileis obsessed about me.

2 The HCOS Weekly

Cool Facts

For Your WarehouseOf Useless Knowledge

By Genevieve Ward

When someone tickles you, the laughter is actually a panic re-sponse; scientists think this is be-cause the sensation is similar to that of bugs and insects crawling on you.

Lions spend about 20 hours a day sleeping or resting.

A!er making 1.4 billion crayons, a senior Crayon maker for Crayola admitted that he was slightly blue-green colour blind.

A hippo can run as fast as a human.

New Zealand is home to approxi-mately 4.4 million people, and 31 million sheep.

G i r aff e s w e r e o n c e c a l l e d “Camelopards” because people thought they were half-camel and half-leopard.

To make one pound of honey, bees visit about 2 million flowers.

Switzerland has an animal welfare law which forbids pet owners from keeping just one of any pet that is classified as a “social animal” – for example, pet owners cannot own just one guinea pig.

This checklist ticked me off to no end. Whenever I want to get really mad I just read it again. Especially the last thing, why on earth would you want a guy to be ‘obsessed with you’? Isn’t it better to be close to someone that has their own am-bitions and knows who they are in-stead of trying to find their identity in you? Finding yourself in other people is a slippery slope once you start it. But that isn’t even the biggest thing that bothers me.

Having Another Person be Your Validation:

I feel like this is the main theme of all romance stories, ever. It’s like, if you don’t have a significant other then you’re bound to be lonely and feel bad about yourself for the rest of your life. Taking a quick glance to the above checklists for what sounds like the perfect man, I see a lot of problems. The number one thing that smacks me in the face is that they are really one sided. It’s all about what ‘I’ want the perfect guy to be like and how ‘I’ want him to make me feel. That’s pretty self-ish, and coming from experience I’m pretty 100% sure that’s not the way relationships work. Nobody is going to stay around you for very long if all you want is for them to be constantly telling you that you’re beautiful and they love you and that you’re pretty even when you’re not wearing makeup. (Girls you don’t need anyone to tell you this; you are pretty without make-up on. Discussion over.) If you’re constantly seeking someone to make your life wonderful and to fulfill all the dreams you’ve ever had for yourself, you are not going to find that person and you’ll in-evitably end up being disappoint-ed and burnt out. I feel like there is way too much reliance on having a boyfriend or a girlfriend to save

you from yourself and to make you a better person. You have to do that stuff for yourself. And while I absolutely adore John Green, I have to say that I’m very tired of the things that he writes about. Let me break it down really quickly:-Your sadness is not beautiful.-Nobody is going to fix you.-Nobody is going to lie with you and kiss your scars.-You’re not going to be like Jack and Rose or The Notebook couple.-You have to be your own freaking hero and surround yourself with positivity.

Perfect Men (don’t exist):

Never was a more obvious state-ment said. Perfect people don’t ex-ist. Take an honest look at yourself. Peruse your flaws and your short-comings. Take stock of them and then realize that you don’t deserve to have a person that’s better than you, and you’re never going to get a perfect one. Accept that fact or live your life withering away in mis-ery. Do I sound bitter? Yep. But more than that I’m just tired of people wanting to be in a relation-ship with the Perfect Person, and when the person they thought would be their hero to drag them out of the drudgery of their lives turns out to be normal swamp wa-ter like the rest of us, they break down and swear to never love again and turn into angry old women or men with either a household of cats or a weird base-ball fetish. You will probably end up with the kind of person that you are, so do your best to make your-self like the kind of person you’d want to spend the rest of your life with.

In closing I think I’d say that the most you can do in life is accept the miserable person that you are,

and hope for the best in future re-lationships.

Cheerio,Grace

3The HCOS Weekly

Interview With

Taria SoamesBy Jennica Wlodarczyk

1. Hello Taria, and welcome to the HCOS Weekly! Tell us a bit about yourself, and what your family is like. There are seven kids in my family. I am the very youngest of them all. My oldest sister is twenty years older than me. I have eight nieces and nephews; they are all so adorable and cute! I got the privi-lege of being an aunty when I was just five years old. My brother Reuben recently le! home to take a tree planting job. We miss him, but are happy that he can go and do something that he loves. My broth-er, Adley, has been a great friend to me a!er all the rest of my siblings m o v e d a w a y. M y d a d i s a Paramedic and my mom is a mom/writer.

2. What is your favorite subject in school, and what makes it so en-joyable? My favorite subject in school would be creative writing. I love to write poems and books. Po-ems are something that I can put my feeling and emotion into. Writ-ing is a lot of fun because there is so much imagination in it.

3. Where do you live, and what is it like living there? I live in Kelow-na, British Columbia. It so pretty

here; every morning I wake up and look at God’s creation in awe. He never fails to amaze me. It is amaz-ing living in Kelowna; it is a very happy city. I live where all the ap-ple orchards are. It is so pretty with all the blossoms blooming right now.

4. Do you have any pets? If so, which one is your favorite? We have a cat; her name is B.V. She turned ten last Easter. I like dogs but on the whole I prefer cats. B.V. loves to hunt; even though she is getting old she is still very active.

5. What is the strangest memory you can recall? I remember when I was really little, I had to have an eye surgery because my tear duct wouldn’t stop watering. The doctor was really nice, he gave me a red balloon, and the hospital room looked really weird. I remember being really scared ‘cause I thought the doctor was going to take my eye out. But it turned out okay and I still have both eyes and my eye doesn’t water anymore.

6. What was the coolest dream you ever had? The coolest dream I ever had was when I was in a glass maze, and there was all these col-ors that I had never seen before. Everything was different. I met a lot of animals in the maze. One was even a centaur! It was a weird dream but it was the best.

7. If you could live in any country you wanted, which one would you choose and why? I would choose to live in Canada, I am living in Canada, and I can’t think of a place I would rather live. I would live in Toronto, maybe even get into the National Ballet of Canada (I can dream big.) I love Canada so much! I would hate to have to live some-

where else for my whole life.

8. Who is your favorite author?My favorite author right now is Rick Riordan. I am reading the Heroes of Olympus series right now. I really like them and I can get lost in his books for hours. Rick Ri-ordan is a great writer; he is great at cliff hangers. I am so excited for his new book Blood of Olympus to come out this fall.

9. What are some of your hobbies? My main hobby is dance. I love to express myself through dance. It is one of the things I feel sort-of good at. I recently did my first dance on pointe; it was really fun but also hard. I also love to write. I write poetry and books.

10. Thank you for agreeing to be interview, Taria! As a final note, who are the three most important people in your life? This is a really hard one for me. My mom is defi-nitely one of them, she help me through a lot of things. My brother Adley is also important to me. It is nice having a sibling to help you when you’re feeling down. My dance teacher Miss Tanya Bakala is a very important person. She runs an amazing dance studio. It is called Mission Dance Centre.

4 The HCOS Weekly

Setting Your Mind

on Things Above

An ArticleBy Samara Paine

I want to ask you the question: What is your true focus in life right now? In other words, what do you spend most of your time thinking about or working on? Be honest with yourselves, is it relationships, school, a sport or other club you are involved in, or any talents you may have?

My family and I moved from Van-couver Island to Edmonton last summer. How does this relate to that question I previously asked you? Well, moving really caused me to rethink what my focus in life was. Back on the island I went through each day focusing on my routine, my daily activities, etc. I was so fixated on trying to create my own identity (how people saw me/thought of me) based on what I was involved in, what I did for other people, who I hung out with, or what I was good at. I forgot that my identity should have really been found in God.

That summer, all of the things I had placed my identity in were pulled away from me. And just re-cently, I've found good reason in it. Having almost everything I'd ever known suddenly disappear from me was difficult as I tried to find something else to set my identity in, anything, except God and his everlasting word. I felt really de-pressed and confused, like I was ready to give up. Then all at once I realized what I had been forgetting all along. I came to the conclusion that all that had been important to me was the familiar routine of life.

My real focus was not on God. I wo u l d a t te n d c h u rc h e ve r y Sunday, youth group every Friday, sing worship, pray, read the Bible- but that was it. I never went deep-er in my relationship with Christ. If anything, I became more and more distant from him.

Think of the way your eye works. You look ahead of you and see a foreground and a background. Then, surrounding all of that lies your peripheral area of vision. You can only make your eyes focus on one thing clearly at a time. You can't see the foreground and back-ground clearly at the same time, or the space around you at the same time as what's in front of you, even though everything around you is still there. The same is true with your focus in life. You can't focus on God and serving yourself or the selfish world around you at the same time. When you spend too much time fulfilling your own self-ish desires, you put God in the background and end up forgetting that He's still there. Psalm 101:3 reads, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.”

It is so easy to be distracted in our world today. I mean, just think about it. Society has perfected nu-merous ways to grab our attention by using things our brain is wired for- from using certain colours that capture our eyes to blasting sounds that our ears easily pick up. Look at what Hebrews 12:1-2 has to say: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every-thing that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

For the joy set before him He en-dured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I want to clear something up, though. Having good friends that you spend your time with and tal-ents that you spend your time working on is not bad. The Bible talks about the importance of these things as well. But in these things, God has commanded us to put Him first as our number one priority and to do everything we do for him, not our own selves. Don't take my word for it, though. God talks about the importance of hav-ing godly friends around you in Ec-clesiastes 4:9-10, Proverbs 27:17, and Proverbs 13:20. He also orders us to use the gi!s He's given us for Him and his kingdom, not our-selves. 1 Peter 4:10-11 says, “As each has received a gi!, use it to serve one another, as good stew-ards of God's varied grace: whoev-er speaks, as one who speaks ora-cles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in ev-erything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him be-long glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”So, what's in your foreground?

5The HCOS Weekly

Facts You Didn't Know: BELTSBy Deanna Burmatoff

Now, I’m sure we all know what a belt is. I bet we all own at least one, or have one lying around the house somewhere. And we can all agree: belts are useful. Whether to hold up your pants, or to add flair to your outfit, or to “lovingly” disci-pline a child, belts are one of the most common, everyday items that we always use but never stop to think about. Questions such as, “Who invented the belt?”, “Where was the very first belt made?”, “Which country uses and makes the most belts?”, and many others may not even cross your mind when you cinch up your girth in the morning before hittin’ the trail. (That may partly be because half of us aren’t even fully awake yet in the mornings to even think about what to wear, so we just laze around in pajamas half the day un-til we finally tire of mom’s constant nagging “reminders” to get dressed, let alone ponder the thought of the very first belt-maker, inventor, extraordinaire). But, I digress. Surely there must be someone out there who has per-ilously pondered these… ponder-ings, and quizzically questioned

these… questions! Well, who-ever-you-are, you’re in luck! Because I have grasped the answers to those questions out of Thin Air, and I now stand ready, with my pencil—er, keyboard, poised and prepared to enlighten you of all your problems! Out of Thin Air these answers have come to me, and I now enlighten myself to enlighten you to these… superficial solutions! And now, thanks to my marvellous mind, my clever computer, and the incredi-ble invention which I now call Thin Air and the rest of you common folk call “Internet” or, even more ghastly, “Wi-Fi”, I shall now reveal to you the answers to the ques-tions I know you all have regarding the terrific topic of: belts! (Ahaha, I bet you all thought I had forgotten what the topic was. But I fooled you! My brain is just too brilliant to forget something as amazing as this). So now, without further ado, I give you, The Belt!

(Note: Unfortunately, I have used up all of my brilliant brainpower coming up with this intro, so the

solutions shall be pretty simple and straight-forward. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your time and understanding).

What is a belt? A belt is a flexible band or strap, typically made of leather or fabric, and is worn around the waist. It supports pants or other articles of clothing. Belts can also be made out of twine, chains, elastic, plastic, syn-thetic materials, etc.

When were belts originally used?Belts have been around for so long and have “evolved” over time, that no one knows exactly when the very first belt was used. However, there have been some records claiming that belts have been worn since the Bronze Age (around 3000 BC). That makes sense, since people wore belts in Bible times (Exodus 12:11, 1 Samuel 18:4, and 1 Kings 18:46, to mention a few).

In the late 19th century and up un-til the First World War, belts were a decoration as well as a useful part of an officer’s uniform. Soldiers in the Prussian, Tsarist Russian, and other Eastern European militaries were expected to wear extremely tight, wide belts around the waist and on the outside of the uniform. These belts were used to support a sabre (a long, curved sword) as well as serving decorative purpos-es.

Why else do we wear belts? The tight-fitting belt was also used to make the wearer look trim and fit, with wide shoulders and empha-

6 The HCOS Weekly

sized chest. Belts can add flair to an outfit; hence many ladies wear a thin belt with a blouse. Studded b e l t s a r e a l s o a f a s h i o n statement, though most blouses would not go very well with a studded belt… Coloured belts can also be used to signify a class or ranking in martial arts, such as karate or taekwondo. Utility belts are very useful, as they include pockets and loops for storing or hanging items that will be used o"en and quickly. Police officers, soldiers, and security guards typi-cally use this kind of belt.

Which celebrities are famed for their belts? Ok, that might sound like a strange question. But the answer to this question is not very strange. It may sound strange to some people, but they just don’t understand my strange way of understanding strange things. Have I confused you yet?

Anyway, back to the question. Here is a list of ten celebrities (in no par-ticular order, mind you) who have become even more famous be-cause of their wonderful belts. Martial arts belts, that is. (If some

of these well-known people are not well-known to you, don’t worry. I myself have only heard of about half of them).

Jessica AlbaJennifer AnistonEmma BuntonCourtney CoxRobert Downey Jr.Sean Patrick FlanneryJodie FosterMel GibsonTaylor LautnerLucy Liu

Random facts about belts:

· Before the 1920s, pants (then called “trousers”) didn’t even have belt loops. The only trousers that had belt loops at the time were used in sports.

· “Sagging” (wearing jeans that sag significantly below the waist… Yeah, a bit TMI, IMO… :P) was first started in the mid-1990s by prison gangs. Belts were taken away from prisoners since they could be used as weapons and suicide objects. It has ever since become a trend.

· Skateboarders will o!en use shoelaces to hold their pants up since they do not dig into their stomach as a belt with a buckle would.

· The word “belt” appears in the Bible 28 times, mostly in the Old

Testament.

· The section of the belt strap that hangs loose, or is tucked into a belt loop is said to be called the lattiilus.

· In the kids show Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt (from 1965-1966), Sin-bad’s belt gives him superhuman strength to fight off pirates and bad guys.

“Sinbad the Sailor,

A magic belt has he,

He pulls it tight with all his might,

A mighty sailor he’ll be,

A mighty sailor is he!”

With his magic belt, Sinbad is a su-per sailor! But I wonder what would happen when he meets Popeye…

From superheroes to skateboard-ers to fashionistas, everyone uses belts. Belts hold a vital position among our wardrobe. And unless we do away with them all together and resort to using safety pins or the dreaded suspenders (*gasp*), belts will remain a part of our daily lives. So treat them with respect, or they might come back around to slap you. For as the saying reveals,

7The HCOS Weekly

Verse of the Week

By Megan Ferguson

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” – 1 Thessaloni-ans 5:11 NIV

“Encouragement: The action of giving someone support, confi-dence, or hope.” –According to Wikipedia which isn’t really a reli-

able source but I totally use it any-ways. Shhh…

Who is excited for summer? I AM! So this week I’m not going to preach at you. Also, I never mean to sound preachy or self-righteous, most of things I write about, pretty much apply to me. Yeah I’m defi-nitely messed up. This week I’m just going to say. YOU CAN DO IT! PUSH THROUGH AND FINISH OFF YOUR SCHOOL WORK! BE FREE MY COMRADES BE FREE! You guys are all awesome and it’s been great writing for you this year! I will real-ly miss you guys. Next year, I’m ac-tually not going to be with Heritage anymore. I’m going to try a cam-pus school. This is kind of a bitter-sweet ending, but I will always re-member Heritage. I love HCOS dearly. In fact it has become part of my heritage. I will always remem-ber you guys. Who knows I may pop up when you least expect it.

I won’t say goodbye, but merely, see you later.Megan Ferguson

ME TOO!

An ArticleBy Jennica Wlodarczyk

“Me too.” It’s unbelievable how powerful those two little words can be. I’m sure we all know that as hu-man beings, we have a huge in-stinctive desire to be part of some-thing bigger. We sometimes inter-pret this desire as wanting to be in-cluded in groups of peers, or to be accepted by important people in our lives. To a degree, this is all very true, and it is healthy for us to be parts of bigger things in our nat-ural lives. We all experience this to

some extent. Perhaps you’re part of a dance club, or a study group, or, like me, the HCOS Weekly. Whatever it is you’re a part of, no matter how large or small, you can undeniably agree that it feels good to be a part of something. It’s re-warding to know that you’re not the only one with a certain skill set, belief system, or even favourite colour. In my own life, I find that the phrase “me too” pops up a lot when conversing with my best friend. We are so similar that we even find ourselves saying the ex-act same thing at the exact same time. Even so, knowing that some-one’s got your back and knows ex-actly what you’ve been through is a comforting thing; but get this, that’s not the end of it. Even better than that, the phrase “me too” and the meaning that comes with it doesn’t only refer to people we know in our physical lives; the greatest example of belonging to something bigger is found in Jesus Christ.

As insane as it is to believe, Jesus went through the same struggles that we go through daily while He was living on Earth. He was once a child who had to be taught how to live by his parents. He was once a teenager with the same thoughts and attitudes we all know so well and have to battle with daily. On a more drastic note, Jesus felt physi-cal and emotional pain, just like we do. The battle with His mind in the Garden of Gethsemane is a huge example of His emotional struggles, and His being crucified is an unbeatable example of how He struggled with physical pain.

What is the point I am trying to get across here? Well, we all know that people can relate to our pains, joys, and experiences – but even better than that, Jesus Himself can

“ w h a t g o e s a r o u n d c o m e s around.” ;)

So I hope these solutions at least partially satisfy your perilous pon-derings and quizzical questionings. (If not, then I might have to make a second part to this article… But, considering how not many people question the origins of the belt, I think just one article shall suffice). If you didn’t wonder about the belt, I hope this article opened your eyes to see how marvelous this invention really is. Next time you tighten your belt, you will re-member these things that I have enlightened you of. You will never think of it the same again... (Hope-fully that doesn’t sound too omi-nous). Anyway, thank you for read-ing and have a nice rest of the day!

8 The HCOS Weekly

The Resolve To

Forget

A PoemBy Jaleesa Taylor

Resolutions are madeAnd we vow to upholdIn the New Year to comeTo dispose of the old

We promise ourselvesThat this year will be newAn improvement on lastWith mistakes, we are through

However, I askIs this truly our goal?To neglect to rememberOur previous role?

If not for misstepsIf not for our errorsWe may not have learnedThe importance of prayers

Without our mistakesWould we be who we are?Would we realize thatBeauty comes from the char?

So you see that our slipsAnd our treacherous divesOnly serve to remind usThat God’s in our lives

We are all works in progressEach hopelessly flawedYet loved and forgivenBy an Almighty God

relate to all of the things we go through on a daily basis. He is the model that we are to live by, and He was both God and human. He is the perfect (literally) example of whom we are to be, and when we study His life, there are many mo-ments when we find ourselves thinking, “Wow, Jesus went through that in His life? Me too!” What bet-ter best friend could you have? Je-sus knows you inside and out, you can always trust Him, and He knows what it’s like to be a grow-ing and learning person just like you. “Me too” is a phrase that be-comes consistent and real when you spend your time with Jesus.

Foundations

An ArticleBy Lauren VaneeEdited by Jennica Wlodarczyk

We’ve probably all heard of the parable about the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish one who built his house on the sand. We know that, according to the story, a great storm came, and the only house le! standing was the one on the rock. You may ask what it is that we are supposed to get out of this. What is the meaning? How can we apply this to our lives today? This parable has more meaning than just “Smart Places to Build a House 101”.

Our instincts are to build our lives on the foundations of our relation-ships, investments, and surround-ings. We think, “If I had all the rich-es in the world, I would be able to overcome anything life throws at me.” But when the storms of life come crashing down on us, we start to see the holes in our foun-dations. The loss of a loved one, an

unexpected diagnosis, or a losing an important job could seriously shake you up without the right foundation.

I know that there is a stronger foundation for me to build my life upon, and I hope you do, too. I know of one that will never sink and is unchanging throughout all time. No storm, no matter how ter-rifying, will tear it down. Who is it? God!God promises us multiple times throughout the Bible and even today that He will never leave nor forsake us, and that if we listen to His instruction, we will have a blessed and bountiful life. So ask yourself, “How firm is my founda-tion?” I pray that the answers be-fore you will become clearer to your understanding.

Editor's Note

We have good news, readers! Deanna Burmatoff, Grade 10 online student with HCOS, has joined the HCOS Weekly team as a Contribut-ing Writer and Final Dra!er. We're very excited to have her, and hope you will find her articles as inter-esting and amusing as we do. Re-member that you, too, can sign up as a Contributing Writer by shoot-i n g u s a n e m a i l a t hcosweekly@outlook.com. Give us a reason why you think you'd be great for the team, what type of work you're willing to do, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you!

9The HCOS Weekly

Super Comics

Grad Stress - by Joshua

Wlodarczyk

Congratulations to all of HCOS's students who are graduating this year. You all have done such an amazing job getting this far and finishing what you started. We at the HCOS Weekly send you the best wishes in all that you do in the future, and hope that you have an awesome time at the Langley grad this year!

10 The HCOS Weekly

by Genevieve Ward

Weekly LOL