Shut ‘er down…NOT!

The school year is coming to a close, and what does that mean? Well yes, no more homework and bag lunches (haha!), but also that our LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) road teams are shutting down until the end of summer. It’s been a busy, busy term and I got so preoccupied that I completely neglected our world wide web family – that is, you. I hope that you will forgive me. You will? Aw, thanks, you are all way too kind!

Since March, The Badger, our sweet ’93 International school bus has traveled 20,000km through seven Provinces and eight States. We’ve been to many schools across this great Country of Canada, and even performed at a huge conference in Columbus, OH. We’ve had the incredible opportunity to speak to thousands and thousands of students, to tell them that each one of them is incredibly valuable and irreplaceable. It’s been tiring, but completely worth it. We’ve met many wonderful people throughout these four months who have been so kind, encouraging, generous, hospitable…I could keep going.

We’ve had some great members of our team that deserve some mad props (that’s a good thing). If we came to your school, you might remember Nick. He was one of the guys who told his story throughout our show, and he was the one that always farted backstage:). Nick is a hard worker and was a great asset to the team. He also runs a rad t-shirt company worth checking out at www.myspace.com/abstinenceisawesome. Shelley is the girl with the smile on her face and cute curls in her hair. She shared stories about her trip to Mexico and hung out at the Hero Holiday table. A good apple that one, we’ll miss her. Tina joined us half way through the tour and was a big help to the team. You probably didn’t meet her, as she was busy working away behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. Another recent addition was Lena, who jumped ship to join our team for the last couple weeks of shows. We greatly appreciate all of you volunteers and the contribution that you made to LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) and to this generation.

And now it’s over, but not really. Things keep rolling here at LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute). We’re kicking into high gear for the many Hero Holiday trips happening over the next couple months. The anticipation is rising as hundreds of students from the east to the west coast prepare to hop on a plane or bus and head to a country (and world) far from their own to change the lives of strangers who will soon become friends. Meagan and myself are looking forward to being a part of a team going down to Mexico in August.

We’re also well on our way in planning things for this upcoming Fall’s school tour. All Left Out is a sweet band from New Zealand that toured on Team 1 with Kent this past term. We liked them so much that we asked them to stick around for another tour, on the one condition that they ditch Kent’s team to join us. (Worked like a charm!) You can check them out at www.myspace.com/allleftoutnz. Team 1’s band is still yet to be announced.

One of the things that all of us at LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) are really getting excited about is the launch of ThinkDay. ThinkDay is a brand new program that we’re running in the Fall, and is going to involve some amazing components that allow us more time to hang out with you and gives us the opportunity to discuss with more depth some of the topics that we touch on throughout the show. We’re excited to spend more time getting to know you. You bring the couch, we’ll bring the popcorn. Sweet? Sweet!

Until we meet again,

Meagan & JP