Through the Eyes and Mind of Andie B.F.

Andie is at university in Ontario this year after spending a year with us in the School of Leadership, 07/08 year. As well as doing the high school tour and the semester in Mexico, Andie has been on 2 Hero Holidays to the Dominican Republic. And I miss her. I don’t know how anybody can meet Andie and not have her tucked away in some special corner of their heart when she is not with them. She is smart, funny, caring and a complete and total nut. This is an entry in Andie’s journal when she was with the School of Leadership in Mexico. April 12, 2008I’ll never forget:The pain of the sunburn I got from giving too much attention to the oceanThe little girl that touched my eyelashesHow beautiful I felt hanging laundryThe family dinner we spent hours slaving overWaking up smilingThe endless attempts at balloon animalsThe fearful respect for the oceanDoing yoga in the sunlightMy friend RobertoThe boy who saw the world through his sisterFeeling completely helplessFeeling enveloped in loveBenito Garcia

Team 2’s first week of Tour!

Well, it was our first week of touring. We had 5 Think Day Presentations at 3 really great schools. For some of us it was our first time speaking and running sound and lights which was quite nerve racking but that is why we had loads of practice time before hand(2 weeks of hard core set ups and story prep). We also got to work at a youth centre in Hamilton which was awesome, the people were really nice and we helped them set up an auction were they could buy things with money they had earned by doing good deeds around the centre. Our first shows went really well, the kids loved the band and the presentation was overall a great success. I share about me Hero Holiday experience to Mexico this past March 2008. By the end of the week we were all getting really comfortable with the show and it just kept getting more exciting. Our first three shows were around the Hamilton/Toronto area but we are all looking forward to getting on the road and making our way over to Newfoundland. Look for us in a school near you, if not have your school call our office and set up a Think Day. Josh – School of Leadership student and member of Road Team #2

SOL’s First Community Project

Our first project to help out in the community was at the Living Rock Youth Centre, just a block away from the LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) offices.  We went last Thursday for the initial tour and explanation on how the drop in centre began. We also ended up helping out with breakfast and hanging out with the youth that were there for the morning meal.  There weren’t very many people, but we did get to talk to a few which was nice and met an adorable little boy who was the cutest thing ever! We also met a youth that helps out at the centre, he was a pretty cool and really funny guy, he knew everything there was to know about sports. While cleaning up in the kitchen the Whittney Houston s” came on and we sarenated him. I don’t know if he enjoyed that much… The following Tuesday we were back at “the Rock” to help set up for an auction they were holding for all their members using Rock bucks. Rock bucks are money the youth can earn when they help out around the center.  I thought that sounded like an awesome program, and there was some really nice stuff in the auction that was donated from local stores. We set up all the auction goods and there was tons of items that we wanted to bid on. After the set up we helped serve supper and met a few more people. Our friend from Tuesday was back and it was fun to talk to him again and hear how all his favorite sports teams had played the past weekend. Sadly, we couldn’t stay for the auction because one of the teams had a presentation the next morning and had to be up by 4 am! haha, it wasn’t my team though:) We all had a great time at the Rock and we were all asking about the next time we’d be helping out down there. Nothing had been set up but perhaps when we’re back from our road tours we’ll be back lending a hand.  The center has a very inspiring history, hats off to all the founders and volunteers, they are all doing an amazing thing for some amazing people.~ Tara

Tara’s First Think Fast Presentation

Well, yesterday was our first show and I thought it went awesome! Set up went smoothly, we were kind of slow but that will improve:)I felt pretty confident, (well sort of,)I had been going over my story (about my Hero Holiday to Mexico last summer) a lot in the past few days, so I hoped I could pull it off. The nerves were definitely showing when I left my post at the sound box and went backstage. The girls were trying to encourage me but I was just concentrating on what I had to say. I did have a moment when I forgot what I had to say in a certain part of my story. There is always a spot where I draw a blank, but Kait whispered “cute pig tails, big smiles” and it all came back. I stepped out on stage and I guess it went pretty well, I didn’t blank out and seemed to keep a pretty good flow. I tried not to breath to heavily into the mic when I had to catch my breath and I missed a few parts, but no one in the audience knew that. always have to tell myself that:) The rest of the show went really good, band played awesome and the crowd seemed to enjoy it all.We met Corporate Saturday, the band taking over for team 2 in Nov. and they all seemed like pretty nice guys. crazy and fun, just like our Beauti boys, haha!We were feed a great lunch in the cafeteria, thank you to the ladies putting that together!We had a “Think Global” session at noon, and the turn out was pretty good. Christal and Kait talked a lot about humanitarian issues, poverty, hunger, and slavery.  They are both really great speakers and its always interesting to here them talk.  It was our first think global so it was a bit of a learning experience. There were quite a few students interested in Hero Holiday as well as the School of Leadership, I think one girl had the forms all signed by the end of the day! Which is pretty cool.  All in all it was a great day and I’m really excited to start touring this Saturday! off to Saskatchewan! My home province!Tara – A student in LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)’s School of Leadership

Presentation training for the Family

Hollllla!! So its week two of LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) and we are having a fabulous time. Things have been very exciting around the office, apartment and the busses : where we will soon call home. Everybody is starting to get adjusted to their new lives and friendships. There are lots of changes being made, not many of us can say that we have lived in a house with five other girls before or lived on a bus for  the matter. Both teams have been running through the shows non-stop and learning a new set of skills like, sound, lighting, set up and tear down stage gear as well as public speaking. It has been very interesting learning all about the complications of technology, kind of a heart attack waiting to happen for some of us. I guess we could say that hectic is a pretty good word to describe the last few days. As nerve racking as all of it can be we are adjusting as quick as possible and becoming more and more comfortable each day. Which is probably   a good thing considering we are packing up to live on a bus pretty soon. What makes everything a bit easier is how quickly friendships between the students, staff and bands are forming, it seems like we are becoming our own funny sort of family.Nikki – A student attending the School of Leadership

A word from ALL LEFT OUT

Yo!!!!!! whats up! thanks for taking the time to check out our blog!In case you didn’t already know we are a band from New Zealand called All Left Out and this is our second term touring with LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute). We are so stoked to be coming to the east side of Canada this time, were looking forward to meeting a whole lot of new people and learning about your beautiful country!Since we were here last we have been busy going around the USA (and Canada) on Warped Tour!! We had tons of fun playing and introducing people to our music.This week we have been hanging out in the beautiful city of Hamilton, ON practicing up our new show for you guys! getting ready to come to your schools and rock your faces!We are going to do the best we can to keep you up to date with what we are doing along the way, so keep checking back here!If you want to know more about our band and the music we make or even become online friends, you can check us out on facebook, myspace or our website!Hope to see you soon!Dave, Nathan, Ken and Hionaallleftout.commyspace.com/allleftoutnzyoutube.com/allleftout

Beauti

Beauti has joined the LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) road team! Wondering what Beauti is? Beauti is our band: Colin, James, Tim, Matt and myself Jordan. Beauti have come from Kelowna, BC all the way to Hamilton, ON to tour on the LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) Road team as the feature band during their “Think Fast”, motivational experience in high schools. Beauti has just recently come together in this past year and have just finished their debut full length album. In the months of July and August we worked really hard in the studio striving to get the CD done before our deadline to leave for Ontario. With some of us taking the greyhound bus across the country and some of us driving we were all glad to finally arrive at our destination in Hamilton. For the past 2 weeks we have been hard at it with rehearsing and setting up the stage for tour. We have been consistent with a steady diet of KD and peanut butter and jam sandwhiches. All the food groups you need to play in a band :). We look forward to a bright future with LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) and hope to play a school near you on our Western Canada tour this upcoming Fall!For more information on Beauti, visit www.myspace.com/beautirock-Jordan, lead guitar

School of Leadership Begins…

 A Note from Kristi: a student in our SOL program,

 All of us students arrived between Tuesday and Wednesday, eager and excited as to what was about to handed over to us, and not really knowing what was to be expected in the least. The girls; Nikki, Tara, Teijna, Adele and myself; settled in with our awesome resident supervisor Gem Tuesday night, taking quickly to the idea of having a place of our own. Josh was set to arrive on Wednesday, and get settled in with the bands over at the boy’s dorm. Getting settled and comfortable in our new place was amazingly easy as everyone at LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) is so great, and continually tries so hard to make us feel at home here.

Nettie and Meghan showed all of us girls around Hamilton on Wednesday, helped us to get our footing in the city, and told us a little bit about what was about to become our lives. And on Thursday, the festivities began.

Thursday morning was our first “class” if you could call it that. It started out with us meeting Josh, the one boy to join our awesome little group and he defiantly added to our dynamic. Now fully equipped with an amazing group of students, we started to our days work. Sometime tedious but always fun, we did our paperwork and started on the basics of what our program really expects. While drudging through papers, we got to know each other a little better and found ourselves pretty intrigued as to what our next class would bring.That night we found ourselves amongst almost every LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) employee and friend, at a BBQ. We spend the evening eating and chatting it up with what seemed like a million different amazing people, each one just as equally shocking and welcoming as the last. We returned home pumped up and looking forward to seeing all these people on a day to day basis, slightly nervous as to all the interesting moments to come.

Friday morning [this morning] was a fresh day, and off we went to the office building to start the rough task of sharing our stories together and working on putting the show together. We learned a lot about ourselves, and our teams. It was a long day, filled with raw emotion and complete closeness within our little group turned family.

Tomorrow morning it has been planned to take us all to Toronto, which seems to have some pretty interesting prospects. That being said I think it’s time for us all to crawl into bed, and get ready for another busy day.

-Kristi