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

4,451 Km

4451 Km,
65 hours,
And far to much fast food

Oh the joys of been on the road.

So here we are in Vancouver, after a short stop over in Winnipeg to catch up with the Hundredfold boys, (who treated us like royalty may I add).

Having looked round Vancouver and spent a couple of days with our amazing billets, we can officially say, we love the west coast. It reminds me a lot of the South Island of NZ.

We had a good fun show in Britannia today as well. Thanks for having us guys.

Hoping to meet a whole heap more of you soon.

The “A Team” is on the move

So the “A team” are ready to go, we have played local shows for the last month and have met some great people, stayed in some great houses, slept on some great couches.But next week we leave, we drive all the way to Vancouver and then work our way back for 6 weeks, over the mountains, across the prairies, and back to the beautiful and scenic metropolis of Hamilton, ON. (which I am always sad to leave behind)In that 6 weeks we should be speaking to around 20,000 students, all who have an amazing opportunity in life, an opportunity to make a difference. Thats all I need to remember every time we get up at 4 am, every time we unload and load the bus, every time we set up, only to take down an hour later, we don’t do this for us, we do this for you, one of the amazing people we meet each and every day, and for the people who’s lives you will effect and change in the future.15000 km, church floors, and not much sleep, and I’m really looking forward to it.This semester we are touring with All Left Out, a great band all the way from New Zealand, these guys have played on Warped tour for the last 3 years and have sold over 30,000 albums, so look forward to having them in your school, because they are awesome. You can check out their stuff on Myspace or on their website allleftout.com And you can also check out their video blogs on You Tube

Here we go…

So here we are, at the start of another year,  looking forward to another great tour!  Our band is called The Goodbye Celebration and they are super rad guys! You can check out their myspace at www.myspace.com/thegoodbyecelebration. We have three volunteers with us this year who are all new to the road so that should be pretty fun! There’s Nick from Alberta who has his own T-shirt making business! We also have Shelley from Waterloo who asked her parents to send her on a Hero Holiday for Christmas, I should have thought of that! Then last but not least we have Emily and she’s from Michigan, need I say more?So its looking like a pretty good tour so far. Maritimes here we come!! LOOK OUT!

It’s that easy?

Some people say that in order to get over the past, you have to leave it behind. At this moment, I don’t want to get over the past few months of my life. Since September, I have experienced moments that I hope to never forget .. there were also a select few that I may be traumatized by forever. :)I have the honor of co-leading one of LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)’s road teams – Team #1 (The A-Team) to be exact, with Kent. I started training for this position in November 2006, and may I just say that at times, no amount of “training” could have ever prepared me for everything that you encounter on the road. Experience is your best teacher, however, I like to be prepared as much as possible and always know what’s going on – some may even call me a control freak at times. Being on the road has calmed me down some, but I will be the first to admit that I have much to learn!For the 2007/2008 Fall semester of touring, The A-Team was comprised of the band ‘Hundredfold’ from Winnipeg, Manitoba and three of our School of Leadership students (Ali, Erika & Kimmie) as well as Kent and I. This was the very first year that I shared my story consistently in our presentation, and this allowed for a lot more opportunity to talk to students – which, the entire team would agree, is the best part of the road experience! As crazy and fun-filled as the road is, parts of it can become monotonous. After sitting backstage for 3 months, I can pretty much repeat word for word the entire show – and, after sharing my personal story almost every day, I begin to wonder if it has any affect on the people hearing it. I talk about my family’s struggle with Depression and suicide and how it affected my life and the choices I’ve made.However, something amazing started to happen, right at the beginning of the year. Students would start to come up to me after the show and share their past or present struggles. Why is this amazing, you ask? Because it showed me that it doesn’t matter our race, religion, or region, we share the same struggles. It showed me that we ARE able to rise above our present circumstances, to push past lies and walls that people build around us. We may slip up and make mistakes, but strength and courage is found in getting up and not allowing self pity to hold us down. You may be thinking “blah blah blah, I’ve heard this all before .. ” but there’s something powerful about sitting down with someone you’ve never met before and feeling their pain as they pour their heart out – it changes you. I have been changed and beyond that, challenged. Challenged to not look back, to never give up. So thank you to all of the students and teachers that found me after our presentation or sent emails. Your courage was not lost!In September, a student gave me a poem that she had written for a friend, and I’d like to share it with you.Throughout the ages, life’s been roughBut for teens, it’s just too toughThinking you found love, when it’s only hateTrying to fix it, when it’s just too lateFeeling like you only bring people painFeeling like you’re the only one to blameDepression grows, and gets too strongAnd suicide’s been on your mind too longSeeing the hurt in your friend’s eyesOnly opinion, feels like suicide.I try showing you that I careAnd that I’ll always be thereBut your mind is already madeAnd from this life, you just want to fade.Fade out of memories and out of lifeYou take one last look at the knife. Maybe if you heard what I wanted to sayIt wouldn’t have had to end that wayFor the next month, all I do is cryAnd ask why you committed suicide.Now a couple years have gone and pastBut your memory will always last.-poem written by Brittini Christine OgdenThis poem ends on a sad note, however, I am happy to report that this poem, written by a student getting her feelings out on paper to a friend going through troubled times, helped revive a friendship and possibly save a life. A great example of how simple it is to change a life. -Tinafaye

Thanksgiving Paragliding

So we were having a lazy thanksgiving day in Sylvan Lake, Alberta and needed to get some fresh air, so what better to do than to strap our Team 2 girls into an oversized piece of nylon with strings and toss them into the wind! Since we really didn’t have much of a hill, I hooked up some rope and tried out the old fashioned human tow:

I managed to launch Andy, Kelsey and Lena into the air for their first successful solo paragliding flights (not parasailing… that is what old ladies do in Mexico. Paragliders fly for hours and 100’s of km in a single flight with just the power of the wind). These girls caught very quickly, nailing some sweet landings and doing much better than Ricky Martin.The dog however has more interested in looking cool and eating boogers.After managing to pull of a bunch of small flights, I hooked up a longer rope to Kelsey and was able to pull her at 30 ft for the entire length of the soccer field for one awesome flight.

G-Wiz in Detroit

So on Saturday, my team, “Team 2” (aka Team Extreme) headed west for a 6 week tour in MB, SK, AB and BC… after we crossed the border a certain unmentioned individual took the wrong exit and ended up on the Detroit route instead of the usual more northern one.

Needing some lunch-time eats, I, er the driver, took an exit into an urban Detroit neighborhood because my google map said that there was a Wendy’s there. After giving the super-value menu a solid beating, we were waiting for one last straggler to get into the bus, when out of the blue this stranger hops in the bus to introduce himself. His name is G-Wiz and he is a rapper with 13.5 Records. He said when he seen the bus he felt an urge to come and talk to us. We start talking and it turns out that he his into the same positive message that LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) is. So I thought I would give a shout out to G-Wiz, check out his myspace at myspace.com/gwizdetroit