My Homepage

For the record, if I really wanted to I could make a much better homepage. But I basically spend half an hour whenever I feel like it, so I have a feeling this index page is just going to keep growing and growing. Sorry about that.. I promise (yeah right) that I will actually apply myself to designing a good homepage when I find the time. But if you find this rather conventional homepage a bit boring, I tried to spruce up the same content with this shell I wrote as part of Henry's Staircase, a member of the EngSci house. Enjoy!

If your computer has a sound card, click below to listen to The Moldeau, by the famous European composer Bedrich Smetana. Yes, it's a crappy midi file, but I'd rather not upload a 20 meg mp3 file to the geocities server :-p. I first learned of this piece when i took Grade 4 History, and this piece was definitely my favourite. It starts off slowly, but gets really exciting. This piece is called a "symphonic poem", since a story follows the song. Here is the passage describing this song, from Joseph Machil's The Enjoyment of Music, the required reading for RCM History:

In this poem the famous river becomes a poetic symbol of the beloved homeland. The music suggests the rippling streams that flow through the Bohemian forest to form the mighty river. A hunting scene is evoked by French horns and trumpets, and a peasant wedding in the lilting measures of a folk dance. The mood changes to one of enchantment as nymphs emerge from their fairytale haunts to hold their nightly revels. Finally, as the Moldau approaches Prague, it flows past castles and fortresses that remind the poet of this country's vanished glory.

Other than RCM music, my favourite artist would definitely be Enya. She has such an amazing voice, and I completely forget about my worries (i.e. skule) whenever I listen to her. I also listen to plenty of random pop and dance music when I'm bored, mostly on the iPaq h2210 PDA I picked up in July 2003.

International Baccalaureate (IB) Stuff:

What the heck is the IB (International Baccalaureate)?
Gravitational Microlensing Extended Essay
My Computer Dossier Project (Marks Manager)
International Baccalaureate at Upper Canada College

Some IB stats I got from my school newspaper:

Number of IB Diploma candidates in 2000 (annual increase of 10.3%): 15004

Number of schools providing the IB (worldwide): 1111

Number of countries with schools providing the IB: 105

Number of perfect IB scores worldwide: 29

Some stats specific to my school, Upper Canada College:

Number of IB exams written in 2000: 771

Number of IB candidates: 135

UCC's position as a school, worldwide, taking the greatest number of IB exams: 4

Number of UCC students who achieved a perfect score on the IB Diploma in 2000: 2