IB ORIENTATION - MAMA AND PAPA HOME.

As our first introduction into Service, we visited the Mama and Papa home in Kalutara, near to where we were having our IB Orientation. We spent a couple of hours playing with the children at the Mama and Papa home - a home for children whose parents could not cope with the responsibility of raising a child, also, many of these kids are differently abled, further adding to the responsibilty that many of these parents would not be able to support. We took art supplies for the home, and so we spent a couple of hours drawing and painting with the children. Seeing that look of happiness on their faces as they are determined to make their paintings a masterpiece. Every stroke of the brush and every line with the pencil, reveals a look of gentle satisfaction on their faces. That we were able to supply them with this and be able to give them the supplies to give them some amusement, even if it would only be for a few hours.
After we finished with the children and the art supplies, we went to the grounds of the other orphanage, where we played with the children. Some of the students in our grade played cricket and basketball with some of the boys. However, I played along with some other of the girls in our grade with some of the younger girls, they wanted to play tag and catch. Although there were a few injuries, I think that we all had a good time playing and running around. It was a lot of fun, and I am glad that we had the chance to do this on our trip.

SGA.

As our first duty as the SGA Executive Committee, Sajiv, Dylan, Ichiro and I decided that we would use the DJ kit that we bought this year for the SGA and learn how to DJ ourselves.

Goals:
Learn how to DJ
"Turn the tables" at the OSC Back to School Mingler, the first OSC event of the year.

There is a parent at the school, Janie Chalmers who was a professional DJ in Thailand, and we asked her if she would help us with this task. When we first came up with the idea, we thought that it would be easy, just put some songs together and play them. However, we quickly learnt that it was much the opposite. As a DJ, you have to know the beats, you have to know the moods of the song that you are playing so that you can decide what to play next; for example, you cannot play Hip Hop and move straight into House, as they are of two very different genres. Also, you have to know which points in the song that you are able to change songs at, whether you slowly go into the next song, or if you have to do a quick changeover.
We spent hours over two weeks practicing for the event, getting our playlist together, making sure that we got our cues right, and that we knew all the songs that we were playing. We each had a set, and we each had a specific genre that we would have to play - Sajiv played the "radio" stuff, the slower music to get the party started, Dylan would play hip-hop, I would play the House/Electronic, and Ichiro would come in whenever we would need him, as he is very good at knowing when he needs to changeover etc, just by looking at the beats, not even really knowing the music.
At the Mingler, we found that our "surprise" to the school was not as well-received as we had hoped. Many people began complaining very quickly about the music, and even more thought that because they knew us they were able to control the music and tell us what to do. Because of all of the complaints, and people demanding that we play the house music, I had to play for much of the night, and much of what we had rehearsed was thrown completely out of the window, and I had to improvise. Another factor that really through us all off was the quality of the sound in the auditorium, and obviously the quality of our music.
Overall, I found something that I loved doing; during the practices, and by the end of the night, I found myself unable to let the headphones go, or remove my fingers from the mixer. I achieved the goals that I set for myself, and I have learnt from this experience.

What I learnt:
That people are never satisfied.
Students at our school like Bob Sinclair.
You need to have more back-up music.
I need more practice at this, and not to panic so much when I am put on the spot.
I love DJing.