The beginning of the new school year is full of mixed emotions for many students alike. But the beginning of your last year of high school is filled with great joy as you have finally reached the top of the mountain. In ten months you will graduate and move onto university. In September of 2000, I entered grade 12, and it was on that first day, that I was introduced to the IDU.
The Interdisciplinary Unit was worth ten percent of our final grade in each class, and all that we were told was that it would take place in February, and that we would work in teams of four. I, like many others, was rather concerned, as teachers were telling us very little about this IDU, which was worth 10% of our final grade in each course.
Finally we were informed in the New Year that the IDU would be on Robotics, and that we would not have any classes. We would have ten hours of work to complete in each class, as well as a group focus project in one month. The theory behind the IDU was that we would learn how things would be like in university. Automatically, the dumber students saw this as a month long vacation, while I was more concerned about a group. I knew that my friends in Drewcasfilm would surely be a part of it, but nothing was official. Quickly a group was formed with O’Brien, King, and myself. However, Long-time Drewcasfilm member, and spiller of grape pop, Phil callously abandoned us in favour of another group. With less than a month before the beginning of the IDU, we needed a fourth member.
Enter Brian Aikman. Coming highly recommended from O’Brien, Aikman was quickly accepted among our ranks. In addition, because of his hilarious demeanour and down to earth attitude, Aikman became an honorary member of Drewcasfilm. Finally, The IDU began, and we were hard at work...finding a fort that we could work in. We found a small unused room in-between the gym and the losers half of the cafeteria. Mind you, the losers half was still more respectable than where the table was located, but hey, we all make mistakes.
Regardless, we had our MattCave (yeah that’s right O’Brien), and while we would be kicked out days later, we did manage to get some work done. Each class had ten hours of work that had to be completed. However, we soon found out that the ten hours were only if you were a complete moron that didn’t work at school or at home. So in each class, we would complete assignments that involved the subject we were studying and robotics. For example, in English, we studied short stories involving robotics, how robots would interact in society in Sociology, and so forth. Never mentioned though, were the theories of Professor John Frink.
Those being "all robots will eventually turn on their masters and run amok in an orgy of blood and kicking and the biting with the metal teeth and the hurting and the shoving."
In Law class, we had to watch a movie that involved robotics and surprise, the law. Mrs. Dugas’ choices included Bicentennial Man, and an old episode of Star Trek. O’Brien and I were pushing for another movie. Something involving the Future of Law Enforcement. You know, part man, part machine, all Cop!
Unfortunately, she did not agree and we were stuck analyzing some stupid episode of Star Trek. Was there a word in Klingon for my annoyance? Probably, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about Star Trek, so we’ll just move on.
As I stated above, we finished our work quickly in the IDU and were left with little to do. Instead of working on the focus project, we were planning Lazer Tag trips, Movie Nights, and a possible road trip to Halifax. The Halifax road trip went well, with us watching Sygfried and Roy on Imax (O’Brien’s idea), and the introduction of a Drewcasfilm favourite, the Honk ‘N’ Wave. We met this one lady while we waited at an intersection.
As you can tell from the picture, she was none too happy with us honking at her.
We also made a big mess at the Honey Garlic Buffet for our beloved waitress, Smiles.
As the end of the month came, the focus project due date was pushed back to the 10th of March, because not all of the students *cough* could get everything done. With this in mind, I didn’t worry about it because O’Brien assured me that he had a great idea, and we continued to have fun.
I’m actually surprised that he didn’t suggest that we make a scale model of Megatron, but I guess guns and schools really don’t mix.
So as the date approached, the idea that O’Brien had come up with was some sort of motorized scooter and the practical uses for it. I still don’t know much about, but we made a project out of it...eventually. We still had a Lazer Tag trip to go on.
The trip went incredibly well as our group played lazer tag, pool, and took pictures of Aikman and King with some interesting gowns at Frenchy’s.
On our way back, O’Brien attempted a Honk ‘n’ Wave on a little old lady walking across the ice. Let’s just say that it startled her, and that I have never seen an old woman jump that high before. We also drove around Coldbrook, stopping in some restaurants, and re-enacting one part of Denis Leary’s "Asshole". We ended up at Phil’s place and watched Army of Darkness.
After that we went to Acadia where we were supposed to start and finish the project. However, this plan hit a snag when we arrived in Wolfville.
O’Brien and I needed $23 in pennies to pay for a group picture that had been taken of the table (a group of acquaintances). This $23 was for one picture, and we both felt the price was too high, considering what it was of. The only plausible solution was to give her 2300 pennies and let her deal with it. Sidenote: One girl’s mother worked at the studio, so we expected to get a deal. Regardless, we spent the next hour and a half buying pennies form local merchants. That Monday we gave her the pennies in a sac with a dollar sign on it. Ah, memories!
So with our booty in hand we headed to Acadia, where instead of working on the project, we listened to Aikman’s opinion on the popular groups.
Monday came, and with most groups ready to pass in their projects, we were ready to begin ours. We went directly to O’Brien’s house where, after looking at some porno magazines, we finally started the project. King and O’Brien worked on diagrams, while I outlined a marketing report on the scooter, explaining its uses and such. Aikman did nothing, but nobody really minded, because he kept group morale high.
The next day we passed in our project and waited for it to be torn apart. That day never came as we received a 93% for our project. Our evaluator found it to be imaginative and practical for the future. I’m not really sure why, but hey 93% is good. I do find similarities between our scooter and the "Segway" which would be introduced months later, but its safe to say that its just a coincedence.
The fact that we did the project at the last minute and still got a great mark enraged the chick I was dating at the time, who, although she got 100% for her group’s story, worked really hard to get it. Our high grade also made a mockery of the entire IDU, as we didn’t work as hard as we could have.
So in one month, we got a new member of Drewcasfilm, created the Honk ‘N’ Wave, delivered justice in the form of 2300 pennies, and spent lots of time debating on who would win in a fight between Bumblebee and the Mousers from Ninja Turtles.
Not bad considering we did it with no references to Mr. Roboto.
