Analyse That!!!

Don't hold your breath!

2007-10-09T01:28:00.000+10:00

I think I need to go for a change in colour scheme on this blog. Maybe I'll sit down tomorrow and deal with that.
Then again, I probably won't.

So, I had a great summer travelling all around, but there's far to much I could say about it so I won't say anything. I've written the odd email, and I've got to have some stories left to tell people when I get home, don't I?

It's been over a month since this term started. I've done things some weekends and generally kept myself occupied in an attempt to stave off boredom. Some weeks I'm more successful than others.

The first weekend back I had to stay here, because that's the rule for the first and last weekends of terms. They're called "Closed Weekends" and they are the only weekends when the girls actually have to stay here. Mind you, they almost always have to stay here Friday nights, because they have school on Saturday morning. I don't envy them! I don't have to work then, though, so I don't mind.

I've moved into a different bedroom this term. It's good - I now have twice as much space for all my junk. It's amazing; I have just over double the storage space, and I'm still using it all! It's got two bed in it too, which is a nice improvement because now Siobhan can come and stay without having to take up the entire floor space with a folding bed.

On another weekend Siobhan came here and we visited a place called Basildon Park. It's an old house which is kept up by the National Trust, and it's also where they filmed the 2005 "Pride and Prejudice" - which I haven't seen. We had to catch a train and then walk quite a long way to get there. But it was nice... I think it would be weird, though, to live somewhere that big and with that much land around it. Nice, yes, but weird!

The weekend just after Siobhan's birthday I went to stay at her school and we and a bunch of the people she works with went out to go clubbing on Saturday night. I quite enjoyed it, though we didn't actually make it to a club owing to various factors: we left a bit late, we didn't know where would be best to go, and most places wouldn't let any more in (because it was late/they were full). Oh well, guess we'll know better next time.

One weekend I stayed here and it was pretty boring. I was hoping to relax and be less tired the next week, but I ended up exactly the same as before. I can't sleep!

Last weekend I went and stayed with Siobhan. She had various stuff on, but in between we watched some old episodes of Friends and some of the last Blackadder series (I bought them on video for 50p each), and Saturday evening I watched "10 Things I Hate About You" for the umpteenth time (I love it) with the German and Spanish assistants there. They'd both seen it before, only not in English.

In two weeks we're going to Ireland. Should be fun!

That's all for now.

'kay, you can stop reading...

no, really.

=D

Cornwall and more

2007-06-06T20:03:00.000+10:00

Last week was another half-term break. Verena visited Siobhan for the first weekend (she was here Thursday to Tuesday morning), and I went to stay with Siobhan too, once I got to leave on Saturday, after Speech Day.
With Verena we spent a bit of time in London, going to Harrods and the National Gallery and things. Before I joined them, they'd also been to the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge and Oxford Street. It rained the whole time and we got soaked, especially me, because I didn't have a waterproof jacket. I was also wearing 3/4 pants and sandals, because I'd packed for warmer weather (it had been nice all week...)
On Wednesday Siobhan and I went to Cornwall, which was nice and relaxing, though it was a pity it rained the whole time we were in Newquay. We spent two nights there and two in St Ives. We liked St Ives more because it was less tacky; being able to walk around without getting soaked probably helped, too.
I haven't organised my photos yet, so sorry about that. However, if you've got me on facebook then have a look at the pictures from "Saturday night" - they're quite amusing and Siobhan is in a few too.
That was very succint for me.

=D Shorty

Update

2007-05-30T02:21:00.001+10:00

Hello Everybody!
I haven't posted in ages, mostly because I keep wanting to put up some photos and it takes forever from these computers. So instead I'm goint to forget photos and just write an update on my life and what I've been up to.

Today I'm not doing anything, because I need to repack my things. I spend the long weekend (Sat-Mon) at Siobhan's school, which was fun because we went into London and visited various places. Also ran into Steph Borys and Jess Scranton (other ex-Abb girls) in Harrods yesterday. Slightly weird, though I didn't think so at the time. We had Verena visiting from Germany (she was Siobhan's exchange student in yr 11), and she flew out very early this morning. It was nice to see her again; I hope she had a good time.

Tomorrow I'm going to Cornwall with Siobhan, which is why I need to pack all over again. We're going to Newquay, which is where people go if they want to surf, and to St Ives, which is supposed to be very pretty. The weather over the weekend was pretty awful, but the sun's been out most of today, so I hope we get good weather for a bit longer. I need more sun exposure!

Feel free to let me know what you're up to! I hope to update this again soon.
=D

Paris! 10-16.2.07

2007-03-16T22:30:00.000+11:00

Somehow I never got arround to posting any pictures from Paris! Which is very sad, since it's now a month since Siobhan and I got back. We were over there from the 10th to the 16th of February - Siobhan was sick for a day or two, so we didn't go to as many places as we planned. We also went to Eurodisney, but I didn't take my camera that day, so Siobhan still has all those pictures.
I'm just going to pick a few of the better ones from my selection...

On our first day, we walked from our hôtel to the Arc de Triomphe. All the shops were closed, cos it was Sunday, but we though this bakery's display was pretty cool... This picture isn't fantastic, but oh well, you'll live.

You have to admit, it is pretty impressive. Of course, it would be even more so if the picture were larger. This is taken from the Champs Elysee side, as we arrived at the Place de Gaulle (the big roundabout). Sorry, I don't think I'll be bothering with all my accents on letters.

Hopefully I won't be in too much trouble with Siobhan for posting this -but I like this photo. The obelisk comes from Luxor. There are varying stories as to whether the French got it legitimately. Either way, it's pretty cool - and shiny!

One of the few pictures we got someone else to take for us. Actually the guy had almost the same camera as me. (And he was the second solitary Asian person who asked us to take a picture within about 10m). Oh, and yeah, that's the Eiffel Tower in the background.

ooh look, I'm up the Eiffel Tower.

One thing I hate with cameras is that you can't take photos of yourself the way you want. Here I am outside the Palace at Versailles, by the way.

The Moulin Rouge! It was quite close to where we stayed -I found it by accident when Siobhan was sick.

Siobhan in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Actually, the back half or it was being repaired, so half of the backdrop to that picture is actually a reflection!

The Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. I love the colour of the sky in this picture - it was getting dark, and they'd just turned on the uplights.

2007-02-23T19:27:00.000+11:00

Feast One Hundred & Thirty Two
Appetizer
Where on your body do you have a scar, and what caused it?
Where on my body don't I have a scar? I have a zillion exzema-related scars, but they're not that noticeable. The most obvious scar I have is probably the one on my shoulder, from the cyst I got removed last year.
Soup
What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?
Um. Nothing springs to mind.
Salad
Name a television personality who really gets on your nerves.
I don't really watch much TV. I'd have difficulty coming up with 3 names of personalities, let alone knowing enough about them to find them annoying.
Main Course
What was a funny word you said as a child (such as "pasketti" for "spaghetti")?
I used to sit in my pram and point at every "lau-a" I went past. (That's a flower, by the way)
Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have always thought ______ was ______.
I have always thought studing English was irritating. (The theory being, I want to just read the book, not write an essay on it)

=D that's all for now! I might put some pictures up this arvo.

My birthday and other events...

2007-02-09T21:23:00.000+11:00

I can't upload the picture I took of my Pi shirt, for some reason. So you'll have to imagine me wearing this until I can get it up. My parents got it for me.

(Actually I'm wearing it right now!)

I promised Jilly I'd wear this crown on my birthday and take a photo. (Yeah, so I didn't wear it outside my room.)

Lookee, my parents sent me flowers for my birthday. =D

My second cousin, my great aunt and me.

Here is the "slice" of my extended family that lives in the UK. Minus my Great Aunt - she was just visiting, she lives in Ethiopia. Oh yeah, and there are two more second cousins, whom I didn't meet.

And just for fun, I attacked a photo of a rose.

And that's all I've got on the computer so far... stay tuned!

pics

2007-01-29T20:55:00.000+11:00

Snowman! The day after it snowed, when all the rest had melted...

Pictures!

eotr- or maybe I just only pick ones I like to put up?
ali- haha sights? We spent the entire weekend in London and all we did was shop and wander round a little - we didn't go to any galleries or museums or anything.

And just for fun, check out my eye!

Photography at its finest...

2007-01-25T06:24:00.000+11:00

Yes, that's right, it's King's Cross Station!

Hampton Court Palace. Didn't go inside this time, but it's pretty cool!

Siobhan and I were on a ferry about to cross the Harbour at Portsmouth when her cousin took this photo. The ship behind us is the longest serving in the Navy - but I forget its name. You can google it if you care...

The Portsmouth Tower. I think it's actually called the Millenium Tower; it was only completed last year apparently! I though this picture was pretty cool.

Lots of pictures!

(More shall yet be seen)

2007-01-22T22:17:00.000+11:00

Me right after I arrived - the hat was in my room, I think Marnie won it or something.

A map of the school - found it in the carpark.

The school gates.

Wilkins House - or as much as I could fit into the photo. You can't see my room from this angle, it's on the first floor, more-or-less behind the centre of the picture.

So much for having left school!

long time no see

2007-01-22T21:47:00.000+11:00

Wow, I haven't been on here since the HSC...
I'm trying to decide how best to deal with my photos from Malaysia/Singapore and also the UK
I might post them here in small form if I can, because the QA's school system won't let me use the photo posting software in MSN spaces. Grr...

a time for reading latin...

2006-10-23T22:08:00.000+10:00

actually, a time for reading anything that's not study =D

I never have to do another English exam again!!! Wooo!
so I've read the introduction to Plato's Republic, sung lots of songs from musicals with my sister (well, we always do that) and read some Latin from last year's book...
Yay for Catullus...

vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
rumoresque senum severiorum
omnes unius aestimemus assis!
soles occidere et redire possunt;
nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
dein mille altera, dein secunda centum;
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum.
dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
aut ne quis malus invidere possit,
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.

yeah, I can't be bothered to write a translation for the whole thing.
Here's a translation for the bit in italics, but it does lose something in translation:
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred
then another thousand and a hundred;
then right up to another thousand, then a hundred.

over n out!

a time for freaking out slightly...

2006-09-23T20:37:00.000+10:00

yeah, so I'm supposed to be all grown up if I'm about to finish school, right?
and I'm supposed to know stuff. um, oops? I think there's a problem here...

OK so I realise that logically speaking I have no reason to freak out, everyone's in the same boat. blah blah, I do know stuff, blah blah, I am not actually going to fail anything, blah blah blah.

Unfortunately, knowing stuff in your head and acting on it aren't quite the same thing, and I'm getting stressed about the HSC. Dammit, I said I wasn't going to do that! I keep realising exactly how much I haven't done, and need to do, between now and various dates from the 20th oct to mid november... and it's got me more than slightly worried.
I've always said I was going to have no regrets, and I want to live by that. But sometimes it gets hard. You get tired, or sick, or depressed by something (or all of the above) and then somehow everything gets harder.

Why is it that the moment you have one negative thought going around in your head, more just keep following it? It's pretty darn irritating, really. You have to be careful or you get sucked into a downward spiral.
And compared to most people I know, I'd say I'm naturally a pretty optimistic person. Which leaves me rather worried for everyone else...

I can't believe I am about to start my last week of school! And it's not even a full week!
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo unbelievably weird! And exciting. And scary. And somehow very ethereal, or something.

I'm so excited about so many things!
My upcoming exams are (mostly) not included!
But that's ok!

I'm off to keep putting together a Maths class recipe book (gg!) and a yr12 scrap book that is going to (hopefully) contain lots of messages from people =D

it's exsmiting!

a time for decision making...

2006-09-10T17:07:00.000+10:00

and I'm so not ready to make any decisions at all...
I've spent quite a large proportion of my weekend reading up on university courses and the like - I started off thinking "how on earth will I find enough preferences to put on the list?!"
but now I'm asking myself "how in the world can I put all these in order?"

Also I still don't really know what I want to end up doing, which makes it kind of difficult to put in an application for anything.

Fun stuff. So far the list involves Engineering and Teaching... I'm kind of liking the idea of being in the Navy as an Electrical Engineer? - I need to look into that a bit more...

=D Shorty

a time for stress...

2006-08-02T17:24:00.000+10:00

If you know me, you are probably thinking something along the lines of: "Stress? her? As if!"

Unfortunately, even I have difficulty viewing two weeks of exams which count for around half my year's marks as "all fun and games." That said, I was a lot more worried yesterday than today, since I achieved a lot more last night than I think I have on any Tuesday night this year.
Which is why I am even on the computer today.

I've been making all sorts of interesting investigations recently. For example, I have discovered that my writing with my left hand is almost as neat as with my right hand - albeit a good deal slower. But I've enjoyed wasting copious amounts of time in copying out Latin translations with my left hand instead of my right. My theory is that if I can practice maybe I will get to the stage where they are (almost) the same.

I've also discovered that when all else fails and you've run out of drinking chocolate, milo and ovaltine, you can still use that brand new packet of cocoa that's hiding in the top of the pantry waiting for you to cook something chocolatey. And in the process I've decided that honey is mch easier to dissolve than sugar in cold milk - tastes nice too.

yep well as you can see I'm really in the mood for deep and meaningful discourse and discussion today. This may be related to the following breakdown of my day:
2½ hours of Latin
80 min Physics
80 min Maths
80 min discussing issues in society in German
and the intention is now to spend another 2-3 hours on maths and german... physics can wait, it's my last exam.

and now it's time for silly faces with Shorty!...
=D smile, it's science!
=| don't laugh, I just sewed my lips together
=* sour lemon!
=+ kiss me! alternatively, 'I am a fish'
=E buck teeth
=/ stop pinching my cheeks...

over and out!

a time for manners...

2006-07-10T13:19:00.000+10:00

Manners are an interesting thing to consider, really. I have just been at a German course and we discussed (among other things) what it means to be "civilised" ... It was actually quite amusing, but it got me thinking. Personally, I don't like the word (un)civilised, and what we were really talking about was manners, being polite and the like.

For example, I don't know about where you live, but here in Australia if you were invited to someone's house at 7pm you would be very unlikely arrive at 7pm (unless you happened to know the person really did want you there then). It would be considered much more normal to arrive at 7:15pm at the earliest, and possibly closer to 7:30pm. Why? You may well ask; it's hard to say. I guess we're just a rather laid back society and perhaps we're not that great at organising ourselves. But most Australians would probably agree with me that somehow it's not the done thing to arrive "early" (ie, at the specified time), since we know that we ourselves probably wouldn't be ready for our guests if they were to come at 7pm... we need that extra 15 minutes to half an hour to be completely prepared.
On the other hand, a German family (just as a convenient example cos we were speaking about them) would not be likely to be impressed if you turned up 15 minutes late... They'd just think it was downright rude of you. And they might well be right... But it's interesting how different cultures approach things differently.
As a personal example of this, I only just realised this morning what my exchange partner was angry with me for... When I was over in Germany I was a little bit shy and perhaps not as talkative as I might be here - I had difficulty expressing things I wanted to say in German so I wasn't all that confident. But I still thought it was weird that my partner got so annoyed at me, because she said I wasn't being very friendly. I didn't see what I'd done wrong, and the example she gave me was how I'd supposedly been really unwilling to talk to one of her friends when he was trying to be friendly.
Now, in Australia (and Engliand too but not worldwide), if someone says "How are you?" then you're expected to give a pretty non-committed answer. Something along the lines of "fine thanks" or "not too bad!"
Unfortunately, this is not usually the case in Germany... so when I was asked something along the lines of "how are you" I would, quite naturally for me, give a reply along the likes of "good thanks" and fully expect a more detailed question to follow. However, since the person I was talking to was German and therefore not quite so used to our complex array of "throwaway"* lines, he thought I was strange and uncommunicative.
*eg. "how are you" "I'm cold/hot" "Had a good week?" and so on. Sometimes it's hard to pick when these are used for throwaway purposes and when the person asking wants a more detailed response...

So much for that then. Oh and a useful(/less) German proverb:

Andere Länder, andere Sitten
Different countries, different customs

Oh, here's another odd habit: Wearing shoes inside the house. In my house we take our shoes off to come inside. We picked up the habit in Singapore (when we lived there) and it suits me quite well - I can spend most of the time without any shoes on. On the other hand, I got some very funny looks from my exchange partner's boyfriend when he saw a was walking around the house barefoot. I don't think he'd have cared about socks, that's what we all wore. But apparently it's considered odd to not be cold in winter, even with central heating...

Can you think of different customs people have, that might be seen as very strange by people in other countries?

a time for the time after time...

2006-06-15T19:31:00.000+10:00

schlaf nicht wieder ein du musst jetzt wach sein denn alles kann passiern und solltest du auch schwach sein es ist zeit für die zeit nach der zeit wär es soweit wärst du bereit wär ich bereit es ist so nah und doch so weit ist es so weit ist es soweit
(from Traurige Lieder by Söhne Mannheims)

the title is the literal translation for the lyrics in italics up above... Das Lied hört sich ganz schön an, finde ich. Irgendwie sowohl sanft als auch stark. Komisch, ne?
sorry, the occasional lapse is into German is necessary. Most people that know me would agree that it's a common occurence, but it usually passes quickly.

So unbelievably excited about next year! I can go lots of places I've been wanting to do to for years... Hopefully I can even visit Sarah in Skandinavien =D yes, that's Scandinavia. Denmark is where she'll be, to be precise. After all these years of being obsessed - and being called Dutch =P - she's finally going there, so I am going to visit her too.

Proof that Latin is weird... Read this! It's a man called Lucretius writing a lecture on Epicurean philosophy - in the form of an epic poem.
Firstly I want to tell you that the mind, which is often called the intellect, in which the guiding and controlling force of life is located, is a part of a human just as much as the hand, foot and eyes exist as parts of the whole living being. Some people have incorrectly said that the mind's consciousness is not fixed in a specific part, but is some sort of life-giving state of the body, which the Greeks call a "harmony"...
However, we must not think that the soul is made up of a single substance ... So the nature of the soul has been discovered to be threefold [made of air, heat and wind], but all these three are not sufficient for the creation of consciousness, since ... these things cannot create the movements required for sensation and whatever the mind thinks about. Therefore there must be a forth substance. It is completely without a name, and nothing exists that is more mobile or tenuous than it...

Well I'd better stop there because, as fascinating as I find my Latin translation, I doubt you feel the same about it as me =D

a time for evil...

2006-06-06T20:14:00.000+10:00

mwahaha...
Ok, so it's the sixth of the sixth of the sixth... Yay. I always like dates with patterns in them - but I usually find more patterns than most people. I like the fact that it's still the beginning of the century because there are more patterns that way.
I mean, you get ones that are all the same, like today, you get ones that are almost palindromes (if you ignore the zeros) like 6.1.06 and then there are more obscure ones, like 30.5.06 (see, 5x6=30)... as you can see, anything'll do really.

I just think it's funny that anyone would make a big deal of it. I mean, it's quite predictable that someone would release a movie called "The Omen"... and Slayer releasing an album? Gee, never saw that coming!

I saw "V for Vendetta" on the weekend. Well, I saw about two thirds of it, having arrived late at my friend's house where everyone was watching it. I really enjoyed it though, so now I want to see the rest, that is, the beginning. I don't know why, but it really appealed to me.

Also, my sister got "The Princess Bride" on the weekend - such an amusing movie. Since she already has "Spaceballs" and she was talking about the good old "Robin Hood - Men in Tights" (Mum was then asking me if it's approriate...hmm...), it appears we've got a bit of a Mel Brooks collection going. Suits me!

bah I just noticed I pressed the wrong button yesterday and therefore didn't publish this...
oh well, it can be a day late.

a time for curiosity...

2006-06-05T18:21:00.000+10:00

I was thinking about school and uni and learning in general today, and I realised (if I hadn't already) that my main reason for having trouble deciding what to do is quite simply that I want to do everything.
no joke - I want to learn everything there is to learn, and more. And then I was thinking about that. Is it wrong to want to just keep on learning and learning? If you do that, you never end up working. Does that make you a burden to society? I mean, I guess you can get a part-time job of some description, but once you get to a certain stage, no one is going to want to give you a "real" job because you'll be overqualified - or just too old.
I really really love to learn about things... I like to find patterns in things, I like to know about things...
I like to find out the answer to every question I think of...

Curiosity killed the cat.
What's that supposed to mean anyway? An interesting point really...

Well anyway, I'm off to learn Maths... and Physics...

a time for amnesia...

2006-05-29T17:11:00.000+10:00

Don't you hate is when you have a great idea for something you want to write about, but then you forget before you next get to blog? It probably doesn't help that I haven't been on the computer in about a week...
So for want of my original topic, I'm going to write about music.
I bought two new CDs last week so I am very excited... You may not be but that's ok. They were Children of Bodom's "Hate Crew Deathroll" and Metallica's "Kill 'Em All" ... I had to rearrange my CD storage to fit them, but it suits me... My Cds live in a shoebox on my desk - I had them lined up along the shoebox like this but now there are two many so they are in two rows going across instead. One of these days I'll get a proper CD stacker, but at the moment my shoebox is probably more compact and less likely to fall over anyway...
Well I'm very happy with the music, which is probably related to the fact that I'd already heard some of the tracks from both CDs, but also because any metal makes a good backdrop to latin translation, in my opinion...
yes, I'm a nerd...

Speaking of which, I don't use linux but I do love this comic:

(I pinched it from www.indietits.com)

a time for contemplation...

2006-05-20T18:50:00.000+10:00

I do that a lot...
After commenting on someone's site - maybe enemy of the republic's, but I don't know - I was thinking about a Bible verse... so I thought I'd write about what I'd was thinking about it... a nice bit of "thinking with my fingers" as it were.
Sometimes my fingers think without me actually - it's a bit weird when I type the end of sentence without realising I'd decided to type that...
So, the verse:

1 Samuel 16:7b
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

I think this verse is really relevant in looking at the Christian faith... It reflects the difference between God's ways and people's ways, and it's also got a great explanation of why Christians need to keep an eye on the things they do and say.
Most Christians (feel free to disagree, by the way) would agree that committing a sin is not going to cut you off from God forever, once you've accepted Jesus Christ as your saviour. Whether you've lied, cheated, committed adultery, stolen or murdered someone, forgiveness is still on offer if you truly have faith and repent.
So a Christian who is truly following Jesus will not only want everyone to be forgiven and turn to Christ (as opposed to wanting revenge or ostracising them), but they will also be aiming to find opportunities to explain this to people.
I'm not saying this is a licence to go out and do the wrong thing "since I'll be forgiven anyway" but I am saying that it's not the be-all and end-all of your faith... there are more important things than judging other people. Let he who has commited no sin throw the first stone. If you're completely innocent, only then might you have an excuse for judging others.

On the other hand, one of the most common "turn-offs" for non-Christians would definitely have to be a hypocrite. No one wants to be "preached at" by some loser who is always doing the opposite of what he or she is saying anyway. And that's why Christians need to be beyond reproach in everything they do - or at any rate, they need to be doing their utmost be irreproachable, and they need to admit it when they do make mistakes... pretending you're perfect isn't going to acheive anything if everyone around you can see clearly that you're not.

hum-de-dum. I hope you don't think I'm a hypocrite now too. I know I make mistakes, and I also know I'm particularly blind to my own mistakes, so I have to work hard to realise them... But don't we all?

a time... no time...

2006-05-17T19:20:00.000+10:00

come on, you don't expect me to actually update do you? I will do so properly sometime soon.

ok I think the reason I haven't updated much is because I have now got a little notebook which I put everything in ... and so instead of blogging things that usually I'd write about I tend to just write in there.

and yes, I do mean everything from Rants to Circle Geometry calculations to Latin research to my experimentation with Celtic Knotwork(which incidentaly is great fun) ...

a time for antipathy...

2006-04-26T13:18:00.000+10:00

I was reading a book last night and really enjoying it... It was a collection of Sherlock Holmes' cases (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - I picked it up in an op shop last week but it's a really nice hardcover edition) but as I was reading I'd completely forgotten that among other odd things, Holmes is a cocaine addict. So it surprised me slightly when it came up again, since it had slipped my mind.

Now normally that sort of thing doesn't bother me - lots of characters have their foibles, since that's what helps make them believable - but for some reason that was just a really niggling thing that stuck in my mind. After a while I stopped reading because it was getting pretty late, but for some reason Dr Watson's comments on Holmes' cocaine addictions stuck in my mind.

I hate drugs. They really, really bother me - I just can't understand how people can do that to themselves! I guess everyone has things that bother them... Like my Mum, who just detests swearing and it really does bother her whenever she come across it... But I've never actually thought about it before.

I'd put my book down and turned off the light, but I just couldn't sleep because it annoyed me so much that anyone would takes drugs like cocaine or opium or anything like that. I know it's just a book, and in that context addictions to substances like opium were relatively common, particularly in Bohemian circles (the book is set in the 1880s)...

But it just seems absurd that people will even get themselves into a situation that could cause them to become addicted to mind-altering substances, and it really does make me just shudder to thing about it. It's weird, but it really disturbs me.

Argh. I'm going to stop now because I'm getting myself all worked up about it. But I really can't find words strong enough to express my feelings on the matter... What happens to people and how they are...

It's horrible.

a time for holidays!...

2006-04-22T17:46:00.000+10:00

I just got back from a few days away with my friends. We stayed in a caravan park on the Central Coast, which was great fun... here's the list of stuff and you can work out the story for yourself =D or ask me, I guess.

8 guys
4 girls
a few visitors (including 2 girlfriends)
3 tents
a trailer (ie caravan) for a few nights
beach nearby (plus surfboards and various footballs)
a fishing trip (a small fish, $50 and a bunch of disgusted onlookers)
a pack of cards (games ranging from go fish! to 500 to Old Maid)
new york monopoly
op shopping (odd clothes)
wax strips (and various red rectangles of skin)
chess (yay for simmy)
a lot of digital cameras

and now for Friday's Feast
Appetizer
List 3 things you keep putting off.
School work, tidying my room, going for a walk (but I did that today, yay)

Soup
What do you feel is your greatest responsibility?
Hard to say. I guess looking after people - I look after kids quite a bit, but also it's important to look after my friends, if that makes sense.

Salad
If you could have starred in any movie, which one would you have wanted to be in and why?
I don't really know. I guess a musical would be fun cos I like singing, or maybe just a funny movie everyone likes... I wouldn't want to be in a movie that everyone thinks is stupid.

Main Course
What is an expectation you had as a child about being an adult and, now that you are grown up, you realize you were wrong?
I still don't feel grown up... Well I guess that's something - I thought it would somehow be different to be older, and it is, but things change so slowly you don't notice till a long time afterwards.

Dessert
When was the last time you had your car serviced?
I don't own a car... and I don't know when my parents' cars were serviced either.

a time to speed...

2006-04-12T21:31:00.000+10:00

no, not speeding in my car, though I have to admit I've done that too
but speeding as in writing quickly cos I need sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. badly.

~Sewing~still going strong... though I dunno if I'll be finished by tomorrow night, which is a pity cos I was hoping I would be.

~Op Shop~Op shops (that's the Salvo's or Vinnie's or whatever you want to call it) are awesome! They have so much random stuff there, it's great. Unfortunately I didn't take enough money with me (I'm poor) when I went to my local Vinnie's today but I still got some stuff. Yay! I got two dresses (well actually I think they're nighties) to layer for the "Rubik's Cube" party I'm going to tomorrow. One is orange and one yellow... If I finish the corset it will be laced up in green, if not I'll just have to resort to mismatched (one green, one white) arm warmers... yessss! =P

beddy-byes for me!

a time for sewing...

2006-04-10T17:51:00.000+10:00

~Sewing~well my corset is coming along quite well... I've almost completed the left half of it, so that's good, I guess. I also got eyelets and more stays (cable ties!) on the weekend, so I will actually be able to put all the bits together as I go now without worrying about waiting for different pieces.
It's turning out really well and I'm super excited.

~Time~I also haven't blogged in a while. Stupid school. Three more days of term, last assessment tomorrow, a massive stack of physics stuff to do be wednesday and I don't think I'm going to even think about any other subjects (apart from English for the assessment) till the holidays start.

~Coding~I'm working on possibly making some tables or something, but I probably won't put them on this blog... I always feel either really juvenile or really geeky trying to do any coding - but usually the former, because I don't have enough skillz for the latter.

~Readership~It's interesting to think that nobody will actually read this, most likely. Well, may one person or even two, but that's hardly a bucketload, now, is it? Then again, I don't know if I'd want a huge number of people compulsively reading my blog... it's not exactly that enthralling, so to be honest I'd probably be a bit worried!

~Easter Show~Well you've got to love the Sydney Royal Easter Show! It's great fun, I went on Saturday with two friends and it was quite enjoyable. I got a liquorice lovers showbag which is all quite yummy, we went and rides and looked at things...

I have to go!

A time for driving...

2006-04-01T19:00:00.000+11:00

I have a provisional licence! it's great! now i can drive where ever I want, whenever I want ...well, provided I'm allowed to use the car... It's mum's, but it's not like she uses it that much, and especially not at times I want it...

right, I'm off to sew more of my corset.
It's black.
I might post pictures of it when I'm done... but I've lost my digital camera so we shall see...

a time for singing...

2006-03-27T18:15:00.000+11:00

When is it not a time for singing? Apparently singing for 30 minutes a day will (help) keep you healthy... And I have to admit, I probably keep myself quite happy in that respect...
But whether you are a concert soprano with perfect or whether people call the RSPCA to "rescue those poor cats!" when you start singing, I honestly don't think it matters. The important thing isn't to be able to sing well, it's just to express yourself through the music. OK, I admit I'm not suggesting that everyone can sing just as well as another, but I really do believe that anyone who really (and I mean really) wants to learn to sing well can do it - just so long as they keep a good perspective with regards to their own voice; almost all of us are unfortunately unable to sing as well as [insert your favourite singer here] (and no, rap does not equal singing - it's a form of expression but it's not a display of vocal talents...)
I guess music isn't for everyone - but that what makes people interesting. Some like music, some like books, computer games, poetry, visual art, anime, sports of all descriptions... and the list goes on. We don't all like everything, but everyone likes something; everyone has something that helps them relax or that they enjoy getting out and doing.

I think my original point, which may have been somewhat buried by the extended reasoning, was that singing can be a great way to express yourself. You can pick songs that are happy, sad, angry... And by extention, I guess you can pick different songs to listen to depending on your mood - although for me, the song doesn't have to match my mood by any stretch of the imagination.

It's also great if you can start to express yourself in a way you enjoy. I mean, there are loads of people around who do things like write short stories or poems, make their own movies, start their own bands and so on. I guess I've moved slightly away from what helps you relax to what makes you tick. I always find it really sad when people have somehow lost that connection with the things that they enjoy most... who can honestly say they've never felt they were just "too busy" to do something thing they really wanted to do?

So my encouragement to everyone out there is to remember the things you really enjoy, to make time for them every once in a while, and to share them with others too! It's a great way to feel good about your friendship with them, and you can get some encouragement from it, too.

An afterthought: ...it's amazing what happens when you sit down with a keyboard in front of you and no idea what you want to write...

a time for blogging...

2006-03-22T18:32:00.000+11:00

As you can see I've had such an #eventful# day that I have no decent title for this post...
(please note... #=sarcasm, just like *=action)

Driving
I did have a driving lesson this morning... I learned how to reverse park efficiently and also lots of useful tricks to help me pass my test. I also exceeded the speed limit once. Oops. But I shall not be doing that again, I think. I now have lots of stuff to practice, and I was also later to Latin... For about the 5th time in about 5 lessons!
Punctuality (or lack thereof!)
I don't know how I keep being so late for everything, and it's getting really annoying. I always run right on time right up until about 5 minutes before I have to be anywhere, then all of a sudden I'm running late. It's stupid, but it's what happens.
Food
is pretty good stuff... Shorty says: "Eat in Responsibly" or maybe that should be "Eat in Moderation" =P I made chocolate brownies yesterday and it was weird cos they turned out really different to usual even though I used the normal recipe... but they were really yummy so that was ok. Well at least everyone seemed to like them so I was happy...
Movies
can be "totally awesome dude" or terrible or just plain confusing. I had great fun sitting around quoting "10 Things I Hate About You" today at lunch (I love that movie...). Then there are the weird movies like Napoleon Dynamite - it's such a "Cult Movie" and it's got it's funny bits but I can't say I exactly loved it. Then there are weird movies I get conned into watching that I enjoy for the sake of enjoying them but I'd never choose to see them (including Jarhead, Shaun of the Dead - two I can think of). Then there are random quotes you remember from various movies... eg. various Dory quotes from "Finding Nemo" (btw nemo=nobody in Latin!) like the "Swimming" song and "42 Wallaby Way Sydney," the description of "prairie dogging" from Rat Race (if you haven't seen it don't worry), and although it's not directly a quote, who could forget all the phallic imagery picked out by their English teacher during various film studies...?

I have to do Latin, Maths, Physics...
ah the joys of the final year of school - who could shrink from high workloads with little or no feedback and multiple counts of concentration drain?

a time for emotion...

2006-03-21T20:26:00.000+11:00

There is a time for just about everything, I think... I'm just not very good at showing the emotions, really.
That is, I guess, part of my reason for having a blog... I'm teaching myself to express myself. I'm perfectly happen not to express myself (I am a self-confessed introvert) but I think it's probably good to be able to do it. Also, it's practice in writing, and goodness knows I need that this year... stupid hsc...

but I don't think I'd ever be emo. I have nothing against "emos" (for want of a better word), I just find it difficult to be anything other than happy for an extended period of time. As maddy was saying a da or two ago, the idea of me getting angry is about as absurd as the idea of her being angry for a whole day. Which is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but I do manage to avoid being angry pretty much at any cost. I just get irritated.
Actually I can't even manage to stay annoyed enough to write a whole post without having given up on it... hence the "mood swing" in yesterday's post...

Well we did write a pretty amusing emo song on camp last week - I just have to get the lyrics from my friend... my favourite line would have to be this one though:
You wove a web around my heart
and tore my wounded soul apart
Ah the hilarity! well it was highly amusing to write... it was our "imaginative journey" we were undergoing after lights out =P

ok and time to go do more maths... actually it was good today I was able to do my revision questions =D
and i had a german test which has left me slightly worried about one thing but apart from that ok I guess...

a time for frustration...

2006-03-20T16:21:00.000+11:00

Oh life is so peculiar, you get so wet in the rain,
You get so warm in the sunshine, it doesn't pay to complain,
When I get up each morning, there's nothing to breathe but air,
When I look in the mirror, there's nothing to comb but hair,
When I sit down to breakfast, nothing to eat but food,
Life is so peculiar but you can't stay home and brood.

I've decided life really is super frustrating sometimes... Especially when it comes to things like school. I know it's not really that much of a problem - like seriously, the worst thing I have to complain about is my school assesments?! But it still sucks to have 2 assessments that were on the same day both moved to the next day instead. You were supposed to leave them on different days, duh!!! And so now they are both on Friday, which is much worse than Thursday because a) I have no preps on Friday and b) it's the last day of the week... it also means I probably can't go watch my friend's band perform on Thursday night even though I've been wanting to see them for ages, and I don't know what I'm going to do about food for my Latin class on Friday arvo either. It's not that high a priority, but it is my turn to do it.

But it's ok, really, because there are lots of good things in life too =D Well I have quite a few things I'm happy about at the moment...

New Music

All That Remains

Fozzy

The Truth

Bleeding Through

New Library

"Alternative"

Well I haven't got much else to relate apart from that, so I guess I'd better go waste my time some other way and let my Dad have the computer.
I also need to study for that maths assessment...

a time for love...

2006-03-12T12:09:00.000+11:00

It seems to me that everyone is obsessed with love... it's just a human thing. I don't just mean the cloying "Valentine's Day Card" type of love, or even just "boy and girl"-type love, but any sort of love. Friendships of all sorts, closer relationships, families... Well not everyone would say that they love their family, but I find that a pity. The less you love your family, the more dependant you are on other sources of love. Because everyone needs to feel loved, don't they?
If you talk to people who are sad they're always telling you how nobody loves them. Yes, there are other reasons people can be sad, but that's a pretty major one. And the really sad thing is that usually there are lots of people around who would be happy to be there for them if only they knew they were needed. I was thinking about this yesterday, cos I was at a friends party and one of his friends (whom I didn't actually know, I'd never met her) was really upset because she said everyone hated her and she had no friends... then later we were sitting around (she wasn't there) and someone mentioned how they'd love to spend time with her cos they thought she was a great girl and I was thinking how messed up things are when someone can be so upset with people all around them eager to be friends with them.
the world is stuffed.
unanswered questions: why do people decide they're unloved? why do they then pull away from the people that love them? why don't families work? why don't friendships work out? why are people so mean and vindictive and unfriendly to each other? why is there malice?
why?

where is the love?

a time for amusement...

2006-03-09T08:54:00.000+11:00

Well I'm sitting around reading blogs and generally wasting time when really I should be off in the common room and either desperately reading up on physics (please) or translating more latin.
But instead I'm thinking about the greater things in life... or something...

My sister's just flown off for a week... well I won't see her for a bit longer than that cos I'm going a way before she gets back, but still... she's in her first year of high-school and off she goes to sing with her choir, "cool as a cucumber" as it were. I hate cucumbers.
There are definitely some advantages to mordern technology. I mean, I guess aeroplanes aren't really that modern a technology anymore, but people certainly get to use them a lot more. The first time I went on a plane I think I was about 3 years old. My Dad was about 21. I was flying on probably a boeing 767 or maybe 747; my Dad was in a biplane with a friend. Actually we were both flying in the same direction, but that's not really relevant. There's quite a difference, we've become a lot more dependant on this sort of travel... I mean, when my Dad was young, his father would go off on business trips for months at a time... or at least weeks. My Dad can easily go for one day, two, a week, just because of the changes in technology (and also because there are so many more people flying).
Then there's technology like mobile phones. Come on, we all know about them. About 10 years ago the only person I knew with one was my grandmother, and it was from her work (and it was a brick). A year or two later my Dad got one, and from there it's spread rapidly. In my age group it's amazing if a person doesn't have a phone - 5 or 6 years ago it was probably more surprising if they did.

And so I sit around and ask myself whether this is a good thing or whether it's bad. I think just about everyone will agree it's very convenient, but is that the point? Are we somehow losing something in our adoption of these "wonderful" new technologies?
I see points both ways, and I can't actually decide for myself... Personally I don't think there's much chance of a reversal, so why fight the inexorable process that is our modern society. Come 50 years no-one will think it's modern, so what's the big deal? I'll think I was incredibly naive, and so will my children. I'll deal.

a time to be asleep and a time to be merry

2006-03-05T11:32:00.000+11:00

no, this time I'm serious - I'm sooo tired. For some reason I seem to be absolutely dead and I have no idea why.
I got a reasonable amount of sleep, I've been taking the stupid iron tablets... what more does my body want?

(far out I seem to have lost all ability to type "the" without actually typing "teh" and it's never been intentional ...grrr)

Something that really gets on my nerves:
I think it's really important to make your own decisions about things like that... and if you make a decision then either stick to it or change your mind only when you have a good reason! It's the same with everything... I'm so sick of my friends having one opinion which they've obviously thought about carefully then all of a sudden they change their minds to the complete opposite for no apparent reason... and if asked they are like "I just changed my mind" or "I got sick of that idea" or something like that. Ok, so maybe they do have a better reason for it. But if they do, they should try to give some impression of having a decent, well thought-out reason behind the change, even if they don't want to share it.

Ok so there is also the fact that I have had a bad weekend and I am now in a really bad mood. Somehow everything seems to have gone wrong and then my mum got annoyed at me as if I wanted it to be like that. Far out!!! So I'm trying to do some constructive "Stress abbauen" instead of going and yelling at someone... but maybe I should just go and sleep, since I'm so tired...
Or maybe I should go and learn some formulae...
sin 2A = 2sinAcosA
cos 2A = cos² A - sin² A
= 1 - 2sin² A
= 2cos² A - 1
tan 2A = ..... I forget.
So you see I still need to practise!
and that's only three of the 30ish things I wrote out to learn - which is about one term's worth of formulae... ahhhh shoot me now!

and I'm off to bed.

A time to rest...

2006-02-28T21:50:00.000+11:00

Well one could argue that I'm resting now...? You might have a bit of difficulty finding out what I'm resting from though...
well that doesn't matter, right?

Today was interesting enough. School was same ole same ole, not much going on really but that's ok - I have done approximately one third of the work I wanted to get done today, but that's ok! We can deal with situation, just one little baby-step at a time...
(why is there no one-third character? I can do ½, ¼ and even ¾, but not a third. Terrible.)

I was at Sibyl's today too... She has a bit of a thing about getting out of school - it happened last time she had a trip to look forward to, too... But oh well, let's just hope we can all make it through the year without deciding the only good part is the bit when everything is gone. Or "dying," since that's her biggest fear these days. But this can also be dealt with...

So anyway I should get some sleep today, because I'm serious I was so dead today... practically fell asleep before lunch, but just pulled through - my teacher must think I'm really weird!

Man I use way too many elipses... look, there I go again!

A time to be lazy...

2006-02-27T23:00:00.000+11:00

and since I'm being lazy I'm not going to make a very good post today... sorry people, but surely you know how it is...
Still, here's a brief introduction to me courtesy of Blogthings - which means it's a bunch of Barnum statements, but I think it was relatively accurate...

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion:

You have medium extroversion.
You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party.
Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences.
But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time."

Conscientiousness:

You have medium conscientiousness.
You're generally good at balancing work and play
When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.
But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it.

Agreeableness:

You have high agreeableness.
You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly.
Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone.
You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance.

Neuroticism:

You have low neuroticism.
You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.
Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.
Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure.

Openness to experience:

Your openness to new experiences is high.
In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas.
You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits.
A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

yes that's me - sort of...
More another day, maybe even with a real post!