I just printed out 'Ma famille', 'The nature of religion' and 'Literary periods in history timeline', and I'm afraid all that homework I did in my study periods is slowly killing my printer. It makes weird noises now. I don't want to waste my earnings on a new printer. Boo. Today was a day of procrastination, which I'm gonna fix. Firstly, I feel like I spaced out in class a lot of the time. Especially in English. Maybe because on Thursdays I have only three classes, problem is they are each 1 hour long which sucks. And then I spent like 2 hours at a frozen yogurt cafe after school instead of going straight home, and then I actually watched TV when I got home (while practising piano which let's just say, does not work with TV) and now here I am typing this. From now on, I solemnly swear not to do anything but music theory, homework, piano and French revision after school. Honestly promise.
Except I have to go on about frozen yogurt. It's amazing. I've had a new respect for it since eating Pinkberry in America. Oh my God, original pinkberry with blueberries and pineapple? Heaven. Absolutely delicious. It's even worth missing the last train from LA for. And there's 2 frozen yogurt places near my school, and I literally spent all afternoon in this place called 'Doggi' or something with a couple of slightly freaky girls (because they act so Asian it is unbelievable. This may sound ridiculous but I may be getting dragged into Karaoke). Actually, I just did a bit of research and the place is actually called 'Noggi'. We were choosing between 'Moochi' and 'Noggi' but since I hadn't been to either, I didn't really care. But the yogurt was so worth it, even if I got home at like 6. It was soooo nice. I had a green tea mixed with the original, and blueberry, strawberry and lychee with it. It was soooo amazing. The frozen yogurt places are kind of like a hotspot hangout for all the schoolkids because you get 3 free toppings if you wear school uniform which is awesome. I also tried some of the 'biscotti' and that tasted amazing, too. I say, if you can't hit a Pinkberry in America, then get to your nearest 'Noggi' because it's (almost) just as good.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
1800's literature = not cool. Get with the times!
Hmm...I think this is kind of getting to be a bit more of a diary than a blog. I'm actually really really surprised at the amount of free time I have on my hands. All those scare stories about year 11? Not true. Unless they are slowly (and very slowly indeed) easing us into it. I'm so thankful I get to say bye to parabolas, newton's laws and coastal processes forever. Top 3 things I hated about year 10. I'm loving not having to do science and geography and hard maths, ick. I actually look forward to modern history. It's so cool. Our assignment is like our own historical investigation on anything, even ancient history or people. I'm not completely sure what to do. I wanted to do Baroque music but it'll probably be a huge bore for the teacher that marks it. So I think I'll end up choosing between communist rule in China or the Japanese invasion of China in WWII. Most likely the latter. I can have first hand primary source accounts from all my relatives which will be cool. So yeah, I'm really excited for that. Does that sound sad? I know it sounds sad. My modern history teacher was giving me my homework back and she was fussing about my source analysis and the people sitting near me all thought I was some kind of history geek which was embarrassing. At least I'm not doing Ancient as well. Otherwise I'd be a total history geek. Oh, who am I kidding, I probably will be one in year 12. I want to do history extension.
Since I don't have much homework from all the study periods, I'm doing my piano general knowledge and god it is a HUGE pain in the ass. I feel like I'm doing a history assignment for God's sake. I'm looking through all my music books, sticking notes on all the relevant pages and looking online too. The next thing I know I'll be doing a freaking bibliography. It's driving me mad. I even ordered a few biographies online. I hope they're not too boring. But I need to get good in general knowledge. I heard that if your performance was a bit under a pass, the examiners will let you pass if your general knowledge is really good. Whereas if the performance was a comfortable pass, getting good in general knowledge could result in a Distinction. Lol, who am I kidding? About 30% of all applicants pass on the first go, and out of that 30%, only 10% get a distinction. I think if you get a distinction they actually let you perform at the annual awards ceremony at the UNSW. A cool thing about passing the exam is that you get a graduation robe at the ceremony (because it's like an undergraduate uni diploma or something?) and you get to add AMusA after your name. So I could be Joanna (Dip. AMusA). It has a nice ring to it. And it would look totally cool on a resume, if anyone knew what it meant.
I'm reading 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad at the moment and my god, it's worse than Huckleberry. Yuckkk. I can never concentrate when I read that book. Luckily it's only 72 pages long and I've read about 35 (and still don't know what's going on). Something about a random guy on a boat telling a story about going to Africa and having his ship break down and then going to the woods. And that's half the book gone. What I don't understand is why English teachers are so obsessed with literature from the 1800s. It's so annoying.
It's like 10:17, which means I am definitely going to sleep. I'm waking up early tomorrow because well this sounds really lame, but you know those Asian photo booths? I'm going to try one of those with the girl I walk to the train station with because we just discovered a Morning Glory right near the school. Which is cool. Oh, and another thing, it's right near 'Hello Happy'. Sharna's favourite Korean cafe. We pass it every single day on the way to and from train station. So I'm definitely trying something from there.
Since I don't have much homework from all the study periods, I'm doing my piano general knowledge and god it is a HUGE pain in the ass. I feel like I'm doing a history assignment for God's sake. I'm looking through all my music books, sticking notes on all the relevant pages and looking online too. The next thing I know I'll be doing a freaking bibliography. It's driving me mad. I even ordered a few biographies online. I hope they're not too boring. But I need to get good in general knowledge. I heard that if your performance was a bit under a pass, the examiners will let you pass if your general knowledge is really good. Whereas if the performance was a comfortable pass, getting good in general knowledge could result in a Distinction. Lol, who am I kidding? About 30% of all applicants pass on the first go, and out of that 30%, only 10% get a distinction. I think if you get a distinction they actually let you perform at the annual awards ceremony at the UNSW. A cool thing about passing the exam is that you get a graduation robe at the ceremony (because it's like an undergraduate uni diploma or something?) and you get to add AMusA after your name. So I could be Joanna (Dip. AMusA). It has a nice ring to it. And it would look totally cool on a resume, if anyone knew what it meant.
I'm reading 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad at the moment and my god, it's worse than Huckleberry. Yuckkk. I can never concentrate when I read that book. Luckily it's only 72 pages long and I've read about 35 (and still don't know what's going on). Something about a random guy on a boat telling a story about going to Africa and having his ship break down and then going to the woods. And that's half the book gone. What I don't understand is why English teachers are so obsessed with literature from the 1800s. It's so annoying.
It's like 10:17, which means I am definitely going to sleep. I'm waking up early tomorrow because well this sounds really lame, but you know those Asian photo booths? I'm going to try one of those with the girl I walk to the train station with because we just discovered a Morning Glory right near the school. Which is cool. Oh, and another thing, it's right near 'Hello Happy'. Sharna's favourite Korean cafe. We pass it every single day on the way to and from train station. So I'm definitely trying something from there.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Loving Yr 11
I have to type this on my lame iPod touch because my mum's hogging my iPad playing mahjong.
Anyway, isn't everyone loving the freedom you get in year 11? I love being a senior, it's awesome. Its cool that i get to go home early at 2 or 3 on thursdays. Out of 10 school days on my timetable, i get at least 1 free period on 7 of those days so I get most of my homework done then. It's cool because I get so many even when I do 14 units that I'm guessing it'll be a total breeze next year with 12 units. I'm even really liking all my subjects. French is quite difficult at the moment because everyone's really advanced, but I have a good teacher. He's actually legit French and came to Australia on exchange in high school or something. Music is also challenging. I don't like the fact that we're doing minimalistic
Music instead of classical. But all my other subjects are cool. I'm liking legal studies, especially. I don't know if it's the teacher, but it's nowhere near as boring as I thought it'd be. Im even joining the mock trial team.
Not as a speaker obviously. I want to be one of those advisors to the judge or something. My school has a pretty good team though so if i suck too bad im definitely quitting. Homework has been really light so far, too.
So yeah, school is really cool. I'm pretty much comfortably settled in now and can find all my classes which is a relief. About every 3 days I come down a random staircase I never realized existed, but then again, they say the school's like Hogwarts. The grounds and old buildings are gorgeous but the classrooms are ugly. Next Monday is the swimming carnival and I have to dress up as a policewoman. They have the randomest themes for each house. At least I'm not dressing up as a lover, ballerina or choir girl. So far I've joined 2 co-curriculars, mock trial and choir (um I accompany singers on the piano, I don't sing). I'm glad about the choir thing because I get to practice performing more. Even though technically there should be more pressure in this school, I feel completely non-pressured. No one came up to me and pestered me about piano, unlike a certain someone at old school. in fact I was the one who had to ask about it. So the lack of pressure is good, I was expecting them to literally make me join stuff. I reckon I may do social justice and that's it. 3 co curriculars Is enough for me. Especially as other scholarship girl isn't doing any at the moment (sorry but I would really panic if she did a lot).
I think I'm actually getting less homework than in year 10 which is awesome. I like my Marths teacher even though she sucks at teaching (year 10 math teacher would have a fit if she saw the amount of equal signs she writes across the board in her working out) but she's really hilarious and nice. She's this little old Serbian woman with a cute accent who constantly proclaims she's allergic to mobile phones and her son goes to my year 7 school which is weird.
Anyway, isn't everyone loving the freedom you get in year 11? I love being a senior, it's awesome. Its cool that i get to go home early at 2 or 3 on thursdays. Out of 10 school days on my timetable, i get at least 1 free period on 7 of those days so I get most of my homework done then. It's cool because I get so many even when I do 14 units that I'm guessing it'll be a total breeze next year with 12 units. I'm even really liking all my subjects. French is quite difficult at the moment because everyone's really advanced, but I have a good teacher. He's actually legit French and came to Australia on exchange in high school or something. Music is also challenging. I don't like the fact that we're doing minimalistic
Music instead of classical. But all my other subjects are cool. I'm liking legal studies, especially. I don't know if it's the teacher, but it's nowhere near as boring as I thought it'd be. Im even joining the mock trial team.
Not as a speaker obviously. I want to be one of those advisors to the judge or something. My school has a pretty good team though so if i suck too bad im definitely quitting. Homework has been really light so far, too.
So yeah, school is really cool. I'm pretty much comfortably settled in now and can find all my classes which is a relief. About every 3 days I come down a random staircase I never realized existed, but then again, they say the school's like Hogwarts. The grounds and old buildings are gorgeous but the classrooms are ugly. Next Monday is the swimming carnival and I have to dress up as a policewoman. They have the randomest themes for each house. At least I'm not dressing up as a lover, ballerina or choir girl. So far I've joined 2 co-curriculars, mock trial and choir (um I accompany singers on the piano, I don't sing). I'm glad about the choir thing because I get to practice performing more. Even though technically there should be more pressure in this school, I feel completely non-pressured. No one came up to me and pestered me about piano, unlike a certain someone at old school. in fact I was the one who had to ask about it. So the lack of pressure is good, I was expecting them to literally make me join stuff. I reckon I may do social justice and that's it. 3 co curriculars Is enough for me. Especially as other scholarship girl isn't doing any at the moment (sorry but I would really panic if she did a lot).
I think I'm actually getting less homework than in year 10 which is awesome. I like my Marths teacher even though she sucks at teaching (year 10 math teacher would have a fit if she saw the amount of equal signs she writes across the board in her working out) but she's really hilarious and nice. She's this little old Serbian woman with a cute accent who constantly proclaims she's allergic to mobile phones and her son goes to my year 7 school which is weird.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
FIRST DAY
I have to be in bed by 9:30 so I can get up for school tomorrow at 6:30, but as usual I'm doing stuff I'm not supposed to do. So I remember saying 3 months ago or something that my first day at my new school would be posted on this blog, and I can't believe I'm still writing it.
So. I got asked by people in my class (and texted by you guys) a lot today. Everyone was like, 'how'd you find your first day'? Well, to tell you the truth, I honestly don't know myself. For some reason today seems like a bizarre, surreal day. I actually wrote a post last night but it's still labelled as 'draft', may post it sometime. So today my mum drove me to school on account of all the books I had to carry. Unfortunately we got lost somewhere near the school(we've been to the school 7 times but still need a GPS). But it was okay, I arrived really early. Wandered around a bit, then kind of texted (thanks, Claudine) to make it seem like I wasn't doing absolutely nothing. Because it was kind of daunting. Everyone was in their own little group, and I looked a bit silly standing there. After about 15 minutes, I got asked by these two nice, nice girls if I wanted to join them, so obviously I was like 'yeah sure'. It was literally a group of about 8 Asians (I actually counted because they were, like, ALL Asians, who'd adopted 4 new girls, 3 of which were Asian and one wasn't. Awkward.). It was kind of weird. But nevertheless, the Asian group was ok. I kind of preferred them to the group that my 'buddy' from orientation day sits with. The non-Asian new girl in the Asian group is actually in all of my classes I had today, and she really really reminds me of, well, a certain freak Russian girl who used to go to old school. She even has the same accent, and she seems really smart because she was going on and on about Abolitionism in English or something, and complaining how Legal Studies clashed with Math Extension (even though she was already doing English Extension). Some girl showed me to my homeroom and I met my homeroom (again) and the other 2 yr 11 girls there, who were both nice. The homeroom seems way more 'close' than my old homeroom. I mean, people bake things and bring them in all the time apparently, and the teacher jokes around and stuff. This year 8 girl brought in chocolate cookies for everyone which was cute. And everyone knows each other really well, there's only like 12 people. Then went down to collect my textbook (yeah, I ordered only one textbook from the school and it was 'Othello' because I didn't know which edition I was meant to get). Got given my lock. It's a combination lock and the most complicated thing ever to figure out. The instructions were like, 'twist past 0 three times till you get to whatever number, then turn counter clockwise past zero till you get to whatever number, then twist to the right again until you reach this number'. It took me like 5 tries till it finally opened, but I can now say that I work that stupid lock like a pro. You know how I said the lockers are small? Well they fit everything, because they are the same width as my old school's. Just shorter, and just the right height to fit your books in. Now that I remember, there was extra space above the place where you put your books in my locker last year that I didn't need. Oh, and since the school has a 'middle school' for year 6 and 7, that technically means that i did not see any new girls in year 7 at all. Otherwise it would've been better if there were more new girls who were asking for directions. And the year 7s come to high school in like term 4 of each year apparently, so even the year 8's know their way around. There's about 19 new girls from 8-11, which makes me feel a bit better I guess.
So I had a bunch of stuff like house assembly and then assembly and homeroom and blah blah blah. Only had 3 lessons. Modern History, Legal Studies and English Extension. I really like my teachers. They are awesome and you can tell that they are really good at what they teach. My Legal Studies teacher is really funny and has an English accent from when he worked as a lawyer in England. We read 'Hello!' magazine and talked about some crime case involving cannibals. It was really cool, until he set us homework that looked a bit more like legal studies should. Like, summarisation of the constitution and stuff. And my Modern History teacher sounds like she's really into what she talks about. I'm actually almost excited for our individual project research task, she talks about it like it's something really exciting. And I am excited to learn about the 'Rise and Fall of the Romanov dynasty' or whatever the unit is called this term. Had a substitute for English Extension and even she was awesome. My house dean is, like, really really cool. Nothing compared to the (crap) one I used to have. She gave me a tour of the school when I couldn't find my homeroom/locker and tried to explain all the room numbers and everything to me and she's really nice and fun. The girls are all nice too, though I'm not sure about friends. I mean, as I've said to some of you, I kind of randomly go between the yr 11 girl in my homeroom, the Asian group and the new girls. The 7 new girls (about 3 of which I interact with) are ok but not really my type of people, except for the other girl who got a scholarship. She's part of the Asian group I was sitting in (because she's Fillipino) and she's really nice. Except, she told everyone she got a scholarship, and this random (Asian) girl in Legal Studies asked me why I moved, and I was like 'because I couldn't do half the subjects I wanted to at my old school' and she was like, 'I heard you got a scholarship' and I was thinking, oh awkward. Until later when I realised she probably confused me with the other girl who told everyone she got a scholarship, because she probably can't tell us apart or something. I mean, not even my house dean knows (I think, otherwise she wouldn't have asked me why I changed schools) so I doubt random girl knew. She so did mistake me for the other girl. I doubt I'll be that good friends with anyone (I mean, a lot of people have been at the school since Kindi) but people are nice enough so I won't be a total loner.
Cool stuff about my new school and not-so-cool stuff:
-They are way stricter with uniform. You can't go out of the school with only a jumper on, it's either wear your blazer or no blazer at all or cover the jumper up with a blazer
-Kindergarten to year 10 have to wear a cream ribbon in their hair. Like, have to. Haha poor them, I have enough trouble with a hairband let alone having to tie ribbons. Luckily for some reason the rule isn't enforced for seniors.
-Community service is compulsory. 20 hours a year (or is it semester?) for year 11.
-You don't have to stand up for the teacher when they come in!
-You can go into a classroom without a teacher. All the doors are open.
-The classrooms are plain ugly
-You can listen to iPods and use your phone during recess/lunch/study periods.
-I don't like having to catch the train to Central and then catching the bus. It takes me 1 hour 15 minutes to get home. I guess it's only about 20 minutes later than at my old school. But still.
-School finishes at 3pm tomorrow! Bludge day, I have a year group meeting, French, English, History and pastoral care. And then I have a free study period so I might be able to leave school at like 1:20 when pastoral care ends. Don't know, I'll have to ask.
-I love how organised everything is. This teacher personally came to me and asked me about 'All My Own Work', and then she was like, 'It's fine all I need is you student number from the school certificate and then you can take the quiz online this weekend'. Which is awesome. Because I'm expecting you have to read through tonnes of crap but obviously I would prefer the easy way out searching for answers on Google from the comfort of my own home. Kind of ironic, cheating on a plagiarism quiz. Oh well.
-I don't like the fact that you can't come late to school if you have a study period, you can only go home early. They have a nice combined yr 11/12 common room and courtyard, and library, which are pretty much the only places you can go to for studying.
-The school is good at sport. Like, amazing at sport. The amount of newspaper articles stuck to the walls about people from the school winning nationals and trophies for sport are insane.
-Because 3 people are doing Music 2, I heard it'll be combined with Music 1. Boo.
-7 lessons per day, each lesson only 45 minutes approximately! I didn't get bored at all today, my lessons were all pretty good with great teachers. 45 minutes per lesson sure takes the boredom out of school I reckon.
So that's it. I don't expect this blog will be updated as frequently as it has been, because I don't want to procrastinate anymore (I'm really really tired right now and I don't have homework. At least I think my history homework was due Monday...)
So. I got asked by people in my class (and texted by you guys) a lot today. Everyone was like, 'how'd you find your first day'? Well, to tell you the truth, I honestly don't know myself. For some reason today seems like a bizarre, surreal day. I actually wrote a post last night but it's still labelled as 'draft', may post it sometime. So today my mum drove me to school on account of all the books I had to carry. Unfortunately we got lost somewhere near the school(we've been to the school 7 times but still need a GPS). But it was okay, I arrived really early. Wandered around a bit, then kind of texted (thanks, Claudine) to make it seem like I wasn't doing absolutely nothing. Because it was kind of daunting. Everyone was in their own little group, and I looked a bit silly standing there. After about 15 minutes, I got asked by these two nice, nice girls if I wanted to join them, so obviously I was like 'yeah sure'. It was literally a group of about 8 Asians (I actually counted because they were, like, ALL Asians, who'd adopted 4 new girls, 3 of which were Asian and one wasn't. Awkward.). It was kind of weird. But nevertheless, the Asian group was ok. I kind of preferred them to the group that my 'buddy' from orientation day sits with. The non-Asian new girl in the Asian group is actually in all of my classes I had today, and she really really reminds me of, well, a certain freak Russian girl who used to go to old school. She even has the same accent, and she seems really smart because she was going on and on about Abolitionism in English or something, and complaining how Legal Studies clashed with Math Extension (even though she was already doing English Extension). Some girl showed me to my homeroom and I met my homeroom (again) and the other 2 yr 11 girls there, who were both nice. The homeroom seems way more 'close' than my old homeroom. I mean, people bake things and bring them in all the time apparently, and the teacher jokes around and stuff. This year 8 girl brought in chocolate cookies for everyone which was cute. And everyone knows each other really well, there's only like 12 people. Then went down to collect my textbook (yeah, I ordered only one textbook from the school and it was 'Othello' because I didn't know which edition I was meant to get). Got given my lock. It's a combination lock and the most complicated thing ever to figure out. The instructions were like, 'twist past 0 three times till you get to whatever number, then turn counter clockwise past zero till you get to whatever number, then twist to the right again until you reach this number'. It took me like 5 tries till it finally opened, but I can now say that I work that stupid lock like a pro. You know how I said the lockers are small? Well they fit everything, because they are the same width as my old school's. Just shorter, and just the right height to fit your books in. Now that I remember, there was extra space above the place where you put your books in my locker last year that I didn't need. Oh, and since the school has a 'middle school' for year 6 and 7, that technically means that i did not see any new girls in year 7 at all. Otherwise it would've been better if there were more new girls who were asking for directions. And the year 7s come to high school in like term 4 of each year apparently, so even the year 8's know their way around. There's about 19 new girls from 8-11, which makes me feel a bit better I guess.
So I had a bunch of stuff like house assembly and then assembly and homeroom and blah blah blah. Only had 3 lessons. Modern History, Legal Studies and English Extension. I really like my teachers. They are awesome and you can tell that they are really good at what they teach. My Legal Studies teacher is really funny and has an English accent from when he worked as a lawyer in England. We read 'Hello!' magazine and talked about some crime case involving cannibals. It was really cool, until he set us homework that looked a bit more like legal studies should. Like, summarisation of the constitution and stuff. And my Modern History teacher sounds like she's really into what she talks about. I'm actually almost excited for our individual project research task, she talks about it like it's something really exciting. And I am excited to learn about the 'Rise and Fall of the Romanov dynasty' or whatever the unit is called this term. Had a substitute for English Extension and even she was awesome. My house dean is, like, really really cool. Nothing compared to the (crap) one I used to have. She gave me a tour of the school when I couldn't find my homeroom/locker and tried to explain all the room numbers and everything to me and she's really nice and fun. The girls are all nice too, though I'm not sure about friends. I mean, as I've said to some of you, I kind of randomly go between the yr 11 girl in my homeroom, the Asian group and the new girls. The 7 new girls (about 3 of which I interact with) are ok but not really my type of people, except for the other girl who got a scholarship. She's part of the Asian group I was sitting in (because she's Fillipino) and she's really nice. Except, she told everyone she got a scholarship, and this random (Asian) girl in Legal Studies asked me why I moved, and I was like 'because I couldn't do half the subjects I wanted to at my old school' and she was like, 'I heard you got a scholarship' and I was thinking, oh awkward. Until later when I realised she probably confused me with the other girl who told everyone she got a scholarship, because she probably can't tell us apart or something. I mean, not even my house dean knows (I think, otherwise she wouldn't have asked me why I changed schools) so I doubt random girl knew. She so did mistake me for the other girl. I doubt I'll be that good friends with anyone (I mean, a lot of people have been at the school since Kindi) but people are nice enough so I won't be a total loner.
Cool stuff about my new school and not-so-cool stuff:
-They are way stricter with uniform. You can't go out of the school with only a jumper on, it's either wear your blazer or no blazer at all or cover the jumper up with a blazer
-Kindergarten to year 10 have to wear a cream ribbon in their hair. Like, have to. Haha poor them, I have enough trouble with a hairband let alone having to tie ribbons. Luckily for some reason the rule isn't enforced for seniors.
-Community service is compulsory. 20 hours a year (or is it semester?) for year 11.
-You don't have to stand up for the teacher when they come in!
-You can go into a classroom without a teacher. All the doors are open.
-The classrooms are plain ugly
-You can listen to iPods and use your phone during recess/lunch/study periods.
-I don't like having to catch the train to Central and then catching the bus. It takes me 1 hour 15 minutes to get home. I guess it's only about 20 minutes later than at my old school. But still.
-School finishes at 3pm tomorrow! Bludge day, I have a year group meeting, French, English, History and pastoral care. And then I have a free study period so I might be able to leave school at like 1:20 when pastoral care ends. Don't know, I'll have to ask.
-I love how organised everything is. This teacher personally came to me and asked me about 'All My Own Work', and then she was like, 'It's fine all I need is you student number from the school certificate and then you can take the quiz online this weekend'. Which is awesome. Because I'm expecting you have to read through tonnes of crap but obviously I would prefer the easy way out searching for answers on Google from the comfort of my own home. Kind of ironic, cheating on a plagiarism quiz. Oh well.
-I don't like the fact that you can't come late to school if you have a study period, you can only go home early. They have a nice combined yr 11/12 common room and courtyard, and library, which are pretty much the only places you can go to for studying.
-The school is good at sport. Like, amazing at sport. The amount of newspaper articles stuck to the walls about people from the school winning nationals and trophies for sport are insane.
-Because 3 people are doing Music 2, I heard it'll be combined with Music 1. Boo.
-7 lessons per day, each lesson only 45 minutes approximately! I didn't get bored at all today, my lessons were all pretty good with great teachers. 45 minutes per lesson sure takes the boredom out of school I reckon.
So that's it. I don't expect this blog will be updated as frequently as it has been, because I don't want to procrastinate anymore (I'm really really tired right now and I don't have homework. At least I think my history homework was due Monday...)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The night before + a trip down memory lane
Well, tonight's the eve of the first day of school. To me, it feels like it's come a bit too soon, yet at the same time slightly too late as well. My big 7-week trip is like a moderate-sized slice that has been removed from my mind and locked inside a safety deposit box or something. For some reason, it seems like an entire different life I lived altogether which is ridiculous considering it should only seem like a 7 week holiday. When I look back on it, I can't really register the girl that went on that trip as 'me', exactly. Almost as if the tiny details and feelings have been blurred and I can only remember a general outline of the trip. It's a strange feeling. It's like the person on that trip wasn't me, but rather I heard the details about it from someone else that went on it, yet at the same time I can conjure up many more details about that trip than I ought to. I don't know, the way I feel about it confuses me, even.
Anyhow, as I said, tomorrow is the big day. I admit, there's always been an underlying sense of uncertainty in the past when I think about the first day of school in 2012. I've never much cared to actually think it through, but I suppose there has been an obvious question that is always threatening to finally emerge and absorb my mind now that I've had 6 months to get used to the idea of changing schools and the feeling of excitement has dulled a bit. Have I made the right decision? I guess I won't really know for sure until the end of this year. I think that will be the only time when I will finally feel either completely secure at school or completely depressed. Part of me definitely wishes I was there yesterday with you guys instead of minding the shop alone when my mum went to get stock. I can just imagine what would have happened if I were still at that school. Contemplating over whether I got good teachers and complaining if I got bad ones, hearing people mention the new girls and thinking, 'I'm so glad I know my place in this school'. Sitting in the garden together and actually knowing for sure that I'll have friends in every class. Whereas at a new school, I won't know whether I got a good or bad teacher just by looking at my timetable. I'll have to sit with randoms in class and I'll be the new girl that people are feeling sorry for.
I know I've definitely had issues with my old school (it's strange to think of it as that already). I had real major issues, actually: school fees, business manager, teachers, director of studies, etc. In the end, I could probably write like a 3000 word report (and a very convincing one at that) on all the reasons that I needed to change schools. There are almost too many for me to remember. I only have one regret: familiarity that I have left behind. Familiarity is a wonderful thing in whichever form it takes, whether it's friends or surroundings or even bitchy teachers, and when the familiar things in my life are gone (let's all admit it: school is pretty much our whole life at this point) it definitely makes me incredibly uneasy. It's definitely too late for all that now though. All the good things come with sacrifices and I guess there's no point mulling over my decisions now.
I don't usually believe in fate. But I kind of believe it in regards to the schools I've been to. Everything I've done at each school, a lot of which seems to be based on luck, kind of determines the next school. So many things have determined my school for this year that seem to me like they've just been pure luck: applying for the scholarship because there was no application fee and nothing to lose, managing to convince my mum to drive all the way to the school and show up for the interview, writing the correct type of thing in my application, not screwing up my interview, even getting a full discount off tuition instead of half because my mum was like, 'I'm definitely not paying even half tuition for you to go there'. I mean, the person I most connect with fate is my grandma (who passed away when I was 11). I lived at her house instead of at my mum's during most of my primary school years so we were pretty close. She was a superstitious believer in fate and that type of stuff, and I thought it was freaky that the 4th anniversary of her death, the exact date that she died, was the same date that was on my acceptance letter (the school made the decision to accept me on that day). I mean, it was just plain unreal and too much of a coincidence that it happened on the anniversary of my grandma's death. Of course, I was ecstatic when I received the letter a day later. I literally almost cried, because for some reason back then I was desperate to change schools.
I should be somewhat less apprehensive about settling in now. I've done it in Kindergarten, twice in year 7 and now one more time will come tomorrow. I actually remember (although foggily) by first day of school way back in primary school. I had Mcdonald's for lunch as a rare treat (for some reason back then my mum was wayyyy more against Mcdonald's than she is now. I had a happy meal like every three months or something). I went to Eastgardens before school started because Kindergarteners started later during the day on the first day of school or something. I even remember waiting next to my mum while she went to an ATM at eastgardens, and asking her whether I really was going to go to school that day and not really believing it. I was always like that. I never believed in things when I was a kid when they were actually realistic beliefs. Whereas fantasy-like beliefs I completely believed in. I was that annoying kid in year one that pretended she knew all about the tooth fairy and could describe her in great detail to her fellow classmates. I remember going to the harbour with my mum one time and I was like, 'how are we going to get across the water' and my mum was like 'by ferry' but because my mum has an accent I thought she said 'by fairy' and I really did believe her (for some reason I spoke English with my mum when I was little. It started after kindergarten when my teacher said I needed to repeat kindergarten because my English wasn't good enough. Well my mum freaked and it was English at home until mine surpassed hers). And I was bitterly disappointed when no fairy with sparkling wings ever showed up. My last memory of my first day of kindergarten: we were making paper lanterns in class and I accidentally cut mine in the wrong shape with my safety scissors. I was absolutely terrified of the teacher and was too scared to tell her. I was literally that scared, I thought she would scream at me in front of everyone for accidentally cutting a piece of paper in the wrong spot.
The morning of my first day of year 7 was pretty bad, too. Of course, I was absolutely freaked out about it. I remember the long drive to the school and trying to find a song on my iPod that could calm me down. My first day musn't have been too bad though past the car ride, because after that I don't remember much.
Then comes my first day at, well, I guess you guys know which school. Actually, at that point I really really hated Rose Bay so I was feeling pretty good about my first day of school. Plus, I may have been a loner up until the middle of recess but it wasn't too bad. I actually remember most of my first day. And how a lot of people were obsessed with asking questions about my old school, which definitely got a bit annoying. Well, a science teacher (my yr 10 science teacher actually) noticed that I looked lost or something and helped me with my timetable, and then she talked to me at recess when I was reading a book so I would look less like the new girl wandering around. And I remember Cynthia walking up to me and inviting me to sit with her even though she looked kind of awkward about it (haha) and that group actually consisted of Claudine, Angela, Angela's sister, Laura and I think Stephanie too. Sharna didn't come to the school until one day after me so I got the top locker :) I actually remember that really clearly. So there you have it. Back then it was my first day at a new school, and now that school has become my old school.
I kept a regular diary until New Year's Eve 2010 (when my third diary ran out of pages haha, I haven't really gotten round to doing it again since then. I'm just too busy to be interested anymore) and did that from when my grandma was sick in the middle of 2007 when I was in year six (that first entry was about how annoying I found my year six teacher) to the end of year nine (new year's eve 2010, last entry was looking back on the year). I kind of want to start it up again because I like to read my old entries (I only did one about every 2 weeks). For some reason, it's the only way I can actually really feel the emotions I felt when I was writing the entry during whichever point in my life. A lot of it has been about school, and quite a bit is dedicated to my struggles with piano and all the questioning I used to do about it and how much I hated it. I reckon writing in a diary always makes me realise something in the end, something I would have missed if I'd merely just sifted through my thoughts. And I've read my entries for the first days of school in year 7. Year 7 school number 1 was a negative entry. It went something along the lines of, '...neverending series of assignments and a tonne of homework'. But year 7 school number 2 caused a positive entry. I was actually really happy after a week at my new school. I hope I can experience that again.
And so tomorrow begins my first day at a new school once more.
Anyhow, as I said, tomorrow is the big day. I admit, there's always been an underlying sense of uncertainty in the past when I think about the first day of school in 2012. I've never much cared to actually think it through, but I suppose there has been an obvious question that is always threatening to finally emerge and absorb my mind now that I've had 6 months to get used to the idea of changing schools and the feeling of excitement has dulled a bit. Have I made the right decision? I guess I won't really know for sure until the end of this year. I think that will be the only time when I will finally feel either completely secure at school or completely depressed. Part of me definitely wishes I was there yesterday with you guys instead of minding the shop alone when my mum went to get stock. I can just imagine what would have happened if I were still at that school. Contemplating over whether I got good teachers and complaining if I got bad ones, hearing people mention the new girls and thinking, 'I'm so glad I know my place in this school'. Sitting in the garden together and actually knowing for sure that I'll have friends in every class. Whereas at a new school, I won't know whether I got a good or bad teacher just by looking at my timetable. I'll have to sit with randoms in class and I'll be the new girl that people are feeling sorry for.
I know I've definitely had issues with my old school (it's strange to think of it as that already). I had real major issues, actually: school fees, business manager, teachers, director of studies, etc. In the end, I could probably write like a 3000 word report (and a very convincing one at that) on all the reasons that I needed to change schools. There are almost too many for me to remember. I only have one regret: familiarity that I have left behind. Familiarity is a wonderful thing in whichever form it takes, whether it's friends or surroundings or even bitchy teachers, and when the familiar things in my life are gone (let's all admit it: school is pretty much our whole life at this point) it definitely makes me incredibly uneasy. It's definitely too late for all that now though. All the good things come with sacrifices and I guess there's no point mulling over my decisions now.
I don't usually believe in fate. But I kind of believe it in regards to the schools I've been to. Everything I've done at each school, a lot of which seems to be based on luck, kind of determines the next school. So many things have determined my school for this year that seem to me like they've just been pure luck: applying for the scholarship because there was no application fee and nothing to lose, managing to convince my mum to drive all the way to the school and show up for the interview, writing the correct type of thing in my application, not screwing up my interview, even getting a full discount off tuition instead of half because my mum was like, 'I'm definitely not paying even half tuition for you to go there'. I mean, the person I most connect with fate is my grandma (who passed away when I was 11). I lived at her house instead of at my mum's during most of my primary school years so we were pretty close. She was a superstitious believer in fate and that type of stuff, and I thought it was freaky that the 4th anniversary of her death, the exact date that she died, was the same date that was on my acceptance letter (the school made the decision to accept me on that day). I mean, it was just plain unreal and too much of a coincidence that it happened on the anniversary of my grandma's death. Of course, I was ecstatic when I received the letter a day later. I literally almost cried, because for some reason back then I was desperate to change schools.
I should be somewhat less apprehensive about settling in now. I've done it in Kindergarten, twice in year 7 and now one more time will come tomorrow. I actually remember (although foggily) by first day of school way back in primary school. I had Mcdonald's for lunch as a rare treat (for some reason back then my mum was wayyyy more against Mcdonald's than she is now. I had a happy meal like every three months or something). I went to Eastgardens before school started because Kindergarteners started later during the day on the first day of school or something. I even remember waiting next to my mum while she went to an ATM at eastgardens, and asking her whether I really was going to go to school that day and not really believing it. I was always like that. I never believed in things when I was a kid when they were actually realistic beliefs. Whereas fantasy-like beliefs I completely believed in. I was that annoying kid in year one that pretended she knew all about the tooth fairy and could describe her in great detail to her fellow classmates. I remember going to the harbour with my mum one time and I was like, 'how are we going to get across the water' and my mum was like 'by ferry' but because my mum has an accent I thought she said 'by fairy' and I really did believe her (for some reason I spoke English with my mum when I was little. It started after kindergarten when my teacher said I needed to repeat kindergarten because my English wasn't good enough. Well my mum freaked and it was English at home until mine surpassed hers). And I was bitterly disappointed when no fairy with sparkling wings ever showed up. My last memory of my first day of kindergarten: we were making paper lanterns in class and I accidentally cut mine in the wrong shape with my safety scissors. I was absolutely terrified of the teacher and was too scared to tell her. I was literally that scared, I thought she would scream at me in front of everyone for accidentally cutting a piece of paper in the wrong spot.
The morning of my first day of year 7 was pretty bad, too. Of course, I was absolutely freaked out about it. I remember the long drive to the school and trying to find a song on my iPod that could calm me down. My first day musn't have been too bad though past the car ride, because after that I don't remember much.
Then comes my first day at, well, I guess you guys know which school. Actually, at that point I really really hated Rose Bay so I was feeling pretty good about my first day of school. Plus, I may have been a loner up until the middle of recess but it wasn't too bad. I actually remember most of my first day. And how a lot of people were obsessed with asking questions about my old school, which definitely got a bit annoying. Well, a science teacher (my yr 10 science teacher actually) noticed that I looked lost or something and helped me with my timetable, and then she talked to me at recess when I was reading a book so I would look less like the new girl wandering around. And I remember Cynthia walking up to me and inviting me to sit with her even though she looked kind of awkward about it (haha) and that group actually consisted of Claudine, Angela, Angela's sister, Laura and I think Stephanie too. Sharna didn't come to the school until one day after me so I got the top locker :) I actually remember that really clearly. So there you have it. Back then it was my first day at a new school, and now that school has become my old school.
I kept a regular diary until New Year's Eve 2010 (when my third diary ran out of pages haha, I haven't really gotten round to doing it again since then. I'm just too busy to be interested anymore) and did that from when my grandma was sick in the middle of 2007 when I was in year six (that first entry was about how annoying I found my year six teacher) to the end of year nine (new year's eve 2010, last entry was looking back on the year). I kind of want to start it up again because I like to read my old entries (I only did one about every 2 weeks). For some reason, it's the only way I can actually really feel the emotions I felt when I was writing the entry during whichever point in my life. A lot of it has been about school, and quite a bit is dedicated to my struggles with piano and all the questioning I used to do about it and how much I hated it. I reckon writing in a diary always makes me realise something in the end, something I would have missed if I'd merely just sifted through my thoughts. And I've read my entries for the first days of school in year 7. Year 7 school number 1 was a negative entry. It went something along the lines of, '...neverending series of assignments and a tonne of homework'. But year 7 school number 2 caused a positive entry. I was actually really happy after a week at my new school. I hope I can experience that again.
And so tomorrow begins my first day at a new school once more.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Being sixteen...
...and these are the things I get to do:
-Get my learner driver's license. Except, hang on, I forgot to mention that I can't drive without my mum next to me (so what is the point of driving if my mum has to be there and there's higher risk of car crash when I'm behind the wheel) until I'm 17 and have completed 120 hours of practice driving.
-Get most piercings without my mum's permission. Oh yeah, like I've always wanted the eyebrow piercing. Might just go get it soon!
-Get to move out of home and get my own place. Sure, I have like sixty dollars in my pocket. That will last me maybe a week, give or take, on the streets. I'll survive on Maccas everyday. Oh hang on, I can't even do that because I have to spend the money on my remaining english textbook!
-Get to have sex. Wow. Like, there's going to be police peeking through the windows of all the teenage sluts and arresting them if they do it before 16.
So it's a bit disappointing. But yesterday was cool. Thanks guys, it was sweet *hugs*. I guess I'll wait until I'm 18. Then I can rent a hotel by myself. That's all I can think of at the moment. It's be awesome to save up and go holidaying on your own.
Hate hate hate Optus. Too bad Bigpond's network coverage or whatever is crap and doesn't service our house, other wise I would go for Bigpond. I want my internet so bad. So so bad. I hate Vodafone internet, the minute Optus comes in I'm breaking my USB in half and chucking it out the window into the ugly leaves of my freaky neighbour's banana tree, where it belongs. I was meant to get my internet on the 25th. The 25th! And their cable was too short or something. And they say they would call us back. Except they never did, and when my mum rings they say they can't come back until mid-February! I don't think anyone understands how slow my mobile internet is. It not only takes up one of only 2 USB ports on my computer (the other one you can't use anyway because the stupid internet stick is huge so basically when I use internet I have no other free USB slot). If the Macbook Pro has one fault, it is not enough USB ports. Or maybe that's Vodafone's fault for inventing such a big stick. I don't know. Half the time my internet just decides to give up and show the dreaded 'this webpage is not available'. Which is why I have to remember to copy everything I write that is long. And I can't upload photos off my iPod, or update its software when I don't have a free USB slot! Boo.
I'd love to know what Juliet and Georgia did in New Mexico after their 1st trip to Walmart like 2 months ago. Shame they ABANDONED their blog! Tut tut. So, here was a belated birthday present for me: I've just been informed by my piano teacher that I have to 'really work hard' from now on. Gr-eat, just when school starts. My piano exam is sometime between 28 April-9th June. See, I can even memorise the date. She's implied that she wants to see me twice a week but I doubt I'll find 90 dollars lying around every week. And she's cancelled theory lessons, which sucks. I've actually been practising. And it also means the money spent on theory was wasted because 3 months later (when she starts up again) everyone will forget everything and we'll have to start fresh. My mum's pretty pissed about that because my teacher does that all the time. Cancel lessons after like 10 of them, then start them up again after 2 months and we have to waste time and money revising lots of things from scratch. I really hate theory. Melody writing, argh. I wonder when I will ever compose anything that isn't 'bad rhythm' or 'too many repeated notes' or 'not remotely like a Minuet' or sounding oriental! I'm meant to have my 4th grade theory pass certificate already but I've only got my grade 2 even though we're learning grade 5 (she makes me skip every exam practically) which means I don't even have my official 8th grade certificate even though I did the prac exam like 2 years ago (I only have the examiner's report and grade, because a pass in 4th grade is compulsory to get an actual certificate), nor will I get my diploma this year even if I pass the practical exam (because I need a 5th grade certificate, not a useless 2nd grade one).
I am learning oboe this year. It's an endangered instrument and I love the sound. Unfortunately I'm paying for it myself, which means I can't do it with the school because they charge like $80 an hour which is a rip-off for a beginner. I found a $60 per hour teacher that's gotten her Amus so I can even ask her about the general knowledge section of my upcoming piano exam, seeing as my piano teacher is hopeless at teaching it. Her way: *chucks me a huge pile of badly photocopied paper* "Here's some info on Bach, here's some info on the structure of the fugue, here's some info on when the piano was invented and here's some italian definitions. Memorise the amount of each type of composition all your composers wrote, the dates they wrote everything and the cities they travelled, and also three other composers for each era and oh you can't forget the dates all four composers were born and died and what their wives and children did, and of course memorise everything by next week, I'll quiz you" which is a fat lot of help and makes the following week sound pretty lame. I've got this memory in my head still : 1 week after our year 9 Canberra trip and the day before my 8th grade exam, Claudine was quizzing me on Debussy and the harpsichord while we were lining up for Geography and the teacher looked like she thought we were total weirdos. Haha I was so stressed I only cared about memorising the amount of compositions Bach composed for the harpsichord or something. So my lesson next week will be like 6:45 pm Sunday which is late, I don't want to go (not as bad as the 8pm-10pm lessons she scheduled for me every Wednesday school night in yr 9). And what's worse: the ominous "I don't know, I'm a bit confused about the times so I don't know when you'll start, maybe 7 but come at 6:45 anyway" what, just for the fun of waiting? I have homework and its a school night! I think I'll bring 'Huckleberry Finn' with me if I have to wait. And then she goes, 'oh and tell your mum to not pick you up until you call her, I need extra time with you' which was when I thought crap, she's going to make me finish at like 9 or something when I'm half asleep. Or even worse she's arranged another student 'get-together' to exercise our performance skills in front of like 5 other students (who last year all played better than me, but seeing as this year I'm not in 8th grade anymore she might invite the lower students that are doing their grade 8 and hopefully it won't be as bad). And she always criticises you in front of everyone. If she does that it won't end until like 10pm. Argh this is depressing. The only thing worse, much worse, than exam stress: piano stress. 2 years worth of playing 6 songs all come down to nothing if I fail. Especially when the exam costs $300 to take and the pass rate is 30%...oh my god I need to stop thinking about that. Especially when my piano teacher is pressuring me to do Music Extension (or as she calls it, Music 3). No thanks, I can barely get my head around my 'Music Composition Toolbox' textbook for Music 2. It looks sooo hard.
This is embarrassing but I was offered an audition and interview for a cello learning scholarship (I know, cellos are lame and I hate the sound but it's free tuition for a year) with the Sydney Youth Symphony Orchestra, except I had to cancel it at the last minute. Why? Because I only just realised that the venue (Castle Hill) was too far away. Yeah, so that was lame and pretty embarrassing when I had to tell them after I applied and got contacted back and everything.
I'm itching all over even though my cat's gone. I mean, my hands itch, even, and my back. I have red rashes on the back of my hands. So annoying. And I think I just lost a student, boo because my mum isn't on great terms with his mum. But I got 2 more (their mum just moved here and came to my mum's shop and got friendly with her, and asked her if she knew a teacher). One of them wants me to tutor English. She goes to a partially selective school, kind of like Rose Bay, so I'm not completely sure how that will work out. I didn't really like tutoring English for the little boy I taught last year because he was like 10 and he wrote the crappiest (no offense) stories sort of plagiarised from Harry Potter, like 'Harry Potter and the Secret Diary' it wasn't as bad as teaching piano though. Just a few spelling mistakes to fix and make up more junk for him to add onto the pile of crap he already wrote. Whereas year 7 english sounds a bit easier to tutor. I mean, there are actually rules in essay writing. I could hark on about ATEEL and similes and that stuff, and hopefully the time will pass faster than piano. The other kid needs English tutoring too as well as piano and he's eight, so that's a bit sad. I don't like reading messy writing and inventing purposefully crappy stories for a kid (I can't make it too good or it just screams 'not a 8 year old's work'). I'd much rather go on about ATEEL. I guess I'm happy that I'm getting the same money for English tutoring as piano, because English tutors usually charge less. Teaching English is way less boring than teaching piano because time passes faster. Hopefully their mum (they're siblings) doesn't realise that she could find a cheaper and more experienced English tutor on Gumtree or something. By the way, I have my iPad again. My bid on the iPad I made before I knew my mum needed the money actually won, so looks like I actually will get it sometime next week. Which is lame because my mum needed the money and I don't have my Optus wifi internet yet so it's not like I'll be using it anytime soon. Oh well. I'm still kind of excited.
My iPad accessories I am sooo getting (yeah, I'm spending all my earnings on this stuff):
-A bookbook. It's so cool. I also found a really cool cover disguised as the first edition of 'The Great Gatsby' (the one with the eyes and ferris wheel) but that was really expensive, like $55 so I think I'll go for the 30 dollar bookbook.
-A GelaSkin. I know it's a rip-off but I was thinking: do I want an iPod touch one, a Macbook or an iPad Gelaskin? I think I'll go for the iPad one. I don't know which one to choose yet but most of them are really cool so it'll be hard deciding.
-Screen protector. Enough said, nothing too special.
-http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/110814293139?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_2378wt_1141 <---- one of these to type on, it looks like a really nice keyboard, all sleek and polished.
I think that's it. I just ate the leftover Arthur's pizza and it kind of tasted a bit funny because the tomatoes were wrinkled and the mushroom looked dry and was actually crispy which was weird. But not too much to complain about, they were leftovers after all! Currently watching Djokovic and Nadal do their thing. I don't usually have tennis favourites so I'm not sure who I want to win. Maybe Nadal. Hmm I don't know. Nadal is getting a bit boring, he's always top. And Djokovic won last year so that's boring too. I thought the Women's finals yesterday were really interesting though.
-Get my learner driver's license. Except, hang on, I forgot to mention that I can't drive without my mum next to me (so what is the point of driving if my mum has to be there and there's higher risk of car crash when I'm behind the wheel) until I'm 17 and have completed 120 hours of practice driving.
-Get most piercings without my mum's permission. Oh yeah, like I've always wanted the eyebrow piercing. Might just go get it soon!
-Get to move out of home and get my own place. Sure, I have like sixty dollars in my pocket. That will last me maybe a week, give or take, on the streets. I'll survive on Maccas everyday. Oh hang on, I can't even do that because I have to spend the money on my remaining english textbook!
-Get to have sex. Wow. Like, there's going to be police peeking through the windows of all the teenage sluts and arresting them if they do it before 16.
So it's a bit disappointing. But yesterday was cool. Thanks guys, it was sweet *hugs*. I guess I'll wait until I'm 18. Then I can rent a hotel by myself. That's all I can think of at the moment. It's be awesome to save up and go holidaying on your own.
Hate hate hate Optus. Too bad Bigpond's network coverage or whatever is crap and doesn't service our house, other wise I would go for Bigpond. I want my internet so bad. So so bad. I hate Vodafone internet, the minute Optus comes in I'm breaking my USB in half and chucking it out the window into the ugly leaves of my freaky neighbour's banana tree, where it belongs. I was meant to get my internet on the 25th. The 25th! And their cable was too short or something. And they say they would call us back. Except they never did, and when my mum rings they say they can't come back until mid-February! I don't think anyone understands how slow my mobile internet is. It not only takes up one of only 2 USB ports on my computer (the other one you can't use anyway because the stupid internet stick is huge so basically when I use internet I have no other free USB slot). If the Macbook Pro has one fault, it is not enough USB ports. Or maybe that's Vodafone's fault for inventing such a big stick. I don't know. Half the time my internet just decides to give up and show the dreaded 'this webpage is not available'. Which is why I have to remember to copy everything I write that is long. And I can't upload photos off my iPod, or update its software when I don't have a free USB slot! Boo.
I'd love to know what Juliet and Georgia did in New Mexico after their 1st trip to Walmart like 2 months ago. Shame they ABANDONED their blog! Tut tut. So, here was a belated birthday present for me: I've just been informed by my piano teacher that I have to 'really work hard' from now on. Gr-eat, just when school starts. My piano exam is sometime between 28 April-9th June. See, I can even memorise the date. She's implied that she wants to see me twice a week but I doubt I'll find 90 dollars lying around every week. And she's cancelled theory lessons, which sucks. I've actually been practising. And it also means the money spent on theory was wasted because 3 months later (when she starts up again) everyone will forget everything and we'll have to start fresh. My mum's pretty pissed about that because my teacher does that all the time. Cancel lessons after like 10 of them, then start them up again after 2 months and we have to waste time and money revising lots of things from scratch. I really hate theory. Melody writing, argh. I wonder when I will ever compose anything that isn't 'bad rhythm' or 'too many repeated notes' or 'not remotely like a Minuet' or sounding oriental! I'm meant to have my 4th grade theory pass certificate already but I've only got my grade 2 even though we're learning grade 5 (she makes me skip every exam practically) which means I don't even have my official 8th grade certificate even though I did the prac exam like 2 years ago (I only have the examiner's report and grade, because a pass in 4th grade is compulsory to get an actual certificate), nor will I get my diploma this year even if I pass the practical exam (because I need a 5th grade certificate, not a useless 2nd grade one).
I am learning oboe this year. It's an endangered instrument and I love the sound. Unfortunately I'm paying for it myself, which means I can't do it with the school because they charge like $80 an hour which is a rip-off for a beginner. I found a $60 per hour teacher that's gotten her Amus so I can even ask her about the general knowledge section of my upcoming piano exam, seeing as my piano teacher is hopeless at teaching it. Her way: *chucks me a huge pile of badly photocopied paper* "Here's some info on Bach, here's some info on the structure of the fugue, here's some info on when the piano was invented and here's some italian definitions. Memorise the amount of each type of composition all your composers wrote, the dates they wrote everything and the cities they travelled, and also three other composers for each era and oh you can't forget the dates all four composers were born and died and what their wives and children did, and of course memorise everything by next week, I'll quiz you" which is a fat lot of help and makes the following week sound pretty lame. I've got this memory in my head still : 1 week after our year 9 Canberra trip and the day before my 8th grade exam, Claudine was quizzing me on Debussy and the harpsichord while we were lining up for Geography and the teacher looked like she thought we were total weirdos. Haha I was so stressed I only cared about memorising the amount of compositions Bach composed for the harpsichord or something. So my lesson next week will be like 6:45 pm Sunday which is late, I don't want to go (not as bad as the 8pm-10pm lessons she scheduled for me every Wednesday school night in yr 9). And what's worse: the ominous "I don't know, I'm a bit confused about the times so I don't know when you'll start, maybe 7 but come at 6:45 anyway" what, just for the fun of waiting? I have homework and its a school night! I think I'll bring 'Huckleberry Finn' with me if I have to wait. And then she goes, 'oh and tell your mum to not pick you up until you call her, I need extra time with you' which was when I thought crap, she's going to make me finish at like 9 or something when I'm half asleep. Or even worse she's arranged another student 'get-together' to exercise our performance skills in front of like 5 other students (who last year all played better than me, but seeing as this year I'm not in 8th grade anymore she might invite the lower students that are doing their grade 8 and hopefully it won't be as bad). And she always criticises you in front of everyone. If she does that it won't end until like 10pm. Argh this is depressing. The only thing worse, much worse, than exam stress: piano stress. 2 years worth of playing 6 songs all come down to nothing if I fail. Especially when the exam costs $300 to take and the pass rate is 30%...oh my god I need to stop thinking about that. Especially when my piano teacher is pressuring me to do Music Extension (or as she calls it, Music 3). No thanks, I can barely get my head around my 'Music Composition Toolbox' textbook for Music 2. It looks sooo hard.
This is embarrassing but I was offered an audition and interview for a cello learning scholarship (I know, cellos are lame and I hate the sound but it's free tuition for a year) with the Sydney Youth Symphony Orchestra, except I had to cancel it at the last minute. Why? Because I only just realised that the venue (Castle Hill) was too far away. Yeah, so that was lame and pretty embarrassing when I had to tell them after I applied and got contacted back and everything.
I'm itching all over even though my cat's gone. I mean, my hands itch, even, and my back. I have red rashes on the back of my hands. So annoying. And I think I just lost a student, boo because my mum isn't on great terms with his mum. But I got 2 more (their mum just moved here and came to my mum's shop and got friendly with her, and asked her if she knew a teacher). One of them wants me to tutor English. She goes to a partially selective school, kind of like Rose Bay, so I'm not completely sure how that will work out. I didn't really like tutoring English for the little boy I taught last year because he was like 10 and he wrote the crappiest (no offense) stories sort of plagiarised from Harry Potter, like 'Harry Potter and the Secret Diary' it wasn't as bad as teaching piano though. Just a few spelling mistakes to fix and make up more junk for him to add onto the pile of crap he already wrote. Whereas year 7 english sounds a bit easier to tutor. I mean, there are actually rules in essay writing. I could hark on about ATEEL and similes and that stuff, and hopefully the time will pass faster than piano. The other kid needs English tutoring too as well as piano and he's eight, so that's a bit sad. I don't like reading messy writing and inventing purposefully crappy stories for a kid (I can't make it too good or it just screams 'not a 8 year old's work'). I'd much rather go on about ATEEL. I guess I'm happy that I'm getting the same money for English tutoring as piano, because English tutors usually charge less. Teaching English is way less boring than teaching piano because time passes faster. Hopefully their mum (they're siblings) doesn't realise that she could find a cheaper and more experienced English tutor on Gumtree or something. By the way, I have my iPad again. My bid on the iPad I made before I knew my mum needed the money actually won, so looks like I actually will get it sometime next week. Which is lame because my mum needed the money and I don't have my Optus wifi internet yet so it's not like I'll be using it anytime soon. Oh well. I'm still kind of excited.
My iPad accessories I am sooo getting (yeah, I'm spending all my earnings on this stuff):
-A bookbook. It's so cool. I also found a really cool cover disguised as the first edition of 'The Great Gatsby' (the one with the eyes and ferris wheel) but that was really expensive, like $55 so I think I'll go for the 30 dollar bookbook.
-A GelaSkin. I know it's a rip-off but I was thinking: do I want an iPod touch one, a Macbook or an iPad Gelaskin? I think I'll go for the iPad one. I don't know which one to choose yet but most of them are really cool so it'll be hard deciding.
-Screen protector. Enough said, nothing too special.
-http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/110814293139?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_2378wt_1141 <---- one of these to type on, it looks like a really nice keyboard, all sleek and polished.
I think that's it. I just ate the leftover Arthur's pizza and it kind of tasted a bit funny because the tomatoes were wrinkled and the mushroom looked dry and was actually crispy which was weird. But not too much to complain about, they were leftovers after all! Currently watching Djokovic and Nadal do their thing. I don't usually have tennis favourites so I'm not sure who I want to win. Maybe Nadal. Hmm I don't know. Nadal is getting a bit boring, he's always top. And Djokovic won last year so that's boring too. I thought the Women's finals yesterday were really interesting though.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
I HATE AUSTRALIA DAY
Honestly, who even invented it? It's just more of a reason for the country's bogans to unite and rejoice. At least there aren't that many cars today outside my house. I remember last year when it was actually hot on Australia day, there were tonnes of cars parked outside and people walking to the beach, which was annoying because I became increasingly paranoid that there would be some car that would park in our driveway.
I still miss Bodhi. Strangely enough, my mum seems to miss him even more. Bodhi was an affectionate cat, but not that affectionate. He was mostly just a really good and well behaved cat, always used litter tray, always used his scratching post (he never did anything inappropriate like scratch the sofa) and he was very quiet. He loved to stare out the window, he could do that for hours. Oh well, I still keep in contact with his owner so I'll know where his new home is when he gets adopted out again.
Anyhow, I'm really pissed about a certain event that happened this morning involving a dumb racist. I wish I was at the shop when it happened, I would've definitely done something to him. If you MUST be racist because it's how you are or how you've been influenced in your childhood, at least have the decency to make yourself believe that you aren't, or not show it to people's faces! And on Australia Day, of all days! It's people like this that make me ashamed to be living here, and also makes Australia a place of ridicule in other countries, just like the way people talk about America in China! Who knows, maybe they talk the same way about Australia my relatives just aren't tactless enough to do it in front of me. But everyone in China now believes that America is a place full of racists looking down their noses at Chinese people and a government trying to destroy the world by causing wars, even the taxi drivers talk about it when they drive you somewhere!
So what happened was just full-on a racist attack, not even 'possible', 'doubtful' or 'underlying' racism. It's just undeniably racist. My mum was talking on the phone in Chinese to my great-Aunt in Shanghai and this guy walks in to buy a poncho (ponchos are selling fast today). He's like to my mum, 'what are you saying?', and then my mum goes, 'Excuse me?', and he says, 'Are you saying something about me?' which is dumb because if he thinks my mum is so bored that she talks about customers she is serving over a long distance phone call, then he needs to get a life instead of making up excuses to be racist. And then my mum's like, 'No, I was talking about Chinese New Year to my relative'. And the guy says, 'Today is Australia Day, not Chinese day. When are you going to go back to your own country?' and then my mum was pretty shocked, but she said something along the lines of 'when are you going to go back to YOUR own country? This country belongs to the Aboriginals' lol I don't know how she managed to think of that comeback but it was kind of effective. Because if that guy was racist towards Chinese people he was probably racist towards Aboriginals. And then the guy goes, 'I was born here' and I think my mum said something along the lines of, 'it still belongs to the Aboriginals and get out of my shop and never show your face here again' or something like that. Worse still, we've had many cases of that happening before. All we need to do is talk in Chinese and occasionally some racist will turn around and in the end it always comes down to 'go back to your own country', it's the core of everything they try to say, whether they express it eloquently or not. It's like the motto+mantra of racists in Australia.
So I'm still fuming over what happened. Honestly. Why are there such idiots on this planet? It just kind of reinforces my belief that Australia day really is a time for idiots to embrace their inner-boganess. Argh. I might be with the Aboriginals on this one: it's certainly a stupid idea to make it a 'day of celebration' and although it may not be 'invasion day' for me, it just kind of screams 'bogan'. Once I get my internet (if I EVER do, damn you Optus) I will take a trip down memory lane and upload more about America. Like Disneyland and stuff while its still (a bit) fresh in my brain.
I still miss Bodhi. Strangely enough, my mum seems to miss him even more. Bodhi was an affectionate cat, but not that affectionate. He was mostly just a really good and well behaved cat, always used litter tray, always used his scratching post (he never did anything inappropriate like scratch the sofa) and he was very quiet. He loved to stare out the window, he could do that for hours. Oh well, I still keep in contact with his owner so I'll know where his new home is when he gets adopted out again.
Anyhow, I'm really pissed about a certain event that happened this morning involving a dumb racist. I wish I was at the shop when it happened, I would've definitely done something to him. If you MUST be racist because it's how you are or how you've been influenced in your childhood, at least have the decency to make yourself believe that you aren't, or not show it to people's faces! And on Australia Day, of all days! It's people like this that make me ashamed to be living here, and also makes Australia a place of ridicule in other countries, just like the way people talk about America in China! Who knows, maybe they talk the same way about Australia my relatives just aren't tactless enough to do it in front of me. But everyone in China now believes that America is a place full of racists looking down their noses at Chinese people and a government trying to destroy the world by causing wars, even the taxi drivers talk about it when they drive you somewhere!
So what happened was just full-on a racist attack, not even 'possible', 'doubtful' or 'underlying' racism. It's just undeniably racist. My mum was talking on the phone in Chinese to my great-Aunt in Shanghai and this guy walks in to buy a poncho (ponchos are selling fast today). He's like to my mum, 'what are you saying?', and then my mum goes, 'Excuse me?', and he says, 'Are you saying something about me?' which is dumb because if he thinks my mum is so bored that she talks about customers she is serving over a long distance phone call, then he needs to get a life instead of making up excuses to be racist. And then my mum's like, 'No, I was talking about Chinese New Year to my relative'. And the guy says, 'Today is Australia Day, not Chinese day. When are you going to go back to your own country?' and then my mum was pretty shocked, but she said something along the lines of 'when are you going to go back to YOUR own country? This country belongs to the Aboriginals' lol I don't know how she managed to think of that comeback but it was kind of effective. Because if that guy was racist towards Chinese people he was probably racist towards Aboriginals. And then the guy goes, 'I was born here' and I think my mum said something along the lines of, 'it still belongs to the Aboriginals and get out of my shop and never show your face here again' or something like that. Worse still, we've had many cases of that happening before. All we need to do is talk in Chinese and occasionally some racist will turn around and in the end it always comes down to 'go back to your own country', it's the core of everything they try to say, whether they express it eloquently or not. It's like the motto+mantra of racists in Australia.
So I'm still fuming over what happened. Honestly. Why are there such idiots on this planet? It just kind of reinforces my belief that Australia day really is a time for idiots to embrace their inner-boganess. Argh. I might be with the Aboriginals on this one: it's certainly a stupid idea to make it a 'day of celebration' and although it may not be 'invasion day' for me, it just kind of screams 'bogan'. Once I get my internet (if I EVER do, damn you Optus) I will take a trip down memory lane and upload more about America. Like Disneyland and stuff while its still (a bit) fresh in my brain.
 |
| Bodhi sitting in his favourite position: The Buddha position, typical of Scottish Folds. I must admit although he is not a particularly cute kitty, he is very cute when he sits like this. |
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Byebye Bodhi :(
Okay, I've had this cat for less than a week, I know. And I'm giving him back to his old owners. I feel like crying now but I made the decision myself because I just don't think I'm up for the responsibility of owning a cat. I love him so much though, he's gotten really affectionate and always hops off the table to greet me even though he hasn't known me very long. He has settled in really well, and now acts like he's lived here for years. He never hides under the bed anymore. The thing that made me change my mind was that I am a teensy bit allergic to cats myself, and I have a few red itchy spots. My mum has a lot. Also, I love Bodhi so much but he's not the cat for me. I like the smoochy type of cat that likes sitting on your lap, and though Bodhi likes the occasional head rub, he spends his days mostly staring out of the window and sleeping and using his scratching post. He can get a bit threatening too. Yesterday he was sitting on a bed chewing a plastic bag, and when I removed the plastic bag he twitched his tail and actually glared at me. Then he simply walked over and started chewing an enviro bag. Which probably didn't taste as good so he stopped. I tried to pat him and then he meowed and kind of lunged at me in anger for removing the plastic bag he was chewing on. Thirty minutes later, he was headbutting my hand as usual and asking for a pat. So I don't know if he's bipolar or just a freaky kitty. He is a very clean kitty and quite low maintenance, so my mum says if I have to keep a cat, then he's the one I should keep. But I am the one who wants to give him back now, a decision I never thought I'd ever make.
I woke up yesterday to find that he had a small bald patch on his neck that was bright red and look sore. Today it had turned a bit grey but when I tried to touch it, Bodhi tried to scratch me so I'm assuming it still hurts. I freaked out and searched online for answers, and the only conclusion I could make was that it could be ringworm, which is contagious to humans. He also has eye discharge and well this is gross, but constipation too. I've now realised that eye discharge is normal in cats after napping, and constipation could be solved with milk, and the bald patch could've been his fur accidentally being caught on something. I could have just been paranoid, but regardless, he is going to need to go to the vet sometime (at least every year) and vets are expensive, and my mum is forever complaining about money and credit card bills, and now I realise it's been incredibly selfish of me to adopt a cat at this stage, and I feel bad about putting even more pressure on my mum. My mum has a phobia of animal germs, and her even letting a fur-covered animal in the house is a huge thing. Even though I could afford an annual vet checkup under $100 from my wages, I sure wouldn't be able to afford, say, multi-hundred dollar medication if he's sick (which he is bound to be sometime during his life) or even worse multi-thousand dollar operations. I have to ask myself, is it really worth it? Even a bald patch makes me worry about his health and vet bills. Sure, cats are great, but I don't really want to spend hundreds of dollars on vet bills and in the long run it may not even be worth it (I've heard of heaps of bad vets that charge you even when they don't know what's wrong). I don't regret adopting him, though. I've had a cat obsession since I was twelve and now that I finally know what it's like to own a cat, I'll stop always longing for one.
I've gone through really intense 'favourite animal' phases. When I was 9-11, I had a huge bird obsession (rainbow lorikeets, mostly). My grandparents' house had heaps and heaps of those, and I fed them everyday. I came to name most of the regulars (they are still there now) and could tell my favourites apart. There was Heidi, the bird that got bullied all the time and flew on my head to hide from the other birds. Then he'd fly back down to eat sugar out of my hand when the other birds were gone. There was Rainlora, my favourite, who would fly on my hand straightaway from the trees and would then climb up the front of my shirt and back around onto my head. Those were the only two birds that flew on my head.
I went through a dog phase before the bird phase. My grandpa's neighbour had a white poodle called 'Toodles'. I used to be scared of dogs, until I met her. I used to run away from her and she'd chase me (she was always faster) then I realised she just wanted to play. Unfortunately Toodles died on the same day Michael Jackson did which is, what, like a few years ago? I can't remember. She lived to the ripe old age of seventeen. I still go out to lunch with Toodles' owner occasionally. I've known her since I was six and she welcomed us to the area with an easter egg in a ceramic cup. Since then, she's always been really lovely and given us heaps of stuff (she even offered to get me a kitten once from a pet store). She's been much more depressed since Toodles died and she lives alone now, which also makes me think: if I'm kind of upset to give Bodhi back when it's only been a few days, how would it feel if he died because I couldn't afford a vet bill? I'm glad to be parting with Bodhi before I develop a stronger bond with him, otherwise it'd just be plain depressing.
Posting about it on this blog is making me feel much better, though. This blog isn't just about my travels so I need a better name for it I guess. I've had many experiences since starting it, and Bodhi the cat is one of the major ones. I'm excited and nervous and depressed all at once for school, which starts on 1 February. Eek. The internet guy is coming soon to get me my new Optus wireless internet (120gb compared to 4gb per month is like, amazing). I'm a bit annoyed because my piano teacher is irritated with me and therefore not responding to my text for not going to her lesson today, so I don't even know what time I should come to my regular lesson on Sunday because she changes my lesson time every week. Yeah, these days I have a maximum of 3 lessons that are at the same time every week, plus she makes me wait at least 10 minutes while she finishes with her previous student. That's enough to get anyone annoyed even if she gives 10 minutes extra at the end of the lesson to make up for it, which she doesn't. I remember when she made me wait 30 minutes at 9pm the day before my 8th grade exam, and finally her husband had to go get her. Just because she wanted to give more time to a student who was a grade higher than me and also had her exam the next day. Not to mention she always slacks off during lessons by taking phone calls from parents and sending texts. God, not even I do that and I charge like a third of what she does. Hello, if she thinks I am going to pay her $200 a week for two 50 minute lessons, she is sadly mistaken. I've wanted to change piano teachers for a long time but this May/June, I'm actually going to do it. I want to apply for the Conservatorium of Music's 'Rising Stars' program which is expensive but not as expensive as my piano teacher if she keeps up this 'two lessons per week' thing, which she will the closer my exam date looms to 'give me extra polishes to my pieces'. Well, maybe I wouldn't need those extra lessons if she actually gave me exactly what I paid for which is one hour during my usual lessons. Plus, they have concerts for students at the Conservatorium every week and I'll be stage-fright free in no time. Also if I'm really really lucky, they give out scholarships if you put in enough effort, and it would be a dream come true for my mum if she didn't have to fork out a fortune for my piano tuition.
So something good to make up for my crappy piano teacher and giving Bodhi back: I (almost) have my iPad 2! My usually good-for-nothing lame grandparents actually gave me money for Chinese New Year and my birthday for the first time in three years when I visited them yesterday. I mean my father's parents, of course. Let's just say I have enough reason to say they're not exactly my favourite people in the world. I would never say such things about my mum's parents, of course. My father's parents gave me quite a bit, let's just say more than enough for an iPad 2. I want the white 32gb one with wi-fi (I don't necessarily need 3g). I've already bid on one on eBay. It's $673 at Jb hi-fi but the one I bid on has 3g as well so it's definitely going to cost more. My maximum bid was $600 so I don't think I'll get it for that price. I'm going to try, anyway.
I have some photos of Bodhi during his short little vacation at my place, which includes his freaky resting positions: he likes to sit up straight with his feet sticking out and his front paws folded across his belly, and he also likes to sleep lying on his back. I'll post when I have the optus broadband. By the way, I already am starting to not like Optus. The guys just came to install it, and guess what they said? They need a longer cable so they have to come back Friday or Saturday. And no one will be home on Saturday. It's pretty dumb, why can't they be prepared beforehand?
I woke up yesterday to find that he had a small bald patch on his neck that was bright red and look sore. Today it had turned a bit grey but when I tried to touch it, Bodhi tried to scratch me so I'm assuming it still hurts. I freaked out and searched online for answers, and the only conclusion I could make was that it could be ringworm, which is contagious to humans. He also has eye discharge and well this is gross, but constipation too. I've now realised that eye discharge is normal in cats after napping, and constipation could be solved with milk, and the bald patch could've been his fur accidentally being caught on something. I could have just been paranoid, but regardless, he is going to need to go to the vet sometime (at least every year) and vets are expensive, and my mum is forever complaining about money and credit card bills, and now I realise it's been incredibly selfish of me to adopt a cat at this stage, and I feel bad about putting even more pressure on my mum. My mum has a phobia of animal germs, and her even letting a fur-covered animal in the house is a huge thing. Even though I could afford an annual vet checkup under $100 from my wages, I sure wouldn't be able to afford, say, multi-hundred dollar medication if he's sick (which he is bound to be sometime during his life) or even worse multi-thousand dollar operations. I have to ask myself, is it really worth it? Even a bald patch makes me worry about his health and vet bills. Sure, cats are great, but I don't really want to spend hundreds of dollars on vet bills and in the long run it may not even be worth it (I've heard of heaps of bad vets that charge you even when they don't know what's wrong). I don't regret adopting him, though. I've had a cat obsession since I was twelve and now that I finally know what it's like to own a cat, I'll stop always longing for one.
I've gone through really intense 'favourite animal' phases. When I was 9-11, I had a huge bird obsession (rainbow lorikeets, mostly). My grandparents' house had heaps and heaps of those, and I fed them everyday. I came to name most of the regulars (they are still there now) and could tell my favourites apart. There was Heidi, the bird that got bullied all the time and flew on my head to hide from the other birds. Then he'd fly back down to eat sugar out of my hand when the other birds were gone. There was Rainlora, my favourite, who would fly on my hand straightaway from the trees and would then climb up the front of my shirt and back around onto my head. Those were the only two birds that flew on my head.
I went through a dog phase before the bird phase. My grandpa's neighbour had a white poodle called 'Toodles'. I used to be scared of dogs, until I met her. I used to run away from her and she'd chase me (she was always faster) then I realised she just wanted to play. Unfortunately Toodles died on the same day Michael Jackson did which is, what, like a few years ago? I can't remember. She lived to the ripe old age of seventeen. I still go out to lunch with Toodles' owner occasionally. I've known her since I was six and she welcomed us to the area with an easter egg in a ceramic cup. Since then, she's always been really lovely and given us heaps of stuff (she even offered to get me a kitten once from a pet store). She's been much more depressed since Toodles died and she lives alone now, which also makes me think: if I'm kind of upset to give Bodhi back when it's only been a few days, how would it feel if he died because I couldn't afford a vet bill? I'm glad to be parting with Bodhi before I develop a stronger bond with him, otherwise it'd just be plain depressing.
Posting about it on this blog is making me feel much better, though. This blog isn't just about my travels so I need a better name for it I guess. I've had many experiences since starting it, and Bodhi the cat is one of the major ones. I'm excited and nervous and depressed all at once for school, which starts on 1 February. Eek. The internet guy is coming soon to get me my new Optus wireless internet (120gb compared to 4gb per month is like, amazing). I'm a bit annoyed because my piano teacher is irritated with me and therefore not responding to my text for not going to her lesson today, so I don't even know what time I should come to my regular lesson on Sunday because she changes my lesson time every week. Yeah, these days I have a maximum of 3 lessons that are at the same time every week, plus she makes me wait at least 10 minutes while she finishes with her previous student. That's enough to get anyone annoyed even if she gives 10 minutes extra at the end of the lesson to make up for it, which she doesn't. I remember when she made me wait 30 minutes at 9pm the day before my 8th grade exam, and finally her husband had to go get her. Just because she wanted to give more time to a student who was a grade higher than me and also had her exam the next day. Not to mention she always slacks off during lessons by taking phone calls from parents and sending texts. God, not even I do that and I charge like a third of what she does. Hello, if she thinks I am going to pay her $200 a week for two 50 minute lessons, she is sadly mistaken. I've wanted to change piano teachers for a long time but this May/June, I'm actually going to do it. I want to apply for the Conservatorium of Music's 'Rising Stars' program which is expensive but not as expensive as my piano teacher if she keeps up this 'two lessons per week' thing, which she will the closer my exam date looms to 'give me extra polishes to my pieces'. Well, maybe I wouldn't need those extra lessons if she actually gave me exactly what I paid for which is one hour during my usual lessons. Plus, they have concerts for students at the Conservatorium every week and I'll be stage-fright free in no time. Also if I'm really really lucky, they give out scholarships if you put in enough effort, and it would be a dream come true for my mum if she didn't have to fork out a fortune for my piano tuition.
So something good to make up for my crappy piano teacher and giving Bodhi back: I (almost) have my iPad 2! My usually good-for-nothing lame grandparents actually gave me money for Chinese New Year and my birthday for the first time in three years when I visited them yesterday. I mean my father's parents, of course. Let's just say I have enough reason to say they're not exactly my favourite people in the world. I would never say such things about my mum's parents, of course. My father's parents gave me quite a bit, let's just say more than enough for an iPad 2. I want the white 32gb one with wi-fi (I don't necessarily need 3g). I've already bid on one on eBay. It's $673 at Jb hi-fi but the one I bid on has 3g as well so it's definitely going to cost more. My maximum bid was $600 so I don't think I'll get it for that price. I'm going to try, anyway.
I have some photos of Bodhi during his short little vacation at my place, which includes his freaky resting positions: he likes to sit up straight with his feet sticking out and his front paws folded across his belly, and he also likes to sleep lying on his back. I'll post when I have the optus broadband. By the way, I already am starting to not like Optus. The guys just came to install it, and guess what they said? They need a longer cable so they have to come back Friday or Saturday. And no one will be home on Saturday. It's pretty dumb, why can't they be prepared beforehand?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Anorexic kitty
Someone help me: I think I may have just adopted a stuck-up cat. His owner told me he only eats wild turkey with gravy cat food, and it has to be 'Dine' brand. And as for dry food, he only eats roast chicken flavoured. Maybe he doesn't like fish, which is weird. This pedigreed blue Scottish Fold cat is way more stuck up and picky than my old, common domestic short hair ginger tabby cat. I mean, my old kitty used to eat everything. And I mean everything. Anyway, several things happened today:
-He used his litter tray. Finally! And I didn't even have to show him where the bathroom was, he just knew it was his to pee in!
-He used his scratching post like 3 times. He's really really cute when he uses his scratching post. But he doesn't like me creeping on him, so I haven't had the chance to take a video. I'm quite amazed that he knew it was his to scratch on, too. It's a new one from the shop, and he just automatically started scratching on it after napping time.
-I have a pet bed for him, but he ignores it despite it having his own scent (from the mat in his carrier). His favourite spot to sleep is on a chair pushed into the farthest corner of the dining table where we can't reach him. I suppose that will be his bed from now on. If we are too noisy, he slowly walks out (he is a very slow and curious cat) and he walks (slowly) to his secondary resting spot: somewhere under one of the two beds in the bedroom we don't use (we can never find him when he's in that room), where he's less likely to be disturbed by noise.
-My mum had this huge red mosquito-bite looking thing on her shoulder today that she claims is from the cat. I kind of pretended that it's impossibly for the kitty to have fleas because he got the medication when he was little, but obviously it's not impossible. Either that or my mum's allergic, even though she hasn't touched him since yesterday when she first met him. I think it'll have to be like a month before I know for sure I can keep Bodhi. He'll have to be purring for me by then and my mum will have to not be allergic. I hope he can trust me. He doesn't let me anywhere near him (he hisses) and his tail still twitches which means he's anxious. Poor kitty, his owner put him up for adoption after 5 years because some toddler liked to tug on his tail.
Hope all goes well :) Oh and by the way he has barely eaten anything. Like, 3 cat biscuits and that's it for 24 hours. Ignored the 'Dine' turkey I put out for him. I hope I have NOT adopted an anorexic kitty. I mean Felix eats like crazy, and so did my old cat, and so did the stray cats in China!
Update: He finally ate a tiny bit of the cat food. It's the first time I've seen a cat not eagerly wolfing down its food. Remember his favourite spot under the dining table? Well he decided to hop on top of the table instead to reach the window. He was pretty cute, resting 2 of his paws on the windowsill and staring out into the backyard. Until he saw my neighbour watering plants with a hose, and then he freaked and ran back into his own little room. My mum is being annoyingly paranoid about the 'dirty' cat. The living room and bedroom (except for the bedroom we don't use) doors stay closed at all times so he can't get in. Luckily he's not a cheeky cat. I opened my room door a bit and he just stuck in his head to look, but didn't go in. He's cute when he's deciding where to go, he lifts one paw up off the ground when he pauses in his walking. My mum was also paranoid about him hopping onto the table, and now she's freaking because Bodhi's a bit more comfortable in his bedroom (where we try not to disturb him) and he's resting on top of the bed instead of under it. Which I personally think its good because he's not that scared anymore and he's much cleaner there than under the bed. I'm still scared to touch him, though, in case he hisses at me again. He's quite relaxed (it's dark but I'm assuming he is resting in a relaxed manner). My mum shoved his pet bed next to him but he will not go on it. He prefers to sleep in the tiny space between the outside of his bed and the railing. I don't know if I've mentioned this but he's obsessed with his scratching post. Maybe its the thrill of having a new one. But when he comes out, he's bold enough to go straight into the kitchen and have a scratch right in front of us. He's done it 5 times already. He is a very, very quiet kitty. If he meows, it's very soft. I did some research on the breed and Scottish Folds are meant to be very placid, affectionate, independent and quiet. So I guess that's good, one less thing that won't annoy my mum if he's not the type that meows constantly.
-He used his litter tray. Finally! And I didn't even have to show him where the bathroom was, he just knew it was his to pee in!
-He used his scratching post like 3 times. He's really really cute when he uses his scratching post. But he doesn't like me creeping on him, so I haven't had the chance to take a video. I'm quite amazed that he knew it was his to scratch on, too. It's a new one from the shop, and he just automatically started scratching on it after napping time.
-I have a pet bed for him, but he ignores it despite it having his own scent (from the mat in his carrier). His favourite spot to sleep is on a chair pushed into the farthest corner of the dining table where we can't reach him. I suppose that will be his bed from now on. If we are too noisy, he slowly walks out (he is a very slow and curious cat) and he walks (slowly) to his secondary resting spot: somewhere under one of the two beds in the bedroom we don't use (we can never find him when he's in that room), where he's less likely to be disturbed by noise.
-My mum had this huge red mosquito-bite looking thing on her shoulder today that she claims is from the cat. I kind of pretended that it's impossibly for the kitty to have fleas because he got the medication when he was little, but obviously it's not impossible. Either that or my mum's allergic, even though she hasn't touched him since yesterday when she first met him. I think it'll have to be like a month before I know for sure I can keep Bodhi. He'll have to be purring for me by then and my mum will have to not be allergic. I hope he can trust me. He doesn't let me anywhere near him (he hisses) and his tail still twitches which means he's anxious. Poor kitty, his owner put him up for adoption after 5 years because some toddler liked to tug on his tail.
Hope all goes well :) Oh and by the way he has barely eaten anything. Like, 3 cat biscuits and that's it for 24 hours. Ignored the 'Dine' turkey I put out for him. I hope I have NOT adopted an anorexic kitty. I mean Felix eats like crazy, and so did my old cat, and so did the stray cats in China!
Update: He finally ate a tiny bit of the cat food. It's the first time I've seen a cat not eagerly wolfing down its food. Remember his favourite spot under the dining table? Well he decided to hop on top of the table instead to reach the window. He was pretty cute, resting 2 of his paws on the windowsill and staring out into the backyard. Until he saw my neighbour watering plants with a hose, and then he freaked and ran back into his own little room. My mum is being annoyingly paranoid about the 'dirty' cat. The living room and bedroom (except for the bedroom we don't use) doors stay closed at all times so he can't get in. Luckily he's not a cheeky cat. I opened my room door a bit and he just stuck in his head to look, but didn't go in. He's cute when he's deciding where to go, he lifts one paw up off the ground when he pauses in his walking. My mum was also paranoid about him hopping onto the table, and now she's freaking because Bodhi's a bit more comfortable in his bedroom (where we try not to disturb him) and he's resting on top of the bed instead of under it. Which I personally think its good because he's not that scared anymore and he's much cleaner there than under the bed. I'm still scared to touch him, though, in case he hisses at me again. He's quite relaxed (it's dark but I'm assuming he is resting in a relaxed manner). My mum shoved his pet bed next to him but he will not go on it. He prefers to sleep in the tiny space between the outside of his bed and the railing. I don't know if I've mentioned this but he's obsessed with his scratching post. Maybe its the thrill of having a new one. But when he comes out, he's bold enough to go straight into the kitchen and have a scratch right in front of us. He's done it 5 times already. He is a very, very quiet kitty. If he meows, it's very soft. I did some research on the breed and Scottish Folds are meant to be very placid, affectionate, independent and quiet. So I guess that's good, one less thing that won't annoy my mum if he's not the type that meows constantly.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Bodhi
Well, I've finally got my kitty. I know you've already met him. Bodhi's a 5 year old male cat. Blue Scottish Shorthair (Scottish Fold) and he's a purebred one, so I have a receipt that proves he was $500 when he was bought as a kitten. I just got him from his owner in Chippendale, and he's so shy right now. I'm not entirely sure where he is. I know, you're thinking, you got a new cat and you don't know where he is? But he's hiding right now, and I am 80% sure its under my bed. He's not making ANY noise, even though there's tonnes of crap under my bed in plastic bags. There's not even a rustle of plastic. I tried to put a tinkling collar on him so I would know if he moved his head, but he tried to scratch me! Well, not exactly, but he held up a paw like he was saying, back away. So I let him be. He was quite friendly when I met him, he came up to me and headbutted my hand for a pat and he did the same thing to my mum. He's a very, very quiet cat. I only heard him meow very softly once, when his owner tried to put him in his carrier (he hates going to the vet so I'm assuming that's where he thought he was going). I hope he doesn't think my house is worse than the vet!
So I'm in my room typing this because I'm trying to wait for him to come out from under my bed. He's suc h a freak. Why won't he come out???
Ok, this is like 30 mins later. My mum tried to make him come out by moving some books out of the way and he did come out. He's not scared, exactly, more confused and panicked I think. Or if he's scared, he's not scared of us. And, HE VOMITED on the living room carpet. It smells really bad now. He wondered around for a bit then went back under a bed. I sure hope he knows how to use the litter tray or my mum will be even more pissed than she already is. Yikes, maybe I should swap him for a kitten. He's been with his owner his whole life (5 years) and he's strictly an indoor cat. I was kind of crazy to adopt a cat like that I guess. I mean if he's been with his owner 5 years, I'm sure it'll be very hard on him. His owner can't keep him because he has a 1 year old that pulls his tail and stuff, and she gets scratched sometimes because of the tail-pulling and cat-annoying.
I don't know what to do. I just REALLY REALLY hope he can use his litter box.
So I'm in my room typing this because I'm trying to wait for him to come out from under my bed. He's suc h a freak. Why won't he come out???
Ok, this is like 30 mins later. My mum tried to make him come out by moving some books out of the way and he did come out. He's not scared, exactly, more confused and panicked I think. Or if he's scared, he's not scared of us. And, HE VOMITED on the living room carpet. It smells really bad now. He wondered around for a bit then went back under a bed. I sure hope he knows how to use the litter tray or my mum will be even more pissed than she already is. Yikes, maybe I should swap him for a kitten. He's been with his owner his whole life (5 years) and he's strictly an indoor cat. I was kind of crazy to adopt a cat like that I guess. I mean if he's been with his owner 5 years, I'm sure it'll be very hard on him. His owner can't keep him because he has a 1 year old that pulls his tail and stuff, and she gets scratched sometimes because of the tail-pulling and cat-annoying.
I don't know what to do. I just REALLY REALLY hope he can use his litter box.
Stalker kitty
So as some of you have heard, there is a 45% chance my mum is letting me get a cat. As for how I convinced her, don't even ask. She is still strongly opposed to the idea but if I must get a cat, she wants a pale coloured (preferable ginger or white) kitten apparently because they are cuter. Total opposite of the cat I am viewing tonight. It's a lilac-coloured Scottish fold cat (5 yrs old) named Bodhi, and he comes home with me free. I'm not a HUGE fan of the cat's appearance but the breed is a really good and usually expensive one, plus there aren't that many free cats in our region. Should I get him or get a cute little ginger kitty? I think Bodhi looks like a stalker kitty. Slightly evil, too. And my mum does not like him. But as the owner says, he kind of is a very cool-looking cat. In his own unique way.
Ok, now a bit about what my holidays are like. I'm reading 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' which is boring, as to be expected for English Extension. And I think I should read 'Tom Sawyer' before reading that book but no way can I be bothered to. I am obsessed with this book series at the moment. It's a bit of a trashy-ish read, but it's called 'Pretty Little Liars' and I bought like 8 books of the series overseas because it's really popular in America. It's surprisingly good for a series that looks trashy. I think the author is really clever with it, because I can finish one of those books in like 2 days. Trying to keep myself from reading that though, I'm meant to be reading more boring stuff. I'm looking for more Philipa Gregory books too, because I liked 'The Boleyn Inheritance'. Or maybe it was just because I was reading it at Disneyland and Universal Studios. Some people looked at me a bit weirdly but hey, I'm not about to stand in an hour long queue by myself with nothing to do! I'm also watching 'Thelma and Louise' for English Extension. It's definitely not an amazing movie but it's actually a bit less boring that I thought it'd be. Everything about it just screams '90's' though.
My ultimate cat breeds: Chinchilla and Ragdoll. A woman emailed me today offering one of her part-Persian kittens for free. Persians are cute. I'm really not sure now!!! Should I get evil Bodhi or a fwuffy kitty or a ginger kitty or what??? I'm kind of leaning towards the part-Persian now. Aren't Persians usually expensive, too? But if I want Bodhi I have to get him today, because the guy said lots of people have asked about him. But I really am looking for a kitten rather than a cat. Argh!
Decisions, decisions! Oh and if you're wondering why I don't seem as excited as I ought to be, it's because I kind of don't believe this is happening. Also, I'm pretty sick today. Really sore throat and nasty cough so I'm kind of feeling a bit out of it.
P.S. Guys, I'm really really really wanting to save up a lot of money this year and I only have like 3 kids to teach compared to 6 last year. Because one of them moved to Vietnam, another is still in Shanghai and another wants me to just tutor him in creative writing because he doesn't like piano and I'm not sure about that yet so I might call his mum back later. That means I really need more kids. So if you know any kids wanting to learn piano, please recommend me! I'll love you forever :) The rate is $30 per hour. Plus you'll earn a cool $10 commission from the first lesson on recommending a kid. So that's a way for you to earn money too, right?
Ok, now a bit about what my holidays are like. I'm reading 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' which is boring, as to be expected for English Extension. And I think I should read 'Tom Sawyer' before reading that book but no way can I be bothered to. I am obsessed with this book series at the moment. It's a bit of a trashy-ish read, but it's called 'Pretty Little Liars' and I bought like 8 books of the series overseas because it's really popular in America. It's surprisingly good for a series that looks trashy. I think the author is really clever with it, because I can finish one of those books in like 2 days. Trying to keep myself from reading that though, I'm meant to be reading more boring stuff. I'm looking for more Philipa Gregory books too, because I liked 'The Boleyn Inheritance'. Or maybe it was just because I was reading it at Disneyland and Universal Studios. Some people looked at me a bit weirdly but hey, I'm not about to stand in an hour long queue by myself with nothing to do! I'm also watching 'Thelma and Louise' for English Extension. It's definitely not an amazing movie but it's actually a bit less boring that I thought it'd be. Everything about it just screams '90's' though.
My ultimate cat breeds: Chinchilla and Ragdoll. A woman emailed me today offering one of her part-Persian kittens for free. Persians are cute. I'm really not sure now!!! Should I get evil Bodhi or a fwuffy kitty or a ginger kitty or what??? I'm kind of leaning towards the part-Persian now. Aren't Persians usually expensive, too? But if I want Bodhi I have to get him today, because the guy said lots of people have asked about him. But I really am looking for a kitten rather than a cat. Argh!
Decisions, decisions! Oh and if you're wondering why I don't seem as excited as I ought to be, it's because I kind of don't believe this is happening. Also, I'm pretty sick today. Really sore throat and nasty cough so I'm kind of feeling a bit out of it.
P.S. Guys, I'm really really really wanting to save up a lot of money this year and I only have like 3 kids to teach compared to 6 last year. Because one of them moved to Vietnam, another is still in Shanghai and another wants me to just tutor him in creative writing because he doesn't like piano and I'm not sure about that yet so I might call his mum back later. That means I really need more kids. So if you know any kids wanting to learn piano, please recommend me! I'll love you forever :) The rate is $30 per hour. Plus you'll earn a cool $10 commission from the first lesson on recommending a kid. So that's a way for you to earn money too, right?
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Life is like waiting for the bus
I wrote this on the train or something, the day I went to Universal Studios, Hollywood. Posting it in Sydney because I was too tired to post this in America.
You know what I realized today when I was waiting 30mins for the bus? That at that moment, it was what life was like. Waiting for a bus in a strange city, when everything depends on that bus ride to get you home. It goes both ways:
Firstly, you aren't sure it's even going to come. There is the fear of being stuck on the streets without a way of getting home.
But on the other hand, if (and that is a big if) it does come, you feel relief. Satisfaction that you made the right gamble, and you chose the right bus to get you home.
Today was a really stressful day. I spent Sunday at Seaworld in San Diego which was exhausting, then I spent Monday in Disneyland which was even more so. Today I went to Universal studios Hollywood, and it sure was a huge freaky adventure. I'm currently typing this at LA union station, waiting for my mums cousin to pick me up because I epically failed at trying to get home.
Wrote this the day I visited Universal Studios Hollywood, but never had a chance to post it. By the way, Universal Studios' haunted-house thing (I can't remember exactly what it was called) is SO FREAKY. I went in there thinking, whatever, it'll be like the one in Disneyland. But this one is actually scary. They have real actors dressed up that randomly jump out at you in the darkness. I located the nearest exit and left after 2 people did that to me and I found out there were 3 floors left.
I've been feeling pretty...solitary lately. I spent the day at seaworld by myself, my relative dropped me off at disneyland a day later and I spent the day there by myself too. But despite getting lost a lot during my time in the US, I've always managed to find my way home. Always. Like, I've never called my relatives up because I need directions. God forbid I call my mum, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, today was the day I had to call up my relative because I missed the stupid train.
The day started out ok. Woke up at 6:30 which is the latest I've woken for awhile, and left the house at 7. Rode the bus to the train station by 8, and that's when things went bad. The train got delayed 'up to 30mins' which sucked because I wanted to be at universal studios by 10 (when it opens). So I caught the late train, narrowly managed to get to Burbank station literally while the bus was leaving. So I waited 30 mins for the next one.
Got to universal studios tired as hell, felt like I was sleepwalking. Universal studios went well, though. Managed to do everything I wanted to, which was awesome. But on the way home, I ignored google maps and decided to make my own way home back the way I came. Wrong decision. As I've said before, LA buses are ridiculously crappy. The bus stop had no helpful clue as to how often the bus arrived. I waited for 35 mins, watching and hoping for the bus, then someone told me that certain bus didn't operate in the evenings. At that point I freaked out. I ran to the subway station, hoping I could catch one to the train station in time for the last train to moorpark. Just my luck, I got to the train station 10 minutes late. Last train left at 7:00 which is so ridiculously early. The only option I had left was to catch the 9pm bus getting me home at 10:40 which sounded incredibly unappealing and lame. To top things off, I found out my phone had no credit left. Wanted to phone my mums cousin to tell her I would make it home extremely late, and not for her to panic since she assumes I'll be home by 9pm everyday. So I found like 10 pay phones in different locations. Alll of them had 'out of order' scribbled on them in permanent marker. I mean, hello? It's the biggest train station in LA! Found a lady in a newsagency who told me I could go to starbucks to recharge my phone credit. I was really doubtful. I mean, why would Starbucks sell phone credit??? And, looking like a dumb idiot, I was so desperate I actually went up to the counter to ask and spoke pretty fast so the guy thought I was asking for some drink called 'fire credit' and he was explaining they didn't have such a drink. He looked at me even more strangely when he heard me right the next time. So I went back to newsagent lady, told her I'd pay to use a phone, she started to refuse at first but then agreed, so I called my mums cousin and she offered to pick me up. I felt pretty bad because it's a one hour drive to LA from home. And that was the end of my panicky, freaky day.
I went to Cinnabon for lunch, which was awesome. Oh my god, their Cinammon rolls are to DIE for. It 's like a swirly roll-bun thing with icing and cinammon sugar sandwiched in between. Amazing.
You know what I realized today when I was waiting 30mins for the bus? That at that moment, it was what life was like. Waiting for a bus in a strange city, when everything depends on that bus ride to get you home. It goes both ways:
Firstly, you aren't sure it's even going to come. There is the fear of being stuck on the streets without a way of getting home.
But on the other hand, if (and that is a big if) it does come, you feel relief. Satisfaction that you made the right gamble, and you chose the right bus to get you home.
Today was a really stressful day. I spent Sunday at Seaworld in San Diego which was exhausting, then I spent Monday in Disneyland which was even more so. Today I went to Universal studios Hollywood, and it sure was a huge freaky adventure. I'm currently typing this at LA union station, waiting for my mums cousin to pick me up because I epically failed at trying to get home.
Wrote this the day I visited Universal Studios Hollywood, but never had a chance to post it. By the way, Universal Studios' haunted-house thing (I can't remember exactly what it was called) is SO FREAKY. I went in there thinking, whatever, it'll be like the one in Disneyland. But this one is actually scary. They have real actors dressed up that randomly jump out at you in the darkness. I located the nearest exit and left after 2 people did that to me and I found out there were 3 floors left.
I've been feeling pretty...solitary lately. I spent the day at seaworld by myself, my relative dropped me off at disneyland a day later and I spent the day there by myself too. But despite getting lost a lot during my time in the US, I've always managed to find my way home. Always. Like, I've never called my relatives up because I need directions. God forbid I call my mum, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, today was the day I had to call up my relative because I missed the stupid train.
The day started out ok. Woke up at 6:30 which is the latest I've woken for awhile, and left the house at 7. Rode the bus to the train station by 8, and that's when things went bad. The train got delayed 'up to 30mins' which sucked because I wanted to be at universal studios by 10 (when it opens). So I caught the late train, narrowly managed to get to Burbank station literally while the bus was leaving. So I waited 30 mins for the next one.
Got to universal studios tired as hell, felt like I was sleepwalking. Universal studios went well, though. Managed to do everything I wanted to, which was awesome. But on the way home, I ignored google maps and decided to make my own way home back the way I came. Wrong decision. As I've said before, LA buses are ridiculously crappy. The bus stop had no helpful clue as to how often the bus arrived. I waited for 35 mins, watching and hoping for the bus, then someone told me that certain bus didn't operate in the evenings. At that point I freaked out. I ran to the subway station, hoping I could catch one to the train station in time for the last train to moorpark. Just my luck, I got to the train station 10 minutes late. Last train left at 7:00 which is so ridiculously early. The only option I had left was to catch the 9pm bus getting me home at 10:40 which sounded incredibly unappealing and lame. To top things off, I found out my phone had no credit left. Wanted to phone my mums cousin to tell her I would make it home extremely late, and not for her to panic since she assumes I'll be home by 9pm everyday. So I found like 10 pay phones in different locations. Alll of them had 'out of order' scribbled on them in permanent marker. I mean, hello? It's the biggest train station in LA! Found a lady in a newsagency who told me I could go to starbucks to recharge my phone credit. I was really doubtful. I mean, why would Starbucks sell phone credit??? And, looking like a dumb idiot, I was so desperate I actually went up to the counter to ask and spoke pretty fast so the guy thought I was asking for some drink called 'fire credit' and he was explaining they didn't have such a drink. He looked at me even more strangely when he heard me right the next time. So I went back to newsagent lady, told her I'd pay to use a phone, she started to refuse at first but then agreed, so I called my mums cousin and she offered to pick me up. I felt pretty bad because it's a one hour drive to LA from home. And that was the end of my panicky, freaky day.
I went to Cinnabon for lunch, which was awesome. Oh my god, their Cinammon rolls are to DIE for. It 's like a swirly roll-bun thing with icing and cinammon sugar sandwiched in between. Amazing.
The end
Boo, I forgot how slow my internet here is. Well. I'm back. After seven weeks of bliss, I'm back in Sydney. I'm not sad nor happy. Kind of neutral about the idea. After all, in my own house I can do anything I want. I can open the fridge for a drink without feeling awkward. I can walk around the house in a towel searching for a shirt without feeling awkward, too. But I'm sad because now that I'm back, I have to go back to all those responsibilities I temporarily left behind.
If you're wondering why I haven't posted in awhile, it's because I was so busy and tired in America. On the day I went back to China, I had several awful experiences in a row:
1. I didn't get a good seat on the plane. At all. Out of the row of four seats in the middle, I got the third one. Lucky me.
2. The plane ride turned out to be 14 and a half hours back compared to 12 hours on the way to America.
3. I didn't get someone to escort me because the guy at the luggage check in was lame, so I had to wait in line like everyone else.
4. I had $9 remaining US money, and I wanted to buy a book that cost exactly 9 dollars. When I went up to pay, I realised I'd forgotten about additional tax charges. So that was embarassing, the checkout lady looked at me a bit strangely when I had to leave it on the counter.
5. JULIET AND GEORGIA, just a warning. American security checks when you get on the plane are a pain. in. the. ass. I had to take off my shoes, my belt, my jacket. Everything was so rushed an hurried. It's even worse than the security screenings at Sydney airport. I love Shanghai airport's security screenings. There's lots of separate check areas so you get to go individually, and the line is nowhere near as long.
6. In the process of lining up for the lame-o security check, I cut the skin between my thumb and forefinger open on my bag zipper or something. Strangely enough, even though it looked really ugly and painful and there was quite a bit of blood on my hand and bag, I didn't even notice until a while later. So I had to go through a chaotic security screening and sit through an almost 15 hour flight with a bleeding hand that looked plain nasty. You could see the flesh inside the cut if you looked closely. Okay, I know, too much detail.
7. MY SEAT HAD A BROKEN DRINK HOLDER. So as I was taking out my laptop, I spilt water all over my laptop keyboard. Guess what happened? Yup, I was dumb enough to wipe off the spill and then turn it on (I found out only afterwards you're meant to let the water inside dry first). So now my old laptop is dead and it was $200 to get it fixed in China so I'm figuring out how to get it done cheaper in Australia. So that's why I didn't update this blog last week after I got back from America, because the only laptop I had in China was the broken one.
8. I got scolded at in Shanghainese by an angry mother with a baby on the plane when I tried to cross over to the other side of the plane because she had to move her bags to let me pass. I mean, what on earth? Calm down, woman, it's not like I stepped on them.
There we go. Now I feel better. Eight crappy things about the worst day of the past two months.
In comparison, my flight today went relatively well. Sure, the plane arrived 2 hours late in Shanghai but I was first on the plane so at least that was good. I BROUGHT SO MUCH CRAP WITH ME back from Shanghai and California. I mean, I'm talking a small suitcase, 3 bags, an eeyore cushion I got at disneyland and a laptop bag as carry-on and 2 huge suitcases, almost 50kg, worth of check-in luggage. It's a wonder how I managed with carrying my carry-ons onto the plane, but it certainly wasn't easy. Luckily the girl didn't say anything about my luggage even though it was 2 kg over the limit. And as for all my carry-ons, it was about 20kg when the limit was 7kg but I hid the suitcase and some of the bags with my great-aunt while I was checking in, then grabbed it later after I checked in. I'm sure some of the flight attendants knew there was something shifty (I mean you're not even allowed that much in first class) but no one said anything. When I got to Sydney, I didn't declare any of my food. Which was awesome, because there were no dogs (and it would take a super-dog to sniff out sealed candy buried 50kg deep in my luggage). They let me in right through without suspicion, so that was cool. I got to avoid like a 30 min line. Damn, I should've brought those split-flavour fruit oreos from China after all. To be honest, even if I declared my food, I would be able to take it through. I mean, they don't confiscate Tootsie Rolls and Hershey's Kisses, do they? I just couldn't be bothered to wait in line, and surely they wouldn't fine a 15 year old? I would've pretended I didn't know sealed candy counted as food.
Now that I'm back, I've realised this trip has given me so much more than just some fun before year 11. I've become much, much more independent. I mean, if travelling on a 6-hour journey by myself to Disneyland, going alone to Hollywood and trying to navigate my way alone with only the help of google maps beforehand at home (I didn't even have a GPS) hasn't made me more independent, I don't know what else will. I didn't go anywhere with my family in America except San Diego and a few shopping trips (went everywhere else alone). I got lost countless times in LA, and on many occasions had to run until I was wheezing to catch the train on time, and cursed google maps, and felt sick of the 1 hour train ride from Moorpark to LA, but in the end it was all worth it. I've become familiar with Shanghai, and grew brave enough to actually cross roads and walk to destinations instead of taking the subway. I think I've said this before, but I'm unbelievably grateful that I've been allowed to travel alone. I didn't realise this until lots of people in Shanghai said I was lucky because they wouldn't let their teenagers travel alone (they thought it was a cultural difference thing). Shanghai this time round was completely different to when my mum came along, and when my Uncle took me everywhere.
I really want this blog to be all about something I can look back on, say, a year later, and relive all those amazing memories and experiences. So the momentos of all my travels in the past two months are recorded online, and I can read everything whenever I want to.
So I'm procrastinating again. I have several things I need to do today: figure out how to get my laptop fixed, call up kids and confirm piano times, figure out a goal this year and what I want to save my money for, call up my own piano teacher who was already crazily nagging my mum yesterday, do some theory, revise some French, unpack, practise piano, make sure my uniform length is right and that I have all my books for school. I guess I'll get started. I don't want this year to be full of failures due to procrastination.
If you're wondering why I haven't posted in awhile, it's because I was so busy and tired in America. On the day I went back to China, I had several awful experiences in a row:
1. I didn't get a good seat on the plane. At all. Out of the row of four seats in the middle, I got the third one. Lucky me.
2. The plane ride turned out to be 14 and a half hours back compared to 12 hours on the way to America.
3. I didn't get someone to escort me because the guy at the luggage check in was lame, so I had to wait in line like everyone else.
4. I had $9 remaining US money, and I wanted to buy a book that cost exactly 9 dollars. When I went up to pay, I realised I'd forgotten about additional tax charges. So that was embarassing, the checkout lady looked at me a bit strangely when I had to leave it on the counter.
5. JULIET AND GEORGIA, just a warning. American security checks when you get on the plane are a pain. in. the. ass. I had to take off my shoes, my belt, my jacket. Everything was so rushed an hurried. It's even worse than the security screenings at Sydney airport. I love Shanghai airport's security screenings. There's lots of separate check areas so you get to go individually, and the line is nowhere near as long.
6. In the process of lining up for the lame-o security check, I cut the skin between my thumb and forefinger open on my bag zipper or something. Strangely enough, even though it looked really ugly and painful and there was quite a bit of blood on my hand and bag, I didn't even notice until a while later. So I had to go through a chaotic security screening and sit through an almost 15 hour flight with a bleeding hand that looked plain nasty. You could see the flesh inside the cut if you looked closely. Okay, I know, too much detail.
7. MY SEAT HAD A BROKEN DRINK HOLDER. So as I was taking out my laptop, I spilt water all over my laptop keyboard. Guess what happened? Yup, I was dumb enough to wipe off the spill and then turn it on (I found out only afterwards you're meant to let the water inside dry first). So now my old laptop is dead and it was $200 to get it fixed in China so I'm figuring out how to get it done cheaper in Australia. So that's why I didn't update this blog last week after I got back from America, because the only laptop I had in China was the broken one.
8. I got scolded at in Shanghainese by an angry mother with a baby on the plane when I tried to cross over to the other side of the plane because she had to move her bags to let me pass. I mean, what on earth? Calm down, woman, it's not like I stepped on them.
There we go. Now I feel better. Eight crappy things about the worst day of the past two months.
In comparison, my flight today went relatively well. Sure, the plane arrived 2 hours late in Shanghai but I was first on the plane so at least that was good. I BROUGHT SO MUCH CRAP WITH ME back from Shanghai and California. I mean, I'm talking a small suitcase, 3 bags, an eeyore cushion I got at disneyland and a laptop bag as carry-on and 2 huge suitcases, almost 50kg, worth of check-in luggage. It's a wonder how I managed with carrying my carry-ons onto the plane, but it certainly wasn't easy. Luckily the girl didn't say anything about my luggage even though it was 2 kg over the limit. And as for all my carry-ons, it was about 20kg when the limit was 7kg but I hid the suitcase and some of the bags with my great-aunt while I was checking in, then grabbed it later after I checked in. I'm sure some of the flight attendants knew there was something shifty (I mean you're not even allowed that much in first class) but no one said anything. When I got to Sydney, I didn't declare any of my food. Which was awesome, because there were no dogs (and it would take a super-dog to sniff out sealed candy buried 50kg deep in my luggage). They let me in right through without suspicion, so that was cool. I got to avoid like a 30 min line. Damn, I should've brought those split-flavour fruit oreos from China after all. To be honest, even if I declared my food, I would be able to take it through. I mean, they don't confiscate Tootsie Rolls and Hershey's Kisses, do they? I just couldn't be bothered to wait in line, and surely they wouldn't fine a 15 year old? I would've pretended I didn't know sealed candy counted as food.
Now that I'm back, I've realised this trip has given me so much more than just some fun before year 11. I've become much, much more independent. I mean, if travelling on a 6-hour journey by myself to Disneyland, going alone to Hollywood and trying to navigate my way alone with only the help of google maps beforehand at home (I didn't even have a GPS) hasn't made me more independent, I don't know what else will. I didn't go anywhere with my family in America except San Diego and a few shopping trips (went everywhere else alone). I got lost countless times in LA, and on many occasions had to run until I was wheezing to catch the train on time, and cursed google maps, and felt sick of the 1 hour train ride from Moorpark to LA, but in the end it was all worth it. I've become familiar with Shanghai, and grew brave enough to actually cross roads and walk to destinations instead of taking the subway. I think I've said this before, but I'm unbelievably grateful that I've been allowed to travel alone. I didn't realise this until lots of people in Shanghai said I was lucky because they wouldn't let their teenagers travel alone (they thought it was a cultural difference thing). Shanghai this time round was completely different to when my mum came along, and when my Uncle took me everywhere.
I really want this blog to be all about something I can look back on, say, a year later, and relive all those amazing memories and experiences. So the momentos of all my travels in the past two months are recorded online, and I can read everything whenever I want to.
So I'm procrastinating again. I have several things I need to do today: figure out how to get my laptop fixed, call up kids and confirm piano times, figure out a goal this year and what I want to save my money for, call up my own piano teacher who was already crazily nagging my mum yesterday, do some theory, revise some French, unpack, practise piano, make sure my uniform length is right and that I have all my books for school. I guess I'll get started. I don't want this year to be full of failures due to procrastination.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Sea-in San Diego 2012!
I'm currently sitting in the garage waiting for my clothes to be done drying in the dryer. I set it to quick dry so it should be done by 6:15am, hopefully. Otherwise i wont have jeans to wear and so I'll have to wear weird pants that look like short tights, and to cover that and make them look more like tights I'll have to wear over the knee socks, and to cover the fact that I'm wearing that in 26 degree weather I'll have to wear ugg boots, and well I wont be able to cover the ridiculousness of that in the heat. So I hope we leave after the clothes are done so I don't have to look weird and feel boiling hot for the rest of the day.
Slept at 8pm so I'm feeling well, not tired. Unbelievable, ever since I can remember I've always stayed up till midnight on new year's eve. Well not this time I guess. I actually kind of enjoyed 2011. It's been a good year, relatively alright. I might even daresay that 2010-2011 have been the best two years of my life that I can remember. Of course, there have been awful things in life just like in everyone's, but the way I define a good year is when the good things at least even out with the bad things, and that's what happened in 2010-2011. Although, 2011 hasn't been that special I guess. It kind of reminds me of 2009. Not very memorable, but alright nonetheless.
And what better way to start the new year than visit San Diego in an awesome country that I want to live in when I get older?
So here's to a nice, happy, worthwhile and invaluable 2012!
One of my cousins is really grumpy because he has to eat breakfast (gross wontons but I managed to stomach it by sneaking half into my other cousin's bowl...mwahaha) I'll insert picture here:
Slept at 8pm so I'm feeling well, not tired. Unbelievable, ever since I can remember I've always stayed up till midnight on new year's eve. Well not this time I guess. I actually kind of enjoyed 2011. It's been a good year, relatively alright. I might even daresay that 2010-2011 have been the best two years of my life that I can remember. Of course, there have been awful things in life just like in everyone's, but the way I define a good year is when the good things at least even out with the bad things, and that's what happened in 2010-2011. Although, 2011 hasn't been that special I guess. It kind of reminds me of 2009. Not very memorable, but alright nonetheless.
And what better way to start the new year than visit San Diego in an awesome country that I want to live in when I get older?
So here's to a nice, happy, worthwhile and invaluable 2012!
One of my cousins is really grumpy because he has to eat breakfast (gross wontons but I managed to stomach it by sneaking half into my other cousin's bowl...mwahaha) I'll insert picture here:
Sunday, January 1, 2012
~Malibuu!~
I've been soooo tired lately. Like, so, so tired. Since I got here, I've woken up at like 5-6am everyday except for like three days when I woke up at 8. It's been really full-on, my schedule. I've been lax on piano practice (practised 45 minutes day before yesterday when it should've been 2 hours. Couldn't help it, I literally closed my eyes as I practised so it was like practising how to play accurately with your eyes shut, which probably does me more harm than good). Went to the snow at Mountain High two days ago, was kind of boring because I did tubing instead of skiing and the kids and my mum's cousin were at another park doing snowboarding. Tubing was boring. Not-very-steep hill, definitely not thrilling. I got an all-day ticket but I finished in an hour and couldn't be bothered to do more because the lines started getting really long. It was odd because all I needed to wear were jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, it was that hot. They had to machine-make the 'snow' on the ground. But it was a really nice area.
Yesterday, I went to a nearby mall-thing in search of Walmart and Target, but I didn't exactly find them. I had fun anyway. Then in the afternoon we went to Malibu and Santa Monica. It was a bit disappointing because it was so foggy we could not see the ocean, except for a glimpse of some frothy white waves and that was it. The ocean is surrounded by huge hills/mountains so it was pretty because with all the fog it felt like we were driving on the clouds. But Santa Monica has a mall-thing called 'Santa Monica Place' and a street called 'Third Street Promenade' that I swear, is totally a western version of the Nanjing Rd pedestrian walk-thing in Shanghai. So that was really fun, I found a cheap dress for my upcoming piano exam. I was looking for a good one because obviously you have to look like you tried (with diploma exams it has to be a concert-standard performance so showing up in jeans isn't a good idea). But it has to be a modest-ish dress rather than party dress I guess , more sophisticated and elegant like concert style, so I got a kind of long one. It was cheap, I got it at Forever 21 (they're like, everywhere in California and they're awesome). It was $27.80 and $30-something-cents with tax, so it was a good deal even though it wasn't even on sale. I couldn't try it on because the lines were so long and my family was waiting outside (but I kind of was drawn to it when I saw it. Like a lucky pull, especially seeing as I don't usually buy things not on sale). But I tried it on at home and I'm happy with it. Hopefully it'll bring me luck! Like those boots did last year. At first I didn't want those boots because they were like $100, even though my mum wanted to get them, but the morning of my exam my mum rushed to the store and got them for me and they were lucky boots :) I went to Barnes and Noble, this cool Japanese stuffed animal store and more. It was a huge long street. We went to a restaurant called 'Buddha's Belly' for dinner. I had a Pad Thai. It wasn't that amazing, but it was ok I guess. The best one I've had is the one at Chilli Box in Bondi, my mum gets it for me after I finish with the kids at Bondi.
Today I'm going to Malibu and Santa Monica again with my mum's cousin seeing as the view wasn't very good last time, then we're going to Walmart, yay! My mum's cousin works as an accountant in Hollywood. That is so cool, isn't it? She says a small amount of the customers at the company she works at are celebrities and famous sport stars, the majority of which live in Malibu (only some of them live in Beverly Hills and Hollywood apparently). She says she only meets several famous people every year, and the majority of them she doesn't recognise.Like she was once calling another company on behalf of her boss' client, and she had to pretend she was that client, but she didn't know that client was famous, so it was awkward when she pretended to be them.It's hot-ish today, 24 degrees I think, even though it's winter. I love America. I want to move here now when I'm older. LA is the perfect city (I used to think New York but it has crappy weather). It's like Sydney but with politer people and lots of palm trees and cheaper stuff and BEAUTIFUL weather. I have yet to see a single proper cloud in the sky since I got here. The bus drivers are so nice here, they ALL greet you and stuff. The majority of bus drivers in Shanghai and Sydney would never do that.Also, all of the shop assistants greet you and are so polite. And all of them ask at checkout whether you had a nice experience in store. The only annoying thing is tax (although it's ok I guess because the prices are alright),compulsory tipping and the fact that so many people only speak Spanish. So the subways have Spanish announcements and some signs are only in Spanish. But it's that much of a sacrifice I guess if you lived here.Also, you get charged if people call/text you. Yup, that's right. The caller and recipient both get charged. Lame.
Tomorrow we're driving to San Diego to visit Seaworld (3 hour drive I think. Fun.). Then I'm going Disneyland for 3 days, then Universal studios, then Downtown LA again, then Beverly Hills and that area for a day. Then I'm going back to Shanghai. Disgusting weather in Shanghai at the moment :( never reaches anything above 7 degrees I think. What's worse is that it feels even colder than that. I'm dreading having to take showers in that weather (my uncle's shower is like a little trickle of water,remember? Which means you literally have to pull out the shower thing to wash. At least there's heat lamps, but it's still cold). I think I'll have to go to my relatives' houses everyday to shower. I'll alternate relatives like I did last time with my hair-washing (if my uncle's shower can't even handle...showers, I didn't even want to think about hair-washing). Guys, I'm getting you candy at Walmart. Tootsie Rolls, Twizzlers, Reese's, and all that crap. But it's yummy crap :)It's kind of annoying right now because my cousins are getting yelled at for not practising piano and not cleaning up their room and stuff. So I'm going to go and hide in the closet and play Tiny Tower on my iPod. Au revoir.
Yesterday, I went to a nearby mall-thing in search of Walmart and Target, but I didn't exactly find them. I had fun anyway. Then in the afternoon we went to Malibu and Santa Monica. It was a bit disappointing because it was so foggy we could not see the ocean, except for a glimpse of some frothy white waves and that was it. The ocean is surrounded by huge hills/mountains so it was pretty because with all the fog it felt like we were driving on the clouds. But Santa Monica has a mall-thing called 'Santa Monica Place' and a street called 'Third Street Promenade' that I swear, is totally a western version of the Nanjing Rd pedestrian walk-thing in Shanghai. So that was really fun, I found a cheap dress for my upcoming piano exam. I was looking for a good one because obviously you have to look like you tried (with diploma exams it has to be a concert-standard performance so showing up in jeans isn't a good idea). But it has to be a modest-ish dress rather than party dress I guess , more sophisticated and elegant like concert style, so I got a kind of long one. It was cheap, I got it at Forever 21 (they're like, everywhere in California and they're awesome). It was $27.80 and $30-something-cents with tax, so it was a good deal even though it wasn't even on sale. I couldn't try it on because the lines were so long and my family was waiting outside (but I kind of was drawn to it when I saw it. Like a lucky pull, especially seeing as I don't usually buy things not on sale). But I tried it on at home and I'm happy with it. Hopefully it'll bring me luck! Like those boots did last year. At first I didn't want those boots because they were like $100, even though my mum wanted to get them, but the morning of my exam my mum rushed to the store and got them for me and they were lucky boots :) I went to Barnes and Noble, this cool Japanese stuffed animal store and more. It was a huge long street. We went to a restaurant called 'Buddha's Belly' for dinner. I had a Pad Thai. It wasn't that amazing, but it was ok I guess. The best one I've had is the one at Chilli Box in Bondi, my mum gets it for me after I finish with the kids at Bondi.
Today I'm going to Malibu and Santa Monica again with my mum's cousin seeing as the view wasn't very good last time, then we're going to Walmart, yay! My mum's cousin works as an accountant in Hollywood. That is so cool, isn't it? She says a small amount of the customers at the company she works at are celebrities and famous sport stars, the majority of which live in Malibu (only some of them live in Beverly Hills and Hollywood apparently). She says she only meets several famous people every year, and the majority of them she doesn't recognise.Like she was once calling another company on behalf of her boss' client, and she had to pretend she was that client, but she didn't know that client was famous, so it was awkward when she pretended to be them.It's hot-ish today, 24 degrees I think, even though it's winter. I love America. I want to move here now when I'm older. LA is the perfect city (I used to think New York but it has crappy weather). It's like Sydney but with politer people and lots of palm trees and cheaper stuff and BEAUTIFUL weather. I have yet to see a single proper cloud in the sky since I got here. The bus drivers are so nice here, they ALL greet you and stuff. The majority of bus drivers in Shanghai and Sydney would never do that.Also, all of the shop assistants greet you and are so polite. And all of them ask at checkout whether you had a nice experience in store. The only annoying thing is tax (although it's ok I guess because the prices are alright),compulsory tipping and the fact that so many people only speak Spanish. So the subways have Spanish announcements and some signs are only in Spanish. But it's that much of a sacrifice I guess if you lived here.Also, you get charged if people call/text you. Yup, that's right. The caller and recipient both get charged. Lame.
Tomorrow we're driving to San Diego to visit Seaworld (3 hour drive I think. Fun.). Then I'm going Disneyland for 3 days, then Universal studios, then Downtown LA again, then Beverly Hills and that area for a day. Then I'm going back to Shanghai. Disgusting weather in Shanghai at the moment :( never reaches anything above 7 degrees I think. What's worse is that it feels even colder than that. I'm dreading having to take showers in that weather (my uncle's shower is like a little trickle of water,remember? Which means you literally have to pull out the shower thing to wash. At least there's heat lamps, but it's still cold). I think I'll have to go to my relatives' houses everyday to shower. I'll alternate relatives like I did last time with my hair-washing (if my uncle's shower can't even handle...showers, I didn't even want to think about hair-washing). Guys, I'm getting you candy at Walmart. Tootsie Rolls, Twizzlers, Reese's, and all that crap. But it's yummy crap :)It's kind of annoying right now because my cousins are getting yelled at for not practising piano and not cleaning up their room and stuff. So I'm going to go and hide in the closet and play Tiny Tower on my iPod. Au revoir.
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