This is taken from Alan's blog. And I've been REALLY bored recently, so I thought "why not?"
1. List one book you think everyone should read this year. (if you mention my book for brownie points, please list a second book as well) Alan, sadly I have not read your book, I am poor and the exchange rate doesn't favour the Australian dollar. And I realised then that I haven't answered the question. I just finished "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (in your pants)" by Jonathan Safran Foer, and though it was published in 2005, it's one of the best books I've read.
2. What is your favourite thing about your hometown? I say Melbourne's the best city in the world. I've never thought about why. It's certainly not Connex, our failing train system. I think it's the atmosphere. The people are nice, and there's culture, which is more than you can say for Sydney. We have an Arts Festival, a Comedy Festival, a Writers Festival, a Food and Wine Festival and probably many more I can't think of off the top of my head. There's always a play or a musical showing and probably a free concert or comedy gig that you can get into. I don't know if that answers the question at all either :S
3. Incorrectly complete these Fall Out Boy lyrics: "This ain't a scene, it's a dog wearing a lampshade riding a bicycle through a river" (more ridiculous than creative, but that is definitely not my dog)
4. What would you title your autobiography and how many pages would it be? I definitely know that the front cover would be me making a silly face. I just answered a question that wasn't asked, I could be a politician. It would probably be unnecessarily long as I went off on some tangent. Maybe I could title it "The Life and Ramblings of a Neurotic Teenager".
5. What was the best Christmas gift you've received? A sticker machine. It stopped working though.
6. What's one new thing you learned this week? (they say you learn something new every day, so you should have a few things to choose from) My friend Anna has a surfboard. Which doesn't seem like that much (or maybe not even what you wanted to know), but she's not the sort of person who would own a surfboard. Also who the founders of YouTube are, thanks to a website mentioned below.
7. Open Skype/G-Chat/AIM and type "how's my favourite friend who I haven't chatted with today?" to someone you haven't chatted with at all today. This item isn't a question, just a polite demand to let someone know you were thinking of them.
8. Tell me one really proud moment from your life. When I got my final results for school. When we take our exams in the last year of high school we do the same exam as everyone else in the state doing that subject. Because I'd had some illness issues, I was stressing a lot about what my results would be and I ended up in the top 6% of the state overall, the top 3% for English and the top 8% for geography.
9. Tell me one really embarrassing moment from your life. I still hate telling this story and it's been a year and a half since the incident. In year 11 we had a school formal and at a girls school there is so much fuss and everything about dress, shoes, hair makeup etc. that it drives me insane. Anyway, mum and I decided that I could get my legs waxed, even though I'm not the biggest ran of pain. The next morning I woke up and my legs were swollen, red and extremely itchy because I'd had an allergic reaction to the leg wax. The best part was that my formal was in 5 days, so I spent a lot of the next week at the doctors trying to find a way to get rid of the reaction, as it was causing me difficulties in everyday tasks such as sleeping and walking.
10. Have you owned something for way too long... something you know you should get rid of or replace, but can't? If so, what and why?
11. Fill in the blank: Other than this one, John Green's is the last blog I commented on.
12. Do you have any scars? I have a scar on my left hand near my middle finger. I remember that I got it when I was on a 33 day camping trip with school in year 9, but I can't remember how I got it. I could have been collecting firewood, or maybe I fell off a bike.
13. I say "this is not tom", you say:
A. Who the eff is Tom?
B. Thank god, Tom sucks!
C. Oh, I love staring at page source code all day and solving riddles!! <3
D. And this is not me, not clicking the back button and not not reading the rest of this stupid meme.
14. What do you get complimented on the most? (your looks, your creativity, your impressive collection of black santa figurines) From those, probably my looks. I wish I was more creative (my answers to questions 3 and 4 may or may not prove this. But they probably will), and I would love a collection of Black Santa figurines, but sadly I do not even own one.
15. Paste a link here to your favorite picture online: We were at my friend's house and she'd baked a cake and she dropped it and then it exploded. So here's my friend cleaning it up. Probably as not as riveting as you'd hoped. Sadly we missed the photography of the dropping of the cake and the explosion.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
[09/01/09] The ARIA charts.
Since Twitter is down, I decided to blog, but not to give an update on my life at the moment. I thought I'd have a look at the top 10 songs on the ARIA charts and give my thoughts. This could be interesting.
1. Poker Face - Lady GaGa
This song is okay. That's all I have to say. I think it's suffered from being played several times. I do like what people hear as Mondegreens though. Like "Booger Face" and "Poke her face"
2. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
I have expressed my dislike of Kings of Leon, which was intensified by the time I had to listen to them for 5 hours straight at work due to the fact that Shane and Nick were baking. I'm surprised we weren't listening to them Christmas Day, actually. But this song is okay considering who sings it.
3. Live Your Life - T.I. feat. Rihanna
Rihanna should not have been allowed to use any part of Numa Numa. Ever. The first time you hear it on the radio you think "OMG, it's Numa Numa!" and then there's the disappointment when you say "Is that Rihanna? What the fuck has she done to this song?" My sister and I decided that it would be much more awesome if Rick Astley sang Numa Numa.
4. Get Shaky - The Ian Carey Project
I was not aware of this song, so I am listening to it now. So far it's just some drum beats, and fairly repetitive. Okay, I listened for about a minute and it's pretty crap. I can't listen to any more, and I'm kind of glad that it isn't played on the radio too much.
5. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it) - Beyonce
Um, the "oh oh oh" bit is kind of catchy. I've never really listened to this song properly, nor do I want to. (I don't have that much of an opinion, clearly)
6. Circus - Britney Spears
Nina Jankowicz, aka ninjapiano on youtube did a good cover of Womanizer. That's all I have to say about Britney. Though she seems to be making a 'comeback' every second week.
7. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
Can someone please explain to me why the fuck people like this song? Kthxbai.
8. You - Wes Carr
The best winner's single of any Idol competition ever. I didn't watch Idol, but I heard this song on the radio and I love it.
9. Hot n Cold - Katy Perry
This song is catchy, and when in a fitting room it is kind of funny to hear the words "you change your mind like a girl changes clothes". Does that mean often? I change my clothes twice a day generally. More often if I have work. I have learned to change quickly because of several years of dancing concerts. Overall, having heard some of Katy's songs and one interview, she doesn't actually seem like a nice person. She makes vast generalisations about genders, and in "I Kissed a Girl" there is the verse "I don't even know your name, it doesn't matter. You're my experimental game, just human nature". It doesn't promote human nature very well, or the way we should treat other people.
10. Burn - Jessica Mauboy
I don't really know this song. And I don't want to.
I might keep going for a bit.
11. Sober - P!nk
None of her songs will ever be as good as So What.
12. Alive - Natalie Bassingthwaite
This woman is so annoying. How does she manage to sell singles? I'm thinking of the song now and it's not a great one. Or even a good one. Oh, and her live performances are pretty bad too.
13. So What - P!nk
I like this song because it's fun and there's something about being able to realise that after a bad breakup/divorce/whatever that you can just go on with your life and get over it.
14. Let it Rock - Kevin Rudolf Feat. Lil Wayne
I can't remember any of the song except the part where "Let it Rock" is repeated over and over again. It's quite annoying.
15. Just Dance - Lady GaGa feat. Coby O'Donis
I like this song, not as much as I used to, once again because it's been played too much. Is it true that Lady GaGa used to be a man?
16. Womanizer - Britney Spears
The only good thing that can be said about this song is that it is perfect for getting other songs out of your head. And it's still funny that "Britney Spears" anagrams to "Presbyterians"
17. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Why did this song only get to number 3 on the charts? It's ridiculous. I hate how society influences what sort of music that's 'cool' to like because that's what gets played on the radio. I bought "We sing, we dance, we steal things" yesterday. I think that says a lot about how I feel about this song.
18. If I Were a Boy - Beyonce
If she were a boy she wouldn't release songs like this one, which would be a good thing.
19. I Hate this Part - The Pussycat Dolls
I haven't heard this song in a while, so I'm going to have to listen to it. Oh yes. "I can't take it any longer, thought that we were stronger, blah blah blah". I remember making a Twitter update months ago saying "I can't take it any longer - I can't take this song being in my head any longer" or something like that. In the good old days when the wireless was working. Seriously, I get my laptop back and literally two weeks later the wireless breaks
20. Running Back - Jessica Mauboy feat. Flo Rida
This song is horrible and it grates my ears. Enough said.
So there are the top 20 songs in Australia, people. It's things like Youtube that make me believe in good music. There are 3 songs there that I can safely say I like and a couple of others I sort of like.
1. Poker Face - Lady GaGa
This song is okay. That's all I have to say. I think it's suffered from being played several times. I do like what people hear as Mondegreens though. Like "Booger Face" and "Poke her face"
2. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
I have expressed my dislike of Kings of Leon, which was intensified by the time I had to listen to them for 5 hours straight at work due to the fact that Shane and Nick were baking. I'm surprised we weren't listening to them Christmas Day, actually. But this song is okay considering who sings it.
3. Live Your Life - T.I. feat. Rihanna
Rihanna should not have been allowed to use any part of Numa Numa. Ever. The first time you hear it on the radio you think "OMG, it's Numa Numa!" and then there's the disappointment when you say "Is that Rihanna? What the fuck has she done to this song?" My sister and I decided that it would be much more awesome if Rick Astley sang Numa Numa.
4. Get Shaky - The Ian Carey Project
I was not aware of this song, so I am listening to it now. So far it's just some drum beats, and fairly repetitive. Okay, I listened for about a minute and it's pretty crap. I can't listen to any more, and I'm kind of glad that it isn't played on the radio too much.
5. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it) - Beyonce
Um, the "oh oh oh" bit is kind of catchy. I've never really listened to this song properly, nor do I want to. (I don't have that much of an opinion, clearly)
6. Circus - Britney Spears
Nina Jankowicz, aka ninjapiano on youtube did a good cover of Womanizer. That's all I have to say about Britney. Though she seems to be making a 'comeback' every second week.
7. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
Can someone please explain to me why the fuck people like this song? Kthxbai.
8. You - Wes Carr
The best winner's single of any Idol competition ever. I didn't watch Idol, but I heard this song on the radio and I love it.
9. Hot n Cold - Katy Perry
This song is catchy, and when in a fitting room it is kind of funny to hear the words "you change your mind like a girl changes clothes". Does that mean often? I change my clothes twice a day generally. More often if I have work. I have learned to change quickly because of several years of dancing concerts. Overall, having heard some of Katy's songs and one interview, she doesn't actually seem like a nice person. She makes vast generalisations about genders, and in "I Kissed a Girl" there is the verse "I don't even know your name, it doesn't matter. You're my experimental game, just human nature". It doesn't promote human nature very well, or the way we should treat other people.
10. Burn - Jessica Mauboy
I don't really know this song. And I don't want to.
I might keep going for a bit.
11. Sober - P!nk
None of her songs will ever be as good as So What.
12. Alive - Natalie Bassingthwaite
This woman is so annoying. How does she manage to sell singles? I'm thinking of the song now and it's not a great one. Or even a good one. Oh, and her live performances are pretty bad too.
13. So What - P!nk
I like this song because it's fun and there's something about being able to realise that after a bad breakup/divorce/whatever that you can just go on with your life and get over it.
14. Let it Rock - Kevin Rudolf Feat. Lil Wayne
I can't remember any of the song except the part where "Let it Rock" is repeated over and over again. It's quite annoying.
15. Just Dance - Lady GaGa feat. Coby O'Donis
I like this song, not as much as I used to, once again because it's been played too much. Is it true that Lady GaGa used to be a man?
16. Womanizer - Britney Spears
The only good thing that can be said about this song is that it is perfect for getting other songs out of your head. And it's still funny that "Britney Spears" anagrams to "Presbyterians"
17. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Why did this song only get to number 3 on the charts? It's ridiculous. I hate how society influences what sort of music that's 'cool' to like because that's what gets played on the radio. I bought "We sing, we dance, we steal things" yesterday. I think that says a lot about how I feel about this song.
18. If I Were a Boy - Beyonce
If she were a boy she wouldn't release songs like this one, which would be a good thing.
19. I Hate this Part - The Pussycat Dolls
I haven't heard this song in a while, so I'm going to have to listen to it. Oh yes. "I can't take it any longer, thought that we were stronger, blah blah blah". I remember making a Twitter update months ago saying "I can't take it any longer - I can't take this song being in my head any longer" or something like that. In the good old days when the wireless was working. Seriously, I get my laptop back and literally two weeks later the wireless breaks
20. Running Back - Jessica Mauboy feat. Flo Rida
This song is horrible and it grates my ears. Enough said.
So there are the top 20 songs in Australia, people. It's things like Youtube that make me believe in good music. There are 3 songs there that I can safely say I like and a couple of others I sort of like.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
[New Year's Eve Eve] Worky work work work. It's a song.
My boss is quite paranoid about people stealing money. Fair enough, it's happened. Though it's also quite hard to get away with it. There are cameras over both the cash registers and the safe. So she doesn't teach people how to close very often and then something happens like tonight: the only people who were available to close were people who worked earlier in the day. My boss actually called and apologised that I hadn't been trained yet. She never trains anyone until a situation like that pops up.
So I was taught how to close tonight. It's not really that hard now that we don't have to count the money at the end of the day. Though I don't know how it's done after it's been put in the safe. You just put together the float for the next day and put the rest of the money in the safe.
Mopping however, created more difficulty. You wouldn't think mopping is too hard, and it's not. Except the blueberry stains are a bitch to get out of the floor. Despite the blueberry and white chocolate scones being delicious. And that's not even the worst part. Basically I think that more water ended up on the floor than in the bucket. Because I spilled it - twice. The back room, which was the first part of the shop that I mopped was still wet at 7:30 when we left. It should be dry by the time the bakers get in though.
So I was taught how to close tonight. It's not really that hard now that we don't have to count the money at the end of the day. Though I don't know how it's done after it's been put in the safe. You just put together the float for the next day and put the rest of the money in the safe.
Mopping however, created more difficulty. You wouldn't think mopping is too hard, and it's not. Except the blueberry stains are a bitch to get out of the floor. Despite the blueberry and white chocolate scones being delicious. And that's not even the worst part. Basically I think that more water ended up on the floor than in the bucket. Because I spilled it - twice. The back room, which was the first part of the shop that I mopped was still wet at 7:30 when we left. It should be dry by the time the bakers get in though.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
[Christmas Day] Peter Costello has a lot to answer for with the baby bonus
Church was absolutely chaotic last night because there were several small children who would not sit still. The children at carols by candlelight were better behaved. Hmm. I don't know what to say about Christmas.
Carols: I love Melbourne. So much. The city that held the first Carols. Anyway, Hi-5 performed and sang the Santa song. I know all the actions, I think I should join Hi-5. Except for the fact that I don't like them at all. Wiggles FTW!
Work: My boss called at 7:40 am to ask if my sister and I could come in earlier. Because I have never worked a shift quite as insane as that one. Funnily enough, the customers were very organised and queued efficiently in a single file. That's not normally how it works at Bakers. You know it's busy when you bake nearly 2000 dinner rolls and 420 bread sticks and you sell out of both. Sandra bought us all drinks, which was not what I expected and Emily and I had a laugh at the expense of Deakin. Hmm, I want chocolate.
Christmas: We went to the park which was fun. My grandma said "Who are ACDC? Are they a music group?" which made us all laugh very hard. What else happened? My cousin somehow drew a perfect circle on her knee. Still haven't worked that one out. How she managed it, I mean.
I laughed very hard when I opened my present from Kat, because it's a tardis book. I have no idea what it's for, something to do with tasks, or something. Like Kat wrote in the card. I'll write something more thoughtful on stuff soon, I am currently watching Allo Allo, which is hilarious. Therefore it is hard to concentrate on the blogalog. But Happy Christmas.
Carols: I love Melbourne. So much. The city that held the first Carols. Anyway, Hi-5 performed and sang the Santa song. I know all the actions, I think I should join Hi-5. Except for the fact that I don't like them at all. Wiggles FTW!
Work: My boss called at 7:40 am to ask if my sister and I could come in earlier. Because I have never worked a shift quite as insane as that one. Funnily enough, the customers were very organised and queued efficiently in a single file. That's not normally how it works at Bakers. You know it's busy when you bake nearly 2000 dinner rolls and 420 bread sticks and you sell out of both. Sandra bought us all drinks, which was not what I expected and Emily and I had a laugh at the expense of Deakin. Hmm, I want chocolate.
Christmas: We went to the park which was fun. My grandma said "Who are ACDC? Are they a music group?" which made us all laugh very hard. What else happened? My cousin somehow drew a perfect circle on her knee. Still haven't worked that one out. How she managed it, I mean.
I laughed very hard when I opened my present from Kat, because it's a tardis book. I have no idea what it's for, something to do with tasks, or something. Like Kat wrote in the card. I'll write something more thoughtful on stuff soon, I am currently watching Allo Allo, which is hilarious. Therefore it is hard to concentrate on the blogalog. But Happy Christmas.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
[Results 2008] I don't have to go to Deakin!
I've been awake for over 10 hours. That is not something you should ever be saying at 4 pm. But results are a frightening prospect, so you sometimes wake up at 5:30 am against your will and the small amount of sanity you have left. In the end it turned out that I had nothing to worry about. English was my top subject, which wasn't surprising, followed by Geography. And I got second in the class for geography, which was surprising. Even though there are only five people in the class.
So I can get into Arts at Melbourne easily. I can also get into lots of other things, but I don't want to. Like biomedicine. Or Commerce. Or engineering, but they don't really interest me. I could also get into Arts/Law at Deakin, but that would involve going to Deakin. I don't think I've ever been to a presentation where it's been so bad that it's actually put me off something except for the Deakin Open Day. The solar power man at assembly that time would have if I wasn't firmly in favour of renewable energy.
I'm so happy at the moment. Life is good people, enjoy it. Also, I received something in the mail from Kat today, and I'm wondering whether I should wait to open it. Then again, I just bought myself Let it Snow as a congratulations gift (it would have been a commiserations gift if I hadn't done as well as I would have liked). And Jingle Spells 2 should be arriving soon. Speaking of which, here's another song from last year's Jingle Spells which I love. And this one features Lauren Fairweather, Sam Friedman and Melissa Anelli. I hope this works.
So I can get into Arts at Melbourne easily. I can also get into lots of other things, but I don't want to. Like biomedicine. Or Commerce. Or engineering, but they don't really interest me. I could also get into Arts/Law at Deakin, but that would involve going to Deakin. I don't think I've ever been to a presentation where it's been so bad that it's actually put me off something except for the Deakin Open Day. The solar power man at assembly that time would have if I wasn't firmly in favour of renewable energy.
I'm so happy at the moment. Life is good people, enjoy it. Also, I received something in the mail from Kat today, and I'm wondering whether I should wait to open it. Then again, I just bought myself Let it Snow as a congratulations gift (it would have been a commiserations gift if I hadn't done as well as I would have liked). And Jingle Spells 2 should be arriving soon. Speaking of which, here's another song from last year's Jingle Spells which I love. And this one features Lauren Fairweather, Sam Friedman and Melissa Anelli. I hope this works.
;sldkfjsldkfjlskjblkdjflsdkjf <--- Leah stresses out.
Basically because I am a nervous wreck. OHMYGOSHRESULTSTOMORROWFUCKFUCKFUCK. Apparently that isn't a word. I don't know why, I think that is probably what 50,000 people are thinking. There was an article in the Herald Sun today, which I read on my break that told me that there's some Western Bulldogs recruit who's trying to get into boimed at Melbourne. Well it's nice for some. Wouldn't it be great if he got into premed and become a professional athlete. At least Katrina was at work today so I had someone to fret about it with. Nellie at work has already been offered three uni places because she had folio interviews and such and they don't look at ENTER.
In other news, work was hardly busy and there were two people across the road playing Christmas carols on the trombone and clarinet. Very badly. And there were only two different carols! We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Jingle Bell Rock. I was quite the fan of Jingle Bell Rock, but I wonder if that has changed. My favourite carol at the moment is actually "An Epic Christmas Tale, Chapter One: How the Thestrals Saved Christmas" which is on the first Jingle Spells CD. Chapter Two: Murder at the Top of the World, is on Jingle Spells 2. That is one the way. In the mail by now hopefully. I wonder if Frak shipped mine, because if he did, I might have gotten a Frankie Franco original drawing. Speaking of Frak, I wonder if I can find his awesome video from the other week with the owl drawing.
Umm... not much else to report on. My mum is going to bed, I probably will soon, though I doubt I'll get much sleep. Ooo, I can stay up until 11. Not that that will do much.
Monday, October 20, 2008
[21/10/08] And now, the moment we've been waiting for...
... is here.
I'm about to go and get ready for work, but I wanted to begin writing this when I was wearing my year 12 rugby top. I'll tell you what, the school knows how to make a day exhausting. And even so, I'm working tonight, and I'll be pretty bleh. Oh well. I will write more soon. Or in about 4 hours.
Make that 5. Today started with the Korovian Club breakfast. The food was good, and we were presented (seriously, they present us as many times as they possibly can) to the president of the Korovian club and this time we got keyrings. We had to catch the tram back to school, and I love that my school is so small that we can fit an entire year level on a tram. Sure, some people had to stand, but it's not like we were squished in like sardines. It was a double length tram though, I'll give them that.
Oh, the funniest part of breakfast happened after breakfast, which is when Kim and I needed to find the toilets. We decided to ask Mrs Jewell (actually, the funniest part of yesterday was when Kim asked Mrs Jewell how to get a detention because she'd never had one) for the toilets, and to get her attention, I poked her. You know you're getting too comfortable with your teachers when you start poking them. Anyway, Kim said "Mrs Jewell, do you know...? Oh wait, there's a sign over there." It was hilarious. Then afterwards we saw Mrs Pappas and she was reading a card that Cat A had given to her and it said "good luck with Brad", Brad of course being Brad Pitt.
Period 2 was the Revue, and having seen it three times before, I didn't find many of the jokes as funny. We did it in a traditional assembly style, and I loved the way it started, with Sally as the Principal rising from the lecturn with the Darth Vader music playing. One of the best lines was "I hope you keep studying hard, so the school can look better and we get more and more money". Alex was absolutely fantastic as the tour guide lady. I also loved Shannon doing the reading from the Gospel of John Bon Jovi "wo-oah, we're halfway there. Wo-oah, living. On a prayer" - the way she said it was great. We don't even know her name, but it was the best. For once we didn't make fun of Ms Barnes. I think the only teacher that took offense at anything was the psychology teacher, but from what I heard, none of that was exaggerated. Oh, and then Mark didn't know that the "China pictures" were actually the facebook powerpoint. Let's just say that the only reason we weren't merciless is because we would have gotten in trouble. Actually, that last photo was cut out, but I liked it. The video was great too. I'm glad we got the fishbowl thing in. That was weird, but fun. At the end, there was just footage of us, and the group photo from the formal and that's when it started to get sad. So they made it worse with the baby photos.
A short interruption: I had (very) short bursts where I was crying, but my overwhelming emotion was not sadness. I have finished 13 years of schooling, and I was lucky enough to share the last 6 years with a wonderful group of girls, all of whom I am extremely proud. The international students have gone through more than we can possibly understand, being in a country where English is not their first language and fitting in with the rest of us. Alyson and Carol both spoke beautifully yesterday. Citizenship awards at the formal assembly (yes, I did get one, but considering what else has happened in the past couple of days, it's not the most important thing that's happened to me in that time) were plentiful, and all of the captains made the best speeches I have heard in my life. But most of all, we didn't have an accompanist for the opening hymn of the assembly, which was years 6 to 12. And we sang it without accompaniment, and it was beautiful, and it is moments like that I will miss the most. Those moments where everyone does what they know they have to do, whether they're sure of themselves or not, and there is a 'feeling of togetherness', which is more amazing than you can possibly imagine. I'm going to have to learn that German word.
So I have moved onto the part where we have the formal assembly. Oh, back to the Revue, we did a thing with the school chaplain where her stuffed wombat was dead. She brought the actual stuffed wombat (a toy, not a dead wombat that has been stuffed) to the formal assembly. Then there were the captains' speeches. I already said they were some of the best I've heard in my life. And I'm talking speeches in general. Forget Barack Obama. Dani, the Arts captain spoke of how she hated the phrase "think outside the square", because what is this square that everyone speaks of? Grace made a great speech as debating captain, and I really wish I remembered more of it. She used lots of poetry, which I liked, there was definitely Robert Frost there. Oh yes, she spoke of Dead Poets Society (watch it if you haven't, it's an amazing movie), and used what I think was the closing lines of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and then closed with a Mao quote, which made all of the history students laugh. Oh yes, the thing I liked was that she encouraged everyone to have opinions and to make them known. Grace is an opinionated person, but sometimes it feels like opinions aren't valued, so I really like that she encouraged that.
Cal also used some English references in her speech, saying that she was like Big Brother, only the face of what goes on behind the scenes. I really like that she said being a captain doesn't mean that you're more powerful, it means that you have a responsibility to the students to make them happy. I think she was a great international captain, and that she really deserved it; she wanted to lessen the segregation that we have between the international and local students. Kim was next, and she's always been able to speak, but she lives in that music department, I don't think anyone realises how much she'll miss it next year. Ms Barnes got her a gorgeous bracelet. And she finished by saying the start of the chorus to "Thank You for the Music", and by the end we were singing it. It was cliche, but I loved it. I really like that the Palm Leaf Editors got to say something, because the Palm Leaf is something we'll keep for the rest of our lives, and considering they hadn't made many speeches, the ones they made were good.
Meagan made a great speech as Social Service captain, and she spoke really well about being a community that is outwardly focussed. Next was Keely's Sport captain's speech which was also great. They were just all fantastic speeches this year, and I don't think I could be happier with who we chose as captains. I love the way Keely said that she was waiting for her interview with Doctor Otzen and she decided that when she was looking at the trophy cabinet that she was going to be Sports Captain. I love hearing those stories.
Freya and Georgi began their speech in German by saying "we have mixed feelings about leaving Korowa, as the community has a great feeling of togetherness" or something like that. So the German girls laughed, because that German word for 'feeling of togetherness' is really really long. They said some thank yous together and then separately. Georgi said something about us as a year group supporting them, and how for the environmental quiz, when they were worried no one would show up. She also thanked Freya, which was gorgeous. And of all the speeches, I think Freya's was the best. She spoke about how the school has shaped her, and how being school captain has helped her grow.
Then we were all called up to sing the year 12 song. I love it so much, and I've had it in my head since then. The one time during that whole assembly when I cried was just before singing the line "and is this the last time you'll see us standing here with you?", which was originally the line that a few of us (including me) wanted to cut out of the song, but it was very appropriate. Then (0f course) there was the school hymn, and we did have someone to accompany that. I think it may have been Kim, I can't remember. We sang the descant (fancy word for harmony part) beautifully, and then the year elevens made a guard of honour for us as we left the hall.
Here is possibly the most bizarre part of the day. We did the Hokey Pokey at the back of the hall while we waited for the younger students to leave. It was fun, but bizarre, so I'll definitely remember it. Since at this stage it may have been midday, we all went to the park and had fish and chips for lunch, and it was just a nice way to end everything. Oh yes, and we were signing each others' school uniforms. I'm taking mine to the speech night rehearsal tomorrow. Oh, at one point I went to the toilet and when I came out, I just saw all the navy blue rugby jumpers (I bet everyone wears their rugby jumpers and jeans tomorrow for the rehearsal) and that's when I felt the most pride and love for all those girls.
I'm about to go and get ready for work, but I wanted to begin writing this when I was wearing my year 12 rugby top. I'll tell you what, the school knows how to make a day exhausting. And even so, I'm working tonight, and I'll be pretty bleh. Oh well. I will write more soon. Or in about 4 hours.
Make that 5. Today started with the Korovian Club breakfast. The food was good, and we were presented (seriously, they present us as many times as they possibly can) to the president of the Korovian club and this time we got keyrings. We had to catch the tram back to school, and I love that my school is so small that we can fit an entire year level on a tram. Sure, some people had to stand, but it's not like we were squished in like sardines. It was a double length tram though, I'll give them that.
Oh, the funniest part of breakfast happened after breakfast, which is when Kim and I needed to find the toilets. We decided to ask Mrs Jewell (actually, the funniest part of yesterday was when Kim asked Mrs Jewell how to get a detention because she'd never had one) for the toilets, and to get her attention, I poked her. You know you're getting too comfortable with your teachers when you start poking them. Anyway, Kim said "Mrs Jewell, do you know...? Oh wait, there's a sign over there." It was hilarious. Then afterwards we saw Mrs Pappas and she was reading a card that Cat A had given to her and it said "good luck with Brad", Brad of course being Brad Pitt.
Period 2 was the Revue, and having seen it three times before, I didn't find many of the jokes as funny. We did it in a traditional assembly style, and I loved the way it started, with Sally as the Principal rising from the lecturn with the Darth Vader music playing. One of the best lines was "I hope you keep studying hard, so the school can look better and we get more and more money". Alex was absolutely fantastic as the tour guide lady. I also loved Shannon doing the reading from the Gospel of John Bon Jovi "wo-oah, we're halfway there. Wo-oah, living. On a prayer" - the way she said it was great. We don't even know her name, but it was the best. For once we didn't make fun of Ms Barnes. I think the only teacher that took offense at anything was the psychology teacher, but from what I heard, none of that was exaggerated. Oh, and then Mark didn't know that the "China pictures" were actually the facebook powerpoint. Let's just say that the only reason we weren't merciless is because we would have gotten in trouble. Actually, that last photo was cut out, but I liked it. The video was great too. I'm glad we got the fishbowl thing in. That was weird, but fun. At the end, there was just footage of us, and the group photo from the formal and that's when it started to get sad. So they made it worse with the baby photos.
A short interruption: I had (very) short bursts where I was crying, but my overwhelming emotion was not sadness. I have finished 13 years of schooling, and I was lucky enough to share the last 6 years with a wonderful group of girls, all of whom I am extremely proud. The international students have gone through more than we can possibly understand, being in a country where English is not their first language and fitting in with the rest of us. Alyson and Carol both spoke beautifully yesterday. Citizenship awards at the formal assembly (yes, I did get one, but considering what else has happened in the past couple of days, it's not the most important thing that's happened to me in that time) were plentiful, and all of the captains made the best speeches I have heard in my life. But most of all, we didn't have an accompanist for the opening hymn of the assembly, which was years 6 to 12. And we sang it without accompaniment, and it was beautiful, and it is moments like that I will miss the most. Those moments where everyone does what they know they have to do, whether they're sure of themselves or not, and there is a 'feeling of togetherness', which is more amazing than you can possibly imagine. I'm going to have to learn that German word.
So I have moved onto the part where we have the formal assembly. Oh, back to the Revue, we did a thing with the school chaplain where her stuffed wombat was dead. She brought the actual stuffed wombat (a toy, not a dead wombat that has been stuffed) to the formal assembly. Then there were the captains' speeches. I already said they were some of the best I've heard in my life. And I'm talking speeches in general. Forget Barack Obama. Dani, the Arts captain spoke of how she hated the phrase "think outside the square", because what is this square that everyone speaks of? Grace made a great speech as debating captain, and I really wish I remembered more of it. She used lots of poetry, which I liked, there was definitely Robert Frost there. Oh yes, she spoke of Dead Poets Society (watch it if you haven't, it's an amazing movie), and used what I think was the closing lines of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and then closed with a Mao quote, which made all of the history students laugh. Oh yes, the thing I liked was that she encouraged everyone to have opinions and to make them known. Grace is an opinionated person, but sometimes it feels like opinions aren't valued, so I really like that she encouraged that.
Cal also used some English references in her speech, saying that she was like Big Brother, only the face of what goes on behind the scenes. I really like that she said being a captain doesn't mean that you're more powerful, it means that you have a responsibility to the students to make them happy. I think she was a great international captain, and that she really deserved it; she wanted to lessen the segregation that we have between the international and local students. Kim was next, and she's always been able to speak, but she lives in that music department, I don't think anyone realises how much she'll miss it next year. Ms Barnes got her a gorgeous bracelet. And she finished by saying the start of the chorus to "Thank You for the Music", and by the end we were singing it. It was cliche, but I loved it. I really like that the Palm Leaf Editors got to say something, because the Palm Leaf is something we'll keep for the rest of our lives, and considering they hadn't made many speeches, the ones they made were good.
Meagan made a great speech as Social Service captain, and she spoke really well about being a community that is outwardly focussed. Next was Keely's Sport captain's speech which was also great. They were just all fantastic speeches this year, and I don't think I could be happier with who we chose as captains. I love the way Keely said that she was waiting for her interview with Doctor Otzen and she decided that when she was looking at the trophy cabinet that she was going to be Sports Captain. I love hearing those stories.
Freya and Georgi began their speech in German by saying "we have mixed feelings about leaving Korowa, as the community has a great feeling of togetherness" or something like that. So the German girls laughed, because that German word for 'feeling of togetherness' is really really long. They said some thank yous together and then separately. Georgi said something about us as a year group supporting them, and how for the environmental quiz, when they were worried no one would show up. She also thanked Freya, which was gorgeous. And of all the speeches, I think Freya's was the best. She spoke about how the school has shaped her, and how being school captain has helped her grow.
Then we were all called up to sing the year 12 song. I love it so much, and I've had it in my head since then. The one time during that whole assembly when I cried was just before singing the line "and is this the last time you'll see us standing here with you?", which was originally the line that a few of us (including me) wanted to cut out of the song, but it was very appropriate. Then (0f course) there was the school hymn, and we did have someone to accompany that. I think it may have been Kim, I can't remember. We sang the descant (fancy word for harmony part) beautifully, and then the year elevens made a guard of honour for us as we left the hall.
Here is possibly the most bizarre part of the day. We did the Hokey Pokey at the back of the hall while we waited for the younger students to leave. It was fun, but bizarre, so I'll definitely remember it. Since at this stage it may have been midday, we all went to the park and had fish and chips for lunch, and it was just a nice way to end everything. Oh yes, and we were signing each others' school uniforms. I'm taking mine to the speech night rehearsal tomorrow. Oh, at one point I went to the toilet and when I came out, I just saw all the navy blue rugby jumpers (I bet everyone wears their rugby jumpers and jeans tomorrow for the rehearsal) and that's when I felt the most pride and love for all those girls.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
