Long time, no see

Ever had a friend who moved far away, then show up at your doorstep out of nowhere? Well, this happened to me today. It was a very pleasant surprise indeed. He moved about a 8 hour drive away from where I live and he's able to come down for school holidays which  he and I are now both on. We didn't do too much because it was so unexpected so was no plan. We simply just walked around the neighborhood and talked. Just a nice little catch up on each others lives but even that was good.
Surprise visits from old friends are extremely happy and joyful. I hope you all have these experiences once in awhile.  

Hospital visit

Yesterday, I was told that my dad was at the hospital. I'm not sure what happened or when exactly just that he was there. Later that day, I was told he had a stroke. There cause was something to do with his brain. I don't know too much about it. Today, he's still there resting and he'll continue to be there until Tuesday. The family stopped by just to see how things are going as you would do when a family member is in hospital.
Hospitals are such boring places. Walking through the corridors that are extremely bland and only half lit with dim lights. You're stuck in a bed all day and may be an unlucky one that has to share a room with others with the same problem as you that you don't even know.
I will certainty do my best to avoid going there...

Laser tag

Who here has been to a laser tag game or have at least heard of laser tag? It's an extremely fun activity. Basically, you put of a vest with a flashing coloured lights and as well as a gun, get sent into maze and start shooting your friends with lasers. It may sound childish in a way but I reckon there's no age to it whether your 10 or 75.
Today I was invited to my friends birthday party and you can guess what we did. Yep, played laser tag. There were 3 teams. Red, blue and green team each with 4 players. So, you could you either stick with a team member or your whole team even or you can just head out by yourself which is normally what I do because not only are you fighting for your team, but also fighting to be the best player out of everyone else. I didn't end up being that best player out of the two games though I am happy with 3rd and 2nd place and both games I was on the winning team which is a plus.
If you haven't played laser tag, I highly advise it.

The beginning of the end

Today, was the final day of term 3 where I live. Which firstly means that it's the start of two weeks free from school but it also means when I get back to school after those 2 weeks, it will be the beginning of the end. You see, I'm in year 10. When school starts, it will be term 4, the last term of the year and for me, the last term of high school which is a massive deal. At the end of the year, there will be formal and graduation which are both very special and important. Not so much formal but the graduation.
Your yr 10 graduation is when you will or will not receive your yr 10 certificate which quite possibly be one of the most important papers you'll receive. This certificate can control your future. This certificate can get you jobs and put you on paths to your dreams.

For those who are in the same situation as me, all I can say is good luck.

Movie night

Who still goes to DVD stores and rents movies? Nowadays people just download movies off the internet but I'm not that kind of person, I still go out with the family and rent, that's the stores are there. So yesterday, I went to rent some DVDS and watched them tonight. This was exactly what I needed. Me time. Just to relax and enjoy a good movie or two.
 Personal time is important, make sure you have some once in a while.

Lab rats

In primary school, if I can remember correctly, I was chosen to be apart of a long term research program that went y the name of LOOK. LOOK standing for lifestyle of our kids. The program mainly focused on out our growth an health (our fitness levels). So we were given pedometers, do the beep test a lot, planking, jumping and hand eye coordination activities. These were usually done at school bit there was more to it once we got to the hospital where we continued with getting blood tests, scans and x rays. Now after 4 or 5 years, they're back and I' m currently in the process of it all again.

Have any of you been a lab rat for experiments or long term programs?

Capture the flag

On every last tuesday of the month, the boys and girls aged between 12 and 18 in my church come together at night and have a planned youth activity & tonights activity was a great one! If you haven't guessed, it was a game of capture the flag but since it was at night we used glowsticks! Better yet, the location was great for it and we had a great turnout. I highly advise you try it sometime.

Breakdown

Hey everyone, sorry it's so late tonight, if you haven't guessed, I had a bit of a breakdown so I ran to my friends place not too far away to just talk and try and cool down and clear my thoughts. It really helped me out. I sure hope you all friends who really care for you and are willing to help out. I'm sure you've all had a bit of a breakdown once in your life. It's tough but just remember, if you look hard enough, there will always be someone.

Meetings

Every Sunday for me is pretty much the same. I wake up, have a shower, breakfast get into my Sunday best ( suit and tie) and out the door for Church. It's been like this for me for my entire life...I may not have been wearing a suit and tie but I still went to Church. It's quite unfortunate because even now, I don't get a say. I HAVE to go. As much as I really do't like. I've heard other church meeting only go for an hour or so but this isn't the case for me. 3 whole hours! This includes classes and sunday school. It's fairly boring. Excuse me for complaining today but hey, it gives me an excuse to actually wear a suit and tie which is pretty cool at my age.

Overseas

Who has a friend or friends who lives overseas, in another country? I do. I have some mates who live over in America. I got some cousins there too as well as the Philippines. I even have some friends who are currently in Taiwan but they're not permanently there like my ones in America. Though they're still very far away. Depending on which country your friends may be, it would be pretty difficult to keep up with them or just take a really long time. Luckily my overseas friends are easy to contact simply through facebook. Throughout today, I got to check up with one my friends who are overseas which was great because I got to read a little bit about what it's like in a place totally unfamiliar to me as well as them. I hope over time I'll be able to read more great adventures and experiences from my friend.
;)

Musicals!

Hey Everyone, sorry tonight's post is late. I've been out watching a school production. I'm sure you have all at one stage in your life have been in a school production whether you were still in primary school or high school or even college. Tonight, I got to go to one. A musical. (Sorry if you're not the musical type of person) This school musical was a special one though because it was the schools very first production whatsoever! Even  more special for me though because I used to go to that school and I got to see all my friends perform.
It was a wonderful night full of singing and joy and I hope the your night was too.

Miss you

Hello Everyone! So yes, as you read yesterday the girl who would usually write this blog is off to China and has given the big responsibility of updating the her blog to me while she is away.

If you haven't guessed, I am a very good friend of hers, we're pretty close. So, this last week of school for me will be interesting not having her there or my other good friends who went with her. It's sad isn't it? When a good mate of yours leaves for a long period of time and have limited ways to keep in contact. Overtime, you'll probably start to miss that person a lot or instantly. I know I most likely will but I'll survive and for those in the same situation as I am currently, I hope you will too.

Free

So I'm off to China tomorrow. Today is my last post for this month. There will still be a blog to read but it won't be done by me, it will be done by my friend who does it when I can't.

I finished all my work, packing and organising, so now I'm free. The world is no longer sitting on my shoulders and I don't have to worry about aything. So until I get on the plane I can put my feet up, maybe even fly? I'll only be doing that on the plane though.
I'll see you in about 12 or 13 days and look forward to telling you about my trip. (I'm still keeping to my promise of making up for this week.)

Break down

You can only take a certain amount of anything. If you have too much of anything it's not good for you. So what happens when you have too much pressure and can't take it anymore? You break down mentally; a mental breakdown. Everything became too much for you and you just can't handle it.
As I'm going off to china soon I've got a lot of work to finish. Today I just couldn't keep all the stress and pressure in anymore. It felt like my world had completely collapsed in on me.
Calming down is probably the hardest thing to do. Take a step back and breathe. Take a break from whatever you're doing and got do something else.
It's not the end if the world, even if it feels like it is.

So sorry it up late again.

Nerves

In 2 days I leave for China. People get butterflies all the time. Most of the time before you perform but how about before a trip overseas to a place you've never been before a that doesn't speak English? Going somewhere you've never been is exciting; it's a new adventure! But you get nervous before you go anywhere new. I've been overseas many times and I've had butterflies because I didn't know what to expect. This time, the country does not speak English, and although I do mandarin at school, I'm not that great at speaking another language. So I'm nerves about a lot of things, I'm taking it as a good sign.

Sorry guys, that does mean I won't be able to do any posts but my friend has said he will, so there will still be a blog to read and posts every day. I also am so very sorry about the posts being late and there not being one for yesterday. But keep in mind I'll have a great post when I get back from my trip! I will make up for this week.

Close call

Surprise, surprise; I played soccer again today. It was just a fun game - which ended up being not so fun for me. During the second half of the game I was goalie. Now, when playing goalie you need to make quick decisions on the spot. So when a player is running towards you and defense isn't where you need them, you charge the player. It's the right thing to do but didn't end so well for me today. I charged the playing running for goals and when she took the shot, I put my hands up to stop it - as you do playing goalie. The ball almost went into the goals and I came very close the dislocating my finger... I went off injured and watched from the side lines for basically the whole of the second half. What do you mean the side lines are boring? Well, they are in a way but you get to shout at your team - helping them of course, not meanly. It's also nice every now and then sitting back and watching, but you really do want to get back out there and play because its the best part.
So many things were a close call today. It's good when they don't go from bad to worse. But you make close calls on many things, like driving in a car for instance; you need to pay attention to many different things and make decisions on the spot if someone else is doing the wrong thing.

A day trip

Ever left for somewhere in the morning and come back the same day? I did that today. I took the day off school and went to Sydney to do shopping - for furniture, not clothes. Most of the day was spent driving and in the car but shopping is a good way of stretching your legs if you've sat down for too long.
I didn't have much energy left after walking around for ages - my lack of sleep didn't help - but it was worth it. I could have slept in the car many times but there was music and talking....so I had to put up with little energy.
Go on a day trip. They're fun but sometimes you need a really early start, so if you're not a morning person it is not recommended but its worth it when you get to your destination. (Make sure you have some form of entertainment in the car.)

Playback

Hey Everyone, it's her friend today. She told to me to apologise to you all for there not being a post yesterday.

So, who has ever recorded themselves just talking or even singing and them play it back? Well, I know I have and I regretted it. I sounded horrible and I bet it's the same for those who have tried this. Today, I had a familiar experience to one I just mentioned. You see, I'm apart of the school band and yesterday the band had an important performance, the 'Band Festival'. Band festival or just band fest is as it says, a kind of festival where different community or local school bands perform to their best abilities in front of a judge where he or she will mark your band on a whole on how they went. All this, is recorded onto a CD so afterwards, you get to hear yourself play and you get to hear the judges comment on you. With that all explained back to what happened today but you can probably guess what already happened. In rehearsals today, we listened to that CD and my oh my did it sounds bad! Sure it mostly pretty good but sometimes you can't help but accidentally play a wrong note or not be tuned properly. Despite the band sometimes being flat, sharp or playing a few wrong notes, we got a good 30 out of 40 marks and a fun time.

When's best?

Most teenagers go to the mall whenever they can. Generally after school so they have more time to catch up with friends and avoid doing work and also on weekends for the same reasons. But what about really late in the afternoon? Well if you go right after school there are normally millions of teenagers and kids and on weekends families got to the mall for shipping purposes but going later on in the afternoon - on a school day - there tend to be less people of all ages. Well for starters everyone has to go home at some point, shops close and there's really nothing to do so there's not point in being there. It's one of the best times to go shopping because no ones there. (Also if you have friends who work late hours you can pop I and see them.)
What time is the best time to go to the mall?

Parent feud

I'm pretty sure you have arguments or disagreements with your parents. That doesn't really include fighting with them but that can happen if the disagreement or argument is taken to far. It's a small feud if it goes on a while but generally not much longer than a day.
I don't agree on much with my mum and we don't really get along.  We disagree on a lot and argue on just about everything. It could just be the fact I'm a teenager and she doesn't understand or we just don't get along. Whatever it is, it drives most people crazy. There are time we get along but 70% of the time we don't.
Have you got parent problems? Do you know how to fix them maybe, work through stuff? I really like to know if you do. (Might save me in the long term...)

Misunderstanding

Hey. I'm sorry I've been posting late and that I'm not doing them but I have a lot to do before I go overseas. I'm very hushed and am sorry but I am trying.

I'm pretty sure you've misunderstood someone before. Heard a word wrong, but what about misinterpreting what someone said altogether? Today there was a big misunderstanding about lunch. Instead of having lunch together we were having lunch separately. We had no idea so we waited awhile before we had lunch. But it was worth waiting because we had a lot of fun on the street afterwards.
Make sure you listen really carefully so you don't misinterpret what others say because it's not fun when you get it wrong.

A thank you

It was my last game of soccer today and what a great game it was. I couldn't have had such a great game though without my team. As it being my first season they were supportive and of course fun and awesome. They told me what to do and helped me as I wasn't always sure what to do. It was a great all round season with our wins and loses but we always had a laugh in every game and made sure we made each game enjoyable. I can't thank you enough, you made this a very enjoyable winter and first season - I will definitely play a second season next year.
Thanks girls for an awesome time and making each training session and game a good one. See you at Gala Day for the very last time. But where would we be without our coach and manager who trained us, pulled us up on the things we did wrong and helped us improve and congratulating us when we did well and when we didn't.
Thanks everyone! Great, great, great season of soccer!!!

Not in it to win it

So sorry about yesterday.

You don't have to be fit or athletic to participate in an athletics carnival. Today my school had our athletics carnival and what a funny day it was. Running events are not about winning. The day is not about winning. It's all about having fun and having a go. There were kids running backwards and in circles and actually racing of course. You've got other events like javelin, shot put, long jump and discuss which are fun because you get to throw stuff - not at people though.
Having fun is a great and beats winning. Participate and get points, by doing so and you might end up winning, without intending to doing so. You're not in it to win it, you're there to have fun! (Participate in as much as possible, you cares if you aren't good - you beat everybody you doesn't even try.)

Yes but no

I'm pretty sure you've all wanted to do something, but you couldn't for some reason? I do it much too often... It's one way you miss out on a lot but you have your own reason for not doing it. The two main reasons are you are either scared or you don't think it's right. If you don't do whatever you wanted to do, you probably made the right choice; but if you really want to do it you can always try again. The thing you shouldn't do though, is to force yourself into doing it. If you want to do something but you say no - it's that gut of yours talking and it's almost always right - and you shouldn't do it. If you want to do something and your gut says yes, then do it. Just never, ever, force yourself to do something you know isn't right or feel right.
I tell you from my experience, forcing yourself to do something makes you feel worse than missing out on it.

Puddles

Rainy days are so much fun, especially if you're a little kid. Who doesn't love jumping in puddles? It hasn't rained here but there are two puddles on my way to and from school. They somehow manage to stay full of water, which ends up becoming mud after awhile. Now I've got some great friends - they try and push (drag) you into the puddles. Today they were successful - after attempt 500 or something? Muddy water isn't clean and I stepped right into the middle of it because I had no where else to put my foot. I ended up walking home barefoot - my shoes were a little wet.
Now pushing people into puddles is not a good idea and you shouldn't do it. But if you want to go walking through puddles go ahead. It is fun. Jump or walk through either muddy puddles or just puddles of water - no one is going to stop you. People don't recommend it but what you do is entirely up to you.
(Just remember 'singing and dancing in the rain' if you want to go out and jump in puddles.)

Life goals

How often do you think about your future? Come the end of high school and all through college you're setting yourself up for the future; your future. But they only talk about future jobs and the small goals you want. I'm talking long term; your whole life. You've had to at least once in your life thought about owning a house, having children, maybe getting married, moving out and travelling? Ever planned that in your head, just for fun? You may not think of it like this but your dreams you have and the stuff you make up for fun, it's the things that you want most; it's all part of your life's goal. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. It's fun to dream and set goals.

A goal never has to be reached. A goal is just a guideline. Come close to it or go way past it, your goal is just a guideline and although your goal may never change your dreams might and that changes how far you close you come to that goal. It will always be there - waiting to be reached.

A new day

Well winter is now in the past and spring is now the present. Welcome the warm weather and you can come out of hibernation. The days are going to start getting longer and longer, so there is more sunshine for you to enjoy! That may also mean wearing some sunblock or sun-cream so you don't burn and a hat as well. But what else does spring bring? Spring cleaning! Yep, start cleaning - you had winter to slack off.
But today it was also Father's Day. You make their day special. I only see my dad four-six days a month so we make him feel extra special. We changed the day up by going out to breakfast, shopping and then chilling out at home. There were some presents and many jokes and laughs. Hope your dad had a great day - they only get it once a year, they get to be extra special for just one day.
Welcome to Spring ladies and gentlemen!