i call it 'exam hysteria'

<-- Know the feeling! Well that was more last wk than this wk, but I've got a feeling there's some more head banging to come!

3 exams down, 2 to go. Had modern history today which was the one i was most worried about buuut there seems to be a general consensus (ie Charlotte and I agreed) that it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, IN FACT I could actually answer the questions, and the sources analysis was pretty interesting- about the zoot suit riots during the 1940's- if anybody know's the Cherry Poppin Daddies then you'll know why!

Does anybody else get all hyper before exams? Prob nervous tension, but we were all really enthusiastically doing We Can Be Heroes (oh, final tonight, so good! Poor Terry! Ja'mie, haha!! ohh the supply of quotes are gonna keep us going for quite some time) impersonations and talking about... well I can't even remember, but whatever it was it was with great enthusiasm, before we went in.

Exam's are interesting... I could do without the stress- I love my food so it wasn't that great to only be able to have a banana for lunch before the exam- but on the other hand they actually make me get off my butt and do a bit of work, and it usually feels pretty good when you walk out of the exam and it's done (I might be singin a different tune when I get marks back though!) The time goes so fast though, you wouldn't think sitting for 3 hrs would! And you know what else is cool? That everyone else has to do the same thing at the same time. Lol in modern hist. we were looking at how mateship during the war meant "living together in adverse conditions and relied on each other for survival irrespective of social classes". Well I reckon, tho maybe not quite as extreme, that could soo apply to yr 12! It's tough.

Annoying thing is having to miss out on stuff bcoz of study- i.e. the Da Vinci Code thing I was going to go to tonite with Sez, but it all worked out for the better in the end...

Classics exam tomorrow, then freeeedom till monday! And on friday I'm going to the show with the fam- that's right I'm doing the Yellow Brick Road and ferris wheel with my family and I'm not ashamed!! Can't wait :P

Fairytale fantasia!

As you can see after studying madly (ish) all w/e for my Eng. and Art exams today, I finally posted pics from Sat nite- Tamika's Fairytale B'day par-tay! The Oompa Loompa costumes seemed to be a success, and everyone else when to effort to have awesome costumes as well, which is always good! After frantic preperations and a couple of scary near death experiences u-turns (dw Mum and Dad, dealt with in a 'slow and deliberate' yet hasty manner ;o) on pitch black roads in the hills with Em and Richo, we arrived at the party an hour or so late (hey, gotta keep with tradition, lol). Oh Tamika has the best house, like my dream- 3 story, bottom level's a sound studio (that's right, the whole level!), her bedroom right up the top, gorgeous garden with lanterns and stuff on the way down... tres cool! Good times, good times...

I've got that Peter Coombe (sp??) song in my head

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10...10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (rpt) Mary the milkmaid was milking a cow/trouble with Mary she didn't know know/So along came the farmer and gave her the sack/So she turned the cow over and poured the milk back.

Somehow popped into my head during my art exam...odd, but strangely amusing.

How cool is this, we actually found a Wonka Whipple Scrupmtious Caramel Delight!! [in Woolies, that kinda spoils the effect lol] It tasted gooood...(well that one's actually Tamika's, we also bought ourselves a couple of smaller bars... as you can see we were quite restrained) 

Ellen (Little Red Riding hood I think), Kate (Sleeping Beauty- pj's) and Kendyl (Cupid) 

Greg- how cool is that suit?! Apparently he was Richard Gere from Pretty Woman with the jewellary box from some romantic moment in the movie (i haven't actually seen it!) 

Haha me and Em doin our oompa loompa thang with Tamika, love the expressions! 

The b'day girl Tamika (aka Tinkerbell) and Vanessa 

The obligatory moody model photo shoot (there are many more where this came from!) And yes, yes there is contact between Em's tongue and my cheek- eww face paint in the mouth!! lol :oP 

Hannah and Kendyl lookin damn fine! 

Roar Richo, roar!! Richo looking cute as Puss in Boots (seriously, she looks really sweet! aww the little pink nose) 

Ahhh it's the attack of the Oompa Loompa's!!! (a.k.a. Emma and me...) 

haha hmm...

Don't feel like posting. Can't be bothered. Don't know why I am really. Well, procrastination. Btw trial exams next wk- Eng and Art on mon (5 hours of exam *cringe*), Mod Hist Wed, Classics Thurs, Psych Mon.

I'm gonna speak in really general terms here (I'd be more specific if it were one on one, but lets face it, blogs aren't!) and say that man, life/growing up is full, confusing, wonderful, exciting, challenging, painful, and uncertain among many other things.

But I say, somewhat tiredly but nevertheless meaningfully* bring it on.
Btw this is a cool pic of me and Annie (Emma's) from Dave's party in the hols- i love photo's where there's eye-contact between ppl in the photo, makes it interesting. [NB we aren't seriously looking murderously at each other :P]

artathon and blogathon

WELL what a day. Started off with one of those weird nights where you keep on waking up, and feel like you never actually sleep but are just continually in a quasi-sleep zone. But that didn't make me grumpy (at least, I don't think it did...), just tired which is good (and lucky for my family :P)

Then this arvo we had this 'Show and Tell' art thing where we each had to show everything that we've done in art this yr- our first prac, start on our second, and student choice investigative study- to the other three art classes. Sounds cool hey; change of scene, get out of class, get to see everyone's work and have a bit of an insight into who they are through their creativity. Sure, it started out good enough. I was near the beginning so got mine out of the way, was gathering ideas for my back up etc. But the stage in the Forge (our school's new flashbang performing arts centre thing) soon turned from backdrop for our creative masterpieces to a torturous dungeoun chamber hell. I never want to see another back-up folder in my life. It ended up going for 3 1/2 hrs NO BREAK.

It got to the stage when one of my friends called guache paint 'goolash' paint by accident in her talk that I, feeling giddy with undernourishment, had one of those laughter things where you keep coming out with short bursts of laughter after the few ppl who also laughed have stopped laughing and you, trying to distract yourself from laughing at the unforeseen amusing event, keep inadvertantly keep replaying it over and over in your head whilst you try to distract yourself or focus on the talk. Then in another talk I leaned forward on my flipdown chair, whilst I was sitting cross legged, to see who was about to come on and almost fell off it, which then just started me off with the wierd and embarrassing bursts of laughter again with the girl sitting next to me. So that was fun.

But amidst all this fun, frivolity and mind numbing boredom, I also got thinking (for there was ample time for this) about people. I know this is a common theme in blogs atm, but I also am a lover of ppl. I love observing, listening, talking , trying to fit together all the different pieces to find out what makes ppl really tick. I thrive on people- not always having to interact, but just being in the company of people keeps my mind and heart ticking over, and stops me from becoming ridiculously self-absorbed. I used to have too much of a 'lone journey' kind of focus on life- I mean sure we're the only one's who live our lives, but we're all living lives together- while all being very different, we're all very much the same. There are so many people I want to get to know, and let them get to know me, and I hope that when I leave school I won't regret not doing that enough while I had the chance. That's something that's frustrating me atm, bcoz I haven't been going on msn much with homework (or at least trying to plug distractions) and, though it may be me being paranoid, I hate the feeling of missing out on ppl time, chat time, bonding time, whateveryouwanttocallit time. Ah well, only a wee bit longer to go.

When I got home from this artathon (at FIVE!) I continued my 'athon' theme and had a blogathon after I discovered Emma's blog, which, yes Emma, I will link to soon because I think it's a very good read (and I read all of it!). In FACT I read so much my eyes got sore and I had to put my reading glasses on (which I haven't worn for several months).

I was talking to a woman last night after sas who was in a pretty bad way (but I won't go into any details for her sake). I'll be honest and say that I felt really inadequate as a little eastern suburbs girl to try and comfort her. I never know if what I'm saying is actually helpful or a bad case of foot in mouth disease. And then I feel selfish for just thinking about how I feel! But I guess it reinforced for me what the church is, and should be all about- sometimes it feels like we (I guess broader society as well) get so caught up in petty issues when it's really all about dishing out real love- by that I mean the sort of love Jesus gave, not superficial or half-hearted, but straight to the heart and bone sort of stuff. It's good to get a bit of a shove out of our comfort zones quite often.

Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble! Ciao for now....

Harry, Louis XVI and Nicholas II

Let's just say my frame of mind is such that i'm now writing everything in essay-plan format, as below, much easier even tho it's prob incomprehensible and i'll have no idea what i was talking about tomorrow :P

"Accidentally" reading the rest of Harry Potter this arvo before starting big Mod Hist essay due tomorrow = inconveniant yet highly welcomed zone-out bliss

Not being able to write about the emotional turmoil the events of Harry Potter put me thru on here in case ppl haven't yet read the book (hey, I only just finished it!) = excruciating

Not knowing whether to whoop or mourn the fact that the almighty All Blacks pretty much thrashed the Wallabies 30-13 in the Bledisloe Cup on Sat (do i go with NZ roots, or place of birth...???) = confusing but nevertheless fun (oh man, that Haka, so cool :D)

Procrastination (such as this) = recurring, annoying and seemingly unavoidable :P Well actually, easily avoidable, that would just be the laziness factor creeping in...

Comparative essays on the incompetant leaders of the French and Russian (Feb) revolutions = slow going/time consuming

Not letting myself go on msn until all work is done = prob necessary but still quite the temptation...

Psych tests occuring the day before you thought they would = surprisingly good bcoz that means i don't have to study for it tonite, but bad bcoz... i didn't study for it!

Rapidly approaching end of yr 12 = gold

How could I have left this one out?!! Haha, dislocated jaw :P U were on a facial expression roll last nite Lib! 

CMS Winter Dinner

So last nite was the CMS Winter Dinner (see the abundance of pics below!!) which was good fun (again, see abundance of pics below :P) and also interesting! I went last year as well so it was cool to kind of hear where some people had come in a year (youth ppl will prob remember Tab from youth camp last yr I think?) and also just to be in a place where it was so comfortably Jesus-focussed. Also made me think a bit more about actually planning for my future- what I'd have to do to get involved in mission stuff (CMS standing for Church Missionary Society). We were on Greg and Sum's table- 'we' being Dave, Law, Joel, Emma, Lib, Lisa, and I- the yr 12 Youthy table, mwahaha... Good food too (lol Lisa, yeah we finished it all!!)- chicken schnitzel type thing (sorry, i think it was called 'breast of chicken'... teehee!) like last yr, which was obviously good enough to be remembered!! At the moment I'm going to go and read more of that glorious book called Harry Potter (no I still haven't finished, so no one ruin the ending! It's kind of good going thru it slowly, spreads out the greatness and wanting morishness of it!) in front of the fire and relax, because I had to finish a psych assignment last nite when we got back, and so got to sleep at 2!! *insert sleepy/gritty eyes* Gotta rest up before the indoor sports centre thing tonight for youth :P!!

Em getting in on the Fish-Face action (this one's for u Anne ;o) 

Haha, Dan and Phili's party car on the way back, we passed them many times, each with enthusiatic non-verbal communication!! That's James, Ali and Dan in the back, and Phili with her G'ma Mimi in the front 

Cool pic (like triangle composition), captures the moment- guys stolen Lib's phone, Lib trying to get it back! 

We got many many free toothpicks at our table... and boy did we have some fun with them (note this was like two mins after we got there and we were already into both the photos and making use of the free stuff :P) 

Lisa with our glorious stash of free CMS (not entirely working...) pens- i think in the end we actually got about 50 or 60 all up (we each had one at our table settings)... Haha, go to a Christian mission dinner and steal their pens! 

Us trying to recapture Lib's... quite indesribable expression! Not sure if it worked, but Lisa's doin a pretty good job haha!! 

Haha, all I can say is lol (you knew it was coming Lib!)... el photo of the night! 

Although he's already been sighted on Lib's post, I'd like to officially introduce y'all to the aptly named (by Emma) grimacing cowboy alien roll "Rolland"... can you tell we were the Youth table??! 

'That's right, look closer... a bit closer, I swear I saw a fly in there!' [actually it was very good soup with no flies] 

As you can see we (well... me:P) were quite the excited to be there! 

lol with Lib's pics, I think I'm seeing a common Dave-sticking-head-infront-of-us-posing-pic theme here... 

keeping the perspective

... is easier said than done!

I've been in one of those profound (well it seems so at the time, until i forget what i was actually thinking!) thinking moods today. It's weird when you find cliches actually applying to your life- what I mean in partic is how easy it is to get caught up in the trivialities of life and miss what life's really about. It's the 60th Anniversary of the end events of WWII atm, and there was the first in a series of magazines on them in the paper this w/e, mainly on the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I was flicking thru it today and started chatting with my Grandpa about it (he and Grandma were over for lunch)- it made it hit home a lot more talking to someone who was not only alive during those events, but who's life could have been dramatically different depending on the unfolding of the events- for example if the bombings hadn't have happened he may have gone to Japan (he was a Captain at this stage) to fight (the bombings were the deciding factor on Japanese surrender) and who knows what could've happened. He said something along the lines of he hoped people today wouldn't get themselves in the same situation [of war], but what made me take that seriously was that he was speaking from experience... It reminds me of one of the reasons I started getting more into history- in year 10 after looking at WWII- not just the events but about the lives of people who were there- I felt that I had a responsibility (not in the terms of obligation, but that I owed it to them) to learn about those things- the lives of those people (that was a roundabout sentance, hopefully it made sense!). Although I don't think it's a good thing to dwell on the past, I also think that particularly this generation can be prone to living in blind ignorance of the past- I know I feel I do at times. There's some proverb in the Bible about a fool learning from a wise man's mistakes, I guess it's the same principle. Older people who've weathered more seasons of life (and if that sounds patronising I don't mean it to!!) than us youngins can teach us many unexpected things.

Also, I remember when I was driving home from the PAC formal when we were in all our finery looking out of the window and seeing a couple of homeless people asleep at a bus shelter. It opens your eyes- it can be easy enough to distance ourselves from the poverty of third world countries, but there are people right under our noses here in Adelaide who we could so easily help and don't... Guess that's the good thing about things like the Winter Sleepout! Where's basic respect gone for the people around us?

Dan and Phili spoke at Cafe Church this morning, and although I wasn't there lol, I read their notes (and hence credit some of these thoughts to them ;o) and one thing stuck, made me think - with the 'Jesus. All About Life' campaign starting tomorrow, although on the one hand I have been getting excited about it because it's hopefully going to provide heaps of opportunities to be able to share about my faith, on the other it's challenged me as well. We're supposed to be proclaiming the evidence of Jesus in our own lives, but where is Jesus in mine? Particularly growing up in a Christian family I've "done" church my whole life so I know what to say, pray, act etc. but, not to discredit church because that's been vital to my faith actually growing and staying on, you can be as 'religious' as you like and still not really live like you have a faith in God. I don't really feel worthy or qualified to be talking about Jesus in my life when I feel like I so don't reflect him sometimes. But then the whole point of Christianity is that we don't earn our way to a relationship with God (Jesus had to cop the punishment for our turning away from God, so that we could have relationship with Him...easy to prattle off, but what does it mean?), or heaven- in fact it's when we're at our weakest that God can be strongest in our lives because it can be easier to accept Him then, rather when life's all fine and dandy! As it says in Ephesians 2:8,9

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

Also a song we sung tonight at church- 'Believe' by Donna Lasit- read carefully!

I say on Sunday how much I want revival
But then my Monday, I can't even find my Bible
Where's the power
The power of the cross in my life

I'm sick of playing the game of religion
I'm tired of losing my reason for living
Where's the power
The power of the cross in my life

I'm not content just to walk through my life
Giving into the lies
Walking in compromises now
We cry out as a generation that was lost
But now is found in the power of the cross

I'm not satisfied doing it my own way
I'm not satisfied to do church and walk away
I'm not satisfied, there's no love in my life but You

I'm not satisfied living in yesterday's hour
I'm not satisfied to have the form, but not the power
I'm not satisfied, Oh Lord I am crucified in You

Those words are just so true for me at the moment. Throughout my life, through all of my turnings away from God, failing Him, and coming back to Him, God/Jesus/the Bible (all God really) has been the only real thing in my life. The only lasting thing with true substance, real meaning. The only thing that will fill that hole in my heart. The only thing that will last for eternity, the truest, purest form of love and life. It puts things in perspective- the things that matter in life aren't money or appearance or grades or whatever, though they do have their place- it's how we live our lives and the relationships we have with people that really matters. So whoever's reading this, and I ask myself as well, where is God in your life? Are you reflecting or proclaiming Jesus in your life? Are you satisfied?

Sounds a bit like a sermon :oP sorry bout that... This is getting a bit long, and I have schoolio tomorrow (yahoo...), so night! :o)

404-error

Check out this 404 page...

best one I've ever come across, lol! Ahh some ppl must have a loootta time on their hands... (and dw, it's nothing sus!)

From an unsually poignant fwd doing the rounds :oP This is my fav... what really makes a man?  

This isn't really a secret, but it's true, i do it all the time! 

break it down gentlemen

After both popular demand for an update, and popular demand to have some slack cut for myself (if that even makes sense...?) HERE my friends, is an update!

Just had a humbling experience in the car with Dad to Officeworks and back, in the rain! I think those experiences happen a bit to P drivers (well, me at least :P) when you realise that it's not all instinct and you're not quite 'all that' yet when it comes to driving, lol...

Found out bit more about one50 dance today- wait, i'd better work backwards so you guys actually know what i'm talking about! On fri, after seeing them at school, at the last min jaz, lib, liv and I decided to venture into Blackwood to go see the Nubian Gents. Who are the Nubian Gents? I didn't know either, but they're this awesome group of Christian African American guys from New York who do hip hop/street/funk dancing, with a bit of singing chucked in as well, who are down in Aus. for a while on tour (Truth Tour in fact). 4 of them came in on fri and did their stuff in the quadrangle at recess and everyone was riveted which was cool- that doesn't always happen with Christian stuff! So anyway, one50's an aussie girl gp who does the same type of dancing, and i just really enjoyed it bcoz 1) its just funky dancing, the sort that makes you love life when ur doing it (or watching it, wanting to do it!), and 2) whilst actually being cool, it wasn't promoting the body, but was aimed at glorifying God which is kind of rare! There's a local gp apparently, so gonna investigate that...

Been thinking about my future 'pathway' lately, mainly bcoz we have to put in our uni application thingo's soon, ahh!! Prob having a gap yr next yr to work, and travel for a few months in the middle/end of the yr, but AFTER here are the things that are floating around my head, could be either/or, could be mixtures: 1) Bachelor of Arts (what i like to call the 'student of life' type subject, nice and general, all kinds of interesting stuff! Ahh, to be and arts student...), 2) double degree fine arts and classical studies, 3) something at Tabor college or Bible college SA, and/or 4) some form of missionary work (decided i should prob pray about stuff to come up for that! mission 'experience' (few wks/months)/short term/ even long term?? Atm there's a vague possibility of a team from church going over to the Cook Islands at some stage... But i don't want to go just for the sake of it, i actually want to do meaty, challenging, useful God stuff!!