Panic!

Panic!

Come on this is a screaming photo op.

Give me envy.

Flash.

Give me malice.

Flash.

Give me attention.

Flash.

TIME TO DANCE

Last night I saw Panic at the Disco live. I also A Kiss Goodbye (a local band), Cobra Starship, and The Academy Is...

What can I say? At risk of sounding utterly cliche, I will describe it with a few meagre words.
Amazing. Fantastic. Superb.
I feel guilty just writing them.

But you don't care about my guilty pleasures do you...? Okay, inside joke with myself.

I sang Happy Birthday to Ryan Ross last night. It wasn't as intimate as I would have liked, seeing as there were over 5000 other people there. But hey, the glass is half full.

I didn't get to meet them this time, sadly, but I could tell they were very nice. They talked to people in the crowd, responded to their signs, and even called them cute. They are just so adorable.
Yes, I am a tweeby tween.

Anyway, Bobbie came around a six o'clock on the evening of Saturday August 30th AD2008. Mum had just cooked a meal of vegetarian sausage rolls and rice risotto, but I couldn't eat much. I decided to wear jeans, chucks, and my Beatles shirt. Screw the summer dress and boots, I looked like more of an idiot than usual. I wore a big zip-up hoodie, and boy, am I glad, because it was freezing.

We drove down in the Jag, which, for your information, costs no more than any regular car, and is more fuel-economical than our old car. We got there at about 20 to seven to find that the doors had already been opened. We hopped in line, and were in the door pretty soon. It was practically dark ,and freezing, so, personally, I'm glad we didn't loiter for ages.

Oh, as to the question about my camera. My mother informed me that I was not allowed to take my camera in, but, being the rebel I am, I just took it right on in anyway. They didn't even scan us. They did at My Chem, I swear! So, not long after I felt like an idiot for worrying about my camera so much, and being told that it costs freaking $4.70 for half a cup of water, we were sitting in our seats, marvelling at the fact that we were really there.
This was it.

We waved at Frankie, Bobbie and Heliena in the crowd, and generally got more excited. They were playing random songs, like Rhianna, or whatever, and even rap. The lights dimmed and the music was cut, and on walked the first band, A Kiss Goodbye. We didn't even know they were going to play, but I am not one to complain for more entertainment for my buck. I had never heard of them, and they did look pretty young, but they weren't bad.

Lights on again. More weird, unsuitable music. Bobbie freaking out about some guy in a side-ways cap. Then, Gab striding on to the stage, in purple skinny jeans. They opened with a strong performance of The City is at War, then had a wee chat with us. They were in a car accident, and Vicky T. hurt her arm (don't you fret, she still rocked that key-tar). Ryland then said something about Piha Beach Rescue, everybody screamed, and they played another song.
Their set was amazing. All their songs are great to scream to, and great to to dance to. Plus the fact that they are amazing performers doesn't hurt.
I loved it when they played The Church of Hot Addiction.
Oh, William Beckett came out to sing his part on Bring It, and I must say, it was pretty cool.
Before the lights came on once more, Gabe informed us that he would 'see us next year'.
As Holly would put it, hell to the yes.

The Academy Is... was the next band to play (yes the '...' is part of their name). I had never really liked them before I knew I would be seeing them. That is to say, I had heard their singles, shrugged my shoulders, and never thought twice about them. I borrowed their second album, Santi, from a friend, and now I am hooked. They were also good as performers, but I preferred Cobra to them, though that may because I knew more songs of theirs.
Also, William (the lead singer) lifted his shirt up in our direction, and we got to see his weird, girl-esque stomach. It was...well, weird. Me and Bobbie just looked at one another, then cracked up laughing.

The next time the lights came on, these dudes started climbing on to the light-rigging things. It was a tad strange, but entertaining. Anticipation and excitement was fizzling in the air. The air was oddly smoky.
Then
lights went on behind the black curtain. We could see a colourful piano, and a wrack of guitars.
Time to Panic.

They started with We're So Starving, which led right into Nine in the Afternoon.
What can I say? It was so cool.
Ryan was on the side closest to us, looking delicate and fragile. Brenden, in a wasitcoat, had a great time on the mike a g-tar. John rambled on, in a nice way, and Spencer didn't say much, though he did say something to make Brenden laugh, to a point where he couldn't finish a sentence. Together, they put on a fantastic show.
Northern Downpour was beautiful. I quite liked Folkin' Around.
Sometimes it felt like we were sitting in at a jam-session, especially on the mellow songs.
It was hard trying to dance around to some of their new stuff, but not all music has to be mosh-compatible to be good. I like the material from their first album better, and those songs were, as Bobbie put it, epic.

Brenden screamed 'I love you!', and then they finished with Mad as Rabbits.
It was a terrific concert, and I had a terrific time. I went through a small bout of post-concert depression, but that's understandable.
We got some good photos and videos. They were scanning the crowd with a laser thing, so I think we can still say that we snuck a camera in.

Yeah. So that was it. Oh, one last thing, as soon as we arrived at the arena, a midget (or dwarf, whatever is P.C.) in leather and a emo haircut walked past, being filmed. Cool, huh?

4 days

I'm rather excited about something, you know. It is the Panic (!) at the Disco concert. This fantastically fantastic, superbly smashing event will be occurring on the 30th of August AD 2008, A.K.A., this Saturday. It is so close; nerves of anticipation have already taken up residence in my veins. A butterfly aviary has been opened up in my stomach. A smile makes its way on to my face whenever I think about it. It is going to be such a great night.

So, Bobbie-Leigh, my dear friend, bought the tickets online quite a while ago. I don't know when exactly, but I can tell you it was more than 93 days ago. We are very close to the stage. I know this because I have been to this stadium/arena thing before, when I saw My Chemical Romance live last year, and I was pretty damn close; Seat 37 in one of the front wings. This time, I'm seat number 31. Bobbie is in seat 30. It's on the 30 of the month, which is also the day of the lead guitarist's (George) Ryan Ross the 3rd, 22nd birthday. That's gotta be a sign, don't you think?

Oh, and the two opening bands are successful in their own right. Cobra Starship, and The Academy Is...
(I wasn't sure if I should add another full stop in there, because the ellipse is part of the name). They are both good bands, so it really is like three in one!

The concert day has sort of crept up on me. I have been counting down, and was initially thrilled, but for as while, it kind of slipped my mind. I didn't forget it, though it was not at the forefront of my conscious. Then, all of a sudden, it was three weeks. Then two. That second week went by so quickly, then I woke up and it was Saturday morning. It was a week away.

Today, as another of my dear friends put it, was the last Monday before the concert.
I still don't know what I am going to wear. I know it's a materialistic, superfluous thing to worry about, but hey, I am allowed to be a regular teenage girl every once and a while. I was thinking a summer dress, but with a cardigan, waist belt, tights and boots. Boots are going to have to be part of the outfit. Not because my knee high flat boots are gorgeous, but they are the means which we are going to smuggle my digital camera in. Smuggle. Ha.

Anyway, they don't let you take water bottles (think the My Chem bottling), or cameras or videos in to the arena. Or umbrellas. They scan you, too. Not everyone, just people that look suspicious, I guess. It goes without saying that I got scanned last time, on 6/12/07. I'm thinking it will be fine, at the bottom of my boots, albeit, I am yet to actually try it. Maybe that would be a good idea, because having a camera-shaped outline in your boots is probably not the best plan. Truth is, it would be really cool to take it. My camera's not the best, but it is rather good. It takes three minute vids, with sound, and has a decent zoom, too. Plus I have a massive memory card. I only took some videos on my phone last time, and my hand was as far from steady as it is possible to be.
Oh, by the way, if you are a member of this venue's security staff, please don't bust me. Have a heart.

So, now this is all recorded. When I am wishing to record what happens down, I won't have to go through all this little stuff. So, as to end where I began; I am so excited!

Blogging is old

It's true, blogging is old. For me, at any rate. From my observations, the speed of blogging has notably slowed down for our class. When we first got our blogs, everyone was pretty excited, and there was a general opinion of this being pretty cool. For a while, it was easy to write three a week, sometimes more. Things were going well. Time passed, and soon the natural bloggers were separated from the not-so-into-blogging-types. Ms. Wilson checking our blogs in front of the whole class was motivation to post something instead of sitting comatoze in front of the telly. The setting of regularly homework also kept the blogging tempo up. It was all rather find and dandy through the creative writing unit, and our blogs weathered the school holidays. Then, in July, things slowed down. The members of class weren't posting as regulary anymore, and Ms. Wilson wasn't checking (or at least telling us that she was).

I got back into it for a while earlier this month, but that was not permanent. The above process of events applies completely to me, but it could be completely untrue for everybody else in our class. If so, don't take offence, I am probably just slightly delirious and typing words to fill up this entry. Anyway, I have been feeling quite bad about my lack of blogging. I do enjoy it, and usually do have something I can write about. Sometimes, though, I just get so busy and have little all or no time for writing. It is a lower priority to me than other homeowork, especially since our teacter isn't checking off our three entries every week. It know, it sounds terrible. So, I have officially decided to get back into this thing. Partly because I have a a number of ideas I want to write about, and I have a fear the Ms. Wilson will suddenly check our blogs, and expect to see (however many weeks we have been doing this x three) entries.

So, what else can I fill this up with?
Oh, we had to hand in out option forms last Monday. You know, the one I was stressing and torn up about? I was seriously considsering dropping P.E., and my parents were ready to make an appointment with our principal, but then I came to a relevation. I don't need to take all academic subjects to pass, or pass with excellence. I just have to acheive well in all the subjects that I do take. Physical Education does not have any exams and has little to no homework. Because of this, I can apply myself more into studying of other subjects and the large amounts of homework they are sure to have.

I have decided to take Chemistry (half-year course), and half-year P.E., and my full year subjects will be Geography and French. At the options evening I went to I reliased that I didn't even really like histroy. However, because the world likes to make things hard for me sometimes, the subjects for year 11 were really interesting: Origins of WW2, NZ Security during the Cold War, and Civil Rights in the USA. I decided to take Chemistry because it will give me an idea of whether or not I really want to follow the medicine path, and my three closest friends, who are all taking History, are going to teach me all about what they learn.

I am quite excited about next year now I have made my decisions. It's going to be hard, but it is also going to be quite fun, and very interesting. And imaging getting that Level 1 certificate!
Do you know that if I pass the Research Assignment and this Reading standard we're doing now, I would have already passed NCEA Level 1 English?

My goal for next year is to pass with Excelence. To do this, you must pass the majority of your Achievement Standards, and exams, I guess, with Excellence; it is entrierly possible. I'll just have to try super-hard, and make a noticable effort in Physd Ed.

That's about it, now I have to do some homework. You will be hearing from me soon.

I'm a red blood cell...more for the archives

I've always felt that biology comes quite naturally to me. That, or I just enjoy it. I wrote this last year, in year 9. I remember the teacher being really impressed, and saying that she showed her partner the previous evening when she was marking it, exclaiming 'they are only year 9!'. To be honest, I didn't try overly hard with this. I just sat down and wrote it, as far as I can recall. Hey, it might even be useful for previous years. Imagine that, getting tutoring slash study notes from my younger self...hmm. As you can see, I'm just trying to take up space. I must admit that I do feel kind of bad publishing all my old work. I feel as though I am cheating, doing it. I'm sure I will appreciate when I look back. (I hope this blog doesn't, like, die if you don't regularly update it).
I probably sound like a sap...I am a sap. I feel bad at the possibility people will think I'm taking a short cut writing blog entries. Suck it up, Eve!

I am a red blood cell…

I am a red blood cell in the lung. I have just excited the right atrium through the pulmonary artery. As the body breathes in the lung surrounding me expands as it fills with oxygen. I absorb this oxygen and store it to distribute throughout the body later. Now I am travelling through the pulmonary vein into the left side of the heart. The walls around me are made up of very thick muscle and are contracting to pump me down through the left ventricle then back up through the aorta and out into the body. I am going to take oxygen to the index finger on the left hand. I travel through arteries down the arm and into the hand.
Now the arteries here are much thinner and extend right out to the tip so that blood cells like me can get to small body parts such as toes and fingers. These intricate arteries and veins are called capillaries and now I am moving towards the tip of the index finger and also the end of my journey as a red, oxygenated blood cell. I release the oxygen and now I am a blood cell carrying carbon dioxide which the body doesn’t need or use back towards the heart and the lungs. I am moving through a vein now and I am darker than I was before. I travel up through the wrist and the rest of the arm and through the vena cava back into the right side of the heart.
From there I am pumped down through the right ventricle and out through the pulmonary artery back into the lung. The body needs to get rid of me now and so when the lungs empty with a big breath out I go out of the body with it.

By Eve B.

(Yeah, I had pretty sweet paragraphing skills.)

Food

I was sitting at the table with some afternoon tea about five minutes ago, when inspiration struck me. Well, struck is probably too strong of a word. I was thinking about things, which lead to other things, which eventually brought me to the conclusion that I should write a blog entry about food. Hence, here I am, doing just that.

So, food. It's an important part of our lives. We need it to live. As simple as that. It has evolved, through out the ages, to something much more than just fuel for our bodies. It defines culture. Ever done a project on a country? One aspect of culture is cuisine. It can explain so much about a country; their landscape; their climate; their resources. It is an art of sorts, but two principals remains the same from the rice in Japan, the cassava of Fiji, or the croissants of France- it sustains us and tastes good.
France- this is the perfect example. Food, and all their attitudes/behaviours towards it, really defines them as a ethnicity.

In recent times, however, food and eating has become distorted. With the media and celbreties pressing in from all sides, people from all across the western world have fasted through too many diet fads to count. Snack the whole entire day! Eat three square meals a day! Don't eat at all, boys only like skinny girls!
It's horrible, and it's sad.
What happened to being healthy? No amount of dieting and killing yourself at the gym is going to make you healthy on the inside.

Personally, I love food. I try to eat healthy, but I believe in giving everything a try, and also in the necessary feast day once in a while.
I am vegetarian, and have been for four years, now. Our family eat pretty healthy, though, I am the only vegetarian.
But, to the point that drove me to write- my favourite foods.
I'm sitting here, scraping out the remnants of the natural yoghurt from the EasiYo container, so might as well start with that.

Yoghurt- I love it. It is so nice, and great by itself, or with fruit or muesli. I only like real yoghurt, though, with cultures. I refuse to touch goop such as CalciYum, etc.

Muesli is one of my favourite foods. Of course I like toasted, but after seeing how much fat is in just one serving (What's Really in Our Food?: Cereal episode), I've gone off it. Any other muesli is fine with me; as long as it doesn't contain vast amounts of rolled oats or peanuts.

Scroggin! My friends will tell you that most intervals my hand is in a container of this scrumptious nut/seed/dried fruit mix. It's an excellent source of protein and good fats, too.

Fruit and veggies.
As a vego myself, this is what my diet mainly consists of. I like all fruit and vegetables I've tried as of yet, although I'm not too fond of red and spring onion. I adore dishes such as stir-fries and vegetable soups, and have salad for or with dinner most nights.
I love avocado on toast (one of the best things ever, actually), but also think nothing much can beat a nice, crisp apple.
I also am eating more bananas than usual this year, because as you might know, the homogeneous species of the Cavendish banana is dying. (I read it in the Herald).

Some of my favourite dinners are my mum's pumpkin/pine nut/spinach/tofu lasagna and her falafel stuffed eggplants.

I like my baking, but enjoy making it and presenting it more than eating it. Albeit, a nice spoon of batter is hard to beat.

I don't particularly like junk food, my family aren't really big on it. I always feel yuck after ice cream, and can't stand fizzy drinks. I like liquorice though, and indulge in chocolate and lollies (see, I'm not completely abnormal); I have tried to ween myself off a little bit. We don't eat at McDonald's or anywhere like that, and I'm glad.

I think that's about it. I hope you have enjoyed this entry. Goodnight, folks.
(Are you hungry now?)

The Industrial Revolution...among other things

At school currently we are being informed, rather incessantly, that we need to delete all unnecessary files. We have hardly any space left. I'm not one of those people that have loads of videos, pictures and games (none, actually), but I have still managed to clear out loads of old files. It's fun and quite amusing to look back over old work, but it's also pretty annoying. We spent a lot of time working on those essays and presentations, and now we are being told to delete them like there is no tomorrow. All that stress, those light nights, and study afternoons- they don't mean that much now. Yes, I'm being dramatic and it's not as bad as I am making it sound, though I hope that you can empathise with me and understand where it is that I am coming from. Anyway, onwards to the point of this blog.

This cyber spring cleaning has some positives. When I leave school, I am probably not going to take all my old files, computer-wise, home. Yet, I would treasure all my books at clear files of work. So, I am going to treat this blog as an archive of sorts, to store pieces of work from my previous years. I think it is a great idea. I know it's cheating in the entry-writing respect, but I will try and write at least a paragraph to accompany it. I'm not going to post them all at once, wither, I am only going to do two or so a month.

Yeah. Yup. Yep. Yah. That's pretty much it. This is one of my first essays, if memory serves me right. I wrote it in year eight. I read it out to the class and messed up the word 'obviously'. I got an E for it, and I remember feeling (modestly) smart for writing this. Enjoy, now.

The Industrial Revolution,
Formal Writing Assessment Term Three
400 Word Report

The Industrial Revolution was a major development in history. It led us to the technology that we find so necessary today. What would life be like if the Industrial Revolution never happened? What would you have done during those times? Throughout this report I am going to explain to you the positive and negative affects of the revolution, the phases and my opinions.

Imagine you own a small house in a quiet, country-side village. You run a small business and spend you days sewing quilts and rugs for the village and caring for your family. Everything has been running smoothly for the last few years; enough money to live, a healthy home and surrounding environment when suddenly the city starts to build factories full of the latest machines and word of the lack of labourers and high salary begin to make a stir throughout your home.

People begin to flock to the city, imagining a good job and success. The need for handmade goods are dropping as the population of the rural towns shrink and city businesses are producing the same product at an extraordinary rate and the price is less. There is no way you could maintain your current living standard so like the majority of people you pack up and leave the country-side in hope of finding a better life in the city.

The city was not all it was to pent up to be. The air is polluted; there is no rubbish collection or water system, well at least not for the likes of you. You are practically at the mercy of you land lord and employer which is likely to be the same person. You live in a small row of houses in a over crowded alley way not far from the factory you spend up to thirteen hours a day in. The houses are made from the poorest of materials; they are a danger hazard as well as a great place for disease to spread. The only sewage system is the disgusting toilet at the end of your row which you share with 8 other families.

The conditions in the factories are horrific and what’s worse is you have to contract your kids to work in them just to earn the money to keep the ram-shackle roof over you head. Your partner has already lost a limb and you, like the rest of you family are constantly ill from severe fatigue, malnutrition or the latest disease that has been contracted from the surrounding city.

You couldn’t return to your old home if you wanted to, you’re once beautiful country landscape has been transformed into another lot of polluting factories hidden beneath its own smog from the chimneys. The rich business man who you had sold your land to has bought up the whole area. Now you are stuck in this terrible place with no more children young enough to be useful in the factories and only the slightest money to pay the high rent and buy the barest of supplies.

This is one of many similar devastating fates caused by the industrial revolution. People were practically defenceless against the power of the business men and land lords. Things continued on like this until the employees finally found someone of a higher rank to back them. That man was Robert Owen, the first man to have a successful factory with good conditions for its workers. This led too many more strikes and much more positive action towards the welfare of factory workers. This time was called the reform and led us to the employee rights and good working hours set in place today.

Not everything was bad about the revolution though. With out it we wouldn’t have berley any of the technology that surrounds us today. The medical achievements are amazing and the majority of people are living happy, healthy lives. Laws have been set in place to make sure things are fair, and nothing like the factory conditions during the revolution will ever happen again. I believe that the Industrial Revolution was a vital phase in history but I also think that some of the horrible things that happened during that time could have been avoided if people weren’t so focused on profits and success and more on actually developing.

The Industrial Revolution was neither a good or bad thing in my eyes. The pros and cons both contain important points. I just think it was something that needed to happen, but now that we have all we need, we just keep creating unnecessary technology. Because I fail to understand why we need 40 inch screens and cars that jump 3 metres in the air? I believe the Industrial Revolution is still something that is going on today but it has been continuing on a much smaller scale and it’s something that should have ended a long time ago.

A Report by Eve B.

Aujourd'hui

Okay, so I found another way to write 'today'. In this blog-bordering-on-diary entry, I am not even going to waste time writing about me writing...if that makes sense.
Basically, I'm bored. It's kind of late, and I should be getting ready for bed. I have netball tomorrow at quarter to eight in the morning (yes, with my sore ankle), and after school, I have two hours of library service. Remind me to take my Duke of Edinburough form, to get it signed. As it is, I have, like, four or five sections that need to be signed. Yep, I guess it is going to be a long day.

I finished my maths work, pretty much. I just have to add in a few numbers and read over it at school, and I will be schweet. I also have highlighted all my research and began drafting my report. I think it is going to take more time and effort than I had anticipated. I believe I can do it, though. Oh, my, this is so like every other entry I've written lately. I mention homework, or more accurately homelearning. Well, in my defence it is a notable part of my life. Whoa, that is kind of sad.

I had a French test first period today. I think I did alright. It was one of the easier ones we have had, but quite time consuming. I don't like saying it was easy, though, for if I don't do to well, I'll feel like an idiot. We find out our results tomorrow. I am nervous about it, but no use worrying about something you can't change, right?

Speaking of worrying, I think it would be fair to say that our class, as an entity, is in a mild state of panic. You see, we were given our option forms for 2009 the other day. That is exam year, if you were wondering. NCEA. National Certificate of Educational Achievement. You need 80 credits to pass. None of us really knew much about it until today, until Ms. Wilson answered all of our questions. About time someone told us something, too. My friend from cross country club said in year ten all the teachers talk about is NCEA. For us, however, it was like the teachers were trying their best not to mention it at all. Oh, it's just our future, don't worry guys.
The forms aren't due until the Monday after next, so we can go to the course evening next week, before we make our final decision.

You can take 5 full year courses, and three half year. As far as I am concerned, the full year courses you take four times a six day cycle, and with half year, it's twice every six days. Yep, that must be right, because 5 x 4 is 2o, and 2 lots of 2 is four, and that equals 24, which is the amount of lessons in our six day cycle. Yeah, we only have four periods a day, plus tutor time.
English, Science, and Maths are compulsory, and they're full year courses. You also have to take P.E., and that's the interesting point I want to get at.

You can either take a full or half year course, but you have to take one. Our teacher told us yesterday that if you really want, you can 'argue it out' with our principal, and replace it with something else. I would take half-year chemistry instead, if I did so. I'm not sure if I will do it. As soon as I heard it, I remember thinking, 'hell yeah!', but then immediately afterwards, thinking about over-working myself and burning out- something I can not afford to do. I talked to my parents about this, and instead of the talk about over-doing it I had expected, I got something completely different.
There we were, eating dinner, and my mum said, looking at me quite curiously, 'of course you're going to take chemistry, what benefit will PE have?'.
My dad reiterated her point with,' how will PE benefit you in the future? How will that help you with you career?'.
I really don't know. I like PE, and that kind of fun team-sport thing is not something I'm likely to do in later life. Capture the flag, medic ball- I won't play those.
I am going to think about it, this is quite an important decision.

With growing up looming on the horizon, in the form of exams and tough choices, my light-headiness and good mood from yesterday is dissipating. What a I going to do?
It seems to be the question on everybody's mind.

Yesterday: the day before today

Yesterday, was like, the best day ever. Except it wasn’t really; I’ve just had that line in my head for ages. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good day, and, guess what? You’re going to hear all about it!

So, it was Tuesday. I had banana and yoghurt for breakfast. It was Day 2 on the timetable, which is always a good day, because we have all the core subjects. For a moment there I was inclined to writing the four subjects down, but then realised that no one outside our class will probably be reading this. So yeah.

I walked into English, after being dropped off at school, to see my name on the SmartBoard. Our teacher explained that the ten of us had been chosen to give the kids of the contributing schools a tour of our school. First I was like ‘yeah!’, and second I was more like, ‘oh…but what about maths and social studies?’. I, and I am really sorry about his Gabrielle, then told Gabby that she could take my place, but then I had a change of mind and heart. There were a few aspects contributing to my decision. Firstly, I felt so sick in science I don’t even want to think about it. I thought walking around might make me feel better, plus it was a beautiful day. Secondly, it seemed like the type of thing I would regret not doing. I’ll probably remember that day, as it does have good memories associated with it, and I would never have recalled the lessons of social science and maths. Yeah, they are fun, but this was a unique experience.

Things in general were just going my way, because our S.S. teacher was playing the piano at the cool concert given to the littlies, and we got back in time for just under half of the maths lesson in the computer lab. I had such a good time. My friend and I took a group of 15 kids, from the primary school I went to, and showed them our school. I basically talked a lot, while Brennyn was cool at the back of the group, making sure we lost no one.
Afterwards, when someone asked whether or not I had sold our school, she said, ‘She sure did, she made it sound so good, and I was like, wait a minute, our school isn’t that good.’

The truth is, though, that giving this tour has brought up good memories from my time at our school. No, it isn’t perfect, but I’ve had some really fun times there. Dissections, camps, trips- there actually are a lot of opportunities at our school. I even think the kids enjoyed it a little bit, and I hope that boy who said ‘knowledge is boring’ took in what I was saying.

Well, that is pretty much it. I better get on with the explicit maths homework thing, and that infamous research assignment- it’s nearly over!

But, seriously though, with those year sixes, I swear I was never that small.

A Blog Entry (!)

Well, hi again. I don't know whether I should be proud or disappointed. I mean, yes, I'm updating regularly, but my entries don't seem to be as...topical as they used to be. I don't mean that they were about current events, but that they had one, unifying point or subject. Now days, I seem to just be rambling for a few hundred words and slapping on a random title. But you're enjoying it, right?
I guess I'm still writing, and that has gotta be good. And I suppose my previous entry was pretty focused. Okay, how about a weird hybrid of pride and and disappointment? Dride?

Sorry, but that has to be some sort of talent. I just turned what was meant to be two sentences into a paragraph.
Alright. I was going to write about my day (yes, again). Now, what happened...
Our class had PE first block, but I didn't participate because of my ankle. I sat on the sidelines, feeling sorry for myself and attempting to do my maths homework. I got hit with a ball approximately seven times. It wasn't that bad though, because my lovely friends came and sat with me for some of it. If I hadn't injured my ankle I would have had plyometrics, PE, then cross country today (have I mentioned that before?). I do miss running already. I don't want to lose any fitness, especially with the Nike+ challenge coming up in, what, four days.
Crap. I didn't realise it was so close. Damn you, ankle, heal!
(P.S., you'll be hearing about the Nike+ challenge at a later date this month).

So, then I had maths after morning tea. We went to the computer lab, and then were told that we had to have a clear out of our old files. Man, did we get nostalgic. Reading emails from years ago, watching our silent movie from last year, reading old essays and letters. It was fun, but kind of sad, too. And yes, we did get out work done as well.
(That's right, I have begun to sentences with 'and' now.)

I had French third period. We have a test on Wednesday. Yup, just heap some more work on the mammoth pile. I actually had quite a nice moment in French. Last lesson we had learnt a lot of new, complicated (for our level, at any rate) phrases and terms about siblings and relationships. We then had to describe our relationship with our siblings. I spent ages doing mine last night, checking and re-checking the text book. I asked my teacher, Mr. Fitzgerald, to check over it and he said, genuinely, 'Wow, this is really good'. But there was pause between the 'wow' and the rest of the sentence. I felt so good. I was all smiley, and I am now, thinking about it. Mr. Fitz is a good teacher, but he doesn't hand out compliments so readily, you see. I had even made a few mistakes, and I must be growing up not to be worried about them.

Drama was what I had last. We are doing Maori myths and legends, and my group is doing How Maui Fished up Aotearoa. That's going alright, but I think I need to work on my character, Maui. Don't laugh.
I think it's gonna be good once we start rehearsing.

After school, that is, about two hours ago, I made chocolate chip cookies and even did the dishes.
Now, I'm doing homework. I am going to do my research project, I am. Seriously, after I publish this, I am going to get it all up to date- and that means the research will be done.

Paramore, all we know is falling, is playing right now. If you'll lucky, you might even get a review.
If I had a witty ending to this post, I would write one now. Bye.

A Letter of Complaint

It was during last year that I wrote this letter to the food company, Pam's. I don't know if it would be considered a rumour, but many people have asked me (in a tone that implies that I'm a little insane) if I really did write a letter to Pam's about the grammatical error on their new label. To make it perfectly clear: yes, yes I did. What the company did was change their label from the one seen on the can to your left, to the slightly blurred one you can see below. As you will see in the letter below, I did it mainly out of curiosity. I have not received a reply as of yet.


I also wrote a letter to the food company Uncle Tobys. Please tell me you can see a problem with that name. Uncle Tobys. Apostrophe, anyone? I got a letter of reply back, explaining that it was a registered trademark, so they couldn't change it, but that they would take it into account when they have to renew the trade mark. They didn't bother explaining why the apostrophe had been omitted to begin with. They did, however, include a bag and two calendars with their letter, which proves while they may not be grammatically competent, they are tactful.

What sparked my interest and concern for grammar was reading the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss. This book explains grammar in a highly amusing manner, and turned me into a ''stickler''. Did you know that the movie Two Weeks Notice (with Sandra Bullock, and Hugh Grant) is also lacking in an apostrophe? It should be Two Weeks' Notice. I do recommend you read this book, if not out of concern for grammar and the disturbing lack of it in today's society, but for a good laugh. It might even inspire you to join the Apostrophe Protection Society.

My letter of complaint to Pam's. Enjoy.

Dear Pam’s Representative,

The point of this letter is a query concerning your new logo that some of your products now have. The new Pam’s logo does not only have a lower case letter instead of the capital the proper noun requires, but also is lacking in its previous possessive apostrophe. I am just curious to why. Why deliberately change your logo to make it grammatical incorrect? I personally do not find it more appealing or eye-catching; it actually is less recognisable as a Pam’s product now. Having two errors on your logo does not support your reputation as a respectable food company.

You may be thinking, does it really matter? But grammar, along with English syntax, is on a downward spiral.
A lot of the time, it is like grammar is more commonly overlooked than used.

This error would be seen by a large number of people everyday and would only be encouraging this growing problem of grammatical ignorance.

Thank you for your time and I am looking forward to your reply.

I can't think of a title.

This is so lame. It’s the most gorgeous day, and I can barely walk. My ankle got much worse during the night, and now it’s fat and swollen and very sore. Unless a miracle occurs over the next 20 hours, I will not be doing plyometrics, cross country, or PE tomorrow. It sucks.

In fact, everything sucks right about now. I feel awful. I have so much to do. The weird thing is, the only thing I feel like doing is blogging. Mind you, it’s probably the only thing I’m capable of right now. I tried to do my maths homework- it didn’t work out so good. Another funny thing is that our internet has decided not to work, so I’m typing this on Word. My leg is sticking out awkwardly to the side, and though I’m getting a cramp in my hip, at least my ankle doesn’t hurt as much.

Yes, I suggest you do leave now; I have more complaining to do.
So, it’s 1.01pm on Sunday. It’s the third day of the eight month of the year 2008 AD.
Oh, now it’s 1.02.
I can’t believe we’re into August already. This year has gone past quite quickly. But that has nothing to do with anything, really. Or maybe, I could fashion it into a complaint so it would fit with the rest of this blog.

I got told off again for lack of blogging on Friday…again. It’s so annoying. I think I update fairly regularly. Yeah, it contradicts some of the content of my previous entry, but so what. Come on people, one week isn’t that bad. How come I get told off when some people haven’t updated in months?

I have so much I have to do today. I have that maths homework to do. I have to my French homework, plus revision for the French Oral competition. My drama homework also waits. The social science task doesn’t have to be done until Tuesday, but I really want to start the week with no work hanging over my head from last week. Oh, and you can’t forget that infamous research project. In truth, though, it isn’t that bad, and I have been getting into it more. My goal for my research project today is to get all the sources done. All printed, highlighted, and documented in the research log. It involves sitting at the computer, so I guess I will do it.

I probably won’t leave the computer for a while now. To leave this area of my house it requires me to climb stairs, which is so painful right now. I just realised how bad I must sound. So lazy, negative, and useless. I suppose it’s alright to sound like that, though, because that’s exactly how feel.

It’s beautiful outside. The sky is blue and the air is a pleasant temperature. And here I am, sitting inside, being a temporarily disabled hermit, feeling as far from pleasant as is humanly possible. Ugh.

Ouch.

So. Hi there. How have you been surviving without regular updates from moi? Yes, I have finally emerged from my blog-writing rut. Truth is, I have been very busy lately, and just haven't been getting 'round to doing it. I know it doesn't really justify not doing homework (time-management and all that), but with any of my extra time, I have been completing my research project. Anyway, blog entries are meant to have a point, and this time, I actually have one...sort of.

Well, let me tell you what happened today. Like every Saturday in winter, I play netball in the mornings. This year, I have a game in the afternoon, too. I thought today was going to be great. The sky was clear, the sun was shining, we weren't even going to be late. Last week, we had to play in the 'storm of the decade', so I was looking forward to a game out of the pouring rain.
But no.
Great would not be the word I could use to describe my netball experience this fine morning.
Painful. Embarrassing. Shameful. You see, today I suffered my first netball injury.

Thinking about in now, I guess I'm lucky to say that this is my first. Yes I've had blisters and scrapes, and been a tad sore from being pushed over, but last year, my friend got her wrist broken! (So much for a non-contact sport.) I suppose you're wondering what happened?
It's not that exciting, I'm sorry, but here goes.

It was second quarter. I was Goal Keep. I was warmed up. I was getting into it. I had decided to really use my height; jump for everything, and stick to my partner like glue. I leaned in a far as I dared as the GS went in for shots. I timed my jump in the hope I'd knock the ball from it's path to the hoop. I am usually deaf to calls from the sideline, but I heard our manager call, 'That's that way, Eve!', and it felt good.
I was jumping, and running, and thinking I could be doing worse, when it all went wrong.
I Goal Shoot went for the shot. She missed, and I leaped up into the air to grab it. What goes up, must come down. Personally, I came down on the side of my right ankle.
Crack. Collapse. Holding on to the netball post to stay upright.

Okay, I'm being dramatic. It's not broken, just sprained. But it hurt, all right? And my legs did buckle. Our team manager was there in a flash, ripping of my front and back bibs and quickly getting another girl on the court. My mum was there for me to lean on, and my little brother offered his services, even though his shoulder is equal with my waist. I hobbled over to St. John's, managing not to cry for half the way.

Once there, a nice lady helped me to a bed, and placed an ice pack on it. She said to just call out if it got to cold. It was, but I didn't say anything. I figured it had to be good for me. After about ten minutes, she told me that a 'new member' was going to be taking a look. The said new member turned out be a boy about my age, who looked about as uncomfortable as I did. The lady instructed him to take off my other shoe. As well as my sock. Talk about adding insult to injury. Literally.

It was swollen and red, but not too bad, so I limped back over to the courts. I managed to see that last minute of the game, and observed that everyone was rather frantic. We had been up when I had been taken off. Afterwards, everyone agreed not to mention the third quarter (apparently we had lost it by a bit) and informed me that we had drew. Then, to our pleasant surprise, the ref told us that we had actually won, 16-15!
And, the team we were meant to be playing at the local centre had defaulted, so I didn't have to feel guilty about missing the game.

All is well that ends well, I think it goes. Except for the fact that I have a sore ankle, and the fear that it will temporarily stop me running. Oh well, I might as well continue with my recovery (lying around on the couch).