A Cheerful Tuesday

Yes, today was a fun, optimistic, cheerful day. And today I'll be unveiling a new segment to my blog, which shall now be the second-last paragraph. I shall get to that when I get to it.

First, last night. I did hapkido, and it was fun as! I've never sweated so much and enjoyed it. I got my uniform, and since I had one on and Shay didn't, I had superiority. Lol! We did some basic kicks, punches, defenses, basic stuff. We were also supposed to be doing forward rolls, but I admittedly sucked at that. But soon I hope to be able to do it. Which will be awesome. I finished around 8:15, and when I got home: horror. Where is my watch? A check around the house, Jo's car and a phone call to the hapkido centre determined that it was at reception at hapkido. So I'll have to get it on Wednesday. Since then my wrist has seemed naked. But that's me; common sense of a garden snail. (But, as Einstein said: "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." I don't know what I meant by that, I just wanted to use that quote. I know I'm weird. Not like it's something I don't know.)

I caught the bus to school, and it was raining on and off. No, literally: One minute it was pouring, and then the next there wasn't a speck of rain. It seemed like somebody was turning off a tap. Anyway. Period 1 was Ag, which was just writing some stuff out from the board. Same old, same old. Next was History, which was answering more questions. Luckily there weren't that many, so I got a chance to read. As usual. Recess was talking to Victor and Shafi, while Kevin, Eric, John and Andy played 13 (I didn't know.). Apparently Shafi had never heard of Queen (speaking of Queen, 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' is stuck in my head today.). I stared at him. Unfortunately, not many people I know have heard of Queen. A shame. Period 3 was Maths, which was not actually doing much, for once. I treasure those bludgy moments in Maths: there isn't many of them. Next was Science, which was a really fun experiment. We heated a piece of metal under a blue Bunsen flame, and watched what it did. What ended up happening was that the metal curved almost 90 degrees, and the edge of the metal turned red-hot; it was glowing. That was awesome. When we put it under a tap, the water just boiled instantaneously, with a hissing sound and a cloud of steam. I love doing that. Lunch was 13 again, with me only winning one game (and that was with a few straights thrown in. I had 6 doubles and I didn't even win, and one of them was a double 2!).

Period 5 was Commerce, in which we went to a computer lab. We also met who I think our new teacher is for when Kearney leaves, though her name escapes me. We were just researching about members of parliament. I ended up having to go on the same computer as Hewie since mine didn't work. I also gave Karen my blog link, which she asked about in Maths (I will get to that.) I forgot her name, which is a big problem for me, since I suck at names. I will learn people's names, I swear. Period 6 was English, which was the best period of the day. We were talking about short stories, and we started talking about anachronisms. And Tiana started talking about how we shouldn't watch DVDs of movies set in the time before DVDs, since that's an anachronism. The same goes for cameras. I swear, Tiana thinks too much or not enough, I don't know which. We're also supposed to do a 5 page short story. I did a double-take. I was (partially) relieved when he said it wasn't an A4 page. So that was a load off (although knowing me, I'll either do too much or not enough.). When I got home, I went on my laptop, watched TV, and, surprisingly, read, since I don't read that much at home, since I can go on my laptop at home (I've already finished 'New Moon.' I think I started it this morning or last night. I have way too much time on my hands.).

Now for the segment I was talking about in my first paragraph. Here I am going to respond to everybody's comments from the previous day. I figure if you have taken the time to comment, I should take the time to reply. And I'm hoping to make this a permanent thing. Now in order:
* Ebony: I laughed at that 'Live long and prosper' thing, because I always used to say that, and, it's true, no matter how hard you try, you can't out-nerd me (but, that's a compliment to me. Lol.) I'm following your blog as well, since I suppose you read mine, I'll read yours.
* Victor: LOL. That's all that needs to be said.
* AC: I am still speculating your identity, but I figure I'd best just see you as AC and not some kid from school trying to hide their identity (and yes, I am going to keep calling you AC. Just because it's a lot easier.)
* Shafi (twice): Man, just say who you are. It's fun. And you gotta type better. But, thanks for commenting. Really. Twice is awesome!
* Karen: Thanks for laughing, I like my blog. I will remember your name now (sorry), and I think you're the first person to remark on the Element thing. Sweet! I'm also following your blog, for the same reason as I said for Ebony.
* John: Glad you didn't hear me singing, and that you love music. And you're welcome for your blog, it is really awesome. And thanks for commenting more, I love comments.
* Dad: Didn't expect this one, but, you're right, I don't mind. I love it! That 'uncooler' thing made me laugh, because I've said it before, if you can't laugh at yourself, you can't laugh at anyone. See you on Friday!
* Shafi: This wasn't actually there when I started this, and it's OK if you don't put your name in the title, I'm not really sure how to either. See you at school!

That sums up today. I hope you all like my new segment, because I sure do. Speaking of comments, I'll probably be commenting more on other people's blogs, if that's OK. My New Year's Resolution was to be more social, and I figure I'd better start living up to that (although I am doing that more already.).

See you all in my comments (hopefully),
AB

Post the Fiftieth

Celebrate good times, come on! That's right, it's post number 50! If it wasn't the 50th, the post would probably have been something like 'Rants and Revelations.' But it is. I'm blogging early, first because I'm going to be writing a lot, and second because I have hapkido today, and that's going to start around 8-ish. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. OK, so today is going to be split into 2 parts, the day itself, and the celebration.

I got up, did everything, and watched 'Rove,' which is what I do every Monday, as we tape it from Sunday. When I got to school, not many people were there. I later found out there was this big IPT thing. Luckily I do Commerce. Part of my watch also broke (a strap-holder, nothing important), Period 1 was English, with Arnault again, which was doing a brief amount of work on a story which was utterly pointless. Eh. Period 2 was Maths, which was doing work on something like completing the square to solve quadratic equations (and yes, I am reading from the textbook). It was just that type of work that made you want to hit your head with a large wooden plank until you lose consciousness (possibly while chanting 'Pie Jesu Domine, Dona Eis Requiem.' Please tell me someone has seen 'Holy Grail.'). Recess involved playing handball with Eric, John, Shafi and Andy. With Eric, as usual, kicking everybody's ass. Period 3 was Drama, which was watching more Drama assessments. We get our marks back on Wednesday. *sigh* Of course. When everyone finished, I put my iPod in and started listening to Queen (which, almost inevitably, I started singing along to. Hopefully nobody noticed. Well, nobody was clutching their ears and shrieking.). Next was Commerce, which was mindless, repetitive tasks. Of course. Lunch was spent playing a brief amount of handball, as well as talking to Patrick, Justin, Hunaiza (I hope I spelt that right) and Rhoda, since most of the group was doing IPT. The last two periods were PE, although before we started, I said hello to Mrs. Young who was walking past, who replied 'Hi Ben.' *hits head* Maybe I should just change my name legally to Ben, that would save a lot of time. We played netball (not ballroom dancing as I heard was going to happen.). I actually did pretty well, surprising everyone, not least myself. I guess I just have l33t n3tb4ll 5k1ll5 (note to self: never do that again.). After it finished, but before the bell went, I was talking to Rhys about my 50th blog post, and Tiana overheard, and responded with a 'We read your blog at camp!' What? Long story short, there was a Year 7 camp about 2 weeks ago, and the Year 10 'Creating Connections' people were there, and the girls found my blog apparently. Those girls are included, but not limited to: Tiana, Ebony, Corinne and Lauren. Which widens my search for AC from about 10 to god knows who many. But, the upside is that I got another commenter on my blog, Ebony, which I hope keep commenting as I love hearing what people think of my blog (Tiana says it was funny. Just saying.). So I got home, after the train was delayed, but not enough so I missed my bus (I almost mistyped 'missed my bus' as 'kissed my bus.' I had to say that, that was hilarious.). And here I am. I'm also starting hapkido today, which is a Korean martial art and which I am bragging about to everybody (that means you, whoever is reading this.). I also got my New Scientist, and on the front cover it says 'Quantum Fractals.' I held the mag to my chest and said 'Two of my favourite words!' Yes, I am a nerd, and yes, I love it.

Now I start celebrating. It's been a long 50 posts: Over 31,000 words typed in only 7 weeks. My number of readers has skyrocketed, from 1 or 2 in the first few weeks to I'm not sure how many (see Creating Connections thing a few lines up). Comments have also gone up too, with about 2 in the first month to 9 in the last 3 days. Now I'll talk about my readers. Well, a few in particular.
* Victor: First commenter, and one of the first readers. I know that you don't like blogging (you have had two blogs, both deleted, so far.), but thanks for reading.
* John: You actually have a blog (which is awesome, by the way), and you also read my blog a lot. You and Victor (and now maybe Shafi) are the only people in our group who actually read my blog frequently, and I thank you for it.
* My Dad: Didn't expect that? Well, Dad, thanks for reading, it's nice to know my blog is useful, considering you work in Canberra, and you don't usually know about my day in that much detail.
* AC: Whoever you are, you add a bit of mystery into my blog, and that's awesome. My theory is that you are me from a parallel universe (eg: you like Queen, you correct my grammar, and you end your comments like me.).
* Indra, from this blog: I happy to have you read my blog too, and I happy with you too. Thank you for one-time visiting my blog. I will look you up if I ever go to Palembang, Indonesian Countries. (When Babelfish Fails.)
* And to all my newest readers (or, new as in that I just heard about today): I hope you enjoyed my blog. I sure do.

Well, I'm going to sum up now. To everyone, thanks for reading, and please comment, if only to see how many I get (lol).

I can't wait for the next 50,
AB

Cricket and the Case of the Curious Commenter

Apart from the alliteration in the title (of which I seem to do a lot now), today was, in fact, all about a cricket match and a quest for the identity of AC.

I woke up at 5:30 today, a bit like yesterday, and when I realised it was 5:30, I promptly went straight back to sleep. I was woken up at 7:30, as my Dad had to go off to cricket, for his final, and we were scheduled to be there. I first went on my laptop and talked to Victor on trying to work out who AC is. We're still pretty much stumped. But we trawled through comments (a bit like yesterday, but more in detail), to see if we can find anything. We have a few ideas, but not many. Anyway. At around 10:30, we went down to my Dad's cricket game, with me bringing my iPod, 'Twilight,' and 'City of Glass.' Once I finished Twilight, I put my iPod in, and I put on my favourite songs and bands: Queen, 'White Noise,' 'Electric Feel,' the usual. I also played Solitaire on my iPod for a while, and I was on a really good winning streak. Still am, come to think of it. I also got through about halfway of 'City of Glass,' and I can't wait to finish it. That went until around 3, when my Dad got out and it was time to go. He was in for several hours, and that means he's a much better batsman than me. Of course, that's not saying much. Anyway. As I was leaving, I did that peace sign (where I tapped my chest twice with my fist, and do the peace sign.). That is becoming almost habit now. It's still awesome though. When I got home, I did the usual, went on MSN, surfed the net, and now I'm on Skype with John and Victor. We're also discussing who AC is. I have one or two hunches, but again, nothing nearing 100%. However, I really like how I'm finally getting comments, and the fact it's anonymous really is awesome. I sort of want to know, but, as I've said, I sort of don't.

Well, that was short. How about more random lists? Things I like, but shouldn't:
* Funny insults about me. For example, a few days back, Michael (Shay's dad) was talking about how much I listen to Queen, and he said 'Too much Mercury will kill you.' As in Freddie Mercury. That was funny. I probably shouldn't laugh, because it's a joke at my expense, but as I've said before, if you can't laugh at yourself, you can't laugh at anyone.
* Singing to myself. I love it, because I love music, but I shouldn't, because my singing isn't that great (read: horrifyingly bad). But, still, I do it, simply because I can't help myself.

Things I love doing, but people look at me weird about:
* Philosophising. Sometimes I get really deep unintentionally, and at that point I find it best to put on some music and stop thinking, because when I hate overthinking. Luckily, there are some other people who think like I do, like Victor, and John, whose blog is all about that type of thing. Which I think is awesome.
* Writing down the Periodic Table from memory. Which I love doing, but people just look at like I'm some sort of robot. Which sucks, because then people ask me about everything in Science.

Well, I'm going to end today's blog, because my brain is beginning to stop working. After 9:00, thinking is barely allowed. As usual, I welcome any comments, particularly those of AC, because I wouldn't want to lose my only regular commenter. Tomorrow's my 50th post (I know I said Tuesday. Mental malfunction. Hmm... nice ring to it.), and it is going to be great.

Can't wait for Monday (wow, that sounded odd),
AB

A Saturday Stay at Shay's

That's right, I'm at Shay's posting this again, as it seems every Saturday bar one this month has been spent with Shaylee in some form or another, whether at her house or at Star City. Let's see what happened today, as well as a brief speculation on the identity of the anonymous commenter from yesterday's post.

I woke up at 6:30, then went back to sleep after realising it was 6:30. I woke up again at 7:30, to the sound of my brother asking me where the sequel to Eragon is, after I introduced it to him yesterday. He left for AFL, and I got up for breakfast. Jo dropped Shay and Lachlan off at around 9:30, and we left for my brother's game about 20 minutes later. When we got there, we went down to see my brother goal-umpiring (which was pretty funny), and then went up to the ground manager's desk. Then after a bit, it was a time for my brother's game, and we (Shay and I) had to go do the goal-umpiring. I did the flags, and Shay recorded the score. We did OK, except in the second quarter when our team was kicking the other way and we had to rely on the other goal umpire to accurately keep score. Only problem was, the other goal umpire didn't seem to understand the concept of waving flags, so we had some difficulties. The last half didn't count, as the Tigers (my brother's team) smashed the other team, so the mercy-rule was inflicted at half-time, so score wasn't kept. At that point we just listened to my iPod (surprisingly, the song stuck in my head is not by Queen. It's 'Electric Feel') and so forth. After the game, we packed up and I read more of 'Twilight.' Then we went to Westfields, where we spent about 2 hours shopping for books, since we had vouchers from a very, very late Christmas present. I went to Angus and Robertson, where I spent at least an hour looking for a book. Unfortunately, in Angus and Robertson, they don't seem to know who Douglas Adams is, or Alexandre Dumas, and science books are unknown. I tried to order 'The Three Musketeers,' but even the supplier was all out. That's just ridiculous. We then made a stop off at Dymocks, where they have science books but everything that was expensive was good, and the reverse. They also didn't have 'The Three Musketeers,' but they could order it, so I asked them to. When we got home around 3, I went on my laptop, and got ready to go to Shay's. There, we did what we always do at Shay's: watch TV and go on our computers while EJ and Lachlan do something. Right now they're playing volleyball with a balloon and an imaginary net. For some reason. BANG! And now it's ended. Wait, they found another one. And now they're playing in the dark. Anyway, here I am, blogging. I'm also borrowing 'City of Glass' from Shaylee; I can't wait to start it.

Now my speculation on the anonymous commenter from yesterday, who for the sake of argument I'll call AC (ie Anonymous Commenter). They seem friendly, and I'll go through a few facts and deductions (and this is going to sound Sherlock Holmes-y, so forgive me here.) to see if I can guess who they are. With any luck.
* From comments: From Tuesday's blog, I can guess that AC is in Hurlstone Year 10, and from Friday, I can guess that they know something about girls, possibly a blogger or reader of a few, and that they want/need to hide their identity. So that narrows things down a bit. I could be very wrong though.
* Other: They found my blog. So that means that they either just came across it randomly (unlikely), found it through other blogs (possible, and interesting to boot), or most likely through my MSN account, where my personal message is my blog link.
This is very interesting, and I have a few guesses as to who, although each person only fits a few facts. I suppose if I find out who it is, it'll all come together like the ending of 'King Dork' (haven't read it? You should have.) and it'll be very obvious, but for the life of me I just can't seem to figure out who AC is at the moment. However, I partly don't want to find out who it is, simply because the suspense is fun! It's all up to AC at the moment, whoever he or she is, although if I were them I wouldn't, simply because I'd be having the time of my life!

I guess I'm gonna end today's post now, after a fun day of goal-umpiring, reading, blogging, and
trying to deduce who AC is. Hmm.

Still pondering,
AB

A Very Merry Arbitrary Day

After a while trying to think of a title, I came up with this. I love this title. I would give you a rundown of rejected titles, but there were none. Today is also going to be my rant, so let's see what happened.

Period 1 was Maths, which was doing basically no work at all. I love Fridays. Ditto for Drama, which was watching people doing their Drama assessments. After watching a few, I felt less good about mine, especially with Amy's, Rutherford's and Mei-Wei's, to name a few. Even Oscar's was awesome. Then we had Assembly, in which we got to the pool lawn, as Year 12s were using the Hall. We tried to sing the school song, but with no music everyone was singing it at different times, so it wasn't great. Then a new teacher (I think his name is Wenban. Or Winban. Or something.) spoke for 5 minutes inaudibly. Then someone spoke about interact, inaudibly. (There are no microphones here on the pool lawn.). Next we sang the national anthem, with the same problems as the school song. For a selective school, they aren't too bright. Recess was, as always, playing 13, with Victor, John, Andy, Kevin and me. We introduced 2 rules, one of which was scrapped for Lunch, and one of which is here to stay. They are, first, the machine-gun rule, in which one of the bombs is an Ace, King, 4 and 7; or an AK-47. We only played one game with that before the bell went, and in that game Kevin got all of the 7s. The second rule is the flip rule, in which the last card dealt to everybody is flipped face-up. We usually say that that card describes your hand, so it was really funny to see Andy cry out when faced with a 3 of Spades, and frustrating when John got the 2 of Hearts. Then, after all that, it was Commerce, in which we got an assessment task (just when you think they're out, they pull you right back in), and I was called out by Hackett to tell me I'm in something called the Mathematics Enrichment Program, of which I'm a little hazy on the details, but of which I am sure of two things: Only 4 people in Year 10 were invited (me, Mango, Zul and Lana), and it's probably going to be on a Monday. Which is an impossibility for me, as I have to catch the bus home, and I start hapkido next Monday (it's a Korean martial art. I'm really looking forward to it.). I'll have to see what I can do about that. Period 4 was Science, in which I discovered that Robson was leaving (just as Yates before him. Why are all the good teachers leaving?). Bugger.

Lunch was, again, 13, with Eric included too, and Ian here to watch. Ah, cards. What would I do without you? Period 5 was English, which was Hancock reading from a short story (of which I remember little except that it could have been written much better). Finally, it was History, which involved watching a video, and confirming forms saying that, yes, that is my name, and yes, I was in fact born then. As well as getting a research task. It just never ends. But, it's due after the holidays, so that was a load off after a brief panic. I got home (and my New Scientist wasn't there), and watched TV, went on MSN, the usual. And again, here I am, blogging and watching the footy, Geelong v. Hawthorn in the Grand Final rematch. And it seems the game is panning out just like the Grand Final: Geelong leading in the first quarter, but not making the most of it, and Hawthorn coming back in the second quarter seemingly easily. Hmm.

Now my brief rant, again put in the form of a list, as it's a lot easier to write (and think) in the form of lists. More things that annoy me:
* Little kids. I mean, sometimes I'm happy to play Tip or whatever with them, but when I'm trying to get some peace, it's very annoying.
* Made-up compound words that mean exactly the same as their components. Two examples are 'guesstimate' and 'chillax.' Use guess, use estimate. Pick one. Not both.
* People ridiculing the books I read, or even the fact I read. 'Twilight' is awesome and there is no way I'm changing my mind on that.
* When I type my posts, and it screws up on me. Like, when it starts on Overtype mode, or when I press Enter and it skips two lines.

Things that I would like to know:
* The lyrics to every Queen song on 'Greatest Hits I.' I can sing a fair bit of most of them, and almost all of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Bicycle Race,' which was coincidentally the song stuck in my head today.
* The identities of my anonymous commenters. These comments can be found here, here, here, here and here. Some are obvious. Some are not.
* If a girl likes someone. However, I shall resign myself to the fact that there is no way to know how a girl works. I'd still like to know though.

Things I would like other people to know:
* 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail.' Cameron has apparently never seen the movie. I stared at him (or the closest you can come over MSN), like there was something severely wrong with him. If you've never seen it, there's something wrong with you.
* My blog. Because, while I don't blog for other people, I would still like people to see my blog. Show them that I'm not just that kid who reads all the time.
* That I do not know everything. Believe me, I am not the source of all knowledge. Don't come to me with a Science question that your textbook can answer. I am not a textbook.
* Queen. I have been saying this for a long time (in fact, thanks to my blog, I can count it back: I first mentioned Queen on the 15th of February.), but I stick by it: Queen is one of the greatest bands of all time.

Well, I'm gonna wrap this post up. Today was a very fun day, and I wanted to do a rant for a while, I just didn't have the time. On Tuesday, if I continue my unspoken vow of at least one post a day (which is not so unspoken any more), it will be my 50th post. I can't wait. That will be a blog of dedication and remembrance.

I Heart Random Rants,
AB

Relief and Randomness

Relief because we didn't do any assessments (Shock! Horror!), and randomness because, well, today was a random day. So on to Thursday...

I got driven to school by Jo again, and we talked about my blog, specifically, this post, as she wanted to see what I wrote about that fateful jet boat ride. She told me that she was in stitches laughing. That made me feel good. Period 1 was Science, in which we did an experiment, with acid and fire. Although, in Science that's sort of a given. After that was Maths, in which I played around on Graphmatica, and finished the book I was reading. So I moved on to the other book in my bag, 'Twilight.' Yes, I've already read it, but it's a great book. Only problem is, after watching the movie, I can't help but imagine the book (as it's written from Bella's perspective, obviously) in Kristen Stewart's voice (actor who played Bella). In Recess, boarders (specifically, Olivia Linke and a few friends) teamed up to stop Cam from kicking me out of the band for reasons that I will not attempt to understand. Sometimes I just don't know if people are taking the piss out of me. But, either way, it's funny. Periods 3 and 4 were spent in Ag. Period 3 was me on my iPod (coincidentally, there is no song stuck in my head, so much as lyrics. Those lyrics are 'Wernher von Braun' by Tom Lehrer. Link. He also wrote the Elements Song, which I have of course, memorised.) Period 4 was me vaccinating a cow. Which went OK. Of course, in an Ag lesson, something had to go wrong. And the only one in months I actually took initiative in, my right ring finger got caught between a cow and a pole. Then the cow, freaking out, charged. The pain shot through my finger, as blood started flowing and skin and cuticle came off. This is another of those times that just make you look up and say 'This is why I am an atheist.' Lunch, as always, was playing that most enjoyable of card games, 13. I lost with startling regularity, which I put down to not sitting where I usually do. The highlight of that lunch was me playing 3 triples, or something like that, and Eric claiming 'You cheater!' To which I replied, 'You dealt!' That was funny. Another thing was even more random. In our group we call each other 'aftsholes,' which came about when Andy mispronouned 'ass.' Now we have a new one: Victor almost mispronounced 'technical' as 'testicle' (I'm smiling just thinking about it), so, of course, we replace technical now with testicle, which both makes speech a lot funnier and makes people look at you just that little bit weirder. Which makes it all the more humorous.

Period 5 was English, in which we got our English marks back. I got 14 out of 20, and considering the high was 17 in our class, I think I did pretty well. But the most surprising was that Rhys got the best in the class, even beating Lana. And no, I'm not kidding. He shouted out '17!' in class, and I thought he was kidding. We also did some short story work. I had a really good idea, and I might even write the whole thing. Later. (Serial procrastinator). Period 6 was History, which was a bludge, as Tan lost his rubber ball as Alan somehow knocked it out of the classroom, down a flight of stairs, and into oblivion. When I got home, I went on my laptop, finished off my Scratch project (the Coastline Generator. I'll upload it when the Scratch website goes back on. I don't know what's wrong with it.), and surfed the net, as well as going on MSN. The new Megatokyo comic is up, as well. While watching TV after dinner, I noticed a moment of stupidity. I was watching the Biggest Loser, and somebody was switching teams. But in the ad before they told you who, there was a commercial for the Sunday Biggest Loser, in which they showed you exactly who swapped. Goodbye suspense. And right now, I'm watching the Carlton-Richmond game, AFL of course. Surprised you? I love the Carlton Blues.

And that was a Thursday of relief and randomness, except for when that cow charged me (in a way). But, all in all, I loved today. I'll end with a quote from Holy Grail, because, as I've said before, they are awesome.

She turned me into a newt (I got better),
AB

A Weird and Whimsical Wednesday

I know it's a strange title. But today was a really fun day. Today may have been the day of the Drama assessment, but I tell you what: I've never had more fun doing a project. I'll tell you all about it, and just how fun today was.

Period 1 was Drama, and I was ninth out of the eleven people who were scheduled today. A brief rundown, first, of everyone in order:
* Tansy's: Funny, and very good. Strange too, but in a good way.
* Allie's: She talked about smells, for some reason, but it worked really well, I think.
* Ebony's: Very weird, but again, in a good way. I think she summed up the whole thing, in that it was an eyeopener for everybody.
* Vivian's: Funny. It was full of anecdotes, and I like anecdotes.
* Tri's: A bit like mine, in that it did a day in the life of him.
* Cameron's: Of course, he ended up playing his guitar. But it was pretty good, and very realistic.
* Amanda's: It seemed pretty good. It was fun.
* Alice's: Hers was a bit unorthodox, but I liked it. One of those ones with that je ne sais quoi.
* Mine: I'll get to that in a minute.
* Rosa's: Hers was really good. Funny too, another one with anecdotes.
* Lana's: She did hers with an amnesia thing. It was pretty well-performed (she made me feel less of a nerd. It was a weird feeling.)
Now, to mine. I did mine as a day in the life of 3 ABs: A Bookworm, A Blogger and A Beatkeeper, which dealt with, in order: Reading, Computer and Music. I think I did pretty well, but that's just me. I brought speech cards, but I didn't use them that much, except to keep to a basic plot. I impromtu'd (OK, stop using made-up words.) a good portion of it. Maybe that was what was fun about it: you could just do anything and it adds to the performance, as well as letting people see that I'm not just that kid who reads all the time. I like it.

Period 2 was Maths, which was doing a brief amount of work. No real thought required, just writing and using a calculator. Recess was spent just talking, and playing 13. Period 3 was PE, which wasn't doing work so much as talking about traffic experiences Mr. Wilson has had, and talking about a sheet we got given. That was pretty bludgy, so that was fun. For Lunch, we (Andy, Eric, Kevin, Victor and me) played 13 again, until the bell rang, though Eric had to go, since he does Tennis. I think I only won one game, but it was a good one. I had 3 to Queen, a 6, a 10, and a 2. I held up until the round was mine, after playing a 6, and then a 2 to win the round. Then I played my trump cards, 3 to Queen, then ended with a 10. That was fun. For sport, we did soccer (with limited success, ie, I sucked), and then hockey (I did basically nothing). I also found out that Victor watched 'Monty Python,' so we started quoting 'Holy Grail' like crazy. (If you haven't seen it, there's something wrong with you.) Then when the bell went, I went up to the library for a while, read a bit (but didn't borrow), then went down to the station. I had a talk with Dana (a Year 11 girl on my station. She's fun to talk to.), and then I caught the bus home. Nibraas and Sakib were in the seat behind me, when I heard 'Get your back up off the wall...' I groaned. Those were the first lines to the remix of 'We Break the Dawn' featuring Flo Rida, which was the song first used in our dance yesterday. Nibraas was at that dance. He also said yesterday (which I mentioned in the last post) that he recorded my dance on his phone. I turned around, and asked to have a look at it. He asked if he could put it on Youtube. It would be funny if my dancing was any better. Although, having a look at the dance, I don't think I did so bad, although I don't play a good drunk. Anyway. When I got home, I went on my laptop, since I didn't go on this morning, since I was preparing for the Drama assessment. So I went on MSN, surfed the net, had dinner, watched TV, and now here I am blogging.

And that was today. I really liked today: it was fun, and I discovered that someone in the group likes Monty Python, and the reason I chose Drama: because it's fun and it gives me a chance to express my creative side a bit more openly. I also feel like doing a list/rant in the next few days, so keep reading. I'll end with a quote from 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail,' because I wanted to end with a random i.e. awesome line, as that's just how my day went, random i.e. awesome.

If she weighed the same as a duck... she's made of wood. And therefore... A witch!
AB

That Dreaded Day

Yes, the day has come. Weeks of work have culminated in 3 periods of assessments. Lunchtimes, recesses, after-school times, weekends, all building up to now. Tuesday torture: Let us see how today went.

I woke up early to study for the Geography assessment. After a while looking for the pants to wear for the dance assessment (and finding them), it was time to set off for school. I got changed into long black pants and a black shirt, and sneakers. Oishi brought a leather jacket, so I wore that too. They wanted me to look gangster. Unfortunately the PE staff now have video evidence of me dressed like that, without my glasses on. Apparently I looked completely different. I would assume so. But, enough of the clothing I was wearing. I had to dance in front of two Year 10 classes, one Year 7 class and one Year 9 class. And Nibraas and Sakib were in that Year 9 class. And Nibraas taped me dancing as well. All in a day's work. I was fourth to dance, with Oishi and Nancy. I think I did OK. I hope. They cut off the last 15 seconds of our song. But, in that part I wasn't supposed to move. So that's a load off. I was told I did pretty well. I hope I did. Recess was spent talking, then it was the Geography assessment. 40 minutes. 3 and a half pages. What I wrote and how long I wrote it in. Like all Geography exams, it was pretty straight-forward, but a lot of writing. I think I did pretty well. But, that's me. Next was Maths, in which we went down to the hall to watch other people dance, and see our dances from the camera. I saw the first 10 seconds of ours. Didn't look like me.

Lunch was spent playing 13 with John, Andy, Kevin and me. Then Eric joined in. Then Johnny (not John V). I did pretty well in that: I didn't get knocked out the whole of the rounds. I love luck like that. Period 5 was Drama, which was spent talking to Cameron and going on my iPod. Period 6 was Commerce, in which the first 20 minutes we didn't do anything, and the last 30 was spent on the computers doing basically nothing. I got picked up from the station, and when I got home, I went on my laptop and worked on my Drama assessment for tomorrow. It still goes. Thursday seems like a pretty good day, as the exams will be over. I finally finished. Drama's a tricky one, but hopefully I'll get through it pretty good. The rest of the day was spent on my laptop. The song stuck in my head today, before the post ends, is 'Somebody to Love,' by Queen, in particular the part that starts at 2:59 (yes, I checked it), that repeats 'Find me somebody to love' and ends with 'Somebody find me somebody to love!' That is the best part of the song.

Such endeth that dreaded day. Tomorrow, more assessments, then nothing. I'll be thankful for Thursday, because I don't want to do the Drama assessment. Ah well. Guess I have to.

Hope your day was less stressful than mine,
AB

T Minus 12 Hours For Panic

School starts in something like 12 hours. Panic will begin then, with the PE assessment. Period 3 is Geography (it's been rescheduled). This will continue until Wednesday, when the Drama assessment is. Then, on Thursday, I will be free. (Quoting Queen: Some day I'm gonna be free, Lord!). Now to my day. I've already picked out a title for tomorrow and maybe Wednesday.

Jo drove me to school again. I give Shafi the book I promised him on Friday (better late than never), then going to the library and attempting to print out a sheet for dance. The computer didn't start up in time, and the bell rang. My iPod wasn't on, but my inner iPod was, with the song stuck in my head today being 'If U Seek Amy.' Specifically, the chorus. It's playing in my head now. Period 1 was Ag, which just involved writing stuff in my book, the usual. (A brief side note: the appalling grammar of Schippers. I can barely stand it. Sometimes I can't even understand what he's saying. Maybe that's just me though.) Geography I spent helping Rhys out with his Research Action Plan. Not doing it for him, mind you. But he needed tips, so I helped him out. Once he got the hang of it, he did really well. Recess was spent trying to print out that sheet. But again, it failed, when the school's email service didn't open. Grr. Period 3 was Maths, with Rawson giving us some work on elimination in algebra, which is like getting an ice pick and repeatedly hitting yourself in the head with it. That might seem like a crude analogy, but I made that up on the spot, and damnit, I'm going to keep it (I think that's how Trotsky died). Next was Science, which was thankfully in Room 11, a computer lab, with Pitt, where I was able to print out the sheet. All that time for nothing. Bugger.

Lunch was spent doing last-minute practice for dance, first in Room 13, then 6, interspersed (note to self: stop using long words. Who am I kidding, I can't stop using long words.) with a trip to the English staffroom where I found out that I do the Drama thing on Wednesday, as opposed to Thursday through to Monday. Fantastic. Period 5 was Commerce, in which we did bugger all work (thank god), and Kearney was added to my list of teachers that won't let me read in class. So far the list reads:
* Mr. Wilson, senior
* Mr. Rawson
* Mr. Faulds
* Mr. Kearney
And that's just this year. English was spent copying down a brief amount of work, and also helping Hewie out with his Research Action Plan. He just needed some pointers: if there's one thing I'm against, it's doing other people's work for them. Helping, yes, but not doing it. We also got a class assessment of the English assessment, if that makes sense. Apparently noone got over 16 out of 20. Oh, boy. I don't look forward to getting my mark. I got to the station, same old, and wait for the bus to come. And waited. And waited. Until 3:30. Apparently the bus was cancelled. Great if they told us that. At home, I fixed up the remainder of my Research Action Plan, and set to work on my Drama project. I finished it after a few hours of work, on and off. I had to mow some of the lawn, get dinner, the usual. And here I am, finally finished the Drama thing (though it needs some rehearsal), and as ready as I'll ever be for the assessments tomorrow. My forecast: Dance is going to be annoying, but I've got a good feeling about it. Whether that will be right remains to be seen. And the Geography assessment is going to be fairly straight-forward, but a lot of writing. That's what they usually are. And Drama on Wednesday is going to be OK, but not as easy as it sounds.

Such was the last day before all hell breaks loose tomorrow. This, in a few words, is not going to be good. But, I suppose, I'll go in there with a bit of confidence, and hope I don't stuff up, and hopefully I'll be fine.

Wish me luck (we'll all need it),
AB

Water, Water Everywhere

In contrast with previous posts, I'm not going to give much of a quick recap in the opening paragraph. It works much better if you find out when I found out. All I leave you with is the title, and a rejected one: 'I Hate the Revolutions.' And, no, that's not a spelling error. I'll explain it when I get to it.

I woke up at 7:30, and got out of bed. I grabbed my book, and I started to read. My neck is still sore from yesterday. Then at around 8:30, Shay, Jo and Lachlan came to our apartment, and got me and my brother so we could go to the pool. We spent some time in there, and then we got back to the apartment to get dressed to go to breakfast. We took a lift down, and we went to this cafe. I got a ham and cheese croissant (delicious), and then they sprung their surprise. The jet boat ride... was today.

A quick side note: For Christmas, Shay got me a ride on a jet boat (link). Smartass. What it is is basically a ride in a boat for half an hour, in which they go incredibly quickly, and do 360 degree turns (revolutions. There's the rejected title for you.)

The colour drained out of my face. I didn't speak. I couldn't. Today? In retrospect I should have seen this coming. Sydney, Darling Harbour, with Shay. But I didn't. My mistake. Then we went back to the apartment. I was already feeling sick. This was not good. I tried to ignore it, but try as I might, I still couldn't get it out of the back of my head. As we travelled down the lift, Shay and Michael sang me this quick song to allay my fears:
AB went to sea, sea, sea
To see what he could see, see, see
But all that he could see, see, see
Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea!
Oh yeah. Much better. As we drew closer, I made several half-hearted attempts to get out of it. But it was to no use. We found out that it was at 12. So I struggled until then. But, the time was nigh. I got into the boat, and tried to get into a good frame of mind. Jo said 'You'll go out into the harbour, come back and say 'Was that it?'' So I figured I'd try that. Then they started speeding up. I grabbed onto the velcro straps holding me in place for dear life. And not a moment too soon. One big 360 degree spin at 75 km/hour. That, it can be said, was not fun. Shay put my glasses in my pocket, and I closed my eyes. Tightly. Grabbing on the straps like they were my only lifeline. Which, in a sense, they were. More turns, faster and faster. I was coming close to hyperventilating (and I may have. I'm not sure. I was breathing very fast.). I closed my eyes tighter as the spins got more and more frequent. I didn't vomit, oh no. I didn't think that's possible. I was beyond that. All the while getting drenched as sea spray flew over the sides. Fear rocked me. I may be allergic to adrenaline. At last, thankfully, finally, it was over. 30 minutes of pure horror, with screaming thrown in. When I opened my eyes and let go of the straps after the boat stopped, I looked at my hands, only to see there was velcro stuck there from where I clung on. I was shaking. I was cold and wet. Not something I'd try again. After that, we walked up to the hotel, to pick up our bags and leave. I was still holding my sides, from sheer cold, though as I got o the hotel, I could start playing Solitaire on my iPod again. We got home, and I grabbed some lunch.

At 3:30, we had to go this place called Club Italia for my Dad's AFL meeting. I brought my laptop, and spent the time reading, listening, and going on MSN, as well as doing the dance essay thing. Thank god I don't have to do that a second time (the same could be said about the boat). For dinner, I had chicken and chips, as that's what all the other kids were given. Not my choice. Wasn't big enough for a mouse. So I also had spaghetti and garlic bread. We got home at around 8, and I watched TV, and went on my laptop.

And that was today. A long day, with water from the jet boat, and swimming too. Tomorrow is Monday, and I'm half-looking forward to it. At least there isn't any jet boats.

Never again shall I do that,
AB

Saturday at Star City

Specifically, the Star City hotel in Sydney. If you're wondering why, it's my friend Shay's mum Jo's birthday, and we're celebrating by having a stay in the Star City hotel. With that in mind, let's see about my day.

I woke up at 7:45, and had breakfast. Unfortunately, after my Dad left for AFL with my brother, I had to mow the lawn. In the rain. However, after 15 minutes of attempting to start the mower, it eventually failed, so I didn't have to do it. All's well that ends well, I suppose. However, I had to pack the dishwasher and do homework. But, it's better than mowing the lawn, I suppose. I also finished a Scratch project I’ve been working on that generates coastlines. I know, I get bored. But it took a while and I’m really pleased with the end result. I’ll upload it once I’ve fine-tuned it. After a while, my Dad and my brother got home, and it was time to go to Star City.

First we drove to the hotel, and we got valet parking. My Mum started drooling over a Ferrari, so my Dad got a picture taken. We got a lift up to our apartment, and so we had a look around. Ours are on the 9th floor, and Shay's family is on the 10th floor. They look exactly the same, except for the pictures on the wall. On ours, they're Picasso-y, abstract paintings (I hate those), and theirs are good paintings that actually look like something. We went down to Darling Harbour and got an ice-cream (I got a strawberry one in a waffle and Belgian chocolate cone. *drools*), and checked out the restaurant where we ate tonight (the obviously named Meat and Wine Cafe.). After that, we went back to the hotel, and went to swim in the pool. We (me, EJ, Shay and Lachlan) played Marco Polo and played double-decker fighting (where someone gets on someone else's shoulders). Then we got changed, and went up to Shay's apartment. I went on my laptop (we have internet access), and I read. Then after a while it was time for dinner. We went down to the Meat and Wine Cafe, and I had this delicious Hawaiian Burger. Pineapple, cheese, bacon, beef, lettuce, all on one bun with chips and onion rings on the side, with a big glass of Lift thrown in as well. It was delicious. Sadly, I could not eat it all. If only. Once that was finished, we got bored for a bit, then discovered there was paper on the table. I got a pencil out of my pocket (why I had one in there is a very good question), and so we started drawing on the table. That was more fun than it actually seems. We drew sketches, wrote stuff, etc. We also had fun with electric candles. They actually didn’t have candles, just electric lights. That was cool, because we spent ages playing with them without getting burnt. That was also really fun. Then we walked back to the hotel, with the parents singing Elton John and Michael Jackson all the way. Yes, they had had a few drinks. We got back to the apartment, changed into our pyjamas (that is a weird word. Seriously, it starts with p-y-j. OK, that was random.), and settled down while the parents went to the casino. We put on a movie, which was ‘Don’t Mess With The Zohan’ (I love that movie), and I went on my computer. And here I am. I’m actually blogging this on a Word document, because Blogger is messing up on me. No other websites though. Hmm.

OK, if I may be permitted a quick side note: No longer am I going to be blogging this late again, with any luck. Twice in a short period I’ve had to blog the following morning because I’ve been interrupted or I’ve left it until late. So now I’m going to try to do what I used to: Blog about the previous night the following morning. Moving on…

And that was today. A long day, but a very good one. Tomorrow look like it's gonna be a good day, before the big week and That Dreaded Day (it strikes again).

From up on the tenth floor of Star City Hotel,
AB

Finishing and Just Beginning

What that means is that things are seem to be finishing up, as well as other things that seem to be the tip of the iceberg. I'll explain how.

I got to school and Shafi was trying to get my book. Maybe when I'm finished. Period 1 was English, which was work that was a lot and so we had an excuse not to do much. I half-love work like that. It was work about poems, or something like that. Next was Maths, in which Faulds continued his campaign on calling me Ben. And it was intentional. Partly. We also did some algebra, and Mango got my textbook out of his locker (Why it was in his locker is a very good question.). [Everything after this point was done on Saturday. I'll try not to do this again. No promises though.] After Maths came Assembly, in which somebody from SHEAP (Save Hurlstone's Educational Agricultural Property) came along and talked about their efforts to save our school. It seemed very odd for a guest speaker to be talking about our school. Several jokes were also made, including 'Standing Order 52' (Execute Order 52. Star Wars III reference.), and how you had to get a note from the office to go to Sick Bay ('I'm having a heart attack!' 'Go to the office.'). Next was Recess, which was just talking, the usual. Period 3 was Drama, in which Cam and I spent the time attempting to write songs, with mixed success. We got some lines done, but nothing finished. Hmm. Next was Commerce, in which we had Mr Hunt since Kearney was still on camp. He gave us 3 questions (which took surprisingly long), and then I read the entire remainder of the period. Lunch, both halves, were finishing off our dance. It's supposed to be on an issue affecting people. I end up dying after drink-driving. Suits my dancing ability very well. Periods 5 and 6 were PE, and so Dance. Yes, again. We practised and practised, and I think we're going to do OK. I don't really think anyone's going to be amazing, but don't quote me.

Oh, That Dreaded Day, Tuesday the 24th, has had a rearrangement. It was originally this:
* Period 2: Geography Assessment, Glenfield Schools Program
Period 5: Drama Assessment, PE Assessment
Period 6: PE Assessment
And then after (unlikely) much deliberation, this was worked out:
* Period 1: PE Assessment
Period 2: PE Assessment, Geography Assessment
Wednesday: Drama Assessment.
So as you can see, PE was moved as well as Drama, even though only one would suffice, and PE has been rescheduled to now intersect with Geography. So really, you can see how noone talks to each other.

We spent the time in PE synchronising ourselves with the music, as well as working out some points to write up an essay on what we are doing and why we did it. It's supposed to be one page, so that's good. School finished, and I got picked up, went to the shops, got afternoon tea, etc. When we got home, I read a bit of my New Scientist (which actually came today [Friday]), and got on MSN. After dinner we packed to go to Shay's, since it was Jo's birthday. On the weekend we're going to the city, for 2 days of celebration, to just relax before That Dreaded Day (and yes, I'm using caps, and yes, that's the second time I've said that.). At Shay's we talked, went on my laptop, just hung out basically. Then it was time to go.

Such was Friday, a time of finishing and just beginning. An end to the week, our dance. A start to the weekend, and That Dreaded Day (3 times). I'll end with a summary of what I have to do:

May you have less work than me and more time to do it,
AB

A Trip to the Orthodontist

Before I go on, several titles were rejected as being some of the worst puns that have ever been told or will be. Please pay your (lack of) respects to 'Al-X-Ray' (Alex Ray, Al X-Ray) and AB X-Ray (something with letters). Now that that is out of the way, today I did 3 periods of what should have been work and one that was, in fact, work. Let's see how.

My Mum drove me to school because my brother was sitting the selective schools exam, at Hurlstone. If he makes it in, he could be the only blue-eyed and blonde-haired non-boarder (too many hyphens) in the whole of Hurlstone. Period 1 was Maths, which was watching Faulds muck around on Graphmatica (Geometer's Sketchpad > Graphmatica. Yes. I know I'm weird. And proud of it!) with squared and cubed numbers, and inequalities. On the plus side, there was no work. Period 2 should have been Drama, but instead we went outside and did 'Year 10 Peer Support-This-Should-Have-Been-Cancelled-Years-Ago.' They basically gave us a sheet of paper and said 'Go split up into 3 groups/groups of 3 (genius), and write about conflict!' Some of the questions (and some of what I would have written) were: 'What is the conflict?' (I don't know whether to rip this sheet of paper up or burn it), 'What are their (involved people) fears?' (The dark, spiders and flying, and 'What are their needs?' (This one writes itself.) Again, at least it got us out of work. Recess was talking, and we did some more dancing, as usual. Period 3 was Commerce. Kearney was away, so we had Gippel, who I will say is nice, but he's not cut out to teach Commerce (a bit like Arriola in that respect.). Next was Science, and since there was a Creating Connections excursion, as well as a Sports Science one, classes were practically empty. So they brought 10I in, including Eric, Kevin, Victor, May Lyn and Rayan. In class, we made a motor out of a transformer, one 50 cm length of copper wire, 2 alligator clips, 2 weights, 2 magnets and 2 paperclips. If you want to know how, it's probably on Youtube. Much fun was had when we set alight a tissue (it smelt like popcorn. For some reason.), and when sparks flew between paperclips and copper wire. Lunch, 1st half was spent playing 13, to more success than yesterday.

A short rant: I hate people calling me by my wrong name, or mispronouncing my last name. Let me set the record straight: My name is not Ben, despite Ejsak, Faulds, and numerous other teachers' claims (apparently there was a guy years ago who looked like me called Ben. So teachers' brains short-circuit. I pity anyone in a few years who looks like me. They'll be called Ben, then Alex. Won't that be confusing.). My name is not Ian (Shafi: I am tall and Caucasian. Ian is short and Asian. I don't know how you confuse us.). And my last name ends with an -ay sound. Not an -ee sound. I've had this problem since I can remember. Someone, somewhere, will eventually get it right. OK. Moving on.

Lunch, 2nd half was spent sitting in the office, reading and waiting for my Mum to go get my brother so I can go get my X-rays done. Once we were at the clinic, we waited for about 10 minutes, then I got called in. I took my glasses off, and was told to go stand with my head in this helmet/crane/umbrella thing (it's hard to explain). Unfortunately the doctor forgot to adjust it, so I walked head-first into it (see, no glasses). That X-ray took about 15 seconds. Then I went to stand in another thing, and that X-ray was seemingly over before it began (seriously. I stepped into it, and then she said it was over.). Then we went to Westfields, where my Mum got new sunglasses and I got a doughnut. At home, I spent the time looking for my Maths textbook (please tell me someone's seen it), doing my Research Action Plan for Tuesday (1 down, 3 to go), and watching TV. I also found 2 websites. FAIL Blog, documenting the retarded things of the world with the simple word 'Fail.' My favourite so far is this one, which simply says 'Why are there school?' That is just sheer genius/retardedness. The other site is a shirt-selling site called One Horse Shy for some arbitrary but intriguing reason. I'll make myself extremely clear: This line of shirts is tailor-made for me (That joke was either really good or really bad. I can't tell which.).

An interesting day, I'd say. X-rays, retarded Peer Support-y things and bludge, bludge, bludge. Friday, I'm guessing will be more work, but hopefully that's only because any less work and school will be cancelled for the day. (I can dream, can't I?) If tomorrow is anything like today, I hope it never ends (because on Tuesday everything's due. *sigh*).

I might need braces (just imagine what I'd look like with them. Lol.),
AB

Not a Total Catastrophe

Because today was, indeed, somewhat of a disaster, but not a total catastrophe. I will get to exactly how. Other possible titles included 'Rugby and Retards,' which involved me playing rugby and sucking as well as other retarded things I did; and '13: A Curse,' a play on words involving 13 being unlucky as well as the card game 13, and for which I scrapped an entire opening paragraph for.

I woke up early to do yesterday's blog today, and then spent some time surfing the net. I got to school, and the bell time was extended for some bizarre but appreciated quirk of fate (I realise: it may be impossible for me to talk without using words like bizarre and appreciated.). After Roll Call was Science, in which we did some work that seemed more like Maths: it was basically just messing around with the calculator. Next came, coincidentally, Maths, which didn't involve calculators so much as computers. Another day, another bludge. Recess was dancing again, in Room 6, which is coming along much better than I would have thought, but it still needs some work. Period 3 was Ag, in which we went down to the farm and watched some visting guy artificially inseminate a cow, which, yes, is as disgusting as it sounds. I spent the last 15 minutes playing Solitaire on my iPod, which plays a big part in things to come. Lunch was spent playing 13, and, for some bizarre (there it is again) reason, getting people to try and guess my name. People who I've never met even knew me as AB (people seem to do that. Basically anyone in my grade in my local area, and even people who went to school with my brother seem to know me. It gets really annoying.). In 13, I won a few games and lost most of them. Sport today was rugby (don't ask league or union, I don't know the difference), and in which I sucked. It was not a total catastophe in that after people started realising that it was not a good idea to give me a rugby ball (I'm surprised it took them as long as it did), I went and played defense, which in rugby basically means stand near the edge of the backline and tag people if they come close. One of the teachers made us run to get water. That is one of the most retarded things I've ever heard (although I do something stupider later). I was umpire for a brief (very brief) stage, in which the players told me what to say. Very successful. Once it was over (thank god), I did the usual: went to the station, read, waited for the train, got on my iPod, got on the bus, my brother gets on, etc.

But here something very retarded happened, which I shall call The Big Screw-Up (yes, capital letters): I look up on the bus, at around 3:45, from being distracted from playing Solitaire on my iPod (which shall not happen again): only to discover we've missed our stop and are about 30 seconds from going across a busy highway onto Westfields. After a brief panic, we get out at an arbitrary place and start crossing roads to get to our house. Words cannot express the feeling of retardedness I felt. It took a minute to screw up and 20 to get back to our house. You never realise how little people walk and how slow you do compared to cars until you are actually walking across roads. When we got to our street, the late bus was there. So it would have been a bit less of a hassle if I had just skipped the bus that came first and waited. *sigh*. After that, the day passed fairly smoothly: I checked webcomics, surfed the net, watched TV.

A thankful end to a weird and witless (OK, I just used an online thesaurus) Wednesday. Tomorrow I have 3 periods off: Period 2, which I think is some workshop, and I miss out on Periods 5 and 6 because I have to go to the orthodontist (they fit braces) to get some X-rays. This'll be fun (sarcasm alert). Hopefully Thursday will be smarterer (sic) and bludgier.

Hope you were smarter than me today (read: very easy),
AB

Cooking, Dance and Chocolate

I would come up with a more creative title, but it's 9:15 on Tuesday night. (Please note: everything written after this point was written on Wednesday. Like this post, just pretend it was written on Tuesday. I was at my friend's place. I wasn't on MSN either.) But, here it is. And, yes, today was all about cooking, dance and chocolate (as well as a few other things.).)

I took the bus to school, after celebrating my Mum's birthday, and Victor was back. Seemed OK. Hmm. Period 1 was Geography, in which we did little work (I love to bludge). Next should have been Science, but instead it was the Glenfield Schools Reading Program (or something like that). What it is, essentially, is that a group of people take a bus to the local public school, and get some kids from Kindy to Year 2 to read to us. I ended up getting a Year 1 class, and this little girl walked out with a book, and we sat on the silver seats. And she did not want to read, I'll say that. Just to get her to finish one page was one of the Labours of Hercules, and finishing the book was a nightmare. At one point, she wanted to skip a page, and I tried to tell her: 'No, you have to read the whole page.' So, she crossed her arms and said 'I'm going to get very cranky if you don't let me not read those lines.' I decided there and then that I'd never make it as a teacher. She read the book through another 15 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, and I got another girl, who was unlike the other girl in that she was quiet, but like her in that she didn't exactly read with enthusiasm. On one page, she read through the word 'caterpillar' with ease, but stopped at the word 'at.' This is one reason I am an atheist: if there was a just god, this wouldn't happen. Atlas moment. She finally finished it, and then I got a boy to read to me. That went surprisingly easily, and then it was time to go. Recess was over by the time we got back to Hurlstone. On the plus side, I'm not doing it next week. On the minus side (I know that's not an expression. It should be.), it's because I'm doing an exam. On the 24th of March. Of course.

Period 3 was Ag, where we went down to the farm and talked about pregnancies in cows. Next was PE, theory, in which we had Jones, and where after 15 minutes of work and 20 minutes of reading, Tan and I played 13 until the bell went. The 1st half of Lunch was spent finding a room to dance in, and the 2nd half was spent dancing. We're actually going better than I expected: it's all starting to come together. Something else that happened in Lunch: Cam sent Victor and Kevin to go get me because he was writing songs, or something like that. After about 15 minutes, I went over to the table, although after about a minute, Oishi came and said we found a room. Cam's expression was priceless. Period 5 was Maths, in which we did some stuff about absolute values. Then it was Drama, where Kolodziej opened the door, but Arnault teached us. Ah, the insanity of the world. That was a pretty fun period, even though we had theory. After school came some more dance, and we were doing fairly well, if I do say so myself. When that ended, we went home (my New Scientist magazine finally came), and got ready for a party/celebration for my Mum's birthday. One of the best things: we were having homemade lasagne (lasagna? I don't know.), homemade garlic bread, homemade cannaloni, basically an Italian feast. That was also one of the worst things: I was having a hand in making it. Shaylee, her dad Mick, and I were all making dinner. I learnt what cannaloni is (though I doubt if I know how to spell it), how to pronounce gnocchi (nocky), and that when I move out I'll be living on two-minute noodles, tacos and spaghetti (I'm making myself hungry now.). The dinner was actually pretty good, except the garlic bread was just way too... I don't know how to describe it except it was a horrible tang. Eurgh. After that we watched TV, computer and Shay gave me some rock CDs, including Green Day, Powderfinger and Pink Floyd. (Here's something for you: why do all those bands have retarded names? I mean, they sound cool, but just think about it: Powder-finger? Pink Floyd? What is a floyd and why is it pink?) For dessert, we had this delicious multi-layered chocolate cake, with white chocolate on top: One of the most delicious things I've ever had, it was. Then, it was time to go.

And that was my Tuesday. Sorry I wasn't on MSN. I brought my laptop, but I forgot to bring my charger, and my laptop's battery is pretty much on life support. I'll have to get a new one.

Still dreaming about that cake,
AB

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Monday

Another day, another pop culture reference. I'll just say go ahead and Wiki it if you're interested. Today's title basically refers to how today the world was crazy, insane, mad. But, that's not a bad thing. Basically like I say here, but more 'peace-out,' optimistic rather than cynical and pessimistic.

Jo drove me to school, about 30 seconds ahead of my train. Got to school, then Period 1. We had Science, and this was one very strange thing. We did an experiment, but instead of inside, we went out to the basketball court. We poured sulfuric acid on to sugar. Now that may seem relatively harmless, but apparently that experiment releases steam and sulfur dioxide, which according to the internet (according to spellcheck, 'internet' is not a word. WT7?) is toxic and one of the primary components of acid rain (sort of. Technically it's sulfuric acid, which is made up of oxygen and sulfur dioxide. Wikipedia.), so no inside. I found a demonstration on the net. Have a look at the link, that's essentially what happened. Several double entendres were made during that lesson, most by Mr. Robson unintentionally. The link should pretty much explain how. Next came Geography, which involved getting a sheet and Johnson talking about the difference between barriers and bars, both mentioned in passing in the first paragraph. Although, we got much more distracted during Ag last year with McAlpin. At one point we got from fertilisers to the defense capabilities of Switzerland. I may have learnt more during that lesson than I had that entire term. Recess was interesting in that it was boring (makes sense to me). Victor had left, apparently due to vomiting (I'm still not 100% on the details), and Ian and Shafi were probably in the library. So I talked to John and Kevin. We all brought bananas, and were comparing how strange they were. Kevin's was 4 cm long, John's was black, and mine was green and not exactly ready to eat yet. I learnt that the hard way. Period 3 was English, in which we read a short story from a book, and I spent half the period looking stuff up in a 35 year old dictionary (I'm still not sure I how got to that.). Next came Maths, which was doing some work and playing on my calculator. It's strange, but no matter what we do in Maths, I always end up messing around on my calculator (incidentally, the highest number I can do on my calculator with 4 4's without having a Math Error is 4!!⁴ x (4 x √4)!).

Lunch, 1st half, was talking about... not much actually, and arm wrestling, for some reason. I beat John, tied with Eric, and was beaten by Ian. Hmm. 2nd half was dancing in Room 6 again. Period 5 was Drama, in which Cam and I had to do some mime, so we figured we could make this fun. Cam pretended to be Kolodziej, and imitated him the whole time, including how he sits (strangely) and the infamous Breaking of the Watch. I wasn't there, but I heard it was hilarious. Commerce for me was spent reading, and talking in short intervals. I got home in a 10-year old bus, and my New Scientist was not there. It wasn't there on Friday either. If it's not here by Wednesday, I am going to raise some hell. At home, I did some Geography homework, and got on my computer. Oh, and... EPISODE 36 IS OUT! That's another one! Here's the link, watch it now!

OK, now I'd like to mention some random people.
* My Dad, who specifically mentioned to be put in today's post. He's doing Uni, because he didn't get to as he joined the Navy at 16 or 17. Congrats Dad!
* Justin, who apparently just found my blog. He joins a select group of about 10 people who read this thing.
* Anonymous Commenter Number 1 from this post. You made my day, in that I spent ages trying to work out who you were. I still don't know.
* Indra, from this post. You are the reverse of the above person, in that I know your name, but not who you are (I hope that makes sense).
* Shafi, for getting MSN. Good luck! (To quote him: 'talking to cam and matt simultaneogdgdh' I guess he still has to get typing down.)
* Hurlstone, for having a 24th of March fetish.

OK, that's about it for today. Hopefully tomorrow will be less work. I promise one day I'll stop random lists. Maybe. I'll end with a brain-puzzler. It's got me stumped.

This sentence is a lie,
AB

Chilling Out, Maxing

If you're wondering WT7 that title means, it's part of the lyrics to 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.' If you're wondering what that is, just Wiki it. OK, now that that's out of the way, I chose that title because that was what I did today: basically chilled and did nothing.

I woke up at around 7:20, and got on my laptop. As usual, I went straight onto Megatokyo (I finished every strip as of today at around 4.), MSN, the usual. My brother then had to go to his AFL game, so I was stuck at home. I did some homework (*sigh*), watched Family Guy, and talked on MSN to Alexa. I had lunch, did more stuff on my laptop, etc, etc. After my brother got home, I played PS3 for a short time, had dinner, and watched TV. I also did some reading and a short dance rehearsal by myself. Hmm, is that it? It was a fairly monotonous day (hmm, fairly monotonous, maybe I should have used that for the title)... Tell, you what, I'll do more random lists. These are fun.

Things that piss me off:
* Spelling errors: you would think in books, they'd bother to spellcheck. Maybe that seems harsh, there's so many pages, but you'd think they'd learn to spell right on an advertisement on the back of a bus! (OK, maybe they're funny, but, still, I don't like spelling errors.) And I'm not talking about long words, little things like their and there.
* Projects all due in the space of one week: Or, in the case of Tuesday, one day.
* People not telling me if something's to do with me: Man, I have a right to know.
* My 'New Scientist' coming on Monday, not the previous Friday: Damn the postal system not coming on weekends.

Hmm. Things I'm obsessed with:
* The Periodic Table: It runs through my head all the time. Luckily reading shuts it up. (Nerdy and Proud of it!)
* Queen: I know, I'm obsessed. If you listen, you'll know why.
* My blog: Sorta goes without saying. Nothing under 4oo words!
* My laptop: My world, man!

Book Ideas:
* Hitler's adopted son taking over the world: That went 2 pages before I realised I didn't have a protagonist.
* Genghis Khan something something magical powers: I had that obsession in Year 6-7.
* Something about breaking prejudices: I'm sure I have a character list somewhere.
* Defence on Atheism: I don't read Richard Dawkins.
* Werewolves fighting with swords against a Masked Man: I had a dream this morning, and that was it.

Songs I've written and their choruses (please note that I write to write and not about anything):
* Life In Oakwood Town:
Well life in this old town
Is simple and carefree
I don’t care what people say
But Oakwood Town’s for me

* For You:
‘Cause I’d, stop the world spinning
For You
‘Cause I’d, halt time in its tracks
For You
It doesn’t matter where you are
Doesn’t matter what you do
I’d still do anything
For You

* Where Have You Gone:
Where have you gone?
Right now I’m missing you
Where have you gone?
Now there’s one where there was two
My heart is filled with sadness
When I ask Why and How?
And all that I want to know
Is to know where you are now

* Truth In Lies:
You are the one
My special one
And I see you
When I close my eyes
You broke my heart
When you told me
And you showed me
The truth in lies

Ideas belong sole property of me, you get the picture. I'd give you the tunes to go along with the lyrics, but I can't do those. I guess that sums up today, and more random lists too. I probably won't do more of those random lists, one because they're basically filler (but still cool) and two because I don't think I can think of any more. School tomorrow. Ah, well.

Relaxing all the while,
AB

Slightly Surreal

Man, another awesome title. I am on a roll. Anyway, I've been putting this off since 7:45, because I've been reading 'Megatokyo,' which I will get to. The title means that today was slightly surreal (Captain Obvious to the rescue!), meaning slightly unreal, fantastic. At least that's what my online dictionary says. Thinking is for school. (Oh, and happy Pi Day. 3/14, in American terms.)

I got up at 8:30, which is really late for me, considering on weekends I'm usually up by at least 7:30. I don't know why, I just am. I got pancakes for breakfast (sweet), then I spent all the time up until around 10:45 cleaning my room and doing the kitchen, because we had Dance rehearsal for PE today at my house, which I will get to. Yep, my weekend was shaping up great. And, no, it was not my idea to do chores, it was my parents'. *sigh*. Joy. At around 11:10 we went to pick up Oishi and Nancy from the station, and we got to work on some dance moves in the dining room. We had to move the table, but it was the biggest space in the house. We were going to be in my room, but it was too small. All that time taken up for cleaning. And my brother was in the house, and he was watching. Ah, well. We did some dancing until about 1, when they had to go home. I was about to go on my laptop when we had to go to the shops to buy a present for my Mum's birthday on Tuesday. I ended up getting lunch there. We bought some charms (well, by bought, I mean my Dad gave us the money), and promptly got of there. That seems quick, but after a short stop to the fruit store, we got home around 3:15. I then had to get on my laptop. I looked at Megatokyo (which delayed today's post. I'm on a great strip, 680. Spoilers ahead. It really sums up the comic so far.), went on MSN, and got the new one (it looks nothing like the original and functions almost exactly the same.), reading, etc, etc. Since then I've been basically been doing nothing but surfing the net and having dinner. I'd also like to say some of the things I'd like to do, because I sorta have the time now.

* Write a book: Unlikely, because I've tried to do that heaps of times. Never gets further than a few pages.
* Learn Dutch: I really don't have the time. Unfortunately.
* Learn to draw: Ditto.
* Learn guitar: Ditto. Also I don't have a guitar.

Wow, I thought that'd be quicker. Hmm. How about subjects I'd like to do for Years 11 and 12.

* Physics: I really like Physics.
* Chemistry: Ditto.
* Legal Studies: People have said that I have a knack for that type of thing (ie reading long, boring books and talking people into comas).
* Economics: I did really well in Commerce last year. And I figure money makes the world go round.
* Maths Extension: I think I'm good in Maths.
* Industrial Studies: Just kidding.

OK, my favourite websites, in no particular order.
* Megatokyo: One of the best webcomics.
* xkcd: Ditto.
* Dinosaur Comics: Ditto.
* Unspeakable Vault (of Doom): Ditto.
* News.com.au: I like to keep in touch with the world (no, really.)
* YuGiOh - The Abridged Series: Because they're awesome.
* My Blog: Naturally.

OK, now I'm bored. That should be enough for today. As I said, slightly surreal, but, that's cool. (And if you're thinking that 'Slightly Surreal' is an great name for a song, I already tried writing that. With limited success.) Sunday will hopefully be more of a bludge. Hopefully. Sorry if today was a bit disjointed, but, as I've said before: thinking is for school.

Random lists FTW,
AB

Dancing, Scratch and Megatokyo

You may have read that title and thought WT7? How are any of those things related? And the answer is that they all played a fairly large part on Friday the 13th (which went pretty smoothly).

My Dad drove me to school, etc, etc, you know the drill. Period 1 was Agriculture, which was writing stuff down in our books, NTR (No Thought Required). Next came Geography, in which we went up to the library for the second or third period running, but we didn't take any notes. Just watching, talking. A nice little break from work at school. Next came Assembly, in which I got very cramped up (too many people, not enough space), and worked out exactly what I have on Tuesday the 24th:

Period 2: Geography Assessment and Glenfield School Reading
Period 5: Drama Assessment and PE Assessment

As you can see, that is a big problem. To say the least. Will they change it around, who knows? Great work, Hurlstone. Genius. And, to top it all off, for PE, there's not enough time to do it in class, so we have to give up lunch times, after-school times, I'm even doing some stuff tomorrow. On Saturday. Oy. Anyway, Recess was an hour, in which it rained, and we talked about everything from how other people looked in my glasses to how far back I can put my eyes (answer to both: very weird and almost all the way). Maths was Period 3, which was about 10 minutes for some reason, and involved little work. Science followed, and was doing an experiment with hydrogen peroxide and fire. No theory, just experiment. Lunch was doing some dancing (part 1 of title) in Room 6, with Oishi and Nancy, for just over an hour. Then I went to the music room with everyone, and we did some music (of course). Period 5 was Commerce, which involved more theory, *sigh*. The only good thing about Commerce in Period 5 is that I don't finish the day with it. English was a bludge, doing 10 minutes of work and subsequently reading a Bill Bryson book and attempting not to burst out laughing, with limited success (I was reading Bill Bryson: I probably should have seen that coming.). Thus ends school, but not Friday. I got home, and after a while I went on the Scratch website (part 2 of title), and I realise I've been featured on the Scratch site. That means that my project (specifically this one) has been considered one of the best on the Scratch site. That was exhilarating. But, the day still wasn't finished. Through thine computerised information god Wikipedia, I got onto a comic called Megatokyo, which is really good. Would I be so forward to say it is better than xkcd and Dinosaur Comics? Which is really saying something. Oh, and today, I don't really have a song stuck in my head. Ah well.

Now, that ends Friday, or the better part of it. I shall blog, as always, tomorrow. I might say comment again, but yesterday's were pretty random. But, fun. Somebody is reading. Comment!

Friday the 13th isn't as bad as Tuesday the 24th,
AB

The Randomness Striketh

That's right, no more song titles! But, because everything sounds better when you make it sound old-timey and slightly retarded (proof. That took ages to find. Then I found out there was a search function on the website.), I made it 'striketh.' (Oh, I've also added a small thing at the side of my page: a word count of my blog.)

I got to school, the usual. Period 1 was English, which was copying stuff out of the booklet (Joy.). Next came Maths, which involved Mango coming out with 4 consecutive numbers multiplied together, plus 1, equals a square number. That square number, square-rooted, is the product of the first and fourth consecutive numbers, plus 1. Proving that took up a good part of the period (In A1, we do that. It's called boredom. Why we do maths is probably why we're in A1. At least that's my guess.), but it works all the time. Proof here. Recess involved talking about the band and what we think is the best song we've ever written. Eric thought 'State of Mind,' Cam thought 'Now She's Gone.' I'm leaning towards 'Where Have You Gone,' just for the sheer catchiness factor. Speaking of music, the song stuck in my head is a parody Abridged song called 'Villain' (link). Period 3 was Drama, which was doing some mime stuff. It's harder than it looks (sorta). Next was Commerce, which was ultra-random, as we split into groups of 5 and pretended we were all in 11th century English villages to talk about common law. Or something like that. Fun, but incredibly random at the same time. But the pinnacle of the randomness of the day was Lunch, in which we (me, Cam, John, Eric, Mango, Victor) went to Room 7 to look at Matt dancing, as well as watching 2 giant chess games, getting a magazine off Ian, and making $2 for more random things involving Room 7 and the magazine (separately). Eric also listened to Hamish and Andy on my iPod. Periods 5 and 6 were PE, dance specifically. We did some work, and we talked about meeting times and exactly how I was getting the steps wrong and what details I could do to fix them. School then ended, but the randomness still didn't stop, as the bus driver somehow manages to miss a turn with little traffic, extending the bus trip by about 10 minutes, and then when I go to ask him about it when he's stopped, he's on his phone saying 'I've missed the turn!' Give the man a medal, he's a genius. Luckily the rest of the journey went fairly smoothly, and I did no homework (as I had none), and went on MSN, the net and TV. Basic night really.

Such sums up a day of randomness, links and localised craziness (hmm, that doesn't sound too bad, localised craziness. Good name for a song?). I end with a quick quote of my own creation, which also happens to be my MSN screen name (another good idea for a song name came last night, in MSN: 'Human, But Otherwise Alright'. Crossed messages, but they work really well together I think). Comment if you can!

Blogging: A sane way of talking to yourself,
AB

It's A Small World After All

Yes, it's another song as a post title. If you count yesterday as a song title, then the last non-song title (or variation of) was Friday, March the 6th. Anyway, today's title was about something very coincidental (the spooky type) that happened after school. And as my predictions stand: bludgy, yes; European handball, no. Now that's out of the way, we'll see what happened today.

Get to school, and go to Roll Call. On the way, this Year 9 passes us by acting like a gangster. So I decide to freak him out just a bit. So I go: 'Sup, my homedog?' (I have no idea what that means.) And he just pauses. Looks at me like I'm an idiot for trying to act gangster. And keeps on acting like it. Ah, the insanity of the world. History was 1st Period, but it was in the library, so we didn't actually go anywhere. We watched this video (VIDEO) about the Vietnam War and took notes. Such a riveting period. But, it was truly a bludgy one. Next was English. Hancock was back (back again), and we talked about short story structure, and read one. Courtney also made a comment in class: 'Boys don't like reading.' I call out: 'Ahem!' (or something like that), and I have a book in my hand. And we just did work on stereotypes. The first half of Recess was spent talking to John and Victor, and the second half was more dancing practice with Oishi and Nancy. Next was Science, and Robson is still not teaching, so we got Watson. We did more work from the textbook (I hate that), but luckily it was simple and I got to spend the last 15 minutes reading.

Lunch was spent talking about stuff and playing 5-Card Draw Poker with Kevin and Victor. Then it was sport. For sport, we did soccer, and I ended up being goalkeeper, reasoning that it involved little running, and I wasn't in the mood to run. I let 2 goals through, and the rest came at me. Then we swapped sides, and we played more cards, this time Texas Hold'em with Kevin, Victor, Hewie and Peter, using imaginary chips (it was kind of confusing). Then, it started to pour. It was already sprinkling, but it really started coming down. At this point, the games were stopped and self-preservation set in, with everybody running to the hall for shelter. This was at about 2, and I spent the rest of the time on my iPod listening to Abridged (speaking of music and Abridged, the song stuck in my head is the same one from yesterday and Episode 35 is out on the official website). I then spent some time at the library, and went to the station at around 3, when who should be there but Sarah! It is a small world. She was apparently coming back from UWS, and we happened to run into each other. It was nice catching up. On the train ride, we talked about life at respective education centres, for want of a better phrase, and when we got to the station, who else should show up but Aashna! Everybody was there. It was spooky, but it was really good to catch up. I hope it happens again. The rest of the day was spent watching TV, and going on MSN.

That was Wednesday. It's been a pretty good day, with the meetings of friends and so forth. I end with a quote by a guy called Rick Astley about my attitude towards running.

Never gonna run around (unless I want to),
AB

Trudging and Bludging

After spending a while trying to think of a title, I remembered an idea I had for a song title, which I, personally, love. Really, the only thing wrong with it is that I can't use it again. (It's a bit like 'A Good Kind of Nothing' in that respect.) With the opening paragraph out of the way, let's get to my day (which rhymes), which involved trudging, and bludging.

I got to school by bus (and I tried to listen to Queen and read quantum physics at the same time. With limited success.), and our first period was Science. Now Robson was, in fact, here, but he didn't teach for some reason, so we had this guy called Arnault instead. His name sounds like a car. We didn't have him for long though, because we (read: basically the entire class, and in fact, the grade) were called up for vaccinations. So we got out of that pretty quick, and we went down to sick bay, in which we stayed until Recess (i.e. the bludging part). All to get 1 needle, which lasted all of 10 seconds. Awesome. What an excuse to get out of class. For the whole time, I just talked to Cam, John and Eric. At Recess, Corinne came over, and we talked to her. We also went up to Matt, and did this thing in which we (Victor, John, me, Eric and Cam, in that order) went 'Is it, is it, is it, is it, is it: David?' (in-joke. If you recognise 'is it David,' you read the first comment for this post.) Periods 3 and 4 were spent with the class doing that most dreaded of all things Ag: preg testing. When Schippers took his arm out, I almost vomited, no kidding. Ditto for Allie doing it the second time. At that point, I took an opportunity to escape and listen to my iPod for the rest of the period. As well as doing some dancing practices from PE, showing my dancing ability, or lack of (i.e. the trudging part. Zohmeg, it links together. And if you're wondering what zohmeg means, it's ZOhMeG.)

Lunch was spent attempting to sing (read: attempting) Bohemian Rhapsody off by heart with John, and plugging my iPod into John's iPod speakers and listening to such things as Queen, Jeff Dunham, and Hamish and Andy with everyone. (The song stuck in my head today is 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy.' Guess who it's by. 3 guesses.) Period 5 we had English with Arnault again, in which we read a 2 page short story and told the class what we thought. Another bludgy one. Last came History. Johnson gave us a booklet, 3 pages, double-sided, to do as a study guide. Something like 153 questions. *hits head repeatedly* Of course, when you're faced with something like that, you can't finish all of it, so as a rule you don't finish much of it. After that, I stayed back with Oishi and Nancy to do some practice for more dancing (more trudging). When I got home, I did some homework, got on my computer, here I am.

And that's Tuesday. Let's see what tomorrow will bring. It's a Wednesday, so I'm predicting slight bludging and European handball, with me getting a goal and subsequent sucking. Let's see if my prediction is correct.

Still bludging (this blog took an hour, 8:05 to 9:05, I was MSN'ing as well),
AB

Save Me (From Exams)

OK, I swear, no more Queen songs, maybe. (And, wow, I'm even using brackets in titles now.) Back to school, and guess what? I forgot there was an exam. Well, at least the rest of the day was a bludge. Let's see what happened today...

I got dropped off at school by my Dad (because he doesn't go back to work until tomorrow), and we talk about our weekends. Eric listened to my iPod. And I find out about the English exam. That came as a shock, I'll say that. Period 1 is Geography, which involved doing a crossword. And by doing it, I mean the class did some, then asked Johnson for the rest of the answers. And by the rest, I mean all (even bludging can be bludged). Next was Science, and Robson was away, again (sounds like musical chairs: teacher style). Instead we had Contado, the permanent substitute. We did some questions, not too difficult, and then I realise my iPod's not in my top pocket where it should be. I check my pockets, and all I can feel is my green book. At this point, I start to get worried. No matter, it's probably in my bag. I go out to check: it's not in there. Panic starts. I run into the classroom, to see if it's there, pulling apart everything on my table as fast as I can (and getting strange looks by at least one person in the process). I run back out, and start ripping everything out of my bag. I make one last look in my pockets: and there it is. (I swear sometimes I feel like a retard.) Recess was spent talking to everyone. Period 3 was Ag, and Schippers returned. We spent the period doing the worksheets fairly half-assed, and correcting the work from the entirety of last week. (You'd think he'd leave answers.)

Next was supposed to be PE, but instead it was the exam. The English one. The one I didn't study for. Cue the dramatic music! We get to the class, and our teacher is the new English one replacing Manyweathers, the one with the hyphenated name that stretches from here to Perth and back again. We get our exams, and she puts on the video (again, not DVD) on the video player that's 20 years old (that's no exaggeration. Apparently the teacher got that model as a wedding present in 1989.). That takes about 15 minutes to work out, and then we get into the exam. It was fairly simple, but we had to write over 2 pages in 30 minutes. Anyway... Lunch was spent watching one of the big chess games (our school has gigantic chess pieces, and 2 chess boards painted on the ground. That's what you get for going to Hurlstone.), and doing some rehearsal for Dance for PE. Which reminds me, I also have a practice tomorrow arvo. Period 5 was spent in Maths, with Rawson teaching us about the ideas of mathematical induction without actually telling us what it was. (I Wiki'd it today: not recommended. From what I can understand, it's proving a hypothesis mathematically. That's about all I understood before it got confusing.) Next was Drama, which was really funny. We all moved the tables and chairs to the sides of the room before class so we didn't have to do theory, then sat on the ground as a form of silent protest. After this and a lot of talking (so much for silent protest), Kolodziej sort of blew his top. That was followed by about a minute of silence. Yeah. It was also funny for another reason: Cameron started to sing Katy Perry. Specifically, 'Hot N Cold.' Cameron. Singing Katy Perry. That was just so random and so funny. Speaking of music, the song stuck in my head is 'Don't Stop Me Now.' So I got home, and after doing homework, I get on my laptop: and Episode 35 is out (but don't bother going on the website. Youtube it.). 3 weeks, 3 episodes. That is a miracle. Long live LK. And, as always, bloody hilarious.

Such ends Monday, and what a Monday it's been. I end with a quote by some guy called Tom Wilson (I use this site), 'cause thinking outside of school is... something...

Mondays are the potholes in the road of life,
AB

We Are (Not) The Champions

Yes, I know, another Queen song. That's because they're awesome. Yes, as you can guess, we lost. Just how badly, I shall now tell you.

I actually slept in today, believe it or not. That's because we had to leave by 9:15 to get there by 9:30 to play by 10 (or something like that), so, really, it hardly mattered. So, we get to the ground, everyone starts showing up. My Dad, the coach, makes a quick speech, and we begin the match. We start off pretty good: 1 for 1, 2 for 7, 3 for 22. Drinks break. Right about here, it starts to fall to pieces. A quick 6 off a no ball in the second over after drinks break, and the runs start to pile on. 70, 80, the total started to shoot up. Justin (their best batsman) got out after one of the greatest plays I've ever seen. Speedy's at mid-on, and Justin hits it towards him, and goes for a 1. Speedy leaps to the side, gets the ball, and throws it at the wicket. A moment of silence. Then an explosion of cheering. At this point, it's something like 120 runs, and we feel like anything's possible. But the game isn't over. They're not through. The overs run out at 2, and they're at 169. We're still hopeful, if they can do it, we can. It's lunch. We go back on, and Ryan M gets out for 1. That's OK, Nibraas gets in. Everything's still running smoothly. Rizzul gets out for 2. Ben gets in. Two of our best batsmen. Let's get some runs. Except, we don't seem to want to do that. Nifty, out for 10. Payny (in my opinion, our other best batsman) gets in. Ben out for 1, Payny for a duck. We're in trouble. Big trouble. Teagan gets in, and stays in. Good, if anyone else could stay in. A lot of sundries, but not enough. Jacob goes for 1. Aaron sticks in for a bit, falls for 1. Rhys stays in for 20 minutes. A duck. At this point, we're doomed. Only Callum and me left, in that order. Callum stays in for a while, but it's hopeless. He goes for 2. I'm left. I face 2 balls, then it's over (as in, the over is out, not the game is over). Teagan goes for the ball, but it bounces off her bat and hits the stumps. All out, for 62. 34 sundries. It was, quite frankly, one of the worst games we've played. Bowling-wise, OK, but batting-wise: disappointing. Ah well.

The rest of the day ran pretty well. We get home, and decide to trick EJ. We tried to tell him I got 70 not out. My Dad also pretended to give me $200 (he gave me one bill twice. I had to give it back to him both times. Bugger.). My brother caught on about the score basically instantly, but then he started crying: 'You gave him $200! Look who your favourite son is!' Then we attempt to explain to him that there is no way in the world that my Dad would ever give me $200. Now that was funny. The rest of my day was basically spent watching TV, reading, and going on my computer.

Such ends my day, and ends the weekend. Bugger. Ah well, it was a good few days. And now there's school tomorrow. I don't want to go to school. Well, I shall finish today's blog.

May next year's final be a lot better than this year's,
AB