how to haggle

30/12/2013

I think another thing good about doing "3 things" is that it makes me feel guilty about spending a day doing shit-all which encourages me to actually, yknw, live life in future days to avoid having nothing to write about

Eg today. I did nothing today.

1. Went to bank, paid rotary fee, FINALLY. Felt weight off shoulders. Deposited my christmas money, felt like I had money in the bank weeee

2. As I was walking back from the bank to the car, I passed one of those dingy asian clothes stores that no one buys clothes from that are like the clothes equivalent of an asian $2 store. Except on display on a rack outside were a couple pairs of harem pants and there was one pair that was actually quite nice and it was $20 and I was like err no not buyin from a shop like this if it costs the same as at a nice chain store or whatevs. As I was deliberating with my mum the sales lady inside heard us and started replying back in Shanghainese about how it was "comfortable" and whatnot and I thought I'd take the opportunity being an asian shop and all and started bartering the price lower. First I was like "twenty dollars is way too expensive, what a shame, I'd buy it for $10?" and she was like "what I'd make no income on $10, what about $15? business is poor..." and I was like "$15's pretty high still, I can only do $10" and she was like nah nah and so I left and walked away. Then I realised $15 was actually p good and went back (lol), tried it on, and bought it haha. I think she felt really guilty bcs the boss was probably going to kill her oops. But yeah the pants are super cute and I dont think you'd be able to tell they're from a low end store. If anyone I don't really know asks, I'll say they're from an op shop hahahaha

3. I watched himym which has been the first time in a LOOOONNNGG time and I re-realised how much I liked the show...

#4: oh also I posted an "after surgery" photo on fb and got a positive response, so, yay :D

Colour me happy

29/12/2013

1. Actually got some work done and nicely wrote up colour coded notes for my Eng WIT essay and got really into analysing shit and did some colour coded sticky notes in my book GOD I LOVE STATIONERY

2. Finally wrote email to school in regards to how they fucked up and sent me the wrong report and it made me feel like i finally accomplished a thing and it's like a weight has been lifted off me. Speaking of emails, I got an email back from the Science Forum Director saying that me missing the volleyball tournament and "morning fitness" due to my pelvis would b alg and that there'd be a big range of food every day so I'd find something "soft" to eat no problemo. V relieved.

3. This is probably really lame but I ATE MANGO TODAY FUCK YEAH!!! Little steps towards being able to eat normally... I'm totally savouring any unhealthy food -- ate two cocktail sausages stuffed with camembert cheese. Altogether, that and the quarter of a mango took me about two hours to finish eating... GG.



I've got that big jar of happy moments of 2013 to open on the 31st (or perhaps the 30th?) and even though I stopped doing it by like, April I'm excited to take a trip down memory lane :)

Need to write my resolutions blogpost soon too... Not looking forward to seeing how miserably I failed at keeping my resolutions hahahha

The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon

28/12/2013

Pretty inactive day. Not bothering with selfie because there hasn't been much change between yesterday and today.

1. Mum made me some mung bean soup and due to my inability to, yknw, eat properly, we decided to blend the remaining bean husks in the blender. Turns out my blender is pretty shit and even with the lid securely on, the force of the mung beans + soup caused the lid to kinda.. pop off? and hot mung bean soup + mung beans went EVERYWHERE lol fml

2. Ability to eat is RETURNING!!!... slowly. For lunch today I baked two potatoes in the microwave and then cut up cubes of camembert and cut a cross into the potato halves and slid in the camembert so they were fully enclosed within the potato and melted, and I ate that shit like a normal human being and chewed and everything WOOHOO. Also, for dinner I managed to actually eat 3 of the red glazed pork spare ribs by cutting it up into small pieces which was like HALLELUJAH PROPER FOOD!!! Jaw kinda feels sore now after all that chewing - hope I didn't screw up the screws in there... (heeeeeeey)

3. WE BOUGHT A STONEDINE PAN FUCK I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT IT my dad saw the ad on tv, went "where can i get that" and 10 minutes later left to noel leeming hahahaha. I've wanted a stonedine pan for so farkin long omg (next on the list is the magic bullet) but when he came home with it I googled reviews and everyone rates it 1 star which I'm a little gutted about :(

Extra 4: good god did this thing tickle my funny bone: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/worst-analogies.html (title of post taken from the website)

shop on impulse

27/12/2013

GETTING BACK INTO 3 THINGS! Except I probably won't post over new years and then i wont be posting at all during summer science camp (i'm a nerd i'm not even sorry)....

I think I may pair this up with an occasional daily selfie just to show the recovery process?

 

1. met up with Jade who is always like sunshine to me (love u jade xoxo) and she lent me yellow clothing since I'm in the yellow group for the Rotary Forum. Hung out for only a little while since I got there late and she had work at 1pm.

2. went to Mirrou with my mum to check it out and impulse bought two tops because we were in a rush and my mum had an appointment and just needed to get me out of the store so she just bought them for me haha i'm a terrible person I'm sorry??? Now regretting one of the tops because it's actually a lot longer then I thought it was in the store. But uh, positives are that i have MORE NEW CLOTHES WOOHOO ok I swear I won't buy any more clothes for this whole season???

3. used the glitter nail polish thingy that amy got me for xmas and now my nails are PRETTY AND SPARKLY except they have the same texture as concrete and are probably going to fuck shit up in my mouth later tonight when i need to put my elastics in ugh

The Holiday Season

Merry Christmas! Happy Discount Day! (As Josh aptly renamed Boxing Day)

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! I thought I'd just do a quick update on how my festive season went.

23rd:

Went out Christmas shopping with my mum and brother, hobbled around St Lukes for a few hours and was totally exhausted and sore by the end of it (but I wouldn't and won't admit that ever to my mum or else she wouldn't take me out ever again during my recovery period).

24th - Christmas Eve:

Sueyeon came over, she gave me her present, I gave her mine. Messed around all day watching movies and talking (despite my speech impediment) and being dumb and entertaining ourselves as we always do. Watched This is the End (which was a ridiculous movie) and then somehow decided that taking a trip down memory lane would be cool and we watched some of Barbie and the Nutcracker before it became unbearably boring and we stopped. And then we watched Memento which was way too mind-fucking for both of us, especially for me and my 70%-charged brain, and we had to read the wikipedia synopsis afterwards hahahaha.

25th - Christmas:

In the morning we exchanged gifts - I got money from my parents and a pile of clothes from my brother and Amy, and Amy also got me some nail polish. AWW YISSS (except the clothes aren't really my style considering my brother/Amy chose them and they're from factorie but eh new clothes are new clothes I'm not complaining)!!!! Sueyeon got me the most hilarious present ever. She went to that place in St Lukes that puts faces into soft toys and she put in the faces of Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki and while I was unwrapping it I began screaming with laughter oh my GOD!!!!!

"now kiss!!!!!!"

Didn't do anything during the day, in fact I fell asleep for like, 4 hours haha. My brother was supposed to do the ham but he came home from Amy's really late at around 7 so we had dinner at like, 11pm lol my family i s2g... Also, the ham was HILARIOUS and it was his first attempt and he just yolo'd it and emptied a whole jar of jam onto it and cut up some chunks of pineapple and it looked like roadkill hahahahah. Once the pineapple started burning we decided it was probably a bad idea and took them off and then slathered the ham in golden syrup and put it back into the oven GG.

Christmas dinner was really nice and happy and mum got tipsy off like, 2 sips of red wine and it was hilarious. I AM GLAD I RECEIVED NEITHER THE RED-FACE GENE NOR THE DRUNK-OFF-2-SIPS GENE!!! My brother made amateur sangria which actually tasted really nice! Will note for future reference... I can't actually remember what we talked about during dinner but I know at one point my dad pointed to his head and called it a stomach and at another point he tried to explain to Amy how we were actually descendants from Genghis Khan and everyone was like WTF WE'RE NOT EVEN MONGOLIAN WHAT

26th - Boxing day:

Went boxing day shopping!!! Eventually, at least. I didn't get too much - got a $15 bra from Bendon Lingerie that I want to sing hallelujah to the heavens about, and 3 plain tshirts for $25 from JayJays because it was friggin time I got a plain white/grey/black tshirt. Mum got usual mum-house stuff like cushions and Christmas decorations for next year and whatnot.

I got a tank and realised I didn't know how to use straws anymore and tried to suck up some of the smoothie but couldn't and ultimately had to take the straw out and the lid off and slowly sip that shit up :( the suction of my lips doesn't work because of the numbness of my upper lip. you know how retarded one looks when they're sipping a tank and getting a smoothie moustache in public???

Under The Knife (And The Week That Followed)

Why, hello there, did you miss me? I would start this blogpost off with an apology about how I've been neglecting this blog, ONCE AGAIN but I will not because it seems a bit same-old-same-old at this point.

So it's been exactly one week since my surgery (when I first wrote this post, but now it's two weeks since my surgery, ha), and I'm feeling MUCH better.

A little recap of the healing (and surgery) process for your entertainment:

Day 1

The night before my surgery it was really difficult for me to fall asleep - understandable, I guess. When we got to the hospital, they weighed me and measured my height (158.5 FUCK YEAH MOTHERFUCKER I'D ALWAYS THOUGHT I WAS 157!!!!!!) and then did administrative stuff with a nurse who was such a fucking CHARACTER omg what a gb i love her i want to go back and get her flowers or something!!! Met anaesthesiologist, he was a good laugh (i swear all anaesthesiologists i've ever met have been super good sports and really hilar?) and then went up to another ward that was less friendly-looking to get all my iv injections in. After that, I got carted into the operating theatre and my mum came with (cuz i asked her to for moral support) and as I was lying there getting my oxygen mask strapped on I think she freaked and was like "OK VICKY LOVE U MUMMY'S GONNA GO NOW" and gapped it hahahaha.

Anaesthesia is a funny thing. The nurses/anaesthetist had been talking to me and I'd been replying, and as the anaesthesia went in, I tried to say something but although my brain was still working I physically could not speak and it was like the connection between my brain and body had split and I'm pretty sure in those 2 seconds my last thought before I went totally out was either "what the fuuuuck" or "MURAKAMI".

Next minute, I'm awake in a hospital room and my mum and brother are on the seats next to my bed.

The surgery took 10 hours (2 hours longer than expected) and yes, they had to use my pelvic bone, as they had predicted.

That first night was a total raging BIIIIIIITCH and I was so uncomfortable and had very little ability to talk. I basically could not sleep for the whole night and I remember getting really pissed off at my inability to sleep since I needed my body to heeeeaaaaallll!!!! There was a blood pressure pump thingy strapped to my arm and it would go off periodically in the night and squeeze the living shit outta my arm - not that it woke me up at all since I WASN'T FOKIN SLEEPING!!!! Honestly that wasn't even the worst parts of my night. I couldn't sleep in any position but on my back due to the three drains of blood coming out of my goddamn body - one on my pelvis and two on either sides of my neck, meaning I couldnt turn my neck without having a very scary tugging sensation and risk disconnecting the tubes from my body and having my blood just, idk, fountain out?? sorry, graphic. i'm not really squeamish about blood and it's odd that instead I was getting some heavy vampire diaries vibes from the litre kathmandu-like bottles at the end of those drains that were filled with about 5cm of blood each. sorry,...graphic??

anyway, the nurse came in multiple times throughout the night and I obviously could not express myself coherently so I had to type things on my phone and then show them to her and it was shit like "can i get another pillow please" and "can you give me some sort of drug that helps me sleep" (I was pretty desperate) and "sorry to bother but is there an electrical outlet? I need to charge my phone please" etc etc. There was a movie on but it was a shitty one that I'd already watched at mei's with paul rudd and jennifer aniston (and it hurt my brain to watch such a bright screen) so I had no relief from my insomnia. At one point I heard a popping sound and my mouth filled with blood and I was like sHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT MY DRAINS ARE OUT THIS AINT GOOD and rang in the nurse and she was like gurl chill ur drains are fine and i was like mmkay sis

so yeah, rough night.

Day 2

I finally got some sleep at around 6am and was woken up by the nurse at 7:30am and I was like erhghghghhg but not actually tired.... huh. 

My friends are fantastic, did you know that? Like, they are the BESTEST friends in the world!!! I was in the shower when Izzy first came at 11am, and the poor thing had to wait for 30 minutes as I moved at snails pace trying to cleanse myself. She brought me beautiful flowers and a card and the black shorts from mirrou that i asked for (and that i wear all the time now). Then Faizah came, and so did Jade who brought lovely flowers as well! And Sophie and Cathee who brought flowers and Charlie who brought a Tropical tank (gb) and Breaking Bad S1, and Josh and Sueyeon who brought a Christmas pot plant (lol ma homie) and Steph who made me 2 FRIGGIN MIX CDS OMG KINGSY I CANNOT GET OVER UR ALTERNATIVENESS IT SLAAAAAAAAYS! Hm who else came...? I hope I didn't miss anyone out. I'm writing this on the 26th because I suck so now I can't remember anything...Oh, right, my brother and Amy came and they brought me a Berry Tank and another pillow (if you're staying in a hospital, tip: take your own blankets and pillows omg) and some more comfortable clothing.

I got quite tired and eventually everyone left, and I had a nap until later in the evening, when my mum came. I hobbled over to visit Victoria who was on the same floor as me but in a different ward, and chatted with her for a while. Her recovery seemed to be much more bed-bound than mine, which probably isn't very fun. Went back to my room and had dinner while The Hunger Games was on TV which I thought was very coincidental and super gr9 for me. Meilin came to visit, then Joanna and Mei came together as well. SO MANY PEOPLE VISITED ME WOW I FEEL SO SPECIAL :B

Doctors and nurses said I had to stay for another night in the hospital, sigh.

Day 3

I got discharged in the morning and then had to go to the surgeon's office to get checked up on and take photos and etc. Got home, slept a lot, was hungry and uncomfortable.

Days 4-5

Basically these days (and Day 3) sucked quite a bit because the hunger was hitting me hard and I was having  actual dreams of eating cheeseburgers and/or getting toffee stuck in my teeth, SO BASICALLY LOTS OF DREAMS ABOUT FOOD. Watched a lot of TV and who knew that fast food restaurants took up such a large proportion of TV advertisements daaaaamn.... I also had to eat with my syringe for all these days and had a really small appetite for everything due to the syringe/the food looking like puke and tasting like ass/the drugs hindering my appetite. Woke up every morning with the world's worst headache that rendered me paralysed in my bed until my mum came in with the panadol. Took like, 3 naps a day and was absolutely smashed by 11pm everyday. It wasn't a good first 5 days guys hahaha it really wasn't.

Days 6-7 and onwards

By this time I'd come off the antibiotics and was totally skipping ibuprofen because that shit nasty (it's the liquid version and it tastes like dead people drenched in sugar). By day 7 I stopped panadol too (because I could) but before that happened I had worked out a nice method of syringing the panadol and putting it on my bedside table the night before, so that in the morning I just had to syringe it into my mouth and go back to bed and 20 minutes later when I woke up I wouldn't have a pounding headache. Should've worked that out before the pounding headache became bearable (but my thinking abilities were not quite all there on Days 1-4). I think this was around when I read/finished reading The Circle as well (since before this point it physically hurt my brain to stare at words for too long). 

I think by the 7th day I discovered I could actually sip from glasses which changed EVERYTHING and meant I needn't use the syringe anymore, which was such a relief since those syringes are annoying as fuck. I will add that I still at this point (on the 14th day -- yes I'm posting incredibly late) I still don't have much feeling on my upper lip (because the facial nerve has been stretched it ranges from about 3-4 weeks to 3-4 months to fully come back...). So, because I don't have much feeling on my upper lip, whenever I sip my liquids I can never tell that I'm rocking a full on soup/liquidised chicken breast, peas and rice/smoothie moustache because I can't feel it there. I'm a very messy eater now :(

The swelling has gone down a lot on my face. I'm able to hobble/walk (in fact I've made it around St Lukes for shopping twice) but I look like a full retard when walking... I have to stick my ass out and turn my leg in it's all quite an experience, i'll tell you that.

On the Menu

My mum has this asian machine that is meant for making tofu or soy milk or some shit but it's been very very handy in liquidising whole meals so that I can eat/drink them. My favourite so far has been pumpkin + rice, but other things on the menu have been chicken + peas + tomato + egg + rice, or red glazed pork + lentils + egg + tomato + mushroom + kidney beans + rice (that one was super unappetizing for some reason) or salmon + rice + egg (yum) or potato + chicken + carrots + peas + rice (strange mucus-like consistency with strange mucus-like appearance but actually tasted alright). She also sieves out all the liquid from cooking congee/rice and I drink that (apparently it contains all the nutrients from rice or something).

The hospital gave me a whole box of fortisip which basically tastes like up&go but has a gazillion minerals and nutrients except after two years of having up&go every day at school I've become really against the taste of up&go so the fortisip, combined with my lack of appetite that first week, made me want to throw my guts up. Needless to say, I've avoided the fortisip.

I've been making fab smoothies which has been like, the highlight of my day and my favourite still is my berry smoothie (frozen berries eg blackberries, raspberries, strawberries + fresh strawberries + banana + one scoop vanilla ice cream + milk + honey) but I also sometimes have a banana smoothie as well or a vanilla blueberry smoothie which is just a lot of ice cream and milk and some blueberries to make me think i'm being healthy.

According to Dr Surgeon I am able to eat soft solids (pastas, rice, noodles, tender chicken, fish) now which I think may be a bit of bullshit because even when I take the rubber bands out (more on that hell later) I still can't really chew. I can move my jaws in the up-and-down motion of chewing except my food just doesn't really... break down like it should in one's mouth. Not sure if it's because the chewing just isn't powerful enough yet or if I've just completely lost the ability to chew. I can eat salmon after tenderising it/mushing it up into smaller pieces, and I can eat jelly like things like steamed egg (asian thing, dw, it's nice).

General Hygiene

For the first like, week I wasn't able to brush my teeth because I hadn't been given rubber bands and hadn't been taught where to put them either. I had to use mouthwash and on the first few days I had to syringe that shit in and due to the lack of feeling in my mouth and soreness of jaw/neck area, I couldn't really keep the mouthwash in my mouth (let alone swirl/gargle) and it would just dribble out lol. Also had to get syringes of water to wash out my mouth. It was a pain in my ass ok.

Finally got rubber bands and on the first night it legitimately took me 90 minutes in the bathroom to 1. brush my teeth and then 2. put those 7 elastic motherfuckers back on. Brushing my teeth was actually terrifying because I didn't know if my toothbrush was brushing against my stitches (I have a lot of stitches in my mouth duh) and undoing them, and I couldn't really open my mouth wide so I had to do everything super tentatively. AND THEN ACTUALLY PUTTING IN THE RUBBER BANDS MY GOD. I have 7 in total - two in the back going from outer bottom to inner top on both sides, then two in the back going from outer bottom to outer top, then two at the front going from bottom canine to upper canine traingling to upper incisor, and then one right in the middle with hooks at the top and bottom of my gums/mouth/idk connected to god knows where in my mouth tissue that restricts any food from entering my goddamn body.

That first time doing the rubber bands was actually really good for me because having my hands all up in my mouth for 90 minutes meant that I actually knew where all the stitches and that I was reassured that my face/jaw wasn't so fragile that it'd break with any small movement. 

The second night the 90 minutes had been reduced to 60 minutes, and by the third night I had cut it down to 20 minutes hallelujah (and that's about where I'm still at now). 

I've lost 5 kilos so far since the surgery (two weeks) due to the liquid diet! Jenny Craig can suck my dick. (Pretty sure it's all from my boobs though, wah)

Day 13 - swelling has decreased TONNES but is still there

(I'm going to date this onto the 20th because that's when I started this post and I can't really be bothered having to fuck with the Christmas posts by making them before this post if I post this on the 27th)

surgery tomorrow

I wanted to make some sort of deep meaningful post to take me into the "new beginning" i am setting up for myself tomorrow.

But unfortunately my presurgery appointment went waaaay longer than planned, and now I have no time, because it's probably a good idea to get a good night's sleep before a surgery.

See you on the flip side, chicas.

"her breath smells like dior"

ON THE FOURTH DAY OF DECEMBER MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME
A NINETEEN OUT OF TWEENNTTYYYYY

hi so i actually wrote this blog post on the fourth of dec because it was a p good day but i didnt finish it so i didnt post it but nOW I SHALL

1. Found out that Victoria (Huang, Yr13 last year) is going to be in the same hospital at the same time as me next week because she's having her surgery on 10th of December!!! Mine's on 13th, which is her birthday (and also Friday the 13th er...). BUT I'M SO EXCITED THAT I'LL HAVE A BUDDY IN THE HOSPITAL!!!! We can suffer in recovery together :)

wow isn't it crazy that i'm going to get a new face in about a week jfc


2. NICOLE, MEI AND I GOT A 19/20 FOR OUR (PRACTICE) TOK PRESENTATION WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

3. Today was Meilin's Birthday and I blew up a big bunch of balloons for her so that she could be embarrassingly ostentatious and special walking around school :) ALSO, ethan wrote and sang her a song which was absolutely amazing and hilarious and he posted it on fb so if you're friends with meilin u can go watch it but if not well tough titties ur missing out

extra nerd 4. I FINISHED ALL MY CHEMISTRY LABS TODAY IM SO FECKIN HAPPY AND RELIEVED!!! We got set 3 to complete before the 5th (which then got moved to the end of the term) and I've been going in after school everyday and in the mornings and at lunchtimes and at form times and at morning tea and it's been taking over my mind aND I FINALLY FINISHED WOOHOO
.... now I have to do the lab reports :'(

extra lol 5. so I was late in the morning and I sent a mass text sayin "HOLD THE ROLL I'M GOING TO BE LATE MAKE SURE MADAME DOESNT MARK IT UNTIL I GET THERE" and cherry has a joke fake number on fb which my phone automatically syncs with and I accidentally texted it to that number instead of her real number and THE PERSON WAS THE SASSIEST RUDEST FUCKER EVER and at first I didnt realise it wasn't cherry and thought she was angry at me and i was lik :O. Yeah but honestly if ppl text you and it's the wrong number a "sorry, think u have the wrong number" would suffice.

a post so hot it's catching fire

24/11/2013

So over the past three days I have been bumming around and not really following my "YEAH LETS BE PRODUCTIVE" plan, so uh... whoops? Better get onto it, I guess.

But first let's procrastinate with a blogpost.

I'm not quite sure what I did on Thursday since I was operating on minimal sleep. What I do remember is that:

• Had lunch outside with a bunch of the IB students and it was nice
• Got maths paper 1 results back and I'm pleased (92%!!)
• Bio in p1 was really unproductive and a lot of us were just really hyper so Mrs O warned Ms Choi of our unproductiveness and Ms Choi in p6 let us have our lesson outside in the bright sunshine hehe

Friday:

1. Most of my classes consisted of doing nothing and just talking hahaha. In bio everyone was doing "silent work" on their computers but in reality 80% of us were playing the Doctor Who game on google hahahaa. Then in History we were doing our internal assessment research and I just went up to library with Lauren and Ruby and ended up chatting with Kellin and Sobitha about how fucked 12IB are for next year (yay). Then in English we did shit all and were just sitting down on the floor chatting (trying to convince Ms Moy to watch Mean Girls lol). Had TOK in p5 where we got our essay grades back and the highest mark anyone got was a C which was what I got so I was pretty stoked hahhahaha... low standards for TOK as you can see...

2. For some reason I was convinced to go to assembly which was held in the goddamn junior gym and it was just half of IB so i have no idea where the rest of us went. We just sat on the chairs reserved for teachers lol yolo mr allan came to get everyone to sing that rice patty cake song and everyone was soooo not into it lol

3. WENT TO WATCH CATCHING FIRE OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IT WAS SO GOOD I CRIED ALL THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE I'M NOT EVEN JOKING I THINK I CRIED 7 DISTINCT TIMES IT WAS RIDICULOUS???? 

So, this was our "IB gathering" thing that I had tried to plan and considering only 12 people were able to come out of 31 I'm not sure to what extent I succeeded in coordinating the event but whatever we had fun and I personally enjoyed it heaps!!!!!!! Most people were late (including me) so we bought tickets at 7pm for the 8:15 showing, and most of us had to buy a ticket for a person who wasnt yet there. The people who went were me, Jo, Cherry, Elaine, Mei, Nicole, Izzy, Meilin, Micaella, Cerys, and Aneeka + Rebecca joined us for the movie. We went to dinner at Toto's and got two metre long pizzas which were fab, and had nice dinner conversations and selfie times hahaha. 

In natural fashion, we were cutting it incredibly close to the movie time and ended up sprinting from the restaurant to the cinemas and as a group of 10 teenagers I'm pretty sure we terrified the casual onlooker (new jogging club perhaps?). By the time we got to the movies and sat down at 8:19, we were all disgusting and sweaty and panting and it was just really amusing ok hahaha. AND THEN THE ADS WENT ON UNTIL 8:30 SO WE COULD'VE PRETTY MUCH WALKED AT A LEISURELY PACE TO THE CINEMA AND STILL WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN LATE FOR THE MOVIE!!!!!!!

But yes, the movie was fantastic. I agree with the people who think that the second movie was even better than the first. Then again, I enjoyed the second book more than the first. I got so freaked out at the monkey bit that I punched myself in the face lol gg everyone in our row started screaming (and i'm pretty sure our row was the only one heartily laughing at the jokes in the film). The elevator scene with Johanna was done perfectly!! I was wondering how well they could pull it off! I'm kinda sad they left out the morphling's fucked up blood flower on peeta's cheek because that really left an impact on me in the book and i was looking forward to it :'( but it's understandable i guess, since it's pretty gross. I think the fog was done perfectly and the arena was amazing and everything was so fast paced and thrilling and I could barely even catch my breath from the last traumatic thing before the next shit happened. Izzy and I were just frantically holding on to each other through most of the arena scenes and being like "NOPE NOT OKAY CANNOT HANDLE IT GIVE ME A BREAK". The peacekeepers were terrifying and the stuff from the victory tour was even better than in the book imo. ALL THE HAPPY SCENES WERENT EVEN HAPPY FOR ME BECAUSE I WOULD JUST START CRYING FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THAT CHARACTER LATER ON IN THE MOVIE OR IN MOCKINGJAY??? KNOWLEDGE IS PAIN.

But yeah, good day.

Saturday:

• went to nicole's to do TOK and fucked around for the most part
• mei got there on time and nicole was still sleeping and home alone so mei was stuck outside for half an hour because nicole wasn't picking up the phone or opening the gate haahhaha
• 13 going on 30 is a terrible movie, wow

complacency and how to avoid it

20/11/2013

it's quarter to 2am on a school night and idk why i feel the need to do this but i really do think i need to write a blogspot today just to make my thoughts sink in.

so, results from exams have been given out and let's cut to the chase - i'm not happy about them lol. i'll still do my three positives of today, but i think that it's as important to reflect on one's failings as it is to celebrate one's successes, ya feel?

basically, i fucked up these exams by not studying. i really did screw myself over with that one, especially because it showed in my results. i know how you can feel cheated if you get bad marks after studying really hard, but when you cram for only 4 hours the night before (maths) or at the most for 12 hours the day before (bio) then you have no right to complain about your shitty scores.

and i'm not complaining - i'm reflecting ;D

the thing is, i - much like many others - have fallen into a pattern of doing well in exams without studying much. i studied less for these exams than i did for my mid years, and much less than for my lvl1s last year. i think i needed these results to hit me hard in order to make an impact.

ok but let's be real, for average standards my results aren't terrible. in fact i'm probably at the median right now holistically, and sure some of you will say that i'm stupid for being upset with that but whatever ok try to understand the fact that i am used to being near the top of the class so this kinda sucks for me. im p sure i made a similar comment in my mid years results blog post hahaha.

but the purpose of this post, i think, is to really make sure that i know that i need to get my shit together. i'm not upset about my results because i have no right to be and i was actually expecting a lot worse (fours) so that's why you didnt see me crying around school (i told myself that if i could make it through today without crying it would be a good day hahaha) (then again i've never really been one to publicly cry about my school marks except for that one time this year where i NEARLY did over a stupid ungraded french vocab test hahahaha dumb francais) but i dont think i can be happy about most of them. i think i can be okay and not depressed or obsessed, but simultaneously not satisfied -- u feel? i think that's healthy and i think as long as i dont replace that "i'm okay with this for the time being and am not going to freak out or drive myself crazy by making myself feel like i'm worthless/a failure (which is never healthy)" attitude with a sense of complacency then it's alg

3 bright rays of sunshine:

1. TOP OF TEH CLASS 4 ENGLISH (OH SHIT)

ok i just??????????????? wat?????????????? whattttttttt????????????????? yeah remember what i said about how important it is to reflect on the shit u did bad just like it's important to celebrate ur successes well HERE IS I CELEBRATING WOW??? MUCH CELEBRATION???? SUCH HAPPY??? VERY RESULTS WOW????? (im goign to read this post in 2 years time and hvae no idea why i was talking so weird, ok no i didnt have a stroke future!vicky, pls remember DOGE) ok so ms moy was discussing how english teachers rank the papers and i was sitting there like ah well that's depressing i dont want to be compared with everyone else in the class especially as there are such ridic amazing ppl in our class since it just emphasizes how much i didnt deserve the eng prize last year and ive actually been feeling really shitty in english this year and like im not doing very good in my prev-best subject?? so i think i really needed this boost??? i got a 19 out of 20 for the paper 1 which was what they ranked and ms moy said that i had the best understanding of the text in the class and i was like IS DIS REAL LIFE but trying to keep cool and not make an ass of myself (which is kinda what i am doing on this blog post atm but whatevs SAFE PLACE) but yeah mm im pretty stoked aye. not sure i deserve it lol but i'm not going to ruin a good thing with a negative attitude towards myself so YAY ENGLISH SUCCESSES!!!!!!!

also, this was really good because it was the first thing i told my parents when they asked about results and it cast a positive light on all my other shittier marks because they were just like "oh that's not bad, WOW VICKY U R SO AMAZING" and i was like hehe m a n i p u l a t i o n

2. ib closeness

i know one of the negs of ib is that you get cut off from the rest of the year level but at the same time you also get so close with the 30 people in your ib cohort and it's so lovely because we're just like one big very loud family who supports each other in breakdowns and panic attacks and see each other everyday in so many classes. in most of my classes in the years before, i never felt that sort of camaraderie, in fact most of the time i didn't feel comfortable in lots of my classes because i just never talked to half of the people in the class ever because we ran in different circles and sat on opposite sides of the class. i think art was the class where this was the least prominent due to the chill nature of the subject and the constant interaction with random people around the room, but everything else - english, maths (year 12s and yr11s in the class), bio, chem/phys, french - i never really got to know lots of people in the class. on the other hand, with IB, there's always some form of interaction with everyone and it's just so NICE. 

today's morning tea was extended due to the teachers having a thing, so lots of us just gathered in our french class and hung out (i can't say we "chilled" in the room because the atmosphere of that room wasn't "chill" it was "HYPER", so we ... hypered?). and then at lunch a portion of us sat out in the sun and whatnot. we're trying to organise an ib dinner + catching fire for friday night since exams are over, and i hope it actually happens hahaha i need it desperately

3. jades bday

couldn't do anything special for jade since she's still on exams and we have school atm, but i made a 10 page mock-powerpoint presentation thing (u know those ones on tumblr) but i fell asleep and had a long ass 4 hour nap which meant i posted it at like, 11:30pm with only 30 minutes left of her bday ugh i suck hahaha. also im regretting using up all my ammo of bad photos (for izzys bday as well) bcs NOW I HAVE NOTHING FOR 18THS NEXT YEAR UGH

here are a few of my fave slides

supermathematician

18/11/2013

maths tomorrow LAST ONE YEY
im fecked????????? like w o w guise exams are not going v well

1. french was today, it wasn't TOO bad, but i have very low standards for myself for french lol. not expecting good marks (i see a trend here with all my exams)

2. lol my brother dropped his phone into the toilet. this is the SECOND TIME

3. cathee was helping everyone out on the ib page with maths problems so i made a thing

analyse this, bitch!

13/11

MMM QUICK UPDATE TO WAKE ME UP:

THIS IS ALL IN CAPS BECAUSE I FEEL THAT THIS LANGUAGE DEVICE EFFECTIVELY SHOWS THE TONE OF THE NARRATOR BY EXPRESSING THE PANIC THAT THE NARRATOR FEELS CURRENTLY OVER HER STATE OF EXAMS. THE WRITER'S PURPOSE IN THIS TEXT IS TO HIGHLIGHT HOW FUCKED SHE IS FOR EXAMS AT THE MO AND HOW THIS IS VERY VERY VERY VERY BAD

1. I HAD HISTORY TODAY. THE HISTORY DPTMT WAS MEAN AND GAVE US A SHITLOAD OF QUESTIONS THAT WERE ALL QUESTIONS THAT WE HAVENT REALLY WRITTEN ESSAYS ON (IE NOT STRAIGHTFORWARD ONES LIKE "ANALYSE THE CAUSES OF A CIVIL WAR' INSTEAD IT WAS "ANALYSE THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL POLICIES OF A TWENTIETH CENTRUY WAR" AND I WAS LIKE ERRRRRR PANIC PANIC PANIC UM HOLD ON HOW IS THIS A POSITIVE THING I CANT REMEMBER UH WELL I DID FINISH IN TIME, WHICH WAS GOOD? BUT I WAS SO STRESSED OUT AND OVERWHELMED BY THE END OF IT THAT MY HANDWRITING WAS SO FAINT AND SHAKY AND MY HAND WASN'T PHYISCALLY ABLE TO MOVE ANY FASTER AND I GENUINELY FELT LIK I WAS GOING TO PASS OUT LIKE NOT EVEN A JOKING EXAGGERATION OF "HEHE WAS GONNA PASS OUT" BUT LEGITIMATELY FELT LIGHT HEADED AND LIKE I WAS SEEING BLACK SPOTS IN MY VISION AND SHIT . HISTORY WAS A BAD DECISION PEOPLE

2. WENT TO LIBRARY TODAY AND GOT SO IN THE ZONE FOR CHEM AND THEN FINISHED MY TEST PAPER AND THEN GOT SO OUT THE ZONE LOL I HAD TO MOVE SEATS CUZ THE GUY BEHIND ME WAS DOING A WEIRD THING WHERE HE WAS MUTTERING AND WHIMPERING TO HIMSELF AND IT WAS REALLY DISTRACTING SO I MOVED ELSEWHERE AND THERE WERE REALLY HOT GUYS THERE AND THAT WAS REALLY DISTRACTING AS WELL SO UH YEAH NOT REALLY EFFICIENT STUDY FOR AN HOUR OR SO

3. MUM JUST DELIVERED ME SOME STRAWBERRIES INTO MY ROOM WHICH WOKE ME UP SO GOD BLESS HER



I HAD ENG SCHOL ON TUESDAY. LETS NOT TALK ABOUT IT.... BIO SCHOL TOMORROW AND IB ENGLISH EXAM HEHEHE IM SO FUCKED IM GONNA CRY. GUESS HOW MUCH CHEM IVE GONE THROUGH? ONE TOPIC. OUT OF NINE. GUESS HOW MUCH BIO IVE GONE THROUGH? ONE AND A HALF TOPICS. OUT OF EIGHT. GUESS WHEN THOSE EXAMS ARE? FRIDAY.... HA HAH HAHA H AH A H AH A HA HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


IN OTHER NEWS, LACHIE ASKED MEI WHO SHE WAS/HOW THEY KNEW EACH OTHER IN FACEBOOK CHAT AND SHE PANICKED TO THE POINT WHERE SHE SWITCHED OFF HER WIFI AND 3G TO MAKE SURE SHE APPEARED OFFLINE HAHAHAHA AND SHE STILL HASNT REPLIED IM STILL LAUGHING ABOUT IT TBH

labyrinth of books and caffeine-strung students

10/11/2013

hello friends! once again i have neglected u for a wee while but dont fret i am here again!!! hopefully i will be able to continue this through exam week (heh who am i kidding)

i have been sleeping at 2am every night which is honestly confuddling me because i don't know how i fell into this habit, but i think im going to make a conscious effort to sort out my sleeping schedules from today on. TODAY!!!!! I HVE WRITTEN IT DOWN AND IT IS IN THE BLOGOSPHERE AND IT IS GOING TO HAPPENNNNNNN

1. went to library for some study (after bio schol which was kinda not that useful tbh, and i was half an hour late) and i was very productive!!!! finally got my shit together for bio's chem of life topic so um, 2 topics down, 5 more to go??? ha. haha. im so screwed. like amy said today, at this point, our studying is more "damage control" to minimise the extent of failing in the exams, rather than studying for excellent marks

2. at the library not only was nicole and i there, but jade had been there with lauren since 9ish, and later mei popped in and surprised nicole and i, and then i got a snapchat where cherry was like "in general library" and i was like wtf where r u sO AM I and she was on the fourth floor (whereas i was on the fifth) and later when nicole and i went downstairs to find her i think she was sitting directly under where i was sitting on the level above!!!

also, nicole and i were coming back up from visiting cherry and i went into the bathroom while she went ahead back to our desks, but when i came out of the cubicle she was standing there and i was like "er what are u doing" and she was like ".... i dont know where we were sitting. i got lost...." and i fucking died hahahaha u literally have two options of turn left or turn right and she turned right instead of left and was like "this isnt right?" and just didnt bother to go to the left side omg

3. it was a really nice day and nicole and i had lunch out in albert park under a cute tree and ate sushi and tested each other on organic chem hehehe romantic

#4 OH OHOH OH when i was waiting for my mum to pick me up (my bus was due in 20 minutes hell no not waiting for that amount of time... ive been spoiled by 10 minute b-line waits lol) i went into starbucks to do a bit of chem reading while i waited, and there was this guy sitting in front of me-ish and he was on his laptop and he got up and left his seat and his laptop was still open on this chick's facebook page whose dp and cover photo were both professional-looking photos of her in lingerie posing sexily on a bed and i was like TRYING TO CONTAIN MY LAUGHTER?????? scuse me 40 year old man watchu doin bro at least change tabs or something hahaha. at least he's taking full advantage of starbucks' free wifi



how did my extra #4 become longer than all my other 3 things........

the irony of stressing over studying stress

5/11/2013

Oops i forgot to do one yesterday :( I've really fallen out of the rhythm of this!!

1. in the midst of doing 5 hours of french for tomorrows interactive oral exam and even though i'm still thoroughly screwed for tomorrow and in no way feeling prepared, i think the amount of writing + planning ive done today has been really helpful in terms of my writing ability which is of course, good for exams. So, unintentional study, I guess? I really do enjoy french when I'm doing it at my own pace and am allowed the freedom to screw up and speak slowly and use google translate hahaha. It's just in class where I feel a little shitty about my capabilities. Hopefully I'll get into habits of putting more work into french and it'll pay off? I've always found that I never really put much effort into studying for French so that explains why it's one of my worst subjects. Interesting how the cycle is: good at subject -> likes subject -> spends more time on subject -> improves on subject -> consistently good at subject but being bad at a subject just leads to being consistently bad at the subject.... Humans are weird, man.

2. a thing happened today in the reading room that made me happy although it followed a not-very-happy thing but it involved a sweet note folded into a paper plane that was flown to me :')

3. i think(hope) i helped out a friend today over something really significant and it's not really a "positive" thing but it's something i really really am glad I did.

knowledge on homoerotic subtext will always come in handy

3/11/13

Today was my mum's birthday! Happy Birthday Mum!!!!!!!!!

1. Chillin with ma mere in the morning and giving her my card (i wrote a cute lame juvenile-rhyming poem for her) and then later tonight lol'ing about pregnancy and giving birth (since it's her BIRTHday) over birthday cheesecake hehe

2. At eng schol workshop, teacher was trying to get us to say what the word was when there are hidden meanings in a text and I suddenly thought of "homoerotic subtext" and said "subtext" and it was right and i was trying so hard not to laugh ONCE AGAIN HOMOEROTIC SUBTEXT COMES IN TO SAVE THE DAY god bless my education from supernatural

3. eng schol workshop was actually very helpful but i have been reminded of how unprepared and shitty i am compared to everyone else who takes it and was at the workshop, which is rather concerning but i hope i can cram enough in a weeks time to be up to standards???? fuck hahaha

catchin up on lost bloggin times

well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I'm so so sorry that I've been so neglectful. Really, there isn't much of an excuse. I have, however, noticed that these couple of weeks I've been feeling rather down, so I'm going to attribute some of that to the fact that I've been less positive due to my neglect of this 3 things project, and also because I've been focusing on my stress and stressing about stress (I'm sure you know what I mean).

Okay, brief run through on what you've missed out on since the holidays (wow that seems like a lifetime ago...)

• did SATS. Saw maria (yr13) and prim there which was cool cuz I could chill with other people. Didn't find it too bad and was quite happy I finished everything on time. 
• got SAT results. uh. nooooooooooooope, going to have to definitely improve A LOT (especially in writing lol fml). I'm rather worried that I'm not going to improve much and that this is basically the level I'm always going to be at, but I am relying on the fact that I hadn't done much preparation for my first SAT (does doing 5 full practice exams in timed conditions in the week before the test count as sufficient practice? .... hope not)
• like, the only time i went out in the holidays was to have brunch with elaine, jade and cerys which was super nice and relaxing and my fIRST TIME HAVING BRUNCH EVER and i got waffles and it was yum
• First week of school and ever since then i've been SO BUSY IT ACTUALLY PAINS ME like i don't even have time to watch 40 minutes of supernatural like i used to because every second counts and it's one week before exams and i've barely begun studying and i want to cry aND DO U SEE WHY I'M STRESSED OUT
• um that first week of school was ridiculous it was basically: tok essay, history essay, french speech, maths assignment, bio test, chem chem chem, everY IMAGINABLE THING POSSIBLE
• mock exams were lol and i bombed english schol and i did really well in bio schol but only because our teachers told us everything that was going to be in the exam due to our disadvantage as not only yr12 students but ib students who had joined the course really late. so yeah, i did really well but I WONDER WHY
• I GOT INTO ROTARY SCIENCE AND TECH FORUM WHICH WAS THE MOST EXCITING THING EVER OMFG they didnt send an email like i was expecting!! instead it was a mailed letter that had been sitting on my dining room table for 2 days and no one told me and my mum was like "hey vicky btw u have a letter here" and i was like "oh ok weird" and i opened it and saw the header was rotary and looked at the first word of the letter which was "congratulations!" and started screaming
• also i wanted to tell yall a story that i thought was really cute about my parents back in the day
• my dad used to always bike around everywhere and he would bike to other cities and shit while my mum and all their friends would take the train like normal human beings. there was one instance when my dad and my mum were newly married where my mum went to the town where her parents lived to do some work-related business and she didn’t come home to shanghai on the day she was supposed to (because she was enjoying the time off lol) and the house didn't have phones or anything because they had just moved houses. so, my dad started getting worried and they didnt have overnight busses or cars or anything so he BIKED from 5pm from shanghai to their city (wuzhou i think?) and he arrived on my mum’s parents’ doorstep at 4am the next day and they were like "WTF HOW DID U EVEN GET HERE?"!!!! omg so romantic!!! i die!!!! and all their workfriends found out and they were like lol ur husband so strooong can bike to different cities for 11hours!!!!!!!!!
• prank day on last friday. i got so pwned :'( mrs flint actually said we could have friday morning practice off, but the yr13s objected saying that they had plans for us so we had to have a practice, so we agreed on having a fifteen minute practice from 8am to 8:15am just so the yr13s could ambush us when we left the building. HOW RIDICULOUS HAHA. Anyway, when we got there, turns out mrs flint locked herself out of her house and didnt have her car keys either so she couldnt get to school. which meant the yr13s were just waiting downstairs with us with their guns and whatnot and when there was enough of us they just said "ok, come on, it's time" and led us outside to get pummelled. Basically i got attacked by waterguns filled with sprite, green creaming soda (that shit stains), as well as bottles of maple syrup, jam, and lots and lots of cream and shaving cream (especially in my hair). I pretty much smelt like a really overwhelmingly sweet dessert. i think i had a shaving cream afro as there was SO MUCH OF IT IN MY HAIR. I really didn't have it as bad as other people like the boarders who had cans of tuna and dog food and tanning oil smeared in their hair and on their clothes ewwww????
• oh also, winnie if ur reading this: 
• this comment
• 
• sobbing 5eva

I'm Vicky, head cheerleader, homecoming queen, part-time witty fb commentor

15/10/2013

1. English Scholarship mock exam wasn't too terrible, but it was about the difficulty I was expecting. I managed to finish in time which is already an improvement from midyears! Also managed to remember quotes and didn't fully blank on texts. If you're interested, for section B I wrote an essay on the topic of how poetry contains stories that must be interpreted (or something like that), and I used Still I Rise by Maya Angelou and Morning Song by Sylvia Plath. Then in Section C the topic I chose was on whether the aesthetic of a text was more important than the morality of it, and I argued that the writer's ideas were more important however the use of language was important in effectively establishing these ideas. I used Gatsby most of the information I had for it was from my cramming session the night before on Sparknotes hahahaa. In Section A it took me ages to actually understand what was happening in the first unfamiliar text piece and I didn't get started until 15 minutes in. All in all, hand was sore as shit at the end of the exam but other than that I came out of the hall not feeling too bad. Of course, that in itself is pretty concerning since whenever I come out of an exam feeling alright, it's because I did HORRENDOUSLY.

2. Cute lunchtime where a lot of the IB girls just gathered in the Y12 comm since everyone else is on exams right now. I love our cohort ^_^

3. Biology was literally just Ms Olsen giving out photos she printed out (from Ball, Metagenomics day, class, etc) and then after that a group of us were just playing with photobooth taking stupid chipmunk photos hahaha. We had a seat reassignment which was a little annoying because I liked sitting at the front with Nicole, and funnily enough I drew out a seat number right next to Joanna which was like DANGER DANGER BAD!!! As much as I love Jo's company, I think I love it too much to the point where if I sat next to her I would get NO WORK DONE. She seems to understand that we mess around way too much when we sit together (it's happened before in every class I've sat next to her in) but I hope I didn't make her upset by asking to swap with someone else!!

EXTRA #4 ON LACHIE: (yes your favourite part of the 3 things +1) okay so darryn texted me all like "what year did fi*** (lachie's gf who went to my school) graduate" and I guessed and said why dont you just ask Lachie and he was like "lol Lachie's right behind me now" "he says hi ;) and says 'ohh Vicky the witty fb commentor!'" VICKY THE WITTY FB COMMENTOR !!! NOT ONLY HAS MY EXISTENCE BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED BUT MY NAME IS ALSO KNOWN NOW GOD BLESS HALLELUJAH DREAMS CAN COME TRUE!!!! Anyway, I was pretty convinced that darryn was just making shit up to see me get all panicked and fangirly so I called him out on his shit and he was like "nah we're in his car having a gooooooooood chat ;) " AND THE USE OF WINKY FACE AND EMPHASIS ON GOOD REALLY CONCERNED ME BECAUSE GODDAMN IT WHAT ARE U INSINUATING HERE U ASSHOLE???? And then he texted "yeah, didn't add coz ur still in highschool" and I don't know whether he was fuckign with me or if ?!?!?!?!?!?!? SCREAMING!!!!!!!! My doubts of whether darryn was even with Lachie at all were put to rest cuz he told me their choir was together to support Lachie's honours recital and so I was like ah well story checks out so I told darryn to "tell him that witty fb girl wishes him luck" and Lachie replied "churr"... CHURR?!?!? WHO THE FUCK SAYS CHURR HAHAHA GODDAMIT HE' SPEAKS LIKE A BOGAN fml. but uh COMMUNICATION, PEOPLE!!!!!!! IT'S A THING THAT IS HAPPENING.

you must be a choir director because you make my heart sing!

OKAY
SO
A THING HAPPENED
A LACHIE THING
AND TBH HALF THE PEOPLE READING MY BLOG ALREADY PROBABLY KNOW ABOUT IT VIA TWITTER OR ON FB BUT FOR MEANS AND PURPOSES UR GONNA GET IT AGAIN

Well, I was innocently just scrolling down my facebook news feed when sUDDENLY A WILD LACHLAN APPEARS??? WhERE??!?! COMMENTING ON KELLY'S PHOTO

I
SCREAMED

NOT OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LET'S JUST UNDERSTAND THAT FB IS WHERE IM P MUCH ALWAYS STALKING LACHIE SO TO SEE HIM ON COMMENTING ONE OF MY FRIEND'S PHOTOS WAS REALLY REALLY REALLY STRANGE. Well, that's a bit of a pathetic word to use to describe it, but what I'm trying to say is that it definitely caught me off guard.

anyway i was laughing/freaking about it when joanna commented on the photo and i chatted her and was like "dO YOU SEE THE PERSON WHO COMMENTED 2 COMMENTS BEFORE U" and she was like "HOLY SHYET MOTHERFXCKING OH GOD" and thus began the next hour or so of complete insanity.

this is the product.

okay, first of all "swag talk"?! ..... really?!

and when i liked jo's comment and LACHLAN LIKED HER COMMENT this is a thing that happened and nicole screenshotted it and said we should frame it

AND THEN I POSTED MY THING (WHICH TOOK A FUCKTON OF COURAGE OK) AND HE LIKED IT AND I NEARLY FELL OFF MY CHAIR

THERE WAS SO MUCH CAPSLOCK GOING ON BETWEEN JO AND I IN CHAT AND I CANT BELIEVE SHE ACTUALLY HAD THE BALLS TO COMMENT THAT I MEAN SHES P MUCH HITTING ON HIM???????? AFTER A LOT OF "OMG DO IT DO IT DO ITDOOO IIITTT"S SHE DID IT AND IT WAS FANTASTIC IT WAS GLORIOUS AND THEN HE LIKED IT AND SHE NEARLY SHAT HERSELF AND SO DID I. AND THEN JO WAS LIKE GURL IT'S YOUR MOMENT THIS IS UR MOMENT AND AFTER MUCH COLLABORATION JOSH GAVE ME A PUN AND I DID IT AND LACHIE LIKED IT AND I FUCKING /?!?!?!?!?1?1?1? INTERACTION?!?!?!?! 

Oh before jo commented her first thing, I was asking around twitter what I should comment to catch Lachie's attention and Josh suggested I reply to "Clinton your duckface is so engaging," with

I just thought I would share that with you.

Other honourable mentions

Goddamn I was laughing so unbelievably hard tonight at this my stomach was hurting so bad and I was doing these scream laughs and whenever someone would try to talk to me I'd have this "I-sound-like-im-about-to-burst-into-tears-but-really-im-trying-not-to-laugh" voice and Amy actually came in worried to see if I was alright or having a nervous breakdown hahahah



Poor guy was probably so confused on why so many teenage girls were making bad puns around him...

swinging party

10/10/2013

1. BROS CATCHIN UP 

Hung out with Sueyeon today, but unfortunately did not have a sleepover :( feels weird not having a sleepover since it's become a tradition for us. I think we've had one every holiday break for the past 3 years or something?

We were supposed to meet at 12 but then her bus was late and I forgot my wallet and had to turn the car around and drive home to get it ugh. When we met we bought the tickets to gravity and went to get lunch. Walked to faro but sueyeon didn't want Korean so we went to the Chinese place next to it which was cheaper even! Had a nice lunch and got to catch up. It's really interesting looking around at the tables and seeing people sitting opposite each other but not talking, instead looking at their phones!! What has society become :O

I ordered some beef shit with bones that were securely strapped onto the meat via tendon so I had a lot of trouble trying to actually eat. After lunch we went to this costume shop thing and fucked around in there because we're THOSE teens. You know, the annoying ones in the shop who are laughing too loud and trying on the costume masks and taking photos and trying to have sword fights? Yeah. What little shits. (Sorry)
Got some lollies from the supermarket and then went to the cinemas... GRAVITY IS MEEEAAANNNN!!!! We didn't watch in 3d or Imax which I kinda regret because the visual effects were ridonk!!!!

After the movie we bussed to my place and decided to go be dumb at the park and go on the swings and shit. I MISS BEING A KID!!! Definitely felt 10 years old by being on a park playground. Swings are pretty great imo because they make u feel invisible and like u can fly and touch the skyyyyy. Also, the repetitive motion of it is super relaxing.... I recommend swinging during exam week to reduce stress.

Walked back to my house and didn't want to do shit all inside so we played 1v1 soccer in my neighbours driveway hehe. We also got a cricket bat out and tried cricket but I think we were even worse at cricket than at soccer if that's even possible...  Felt good doing active things! I don't usually do anything active when friends are over, in fact its usually the opposite on the health scale ie eating a lot of junk and marathoning movies/shows. This felt like the beginning of summer though :)


2. I WATCHED AMERICAN HORROR STORY COVEN AND IT WAS REALLY GOOD WOW!!! Wasn't into murder house very much and stopped after like, ep5 and didnt watch s2 but coven seemed cool and it dEFINITELY WAS!!!

3. ugh idk can the big long #1 post count as two things (it was all yesterday and a lot of excitement has happened since can u blame my poor memory)

SAT Essay #3 - The Power of Knowledge

Knowledge is power. In agriculture, medicine, and industry, for example, knowledge has liberated us from hunger, disease, and tedious labor. Today, however, our knowledge has become so powerful that it is beyond our control. We know how to do many things, but we do not know where, when, or even whether this know-how should be used.

Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?

If "knowledge is power" then the same could be said that "ignorance is bliss". But who wants to be labelled as "ignorant"? Knowledge is imperative for the development of society. It is the way we come to understand the world and ourselves. However, knowledge can be misused and can result in dire consequences. Knowledge is indeed powerful, and so humanity must be cautious of the way we use our knowledge.

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2 proves that sometimes knowledge carries enormous burdens. In this case, the invention of the atomic bomb resulted in millions dead. The extent of the decimation caused by the bombs rendered the world to stop and reconsider the boundaries needed to be set in regards to weapons of mass destruction. Scientific knowledge was used to create these weapons, and though the same scientific knowledge can be attributed to amazing discoveries in sustainability and modern medicine, the way this knowledge was used in World War 2 was hugely negative.

On the other hand, our pursuit for knowledge is the only way we can move forward. The events of the Japanese bombing led to an increase of awareness on weapons of mass destruction. From it, the world was able to move forward and ensure that the horrific spectacle would not be repeated. It is true that with our capacity for knowledge, we often do not know what possible consequences they entail. However with these new discoveries, we uncover more ways to improve ourselves and grow as a community.

Knowledge can be a burden when it is misused, and we may never truly understand the ways our discoveries could cause harm in the future. Yet the benefits of knowledge and its ability to allow us to grow ultimately outweighs its disadvantages.

SAT Essay #2 - A Responsibility for the People or the Government?

Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general? 

 Individuals have the ability to make a difference in their community, however, on a nationwide scale, it is ultimately the government's duty to take responsibility. People in political power have the means to reach out to the whole population and encourage unity to promote change. Unfortunately, a lone individual without a significant social status cannot achieve this.

In the mid-twentieth century, Mao Zedong and his communist party in China enforced the 'First Five Year Plan' amongst the people of China. This was a scheme that unified China as a whole, and all workers had the same goal of improving  China's economy through rapid industrialisation and agriculture. The government had the power to band the nation's people together with the aim of solving one of China's economic problems. In the end, this 'First Five Year Plan' was successful, but not without the government's leadership and the people's involvement.

Personally, I have witnessed and participated in volunteer programs in my community, and I have seen the progress that has been made. However, many of the programmes I have been involved with are, in fact, organised by the New Zealand Government's Department of Conservation. These programmes rely on the services of people like myself to create positive change. Without the government, these programmes would not be available and the problem would still be there. This doesn't mean that I, as a member of my community, am not taking action. It is merely because I do not have the power or resources to establish the programme in the first place.

Therefore, I believe that individuals are able to aid in the community, however it is the government's responsibility to provide opportunities for its population to take action and solve the nation's problems.

SAT Essay #1 - Questioning Authority

Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority? 

 I have always believed that the ultimate way to think critically and to develop one's individual perspectives in life is through the constant questioning of the world around us. Hence, the act of challenging the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority is something I regard to be not only an act of courage, but also an act that encourages personal growth and development.

In George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', the protagonist Wilfred Owen finds himself questioning the society he lives in. The totalitarian government - led by the omnipresent 'Big Brother' - watches every movement and every interaction. Owen sees the decietful nature of the government and secretly wishes to rebel and bring the party down. On the other hand, his colleagues at the Ministry of Truth do not outwardly demonstrate any resistance to the party's actions. In fact, they obey the party and Big Brother without question and believe everything the Party says. Orwell enables the reader to view these 'loyal' citizens with incredulity for their blind faith and their ability to delude themselves, as shown by their willingness to accept changes in who Oceania is at war with - Eurasia or Eastasia. In comparison, Owen's ability to think critically of the party is a characteristic we as a reader admire and learn from. It is better to question the world around us than to follow blindly like sheep.

From my personal experience, I have learnt a similar lesson through my 'Theory of Knowledge' curriculum in school. In this class we are encouraged to question how we come to know things, and why knowledge should be believed in the first place. This is relevant because often in a learning environment, students are merely sponges, absorbing information needed for tests and examinations but never wondering if this information is truly accurate. Students obey their teachers - people holding a position of authority - and anyone who challenges the content they are learning is often deemed troublesome. Luckily, I do not have to face this close-mindedness. In fact, through my critical thinking, I have found that my learning experiences have been more fulfilling and my enjoyment in classes has increased exponentially.

People who are brave enough to question the ideas and decisions of people in authority are often punished for their criticisms. However, ultimately this ability to think for ourselves instead of blindly following what we are told is what enriches our lives and encourages our personal growth.

tolstoy text it

26/09/2013

it is 2:30am and i have choir tmrw lol this should be interesting...
I missed yesterday's post due to priorities (chem test, sleep) so I really didn't want to miss today as well!

Just as a thing for yesterday: I WENT TO WATCH WICKED (which was why I had no time to blog bcs I got home at 11 and needed to CRAM FOR CHEM) AND OH MY GOD IT WAS SO AMAZING PLEASE GO WATCH IT IF U HAVE $50 LYING AROUND, SERIOUSLY IT IS SO WORTH IT, I LOVED IT I LOVED IT I LOVED IT SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH IT WAS AMAZING

1. History shared lunch and watching anna karenina. A couple of us watched all through lunchtime (I cancelled my tutoring session for it hahaha) and since it was just us, we were shouting at the screen through the movie and oh my god there is this one bit where they're communicating through this game with blocks where you spell out the words from the first letters of each word in a sentence and it's just SO LONG. We were like "YOU COULDVE USED THE SCREENTIME FOR SOMETHING ELSE" and it was so funny and just went on forever and it ended with them spelling out "ILY" through the blocks and we just LOST OUR SHIT IT WAS SO FUNNY OH MY GOD I'M PRETTY SURE TOLSTOY DIDN'T WRITE ILY IN ANNA KARENINA AND IT WASN'T AN INTENTIONAL TEXT-SPEAK THING BUT THAT JUST MADE IT FUNNIER

also, mmf aaron johnson (despite the gross moustache and hair)

2. maths test results came back and it went pretty alright! Paper One was like... below my usual standards but considering i was expecting a total fail, I'm still quite happy with it. Really satisfied with Paper 2 hehe 23/26 (and the 3 marks were off things I completely had not encountered/did not know how to do previously so I'm alg with it because learning processes and all that)

3. I MADE A REALLY GOOD PUN IN ENGLISH TODAY OMFG. Ms Moy said she didn't like Keira knightley's films just because it's keira knightley and i was like "....so do you have a PREJUDICE against keira knightley?" and then i lost my shit (cerys' laugh was so funny omg) and ms moy looked so confused and i was like "pride and prejudice" and she was like ohhhhhh and just kinda put her head in her hands and everyne was like ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and i was so pleased with myself hehehe

extra #4: I managed to get up early today (6am is really fucking early for me) so that I could study for chem and it felt good to be up at that time!!! So much less stressful in the morning... Might start doing it more often next term me thinks

blossom (not the powerpuff girl)

23/09/2013

1. I had an orthodontist appointment in the morning and when I got to school, I had to go past the quad to get to the iona centre and there were CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN BLOOM and I was in such an odd mood what with being super sleep deprived but strung up on caffeine that I saw them and just started giggling to myself and couldn't stop grinning because I LOVE CHERRY BLOSSOMS!!! I must have been a strange sight.... I feel like today and yesterday have really made it clear that it is officially spring and I adore it, I really do.

2. SHIT BIO IS INTERESTING THESE DAYS!!! Doing pathogens right now. It was a little difficult to follow today because I was only half concentrating on the lesson because the other half of my focus was with me trying to BREATHE PROPERLY because I had a blocked/runny nose (from sneezing lol) and I didn't want to leave the room to blow it because I didn't want to miss vital new information. In retrospect, if I just took 2 minutes to go and sort it out I probably could have concentrated better hahaha, ah well.

3. I FUCKING WROTE OUT MY BIG SING BLOG POST (FINALLY) AND THE AMOUNT OF LACHIE RELATED FANGIRLING THAT I HAD IN MY DIARY PUT ME ON THE FUCKING FLOOR OH MY GOD IT'S SO HILARIOUSLY MORTIFYING I'M SO SORRY EVERYONE

LINK: Big Sing Blog Post

I FINALLY WROTE OUT MY BIG SING BLOG POST! It took me two and a half hours.....

I've made it so that it's been dated at a time more close to the actual event, so here's the link, if you want to read it:

http://vickyahhh.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/big-sing-2013.html

http://vickyahhh.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/big-sing-2013.html

http://vickyahhh.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/big-sing-2013.html

chapel chenanigans

22/09/2013

1. PRODUCTIVITY FUCK YEAH MOTHERFUCKER!!!! Well, sort of. I spent most the day pretty on task and did a lot of french vocab + maths study, but both of those take a shitload of time for me to actually do in comparison to other people, I've noticed.

2. Was meant to have chapel and meet with choir at 8:30 but I have become immune to my alarm clock and woke up at 9:10am from my mum knocking on my door and being like "ARENT U SUPPOSED TO BE SOMEWHERE THIS MORNING?" and I SCREAMED "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and right at that moment, Cherry called me and was like "hey where are you" and I was like "I AM VERY FUCKING LATE APPARENTLY!!!!!". So I got ready rapid-fast, and while I was in the bathroom Calypso called me while I was in mid-pee and I panicked and had to deliberate whether it would be gross if I answered and decided that, uh, yeah probably. I came up with some bullshit excuse about being knocked out from medicine since I was sick (cough cough) just in case Flinty was being told information.

Then when I actually got to school, it was literally 3 minutes before chapel was about to start, and all the Saints girls were waiting outside as usual, and I RAN OUT OF MY CAR BEFORE IT EVEN FULLY STOPPED AND I WAS LIKE "SORRY SORRY SORRY OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY" and Flinty was laughing and I was super surprised because I totally expected her to be raging but she actually helped me out of my blazer and put my blazer away in the chapel for me and I was predominantly feeling the emotion of "AWWWWWWWWWWWW GB" but with hints of  "she seems WAY too chill about all these incidents of me arriving SUPER late to things I think she's planning something... aka my death"

OH ALSO, at the morning tea after chapel, the all-powerful lynda came up to me and sophie and she asked what our plans for today were and I was like "well I have a maths test tomorrow so I'll be studying for that" and she was like oh you need to enjoy some of this wonderful weather and I was like mmkay will do and I asked her what she was doing for the rest of the day and had a brief moment of panic where I wondered if I overstepped my boundaries but then she was very willing to share how she had shittons of work from the board and how she was also renovating her house AND ALL THROUGH THIS SHE WAS VERY VERY CLOSE TO US. I think many teachers seriously do not understand the concept of personal space hahaha...

3. THE WEATHER WAS SO NICE AND WARM AND SUNNY AND BLUE-SKIED TODAY AND IT MADE ME SO HAPPY!!!!!!! I was doing my work with my window open and sun shining on my face and I even made a berry smoothie in the afternoon and IT FELT LIKE SUMMER!!!!!!!!!! And then the sunset made my room way too bright and hot and orange and I got sleepy and accidentally fell asleep for more than an hour, so that's probably where a lot of my study time went today!!

maths making me its bitch

21/09/2013

waaah it's late! I have chapel tomorrow morning SIGH

1. took forever on a maths question and then FELT THE WONDERFUL SATISFACTION OF FIGURING IT OUT FINALLY AFTER HOURS AND HOURS YESSSSSS (I realised today that I take way too long doing maths questions woah). I have a test on Monday and really need to redeem myself after my last test result :S

2. i watched an episode of suits. donna is amazing and her sass are my GOALS

3. re-established conversation with a friend I haven't talked to in a while (well, not actually that long but I had been chatting them really frequently for a longggg time and hadn't for like, a week and felt bad over it)

extra 4:

lapel ice

20/09/2013

*SCREAMS FROM FRUSTRATION* I actually already wrote this post last night at around 3am on my phone when I woke up (I fell asleep at 10 reading akutgawa-- party hard) BUT THEN I FORGOT TO SAVE THE POST AND THIS MORNING IT WAS GONE so I'm pretty pissed off hahaha

1. Cultural Honours

Bling bling for the blazer!!!! Mum and I arrived at the cultural honours thingy and found out through the programme/cathee that I had received three cultural honours awards! YAY! That may seem a bit odd if you don't know how cultural honours works but what happens is that we don't find out how many awards/what awards we get until the night of. I actually applied for four but missed out on getting debating because apparently you also need to have done service to the school (eg coach a team/adjudicate) which is fair enough I guess! So, I ended up receiving honours for Chinese Culture (for CDG), Music (for choir), and Drama (for shakespeare soiree). Funny thing that I didn't realise was that no other Year 12s got more than 2 cultural honours except for me, and the other people who got three honours were all year 13s so I'm pretty stoked/surprised. Only four people got quadruple honours and they were Brit, Pooja, Anty, and Sabrina. I'm in awe of how Pooja got five cultural honours last year in year 12!! CRAZY!!!!

When we first got there, I felt bad about leaving mum alone so I hung with her and we both stuffed our faces lol and then I ran into Nicole and her dad, and her dad and my mum were classmates so I was like HEY LOOK MUM, HERE IS A PERSON YOU MAY CONVERSE WITH and I ditched and hung out with friends. (I did however check up on her to see if she was suffering from social awkwardness/running out of things to discuss with Nicole's dad but mum was like IM FINE so I gapped again lol)

To start off the award presentation there were four performances. Samoan group (missing half their members and their drummer!), Ling and Cerys's dance (my mum thought it was incredible and I couldn't agree more), Mel's (Y13) monologue from Hamlet (mum later complained about how she couldn't understand anything she said and I was like mum, it's shakespeare, 90% of the audience didn't understand what she was saying don't worry), and a piano piece from Sylvia (MIND BLOWING OMFG).

2. I actually read Hell Screen and Spinning Gears I'm so proud of myself for finally getting it done omfg now I actually know what is going on in english class

3. idk TOK was pretty interesting I guess. TOK is nearly always interesting lol. Ms B told us about her life in South Africa and how someone can get desensitized to violence and I felt like a lot of it was super applicable to how I've been feeling about our history classes lately what with studying Stalin and hearing about how he approved the execution of around 3000 people all in one day. I JUST REALLY ENJOY LEARNING ABOUT HUMANITYYYYYYYY

tugging on my heart strings

19/09/2013

1. 20/20 in french vocab test can i get a hallelujah?!?!?!?! let's hope it carries on to next week's test...

2. bio dissection of heart and lungs. SO interesting this time around compared to the last time I did it in Year 9/10, because Mrs O did our first incision which meant we were actually able to see certain things in the heart instead of totally butchering it. Heart strings are such fantastic little things imo. I really love the heart, it's incredible.

3. history got really intense because we finished watching the stalin documentary and it was really depressing thinking about how many people he killed, and we were all getting really into comparing stalin with mao and hitler and wondering why stalin is barely ever seen to be more "evil" than hitler, and why mao is still to this day so openly celebrated in china, despite the part he played in killing off thousands and even millions of people. I just find the number of people Stalin sent to their gravesit pretty fucking unfathomable. Looking at those statistics disconnects us from actually thinking about the extent of the horrors and the individual human lives that were all lost. I know this isn't particularly positive, but from my perspective, I really enjoyed being in an environment where everyone was just as passionate and interested in the topic and where we could have an educated discussion and make links to try to understand these historical figures -- and if you want to get cheesy -- try to understand humanity better as well.

also, i got 15/16 for my history essay which is pretty good except I had high expectations to meet after my 17 from my first essay. sometimes i do feel like ms french marks low just to mark low, you know what I mean? But whatever, it's not like I worked particularly hard on the essay either way.

beauty of science and horrifying truth of history

18/09/2013

1. Lunch (including English shared lunch)

Went to watch the superhero debate in the library and I walked in and I saw Myron and I was like "??? omg hEYYYY!!!?!??!!!". Debate was pretty average but our side was quite entertaining at least. I'm surprised any AGS guys even bothered to do the debate considering they're on exams at the moment. Andy was also there but I kinda left to do my french when he was speaking.

Then at the English shared lunch, I pigged out so bad and I felt like a blob for the rest of the day. The platter of sushi from Ms M was depleted in 0.5 seconds, I'd say. Mmmmmm....

Cerys was being too pussy to eat the wasabi peas and it took her so much mental preparation and when she finally ate it she was like "oh" because it wasn't even that spicy hahahah.

2. Bio and History

Super interesting classes today! We were doing some new stuff about the circulatory system in bio which I'm really digging atm. I JUST REALLY ENJOY LEARNING ABOUT THE HUMAN BODY WHY CAN'T WE DO MORE OF IT!?!?!? Ms A did a geeky moment where she took a moment to appreciate how magnificent the human body is and how it barely fucks up even though it's totally susceptible to all types of errors, and I was p much in my head like GURL U GET ME, I FEEL U OK

And then in history we watched a doc thing on Stalin and WOW STALIN WAS A RUTHLESS MOTHERFUCKER but much like bio, I am finding Russia to be very interesting except I wish I could just get my shit together and catch up on all the readings and exercises in my workbooks/textbooks so I could feel better about history!! 

3. Afterschool

I was supposed to tutor Grace but she ditched for her history internal, so I ended up bumming around in the library, and ran into Xiwan who was seeking advice on her subjects for next year since she's doing IB, and somewhere along the way in the convo she was like "oh I aspire to be like you" and I was like (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

And then I went to the music department before choir and we made stupid songs with a guitar about eyelashes and libby and how green-is-not-a-creative-colour etc which was fun.