Going Back

So.

I'm going back to school tomorrow morning.

Shock. Horror. Nauseated face.

Not for a bad reason at all to be honest. Certainly, I'm not repeating Year 12 again. [the Good Lord forbid...] And I've definitely returned all my library books. :P

Nope, I'm going back for a 'Welcome Assembly'. Or a 'Come-back-and-brag to-the-School' Assembly as I like to call it. I don't want to do the bragging, but I do want to see friends again, especially since it's been a while. :P

Then I've got an entire day of work to look forward to. Whoop-dee-doo. But working Wednesday is great, so I'm not overly bothered. :P

AUD$40 Million draw tonight...who will win...?

ME?

Wishful thinking.

Oh my, I'm turning into a gambler! Mustn't play with lottery. Gambling, bad, very bad. Must...resist...urge...

Oh who'm I kidding. 40 million bucks!

And you're not going to win it.

I'm happy to win 50 dollars so that I can reimburse all my lost money when I spent it shopping.

That's what all the gamblers say.

No they don't!

Yes they do.

Oh alright, maybe. Some. So what?

Stop gambling!

Working at the lottery store is a dangerous gamble.

Pun not entirely intended.

Mishy <3

Well I'll Be Darned

This happened quite a while ago. Last year in fact. But it never fails to bring a smile to my face whenever I think about it.

Conversation at school:
KC: I was so out of it today that I was brushing my teeth and doing my hair at the same time!
JB: So what would happen if you used your toothpaste to do your hair and your gel to brush your teeth? ...Minty fresh hair...
Me: And teeth with extra strong hold! Or...wet look teeth?

Hmm. So it turns out that hair gel IS a good investment after all. Much better than toothpaste is at any rate, since it does the job of the toothpaste too. I mean, who'd want 'minty-fresh hair'?


Another episode would be just before our mock exams:
JB: For my exam[Building and Construction], I get to build a brick wall and then knock it down!
KC: For my exam[Cooking], I get to bake a mud cake!
Me: Ooh, care to let us try your exam?
KC: But we're not allowed to eat the brick walls...

...of the mud cake I hope, KC. XD

I find it ironic that we were taking about mud and bricks in the same sentence, even though we were talking about two completely different subjects. Does anyone else find this weird?

I'm gonna miss all this when I get to uni. I mean, who am I going to have these memory-making conversations with now??

Mishy <3

Graduation Day

It's finally here. =)

And just as it's finally here, so too, are a number of things.

On the 26th of October, Perth finally decided to forward the clock and turn on Daylight Savings time. How gay. =( But I guess it's for a good thing. I have a sneaky suspicion that this is a ploy to make us not wake up on time for our exams, and that it is therefore a test of the "Survival of the Early Birds".

Also happening on the 27th of October are Breast Cancer Day and Deepavali. Soo...good luck to all those with breast cancer and Selamat Hari Deepavali to all Indians!

Graduation was great! It got boring half way through, yes, but aside from that...I thought it was spectacular. Our Star Student was, of course, Peixin Truong. Need we say more? [to any Morley student reading this, it needs no words!] Casey made an amazing speech and Salsano got his opportunity to do an Elvis impersonation on stage.



The Yearbooks which we received in the morning were great! And I gotta say to the Yearbook Committee, THANKS SO MUCH for a great effort and a job well done. =) [yes, I am boasting here slightly, because I'm part of the committee. XD But still] The Graduation Video was also very well done, despite JB's complaints that the video was in fact screwed up slightly. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it so much, mainly because I wasn't at Morley from the beginning and couldn't really relate to everything I was seeing on the screen, but whatever. JB and Teo have managed to sneakily add me into part of the Year 12 video bit, and after the initial "OMG, is that ME?? At the beginning of the year? What changed? Why'd they add me in???" I was quite happy to see I was still a part of the video. LOL.

So yes, now that the events are over, it's time to get down to work. And pass those exams. Argh. Exams. =_="

Guess who's the odd one out? Urgh, I should've totally been wearing a cheongsam or something...which I unfortunately do not have. Hmmm...make one in KL when I get back!! :D

Mishy <3

Time Marches On...

It just kind of hit home a few hours ago that I had just about 13.5 weeks left before the exams.
And the teachers have given us all motivational talks on how to prepare.

I missed the worst with my Chem teacher for now, because he's been off somewhere [possibly America]. Although it hasn't been quite so sane with the other teachers.
My human biology teacher has started to shape up. The Asian group now sitting behind me has begun to shut up for 60% of the lesson. I think we may have just witnessed a miracle in Human Biology.
My P&L teacher decided to spend two entire leassons teaching us how to study. =/ Instead of P&L. I have absolute reason to be worried at this stage.
My history teacher may be the only one who doesn't give a damn if the school gets uprooted by floods, or if Western Australia suddenly discovers that a volcano was hidden under the Perth CBD by all the buildings. With him, the show MUST go on!
Mirichlis in Maths was in a pretty good mood today. I'll have to watch out very closely for him tomorrow. I shudder to think what he may have up his sleeve if he's in this good a mood straight after Open Day Reporting. Or, maybe he just likes our parents better than he does us.
Lit went on as normal. Lots of procrastination, endless talking, debates with McInerny...

He's also badgered us to take a look at our scaled average on the TER calculator which is on the TISC website.

If I do no scaling whatsoever, I figure that I will get 91.65. Which is tres brilliant in my case! But with scaling, I figure that I actually only get 88.95 or something similar to that. Which is not so bad, I am still in the safe zone since my TER only needs to be 81. But in case the cut-off grade for Bachelor of Arts [Communication] decides to annoyingly move itself up, I want to be ready and waiting for it. And...I guess an 88.95 may not be so good after all. =/

Other news regarding the school: I am now firmly convinced that I am surrounded by thieves and possible criminals.
During the holiday, someone brought a torch bomb to school, broke the window of the office and stole 45 Leavers Tops. It's fine for me because I already have mine, but I have friends who unfortunately haven't gotten theirs yet. This is the crappiest thing EVER. I canNOT believe that people would actually just sneak in and steal tops like these, especially since they have no value whatsoever. They have names on them, and there is a track record of who has actually bought these tops. Plus my mates who haven't gotten theirs are completely bummed out. And I have great apathy for whoever's taken them at the moment. Apparently they couldn't stop there either. They broke into the history classroom [my tute room] and stole the new overhead projector as well as this crappy computer that actually squeals at pitches so high my history teacher can't hear it. =/ But the point is that the school had a theft. And I am somewhat upset that this could happen. It's a police matter, but hey, who said that the case would ever be solved?

Heh. And I thought South Africa was dangerous?

Mishy <3

Major Tests, Uber Major Quizzes [Or we can just call them EXAMS!] All Around!

First Semester Exams are but a week away for the poor souls that are Australian students.
In addition to this, I believe that the AS Level students are also going through this torture. And in Africa, Saints: they may be heading towards this abyss of doom in a few months, seeing as they've already written their First Term Exams.

And I (being one of many) am going NUTS!

I haven't been doing too much work. To be completely honest. Surprisingly, I am actually getting a 'study week'. The teachers have decided to not plague us during the next week with yet more topics (excepting History of course, but that's fine!) but are willing to allow us to study and practice for exams during lessons. Which is fine in English Lit (partially) seeing as I really do need the practice for all those essays, and in Political and Legal Studies, I reckon a good grounding of the concepts covered will probably do the class a world of good. Considering half the time, we're never really sure what Mr Lacy's on about, but we get through the topics okay enough. (Especially after distracting him a gazillion times with other topics. It is amazing how many topics subjects like History, Political and Legal Studies and English Lit can be related to. Bring one subject up, and we are able to immediately link it to the studied course at hand. I like these essay subjects though, because then it means I don't have to stare at numbers, or fix grammatical errors, or memorise dates the whole day and think that that's all the subject applies to.)

I have my exam timetable (well, it's a draft) and I am liking it immensely at the moment, because I have an exam on practically every day of the week in the morning, except for history which is being doubled up on some other exam in the afternoon, and is thus leaving the last day of exams [a Tuesday] freeeeee for me to sleep on. I did say I was liking it immensely.
Casey has the Monday and the Tuesday off on the 2nd week of exams, which gives her TWO days to sleep in and relax, but then it also means that she has two days where she has to double up on exams. So I guess, generally, I am uber happy with the way my timetable has been arranged. =)

But I digress. Back to the studies, and till after exams: adieu and wish me luuuuck!

Mishy <3

Year 12 Ball

I managed to be taller than JB for all of 5 minutes.
Cynthia let down her hair for the first time in front of me this year.
We got Salsano and Fortune to dance. [Whoopee!]
I think the dress fitted me better at the end of the dance than it did at the beginning. [LOL]
An amazing night, and definitely one to remember.

After months of preparation, and weeks of stress, I guess it was all finally worth it.
But you know...I guess while everyone was so excited about the prospect of a BALL. Wow, dresses, tuxes, limos, before and after parties...for me, I was...well, kind of bored.
It sounds horrible. Months of preparation, weeks of stress and almost A$250 later, and I'm bored? But, well to use a metaphor: once you've worn a piece of jewellry a few times, it kind of loses its shine.
And this is exactly what happened for me.
The first one- Year 9 Prom in GIS was obviously the most amazing one for me. So many things happened, the glamour of 'the first formal dance' was there, it was a night to remember.
Grade 11, Masquerade Ball was definitely different. It was in a school hall (yup, you can already see WHY it's different) plus we had masks with us, making it seem so surreal. =)
And finally, my last ever ball- the Year 12 Ball. For me, this will be one of the few social events I'll ever get to spend with my Aussie mates, having had to miss the Year 11 Dinner Dance and because (most probably) I will not be going for River Rock.

All in all, I'll say it was a good event. Everyone looked AMAZING, even the people who had to wear tudungs and such made themselves up really well.
And just for the people who don't have Facebook:




This is a snippet of the dance.
Enjoy! =)

Mishy <3

An Eventful Week

The week's gone by so quickly, it's been amazing.
Term 1 is FINALLY over, and I can now relax, catch up and breathe while I do all that.

Although I hope the holidays don't go at this speed too, I want to savour every last moment of sleep and rest before the First Semester Exams come along to haunt me for the rest of Term 2.

The last week alone, I was meant to hand up:
- One History Essay
- One History Summary
- One History Cognitive Test
- Two English Lit Essays
- One Human Biology In-class assessement
- One Chemistry Quiz
- One Political and Legal Studies Test
- One Maths Test

And in the end, funnily enough, I ended up doing my history essay and summary, one english lit essay, and the chemistry, P&L and maths tests out of all that. The rest were postponed for the next term due to all sorts of funny things happening during the term.
Funny, I do think. =)

English Lit is more of a discussion group than anything else. My English Lit teacher, Mr. McInerny, is one of the lenient teachers I have ever found in all my years of travelling. He's an Irish man, who can be compared to 'the Guv' in Spud- a very famous South African novel. He swears in class, tells us all to shut up, and enjoys taking a drink or two during school excursions. I don't know whether Mr. Mc., as we enjoy calling him, is anything like 'the Guv' with respect to school work though.
This is a repititon of the conversation that went on between us yesterday:
[In class]
Cynthia: Sir, I don't feel like doing an essay today.
Mr. McInerney: Okay, we'll do it tomorrow then.
*uproarious cheering from the class*
And the strange thing, is that this happens ALL THE TIME. I have never known him to say no to an 'I don't feel like it' before. Well, then again, we haven't gotten too close to any exams yet, so I suppose this could be the only reason why.
In addition to this, the English Lit room has mountains of paperwork on top of the cupboards, in between the computers, lining the shelves of the filing cabinet and completetely shielding the teacher's desk from view. So this could potentially be the other reason why he's so lenient with us.

In Human Biology, we did an experiment with cigarettes. This was indeed eventful, for, as a Year 12, I am meant to be setting a good example to the younger years. And the smell of cigarette smoke clinging onto my clothes as I parade the corridors with a pile of books is probably not the best way to show the younger years what to do. Especially since the school Captain (or the Head Girl/Boy) was in my Human Bio class doing the same experiment- it would most definitely not do for her to smell of cigarette smoke. =)

The very next day, I played around with concentrated HCl in my Chemistry class, due to the experiment that we had to do regarding Le Chatelier's principle. Obviously, Le Chatelier had nothing better to do than to observe the concentrations of molecules and how they changed colour, and to afterwards describe it in words beyond my skill of language. It was fun, no doubt, but it was rather dreary when I looked at the results after and thought to myself: Wait, this is common sense stuff, why am I learning this??? Especially since I managed to decipher the words in my textbook, only after I had done the experiment and recorded my conclusions.

So ends an incredibly eventful. Here's to hoping that this next week with be nice...and sleepy...

Mishy <3

Azn Pride?

Walking around the hallways of Morley Senior High School, or indeed, any school in a first world country, one tends be be ambushed by hoards of Chinese[race and nationality]/Vietnamese/Japanese/Koreans hanging around with each other.
It's noticable, it's big, it's in your face, and it's come to be classed as 'azn pride'. And no doubt, it is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Getting on the wrong side of one member of this group, means that you're potentially in trouble with the rest.
Azn pride is apparently now so exclusive, that you must have yellow skin [a la Simpsons], and have two asian parents to be classified as ASIAN. Watching any and all 'asian' movies is a must and 'asian' music must be at the top of your ipod list- Anime and Manga are king. Everything else is simply a sub-standard, and may be made fun of.

This kills me.

When has Asia only been about China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam?
What happened to the rest of Asia?
What happened to Turkey?
Or the UAE?
Or India?
Or Mongolia?
Since when has Asia been that blob on the map that we now know today as China? The last time I checked, Asia was the biggest continent on the planet, consisting of countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Korea, Japan, Turkey, Afghanistan, the UAE, India and several others. Surely now, azn pride cannot simply be restricted to that big blob called China.

And since when has azn pride been about exclusively watching, listening, eating and breathing everything from China/Vietnam/Japan/Korea, but crticising the rest?
A girl in my Human Biology class has been making fun of Africans non-stop for about a week, maybe more now. I would love to shut her up. What gives her the right to make fun of Africans? What gives her the right to think that Africans are sub-standard? To the best of my knowledge, Africans are a potential force to be reckoned with. They've been colonised, forced to abandon their culture, and are now facing all sorts of economic, religious and cultural hardship and many countries receive no help simply because they have no resources. But they're catching up, and they're doing it fast- Before we know it, Africa will definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

My version azn pride means accepting cultures from all over the world, and being a part of the world, whilst maintaining by pride as a person living in Asia. It means showing my culture to others, and allowing them to experience the ways of just ONE of the many cultures that Asia has to offer. Asia is so diverse, so amazing, that it seems a sin to just hoodwink the whole world into believing that Asia is China and nothing more.

I'm, perhaps one of the very few who aren't part of these big asian gangs. I remain on good terms with a few of them, but remain at the sidelines, and away from their azn pride. And maybe it's for the best. So God save me, I would rather be seen as an outsider to the 'Azn people', than close my views on azn pride.

Mishy <3

"It's Chemistry..."

"...aren't you all excited?"
[I remember atempting to restrain a grin at this sentence.]

This came from my Chemistry teacher, Mr. Conto, the first day I got back to school.

Another memorable quote from him will be:
"If you're not getting a hundred percent in these tests, you shouldn't be doing Chemistry."
[Yeah, he scared us with this one, until he recently changed it to 80%.]

He's this Australian guy who went to study in America.
I think.
He's got a rather mild American accent, but it's very noticable nonetheless. Especially in Australia. ("G'day mate!")
And he is easily the BEST chemistry teacher I've had since Ms. Woo in GIS, Year 9. Elaine will probably remember our memorable test scores when we had Ms. Woo for chemistry.
Well, I had a test on Chapter 5 of the textbook on Monday of the 2nd week of school. Now please note, I'd actually missed the first three days of school, and wasn't completely up to scratch. Mind you, 2 months holiday can cause quite a bit of unknown rustiness in the brain region. But he asked me to do all the Chapter 5 questions, and finished teaching the last half of Chapter 5 that I managed to get there for.
And for the test, I got: 87%.
87%
87%
87%
13 out of 15.
And I'm still dreaming about it.
This is my first 'A'...my first victory in chemistry in 2 years. I haven't had an 'A' since Grade 10 at Saints, when it was still relatively easy. And it wasn't even Chem, it was Science. Like 'Double Award Science' as the GIS kids would know it, without the Biology.
And I thought he was brilliant. He really was, knew exactly what he was doing.
And then I found out that he is apparently one of the top three Best Chemistry Teachers in the State.

Hmmm, maybe my life is finally heading in the right direction with Chemistry?
Well, I guess it would be, if this kind of mark continued into the exams. =)

Mishy <3

I Has A Diary! *hugs*

I has a diary!
With lots and lots of pages, and a funky ass cover!
I CAN DIARISE PROPERLY AND NOT WRITE EVERYTHING ON LITTLE BITS OF PAPER AND LOSE IT ALL NOW!!!

*swoons*

Oh man, my life is complete for this month...*sigh*
Actually, it's kind of a waste of money, considering the school gives us a diary anyway. XD But it doesn't matter, cuz I'm the sort of person who needs lots and lots of space to write everything down in. Seriously. The school diary has like half an A5 page per day. I usually take up an entire A5 page to write down all my homework and whatever else is going on in my life to get me sorted. My diary from Saints is proof enough. And besides which, if you saw the amount of detail I wrote my homework down with, even in Morley, you would be surprised. Considering.
But then again, this is the perfectionist in me, who needs to have every little thing in set order in order to even comprehend it's completion.

I go back to school in another week! I am actually excited, surprisingly enough. I know I keep moaning about this 2 month holiday of mine. Which is weird when you think about it, considering in KL I got the same thing as well! In Jo'burg, I lost my two month holiday. XD But then again, in KL, the holiday came during the MEGA-SALE [salivates- how I miss you], whereas here, I am stuck with nothing to do but melt in the sweltering 40 degree celcius weather and pray that it rains soon. *grumps*

Girls at Saints have started school, and it's so fun hearing about all the new teachers and classes and whatnot. To any Saints Girl reading this, I look forward to more detail. Especially that new science teacher that Lavani keeps telling me about, so that I can determine whether or not I should have stayed in South Africa and hopefully passed science. XD I've seen the photos of the jumpsuit. Looks good, and sometimes I really wish I HAD stayed when I see them. XD But I'm sure that I'll have fun with my own Year 12 Top when it arrives. =)

Year 12 guys, it's such a huge step. Also the final step in high school. =P Man, I'm so nervous. Especially when I think about it, all my friends at any school I entered into before South Africa will still be in school, finishing off their IBs or A Levels while I will be starting first year uni next January. It is an awkward thought indeed, and should not actually happen, but there it is. I'm also amazed at the number of people who want to come to Australia. Especially from GIS. People, you were all GROOMED for the UK, why are you coming here? But either way, I guess I shouldn't be questioning it. I'm glad to have more friends coming in to keep me company. =) You know I've missed you guys. And you know who you are too.

=)

Mishy <3

First Aussie Blog!

My first blog in a long time. Whoopee-dee!
Yes guys, I am incredibly sorry about my MIA-ness, but I have been incredibly busy and have not been able to blog. This has also been aided by the fact that until Wednesday, I did not actually have an internet with which I could log onto and use to blog. But now that I have my own connection, I am back again!

Many things have changed since the last time. I no longer reside in South Africa (oh beautiful place, how I miss you, I wish I could go back for holidays and stuff, no matter how horrible Jets and Ackermans are XD) Instead, I now live in Western Australia, Perth; a quaint, but incredibly large state that can be confused for a very quiet country. Which is a very polite way of saying there is absolutely nothing to do here, I must admit. Especially if, like me, you are sick and tired of the oversized glory that is the beach and want to see snow instead. And I must warn you now, that really IS all there is to do here. The city is not something I can gladly be proud of. (well, after Malaysia, I suppose not) Although that is pretty much the biggest entertainment centre one can have in a place like Western Australia.
Political-wise, we have entered an era of new leadership under Kevin Rudd, who isn’t too bad, I suppose, he has yet to actually do something to anger me, seeing as he only took over like last week. Besides which, he’s actually bringing back the Aussie soldiers from Iraq, so that’s a plus point for him. He’s also promised each student in the country that we’re going to get our own computers. One computer; one student. Now whether I’m actually going to get it before I leave school NEXT YEAR remains to be seen.

I currently go to Morley Senior High School. It is a public school and is currently giving me the biggest headache of my entire school career. Not that it’s bad or anything, but I don’t like many of the students who have zip zilch zero respect for teachers and everyone else. Some are alright, and I am pretty friendly with those who I am constantly seeing around me everyday (because they actually HAVE respect) but I am increasingly horrified by the lack of respect shown by many of the younger students and how they can just start fights like it’s nothing. Some year 10s actually attempted to start a fight with the guys in my year and, being there, I can assure you it was scary enough just speculating. Thankfully the guys in MY year had sense enough to say no, and I am perfectly happy that I am in the year that I am now. Even IF I am now one of the oldest instead of one of the youngest…XD I am a nenek!
The subjects I am currently taking are:
English 2A2B
Foundations of Maths
Chemistry
Human Biology
History
Political and Legal Studies

That is for year 11. And I am done with year 11. So technically, I’m not taking them anymore…XD
NEXT year, I am taking:
English Literature
Applicable Maths
Chemistry
Human Biology
History
Political and Legal Studies

The teachers and my headmistress assure me that there are differences in the subjects such as English 1A1B and 2A2B, although I have yet to actually see and understand these differences. Same goes for Discrete and Applicable Maths. Apparently Applicable Maths is a year 12 subject which is a continuation of Introductory Calculus in year 11. I only hope I can actually do it in year 12 because otherwise my life is very screwed, as I have not even TOUCHED calculus in any maths class before.
The uniform is one that will be a pretty familiar sight to us in South Africa (Jo-burgers!) and who know Crawford College, LOL. Well, similar, not the same. We have no blazer, that’s for sure. The uniform can be navy blue or white, so long as the shirt has the school badge on it and anything can be worn, long pants, shorts, skirts etc, so long as the boys don’t attend in drag and it’s not jeans. Shoes must cover al of the feet and that’s it. Any hairstyle can be worn, any amount of piercing may be shown and readily flaunted, so long as the earrings going through them are not hoops or extra long dangling ones. Make up can be worn, and some of the girls use more make up than the teachers do. Or so I believe.
So voila! Thus is the uniform at Morley Senior High.

That's all for now folks! More soon, (and hopefully more pictures!)

Mishy <3