New Thing #52:

  Since I am back-dating even more posts due to stresses of Year Eleven and study and music, so forgive the short posts for the next six posts.....

  Today, my New Thing isn't really about me but about my sister. We argue ALL the time because we are not similar at all but I am proud of her. For a twelve year-old he is an amazingly good swimmer and waterpolo player - next July (2013) she will be swimming the English Channel in a team of six, and this April she is representing WA in Under 14's Waterpolo Nationals. (Its ironic, just as I'm writing this, she is getting annoyed at me and told me to eff off...).

  But today, she won Champion Girl at her Year Eight swimming carnival. She beat out 200 year eight girls and twelve other specialist swimmers (people at school on swimming scholarships) to get the title.

  I am extremely proud of her.

New Thing #51: Lazy...

  So today was a step forward in my next project. What is that you ask? Well, no, you haven't missed anything. I have a massive pin board next to my bed (think 50 cm by 1.2m), and have a whole lot of stuff on it:

• movie tickets
• pamphlets and brochures for things I want to go to/have gone to
• origami
• cute pictures
• drawings
• things my friends have given me, etc.

  But, I am beginning to not like it. This is mainly because it has a lot of stuff pinned onto it and at parts has three or four layers of stuff on it. Having an incredibly neat room makes it look like an eyesore, the kind of thing that makes immaculate look shabby.

  So the other day one of my friends suggested that what I should do is print out a whole lot of pictures and decorate it with a few ribbons or something and make a photo board. So today I started sifting through photos and realised that to have a board of up-to-date/decent photos, I was going to have to get my act into gear. Today, I actually started sorting through all the photos on my digital camera that I took in France last September. All the girls I went with have long since given me their photos and put them on facebook so I hadn't really felt the need to load them and delete the bad ones, and so have had 6 Gigabytes of memory cards sitting around my room for the last six months.

  I am proud of my effort and now have sixty photos to put on the board.

Je suis très fatigué, je vais donc finir d'écrire cela et aller dormir! Au revoir.

New Thing #50: Artsy Moi

  Last one, and no excuse needed because I am actually writing this on time....

  So today, one of my good friends and I went to an event to do with the Perth International Arts Festival. I have never done anything like that because, well, it's Perth. No one interesting ever comes to Perth (not entirely true, but oh well). But it was a lot of fun. An author came and spoke in stage production form and we had so much fun.

  I am writing on lack of sleep because of my two hours sleep last night, so I know none of this will make sense, but I try.

  Thank goodness, none to go.

New Thing #49; Little Miss Chatterbox

  OK, so this is my excuse for not posting this one - I had such a busy day that I didn't have enough time to do anything but get ready for the next event.

  So, last night (Saturday the 25th), the girls I went to France with had a French Tour reunion. We slept in a tent in one of the girls backyard, and had so much fun!! We filled the tent with blankets, pillows and sleeping bags, added in junk food (think crisps, M&M's, macaroons, lollies, etc.) and lots of talking. So much so that we stayed up talking until 4am!! The only downside was that we had to get up at 7am because one of the girls had to leave for tutoring. It was the most fun night, and it just proves that nine girls all in the same year but who had previously had nothing to do with each other can become amazingly good friends in the space of three weeks in France.

  So that's two down, one to go.....

New Thing #48: No Post

  OK, since I am back-dating these posts, they will only be quick since I have three to do before I die of tiredness (skip to #50 to see why).

  Today was the first time that I have purposely and knowingly not posted on here. I had to talk to my parents about a few things, and as the only quiet time we have is after my brother and sister go to bed so by the time we were done it was 11-30pm, I had orchestra the next morning, and I felt dead. So that is not only New Thing #48, but it is my excuse as to why I haven't posted for Friday.

  One down, two to go.

New Thing #47: Oh, am I annoyed at my iPod right now.

  OK, so last night, the battery on my laptop was dead so I spent a half hour writing a post on my iPod only to realise that it was deleted by the stupid thing when I log on today.. I'm SO FRUSTRATED RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

  Anyways, so last night I made a chocolate cake in a mug. Long post short, it didn't work out to well, but I don't think I made it right. Anyways, I ate it with peanut butter and a scoop of ice cream and it was heaven.

  But today, I had a practical in chemistry to do. So last night we have to write up what my teacher calls a "prelab", where you research and explain the experiment and the reactions that lead to the observations or something. But today, when I handed my prelab in, she told me that it was really good! This doesn't sound like much, but if you had met my chem teacher, you'll know that she never gives out complements.

  Got to go throw my iPod against a brick wall.

New Thing #46: As good as chocolate.

New Thing #45: Freaking Out Over Nothing

OK, still  not 100% so if this is not a great post, don't blaim me...

  Last night, I didn't have the concentration to finish all my homework, I just couldn't fathom the energy. So this morning I woke up and realised I had a lot of work to do in the two hours before class started. By the time I actually started, it was 8-30am, and I had half an hour to read a chapter in my Politics and Law book, and then make a flow chart about the American system of government.

  Now, having to do that much work in such a short time frame, Old Me would have freaked out. Epically. But New Me, New Thing Me, more confident and happy Me didn't. I didn't freak out!!

  And it worked well. I completed it all, and the teacher even told me it was great and that if it was a test, I would have gotten an A!

  So I'm ecstatic.

  I have to go!

  góða nótt

New Thing #44: I can't even be bothered thinking of a title...

  OK, today is the first day in nearly a year where I am too tired to function. So, good day, busy, lots of homework, watched Castle and Bones, wrote this, went to bed. My day.

  Also, my dog mistook my gorgeous new black wedge sandal as a chew toy. No war wounds are visible - i rescued it in time.


   afaguegbhtg]tthy

New Thing #43: Bookworm

  This one goes on the list of things I haven't done since I started high school. My day was fairly quiet. It is the first Sunday in months that I hven't been working, and I planned to take full advantage of it, as I had nothing planned, all homework was done, and I only had a hockey game to go to from 5 to 7 tonight.

  So, I got up at 9am (I got home at 12-30am from babysitting), had a coffee and read a magazine, showed my Grandma the rest of the photos from when I went to France, cleaned my room, then had nothing else to do. When cleaning my room, I came across my Kindle (it is amazing, I love it, especially when travelling) and realised that the last thing I was on was the page to buy a book that I have wanted for ages - "Sisterhood Everlasting", the fifth book it the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series. So, I decided I'd buy it, as it was on sale for 50% off.

  And I started reading it. And couldn't stop. So today, I read an entire 500 page book in under a day.

  I have to go, as I still have a few pages left and three hours to make this New Thing entirely true.

  Bisous

New Thing #42: The Easiest Way to Make Money

  Since I have just got home from babysitting, and it is nearly midnight here, this will be short. I know when I say short it usually doesn’t mean that, but I promise that today I will.

  Anyways, today, I went busking in Fremantle for the first time ever with my saxophone quartet. It was a successful performance (considering we only busked for 45 minutes, and it took us over two hours to get there due to a domino effect of bad transport experiences…). We made $15 dollars each, and when counting the fact that we only played eight pieces twice through and we have only been rehearsing for six weeks and never have busked before, I think that’s decent!

  Got to go, Elena

New Thing #41: Nervousness at its Max

  Today was a massive milestone on the road to music tour. I think I've mentioned it before, but in April I am going on a music tour with my school that culminates in Villers-Bretoneux (in France) performing at the ANZAC Day service there. It is televised live to Australia and many people high in the Australian government will be there.

  To cut a long story short, apparently last year's performance was fairly rubbish (it was done by a school from Melbourne) and so they came to see us perform today. Today, I performed in front of two representatvies from the Department of Veteran Affairs. Remember that these people are the people that can say "nope, not good enough, we'll get an army band to perform instead". Not only would we not be performing, but that is a few thousand down the toilet.

  But, the title explains the emotions running through the room at 9am, just before the try-out. 117 music students, 9 teachers and 1 conductor were more nervous than I've ever seen them before. And the music staff especially can get really stressed before performances.

Auf Wiedersehen

 

By the way, we passed with flying colours!!

New Thing #40: Accented? Apparently So...

  OK, I have a massive Politics and Law test tomorrow so I need a large amount of sleep and consequently, this will be kept short.

  Before today, I have never had anyone say anything about my voice/the way I speak. When I was little, I had a lisp and had speech therapy to get rid of it, and now when I am tired I speak out the sides of my mouth at times, but it isn't noticeable.

  But, today, something weird happened. Not one, but three different people told me that I speak weirdly. And not because of my impediment. Apparently I put emphasis on syllables that other people wouldn't emphasise, and that some of my words come out in strong American or French accents. This didn't really surprise me I guess, because I speak french and have American family that I talk to all the time, but it was just weird that before today, I have never had anyone comment about the way I speak, and today I had three people tell me.

  But oh well.

  So long!

New Thing #39: Shop 'til You Drop

  OK, anyone of my friends that read this blog would know that this is possibly a bad idea. Having a new shopping outlet when I already shop way too much is a recipe for disaster. I do save most of my weekly income, but the money I don't save, I love spending on magazines, make up and clothes. Especially clothes.

  You see, they say that a girl should have at least one LBD (little black dress). I have two, plus a black dress for funerals, plus two black and white block coloured ones. That is five of my thirty-something dresses. At one stage, my mother was worried that I was a shopaholic.

  Also, I've come late to online shopping. There is nothing better (for me anyway) than having an hour or two free, so going and grabbing a take-away cappuccino and wandering aimlessly around a shopping centre trying on gorgeous clothes and all your favourite shops. I love my Vogue and I can tell the brand by looking at the dress. So online shopping, I believed, was going to ruin that for me.

  Until today. Today, I spent three hours shopping for a cocktail dress online. I have a school dance in a few weeks and will probably not have enough time to get a dress the normal way. So, I reluctantly got the names of some good sites from a friend and started shopping. And I found out that it isn't that bad! I mean, give me normal shopping any day, but this is a close second!

  I have to go as I'm tired to the point of making this post disjointed because I have no idea what I am typing....

  In the style of many teen chick flicks, toodles!

New Thing #38: Passing Level Nine

  Today's New Thing is so lame that I couldn't even think of a creative name for it. Today I passed Level 9 in ABreaker with 100%. It is something that I have been trying to do for a week, I had passed the level (you need 90% to pass) but I wanted to get 100% and I finally did it!

  Also, note for everyone who read yesterday's post. I wrote a 1 500 word essay, and a pretty darn good one at that.

  I won't bore you any longer, Elena

New Thing #37: Last Minute Dash

  Today, I did something that I'm not proud of. Something that I promised myself I wouldn't do this year. I left an assignment until the night before it was due before starting it.

  I have a essay to write on rule of law for Politics and Law. It has to be over two pages, size 12, and is due on Wednesday.

  You may be thinking "If it's due on Wednesday, why are you writing about it at 10-30pm on Monday"? You see, it's simple. I didn't bother starting it as I had a long day today. Jazz, nearly falling asleep in Chem, in class essay in Literature, you get the drift, so I didn't make a bad day worse by working on any homework or assignments tonight (I only have a bit of homework thank goodness, so I can finish it tomorrow before school).

  Got to go before I pass out from tiredness.

  magandang gabi!

New Thing #36: Walk Like an Egyptian

  Today, I mastered something that I have wanted to master for years. I have tried to get it not wobbly and actually I-can-walk-outside-and-not-be-afraid-that-people-will-laugh-at-me wearable, and today I actually did it!!

  So, I was trying something out on sister as we have a costume party to go to at the end of March and she is going as Cleopatra. I was doing the makeup trial run, and one thing lead to another, so today I finally learnt how to apply liquid eyeliner.

  I also got 23 mosquito bites on my feet in the space of 20 minutes, but that is another story.

  You know you love me, XOXO, Elena

New Thing #35: Don't Even Ask....

  On the top of this blog, it tells you why I am doing this. I am doing one new thing everyday for 366 days, mainly because there are so many things I have wanted to do, or have put off doing and I felt like I needed to make a dent in that list before I graduate. Year 12 will be too busy to do this, so I am doing it in Year 11/Junior year.

  Today's New Thing doesn't fall into that category. It falls into the "What-the-hell-just-happened-to-me" section.

  A flying cockroach just landed on my head. I am traumatised, especially since I dislike them so much I am on the verge of it being a phobia. But I'm fine now.

  Let's just say that it was swiftly (let me put this politely) disposed of.

 ગૂડ નાઇટ *

  *also, google translate tells me that this is good night in a language called Gujarti, please comment if you know where in the world this is spoken.
 

New Thing #34: I Care about Hair

  Today, I completed a task requested by one of my best friends, Louise. She is constantly getting told off by her teachers for fiddling with her hair in class, so she requested that I start off with a basic hairstyle and change it once every class without the teachers telling me off.

  So, my day with six different hairstyles, one for each class, went like this:

8-30am: Arrive at school with hair down, bangs pinned back using two bobby pins
9-45am: Modern History; teacher talks about rise of Hitler while I change hairstyle to a half-up half-down 'do with a twist on either side of my head at ear level joining at the back
10-15am: English Literature; teacher talks about the representation of different sexualities within text, I change to a half French braid, with bottom half of hair out and top in a braid.
11-30am: Music; teacher talks about compound time signatures, hair is completely out, with bangs brushed back (using fingers)
1-45pm: French; teacher talks about verb conjugation while I change hair to a small braid on each side of the head pinned at the back, with rest of hair down
2-50pm: Politics and Law; teacher talks about separation of powers while hair goes into a full French braid.

  Not once was I told off. I think the way to do this is have the bobby pins/ hair elastics on the desk or in your pencil case so you aren't fidgeting in your bag for them, and also, do it while your teacher is talking, not when you are supposed to be taking notes or actually writing or doing something.

  καληνύχτα

New Thing #33: Catching Zzz's Part 2

  OK, today will be quick as I will sound stupid and I want to shorten the amount of blog post time I waste on me being stupid.

  So on Thursdays, my school gives year 11s early leave, where we can leave after our period three class ( 3 hours early). But because I have a music lesson at 2.30, I have to stay at school for all of that time. But today, chemistry really took it out of me (Chem is my period 3 class) and made me incredibly tired. So when I went to the library to study before my lesson, I was almost asleep.

  To cut a long story short, not only did I fall asleep at 1-30pm for five minutes, but because I was typing before I fell asleep, I had to delete seven entire pages of the letter "Z"....

  God aften.

New Thing #32: Adding to the CV

  I have a pretty decent resume for someone who is only 15. I have held a part-time job for 2 and a quarter years, am a straight A student, and am fluent in French. I have done over 70 hours of community service in the last year, and play three instruments (seven if you include the 4 types of saxophones and two types of clarinets I play). I have travelled overseas every year since I was born and have competed in a few public speaking competitions. I play in a Jazz band, a wind orchestra, a saxophone quartet and sing in a choir. I am on the debate team, was a national teams Irish Dancing Champion, head girl at my primary school, am currently training to run a half marathon and am going to be the guest speaker at a Rotary Club meeting.

  Yet I haven't learnt from my mistakes....... You see, at the end of every term, I arrive burnt out and in desperate need of sleep and a break from text books. So by my fourth year of high school you'd think  I would have learnt a lesson. But today, I added more to the load. I applied to be on the student council, the ambassador for donating blood at my school and am considering doing the Duke of Edinburgh.

  So I hope I survive to see the end of my challenge.

  ราตรีสวัสดิ์

New Thing #31: 100+!!!

  Quick post today, I am extremely busy and have heaps of homework to do and I want to go to bed early.

  So, up until 45 seconds ago (literally, I'm not lying), I had no idea what I was going to do as I've had one of those crappy days in which I feel like doing nothing new. But then I logged on and I realised that today is the first day that One Day at a Time has had over 100 views!! Just in time for today, which marks one month since I started (and an incredibly long month it's been...)

  Now, I have to sign off, but remember that I would love ANYONE AT ALL to comment on a post or email me, as I have had no one at all do this (remember my email address is onedayatatime96@hotmail.com ).

  Bonum nocte!

New Thing #30: Mean Girls-esque

  OK, let me start this one off* by saying that I set myself personal rules and have never bullied anyone, nor am I rude to anyone just for the sake of it (I'd like to say that I'm not rude to anyone period, but that is slightly stretching it since there is someone I work with currently who gets me worked up and as a result I can be rude to her).

  I'm taking Modern History as one of my uni-level subjects, and I took it as the one I may drop for year 12, but I am quickly falling in love with it. So anyway, over the weekend we had an assignment to complete. It was about how sources and how they are interpreted can be heavily changed by the bias related to it. So my (amazing) teacher gave us each a scenario, but one that would happen now. They were all to do with our year twelve ball (prom), and the scenarios ranged from:

  You are the principal of the school. Write the speech you are going to write.

     TO

  You are a female student who has been dumped by her boyfriend on the morning of the ball. Write a Facebook status everyone can read about it. (I got this one)

  Then, this morning, we all had to analyse each others "source", and some of them were hilarious. One of my close friends (lets call her S) had the topic: you are a female student whose best friend wasn't at the ball. Write a text message to her giving a recount of the night.

  Now, S is like me, and won't let herself go onto Facebook when she is angry at someone/something and also doesn't swear (did I mention swearing was encouraged in this assignment?) so this was a step down from how she normally acts. So, as preparation, she watched Mean Girls before writing her assignment to get herself in the head space. One thing lead to another and today, I read an assignment that included the phrase "boo you wh***". It was an interesting experience since usually you would be given at least a detention for this, yet the teacher didn't bat and eyelid.

  I have to go, but let me just say that the Patriots will take charge and beat the Giants next time.

  Buenas noches!!

  * yes I am aware that I use this as my intro often....

New Thing #29: Running Up a Storm

  Not really. But still, I was close.

  Quick post today, as six hours of homework over a weekend, most on a computer, really doesn't mean you want to spend a lot of time on a computer after that...

  So today, in between studying/homework, I knew I needed a break and suddenly felt like running. To give you the full story, basically I was a cross country runner in primary/elementary school and a fairly decent one. But in high school, I got to the point where I didn't have the time to go jogging, so I stopped. All exercise.

  Since then, I have swum occasionally and ran a few times, but in the last two and a half years, that isn't much. So today I ran five kilometres on a cross trainer in twenty two  minutes!! So I was quite happy with my effort, as that is 4 minutes something per kilometre!

  Got to go!

  Buonanotte!

New Thing #28: Study Time

  I have little of a social life. It's mainly because I cram so much into a day that it's hard to find time for anything else, but I do try. But also, I hardly had the motivation/energy to study. Especially on a weekend.

  Today will be a short post as I am sooo tired by the way. But, today, I did three hours of homework and study voluntarily on a Saturday. This is new for me because I always feel guilty for not studying but never actually do it. It is also why I am probably making no sense, and the post sounds rubbish....

  I have to go as I'm so tired.

  Bonsoir!

New Thing #27: New Year, New Me

  OK, no, I didn't get some radical makeover. Just one on the inside.

  Last year, I had so many unfortunate things happen to me last year that I ended up feeling extremely unhappy all the time, which made me not motivated to do anything. So this year, the day that I started doing this, I realised that it isn't a new year which changes things, that won't do anything. It is me that needs to change. So I still may argue with my parents or siblings often and those things, but every time I start feeling down, I do something that makes me happy, like read trashy magazines or talk to friends on the phone or something.

  Along with the new me comes my new found need of sleep. I have always loved sleep-ins but never get to do them because of everything I have on, and have always had trouble getting to sleep so during school I run on about 5 or 6 hours of sleep. But today, I went to bed at 9pm on a Friday night voluntarily. This may not seem like much, but if you knew me, it's something entirely unlike me.

  Must sleep, but before I go, I'd like to hear your suggestions for New Things or what you think of my blog, so please leave a comment or email me at onedayatatime96@hotmail.com .

  Ardievas!!

New Thing #26: First NB

  Terrible acronym in the title I know, as it isn't one of those that you see and automatically know what it is, but I couldn't give away too much in the title though!

  Today I had my first semi-nervous breakdown of the year (there is your "NB"). It kind of built up over the day and ended at the year assembly after lunch. I can't believe how many tests, assessments, exams, assignments and the amount of homework we have over the course of the year. I know it is partly my fault, as I am doing 6 WACE subjects (the highest amount of university-entrance subjects you can take), but over two hours homework on the second night of the school year is INSANE!

  One of my friends ( he is the year above me ) prepared me yesterday morning for the likely hood that I would freak out somewhat by the end of the day, and I was proud that I didn't. But I obviously saved it for today... I can't see how I can balance:

• debating
• public speaking competitions
• Ball committee
• Youth Parliament
• work
• 6 WACE (chem, french, English lit, politics and law, modern history and french)
• etc, etc

  But I'll be able to do it..... I hope.

  Souhaitez moi bonne chance

New Thing #25: It's official - I'm Old

  I may still be in my mid-teens but I sure feel old. Today I started year 11 (the Australian version of junior year) and since I am now in the "senior" group at school I am feeling not only special but slightly (only just, but still) ancient. This wasn't helped by the fact that my little sister started year 8 at my high school today and she's three years younger than me!

  Because our year 11 and 12 are about preparing you for your final exams (used for university entrance), my school day was a blur of course outlines, marks, assessment weighting/scaling and Curriculum Council stuff (the CC is the Australian board that sets the entire curriculum for years 11 and 12). It got to the point where I felt everything is going in one ear and out the other....

  And not only is today the first day, but:

1. I'm back to my usual perfectionist, over-achieving self who crams as much as possible into each day. it all starts tomorrow, with early morning library session before school, school, saxophone quartet rehearsal, year assembly and then work. So much for me taking a step away from that sort of schedule this year...
2. I already have homework.

  I have to go as last night I had five hours sleep (I had to back up my school laptop and everything along those lines so I got to bed at 1-30am and had choir so I woke up at 6-15).

  kwaheri*



  *goodbye in Swahili, mainly on the basis that I like saying the word "Swahili" (yes, I know I have no life and am slightly sad)