99

That's the countdown now. I know several people are upset with me for reminding them so frequently how many days are left but they will have to deal with it. =P Hi Nandita.

Tonight is Karina's 18th! It's a glow-in-the-dark party. She bought 300 glowsticks for $16.

We got excellence for our documentary! Tomorrow I'm going to BurgerFuel with Jennecca and Alex to celebrate. BurgerFuel kept us going in the early stages... we're repaying them with our patronage. I am really hungry right now actually and BurgerFuel would really hit the spot. Hm.

So yeah I think it's a fairly full weekend, might update on Sunday night. CIAO.

My Ruminations On Life, And What I'm Presently Doing

The countdown is at 102 days. I'll be super excited when it gets into double digits.

Last night I went to bed too late after having a big "discussion" with my parents, and then performing my nightly ritual (a quick/not-so-quick game of Plants vs Zombies on my iPod) which quickly became rather addictive as I passed a few new levels. I actually think I'm developing a bit of RSI in my right hand, because the tendons feel funny and sore. Maybe that's what we're destined for, as the texting/internetting generation! Oh dear! So many exciting new evolutionary issues we are yet to face. Another thing I can complain about is my sore back, which is largely to do with appalling posture, which is due to tiredness, which is due to lack of sleep, which is due to... Plants vs Zombies. That game will be the slow, painful crippling of me.

So I got out of bed very late, giving myself twenty minutes to get ready and go next door (my neighbour is a family friend, and she takes us to school on her way to work to relieve my dad) which was pushing it a little, especially as I was so zombified from my meagre five hours or something. Five hours may be an insomniac's dream, but to the average teenager, it's torture. I got myself some breakfast, which consisted of leftover berries from Linda's birthday brunch the day before, and some Greek yoghurt. So then I sort of chucked things in my bag and went next door, and waited for Luke, who always ends up arriving about ten minutes after me, when I suddenly remembered -- the berries had been soaked in sherry. So that was why I was feeling that funny sensation in my legs that I associate with alcohol. How scandalous, I thought. Sherry for breakfast.

I got to school feeling exhausted already, and found Eva, and we talked animatedly about something or other -- Jessi Slaughter, perhaps, and how her old best friend had got a nipple piercing -- and then we went to our respective form classes and listened to our teachers announce Maori Language Week with their appalling failing Maori pronunciation and their feeble promises of going into a draw to win a movie ticket if you are heard using Maori words throughout the week. I mean seriously, how unexciting. I have become dreadfully cynical over my years at high school. I find it amusing when people get enthusiastic about house points and assembly presentations. You know, cause I'm like, so indie.

So first period I had design, nothing much happened, and then I had French, same again -- oh except Nandita told me a wonderful thing, right Nando? Wink wink in your direction. And of course it was nice seeing Jennecca, and pretending to be totally engaged and interested in the lesson. Actually I lie, I was a little interested. The topic we're studying at the moment is racism and religion in France, mostly around the Muslim dress code and surrounding controversy. Brings up a lot of interesting issues about freedom, oppression, women's rights and respect for other cultures. A very complex issue, though.

Then it was interval, and I sat with Eva and poured out my little packet of scroggin and divided it into categories: raisins, cranberries, banana chips, dried apricot, peanuts, cashews, almonds and dark chocolate drops. There were about seven dark chocolate drops. It was the best day of my life.

We had English next, and it was interesting because Helen told me something crazy, and then we re-watched and analysed 'Rain' which is a brilliant little New Zealand film with themes of nymphet-ism and alcoholism and seventies-dancing-ism. I think film study is always my favourite part of the English curriculum. Yes. It even beats creative writing. Which isn't hard because NCEA manages to make creative writing lame and rather uncreative.

Then it was a long trek across the corridor to E12 where we have media studies. Rewiti did not share our marks for our documentaries with us -- instead he screened the films for the class and we all watched each other's work (ie. our lives for the past two months) and that was very cool. It was an immense feeling of pride watching our final product play on a biggish screen. Nice work Alex and Jennecca. We are great.

So then it was lunch time, the best part of the day, and thinking ahead, I texted Dad and asked him to pick me up as soon as possible after school. After a lifetime of getting home at around five it's such a luxury to be picked up at three thirty like the normal kids. I had painting last, and Helen and I just sat and planned my eighteenth birthday party. Which, by the way, my mum has been having ideas about for about three years, so... it's going to be classy. Only around two months to go!

Yep I just gave you a full overview of my day, excluding the part when I came home, watched Rosemary Shrager's School For Cooks with my mum, then had dinner and watched the Graham Norton Show with the family, then came here to talk about myself to an audience of three people. Hi guys.

Now finally I will share a performance/song with you that has been in my head since last week's episode of I'd Do Anything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLRk366dUnM

She's pretty gorgeous.

Albany Mall

is a foreign place, way out there in the north of Auckland. I liked it, a nice change from Sylvia Park's familiarity. It made me realise, though, wandering around for a while, that there is very little out in the world worth buying (in my eyes) as I trawled listlessly through the clothing racks finding nothing desirable. Why is chain-store fashion so generic and tacky? All the ambitious, avant-garde designer ideas paraded on the catwalk are ridiculous when brought down to the average consumer level. Current trends seem to include fake lace, netting, two-tone floral leotard-type dresses, "body-con" stretch fabric, various types of patterned and textured leggings, faux fur, truckloads of leather jackets, shapeless woollen jerseys mimicking the kinds of things you find in so-called op-shops on K Rd for the same price, and still the insufferable high-waisted denim shorts that have haunted society since summer 2008. What is going on?

114 Days

until the last official day of school for seniors. 140 days until my last exam (it's always French) and the last time I will ever set foot in Mt Roskill Grammar as a student.

Today I Might Go On A Solitary Adventure

including a visit to the Hard-to-Find bookstore and Cornwall Park.

All Right, That's It

No more days of utter non-productivity. I must do things or I'll feel that I've wasted my holiday!

Here At Last

The holidays. The first official day. I am in my bedroom with the window open, the winter sun and breeze coming in, listening to the Bright Star soundtrack which seems to fit perfectly.

The ball was fantastic, the afterball was fantastic, everything went well. Finally we finished our documentary on Friday afternoon. I feel partly relaxed. Never entirely. This music is soothing and saddening. I think I want to go to the library and get out twenty books and read them all in a week, like I used to do when I was 13, 14. Today I might watch The Cove.

The film festival starts on the eighth. I'm so keen to go to as many as I can afford...

Um Wow

It just hit me properly that it's the last day of term two tomorrow. We've just about finished our film, just got to record and put in the voiceover and we're done. We have done so amazingly well considering the huuuge tragedy that happened last week. Good job Alex O'Connor and Jennecca Evalu! And I am fully confident that we will get the results we deserve.

Then thankfully I'm also finishing off two pesky written internals in French and English. English is the creative writing one but it's so bloody hemmed-in I can't stand it. Typical of NCEA to turn something creative into something so formulaic. And the French is also a bit of a farce. I'll be glad to get them over with.

I decided tonight to wear my antique fur stole to the ball as well, following the Narnia theme. It's very beautiful and precious, since it was passed down to me by my auntie Trish who recently passed away. I'm also wearing the locket she gave me, that belonged to my grandmother, and holds a picture of my dad's dad when he was 17 years old.

So we're nearly there. Even when I do get to the holidays however, I have a whole pile of art to do to prepare for working on folio boards and resubmitting. I think I blather on about my assessments a lot, and repeat myself endlessly, but I think when I'm feeling stressed and overwhelmed I draw and write a lot of to-do lists and planners and summarise tasks to keep track of them and pin them down in the swirling mess that is my mind.

Also, watched I'd Do Anything tonight, Tara was FINALLY eliminated. Silly tart couldn't hold a note, what was she doing there? I like Niahm most, but since when is a name spelled like that pronounced like "Neev"?