So Here It Is

I said I would write in this blog to document my final year of high school. Now, my final year of high school has come to an end. So here it is. The final entry.

Of course, I still have three exams before I'm REALLY free, and the last of those is on the 1st of December. But it's closer than ever.

Who Was That??

I only just saw the 'Hello Katie' post. Someone has been hacking my account to say they love me! How dare they. <3

Hello Katie

I love you :)

Hello

I apologise for not posting on this blog very much. I have however been updating and posting on my tumblr account, so feel free to check that out. Here is the link:

Today, At 5:45pm

my mum passed away after her 5-year struggle with Motor Neurone Disease. She bore the illness with such grace and bravery. She was a rare woman.

She went peacefully, surrounded by family and close friends, to this beautiful piece of music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eob2_6baA&feature=related

The translated lyrics are here:

Do not be sorrowful or regretful;
Be calm, as God has ordained, and thus my will shall be content.
What do you want to worry about from day to day?
There is One who stands above all who gives you, too, what is yours.
Only be steadfast in all you do,
stand firm; what God has decided, that is and must be the best.
Amen.

I am so glad she could be there for my 18th birthday. It was just as she wanted. I love her so much, and she will always remain a part of me.

This Post Is For Nandita, Who Begs Me To Update My Blog

My last exam was yesterday morning, and I now have a five-day break carrying over until Thursday next week, which means two days of school, then the weekend, then another week, and... suddenly, holidays. The holidays bring many things & people worth anticipating, including Rhi from Bristol, and Nana and Poppa from Havelock North, etc etc. However they also bring an uninterrupted window of time in which studying and painting must take priority if I'm to continue my unbroken record of excellence endorsements!

So today I'm going to do some housework and chores and tidy my room (which I seem to do every week - as soon as it's neat, it seems to dissolve very gradually into this chaotic state, which demonstrates to me that it is in fact not due to an inherent untidiness in my nature, but rather a characteristic of my room to scatter and accumulate before my very eyes).

After that I have to go into Mt Roskill to tutor Haydon, the year 11 boy whose mother has entrusted me with the task of improving his essay-writing before exams. Then I might watch Stanley Kubrick's Lolita later on. We shall see.

What are you up to today? If you had exams, which one do you think you did best in, and which one do you think you bombed?

Since, As, Until

It is the 4th of September. It is 28 days until my birthday. It is two days until my first exam. It is too soon, too late, too now -

I know the tags in this post seem contradictory. How can I feel general exam apathy and general exam panic? I assure you, it's possible. However I'll soon be put out of my misery, as all five of my exams are on the first three days of the week and a half exam period, so I've got de petits vacances of five days. So at least that is something to look forward to, and then another couple of weeks and the holidays will be here...

Tomorrow is Father's Day. I don't know how I can even begin to co-ordinate and enhance one of these ordinary Sundays (which are, at best, resigned and low-key) to do justice to the man who carries a family on his back, and runs a household, and answers the door to visitors who stay longer than they should, and cooks meals, and folds clothes, and cares for his wife, our mother, with utter dedication and acquired knowledge that could practically qualify him to be a nurse. I am privileged to be this man's daughter. But how could any breakfast-in-bed or card or present express the profound weight and impact of that privilege? Father's Day is a joke. Neither the absence nor the presence of a father, and the effect of this, can ever be explained in a single day. It should not be a 'holiday' to be exploited by hardware stores and bookstores and so on. It must be an everyday event... or else it is empty, and meaningless.

So, tell me. What do you appreciate about your father?