Wedesday 15th May

Today my joyous moment was buying one of those block coloured uni hoodies with the uni's name screaming all over it. They were on a two for one sale, and luckily today was one of the few days I was walking round campus, between classes, with a friend around. (It's sad, I know, but my one hour break between all my classes, means no-one has a remotely similar timetable to me).Yay for uni pride and unique timetabling.

hummm..

So I've been trying to think of a happy thing to write about, but I can't really seem to pinpoint any one thing. Perhaps a chicken and avocado sandwich? I've been trying to get my hands on one of these from the canteen for a week now because they look so absolutely delicious, all toasted and oozing with onions and avocado and all that goodness and healthiness- they're always there at about 10am when I've just had breakfast so I'm not really hungry and by midday they're all gone! Today I made the trek halfway across campus to the canteen in my quest for this toastie and I ended up trekking back to the station and resorting to junk food.. again, although admittedly, a burger and fries and icecream is quite satisfying, in that oily bad but yummy sense.. and cheaper too.  

Friday April 26

In light of recent events, my mum has inspired me to write a 'happy journal', a journal with one happy thing a day.

So today I'll start with the easiest thing. Family. Family for me has meant more than it ever has; I guess I've always taken it for granted, even when I think I'm not, but for the first time in my whole life I've learnt to savour a simple family lunch, a dinner, the quiet footsteps down the corridor in the middle of the night, just being able to sleep under the same roof together, having people around you who know almost every page of your life. The greatest gift I've ever had is my family, and that is definitely something to be happy about.

A changing tide

These last two weeks, I've had one of those painfully and devastatingly life changing events that puts your life into perspective and makes all those petty little matters and worries that I've ever rambled about feel so folly and ridiculous. This week I learnt to truly understand and appreciate that life and time are frail, unpredictable, fleeting and so, so valuable; that each moment we spend with our families and relatives and friends are precious- I just wish I could've captured every loving memory not only in my mind but in hardcopy to cherish forever- and that these moments can be cut short so quickly, so abruptly, so suddenly...that life and function can deteriorate in an instant, that the truths and genetics of living are real and unforgiving. I don't know what more we will encounter, where things will go from here, but for now all we can do is embrace each day as they come, cherish every moment, capture every piece of happiness; hope, wish, love-I just hope we're all strong enough.   

My 10th or so Easter Show Experience!!

For those who've been around me for a while or who've seen the wardrobe in our house toppling with showbags collected from years gone by, they'll know that Easter for me means..the ROYAL EASTER SHOW! So every year, provided I'm in town, I celebrate the release of showbags on my msn status (which sadly won't ever happen again on msn!), I print off vouchers and daily highlight plans- where I diligently highlight events and their times-more diligently then any homework I've ever done, I check the weather in advance for the perfect day and I try and rally up my friends and persuade them to come to the show with me; flooding them with stories of food dome sampling, sheep shearing, pig racing, showbag buying fun. Usually I'm pretty unsuccessful and I end up dragging along my trusty family, something they've become pretty accustomed to since I was about 5. This year was yet again one of those years where finding a non related willing person who didn't scorn the show as a place for little kids was almost impossible (although the rows of parked prams outside the farmyard nursery was pretty impressive); so I went with my cousin.

Arriving at 11am I got my free, well free after I paid the entry fee, breakfast at the cereal store, and was greeted by the smiling faces of the 1D truck. My day could not've started better! We did the typical yearly stuff; ate dagwood dogs, were starstruck by the Wiggles, watched racing pigs through a gap in the cloth under the stands, ate oysters at the food dome and patted alpacas.

This year I bought 3 showbags; which I admit were pretty impulsive despite the three hours of exhausting deliberation in a packed showbag pavillion. After buying a gym bag with magazines, I thought, I want a backpack showbag too, and after that I just felt like buying another one since I was there. I would've bought another bag, except I needed money for dinner. What was hilarious though, were the number of parents in the showbag pavillion groaning 'we've been here for hours' at their kids and  'we've walked around this place three times and you still haven't picked one, if you don't pick one now we're leaving.' Perks of going without parents.

Anyway, all in all, I had yet another year of fun at the Easter Show (although all the baby goats kept running away from me for some reason), I am content with my showbag collection for now, and I have added to my ever growing number of showtime memories : )

Allysway-my highlights of the week

This week, well for two nights, I finally felt like a normal teen, rather than the nerd who watches way too much tv and whose idea of a social life revolves around day time activities of shopping, cafe hopping and going out for lunch.

Partying it up and a day of calm

Today I woke up at 8am and felt completely normal; free from the pressure of the usual Tuesday morning assignment rush, no urgency to run out the door and sprint for the bus, my mind not throbbing with house beats from the night before- a very calm, wonderfully peaceful morning : ) I got up and ate my normal bowl of cereal and an extremely  nutella-d piece of bread- I don't even bother spreading my nutella anymore, I eat it in giant chocolate like clumps. I was feeling so good I even washed the clothes, am about to wash a week's worth of drink bottles and watched Taylor Swift's '22' video which I absol-mal-utely love, even though I'm not 22! I totally wish I was right now! And what's great about that video is that it makes me feel so not old, so I'll never complain about how old I'm getting again! (except maybe on Saturday when I'm surrounded by a bunch of 8 year olds who call me 'Miss'.)  

So you might be wondering, where have I been for the last week or so? I actually went on camp!(where everyone and everything including windows and doors got smashed.) A typical booze filled college party complete with college cups, vomiting, funny costumes, and other gossipy scandals. I was sadly enough one of about three sober people, who stuck to a cup of punch, and spent extra time on the non alcholic activites station to get out of skulling beer; and you probably guessed it, I was the vaguely responsible one who sat listening to the drunk rants of friends trying to sober themselves and work out who they made out with.

Nevertheless partying and dancing crazily past midnight while sober is still totally fun (until the photos of my ridiculous 'dancing' get posted on fb)and I have a huge respect for any non-drinking kid who has the strength to withstand the peer pressure of skulling alcohol (which led to very embarrassing mornings for a lot of drunk and later passed out people who went overboard on unlimited alcohol.) Somehow I still managed to wake up the next morning feeling like I'd passed out, with absolutely no idea where I was and no idea why I have a bruise on my arm. I had a pretty interesting time, but I did miss Ellen in Sydney, which was pretty devastating!