Holidays!

Holidays!I finished orientation yesterday, and today is the first day of my summer holidays. Or, as it's now called "study break"... I have a tonne of holiday homework, so I'll probably end up studying a lot. Before I started orientation, though, I went stationery shopping! Here are the things I bought.



The only textbooks that were in stock: 'Stasiland',

'Aria', 'Emma' & notes for 'The Tempest'. All for Literature. =)



I got some star shaped paperclips &
a box of metallic coloured clips, too





Purple binder folder, notebook, plastic envelope and display book for Legal Studies





Matching binder folder & notebook with pink
plastic envelope and display book for Literature

 






















I got a new pacer, fluorescent sticky tabs, write on sticky tabs,
a mini stapler as well as a mini pair of scissors.

Stationery and textbooks:
I colour code all my stationery. Green is for German, blue has always been for maths, and this year I chose pink for Literature and purple for Legal Studies. The rest of my textbooks should be in soon, I ordered them a fortnight ago, and I can't study properly until I have them all. In fact, I can't do anything for Legal Studies until I have the textbook.

I've started to read 'Emma', though. I really dislike Jane Austen, and I've tried to read 'Emma' three times in the past few years, but have never persevered. I did read all of 'Pride and Prejudice'. It took all of my willpower to finish it, and I've given myself motivation to finish 'Emma' this time: I'm not allowed to read any other books until I've read it! I'm dying to read 'Stasiland', because my detailed study on the DDR and post-war Germany from 2009 will really help, plus the book looks great... But I won't. Not until I finish 'Emma'. And it's killing me to have to delay starting Shakespeare, but it's what I need to do.

Orientation:
I've got nice teachers for my subjects, and they understand my illnesses. Hopefully there won't be too much homework, but if there is, they should let me do less. I work best when only the necessary tasks are compulsory, so there's less pressure on me. But that's not until next year! I'm part time at school, still, and my Literature class is really small; there's only 8 of us. Legal Studies is a bigger class, and I think I'm the only one who didn't do it in Year 11. It's not worrying me too much, though, as it's not very difficult. There's just quite a lot to memorise.

I feel a lot happier and more motivated now that I'm back at school. Every time I say to a doctor how ill I am, or how much pain I get after a full day of school, they suggest I drop out. I'll never drop out, ever. This is my reason to get up each day, and to keep pushing through the pain and exhaustion, and every doctor suggests I give it up. Well, I won't. I've lost too much already, and it's ridiculous to "listen to your body" when you're in my condition. If I did, I'd never get out of bed, and then my doctors would be even more annoyed! It's great to be at school again, though. My year level is really nice, and they've been so welcoming. I was even included in the KK, and the school captain ensured I got my circular about the Year 12 hoodie in time! Next year will be a really good year, even if I'm in pain and constantly exausted. It's my last year, and I'm determined to make the most of it.

Christmas...
We put up our Christmas tree on December 1st, as we do every year. I took a picture on my iPhone:

Our Christmas tree with all the decorations on!
We've got to get some more lights. One pack isn't enough.

I've never got what I truly want for Christmas: I want to be healthy. I want there to suddenly be a cure for all my spoonie friends, so no one ever has to suffer. I'll take the next best thing, though: an improvement in my health. I'd love that, especially if it helps me complete high school! I usually just get things to make my life a bit easier - an iTunes voucher so I can buy more music for days when I'm in bed, or DVDs to watch, or, when I was healthier, art supplies and sewing supplies. Things like that.

Small things make me really happy, though. Sometimes it's just being remembered, which sounds odd, but if you're part time at school, people often forget about you, so it's things like being included in a KK, girls inviting me to walk with them at lunch, or my extended family understanding my illnesses and actually asking how I am, visiting me in hospital, or calling me. (But that doesn't happen. People get tired of the chronically ill, but they never think that I'm sick of being sick!)

One thing I've taken from my experiences with people and my illnesses is that family won't always be there, so you need to build a support network of close friends, ones who'll always be there, no matter what. I'm working on that, but it's so hard to keep friends if you can't do what "normal" teenagers do!

Thanks for reading, and I hope I'll be able to post a bit more regularly over the holidays. My laptop has been completely reimaged and restored, so now it runs brilliantly... I've also got Windows 7 now! Leave a comment if you feel like it! =)

New things!

New things!

Doona, doona cover and more:

Close up of the pattern.

My doona, doona cover,
matching pillow case & teal runner.

 

Yesterday I went out and got a new doona cover, it's navy blue/royal blue, with an aqua stripe surrounding the patterned part of it. I got a new doona to go with it, it's goosedown, but I think it's hypoallergernic. I'm prone to allergies, and mine have been flaring up lately, even though it's winter. It's meant to be a super warm doona, and I guess I'll find out if that's true tonight! Despite the fact I have a single bed, I got a double bed doona and doona cover, so I'll be extra warm, and it'll fit properly/cover more of the bed. Single bed doonas have never fit properly, in my experience!

  

This is the teal blanket/runner, on top of my old doona.

I got a runner to go on top of the doona, as decoration, because it actually brings out the different blues, etc. in my doona cover. It's hard to tell with iPhone pictures, but it's a teal colour, and it's silky/shiny. It's also something extra to keep me warm!

'Skins' series 4.

New DVDs!

I went to JB Hi-Fi afterwards, because I wanted to see if they had the most recent series of 'Skins', series 4. (It's on SBS at the moment, but I watched it online, as it airs a lot earlier in Britain. I saw the series finale back in March!) They did, which is great, because now I don't have to record it on the Foxtel iQ anymore. I can just lie in bed with my laptop and watch it!

I also picked up a DVD for mum, it's called 'The Hunger', and it's a vampire film with David Bowie. An old one, because Mum's been looking for a copy for ages. I can't wait to see it!

I had a quick look to see if there were any singles from my favourite bands, but no luck. I've yet to find a single besides 'Mr. Brightside' in any CD store!

The life of a spoonie: where to put all those medications?!

Already full with meds!

A month or so ago, (I think a few days before my reunion) I went into Sportsgirl, and had a look at their cosmetic bags. I bought one, not for make up or nail polish, but for my medications! It holds most of them, but I may need a larger one!

  

Smiggle: matching, scented stationery fixes everything!

I tweeted about going to Smiggle before my haircut last week. I went partially because I love to look at what's in the store, but also because I had a rewards card to redeem. Well, here's what I bought:

6 fruit scented highlighters

3 fineliners with ink that doesn't
seep through: aqua, pink & black

I bought a pencil case, too. It's got two outside sections, one with mesh that closes with a zip, and the other fabric that also closes with a zip. The middle is opened with a zip, and it expands so it can hold my calculator on one side, (it's divided internally by a thin mesh/net zip section) and the other side can hold my scented pens, etc.

The internal compartments are ideal for holding my medications for school next year; it's a lot more practical than carry around lots of pill containers, and some people are odd about others needing to take medication. I have no idea why! It's subtle, anyway.

I use the external mesh zip section for my ruler and fineliners, and the external fabric zip section for my pacers, pens, liquid paper pens and eraser.

Fabric zip section.

Mesh zip section

And finally:

There's one thing I can't live without: my hair straightener! Since I got my hair cut short last year, it's no longer an option to tie it up in a bun when it's wet, and leave it there if I can't be bothered drying and straightening it. I can't even put it in a ponytail when it's dry; it's too short! So I'm addicted to my hair straightener. Even if I look awful, haven't slept and feel like a zombie, at least my hair isn't a wreck!

I just wish it wasn't so tiring. I have to wash it every second day, and use dry shampoo on my fringe in between. When it was longer, I could leave it until every third or fourth day, and in hospital, once it was washed, I could put it in a high bun, and leave it there until it next needed washing. That's why I'm going to start growing it again after school photos next year. (I want my hair to look it's best then, as our school photo goes up on a big screen at graduation.) I know this hairstyle suits me, but it will save me so much time and energy when I can just dry and straighten my fringe, and leave the rest of my hair up. I miss long hair!

My GHD hair straightener.

I hope you liked this edited post; it's not exactly a coherent theme, but there are a lot of pictures to break it up a little. Please let me know if you'd like to see more or less of something, or something new entirely! Alex. xoxo