It's confirmed. The first maths extension 2 assessment will be on the last Tuesday of the term. Not surprisingly, quite a few people weren't very happy about the fact that it's going to start at 7 in the morning. As for me, I went "NO!!! Any day but TUESDAY!!!" and I got a response "don't look at me like that" - somehow, I don't think the teacher noticed that I was emphasising the fact that it's on a Tuesday rather than the fact that it starting at 7 in the morning.

I just wanted to finish this term. Looks like even that's too much to ask for.

Should I rush to finish everything in two lessons, and say goodbye to my class on week 8?
Should I go even if it means turning up to the assessment looking as if I was going to fall asleep, and possibly still have to rush to finish off everything?

And if I don't finish everything this term, should I go back next term to finish off what I don't finish this term? Or will I just end up starting more that I'll never finish?

I think I should just keep going next term and take the lesson off if I have assessments. This week wasn't too bad. I don't want to quit!

It'd be so appropriate to make a sculpture of myself hiding my face looking as if I'm crying, or may be one of me slicing cones (like in conics). xD Not that I'd have time left this term. I have two lessons left if I don't turn up to the last one, and in those two lessons I have to glaze two pieces (which won't take long) and finish off the one I started on Monday for bisque firing, glaze it on the next one, and then may be I could just turn up on the last lesson to pick it up.

Well, I still have until next Monday to decide what to do. Why am I so upset about this? I didn't even feel sad when I left Hong Kong, and now I'm crying over having to quit a class that I've been attending for one term.

For a Tuesday, I'm really wide awake today. Even if I had to get up at 5:30 in order to be at school at 7. I guess all the swimming yesterday really helps. I even picked out a mistake on the board in maths.

I don't like the new vertical group system. May be this is what I've been dreading. It didn't help that the teacher was actually late for house time. What's the point in getting anywhere on time when there's always someone that doesn't? A few lost people (who are now in the other vertical groups) turned up in house time, and I offered to show them the list, and even the teacher said I was organised. This teacher doesn't seem interested in seeing what I've got to show on Tuesdays. Oh well, it's a maths teacher, so what can I expect. I didn't try showing it to my maths teacher either. Apparently, a lot of people from my vertical group hate her. xD

Somehow, swimming carnival wasn't as fun as I expected it to be. May be it's because the noise made me nervous, and the stands were so crowded that I didn't get to sit down. Or may be it's because I entered in all three 50 metre events and by the end of the third one I was sitting on the floor being dizzy with people asking me if I was OK. I came fourth in the freestyle race though.

The synchronised swim didn't go so well - the music didn't come out right. I don't really like the way I looked with makeup on either. Booralee came fourth, so I got another yellow ribbon. So yellow...

Well, if I was dizzy after the swimming, I certainly wasn't in the evening. It's Monday, so of course I go to my sculpture class. My two other sculptures have been fired. The tip of my mouse's tail broke off before firing, so it's been fired when the tip (which was found when I asked what happened) hasn't, and look what it's like now. I'm not going to stick the tip back on, I'll just have to sand the tip of what's left of the tail.

This session was a double model session. Having two models is surely challenging! The teacher recommended the class to sketch the models first, but I'm really slow with sketching, so I scribbled on my sketchbook a bit and gave up. It's probably better that I start on the clay earlier, because I don't know how I'm going to finish off this piece. The first one that I did this term actually looks quite promising, but the double model session surely proves to be a challenge. It's starting to lean to one side by the end of the lesson. I just hope it survives to next week. Only last Thursday I felt sad for no reason, and now I actually have something to worry about just as I start to feel better.

It was funny how just about every time the teacher says something that doesn't come out right. Last week she said "wash your bottom [of the sculpture, and then realising what she said] eh... underneath, that's a better word", this week with the models she said it was a "one night stand"... xD

I got up early today for land practice. It's the second time this week. This time isn't that bad, simply because it's not Tuesday. May be I can even get used to getting early on Tuesdays. I'll have to. I won't quit.

In physics, the teacher was offering this extra worksheet to the class, and I tried to look over her shoulder to see what's on it. I ended up getting one because *someone* told the teacher that I wanted one. I have too much to do the way it is, I seriously don't need an extra physics worksheet! Oh well, I'll do it anyway.

Well, my guessing wasn't that good. I got two of the lessons the wrong way around.

What I expected:

What it turns out to be:

I'm not in the same room for roll call any more because of the vertical groups. No more being the one who's waiting for the chemistry class to come in after roll call... I get a different economics teacher too.

Overall, compared to what some other people have, it's not too bad.

Now, if only I could get out of having to go to house time on Tuesday, I could take up another class... (As if! I can forget about taking up an afternoon class.)

Speaking of classes, it's Monday! You know what to expect...

I made a clay mouse in sculpture class tonight. The tail kept breaking off, and I kept making holes in it trying to hollow it out, but it's alright now.

Now it's waiting for its bisque firing along with the one that I've been working on for three weeks. Huge mouse, isn't it? I mean, it looks more like a dog standing next to the other piece that I made...

It's not like that it's a new term, but it'll be the first day back to school after camp, not to mention that I'll get my new time table. Of course, for me it's more like "see how much of it did I get right" rather than "I wonder what my new time table will be like". If I'm right, then I'll have 2 2/3 hours of maths non-stop tomorrow because of the after school extension 2 class. Ahhh! Oh well, at least it's only once. Of course, may be that's still better than having a Tuesday morning class before school.

Well, even if I'm expecting a time table that I don't really like, I still look forward to seeing if I'm right. With some of the time table, I'm not even sure whether I want to be right. If I'm right, I have a time table that I don't like. If I'm wrong, I'll feel so stupid about telling other people what their time tables are going to be like and then getting it all wrong. "And I hope that you are right, and I hope that I am wrong" - Just like the song Oh Sister by Ghost Mice.

Of course, there's also sculpture class to look forward to. I'll finally get to glaze that clay statue that I started on the first week of this term, if it hasn't fell apart. It's standing on the shelf waiting for me. Of course it is. It couldn't have fell apart...

Well, so much for planning the mobile phone email posting. There was no mobile phone reception at the camp. May be that's a good thing since if I posted from the camp, everything I write will be about how bad the camp was, because that's what I'm like - when I'm there, I complain to no end even if I later decide that it's good. Well, this time it's actually bad enough that even in retrospect, I still have quite a lot to complain about.

The first day

First it's the cabin. From outside it looks alright, but look how small the room actually is. There's only one shower and one toilet for ten people too. I suppose it's still better than having to walk through muddy areas late at night to go to the toilet like in biology camp, but that's probably the best thing I can say.

As for the activities, well they're alright. Canoeing wasn't too bad except for that I was with someone who complained a lot, but who am I to complain about someone else complaining. It didn't help that we didn't paddle at the same pace so the canoe kept turning, and we were so slow that the instructor had to pull us along.

The food wasn't good, but even then I ate quite a lot. I'll have to say that the food at biology camp was much better. I don't understand why the camp gave us really dilute cordial. They might as well just give us water - who wants to drink food colouring? The cordial was so dilute that it doesn't taste of anything, but the colour was strong.

After dinner, there was the dance party. I don't like dancing and I'm not that good either, but luckily I had a scarf with me, so I just waved it around, and many people cheered. Someone told me that they were just making fun of me - that's probably true, but I didn't need to be told that! I'm used to people saying things like this, or may be I should say that I've always knew that people did this, whether anyone actually said so or not. Of course, for each person that says something like that, there are many more who'll tell me it's alright. I even got into the finals - I must've been the one with the most props: I had a scarf, a torch and a whistle. The teacher who hated my whistling didn't hear it though. She even said that my dancing was good. I surely got a lot of attention!

The second day

Let's start the day with a random photo before breakfast. It seems like that many people want me to take photos of them just because they know about this site. Here you go! Happy now?

The first activity for my group on the second day was hiking - which I didn't mind too much, since I actually quite like hiking. It was really hot though. We walked all the way to the information centre, but it was actually an information centre as in the ones with posters and museum type stuff. I was expecting people in the information centre.

After lunch, I was sitting on my own, reading a book. A teacher came over and went like "are you OK?", and I thought, how random is that? I said yes, and she said "you seem very quiet, quieter than usual" - I replied "but I'm normally quiet" and then I realised that I'm not - I've been the noisiest person in my physics class ever since I came to this school. Once again, I realise that I shouldn't have blamed my previous school for treating me as if I was still the way I was when I first went there - if I can't keep up with myself, I can't expect anyone else to.

There was a wellbeing session in the afternoon. It started with yoga, which wasn't too difficult. The relaxation, or rather sleeping session for many people including myself, was exactly what I needed. However, I woke up because I cooled down too much, so I curled up under my towel and sat next to a candle - someone said I looked like the girl who sold matches. I went to get my jacket, and quite a lot of people asked me if I was hot in that jacket - it was a warm day. I was actually still cold even with the jacket on - the teacher who thought that I wasn't alright when I was so quiet was right - I surely didn't feel well. I sat down near the dining hall, and I ended up talking with two teachers. I actually told them that I've figured out most of my time table, and the chemistry teacher asked me when the chemistry lessons will be, and I thought, you're the teacher, you're supposed to know! I told him when I think the lessons are, and I hope that I'm right, otherwise I'll look silly if the teacher remembers what I said (not like he will xD).

In the evening there was a county fair or whatever it's called. Everyone went into groups and set up their own stalls selling goods or services - not with real money, just printed play money that we had to cut for ourselves, and they didn't even give us scissors - of course, I had scissors so it didn't matter. My group had the quoits stall - basically, throwing rings on a stick. It was such a popular stall. We had a really loyal customer too, and look how enthusiastic some people were. The other stalls were interesting too. There was the tattoo stall that gave a science teacher a tattoo that said science in Chinese (or may be it was supposed to be Japanese kanji) and the teacher didn't even know what it said - when I told her what it meant, she was like "that's probably because they can't spell physics". Some people had interesting tattoos. The hairdressers did interesting styles too - one teacher looked quite silly with blue and yellow hair and a skull tattoo, I even got a photo but I'm not putting that up. The ice cream stall people gave me a free ice cream, but I didn't finish it - I probably shouldn't have ate any of it since I wasn't feeling well. Some people asked to take a photo with me - bad timing since I probably looked quite sick. It doesn't help that I have a strange stare that makes me look silly in photos to start with - being sick makes me look even more dazed. I probably shouldn't have stayed there since I wasn't much help to my stall, although I did help bring a few customers (I remember how I pulled one of the teachers from the other side of the hall near the ice cream stall - someone from that stall was trying to get him to buy an ice cream - it was actually quite an interesting scene), and I provided scissors.

By the time I went back to my cabin, I knew that I definitely had a fever. I went to bed but the others were watching a DVD - I couldn't sleep because they were laughing so loudly, but I was too tired to get up and ask them to be quiet.

The third day
I missed paintballing because I didn't feel well. So much for all that talk about how to remove paint from clothes. I went to another wellbeing session instead, and I just sat there.

In the afternoon, I recovered enough to do rock climbing and European handball. I screamed at the others for all talking to me at once when I was climbing - I still have this problem when I start panicking when too many people talk to me at once. The handball wasn't much fun - I don't like ball games in general. I kept falling over. Once I got the ball for my team and then fell over trying to keep it, and a teacher who was on my team actually congratulated me for being so much help to the team. I seem to get a lot of attention from teachers, even the ones that I didn't really know. This actually comes in handy at times. Sometimes I feel guilty that I tend to have a lot of trouble learning their names. Many teachers actually know my name somehow. Many of my classmates know me and I don't remember their names either. This camp has been a great opportunity to meet some of the people at school. Really shows how I need to try harder at learning people's names.

In the evening, we had the camp fires that were planned for the first night - they were postponed because of rain. Gathering sticks wasn't easy - there were lots of bark on the floor, but not many sticks. My group's fire wasn't going so well, so we didn't really manage to melt that many marshmallows, but I wasn't hungry anyway. My torch came in handy on the way back to the cabins.

When I went back to the cabin, my group had the air condtioner on full blast. It was so cold that I went to ask the teachers for the remote. It was at least midnight by then - the others in my cabin were watching another DVD. Someone in my cabin said "the teachers are gonna kill you!", so of course I argued back. I know that the teachers aren't even going to get angry at me at all for that. Luckily enough, the teachers weren't asleep yet, although I think I created quite a scene. This is probably a time when it comes in handy that I happen to get a lot of attention from teachers - they'll definitely help me.

The fourth (and final) day
It seems like that by the time I asked to have the air conditioner turned down, I've already been in the cold for long enough to be sick again. I didn't do the mountain biking because I felt dizzy. Some people probably thought that I couldn't ride a bike.

After that, it was lunch time. I got a photo that shows how bad the fly situation at the camp is. Really, one of the worst things about camp is probably the flies and other insects.

After lunch, we waited for an hour before the buses came. The journey back to Sydney was a long one, and I was sleeping for most of the time. I'm so glad to be home. While some of the activities were actually fun, this camp is probably the one that I had the most to complain about.

Great. Camp starts tomorrow. It's only right after daylight saving started too. Knowing me, I won't be able to sleep tonight, but I'll somehow manage to force myself to be awake tomorrow, and then I'll collapse at about three or four in the afternoon.

When daylight saving time ended last time, I remember myself stressing over having to fix the time zone settings on all my internet accounts. This time, I should have more accounts to change the settings for, but somehow I just... don't care now. May be now I simply have so many accounts all over the place that I can't keep track of all of them.

This time there's no fifteen hour time difference week (between Sydney and Massachusetts) either. Daylight saving time started here right as it ended in the USA.

Even though I'll be getting my new time table after camp, I've already worked out most of it - I'm kind of looking forward to seeing if I'm right. This is what I've worked out so far. (Blank indicates I have no idea what I have)

I think I might have the chemistry and physics lessons the wrong way around for Thursdays, and in addition to the lessons in the normal time table I'll have extension 2 maths on Tuesday before school and Friday after school. Faith in society is probably Tuesday 1a or 1b, since the religion class that I used to be in is in that line, so I won't have the full double spare.

I remember that I hoped for a Tuesday morning spare before I've been told that maths extension 2 is on Tuesday morning before the normal school time table. How horrible is that? I get the spare that I wanted, but not only do I not get to come to school late, I have to come extra early! What's more, I can't go home in my Friday afternoon spare either. Oh why did I choose extension 2 maths?

Now I can hope for a spare on Wednesday afternoon (that would mean English on Tuesday afternoon and Friday morning) - I have a one in three chance of getting it - at least if the chances are equal between the three possibilities. Actually, I doubt that it'll actually be the case, since English probably isn't going to be on Tuesday because it's the day when the extension English class runs, so it'll be Wednesday and Friday.

Of course, I could be wrong about all of this. Wouldn't that be great to find out that I'm actually wrong and my time table is actually great? Well, if I'm right, my time table isn't so good. If I'm wrong, everyone will know that I'm actually really bad at solving puzzles. Reminds me of the song Oh Sister by Ghost Mice - "And I hope that you are right, and I hope that I am wrong, and I hope those are more than words to a silly song" - so catchy...

OK, camp hasn't even started yet and I'm already worrying about after camp. I shouldn't even be online right now, this isn't going to help me fall asleep.

I HATE PACKING!!!

Really, while I'm sure that camp will be great once I get there, until I actually get there I'll be thinking that it's not really worth it. Just having to pack all the stuff that I need to bring is a serious problem... How am I supposed to fit two towels and enough clothes for four days in one bag? Not to mention that I'll need to bring a pillow. I'm seriously considering not bringing one and just roll up my coat and use it as a pillow. Sure, my sister said that it's normal to carry the pillow separately and everyone here does that, but even without the pillow I still have too much.

I think the real reason why I'm complaining so much is because I'll miss a model session of my sculpture class. I told the teacher that I won't be there on week four and she still books the model for that week. Well, it's supposedly a really overbooked one, so may be this is the only week they could get her.

Actually, may be it's because I've had too much in the past two weeks - I was out two evenings in a row in week two, and then I had to get up extra early twice in week three. I've been really grumpy this week for no reason that I can think of. I must've been too tired.

Chemistry is getting even more repetitive!!! I should've kept biology... See how indecisive I am? I haven't even got my new time table yet and I'm already doubting my subject choices. At least we aren't having the regular teacher today, and the one that we had today is better. Someone in the class even asked him if he can be our teacher... xD Really shows how bad our regular teacher is.

I wasn't going to go to religion today, but my plan didn't go on well because the teacher must have forgotten about me, so I had to go to religion. The video was alright, and the lesson ended early again. That's good enough. It's the last one I'll have too.