Debating is Super Fun

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First we have to get something straight, I have only ever done one debate in my whole life. When I attended to Regional Final of the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking competition, a woman asked me if I would like to attend the Debating Camp after watching my impromptu speech in which I talked about the equality of Australia yet the disgusting gay marriage policies at the moment. It must have been successful because she immediately sent me the permission slips the next day. They were to have already have been handed in but I looked like I had special permission.

We went to the camp and it was super exciting. I was in the intermediate because I had once done a debate, and I didn’t struggle at all; it was enormous fun. I didn’t know anyone because I was the only person from my school there, but I saw a girl from my Freshwater Extension classes and I played with her and her friend. At the end of the camp, one of the coaches asked if I would like to come along to the representative debating trials, as they look for a few wild cards. I said a big ‘yes’ but I mainly thought it would be purely for the experience.

I went the trials the next day. We were paired into teams of two and I was the first speaker. Our topic was: “All students who fail to report bullying should be suspended.” We were affirmative. We had approximately forty-five minutes to prepare. This was easy for me and I got quite bored after fifteen minutes. I guess that when you do a lot of impromptu, it’s a change when you have a lot of time on your hands! When I delivered, I looked the adjudicators in the eye and raised my voice when it was needed. I used a lot of tricks my Dad had taught me and they must have worked. I was super excited when I made it into the REP team. I will attend the state final soon and I am so excited. They will hold four training sessions on a Wednesday, this is annoying as I also have Freshwater, however you have to pick your commitments wisely.

What Have I Done?

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“What have you done?” The principal roared as we stood over the lifeless body in the playground.

It had started off as an ordinary day. I was sitting alone, in the playground, as usual. Mum had packed the same boring dodgy canned tuna and out-dated mayonnaise. I picked it up with both hands, trying to make sure the runny mayo didn’t leak through the bread. Unsurprisingly, as soon as I took the first bite, mayonnaise ended up on my second-hand school tie. I sighed, using my thumb and my saliva to wipe it off as best as I possibly could. Luckily, the fifty dollar note layed unaffected in the palm of my hand. I shook my head sadly. If I ran away now, then I wouldn’t have to give the money to Michael. I wouldn’t have to look up and into my Mother’s sad eyes and have to tell her that I stole the money out of her wallet. I could almost imagine the conversation word-by-word.
“I understand Bobby. I’m sorry we are so poor, I just, I, I have always tried to be the best mother I possibly could, but, I, I can’t afford you a phone or anything. I’m so sorry honey, I just…” And tears would follow. They would stream down her pale face, past her hollow cheeks. Big droplets and lots of sniffing. There was never away of telling Mum why I had taken it. Michael always forbid me of letting out a single word; as if he knew that what he was doing was wrong.
A shadow towered over me, blocking me from the sun that I had so warmly replenished.
“Look who’s here mates” Michael snarled at my face, his two sidemen, Rover and Greg, copying every move he made. “Do you have the money?”
I tried to cover up my fear. I tried to look up at his face; but I couldn’t. I was too much of a wimp, just as Michael had always told me. I gulped and my fist tightened on the note but I wasn’t fast enough for Michael’s sharp eye. His giant hands reached out and plunged at my tiny fingers. He forced them open and grabbed the note out so fiercely that I was surprised it didn’t rip. I took a deep breath and I knew what I needed to do. My Mum always told me to stand up to bullies, not that she knew I was effected by one. I looked at Michael’s pursed lips covered in droplets of supaliva. He tried to reflect rage and anger, but the only thing I saw when I looked into his eyes, was fear.
“Michael?” I asked. “Does it hurt?”
“Does what hurt?” He asked cluelessly.
“Does it hurt to be lonely? Do you ever feel rejected or upset?”
Michael’s eyes turned into slits and he peered at me. His pupils were like daggers about to lunge onto my torso. Rover and Greg stared at me in horror, as if I had just delivered a death threat to a king.
“You shouldn’t have said that Weasel. I’m going to turn your face into a flat pancake. Your last words?”
Still, the fear overtook his face. All I saw was a useless puppy dog, feeling abused and rejected. I stared at him sadly. Everyone knows that Michael is perfectly capable of turning someone’s face into a soccer ball that looked like it had been run over by a monster truck five hundred times.
“I just want you to know that if you ever want a friend, I’ll forgive you. It’s not too late.”
Michael growled, his teeth baring. I closed my eyes, waiting for Michael’s fist to make contact with my skin. Instead of focusing on the punch, I decided to concentrate on the story I’m going to tell my Mum. When she asks what the bruises are from, I’ll say I ran into a pole walking home from school. Or I can add in a new companion. I’ll say my new friend and I were playing tag and I was trying to run away from him. That’s better. At least she’ll think that I made a new buddy. She is always asking if I want someone to come over for dinner. Surprisingly though, the next few moments weren’t ones of pain, just patience. I opened my eyes slowly, just to find Michael’s clenched fist frozen in front of my nose.
“Come on Michael” Greg whined impatiently.
“Yeah. Punch his face in already” Rover complained.
“I don’t know” Michael mumbled. “My hand kind of hurts from yesterday’s fiasco. Billy’s face was really stiff and my hand is pretty weak because his cheekbone was on a funny angle.”
Rover and Grg looked pretty unconvinced but they didn’t question him or complain any further.
“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll just take his lunch instead.” They all stared at my sand which that layed almost untouched on my lunchbox. It was hardly something I felt any attachment to. I don’t know why Micael wanted it.”You heard me Bobby. Pass it over.” He was trying to be tough, but he called me Bobby. Weasel had become my new name basically. All around the school. Students and even teachers. Last year, when Mr Brown accidentally wrote Weasel on my school report, Mum was very confused, I didn’t dare to tell her how the name has been stuck onto my back with sticky notes almost every lunchtime.
I passed the sand which over, as if presenting an alive dodo bird to a scientist. Michael took a big bite, his face changing colours; I don’t think his stomach had adapted to the taste like mine had.

Blog Post

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I cave decided to conduct a survey on my poll.

I was sitting at the computer wondering what I should do, so I decided we should run a poll of some sort. You must answer and write a paragraph less than twenty sentences on why and how this happened.

What is your favourite ice-cream flavour?

 

Peanut Butter Rain

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Peanut Butter Rain

We sat in the classroom in utter boredom, no different from any other day. The boys tapped their fingertips and drummed on the table with their pencils. The teacher was asleep standing up, her marker running across the whiteboard continuously as she snored. Raindrops strummed the tin roof of the classroom, like cymbals ringing in a concert hall. I yawned ponderously. In approximately five minutes, the bell would ring and the teacher would wake up with a sudden snort and get down on her knees and tell us that she’ll give us each five dollars canteen money if we don’t tell the principal. I never spend mine and I’ve saved up over one hundred and thirty five dollars attending school. Arguably however, I haven’t got any smarter. The throbbing on the room became louder and louder and turned into an ear-splitting booming. We stared up at the roof in wonder; I don’t think any of us had ever heard anything so loud, eliminating our educator’s snoring. We could hear the teacher next door screaming at her class, competing with the banging on the roof. We had to cover our ears; it was bewilderment the teacher was still asleep. The roof exploded. I’m not kidding. The boy sitting next to me was taking photos of himself on his phone and got it on camera. He screamed the most because he had just got a blow-dry. Instead of rain though, there was peanut-butter. We knew it was the crunchy type because the teacher got hit by a peanut the size of a small meteorite; she was still asleep. The impact was incredible. She smashed into the window and then flew across the playground in the air like a shooting star. Our class cooed in admiration, and then we hid under our desks in horror as she hit a rock and exploded, body parts shimmering in the distance. Our room started flooding, carrying desks and chairs with the rising height. I could swim, but peanut butter was heavier than water. The girl opposite me started having an allergy attack, gasping between breaths. It then occurred to me that three people in our class would have todays date on their gravestone. I shuddered and considered a minute of silence and then decided that that might not be appropriate. Then it hit me.

“Start eating” I ordered. They stare at me as if I were crazy. I don’t think many of them ate peanut butter without jam. “If we eat the peanut butter, I can find the anaphylactic pens in the first aid kit!” I swear that all those five dollar notes hadn’t done them any good. But they ate; even those people I knew didn’t like it ate. Soon people started to look green and vomit began to mix with the golden brown mixture, but they slurped their puke all back up and continued with their task. I was sticky and felt dirtier than I had ever felt in my whole life, but this was a matter of life and death. I spluttered and cough, demanding more of them. People were at risk. The most obese kid in our class was having a whale of a time, causing his clothes to explode. He waded in the peanut butter embarrassingly, girls squealing when one of them came across a pair of underpants big enough to fit a baby elephant, complete with skid marks. Kids were starting to give up, but we were almost there, I inhaled deeply as I caught glimpse of the first aid bucket.

Freshwater

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I have recently been offered an amazing opportunity. And when you get an opportunity, you have to grasp it with both hands and tug and tug at it until it finally releases. Don’t listen to what people think and always be sure you can achieve what you are trying to do. The word impossible, even says: I’m Possible. Freshwater is a Primary Enrichment Course that involves people from schools from the Lower North Shore region arriving at a senior campus in Freshwater. I, alone with two boys and two other girls, have been selected to go!

We are around four weeks into the program and it is amazingly extraordinary. We visit every Wednesday and we have our own classroom and our own teachers too. Annabel (she is really sweet) helps us on the rare occasions and Ashley (he is super funny) and Mr. Permentil (he is really genuine) are our sports teachers in the afternoon. Lorna is our main teacher. She is pure awesome with a capitol A. She also said she might visit my blog, so “Hi Lorna!” We meet with the same students and have our own lunchtimes and recess breaks. Our class line: “The answer to everything in this classroom is always a yes!” – Lorna.

The best part though, is the activities. On the first week we studied the theory of popcorn. Our aim was to figure out the secrets behind popcorn and how it pops. We came up with hypotheses and put them in our scrapbook. My scrapbook is getting cooler and cooler every week and sometimes, when I have nothing on my mind that moment, I flick through what we have been doing. My hypothesis was: The heat inside the kernels expands in the heat and then explodes, turning into popcorn. We thought we had solved everything, but then we had to greet the problem of trying to figure out how much all of our popcorn weighed. We had placed the kernels into bags, and they had to weigh something too. We added up the amount of the bags and then subtracted them off the sum of all our fifty kernels. I was photographer, so I got to take all the photos! The best part though, we got to eat the warm popcorn! Afterwards, we played an intense game of European Handball with Mr. Permentil.

The second week we moved into a proper kitchen to solve the mysteries behind science. We filled out charts about the measurements and heat or the ingredients we will be requiring and then Lorna handed us some sheets with the recipes on them. We were going to make Chocolate Muffins and Bread Rolls. My partner was allergic to gluten, so we had to find a way to make these things without putting any of her reactions in danger. We watched Lorna make and bake the things first with a mirror tilted on an angle hovering on the bench above, so we could see clearly all the things we were doing. The kitchen was spotless, you could practically see your reflection in the benches, and all our requirements were supplied for us; I felt like I was a Masterchef contestant! After mixing up our dough for the rolls, we put them in the sun and by the time we came back from morning tea, they were all puffed up. But my partner’s was completely different! Hers had a special type of flour and it had hardly puffed at all! It was super fun in the kitchen, and cleaning up was actually much more fun than you would think and helped us with our teamwork skills! Two boys accidentally put one quarter of a cup of BiCarb Soda in their recipe instead of a quarter of a spoon! Their muffins did not taste that amazing. The best part though was taste testing. I gave Lorna and our cooking teacher some of mine and then had some myself. The chocolate chips were really nice and gooey after coming out of the oven, but I reckon my bread rolls were the best. I shared them with my Mum and my team friends on the way to hockey; they reckoned they were as good as I did. A great week once again at Freshwater.

I love Freshwater so much it is hard to express it, and I love writing! Everyone is amazing and awfully nice. The staff always greet politely and give us a smile. They take care of us and always update to see how we are going. Even people we have not met before pop their heads around the doorway to say “hello”. I hope that I will act like them one day. Our sports lessons are really fun. They are not like ordinary classes, we have to make up our own games as we go and that really gets our minds thinking as well as getting fitter and healthier. I am also proud to say that the classmates are also great to be around too. Lorna is the one to blame for all of this though. She treats us all individually and makes sure we are all happy and trying as hard as we can. Is is always a great feeling to please Lorna because she always congratulates us for our achievements, big or small. Wednesdays are now officially my favourite day of the week!

Emily 🙂

Please feel welcome to give any ideas, tips or even general comments in the text boxes below. Please also vote in my poll which is on the right hand side. Hope to hear from you all!

The Encounter

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My small boat rocketed over the white and blue horses, leaping above the sidebars, shaking their manes and galloping into the peach horizon. My binoculars rose to my pupils and scanned the setting. Mountains the colour of fresh apples, snow blanketing them like sheets. Fins approached me. Familiar ones, ones of peace and pure happiness. I watched dolphins in utter awe and admired their movement. So smooth and gentle amongst the perilous horses. A dolphin stopped at the bow of my boat, leaving his group to carry on. I stepped silently on the deck, not wanting to scare him away, wanting to be able to catch footage and information to take back to the lab. I stared silently as I recognized the figure, silhouetted in the beautiful sunrise. He was before me, alive, if anything; unharmed. The silence screamed. Our eyes locked in place. No words could describe the tension, the eeriness of the moment. I patted the dolphin with shaking hands. He didn’t react; he stared and relished the familiar feeling. He knew it was me. He knew by heart the creases and lines of my palm. My notepad slipped out of my trembling grasp and into the water. Years of research and hard work gone. I said nothing, eyes staring at my enchanting encounter. The magic of this moment made me shiver.

“You’re here,” I whispered and his blowhole reacted, squirting up and into the nippy sea breeze.

“You’re here!” I repeated. Eyes sparkling, the fire in my belly flaming with monstrous joy.

I pulled off my shoes and dropped my expensive binoculars on the deck. They smashed into millions of pieces, leaving me careless and happy. I dived into water so I could hug the dolphin properly. He got excited, splashing and laughing and nuzzling into me. I grabbed onto his fin and he swam obediently, chasing after his group. My mouth smiled, if anything, it grinned. I laughed, something I hadn’t done in years. It was like we were back in the pool, entertaining audiences for the fun of it. I whistled twice and he leaped into the air. My grey hair flew behind me, wind running through the strands of white. The wind skimmed my wrinkles, my face glowing with elation. I stroked his smooth skin for the thousandth time. The group swam beside us, excited to see a visitor. I watched in awe as he approached a female with a calf. The two adults looked so happy to be a Mother and Father. My body was radiating exhilaration. My heart was beating love. I was blissful. The sunrise had changed to a turquoise blue. The sun was shining and white fairy-floss clouds flew like birds amidst the perfect sky. I grasped onto my dolphin tightly, never wanting to let go. My boat rocked in the distance and I knew it was time to withdraw. I kissed him gently, salty droplets leaking out of my worn-out eyes and down my frail cheeks. I discarded my closest friend, hardly able to breath, wanting to rewind. My lips trembled as I said goodbye for the last and final time.

Big Green Eyes, Like Maggie’s

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Big Green Eyes, Like Maggie’s

 

“She isn’t your daughter Mrs Sherripor.” I stared at the bundle of blankets, being cradled in my arms.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I snapped.

The young lady across from me just gave a sad smile. Her eyes were like two crystal balls, trying to tell me something. She was sorry, but I didn’t care. How could she? I had already lost two babies from miscarriages, does she want me to lose a third? I thought she was my friend, but it was clear, Maggie was never to be trusted.

“Mrs Sherripor, the DNA tests do not lie…”

I shook my head and pursed my lips, trying not to cry. I stroked the little girl, whispering my strength into her ear. “ Don’t worry, Mummy will never let you go.”

“What are you trying to achieve?” The officer sat down in protest, opening his mouth to say something and then stopped when Maggie rested a hand on his shoulder. I wanted her to scream and shout and shriek, even strike out, something that I could be angry about. This may have her baby, but it wasn’t anymore. It wasn’t my fault that someone like she was irresponsible enough to lose a newborn baby, as if suggesting someone takes it. I waited for her to yell, but she never did. She stared into my eyes and into my soul, standing beside me and clutching my hand. I wanted to wriggle away, but I couldn’t. My hand felt like it was being held in hers like an invisible force.

“It’s okay” she whispered. “I understand.”

“No you don’t” I hissed, struggling to keep it together. “You do not understand what it is like to lose a baby, two of them.”

“Or do I?” She replied, brushing strands of hair out of my face in one brush. Her eyes locked on mine, staring deep into my soul. “I know all too well, what it is like to lose one, for three months I was in despair Holly. I was in pieces; never wanting to see the outside light. I needed my little girl back or I couldn’t live. I contacted everyone I knew, hoping I could find her. People told me she would never return and there was no hope of seeing her ever again.”

The officer wriggled in his seat, at the memory of exchanging those words.

“But nothing will ever stop me looking for my child. And I was right wasn’t I?” She whispered gently. I wiped off tears streaming down my cheeks, knowing there was no denying she wasn’t right. “So you would think I was bubbling with anger when I found out someone had taken her, and it had been my friend; but I wasn’t. Not when I found out it was you Holly. I knew your situation and I knew that she was safe in your hands.”

I looked at her guiltily. “I’m sorry.”

“I know that” She said softly before getting up and gingerly kissing the baby, her baby on the forehead. Her big green eyes opened at the familiar sensation and for the first time I realised how much they looked like Maggie’s. “That is why I want you to keep her.” She walked out the door with one last glance. “And I wish not to press charges.”

Francis Brandywine

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Francis Brandywine

“State her name” the officer barked.

“Francis Brandywine.”

“They claimed she was found with two bullets in her back, is this true?”

“Yes.”

“Were you or were you not there on the night of the death?”

“I was not there.” Fury gathered up in my belly, like a fire starting as a spark and then turning into a flame licking at my belly.” I was not there, nor do I have any idea about who was and who wasn’t.”

The Police Officer turned his eyes into two slits, looking into mine. “You sure about that?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? One hundred percent confident.”

“Right.” The Officer crossed his arms over his enormous belly. “You are dismissed.”

I stood up, making my way past the door and into the reception. People from chairs stared up at me as if I were a murderer. They were hungry for news, wondering what I had done. I pushed my way past the doors and into the dusty streets. Litter brushed the sidewalk like a broom. Posters of Francis were stuck to the posts with bold text: “What happened to our daughter?” She was such a wonderful girl with a lively spirit and a bright face. I remember the day I met her, she was only six. I was in such a state. My girlfriend had just told me she hated me and never wanted to see me again.  I picked up drinking and went back to smoking, practically living on the streets. I screamed at people when they did so much as glance in my direction and at night, I curled into a little ball and cried. I remembered Francis though. Her mother was walking side by side with her, holding her hand. Francis’s hair was in two golden ponytails and her two blue eyes glistened like two diamonds. She was wearing a beautiful bangle that seemed to be studded with real emeralds. I heard her whisper to her Mother. “What is wrong with that man Mummy?” She looked at me, distressed, knowing that I had heard every word. Francis looked up at me and cocked her head to one side. “He isn’t happy. I don’t like it. I want him to be happy. I am going to do something. She let go of her Mother’s hand as she watched, exasperated as the little girl approached me. She stared deep into my eyes and studied my eyes, as if it were an interesting book; it wasn’t. My beard was long since trimmed and my eyes were bloodshot.

“I don’t know what’s wrong but I am sure it is something horrible. But I want you to forget about it and live in the present. Start every day with a smile; it makes your whole day better. And chances are, it will brighten up someone else’s as well. Leave a flower on the doorstep of someone you care about.”

And then she left and held onto her Mum’s hand once again, they both scuttled away and left me speechless. The next day I got a haircut, shaved and bought the prettiest bouquet of flowers I could find and left them on the Brandywine doorstep.

I kicked the closest beer bottle and watched it shatter in the difference. Suddenly, I realised that whoever had harmed Francis deserved to be dead. Why were people blaming me for this death? Why did officers think I was responsible for killing the person who opened my eyes? My fists were clenched and I went to punch the closest wall, but my fist stopped in mid-air. A man was chuckling to himself in a far corner. He was taking big gulps from a bottle of beer and kept turning something over in his palm. I’m not sure what it was, but from this distance, it looked like an emerald bangle.

Fascinating Facts

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Everyone seems to be doing this thing on their blog when they post weird and unusual facts so I thought I might give it a try! Please respond if you like this post and want another 😀 By the way, it is highly unlikely that any of these facts will be to any use in life, but they are mostly fun anyway!

  • A shrimp’s heart is in its head
  • People say ‘Bless You” when you sneeze, because your heart stops for a milli-second
  • In a study of 200,000 ostriches in a time period of 80 years, there has never once been a report of an ostrich sticking it’s head in the sand
  • It is physically impossible for pigs to lick up at the sky
  • A pregnant goldfish is called a twit
  • More than 50% of people in the world have never made or received a phone call
  • If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib
  • If you keep an eye open when you sneeze, you can pop an eyeball out.
  • If you try to suppress a sneeze to hard, you can rapture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die
  • Wearing headphones for just an hour, can multiply the bacteria in your ear my 700
  • A duck’s quack soes not echo
  • Most lipstick contains fish scales
  • Everyone’s tongue print is different
  • Karaoke means “empty orchestra” in Japenese
  • Camels have three eyelids
  • Italy has more hotel rooms than any nation in Europe
  • Hair is made from the same substance as fingernails
  • A hippo can open it’s mouth wide enough to fit four 4 foot tall children inside
  • It is possible to lead a cow upstairs, but not downstairs
  • Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite
  • Most dust particles in your house are made of dead skin
  • Bats always turn left when exiting a cave
  • The average person has over 1,460 dreams in one year
  • A hummingbird weighs less than a penny
  • 1 in every 4 Americans have appeared on television
  • Over 1,000 birds die every year from smashing into windows
  • It is against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland
  • In space, astronauts can not cry because there is no gravity and no way for the tears to flow
  • More people use blue toothbrushes than red
  • owls are the only birds that can see the colour blue
  • Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning
  • Slugs have four noses
  • It is against the law to slam your car door in Switzerland
  • Honey bees ave hair on their eyes
  • Jellyfish have 95% of water in their body
  • Chewing gum while peeling onions will stop you from crying
  • The most common name in the world is “Mohammad”
  • The elephant is the only mammal that can not jump
  • In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals

I hope you enjoyed them! Were there any you already knew? If so, which ones? Which one was the oat shocking and which one was your personal favourite? I did not know a single one of them before I wrote them down! I hope you enjoyed!