Post HSC!

HEADER CHANGE!
Isn't it adorable? Anyway, this week's featured artist is Gueuzav. The original work which I cropped and inserted into the header is here -
I decided the anteaters made for a more interesting crop than the jungle boy. Am loving the pink haha.

Yesterday was my last HSC exam (VA) and good riddance! I pretty much went on a high right after the exam and couldn't stop giggling for some reason. I think I was also swinging my arms around like an idiot and going around with this spazztastic smile, which made all the juniors who passed me back up a few steps.

But then I had to get into work mode again since the date for making the placecards for formal kept on getting pushed back because everyone was so busy. So, Laura and I decided to do it all on the Wednesday right after VA. Thankyou to Quentin and Christine who decided to drop in and give us a hand! <3>

I was so scared of using the guillotine at first since it was really difficult to push down near the end and I kept on screwing up the cardboard. But, by the end of the afternoon, (after around 3 and a half hours of guillotining, folding and stamping) I have become a self-proclaimed guillotine pro. Who still can't cut straight. Okay, maybe not so pro after all. xD Making the placecards wasn't hard though because we had a lot of laughs together in the VA room (how nostalgic) and before we knew it, the day was over.

I hope they turn out nicely. Please be kind when you see them! This was a labour of love haha - especially thank Laura because she's the one who did the most. Not only did she cut and fold, she also has to write every one of the 199 names. So on formal night if you see her, tell her what a fantastic job she did!

To the formal committee - yeh we had some hair pulling, stressful, ican'tbelievethisishappeningnowAUGGHH moments, but it was a lot of fun working with you all! Thankyou especially to Diti for assuming the unofficial role of committee leader and putting up with my disorganized self. We pulled together in the end and all that's left is to hope that formal night is a success. Even if it isn't we can just admire how nice everyone looks in their dresses and suits. Or we deploy Plan B:distraction tactic. We just get Quentin to dress up as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and everyone won't notice all the problems because they'll be too busy staring at him. ;)

Kudos to Chrissy for the idea. :D

Sculpture by the Sea (hopefully) this weekend! Look out for a new post soon
~Andie
Posted on 11:06 AM by andi♥ and filed under | 3 Comments »

Revamped

...and YES I have tested the comment section this time and it DOES work (finally). I've decided that I can't depend on these fancy-pants pre-made blog templates so I chose a simple one instead and then adjusted it to my own liking. Whenever I spy a new artwork by some amzingly talented person my header will be changing so keep an eye out for that. ;)

It still doesn't feel as though high school were over. It's like any moment now I'll be going back to the timetables and the absurdly heavy bags and the lunchtimes and the canteen food and the uniforms - and those crazy, stonered, high friends of mine of course. (JKS! I <3 you all and we shall hopefully still be close friends when we're fat old women with creaky knees and conservative opinions about "young'uns today...") Oh! lets go out sometime after my VA exam is over to eat? Yes? YES?! Good. :)

Speaking of crazy and stonered people - Aditi shall testify that I am probably on top of that pyramid. I didn't have enough time to blog about it last week so it's a bit late though. This is what happened:

So I was walking towards the bus stop to go to Epping as per usual when I suddenly heard someone call out, "Come!". I look up, assuming it was someone I knew offering to give me a lift. So, it's the dead end road where you can U-turn and there are two cars - on the opposite side of the road I see Lulu's car and between me and them is a gold Mercedes. (pretty snazzy huh? xP)

But because I couldn't see who was in the passenger seat of the Mercedes, I thought that Lulu was the one who called out to me. Running across the road to their car, still thinking they had offered me a lift,I decided to wrench open their door.

And was greeted with shocked expressions by Lulu, Claire and Lulu's mum. Heh. Hey, that's weird, I thought briefly, returning their blank looks stare for stare, why're they looking at me like that? Lulu decided to break the silence first, "Ummm...do you want a lift?" Still looking at me like I was a ham that had sprouted legs and run off into the sunset.

Was thinking, yes, of course I want a lift since didn't you call out to me in the first place?? Instead, "Oh! Is that alright? You don't mind do you?"

"No. It's okay."

Cue the awkward scrambling and shuffling around to fit my fat self into their back seat. Lulu's mum probably thinking the entire time that Lulu has very strange friends. Strange friends who wrench open her car door like some lunatic stalker who demands lifts to Epping station.

We make small talk and I begin to relax, the blank stares fading into an uncomfortable memory. Suddenly Lulu decides to mention, "Ummm...by the way, I think Aditi was waiting for you to get into her car."

Oh shi-
"What?! Really?" I stare wildly out the window and see the gold merc drive off into the distance. Was that her car? Oh my goodness - it must be! I then wail the entire trip about how it looked like I blatantly rejected her offer and not only that, but practically threw myself uninvited into someone else's, albeit also a friend's, car. Claire tells me that if I'm so worried, they should just kick me out so I can go back and look for Aditi. I'm already more than halfway to Epping at this point. I shut up.

Next day I throw myself at Aditi, apologising like there's no tomorrow. She says, "My dad doesn't drive a gold Merc, and I didn't call out to you at all". Bursts out laughing at my expense. I was thinking, yes, haha, it was very funny - now let's just forget about it. The mystery of the gold Merc is still at large. Don't expect a reward if you find out who owns it though.

I get a lift that day from Aditi. I am shameless. But no regrets.

Thankyou everyone kind enough to give this poor fail child a lift during exam week~ I probably would've ended up on the other side of NSW or something without your help. :D

<3 Andi
Posted on 9:14 PM by andi♥ and filed under | 7 Comments »

Dust City

I finally found a layout I like that actually works. But I do wish that the "Colour Me" wasn't there, (no offense to the tastes of the maker of course) but it's a little too bright (and rainbowy?) for my liking.

I woke up today with bright red filtering through the blinds - scared the hell out of me because my first thought was fire. Second was the Apocalypse. (is that how the sky would look at the end of the world?) But of course by now everyone knows that it was a dust storm. It was actually quite beautiful if you could get past the fact that dirt got stuck in your throat, in your eyes, and anywhere else it managed to touch. I couldn't count how many cars I saw today (my own included) with a thin film of red dust over it as if it hadn't been used in years. Actually, everything had a film of red dust over it - if it weren't for the usual hectic morning traffic and swarm of people leaving for work, if it was as quiet and deserted as it was at 3 am, it would be as if the world had stopped moving and had been in stasis for years and years.

But the traffic was there. The people too - I guess it's a "don't ever let life get in the way of work" thing.
Photos of the fire sky:

From my house at 6 am

From Strathfield Station at 7.45 am (as you can see it's leaning towards yellow)

From Epping at about 8.30 am:
Today in maths we had a party where everyone brought in massive amounts of food. We managed to finish it all (with the help of other people who came in during lunch break of course! *Looks at Claire, Shirin, Michael Liu-ser, Bobby and Jessie*) I made strawberry cheescake muffins which I was worried about because I haven't made them before and I couldn't try one until today. But here's how they turned out!

Well..they look kind of retarded but they tasted yummy!
More pictures from the party:

Ummm...I think I'll have to explain this picture before y'all start using your wild and outrageous imaginations and think crazy things.
Krishanthy and Susie were taking turns giving each other piggy-back rides. Unfortunately, it turned out that Krish was too much for Susie to handle (or maybe it was just the Susie-syndrome) and this was the result-
(FAR tamer than what you all were thinking eyy? ;P)
Tracey and Benny were actually STUDYING during the festivities! (Or at least Tracey was =D)

Then several of us decided to play limbo with the chain attached to the duster:
Aryan = PASS
MARCUS = PASS (he was too quick for me too, hence the blurry shot)

Douglas =FAIL (well he passed once and then I think right after this shot, he just collapsed backwards onto the ground midway through)
Final comment on the UMAT:
If the world were a perfect place, everyone would have gotten the UMAT they wanted and possibly even more than they expected. Unfortunately, the world has never been, is not, and never will be that perfect place. This is by no means a pessimistic comment - I'm just saying to all those that didn't get quite what they wanted that there's always hope, and alternatives and possibility. If you really want it - nothing is impossible.

As for myself, I'm not going to pretend and say that I did ABSOLUTELY-fantasticly-ohmygodwhatabeast well, (As I have heard many of you have after reading the '09 forums and talking to others. Congratulations EACH and every one of you!) because I didn't. But nor am I going to say that I did horribly either. Because I didn't. I'm quite comfortable with my mark because it's where I thought I'd be and I had already mentally prepared myself for the worst, but I know a few of you may have expected more - and that's ok too. After all without ambition, there is no drive.

But post-UMAT results, inevitably there were tears, and sadness and disappointment. Because this is not a perfect world. It is a dust city.

But in this dust city, the dust will eventually settle, the thick opaque veil lifted and hope will shine through with clarity once more.
Posted on 9:07 PM by andi♥ and filed under | 4 Comments »

my·o·pi·a: the condition of nearsightedness.

Today Krishanthy brought in a yummy cake for Aryan's one-day-late b'day. Thankyou Krishanthy :)

Tomorrow I will be walking around half-blind for the entire day.

That is all.
Posted on 7:34 PM by andi♥ and filed under | 0 Comments »

Green Thumbs

FIRST: Happy B'day to Aryan!
A post a little different to my previous ones.
Nowadays, it's hard for me to find a time when everything is quiet and free from trouble. Sure, there's always a nagging worry about the HSC, ATAR, etc, but looking back at this past year, there have been many equally (if not more) important things for me to reflect upon.

A very few of you already know life at home hasn't been the greatest for the past year or so and I'm just thanking everyone who did for all the support that you've given me. Today started off in a relatively bad way (I'm not sure why, but the school environment sometimes brings out the worst in me and I tend to find myself snapping at people when I get nervous/stressed - sorry in advance for those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end!) and by the afternoon I was already feeling incredibly sluggish and withdrawn. It all became better when I actually did come home because for once it was quiet. (in that peaceful kind of way. Afternoon naps. Dog curled on the sofa. Lemonade and ice-cream. Sitting on the swing in the sun with a good book kind of way.) No background noise. No Dad upstairs watching TV and narking down the phone; selling shares, buying shares. No Mum downstairs gossiping to her Viet friends, tapping away at her laptop in a frenzy of newfound technological savvy.

Instead they were both gardening, finding a common interest and sharing it with one another. They were carefree and genuinely enjoying their time with one another. I didn't realise it until now, but I think it's a feeling that I had almost forgotten. For today, I am thankful because it's at least one step towards a resolution. What exactly that resolution will be, I'm not sure of yet but I find that looking at life in small steps is always more effective than trying to leap great distances in one go.

Me and my oldest brother, William, had a conversation the other day. I've always admired his ability to view things from multiple perspectives, to see things on a deeper level. In that, I've always looked up to him as brother, mentor and friend. He posed an interesting question to me, "If you were to count the number of people who knew you really well, how many would it be?" It was rather confronting to realise that the only people who knew me really well I could count on the fingers of one hand. But I've always been a bit introspective and reserved- in fact both my siblings also have these similar traits, with my eldest brother in particular most acutely effected, always feeling incapable of fitting in with others, yet always having a need to. Perhaps this is a case of desiring what we believe we lack - just like he feels the need to be able to open up to others, I believe that I am lacking in depth and insight.

In regards to my second brother, he has matured in an entirely different way, garnering my respect, likewise, in an entirely different way. My other brother was always the dark sheep of our family - the one who was lazy, who disregarded rules, duties and requirements, the underachiever. (We three siblings are close so every time my parents drop a comment about this I feel a bit angry and defend him. Yes, I know I'm always joking around about his laziness - but I'm actually proud of him for being able to break free of the academic mold and understand exactly what he wants from life.) Recently he's been increasingly spending time away from the house, and my Mum, who has a fiery temper, admonished him one day (And when my mum gets angry, the roof pretty much blows off our house. She has an incredible voice - she's a good singer so huge lung capacity I guess). Well guess what he did while she was shouting? He went up and hugged her (this is why I love him to bits). Out of love grows love. In my point of view he is the most emotionally developed out of the three of us in that he is uninhibited and unafraid to confront what needs to be confronted, whilst me and my oldest brother tend to shy away from it.

My brother's final comment was that one day he must let go of all his emotions and let them run havok. Perhaps I will learn to do so too. To warmly and truthfully hug my best friends and cry tears of release, sadness and joy. To step up to the boy I like and tell him so without fearing the consequences. That said, there's always the future and with it, the hope for growth.

Some photos of my garden today that reflect my mood:





Posted on 5:39 PM by andi♥ and filed under | 3 Comments »

Animals of the house

First thing I want to say is that even MORE blogs by `09 Rusians have cropped up (what can I say? We started a trend!) and my blogroll desperately needs to be updated. (Actually it needs to be completely redone since I changed my background and it got wiped. In hindsight, knowing my history with these sorts of applications, I shouldn't have messed with it in the first place.) Ah- the consequences of vanity are indeed grave. But now you can enjoy this new artsy fartsy background instead!

So today, conversations about pets kept on cropping up for some reason and since my descriptions of them don't really do them justice, (especially poor Jack who really is adorable no matter how much I talk about his conky tail) I thought I might show you all the animals of my house.

Snowball
Breed: Maltese/ Terrier/...something else
Snowball is twelve years old (I'm not sure how much that is in dog years) and has been with me ever since I was seven. I was also the one who named her. (Yeh. I wasn't the most creative seven year old on the planet then)I'm not sure when it began though but now she only follows my Dad around wherever he goes like a little groupie. Traitor. She was my number one fan before my Dad began sneaking her treats. I blame it on the Schmackos!!
She's also incredibly smart. One time, when I was in the process of moving between my old OLD house and Stratty (my old house), we had to leave Snowball with my grandma while the lawn at Strathfield was being established. On the weekend, my grandma called to tell us that she had escaped (I was panicking at this point) and we called the RSPCA to notify us if any white dog turned up. Turns out this wasn't needed since she turned up at our house in Strathfield the NEXT DAY. To this day I don't know how she did it since she had only ever been to that house once before in our car. The distance was pretty big too (Lakemba to Stratty. Maybe she hitchhiked? xD)
Anyway- she's the white one in the back (sorry for the bad quality - I had to turn flash off because it would frighten the dogs)~


Jack
Breed: Mutt (but looks exactly like a Jack Russell)
Jack is the resulting aftermath of a scandal. He's Snowball's son and is now nearly two years old(Yeh, shocking right?). We're not sure who the father is but apparently it might be some Jack Russell I saw snooping around our house back at Stratty, or one that I see my neighbour taking for walks every now and then at Oatley. Mum thinks it's the Oatley one since he looks 'exactly' like Jack (I couldn't really tell from a distance). Either way, I'm glad we have him now, because he's the cutest thing! When you sit down, he immediately jumps into your lap, the only trick he knows how to do is to sit (yes he sits to "stand!" "Lie down!", "stay" and any other command you throw at him), and he wreaks havoc in our laundry. Oh, and about his "conky" tail - I'm not sure if it was a birth defect or it broke somewhere along the way, but it's been like that ever since I can remember. But it adds to his charm I guess. =)


Fish
My BROTHER'S fish. I call it Snappy. But my brother calls it The Fish. Every time I even so much as walk into his room, it does this little inflating thing where it puffs up and stares at me with its little fishy googly eyes like it wants to eat me. And since my brother sometimes doesn't come home for days, I have to feed the vicious little thing. So I'm standing over its bowl fingers poised to feed it and its ALREADY jumping at the surface and trying to bite my fingers off. That's not a Siamese fighting fish. That's a piranha. I have to admit it IS pretty though.


The last animal of the house is highly elusive and rarely seen. His tiny den is composed of many strange and hideous articles flung around in some kind of tribal ritual that ensures all unwary intruders will trip over the aforementioned objects. When he is sighted, he can most commonly be found giggling in front of a computer screen or, conversely, giggling over the phone (literally: heeheeheeheeeee) He is also far too primitive to comprehend the meaning of PERSONAL SPACE since he is always walking in and out of my room to get something. Strange how I still love him.

I GIVE YOU...*drumroll* - THE BROTHER!! (aka Alex.)

That image probably left you all with a bad taste in your mouth. So I will now give you a much cuter picture of Snowball and Jack =)

Anyway, I'm beginning to zone out now so buh-bye! (I'll blog about something more interesting next time around. If something interesting does happen. >>)
Posted on 8:45 PM by andi♥ and filed under | 1 Comments »

Youtube is so distracting...

First off: EXAMS ARE OVER!!! YAY!! ^_^ Yeh-I know I haven't updated this blog in a bajillion years. But I've been...busy? Ehhh- studying, gaming, procrastinating, YOUTUBING. Oh gosh, youtubing. =(
You know how one video just leads to another...and another...and another, etc? BIGGEST time-eater EVER. I think I spent one entire day just youtubing at one point or other!
Hmmm, my neighbours are having this spastic party with lots of screaming and "WHOOOOS!" which is really distracting me from any chain of thought. -_-
Sooo...I will just post up links to interesting youtube vids that NEED to be watched! xD
First, in case you didn't already see this on my fb page~ It's such a cute/sad/freaky video. This is mainly for those people who ADORE cute anime type things (but it might make you cry :<)
It's about a girl and a boy separated by an unbreakable glass.
Music: Cherish (Ai Otsuka)
Animated by: Mike Inel
Haha now onto the GAMERS!!! >D (You probably won't really get this unless you're a gaming freak like I am though >>;)AND (watch this to the very end ;] ) Finally to the ones who appreciate Korean bishies. (No doubt you've probably already seen this already though! xD) I'm not usually into their songs but this one is hella catchy for some strange reason. Or maybe because he just reminds me of near from Deathnote. ;P
I also realise that I game way too much. =\ Like. WAY too much. But it's so addictive! Well I drew a gift art chibi awhile ago for my guildleader on the game I'm currently playing now, Latale which I will now post:
Yes. He really did dress up as a sheep! xD
Anyway, have fun bludging now guys~ <3>
Posted on 10:12 PM by andi♥ and filed under , , | 2 Comments »