I have to admit - I know nothing about Tablo; only that he once collaborated on a song with Taeyang. And that's about the extent of my knowledge. Same goes for Jinsil. Her voice is amazing - it reminds me of another caucasion female artist but I can't for the life of me, figure out who. I don't know much about her either - only that she comes from a band called "Mad Soul Child" or something like that. Either way, the song is catchy. You should listen to it.

This week was an O.K. week. I could've done with a few less assessments but well... you know how it is. Snoop A found out that we passed the auditions for E-day so that was awesome. They must have liked our stomping - or maybe they just felt lenient towards the Year 12's. Even if we hadn't made it in, we would've started a flash mob in the middle of the quad. Everyone would have been subjected to our "dance" - willingly or unwillingly.

What else happened? Oh right, I finally finished reading "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold.

Well now, if only the book was half as interesting as these screenshots made it out to be...

This book took me forever to read - mostly because it was my "roll call" book (meaning I only got through about 7 pages every day). I thought it was okay... not great, but okay, and then I went on goodreads, read a few reviews and my evaluation of it plummeted even further.

I didn't have many issues with the writing - until reviewers pointed out that a few of the sentences in the book made no sense. E.g:

That's right peeps; FEROCIOUS olives (as opposed to the mellow ones y'know).

I also felt like there was no plot throughout the whole novel. I understand that there is a rape and Ms Sebold spends a lot of time going through the ramifications of that but at the end of the day, nothing really much happens in terms of story development. The killer doesn't get caught, Susie's bones aren't found and Ruth doesn't get to reveal what she knows about ghosts. Sure, the bad guy gets killed by an icicle in the last few pages (lol) but like, too little too late man. Overall, the book made me feel like I was sitting next to a window watching rain run down the glass. It's pretty when it lasts - but ultimately very unproductive.

Oh, and I kept visualizing Caesar Flickerman every time she wrote "Mr. Harvey".

 

 

So is it worth reading? That depends... Maybe I would've enjoyed it more if I'd read it in a shorter period (as opposed to the half-term it took me). This happens to me all the time; I lose interest if I put it off. But then again, I felt like I was flicking through a whole collection of instagram photos rather than reading an actual book - so insubstantial was the plot. Perhaps there wasn't supposed to be a plot. Perhaps this is one of those deeply introspective/reflective novels that aren't supposed to make that much sense. Make what you will of it. I give it 2.8/5.

Jason Clare, the Federal Minister for Home Affairs came to our school yesterday to speak to the legal studies classes. I was expecting it to be one of those boring lectures where the speaker drones on and on about legislation and other who-gives-a-fuck topics but it was actually really really interesting.

He spoke about his memories at Canley Vale High School - how in his seniors years, he wanted to be a Doctor so he did chemistry and physics until one day, the science head teacher came into the classroom and told the class that half of them would fail the exam. So then he thought, "Well, I might as well do Ancient and Modern History since I'm interested in those subjects and they aren't that hard to get marks in." After he changed subjects, the science head came to find him and said, "You didn't actually have to drop science... I was talking to the OTHER half of the class when I said that - not you." It was so funny. He also said that Mr G was his history teacher - and he ended up coming 4th in the state for modern or something. He said just because he isn't a Doctor doesn't mean he isn't helping people - he's just going about it in a different way.

It was a very inspiring talk... and really brought home the point that regardless of what school you attend, you can still succeed in life. I was inspired to do law for about half the day. And then I remembered what type of ATAR you needed to do that and my hopes deflated just as suddenly. It's probably just as well. I would make a shitty lawyer. I mean, I can't even tell people off for pushing in canteen line - not even when they're in the year below me.

Lastly, I just wanted to say that my group collected $268 for the Salvos thingy - not bad, considering we didn't even finish the whole course. Funny story actually: there was this one house that looked like a total train wreck - ciggies in the front yard and plants growing all over the place. Even worse, they had a crazy-as dog that kept trying to meld through the flyscreen and bite my face. At first, I thought, "Hell no am I asking them" but then I figured that I shouldn't judge by appearances. I rang the bell and the people in that house ended up donating 25 bucks. Noiiice....