Teen Me...Still Me...

Me as a teenager... well I am still a teenager - just... Just the same I am going to backtrack the the high school teenage me. After all I am three years out of home and a world away from my younger teenage self (scary how that happens almost without you noticing it). So I'll describe myself as a high school senior (once again for any americans that means year 11-12.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words (probably more when the topic is what did you look like as a teen) I guess I'll start there.



So it was ridiculously hard to find an ok picture of myself... So many are blurred or very cringe worthy (there aren't that many cringe worthy but enough). That is me on the left... NOT the red-head... If you want to hear a little more about her she is my best friend. That is actually taken in year 9 so that's me at only 13... A teen of less than a year you could say... Scare that I still haven't changed much except to age in the face... like everybody (except my sgt) does... That is our junior school uniform (years 8-10) so the clothes that I wore more than anything else for 3 years of my life I guess.

I am a rather dull person to describe in my teens. Possibly in my life. That is me and yes to look at the photo you would still be able to identify me as the same person. I haven't ever dyed my hair (I know it is boring but I love my brown hair just the way it is) and haven't but more variety into its cut than longer layers once or twice - I've lived with my hair up since I worked out you can get away from it if its long enough to put up.

To be blunt my weight has never been ideal but it certainly hasn't changed. I reached my full height of 5'10" at 13 years of age so not even that has changed. My eyes are a brown to occasionally hazel (depending on who's saying it) colour. I wish I could say my skin has fully cleared... it was never particularly bad... but it isn't much better these days - hope for the future of course.

Maybe I should talk about the things that have changed... Well I generally avoid the folded ponytail hair look (see photo) since I worked out how to do a proper bun (its either that or a normal ponytail). My clothes have improved. I used to wear t-shirts and shorts with one or two sets of nice-ish clothes - I'm talking the kind of t-shirts you get from your holiday destinations or from going to a camp. Some of them were from 2001/02 up until about 2007.

Well... that was boring... I didn't do the experimenting with fluorescent hair dyes or pierce my eye brow, my belly button and my tongue to revolt against society. I was the straight laced, well sheltered, straight A student who's idea of a party generally involved dinner at Sizzler's (the local family friendly buffet restaurant). Such is life.

Best Friends Can't Be Justified

Who is your best friend, and why? I don't quite understand this question - at least not the way that it is currently written. Why? Are you seriously asking me that? I am not sure if you are expecting me to have to make a decision between a couple of friends or if you simply expect me to justify a friendship.



Friendships, certainly between best friends, don't need justification. Hell they don't even need a reason. I can remember our first conversation - the reason we spoke that first time. I'm not sure you could say that is why we became best friends though. People say that love happens when you least expect it. They are generally talking about the romantic love but I think best friend love is much the same way.



I love my best friend in a way I don't love anybody else. We consider one another to be soul mates. It is just a connection a comfortable bear all relationship like you could (well I certainly couldn't) not have with your family members (though I am not sure about the sister-sister relationships). She puts up with all my faults and I put up with hers.

Anyway I mentioned still remembering our first meeting before so I figured I'd relent and tell all about that. I came home to Australia from the US midway through my grade 8 school year (that is the bottom year of Queensland high school). After 2ish years away including the major primary to high school shift few of my friends were left around. I ended up in the school group that I did through the girl who had been my best friend in years 1,2,3 before she switched schools.



I think it would be fair to say I am a person designed to have a best friend. I have a naturally inclination towards having that one friend who I am truly myself with all the time. I also tend to rely on my best friend to be myself (be comfortable) amongst other people. I have had, to date, 4 best friends. The one above, the one 'Hannah' in grade 4,5,6, one during my time in the US and the one this is about. The only one I no longer have any connection to is Hannah but that's alright.



So this group, we were the behind the man. arts building group and there was anything between 8 and 15 people there at different times. Looking back I love how the groups worked back in high school. If I sit here these will be my friends kind of thing - doesn't work like that anymore. I am lucky if I manage to sit down to a meal with people who would actually talk to me... yes I live a lonely life.



Anyway we were sitting down to lunch and for some reason we were discussing best friends. What a topic hey? And SHE, a red headed girl I hadn't seen in the group before now, mentioned a name. I thought I heard wrong. Did she just say 'Hannah Jones' or was I hearing things? I checked it with her and no I hadn't heard wrong. Her old best friend had the same name as my old best friend. Surely that couldn't be a coincidence.



So the first conversation I had with my best friend was comparing notes about my old best friend. She had come to my school in year 4 after being at Steph's (my best friend) school for the first three years. I suppose it isn't surprising that if we would choose to be best friends with the same person we would probably get along but it is amazing how well we get along.



Ours is one of those bonds that you just have. I haven't seen her more than three times in a year since we finished school and yet I don't have a single friend to hold a candle to her. To be perfectly honest I only hope that I get a relationship half as deep and half as understand between myself and the man I marry. We can talk by way of a single text message or a three hour phone call. We can simply hang out in a hotel room, or go for a walk or come up with the most reckless and outrageous plan ever concocted.



Most of all though we can completely be ourselves one hundred percent of the time. Even though she doesn't get my Christian faith and I can't appreciate the desire to go out drinking on a Friday night. Even when she can't handle the crowds in a shopping centre for more than half an hour. Or when I spak out completely over something that should be insignificant.



Who knows why it is the way it is. Who knows why she puts up with me (I certainly wouldn't be my friend after I've gone off my tree after losing a game of Uno or because I didn't ace a maths exam). But she does so I repay the favour and love her unconditionally right back. I just pray that I will always have her as my friend.

My Worst Teacher: The Stupidest Substitute

Harsh topic today on plinky. Describe the worst teacher you ever had. If you have read some of my earlier posts you would know I generally have an aversion to the use of -est words. I often can't think of something that would fit it. I have to say however for this one I do have one exactly.



First off I am probably going to have to explain some background knowledge for this one. Lets go back in time to me as a high-school senior shall we (and by senior I am referring in the Australian way to the last 2 years of high school years 11 & 12).



Tallish, a little overweight, about as extroverted as a brick wall. I belonged to one of the more modest of the high school social groups. Moreso even I belonged to a subset with my two best friends and we basically spent all of our lunches in the library. Yep the most outrageous things I got up to at school was breaking a library rule or two. At this point I will also mention I was daughter of a chemistry teacher (not at my school quite intentionally).



Nevertheless I was reasonable well known amongst my classmates. The top of the class generally is. I'm not blowing my horn I just happen to be alright at academics and in public schooling. I was not alone at the top there was another of the boys who was known to beat me at least as often as I beat him. So basically in classes like maths or physics my opinion had a far bit of sway because I knew what I was talking about.

The worst teacher I had was thankfully only ever my substitute. Before you go saying that can't have been so had. I had him for 6 weeks of physics due to some issues in programming a real teacher into the class (We ended up with a second year teacher who has subsequently given the teaching scene the flick to be in his band full time nevertheless he was one of my best teachers. Goes to show some people just make good teachers.) I also had him for about a week in maths. He has the dubious honour of being the only teacher I ever outright disrespected. The only teacher to threaten to kick me out of the classroom.



Why? Because I considered him to be a stupid, stupid man. I will point out my mother was thoroughly in agreement with me. I was trying to think of how to describe his appearance best. I remember him as a cross between Einstein and a clown. Though his intelligence was far from Einstein and his 'stories' which were all he did do in class were completely pointless but not funny enough for him to earn true clown status. At least not in any positive sense.



I think my primary reason for disliking him is that we didn't do any and I mean absolutely ANY work while he was in charge of the class. I have far more important things to do in senior high level maths classes than sit around twiddling my thumbs and ignoring what some sub has to say.



Worse he didn't seem to get it that what he was doing wasn't helping my education in fact it was hindering it. When he did fry to lead the class through... well anything... I found it frustrating that I knew more about the subject matter than he did. So I acted out. I blatantly disrespected his wishes and talked back to his face - standard operating procedure for a lot of high school students sure but not me. I am and have always been a 'Yes sir, no sir' kind of student.



I always remember it as being almost kicked out once but in fact it was twice. One of those times I managed to get HIM to leave the classroom. I think he was a little afraid of me for some reason. Probably unlike the scarecrow from the wizard of oz and himself I actually had a brain - who knows. The other was in physics... I had just been rather chatty I'm pretty sure.



Anyway the day I made him leave the classroom. It was during his time in maths class. By which time I had already had to put up with him for 6 weeks as a useless physics teacher (how can you not learn ANYTHING in 6 weeks of year 12 physics) and a couple of other one-off substitutions. He arrived late-ish to class so most of us were in there seated. At which time I didn't realise that it was to be the dear old clown coming to substitute.



He was telling us about the fact that our teacher had gotten an unfortunate injury and he would have to be here for the next 3-4 days blah, blah, blah. No Macca was terrible though, another great teacher I had. Then he tried to start class with us all continuing to talk. Then he said something dumb (its too long ago to remember specifics). And dared to suggest that I was being unruly, which was true but nevertheless. I suggested that he leave then. He said instead he would go out and come back in again so we could get to work.



I merely suggested once more when he came back inside that he stay outside for the duration of the lesson. You could have heard a penny drop. All eyes were on me and as happens so rarely in disrespectful situations between students and teachers ALL of the students were on my side. Hell most of them (sans perhaps my close maths buddies) were surprised I would take a stand like that one. The look in his face was worth it I have to say. He looked pathetic torn between actually giving disciplinary action to me while and knowing that he was powerless to do anything to me. Ah the sweet satisfaction of winning it over on a teacher you hate.

Truth Serum

OOooo... Truth serum time. Guaranteed an honest response what question would I ask?



First off I would want to be checkin' the label on my truth serum. I mean its one thing to get an honest response to a closed question (yes, no, five, blue). It is a hole other ball game to be getting a fully detailed response to an open question and the downside to asking an open question when they are going to give you a closed answer is that it becomes rather ambiguous and you've learnt nothing.



Put another way it is the Hitchhiker's Guide dilemma. Am I going to ask a question only to realise I don't understand how that answer relates to my question. Afterall even knowing the answer to life, the universe and everything isn't very helpful when its simply the number 42. I'm certain the programmers (the mice) were hoping for something with a little more theory (though it was a closed question I do admit).

truth serum

To get into picking my question. There are two varieties of questions where the truth serum scenario would actually be of use. Which isn't to say that any question fits exclusively into one of the other category.

• Questions where you want to know what they are saying is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help them God.
  
  
  
  
• Questions that they aren't going to answer reasonably unless encouraged by a little of the great juice of truth.
  
  

I can think of questions of both kinds which would be useful. The questions which fit the former category are perhaps a little bit more self centred. Just the same they are probably the ones I'm going to want to ask the most. The really mundane to talk about questions like 'Why do you like me?' for the more open ones through to 'Do you like me better than she-bitch-that-shall-not-be-named?' as the pointed 'Yes I will take a one word response thanks'.



Mum would blame my personality for it, I just say it goes with my terrible perfectionism streak, but I have an inability to believe most good things people say about me. It would certainly give my ego a bit of a boost I'm sure (always assuming I get positive answers).



The other category of questions I fill largely with the 'I'm asking you this but you think its a joke' questions of life. For me the ones the come most readily to mind would be asking people what the believe in. As a Christian I am not necessarily sure the question comes up more often than it would between two non-Christians but I'm fairly certain the answers I get are influenced by the knowledge that I am one.



I'm not judgemental (well I am a little on occasion but not about that sort of thing and it has nothing to do with my choice of faith - and usually only after I've been beaten at something ie cards) and I don't care if you believe in nothing at all I just wish you'd say that rather than giving me the aggressive 'Believing in God is for pussies' viewpoint. If I don't judge you for what you believe I would much prefer it if you didn't judge me on what I believe.



So It really depends on who I'm asking the question to which of the two ways I would go. Don't expect me to pick a person that is one to many decisions for me to handle =P. People I know well or would consider my friends probably the 'why do you like me?'. Except for my best friend I believe her anyway (yes clearly my trust is rather hard to earn but then whose isn't) so I'd ask her the latter question about beliefs because after all this time I haven't worked out the answer.

Back to Libraries, Letters and Long Waits?

No internet? I'm a little confused here... what does that even entail? Is that simply no google - you could leave the network in place and remove all search engines and watch the world stop. Or all sites and e-mail (most certainly). Or worse yet any form of network between computers... I mean how would I LAN party then? (I don't LAN party by the way but I do have some very useful internal networks here at uni.) Lacking all networks would probably kill me instantaneously.



So Plinky wants to know 'Could I live without the Internet for a month?'. I like it. However the answer is, except for in extreme circumstances, no. By exceptional circumstances I am thinking an extended vacation with my closest friends to somewhere other than here. Provided I'm still allowed to have my mobile phone with its internet applications removed of course. It'd be a little bit like playing Survivor.

The Colorful Library of an Interaction Designer (Juhan Sonin) / 20100423.7D.05887.P1 / SML

To be honest if you could guarantee me the holiday I would happily go without the internet for a month. Though it would mean I would need something other than plinky and Facebook's Frontierville to occupy me.. A lifetime supply of romance novels and a readily available beach and pool? Done. That however wouldn't really being living my regular everyday life. I can't imagine having to do university study without oh-great-and-powerful Mr. Google or trying to get in contact with staff without the instantaneous email.



I can honestly say that I probably wouldn't do half as good as I do without the internet. What do you mean use the library? That would be going onto the website and having it show me useful electronic journal articles yes? Or simply going to the computers and using google... its quicker and unless you are referencing it nothing is easier to understand than all-knowing Wikipedia for most topics. I should perhaps also point out that I am an electrical engineering student with a large number of computer science courses. Code is easiest to write when you can deploy google for algorithm ideas and syntax issues.



How would students share work between them. I'm not talking about plagiarism simply constructive use of resources. You manage to track down the elusive answers to you ridiculous textbook - you share it out through email. You happen to have gotten a copy of the 'unreleased' exam questions from last year - you don't keep that kind of thing to yourself. You share it and you share it quick.



O'course more than that. How would I talk to home. I'm a writer rather than a talker. I imagine I sound pretty standoffish and withdrawn on the telephone - I certainly feel like I am. But I will happily talk on MSN (now Facebook chat how times have changed) or write an email. I write letters to some of my friends too but mainly because I like buying cards at the newsagent. It certainly wouldn't be a primary means of communication... I guess I could survive this with text message though.



As for that holiday plan of mine. It would only work if I had the internet up until I got there. Can you imagine having to book a holiday without the aid of the internet. I, for one, couldn't. Sure there are those lovely things called travel agents but I like to know what I personally have planned before I go there... If I go there at all.



So all in all I am dependent. I could potentially if I have to survive without internet but not without much complaining (I mean we all complain if it goes down for one hour let alone a month). I couldn't bare the tedious extra time it would take to use books or pen and paper. Sure telephone works for some things (couldn't live without that either - and both for the same month would be unimaginable)... but it certainly doesn't make things easy. If you gave me the choice I'd say no - GIVE ME MY INTERNET BACK!

My Pet Peeve Shouldn't Be So Weird

To start off I'm just going to say this is not my biggest pet peeve. The one thing I truly hate is knuckle cracking. Yes I do try to stop you. No it is not just because I want to go around ridding people of arthritis in their old age - apparently it doesn't effect that at all and to be honest I couldn't care less. I hate it because it is physically painful to me.



I have broken my left pointer a couple times including almost taking the tip off when a car door (a cool x-ray if nothing else) and jarring it in netball so badly that I couldn't play for about 3 weeks and it took about 4 months to stop hurting (probably would have been quicker if i'd taken more weeks off netball). Now I have a sensitivity to finger injuries. Not to mention I don't crack my knuckles and so when I do accidentally it hurts like a SOB. All in all the sound of knuckles being cracked is the most infuriating thing...



That however is not a weird pet peeve. While not, in most cases, as extreme as all that there are a lot of people out there who hate knuckle cracking. Basically you either do it... or you hate it passionately.



Anyway to find my weirdest pet peeve I am going to have to run through a few of my pet peeves to find a good one. The irritation of people who don't text back with confirmation - this is because I'm from a really 'lucky' area which despite being in the middle of town has very poor reception (its a literal hole) so if I don't here back I am going to have to expect that you didn't get it. How about people who run late - now there is about as most unweird a pet peeve as you can get - I am military standard meticulous for timings and hate when people around me make me miss them.

work hair

I have worked out that pet peeves are surprisingly hard to think of when they are not actively happening... but I think I have it. My weirdest pet peeve is girls who don't do their hair correctly. This is perhaps one that you have to be military to understand. I am not talking about being able to do really great up do's or self-dye your hair to perfection.



Basically girls who don't put their hair net in or use a wrong colour hair tie or simply don't have the pride in their uniform to put a BRUSH through their hair while they are putting it up. Girls get away with all and sundry it feels like because our superiors and in fact our entire service are mostly men.



Men couldn't give a rats ass about the girls hair. The boys on the other hand will generally get in trouble for theirs as soon as it touches the very tips of their ears. Something I also happen to agree with. I have a secret desire to walk along a civvie street and simply chop the hair of every shaggy headed youth. There is nothing wrong with a neat short hair style - in fact on may it looks much better. The point here being that the boys have a lot more influence placed on their hair maintenance than girls.



At this stage of my career I'm too low to say much. The only people who aren't above me are my peers and they really wouldn't take to kindly to me trying to tell them something isn't right... certainly not something as 'unimportant' as their hair. Otherwise they would surely have gotten in trouble by now... right... that is not how this should work. However in the not too distant future I will start to have some authority - even if only minor... Lets just say I already know my 'she's such a bitch' trait - all superiors seem to have one.

Seeing Red - A Late Night Argument

'Fictionalise a real argument you've had. Write only in dialogue.'



Before I start I am (as always) going to have to give some background and just generally ramble a little bit. I am struggling a little bit to understand how you fictionalise an argument you’ve had. I suppose changing the people a little bit and the paraphrasing that would naturally occur in memory anyway. This argument to follow is a bit of a conglomerate of what I’ll just say it is a hazard that comes with my job. I have toned down the language a little bit.



‘Urgh... What time is it?’

‘0300. I’m going on watch.’

‘What on EARTH are you doing?’

USS Yorktown Red Light

‘Are you stupid? I just said that. I am going on watch.’

‘I am NOT stupid. I wasn’t asking where you were going. I know where you are going. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’

‘Getting up... that much should be obvious.’

‘What has that to do with the F***ing white light then?’

‘So that I can see what I am doing.’

‘What is wrong with the perfectly functional red light we have used every night for forever.’

‘I don’t like it.’

‘I don’t care. Its the middle of the damn night.’

‘And I am going to use the white light.’

‘And wake me up. I only got to bed three and a half hours ago.’

‘Its only a little white light... You can hardly see it on your bunk at all.’

‘There is a reason why we only use red light at night. This shit ruins night vision and is just generally impossibly bright.’

‘Stiff shit.’

‘Oh come off it. If I’d done this to you I’d never hear the end of it.’

‘Eh... I’m going on watch now. Bye.’

‘Oi! Don’t you leave this room without turning that blasted light off.’

‘I’d say thanks... but you wouldn’t take it as genuine anyway.’

‘That’s because it wouldn’t be.’

‘Humpf. I’m going to try and get the next 3 hours of sleep. You’re just lucky that not even to spite you would I turn my white light on in the middle of the night. I actually possess manners.’



While writing this I thought. Its funny these arguments are easy enough to write and I reckon that 90%, if not more, people chose to write this argument from their side of the argument. Its the natural thing to do, after all if you are going to revise the argument you are DEFINATELY going to be right aren’t you? I reckon this would have been a much better challenge piece to have attempted to write the dialogue from the OTHER person’s perspective... I’d bet they’d remember it differently. Or at least pick an argument where you knew you were fighting the losing battle. Anybody who wrote one like that – you’ll have to let me know.