17 September

Yesterday I got back from youth group camp. I had a great time! It was freezing cold, and we had to get up really early, but it was fun, and I enjoyed it.

I don't really update my blog regularly, do I? I should, but I'm never quite sure what to write, or who is actually reading it. So, I think in future I'll update more sporadically, when I actually have something I want to write, whether that's something funny I've heard, or just something about the weather.

August 14

Today has been pretty much nothing but hard work and reading. I had more work than last week, yet I still had more time to read. Tomorrow will probably be more of the same.

Really, nothing blogworthy happened today. It was a pretty much average day, except that my mother is sick.

Yesterday something totally cool and weird happened to my computer. I somehow managed to turn the screen entirely upside down! It was totally weird, yet still had a level of awesome. It took me a while to turn it back around again, but it was still so neat!

July 10

Hello to everyone in the blogosphere.

Not a lot happened today. It is only a school day, after all. Just schoolwork, and a visit to the library. Unfortunately, my unread pile of books has once again overtaken my read pile. I'll have to work on that.

I've been asked to contribute to a new blog, called The Book Club. The simplest way to find it would be from my profile. Otherwise, the web address is:
http://thebookclu.blogspot.com.au/

June 8

We got back too late yesterday for me to blog. My sister now has "light green and lavender" braces. I think they look green and light purple, but that's probably just me. She likes to use the exact terms.

Maths is annoying. I'm not actually that bad at it, it just takes so long, and is mostly boring.

We have had three library visits this week. Fantastic! Yesterday we were at Brisbane library, Tuesday we visited the Caboolture library, and today our school library came around. That library is actually meant only for primary schoolers, because older kids aren't thought to have enough time to read, but I always have time to read. I borrowed books from that library anyway. Some of the books they have are classics, like Little Women, and The Secret Garden. Others are less well known and more modern, like AirQuest Adventures, which are fantastic regardless.

Animate and Create, Mate

Apparently, the link I posted yesterday didn't work. The blog is called Animate and Create, Mate. The link is http://anim8andcre8mate.blogspot.com.au/

The particular post is called Chocolate. The link for that is http://anim8andcre8mate.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/chocolate_13.html

Hope it works this time!

May 15

I'm on the family computer today, because my older brother is hard at work and I don't want to disturb him. However, this computer is really awkward for me to type on. Having an enter key helps though.

Today, for me, has been a day of finishing things. Two of my subjects had Unit Reviews, and I spent most of the morning working on them. Tomorrow I start a whole new unit in those subjects.

I used Skype for the first ime this morning! My brother and I had a Skype call from our English teacher. It was so cool, and I'd never done it before. What a world of possibilities there are out there!

I saw a fantastic picture of chocolate on this blog. The blog is called Animate and Create, Mate, and the chocolate photos posted recently are really amazing. How does anyone make a keyboard of chocolate, and for that matter, why would they want to?

May 9

I can't blog tomorrow. We'll be out all day, and we won't get back until late. In other news, one of our guinea pigs is dying, while her brother keeps escaping his cage. Mixed news indeed!

April 25 (Anzac Day)

This blog is called Random Thoughts, so: Earlier, I was lying on our trampoline looking up at the sky, and the clouds made me think of lying under a giant bed. It seemed like I was lying under a giant cloud bed, that was sagging in the middle, and was all gray.

My mother has tried all day to get out wifi set up, but nothing seems to work. I think she said that it's faulty, and we'll get a new one.

I've been reading all day today, and all yesterday evening too. It was fun. I love to read, but recently I've been doing more online reading, and less book-in-hand reading. Last night, when I was racing through three books, one after another, sitting there, curled up on the lounge, book in hand, it felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. A little bit like coming home after a long holiday. It just kind of feels right.

My older brother, my sister, and my little brother made Anzac biscuits today. They made some with chocolate, and some without, and personally, I think the chocolate ones aren't nearly as good as the plain ones. The cloudy sky made it fantastic to be sitting inside with a book, smelling Anzac biscuits cooking, and tasting them after. The perfect way to spend the holiday.

It's getting colder now. With winter comes my birthday, so I can't wait! The only problem is that I can't decide on a party theme! I want to have a party with a few friends to celebrate my birthday, but I can't pick a theme. I can't send invitations until I have a theme, so I'm starting to worry about it. It's a very good thing that it isn't winter yet, and I still have more than a month to go.

We didn't go square dancing last night. Some of us were kind of tired, and just wanted a night to chill at home. Now I just have to hope that we haven't missed out on learning something vitally important!

April 22

My sister's birthday party was yesterday, and it was so cool! First we played all sorts of games with our baby piggies, like making them go through tunnels, and under obstacles, and racing them against each other. They weren't very good at it, but they looked so cute that it didn't matter. After that we went on SingStar. The boys didn't like that as much as the girls did.

This morning, our youth bible study was on, even though I didn't think it was. That was really fun. Soon, we'll have a room all to ourselves, to do our study in.

I thought I'd have heaps to write, but I don't. My sister is singing really loudly in our bedroom. My older brother is playing a computer game beside me, and my little brother is out in the backyard doing who knows what. My mother is relaxing with a book.

One final really cool thing: MY BLOG NOW HAS TEN FOLLOWERS!!

March 25

I've been getting really careless with my posting lately. Yesterday I was having too much fun watching episodes of the old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys TV show to remember to blog. Today, we've been out from 8:30 to 2:30, firstly at church, then shopping.

I don't really feel like blogging today either. I'd really like to just relax and read for hours and hours. It's probably a little late in the day for that though.

I'll try to write a little more tomorrow, but today I'm just tired. It's hot and I've been out for hours. That'll have to be my excuse.

March 23

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I simply forgot. In the ruckus around my brother leaving, I forgot to blog.

I finished my Maths assessment today! I thought it would be really hard, but it actually was pretty easy, and didn't even take too long. I still have lots of Maths to do, but at least the assessment is finished.

We go out to youth group tonight, and I'm really looking forward to it. I like youth group. We do all sorts of fun stuff, and I get to hang out with my friends.

My sister is doing her vocal exercises. She sounds like she's pretending to be a ghost! It involves all sorts of sounds, and it really does sound like she's trying to be a ghost.

I love reading about miracles, or people who do amazing things for a cause they believe in. I read recently about the bringing of Bibles into China, and it sounded amazing. Part of me wishes that I could've been there first hand, and done it too. Even just hearing about it first hand would be so cool.

I have another miracle today. As I have said before, these are not my miracles. They just inspire me, so I write them down, to inspire others.

The Language I Know

By Rosemary Jackson

I volunteer at a soup kitchen in Santa Fe where you are as likely to hear Spanish as English. Many times I've wished I could speak Spanish, especially with two of my favorite regulars, whom I'll call Juan and Miguel. Luckily Juan's English is good enough that he can translate for Miguel, who speaks none at all. 

"Hey, how's it going?" I asked them one day.

Juan told me that he and Miguel had been looking everywhere for work. "No luck," he said. They'd run out of money and were sleeping in a nearby park. I could only imagine how tough it was to find work, especially when you are homeless. 

"Why don't we pray about it?" I suggested and waited for Juan to translate for Miguel. Then we all held hands and asked God to help them find jobs. 

After that I didn't see Juan and Miguel for a while. I figured they might have had to go out of town to find work. Then one day they were back. 

"We want to thank you," Juan said. Miguel smiled and spoke in Spanish as his friend translated for him: "Miguel says, 'Prayer really works. We both have jobs!'"

"Let's give thanks," I urged. I bowed my head and said a short prayer of thanksgiving aloud. After saying "Amen," I opened my eyes to find my friends staring at me.

Miguel spoke in an urgent tone, then Juan explained for me. "My friend says it and I say it too. That was a beautiful prayer. Thank you. Your Spanish is flawless."

Flawless? I don't see how. For I had said that prayer in English, the only language I know.


That is so amazing. I, likewise, only speak one language, but the language of God is universal.

March 19

I have a new person following my blog: Steve Finnell. He invited me to follow his blog, and I now am, because it looks interesting. His blog is called christian with a view. I'm delighted and honoured that someone wants me to follow their blog, especially such a popular one. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I feel.

I'm still loving Charlie. Even offline, Charlie is still totally awesome.

I realised I haven't posted any miracles for the last few days. So to make up for it, I'll post a few. A reminder; these aren't mine. These miracles didn't happen to me, and I don't know the people they happened to. I do however, believe that these miracles are the work of my all powerful God.

Saved by a Voice

Ruthie always had a penchant for quickly speeding away from a stop light as soon as it turned green. One evening she was the lead car at a red light when it changed. She pushed down on the gas pedal just as a distinct voice from out of nowhere shouted “STOP!” from inside her car. She hit her brakes a second before a speeding truck ignored the red light and barreled through the intersection several feet in front of her bumper. She always knew that voice was a miracle from God who wasn’t ready to receive her that night.

God's hands on the wheel

My husband and I were travelling back home from the city central on a rainy day.  As we approached a bridge that ran over the highway, our car started to spin out of control. We were just being flung from one side to the other side of the bridge.  And I immediately said “GOD if you are going to throw us off this bridge do it now, or save us without a scratch.

When our car stopped we were at the end of the bridge, we spun all the way down.  Here’s the miracle, there were other cars on the bridge, we did not bang into any of them, and when we jumped out of our car, we had to look for the dents or damages to our car, because there was not even a scratch after all that banging.  Also on that day we decided at the last minute that we would leave our 7 month old baby with her grandma, should she have been there she would not have managed to control her neck in the car seat. We were just a little shaken.  My husband started our car and continued safely home.

My GOD is awesome. 

God answered my prayer just like that

It was afternoon, and it was a very sunny day. I was in town to managed my entry to universities, and have no car or motorcycle to go around the town, so I walk on that sunny day. I’ve been walking like 3 hours now, and there is still so much things to do. I was thirsty, sweating all over, and really, really tired. When I came to my limits, I said a little prayer in my heart, “Lord I’m tired, please give me a ride home.”, then out of nowhere, a car honed me. It was friend of mine, and he offered me a ride home. I was really shock and frozen that time, because my prayer were answered within a second just like that. When I was in the car I felt relief and say thanks to God. God had helped me in a instance, praise to you Lord. Amen.

March 15

I have decided that my habit of talking to myself while working out maths problems is a really bad one. I've been working on my maths for the past hour, and now my throat is sore from talking too much! Thankfully, I can still blog, and that doesn't hurt my throat.

Did you know I dream a lot about libraries? I'm serious, I really do. About half my dreams involve libraries, where I invariably find the coolest books, that I have never seen before. I never visit the same dream library twice though, and I haven't visited any of them in real life.

We went shopping today, and my mother bought heaps of flour. She'll be baking this afternoon, but until then we have a wall of flour in our cupboard. It's kind of cool.

Now to today's miracle. I found this on a website, and it sounded so cool! This will be today's miracle. God is amazing in what he can do.

March 12

I found a really good book at our church library today. It's called Miracles of Answered Prayer. Some of the stories were so amazing I wanted to put them on my blog. So I have decided that March will be my Month of Miracles. Each day I'll put a miracle from this book on my blog. I hope that as you read these miracles, you will think of the amazing power of the God who can do these things. I f nothing else, at least it will give me something to write about! Hopefully, I'm not breaking any copyright laws by doing this.

Footprints to Follow

by Sandy Seltzer

Dustin, my California-bred guide dog, was having trouble outside our Long Island apartment. This was his first snowstorm and he was confused. I'm blind, and I wasn't doing so well either. No one was out, so there were no sounds to steer me. And contrary to what many people think, guide dogs do not find the way for a blind person. The blind person directs the dog.
After a harrowing forty-five minutes, Dustin and I finally made it back. But guide dogs must be walked regularly. "Next time why don't you ask God to go with you?" a friend suggested. And so I did. "Lord, go with Dustin with me. The wind is so fierce, it's hard to concentrate on our direction. Lead us." 
 Snow stung our faces and it was difficult to make a path. Dustin whined a little. "Okay, boy," I said to him, "the Lord is with us." And then I gave him a command that a blind person gives only when another person is leading the way: "Dustin, follow!"
Dustin perked up and to my astonishment took off as though he knew exactly where to go. We made it to the street and then headed back to our building with no problem.
A young woman trudged up and offered to walk us to our door. "We'll just follow your footprints," she said, "Yours and the dog's, and that other person's."
"What other person?" I asked. 
"There are a dog's prints. And your prints. And a larger person's prints. Wasn't someone with you?"
I paused for a moment and then I answered, "Oh yes, there was Someone with us." There always is. 

That is such a cool story. 

My little brother is sick. He's sitting in the lounge room, watching The Bee Movie. He's been coughing all day. Hopefully he'll be feeling better by Wednesday, or he can't go swimming, and he loves that (not)!

March 4

I have not blogged at all this month. That's not actually saying much, as this month is only four days in, but still.

On Thursday, we got back really late. Too late to blog. We spent the day in the city. My sister got her braces changed to teal and white. We also went to the Sciencentre, to solve a murder mystery. We did. We got the right criminals, and it wasn't too gross. However, examing the body of a dead guy isn't fun. I was afraid my mum would offer us lunch afterwards. Fortunately, she didn't, because I would have been feeling to sick toeat it!

Yesterday, we went to Dreamworld, and I think the Claw is my new favorite ride there, though it was kind of cool to be on Wipeout when it broke down. We were stuck up there for about five minutes while they got an engineer.

 I'm not typing on my laptop today, because it's being slow, so I'm using our family computer. I haven't tried to type a decent amount on anything other than a laptop for years, so I won't write much today. Also, it's getting late.

February 15

We went square dancing last night, and it was so much fun! I didn't think I would like it, but I really did. Everyone was nice and friendly, and I picked up the steps without much difficulty.

Today, we visited Strathpine library. None of us had been there before, and it had a good selection of books. My sister, who hardly ever borrows anything, looked like she was borrowing 6 books, and I borrowed 16. I actually had to borrow some books on my older brother's card, because mine was too full, and as you can put 40 books on a card, that's quite a feat! For most people that is. I have my card full a lot, too often I sometimes think, because if I have my card full when we visit new libraries, I can't borrow anything, and that's really awful.

My little brother looks like following my older brother's tradition of computer games. They both seem to like the same ones, and are both pretty good at it.

Sometimes I think I should only post when I actually have something to say, but then I don't think I'd ever actually post. Not much really big and exciting happens to me, like flying to the moon. That would be really neat! I don't think I'd like it though. Who would want to eat out of a tube, even if it does mean you get to go to outer space? It would still be awful!

My sister is playing the keyboard. She doesn't seem to have lyrics to any of her new songs. She doesn't sing along. Maybe she's just to busy concentrating to sing, as these are new songs.

I have to stop now, or I'll never be able to read all my new books this afternoon!

February 8

Post 100! This is my 100th post! And the weather is celebrating by being the wettest weather for all of this week. Yippee, just how I wanted to celebrate my 100th post.

Mathletics is really fun. My brothers and I are really enjoying it, and being able to play against each other in math competitions. That's really cool. I like chance, data, and graphing. Those are my favorite maths subjects, along with algebra.

I cannot think of any way to celebrate my 100th post, except this

100th POST!!!

 

February 7

This is post 99, so tomorrow will be the big 100 post mark! I still don't know what to do about that. I really need a good idea, or even 4 ideas, or 8, or 11. I don't care how many, but anything from 1 up would be great!

This afternoon, my little brother got a copy of Persuasion, which we are currently reading as a group. This copy is all his, not borrowed from a library. He thinks it is fantastic! He's actually really funny about it, looking at it and talking about it all the way home. This, from the boy that has said that he hates reading! It's hilarious!

My sister is on the keyboard. I don't know what she is playing, but she seems to be doing well.

Last night, my sister and I were talking about Sense and Sensibility, specifically, what if Willoughby had never gotten involved with Eliza? Marianne would have married him, and thrown the entire story out of line. We decided that Edward would have married Lucy Steele, and either have stayed in town, or gone to live at the Norland Parsonage. Elinor would have married Colonel Brandon, and been reasonably happy. Robert would have married Miss Morton, with her thirty thousand pounds, and be even more doted on by his mother. It would still be a reasonably happy ending, but not nearly as tragic, or romantic.

This afternoon, we went to the library, and I got more books. My book stack has not reached the curtain rod, as it had for a while, but it is about halfway.

February 6

This is post No. 98, so the 100 mark is getting ever closer. I don't know what to do to mark the special occasion. Any ideas?

I was reading Mansfield Park last week, and I was thinking that Fanny Price is a bit like Cinderella. Not as important as her cousins, cast down by them, not going to balls. I also think that if Fanny Price were Cinderella, (spoiler alert), then Henry Crawford, not Edmund, would be Prince Charming, even though she loves Edmund. Henry Crawford is undeniably charming, both the "stepsisters" want him, he's rich, and altogether better qualified for the role of Prince Charming. Obviously, the "stepsisters" mother wouldn't be the stepmother. Aunt Norris is much better for the role. Despising Fanny, loving the Miss Bertrams, wanting Maria to marry well, though I suppose my analogy is a little inconsistent, as the one that Aunt Norris wants her to marry is not "Prince Charming", but I can suppose that Mr Rushworth is a King of somewhere else. Does anyone agree that it is a lot like Cinderella?

Let's see, what else can I say? I'm a little lost one what to write about. Nothing much interesting seems to be happening. We didn't do anything especially interesting either this morning or last night, so I don't know what I can say. I read a lot, but that's not unusual. My sister had her first singing lesson, and her first keyboard lesson of the term. She's practicing the keyboard now. Finally, we have something other than Christmas carols to listen to. She's playing something brand new, that I've never heard before.

Something that I haven't mentioned so far, is that last Friday we went to GoMA, the Gallery of Modern Art,  and the Queensland Art Gallery. We saw a few of the exhibits, and they were pretty cool. I really liked some of the stuff in the Yayoi Kusama exhibit. I've posted a picture of one of the displays below. This one was a bit creepy. The eyes in the middle of the flowers are weird.

 

January 9

My blog is now up to 4 followers, and I'm really excited! Thanks so much to RayRay G and Elizabeth, who choose to follow my blog. I'm really happy about that.

My little brother is bored. He gets like that on holidays. He doesn't have a computer, doesn't read comics (weird), doesn't like reading, and doesn't know what else he can do by himself. Neither do I. I have a computer, I read comics, and I love to read. I don't usually need anything else to do.

My mother had guests around this morning, and they talked for ages at our dining room table. I spent the time with my sister in the room we share, uploading songs to my iPod. I haven't done it for ages, so I have a whole lot of songs my dad left on their when he gave this computer to me, as well as an assortment of songs I've loaded on.

Have youe verc onsi dere dhow hard itis tore adan ythi ngwh enyo uput itli keth is?
(Have you considered how hard it is to read anything when you put it like this?)

It's funny how easy it is to change an intelligible sentence into utter nonsense. In the sentence above, I just split everything up into 4 letter sections. It's easy to do, but hard to read. If you changed every letter to the one after it in the alphabet, it would also be easy to do, but hard to read.

But, you can actually read anything as long as the first and last letters are in position. Think of a sentence, and scramble it like that. Is it hard to read? or about the same? If you do it right, it should be the same, or maybe a little harder.