July 17

This afternoon I was reading a book called Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpugo. It's about a boy who goes overboard in a storm, and ends up on an island with an elderly Japanese man called Kensuke.

Michael Morpugo writes so realistically, I feel like it all really happened. I love the addition of postscripts relating to the story, that make it seem so much more real. Another one of Morpugo's stories that I loved was called Running Wild, and that was also just fantastic, and seemingly factual.

July 12

Well, more Shakespeare today, but not as much, so it wasn't too bad. Also, my brother and I did it together, which made it so much better.

I love the book Watership Down. It is amazing. I read the first chapter to my family today, trying to inspire interest. My little brother liked it, and now he wants me to read it to him! Not quite what I had in mind. My sister still holds the opinion that they are rabbits, and therefore not worth reading about. My mother and older brother have tried it before, and can't remember what it was like. I think it is incredible, and really make me feel like I'm there. My favorite characters are Hazel and Blackberry.

June 18

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but things get busy at the end of the term.

On Saturday, most of my youth group, including me and two of my siblings, went to the Sciencentre in Brisbane. I've been there before, but only with family, so it was cool to see everything with friends, especially the ones who had never been there before.

Yesterday, my youth bible study broke up. There was a big party, with lots of ice throwing. It wasn't supposed to be thrown, but the leaders are worse than the kids. They started it! It was hilarious to watch.

Today, my older brother and I have heaps of Maths to do. I have a fair amount done, so I'm taking a break to blog before I get back to schoolwork. A Maths exam is coming up later this week, so we have to prepare. At some point, we will also both have to record our speeches, so they can be sent to the teacher. Mine is a bit long, but she said it would be okay...this time.

I can barely wait for holidays next week! I have some stuff that has to be done, like tidying the room I share with my sister, but I also want to read a LOT! Not just books, but anything I can find. Hopefully I will be able to see some friends as well.

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.

June 5

Today is my birthday! It was fantastic. We went to Caboolture library at the Hub, and I could not believe how big it was. The Hub was huge! For some reason I was thinking it would be a small, round building, similar to a beehive. Instead it was a huge building, with three levels, heaps of rooms, and very angled, not at all round.

I borrowed 20 books at the library. For me, that is a good birthday. We also went to the op shops in the area, and my sister practically got a new wardrobe, so she's happy too. I found a Nancy Drew book and bought that. That's the first Nancy Drew book I have ever owned, and I'm pretty excited. I'm going to read it soon.

May 25

It is so cold right now! I'll have to wait for Kid's Club to finish before Youth Group starts, and I'm going to be cold.

I read Little Lord Fauntleroy today, and it is such a sweet story. In the introduction they compare it to Cinderella, but I think it is better.

Kid's Club is having a Slum theme night tonight, so my little brother and sister are dressing up in their oldest clothes and covering them with dirty looking stains. They'll probably look even more realistic after tromping around in the mud for a while!

May 21

My laptop is having serious technical difficulties. It is in a catatonic state, neither off, nor on, and I can't get it to be either. As a result, I am on the family computer today. I really don't like this keyboard, so today's post will not be long.

As part of my schoolwork I was studying Ivanhoe today, and it looks like a fantastic book! We actually have a copy sitting on our classics shelf, so I am hoping to read it.

I tidied my desk today. This is a rare occasion. I'm trying to sort out what books go back to which libraries, as I have borrowed books from about 4 different libraries, and 2 different people. That makes it awkward when I want to return books, but I'm not sure who I got them from.

May 20

I just finished reading The Boy In Striped Pajamas, and it wasn't as sad as I thought it would be. The movie was awful, and was so utterly despairing, but the book made it seem so matter of fact. There wasn't much emotion to it. For once, I liked the movie better than the book.

I'm writing on the family computer, because I see no point in waking up my notoriously tempermental laptop for only an hour or so. Normally I would spend hours reading on the internet at the weekend, but today I decided to decrease my pile of unread library books instead.

May 19

I'm in the middle of a story, so today's post will be fortunate to go beyond three sentences. I could only deliver two of my invitations last night, as my other friends were away for the weekend. Last sentence, I want to get back to my book!

May 16

It was so cold yesterday! At square dancing it was even colder. Some of the people who have been doing it for a while said that the hall where we dance can sometimes go down to two degrees Celsius. That is so cold, I don't even want to think about it!

This afternoon, I was reading a book called True Stories of the Strange and Unknown. There are some amazing stories there. This is one of them.

The Wonderful Watch
When Wal Williams of Charlotte, North Carolina, accidentally dropped his watch from a light plane at 600 metres, he though he'd never see it again. But next day, while gardening, he found the watch in his own backyard. It was still running-and keeping perfect time.

Isn't that so weird?

I'm currently reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Apart from the fact that we watched the movie not too long ago, I wanted to read it because it has some wonderful descriptions of winter, and chocolate. What better book is there to read on a cold winter's night, curled up under the blankets, than one that really makes you appreciate everything you have, and how blessed you are. Winter is a time when you want yummy hot meals, and there are people like Charlie who don't get them. I don't think that a visit to a chocolate factory would work for all of them though.

My birthday is coming up so quickly! It was three weeks away yesterday. None of my family have bought my presents yet, but at least they have plans to go shopping. I also still need to write invitations to my birthday party, and I want to have them written by Friday! I have to get on with that pretty soon.

May 11

Yesterday I went to Brisbane library, and now my card has 21 books on it. Brisbane library cards are only supposed to have 20 books on them at once. Today, we are going back, and unless I return books, I can't borrow anything! So I have to return some of the books I only borrowed yesterday, so that I can borrow more books today. Fortunately, I'm a quick reader, so I already read the books I'm returning, regardless of the fact that I only borrowed them yesterday. A train ride can be great for reading.

My little brother and I share several traits, one of which is to write at a ludicrous slant, that, on occasion, makes writing illegible. That is only sometimes though. Most of the time, we have legible writing. At least, he does. Mine, not so much. It's a bit mixed up. I can read it, but other people sometimes have trouble reading what I wrote in a hurry. One advantage of that, it keeps my siblings from reading my diary!

My sister is practicing her singing exercises. She has to listen to one song over and over again, and hum/murmur/??? along with it. It sounds kind of weird. Some more news about my sister? She had her braces changed again yesterday. They are now "pink and lavender".

May 8

I found a really great book at the library today. It's called the Ultimate Book Guide, and it has all sorts of books, and suggestions of what you could read if you liked those books. I'll probably spend this afternoon reading this book of books!

May 4

Sometimes my little brother does really funny and silly stuff. Today, while we were shopping, he scanned his library book at the check out machine. It said that it couldn't identify the item. No surprise there, though it would have been cool it it had!

We leave in less than an hour for the bonfire. My mother and little brother aren't coming, as it is exclusively a youth group event. My little brother goes to Kid's Club instead. I'm really looking forward to it.

May 2

My youth group is having a bonfire on Friday night. I think it will be really fun. My sister and older brother will be going as well. I want to be able to cook marshmallow around the campfire, but I might not be able to get that close if my throat doesn't get any better. My brother likes his marshmallows hot, as in on fire. I like mine hot, but not that hot. My sister can't cook them at all, because cooked marshmallow are bad for her braces.

This afternoon I read a really good book called Can I see your ID?. The whole book is written in 2nd person. If you don't know what that means, it means that instead of being about me (1st person) or he/she/them (3rd person), this book is about you. It's a really interesting style. The book itself is all about people who have pretended to be something else, like a teenager who pretended to be a 40-something train driver. It's a really good book, and it's really cool to read all about these people, who took on a whole other identity.

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 24

The workshop today went well. It was weird, the only people there were the two teachers, my brother, myself, and one other student. Not many people could make it apparently.

I'm going to have a reading afternoon. It's been a while since I sat down with a book or three, and read the afternoon away. It's only three o clock, so I'll have plenty of time. I don't want to be on the internet this afternoon for two reasons. One, to disprove my brother's claim that I spend heaps of the internet (he's right, but I don't want to admit it). Two, my mother is setting up a wireless system, and she'd like us to be off the 'net while she's doing it.

So, off to the books!

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!!

April 19

All day long I have been doing activities with time limits, so now I feel like I should be typing as quickly as possible. I had a typing test this morning. Now, I should be finished with typing test for a while. Yay!

My little brother is playing Wii Tennis, with some awful singing to go with it. He can sing really well when he wants to, but when he doesn't, he sings really loudly and out of tune.

I had a very productive day today. I got a lot of work done in a pretty short time, and then did some more work in a slightly longer time.

My sister, Queen of the multi-taskers. She's brushing her teeth while playing Mahjong. It looks kind of funny, but she's managing.

No youth group tomorrow night. They are having a meeting. My sister will be going to a meeting of the Kid's Club staff, so I'll be stuck there, all alone, with nothing but my books, my iPad, and maybe my computer. Sounds like fun! I'd still prefer youth group though.

March 29

My laptop is being stubborn again, so I am once again writing on the family computer. I woke my computer up early this morning, so I could do maths before we went out, and it was wonderful. It woke up quickly, did what it was told, and stayed alert the whole time. Now, it's being incredibly stubborn.

My sister had the colours on her brace changed today. They are now pink and teal. I think they look nice.

My mother thinks I should use proper touch typing techniques while on the computer. The thing is, I can't! If I try to touch type on this computer, I end up with about five letters that I didn't mean to put in!

We went to the Brisbane Square Library today. I returned eight books, borrowed seven, and somehow my bag was heavier afterwards! I got a whole lot of heavy books. One of the books was so good, I read all 377 pages this afternoon, and then reviewed it for the newsletter my sister produces. I'll post the review here.

Adam Canfield: The Last Reporter
by Michael Winerip
The Slash, Harris Elementary/Middle School's newspaper, has been shut down for exposing the town's most powerful family's shady business dealings. But the co-editors, Adam and Jennifer, are determined to keep going. With the help of the Amache brothers, tow outrageous kid entrepeneurs, they attempt to collect the money to become an independent newspaper. A suspicious school election, and unusually high test scores, round out this funny and mysterious book.
I rate this book 5 stars.

The miracle for today is cool. Once again, these miracles are not mine. I just read about them, and are inspired by them, so I post them here.

Smiling Face
Author Unknown

One of my girlfriends had dropped off her 3 year old son at daycare.  The weather was very cold and there was predicted to be a snowstorm later that day. 

Mid-morning she received a call from the daycare to pick up her child.  The snowstorm was approching  much faster than previously anticipated.  She picked up her son, and as they were on the way home, the snow began falling heavily and the roads became icy. 

The car hit a patch of ice, and her car spun several times.  He son was safely strapped in the the safety seat in the back.  The car spun off the road, and somehow landed safely between a stand of several trees.  My girlfried, shaken, turned to check on her son in the back seat. 

Her son looked up at her and asked in his little 3 year old voice... "Mom... when we were going around and around and around... who was that man looking in the window?" 

Puzzled, my friend ask her son, "What did the man look like?". 

Her son replied, "He just smiled at me".

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.