Milly’s School Blog

To all those who are visiting this blog or do visit me occasionally I am changing from Learnerblogs to Edublogs. This is a link to my new blog. I will get all of my work transferred onto there as soon as possible. Thanks.

In the weekend my family went to the Fielddays. They are held in Hamilton every year at Mystery Creek. They go for 4 days and are basically to do with things to do with farming and machinery and things like that (and animals). Its is a lot more fun than it sounds. There are heaps of free giveaways and also things to buy and the occasional tastings of food someones selling. We went on the last day, Saturday and we took our neighbour’s little son with us. We walked around together as a family and scored lots of free things and balloons and stuff. We saw a few animals like cows, sheep and a pig. We did miss a lot of  tents but got around to a lot of others. I think that it was a very fun day and I enjoyed myself even though I had a sore back and throat. In the time leading up to the Fielddays and throughout the fielddays our town had a thing going on itself to get people into the spirit of things. We had a scarecrow competition where heaps of shops up town were displaying their home made scarecrows in their windows or outside by their doors. Of all the ones that I got a glimpse of I think that my favourite would have been the Waipa District Councils one. The put up a pole on the side of the road and had a scarecrow up the top in the blue and orange uniform of what the workers wear. It looked really awesome.

For the rest of the weekend and this week till now I have had and still do have the flu and a chesty cough and I have not been at school all week. I hope that this passes soon as it is getting very irritating!

On Saturday I had my first tournament for Taekwon-do. It was the Midlands Regional Tournament and was held at my school in the gym. Many different clubs from our region came together to take part in the tournament. For the coloured belts the things we could do was sparring (fighting) and patterns (a series of movements for each belt colour). I entered into both and so did my big brother. My big brother is a green belt and I am a green belt, blue stripe.

First up were the patterns there were 4 people in my lot (or division or whatever you want to call it). This meant that I went up against my first opposition and if I won I would go up against the winner from the other fight for 1st if not 2nd. If I lost I would go up against the other loser for 3rd if not 4th. The medals that were given out in the end were gold, silver and bronze (1st, 2nd and 3rd). Fortunitly for me I won my first round and happily went on to face the other winner. I really wanted the gold medal and the title of 1st so I tried my very best and I got it!!! I now have the gold medal and I am very happy about it. Unfortunately my brother didn’t get a medal in patterns but his time was up next in the sparring. He put up some really awesome fights and got a silver medal! I was happy for him and really proud as he is a very talented sparrer. I didn’t get a place in my sparring but winning my patterns was enough for me. I think that we did very well for our first ever tournament. I definitely would like to take part in many more tournaments to come.

A little information on why I do and love Taekwon-do so much…

Since joining Taekwon-do last May has really helped me as I am a fitter and stronger person than I was before hand and I also think it is great for self defence. I also love it so much because I always have so much fun and it helps with the discipline of the body and mind.

In Mexico a group of cyclist were in a 34km road race near the Mexican border with
Texas when a car hit the pack of riders. Now you’re probably thinking why do that? Why hurt innocent people? Well the story is that the 28 year old American man, Jesse Campos fell asleep at the wheel and unfortunately hit them (who were on the side of the other side of the road) killing one person and injuring ten others. Was it a lack of sleep that made him fall asleep? Maybe it was but the key factor is that he was driving drunk. 

Now as soon as I read the part about him drinking beforehand I was really disappointed. You would think that all the advertising on TV and billboards all over the world saying not to drink and drive would have in-forced the stupidity about it but obviously it hasn’t and the message has not sunk in yet. It really makes me think about the law where you are not allowed to drink and drive and why would you be stupid enough in the first place to even break any law at all. Its like when you see the programs like Police Ten Seven and Motorway Patrol and you see how gutted and aggravated people are when they are caught drink driving well the one simple thing I have to say about that is if you had not have had a good long think about what you were about to do in the first place you would not be in that situation now owing money, or your car impounded, or losing your license or demerit points. I think that the many people who do drink drive need to think long and hard about this as what if you killed someone? You would have to live with that the rest of your life just like the man in the paragraph above. It would also be on your record and if you go for like a job or something in the future it may affect the chance of getting it. I would really like to hear your thoughts on this subject and I hope that who ever sees this post really realizes the trouble drink driving can cause just like I did.

For tech-arts us year eights have just finished science and art. 

Our lessons on science really helped me as I did a lot better in my test at the end then I thought I would and I know my knowledge may help me in our up coming science fair.

For art what we had to do was make a mask (full-face) with a cool design. So first we glued our masks onto a piece of wood or cardboard with the hot glue gun. Then we stuffed newspaper in to the opened edge to make it solid. We paper mached the mask a few times then painted it white. When then started painting the background and the colour we wanted as skin. After that we started on the little details like the lips, eyes and what we were doing as our design. I left the skin of mine white and painted the background black. I then painted the lips a dark blue. It looked cool against the pale white skin. After that I painted a mask around the eyes that was a really deep purple/blue and put purple/pink glitter on it which made it stand out. I then glued dark blue feathers coming out of the forehead and put a few pink ones on top so it stood out. Over all I am really pleased with my mask and I think it looks awesome. I really enjoyed art this year.

We have just started fabric and are going to make really cool sweatshirts. I can’t wait until mines done!

On Monday I went to the 2008 National Young Leaders Day in Rotorua. It was a really great experience which I really enjoyed. The theme of the day was own your own world which I interpreted as being a leader and making your own decisions. There were four really inspiring speakers they were

Mark Inglis (first man with no legs to climb Mount Everest),

Linda Vagana (was in the Silver Ferns for two years),

Ngahihi-o-te-ra-Bidois (I think he was like a motivational speaker) and

Russel Harrison (Lotto presenter, Background singer for TV series Singing Bee, and many more basicly he is an Entertainer).

My favourite speaker would have been Mark Inglis as he was really inspiring and the one thing that he taught us that I took in straight away was to persist at the things I do with great focus. When telling his story on conquering Everest he said that the higher he got the harder it was to take every step and breath and that he had to have great focus to keep on going. He called the top of Everest ‘the roof of the world’. I thought about it for a while and realised that he had a goal to get to the top and because he had the courage, focus and determination he achieved it and got to the roof of the world. The fact that he had steel legs made it an even more amazing story and just backed up my thought of him having all those quality that make a great leader. Mark Inglis also said

Impossible is “possible” that hasn’t been tried hard enough yet.

I really like that saying as it is very true and he proved that by climbing to the roof of the world with only steel legs to help him. Because many people would think that it is impossible for him to do that and I liked the way that he proved it is possible because the way he said things to us that day about what it took for him to climb the mountain I think it really inspired us all.

I definitely learnt heaps on Monday and I would like to give a big thank you to my friends Dad for driving us up and the teachers and other parent helpers who helped us get there.

My hands firmly grasp the staples as I quickly and fearlessly climb the tall pole. At the speed I am going I don’t notice how high I am until I look down at the grass which seems like a large blanket covering the ground. A shiver runs down my spine and with my stomach now bouncing off the inside of my body like a ball it is time for me to get on the first platform. After working my way around the many thin cables my trembling foot lands on the wobbly wood. Standing tall I realise this will not be as easy as I thought. To jump to the next platform I had to build up my courage. It only took a few seconds as I had gained great confidence when I carefully observed others before me. Jumping with speed it felt like I flew over the gap because I got there with no problem at all but with a worried look on my face. Starting to feel a little bit better I stepped back and leaped as far as I could to the third platform. Towards the end of my jumping I realised that it started going up hill. My confidence faded and I grew disappointed not knowing whether I could jump that far. But with the sun beating down on me and some encouragement from my belayer and others below me I knew I could do it. This time taking two steps back I stepped forwards, leaped and I just made it onto the platform. Reaching out to touch the cold, smooth, wooden pole a feeling of happiness flooded through me because I knew I had done it. “Now run back to the middle holding your arms out to the sides.” My belayer said to me. So not wanting to hold my arms out I tightly held my harness rope so my knuckles were nearly white and I ran to the middle leaping when I had to. Satisfied I leaned back off the platform and was slowly lowered to the ground feeling warm and fuzzy inside because of what I had achieved.

I heard on the Breakfast show the other morning that the SPCA now have to wear stab-proof vests to protect themselves from aggressive animal owners. Now the first thing that came to my head was why would they need stab-proof vests like the police? Then it hit me the world is getting so possessive and aggressive that law infocers are now in even more danger than they were in the first place. It sounds freaky but the way that people are living today just proves that we as a country or a world are getting more violent as the days go by. Going back to the subject of the aggressive animals owners I don’t think that it necessary to be acting violent. But I don’t see the reason most of them lash out because if they want to keep their animals and not let them be taken away by the SPCA then they should care for them in the first place. If they want to keep them so badly they should do a much better job in looking after their pets but then another reason for them to lash out is in some cases the owners may have been drinking or something and have taken out their anger on the SPCA officer. I think that it is very sad to know that we have to have our SPCA officers wearing stab-proof vests because it proves that we are a very angry and unsafe nation.

For term one and the start of term two my class have been studying Anzac Day. First we had to chose a ‘big’ question. My groups question was: How relevant is Anzac Day today? We did a lot of research in our group and we made brochures for tourists explaining what Anzac day is all about and as individuals we also made our own postcards with a relevant picture and a piece of writing saying what Anzac Day means to us. We also made a multimedia explaining and answering our ‘big’ question. I think that my group did very well and I am happy with the outcome. This is our multimedia.. group2.wmv If you would like to see the rest of the multimedias made by my class in their groups go to my class blog.

On Friday night after work I rushed home because we were going to our Granny and Grandads who live across the road to one of the three lakes past Rotorua. I always love going to their house because the lake is across the road and bush is up the back of their big back garden. Unfortunately it was cold and a little damp so we didn’t get to go kayaking like we always do. But luckily it was still fine enough to go up the back to the opening of the bush and hit hanging milk bottles with the slug gun. Me and Dad had heaps of fun shooting as we always do. I just hung around inside most of the time because I was really too cold to go outside. It was really great to see my Granny and Grandad but we had to go home the next day in the afternoon as I had to get back for my friends birthday party.

So after we drove for a while we finally got home and I had a quick shower and packed my bag. I got to my friend Kaitlyn’s house and we had lots of fun playing a board game until we all went out for dinner. We went to Pizza Hut in Hamilton and sat there for ages eating pizza as we took up a challenge of eating at least five pieces or more until we got desert. I only ate three but ate heaps of chips. Ha-ha, we had heaps of fun mucking around and watching dvd’s before bed and went to sleep at around 1:30-2:00 in the morning. We all woke around 8:00am and got up to have breakfast. After lazing about in the spa and swimming pool we decided to go for a walk down her farm. Jumping from bale to bale we laughed heaps because sometimes we nearly slipped off the hay bales as we took huge leaps. We also went over this electric fence and Sarah got a shock. Shanae got a bee sting also when we were walking through a paddock. And I fell in a dirty stream trying to jump over it. Ha-ha, we had some fun laughs over the weekend and I was really tired when I got home. But glad I had such fun filled weekend.

On Saturday the 19th I went to Auckland with my friend Georgia to watch her compete in the New Zealand Hip Hop Nationals. There where 3 categories for all the teams entered they were the Junior division, the Varsity division and the Adult division. My Friend Georgia’s team were in the junior division. Her team and many of the other teams came from Hamilton from a dance company called Fusion. Her team name was FDC Minors. Her team did extremely well but unfortunately they did not get a place either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their division but many other Fusion teams did which then gave them the opportunity to fly to Las Vegas to compete in the worlds. I was really happy that I went up and watched as it was so much fun. The moves that the dancers did were awesome and most groups threw in a few flips and things that really made the crowd go wild. The best part was the music they were just really up beat remixes that everyone loved. The youngest dancer there was a 7 year old from the junior division and she was a really good dancer as she never missed a beat and didn’t fall behind the older kids in her group. It was really cute because when she did a certain move that really required your hips to move the whole crowd went crazy cheering for her. Overall I was glad I went and I want to say that all the teams tried their hardest and put on such a cool show for the crowd.

Last week from Tuesday to Friday my class (room3) and room 7 went on camp to Ohope. Ohope is a beautiful beach just past a town called Whakatane.

When we got to camp we got our cabins sorted and went to the Whakatane Aquatics Center then back to camp for dinner and bedtime.

On the first full day we had my class went to the high ropes. It was soooo much fun!!!! We first did these really cool trust activities, like standing at about your peers head level on a platform (or whatever) and falling into their arms trying to keep straight. It was really fun we did lots of other trust things and then we got onto the actual high ropes. They were really scary and so much fun, on one of the ones I did I had to walk across a tight rope up really high in the air only holding the two wires on either side of me. I also did one were I had to jump from platform to platform up high also. One of my favourite ones I did would have been the tyre one. What you had to do was swing on a tyre up in the air and grab the next one in line and get onto it and so on. It was really awesome at the high ropes and I know everyone in my class enjoyed it.

In the afternoon of that day we went to The Amazing Maze’ n Maize which was great fun. Our groups and parents had to go through a corn maze trying to find these sign posts, then when we had found them we had to find our way out. My group did really well as in the end we only had to get a few more which we didn’t see. That night we got back with room 7 and went to the Whakatane Aquatics centre and then back to our camp for dinner and a good nights sleep.

The next day our class split off into three groups and went off to do activities. The first one in line for my group was fishing off the wharf. It was really gross baiting the lines with mussels but as soon as you got one it was all worth it. Everyone around me was catching fish until finally I got one it was an average size for the sizes we were catching but it didn’t matter I was so excited as I was planning to dissect it afterwards. As I was taking the hook out of it I wasn’t holding it properly and it squirmed. I freaked out and dropped it on the deck, ha-ha. I just about got it until the clever thing flopped right off and into the water again! I was just a bit disappointed but still loved every minute of it.

Next we went kayaking, the instructor was really great and we did a lot of cool activities and then some games, some people in my group got really sore shoulders but luckily I didn’t!

Lastly we went back to camp and across the road to walk down the waters edge until the beach stopped. We reached these stairs that went up and down the mountain/hill side. My group counted every step on the way to a really cool bay called Shelly Bay. We stayed there for a while resting, relaxing and playing about in the rock pools. Sadly we had to walk the only way back…up and down the 353 steps we came along to get here. It was tiring but worth it as we went to Awakeri hot pools that night and had sausages one the barbeque there.

The next day was the day we left we all got our bags packed and headed home. We stopped in Te Puke on the way home for lunch and a break from driving then started back up again and arrived home in Te Awamutu.

I know that I had such a great time at camp and I hope the rest of my class and room 7 did as well. I would like to give a BIG thank you to all of the parents that came along and helped in so many ways and to the teachers for organising such an awesome camp that we all really enjoyed.

Well Yesterday afternoon my family were in Hamilton doing grocery shopping in Pak’n Save and on our way home Dad spotted a huge black cloud. I asked him if it was smoke or a cloud and he said it was definitely smoke. So me and my big sister got out our cellphones and took pictures. Dad asked Mum (who was driving) if she would go past it and she agreed. On the way to it I kept asking my Dad what it was and he said it is either the Truck Depo out there or those Coolstores near it. Well Dad was right it was the Coolstores, unfortunately they were up in huge flames and we even saw a Huntly water tank on its way there. Finally my picture memory on my phone was jam-packed so I put it down. When we were driving past it we were on the other side of the road and I had my head on the window frame of our car looking out. And wow, could I feel the heat it was like I was in front of a gas heater with my face really close to it. It burning pretty bad from the looks of it even my big sister sitting beside me could feel the heat and she was no where near the window. In that short time of seeing it close up it really makes you aware of how dangerous fire is. They do not know the cause of the fire as it is still going and its now early morning. Senior Station Officer Derek Lovell died from injuries he received when attending to the fire last night. Waikato Hospital are begging other hospitals around it to take the casualties because there are heaps! In the news it said that the one of the Coolstores was holding tonnes of cheese and there was a heavy smell of gas in the air just before the blast at around 4pm which ignited the cheese. Crews from Auckland, Hamilton and Rotorua continued to monitor the fire all through the night and into this morning but I think they might just be letting it burn itself out as if you think about it the only thing they can really do is to protect the surrounding buildings as the fire is quite large. I also read that they had Fonterra trucks carrying water to the fire and they drained a close by swimming pool. As we got closer to driving past it we could hear explosions just about every 30 seconds. When we got home my Mum text our Taekwon-do instructors wife if he was alright because he is a Te Awamutu Firefighter, his wife text back that they are all fine. S that was a relief.

For me I think seeing that fire is a huge lesson to everyone that even the tiniest spark or something like leaving your cooking unattened can create a fire of any size. And to feel the severeness of the heat goes to show that fire can destroy just about anything and in a quick space of time as the road lane right beside the Coolstores was closed, I think because it probably would have melted the paint on peoples cars.

Thanks to www.tvnz.co.nz and www.tv3.co.nz for the pictures of the fire.

The swing slowly crept back and forth.

Its seat occupied by only the cold gusty wind.

Orange with rust the chain whines with every movement.

The black seat soaks up all of the warmth the beams of sunlight provide.

Scuff marks in the dirt below the swing show it has not long been used by an active child.

The eldest stepsister is of medium height. She has a chubby build with short limbs. Her face is a round shape with a dimpled chin. Her skin is pale and blemished with many pimples. Her eyes shout an evil green as they are constantly wide open. Eye lashes curl up to meet her bushy raised mono brow. With big ears, puckered lips and stained yellow teeth the stepsister is not considered beautiful. A large pug nose and puffy cheeks complete her ugly appearance. Thick brown hair is worn lose at her shoulders with a frizzy fringe pouring over her forehead. The stepsister’s voice is loud and unpleasant. Always looking fancy and proper, she wears the most beautiful and expensive dresses. 

The step sister is a rude, judgemental young lady. She is lazy and bossy and refuses to do any house work at all. A selfish self-centred show off is what the step sister is. Her constant mean and aggressive moods are always hanging around. Mischievous as can be the rich, dreamer is very gullible. The stepsister is spoilt and tends to demand until she gets what she wants. Academically challenged the stepsister is not a very bright person. Quietly and with great skill she keeps many secrets and tells many lies. 

Everyday the stepsister wonders what it would be like to be Cinderella, as she is very envious of her beauty and talents she has. The stepsister wishes to be married to the prince living in the fine castle wearing the most expensive jewels. She waits everyday till the prince will finally notice her. Clumsily the stepsister always drops things. When showing off she makes mistakes trying to be perfect. Stuttering when she is nervous she often looks down at people thinking they are worthless. Sometimes she gets annoyed with her mother always wanting her to be someone more beautiful and better.

As I walk through the long stretched out hall, the door finally comes in sight. My insides tremble with fear not knowing what is behind the door. Mysteriously sitting in the frame the door makes me question its belonging. Is it there to give us more opportunities or is a bump on the road of success? I wonder if there are other doors like this one and where they are. Obviously I have not passed through this unusual door as I have never seen it before. With a big old fashioned lock it looks as though it would take some effort and time to open it. The handle is an old, scratched and worn out sphere. I start to wonder who has used the tired handle before and what was the outcome. The door panel itself is faded and scratched out from once being a rich, stained and smooth piece of wood. 

 Today was a good day at school. Sport, Lab and Tech Arts was basically what we did. My favourite thing probably was when we had a discussion on world news. Because my teacher told us about a lady who was in a bad mood with her boyfriend and went into the toilet for some time out. She has been in there for two years now and has literally grown to the toilet like as in it is now connected to it. Her boyfriend brings her food and a drink everyday when she needs it. I really found that weird and well yeah…weird.

This afternoon I went to the town library and found myself a book called Blue Blood, by Ken Catran. It is about a girl who’s boyfriend is a murderer is supposedly dead and she is getting blamed for the recent murders. It should be good to read but I shall soon find out! I also got out some other books for my brothers and sisters and a form so my sister can get a card so I don’t have to get her books out, ha-ha. I don’t mind but she wants a card.

Well I’m off to enjoy my weekend…..with a planned power cut on the way for our town it should be fun!

 So many cases of animal cruelty are being dealt with everyday by the SPCA the latest one in the news is of a lady who starved her puppy and failed to turn up in court. The story is told that a lady locked her 11 month old Stafford-shire bull terrier under her house and starved it on Christmas Eve. The puppy known as ’Eve’ apparently looked like a carcass and survived by eating its own faeces. The lady is facing charges of failing to provide Eve with protection from significant injury and disease. Auckland SPCA general manager said he was not surprised at the ladies no-show.

My personal opinion on this is that I think this is very disgusting. It is sad to think that people actually have the hate in them to hurt such a cute helpless little animal like that. The puppy did not do anything wrong (I think) or maybe it went toilet in the wrong place or something like that, I don’t know but I do know that is no reason to lock your puppy up and starve it. It is just the thought that people all over the world kill and hurt animals, to me it is just like killing or hurting a human because an animal lives and breathes, doesn’t it? Just like us. I wonder what the lady got out of doing this to her puppy, nothing but charges and police chasing her after cowardly not turning up in court. I don’t understand why such things happen to innocent lives.

What do you think?

Thank you Google image search for the picture of the sad puppy.