Crazy Cyclone

Ok, I know it's been a week since I posted, but I have a good reason for it. Last Wednesday night (Feb 2nd) we lost power. This was due to Category 5 Cyclone Yasi, which hit in the early hours of Thursday morning.

So all week, we've been suffering the after-effects of the cyclone. It took us 2 days of solid hard work to clean up the yard, cutting down all the trees that fell over and dragging it all to the curb (90% of all the trees on our acre block), all the while, watching out for green ants, and wasps. Now, while we were all bitten several times by green ants, which are nothing more than painful and itchy, no one was stung by a wasp. We are all very lucky to have survived with the minimal damage we had. A house just around the corner from us, had (and possibly still HAS) a tree leaning on their roof. However, this is the only structural damage we saw here in Kelso. All the damage was done to trees and fences. But don't take this lightly. We were without power for 7 days!

Below are a couple of images of the amount of debris we piled up on the curb. Note that one pile is as tall as my cousin, Tayla, who is roughly just under 6 foot tall.

Above is pile 1 of the debris (one side of the driveway).

And this is pile 2 (other side of the driveway).

(The trolley is to give you a bit more perspective of the height of the pile.)

Being A Better Person

Ok, so it has come to my attention recently that some people need lessons in how to treat people. So, I'm gonna give them some tips.

TIP #1 - OWNERSHIP

You do NOT take people's laptops from under their fingers. Literally. In fact, you don't take things that don't belong to you without the owners permission. If the owner says 'no', you respect their decision.

TIP #2 - RESPECT

When you're in someone's bedroom, you respect them and their decisions. Actually, you should ALWAYS respect people's decisions, whether you agree with them or not. You don't tell them what to do in their room, it's their domain, they decide what's gonna happen and what's not. If you don't like what they're doing, or what music they're playing, leave. Simple as that.

TIP #3 - KNOW THE LIMITS

If someone asks you to stop, stop. Don't push it. Know the other persons limits, and DON'T PUSH THEM. That is the worst thing you could possibly do. If you say something, they ask you to stop, and you don't, it could all blow up in your face, and you could lose something really great.

So they are my few tips on how to be a better person & treat people right.

You Don't Joke About Some Things.

There are things that you just don't EVER joke about.

One of these is serious illnesses.

Some illnesses are very serious. They tear families apart. They ruin lives. Some diseases leave victims wanting to die. So we should be raising awareness for these illnesses rather than joking about them!!

To the people joking about serious illnesses, how would YOU feel if someone you know and love was suffering from a serious illness and people were making jokes about it?! You wouldn't like it. So DON'T make jokes about serious illnesses, especially mental illnesses.

Mental illness is a crippling condition, not something that should be taken lightly and made fun of. I have a very close friend who suffers from a mental illness, and I'm sure she would agree with me that this is nothing to joke about.

I'm sorry if this post offends you, but I am sick of listening to people make jokes about things that are serious! What happened tonight really pissed me off and made me mad. If you don't like what I have to say, I DON'T CARE!! I have the right to say what I want and when. And you have NO right to judge me!!!

How Can 3 Go Into 2?

In early 2007, we found out 2 bits of news. The exciting, my step-mum was pregnant! The bad, my Oma was very ill. She had been diagnosed with bowel cancer and told she had 3 months to live. After a week or so, she was taken to theatre to remove the affected part of the bowel, but she was so riddled with cancer, there was nothing they could do. Her prognosis was reduced to 3 weeks. Each Monday for those 3 weeks, my mum, younger brother and I would travel 3 hours to Adelaide to see her. After these 3 weeks were up, she was still fighting. On August 24, Mum and I were in Adelaide with a couple of friends for Calisthenics Competitions, so on our way home, we stopped in at the Mary Potter Hospice where Oma was now living. Upon leaving, Oma turned to our friends, smiled and said "It was nice to meet you". She then turned to Mum, still smiling and said "Thank you for bringing Jessica to see me". One final sentence from her lips before we left "Jessica, it was nice to see you one last time." Two weeks later, on September 8, her body gave up it's fight, and she passed away, aged 86. She never got to meet her 18th grand-child.

Precisely 11 months and 1 week after Oma passed away, my auntie walked into my Opa's retirement house to find him lying on the floor. He'd had a stroke. I never had an opportunity to say goodbye to Opa as he passed away one week later, aged 91. 2 weeks before the anniversary of Oma's death. He knew his 18th grandchild for only such a short time and I'm sure he felt honoured that his 13th grandson was named after him (well, Bradley inherited Opa's middle name - Ignatius).

Sitting in English on July 2, 2009, I got a text from my mum saying "What lesson are you in? I need to talk to you." My stomach sank. I had a bad feeling about this message and just 2 hours later I was sitting in the car when Mum announced "Uncle Stephen passed away last night." That was it. The dreaded fear that another family member was Heaven-bound, had been confirmed. But why him? He'd only turned 60 three and a half months before. He only knew his oldest grandchild - Matthew (now aged 2.5) - for a short time and sadly, he never got to meet his second - Thomas (now aged one) - and third - his first granddaughter Alicia (now aged 6-9 months) - grandchildren.

After each of these deaths, I felt numb. I hadn't lost someone so close to me in years, and to lose 3 within 2 years of each other was mind-numbing, paralysing. All three of them are greatly missed. I must admit though, I do miss Oma the most. She was such a kind, caring, life-loving person and she gave so much to the people around her. I just wish I could give her back something.

Oma, Opa, Uncle Stephen. You are all greatly missed by your family and friends. It was an honour to know you, to be related to you and to be loved by you. I know you are all looking down on us from above.

So this my friends, is how 3 can go into 2.

Lots of Love to all (especially you three).

I've Come To Realise...

Ok, so this may sound a little selfish or crazy. But I've come to realise that we need to have more respect for ourselves. We sometimes need to put ourselves before others. Like when things get crazy or go wrong in our lives.

I don't know about any of you, but I know that when things in my life get crazy, or things go wrong, I put my life on hold. I focus on everyone around me. I try to solve their problems instead of facing mine.

Several years ago, by focusing on everyone else, I put myself in harms way. I let my problems get the better of me, and instead of talking to anyone about it, I let the anger and hurt build up inside me until it came out in the form of self-inflicted cuts and scratches. I didn't seek any help for this for 3 years, before which, it got the better of me.

After seeking help from our school CPSW, I spent several meetings in the school counsellor's office, and all she did was tell me to stop. As a 17 year old, when someone tells you to do something, naturally, you do the opposite. So instead of my problem getting better, it got worse. After weeks of meeting with and emailing our CPSW, I finally got on top of my problem, and I am pleased to say, nothing has happened for nearly 12 months. Oh sure, I've had the occasional urge, but nothing can or will make me go back to the way I was.

I'm a changed person. Sara, you gave me meaning for the present, and hope for the future. Thank you.

Please remember to take a bit of time out of each day for yourself.

Lots of Love to all.

Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates...

In the three weeks I have been living in the small suburb of Kelso, Townsville, I have come to realise several things. But the biggest and most predominant thing is that it is hard to move away. Leaving behind your friends & family to call a new place home. In this place I now call home, I know not very many people. I have met a few of my auntie's friends, and my cousins boyfriend, but that's all, as I have not yet started university.

There are roughly 20, 000 people studying at James Cook University (one of the Yorketown doctors took pleasure in telling my mother that half of these students are males) and when I start uni in 4 weeks time, I hope I will meet some people who are willing to take in a South Australian country girl...

So, many of you know that I moved to QLD to study, but not many know the story behind it, so I'm going to tell you. In October 2008, my mum's brother (my uncle), Duncan, and his wife, Lisa, together with their 2 daughters, Stephanie and Tayla, announced that they were moving to Queensland so that Auntie Lisa could be with her brother and sister. After this announcement, Auntie Lisa and Mum began discussing plans for me for when I finished school. When Mum expressed her concern about me living in Adelaide alone, Auntie Lisa got an idea. I would move up to QLD and live with them. So after a discussion with me, we all decided that this would be a fantastic option for me. I would be studying at one of the best universities is Australia - James Cook University.

Well, that's all for now! I'll be sure to keep you all up to date and informed of my new journey.

Lots of Love.

A New Adventure

I moved to Townsville today (1/1/11).

It was a very early morning having to be waiting outside in Adelaide for the shuttle bus to the airport at 5am, which meant being up by 4:00am after a very late New Years Eve (or morning... (3am to be precise)) to be ready in time.

So at 6am, with little tears, I boarded the plane to Brisbane for the first leg of my new adventure. I reached Brisbane (where it was raining!) around 8:35am and as I was proceeding straight to the gate to catch my connecting flight, I was called to the service desk. I went over and discovered that they wanted to change my seat! I then explained that I was travelling with family, although we were on different booking references, so they gave me my seat back and we boarded the plane. =) As it turned out, they wanted to change my seat so they would have someone in the over-wing exit row, which they gave to someone else. There were so many spare seats on the plane! It was only about a quarter full! After departing about 5 minutes late, we quickly made up the time and arrived in Townsville smack on schedule at 11am. After a little taxi ride we were at the house I will call home for the next little while (year or so, possibly until I find a place of my own).

After a couple of hours, my cousin Steph & I decided to go for a little walk to McDonalds "just down the road". Little did I realise, "just down the road" meant 2 AND A HALF KILOMETRES!!!! And round trip, yep, that's 5kms I walked in - wait for it - THONGS!! (no, not the underwear!!!) I now have blisters the size of 10c coins on the bottom of both my feet! So they are very sore at the moment and it is quite hard to walk!!

All in all, today has been very exciting! I can't wait to see what the future holds for me!!