Unfortunately, as nobody bothers to take my polls, and as I also can’t be bothered to upload them anymore, I have decided to remove the ‘Poll’ page of my blog. That’s just how it goes, people. *sniff sniff*.

On a happier note, I am Google-worthy! A friend of mine was googling reviews of Eli’s Wings, which I reviewed in my last post, and came across my blog! Huzzah!

And on an even more delightful note, I had pancakes for breakfast. And now I go shopping. So, goodbye.

The power social networking websites have over today’s people has been brought to my attention! In August this year, 6,439,980 Australians were using Facebook! Isn’t that amazing?

It sure is.

This whole social networking thing is pretty cool. I mean, I love it. Twitter and Facebook and WordPress – it can’t get any better. But I hate the name. Social networking? Puh-LEASE! Everybody “socially networks” in REAL LIFE. In a sense. And the idea that “networking” gives, that we link up to other people via a network, is just disturbing. I, for one, don’t want to be “linked” with anybody. It’s ridiculous. Social networking websites are just for talking to other people. Telephones aren’t called social networks, are they? So why Twitter?

Moving on to more technology ranting, my older brother got his laptop courtesy of the Australian government today. He is in year nine. This is the very first time laptops have been government issued to students. And they have given them to the year nines. The year nines. Pointless.

I mean, yes, maybe I am just jealous, and maybe they shouldn’t give them to us year sevens because some of us can’t be trusted with our own laptops, but really. They should have given them to a grade that really needed them. Like year eleven, or year twelve, maybe. They’d use them for the HSC. Easy. But year nines? They don’t do ANYTHING. In terms of important exams, I mean. Nothing at all. And the government goes ahead and gives them all free laptops. Pointless.

It’s all just too ridiculous!

Hey, people! We had to write a review of a non-fiction text for English, so here’s mine -

Eli’s Wings, written by Elizabeth Best, is an autobiography about Best’s fight with anorexia. She has a pretty ‘normal’ childhood, but everything begins to go downhill when her parents divorce. Elizabeth doesn’t know how to cope, so she reverts to drugs. After a series of other misfortunes, such as the death of her childhood best friend, she eventually is diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Then, as the story progresses, Elizabeth is diagnosed with the eating disorder known as anorexia nervosa. In the end of the story, Elizabeth manages to overcome her condition and resumes a normal life, and becomes Eli – the girl she always wanted to be.

I quite liked this book for several reasons. For one, the story is obviously very touching. It’s an uplifting story of a girl overcoming the worst thing that ever happens to her. There is something for everyone in a novel like this. The other major reason I enjoyed the book is the fact that anorexia is becoming a huge problem for young girls in society today and it’s very interesting to have a first-hand perspective on what it’s like to be affected by such a condition, and the major mental effects it has on a person.

But for other reasons, I strongly disliked this book. The writing I found was pretty bad, with Best using too many adjectives, and over-writing everything. She says she adored cooking for her family at that time in her life, and “loved to watch them happily enjoying the little delights I had created”. She over-dramatizes, and extremely often uses one-sentence paragraphs. She often leaves out important information, and then adds it in later on. She totally discounts the fact that she was sexually abused as a child, and then skims over it in just four paragraphs near the end of the novel. Another reason I disliked Eli’s Wings was because Best’s writing causes a feeling in the reader that almost nobody survives anorexia, and that Best was so very lucky. It is true, it’s lucky she survived her condition considering how bad it got for her, but many people do survive, and Best’s is not a particularly significant or amazing case.

That is the main reason for my leaning to dislike this novel – it’s a little too full of itself. Best has created a book that she hopes will be extremely individualistic, but there are a few hundred autobiographies across the world about dealing with anorexia, and each story is basically the same – girl tragically contracts a potentially deadly condition, girl either dies or more often miraculously pulls through. This is not an original story. And if Elizabeth Best really felt strongly about wanting to share her story, I felt it overall required a lot of editing, and she probably should have focused a lot on that when she was writing. Although it is uplifting, I found Eli’s Wings to be too dreamy, and waffles on too much.

I did not particularly enjoy Eli’s Wings, and I would not recommend it to many people.

Comment and tell us what you think about Eli’s Wings.

I cannot believe my last post was on November the 4th… I have become so slack. Very sorry, and much apologies.

Right now I am watching Hamish and Andy Regifted, and so far it is hilarious. They’ve covered a few thigs they’ve done over the course of the year on Rove and stuff, like when they went “freeating” (Google it), which involved bin diving, and was very funny. Right now they are covering their American trip and right now Andy is the “public pants wetter”, and Hamish is making him walk around and ask waitresses for help with his little “accident” – he’s wet his pants. But not actually, he’s just sprayed yellow liquid all around hs crotch.

Funny!!!

Unfortunately, I have to go – here’s another random photo.

How random…

Back again… sorry again about the no-blogging thing. Not my fault. Blame Facebook. And NaNoWriMo’s Young Writer’s Program.

NaNoWriMo is this thing I’ve just started where you write a novel in a month. It stands for National Novel Writer’s Month. Very cool. Only I’m not sure whether it’s American National or Australian National. Hoping Australian. Anyway. I’m writing my book about the OC and everything that happened to all us kids in the OC last year and the year before. Almost everything. I don’t remember all of it. So it’s a true story, which is interesting, but also kind of boring because for most of it you had to be there, and we were doing regular every day life sort of things most of the time anyway. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s written down. It was that good an experience. I’ve already written up to my minimum word quota and we’re only 4 days into the month. Yay!!! It will end up being only a short story though because 2000 words was my minimum so yeah.

That’s what’s taking up my time!!!

For you guys, just because I’m lovely, here is the first two paragraphs:

I think that at least once in everybody’s life they have a really great time. You know, the sort of time you’ll never forget. For some people, that could be like meeting a new person who they know is for them, or seeing a fabulous movie, or hearing about something life-changing. It could happen at any time, any day, any second. I’m only just 13, right, and I hopefully have a lot of life left to live, but I reckon my really great time has already been and gone. In some ways, I think I’m the luckiest person in the world to have lived it, but sometimes I really think I missed the boat.

Before I start, what you need to know is that this whole thing will be, well, pretty boring. Some bits will be interesting. I just need a way to get everything that happened out there. Also, this will not be a fancy-metaphorical-wordy-type book. Any scene that happens that some English whiz interprets to be showing my feelings or somebody else’s feelings in different words other than “I felt happy” is crazy, because I’m not putting it in on purpose. They’re just words. For real. Feel free to skip a lot.

It’s OK, I guess. It’s not supposed to be faaaabulous, that’s not the point of NaNoWriMo’s YWP. The point, it says on their website, is quantity, not quality. So don’t have a cow, man.

Going to write another 500-ish words, now. Bye!!!

Oh my God, guys, I am so sorry I haven’t posted in over a week. School has started again so I’m really busy and all, and also it was my birthday (yes! Almost 2 years of blogging!) and I got Facebook which also drinks up a tonne of my internet time and so yeah. I am sorry.

And even this has to be a short post because Mum says I have to go and do some studying or whatever seeing as I have exams coming up in 2 weeks.

OK, well, at school lately we’ve been having a bit of a bludge – no homework last week and minimal this week, or so it seems so far – and so I’m having a really good term so far. The worst thng by far this term was definitely today, when we got our third dose of the HPV vaccinations. And even that wasn’t that bad. So, really, it’s been great.

So onto America. I’m sorry I didn’t post more while I was away. Not much time, with doing this and that. But, on the whole, America was awesome. Especially the snow and ice. I could SO move to America’s winter.

My mum and stepdad’s wedding was, on the whole, pretty cool. We took our own wedding photos and everything. See:

ARGH!!! IT WON’T INSERT INTO POST!!! STUPID INTERNET!!!

Here is the link, though, because the dumb intarwebs will allow it. Dumb intarwebs.

Anyway, I took that shot, which is pretty cool, huh? Isn’t my mum pretty? Yeah.

Anyway, gotta go. Nice blogging again.

We are here in Colorado Springs!

On the first night Laura and Max and Madie, the people we’re staying with, organised a chilli party for us! It was cool, and us kids played games and stuff…

On Sunday, our first day, we did several things, like go have a massive brekky at a diner, go to a chocolate factory, etc etc etc…

And today we are going up Pikes Peak which is not that far away from the house and we’re going to a penny arcade which will be awesome. I am also posting my postcards. Finally. I’m doubting they’ll get to Oz before school begins.

Tomorrow we’re flying to San Francisco.

OK. Gotta go put my shoes on before we leave for the mountain.

OK, so, here’s the deal:

I have actually blogged 3 times since we got to Vegas, on my stepdad’s phone, but it DIDN’T WORK because it’s stupid. So now I finally have the chance to blog, and it’s only quickly because we have to go ride the New York New York (no, not a typo, the casino is called New York New York) rollercoaster.

Here are some things I have discovered and done in the last few days:

• My mum got married in the same place as Jon Bon Jovi and Billy Ray Cyrus
• American toilets flush anti-clockwise
• Went to Paris, New York, Ancient Rome, Italy, the circus, and others
• Been to Hoover Dam
• More stuff but now I have to get ready to leave

I’ll try to get on more when we’re in Colorado Springs and San Francisco.

KK bye.

Orright. Now, I don’t know if you guys remember, but I’m pretty sure somewhere in the vast depths of my archives I wrote a post about my mother and her partner getting married.

IN LAS VEGAS!!!

AND WE ARE LEEEEAAAAVING ON SATURDAY!

You guys will follow my glorious adventures through Vegas and its great North-American counterparts Colorado Springs and San Francisco by means of this blog. That is, if I ever manage to grab a go of my mum’s laptop between my brothers’ and parents’ turns.

Also when we get back I’m going to type up and scan some of my diary entries that I wrote when I didn’t have the time or capacity to blog, and put them up so you can all see more of what I did.

HOW EXCITING!!!

You guys are going to LOVE America, I just know it.

Huh. You’d think we were all going to die the way people were carrying on at school today.

“AHH! DUST STORM!” “I woke up this morning and I yelled at my mum for not replacing the batteries in the smoke alarms! Ha!” “I woke up at 5:00 and the sky was BLOOD RED.” “Girls, cover your mouths, it’s bad for your health to breathe in this stuff.” “IT’S THE APOCALYPSE! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!”

It’s just dust. Dust. And now it’s gone. So be happy.

Although, I did enjoy the fuss a bit, because it gave us the possibility we were off school. Ah. No such luck there. The best thing was, though, the spectacularity (is that a word? I think so.) of the morning. See:

That’s Pyrmont Bridge in the middle of the city this morning. Gorgeous. And orange!

They say it’s the worst dust storm Australia’s seen for about 70 years. Pretty cool, huh? My history teacher said she was talking to her mum about it and she remembered the last one.

This time the dust is from way out west, past the border of NSW, past Uluru, even.

Friggin’ sweet, as Peter Griffin would say.