Sleepovers

You know, its a good thing that I like sleepovers because I have been
having A LOT these past weeks. For me, sleepovers center around the
novelty of sleeping over at someone elses house for a change. But whats
the appeal for the girls who have gone on so many sleepovers that the
novelty wears off? Do they just do it to get out of their house? To
watch movies? Be with their friends? All of these good reasons, don't
get me wrong, but I have to wonder when sleepovers become a normal
every-day thing, instead of a rare treat.

The reason I bring this up is that recently, my sister and I have been
practically living at our friend's house, and she at ours. We have a
perfectly good and well used excuse. We will be leaving in February to
go get our boat and sail it back to NZ, and that will take MONTHS. So
these weeks may be the last we will get to see of each other for at
least half a year. (he he he)

In the last half century, girl sleepovers haven't changed much. Sure the
technology and subjects have changed, but not the general idea. Music,
movies, dress-up and junk food. 8-) What do you think about when you
think of sleepovers? I think about staying up late, falling to sleep on
crumbs, stuffy and hot rooms, good movies, Monopoly, other board games,
pillow fights, "whats your secret" games, chocolate, junk food and loud
music. :-) Sleepovers may change as girls get older, but all you are
really adding is a growing interest in boys, scary movies, and clothes.
Oh, and make-up. I may have a biased view because my older sister is
about as teenagery as you can get.

There is a whole other side to this, the parent's view. I have often
wondered what other kids' parents think when they learn their darling
offspring are bringing over a friend or two. Or three. Do they feel an
impending sense of doom? Do they stock-up on ear plugs? Do they rent a
hotel room on the other side of town? Do they sigh a long suffering sigh
and lock their bedroom door? Do they turn white and pray? ( This can
vary depending on the type of kid and parent.) The reason I said "other
kids' parents" is that my parents, or more strictly my Mom, have no
trouble what so ever telling me what they think. Their view is something
like this. " Sure, bring 'em over, but no boys, drugs, cigarettes, and
leaving the house. Lights out at 10:00 and if we hear a peep past
midnight you'll be grounded till your 30." In other words, my parents
are very relaxed about the whole issue.

So what do girls really do at sleepovers boys? Ha! Wouldn't you like to
know.

Big Changes

I have a huge amount of variety in my life, overall. Since I turned 10, I have never been in the same country for more than a year, at most a year and a half. My sisters and parents are ALL polar opposites to each other, and I have changed schooling methods 3 times. I have very little contact with my blood family aside from my grandparents, but I have countless "adopted" family members. I have eaten food from at least 4 different countries without a bad reaction, and we have changed cars 3 times in the last 4 years. For about 3 of those years we didn't HAVE a car. Last year, most of everything my family owned was stolen, and when the thieves were caught, about half of it was recovered. So we bought half of the general things we had over again. The ONLY things that have remained constant and the same throughout the years are my blanket and Sparkalena, my stuffed animal friend. And through it all, I have NEVER felt like my world was changing too fast, or that I was being uprooted too many times.

What this says about me I don't know. However, I have decided that my flexibility in changing  is a good thing, certainly because of the life my family leads, and the life I plan on leading. I plan on backpacking all over New Zealand and North and South America. I want to travel the world, as much as I can before parts of the world are destroyed by us humans or Gaia. Gaia is the ancient Greek name for earth. According to the myth she came from chaos at the beginning of creation and as the mother of all gods she became the allegory for giving birth, receiving and taking. 

The reason I started talking about this is that another big change is about to happen. Very soon, my family and I will be leaving La Paz for the South Pacific, and on to New Zealand. We'll be going through French Polynesia, Fiji, and Tonga. Aeron is learning French right now, I am learning Spanish. Something funny Mom said the other day. "If on any random beach in Mexico, there is a cactus, a rock, and a taco stand, on any random beach in French Polynesia, there is a palm tree, a rock, and a baguetteria." I hope that's true, cause I really like baguettes.

Clothes

Clothes. They mean a lot to some people, very little to others, and the world to yet others. To some people, clothes are like breathing. Necessary, taken for granted, and rarely thought about.  To other people, clothes are like food. Thought about a lot, needed, wanted, and in an excessive supply. Shopping is the favorite passion for most teenagers, but I wonder if all of them actually like clothes that much, or are just shopping because that seems to be what everyone else likes to do.

I for one like clothes, but until recently have thought very little about how I look in them.  Now however, I'm becoming increasingly aware of how I look to everyone else, and I've changed my dressing habits because of that. I'll never be as crazy about clothes as my older sister though. Jaime adores clothes, especially clothes that show off large parts of her body, and her closet and room is positively stuffed with them. My little sister Aeron is a completely different kettle of fish. Aeron picks a favorite outfit monthly and wears it EVERY.SINGLE .DAY. By the end of the month the poor clothes are in tatters, and she has to pick a new outfit.

My parents are the type of people who clothes are like breathing. At home, they wear basically what amounts to do day pajamas:  scruffy, comfortable, and boring. My Dad does have to wear nice clothes to work every day, but even then I don't think he ever thinks about what he's wearing. Still, on the rare occasion my parents do dress up nice to go out, they look great. Hunh. 

           There are a few people that I believe go completely overboard with clothes. I have a friend,( whose name I won't mention for her privacy), that to this day I believe has never thrown away a single article of clothing. Not one. Sure, she might have given away one or two, but I don't believe she's even gotten rid of her baby clothes! She has a whole wardrobe of clothes she never even looks at for petes sake. She is about my age, and still has a lifetime ahead of her to hord clothes packrat like till she has a whole department stores worth.

Jeez.

Junk

This is my first blog for 2011! (No, really, I'm excited)

During the past I haven't been very faithful and regular with my blog. I couldn't be bothered to go on the computer, I wanted to read, I'd already wrote everything in my diary, I couldn't think of what to type, so on, so on. For one reason or another, I never really liked or wanted to write in my blog. Last year, I did only one blog for the entire year! Kind of embarrassing really. However, this year, I have no choice as Mom is VERY serious about making it a weekly school check. So you will probably be hearing from me every week.

This weeks topic is about junk. Literally. I have managed to pick up an astounding amount of useless crap magpie-like throughout the year. Stuff I kept because I thought I would use it sometime or later. Stuff I did use and kept because it had minute sentimental value. Stuff like that. I have already thrown away what seems like a whole garbage cans worth of plastic things, paper, and other assorted garbage, and I haven't yet seen the size of my suitcase. Yikes!

A few things I have had particular trouble with throwing away are my school things. All those notebooks and folders and spare bits of paper represent a years worth of work. Not exactly a hard years worth of work but still. I was very nearly ready to keep it and throw away a few of my clothes so it would fit when common sense rudely intruded. When I looked at them again, I knew that if I stored them or even kept them with me, I would never really look at them again. Neither would anyone else. (sigh) So I kept a few things that were really important to me and handed the rest off to Mom to see if she needed or wanted anything. As of yet, she hasn't even glanced at it. ;)

My clothes I haven't even had the nerve to look through for fear of finding something in them. A rat perhaps. A spider den. Or perhaps an ant nest. Who knows. I have used my clothes very little this past year. I have practically lived in pajamas and my school uniform. That is another problem I have to deal with. My school uniform. What the heck am I going to do with it? Obviously I am going to keep that fabulous polar fleece. Mom suggests I sell my uniform on trade me, or perhaps sell it back to the school. Mmmm. I like the sound of getting money for my uniform. Ha!

Altogether however, throwing away my stuff myself is a lot better than having it stolen, which is what happened in the beginning of the year. Lookout room, I'm doing a major spring cleaning!

It's Been Awhile

Hi everyone, its been a while since I last posted a blog. (THATS an understatement)

My family and I are in New Zealand now, though, sadly, we had to leave our boat behind in Mexico. We've been here for about seven months, only a few more till we can leave and live on our boat again. The general plan, I think, is sail back here after we get the boat ready, and live in the Auckland area for another year.

The school I go to is Pukekohe Intermediate School, a few blocks from the house we are renting. My teacher is Ms.Guise, and my best friend is Katie. My classroom is Room 31, the accelerant year 7 class. The curriculum we do is pretty simple, but mixed up a bit, cause its pretty hard to teach 32 students. Our main subjects are Math, Reading, Writing, and Other. The "Other" is awesome stuff like woodwork or music or sewing. You know, life skills. What astounds me is how little regular science or history my school seems to do. The stuff we do get is in odd bits.

A few weeks ago, my school did its cross country race, all the students had to participate. We, meaning the students, trained for a couple weeks. At first, I was doing really good, getting 11th, then 9th place in the practices out of almost 120 year 7 girls. Then, in the last practice before the race, I had an asthma attack halfway through. My asthma made it extremely difficult to run as hard as I had before, so on the day of the race I scored 61st. BOOOOOOO.

I'm in several sort of extra-curricular groups, none of them sport. One is choir, led by Ms. Griffin. The other is Kapahaka. Kapahaka is a maori dance and song group for kids. Its very fun, the boys get to learn a haka, which is generally a war dance, and the girls get to learn a poi, a very cool dance, that involves balls attached to ropes that we have to swing around. My last extra-curricular thing is after school, and doesn't directly link with the school. I do Drama right after dinner. Drama is my favorite, and usually my teacher is Melody, a really nice lady.

Still, even after all this excitement, life here doesn't seem to be as rich or entertaining as it was on the boat. Everything, even Drama, seems to fall into a pattern that can get exhaustingly boring. One other thing, I miss my pet Dulcinea. We had to leave her with a friend in the US to save her from having to go through a 6 month quarantine.

Well, thats it for this year folks! (just kidding)

Literatopia

Hi everyone! I'm starting to write a new book. It's called Literatopia.
I'm sending you the World Description of Literatopia. I hope you like it!

Hurricane insanity and Santa Rosalia calamity

Hola amigos, this is Mera from Mexico. I'm here to tell you about the
whole hurricane disaster. We heard about the hurricane first on our way
down from the states.
We arrived in Santa Rosalia after a *long* trip, just in time for it.

The next day and a half were a scramble to provision before all the
shops were blown away. (Luckily this didn't happen to most of them). It
was also a frenzy of preparation for all the boats.
The Singular dock there wasn't a very good dock, so we all tied
ourselves to the breakwater and pylons. There was another kid boat there
called Ocean Blue, friends of ours. Steve, the captain,
and his wife were an inexpressible help to us during the hurricane.

The night before the hurricane was supposed to reach us, we received a
very nasty chubaska at 4:00 in the morning. Just to to top
it all. Indeed, the chubaska was so nasty that for a moment, many of us
thought the hurricane had come early.

A few hours before the hurricane, Ocean Blue and the Don Quixote crew
brought everything that was absolutely essential for our survival. Like
our computers, some clothes, legal papers, passports, Mommy's wallet,
etc. This was hauled up to the Cool Room in the marina. The Cool Room
was a large room with air-conditioning. It was essentially the cruiser
common room. Set below the office, it was entirely for marina
inhabitants use.

The most important thing was our every-3- hour update on the hurricane.
It showed us which way the hurricane was going.

Once inside the Cool Room, we were not allowed out. The people over 115
pounds got to go out, but not us. Then the hurricane set in and we,
meaning th kids, were quite glad that we didn't have to go outside.
It rained buckets, then it rained cats and dogs. Then it rained horses.
(so to speak). Wet everywhere. It seeped through the windows, it dripped
from the *ceiling*, it washed in from the door. The floor quickly
covered itself in water an inch deep. If one of the kids even so much as
hinted he/she was bored, they were quickly set to chasing the water out
through the door.

Very soon Mom brought up what was possibly the unhappiest, wettest, most
sulky looking cat that was ever born, ours, Dulcinea. She found the
driest spot in the room, than began washing herself, ignoring
both the hurricane howling outside and us.

The next few hours were a dull lethargy punctuated with spurts of
low-grade frightenedness. It's not a word, so I'm making it one. I
watched as my friends and Mom came in soaked and left marginally better.
There was a point in which no-one could go outside. We were afraid of
losing the boat. The hurricane, instead of veering west, headed straight
for us. Fortunately, instead of being a Cat 5, by the time it got to
us it was a Cat 1 and a half. Still, 90 knots is not a laughing matter.

There was a momentary lull in the hurricane. That is when the roof in
the Cool Room decided to fall. I'm not kidding, it actually fell in. The
roof was made of soft plaster and had been gathering water in the middle.
It then decided enough was enough and nearly landed on top of Skyler, a
kid off Ocean Blue. Another mad scramble, and everyone ended up in the
girl's bathroom. The girl's bathroom was large and its
roof better suited with water. No time for sensitivity in the middle
of a hurricane. Also, bye bye went the office upstairs.

The hurricane passed us and headed north. Everyone received a few hours
of respite, then the little bugger turned around and headed towards us
/*again. */By this time everyone was more that a little
pissed off and tired. Fortunately we hadn't moved anything from the
girl's bathroom so we spent another night sleeping in the hot,
uncomfortable room. The cats, Ocean Blue had one too, had passed
pissed off and headed towards absolutely furious. Not to mention bored
and refusing to use litter that had gone beyond foul to something that
resembled a badly gone wrong science experiment.

At last, the end of the hurricane. A day after it we had a huge party.
During the hurricane I had composed a song on my recorder called the
*/lull/*aby. Everyone thought that it was beautiful when
I played it at the party.

I have only one more thing to say. *NEVER AGAIN*.