Looking through some old posts, I have found that it's quite awkward and unwieldy to keep using "my friend", "my other friend" and other such terms when recounting tales in which they feature. However, I can't use their names without getting red-flagged by my paranoia.
The only solution: codenames.
In no particular order, my friends now are:
Fuzzy, Gingernut, Fangirl, Slytherin, Techie, Ostrich, Alien, Lily and Median.
These are just my main friends in my year.
If you guys think you know who you are, please *don't* put anything on here, because - because paranoid. Please please please talk to me in real life. Thanks!
That's all for tonight - I have Literature to study for.
(Note: Lit essay was compromised by the teachers' strike; therefore it is tomorrow. Oh joy. But I did have extra time to study, so.... Fingers crossed, anyway.)
Farewell, dear readers, until we meet again!
Monday 23 September 2013
Tuesday 17 September 2013
Chemystery and the Colin crisis
A couple of things today, one from my Chemistry lesson (again! Though on my part, not that of my teachers) and one from life in general.
I had a classic "what the-?" moment in Chemistry today. We were doing a practical today - reactions with acids, so acid-base, acid-carbonate, acid-metal oxide reactions and the like. When it came to the acid-metal oxide part, I had to add hydrochloric acid to copper (II) oxide. The data sheet tells me that "when the black solid is added to the colourless solution, the solid dissolves and the solution turns blue". But did this happen? Nooooo.
What actually happened was that the copper oxide was rusty red (suspect some contamination here), and a chalky grey-white precipitate formed, settling under a *green* solution. That's right, a green one. What?
I took it up to my teacher to ask what the hell was going on, and she had a look, gave it a shake, agitated the precipitate, gave it back to me and, by the time I'd walked back to my bench, the solution had turned blue like it was meant to. Whaaat?
This was a complete chemystery. I suspect there was some contamination of the copper oxide with iron oxide (that's rusty red and produces a green solution), but I have no idea what caused the precipitation reaction. My teacher suspects it is the lab techs taking the piss...
I'll keep you posted if I find out what was going on!
The second thing is that there will be a teacher strike on Thursday morning. From 8.30 to 11.30, most, if not all, of the teachers at the school (and at every other state school, I think) are going on strike to protest about the cuts that are being made to the education department by His Nibs the Premier, the titular Colin (of course, my paranoia prevents me from saying his last name, though you probably could work it out). Honestly, His Nibs is so damn tight that I reckon if you stuck a piece of coal up his backside, in a matter of weeks, if not days, you'd get a diamond. He is also an arrogant, condescending pig of a man with a face the colour of raspberry ripple icecream and tiny little teeth that are the wrong size for his face.
Ahem.
But the strike is going ahead and, as such, we all get the morning off, huzzah huzzah. We can go to school if we must, but there won't be any classes and we'll just have private study in the library. I think I'll stay home and privately study there, to be honest. Unfortunately, my Lit essay isn't compromised by the strike - it's in the period from 11.25 to 12.45, of course. Oh well. I know what I'll be spending my Thursday morning doing!
That's all for tonight, fair readers. Au revoir!
I had a classic "what the-?" moment in Chemistry today. We were doing a practical today - reactions with acids, so acid-base, acid-carbonate, acid-metal oxide reactions and the like. When it came to the acid-metal oxide part, I had to add hydrochloric acid to copper (II) oxide. The data sheet tells me that "when the black solid is added to the colourless solution, the solid dissolves and the solution turns blue". But did this happen? Nooooo.
What actually happened was that the copper oxide was rusty red (suspect some contamination here), and a chalky grey-white precipitate formed, settling under a *green* solution. That's right, a green one. What?
I took it up to my teacher to ask what the hell was going on, and she had a look, gave it a shake, agitated the precipitate, gave it back to me and, by the time I'd walked back to my bench, the solution had turned blue like it was meant to. Whaaat?
This was a complete chemystery. I suspect there was some contamination of the copper oxide with iron oxide (that's rusty red and produces a green solution), but I have no idea what caused the precipitation reaction. My teacher suspects it is the lab techs taking the piss...
I'll keep you posted if I find out what was going on!
The second thing is that there will be a teacher strike on Thursday morning. From 8.30 to 11.30, most, if not all, of the teachers at the school (and at every other state school, I think) are going on strike to protest about the cuts that are being made to the education department by His Nibs the Premier, the titular Colin (of course, my paranoia prevents me from saying his last name, though you probably could work it out). Honestly, His Nibs is so damn tight that I reckon if you stuck a piece of coal up his backside, in a matter of weeks, if not days, you'd get a diamond. He is also an arrogant, condescending pig of a man with a face the colour of raspberry ripple icecream and tiny little teeth that are the wrong size for his face.
Ahem.
But the strike is going ahead and, as such, we all get the morning off, huzzah huzzah. We can go to school if we must, but there won't be any classes and we'll just have private study in the library. I think I'll stay home and privately study there, to be honest. Unfortunately, my Lit essay isn't compromised by the strike - it's in the period from 11.25 to 12.45, of course. Oh well. I know what I'll be spending my Thursday morning doing!
That's all for tonight, fair readers. Au revoir!
Friday 13 September 2013
More Chemistry shenanigans
I've just realised that a fair percentage of posts on this blog have to do with Chemistry. It's a great subject, but it's not my life - it's my teachers who are all wonderful blog-fodder (a wonderful word). And in saying that, I have another fantastic few stories from my Chemistry lesson today.
Number the firstestmostest. We got the results of the practical tests that we did the week before. Mine was pretty good, except for a stupid mistake in an ionic equation that got me two (!) marks off, but overall there were some VERY common errors, again in the ionic equations section, that really shouldn't have been made. Writing "bubbles" in the observations instead of "a colourless, odourless gas" was far too common, even after my teacher drumming it into our skulls from day one. She was getting rather steamed up because of this. Also, quite a few people were obviously not checking their data sheets, because she was getting annoyed at people who didn't write the correct colour of precipitates, and the like.
She was very irritated with us.
"We'll try and trick you with the observations," she was saying. "You have to check your data sheet, because something will be coloured, or something will be different to what you are expecting. We will try and trick you!" Getting more heated, climaxing with: "We don't WANT you to succeed!"
Unbeknownst to her, a tour group with a whole lot of potential newbies was passing by just in time to hear her say, loudly, "We don't WANT you to succeed!" Oops.
Someone told her this a few minutes later. In her words, she told me she's now "up shit creek", but I know nothing more. I'll have to report back if there is any more news. But we were all cracking up, and I told her that that was definitely going on the blog (i.e. here). I'll probably send her the link to this.
The secondestmostest point. My Chemistry teacher has a number of classes in the lower years (just for general science), and was marking the topic test for one of these classes after she finished going off at us. The test was on human biology, by the sounds of things, and the extended answer question, for 10 marks, was: Adam ate a cheeseburger. Explain how the three essential nutrients, protein, carbohydrates and lipids get to Adam's circulatory system via his digestive system. The kid wrote:
Adam eats the cheeseburger. The proteins are digested and give him the amino acids that his body cannot produce. These go to his thighs, because his legs need to support and move his big body around.
The thing on carbohydrates was nothing memorable. On lipids, however, the kid wrote:
The lipids Adam eats are used for insulation. Adam needs this insulation, as he used his mother's money to pay for the cheeseburger, so it is very likely that he will be sleeping outside tonight.
I can't believe the kid wrote this! He was obviously deadly serious, which is the sad thing...
He finished his test with "Tags: osmosis, diffusion". My teacher then wrote #wrong.
The kid ended up getting 1 mark out of 10 for this extended response (he got a single thing right). Wow.
The lastestmostest point. I was doing a worksheet on ionic equations yesterday (prompted no doubt by what we didn't do in the practical), and finished said worksheet in today's lesson. One question was "write the species involved, ionic equation and observations when solutions of hydrochloric and acetic acid are mixed". The answer, for all you interested parties, as I got it, was H+, Cl-, and CH3COO- (Google blogs has no superscript, so I can't put the charges correctly). The guy behind me then put up his hand, and asked the teacher for help. When my teacher came over to work it out with him, I heard him say midway through the discussion "Is acetic acid an acid or a base?"
Oh my.
My friend and I looked at each other with identical 'is this guy for real?' expressions on our faces. Doesn't the 'acid' bit in 'acetic acid' kinda sorta give it away?
We'll see how he does in the next test (ironically, on acids and bases). This is the same guy who famously misspelt his last name, Ng, as Mg on one of his previous Chemistry tests, and when the teacher picked him up on it (read: teased him in front of the class - we were all laughing, including him), even more famously retorted "Well, at least I know what mercury is!"
Dear me.
Well, that's all for tonight, methinks. This, again, was meant to be posted last night, but I'm glad I didn't as I got the chance to put that last story in.
I'll try and put some more stories from my other subjects up soon!
Number the firstestmostest. We got the results of the practical tests that we did the week before. Mine was pretty good, except for a stupid mistake in an ionic equation that got me two (!) marks off, but overall there were some VERY common errors, again in the ionic equations section, that really shouldn't have been made. Writing "bubbles" in the observations instead of "a colourless, odourless gas" was far too common, even after my teacher drumming it into our skulls from day one. She was getting rather steamed up because of this. Also, quite a few people were obviously not checking their data sheets, because she was getting annoyed at people who didn't write the correct colour of precipitates, and the like.
She was very irritated with us.
"We'll try and trick you with the observations," she was saying. "You have to check your data sheet, because something will be coloured, or something will be different to what you are expecting. We will try and trick you!" Getting more heated, climaxing with: "We don't WANT you to succeed!"
Unbeknownst to her, a tour group with a whole lot of potential newbies was passing by just in time to hear her say, loudly, "We don't WANT you to succeed!" Oops.
Someone told her this a few minutes later. In her words, she told me she's now "up shit creek", but I know nothing more. I'll have to report back if there is any more news. But we were all cracking up, and I told her that that was definitely going on the blog (i.e. here). I'll probably send her the link to this.
The secondestmostest point. My Chemistry teacher has a number of classes in the lower years (just for general science), and was marking the topic test for one of these classes after she finished going off at us. The test was on human biology, by the sounds of things, and the extended answer question, for 10 marks, was: Adam ate a cheeseburger. Explain how the three essential nutrients, protein, carbohydrates and lipids get to Adam's circulatory system via his digestive system. The kid wrote:
Adam eats the cheeseburger. The proteins are digested and give him the amino acids that his body cannot produce. These go to his thighs, because his legs need to support and move his big body around.
The thing on carbohydrates was nothing memorable. On lipids, however, the kid wrote:
The lipids Adam eats are used for insulation. Adam needs this insulation, as he used his mother's money to pay for the cheeseburger, so it is very likely that he will be sleeping outside tonight.
I can't believe the kid wrote this! He was obviously deadly serious, which is the sad thing...
He finished his test with "Tags: osmosis, diffusion". My teacher then wrote #wrong.
The kid ended up getting 1 mark out of 10 for this extended response (he got a single thing right). Wow.
The lastestmostest point. I was doing a worksheet on ionic equations yesterday (prompted no doubt by what we didn't do in the practical), and finished said worksheet in today's lesson. One question was "write the species involved, ionic equation and observations when solutions of hydrochloric and acetic acid are mixed". The answer, for all you interested parties, as I got it, was H+, Cl-, and CH3COO- (Google blogs has no superscript, so I can't put the charges correctly). The guy behind me then put up his hand, and asked the teacher for help. When my teacher came over to work it out with him, I heard him say midway through the discussion "Is acetic acid an acid or a base?"
Oh my.
My friend and I looked at each other with identical 'is this guy for real?' expressions on our faces. Doesn't the 'acid' bit in 'acetic acid' kinda sorta give it away?
We'll see how he does in the next test (ironically, on acids and bases). This is the same guy who famously misspelt his last name, Ng, as Mg on one of his previous Chemistry tests, and when the teacher picked him up on it (read: teased him in front of the class - we were all laughing, including him), even more famously retorted "Well, at least I know what mercury is!"
Dear me.
Well, that's all for tonight, methinks. This, again, was meant to be posted last night, but I'm glad I didn't as I got the chance to put that last story in.
I'll try and put some more stories from my other subjects up soon!
Thursday 12 September 2013
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Here are the details: http://themelancholyofpetrichor.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/news-with-capital-n-sort-of-news.html)
(It's to do with the house - we officially own it!)
(The euphoria is still here!)
(I won't be able to get the grin off my face for a week!)
WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS WE HAVE THE KEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Here are the details: http://themelancholyofpetrichor.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/news-with-capital-n-sort-of-news.html)
(It's to do with the house - we officially own it!)
(The euphoria is still here!)
(I won't be able to get the grin off my face for a week!)
When I'm old...
...If I can't retain all my faculties, I'm going to be as senile an old bat as ever you'll see. I'll have fun, and at least I'll afford the people around me some amusement.
Last night, I went out to a Thai restaurant with my family, and we were sitting at a table next to three old chooks and a bloke (ladies and a man to be more formal, but this is my personal blog, so...), and the women were talking constantly. The poor old fella couldn't get a word in edgeways - I don't think 'henpecked' is the right word, but it came close.
There are different classes of old people, I think. You have your 'nice grandparental old person', your 'razor-sharp wise old person' and, the best fun to listen to, the 'gossipy, ripping into others' type old person.
The lot on the table next to us were of the third kind. Hoo yes.
They were discussing politics, and getting stuck into Party 1's leader and Party 2's leader, our current PM, until one of them says "Actually, you know who I voted for?" and lowers her voice like she's telling some dirty secret. "Palmer," she says.
To give the uninitiated a bit of news, Palmer, first name Clive, apart from being the man who runs our canteen, is a billionaire eccentric whose party, the Palmer United Party, ran for parliament in the federal election. Eccentric is the crucial word. Some of his great theories and ideas include:
Building a replica of the Titanic, down to the last little detail
Making a theme park with animatronic dinosaurs, like Jurassic Park
Accusing Rupert Murdoch's estranged wife, Wendi Deng, of being a Chinese spy
Thinking Greenpeace is sent by the CIA to shut down our nation's coal mining sector.
In my opinion, he has too much money and not enough things to do. But that's just me.
He seems the perfect candidate for the old folks on that table.
They were great teatime entertainment. My family and I almost didn't talk to each other, busy as we were eavesdropping and trying to stifle laughter. If you are reading this, Dot, Marlene, Trish (I think) and Unmentioned Old Guy, thank you very much for the amazing conversations you had and your wonderful division skills. You gave us a lot of entertainment, and I aspire to be like you when I am your age.
(Meant to post this last night, so I think I'll double post tonight because of exciting news!)
Last night, I went out to a Thai restaurant with my family, and we were sitting at a table next to three old chooks and a bloke (ladies and a man to be more formal, but this is my personal blog, so...), and the women were talking constantly. The poor old fella couldn't get a word in edgeways - I don't think 'henpecked' is the right word, but it came close.
There are different classes of old people, I think. You have your 'nice grandparental old person', your 'razor-sharp wise old person' and, the best fun to listen to, the 'gossipy, ripping into others' type old person.
The lot on the table next to us were of the third kind. Hoo yes.
They were discussing politics, and getting stuck into Party 1's leader and Party 2's leader, our current PM, until one of them says "Actually, you know who I voted for?" and lowers her voice like she's telling some dirty secret. "Palmer," she says.
To give the uninitiated a bit of news, Palmer, first name Clive, apart from being the man who runs our canteen, is a billionaire eccentric whose party, the Palmer United Party, ran for parliament in the federal election. Eccentric is the crucial word. Some of his great theories and ideas include:
Building a replica of the Titanic, down to the last little detail
Making a theme park with animatronic dinosaurs, like Jurassic Park
Accusing Rupert Murdoch's estranged wife, Wendi Deng, of being a Chinese spy
Thinking Greenpeace is sent by the CIA to shut down our nation's coal mining sector.
In my opinion, he has too much money and not enough things to do. But that's just me.
He seems the perfect candidate for the old folks on that table.
They were great teatime entertainment. My family and I almost didn't talk to each other, busy as we were eavesdropping and trying to stifle laughter. If you are reading this, Dot, Marlene, Trish (I think) and Unmentioned Old Guy, thank you very much for the amazing conversations you had and your wonderful division skills. You gave us a lot of entertainment, and I aspire to be like you when I am your age.
(Meant to post this last night, so I think I'll double post tonight because of exciting news!)
Tuesday 10 September 2013
They're all scumbags, really
Politicians, I mean. We had the federal election last weekend, and it was a really tough call who to vote for. Not because the parties were both good, I mean, but because they are both amazingly screwed up. It's meant to be between right and left wingers, but it really ended up between right and righter. Liberals, Tories, Democrats - different words for the same lot of people and political ideas, and now the people who are meant to be on the left are migrating over to be more conservative.
I'll give you a quick run down on the two major parties we had to choose from:
Party One
Backstabbers and traitors. Have been through multiple leaders over the past few years. Used to be liberal, but are now rather conservative.
Party Two
Extremely negative. Stop the boats, stop the taxes, stop the anything you care to name, really. Wholly and solely conservative from the beginning.
Party Two won.
Thank God the Senate is shaping up to be more interesting, with members for the Palmer United Party (led by an eccentric billionaire with a taste for conspiracy theories), the Motoring Enthusiasts Party, the Sport Party, and, while running, I don't think they got in, but the HEMP Party (Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party) and the No Greens Party (staunchly opposing, I think, the Greens party, who did indeed get in).
God help us all. We're in for another three years of truly awful government.
Thankyou all for bearing with me while I rant.
Fare-thee-well!
I'll give you a quick run down on the two major parties we had to choose from:
Party One
Backstabbers and traitors. Have been through multiple leaders over the past few years. Used to be liberal, but are now rather conservative.
Party Two
Extremely negative. Stop the boats, stop the taxes, stop the anything you care to name, really. Wholly and solely conservative from the beginning.
Party Two won.
Thank God the Senate is shaping up to be more interesting, with members for the Palmer United Party (led by an eccentric billionaire with a taste for conspiracy theories), the Motoring Enthusiasts Party, the Sport Party, and, while running, I don't think they got in, but the HEMP Party (Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party) and the No Greens Party (staunchly opposing, I think, the Greens party, who did indeed get in).
God help us all. We're in for another three years of truly awful government.
Thankyou all for bearing with me while I rant.
Fare-thee-well!
Readers? Holy [censored]!
Things to say today:
First of all. I have readers? I track pageviews (who doesn't?) and I have found that people in the US read my blog...
Hi, Americanians! I hope you like my blog!
But yeah, if anyone out there does read my blog, please leave a comment. I am a desperate, angsty person. I like to know I'm somewhat appreciated.
Secondmostestly. I self-censor. Really really. I cuss like a sailor in the privacy of my own head. For example, I had Tim Minchin's The Pope Song stuck in my head this evening (on loop, no less), but when it comes to swearing, I just... don't. I don't know why.
Fun things to know about me, I guess.
That is all for this post. I think in about a minute I'll put up a post complaining about politics, but I don't want to sully this post.
Goodnight all, and 'til the next time!
First of all. I have readers? I track pageviews (who doesn't?) and I have found that people in the US read my blog...
Hi, Americanians! I hope you like my blog!
But yeah, if anyone out there does read my blog, please leave a comment. I am a desperate, angsty person. I like to know I'm somewhat appreciated.
Secondmostestly. I self-censor. Really really. I cuss like a sailor in the privacy of my own head. For example, I had Tim Minchin's The Pope Song stuck in my head this evening (on loop, no less), but when it comes to swearing, I just... don't. I don't know why.
Fun things to know about me, I guess.
That is all for this post. I think in about a minute I'll put up a post complaining about politics, but I don't want to sully this post.
Goodnight all, and 'til the next time!
Sunday 1 September 2013
Sprung
In that spring has, for all us Southern-hemisphereans. I can't think of any suitable puns for autumn, however, so you Northen-hemisphereans will have to excuse my lack of creativity, I'm afraid.
I want to tell you an amazing funny story about my life. But I can't. Not today. Aforementioned lack of creativity has got in the way.
But.
There's a thing. A little thing. You may have heard of it. It's like a sausage machine sort of thing, you know, you put stuff in and you get stuff out. But it's like a magnifying glass as well. Whatever you put in, you get out a thousand times over. If you put in good stuff, your output is amazing.
This thing is small, but big. It is what you make it.
It's called life.
Make it the best thing you can, because you only get one.
I want to tell you an amazing funny story about my life. But I can't. Not today. Aforementioned lack of creativity has got in the way.
But.
There's a thing. A little thing. You may have heard of it. It's like a sausage machine sort of thing, you know, you put stuff in and you get stuff out. But it's like a magnifying glass as well. Whatever you put in, you get out a thousand times over. If you put in good stuff, your output is amazing.
This thing is small, but big. It is what you make it.
It's called life.
Make it the best thing you can, because you only get one.
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