Aah, life

Some people are so... nice. Nice doesn’t do them justice. Lovely isn’t quite right either, kind is a better descriptor. I was telling Mevandi and Amanpreet about the special provisions (i.e. extra time) I get for exams, and about how some high-ranking official type people decide on the amount of time at a board meeting each year. And the immediate response I got was a concerned comment along the lines of, “Oh, but what if they don’t give you enough time?”

This probably sounds really stupid, but that reaction meant so much to me. It wasn’t at all patronising, nor was it the knee-jerk reaction of ‘You get extra time? But but but, doesn’t that give you an unfair advantage?’ that I’ve come to dread and half believe myself. It was just the manifestation of a... desire, I suppose, to achieve fairness and equality of opportunity. And this was at a school where competitiveness is our version of sexual frustration and every precious mark is fought for and prized.

Aah, yes, camp. I nearly forgot about it. Camp was... interesting, sorta, although only very select bits of it were particularly noteworthy. Frolicking on the grass was one of them, probably one of the most carefree hours I’ve had in months.

Oh, and there was also the predictable game of Truth or Dare (Truth or truth) in the middle of the night, during which we half-ashamedly divulged our silly little secrets about love, sex, parents and career paths to one another, by the intermittent light of a torch. We really were typical teenage girls, just for that one night. It was actually quite fun, focusing on something other than ATARs and university degrees. The kind of thing people versify and consequently immortalise, frivolous as it is.

Well, back to nerddom... my first Year 12 Economics assessment task is over. And I think something revolutionary happened! I think, I developed a nice, solid, possibly productive study pattern to follow! True, I developed it about 24 hours before the assessment task commenced, but hey! Study pattern! Desperate times call for desperate measures, in this case pulling my act together. And yes, desperate times was a very apt description of the situation. We had 3 chapters of the textbook to study for the exam, I only read Chapter 3 the day beforehand.

Anyway, my pattern is the following: 1 hour of note making/studying, 15 minute break, 1 hour of work, 15 minute break, etc etc. So on Sunday, I set alarms on my phone so as not to be tempted out of my routine, and during periods of study, sustained myself with the thought that I’d be able to relax for 15 minutes after a while. Whenever something distracted me, some random thought or urge to do something, I forcibly ejected it from my mind and re-focused on the work I had to do. I set myself goals, eg summarise 20 pages within the hour, and rewards, eg during your break, you can have a chocolate. The goals were not always achieved, but just having them firmly rooted in my mind helped so much, and gave me a reason to work as efficiently as possible.

And it really did work! Or was that just my adrenaline working wonders...

Either way, it’s over and I don’t think I screwed it up too badly. And God it feels wonderful to be bludging like the other ¾ of the grade. Word games, trivia, parties, political discussions and scabbing merits off awesome Drama/English teachers, that’s what school should be about.

Graduation Assembly tomorrow. I’m actually almost looking forward to it! As the year has progressed, I seem to have become increasingly fond of school. Ironically, by the time I leave Year 12, I will probably have become attached to it. Really, really attached.