The New Year

I cannot believe that it is New Years Eve already! Just so you know, I am currently down at my family's holiday house in Phillip Island which is why yesterday's post was non-existent. It is also the reason why the following few posts will be short and phone-written. This will also mean a break from the weekly segments. Anyway, back to the year that was. 2013 was a great year. I started this blog, became a member of the Leaders of the Future program, started VCE Methods Units 1 & 2 and received a few awards along the way. As much as I have loved 2013, I am very excited for what 2014 will hold. I start VCE, have my first unit 3/4 VCE exam for Maths Methods and I will travel and complete the Kokoda Track. I cannot wait for 2014!

Thank you all so much for your great support this year. See you next year (tomorrow)!

Fundraising

So the trouble with going to a school with so many fundraisers (besides the constant loss of money) is that when it comes time to have one you have no idea what to do because most of them have already being done. As those of you who have been reading this blog for some time may know that I am part of a leadership program run by Wyndham Police called 'Leaders of the Future'. Part of this program (the culmination in fact) is walking 96 kilometres of the Kokoda Track. Some of what we are doing involves raising money for a local Health Centre in the village of Menari which is along the track. So now that it comes time to think of brainstorming ideas with the other person from my school who is also doing the program we are at a bit of a loss. Damn you charitable school.

Source: http://desktopmag.com.au/project-wall/fundraising-downunder-logo/

Do not ask me why I chose that picture. I used Google to image search "Fundraising" and that was the only one that caught my eye. Do not judge me. Anyway, so I spoke to one of the assistant principals at my school and managed to secure the casual clothes day at the end of term for our cause. The thing with our school is most end-of-terms (except the end of year since we all finish different days) are casual clothes days to raise money for whatever organisation in the school puts their hand up for it (or organises) it first. If no one organises it then there is no casual clothes day. That was the easy part. The hard part is thinking of other things we can do on the day to raise even more money. We can not do a talent show as so many other groups have already done that this year. A guess-the-lollies in the jar competition is also out of the question as they only just did that a few weeks ago for the 40 Hour Famine. I was thinking of maybe doing a raffle with jars of lollies as prizes or something. That way there could be more than one prize and we could get away with charging more than 50 cents a ticket. Anyway, I better leave it at this as it is getting late.

Why does our school have to be so damn charitable? See you tomorrow!

Sandy Logic

I may have mentioned Sandy all too often on this blog. However, if you are new or have no idea what I am talking about, Sandy is my dog. Sandy is also the name my parents mess mine up with all too often. It happens way too often for it to be normal but moving on. Throughout Sandy's three and a half years of life I have noticed quite a number of strange things he does that can sometimes shock me as I am not expecting it. Sometimes it also makes me laugh while at other times it can just make me wonder. So in today's post I am going to fill you in on some of the quirky and strange things Sandy does all too often to be just a 'phase'.

Photo Credit: Luke M.

Like many dogs, Sandy loves attention. Unlike some dogs Sandy also has some form of Separation Anxiety as Mum took time off work when we first got him and he became very used to having people around. It was a really hard (and loud) task of getting Sandy to stay outside but in the end he got used to it and only comes inside at night. So Sandy thinks himself quite adept at staring through glass doors. It really is freaky to wake up in the morning to see a dog just standing there staring at you. It is even scarier when it is dark and the only light is that reflecting off of his dark eyes. It is quite a sight to behold. When Sandy does come inside, however, most of the time he is in Mum and Dad's room and the door is shut. If either Mum or Dad are outside (mostly Mum) Sandy will stand and just stare at the wooden door as if he can see through it. I do not mean staring from a distance. I mean him being right up close with his nose mere millimetres from the actual wood. I swear he thinks he can actually see through it. Then there are the times whenever you go outside. Sandy has a mentality that if you are outside you are out there for him. Some may call this a narcissistic personality disorder but I just call it "Sandy". So as you can see, Sandy is a very quirky and interesting dog and I am sure we all have stories of our pets. If you wish to share why not comment down below or via the contact form to the right. If you wish you could send it to legolukeytutorials@gmail.com and I will get back to you.

Sharing is caring, see you tomorrow.

RSPCA Million Paws Walk

Today was the RSPCA's (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Million Paws Walk which is where dog owners come together to go for a walk (usually 3 kilometres so it isn't too much) with their dogs. Hence the name, Million Paws Walk. It is really a great experience and there are so many different breeds of dog. The following is Sandy's story (our dog) and his experience on the RSPCA's Million Paws Walk. All the photos, except the following logo, were taken by me.

Image Source: http://www.sidarousrealty.com.au/events/event/million-paws-walk/

The day started off with Sandy coming into my room really excited and waking me up. The reason he was excited wasn't because he was going to the Million Paws Walk (although that would have worked out really well if he was) because there was no way he could have known we were going there. He was really just excited because he got to come inside to wake us up. By the time we were ready to go he was already waiting at the front door and was getting more excited (and impatient) for every minute that passed.

Sandy still had no idea what was going on and still believed we were going on a walk. We were going on a walk but he didn't think it would also involve a car ride. Sandy is really a big fan of car rides and I think he really just loves the fact that he is in an enclosed space with people. The downside of this is that whenever we stopped he would get very excited thinking we were getting out to go on a walk. This was annoying when you were sitting next to him and it was only a stop light. By the time we got to the venue where we were doing the walk Sandy was getting really impatient. Then he saw all the other dogs and he got REALLY impatient. Seriously, it was very hard sitting next to him in the car.

Sandy was really excited when we got out of the car and we registered. We arrived at 9am and the walk didn't start until 10am and so we had a look around at the different stalls and purchased a new Million Paws Walk Coat for Sandy (we still have his old one but we use it for rainy days). It looked good on him and it warmed him up because it was still cold in the morning. For the next hour we waited and Sandy socialised with the other dogs. It was really good and Sandy was very excited.

Finally the walk started and Sandy was even more excited (somehow that was possible) and his head seemingly moved in every direction all at once. The start of the walk was actually sort of funny (in a disgusting way) because the start of the walk was where every dog that had to poo, did. This meant that the start of the walk stunk but Sandy didn't care, he was too excited to care. The worst part was when the dog owners let the dog go on the path and it was like mine bombs all over the place. It was disgusting but Sandy was really enjoying himself and it really was a nice day.

Sadly the walk had to come to an end and Sandy was severely disappointed but it was still fun to walk around some more and look at some more stalls. Sandy also got to do some more socialising and he was having a lot of fun. The finish line was sad for Sandy to see but it really was just a sign as Sandy is still enjoying himself now as he is sleeping off the walk. Sandy really enjoyed his day and the RSPCA really put together a great day and I cannot wait until next year.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!