My Kokoda Journey: I'm In!

As you know I am currently in Kokoda and so while I am away I have scheduled some posts to come out about my Kokoda experience. Yesterday I posted about how it all began but I can not link it as it has not been published at the time this post is been written. Anyway, today I continue with that story as well as discuss some of the emotions that I have been going through since joining the program and the emotions of what it is like to know that you are about to embark on the Kokoda trek. The start is a bit of a continuation from yesterday's but you should not have had to have read yesterday's post to understand this one. If you want, you can have a quick read now by scrolling down or after you read this post.

Original Image Source (no text): http://www.ylead.com.au/travel/kokoda/

It was on the morning of that day that I realised something was going on, not that I had any idea what it was. I never something was happening as the assistant principal had found me before school to tell me to come to her office at the end of recess that day. I had no idea that it had anything to do with the Kokoda leadership program as it had been a while since I had submitted my application. I think it was the end of May or the start of June at this point, I still have my acceptance letter but I do not know exactly where it is and it is a lot of effort to pull everything out just to find the date. Anyway, so recess finally comes around after a whole morning of me thinking I am in some kind of trouble and I am waiting patiently in the seats next to the office. Then Caroline, the other girl who was chosen from my school, joins me and at first I think we are both in trouble as it still had not hit me that it was for the Kokoda group. Before the assistant principal comes out of her office, a police officer comes into the office and stands around waiting too. By this point I am running through everything I had done recently in my head trying to find something that was so bad that the police had become involved. However, the assistant principal came out to collect us and take us into the principle's office (making my nerves even worse) before the police officer could say anything to us. When we got in there they told us the news and gave us our acceptance letters and I was so happy I was not quite sure what to say. I mean, when someone gives you a life-changing opportunity like this, what can you say? They talked us through what was going to happen and we found out that the Kokoda trek was going to happen in April 2014 (they had originally planned to do it in October 2013 but they were not ready early enough and the track is also closed during that time as it is too wet and dangerous to hike the track). We then got some photos for the newsletter and were sent to class. I was so excited I could not wait to tell everyone. I texted Mum and Dad saying I had some really exciting news but I wanted to tell them in person. I think one of the first things I actually said to either of them was the news that I was accepted into the program. It was a very good day for me and I could not wait for what my life would be like over the next few months.

My life was going to change and I was ready for it. See you tomorrow.

Welcome Back to Longer Posts (Random Thought Saturday)

So, how has it been with all these long posts? Like it was last year? I hope to keep it like this for as long as possible but, just like last year, there will be days where I get caught up with homework or other commitments so there will be short posts or no post at all. I am so annoyed with myself when this happens but sometimes it just can not be. So that is why I introduced the concept of segments. This allows me to pre-write posts as I know what I am going to write about ahead of time. It also helps me because I have something to write about. Before it was a lot harder to produce daily content because I did not want to do the same things every week without an official segment or else it would look weird, well to me anyway. At least this way, as I said yesterday, you guys can decide which days you read based on what you want to read about. Sometimes, it takes a little more than the title and introduction to really get in to what I am talking about. The segments allow you to know what kind of content is going to be released on what day. The only problem I have now is coming up with a segment for Mondays. Now that Friday has a segment, every day of the week has one except for Monday. If you have any idea of what I should write about on Mondays, you should tell me in the comments or by emailing me at legolukeytutorials@gmail.com. If you really wanted to you could even message me via my Facebook page. All these links are up above.

Source: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_youtube.php

In other news, I have started up a new YouTube channel. This one is called Lyrics2Share and on it I will be posting lyric videos for songs. You should check it out and if you have any suggestions for songs you want a lyric video for just send them through the twitter account, Google+ account (both links available on channel), email them to lyricality2u@gmail.com or just send them through what I mentioned above in the introduction. It is a lot easier to make videos for this channel than it is for my Legolukey channel. I will occasionally post some more tutorials in the future (when exactly is a mystery) but for now the easiest thing to create content for with time constraints is this channel. Plus, I only need to upload when I want to and these videos can be created a lot easier with the time from starting to publishing on YouTube being an hour at most. But anyway, moving on from that 'exciting' news. Have you guys noticed the new segment I started yesterday? It will run every Friday and is called "The Week that Was". Notice how I am becoming smarter now by not including any specific days in the title? In it I go through some of the highlights (and lowlights of the week). Some of it will be from the news and some of it from my personal life. For example, yesterday I wrote about the Sochi Olympics, the murder of Luke Batty, and some of what has been going on with me in the past week. That is sort of why the whole introduction to this Random Thought post was about segments. I was inspired, or rather reminded, by what I wrote about yesterday. In more nerve-racking (and exciting) news, there is only 59 days (and a few hours) until I fly out to Papua New Guinea to complete the Kokoda track. I can not remember if I have told you but we fly out on the 16th of April at 6am and then arrive some time after mid-day. We then start the trek the next day on the 17th before finishing the track on the 24th and attending the ANZAC day dawn service on the 25th. We fly back later that day. It is going to be so exciting but as we get closer the nerves do grow as well. It really is the same for everybody. To think that in less than nine weeks we will be doing the Kokoda track is a scary thought but we are all excited just the same. There is still a lot of fundraising we are doing before we leave (not to mention all the training) but it is suddenly becoming very real but I still do not think it will hit me until I actually arrive.

I really do need these random thought posts, they do help a lot with saying everything I want to. See you tomorrow!

Daisy: What are you doing?

In case you had not read my post around New Years, I am in Phillip Island along with my cousins. They have a dog called Daisy. This is her story. This is not Law and Order. Daisy is a small dog and she would be about 2 years old. Sometimes she is tired and sometimes she is excited. As she is alone most of the day, she is definitely an almost nocturnal dog. Meaning that during the day she is tired and lazy but when night comes she is a completely different dog. She goes from eyes half-closed to looking like she has had a large dose of pure caffeine. Aside from this she is also a very smart dog who knows what is going on and even toilet trained herself. So today when my grandparents left and took their dog (who is much older) Daisy knew exactly what was going on. She was very depressed and the looks she was giving were empty. However, as is with her energy levels, she quickly perked up again when my cousins returned. Daisy is one bipolar dog.

I had a slow day today. See you tomorrow!

Way Too Much Information!

We all know someone who over shares everything. We may not always know them in person but we may know them via the internet through sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Sometimes this over-sharing can be annoying while sometimes it can just be plain interesting (for those of us who are sticky beaks). Don't try to deny it, you can hang on the words of an over-sharer. Sometimes we can even go through phases where we share so much and we look back at it later and think "Why did I post that?" Over-sharing can be unhealthy but it can also be a good thing as it can help people get to know you as well as see signs of potentially dangerous or antisocial behaviour. An over-sharer can either be their worst enemy or their greatest companion.

Image Source: http://performancing.com/oversharing-vs-undersharing-in-social-media/

Sometimes you just go on Facebook and want to shout at an over-sharer because you see a post you either a) have no idea what it means, or b) was so stupid you wish you had no idea what it means. Sometimes I get so frustrated I have to just quickly scroll or exit the tab so as not to act rashly. However, some people make a living out of over-sharing. Video bloggers (vloggers) on YouTube make a lot of money as their channels grow in popularity. They basically carry a camera around with them all day and record the more interesting parts of the day. Personally, I enjoy watching it but I would never be able to do it myself as I need my privacy people. Please, do not get in the way of me and my privacy time. I just could not do that as I would feel it is invading my privacy as well as the privacy of those who are with me. I do not want my life put up on YouTube for everyone to see and I am pretty sure none of my friends do either. Then you have the people you meet at parties or school who, before you even tell them your name, have given you a 'brief' run-down of their lives from conception (yes conception, not birth) to where they are at the present. Sometimes all I wanted to say was hello or just be polite. Also, it is not as if I am suddenly going to spill the beans on every little secret in my life (and I have a few) just because someone else did, that is not how I roll. How I roll? Did I seriously just type that? Anyway, as always I love to hear from you guys and ALWAYS reply to your messages which you can send via the contact form to the right or by commenting on this post.

Also, tomorrow I won two double passes (through Mix 101.1 [thank you so much to them by the way]) to the screening of The Way Way Back with Toni Collette and Steve Carell. It comes out August 1st and so tomorrow, after the screening, I will be posting my review of it. It looks really good and I thank Mix 101.1 for actually picking my entry to win. All I had to do was (in 50 words or less) say what my favourite holiday experience was and why. I did not expect to win it and only entered because I was bored. I was very surprised to receive the tickets in the mail yesterday but I guess now you guys get the low-down (wow, again with the weird words) on this awesome new movie.

You will never get anything or go anywhere if you do not even try, see you tomorrow!

King Kong

He is a six metre tall, one tonne beast and he's ready to take the world by storm. King Kong himself will feature in a never-before-seen musical premiering right here in Melbourne. It is an ambitious project by Global Creatures, the company behind such successful stage spectaculars as 'Walking with Dinosaurs' and 'How to Train Your Dragon'. After more than five years of development, six months of rehearsal and amazing new technology, King Kong is set to live up to its massive reputation.

Image Source: http://www.theloop.com.au/sschulze/project/88858

The puppet himself requires thirteen men, known as the "King's Men", to control his movements while 'voodoo' puppeteers at the back of the theatre control his facial features. Due to King Kong's lasting impression on the world anything half-done is simply not good enough and so Global Creatures has pulled out all stops for this multi-million dollar production. An all-Australian cast is set to lead this spectacle with Esther Hannaford as Ann Darrow and Adam Lyons, in his first ever musical, as Carl Denham. The show is set to be so large that in the first fifteen minutes alone over 100 different costumes are used. Audiences are sure to be amazed when the show premieres tomorrow night at the Regent Theatre Melbourne.

Image Source: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/musicals/monkey-business-20121018-27s6i.html

The music itself is a haunting and eclectic mix of genres that are sure to amaze. The music ranges from the grandiose sounds of "The Greatest Show on Earth" to the more subtle and longing tones of "What's it gonna take?" Musical masterminds have come together under the leadership of Marius de Vries (whose credits include Moulin Rouge and Romeo and Juliet (Baz Luhrmann)) to create a score that will shock you and make you cry. If the Melbourne Production is received well (which I'm sure it will) then King Kong will set its sights on places around the world. Last time Kong went to Broadway he certainly left an impression but let's hope he leaves a better impression this time around. I already have my tickets for June 30 and cannot wait to see this spectacular come to life on stage.

Image Source: 

http://www.factmag.com/2013/05/09/hear-new-material-from-the-avalanches-taken-from-the-king-kong-soundtrack/

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

Excitement

We all get excited from time to time. Even the most serious of us have had one moment of excitement in their lives. Excitement can make us anxious and nervous but in a 'good' way. I put good in quotation marks because I can as this is my blog and I can write what I want. Why am I writing about excitement? Because tomorrow is my Birthday (YAY!) and I'm turning 16 (I can get a  Second Life account now!) which is super exciting. So in today's post I am going to talk about the things that excite me because I'm too excited to do a deep and meaningful post about excitement. How many times can I write excitement in this post about excitement? Check at the end for the final excitement count for this post (about excitement)!

One of the main things that excites me is THE HUNGER GAMES! If you don't know what the Hunger Games is where have you been? The moon perhaps. I just totally LOVE The Hunger Games and got super excited when the teaser trailer for CATCHING FIRE was released. In fact I wrote a blog about it where the whole first paragraph was a link to the trailer. Hell, let's do that again. Click anywhere on this paragraph and you can watch the Catching Fire Trailer again! Then watch it a few more times while you're there AFTER you finish reading my blog. I don't know why I like The Hunger Games I just do and I get really excited about it and I can't wait until November 22nd! If you don't know the significance of this date, click anywhere on this paragraph! I get so excited about The Hunger Games that anytime The Hunger Games Adventures (a Facebook game) updates I have a little fan-girl-ing  session for a little bit because I get to play it again! It's so exciting and I just love how it ties into the movies and books  and even has its own parts and adventures! PLUS it has a map of Panem! So yeah, I get pretty EXCITED when it updates and I get to play it. I guess I just get excited about The Hunger Games. I got the movie soundtrack from my cousin for being her Confirmation Sponsor the other week and as soon as I got home I was listening to it. I was so EXCITED! I'm sorry if I use caps-lock too often or too many exclamation marks, I'm just really excited!

Language Perfect! Need I say more? I just really love Language Perfect (but not in the love way but as in I really like Language Perfect, don't get any MORE ideas Xavier) and find it a very useful tool for my French Studying and it also makes it fun and I get my friends involved (mostly Xavier) who want to beat me. One of my friends tried to beat me last year but whenever she got ahead I got even further ahead of her. Language Perfect is really a great resource and I get really EXCITED when I get to 'play' it. For me Language Perfect equals excitement and one of my friends can tell you the story of my face when I couldn't access it one day last year, priceless. I was just so excited! Language Perfect, go check it out!

The final thing I am really super duper (did I just type duper?) excited about is King Kong Live on Stage which is the new King Kong musical premiering next month (well, actually the preview shows start at the end of this month) which I have been super excited about since October 8, 2012 when I saw the ad for it on Facebook and saw the announcement they did (on October 7, so I've been excited about it for almost the whole time it's being announced) and I just got really excited for it and can't wait to see it because I know it is gonna be awesome! I'm really excited about it and I know I'm getting tickets to go see it for my Birthday (which yeah, is tomorrow [EXCITED]) and I'm just so excited to see the musical that I have been looking forward to for so long. It's from the company Global Creatures who did the ones like Walking with Dinosaurs except this time they're doing a musical with its world premiere at the Regent Theatre Melbourne which is going to be awesome and I am just super excited about it! I can't wait, the excitement is killing me (figuratively of course).

So that's just some of the stuff that really excites me and I know today's post isn't as meaningful or as well-written as some of my previous ones but I'm just so excited I can't think straight!! I just can't wait for all these things and I am really EXCITED!!!! Now for the all exciting, word count for the word excite. The word excite (and all the words that can be made from it (i.e. excited)) has been used 38 times in this blog post, have fun finding them all or just be satiated by using the find (ctrl+f) function.

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

Kokoda Leadership Opportunity

So today I was called to the office at the end of the day along with a few other people. At first I was really worried because I wondered what I had done. Then the Vice Principal (who had called us there) started off by saying "The Wyndham Police have recently contacted us..." which really scared us all because we all thought we were in big trouble from the police. She then went on to continue to say they had offered each school the opportunity to allow students who display qualities of Leadership to apply to go on an all-expenses paid fully guided tour of the treacherous and historical Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

This would also teach us lessons of Leadership along the way. At first I was hesitant because I knew how hard and dangerous it was and they offer training and have medics with us the whole time to be safe. I then went home and talked it over with my parents and we decided that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and so I decided to apply for it. Now I have to fill out a form and then answer some questions about Leadership and the significance of the Kokoda Track and that I will do tomorrow, I started tonight but had so much homework I had to stop. So there is no certainty I will get chosen as they will look through each person's application and decide the students they wish to take with them. If I do get in I will be very excited and most likely motivated to do more training (or I will find it very very hard) as even those who train for ages find it a hard track and I do hope I get in as I think it will be one of those great experiences I'll take with me until I grow old.

It is such an exciting opportunity and I am so happy that the Vice-Principal and Principal chose me and a few others to apply for the opportunity. I am just in awe a bit.

May the odds be ever in your favour, goodbye!

Beautiful Creatures and Catching Fire

As I wrote in a previous post, for Easter Mum buys us books and this year she bought me "Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. It's a great book and I am hooked. Once I pick it up it is hard to put down. I'm only up to page 250 and already there have been quite a few shocks and a lot of suspense. I really recommend this book and, guess what, it was made into a movie which was released in February of this year! It has some great cast but the damn trailer spoilt a part of the book for me I wasn't even up to yet! That's annoying but now I have something to look forward to when I finish the book. Which shouldn't be too far away! But the DVD is not out yet so I'll probably have to wait. So far Ridley is my favourite character (even though she hasn't been it very much so far). I just have to say that I hate how Blogger corrects my spelling using American English which has slight spelling differences to Australian English (the Americans love to drop letters) so I have all these red lines all over the place which makes it hard for me when I edit the post because most of the red lines are for American spelling or names which just really annoys me because I miss the real errors because of this (somehow). Anyway, Beautiful Creatures is a stunning book which I recommend you read (before watching the trailers, not even a damn spoiler alert! What they reveal is meant to be a shock, I'm halfway through and I don't know it yet except for in the trailer!).

The next thing I want to talk about is the new Catching Fire Teaser Trailer! The full trailer will be released on 14th April (JUST 10 DAYS) and this was a teaser trailer for it. It was all over my Facebook, Twitter and YouTube feeds this morning and I thought it was a hoax, but no, it was super real and super cool! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! (I warned you right in the first post that I would fan-girl all over Catching Fire, don't say I didn't warn you) You can check out this awesome clip by clicking here. I am so excited for Catching Fire to come out and so I was super excited to see this. Also, yesterday, I saw an image of Katniss' pre-Quarter Quell interview with Caesar Flickerman in which she was wearing her Wedding Dress which is awesome. Here is the photo:

So cool!!!! Can't wait for November 21st (Australia gets it before the US, YES!) and I am also excited because I got my Mum into reading the series and she only started on Monday and is already halfway through Catching Fire. I also inducted my cousin into Panem and she started on Saturday and has already finished the series. Just shows how addicting it is! So get ready for the April 15th Post (15th since Australia is ahead of America so when they get the trailer on the 14th it will be the 15th in Australia) because I will probably be fan-girl-ing like crazy over the new trailer!

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