Circa 2005

While at my parents' house I found a shoebox of negatives from my school days, and my friend Samantha loaned me her negative scanner! Long weekend coming up, so I might try and scan them all (it takes a while).

But above are a few I scanned tonight - Ash and I took A LOT of pictures over the years! Top left is Ash and me (lip ring!) with a Tiny Teddy cookie and a lot of emotions, age 16ish. Top right is myself and Ash at school, age 16-17ish. Bottom left is me in my after-school-job uniform (Write Price, Lotto counter), age 16. Bottom right is Ash and me in nurse uniforms at our combined 17/16th birthday party.

Five Years Ago

So I've been sitting around this Saturday evening (slash Sunday morning...) refreshing Facebook and clicking around various blogs and art portfolios. Fairly standard. Charlie went to bed super early because he's working all weekend and halfway through next week, boo. So didn't really have much to blog about until... I hit the nostalgia jackpot! My parents' old computer busted a couple of years ago, and there were many photos saved on there that I just accepted were gone forever. I decided I had nothing better to do, so logged onto my old teenage blog to ensure all the privacy settings were at max level, and noticed a little photo tab... which hello, had ten pages of often cringeworthy gems from circa 2005-2006! So excited!

I thought I'd share with you guys some photos of how my bedroom used to look when I was about sixteen! All the things pictured are either here with me now, boxed up in storage or thrown away, and the room definitely doesn't look like this anymore. Never thought I'd see such clear photos of it again, a good reminder to take photos of 'every day' things. Not that bloggers probably need reminding of that!

Can you tell how giddy I am?!

This is looking in from the doorway. The teddy bear sitting on my bed is Hans, who still moves with me every house I live in.

Jake Gyllenhaal collection... cluttered messy wardrobe.

That's a tiger beach towel hanging on the wall. I had the most hideous wallpaper (which I actually kind of like now) so I stuck all sorts of crap up everywhere to hide it.

Note the collection of aeroplane ties draped over the mirror! I hope they're still in storage somewhere. I had a bit plan of making a skirt from them, and managed to collect about six or seven over a couple of years. The skirt never eventuated which is probably for the best. The little purse hanging from the dresser was for my 7th form ball. Ohh and that red plate sitting on top is ladybird patterned. I bought it at a Martinborough Fair for one dollar, and managed to keep intact through many different homes until it broke just a month or two ago.

Okay I guess I must have been seventeen, because the lilies on my art desk were from my 7th form ball. In that case I will leave you with the photos I found from that ball! Below is me, my high school boyfriend and my wonderful friend Ash, who was featured very recently in this post! If you can't quite tell, my dress was made from musical note fabric. Hahaha I was such a freak, just had to be quirky! Being a teenager was so much fun, but holy crap am I glad it's in the past! A lot of the time I don't feel like much of an adult at all, but then I stumble across things like the photos tonight and realise just how much older and wiser I am now. Thanks for walking memory lane with me all, hope it wasn't too boring!

Drowning

My cousin Amelia posted a link on Facebook to this fascinating (and frightning) article about drowning which I think everyone should take the time to read. It reminded me of a incident in my childhood I thought I'd share.

Please note: I've described a person in this story as a 'carer'. It was an adult, but not either of my parents (and it wasn't Amelia either haha). I'm not writing this with a focus on the responsibilities of the carer, it's just an anecdote.

My memory of how it began is hazy- my sister Emily and I were between 8-12 years old (there's a two year age gap between us), were swimming in the sea not terribly far from the shore, and one of us had a boogie board. I can't remember whether she called to me or vice versa, but one of us swam to the other, and I soon realised we were in a rip, where the water was pulling us out from the shore. I remember she freaked out when I told her that.

I remember we were screaming for help, clinging to the board, and trying to kick back to the shore. The water was only just too deep- I think if I'd stood in the same depth of still water, the top my head would be above the surface, because I remember sinking and bouncing up from the sand with my feet when I stopped kicking for a moment. With hindsight (and after reading that article) I'm entirely confident we would have drowned if not for the board to keep us afloat. We were terrified, and our instinct was to fight the rip- without the board we would have exhausted ourselves very, very quickly.

I know we were screaming as loud as we could, and no one heard us for a period of time- couldn't tell you how long now. As a short-sighted glasses wearer I couldn't make out much on the beach, and I remember Emily telling me that no one was looking.

I don't remember now whether our carer eventually heard us or saw us, but they realised we were in trouble and thanks to their added height were able to walk to us and pull us in. But I remember their face as they felt the strength of the current and realised it was a rip.

It's a funny sort of memory really, because it's probably the closest I've been to dying, but at the same time thanks to the board, we were probably quite some time away from serious danger.

Have you any similar stories?

The best party you have ever been to or hosted

Naming the best party I've ever been to is kind of impossible.

But the best party I ever hosted would definitely be one of the ones at my "first year" flat in Rolleston Street (I wasn't at Uni, but 2007 will always be "first year" to me). Simply because we would empty out the lounge, open up the doors, text all the crazy people we'd met throughout the year, and not worry about the mess until the next day. Towards the end it was probably the worst year of my life, but there sure were good bits! These photos are from our Halloween party, where most of us dressed as characters from Rocky Horror.