Mythbusters are doing a number of tests on how to survive falling from planes. They tested the Indiana Jones one (with the life raft- BUSTED) and then did the same thing with an escape slide; and it worked! Buster landed totally unscathed. The slide went vertical a number of times; as Jamie said "That actually looked like it would have been fun." But then again, as Adam said "I think, that would be the most terrifying ride ever!"

 

And then they started talking about people surviving plane crashes from like 33,000 feet which prompted Dad to tell us the following story. In WW2 there was a tail gunner who lasted a fall of 28,000 feet without a parachute, and not even in his plane. He was in his little turret thing (whatever its called) when he realised "ooh... this plane is on a weird angle." Anyway, he opened the door into the main compartment of the plane to grab his parachute (there's not enough room in the tail gunner turret to wear a parachute) and was met by an inferno. So he decided, "Stuff that." Closes his door, then thinks for a bit. Hmmm, what am I going to do here. Then he starts feeling a little hot (yeah plane fires do that.) Decides he can either fry there, or bail out. So he swings the turret around- and just bailed out.

He blacked out too (from smoke inhalation etc.) so he wasn't aware when he hit the snowdrift he landed in. So when he came to, he was feeling pretty cold (as you do, after lying in a snowdrift for however long), then proceeds to stand up and walk to the nearest road. This bloke just fell 28,000 feet without a parachute!! With nothing!! Anyway, being a Brit, and bailing out over a German occupied region, he got picked up on the road by a German vehicle and taken as a P.O.W. As Adam said; "That's gotta suck." (Jamie told a shortened story straight after Dad did.)

 

He fell from 28,000 feet, was able to walk away from the place of impact with a broken arm and a few cracked ribs, then gets taken as a P.O.W. Of course the Germans didn't believe his story. So he gave them the tail number of his plane, they went and checked it out; there was the tail gunner's parachute inside the plane, with the tail gunner turret swung round and the door open, facing outwards.

 

That bloke totally deserved to be allowed to walk free simply for surviving a 28,000 foot freefall.

 

As Adam said; that's gotta suck.

*deep breath*

 

Right... I'm calm... I'm calm...

 

I have an exam tomorrow. I am so underprepared! I'm leaving on Friday, and have THREE exams between now and then. At least I have Wednesday off. And I haven't seen Andre since like Thursday. :( Oh well, I will see him tomorrow.

 

In other news, I have a new wallet, YAY. I needed it! And a new bible yay :D

 

*hyperventilates* examexamexamexamexamexam... aaaargh

 

Ok. I'm off to bed to get some decent sleep before my 8:15 exam tomorrow!!!

 

Leah.

I was on such a good roll this morning. I'd been studying for like 2 and a half hours, had Andre round for lunch, and now... I haven't been able to get back into it. I've been trying, I really have. Much of my notes are in shorthand so it takes real concentration and effort to read, and my brain just isn't there. On my work, I mean. It's too busy with other stuff :P

 

See the problem with me is that even though people tease me about how little work and thinking I do, (*cough* JustinAndreJoelJames *cough*) I am always thinking. Always. A lot of the time, not on what I should be thinking about, but I am. And I suck at self expression and getting my thoughts in order. Even though I'm the humanities (journalism) student, the one who always manages to phrase things so perfectly, the one who fixes other people's arguments by simply phrasing everything just right, I cannot express myself anywhere near as well. My main ways of that is talking to Kara, or writing them down. That's why I love sleep overs with Kara where we can just talk. Or why keeping a diary for the last 7 years (at least) has been such a release. It's those sorts of environments where I can think clearly, get my thoughts in order, and know what I am thinking and why.

 

Not when I'm trying to study :(

 

I've got too much running through my head and half of me wants to dwell on one thing (which I know I need to take time out about to clear up in my mind and figure it out) while the other half wants to study more.

 

Oh well there's one release. Maybe I can get back to study now.

 

And guys, no comments about how much girls like to talk :P Yes, it is true, it is a fact of life. Get over it. It's important. And face it, you like to talk too.

o.O

I graduated ONE YEAR AGO EXACTLY. A whole year!! To the day!

 

Last night was Pimlico's formal which Michelle was helping out at. And, as most people have heard now, there was a bomb threat. At about 6:40 one of the teachers got a phone call about it so the school's Adopt-a-Cop (yup they're pretty handy sometimes) cleared everyone onto the Iggy Park oval. Most of the student helpers found out what was happening but they weren't allowed to tell people. The cop wasn't saying anything, he was just telling people "Just do what I say". So anyway, they all got cleared onto the oval for 2 hours. Apparently the grade 12 guys in all their formal gear kept everyone entertained doing mexican waves and singing pokemon songs etc. The girls got in on the act too after a while.

 

Tenille and Michelle were not happy coz (being photographers for the school magazine) they left their cameras in the kitchen while they were opening car doors (coz they were student helpers too) and when they got the bomb threat they weren't allowed in to get their cameras. So they missed 2 hours of grade 12s dressed in formal gear messing round on the oval. Tenille was not impressed apparently.

 

So yeah they had sniffer dogs and cops everywhere checking the place... I dunno how it took them 2 hours... took them 2 hours to check our whole school when we got a bomb threat. Then they got a second call from this supposed "bomber"... I wonder if anyone (except the cops) seriously thought it was real. Like, that there actually was a bomb. I seriously doubted it. I wonder if the cops really thought there was a bomb. Of course you still have to go through all the procedures, but I wonder if anyone really believed it. And as it was, they didn't find anything and the formal ended up starting at 8:30. Which would have sucked. The formal part of the night ended at 9:30 apparently, by which time at OUR formal we were on the dance floor. (eg. Formal part of the evening was over, dinner was over, and we were partying!!)

 

But when I asked Michelle how much partying time they got at the end she was like "heh...I think they got enough" :P. Mum had wanted me to go to bed at like 12 and I was like hell no I'm waiting for Michelle to get home. Which she did at 12:30. Lol she walked in the door and I said "So what was the go with the bomb threat?" and she looks at me and goes " how do you know about that?!" and I just said "I've got my contacts " (One of David's friends whose brother was graduating and hence, was at the formal, had come online and told him.)

 

But anyways. So now you have the story. And that is exactly what Michelle told me... and she was there... so it's straight from the horse's mouth... almost heehee.  And I wonder if I should be putting this on the net... oh well. I don't see why not. I'm not giving out confidential information :P

 

But in other news I'm hungry so I'm going now.

Heehee, considering the title, no, I'm not going off on another rant. But crummy moods do not help when someone brings up a topic that you COULD go off about. Like just tonight... I'm tired (very late night last night), kinda confused, troubled, so that all added up for a generally crummy mood (although I've been amazingly civil and amiable with my family today) and I kinda accidentally took it out on Alex when he brought up a topic I could easily go off about. (Although, not QUITE as passionate about it as some other topics )

 

I'm sorry Alex

 

But then later Alex and I got talking about essay writing and stuff and how the essays we need to do for uni or bible college are always the topics that you CAN'T easily go on for 2000 words. However, we always have those topics we can easily go on for like 5000 words for, but they never turn up in uni assignments, do they?

 

Like, things I could easily write thousands of words on... (everyone can probably guess them anyway )

And here I am again, incredibly bored coz I'm sick and at home. Well, I don't feel as crap as I did earlier today. I'll go to uni a bit before 11 in time to meet Kara... and then there's the BBQ... and then a stupid tute. And then home, piano lesson for Elisabeth, study (haha sure), cook dinner, and hopefully get an early-ish night.  Mum's on the Grade 6 camp with Christine's class at Paluma, so I have to cook tonight... I don't know who's taking care of tomorrow night. Knowing my luck I'll get stuck with it even though Michelle or David are supposed to be doing it.

 

So what's been happening in the life of Leah. Not a lot. Randomly drawing, having really long late night conversations with people, procrastinating, missing Andre coz I don't get to see him anywhere near enough... what's new.

 

This week has been really weird. I'm hoping it all turns out for the best. Right now, I need to study... make sure everything's ready for AC Friday night... oh, and Saturday. Hmmm. We (me, Andre, James and Matty) were going to go round Talia's (well, the place she's house sitting) and use the pool on Saturday, but I just remembered yesterday, I have a wedding to go to. At 3. *Sighs* We'll have to sort something out. Coz I refuse not to see Andre on Saturday. I don't get to see or talk to him anywhere near enough, especially recently with all his assignments.

 

Well seeing as I have to leave soon (well... in half an hour) I'm going to get some work done now :P

Wow.  Let me explain.

 

Over the last fortnight or so certain memories have jumped back into my mind for some reason, I'm not really sure why, which have been causing me no end of frustration and confusion (coz I have no idea what I was thinking back then). Anyway, I spent like an hour talking to Andre about it last night, which was kinda hard coz I have enough trouble comprehending my own actions from back then and facing them myself but talking was definitely the best thing to do. Especially to Andre *HUGs Andre*

 

Anyway, what was this morning's sermon on? Forgiveness. Pretty cool. Gotta love God's timing sometimes. And how we need to forgive everyone no matter what because of what God forgave us for. And I realised that even though Dave was talking about forgiving other people I needed to forgive myself too. It took me months to completely forgive the other person involved and even longer to forgive myself.

 

I suppose it's because I can control my actions, and so I was harder on myself because of that. *Shrug* but it's all going away :)

 

 

And... here I am again. Boredy bored bored. I have one assignment left for the whole semester.  It is a news report, and I have no idea what to do it on. I have to conduct an interview as part of it. So if anyone has any ideas, please leave a comment or email me!! PLEASE!!!

 

In other news... 2 more lessons of shorthand left. I can do 60 words a minute for sight unseen pieces, (haven't officially passed that level yet tho), I can SOMETIMES do 70 words a minute, and with a practiced piece, I can sometimes do 80 words a minute! But I can only keep that up for a minute

 

Umm... what else... aaargh, so bored. Heehee today Katie and I were reading thru Mark's gospel and we got onto the topic of Jonah somehow, I can't remember, and I was telling Katie how Jonah was having a sulk coz God made him go to Ninevah, and then he had more of a sulk when God was merciful and spared the Ninevites. And Katie was saying "Can you imagine God telling Jonah to get back in the whale? 'You, get back in there. No, I dont' want to hear it. You get back in there and think about what you've been doing. No, off you go- no, get in. Go!' " Meanwhile, I was in tears collapsing onto the table with laughter. It was great :D

 

Yesterday Andre, Talia, Matty and I went round to James's place and Talia was trying to speak Afrikaans and Andre had to keep correcting her :D

 

Ooooh... IT'S RAINING!!!!! RAINING YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Kay well I'm off now... byes... :P