2014 was a huge year - the end of schooling. I know this post may be slightly premature but I am just too excited for what the next year will bring so I've decided to upload this now in early December. I was privileged to spend this year with people who made me extremely happy and feel blessed to have them in my life. This post is going to be a little different, photos with captions explaining the year that is 2014 through my eyes. A picture paints a thousand they say. 

JANUARY: Starting off 2014 with fireworks at Disneyland, Anaheim. This was the most magical night!! 17 hours spent at Disneyland over New Years Eve is something I recommend everyone experiences.

JANUARY: I don't think I've ever been better described - Madam Tussauds, Los Angeles

JANUARY: The greatest people you will ever meet (Sally and Ethan) - Seattle, Washington

JANUARY: San Francisco

MARCH: Mia's 17th Birthday with Abi

MARCH: Happy Birthday Mia!!

APRIL: Kuala Lumper, Malaysia with Anemice :-)

APRIL: Another amazing experience. Malaysia was such an eyeopening experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to spend a week in Malaysia and will never forget it.

MAY: Year 12 Formal with my parents. This was another one of those greats nights.  A night where it started becoming real that I was in my final year of high school. A lot of incredible memories created that night.

MAY: I remember we were all thinking that we were really cool when this moment was taken - we weren't wrong. Haha :-)

MAY: And then came the formal after party.

JULY: We finally went to a concert together!!! Lorde was absolutely fantastic but it wasn't such a great idea going to a concert the night before school started back for the term but ah, whatever. (Also, I finally gained the courage to cut 8 inches of my hair off!)

JULY: Our final sports carnival. As always, I didn't participate in the sporting activities but I was all ready to dress up!

JULY: A group of us decided starting a basketball team would be a good idea - we called ourselves the Wildcats. That's a tad embarrassing.

AUGUST: My birthday dinner :-)

AUGUST: Ah, FROZEN. It was our Book Week assembly and we decided to dress up as Elsa and Anna.

SEPTEMBER: Sasha and I decided that a picnic was the best way to pretend the QCS tests never happened.

OCTOBER: Halloween party! (Again, I finally gained the courage to cut off more of my hair - this is addicting!)

NOVEMBER: Finally, Graduation dinner came around.

NOVEMBER: Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

NOVEMBER: Universal Studios, Singapore

DECEMBER: Since graduating I've been really into wearing red lipstick - it makes me feel like a grown up. Also, I've started a sort of New Years Resolution early… to take more polaroids. When I was in Singapore the polaroid film was ridiculously cheap so I crazy stockpiled and I've planned to use them by taking at least 4 polaroids a week to create memories of my life.

As it draws to the end of 2014 I've found myself beginning to write a list of all the things I aspire to achieve in the upcoming year. Aside from this, I've also had numerous conversations with friends regarding where we see ourselves in a years time and it has really got me thinking - where will I be this time next year? Of course, we all have hopes and dreams for our future but sometimes life has other plans. No way did I think a year ago I would be where I am today. I was adamant I was going to study law at university, I was (surprisingly) quite a shy and conserved person and I was no where near as mature (yes, when I need to be, I can be mature) as I am now. I had no idea a year ago that the person I was would be almost obliterated and a "new" Emma would have emerged; I thank the amazing and wonderful opportunities I have been given over 2014 for this much needed change.

As for where I see myself in one years time? I hope to have completed my first year of a four year university course in Secondary Education, majoring in English and minoring in Geography. I hope to have crossed smaller things off my list like camping with friends (can you believe I've never been camping before?? Lame, I know!), a little more travelling overseas and to be happy. I've written about it before, this year hasn't been the best for me and there have definitely been times where I haven't been happy, I just hope that in 12 months time I am truly happy with where I am and who I have become. Also, I hope that blog a lot more. I've been really happy with myself the past week or so blogging very regularly that I hope it continues and it just turns into habit for me to open up my laptop and begin a new post every couple of days.

Bring on 2015! 

- Emma xo

I'm not the one to publicly review a book. However, when I come across a book that sits with me as this one did I find it hard not to share my opinion. Before I begin, you should probably know that I like authors such as Charles De Lint, Stephen King, Caroline Kepnes, John Green - so really anything. I have no particular genre interest and am willing to give any book a read. Therefore, when this book came to my attention I was eager to give it a shot. I read this book about a month or so ago and I wasn't planning on writing a review about it. However, over that month I've had time to reflect and honestly I cannot stop thinking about the novel and how is has changed the way I perceive some things.

I was given a book called The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom to read by my English teacher and at first, I thought (honestly) that it was going to be quite a challenging read as it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Before I began reading it I did a quick Google search of Mitch Albom to find that he was quite a religious author (if you know me at all, I'm quite agnostic), so having to put my beliefs aside and read this book with an open mind was quite difficult; despite my beliefs I don't have a problem with my beliefs being challenged or hearing others opinions - I have my opinion and I keep it to myself, just as other people should (this is a whole other topic).

The story is basically three parallel stories running at once. It was, at first, quite hard to get used to and I didn't really like the style but after a few chapters (the chapters are only 2-3 pages) it was quite an easy read and I started to really get into the storyline. The book itself is only 300 pages or so and I was able to read it nonstop in about 3 hours. The three main characters are Father Time, Sarah and Victor. Father Time is the first man on earth to have the ability to count the hours and for this is banished to a cave for centuries. Once his soul is nearly broken he is granted the freedom to teach two people the true meaning of time. This is where Sarah and Victor come into the story. Sarah is a teenage girl who is about to give up on life and wants time to move faster and Victor a wealthy, old businessman who wants to live forever but due to an illness is restricted by time. The story critiques each persons values and looks at the response to the question: Do we live in the moment? Or are we going to spend our lifetime worrying about what could have been and what should happen? 

I enjoyed this storyline so much due to the way it resonated with me and forced me to think about the life I live. It made me also think about the way we are constantly rushing, conscious of time and worrying about the future. We never slow down to cherish the current moment.

My favourite quote from the novel is a classic:
Try to imagine life without timekeeping. You probably can't. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralysing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out. 
I think I like this quote so much because it's rather important in our current society because it reminds us to enjoy the present moments, the moments we are enduring and not fret over the future.

I am very eager to read another of Mitch Albom's books.

- Emma xo

It's currently 10.40pm (Singapore time) on Friday the 28th of November and I am 2 hours into the 8 hour journey home. It has been a complete whirlwind to say the least and I am both excited yet devastated for the past month to be over. On the 21st of November I, alongside my classmates, finally graduated high school. Following this milestone is normally an event known as "schoolies"; an entire week where you drink away your emotions of graduating and have constant parties and events to go to. This did not interest me one bit so instead my parents agreed to take me overseas, giving me the option to chose where to go. I chose Singapore. My reasoning behind this was the short (well, it's 8 hours) flight, vast difference in culture and amazing shopping experiences! With all of that in mind I took a lot of money and extra room in my suitcase for what I was going to encounter in Singapore. Normally when I travel overseas I have a "to-do" list of places and things I want to see, this time I had nothing but wanting to have a good time.

Once we landed we checked into our hotel and went exploring in the local area. We stayed in, pretty much, the middle of everywhere! A 5 minute walk and we were at the bay/beach area, 10 minute walk and we were in China Town and Little India and at the base of our hotel was quite a large shopping mall; so for the next week I was set with plenty of things to see and do.

I am a travel journal fanatic so I thought instead of recounting what we did each day I would instead take excerpts from it and insert them below, along with photos from each day.

As I write this I am, according to the Countdown App, I am 2 days 2 hours away from Graduation and 2 days 16 hours away from doing the Walk of Honour (I'll explain later). Not to mention it is 3 days 18 hours until I hop on a plane to Singapore! The title of this blog post is simple, just one more time; that is, just one more time you have to read a post of mine about how excited and nervous I am to finish and graduate high school. I can see how, for most of you, these posts would be quite monotonous but the reasoning behind it is that, I want something to look back on a reminisce on my high school experience. Anyway, I can't even begin to imagine myself in the "real" world. Shit. I haven't given myself time to ponder over the thought that I am going to have to be able to complete basic adult things: cook, clean, wash clothes, pay bills. Fuck. On top of this I have to be independent: wake up without my mum hounding me, go grocery shopping, attend university lectures on time. Double fuck. If you know me at all, you know that I am just one big procrastinator - I don't think I've ever been able to start something when I needed to and it always ends up being a mad rush at the end to make sure I have something done. We are constantly told at high school that once you go off to university no one hassles you for a draft or reminds you when an assignment is due. This frightens me a lot. Back to Walk of Honour, it's this celebration that my school has termed whereby the grade 12s walk through an aisle made of students from prep through grade 11 and teachers and parents who clap as you walk through them; this is when the final goodbyes happen and trust me I am going to be one hot mess. Following this guard of students and teachers the grade 12s jump into the lake in our school and celebrate the end. Once this is done and we've all said goodbye to the other grades and  teachers we all drive down to the beach where we meet others schools and all jump into the ocean in our school uniforms. I'm not really sure how this started but whatever, it's a tradition!

This last week of school has been such an emotional roller coaster. Happy and excited one moment, sad and distraught the next. It was the end of all structured classes so everyone got emotional, we took our class photo and in some classes we exchanged small, meaningful messages/gifts. In English class, our teacher hand selected a Mr Men/Little Miss books for each of us (suited to our personality) along with a little card. In English Extension, we received a book suited to our personality/what we would be interested in along with a very emotional and heart warming note from our teacher; this gift will no doubt be cherished by each member of our very small class as the personal touch brought tears to all of us. And finally, in Drama we spent weeks writing notes to each person in the class and in our final class we opened our "Warm Fuzzy Bag" which had a note from all year 12 drama students plus our teacher. We all sat around together reading our notes whilst playing emotional music; this was one of the most personal moments I've experienced and caused quite a few tears throughout our class. [I feel like my tired state did none of that justice but, imagine it :) ]

I just want to take this, somewhat, personal platform to thank every single person in the 2014 cohort at the school I attend. Thank you for being the kindest and funniest group of people I've ever met. Thank you for being a cohort of people that are completely loving and loveable. And most importantly :), thank you all for knowing how to party.

Nonetheless it's thrilling to know that once I've left the four walls, or gates, of high school I can fully become myself - I can mature into the person I've been waiting to be.

- Emma xo

I am graduating high school in about 4 weeks, I think… wow!!! That's close. I am about to finally about to finish high school. I have been counting down to this day since I was in Year 8 watching the Year 12's graduate and thinking how far away it was! 

Of course, this is the one of the most exciting moments in my teenage life as I finally get to leave a place that can only be descried as a deserted island, except the deserted island I went to has free wi-fi, air conditioning, some great food and people, great people. What I'm trying to say is that being a high school student, despite being a teenager and thinking you know everything, isn't the "real world"; you're not forced to pay rent, grocery, electricity and water bills, you live with your family and therefore are not fully independent. Up until about a month or so ago, I liked this life. But, with the end of school in sight I've never been more exciting to take up new opportunities and leave the life I've grown up with. Honestly, I'm stressed about graduating. From whenever they begin to ask you at school what you wanted to be when you were older until mid-way through Year 11 (2013) I always answered with lawyer. It wasn't until I began working at a law firm that I began to realise it just wasn't my thing and I needed to find something that I was truly passionate about. And that's where studying Secondary Education: English comes into it. I receive so many negative comments from peers regarding this area of study and the constant high school kids are obnoxious and hard to teach stories from people WHO ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL! 

This wasn't really supposed to be the purpose of this post, the purpose was because I need a place to vent all of my stresses. 

1. I have an English Current Affairs Proposal assignment due - relating to the portrayal of gender throughout mass media in our current society
2. A Geography Social Environments assignment due - where we think would be most suitable around our school to put up covered pathways (I honestly, have no clue!!) 
3. A Drama Wuthering Heights responding assignment due - we all went and saw the QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Centre) version of Wuthering Heights and we have to analyse Heathcliff as if he were auditioning for us live 
4. A Maths exam about mortgages and bank loans etc. - which I'm actually kind of okay at
5. I have to meet a deadline for writing my book - that deadline is less than a month away and with all the stuff above, plus graduation, travelling and just regular life this is going to be difficult 

On the bright side, Wednesday night saw our debating team win the Grand Finals for our region. There were so many emotions and high stress levels throughout the day and into the night but it finally paid off and all the hard work we've put in throughout the past 8 months or so finally showed us that we can actually achieve well if we put our minds to it, stick to the task and turn up the sass. 

I'm going to end this with possibly my two all time favourite quotes: 

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." - John Lennon

"Sometime you will never know the value of something, until it becomes a memory." - Dr. Seuss 

- Emma xo 

I've spent the past week or so trying to find some kind of inspiration or something to write a blog post on. No luck. Literally nothing. And I'm not here telling you that I have a lot of things to say now, I still have nothing and it's about 12hours after I typed that first sentence.

Basically, the point of this little "update" is to tell you that there's some great opportunities that I've been thrown in the past few weeks. (It's been another 10 hours and still am just up to here). Nothing major, just finalising living arrangements for University next year, getting excited about graduating high school, (somehow) making it through to the debating grand finals and some exciting news about my writing.

All in all, this is just a little I'm still here, I'm just taking a couple of week break to catch up on life post. 

How about I work on a post for Wednesday??

- Emma xo