The Good, the Bad, the Bitchy, and the Downright Shocking

The good is my progress report. "High quality" for quality of work in all subjects except Maths, which was "satisfactory;" "always completed" for prep in all subjects and "positive" for attitude and behaviour in all my classes. Something to be proud of and happy about, at least.

The bad is practise exams next week. I'm scared of just walking into an exam (e.g. history, which is all essay questions) and looking at the paper and going "Holy mierda, I can't answer any of these questions." And I know it's not the real thing, and I know that it doesn't count for anything, and I know that it doesn't indicate how I'll go at the end of the year, but it's scary nonetheless. And any kind of exam tends to suck in general. Although it frees up my time a bit for the next two weeks. I even, God forbid, have a whole day off next Thursday. Unprecedented. And the best part is was that yr 12s were going to have in house breakfasts for the next two weeks, which means that we could sleep in, particularly if we don't have any exams in the morning. But thanks to sanctions, that probably won't happen, unless the bitch thief pays up before then. I'm not optimistic about the chance, but I'm hoping.

The bitchy is sanctions.

(This is a vent. I am whining and cranky. I know it. I know I have a lot to be thankful for in my life, but in this moment, let me have my gripe, and I will move on.)

Imagine.

You must sit for one hour.

Without doing anything. At. All.

You must sit in a room for one hour without any form of entertainment. At. All.

You must sit in a room for one hour without being able to lie down and sleep. At. All.

You must sit in a room for one hour without speaking to anyone else. At. All.

See how this works? It's a good punishment because it's so incredibly awful. Yr 12s are allowed to bring work, but otherwise I can't see what you'd do. Although I noticed some people

• making nooses out of a shoelace
• balancing mandarins on their head
• playing with a pool ball

No form of entertainment.

No lying down or sleeping.

No speaking.

One hour.

Twice a day.

6.30-7.30 AM

6-7 PM

Sanctions (which stem from stealing) are not only a unbearable waste of time and energy but they make people bitchy. The house is bitchy. Everyone is complaining about sanctions and collectively hating whoever stole the money (and they are the biggest bitch of all.)

The shocking is rape of a teenage girl in a suburb not far from hear, known for it's notoriety and being poor. This is the report in the local paper, which I heard about twice today before reading it for myself [edited to maintain anonymity]:

POLICE last night mounted a large-scale manhunt after a 15-year-old girl was raped at knife point.
The teen was walking home after playing netball at the nearby Leisure Centre when she was attacked in a park about 7.40pm.
Detective Senior Constable said the teen was alone when a man appeared from the darkness and threatened her.
"She was by herself when a male came out of the bushes armed with a knife. He grabbed the girl and threatened her with the knife, threw her to the ground and raped her,'' Det Sen-Constable said.
"She had been playing netball at the centre and was close to home (when the attack occurred).''
Det Sen-Constable said police were yet to formally speak to the teen, who was rushed to the Royal Children's Hospital for urgent counselling and treatment.
"She's pretty traumatised, as are her parents. She's been taken to a unit of the Royal Children's Hospital for rape and sexual assault victims, to be assessed,'' he said.
More than a dozen officers were called in to search the streets for the alleged attacker, who was believed to be on foot.
The officers combed the streets for more than four hours, while a police dog also assisted during the exhaustive search.

It's just so incredibly awful and devastating to even read or think about. Rape would have to be one of my biggest fears above all others. It's one of the fates worse than death. It deeply saddens me that this girl was only 15 (though it's heart-wrenching at any age) and so close to where she lived. And it's frightful to think this is streets away from the school. We're not exactly in a safer suburb, either. The Foreshore is such a disreputable area for shady people (i.e. perverts) and there have enough been incidents involving men chasing girls that we're not allowed to run or walk or be on the Foreshore by ourselves by school rule. And you wouldn't want to be there at night, either.

All in all a fairly depressing week, but tomorrow is Experiment Day, which means only two classes (and the rest of the day off to write up prac reports) and on the weekend I'm going into Melbourne to another open Day (Melbourne Uni). I'm also going to the year 11 play tomorrow night, which will hopefully be funny.

[in summary, I am not depressed, just completely and utterly irritated beyond belief by sanctions and the emotional strain that goes with it. I'm coping though, don't worry!]

x
Just a girl