Ye Olde Green Shorts

My favourite pair of shorts went through their last use today. I'm heartbroken. I've had those shorts for three years, and we've been very close companions up until now. I happened to glance down at the back of them to find a large slit where the fabric had worn down and split apart. I was mortified. And the problem is that I've grown so used to them! Depending on what I do during the time I wear them, I keep them for two days before chucking them in the wash and swapping to my other pair of shorts for the next day. So now I've only really got the one pair of shorts to wear, and they aren't really the best. I prefer not to wear them in public and use them only for when I'm working. Darn it, now I've got to go find another pair of shorts similar to my old green ones. Those shorts were perfect! :'(
     It's honestly quite frustrating. Especially when at the time you are wearing your Dads old sweatshirt that just happens to be going on 20 years old. Yes, all the cuffs are quite shredded, there's a hole in the elbow, a slit in the shoulder and rugged neckline, but it's perfect for what I need it for. It's lasted 20 years of use by Dad, my sister and now me. Yet those shorts couldn't last longer than three years. -_- They never make things how they used to...
     Stupid really, but what on Earth am I going to wear to the beach on Saturday, without a decent pair of casual, able to get dirty, shorts? Grr
     My life in a nutshell that.

     I did a few things today. Did some chemistry, now I've only got three (?) chapters left in the booklet I'm working on. Wrote a letter to my friend Miriam, now I've just got to go to the post office and figure out the cost to send mail to China. And I got an email from my Biology teacher about potential science events I could apply for this year. One is the "London International Youth Science Forum" where 350 year 13 students aged 17-21 from 60 countries meet up in a university in London for two weeks and attend heaps of lectures and science related things. It's in mid July and goes through to August 6th and I'd say only the best of the best get chosen. In your application you have to include NCEA results and a myriad of other things to prove your worthiness to attend.

     The other is the "Youth ANZAAS" (Australia New Zealand Association for Advancement of Science) This is a smaller event for year 12 and 13 students from New Zealand to go to Melbourne in early July and join with Australian students for five days. Only five students from NZ are selected however.

     Both applications need a tonne of school results, teacher references, letters of worthiness, CV's etc etc and the students who do get in will get a 60% scholarship for the fees of travel and attendance. I would love to have the opportunity to get in. Mum sort of cringed when she heard when they were as they are during the beginning of our busy time of work, but the way I see it, these opportunities don't come up very often, so what is the harm in applying? Although the London one conflicts with the Massey university open day that I had planned to go to on August 6th. However, what I'm thinking is this. These are once in a life time opportunities for me, I'll never have the chance to apply for this sort of thing again and if - and I do say if - I just happened to gain a place at either of these then it is meant to be, isn't it? Things don't just come up in a blue moon, they come up for a reason, and in a few years time if I skipped out on applying I'll kick myself for it. And as they saying goes - "You've gotta be in it to win it" so there.

     So, I've decided I'm going to apply for both options and just wait and see what happens. Anywho, I can go to a university open day any old day. Lots of people start uni without seeing their uni in the open day, they certainly don't skip big events such as a trip to London for them that's for sure! And also, being part of one of these will definitely help me out in the future, so why not give it a chance? :) We'll just have to wait and see. First off, I've got to figure out how to sell myself in a letter and a CV...Mind boggling that..

     Youth Group started again last night. It was fun to get back and see all the people after the summer holidays. I was super shocked how many people showed up! About 30 people! We never have that big a turn out, so it was a bit odd seeing so many chairs filled up in the circle. This Saturday is our first event of the year, just a barbeque down at the beach and such. I'm not completely sure that I'm going yet. 1) because I'm honestly not sure what the heck I'll be able to wear and 2) I dunno, sometimes I feel like going to the beach, other times I just don't.
     I don't swim at beaches really anymore, I prefer pools and lakes in a controlled situation. I used to swim at beaches all the time, but for the past five years I haven't really been to the beach and before then I had some not very nice experiences, being bashed around by waves and such, my body board suctioning to the sand, just silly little panic moments where you lose all sense of control. So if I were to go on Saturday, it definitely wouldn't be to swim! My favourite part about beaches is feeling the sand between my toes, making massive words and pictures in the sand and digging huge holes until we find water. Ok, so the latter part is a little bit dangerous, especially when stories like that of the little boy who dug a tiny hole, poked his head in and the sand collapsed, killing him, but if you'd seen the massive hole we dug when we were little, and then all stood in it.... hmm hehe

     I keep looking and my school work and groaning. Just the little bit I've got already seems like so much and we're only in the second week of February! It's so difficult getting back into the swing of things after summer and I'm not used to already having my teachers and everything organised so soon. So much to do, so little time. I'm feeling really old and tired...