Status bubbles

I don't think that this would affect me greatly. Yes my mood does change but I don't mind too much. Most people can tell my moods anyway so this wouldn't make a difference. 

This is a good idea, but I would make changes. For the name section I would only put my first name and thats it. I would not have my entire name, my age, the suburb/town/country I live in or the amount of friends I have. The stuff I would have would be my first name, my mood and my relationship status. That way no one could search my name and find me easily.

This idea would make introductions easier as you would know others who has the same interests as you and who has the opposite interests. It could also help with people who are really shy, or sad or left out quite a lot as people would recognize it and then either include them or cheer them up.

This would make my day to day life more exposed. Like, I wouldn't be able to hide my emotions out in public. Sometimes you go for a walk or something to clear your head but with this, you're going to have people (who actually care) coming up to you and asking if you're okay and stuff like that.

Taking and making notes

When the administrators of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, adopted six 'therapy' cats from an animal shelter, they had no idea that among them was one that possessed an uncanny sixth sense to predict the impending death of terminally ill patients.

Oscar the tabby cat's story begins in 2005, when the newly born kitten was placed on third floor of the nursing center, home to patients that are in the last stages of illnesses like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cancer. The kitten spent the first year lazing around and watching the bustling activity around him. Then, just before his first birthday, Oscar began visiting each of the 41-patients on the floor regularly, just like the doctors and nurses did.

Initially, the hospital staff did not pay much attention to the feline's behavior. However, after some of the people that Oscar was snuggled next to passed away, they began to notice a pattern - the cat only went close to those that were a few hours away from dying. Otherwise, he would curl up on a desk and spend the day sleeping.

To test if it was just a coincidence, the staff tried to place Oscar next to a patient they believed was close to dying. But the paranormal cat refused to stay put and decided to snuggle next to someone else. Turns out he was right because 'his' patient died that same evening, while the one whose death the nurses had thought was imminent, lived on for another two days.

Among the biggest believers in Oscar's paranormal powers is Dr. David Dosa, a geriatrician and Assistant Professor at Brown University. He is so convinced of Oscar's unusual 'gift' that he not only published a paper about him in the New England Journal of Medicine, but also wrote a book. Entitled "Making rounds with Oscar: The extraordinary gift of an ordinary cat’, the 2010 publication outlines the various pieces of evidence he has been able to gather about the cat's predicting powers. Also convinced is the hospital staff who has been using Oscar's foretelling abilities to inform family members so they can bid farewell to their loved ones before it's too late.

Of course, not everyone believes that Oscar has a sixth sense. Some feline experts think that his perfect timing may have to do with a certain smell that the cat has come to associate with death. Others speculate it may have to do with the lack of movement in people that are about to die.

Then there are the skeptics who maintain that Oscar's record is not as perfect as it has been made out to be. They think that the hospital staff and Dr. Dosa have simply 'cherry-picked' the occasions when Oscar has been accurate and ignored the ones when he has not. Fortunately, none of this negative chatter has affected nine-year-old Oscar who continues to provide comfort to sick people in their final hours!

My notes:

Tauranga Girls College Orientation

Today, most of the year 8 girls went to Tauranga Girls College for our orientation. It wasn't much of a orientation, but a tour of the school.

Once we got there, we were escorted in to the hall so that we could meet the head girls and have a small brief of how the day will go. After we finished the briefing, we were put into groups based on the rows we sat in. With our groups we met up with an ambassador of the school and we were to be shown around. First off we walked to a classroom. In the classroom we were given a pack by the teacher: Mrs Potter. The pack included a piece of paper that was to be put into a time capsule, a pen, a booklet with a map and other information, a uniform list,  a list of the classes and fees. After she had told us our optional classes we started to tour the school. We started off in A block and moved to J block. After the tour was done we moved back into the hall to say a karakia.

I didn't learn anything new as I learnt most of it on the open night. It wasn't much different, but only int he day time. At TGC I saw some girls I recognised but I didn't wave or anything. Nothing really impressed me as it is kinda the same as our school, just a bit more sophisticated. I didn't ask any questions. As the day went on I got more and more excited to go to TGC as it is a new experience for me and a new stage in my life.

Movie Challenge

Movie Challenge reflection

What did your group do well?

My group did well in keeping to the script. We did well in becoming the character and talking like they would.

What would you do differently next time?

Next time I would make our transitions better and make the movie more fluent. We jumped from one place to another pretty quickly and it looked like they teleported to the destinations.

Based on criteria, how would you improve your movie if we have you time?

Well, I would make our videoing more stable, I would change the places we filmed as sometimes the lighting blacked out everyones faces.


Criteria:

1. Teamwork

Able to work collaboratively as a team to produce a movie

I think my team did good on the team aspect. We did have a few issues with people walking off, but after a while we started to work together. We managed to get the movie finished in time and

2. Quality of message -

Life Ed theme. Shows understanding or learning from Life Ed programme

Our message was that the most unexpected people can take drugs, and I think we portrayed that very well. The main character did not look like the kind of girl to get into drugs.

3. Able to use film making conventions

Camera angles, dramatic intention

We didn't really do many things with angles or drama, we just filmed it until we got a good shot and just went with that.

4. Sound quality

Ability to ensure all dialogue is heard

You could hear our voices pretty clearly. In our first scene the wind was really loud, but it died down when they started talking.

Waimarino- A blade of Grass

I sat there, the wind making me move. My fellow blades sat there with me, as we watch the many kids flood the area. Small drops of rain landed on my dark green skin. The feet of many people trampled me, causing me to fall over. I tried standing back up only to be shoved back down like I was nothing to them. More and more rain pelted down, making me slippery. Still they walked on me. After I thought that the torture was over, to be stood on again until I was left on the ground. I feared getting up as I would just get pushed down again. But soon the kids left. I looked around to see the end kids walked into the changing rooms. There were people coming out happily and there was people coming out glumly like they didn't want to be here. This time as they flooded back out, they avoided me, in fear of what was surrounding us. I heard things like "There might be prickles." This was our only defence, to hurt them. It tended to work, most times. Still I get trampled over and over again until they went somewhere else. I couldn't see where they went but I knew they were coming back. I heard chattering teeth and the sound of water hitting the concrete. Before long they came back, walking to the many places. Most of them went to the warm pool. I couldn't blame them. As more and more people emerged from the cold lake, the more that came near me. I braced myself for more pain of being stood on. It came in small amounts, but it still happened. This is what happened to me daily. You think that I would be used to it by now, but no. I see these things around me jumping into the lake, and then them heaving themselves up. But there were this group of people that just sat in the warm pool for a while, then got out. Watching them intently made me forget about the others. They slowly made their way the white tent shivering from the cold. After like 5 minutes it started to rain, the girls squealed and complained. I turned my head to the tent, two girls sat there shivering from the cold. A lady left to go somewhere, she had money in her hand. Soon after another girl got out, this one had ginger hair. As she walked back to the tent, the other lady came back, two cups of something in her hands. The three girls sat in a circle, huddled in their towels, trying to preserve body heat. The rain was getting harder and harder, more and more people got out. I heard everything. 3 of them were leaving, people telling them they were lucky. Once they left, it was their school that went kayaking. The sun came out. Oh the warmth! They kayaked and kayaked but they soon had to leave. I was dreaded this moment. I would be trampled again. I wish I could be free, I wish I could join them. But no, I am stuck in the ground, as a hopeless piece of grass.

Life Education- Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is an illegal drug that is in the same category as Cocaine and other powerful drugs. This drug goes by many names such as: Meth, Crank, Chalk and Speed which is the most commonly used. Meth is called a 'club drug' because it is often used at clubs.

Some of the short term effects are:

• Loss of appetite.
• Increase of heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.
• Dilation of Pupils.
• Disturbed sleep patterns.
• Nausea.
•  Bizarre, erratic, sometimes violent behaviour.
• Hallucinations, hyper excitability, irritability.
• Panic and psychosis.
• Convulsions, seizures and death form high dosages.

The long term effects are:

• Permanent damage to blood vessels of heart and brain, high blood pressure leading to heart attacks, strokes and death.
• Liver, kidney and lung damage.
• Destruction of tissue in nose if sniffed.
• Breathing problems.
• Infectious diseases and abscesses if injected.  
• Malnutrition and weight loss
• Severe tooth decay
• Disorientation, apathy, confused and exhausted.
• Strong psychological dependence.  
• Psychosis.
• Depression.
• Damage to the brain similar to Alzheimer's disease, strokes and epilepsy. 

The RSA murders:

In 2001 there was a murder in the RSA. A man that worked there got told to leave. He went back with another person and shot three of them and severely injured the fourth. She is now permanently damaged. The man that did this is called William Dwane Bell. He had been in prison before this incident and got let out, without parole. He then got a job at the RSA without telling his probation officer. Once he got told to leave, he came back and killed 3 of the 4 people he worked with. After that Bell was admitted into Auckland hospital with a puncture wound above his eye. His co-offender admitted to attacking Bell after Bell bad mouthed him. Bell was arrested 7 days after the murders.   

Photos of meth addict before and after:

Homework Challenge- ICAS

For homework we also had the option to do 3 ICAS tests. I did the Spelling, Reading and Maths. I got my spelling results back on monday. Out of 50 I got a 32. I got a merit. My correction was not very good at all. That was my downfall. Out of 10 I got 3. I was not very happy about that, but all of the other ones I got reasonably good scores.