DT is done!

Today, I handed in my Design and Technology Major Work. It was such a great feeling to finish it and to have the weight lifted off my shoulders thats been weighing me down for the whole year. Here's some photos of my MDP (Major Design Project):

Goodbye Winter

Spring is approaching and I'm very excited about it! Winter in Sydney this year has been very cold and rainy. As much as I love the cold weather, i'm hanging out for summer!

Tongue Piercing Day Five

Today, my tongue feels much less sore. I can move it around in my mouth with more more ease. It is still swollen because I cant see any of the bar, but I'm hoping it will go down soon so i can play with it.

On my tongue, I have a white-yellowish film on the top, which looks very gross, but I think is all part of the healing process. Last night I rinsed with a sea salt solution which is supposed to aid the healing process and make it go faster. I'm rinsing with mouth wash every time I eat anything and brush my teeth morning and night as usual.

I'm still very hungry, because I can't eat any of the foods that I'm craving, like chips or sushi or cookies. I've lost a bit of weight because of this, but I'm feeling quite sad and depressed because of the lack of food in my body. Today, I'm going to try and eat lots of sugar to make me happy again.

Tongue Piercing Day Four

It is now day 4 of my tongue piercing, and the swelling is slowly going down. My lisp is less of an issue and the muscles around my mouth don't hurt as much. But on my tongue, where the actually piercing is, is still quite tender. It still hurts to poke my tongue out to show people, which is what my piercer said would happen and he told me not to stick my piercing out further than my teeth.



I'm still very hungry. I'm passing the time by sleeping, watching TV, playing guitar hero and trying to study and work through my major design project due in 2 weeks. I am a great lover of food, so having this piercing has almost killed my will to live.

I'm glad the swelling is going down, but I just hope it continues to do so before school tomorrow. I'm not allowed to have my tongue pierced at school, so I'll have to hide it from teachers for the remaining 5 or so weeks left of school till I graduate. One of my friends at school has had her tongue pierced since year 11, but because of this, I think she wasn't elected a prefect, where as I was. I think my piercing might stir up some regret from the teachers in naming me a school prefect.

Tongue Piercing Day Three

Woke up this morning with dribble all over my face and pillow again and my mouth and tongue was dry because I slept with my mouth open again. It is still quite swollen and I still have quite a strong lisp- it sounds like I have a plate or braces on. My muscles around my mouth have calmed down and it's just sore on my actually piercing now. Underneath my tongue, on the piercing, it had some white discharge, which is normal because the white stuff is trying to create a scab, which it obviously can't because my tongue's too wet.



My tongue's quite swollen still and I can't see the bar yet, just the balls. I'll suck some more ice to keep the swelling down and I'll try not to talk as much as I did yesterday, because I think that irritated it quite alot.

It is now more than 72 hours since the piercing, and it is still quite sore. My lisp is still quite prominent- I'm cutting down my words, so that I don't have to move my mouth as much. I haven't sucked as much ice as I did yesterday, so my tongues still quite swollen.

I managed to eat an up and go, a yogurt and some rice and the tiniest bit of chicken. Eating the rice was so difficult, because usually my tongue would "help" the grains get from my teeth to my throat, so it took me 10 minutes to eat a small bowl of rice. The chicken felt soo good to eat- I hadn't had meat since Saturday lunch, and I'd usually eat meat twice a day. I was feeling quite sad and depressed without much food, but once I had had some decent food, I was almost back to normal. I had to chop it into little strips and put it on my teeth to chew. Chewing was very strange because I had to go very slowly so I wouldn't chew on the piercing or my swollen tongue. It was very satisfying none the less.



I don't know if like my tongue piercing yet. It hurts heaps and its soo irritating because its just relentless, it wont go away. I've actually thought about taking it out, but I'm going to push through. I've come this far, I'm going to stick it out till its healed, and if I still don't like if then, I'll take it out.

Tongue Piercing Day Two

Day two of my tongue piercing and its really sore today, and I'm sooooo hungry.



When I woke up this morning, I had a lots of dribble on my pillow and on my cheeks. I think this is because my tongue was so swollen that I slept with my mouth open. I had quite a strong lisp, finding it hard to say words with 's' and 'l' and 'r'. Talking has been quite embarrassing, with both my brother and my friends making fun of my pronounciation.

Today, I managed to eat a yogurt and an "Up and Go" with great difficulty. It hurts to swollow, becuase the piercing touches the roof of my mouth when I do, and it is very tender still. I haven't drunken much water because of this, so I have a head ache now. I think i'll just have to push through and drink lots before bed.

Its now 29 hours since the piercing, and my tongues still very swollen. The mucles in my neck and glands are really sore and I have a headache. My whole body feels very sore, but I'm sure I'm just imaginging it.

Overall, not too impressed with my tongue piercing. At this stage, I just feel like ripping it out because its hard to talk, drink, eat and swallow my own saliva! I hope the swelling goes down tomorrow.

Tongue Piercing Day One

Today, I took the plunge and got my tongue pierced!



I had been wanting to get my tongue pierced for a while, but I wasnt ready to go there and get it done- I was just wanting it from afar. I'd watched many video on youtube about tongue piercings and aftercare and things like that, as well as actual piercings. I wanted to get one because I like the look of them and I wanted to do something outragious and rebellious.

So today, after some agitation from parents, I went to the piercing studio and got it pierced with my mother and brother at 4pm. At first, when the needle went through it was painful, maybe twice as painful as getting a needle, with a similar feeling of the needle going through flesh.
I sat down in the chair and my piercer gave me some anticeptic or something to swish around in my mouth for about 30 seconds. After that, he dried my tongue and marked where the piercing was going to go and let me have a look in the mirror. Then he clamped my tongue with forceps and told me to breath in and the out. On my exhale, he pushed the needle through (I'm not sure which direction he pierced it, I was trying not to look) and then pushed the jewellery through. Then he screwed the ball on and I was done! It was very quick, maybe 10, 15 seconds and he explained to me not to eat spicy or hot food and to rinse my mouth out with non-alcoholic mouthwash after eating anything.

It felt very strange having something in my mouth, especcially on the bottom on my mouth, under my tongue. Straight after, I got a slurpie from a 7/11 which helped numb the pain. I had to spoon it into my mouth because it was too painful to suck. It bled a little bit right after as well- so attractive, but stopped once I started eating the slurpie.

I went to the movies with some friends from 5pm-9pm after getting it done. I sucked on free ice from the lolly counter and took some ibuprofin for the pain. The ice helped a lot, reducing the pain and swelling and it took my mind off the pain. A few times the ice got stuck to the metal ball, which felt weird, but it melted off after a few minutes. My friends were making fun of me because I have slight lisp, which is getting worse. I'm not too worred about it, but I'll see how it is tomorrow.

It is now 10pm, 6 hours since the piercing, and my tongue is getting quite swollen and sore. It hurts to move my tongue to talk and swallow and to stick it out of my mouth. The my glands and the muscles all around my mouth are quite sore too. Going to bed tonight, I hope that it's not too sore or stiff tomorrow morning.

What to do with a life

What to do with my life. I have so many options, so many choices, so many different pathways.

What do I want to achieve with my life?
Do I want to make lots of money and have lots of stuff?
Do I want to have lots of responsibility being a leader of a company?
Or do I want to have a family and be a really great wife and mother?

University applications opened today in my state, which means that I can put down preferences for which university courses I want to get into. These courses all depend on my final HSC (Higher School Certificate) mark in the form of an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). This rank is based upon a percentage of my final exam marks and assessments that I have completed throughout the year.

But is university the way? Do I want to study my butt off to get into a university course where I'll have to keep studying for another 4+ years?

I think eventually, university is the go, so that I am employable. But for now, I think I'm happy taking a gap year. We'll see how it goes.

Waiting.

In recent weeks, I have been preparing for my final school trial exams. Hundreds of hours of study, dozen's of pens and reams of paper later, I feel like I'm no better off. Learning about integration and real life applications of calculus, the photo electric effect and the transformers doesn't really add any value to my life.

The bottom line is, I can't wait till exams are over- they are so draining and tiring but I don't know how much im going to achieve after I finish them. I mark that is going to get me into university so that I can do more study? That's smart.

My Piggy Bank

I was recently given a piggy bank by my mother, as a reward for studying for my end of school exams at the end of the year. It's beautiful- white porcelain with multi-coloured polka dots.

Already, I have stolen $100 out of the bottom of my piggy. Nice try Mum!

Viva La Perth

Today a received an offer to live in Perth, Western Australia for a gap year, to stay with a family of 5 soon to be 6 to be a part time nanny!

I have been wondering what my next step will be after I finish school. I think I want to go to uni, but I always thought that after year 12 I would be ready- that it would be a natural step, but it doesn't feel like that. I just feel so exhausted, so tired- like I've been doing the same thing over and over again. I want a break.

So I thought about taking a gap year (after applying for uni and then differing). For my HSC I am studying Italian, so I thought it would be great to go to Italy and backpack around, taking the trains and going to exotic places. One of my good friends wants to go to Greece and spend some time going island hoping, so my idea of going to Europe sounded like a plan.

After plotting and planning about Italy, it suddenly hit me that it was going to be hard and lonely, fending for myself in the big world. The longest I have spend away from home and family was when I went with my school Wind Ensemble to Germany, Austria and Czech Republic for 12 days. Maybe going from the comfort and security of my safe Sydney home and luxurious private girl;s school to the dirt and grime of trains and youth hostels was too much too soon. Not to mention too expensive.

In a small house in Shenton Park, Perth, Western Australia, Australia lives the Shiner family. They have offered to house me and feed me in exchange for 10 hours of babysitting a week. In my spare time I could study part time at the university or work a part time job for extra money. This extra money could be saving to travel back to Sydney (approx $500 return) or just to go into the bank for later. The Shiners also live close to the railway, so I wouldn't have to buy a car (but I could get a scooter license, but I'll have to look into it).

I think taking a gap year in Perth is a wonderful compromise between staying at home and studying and backpacking around Europe.
But it would be great to go to Italy. One day..

Tongue Piercing?

Recently, I have been feeling restless, fidgety, maybe even rebellious. I want to do something a bit different, a bit edgy- something out of my comfort zone, which I have been sitting smugly in for quite some time now. Being in my final year at school, I feel its time for a change...

The initial piercing looks terrifying, with the big needle and the all of the wincing faces on youtube, but getting a tongue piercing looks almost fun. On one hand it would be really cool to have a suprise for new friends, something to whip out and start a conversation with, but on the other hand, having a stranger stab through my tongue with a metal bar almost sounds canabalistic.

I would not get one for 'functionality' but for decoration soley. I think its different and weird but arty and cool at the same time. I have two pairs of earings in my lobes and have previously had the top of my cartilige pierced, but it has since grown over due to school not letting me have one, and me forgetting to put an earing in it during weekends.

I have been thinking of getting a tattoo after leaving school, but have come to the decision that a tattoo is too permanent, whereas a peircing can be taken out.

I know tongue piercings will initially hurt.
I know healing takes ages and its hard to talk, eat, breathe.
I know they close up really fast if you leave it out.
I know they are hard to hide from school/work (I wont have to hide it from my parents or from church, their cool with it).


So what do you think? Should I get my tongue pierced?