Masquer-Aid 2012

It's come to my attention (and hopefully yours!) that I haven't been posting for a long while, My bad :(
My exscuse is I've been busy. I don't think I wrote about it on the blog but I have actually been organising a charity ball this last seven months, it was held on the 23rd of March and so the month or so leading up to that I kinda abandoned blogging.... and school...and sleep and .... well alot of things :)

The ball was a great night! We were supporting Karinya, A women’s shelter for young ladies aged 13-20 who have been displaced by family conflict, poverty or violence. 

Karinya has 6 beds and 2 separate units that can house up to four people each. They provide young women with a safe place to live for up to six weeks. As well as providing housing and safety Karinya aims to provide each young woman who enters their doors with support and love. Often their charges have little or no possessions and are scared and alone, Karinya nurtures them and seeks to bring a quality of life back to them.

Each year Masquer-Aid ( the name of our charity organisation) hopes to support a local cause or charity with an annual ball and other small fundraising events. For Karinya as well as the ball we held a 'pile of stuff drive' and took some volounteers to work at Launceston Cup Day to raise funds.

On the ball night we had raised $2,725, an amazing result as the anticipated amount to raise had been $1,500, however it was just short of the $3,000 we were praying and hoping to reach. Then, when I walked into tea and coffee after church the Sunday after the ball, much to my suprise, the two pavlovas that had been left over from the nights food supply were being auctioned off to the praish members....AND THEN! they sold for $75 total! One for $50 and the other for $25. i want to thank those people who bought the pavs, You were so generous with your money and God truly worked through you :)

I went to bed that night really really really happy! But God hadn't finished yet! In church and leading up to the event I had prayed many times that we would reach $3,000. At about 10:30 pm, just as I was drifting off to sleep my phone buzzed, it was one of the Masquer-Aid team members, She had been contacted anonymously by someone who said that they felt God was leading them to donate to our cause and so...just 1 and a half hours before the cutoff time we reached exactly $3,000 with that final donation. how good is God and his crazy planning!?

I want to thank everyone who participated in the organising, attendence and running of the ball night! It was a great time and has shown the team that next year we can make this bigger and brighter and more amazing than ever! And thankyou to all our sponsers and and patrons who helped us raise such an amazing amount to support Karinya and their worthwhile cause! Until next year :)

Maybe I'm Going Crazy.....

I think maybe I'm going crazy... With school starting next week, (grade twelve, final year, four pre-t's!) the organisation of a charity ball, (March 23rd) a placement at the examiner for a couple of days, (exciting!) trying to find a job, (so I can get a transfer to Hobart when I move at the end of the year) and just general life, I feel like my head is in a constant state of near implosion! I know, I know, first world problems, but I really am so stressed and crazy at the moment I think I might just be going senile, at the tender age of 17.... oh wait, I forgot my presentation to the Rotary (13th March, BY MY SELF.)

Forgive me for sounding like a spoiled brat but things just seem to be piling up on me. The Charity Ball is my biggest concern for now. My co-organiser and I are hoping to pull a crowd of around 100 people to support Karinya Young Women's Service. That's alot of people, what if the tickets don't sell? What if no-one has fun? What if..... so many worries, so little time! And the funding, the ball will run at an estimated cost of $500 I don't have $500 in my back pocket! That means putting on more events to get the money or alternativley begging for it of local bussinesses and Rotary clubs. Actually the Rotary Club of Central launceston has been a god-send. Craig, the guy who organises speakers came to me a couple of days ago and said;

"Hey Hannah, what if I could give you a way to raise more money to run the ball?"

"Do tell Craig...Please!"

"How's about you get some poeple to pick up litter at the cup?" (or the show? some Launceston event that is held before late March and has rubbish picking up oppurtunities!)

"That's a great idea! Send me the details if you need any more workers!"

<About two hours ago>

"So Hannah, can you get me ten adults by tommorow night?"

"ten....by....night....YEAH, 'Cause I can!....Easy....I Hope...."

Turns out not that many people are keen on the idea of picking up rubbish in front of their possible aquaintances for seven hours on no fee... But it's for charity so everyone should jump at the chance...Right?...RIGHT? Anyway I do remain hopeful! But ingeneral the whole charity abll thing has been going bonkers. I am becoming increasinly aware that there is less than two months till the actual night and I have no mney to actually run it! It's a scary bussiness.

Examiner Placement should be good. I want to be a journalist when I "grow up" so I am hoping that this placement will confirm my future pathway for me and also give me a foot in the door whe it comes to contacts and job-getting and such things. School, Who am I kidding, I'm not that feraked out about it really (this might change come exam time!) i am actually very keen for school to go back so I can see friends and do work and have very clear guidleines concerning what to do with my life once more. The Job, Oh that job hunting stuff. I felt so guilty asking my current boss for a reference! She's so kind and loving and amazing. Great pay, great hours, free food, Christmas and Easter presents...the list goes on. Only problem is that she is a private small bussiness. I need a chain store job...or do I? YES I do! It's so easy to just stop and ignore things I don't like/ want to do.... :)

So really I'm not that stressed and I think that maybe the ten adults before tommorow kinda prompted this post.... But oh well, Iget to vent online and you get to read me venting online. It's really a win win situation for all of us. 

Wish me luck! xx

1 Million Kilos Challenge

Today I signed up for the 1 Million Kilos Challenge by Channel Ten. So far 1,231,053 kilos have been pledged to be lost by people all around Australia. I think this is a great initiative for Australia seeing as we are quickly climbing the ladder of obesity. The challenge runs for ten weeks and procides an online account to all participants where they have a diary, shwoing their starting weith, current weight and goal weight + other details. Each individual is also given a menu plan and an excercise schedule that relates to their weight and level of fitness.

I have pledged to lose 8 kilos in ten weeks. I think this will be a challenge for me but I am hoping that with the online structure I have for my meals and excercise and the motivation of being part of a nation wide movement, I will acheive what I want.  As well as pledging to lose the 8 kilos I have set up an online donation page through everydayhero.com to rasie $100 for MS Tasmania. I am hoping that people will see what I am doing and sponser me through donating to this appeal.

Homophobia...

* I am not judgeing here, please don't get offended by what I have written, look past my intial words and see that I don't love less because of personal differences... God Bless x

My favourite book of the bible is Romans. On the subject of homosexual acts Romans tells us:

 Rom. 1:26-28, "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, ²⁷and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. ²⁸And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper."

To me this is straight away a hard truth to face. I believe that the Bible is the word of God and so I must obey what is written in it. But it goes against my nature to say directly that one thing is 'wrong.' However I take hope from what follows in Romans Chapter 2...

Rom. 2:1-3  ^"1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. ² Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³ So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?"

And so through this verse while I still struggle with the fact of homosexuality being wrong by my Lord I can rest assured that He would never want me to judge or condenm people who practice what he finds wrong.  Judgement is brought by the Lord not by men. It is my place to love my neighbour and love them for who they are not what they do. I put my trust in God judgeing the world by the state of our hearts and honestly whatever is in someone elses heart is none of my bussiness....that's between them and God.

So while I can disagree with Homosexuality I can also disagree with Homophobia. Hate the Sin not the Sinner.

My Maiden Name...mine forever?

Noun 1. maiden name - A woman's family name before she is married. Used of a surname that is replaced by a woman when she marries. Also called birth name. (The American Heritage® Dictionary)

Noun 2. maiden name - a woman's surname before marriage (Collins English Dictionary)

 The practice of changing one's name after marriage is controversial among some groups. Some people feel that it is patriarchal, linking the name change with an identification of a woman as man's property, in a sense. Others feel that it simply undermines a woman's personal identity, rejecting her own lengthy family history. For professional women especially, keeping a maiden name may be a matter of career advancement, especially if they became well-known before marriage.
( http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-maiden-name.htm)


My Grandma lives in a small conservative, rural area, she leads a life governed by tradition and religion. Because of this she has major issues with the way my Mum lives. Grandma's idea of a woman is someone who cooks and cleans, someone who is dependent on the men in her life, whether it be her husband or her son or her father. My Ma by comparison is a very independent lady. She went to uni straight after college and got a highschool teachers degree. She know works as university lecturer and researcher in the field of maths. She has her PhD and is an associate proffesor of maths education and the associate dean of research and learning within the university's department of education. She drinks, and horrors of horrors...she kept her maiden name!

When Ma met my Dad he was working as a tradesman, he had never even thought of going to uni and he had never drunk a drop in his life. Mum quickly introduced him to the wider world and he became a mature age student just after I turned three. Mum and Dad also sit down to a nice glass of red wie or a cool beer roughly two times a week. They don't get drunk but yes...they do drink.

My Grandma was (and is) outraged at this behaviour. Of course she could do very little about the whole situation apart from when it came to...Christmas Cards! yes that's right! Grandma takes an annual stand my adressing the christmas card not to Kim and Garry or to Mr Reeve and Ms Beswick or to Mr Reeve and Dr Beswick but to Mr and Mrs Garry Reeve. Every year she ignores Ma when she explains that;
...Yes she does understand Grandma's values but no "could you please respect mine and accept that I am a Beswick not a Reeve"...
A futile struggle indeed as Grandma belives that women are not fit to be equal to men and that this is a God given law, (!?!?!?) reminding me of a quote from Sophocles' Antigone

"We must remeber that we two are first, by nature, women and not fit to fight with men" (haha nice to see I can still find relevence in the material used in English class!)

But on the subject of maiden names I think to Ma, keeping her name was a) easier than changing details at the bank, work, etc but also b) it was one way that she could show she was truly independent and didn't need a man to get places in life.

I have to say, for once I agree with my Mum, the act of a woman changing her name after marriage, historically symbolises that she is no longer her father's property but is now her husband's property, So for me I see no reason why I shouldn't just keep the name I was born with and have that be that.

I do also respect that many women still change their name when they marry simple because that is what "is done" as such or just because they feel it's a mark of respect or closeness to their husband. But I do ask, Why doesn't the husband change his name?

Some food for the thought there...
xx

It's alright to hurt 'bad people'...isn't it?

 30 December 2006
Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging under the conviction of killing 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in 1982.

2 May 2011
Osama bin Laden is shot and killed inside a private residence by US Navy SEALs and CIA operatives.

20 October 2011
Muammar Gaddafi is captured by Libyan rebel forces, beaten and wounded severly and after being gunned down his body is put on public display for four days.

Did you know?
- Saddam Hussein never knew his father (he disappeared six months before Hussein was born) shortly after his fatgher's dissapearence Hussein's older brother died of cancer and Hussein was sent to live with his uncle for three years. After his mother re-married he came home only to be mistreated at the hands of his step father. At the age of 10 Hussein fled his home and went to live with his uncle once more.
-  At university Osama bin Laden fostered a keen interest in religion, writing poetry, economics, charity work and reading. he supported Arsenal F.C. and played centre forward on a local team. He was described as Hard-working.
- In 1948, when he was only six years old, Muammar Gaddafi witnessed the death of his playmates and he sustained injury after an old mine left by the Italian Royal Army exploded on a patch of dirt where they were playing. His two playmates were also his cousins.

All three of these men had wives, parents, children and siblings. They all had beliefs and values, dreams, acheivments and failures. I haven't told you these things to justify their actions, the atrocities that they committed, but to humanise them to the world. Their murder may have been necessary for the saftey of others and to put an end to their tyranny but was it right? After each of their deaths, news coverage across the world showed video of people celebrating. Leaders across the world congratulated the country that 'brought justice', when Osama bin Laden died America held street parties! of course it's hard to blame them, America suffered to much at 9/11 and they have been a focal point for terrorism, likewise in Libya etc. But isnt it sad that an online analysis of bin Laden's death only showed 8% of people in the world believed it is wrong to celebrate death.

Almost double that amount of people in the world celebrated outright over the internet after bin Laden died. And for some it would have been a celebration especially the people who had lost family or friends to terrorism.

But a shocking 25% of internet users treated bin Laden's murder as a joke! To me this is worse than celebrating, many people would have been hurt so badly that I can hardly fault them for being happy but to treat death, any death, as a joke, to me is unaceptable.

It's pretty obvious what my opinion on murder and violence is but let me state it anyway:
I believe that violence should be avoided at all costs and that murder is wrong, however there are shades of grey, for example; a father killing someone who posed a serious threat to the wellbeing of his children or the murder of the three men above. While their death may have needed to happen I believe that it should still have been recognised as murder and that death should never be a cause for celebration or worse ridicule.
I started thinking about this issue of 'an eye for an eye' a few days ago when I realised that in the last week I had seen three different posts by different people asking "where so and so was" and "would anyone be willing to bash him up?" These people were dead serious and the reasons for wanting to cause harm to these offenders ranged from rape to a bad break-up. It actually scared me that people my own age (14-20) thought it was all right to go and casually beat someone up if they caused offence. To me, the idea of lowering myself to the standards of the offender is ridiculous and wrong...far better to report the incident because I full-heartedly believe (especially in the context of teens solving their problems) that 'violence is never the answer.'
No matter what they have done...these people are human, hurting them lowers us to their level, makes us what we despise and can potentially take away the sacred gift of life! They have wives, parents, children and siblings. they have beliefs and values, dreams, acheivments and failures.
What kind of message do we send to the world if we believe that violence is ok...as long as it happens to 'bad' people?

Under the Pump...TQA style!

As a student I have had the fortune to be counted amongst the masses of frantic teenagers that seem to pop up all over the world as exam time approaches.  Even more fortunate... I FINISHED my exams yesterday! oh the joy!....nothing else can compare! As a resident of Tasmania the exam format was dictated to us by TQA, a somewhat frustrting organisation who surely spend their lives researching ways to make students lives as miserable as possible. This year they may have reached their goal of ultimate student despair through the English Studies level three exam. The collective tension in the room reached peak height as us students opened our section B exam booklets to fnd that not only was the exam full of average questions but also full of grammatical confusions and contradictions to what we had been told to study for all year! At that point I was ready to weep having just endured, the day before a Maths Applied exam that I definatley failed :(


Of course I picked my self up (metally of course!) and pushed through a torturous two hours of almost certain failiure and left the exam ready to hit someone.

When the wall of  anrgy muttering students (including myself) surged out of our respective rooms we were met with a row of dejected English teachers all clutching exam papers to their chests and looking shattered, we knew for sure that we were not simply being typical grumpy complaining students but that in fact the exam had been worse than normal and we were totally justified in our complaints. One student yelled "do they pay the people that screen those exams?" and I swear on my life that I heard one teacher say under her breath "they should shoot them!"

 Later as I was walking through town to reach a  1 o'clock bus stop, almost two hours later, I saw one of those same dejected teachers shuffling through the mall, exam paper still firmly in his grasp but with the addition of a large coffee, a haunted look in his eyes. Clearly some poeple will be needing therapy this year.

However the aim of this particuler post is not just to complain about TQA (I do enough of that without resorting to posting on the internet!) or to warn year ten students of their impending doom, or to tell teachers they should go see a shrink so that they are able minded enough to cope with another year of teaching. All these things are of course very very relavent what I was going to say orginally is that the matra teachers chant at us through the year "early study makes for a good exam" is actually a pretty smart idea! I do know for a fact that no matter how much study I put in for this particular english exam I still would have been really shocked and un-prepared but maybe I wouldn't have sat there for twenty minutes in shock, maybe I could have reduced that time to ten minutes of shock and subsequently had ten more minutes time to write absolute toss and nonsense in order to look smart.

Studying is hard at the best of times but when it's the end of the year and all there is is you and the looming exams that you wish you could just sprint away from, it's even harder. I know I can find a million things to do before study: washing, cleaning, movies, reading, playing, walking the dog, sleeping, making up exam time jokes:(thanks Ben)

If English Studies really hard, it might pass the exam...

 If Maths Applied, I wouldn't give it the job.

and the massive time killer...FACEBOOK. It's easier to get distracted and as facebook so wisley tells us, the average students has the attitude of: "ten minutes of study, I think I have earned my hour of Facebook" Yes, you may jest but are you really? I thought I was but turns out I am a total facebook junkie in exam time.
so guys it's important that we study, after all this two years is very little time in the sceme of things but these two years also count a huge deal if we want to go to Uni with a good score and re-tain our summers instead of spending them doing bridging programs. Hate to put the 'mum' hat on but you know i'm right ;)

So from my friends that did study sucsessfully this year:
-give your facebook password to a (trusted!) friend so they can change your password over exam time
-get rid of your phone! KILL IT or something...
-go to tutes that are provided
-do things such as go for a walk every couple of hours between study
-drink coffee!
-sleep...lots, but at nightime not at studytime! (I can personally vouch that sleep would have helped me!)

Good Luck x