So Christmas is over for another year and now I am eagerly anticipating the new year. I have come a long, long way in the past twelve months.
I graduated from my Graduate Diploma in Education just before Christmas last year and since then have worked three terms, teaching English, SOSE, Australian Studies and working with students in the literacy and numeracy centre. I have taken a relief lesson in Maths, have made friends amongst the staff and also built good, steady relationships with the students that will benefit me next year. I have walked endless steps during yard duty and bought a SunSmart hat to wear which makes me look silly but the students love it. Probably because I can't see what they're doing because of the brim!
I have stayed at home but have started to think about saving to buy a house, a car and a holiday overseas to meet my friends in the US. I have spent some quality time with my family, including this Christmas just gone, have enjoyed time with my two beautiful border collies and have taken about a bazillion photos of my cousin's new baby because he is so photogenic! I have also spent good time with my friends and have celebrated their achievements as well as my own. I have also spent time with my online friends - chatting (including a very cool Voice Chat), watching horses and sharing moments from our lives.
I have left my job at Myer after two years, meaning that this Christmas really felt like Christmas and not a rushed working time. I even did the Christmas shopping for the family (and got it all right, except for the Honeydew Melon).
I have learnt to save money and also how to spend money online. I have ordered shirts from Cafepress and books from Amazon. I have ordered Painted Ponies and eyed off Grey's Anatomy merchandise on the official website. I have bought on Ebay and sold some items too.
I have made plans to renovate my room with polished floorboards, white furniture and bookshelves that will hopefully go from floor to ceiling, because I am seriously running out of bookshelf space! All of this will probably be coming from Ikea, which is a place that makes seriously delicious food, as well as cool looking furniture.
I have read LOTS of books. Next year I am going to keep a list of exactly what of read, even if it is my fourth or fortieth time reading it. Some of the books that I have enjoyed include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling, Book of a Thousand Days and Austenland by Shannon Hale, Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer, the Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody, Six Sacred Stones by Matthew Reilly and many of Jodi Picoult's books. I reread The Edge by Dick Francis, which is one of my favourite books and also Marley and Me by John Grogan, which made me cry... again! Biggest book discovery of the year was the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer - not only did I read and fall in love with them but so did my students!
I have travelled to Sydney, where I visited the Taronga Zoo (always something I have wanted to do!), visited the Sydney Opera House, the Paddington and Rocks Markets, took a couple of ferry rides on the Harbour and went to the Three Sisters, where I went across the gorge on a Skyway, down into the gorge on the steepest cable-driven funicular railway in the world and came up again in a cable car. My fear of heights has never been tested more! I had hot chocolate and a piece of cake for $14 at Darling Harbour, visited Bondi Beach and The Gap and also went to see where Channel 7 Sunrise was filmed. I was also a witness to the Bogong Moth invasion of 2007!
I have listened to some great music and have seen some great films (I loved The Simpsons movie, especially the Spiderpig scene). The game that has kept my most busy this year is Final Fantasy XII on Playstation 2. I have also played The Sims 2 series, Zoo Tycoon 2 and also Age of Empires 3.
This is mainly the positive moments of the year but those are the things I want to look back on and smile about. No matter how scared I was about going into teaching, I have done it. No matter how scared I was when I realised I was about to be suspended 200m above the Jamison Valley, I have done it. And both those things (and others) weren't so bad.
I hope (I know) that 2008 will be everything and more that 2007 has been!
Sam
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