Bardus

I went to Jason's place for a few hours since his parents are overseas and the logical thing to do is watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and to eat jelly and jellybeans in case his parents would disapprove of such reckless behaviour if they were there. I am still so appalled that most of the guys haven't watched it yet. Blasphemy! They kept asking the dumbest questions and I wanted to strangle them so badly.

William [asking about Bill and Fleur's wedding]: Who's wedding is it?
Jason: It's Harry and Ron's wedding. Can't you tell? Haven't you read the books?

William [about Kreacher]: HE'S NOT AN ELF! HE'S A GOBLIN. I SWEAR ELVES HAVE LONGER EARS!

Jason [about Umbridge]: She reminds me of Suzanne.

Jason [explaining the fight scene between Harry and Ron to William]: You see? Ron ran away. They just got divorced. He was jealous because he thought that Harry liked Hermione.

William: Is that Neville Bottom?

James: Who's that? Who died?
Jolly: Tonks and Ron's dad.

Jolly [about the scene with the Resurrection stone in the forest]: The stone is fake, which is why Harry can't touch them. (Them as in Lily, James, Sirius and Lupin.)

Brandon: WAIT, DIDN'T HARRY POTTER DIE?! Oh whatever, I don't give a shit.

Guess which group of people I don't plan to watch Harry Potter with ever again?

Long Live

Usually at the end of an era, declarations of love are made after years of expressing our friendship through physical and verbal abuse. I hope these messages will make up for everything!

The group: We appear to be an ordinary group of people but once you get to know us, I think we're all quite quirky in our own ways! You guys are the biggest bunch of nerds I have ever met. I wish I was half as smart as you all without any effort and manage to pull through the other end with high marks. I can also learn Asian languages off you guys more than any teacher could ever teach me. WATASHI WA MECCHA KAWAII DESU, DESHOU? WATASHI WA OTAKU KUREEJI OOKI BUTA. I will miss those conversations where you all dream big about how you want to be proposed and things your boyfriend or husband must do for you. It's always so funny, awkward or corny! Too much fan fiction and God knows what else you guys read ("ROMANCE NOVELS") and watch to get all those ideas. It's only been two years since I've started really integrating into the group (because I used to think half of you were snobs) so thank you for accepting me and being patient with me. I will miss every single moment we have during our recess and lunch breaks at the canteen bench area.

+ Amy, Desiree, Elaine, Elaine, Jellee, Jocelyn, Julie, Stephanie and Vivienne.

Random group: I love how we all act like we've been best friends since forever when in reality, most of us only just got to know each other last year. We're all completely different people from completely different groups but we're all comfortable around each other and we have the funnest times together outside of school. But God, sometimes you guys can be so annoying! We argue way too much on where we should go or either we're completely lost and we keep changing plans till I'm fed up by the end and want to strangle some of you! But we always have fun regardless and I always end up feeling bad for wanting to strangle some of you in the first place. I forget my worries and dramas in my life when I'm with you guys and you're just the most wonderful group of people ever. That day on Moon Festival will always be the highlight of my high school life. Every time I go past the park next to PCYC, I always think of how it's "our place" and get all nostalgic and miss you all. You have no idea how much you guys mean to me. Thank you for making my senior years spontaneous, insane and memorable.

+ Andrew, Anna, Anne, Fiona, Danh, Irada, Jason, Peter, Tony, Wendy and Ye Na.

Twitter fambam: You are a bunch of lively (and cynical) birds who I'd tie a bow on and keep you in one of those pretty vintage cage if I could in a non creepy way. We spazz about everything and anything and none of us would understand what the other is saying but that's okay, WE LUV DAT SPAM. We're also known as the classy bitches and I feel pretty proud of that even though I probably shouldn't be. I mean, if we're going to be a bitch, the least we can do is be smart about it unlike other people. And I love how whenever we talk about someone, we just refer to a letter and we all instantly know which "W" it is. And you probably know which "W" I'm referring to as an example now. I miss those nights where we stay up to have dnm convos, freely talk about nearly anything and I'd just come derping along and ruin the moment with a very random tweet in an attempt to contribute. Although we're restricted now because of the other tweeters, at least we still have our other nest that doesn't restrict us to a 140 character limit!

+ Amy, Desiree, Jellee, Jenna and Stephanie.

There's also a few other individuals (Anna, Andy, Annie, Christine, David, Jenny, Judy, Leanne, Physics gang and Vivian) who deserve a mention because they've made a difference in my life one way or another.

YOU GUYS ARE ALL AMAZING.

I don't care what people say about everyone drifting after uni starts, I am determined to keep my friendship with you after high school. I wish I could have all the time in the world or put a pause on life to make more memories and laughs but time is racing against us and we have to keep up. I will miss each and every one of you and I hope we will still make the effort to meet up once in a while! Even if you call just to go jumping in the biggest puddle ever in the entrance of E block, I'll be there.

Memoria

I understand what authors mean now when they say that when they read their own books, they don't experience what their readers will feel. I couldn't help but start getting OCD and turning into a grammar Nazi flipping through the pages of my yearbook.

Seeing everyone's comment on Facebook and Twitter about the yearbook made me so happy knowing that all our hard work is being appreciated by the grade. Especially seeing the "tough" guys of the grade get sad and nostalgic over the yearbook. It made me feel like we've done our job. (Someone even confessed to going to bed with it.)

A year of dramas, late nights, hassling and ruining our eyesights for this yearbook. It was all worth it.

Recordatio

TODAY MADE ME RE-REALISE HOW MUCH I LOVE SCHOOL, MY TEACHERS AND FRIENDS. I WANT TO BE A STUDENT FOREVER WITH THE SAME GROUP OF PEOPLE AND NEVER GROW UP LIKE PETER PAN.

The past three days has been the most nerve racking of my life. The night before our HSC individual subjects' marks were released, my friends and I were freaking out so much that we decided to go on our first Macca's run to calm down. Honestly, I think it was one of the best nights of my life. Amy, Jellee, Jenna, Stephanie and I all camped out in Amy's car in front of a stranger's house next to Jenna's place. Five teenagers in a car at 1 in the morning is not shifty behaviour at all. We only had coffee kicks from Macca's. Not like it was drugs or anything. I'm surprised half the neighbourhood didn't wake up because we stayed there till 2am ranting about everything and laughing at things we shouldn't be laughing about. (What do you a Lebanese person between two buildings? Ali.)

A few of us threw an all nighter then at 5:30am, we all started obsessively trying to log in to check our results. I was thrilled at first, but the more I looked at it, the more I thought about how much I could've done better.

Headed out with my Rebecca-hasn't-sleep-in-24-hours face and had a dish full of ice cream and all was okay for a while.

We dropped by Jordano's place after and had a heated argument on the trampoline on whether we want to know the cause of our death or the date of it. I don't know how we got onto this topic but Preston recited this limerick to us and I don't know why I remember it:

There was once a girl named Mabel
Whose menstrual cycle was stable
By the light of the moon
She got out a spoon
And drank herself under the table.

Um, yeah. I'm just good at reciting quotes, books and movies.

Today I went back to school for the year 12 BBQ, which is actually just a day where the school secretly lures us in with free food and the handing out of our yearbooks in exchange for our HSC results.

But it turned out to be a really good day seeing most of the grade together again and some of the teachers. Most of the time was spent exchanging yearbooks. It really tells you what impact you've left on their lives or the kind of person you are to them. Whoops, and I've been dumping a drawing of an elephant on nearly everyone's yearbook instead of writing a proper message. My felt tip was abused to its tip in the process. Success!

I'll miss everyone and this whole crazy year stressing out with everyone for a number.

Expletus

Yes! Someone else who does not want to embrace the thought of coming of age! I said I'd go on an adventure to find the Fountain of Youth for Christine after she kept exclaiming GIVE ME MY YOUTH BACK since it's her birthday. Out of curiosity, I googled it and lo and behold! THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH ACTUALLY EXISTS! Well, in legends it does anyway. For a moment I thought I was a genius for making something up that sounds so exciting, sigh. So now I have two goals for when I go Florida one day:

1. Go Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
2. Find the Fountain of Youth then throw myself in it.

I went back to school today to help add the finishing touches to our yearbooks. I was actually really excited to go school because of my imagination. Since half the yearbook committee does either absolutely nothing or nearly nothing, I thought it'd be okay to bring a cane to school. For the few people who actually does something, we'd sit back and watch the others manually do the labour intensive work of gluing the CD sleeves into 170 books. If we catch any of them slacking off, BAM. I'll remind you that this is how I saw it in my head so it was very exciting for me. So of course I was kind of disappointed when I had to help too. We got it all done faster than expected at least! I think the yearbook looks amazing and I just hope the grade does too!

I like how our school decides to have Christmas spirit AFTER we've finish school, even if it's a neglected looking tree with tinsel that looks like it's been halfheartedly thrown on.

I also finally officially signed out of school. Mission accomplished! The last time I tried to sign out, it was Let's-Stay-A-Fifty-Metres-Radius-Away-From-Rebecca Day so I could not find half my teachers to return my textbooks to. That day was also Let's-Watch-Rebecca-Feebly-Struggle-Against-A-Tree Day. I honestly will never forget my experience of getting tangled in a tree. Then the day after my mum and I walked passed that exact same tree and she commented on how pretty the flowers looked in that tree. LOOKS ARE DECEIVING.

Amy, Annie, David, Peter and I went to McDonald's to eat afterwards as a way to "celebrate" the end of our yearbook-ing days. What can be more celebratory than a Happy Meal? I spent more time than I should have trying to solve puzzles on the damn box. In my defence, I still haven't slept yet because I unnecessarily had another all nighter. I had a really nice time catching up with them all!

I've officially finished the yearbook. I've officially signed out. So I'm officially free. DOBBY IS A FREE ELF!

Clockwork Prince

Santa Claus came early this year! Or either the birthday fairy came a tad bit late. Jellee bought Clockwork Prince for me and I am forever in her debt because she bought me a paper version of my boyfriend. Clockwork Prince is the second book from the trilogy Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. I highly recommend it and every other book she has written. The world she creates make you want to go to your kitchen, whip out a knife and fork, because it's the most deadly weapon you have, then out to the streets to fight off demons invisible to mundanes (ordinary people) after you've finished reading every one of her books.

I spent 24 hours reading the book with so many distractions like filling in four bloody Centrelink forms, satisfying my body functions and needs by eating, sleeping and what not.

I think my heart shattered to gazillion pieces several times then the fragments were thrown out to sea. It'll be weeks before I finally get over the events in the book and find the willpower to put the pieces back together. I honestly love James Carstairs and now I think I'm leaning towards Will Herondale too. Why isn't there anyone I know who's so perfect and sweet like Jem?

If I wasn't reading the book through to sunrise, I swear I would've screamed out traitor and thrown it across the room.

You know what I hate more than anything? CLIFFHANGERS IN BOOKS. I have to wait for another year for the third book of this series. I think it'll be a while before I get my head back to reality again. In the meantime, I'll continue running around my neighbourhood with a knife and fork in my Shadowhunter gear while dancing and singing DEMON POX IS REAL because it's been proven in the book. I knew it!

Fera Verto

I like planning outings with the group. Everyone is so cooperative, helpful and organised so I don't stress and worry too much. And they don't make me feel like the organiser so not all decisions and stuff are put on me. As Elaine and I's late birthday outing sort of thing, we went to Taronga Zoo despite the weather. It's okay, I told everyone beforehand to arm themselves with umbrellas, raincoats, gumboots, goggles, shields and tents. In reality, we only had two umbrellas and a few hoodies amongst eight people.

We spent the day playing 'Where's Wally?' with the red pandas, getting jealous of the length of giraffes' eyelashes, staring in fascination at the amount of poop that came out of a stag's butt, feeling disappointed that a basilisk is just a tiny lizard and laughing at pouty gorillas in the rain.

We had to wait forever on the port for the ferry to go home. Only when we realised it was swaying and rocking, some of the others started to feel seasick. I think it's a mental thing.

Veritaserum

Jocelyn planned an outing with the group and a few others so we could meet that someone who would stay in her life forevz. As her fathers, Amy, Desiree, Elaine, Jellee, Vivienne and I all came up a list of questions to interrogate Quan with to see if he's good enough for her. We just want what's best for Jocelyn.

• WHAT ARE YOUR INTENTIONS?
• CAN YOU COOK? DO YOU LIKE HOUSEWORK?
• DO YOU THINK YOU'LL BE FINANCIALLY STABLE?
• DO YOU THINK YOU'LL SUPPORT HER FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE?
• WHEN DID YOU FEELINGS TOWARDS JOCELYN CHANGE FROM SOMETHING LESS THAN PLATONIC?
• What is the career path you’re striving for?
• DO YOU HAVE THE PHYSIQUE TO CARRY HER? Can you carry her over the threshold?
• DOES YOUR DIET CONSIST OF 5 FRUITS AND 2 VEGETABLES? YOU HAVE TO BE HEALTHY!
• ARE YOU WILLING TO CARRY HER SHOPPING BAGS? OURS TOO?
• ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO SWEEP HER OFF HER FEET?
• ARE YOU A DOG PERSON OR CAT PERSON?
• HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CHILDREN? DO YOU LIKE CHILDREN?
• HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU INTEND TO HAVE?
• CAN YOU DRIVE?
• DO YOU HAVE A CRIMINAL RECORD? HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CONVICTED FOR ANYTHING?
• HAVE YOU EVER SPENT MORE THAN 3 HOURS SITTING IN FRONT OF THE COMPUTER?
• ARE YOU AN OTAKU? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT AN OTAKU IS? DOES THAT MEAN YOU’RE INTERESTED IN ANIME?!
• WHAT TYPE OF MANGA/ANIME DO YOU READ? ECCHI?! SMUT?!
• ARE YOU RELIGIOUS? ARE YOU PARTICULAR TO ANY RELIGION?
• WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON GAY MARRIAGE?
• WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON THE CARBON TAX? IS IT GOOD?
• DO YOU THINK AUSTRALIA SHOULD BECOME A REPUBLIC?
• HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ASYLUM SEEKERS HELD IN DETENTION CENTRES? DO YOU THINK IT’S HUMANE?
• DO YOU LIKE HARRY POTTER?
• WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TWILIGHT?
• DO YOU THINK ABS ARE HOT? ARE YOU CONSIDERING?
• ARE YOU TRADITIONAL? WHEN ASKING FOR HER HAND IN MARRIAGE, WHO WOULD YOU ASK FOR THEIR BLESSINGS?
• ASIAN WEDDINGS OR WHITE WEDDINGS? WHICH DO YOU PREFER?
• When do you plan to get married? Where will you take Jocelyn on your honeymoon?
• WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MATCHING/COUPLE CLOTHING?
• WHAT WILL YOU SEE IF YOU LOOK INTO THE MIRROR OF ERISED? IS IT JOCELYN?!

Surprisingly, we did not overwhelm him and he took our questions seriously! By the end of the day, I think we all agreed that we ship Quanlyn.

If it's one thing I learnt today, it's to never get a boyfriend.