On April 5, 2008, I made myself a 101 in 1001 challenge, which is a list of 101 goals you want to complete in 1001 days. I still have time - my time ends on NYE 2010 - but even from a couple of months in, I realised that my desires were changing, and some goals lost their allure and I found new ones. So I am abandoning this list in favour on one that is a little more pressing:

Things to do before Christmas, 2009
1. Get a haircut
2. Buy Dad's present
3. Wrap presents, write cards
4. Prepare for Christmas concert
5. Let Ian know I have to work on the night of Carols by the Bay
6. Finish organising all the notices, assignments, uni info sheets, etc., that have heaped up on my desk
7. Get a new moisturiser because even scraping it out of the bottle with my pinky just doesn't do it any more
8. Make sure Mum pays me back for my Christmas present from her
9. Purchase professional photos from the leavers' dinner
10. Bake a fruitcake
11. Put up trees at both houses
12. Get $5 Secret Santa present for work

and it's up! My dad has a rather haphazard way of sticking things in walls: pick a spot that doesn't sound hollow, choose an approximate height, go and grab the hook and nail from the kitchen, and voila! It works though :) This is my graduation present from him. It's by a local artist and clearly this photograph doesn't do it justice.






And here's some light holiday reading, free for the borrowing if anyone's interested!

Ah! I can't believe I made another entry without mentioning I got my results! These are the numbers that really matter when applying for university. Imagine my surprise when I was getting ready to go to bed the night before they were expected (the night before the leavers' dinner, too) and there they were in my inbox! Oh, email <3

For those who don't know how it works here, I studied four subjects in Grade 11 and four subjects in Grade 12. After I completed Grade 12, the scores for my five best subjects from those two years, but not more than two from Grade 11, were added up. That number is my Tertiary Entrance Score, and from this I got my Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank, which is basically a percentile ranking.

So, I'm not going to post it, but I am very happy with what I got. Actually, I'm a little bit annoyed with myself because I know I didn't put in as much effort last year as I did this year, and this year's results just showed me how well I could have gone. But it doesn't matter now! I have what I need to get direct entry into Law (even though I'm not sure it's what I really want to study). Until I get a university degree under my belt, it's all I've got, and I'm proud of it.

After what seemed like an endless stream of lasts and leaving celebrations, I think we might have actually finished school. Had great fun at last night's leavers' dinner. After having bought the dress months ago, I was really happy with how it all came together. My only regret is that I didn't get in more photos, hopefully my parents took heaps.