Bridie’s Blog

We got a call early in the morning from my Uncle and we knew straight away that the baby had been born. It was a boy as me and my sister had said all along. He had blonde hair and looked alot like my Uncle. This morning as we were all laying in bed the phone rang and it was my Uncle again. And after 8 days Baby Mac(he was called this because of his last name) had finally gotten a name. My Aunty is Scottish so we knew it would be something scottish. His name is now Machrie Harris. You pronounce it Makree and it is a scottish name. My uncle has now got 4 children. This picture is of my Uncle with Machrie and then two of my cousins Ella is the oldest one and Gracie is the younger one. I am very happy to have a new cousin and I am really glad its a boy because we don’t have many boys in the family and it was nice to have a change.

On the 8th of April 2008 we left to go to Ohope. Room three and Room seven left at 10:00. We all piled into our cars and Megan and I were in the school van. We stopped off at Okataina Lake and had lunch and a bit of a run around. We went for a walk in the bush while we were there and w hen we got to the end there was a sandy beach. It was very cold and windy that day so we didn’t stay for long. We got back into our cars and drove until we got to Ohope Christian Camp. When we got there we set up our rooms and went outside and played around. Some of the boys played rugby, some played soccer and most of the girls sat around playing games. When it was 5:00 we went in our cars off to the pools. We got to go on the hydroslide but there was a very long line. The hydroslide was lots of fun though. When everyone had had enough we went back to the camp for dinner. We went down to the hall and had Spaghetti and a meatball for dinner. Then we got jelly and Ice-cream for dessert. Then it was time for bed. When we got up we had to go down to the hall to have breakfast.  Then we got ready for our day ahead. Room seven were going off in there activity groups and room three were going on the high ropes and after to THE AMAZING MAZE!!! At the high ropes we played some games and did trust falls. Megan was my partner. We guided our partners through obstacle courses and then they guided us. We then ate lunch. After lunch we got our safety gear on ready to go on the high ropes. We had to wear helmets and also things that looked like nappies. This was in-case we fell off. Hayley  got to demonstrate what to do so she climbed up the ladder and walked along a log with nothing to hold onto. After that everyone spread out to go on which ever one they wanted to.  I went onto these wires that you had to walk along a wire and you had two wires to hold onto. It was quite scary but you feel proud of yourself when you have done it. Then we went off to The AMAZING Maze made completely out of Maize.  It was really fun because we got lost so many times and kept going to the same question. After a very long time running around to the same things, it was time to go. We all drove back to camp so that we could get ready to go to the pools again. This time we weren’t allowed on the hydro-slide so we all just hung around in the pools. The next day we went to all the activities and room 7  went to the high ropes and maze. First my group went to Shelly Bay but the tide was in so we didn’t get to see any rock pools. We went for a paddle but I ended up getting soaked with water. Then we went to Fishing. I caught three tiny little fish. It was fun. Then we went kayaking. I fell out trying to save Georgia. It was the most fun kayaking. Then we went back to camp and we went to the hot pools. They were lots of fun. Sadly it was time to go home. Camp was lots of fun and I would love to do it again.

A molten mess is all that’s left of a cellphone that caught fire while charging in the bed of Hamilton teen Olivia Bell.

The cellphone burnt a hole in the pillow, and Olivia’s mother is warning others to keep phones at a safe distance.

Angela Bell was woken by 15-year-old Olivia’s screams about 10pm on Tuesday night. Mrs Bell ran into Olivia’s room where the strong smell of smoke led her to inside her daughter’s pillow case where the cell phone was charging.

The phone had melted as Olivia slept, burning a hole in the pillow and melting the charger plug.

Mrs Bell said the incident left her daughter shaken. “She was just a mess, absolutely traumatised.”

Olivia was “addicted” to her phone and was now looking to borrow another so she could keep in touch with friends. But Mrs Bell said she would be more careful in future.

“I think the lesson she learned was how dangerous these things can be and, if you’re going to charge it, keep it down (away from the bed).”

Mrs Bell said it was likely other teenagers were sleeping close to their phones and they needed to be aware of the risks.

Mrs Bell was encouraging Olivia to show her friends the charred remains of the phone in an effort to avoid it happening to someone else.

First Mobile Hamilton regional manager Erin Wilson said leaving a phone to charge in a pillow case was “the worst thing you can possibly do”.

Mrs Wilson said phones should not be left to charge for more than two hours because they could overheat.

Infromation from Stuff.

My opinion on this is that you shouldn’t sleep with your phone in your bedroom if its charging anyway. I suppose this just shows other teenagers the dangers of your mobile phone when it is charging. I found this information useful since I have a  mobile phone and I charge it near my bed. I feel lucky that this did not happen to me and now I know that you shouldn’t do it. This is just a wake-up call for teenagers and the damages of what cellphones can do!

I aim to improve my time management skills to ensure that I hand all my work in on time and to the best of my ability.

I aim to know all my times tables off by heart by the end of term two by practising them ten minutes a day.

I aim to improve my catching skills by practising them outside when I have spare time.

I aim to improve on my reading skills by reading a book each week and challenging myself in what I am reading.

 I aim to be able to run a lap of the feild without stopping by running every day.

The Secret Door.
There is a door.
The door is covered in Ivy leaves.
As I brush the leaves away I see that the door is
concrete.
I wonder where it leads.
As I wonder I notice there is a giant rusty padlock.
I see that the padlock is not locked up properly.
I slowly push the door open and as
I do it creaks softly.
Behind the door there is a beautiful garden.
I see golden daffodils, velvet purple pansies, blood red roses and others
that I had never seen before.
I walked through the garden stepping carefully
on the bumpy cobble stones.
I notice an apple tree.
I walk slowly over to it.
I see a cross underneath it and I walk
slowly towards it curious to find out
why it is there.
I brush back the grass that covers the writing.
It is hard to read but I notice the words
“In Loving Memory”.
There are a few flowers in vases around the cross.
I see that the flowers have died.
The cross must have been there a long time.
I notice the date 1958.
I slowly walk back across the cobblestones.
I decided that this garden could be my little secret.

By Bridie McNamara.

Title: Passion Flower
Author: Jean Ure
Number of Pages: 202
Genre: Family
ISBN: 0 00 715619 7

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It is teaching you things that may happen in your own life. It’s a really good book to read and it has some humor in it. You can imagine what is going on inside your mind which is really cool. I really like the characters in this book. They are described very well and you can picture them in your mind. This book has some pictures in it to give you a brief idea of what they look like. Stephanie is the oldest one and she is very girly and mature for her age. She wishes to be trusted more. Sam is the younger one. She is a bit of a tomboy. She loves to get her own way and looks up to her sister as a role-model. The story-line is well set out and is easy to follow. I recommend it to everyone but I think it is more suited for 10 to 12 year olds. I rate this book a 9/10. This book is part of a series on life events that can happen to children but is made into a fictional story, this one is about parents getting divorced. It makes me feel sad when I read that their dad abandons them at the airport but it has a happy ending which makes me feel happy. I think that the dad is very irresponsible and he shouldn’t have been trusted with the children.

There are two girls and their mum throws a frying pan at their dad because he spent the cooker money on gambling. The Afterthought, Sam is her real name but her dad calls her the afterthought because they weren’t planning on having any more kids but he says she is a very nice afterthought, is her dads number 1 fan so she gets really angry when her dad moves out. She becomes grumpy all the time and so does the mother. So the mum has decided that Stephanie and Sam can go and stay with their dad down in Brighton, England whilst she goes and holidays in Spain. Little did they know it would turn out to be a disaster.
Their dad lives in a basement of Ms. Devine’s house. She gets very grumpy when he doesn’t pay the rent because he has no money. But he gets in trouble with some other people so they have to leave and they run away to an apartment that her dad’s friend owns. They have bought a kitten called Titch. The children get locked in a room for 7 days because their dad doesn’t want them to go outside in case the “bad guys” see them but they still get fed. Then they leave and go to the airport. They are going to go on a plane to France but they can’t take Titch so the Afterthought screams and screams so dad pretends to go in to change the tickets so Titch can go on with them but he never comes back to get the children! He leaves on a Plane and goes to America. The children call their mother and get home safely but they never speak to their dad again!

By Bridie McNamara.

Once a week I go to my Jazz Dancing with Mrs Foster. I also do Hip-Hop with her. I enjoy jazz a lot because I can just relax and have fun. Jazz is a bit more structural and we have to point our toes and we aren’t allowed to let our bottoms stick out, but with Hip-Hop we can just let loose and have fun. Hip-Hop is very bouncy and you make up a lot of your own poses for the end of our dances. For jazz we have special shoes that help us point our toes better and it helps us slide along the floor better. We can also wear our jazz shoes if we want for Hip-Hop. I have just started Hip-Hop and I am slowly getting it. I am in level 3 for Hip-Hop and level 4 for jazz. For jazz you have to do the splits which can hurt your legs. We also do mounts which is where you have to put your leg up beside you like you are a mountain. It really hurts but it is challenging which is very good. We put on a show at the end of every year. Last year for my Jazz our group were dancing cards. It is a great experience and gives you great strong muscles.

I enjoy my dancing and I’m going to keep going with for a long time.