Anyway here is a bit of my story:
I was born on the 19th of August 1999, the middle child stuck in between my half brother Dylan and my little sister Tegan.
I grew up in Rutherford, as a youngster I loved climbing trees with a passion I was also interested in all kinds of nature we once had a lizard in the front garden who I named 'Lucas'. As a kid, I remember me and my bro used to dress up a lot he would be Spider-Man and I would either be batman or Wonder Woman. I remember when we would sit in the sandpit in our backyard and catch ants. Dylan used to tell me to feed them... But I never did, they all died.
My nan tells me this story of when dad used to work on his car (he is a mechanic) and I would go under the car and "help" him. Apparently I would come out from under the car with grease on my face.
When I was about 3 I started having breathing problems, I was diagnosed with asthma. I don't really remember it in exact detail but I just kept living life.
One day when I was probably 4 years old, my dad had this bulky video camera. When dad was hungover a and mum was at work, I picked it up and did a bit of filming with it. I don't know what I did... The footage is lost but mum still brings it up to this day. I dream to one day expose all the old home videos and maybe recreate a couple.
In pre school it's safe to say I was a cry baby. I was always the kid who cried on the way to school and when my parents left- but this didn't just last a few weeks, this lasted ages. I was so attached to my mum. Now, I am gonna mention something that all my close buds know. When I was 3 or 4 I was always having nightmares of death and stuff like that. My mum gave me this purple teddy bear with a picture of grapes on him and he smelled like grapes. I called him grapie. Anyone who's known me long enough knows that I still sleep with this teddy.
When I started 'big school' in 2005 I think I had like one friend her name was Maddison, but even though she was my friend I still sat alone at lunch time...I was the teachers pet who no one really liked. I used to sit under a tree and dig in the dirt for worms, sometimes I would come home with rocks and sticks in my pocket- believe me I was one strange child.
2006, what do I remember from that year? Still being the strange kid who never spoke. I remember going to America with my uncles and grand parents and having a blast at Disneyland, I remember doing a lot of writing. Stories and poetry were things I often had running through my head. I still made friends but again didn't hang with them... Why? Because I always considered myself an outsider, the Lone Ranger, here one minute gone the next. Although I was free- I didn't have anyone constantly calling me over to sit with them, I didn't have to make space on my calendar for many play dates. I was very lonely and often found myself enjoying the company of year 5 kids and at home adults are my personal conversation preference.
In good old year 2007, I made friends and actually hung around with them I did however get in a bit of trouble with my year two teacher and now, looking back I just laugh at what stupid things they were. One of the things I remember was colouring when the teacher was talking. I thought it was the end of the world when I got in trouble for that! Also in that year I started karate with Josie. It was on a Friday we had to do it. I think I lasted a year or two before throwing that out the window. Karate was a confusing thing for me, we learnt some weird routine thing which I didn't understand. The real reason why I quit was because every second Friday my brother would come over and stay for the weekend. Karate seemed to go forever and by the time I was home I either was too tired to talk to my bro or too hyped up and in attack mode. I quit to spend time with my bro.
in 2008, i made a few more friends and met this girl, lets call her Kate, you'll hear more about her later. During this year, I wrote a story and the assistant principle liked it and photo copied it for her own family members.One thing that people always tell me is how bad my handwriting is, the assistant principle at my school was no exception, she acknowledged my handwriting but also gave me some advice. She said to me "Cal, our world is progressing quickly. New technology is coming out and soon, you won't need neat handwriting, you'll be able to just type it up!" At our school we were mixed classes (year 3 and 4) we had a different teacher for maths, English and home room. In my English class, there were 3 people from my year including myself and the teacher was amazing.
In 2009, Kate and I became close friends and I discovered an amazing and talented guy who also passed away that year, my obsession with Michael Jackson started with the song 'black or white'.
Year 4, i got my puppy Bindi she is a Labrador.
I was asked a question from my teachers about computers and she sent me to a gifted and enrichment day for computers, I was told that only 2 people from each grade were chosen per school for this day and it was an honour to go to that day. My parents were very proud of me for doing that.
In 2010 and 2011, my love for writing became a big thing and I started doing a bit of public speaking I think it's safe to say that year five and six were my two favourite years I had the BEST teachers and I had confidence and belief in myself in year six we had to write a debate like speech every morning, then we would split into groups, read out our speech then the other people in the group would vote for the best. They would then have to say it in front of the class. I was always chosen and surprisingly I loved it! It was like my shyness was on a two year holiday, whatever happened to that kid with the confidence I will never know. In year 6, my neighbour Bryce came over saying that he'd joined a volunteer organisation called St. John Ambulance. I didn't do anything out side of school so I thought why not give it a go? And the result? I am still into it and glad I joined. I did however get teased a bit at school people mixing cadets up with scouts and at that time, girl guides were the thing that EVERY girl did. I also did a fair share of travelling those years like to USA in 2010 and New Zealand in 2011.
In 2012 I learned to ALWAYS bring your diary to class, never put your hand under a desk, do your homework and stay under the radar. I mainly hung around with Kate and another friend I had. The other people I had met in primary school still sat together but me? Nope I stayed with one girl. Looking back I think I could have made other friends as well as the friends I had but nope I didn't. Kate and I were inseparable, people often asked if we were lovers, sisters, cousins etc but we told them that we were just best friends.
We were walking into class one day when I forgot my diary so the teacher grabbed me by the collar just as I was walking in the door, he dragged me out and just got me to stand there until I realized I had left my diary in my bag- oops I was so embarrassed. The grades weren't too bad, I got straight A's in Japanese and I possibly made an enemy with my English teacher.
Year 8. The year that tore me apart. Well remember Kate? Yeah well she broke me to pieces at the start of the year. Found some new friends and then just suddenly didn't wanna talk to me, I trusted her with everything and not talking to her killed me inside. Whenever someone asked about her I just shrugged, if I told them about what had happened and they talked bad about her I stopped them, I'm not the type of person who works on the trust of somebody then talks shit about them. I didn't talk to her for 4 months before she sent me a long apologetic message, I forgave her but that piece of me is gone now, that close friendship will probably never happen again with anyone friends are so hard to make for me but are so easily lost, from that friendship I learned to not make close friendships anymore, if I tell you something about my life you must be pretty special. In year 8 I discovered a talent I had- drums, I could hold a beat for 10 minutes straight, I think I hung around with 5 people that whole year and my enemy English teacher got me for English again that year. I also got into state first aid comps with two girls from another division Emily Dando and Maddison Baldwin we won state I know that we wouldn't have won state without the help of the fantastic trainers, even though we only trained a few times there were moments when I was probably holding the team back as I was shy and didn't know them that well. on the state comps I learnt to always keep up the communication or you will be doing CPR for a really REALLY long time. In 2013 i started to think that maybe I had autism- Aspergers to be exact. All the symptoms suited me to a point where it was just scary. Mum often joked about me having it to the point where I took online quizzes which all seemed to point to Aspergers but whether I do or not I don't know,
We then progressed to nationals which included going to an international cadet camp (ICC) I had only ever been on 2 school camps and they only went for three days so I was really nervous for this camp I had a lot of shit happen before it so I felt I wasn't in the right mental state for it. I thought I would hate it but I found a part of me that was missing. I made friends some made a really big impact on me like you wouldn't believe! I don't think I can ever think about hashtags again.i remember on the 4th day- the day after comps (where we came 4th) I wanted to go home because seeing my family the day before just reminded me of what had happened before the camp. Because of my social awkwardness, I often found it hard to come out of my shell and let loose. So parties aren't fun for me. But at ICC I went to a party and I had fun I enjoyed myself. But an overwhelming sadness came over me that night. It was the last night. Sometimes if I dream hard enough I feel like I am back there, in team devils with my awesome room mates.
Since then? WOW! I have experienced soo much!!
Here are some highlights since then
- One of my short films was screened in Melbourne
- Went to Japan on a two week student exchange
- Competed in State first aid comps
- Competed in National first aid comps in Darwin(came 3rd)
- Got a job!!
- Finally recognized my true potential
- And made some awesome friends who i can finally rely on!
No comments:
Post a Comment