Youth Homes 2

Okay so today we had 6 kids turn up from the ages of 8-12 with one girl. First off we did search and rescue which had relatively minor incidents although it didn't last very long as these kids had ridiculous attention spans.

After that it was back to the program shed to fit snorkeling gear on the kids. They were told to form a line and come in one by one. So of course there were dramas. Poor little Patrick was in the line and Greg came up and pushed him out of it. Then when Patrick tried to get back into spot Greg kept saying he was pushing in and went to punch him.

Anyway, finally made it down to the beach which was a success in itself. With a bit of struggle we managed to convince a bunch of kids to come into the freezing cold water. I stuck with Greg who was screaming his head off trying to convince me that he was allergic to water when in actual fact he was just terrified of it. He didn't really know how to swim at all so I had to just about hold his hand but after a few forced short swims on his own he got a little more courage. Not long later he was off snorkeling on his own more than happy in the water.

Rhoda, the only girl pretty much just sat on the beach. She obviously felt really out of place and didn't really want to participate in anything. In the end she just insisted on going home early. Was a bit of a failure for us there but we tried the best we could.

The kids all got real into finding nice sea shells along the sand and in the water. So of course more dramas. Brody had a shell that looked like half of all the other million shells but when Pier saw it he wanted it. They ended up just about having a full on fist fight, rolling around in the sand on top of each other. Me and Alex, one of their carers, had to split them up.

Had lunch on the beach but Greg was straight back into the water not long after. He refused to do anything but snorkel, he was having the time of his life out there. We played a couple of other beach games and found a whole lot more shells.

Then the other group finished with their raft building program and left everything behind on the beach so we decided to make use of the equipment and build a raft with the kids. Pier was really starting to lose all attention and got quite frustrated having to listen to instructions.

Long story short he wound up to the point of losing it and stormed off up the beach. About 20m away from the other kids he started picking up large sized rocks and ditching them at us. One rock just skimmed past Jordan's ear which absolutely terrified him almost to the point of tears. Jordan just cowarded behind me whimpering as more and more large rocks were thrown. We tried our best to quickly move all the kids a little further along the beach and bring the raft with us to take their mind off it. So we quickly hopped in the water and I went on the raft to help them. As quickly as the incident started it disappeared in their minds.

They had a great time on the raft in the end although it was a little shaky at first. Jordan was incredibly scared and kept asking to get off so we'd turn the raft around, head back to shore and just as we were reaching it he'd say he wasn't scared anymore and would stay on. This happened about 5 times.

During the time on the raft Pier was taken home unnoticed. Greg and Patrick had to go shortly after as something popped up and we played ball games and archery with the other two. Jordan managed to convince Disco to give him a ride on the mule (cross between a golf buggy and very small ute) which turned into another huge incident. Disco hopped out for a second for some reason and Jordan tried to drive it. Almost drove it straight into the wall and got in real trouble after.

But overall the day wasn't so bad. Was rather event full and I was absolutely exhausted after the 10.5 hour day but I still loved it and would do it again any day.

Youth Homes 1

Yesterday a whole bunch of kids from different DCP (Department of Child Protection) homes were supposed to come down to Woody Point for a day of fun with their carers.

I was real pumped for it too, had received a lot of pre-warning about their behaviours and was interested to see how the day would turn out.

In the end only two kids from the one home came which was a real disappointment. Seriously destroyed our whole days plans as you can't really run a program with two kids.

Anyway, first thing these 13 year olds did when they arrived was have a ciggy.

I repeat, thirteen year olds having a smoke.

Right from the word go I was caught off guard. They were swearing and talking rudely, not really wanting to do anything but go home.

In the end we chucked them in the cube for a little bit and set up some rock climbing walls for them but they still didn't really want to participate. After Darren climbed once they just wanted to go outside for another smoke.

Darren then got into an argument with his carer about the smokes because apparently he didn't ask nicely. In the end he ran off and we spent about half an hour trying to find him while a bunch of us took Aaron for lunch.

Had another smoke after lunch and then decided they'd like to do archery so we set up two archery boards for them. That turned out to be a real success, they really enjoyed it and were happy to keep going for a while. Unfortunately their carer got a bit sick of it and insisted on them going home.

Really I believe it was the carer that ruined the day for them. He refused to participate and kept butting heads with Darren. Then insisting they go home just when they were finally enjoying themselves was a bit of a downer.

However the day was still a success believe it or not. The boys were a lot better than some and the days events could have gone a lot worse than they did.

I personally really loved working with these kids. Unlike most other people there I actually understand the major events that can change a kid and make them who they are. I actually understand that it isn't their fault and know how to handle their mood swings.

Having said that, it still sickens me to know that their parents continue to supply them with smokes, alcohol and illicit drugs even after they've had their children taken away from them.

Act Seven

Act Seven

Scene One

Just come home from the fish shop having taken all our old (yet still actually new) fish back to get two predators. Josh, his parents and myself are sitting around our tank.

Josh: So basically we have one fish that's incredibly poisonous and the other grabs smaller fish by it's head and smashes it against the rock til it dies.
April: Oh! That's horrible! Why would you get them?
Liz: Coz they're awesome.
April: They're so ugly! The other ones were much better.
Liz: Good thing it's not your tank then.
[Liz looks to Rick who has just sat there quietly]
Liz: You think it's pretty don't you Rick?
[Rick subtly nods so April doesn't see]
April: I'm upset now, the other fish were so pretty. I miss them.
Liz: We've still got our old tank out the back. You can have it for $500 and stick it in your room.
[Rick laughing.]
[Josh walks up and sticks his hand in the tank]
Josh: He's pretty angry at the moment having just being moved, he should charge at my hand with his poisonous spikes soon.
Liz: GET YOUR HAND OUT OF THERE YOU FUCKING IDIOT! Or I'll bite it for you!
[Josh takes his salty hand out and shoves it infront of Liz's face]
Josh: Go on, bite it then, go on.
Liz: Piss off.

Scene Two

Josh: Oh shit.
Liz: What is it?
[Josh points to the back corner of the tank at the little Pyjarma Cardinal hiding under the filter]
[Liz screams her head of for a couple of minutes]
Liz: OH MY GOD!! DO SOMETHING!!
Josh: Well I'm not sticking my hand in there to get him.
Liz: JARRMIIEEESSSSSS!! My poor little Jarmies! I'll save you!!!
[Liz quickly gets the net and tries to catch him but fails. Jarmies hides in the rocks.]
Josh: Oh well.
Liz: WHAT DO YOU MEAN OH WELL!?!?
Josh: I mean oh well.
Liz: HE'S GOING TO GET EATEN!!
Josh: Oh well.
Liz: [Half crying] Poor Jarmieesss. Hopefully he'll just hide from them and be alright.
Josh: Your fault for forgetting him.
[Rick in the background laughing his head off.]

Week One

Day 1:

Sat around not doing much in the office.

Day 2:

Archery all day.

Day 3:

Sat around not doing much in the office + 2 hour lunch break with the frisbee.

Day 4:

Chased kids around the national park scaring the hell out of them all day.

Day 5:

Played footy and got drunk.

=

I love my job.

Game of Eternity

Just a thought, just a thought.

There's a monster at my door and it's knocking. I shouldn't let it in for I know that it will consume me, try to take hold of my heart but I am intrigued. I wonder what it will look like, feel like. I wonder what it thinks.

Just a peak, just a peak.

Just enough for it's fingernail to slip through the door. Then all of a sudden it grabs hold and tears the door down. I should run, I know that I should for I might still be able to get away. But this monster is so intriguing and I want to see into his eyes.

Just a look, just a look.

His eyes hold a swinging pendulum waiting to get a hold of me. I only need to turn my head, just a little to left. But this monster I have never seen before, it's just so intriguing. I wonder what it's skin will feel like. I wonder how it would react.

Just a touch, just a touch.

Then it latches on to me, consuming me bit by bit. I watch as it searches for my heart, longing to gain control. All I need to do is fight, just a little bit. But this monster is so intriguing, I wonder what it thinks. Has it got a name?

Just a friend, just a friend.


Gameover.

Darren Hanlon - All These Things

Love love love

I LOVE my new job.

Love love love LOVE love.

Had my induction day yesterday. Got taken on a tour of the whole place, it's pretty darn big. Has a lot of history too, it's a heritage site now. Used to be some quarantine area and some of the buildings are still untouched including the crematorium. You can still see parts of the tram line running through our shed and the big sealed door that still moves and is now left open as a passageway. Apparently there are quite a few ghost stories going around too.

Oh and before being used as a quarantine facility it was a reserve for explosives and something to do with horse racing.

They've got archery and kayaking and bushwalking and snorkeling oh and did I mention the PRIVATE BEACH?!? I can even do rock climbing and abseiling on NATURAL surfaces there.

The cube is the main activity building and is fairly new. On the outside there's rock climbing, abseiling and a flying fox and on the inside lots of high ropes courses, low ropes and climbing walls.





Yesterday they had a special group of disabled people over instead of the kids. It was so amazing what they do with them. They can't climb the ladder up to the flying fox because they're all in wheelchairs so they've created this pulley system to lift them to the top. The amount of extra effort they go through for them is so amazing though and they're so grateful for it.

But better than all that would be the staff. Oh and the fact that I have my OWN office space and computer and everything. Everyone's really friendly though. The first conversation I had with them goes a bit like this:

Matthew "Do you play football?"
Me "Oh God I hope you don't mean soccer"
Matthew "Hell no! Aussie rules!"
Me "Well then of course I play"
Matt (Manager) "Awesome. You'll be getting paid to play footy then"
Matthew "Oh and frisbee! Do you play frisbee?"
Me "I suppose I could try"
Matthew "You gotta play frisbee"

Oh and Matt (Manager) is even organising a BBQ for ME on either Monday or Thursday.

I LOVE my new job.

Sweet Lips

Just came back from Rocky Reef Marine in Rockingham with 5 new fish!

Copperband named Sweet Lips


Bannerfish


2 x Yellow Tailed Chromis


Cleaner Wrasse (cleans the parasites off the other fish)

Additions

Some new additions to our marine tank:

Coral Beauty named Belle from Beauty and the Beast


4 Clown fish

Respect

Got a phone call at 10am today from my fiancee at work.

He wanted me to go onto the internet for him to get some password so he could view dirty photos on his phone. Afterall, I obviously love it when he drools over other girls' naked bodies.

"Shouldn't you be working?"

"Yea but I've been working hard so I thought I'd take a break til lunch"

Lost so much respect for him today.