Diary Entries

School. Arg! It's not that I don't like school... It's just like a very difficult dog to wash that really REALLY stinks... you don't want to do it. You want to pat the dog, (get good marks in a test), but you have to clean it, (study and actually pay attention). Now this virus has come along, made an already difficult task, worse! Don't get me wrong I love my room and my ability to pick and choose which class I do, but... I do kinda wanna pass year eleven. And this stay-at-home learning is not very appealing. I try and do my work but then a book or a text distracts me. I've tried putting it elsewhere, but then I think about it all the time. I've tried having my parents confiscate it, now that is NOT a good idea! None of them worked, so yeah... You might say I'm looking forward to school. But you can also see, I hate doing anything that isn't eating or sleeping! Anyhow, I just wanted to let someone know that I don't not like school, I don't like it either. I just dislike learning from home more!

My bedroom looked like a bomb had gone off. Amongst a mess of some proportion, I decided enough was enough.There were shoes against the wall. Some with used socks in them. There were clothes thrown onto, not into the wicker basket. Like I couldn’t be bothered. There were half-read books on the bed, and on the floor. There were blankets I had discharged onto the floor during the nights and just left there. There was a whiteboard that I no longer use, filled work inspiring self-quotes like “This is a wonderful magazine”, “Think strong, think positive”, stuff that was supposed to assist me before I got on the phone. Truth be told, I’m not really one to be inspired by such writings. I can only imagine I must’ve been feeling particularly desperate or bored when I scrawled these words. There was a pile of freshly washed clothes and bedsheets laying on the bed. There was dust. There was the Qantas-provided eye covers to shield against the intrusion of morning light. There was Wendy’s old heat bag, being used as a doorstop. Down the hallway, I fossicked in the laundry until I found a cloth and bucket and the vacuum cleaner. I opened the bedroom windows to let in fresh air. This would be my daily exercise, I figured. And I was right. It was an imposing task. Half an hour later I’d raised a sweat and my bedroom looked like one of those ersatz IKEA rooms. Signalling another day is almost done, I’m in the kitchen shaking a martini. I forgot to buy gin today so will suffice with soft, sweet Japanese Haku vodka. The local radio station is on. The trackies are on.

My life has always been a little chaotic. My father on the hunt for a good deal, my mum on the hunt for him. I have three brothers and they all have their personalities. But I release they have similarities that I can now see I don't. This Corona virus is a speed bump compared to some of the stuff my family had been through. But everytime something came up my family faced it, they didn't cry or give up when the drought hit, even as I weaped over the loss of cows and the selling of our favourite bulls, they powered through. Even when car accidents and wrecks occurred they just brushed away the broken glass. When the virus swept its way through our nation we had a place to fall back to, unlike many who suffered major loss in the bushfire. But even when the rain came and we were told the fires were gone... It struck us. I was laying on my bed reading, my two elder brothers were in Sydney and Lismore, so mum and the younger one were the only others there. They were in the lounge room, watching the news and sitting by the house fire. My dad just got home on the motorbike and was still in his leathers. Not five minutes later, my brother called to dad. I ran out of the house as fast as I could, only when I looked back I saw it, the flames peeking through the roof. I grabbed my school things and my brother his. In the end most of it was saved, but it cracked the glamour I had had over my family. I realised then that I was not like them, I want to prove myself. This virus will not be the end!

covid 19 is a virus you can die from and no one knows what started it just yet but they will hopefully find out what started it soon. but at the moment we know that a Chinese person got it first and spread it to every country in the world. at first I was scared and worried for my friends family the world and even myself. I was especially scared for my grandma because she is over the age of 70 and she lives all alone. since covid is around we weren't able to go on our trip to England to see our family and especially my grandma in a few weeks. we also had news from our friend Amy that she got the virus

Covid-19 has really affected Katoomba where I live. It really took off when one of the high school teachers was diagnosed with the virus and they had to cancel the music festival. At the start of the lock down I built a BMX jump and trail. I have used it a lot for exercise. I've been feeling annoyed and bored. One of the only ways I can connect with my friends is on my Xbox. I have been going back to school one day a week. I think the only reason that is good is so I can see my friends. I am going back to school next week full-time. I bet I will look back on this in 10 years time and think how crazy it was.

A letter to my baby cousin Charlie to be opened when he’s 10 DEAR Charlie, You wouldn’t believe how much 2020 impacted my life. You’re probably thinking what was so bad about 2020? Let me tell you. CORONAVIRUS. In case you are wondering what in the name of nelly is coronavirus. Coronavirus or covid-19 is a wild spreading virus that affected everyone. Even me. I was completely gutted when I got the call. We could not even go out to see our friends. TRAPPED. At home. With my only friend. Boredom. You may think it’s like a holiday. Well you’re 100% wrong. No offence Charlie. Soon enough, covid-19 was named a pandemic, which is a virus or health risk that’s spread all over the world. Let me give you some more info. Once covid-19 was spreading like a wildfire, Australia went into lockdown. Schools shut, sports cancelled, memes on the internet sky rocketing. IF that’s even a thing anymore. But there was one thing that scared me about this virus. The coronavirus was killing old people more than young. This meant nanna and poppa or my other grandparents who were both over seventy were at risk. . Scary right? But over the past few weeks infections are slowing causing less worry. But covid-19 had a good side. Memes. Millions of them. All as hilarious as the ones before them. What was also incredibly funny was how much I did not know about panic buying. I thought people were buying toilet paper to put in their masks. Can you believe it? So, Charlie, I hope you are all right ten years in the future. Just remember how lucky your cousin was that he didn’t get the virus. Yet………… Your cousin, Harry

A letter to my baby cousin to be opened when he's 11 Dear Charlie In 2020 we had a Corona-virus pandemic and lived through it for about 3 months and it was chaos!! Covid-19……You're probably wondering where it all started. Well, it all started in Wuhan, China and then it just spread faster than we could control it. That's when people started to panic like people buying way too much toilet paper. Everybody was calling it panic buying. There are now 5 million cases world wide. When it came everybody went into quarantine. Covid-19 impacted everyone's lives because no one could play sports which I was gutted about. That's when everyone started to get bored with no sport on tv. Don't even get me started on shopping. We were hardly allowed to go shopping and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. People all over the world were worried they were going to get the virus and people were losing their jobs because their business couldn’t pay them. But people did what they were told to do and everyone was so cautious around everybody especially older people. But there were some funny bits like memes on tiktok, to people making their own sports with their pets. Most of all me playing too much Fortnite! You probably don’t know what that is but all you need to know is that it was the greatest video game of all time. Your cousin Bill

Dear Diary This Coronavirus pandemic has had not much effect on me. The only bad thing is that we cannot go on as many adventures like bushwalks and going to parks. As the restrictions are easing’s we can see are friends again. Schools will be back open next week, and I can see my friends more often. A good thing is that I have found out that playing with friends online can give me more Xbox time. So, in these past weeks I have been playing a lot of Fortnite. Tier 99 here I come (I am trying to get to tier 99 so that I have enough V-bucks to get the battle pass). I think I have been gaining no weight whatsoever. I think I have Been losing weight because I am not eating as much because when I play Fortnite I play a lot. Now that is enough talk about Fortnite and let us talk about school. I have been doing most of my work and it is very annoying having it take 10 minutes to submit 5 documents. My parents say that High School is fun but because of this pandemic school is boring as heck. I think that because of this I am getting lest smart because it is hard to work with a quiet room no one to help you and it is very easy to fall asleep (Not that I have :{ ) . I think that there are so many Zoom calls saying do your work that I am going Coo Coo Coo COOOO. I think that it is really easy to play games behind my dad’s back, but my brother is constantly trying to catch me or my other brother gaming, so I play more when they're not here. Sincerely The Arbiter.

Dear reader, I’m Cailee and I will tell you what it’s like now during COVID-19. At first there were heavy restrictions and we needed to keep our physical distance from each other and practice good hygiene. No large gatherings were allowed, playgrounds were closed, no one was allowed to come to your house, and you could only leave the house for essential reasons like groceries and exercise. I missed my friends for a long time but after two months they slowly eased the restrictions and now 5 people are allowed at your house, schools and playgrounds are open, however we still needed to keep our physical distance. I’m back at school now and very happy to see my friends.

One minute I was a business woman providing events to thousands of women a year, then I became obsolete overnight. It was surreal, scary and left me feeling rather pointless. Every day I would wake up and lie in bed feeling vaguely discombobulated. No business to focus on, no friends or family to see - what was the point of it all? The other thing was having nothing to look forward to. I went through my calendar and sadly crossed out Ben Elton, the Clunes Book Festival, Menopause the Musical and many other events that were going to be the social and cultural highlights of my 2020. Now it looked like Netflix, endless cups of tea and chocolate biscuits were going to fill the void. But then Mum’s garage ceiling fell in and everything changed. She had been meaning to declutter her garage for years, now she had to. Who knew what treasures lurked within? As it turned out my saviours came in the form of a box of vintage paper dolls, my Grandmothers’ very old sheet music, a school case full of freaky antique dolls and an Uncles’ photo album. Having all this time on my hands and desperate to be productive my creativity went through the roof. Collage artwork, a story, a photo shoot, a series of cards and an Etsy shop have all come into being because of these events. Now I wake up excited each morning with the endless creative possibilities ahead of me. The joy I feel when in ‘flow’ creating something is priceless in terms of mental health therapy. So oddly, I have to say thank you to Covid 19 (and Mum’s dodgy builder). Without this forced ‘holiday’ from my real life, my dormant creative side would not have emerged from it's long hibernation.