Monday 31 October 2011

Apologies in advance

So, I got nagged by SOL that I had to update my blog. Pffft. Well, here it is. Updated. Happy? No? Oh, well I'll have to trawl through the fog that is my mind and see what I can come up with.

Lets see. Well, Dobby is now an army cadet. She should get her uniform Tuesday week. The week before our holiday she missed out on being accepted in her chosen netall team, so we decided to focus on Cadets. The first Tuesday back we hit the Southern Expressway and lobbed up at the Lonsdale Barracks. There are closer ones, but this is where her friend joined a few weeks ago.

We sat through the information session, and although she was given the chance to stay, Dobby chose to go home.

On the Wednesday we had parent teacher interviews. Seems Dobby is failing year 8. Time for action. One of the key points we discovered is that Dobby just doesn't put any work into exams or trying too hard. No surprises there I guess. So it was agreed that she would do some revision before any upcoming tests.

First one was a maths exam. She got an E in her end of term report. She sat the test on Monday and on Wednesday we found our her score. I am pleased to announce she got 84%, a B. Yep, my child is suddenly a B student. *Is proud*.

Anyway, just before we went for the interview she informs me she was having second thoughts about Cadets. I told her I wanted to see a list of reasons she should join, and a list of why she shouldn't, then I'd discuss it with her.

A couple days later she has decided to join after all. Seems her biggest worry was that she would feel she needed to join the Army after (something she has given thought to) but her real dream is to be a beautician, and joining the arm would get in the way of that. But then she realised that she could be a Cadet and still study for her dream. Well done.

Anyway, all that aside, not much else has gone on. I went and got my facial and toes done again on the weekend, followed by what was supposed to be a quick coffee with a friend. However, we ended up having lunch and a long chat. Seems she is going through a very tough personal time at the moment, and is quite down. Sigh. I tried to be supportive, and I also tried to explain that the reason she probably feels abandoned by her friends is that people who haven't gone through or aren't going through what she is, tend to not want to get involved, and therefore distance themselves. She thought that that wasn't the case, was it? Don't you always want to be there for your friends. Well, yes, but to a point. Now I feel obliged to check in every day to make sure she is okay. REALLY don't need that right now, but I will anyway. Because she is my friend and I do care.

While I was with my friend, Fluffy had to take Dobby for a follow up doctor's appointment. We took her for repeat blood tests and a mini medical for cadets last weekend, so this was to get the blood results. Previously we had approached the doc to find out why Dobby gets so angry. He diagnosed mild stress, but her thyroid was also a tad slow so he wanted to repeat that test.

He found that her thyroid has settled down, but she's still under stress so he has recommended a visit to the psychologist to give Dobby some help. I was supposed to phone them today but forgot to bring the card in. He also wants to see her again just to repeat the psyche test in early November, just before she goes. Guess we'll see how that goes. She had a friend over on Friday night, so she had to clean her room Thursday. We never thought she'd do it, but she did. And with little fuss. Good for her.

I also scored a laptop from work. I little white Macbook, which was the boss's. However, the screen doesn't work properly. So I tee'd up with our geek to get a friend here in Australia to look at it. I asked him to check out a link to a screen on ebay, which he did. So I bought it. $125 or so.

Then it sat here at the office for weeks and weeks. Finally, the geek suggested we could fix it ourselves, if we looked up on the web how to do it. It really wasn't hard.

So I took it home over the weekend. Fluffy opened the website, then followed the steps. We got stuck though because two of the screws were fixed too firmly in place. Even broke his little screwdriver set. What to do.

Luckily I have a lovely friend who's partner fixes computers for a living. So we phoned up and asked would they mind bringing over his tool kit, and staying for coffee and nibbles.

While he was there he said we've got it this far, may as well finish the job, so he installed the new screen too. Bless him! Dobby is very happy, and has a laptop sitting nicely on her desk now. All for $125 and a cup of coffee! When I asked him did he want a couple bottles of red, he said no thanks, he had plenty and it was a good excuse to catch up anyway :-) awwww!

I took some photos on the weekend, just playing about. If I get a moment I'll put them up.

So. This last two weeks has really been about Dobby. She has joined cadets, gotten a B in a math test, cleaned her room, had a friend over, had a doctor's appointment, gotten a new computer, and made extra money because she has kept her room reasonably clean. Good for her, she's also been on pretty good behaviour. Maybe we are seeing a short turning point?

Fingers crossed...

2 comments:

SOL's view said...

Well done Dobby!

I hope the link for the screen was somewhat useful!

JoeinVegas said...

What does it mean to be in the Cadets? Does she go off to training? Is it a replacement for school? Is it like an extra class?