In Memory of Sylvia

29 November 2013

I’ve lived next to a woman names Sylvia, since mum and dad first brought me back from the hospital in 1996. She was a creative lady, who had tendencies to hoard a lot of useless shit. Seriously, as soon as you step into her house you’re swallowed by mountains of junk she’s collected over the years.  Ever since I was a kid I would go over there and learn how to make homemade cards. When I was about 8 she inspired me to make a mini card making business. It used to be so fun for me, and I even had an ad in the Waiotira primary School newsletter promoting handmade cards. All the locals would give me a few dollars, and I’d sit away in a little area I sat up in the corner of my room. Sylvia was like a grandma for me. She’d never forget to give me and my sisters a little birthday and Christmas present; we’d run up to the fence and she’d be standing there with a cheeky grin while she hands us our prezzies before we smuggle them back inside.  She was a really close family friend, and knew basically everyone under the McCullough name. One thing I use to hate was collecting her pig scraps! Sometimes Dad and I would get a bit lazy, and leave them for a week or so before she eventually rung up and complained about them still sitting there.  She was also a keen baker, the problem was… she couldn’t manage to eat it all herself being the little old lady she was, so we’d get calls to come and get some home baking. Sounds pretty good huh? Well, not really. Danielle and I have to do a thorough check of the food for hair before we even think about taking a bite. (She was a notorious hair-in-baking criminal) Sylvia always liked a good yarn, to the point we avoided going over there because she’d talk our heads off until you can think of a legitimate excuse to get away…and then there were her dogs that would bark if you came near the fence. They were cute little things, Chicki – who was a beautiful blonde Chihuahua and Bella, I think her name was, who was a chubby little jack Russel. I wonder who’s looking after her dogs now. (Probably her daughter, who barely had the time to visit her)

It was only a few weeks ago, when Danielle messaged me saying “Oh, did anyone tell you about Sylvie?” Initially I thought she’d bought something off one of those stupid TV advertisements again (She always does and I’m usually helping her put them together). But Danielle told me she has Cancer, and will only live another 6 months. That night I wrote a letter and postcard, but never got around to sending it. Last night mum messaged me and said ‘Todays is Sylvie’s day, she passed away this morning.” I was so shocked because, it was only a matter of weeks… not months! The last time I saw her was when I said goodbye before I came to Australia. She said she was really proud of me, and mum and dad would be too. She always liked my art…and I think she secretly thought I’d get known for it. She will be missed so much, by everyone, especially Chicki and Bella. 

Opal necklace Sylvia gave me

A bit of everything!

Monday 25 November
I finally made it through exams… After weeks of revising and cramming, I can finally relax a li- Wait. No I can’t. It’s transition now, which means we have two weeks of year 12. Having transition is weird to me because we didn't have it in New Zealand, but I kinda like it. Instead of freaking out about what’s gonna happen next year, we get a head start at the end of this year. I’m finally in my last year of school!

I've been thinking about what I want to do once I leave school. For a while I had my mind set on going to university to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree, and then going on to teach art at high schools, but recently I've been thinking of something a little more achievable; An advanced paramedic. I hadn't really considered a medical career, but after taking Health as a subject, I've realized I really like it. Back in New Zealand my sisters did ‘cadets’ which is a volunteer organisation that teaches children first aid and lifesaving. They always came home with interesting stories about how… ‘They assisted the fire brigade in putting out fires.’ My mum also did a course, to become a trained ambulance officer and she would come home with interesting stories about how trucks rolled right before her eyes, and how she was first on the scene. So once I've finished year 12 I’m thinking of getting training to be a paramedic, and I’m really excited about that. As for the art side of things, I've wanted to get out of it for a while. It’s just something I’m good at , but it isn't something I want to do when I’m older because lately doing art is feeling like an annoying chore and I’m doing everything to avoid it.

This is me at the Mania first aid camp I went on while attending Tauraroa Area School.

Fattys ;)

September 21 2013

So ,there's two things I want to cover tonight. The first is dressing up as fattys and old people and running down the road looking like idiots, and the other is making grapefruit juice in the back yard. Dressing up as fattys; one of our favorite sister activity which consisted of stuffing baggy clothes with pillows and running down the road to Waiotira Primary School in 28 degree heat. We use to do this all the time,Danielle and I would help each other stuff our clothes but when Sophie asked we couldn't be bothered because our fatness made it hard to move. (Must have been hard being the youngest) This one time, Danielle and I mixed up a paste of flour and water and rubbed it onto our faces. When it dried...it dried like old ,cracked skin! Looked exactly like wrinkles, so we stuffed our clothes, grabbed dad's crutches from when he broke his leg in the motorbike accident, and walked across the road to Pete and Jos' to get some Halloween candy. I've probably still got the pictures of that somewhere.

Hot days called for desperate measures. Aside from the Waiotira school pool ,the only way to stay refreshed was to make some grapefruit juice from the tree Henry planted in the back yard. Me and my sisters would pick 20 or 30 grapefruit from the tree ,cut them all individually, and prepare them to be squeezed and made into a very concentrated fruit juice. By the time we had added 9,000,000 cups of sugar to sweeten the mixture ,we were always left with a mountain of fruit scraps ,which would be fed to the pigs.Now...on a hot summers day ,while we were enjoying our grapefruit juice, the pigs would be having a horrible time with diahoroeoa. Weren't we nice. :)

Lately I've noticed that life is honestly a beautiful thing. Nature is beautiful, it's amazing. The sky, the colours, the environment, it is all so stunning and there are no words to describe how fascinating the Earth we live on is. Tonight I saw the moon in a clear sky,and it looked amazing. It was so huge and bright,and the few clouds that were surrounding it were lit up by the brightness of it. We pulled out the huge telescope to have a look when we got home, but it wasn't working / it started to rain as well, so we gave up for the night. I love astronomy. I remember going on the Wellington trip when I was in year 5 and we went to the Carter Observatory ....now that was cool! Well,what I can remember of it.

Hair

20 September 2013

It's finally the school holidays! I was talking to Xena today, a friend of mine, and an old friend of Nasooha (My Aunty's husband's niece). We we're chatting about school and we came to the mutual understanding that lately school has been workload + stress + more stress + more homework and right when we're about to have a breakdown, school holidays comes around....Just in time to save us from pulling our hair out. This brings me to my daily childhood memory; my hair colours. I was always told "you're not allowed to dye your hair until you're 13" and the same rule applies to my sisters too. This rule made me want it so much more, so on the day of my 13th birthday I got my hair dyed purple at 'Mo Town' (A salon owned by my mum's friend Bridget). Since then I've had black hair, ginger hair, platinum blonde hair, and maybe a few more colours, I can't really keep up. Earlier this year Danielle asked mum if she could dye her hair and she got the cliche answer "Not until you're 13" from mum. I knew how much she wanted to add highlights to her hair so when mum went to town one day with Sophie, I pulled out the old bleach that I use to use to re-bleach my roots and we put it right through her hair, and trust me, bleaching hair isn't as difficult as they make it seem. For now, my hair is 100% natural, and shoulder length. I can't wait until it's grown long and I don't need extensions! That's all for now :)

Primary school!

19 September 2013
Tonight I've been looking through some clothing websites I hadn't seen before. It all started when I was chatting to my Aunty about my school art exhibition. Got me thinking about the most important thing.... what to wear! I needed to find something that would draw the reporters towards me, and get me noticed, that wouldn't set off the wrong impression. I figured since I was going for a slightly badass look, and using a Street Art theme in my work I'd wear something like this.Yes, it's a Steve Buscimi dress, and I would totally wear it if I had it because it's sure to attract attention, and it just looks creepy,hairy and amazing :D That was from Black Milk Clothing by the way. So, back in primary school was when I first started drawing. We'd do self portraits ,and landscape paintings, along with the very common flower drawings. I had a teacher called Ms Dearneley, and man was she a bitch. There was a mutual hate between us, so, to earn her respect I drew her a picture. I soon found out this worked, so I started drawing pictures for all my teachers that hated me. Ms Dearnley, if you're reading this i'm sorry if you take offence, but you are the reason I'm going to be famous. On that note, if you'd like to 'like' my Facebook page in support of my art, click HERE

Steve Buscimi dress.

A portrait I draw of Cara D

Ah,wasn't primary school a cool place? In primary school I didn't have many friends,apart from the down syndrome kid who dribbled on his shirt. At lunch times I would ride the unicycle up and down the tennis court. (I can still ride it now) I liked to collect Yu-Gi-Oh cards too, and through the wonders of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise I made one of my first friends, Coby. His mum was a hooker,and his dad was in jail...I think. We'd trade cards and play marbles sometimes too(Which were another popular item up for trade at school during morning teas) One day Coby was being mean to me at school and I told him he was banned from my house, so he stole half of my original Yu-Gi-Oh cards. If I still had them today, they'd be worth so much. But Primary school sucked. My sisters had the same problems. At primary school everyone has little groups. The girly girls stick together and play 'horsey games' or 'sister games' and they boys stayed in groups and played with the Tonkas. There just wasn't a space for superior ,amazing people like us.

Pets; Past & Present

September 18 2013

I'm starting to miss my cat, Mousie. When I left New Zealand she was crying, I mean, I could see the tears building up when I kissed her goodbye. Since then I've Skyped with my cat a few times.Of course, she's camera shy so she runs away pretty fast :3 I use to give her a kiss every morning before I walked down the driveway to catch the school bus, and if I didn't, she would follow me across the road. I've always loved cats, not much of a dog person, however ,I did like our dog Zephyr even though he didn't like me. I've had lots of animals growing up, which I will always be thankful to my parents for. I had a fat tomcat named Sammy when I was in primary school. He ended up running away. When I got Mousie, she got pregnant by Sammy even though we have no idea where he is. Mousie gave birth to Elijah, a fat black and white cat ,just like postman Pat's black and white cat. (My dads a postman) Mousie and Elijah fight all the time though, and interesting mother and son relationship.I also had a guinea pig named Monty. He was so adorable! I took him to every pets day at school. One morning I woke up to move Monty and Humpy's (My sisters guinea pig) cage, only to discover a frozen Monty lying on his back, cold as an icicle from the frost. That was a sad day. I also had a pet possum named Chucky. At Waiotira Primary school Pet's Day I put a dog leash on him and lead him around the lambs course, and of course, won first prize..... All while gathering a few disgusted looks from some of the parents. I also love horse riding, my old neighbor Jan had a lovely retired race horse named Tana. Everyday after school I would go over there and feed him hay, give him water, a brush and give him a ride down at the domain if I was lucky. After Jan moved to Ruakaka I still visited to see Tana, although the paddock was smaller , I still enjoyed giving him a ride.

Chucky and I (Aged 10)

Mousie and I the day I left.

Cars And Bikes

17 September 2013

So today's a late blog, it's quarter to eleven. I've just finished my media homework, which is about the production of Resident Evil. I love the Resident Evil franchise so much! I'd never seen it before I moved to Australia but my Aunty is very determined to get me watching 'good' movies. (Apparently I have horrible taste) So I'm up for anything, BESIDES Harry Potter. I cannot stand it, I have never seen it, and I never intend to.
Today ,one of my school friends and I were talking about how our parents rode motorcycles. Her mum has a Harley Davidson (Crappy American bike). My mum has a bright blue Suzuki and my dad has a Triumph Sprint. One day I want to own a bright red Ducati, like my dads old friend Graham. Either that or a nice green Kawasaki. I've always liked motorbikes and cars. My dad got me a yellow Suzuki van when I was little and I'd drive it around the backyard and the Waiotira Pony Club. Once Danielle and I were reversing it in the backyard and I accidentally reversed it into the water tank. The whole water tank pushed in, the biggest dent. I remember thinking "Oh my god, I'm gonna get in so much trouble if mum or dad see this!" So I made Danielle get out and let me know how far forward to go. Luckily I just drove forward and it popped back into place leaving a tiny scratch... I don't think they ever noticed.But I did learn a valuable lesson from that; water tanks can withstand anything! We use to enter the van into the Motokhana at the pony club, but we couldn't this year because it had a flat battery. It's even more fun driving around with your mates though. My friend Bryce had a little Nissan Polo. We (Paxton, Sharn,Julia and I) would all jam into the back of it and go for drives into town, or sometimes just drive without a destination. After last years school ball we drove into town with six people in a car, and it was great fun. We parked outside a broffel and they started flashing their lights at us and it took being stopped by the cops four times before they noticed we had too many people in the car. Good times... And then there was the drifting in Evans paddock car where Sharn, Paxton and I were fearing for our life while they boys almost crashed into troths.

My first time being a passenger on the back of my mums bike. This was when we went to Ruakaka and dropped in for a visit at Jans. It rained on the way home.

Evans car.

Cold Weather...

Monday 16 September 2013

This is finally the last week of the school term. I was pretty reluctant to go to school this morning, didn’t feel too well. Homework is looking to take up the whole school holidays, which sucks. Australian weather is really cold. I mean, people say “Wow is it really cold? But…. You’re from New Zealand?” Yeah um, no. Believe it or not, when it’s cold here, it’s freezing. And when it’s hot, it’s hot. Apparently I’m gonna die when summer comes around, which I can believe…. I mean, I was sweating at 21degrees. When I was nine or ten Danielle and I would drag an old tarp out of dads shed and use tent pegs to hold it to the lawn. Our lawn was really uneven so it was hard to slide far enough without copping a few bruises, so we used bars of soap or dishwashing liquid to get some speed; which mum got pretty pissed off about. However, nothing could beat that on a hot day, which reminds me of the Batley.
Batley is a beach in the Kiapara Harbour. It’s always quiet there so dad liked it. (He doesn’t like public places) I guess you could say it was our special family place. We use to go camping there whenever we could, every school holidays we would go. It had the rocky sand that nobody likes, full of shells and stuff, two small baches, and a tap for fresh water. The land around it was where the Maori fought the Europeans, so it’s considered a Maori burial ground. There’s also a cool spot around the bay where you can find heaps of varieties of clay so we’d make bowls and sculptures then sit them on the campfire to go hard. We’d had a few Christmases there too and one thing I’ll always remember was that you shouldn’t ‘rape’ the sea. Dad always said that when we put the net out, we’ll only take enough for a good feed.
I remember this one time; we went there in a storm. Danielle was sleeping with mum and dad in the big tent, and Sophie was with me in my small two man tent. It rained so hard that night; we woke up at 2am floating on our air beds around our little tent. It was pitch black so it took a while to find the door and scramble out into the other tent. But we haven’t been to Batley for a long time, some of the locals complained about people camping there, so you’re not allowed anymore, which reminds me of another time at Batley. We’d come for the weekend just for something to do. It was getting late so we decided to stay the night (Which is prohibited) so dad parked the ute as far into the bushes as he could so it wasn’t parked on the road. We set up a little gas cooker under the trees, completely out of view of anyone, and had some uncooked rice risotto and dad had a few beers. We didn’t bring any mattresses so we slept in tents on ground which was covered in tree roots. We all woke up with sore backs but hey, that’s some good old kiwi camping with the family for ya!

The two baches we use to pitch our tents beside for shelter from the wind.



A view of the bay, the clay is on the corner of the far right. But you  can only get it when the tides out, like the oysters;) The red baches aren’t in this picture.

Me and my sisters after pulling some fish from the net

It's a wild world...

Sunday September 15 2013

When I look back at old photographs of me when i was younger it makes me wonder why I don’t remember what it was like to be that old, Like.. you don’t remember how you actually felt when you were in primary school, or intermediate. Well I don't anyway. I remember sitting in the kids room at my old house with my little sister,Danielle, a few years ago. I told her.. "You won't remember this moment when you're older." She told me she would but i didn't think she could, because we lose memories when we get older. She still reminds me of it occasionally like "Hey remember that time in the kids room you told me I wouldn't remember?" It's weird. I just started this blog because I'm scared i'll forget memories like these. I started a Youtube playlist the other day with all the songs associated with my childhood. It had songs I use to sing to in the car, songs my mum and dad would have on replay when they were drunk dancing around the lounge and a few songs from TV shows I use to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePo9G-Rzr9k&list=PLK3Hx3P80TxpCBwYlVp33VBBc_-cYoE6a&index=1 One song I put on there was Cat Stevens- Wild World. When I went to a funeral the other day it got me thinking about what people would say about me, and I kinda wanted it to be known that I love my family a lot. Since I moved to Australia without them it's made me realize how much you need your family... i now know that leaving your family, is something you should never do, because family is a part of you. Family is the most important thing in the world and I'm really happy where I am today :) But I think I'd like that song to be played at my funeral one day.

Me at our bach when I was 6

September 2008- Mt Tongariro

Ashlee.