#i cannot wait for this exam season to be over it's been a nightmare

[the---hermit]

31|01|2024

My week continues with reviewing my philosophy notes, and can I say I can't do this anymore? It's become a struggle I am so fed up with repeating the same things over and over. Tomorrow I should be done with my second review, and then I think I will practice answering again those questions that were asked in the last exam, and if I finish before the end of the week I will take time to rest. Today I also got a couple of books to practice my Irish a bit more and get a bit more serious with that. I got two books with lots of exercises to practice, I am very excited about them. Today I started working on Step By Step Irish, and I am really happy with it. The structure is very clear, and it seems to be extremly basic which is exactly what I need. I will write more updates on how my self studying continues. For now I am happy I am doing something to get a bit more serious with it.

Calm hobbit winter activities and productivity:

Read first thing in the morning (I am still reading A Day Of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon, and I am so excited, this book is the perfect place to escape to during these tiring times)

Started my second out loud philosophy review (once again thanks to my beloved father who is helping me as usual, I would have gone insane if it wasn't for him)

Daily Irish practice on duolingo

Worked on two chapters of Step By Step Irish

Cooked dinner for my family

Continued to listen to an audiobook about famous scientists

[nicostolemybones]

Hufflepuff House Sunshine

To say Will Solace was having a terrible day was an understatement. He’d had a sleepless night, thanks to a suspected case of the plague- and by suspected case of the plague, Will means a common cold from his sister Kayla. Except he was completely convinced that he absolutely did not have a cold, he most certainly had man flu. He couldn’t breathe through his nose at all, his sinuses heavy and his head sore. Madam Pomfrey had told him, with no room for arguments, that he was not allowed to help out in the infirmary whilst he was sick. Will was halfway through a boring transfigurations class when his transfigurations partner, Nico di Angelo, started giggling uncontrollably. McGonagall raised her eyebrow, but Nico only started to laugh more.”What now,” Will asked quietly, and Nico pointed at his project.

Said project was supposed to be a tortoise being transfigured into a top hat. However, Nico had created “Voldetort!” Nico was hysterically laughing by now at Voldetort, and Will couldn’t help but join in- the giggles were infectious.

“Nico! That’s not funny,” Will protested, but one more look at Voldetort had him moved to tears of hysterical laughter.

“Voldetort,” Nico wheezed breathlessly, which seemed to be the final straw for McGonagall, who strode over to the desk, looking over there shoulders.

“Care to share the joke with the class, di Angelo, Solace?”

“Voldetort,” Nico repeated, pointing at the creation.

McGonagall gave an amused hum, and Will lost the ability to control his giggles. “Five points from Slytherin and Hufflepuff,” she declared, returning to the front desk, “oh, and please attempt to control your giggles, boys, and focus on the project you’ve been given, or I shall have to send you out of the class.”

“Cool, see you later,” Nico shrugged, walking straight out of class.

“I uh- he has a doctor’s note, so do I,” Will said quickly, jogging after Nico. “You can’t just- walk out of class,” Will gasped, and Nico gave him a pointed look.

“Then what are you doing?”

“Uh… well you need somebody to make sure you stay out of trouble! Plus in the aftermath of Voldemort-”

“Voldetort!”

“Very mature(!) Anyway, even with voldemort gone we aren’t necessarily safe, so,, we should walk around in pairs, you know, use the buddy system?”

“You’re such a dork,” Nico snorted.

“Says the boy who made a card game out of the chocolate frog cards,” Will protested.

“Yeah, so? I sell the cards in packs to people at tuck, and I make one hundred galleons a day!”

“That’s against the rules, Nico!”

“Technically, the rule is you can’t sell sweets or chocolate on school premises, it says nothing about selling playing cards. Check and mate!”

“That’s… actually genius,” Will smiled, “so, where are we going?”

“That...is a really good question,” Nico replied, “Slytherin common room?”

“No thanks,” Will replied, “the Giant Squid freaks me out every time he swims past…”

“Oh, you mean Steve?”

“Who the fuck named him Steve?”

“Percy did,” Nico replied, and Will shrugged- that was just regular weirdness at Hogwarts.

“We could go sneak into the kitchens?” Will suggested, “there’s a secret passage by the Hufflepuff common room that somebody dug so we could stress eat during exam season and obsessively bake cookies.”

“Oh my gods it’s like a care bear possessed your entire house,” Nico laughed, “how about we break into the Ravenclaw common room?”

“Only Ravenclaws can get in there.”

“You, my friend, need more Slytherin in you! Where’s your ambition? I bet you ten chocolate frogs-”

“Deal!”

“You didn’t even hear my-”

“I said deal, di Angelo, I don’t fuck around with cholocate.”

“You just sold your soul to me, Solace,” Nico joked, and Will shrugged.

“You already stole my heart, you can take my soul any day.”

“Shut up, sap,” Nico blushed, trying to hide his face behind his hair as they reached the Ravenclaw common room door. Nico knocked, waiting for a riddle.

“What has two eyes but cannot see, what appears red in one light and blue in another-”

“A blind police dog next to a cop car with the flashing lights on, now let us in.”

“The answer’s-” Will gasped when the door opened anyway, and Nico smirked triumphantly. “The answer was Iridescent, Nico,” Will protested.

“Are you sure you’re not a secret Ravenclaw, Solace?”

“Are you sure you aren’t a Hufflepuff, di Angelo?” Nico gasped dramatically, clutching his chest.

Will reached out, softly pressing his finger to the tip of Nico’s nose, making him go cross-eyed. “Boop!”

“Fuck off,” Nico scowled, although Will merely laughed musically- there was no malice in his tone. “That was a sneaky move, you snake, are you sure you weren’t supposed to be a slytherin?”

“Well, the hat did try to put me in Slytherin,” Will mused, “because I’m ambitious and all, but I value loyalty and friendship and kindness and helpfulness far more than anything else, and I offered the sorting hat my mom’s cookies if it put me in Hufflepuff.”

“Bribery, huh...that… that is simultaneously the most Slytherin and the most Hufflepuff thing I have ever heard. You never cease to surprise me,” Nico huffed.

“Why did we break in here anyway?”

“Because I’m chaotic evil and I’m going to draw a weiner in all the books.”

“Nico,” Will gasped, “you can’t just-”

“There’s nothing in the rules about writing in books or drawing anatomical drawings, therefore, I’m not breaking the rules.”

“Good gods you’re lawful evil,” Will gasped.

“You take that back,” Nico gasped in mock offence (or at least, what Will hoped was mock offence). “Actually,” Will grinned, tilting his head to the side, “you’re a whole-ass lawful good!”

“No!” Nico gasped.

“Yes you are!” Will grinned, “I saw you give your homework to Lou-Ellen in Potions!”

“I did no such thing,” Nico gasped, and Will laughed.

“You’re basically a human corn snake, you eat, get warm, and go to sleep.”

“You just described a cat.”

“Danger noodles are forbidden kitties!” Will reasoned, and Nico shook his head in disbelief.

“Yeah well- you’re a forbidden kitty!” Nico retorted.

“Did you just call me a furry?”

“You know what- yes. Yes I did.”

“I should buy a fursuit.”

“Will no,” Nico protested.

“Will yes!” Will grinned, “You know who else is a furry?”

“Frank, Grover, and Alex?”

“Well- yes, but I was gonna say the house mascots! School sanctioned fursonas.”

“That mental image is cursed. Thank you for giving me inspiration for the howler I’m going to send to Jason today,” Nico smiled.

“You’re very welcome,” Will grinned, “you should get him to dress as the Gryffindor lion before you send the howler.”

“Superb, you funky little badger,” Nico grinned, and Will giggled.

“Anyway,” Nico mused, “I thought you said you had the plague.”

“This may sound like I was being a dramatic dumbass, but I accidentally ate a sweet from the Stolls and it may have been responsible for my sneezing fit.”

“You ate something the Stolls gave you? You know they probably got it from the Weasley’s shop?”

“Nico, you don’t understand. It was food shaped. I ate an eraser once because it looked like sushi.”

“Oh my gods you’re a walking hazard, Solace,” Nico sighed in exasperation, “the black and yellow house colours are secretly hazard tape.”

“Warning, may bake you cookies and give you hugs.”

“Please tell me you haven’t.”

“Maybe,” Will beamed, holding a paper bag to his chest before holding them out to Nico, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Holy shit, you’re a literal ray of fucking sunshine,” Nico grinned, taking the bag and peering inside.

“They’re cantuccini almond and honey biscotti,” Will announced, “I asked your dad who gave me your mother’s recipe! You mentioned how she used to bake you cookies when you had a nightmare, and how you’d never had any since your mom died because your dad can’t cook anything other than burned ready meals and your step mom puts pomegranate in everything and your step gran just feeds you cereal, so I thought you’d appreciate… are you crying?”

“I’m not crying,” Nico protested, “I’m having an allergic reaction, too much human emotions.”

“Aww, that’s adorable!” Will grinned, squeezing Nico in a strong hug.

“I can’t breathe, Will,” Nico protested, and Will laughed gently.

“I’ll let go when you smile,” Will replied stubbornly.

“I’m never going to smile,” Nico grumbled.

“Then you’re eternally trapped in a bear hug!”

“That’s my plan,” Nico replied, hugging back, “my evil, cunning Slytherin plan to get you to cuddle me.”

“I think my Hufflepuff side is rubbing off on you,” Will laughed.

“I was gonna be sorted into Hufflepuff but I blackmailed the sorting hat and I was put in Slytherin.”

“You dramatic gay.”

“You’re gay,” Nico retorted, and Will hummed happily.

“It’s your fault,” Will stated matter of factly.

“Oh sure, blame your rainbow on me, you big homo,” Nico laughed.

“You’re a big homo,” Will replied.

“It’s your fault! You’re freaking adorable, you’re like- the Hufflepuff House Sunshine or something,” Nico huffed.

“Hufflepuff House Sunshine. Huh… that’s my title now,” Will replied with a grin. Perhaps today wouldn’t be such a bad day after all.

@solangeloweek day 4- AU

[the-fandom-newsletter]

Fandom Newsletter #4

Today is Friday, the 26th of October, and Welcome back to another Fandom Newsletter! 

Writers: Atlas, Blackpurrl, Fyne, YoursTruly Editors: Fyne and YoursTruly 

“Oh my God, Karen! You can’t just ask people why they’re white.” ~Mean Girls

Let’s get started! 

First to YoursTruly with the Horror, Hannibal, Tim Burton, Animation, and Gaming fandoms--

Horror: Horror fans love the new Halloween movie! The movie has been a massive success among fans young and old! The movie gives off a nostalgic vibe, even referencing the older movies several times throughout the film. However, if you’re going to see this movie, stay until after the credits, there’s a little surprise at the end. 

Hannibal: The Fannibals have began trying to bargain with show runner and producer Bryan Fuller for another season. The show left off on a not so satisfying conclusion, and many fans want more. Bryan Fuller has even teased the idea himself quite a few times. Will we get another season one day? Guess we’ll have to wait and see. 

Tim Burton: Disney is offering, throughout the month of October, Halloween themed cruises. They even offer an onboard show featuring Jack Skellington and Sally. And you can even meet these characters for pictures! Now that’s a cruise! Also- The Nightmare Before Christmas celebrates its 25th anniversary this year! 

YouTube: YouTube recently crashed worldwide for two hours. YouTube hasn’t said much about the incident, but problems like this are becoming more and more common on YouTube. Many people are wondering what the causes of these issues are. 

Animation: Goretober is in full swing! Many animators have been uploading their daily Goretober art. 

Gaming: The season of scary game releases is upon us! October is the month where many creators on platforms like Steam and Gamejolt are releasing their horror games in anticipation for Halloween. 

Now to Blackpurrl with the Harry Potter and Bands fandoms, along with World News--

Harry Potter: Countdown to Fantastic Beasts: 27 days!

Bands: Did you know, about twelve hours of songs are uploaded to SoundCloud every minute? Insane!

World News: Denmark Shooting for the Digital Stars

Next to Fyne with the Sherlock, Supernatural, and Spooptober fandoms, as well as the weekly positive news--

Sherlock - Ever wonder how our beloved show even came to be? Apparently, for years, writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss took a train to and from Cardiff while working on Doctor Who, and discussed various projects they were interested in doing. One that kept coming up repeatedly was a modern-day adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. This reportedly went on for some time (with neither man making any particular effort to get it up and going) until Moffat’s wife, Sue, invited both men out for lunch. Her place of choice just so happened to be the Criterion, a watering hole and eatery in London’s Piccadilly Circus. It just so happens to be the same place where the fictional John Watson (Sherlock’s best friend) first hears of the famed detective. The two men got the hint and began working on the series, bringing us our show that we have today. I think we all owe Sue a little bit of a thank you, don’t you?

Supernatural - Did you notice that (according to Archangel Michael in the episode The Song Remains the Same) Dean and Sam come from the bloodline of Cain and Abel? So is this important? Or is this just another coincidence?

Spooptober - This year is the year that Halloween movie Hocus Pocus reaches its 25th anniversary. The premise of the movie is this: After moving to Salem, Massachusetts, teenager Max Dennison explores an abandoned house with his sister Dani and their new friend, Allison. After dismissing a story Allison says is superstitious, Max accidentally frees a coven of evil witches who used to live in the house. Now, with the help of a magical cat, the kids must steal the witches' book of spells to stop them from becoming immortal.A family favorite movie that almost everyone has seen and that is playing on at least one channel nearly every night of October. If you haven’t seen this iconic movie, you definitely should go channel surfing at some point this month.

Positive News - The words we use to talk about mental health can perpetuate stigmas. A new portrait project featuring people who have mental health issues aims to make us think again about the language we choose.

Lastly to Atlas with the Voltron, Musicals, and Movie fandoms--

Voltron: This fandom is a ticking time bomb set for December 14th. We are all going to die.

Musicals: George Salazar ships Boyf-riends! 

Movies: Who else wants a live action Corpse Bride?

Now back to Blackpurrl with the weekly movie review--

Movie Review: Hannibal Rising

This movie relays the story of Hannibal Lecter’s childhood. Although most of the especially gory parts are not on camera, the viewer eventually knows exactly what became of the victim. It provides an interesting plot, and explains why the famous cannibal does what he does. I would not recommend this movie to anyone under thirteen or anyone who cannot handle tragic stories. Overall, I’d give it a 10/10.

And back to Fyne with the weekly trivia fact and quiz--

Trivia Fact - Did you know that the inventor of liquid soap became paralyzed after he slipped in the shower?

Are you an optimist, a pessimist, or a realist?

1. You fail a test. What is your reaction?

A. I'm stupid. I’m going to fail my exams.

B. This was just a blip. I’ll do better next time. 

C. The questions were too hard. This is where my abilities stand.

2. You have quit smoking, but you accidentally have a cigarette. Which of the following is your reaction?

A. You have been set back, so you just go right back into the addiction.

B. You have been set back, but you believe you can quit again.

C. You have been set back, so you come up with ways to avoid similar circumstances that led you to the set back.

3. You are shown a picture of a man who isn’t smiling. What do you think this man is feeling/doing?

A. The man is plotting, rude, or experiencing something unpleasant.

B. The man is relaxing, thinking, or did not have enough time to smile. 

C. The man is posing for the picture.

4. A close friend of yours sets you up on a blind date. How do you feel about this?

A. You have no clue what your date is like and you are afraid they’re going to set you up with a complete loser.

B. You have faith in their opinion and want to see for yourself what your date is going to be like. 

C. You decide to see what your date is like and decide for yourself how well your friend did. 

5. You’re a business owner who goes bankrupt. How do you proceed?

A. You see this failure as a sign that you are not meant to be in this business and pursue other options.

B. You see this failure as a lesson and use it to help you further your business in future reference.

C. You see this failure as a sign and choose to make plans to pull yourself out of bankruptcy.

6. You get a raise. How do you feel about it?

A. You don’t understand why you got the raise and you wonder if there is an ulterior motive.

B. You accept the raise happily, glad that your hard work has finally been recognized.

C. Yay! More money!

7. You’re an accountant and today you made a mistake with a number. What is your reaction?

A. You figure out where you went wrong, and then feel horrible about it for a long time afterward, questioning your abilities and worthiness as an accountant.

B. You figure out where you went wrong, fix it, and move forward.

C. You recognize the mistake and move on. 

8. You have a bad day. Which of these is you after the day is over?

A. You believe that your life has been full of hardship and negative experiences.

B. You see the bad days as part of your life that help you grow or benefit you in some way.

C. Recognize that you had a bad day, and resolve to try again tomorrow. 

9. You are struggling with groceries and someone comes to help you. How do you respond? 

A. You become suspicious, tell them that you have nothing to give them, and maybe even yell at them to leave you alone.

B. You thank them and talk about their day or ask them about themselves.

C. You politely say thank you and either accept or decline their help. 

10. You go on a vacation. Which of these is you?

A. Complain about everything you do and could potentially do, and eventually wind up not wanting to do anything at all but watch TV in the hotel room.

B. You want to experience as much as the location has to offer, even though you had no plans about what to do.

C. You enjoy the vacation and plan extensively about what you want to do and when.

Mostly A’s: You appear to be a pessimist. Always seeing the bad and negative in everything probably isn’t helping you be any happier or lead a happier life. Try and maybe appreciate things more often.

Mostly B’s: You appear to be an optimist. Always seeing the good and positive is probably helping you be fairly happy, and even leading to a happier life style. Though try not to be too optimistic all the time because it may end up hurting you in the long run.

Mostly C’s: You appear to be a realist. I guess you’re sort of a neutral character. Good for you.

(This isn’t physiologically proven, its literally just a test I made up in my free time so don’t take the results to heart and please do not be offended)

And finally, back to YoursTruly with the weekly book review--

Book Review- The Life Of P.T. Barnum is a fantastic book for anyone who loves a good biography. The book is a wildly entertaining autobiography by P.T. Barnum about his own life, starting from his childhood and following him through all his adventures. All in all, a fantastic book. 10/10 

Wish our illustrator and writer Blackpurrl a happy birthday today! Comic is brought to you by our very talented artist, Blackpurrl. That’s all for this week, we’ll see you next week with another Fandom Newsletter! 

Signing off, 

Atlas, Blackpurrl, Fyne, and YoursTruly 

[niksterisms]

February 3rd 2017 marks a day in AFL history that I am super proud to see take place. The first official women’s AFL match will happen. Better late than never, a little late for me I’m afraid but I am excited for these young ladies about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime that was only a dream for me.

For those who know me well, I have grown up around AFL. When I was born my dad worked at St. Albans FC in Melbourne’s west, then when I was 11 he began working for the Melbourne Football Club. A dream come true for him and me! Suddenly my dad was a big deal! (He still is in my eyes today, even though he’s now retired after 25 years with the MFC.

I’ve grown up with a football in my hand and it’s safe to say it has always been my preferred toy of choice. I learned to kick the footy from an early age and showed no fear taking grabs or running from would be tacklers.

In between the reserves and senior matches you would see me out on the ground kicking the footy either with my mum, cousin, uncle, aunt or by myself. It didn’t really bother me if there was someone to kick to or not! I didn’t really have too many shots on goal because usually the bigger kids would occupy the area so I would head over to the wing where there was plenty of room to kick the ball as hard as I could. At home I would kick the ball about in our backyard. It was the best way to learn accuracy because having to jump the fence to collect the ball was scary (the neighbours weren’t so nice).

I was pretty good at most sports with the exception of swimming and gymnastics, so when it came to PE classes in both primary school and high school I was either the captain of a team or one of the first girls picked. When you are captain and you have to make good sporting decisions to give your team an advantage, quite often it can piss off your friends! That was a nice hard lesson to learn early on. Netball was the first real sport I played in competition starting at wing attack and eventually becoming the centre – keeping me as far away from the goals as possible!

When I was 10 years old and in grade 5 we could start participating in inter school sports. I loved this. I played kanga cricket and kick ball. I was also lucky enough to be given the chance to play my favourite sport in the world Aussie Rules Football. Now, in Aussie culture that’s not such a big deal, but it was when you are a girl, because Aussie Rules is meant to be a man’s sport. There was two of us girls who fronted up to the meeting to sign up to play for the blue and white deer park primary school footy team. I’m proud to say we represented the girls well, we were the team’s secret weapons. It didn’t come without a few comments of girls can’t play football, why aren’t you playing netball instead? Ironically I was playing netball also, outside of school!

One particular game, I admit, I was having a really bad game. I got dragged off the field and the coach yelled at me and told me I was playing like a girl. At the time I was so incensed about being told I was, god forbid, playing like a girl. It struck a chord with me at the time because after half time I went back out on the field and played like a girl possessed. I kicked goals, I took marks and I even tackled the opposition ruckman and threw him to the ground and made him cry! (Which, in hindsight shouldn’t have been something to be proud about). I ended up best on ground.

I look back on that today and I think I was more incensed about being told I was playing football like the weaker of the sexes, when I knew I could play just as well, if not better than any boy in the team. I really disliked being made to be different to the boys.

Around the same time as my football career was blossoming, my girly features were also coming into bloom. What a nightmare time that is for kids, as they are slowly morphing into mini adults. I, for one, was not amused by this sudden change (and I still blame my mother for the birds and the bees talk we had not 6 months prior!) Which in turn meant any promising AFL career I had my heart set on was put on ice… or hidden behind a trainee bra. So, instead I became a boundary umpire for my cousin’s under 15 / 16 footy team. When you’re 11, trying to run the boundary line in footy boots and a white pleated netball skirt in the mud a fair bit was challenging and 15 year olds can kick the ball a mile! A few times I didn’t quite make it to see if the ball was out on the full or just out of bounds which opened up a loophole for the boys to yell out that I was a stupid girl who shouldn’t be partaking in any part of football. One day my cousin stood up for me and told a team mate to shut his mouth because I was actually a better kick of the footy than he was.

My high school years coincided with dad becoming a trainer at the Melbourne Football Club. The horror of high school was counteracted by the excitement of my dad rubbing shoulders (and backs & legs) of famous footballers. And for our family’s team we followed too! Occasionally I was driven to training after school by my grandad to Junction Oval and when I got older I would catch a train in and get a lift home with dad. I’d sit there and watch the players go through their drills, taking it all in. After training I would get out and kick the footy. Developed a crush or two along the way... Sorry Matt Febey! Jeff Farmer wanted me to become the first girl to play for the MFC (I’m still waiting for my contract offer Jeff!) I became good friends with Russell Robertson and got to hang out with players at so many events outside of football. Those were the days… Anyway I digress, each time I watched a game or kicked the footy at training how I wished I could take part in playing football. Year 11 was the beginning of VCE & as part of our English subject we were asked to do a communication project. I chose to arrange a football clinic for my high school mates and the primary school kids up the road. I had to go into Junction oval and ask Neil Balme who was the coach at the time, by myself, if I was allowed to ask some of the Melbourne players if they would like to host the clinic. Neil was lovely and said of course. It was a bit naughty because the west was always the area the Western Bulldogs roamed. I nominated Allen Jakovich as the main player to attend because all the girls had a crush on him. Alas, he pulled out at the last minute and David Neitz stepped in along with Daniel Clarke & Damien Gaspar. I think they were amongst the tallest players at the club! It was nice getting an A+ for an assignment I had so much fun organising.

We would kick the football at lunch time with the girls v the boys. Always made for giggles. In year 12 I was approached by my English teacher from the year before, who was a huge Bombers supporter, who asked if I would be interested in helping put together a girl’s AFL team. She had heard there was a girl’s competition amongst the local schools and she thought it would be great to participate. I agreed, so I went on a recruitment drive. We couldn’t get enough girls from the senior levels so we opened it up to the entire 7-12 year levels. We arranged for the trials and training to take place at the junior campus of the school so the young kids didn’t have to travel so far. We had a pretty good turn out. I was in charge of the training drills and we really had to start at the basics because quite a few of the girls did not know how to kick or handball. We worked through handball drills, short kicks, gradually getting longer, marking, running and bouncing the ball, shots on goal, defending, etc. By the time game day came around these girls had their position and skills down pat. It was the first time the school had ever had an all girl’s AFL team and the first (from memory) when it involved people from all school levels.

Game day consisted of a round robin competition. I was the captain of our team and played in the midfield. We won every game with the exception of the last that we lost by 1 point after the siren. The games were intense and fun, the wind was blowing a gale too. I managed to kick a goal from the boundary line just inside 50! Not bad considering I wasn’t wearing my glasses and didn’t have contact lenses at the time.

That day would have to have been my favourite day of high school ever. Our girl’s team ended up being the most successful sporting team that year and we could’ve become state champions, had the PE coordinator not declined the offer on our behalf without consulting us or our coach purely because he didn’t agree that girl’s should play AFL. (I protested this with our principal and we were asked to play at a later date but it clashed with our final exams). It really did put a downer on our success with the team. It was the first time I recall being angry that a man was denying the girls the chance to play football after we proved that we could play it and play it well.

Our football adventures even lead to them being mentioned in my letter of recommendation from the principal. Something of which I am super proud of.

After high school life changes happened, I ended up living in Queensland for seven years. I was planning on joining the women’s AFL team in Maroochydore but I was working in a restaurant and the hours clashed with training and match day commitments. So my dream of playing AFL was put on hold indefinitely and became nothing but a dream.

So as this day approaches I cannot describe how excited and proud I am that the Melbourne Football Club along with the Western Bulldogs, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, Adelaide, Brisbane & GWS Football Clubs are about to make history with the first season of Women’s football professionally and recognised by the AFL. So many dreams are about to be fulfilled and so many more dreams are about to be created. I cannot wait to get out to the games and cheer the girls on, and although my heart belongs to the demons, I hope all the teams in the competition have successful campaigns and the girls have the times of their lives.