I've won at Rena Designs!

Scrapbooking is a lot of fun.
My sister and I have made wonderful scrapbooks.
When I came online I didn't expect to find people who love scrapbooking too, and I didn't know much about it.

Then I found Rena Designs.
She's got a wonderful blog and regularly organises a give-away.

I participated last week, because I loved her crapmaterial.
And I've won!!


I feel very happy about it.

Thank you very much, Rena.

Dance

As a very young child, at the age of 2, I used to stop playing when I heard music. My mom told me that I would listen for a moment and then would start to dance in front of the speakers.

I wanted to go to balletlessons like my older brother, but I had to wait until I was 6 years old.

I'm having balletlessons since I'm six years old.
I love it because of the music and because I can put my soul in it.

I have been on stage too and it was a good experience. People who look at you and think the dance you made is good. It made me feel proud.
Maybe you know what I mean.

I love dancing so much that I do it every day, even when it's not for
practicing.
I'm also happy to dance because I wanna make my family and friends proud.
I have many things accomplished.
Not only did I perform every year with my group, but I was also one of the soloists a couple of times, and I did the choreography of parts of dancepieces a couple of times.

I've had a classical ballet training, but this year I started a new course which schedules different kind of dances, like jazz, dance expression, and streetdance.

My final exams are next year and I'm not sure if I'll take lessons that year.
I take my exams very serious and I want to do well.
My parents tell me not to stop, because dancing is such a good way to relax and take everything from my mind.

So I have to make up my mind.

It's friday so...

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Safe Internet - 10 golden rules

Safe internet is of utmost importance. No matter the age of the kid or young person, there should be a certain amount of freedom within boundaries.
Safety is not only a matter of devices and control.
Children should develop an inner need and attitude to be safe.
Both the school- and the home-environment should teach a child how to behave online in such a way that it's able to safeguard it's own privacy and safety, both online and offline, the safety and privacy of others, and the safety of the computerequipment.

A safe computer

Safe internet starts with a safe computer.
That means that each computer should have a proper firewall, virusscanner and spywarescanner. Set them to update and scan each day.
In the settings it can be arranged that everytine the browser closes the temporal files will be emptied.
Block sites which are unwanted.
Some browsers allow add-ons that block advertisements. Use them well.

Information

One of the best ways to make people aware of the dangers and problems of internet is to inform them.
As children are younger and younger when they go on internet, information should be given age-appropriate, clear, and with rules that allow no exceptions.

When children grow up, these rules need adjustments.
Information and explanations should be repeated and the dangers of not following the rules should be explained well enough. Young people tend to get curious by what they're not allowed to do. A booklet with paper and magazine articles about what happens with people when they not follow the basic rules of internet is a perfect means to convey information and rules when these young people reach a certain age.
Ofcourse the parents, teachers and others are role models, so they should behave accordingly.

Rules

1. Never ever provide your real name on internet.
Use an allias you like.
As always the law gets insight from real life and creates rules afterwards. Some sites state that they should give real life information according to the law.
Make children aware that sites which require real name and other private information should not do so, and they should consult the parents what to do.
As small children won't use bank accounts, taxforms and online sites that require true private data this rule applies always.
Schools often make the mistake that they use schedules mentioning the names of the pupils. These schedules should be behind passwords, or the school can use the aliasses children use online. Pupilnumbers seem to be unfriendly, but they guarantee more safety online.

2. Never ever give the name or other information about yourself, your family and friends online.
Not in mail, not in blogs, not at all.
So don't mention where your father works. No names, no addresses, no phone numbers.
Don't mention the name of your school, nor place a link to your school on your site. Those who know you, know where to go. If necessary only provide the extension of the url, so family members and friends know where to go.

3. Your passwords should not be given to anyone but your parents.
Keep them in a booklet beside the computer, so you won't forget them.
Allow your parents to know the password too, so they know you trust them and they can trust you.
When you're requested to give your password and you're not sure if you should give it...ask your parents.

4. Don't save private information on your computer.
When you need to keep certain information available. Use the booklet beside your computer.

5. Never agree to meet someone without others in a chatroom, unless you're absolutely sure that person can be trusted. The basic rules of internet apply there too.

6. Never agree to meet someone offline unless your parents are involved and one of them goes with you.
Because there are people with bad intentions who  act like a child, or act like they're your age to make you believe you're safe, make an appointment at a public place and never ever go without someone else.

7. Never send pictures or place them on your site without your parent's consent.
Pictures often reveal private information and enable criminals to find you.
Older young people often attend social networking sites like hyves, facebook and such and love to share their photos.
Don't.
It's fun and others do it too. But do you know that quite some young people didn't get a place for practical training or a job because their potential employer had a good look at a person's behaviour at those sites?
When you really feel the need to share photos with friends, there's no need to make the whole world watch them too.

8. When people or messages make you uncomfortable inform your parents.
If necessary they'll inform people who can take action, like forummoderators, siteowners or even the service providers.
Ofcourse you'll behave perfectly OK online too. So you won't bully, won't use use improper language, won't gossip, etc etc.

9. Don't click any buttons that make you agree with installing something, or buttons you don't expect on a site.
Often they contain virusses or trojans which will infect the computer.
Most problems you'll encounter at sites with games. Sometimes unintentionally clicking a picture brings you to a site that makes you press a button to agree you want to leave that site. Just close your browser. If necessary use taskmanagement to do so.

10. Keep your emailadresses in a booklet, not in your emailprogram.
A worm can infect the computers of all your contacts, a hacker can access all your contacts.
It's best to get an emailaddress online with a trusted provider, like gmail or yahoo.
Even in the emailenvironment you should behave properly and refrain from improper language, as many emailproviders keep the mails for future reference.

11. Stay OK.

Yes I know: the stay OK rule is a number eleven in a list of ten.
But it's important you won't make the mistakes others made.

So don't stay online too long.

Use a good chair, place the keyboard and screen at proper heights and adjust those heights often when you're growing.

Don't eat when you're online, because it is very habit forming and it makes you overeat without even realising it.

Homework first.

Be aware of the fact that all information online, whether it's given through chat, MSN, in forums, on sites, in comments or anywhere else can be used by those who don't have good intentions.
Posting somewhere reveals your emailaddress.
So it's a good idea to keep a special emailadress for school, family and real life friends, and have another emailadress for your activities online. Some even use a special emailadress when they go to a new place on internet.

Be aware that all laws apply online too. So you can't take an image or photo somewhere and post it on your blog because you like it.  Copyrightviolations can result in legal action against you.

Remember that in case you find unwanted information online, someone steals your blogtexts, bullies you, etc etc. there are people who can deal with it. Don't hesitate to contact them or have your parents contact them.
Sometimes young people want to solve their own problems, which is indeed a sign of development, but when you've caused problems to your computer, don't go to the first forum you see. Let someone deal with it who understands computers. Ofcourse you can learn a lot then.


Don't forget your real life friends or to have fun with your family.

Theatre

I'm not sure if I like theatre.

I've been less than 10 times to a real theatre.

But I've been involved in theatre at school.
Only when I have to make a play with schoolmates I like it.
But when the actors in a play that don't really act well, I need to bite on my lip to keep my mouth shut.
There is no fun when the acting is bad, it distracts me too much.

But when the acting is good, I can enjoy the play a lot.

I love to act. I did try to get in the theatre classes of school,but they took only those who were really good in acting. I just had too little experience.
Too bad for me, more fun for them. I don't have a problem with that.
As long they don't make fun of those classes, I think its fine.

Well it think this is enough for now. Thanks for reading it.

Music

I love music!

It gives me happiness, supports me when I feel down, gives me the creeps etc.

I mostly love pop music but I also like classic and rock.
I love, seriously love Japanese music. I like a bit of all but don't give me metal, it gives me a headache.

I don't really understand what they say. Some words, but thats all. I think Taylor Swift is a good singer.
Maddi Jane, someone who has some clips on youtube, is a good singer too.

It seems I like most songs with soul.
But I don't have real music preferences. Everything is just fine.

Movies

I love movies that are: romantic, funny, fantasy, have action and even a bit sadness.

Apart from the children's movies, my first movie was something with dinosaurs. I remember that I cried the first time, and a few months ago I just saw a piece of it and I had to cry again. It was on a sad moment.

I love the movies: Harry Potter, Camp Rock , Twilight Saga and the movies of Hayao Miyazaki. Those are good.

It seems that I'm not a person who is addicted to movies. I'm glad I'm not because I don't like to see a movie thousand times.

We're going to:

Oh yes! Oh yes!

We're going to......

We almost arrived too late at school because of the slippery roads.
It took us ages to get to the busstation. It was very dangerous.

Then there were too many people for the amount of seats in the schoolhall, because all the parents were there too.

Ofcourse someone had to tell things we already knew before they put a large map in front of us all and then our group was announced.

We're going to: Linares in Spain!!

I can't wait...

I can't wait.

This evening is very important to me.

Next year, in spring, I'll participate in a student exchange and this evening we'll hear which country will be our partner country.

As soon as I know more I'll blog about it.

Ice and school

When we woke up the world was covered in ice.
It was freezing and all the water from the rain and melted snow was changed into ice.

I had to go to school, but it was quite a job to get there.
First I had to walk...ahem...slippery slip, through the neighbourhood. The streets were mirrors.

Then I arrived at the main roads were parts of the streets had been treated with salt, so the cars drove rather fast. That was dangerous, because at the crossings there was more wind and so there suddenly was ice again.

So watching the trafficlights wasn't enough to be safe.

I nearly fell three times.

I was just in time at school.
The teacher of the first hour kept the door open for those who were a bit late and she let me in too.
That safes me coming back to school at 8 tomorrow morning, which means I have to be up at 6. So I was very grateful for that.

Going back home was far easier, but when I came back from ballet it was freezing again.
I was so happy to be home again!

I want shiny nails: help!!

A few weeks ago I was in the shoppingcentre where they were hosting a special event.
It was for kids my age and a bit older.
It was too crowded, so I went.

The next day a friend showed me her nails.
Someone had moved a block of something grey over them and now they were very shiny.
Clearly it had been some polish thing.

Now I wonder what that grey thing was.
Who can help me?