Clancy Tucker's Blog: 27 November 2012 - Guest Young Adult

GUEST

YOUNG ADULT

'LC'

G'day guys,

Today I welcome another young adult as my guest - 'LC', an exceptional young woman with so many talents. LC is one of my 17 young readers who read my manuscripts and complete a simple questionnaire to keep me on track. Welcome, LC. Let it rip ...

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOU – GENDER, AGE AND PERSONALITY.
Well, I am a 15-year-old Aussie girl who loves reading, animals, horse-riding, music, Irish dancing and being with my friends.

WHICH COUNTRY DO YOU LIVE IN?

Australia!!

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR FAMILY?
We are a regular, (if slightly dysfunctional!), generally happy family. Yeah, sure, we have the normal family disagreements, etc., but we resolve them quickly and are just a really close family.

DO YOU LIVE IN A CITY, RURAL, BEACHSIDE, HIGH-RISE OR DESERT AREA?
I live in a semi-rural area, in between two small towns. We have 35acres of grassy paddocks, with seven horses, two cows, a chicken, two ducks, a dog, two cats and a rabbit to inhabit them.

DO YOU ATTEND A PRIVATE OR GOVERNMENT SCHOOL?
I attend a private, Catholic school, which is part boarding school.

WHAT YEAR ARE YOU CURRENTLY ATTENDING?
Right now I am in year 10.

IS IT AN ALL GIRLS / BOYS SCHOOL, OR CO-ED?
My school is co-ed, with both day students and boarders. I am a day student.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE AND DISLIKE ABOUT SCHOOL?
I love that my school is co-ed, so that we can mix with both boys and girls, which means we can form close and lasting friendships with all kinds of people.

WHAT SUCKS MOST ABOUT THE TEACHERS?
Nothing, really. I have great teachers, generally; especially my current English teacher. A few can be a bit irritating when they tell us to work in silence, but, hey, that’s life!

HAVE YOU BEEN BULLIED AT SCHOOL? BRIEFLY, WHAT HAPPENED?
Yes, actually. Basically, two girls were making nasty comments about myself and a friend to our other friends, and in front of our faces, but not to us. There were several incidents where the girls would say horrible things about my friend in my presence, and did the same about me in her presence. They would ask my other friends to tell me to move away from them in class, which my friends refused to do, and they spread rumours around about my friend to our year level. They also excluded us from invites to social events and told our other friends, who they did invite, that we weren’t allowed near these events.

DO YOU HAVE A PART-TIME JOB AFTER SCHOOL?
No, but I work at my family business on Saturdays, and am on the lookout for a part-time job elsewhere in my local area.

WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND AND WHY?
Hmm, that’s a hard one, because I have more than one. The best friend I have known the longest, ever since we were tiny baby girls, lives in Tasmania, so we keep in contact via letters and social networking. We tell each other absolutely everything, and are always there for each other in emergency situations with a quick, mad texting session to sort out serious boy dramas and the like; no stretch of ocean can keep us apart!!! I have a best friend that goes to another school, and she’s in the year below me, and we still keep in contact and catch up. Finally, I have three best friends at my school who I can tell anything and everything and know that I’ll always be able to count on them to cheer me up and make me laugh, and who I can talk about the most random and bizarre things with. All of these people are my best friends because they are always there for me, I can trust them with anything and everything, and they are amazingly fun to be around.

IS RELIGION IMPORTANT TO YOUR DAILY LIFE? WHY?
Yes and no. At school we say a prayer each morning and we go to church occasionally, but I don’t devote my life to my faith. Religion is always there, and I try to live my life as a good Christian.

WHAT OTHER INTERESTS DO YOU HAVE – SPORT, HORSE-RIDING, READING, MUSIC? TELL US MORE.
Well, all of the above, almost!! I ride horses, I play three musical instruments – the flute, the violin and the piano – and I love to read! I think that I spend the majority of my life with a book in my hand, and I love to get totally lost inside a good book. My mum always says that she could take the house away while I’m reading, and I wouldn’t notice it!!

IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO BE WHATEVER YOU WANTED, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I’m really not sure. There are so many amazing things out there that I wouldn’t know where to begin! I would love to be an animal scientist and bring back extinct species through cloning, etc., or an amazing author, or a helicopter pilot. So many choices!!!

ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?
Yes, I am. The way I see it is that if we want the world to be the best it can be; green, fresh air, open spaces and rural lands and areas, then we have to look after it, so that ourselves and future generations can enjoy it.

HAVE YOU TRAVELLED OUTSIDE YOUR OWN COUNTRY? WHERE?
No, I haven’t. I have only been to a few places in Australia, such as Tasmania, Victoria, Adelaide, ACT (Canberra) and NSW (only Sydney). I am hoping to travel to Europe next year with my Irish Dancing academy, but no solid plans have been made as yet.

IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO SAY SOMETHING TO ALL WORLD LEADERS, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?
I would say to them that they have a responsibility to keep this world on track and to make it a better place. They have to make the right choices for the good of this world, because our futures lie in their hands.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
At the moment? Pass my exams!! I really don’t have anything major planned for the future, yet. I still need to figure out where my current path is heading, and I’m taking each day as it comes. I would like to go to university one day, but I don’t yet know what I’ll be studying. I still have so many ideas about my future careers running through my head, and I haven’t really decided upon a career that I really am 100% passionate about yet.

WHAT WORRIES YOU MOST?
Failure and rejection. I am afraid that I won’t be good enough, and that I will be rejected by people; universities, future employers, guys, etc.

WHAT WORRIES YOU MOST ABOUT THE WORLD?
That one day, it will be a bad place, full of pollution, war, violence, hardship, etc. I don’t want that sort of a world for my future children and family.

DO YOU THINK BEING A PARENT IS A TOUGH JOB?
Yes, absolutely. My respect goes out to all parents out there, trying to guide your children to being the best they can be, and achieving their dreams. Turning them into role models, leaders, good Samaritans, world-changers and the like. Love ya work.

DO YOU EVER STAND UP FOR YOURSELF OR THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS?
Yes, I do. If I see people bullying, harassing or picking on someone else, I let them know what I think of it!

WHO DO YOU ADMIRE MOST? WHY?
My mum. She has worked tremendously hard to get us where we are; we have our own house, we go to good schools, we are happy, we have fun, we have so many animals, and just generally have great lives.

DO YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS (Twitter, Internet, MSN, Yahoo, Skype, emails & Facebook) TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR FRIENDS?

Yes, I do. I have three email accounts and a Facebook account, and I use these to send work to and from school, and to keep in contact with friends, through emails, Facebook and texting.

DO YOU THINK POLITICIANS AND WORLD LEADERS ARE DOING A GOOD JOB?
I believe that they are trying very hard to do what is right by the world, but they are only human, and cannot be expected to be perfect. And besides, many people have many different opinions as to what is right and wrong for the world, and not everyone is going to be happy, no matter what is done. I think they are doing the best job they know how to do, and I would not like to be in their shoes.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU THE MOST?
Possibilities. Knowing that I can be anything I want to be if I put in the effort, knowing that I can take opportunities that could lead anywhere, and knowing that my life is just beginning, and that there is so much out there to see, do and experience.

WHAT, OR WHO, HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOUR LIFE? WHY?
Again, it would have to be my mum. She has always been there for me when I need her, and has tried her hardest to guide me down the right paths. She has always supported me, no matter what, and loves me unconditionally, even if sometimes I don’t appreciate it. She would, and has done, anything and everything I have ever needed her to do and more, and I couldn’t ask for anything different. When I grow up (if ever!), I want to be like her.

DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DAY.
My perfect day would be to have a day where I could gather all of my closest friends in one place and introduce them to eachother (those who haven’t met), then just spending the day doing something exciting, like laser tag, paintballing or something like that, and just generally enjoying life and talking about anything and everything.

DO YOU READ BOOKS?
YES!!!!! I cannot live or function without them. They are an essential of living, and I would be lost without them. My all-time favourite quote is from ‘A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. It goes, “A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone, if it’s to keep its edge.” – Thank-you Tyrion Lannister!!!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK? WHY?
I don’t really have one; I can’t choose!! Some of my favourite books and authors are J.K. Rowling, Clancy Tucker, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials, Christopher Paolini (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance), Derek Landy, the Pretty Little Liars series and my new-found obsession, the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series by George R. R. Martin!!! All of the books/series’ by these authors are wonderful stories with amazing storylines and incredible depth and meaning. They are my favourites because I can get so totally lost within their pages that I can almost forget reality and live inside each of their individual worlds.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE? WHY?
Again, I don’t really have one; there are too many! Some really amazing ones are the Harry Potters, Avatar, The Last Airbender, Australia, The Hunger Games, Pretty Little Liars the TV series, and HBO’s amazing series, ‘Game of Thrones’, based on ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series by George R. R. Martin! These movies/series’/TV shows are amazingly moving, mind-blowing and heart-stoppingly exciting. I could watch them (and have!!) several times over, and each time picked up on something new.

Copyright Clancy Tucker (c)

WHAT WAS THE WORST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?
The worst thing to happen to my family was when my auntie passed away after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) at the age of 44. I was only young at the time, just seven years old, but it was a pretty traumatic experience for all of us, and I remember it really clearly.

WHAT WAS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU?
Wow, where do I start?! So many amazing things have happened to me over my lifetime that it’s impossible to choose one! Some of the highlights would have to be meeting my best friends, getting my 96-year-old piano for my birthday, the arrivals of all my horses/ponies, winning Horse of the Year, Tasmania twice and coming Reserve the third time, and one ordinary day spent at my grandparents when I read a manuscript by one ‘Clancy Tucker’, who turned out to be my second-cousin, and which opened up a new world of reading, and how my amazing friendship with Clancy Tucker was formed.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE?
I would combat global warming, rid the world of poverty, and go around “Kicking evil very hard in the face.” – Thanks go out to Derek Landy for that awesome quote.

DO YOU THINK MUCH ABOUT WORLD POVERTY, REFUGEES, ASYLUM SEEKERS AND HOMELESS PEOPLE?
Yes, of course. I pity them, and I hope that one day soon, their lives will change for the better, and I donate to charities whenever I can.

DO YOU DO ANY CHARITABLE WORK?
Yes, I do. I donate money to charities, clothes and toys to the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul, etc., and I have done volunteer work at Edgar’s Mission, Animal Rescue Centre.

WHAT, OR WHO, ANNOYS YOU MOST?
First World Problems. It really bugs me when people complain about the most minor things, like not being able to go to some concert, or not liking their hair, or breaking a fingernail. There are people out there who are starving, homeless, enslaved or dying from treatable illnesses because they have no money and live in countries with little resources. Sure, I’ve been guilty of it, but I soon realise that there are others with bigger problems than mine, and I stop complaining.

A special book?

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT SO FAR?
I’m not sure. I haven’t done anything majorly spectacular in my lifetime. I guess I could say my horse riding, but I stopped going to shows a few years ago. Since then, my biggest achievements are being a part of the school production, getting good exam results and being asked to dance in a military tattoo in Hong Kong with some others from my dancing academy. Unfortunately, I was unable to go, but just being asked to perform in it was amazing.

HAVE YOU WON ANY PRIZES AND AWARDS? TELL US MORE.
With my horse riding, I’ve won many ribbons and some trophies. I won Horse of the Year, Tasmania when I was three, came runner up when I was four, and won again when I was 5. Besides that, I have gotten academic awards at school, and the occasional ribbon on school sports days.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE PLACE? WHERE?
I don’t have a specific place that is my favourite. I like being in wide, open spaces, like grassy fields, or by the sea on a hot day, and I love bushland, and especially forests. There’s something so peaceful about them, and every step through them is an adventure.

DO YOU HAVE ANY REGRETS?
I have a few, but nothing major. I regret little things like missed opportunities, comments made in a conflict and acting on impulse. I especially regret it when I snap at my mum if I’m having a bad day, so I have learnt to think before I speak, and if I slip up I always apologise straight after.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
I am afraid of disappointing my family and friends. I seriously fear not being good enough to make them proud of me, and tell me I’ve done well. Also, I’m kind of frightened of clowns. A lot. And spiders, too.

WHAT DO YOU MOST LOOK FORWARD TO?
Life. The future. Anything and everything that is going to happen to me in my lifetime, the good and the bad. The good will be what it will, the bad will teach me important life lessons and help me to better understand life itself, and what it means to be a part of it. Whatever opportunities that may come up, I cannot wait to grab and run with them. Whether there are dangers to be faced, choices to be made, fun to be had or bonds to be formed, I want to be ready to take it all in my stride and live my life to its potential.