Picture me here.  Picture me anywhere but here ...

I wish I could get away from the chaos that is my real life.  Not so easy, so I either read books or I imagine myself in far off and distant lands.

Like, for example, I read a book about a boy who lives in Australia.  I wonder what it would be like to live in a place where it is summer in December, or winter in June.  I wonder what it would be like to have kangaroos hopping across the street or koala bears living in trees eating leaves, or hearing the funny way the people "Down Under" talk.

That would be cool.  I have a friend who lives in Sydney, Australia (pen pal), and sometimes I can't understand how he writes because he uses such funny words!  Like, for example, "G'day", which is their way of saying "Hello", the way we do here in America.

Or maybe I could go to Alaska.  (Nah.  Too cold.)  I could live with a friendly Inuit and hunt seal or polar bear for a living or try to keep from slipping on the snow or ice.  

I don't even think so!  Think I'd take Australia over Alaska ... LOL

Or maybe I could go to China and see Tianiman (spelling) Square or the pandas at the Beijing Zoo, maybe even eat moo goo gai pan or egg foo young??  Hmm ... China does sound rather interesting.

Or maybe I could go to Africa and pet a real life cheetah or ride on its back (that is, if the durn thing doen't try to eat me up or let me ride on it!), or watch the different animals gather 'round the feeding hole.  And maybe see the Masai people jumping and hear the rhythmic drumming and singing.  That would be too cool as well.

Yet whenever I open my eyes, I am forced to face my life.  I live with my grandparents because my parents didn't seem to want to bother with me.  Dad remarried, and I couldn't get along with his new wife (my step-mom), so I went to live with grandma and grandpa.  I also have two younger step-sisters who are always getting into my things and in dad's eyes, they can't do anything wrong.  I was always fighting with the girls; I was not happy at home anymore, so I moved in with my grandparents.

In addition to that, I am having problems at school.  The bad bully kids pick on me because I am shorter than most kids (I look eight instead of thirteen), and I have asthma real bad and sometimes end up in the hospital when it really acts up.  I don't play sports; I would rather bury my face in a book or draw pictures of race cars or space ships than to play a wild game of football or soccer.  I'm sorry, but sports just isn't my bag.

Kids call me loser or nerd or threaten to put my head into a dirty, nasty toilet in the boy's john and give me a swirlie (which they have).  I hate school; I wish I could be home-schooled, like my friend, Dobie.  He's always telling me how great it is not to have kids picking on you or getting to do interesting things or meeting other parents and kids who do the home-school thing.  I think that would be cool to have my grandma as my teacher ... :)

I wish my grandma or my grandpa could see how unhappy I am at school.  While I get good grades, I do get teased constantly, and it's starting to wreck my social life.  I HATE it!!  They tell me to give it another chance; maybe in a few months things will change.

I doubt it.  School is just as miserable now as it was on the first day back in September!  I wish Christmas wasn't over: I'd have Christmas break to look forward to (and, of course, all those wonderful sugar cookies or the PRESENTS!).  Yet Christmas is gone, and I have to wait ten and a half more months before Christmas comes around again.  (Sigh ... )

Maybe I ought to bury my face in another book and read until the alarm goes off.  That way, I can go to Africa, Australia, or Alaska and not worry about what the day might bring when I step onto the school bus ... anywhere's better than here!!  

Gosh, I wish real life were that easy ... :(