In celebration of the schools 150th birthday (an event that was not run into the ground but run through the earth and is leaving the solar system as we speak) the parents and students worked together on a quilt and while looking as my friend Jessica's square it occurred to me just how odd we will be remembered as. I plan to take an opportunity to explain how a most hapless group of misfits joined together to become one of the most solid friendship groups in the school.
One word binds us together... insanity.
I have often heard myself or one of my friends utter the sentence 'I really don't think I'm that weird'. But on review I must confess... yes... we truly are. The P.D.D.Y.D, as we call ourselves, the name shall be explained in time, started small.
A group of five girls in year seven, four from junior school and one new student. Although me and Jessica new each other since year two we had never been great friends and other then that relationship, none of us knew each other. The five included Jessica, who completed the HSC over three years and did three unit modern history for the HSC when she should have been in year 8, Josie, who could speak fluent elvish, and was in fact just younger then Jessica, Hannah, who proves it is impossible to escape politics when you have two journalists for parents and was also to be skipped ahead a year before us but to remain a friend, Kathryn, who asked to skip a year because she was bored, and introduced us to the concept of poking wars. And myself, who was only just coming out of my shell and yet still did not find anything weird about the prospect of skipping round tables singing 'A pirates life for me'...
As I mentioned before the original group were all child prodigies of varying levels, but this was not to last as girls came who showed personality traits valued just as highly (of more so) then mind boggling intelligence. These including things such as Isabelle's moral core which I would continue to be impressed with as the years continued, or Rika's strength, she handled loss and grief with a grace I scarcely imagined possible. It was truly a remarkable group of people that was only to grow in size as the years continued.
But... where is this insanity I mentioned? Let us delve into the biz arr trends and fads our group has witnessed and passed through. When the majority of girls became obsessed with 'fluro' we decided to descend into our childhood and became sailor moon fanatics. This is an embarrassing truth to be sure, but we could be certain that no other teenager would dare ad mitt to it. Each of us developed our own alter egos, I was super sailor earth, this fascination like all fads did not last long and the long strands of sailor moons blond hair faded into the distance.
This was in year 8, but the previous year I was to introduce (with varying amounts of success) both Pokemon and Yu-GI-Oh cards. I earned the nickname 'Kiba girl' for my fascination with one card in particular, the blue eyes white dragon. If you do not understand, quickly find a 6 year old boy and he shall explain it to you. Unfortunately I sacrificed my Pokemon cards to the time capsule and my Yu-Gi-Oh cards mysteriously vanished, something that was to happen again two years later as we developed an interest in tarot cards.
These early years were too lead to another fascination... this time inspired by the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean. We formed our own pirate ship and I was captain of the Phoenix. We were assigned our roles and designed the ship, as did another group who we playfully declared war with.
Over these years we also found a constant source of inspiration for our growing insanity and this was the British comedy masters of 'Monty Python', how often we would amuse ourselves with renditions of the black night sketch and the dead parrot sketch. I would often preform one man shows in front of the girls and to this day I question if they were laughing with me or at me. Hopefully with me.
We were also to show our own intelligence and comic genius through the art of parody. Just how can one make the Queen song Bohemian Rhapsody any stranger? Jessica and Hannah combined their twisted minds to solve this question and developed the fruit version with lines such as 'I'm just a vegan nobody loves me'. They went further to bring Monty Python and Lord of the Rings together by transforming the Castle Anthrax sketch from Holy Grail to 'Welcome brave ring bearer, welcome to the castle Cyrathungle,' we never made it past 'a spanking a spanking' when our bodies succumb to uncontrollable fits of hysterics.
But it was not until year ten when the school drastically changed its appearance that we solidified our image as 'the odd ones'. We were forced from the sanctity of our beloved tables because it turned into a construction zone and moved twice, once following the tables and then finally to the grass outside the library. It was on this second move when Kathryn wondered aloud, 'Why do we always do what ever one person suggest', to which I responded, 'because we are a democratic dictatorship'.
During those lunches on the grass we developed one of our most treasured laws in regards to food, 'whats Clare's is Clare's and what's yours is Clare's'. This is not to say I would rob my friends of food, but well aware of my habit of forgetting my own lunch people my friends, in particular Isabelle, started to bring extra and I was able to survive by picking little bits from everyone else. We shared what we had with those of us who needed it and thus became the 'Democratic Dictatorship who believes in Communism'.
Over the next year we developed some of our favorite games including cricket, played with a rolled up bit of aluminum foil and a lunch box lid, and added possibly the strangest part of our political organisation and this was the yellow duck. I myself am still not sure how the yellow duck was introduced but I am told it had something to do with the small ducklings that had decided to make our school pool their home. Our title was finalised 'The People's Democratic Dictatorship of the Yellow Duck' or P.D.D.Y.D for short.
Year 11 opened up many opportunities for us, as seniors we were able to move onto the J-floor and found a new set of tables for the PDDYP to congregate. Next to this was a group of our friends who decided to call themselves the 'Pink Pigeons' and declare war with us... although they were never very successful.
Our group was becoming smaller as slowly girls began to leave the school for various reasons, however, one can never escape. Once a member of the PDDYD you are one for life. It is reassuring to know that no matter how much a friend and I may fight I need only say 'May fleets of forks attack you in your sheep' and we will fall into hysterics at just what complete insanity we deviled into during our schooling years.
And now as the PDDYD moves on and the girls start to look at which Uni they might attend we face the inevitable separation that location will bring. However if there is one thing I have learnt from this amazing group of people, we are stubborn, and we are survivors. I do not think that there is enough space in the universe to fully separate the bonds that we have formed.
In the words of our mentors in the realm of insanity it is now...
Time for something completely different.
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