We`re Just Girls

Wilbur’s World
Wilbur
shapes · former
sizes · størrelser
surprises · overraskelser
We’re Just
Girls...
We come in all shapes and sizes,
We have different personalities and qualities,
And we hold so many surprises.
For we have different looks.
Different hair types and hair colours,
Different faces and different hearts,
There’s no one like us anywhere,
We’re all special.
So when you feel like you’re going to fall back down,
To the ground,
Hold yourself back up.
We’re girls of the past, present and the future.
Katie, 15
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Fight Shyness!
Come on girls!
You know the situation – everything INSIDE you says “Yes, I’ll go for it,
I’ll ask if we can …” But when it comes to the actual ACTION, nothing
happens. Not a word comes out. Your feet refuse to move. You’re numb!
Being shy is a tough thing, especially if you are a teenager. If you’re fed
up hiding behind an invisible wall of safety, you’ll hopefully find the
­following steps useful. Help yourself come out of your shell:
1 Make a true commitment, a promise to yourself to step away from shyness.
2 Take notice of the situations where you feel
shyness is holding you back most strongly.
3 The next time you are in this situation, do
something just a little bit more outgoing than
you normally would (smile, make eye contact,
say “hi”, ask a question, etc.). Rome was not
built in a day!
4 Relax and remember that mistakes are part of
life and they help you learn. We all act like a
geek at times.
5 Repeat steps 1-4 until you have reached your
desired level of ­“outgoingness”.
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Be patient with yourself
Allowing yourself to be more outgoing will not happen overnight.
You must practise and be patient. Some people have to start
with small, easy things then slowly work up to harder things (for
­instance starting a ­conversation with a boy!).
Guts
Basically it comes down to taking chances and risks. Do you have
the guts to do this? Of course you have. It IS scary to stretch
oneself beyond the comfort zone, but not impossible. And think of
it, what is the worst-case-scenario? NOTHING, nothing will happen
if you fail. It’s completely acceptable to be afraid. Having guts
means going on with a project even though it seems ­impossible!
Good Luck!
shyness · generthed
steps · skridt
outgoing · udadvent
worst-case-scenario · det værste der kan ske
39
Ask
Dear Alysia,
I have to know if I’m a good friend. Every
time I try to be a good friend, I feel like I’m
not doing a very good job at it. I wonder
Alysia
why it seems so ­difficult for me. Can you
help me?
- Patricia
Welcome to my agony column.
If you have a problem you need
advice with I am here to help you.
Just write to askalysia@...
Dear Alysia,
I am quite annoyed and I hope you can
help me. My little brother is a pain in the…
unmentionable. I am fourteen, he is 10 and
just doesn’t get that girls my age want to
be left alone. Every time he comes home, he
rushes into my room without even knocking
on my door. And the outrageous number
of questions he seems to have! I’m about to
burst! For months now I have only answered
Slobert, his real name is Robert, in ones­yllable words, and he still doesn’t understand a thing. My parents are completely
ignorant, they just give me the usual bla-bla
about behaving, being a good role model
for him, bearing with him because he is so
young, and so on. I wish I had a place of
my own without ANY interference from my
family!
Desperate Dalia
agony · kval, problem
unmentionable · unævnelige
one-syllable · enstavelsescontain · indeholde
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Dear Dalia,
I strongly believe that a lot of girls recognize
the situation you are describing in your letter
– but do not worry too much, there are ways of
surviving your crisis. First of all, I think you owe
it to your brother and yourself to sit down and
explain how you feel about his bursting into your
room and talking non stop. Try to keep your voice
down and talk to him in a friendly tone.
Have you ever thought of WHY he is so fond of
your company? Why does he want to talk to you
so much? From this angle his behaviour could be
seen as a compliment!
Perhaps you could agree on special Robert-days,
when you have the time. But tell him he must
knock on your door before entering. What about
buying some sweets and rewarding him when he
remembers the knock? I bet it is much nicer to
be told when you do something right instead of
always being told the things you’ve done wrong!
Good luck,
Alysia
Dear Patricia,
Young people are often accused of not being selfcritical, but your letter tells me this is not always
the case. The fact that you are actually wondering if you’re a good friend, says a lot about your
character. You’re obviously a caring person and
you are willing to do something special; you are
willing to change.
All this is important if you want to develop good
friendship skills, but what is the definition of a
good friend? What is a good friend to YOU? You
could sit down and make a list of ten things that
are important friendship skills according to you.
My list would contain words such as, respect, fun,
honesty, loyalty, trust and concern. You could
perhaps start by showing that you are concerned.
Remember, by writing to me you have already
taken the first step, go on, you can do it. I would
be very happy to hear from you in a couple of
months.
Just give it a go,
Alysia
?s?
Friend
?
?
Dear Alysia,
It really troubles me that I’m not sure if my
boyfriend still likes me. He keeps talking to
this other girl even more than he talks to
me. My very close friend has advised me to
simply dump him, but it is not as easy as
that since we’re working closely together on
a school project. I could wait till after the
project, but what should I say or do to dump
him? Please help me.
From Jennifer
Dear Jennifer,
My advice to you is first and foremost to have a
talk with your boyfriend. You must explain to him
as honestly as possible how you feel and then
LISTEN to what he has to say. Maybe you have
misjudged his feelings OR maybe his feelings for
you have changed. This talk may not be easy; on
the other hand I suppose that you are wasting a
lot of precious time worrying as it is now.
If you decide to break up, try to still be friends.
That will give you a good chance of finishing your
school project. I believe that you should speak
honestly about your feelings and treat people
with respect. Remembering this should make the
talk with your boyfriend a little easier.
Good luck,
Alysia
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PTY S@DAY.
BRING YR MOB.
CU § J ;·))
Sleepover
Throwing a sleepover party is great fun – being together, listening to
music, telling jokes, gossiping, giggling, watching movies together all
night are real girly activities. But before launching a party, you should
run through the advice below:
J
J
J
J
J
L
L
J
Ask you parents about having a party.
Is your party going to have a special theme, for instance: A Scavenger
Hunt, A Halloween Party, Pop Diva Look Alike or perhaps A Karaoke Party?
Decide how many people to invite and send out invitations via e-mail,
snail mail or use the phone. Do not pass out invitations in class unless
you are inviting all the girls.
Consider what kind of food you are going to serve; junk food or healthy
food, what suits the theme, if you have one?
Make sure you have at least two movies to keep the sleepover moving!
Never do something that someone attending the party dislikes, plan
things that are fun for everyone.
Never fall asleep first at your OWN sleepover party,
your friends need you as guide to the house.
Enjoy and have fun with your friends.
Make-up
What makes
a ­sleepover ­
successful?
Sleepover fun
Pillow fights are fun.
Gossip about boys.
Have tickle fights.
Take a picture of everyone
dressed up.
Call or text boys in the
night and have a chat.
Watch movies.
Try one another’s make-up.
Put on a fashion show.
Act like famous people in
a Celebrity Show
Tell stories.
Dance to music.
Cheryl, 13
When having a sleepover, always
have make-up ready. I know what
you’re thinking – another mess,
but never mind. One idea could
be to have adult ­supervision!! Set
up stands. The first is the ­clearing
station – you will need make-up
remover and Kleenex, and do not
forget nail polish remover. Next,
have all the girls get their make-up,
except for the nail polish (you will
do that later). Have them all go
into a bathroom and start putting
it on. Make another stand with nail
polish, and have the girls polish
their nails. Last but not least,
don’t forget to have the girls take
their make-up off before bed (if
they ever go to bed).
Annabel, 14
gossiping · sladre, sludre
mess · rod, svineri
supervision · vejledning
42
43
Imagine reading your horoscope one
morning and it goes like this:
Virgo: A very fat man will sit next to you
on the bus, and he won’t have had a bath
since Christmas.
Not a very good start, is it?
This is what Jess feels her life is like. She
is surrounded by parents who get in her
way and treat her like a baby, a best friend
who has the perfect body, a granny who
thinks death is just around the next corner
and on top of all this – Jess has a crush on
drop-dead-gorgeous-but-out-of-reach Ben
Jones.
In the extract you’re about to read Jess is
­experimenting with breast tissues…
Girl, 15 – Charming but Insane
Jess filled a small plastic bag with water, tied it up tightly and secured
it with a rubber band. It was quite gel-like. She wobbled it around in her
hand. It did indeed move rather like breast tissue. She didn’t have enough
breast tissue of her own to have conducted personal research on the
subject. But she had watched a lot of pop videos on MTV.
She wasn’t quite sure about the water, though. Perhaps a faint ­sloshing
would be heard? And what if she sprang a leak? Jess shuddered at the
thought of puddles on the floor. The jokes about potty-training would
last a lifetime. Maybe there was a food substance a little less watery
than water. Jess ransacked the food cupboard, and her eyes fell on a tin
of soup. Minestrone!
Getting it into the bags was a little bit more laborious and messy,
but fifteen minutes later, Jess had a cleavage. The bags of soup really
worked. Amazing! She was going to have a ball! Now all she needed was
the No. 109 bus which would take her all the way to Tiffany’s house. She
just had to spend four and a half hours on her eyebrows, first.
Tiffany lived in what used to be an old mansion house which had been
converted into flats. Her family’s apartment covered most of the ground
floor. Their sitting room was huge: half the size of the school gym.
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breast tissue · brystvæv
cleavage · kavalergang
daintity · kræsent
reincarnation · genfødsel
T­ iffany’s kitchen was amazing, with a high ceiling. Jess found Flora in
there, surrounded by boys and picking daintily at a pizza.
Nobody had noticed Jess’s cleavage. Jess didn’t know whether to be
pleased or furious. She decided it was just as well. She was beginning to
smell of minestrone, which was unfortunate. She had doused herself in
her mother’s Calvin Klein. But the sweaty, soupy smell was winning. Jess
was a bit worried. You shouldn’t be able to smell the soup, surely, unless
it had escaped somehow? She glanced down at her cleavage. Well, somebody had to. There was no sign of anything wrong.
Flora threw back her head and batted her diamante eyelashes at the
ceiling. “This is such an amazing kitchen!” she breathed. “It must be
really old. It’s like a palace or something. You can imagine a princess
sitting here after a night out at a ball, having a cup of hot chocolate and
telling her butler all about it.” Jess sometimes suspected that in her most
private dreams, Flora imagined she was a reincarnation of Princess Diana.
Except, of course, that couldn’t be, because Flora had been born before
Princess Diana had died.
”Notice anything different about me?” demanded Jess, halfway
through her sandwich.
“Your hair! Your hair is great! How have you made it stick up like that?”
“No, not my hair, dumbass.”
Flora’s eyes ran up and down. “Oh my God! Your tights! Fantastic!
­Fishnets are wicked! So Paris!”
“Not my tights, you fool!” yelled Jess. “My cleavage!”
Flora inspected Jess’s cleavage. “It looks great!” she said. “I don’t
know what you’re so worried about! You’ve got a perfectly good cleavage!
Look at it – it’s fine!” Jess felt deeply depressed. So Flora thought this
was her own cleavage. Suddenly she decided she wouldn’t tell Flora about
the bags of soup. It was just a little secret between herself and her boobs
– which were called Bonnie and Clyde, incidentally.
Jess had got into the habit of talking to her boobs. “Grow, you lazy
­so-and-so’s!” That kind of thing. Only in private, though. Then it was
just a short step to giving them names. Jess’s mum didn’t allow pets. The
great advantage of boobs over dogs was that walkies didn’t have to be a
special expedition. Every time Jess went down to the corner shop for a
new ­lipstick, Bonnie and Clyde got an outing.
And Jess’s boobs were certainly getting their biggest outing yet.
Jess ­finished her sandwich, and she and Flora strolled into the main
room, where deafening rap music was pouring out of Tiffany’s enormous
­speakers. Ben Jones may not have noticed Jess’s cleavage, even Flora may
not have noticed, but Whizzer noticed right away. To be continued on the CD
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8
Sk
becky
Interviewer: Would you mind telling a bit about yourself, your age, family,
where you live etc.?
Sk8becky: My name is Rebecca Syracopoulos, I’m 16 and from Long Beach,
CA. I am a sophomore at Millikan High School and maintain a 4.0 G.P.A.
average. Besides skateboarding I also love to snowboard, wakeboard, surf
and play tennis. I enjoy art and have future ambitions to work in graphic
arts and the design field in general. My mother is Hispanic, from Mexico,
and my father is of Greek descent. My father was a gymnast in both High
School and College. I have one brother, Michael, age 13. He is also a
skateboarder and we share this sport in common.
When did you first become interested in skating?
When I was 10 years old and I saw my neighbor skate every day. As I
became better, I was asked by Patty Segovia to join the “All Girl Skate
Jam” which promotes girls skateboarding and allows us girls to become
involved in all sorts of skateboarding functions and related activities
including doing demos at various trade or charity functions.
Have you got any skater idols?
Ryan Sheckler, Paul Rodriquez and Bucky Lasek among many other great
skaters.
Do you see skating as a sport or a hobby?
I see skating as a sport not a hobby because skating has become bigger,
more popular and requires a lot of dedication and talent. More girls are
also starting to participate in this sport.
Do you ever think of the danger?
Yes, it’s a dangerous sport and I’ve broken bones. But I won’t quit!
What makes it so cool to skate?
That I do it for myself and it is an individual sport.
What do your friends think of your skating? Your parents?
My friends think that my skating is totally cool and my parents are 100%
supportive.
Have you ever had negative remarks concerning your skating?
Yes, once somebody said to me that there is no future in skating, but
that is so not true!
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sophomore · andet års studerende
G.P.A. · grade point average
decent · oprindelse
promotes · støtter
Do you take part in competitions?
Yes, I do compete. In 2005 I skated in the advanced 13 and over division
street skateboarding competition for the California Amateur Skateboard
League. I finished with a 3rd place ranking amongst all boys. I also
­received 3rd place in the Sony “Lords of Dogtown” film promotion street
skateboarding contest held at Simi Valley, California. I was the only girl
skateboarder, 48 boys competed. In August I skated in the girls’ street
skateboarding contest “Slam City Jam” competition in Vancouver, Canada.
This is a professional World Cup competition. I made it into the finals and
was placed 7th.
What is your best result?
I would have to say taking a 5th place medal in 2005 California State
Games in street skateboarding, advanced 13 and over division. The skate
park in Chula Vista, CA is an extreme and difficult park to skate. I was
competing against boys from both northern and southern ­California.
Will you be skating in ten years?
Hopefully, in World Cup competitions and in Barcelona, Spain, and all
over the world!
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Sk8er Boi
He was a boi
She was a girl
Can I make it any more obvious
He was a punk
She did ballet
What more can I say
He wanted her
She’d never tell secretly she wanted him as well
But all of her friends
Stuck up their nose
They had a problem with his baggy clothes
About Boys
Trinny: Boys, boys, boys! I’ll tell you the one problem with the school
dances and boys. It might be their first opportunity to slap on some
­aftershave and they haven’t yet understood that less is more. So when you
go up to him, you just get an overwhelming wave of a sickly, disgusting
smell and no matter how good looking he is, you just walk away. So boys,
remember less is more and it’s better to smell of clean, fresh soap or your
own musky (and we’re not talking unwashed) smell, than some chemical
aftershave.
He was a skater boi
She said see you later boi
He wasn’t good enough for her
She had a pretty face
But her head was up in space
She needed to come back down to earth
Susannah: I would add, don’t take breath freshener if you’re just about
to snog a girl. Just take chewing gum because it tastes so much better. As
far as clothes go, don’t feel you have to wear a tie – wear a sharp suit with
an open shirt. It’s just like James Bond, sophisticated, sharp and cool.
5 years from now
She sits at home
Feeding the baby she’s all alone
She turns on tv
Guess who she sees
Skater boi rockin up MTV
She calls up her friends
They already know
And they’ve all got
Tickets to see his show
She tags along
Stands in the crowd
Looks up at the man that she turned down
obvious · tydeligt
tags along · hænger på, tager med
turned down · afviste
48
He was a skater boi
She said see you later boi
He wasn’t good enough for her
Now he’s a super star
Slamming on his guitar
Does your pretty face see what he’s worth?
Trinny: Also there’s one thing about looking at a man thinking he’s got
lovely slick back hair. If you’ve put on too much Brylcream and a girl puts
her hands through it, they get them stuck in that “pile of weeds” and it’s
not a good idea. So remember, it’s best not to use too much product on
your hair. There’s nothing a girl loves more than putting her hands through
your tousled locks!
Susannah: The forbidden subject – spots! This is much harder for you,
opportunity · lejlighed
wave · bølge
tousled · uglede
locks · lokker
boys, because it’s very difficult to know how to deal with them. Boys
usually have them because of teenage acne, or you might just be a bit
dirty with your face, so remember a really good scrub is the best way to
deal with them and if you have got one or two, do NOT pick before you
go to the party! If you do feel tempted to pick, you should scrub your
face with a nice facial scrub, and while your face is still warm, you get a
sterilised needle, which you can buy from a chemist, and you gently pluck
a ripe spot, instead of using your fingers and forcing the stuff out of the
spot. It’ll leave a big red mark and it’ll make you feel even worse. Don’t
put cover up on it – we can always see it on you.
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