Choose your own adventure...

Choose your own adventure – September 2025
 
Hello and welcome to our September edition of CHOOSE OUR OWN ADVENTURE! Today our bloggers have come from all over the world and we mean it! TJ was in America eating burgers and waffle fires and joined us for the morning brief via FaceTime... We LOVE this so much that we can connect so far away. TJ wanted to write his blog from California so it's only fair that we start with his blog this week...

Well it’s hot out here in America but really fun and I’ve had good time. I have had so much fun. I went on a scary adventure at California Adventure Park but some of those clown people were not that scary, they were funny and I laughed a lot.  I miss you all my beautiful friends and will see you when I get back next Monday. I went shopping too. – TJ.

​My chosen topic is friends. Friends are the people you hang out with apart from family. You can make friends at school, university, day programs (like Umbrella Support), or work. There are lots of activities you can do with friends, such as playing board games, going to the mall, eating ice cream, or drinking coffee.


I want to write about my handmade friends from the Umbrella Program. I am happy to see them every Monday. I am the only person in this group who was born in anther country. My friends’ favourite things are different from mine. For example, they enjoy birthday parties, but I don’t.


I also have a high school friend. She is very mature, talkative, positive, and bubbly. We talk a lot on WhatsApp, though not consistently because she is busy with her job. We’ve caught up four times already; our latest catch-up was in April 2025. This makes me happy because I enjoy reuniting with people I like. She also has a childlike spirit, loves Disney, and likes plush toys just like me. We’ve been friends since year seven, and I remember we asked each other icebreaker questions on the bus on the way to school camp.


I am usually quiet, but I can be talkative with this friend because I feel comfortable having deep conversations with her.


I used to have another friend, but our friendship ended in year ten. I remember when we were friends, she invited me for lunch at her house, went for a walk afterwards, and invited me to her birthday party too. We had a birthday dinner at a restaurant, and afterward, she blew out candles at her house. After our friendship ended, I didn’t make new friends immediately. Instead, I did colouring. My teachers aide organised a lunch club where special needs kids could do colouring or make loom bands, so I joined that instead.


I also used to have friends from Jakarta. We sometimes hung out at the mall with my mum, brother, her mother, and her sister. Her mother is very cheeky and funny. But now that we are adults, we don’t talk anymore. Adult life is very busy, and she probably has other friends now. It’s okay to lose friends, because at least I still have my Umbrella Support friends and my high school friend to talk to on WhatsApp.


I have some advice for anyone making new friends: ask lots of icebreaker questions with new people. If someone isn’t a good friend, it’s okay to stop being friends with them. Then you can hang out with other friends, or you don’t have to make friends at all if you don’t want to. The most important thing is to do what makes you happy.
Thanks for reading my blog. This is Jacinda signing off. 




Today's blog is a choose your own adventure and I'm going to talk about the cherry blossom festival. 


I recently went to the cherry blossom festival in Wandin East and I had the best day with my friends Beth, Ronalda, Martina and Steph. 


On the way there we listened to my favourite Disney songs and we all sang along together. We played a giant version of connect four, which was a lot of fun. I tried the hula hoop, I was really good at it and so were my friends. I took photos of the cherry blossoms and with all the props they had like chairs and photo frames. We went to the kids hub next where we did some activities and I sat on a bean bag. I made a pretty bracelet for my mum and also did some colouring. I had lunch at the festival, I ordered a potato twister with chicken salt and also had a slice of margarita pizza, it was so yummy.

Before we left we did a drink tasting, I tried cherry juice and a cherry spritzer, I LOVED them. We then headed back to the car and listened to some more Disney songs on the drive back. I had a great day and had so much fun.
This is Claire signing off, see you next week.




Today I am blogging about going to the Collingwood game, but today I am changing the outcome and we won the game.
Nick Daicos is my favourite player in the Collingwood team. Nick Daicos is a really good player and won the mark of the year.


I am pretending that we won the game, but we all know that we lost the game but we know that next year the team will win the Grand final.


I will wear my Collingwood jumper with the number 35 on the back and run on the footy field with the rest of the team. My position on the field will be goal kicking.
GO PIES.
Until next year.
The pies will be the Premiers in 2026 - Korey 






A week in the life of Haley. 
I’ve started an art book, which I’m trying to keep going with. I’ve learnt how to do optical illusions and new ways of colouring, for example, you can colour one part of the page, and draw in a paint brush to make it look like you’ve painted it. Or there’s a glitch pattern. Which looks amazing. 


I’ve been trying to look for different things to do on Pinterest and TikTok, on the weekend I’m going to try make oil rainbow paper just by using black paper, clear nail polish and water. Looks easy, but if you know me, I like to make things hard for myself.  One time I tried to shrink a twisties packet. Unfortunately I burnt the packet onto both of the trays that I used. Luckily it came off in the wash and a bit of elbow grease. 
I’ve also learnt how to  make a Zine, it’s like a folded paper that never ends but it does though. 


I also do jigsaw puzzles, I’ve done two in the last month and started one two days ago  
I did an abandoned place, one it was a lounge room that was tore up and empty.  I did a Pokémon one, and now I’m doing a the Grinch that Stole Christmas. It’s basically all white apart from the little pictures of the Grinch and wording. 


That’s my week done, but next week I’ll be looking after my furphew “Diego” who’s a delight to look after.
Haley. 




Choosing my own adventure…
Why hello to you our very amazing readers! Just in case you’re new or you have forgotten (it happens) let me reintroduce myself, I’m Shannon however I very much prefer Shan. Only a few people get away with calling me Shannon, honestly having to say Shannon three times in this blog was enough for me.


I love writing wether it’s blogs, journals, poems, letters or just random lists for the day. This is what lead me to doing the Just Write program with Umbrella. I really enjoy writing each blog for you all, even on days that I have writers block. I’m a big fan of a brain dump and this blog is going to be a brain dump. It’s just like a therapy session for me except I get to share it with anyone who might be looking for a good read. (Kind feedback welcomed).


Let the brain dump begin!! Have you ever thought about how as we go through our lives we are forever growing, learning and evolving. I would love to know how this make other people feel because it’s such an important thing to express and experience our feelings. For me I think life wants me to feel the whole rainbow of emotions when I start to think about how I’ve grown and evolved over the years. It feels like I’m discovering my superpowers and that’s a powerful and magical journey.


I have found that I’m constantly seeking out new things to learn, that I want to grow my mind and knowledge for the simple reason that it makes me happy and I enjoy it. I also really enjoy learning through doing things, I’m also a super visual learner which means that I like to see what I’m learning. There’s also a lot that I can learn about myself through learning other/new things.


I’m learning that I don’t always have to be doing things for a purpose or to prove my worth. That sentence in itself is proof of how much I have grown and evolved. I think that it’s really exciting to be continuing to learn things about yourself. It’s like you’re getting to know yourself like you would a good friend. I want to be as kind to myself as I am to others. I believe we all need to be kinder to ourselves.
I will be kind to me today and everyday (I will do my best anyway).
Love to you all,
Your friend,
Shan.




Choose your own adventure
To open my own tie-dye store. A big store for only tie-dye products. I would make drink bottles that would have pink blue, green, orange and red with the tie-die
patterns through it. 


My next product would be t-shirts with multiple colours running through the fabric. I would like to sell tie die pants for women and men, and maybe children also. And hoodies and jumpers as well and tie-dye sheets with pillowcases.


I would like to choose another adventure and open up another shop called “Over the Rainbow”.


From Ben2

 Dear readers, how are you all?  Today's topic is a choose your own adventure and I have chosen to write my blog about a story that I made up and it starts like this. 


Once upon a time there were nine princesses and they lived in a castle. The princesses' names were Cindrella, Aurora, Elsa, Snow White, Belle, Rapunzel, Jasmine, Ariel and Tiana.


They were doing fun things like karaoke, dancing, art and crafts, doing hair, nails and makeup. Each princess has their own bedroom which they decorate themselves with their favourite things. The prince charming's are allowed to visit on the weekends but the weekdays are girls only! 

The princesses have a lot of fun and eat every meal together which they take turns in cooking, tonight Elsa is cooking and we're having pasta and snow cones for dessert. We have lots of pets in our castle including Rajah, Jasmine’s tiger, Tiana’s frog, and Ariel fish friends. Tomorrow night is movie night and we will be watching Brave, which is a favorite around here. There is always something fun happening in our castle and all the princesses love to be there.


Thank you for reading my blog.
This is Princess Beth signing off until next adventure. 




Dear Readers  this week's topic is a choose your own adventure. 
Let me start by telling you about this week.  It has felt like a roller coaster ride of emotions  especially since I’ve been at home this week sick with a common cold. By the time you read this reader, I will be back at blogging next week and I’m feeling so excited to come back to media and  blogging and see all my friends including my boyfriend Ben, who I love so much.  To be honest  it’s hard for me to think of something to write when it comes to a choose your own adventure. 
​

Readers I have a question: what would you write about if you could write  about anything and you got to choose your own adventure as a topic?
Written by Charlotte