Hard Day's Work

I nearly stayed awake and paid attention to the WHOLE sermon at church today! However, it was not to be. The topic was achieving goals…with God’s help of course. I was listening as hard as I could, but towards the end of it my mind drifted off, and usually when that happens, I fall asleep. So, just like all the past Sundays at church, I fell asleep. After the service, Aunty Helen (church chairperson) gave me some Chinese music to learn in under two weeks. She gave me three copies of a solo and a duet, so I assume that she is expecting me to rewrite the music for an accordion trio, but the music is good enough as it is so I’ll probably play the solo while Aonghas and Hamish play the duet. This will be a first, because usually I’m involved with the duets. At least this gives Aonghas and Hamish a good chance to work things out together without me!

 

For most part of the rest of the day I helped my mum wash the other side of the house. It was definitely shinier after! Using the water blaster on the house was fun, but I think it might’ve been a bit too strong, as paint started peeling off. Now the windowsills of our house have a Hillbilly touch to it – cracks in the wood with paint peeled off. Generally our house is like that. I would describe it like a dump. There is still a hole in the side of the wall of the conservatory from several years ago when I rode a bike with back pedal brakes for the first time…

 

Hamish got a brand new blue two-wheel Mickey Mouse bike! It was a lot bigger and better than my pinkie-white bicycle with the trainer-wheels still attached to the sides! I wanted to give it a try! I hopped on and began cycling down the driveway. I was moving faster and faster but I had no idea how to stop! There was only one brake on the right handle presumably for the front tyre, but no brake for the back tyre. I had forgotten I had to pedal backwards to stop that tyre! Because I had been taught to always stop the rear tyre first, I had no idea how to stop! I took a turn off the driveway onto the front lawn, and kept turning right, until CRASH!! I hit the house and made a big hole in the conservatory wall. I was worried all night the conservatory would collapse. My dad reassured me though:

“The conservatory may sink, but you’ll be safe here in the bathroom!”

 

The conservatory has been standing to this very day, and continues to do so, while the hole hasn’t been touched since (really because no one has been bothered to do anything about it!)

 

Tonight I had a real tough time with girls. Chen started a conversation with Zippo by:

 

“So I heard that everything Calum said about you is true?”

 

Zippo demanded to know what I told Chen, and when I first heard this I had no idea what was going on. She began accusing me of backstabbing her and so on. When I asked Chen to clarify what was going on, he told me it was a conversation starter. I relayed this back to Zippo, but she wouldn’t have a bar of it, and right up until she went offline she was annoyed with me and I have no idea why!

 

Then there was Diane’s case, which is mentioned two posts ago. Diane told me she was only joking and didn’t mean anything when she said it, but when I asked Zippo (before she got angry at me) what she thought about it, she definitely thought it meant that I was ugly. So the tally is now III three people think I’m ugly and I’m sure there are many more out there but that doesn’t really concern me anymore, as I’m used to it. As Chen said to me:

 

“It’s better to be ugly than stupid”  

 

And then there was the matter of one of my friend’s gaffes. I promised to my friends I wouldn’t say anything about it, but once it all dies down I’ll write something about it. Anyway my friend demanded to know who told me about the embarrassing thing she said, and then who told the person who told me. After resisting the pressure, I just let it all out. I think it took them maybe over ten minutes to get it all out of me, maybe a record?

 

Boy wasn’t that a hard day’s work?

RIP Goldfish No. 4

In less than a week, another goldfish has died. This morning, we found Goldfish No. 4 floating upside-down in the fish tank. Although we are confident Zippo (not the neighbour but the fish) is still alive (the fish that looks as if its pregnant), it is possible that Goldfish No. 4 was Diane. Diane was supposed to be the fat fish, and the fish that died was fat, but most of our fish are fat anyway! Anyway it has been confirmed that Goldfish No. 6 that died earlier was…Szelin, the goldfish with black spots. Nine goldfish continue to live though.

 

REST IN PEACE GOLDFISH NO. 4

Rushing to Make the most of the Holidays

Diane has just created her own blog, so you can check it out here:

Diane’s Teen Memories

 

She finally got her webcam sorted out last night so I got to see her for the first time in more than a year. When she saw Aonghas in the webcam, she advised him…

“Don’t grow up to look like your older brothers”

“Why not?”

“I could give you a list”

 

Lol yeah…

 

Today I spent most of the day washing the house. We only got about 2 walls cleaned, as we had to scrub the walls hard, as well as water blast them. Hopefully before I have to go back to school next Wednesday we can give our house another coat of white paint. Although our house has already been painted white, it seems as though it’s a real light blue colour because the coating is so thin!

 

Hamish got his university ID card today, which is valid for the next 6 years regardless of whether he is enrolled at Auckland University or not. This means he can use the university’s library, recreation centre and student services. Hamish had so many first names put on the ID card not all of them could be shown and had to go right across the ID card, behind his ID photo and off the edge!

RIP Mr Goldfish

Our beloved goldfish Dlog (named upon his death) was found floating upside down, eyes wide open, in our fish tank tonight. We never really got to know the poor fish, being that there were ten other identical goldfish swimming around our relatively small tank. The cause is still unknown but a burial (or should we just feed our kitten? Only joking only joking!) will take place tomorrow morning.

 

REST IN PEACE GOLDFISH NO. 6

All in the City

I’ve decided not to go to the filming of Top of the Pops tomorrow night after I discovered something tonight. While checking the TV2 website looking for who will perform at the filming of the show tomorrow night, I realised that you can just print the tickets off the internet and turn up! It made the whole experience of ‘winning the tickets’ worthless, and now knowing that there could be thousands of people turning up for free and at will, I really can’t be bothered catching a bus there and back and wasting my Friday night.

 

Today however I spent most of the day in the city with my mum, Hamish and Aonghas trying to sort out Hamish’s courses and timetable for his first year at university. He’s enrolled in the BCom course and had to sort out his timetable so that he knew when to attend his semesters. At the Auckland University Business Advisory Centre, Hamish was given a ticket ‘918’ (meaning he was 918^th in line to talk to an advisor). Fortunately we turned up on Course Advice Day at Auckland University and that’s why everyone else was there as well! Hamish finally got everything sorted out and so from the beginning of March he’ll have to travel to the city every weekday to attend semesters. He only gets the weekends off.

 

While we were walking to the Britomart Bus Terminal, we heard heaps of loud sirens in the distance. It sounded like a pretty big deal, but we didn’t realise what all the fuss was about until we watched the news report about a body being found outside the Metropolis in the city.

 

Change of Direction

This morning I went into school for a uniform check and course confirmation. Of course carrying on the Anderson tradition of arriving late, I got to school ten minutes late. When I first came into the hall, I thought I had come into the wrong place! Everyone looked much older and mature! After I recognised a few of the guys in the back row, I realised I was in the right place.

 

I was last to have my uniform and options checked, and I told my dean Mrs Taylor that I still wasn’t sure which career I wanted to aim towards after school ever since she didn’t recommend law to me, she took me to her office to have a chat. In the end, I had a whole new direction…medicine! She told me there were many more opportunities in medicine, not all of them involving blood. I have a bit of a phobia of blood. When I was at intermediate school and I cut myself in the woodwork room, my friend took me to the sickbay in the office to get it plastered, but I didn’t make it. While standing there waiting at the office window, and as the principal came by, I fell over and fainted. Next thing I knew, I was lying on a bed with a saw behind!

 

Now I’ve dropped accounting and history for physics and biology, as well as English, Chinese and calculus. Since I’m not too keen to do English next year, I think I might pick up history again next year and drop English, that way I can choose whether I want to do law OR medicine once I’ve finished school.

Everything's Changing

It's going to be so weird coming back to school next week. Everything will be different. Last night I had the shortest school Board of Trustees meeting I've ever had - one hour! It looks like our theatre will be demolished at the end of February to make way for our new library, and a new social sciences block will be built on top of the basketball courts. What is even worse though is that Norma, an English teacher has resigned and will be teaching at Glenfield College instead! She is more than an English teacher to me though. She was the one who gave me the opportunity to be part of the school productions, helped me discover my 'slight' ability to sing in front of an audience, was in charge of the Junior Council (later renamed Student Committee), and supported me when I went for Student Rep! It will be so different without her this year! Since I don't take drama at school, I might not be able to be part of the school production (although since Yuk kit isn't coming back and he was one of the few good male actors/singers at our school, hopefully I have a chance!). Plus, the juniors won't have a say in how things are done at school as the Student Leaders Group is only made of seventh formers! I really need to do something about that, but farewell Norma!!!

Good news though. Hamish has been admitted into all courses he has applied for at the University of Auckland - the BBIM (Bachelor of Business and Information Management - Accounting and Management), BCom (Bachelor of Commerce - Economics and Finance), and BA (Bachelor of Arts - Economics and Chinese)

I finally got my school uniform from the second hand shop at school yesterday. It's a white polo shirt and navy blue shorts. The t-shirt fits me perfectly, and I thought the shorts did too...till I got home and tried it out again! This always seems to happen to me - short shorts! I'll probably try find another pair of shorts somewhere at home if there are any, fingers crossed! I've got a uniform check tomorrow and hopefully I'll get past that.

Everything's Changing

It's going to be so weird coming back to school next week. Everything will be different. Last night I had the shortest school Board of Trustees meeting I've ever had - one hour! It looks like our theatre will be demolished at the end of February to make way for our new library, and a new social sciences block will be built on top of the basketball courts. What is even worse though is that Norma, an English teacher has resigned and will be teaching at Glenfield College instead! She is more than an English teacher to me though. She was the one who gave me the opportunity to be part of the school productions, helped me discover my 'slight' ability to sing in front of an audience, was in charge of the Junior Council (later renamed Student Committee), and supported me when I went for Student Rep! It will be so different without her this year! Since I don't take drama at school, I might not be able to be part of the school production (although since Yuk kit isn't coming back and he was one of the few good male actors/singers at our school, hopefully I have a chance!). Plus, the juniors won't have a say in how things are done at school as the Student Leaders Group is only made of seventh formers! I really need to do something about that, but farewell Norma!!!

 

Good news though. Hamish has been admitted into all courses he has applied for at the University of Auckland - the BBIM (Bachelor of Business and Information Management - Accounting and Management), BCom (Bachelor of Commerce - Economics and Finance), and BA (Bachelor of Arts - Economics and Chinese)

 

I finally got my school uniform from the second hand shop at school yesterday. It's a white polo shirt and navy blue shorts. The t-shirt fits me perfectly, and I thought the shorts did too...till I got home and tried it out again! This always seems to happen to me - short shorts! I'll probably try find another pair of shorts somewhere at home if there are any, fingers crossed! I've got a uniform check tomorrow and hopefully I'll get past that.

 

 

Here I come Top of the Pops!

I just won a double pass to the filming of Top of the Pops this Friday. It’s and R16 filming, and so either I bring my older brother along or someone else, or I just give the double pass away to someone else. I know they just take many music clips from England, so I don’t know if it is worth going there to watch maybe one or two acts (who could be complete unknowns!), having to stand there screaming and shouting in the background for the two hours of filming! I replied to the email asking for the tickets. Although I don’t even know if I want to go, I might just go, keep them or give them to someone else

Made a Fool AGAIN!

What I didn’t tell you in the other post about the phone call I got on my birthday night was that Zippo and her friend Kylie made this deal with me that if I dumped Phoebe and asked Alison, their friend and the one I tried to kiss but missed out, Zippo would cook breakfast for me while Kylie would bake me a cake. So, succumbing to pressure, I agreed to it:

 

“Um...Do you want to go out with me?”

“PARDON?”

“OK….do you want to go out with me?”

“PARDON??”

*sobs* “Do…you…want…to…go…out…with…me?”

“I hope you’re OK with this but I think of you as a friend”

 

So once again I was rejected. I don’t know how many times I’ve been rejected or dumped now, but I’m getting used to it. However, what is worse than getting rejected? Thinking you’re asking someone out, but instead unknowingly asking it to someone completely different and most likely over the speakerphone so several other girls can hear! While I thought I was talking to Alison alone, in reality it was actually Kylie who was on the phone! They turned their backs on their word and told me I wasn’t getting any breakfast, but after being humiliated in this way, don’t you think I should get it? From now on I’ll have to tread a lot more carefully. I don’t want to be fooled by Zippo and Kylie AGAIN!

 

Muir Family Reunion

After the Chinese New Year Festival yesterday we quickly rushed home to prepare for the Muir Family Reunion. The Muirs are from my nana's side of the family. Most of the Muirs who attended yesterday had travelled from Australia, Tauranga, Waihi, and various other places. I couldn't recognise anyone, but a few commented on how the last time they saw us, we were this tiny!

Photos of the reunion will be made available on the Andersons website once it has been put up (still working on it but it will be finished soon!).

We all had dinner and dessert together and shared stories and had conversations with each other. John Muir's (my dad's cousin) wife told us that she loved our curly hair which was quite fascinating! We've always hated our curly hair and Aonghas has even wished he had a hair straightener, but now that most people have said that they love the curls, he's most likely going to stick with them. My hair isn't as curly as his and so I look more of a mess.

Just before everyone left, we all got together for a group photo and Hamish, Aonghas and I performed as a trio on the accordion for them.

At the end of the day it was a great experience catching up with long lost (well not really lost) relatives whom I honestly knew little about!

U-Turn

On the night of my birthday (two days ago) I got a phone call from Zippo who was at her friend Kylie's place for a sleepover. I was offered a deal, but I agreed not to disclose it on this website so I won't say anything more about what happened. I did talk to Alison on the phone - yip the girl who I TRIED to kiss last year but missed. It was the first time since that incident that I had made contact with her. I apologised for the whole thing, and thankfully (!!) she said that it was okay and that it was just her friends trying to be stupid. That night too Zippo admitted that she did make me do it, so I now can rest assured that it wasn't my idea!

Yesterday morning I went along with my family to this Chinese New Year Festival at the Auckland Showgrounds. Every year they have heaps of stalls selling food and other cheap things. In previous yeras there has always been some stands selling cheap Western and Asian DVD and VCD movies and music, but this year there wasn't any. I suppose since both Prime Minister Helen Clark and National leader Don Barsh visited, they were all too scared to appear! I saw Phoebe and a few others there. I was going to say hi to her but a second later she had disappeared! No surprise though. The crowds were massive and you had to push your way through just to get anywhere! 

After that we had a Muir Family Reunion…

A Year Older

Well its official…I’m finally sixteen. I feel really really old now! The day hasn’t been too spectacular. Not too many people know that it’s my birthday so it is pretty low-key but I don’t mind. I’m used to it. Phoebe, Jacqueline, Chen, Mr Hirst, my family and Diane remembered anyway and that’s good enough for me. What really made my day was Diane ringing me this morning. It’s been ages since I last talked to her and so it was pretty good to talk to her again. She played the piano and what she could on the guitar to me (it was kinda my birthday wish!), and it definitely put my talent on the guitar and piano to shame!

Mr Hirst used to be my principal back when I attended Henderson Primary School. He happened to be an aeroplane enthusiast just like me at the time and what was even interesting was that his birthday is on the same day as mine! He was a really cool principal till he left. I won’t speculate on his replacement… So Mr Hirst sent me an email this morning wishing me a Happy Birthday and that was pretty cool too. I haven’t gotten anything for my birthday but a couple days ago our computer got a bit of an upgrade and a few additional components so that’s more than enough for me.

So far Hamish has been admitted to study for a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Economics/minor in Chinese). We are still waiting for further news on the other two courses he has applied for (BBIM and BCom) which are both currently ‘pending’.

Our mum had to take her car in for a warrant of fitness, but it failed so she had to get replacement wheel bearings for the rear wheels, a replacement for her rear windscreen wiper and minor work done on her exhaust. While it was being repaired, she got to borrow another car to use. Yeah it did have a really good stereo and central locking, but it was littered with cigarette butts so it wasn’t that hygienic.

Thank Goodness for Clean Air

I really should post to this blog a lot earlier in the day! Anyway today we went to a Chinese Restaurant in South Auckland for Yum Cha to kinda celebrate my birthday, which isn't actually till Friday. The restaurant which we usually go to is pretty cheap, with the only downside being that it's hygiene rating isn't too great. Last time we dined there it was an E (A is the best), and people all around us were smoking. Today however, it was a D, and now that the legislation that bans smoking in bars and public places has come into force, there was actually fresh air in the building! Now that was really great. After that we went into a nearby computer shop to pick up a few bits and pieces to upgrade our computer.

Tonight after watching the movie 'One True Thing' (I think that's what its called?), it made me really realise how important my parents are to me. This movie was about a girl who wasn't that close to her mother, until when she was dying of cancer. Yeah it sounds like any regular movie but it was pretty touching.

Anyway the debate over whether the death penalty should be reintroduced in New Zealand is pretty interesting with Marton mayor now calling for it to be reintroduced. Its interesting to note that New Zealand did have the death penalty right up till 1989 for treason (crimes against the state such as acts of terrorism and things like that). I understand how most people say that if we put a death warrant on these criminals, we'll be no better than them, but there are some points supporting the death penalty. Many judges are restricted in what they can dish out to these criminals because of how much the taxpayer will have to fork out to look after them in prison, and prison overcrowding is becoming a problem. In fact a few days ago a riot nearly broke out in one of New Zealand's prisons when a few inmates
got drunk from drinking homemade brew that had been smuggled in. The death penalty would certainly be a way of washing our hands of these bad people. You may say that an innocent man/woman may be sentenced to death, but what if someone was jailed for an offence? Once the parole board lets him free and then he reoffends, what then?

Labour's John Tamihere has hinted that tax-cuts could be on the agenda if Labour makes it back into parliament for a third term. This will definitely help the taxpayer. With so many taxes these days being introduced, and the normal citizen having to pay this and that, it would most likely come as a relief to many. Jim Anderton also strongly supports the idea of tax cuts, but for companies. Let's just hope that all this talk is not a lot of hot air.

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Watch movie trailers online with the Xtra Broadband Channel !

What's Going On?

I had been talking to the neighbours for a little while last night, but as time went by, for some reason I gradually didn’t feel like talking more and more and I started to get weary. I don’t know if that’s because of the pills of because I was extremely hungry, or a combination of both. With all these side-effects, these pills better be worth it. Another four months to go though…

 

Today we went out to buy our stationery for school. I have to go to school for a half day next week for a uniform check. This year I get to wear the senior uniform – white polo shirt, navy blue jumper, shorts and socks, instead of the junior uniform which was lighter blue and grey. Since Hamish’s old uniform is too small for me, I still need to buy my uniform.

 

My studies during the holidays haven’t been going according to plan too well! I had originally planned to complete the whole year 12 Chemistry and Accounting syllabus so I’d be ready for school, but less than two weeks out from the start of school, I’m only up to chapter 10/21 in the accounting book and I’ve probably only scratched the surface in Chemistry. I’m really starting to get anxious because I’m aware of how important NCEA Level 4 Scholarship will be, especially if I want to get a financial scholarship.

 

Hamish got a reply from StudyLink today in the mail. This year his student allowance will be at the grand sum of…$12.94! That’d be enough for Hamish to pay for two and a half return trips to university in the city!

 

Congratulations to Kristin School student Christina Park for being accepted into Yale University in the USA. This is interesting however. Kristin School is a private co-ed school which offers the internationally recognised International Baccalaureate (IB) school examination. It is one in about seven schools registered to offer it in New Zealand, with all but one of the schools also being private. I had a look at the requirements to get into some of the top universities such as Harvard and Cambridge in England, and even if you do pass NCEA, it won’t be enough to be considered for a place at the two universities. In fact, to get into Harvard, you must sit the American school qualification SAT first. One person did suggest though that it is better to study at a local university first, such as Auckland for your undergraduate degree, and then it would be easier to get into an overseas university to study for your graduate degree.

 

Well it’s only four days till I turn 16. I still haven’t gotten my learners yet! I probably should concentrate on that more than those two subjects mentioned above since I’ll have a whole year to study it anyway. Oh thanks Phoebe for the cool birthday card! No one has really remembered my birthday in the past few years, especially since it’s during the school holidays. Last year my dad forgot it as well! I’d rather not turn a year older though! I may be getting older, but I ain’t getting taller!

Its a Deal

Lately Zippo has been going on a huge Cabbage Patch Kids spending spree and just recently quit her job, so I'm aware that she's short on cash. Therefore, I made an offer to her. I heard that she could cook good eggs, so I made an offer to her that if I won the bet, she could cook me eggs instead of paying me. This morning I asked her if I happened to lose the bet (by either not getting a girlfriend or not getting Phoebe to come over to meet her), whether I could cook her eggs instead of paying $5.00, because as you would know, I'm poor Calum from the West. ITS A DEAL

Today we spent most of the day trying to tidy up the sewing room. People always give us clothes that no longer fit them, and we have usually just stored it all in that room. Today we folded all the clothes that had been lying all over the room and put them in rubbish bags. In total we managed to fill SIX rubbish bags with clothes. In addition to that, we already had two bags of bags of clothes, plus two bags of bags of material. The sewing room will definitely take quite a long time...

I came across the 'A+ Certification'. It's an open-entry qualification for computer technicians who are just starting in the field. Once they get this qualification, they can move onto more specialised fields. The 'A+ Certification' is the basic one I think. Anyway it's had me interested in learning more, so I might start reading up on it.

Interestingly, I watched this movie 'Evil Woman' on TV tonight. If the word 'evil' was used to describe all women, wouldn't that be so true? (I take that back female readers, only a joke ;) That view developed from my previous experiences with the opposite sex)
I
originally typed a bit more tonight, but I hit some button on the keyboard and wiped it all out, and so this is the second time I've had to type this up! I've got to get up to go to church so I'm off to bed.

Friends...

Yuk kit's never coming back, or at least there's an 80% chance he's never coming back! At the moment he's holidaying in Hong Kong, but his mum is thinking of sending him to an international school there. He has to have an interview with the school and sit a test, and if he makes it in, he'll stay, but if he doesn't, he'll come back. To be honest, I would like him to fail and come back to New Zealand! But really, good luck to him, and if he makes it in, it'll be all for the very best! I sure will miss him (in a friend's sort of way, not in any other way!).

OK so I'm going out with Phoebe now, but Zippo doesn't believe it or still has reservations about it, believing she's repaying the favour...I won't confirm or deny that...but tonight I told Phoebe about how Zippo wants her to come over to our house to meet her first before she pays me $5, but I don't think Phoebe's too keen:

"i don't want to cum over to ur house n meet szepo cuz i don't like her"

I can't really remember what happened between Phoebe and Zippo, as they used to be friends, but now they're not anymore. Oh yeah, there once was this little argument over a certain person...

Zippo, Szelin, Esther and Julia came over tonight to watch Smallville, and the news that they were going to come over set us Andersons all in a flurry of action, rushing to get the house tidied up. Amazingly, something we've been trying to do for the past seven weeks was done in less than half an hour! I admit that we did shove a few things under beds and inside cupboards, here and there, but the end result was a tidy lounge which was good enough. We were all sitting in the lounge with the yet-to-be named kitten (some suggestions so far have been Bush, Pussy and Mittens), but I think the kitten got a bit shy and wasn't its (we still don't know its sex so I'll refer to it as 'it') usual lively, playful self. Once they all left, the kitten was once again full of life! The neighbours got a proper tour of our house this time, checking out ALL of our rooms, even the messiest! We spent a bit of time just chatting in our messy bedroom before they had to leave.

I realised why I had received a very abusive phone call from Zippo yesterday. When Aonghas, Szelin and I had a little chat outside the day before, I jokingly asked Szelin if she could teach me how to kiss (as she has had previous experience!), and that must've been too much to bear for them!

Tomorrow's plan is to clear our the sewing room, and hopefully this will free up some space to put our computer and the TV, and create a rumpus room or something that resembles a play room. At the moment the room is literally half full (vertically-wise) with clothes, dolls, and other stuff. We've already lost hope for our other single bedroom, which our dad has filled with books over the years. Its now become our 'library'.

Anyway, off to bed for me. I've got to remember to set the radio clock to a music station and NOT TALKBACK or I'll never wake up the next morning.

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Surf the net and talk on the phone with Xtra JetStream!

Not Quite to Plan

Today turned out to be a pretty busy day. All morning my brothers and I practised our accordions for our performance in front of our nana’s arthritis club. I performed Khaki Boys March and Preludio, as well as a duet Prelude and Fugue with Aonghas and a trio French Visit with both Aonghas and Hamish. My solos didn’t go too well with me making mistakes in both performances and I stopped midway through my duet. Fortunately Aonghas continued and I conveniently rejoined him later on in the piece. Our trio was probably the best piece we played. A few French women thoroughly enjoyed that piece! We also came across a woman who was one of the exam supervisors at my school last year! I’ll have to look out for her this year.

 

I’m now going out ;) with Phoebe, and announced this to Zippo. Well…I didn’t mention Phoebe’s name but she guessed it because she assumed that Phoebe would repay the favour and be my fake boyfriend. So…she changed the rules! Phoebe now has to come over to my house to meet Szepo, and then we have to do boyfriend/girlfriend things together before I win the bet! She even insisted that I kiss Phoebe! I don’t know how Phoebe would feel about this but it’s starting to bring back memories of what happened at Zippo’s birthday party last year, so I’m a bit hesitant.

I've nearly done it!

OK I think I might’ve arranged something with someone in order to win this bet I’m having with Zippo (that I can get a girlfriend and last together for at least a week). I won’t name any names yet just in case I make a fool of myself…But if I pull this off, I safe myself from losing $5.00, earn myself the same amount and prove to Zippo that I’m not as useless and hopeless as she thinks I am! I’ll write some more as this develops. This is how one of my conversations with her went one night:
(Calum) “I think I’ve had bad luck with girls ever since you dumped me”
(Zippo) “You’ve never had any luck with girls!”

Crystal once again outdid herself, leaving me on the ground after she struck me in the NOGO zone. I don’t think she realises that for a guy, it hurts! But of course she’s only 8 years old…she’s too young to know, right?

I spent the afternoon mowing the front lawn and so that’s slightly tidied up what has been and still remains (to a certain degree) a suburban junkyard.

Oh by the way…HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIANE! She’s turning 16 today. It’s great to hear that she is happy with her NCEA results because last night she was hyperventilating (or I imagine she was) once she found out results would be in the post today. Everything would turn out right, and like I said, it did!

NCEA Results are Out

Well after lying in bed dreaming about failing and then having to wait for the mail to arrive, it finally came…our NCEA results!
I suppose my results weren’t too bad:
Level 1 Accounting:
1.1 E (3)
1.2 E (3)
1.3 E (4)
1.5 E (4)
1.6 E (3)
1.7 E (4)
21/21 credits, 100 grade point average
Level 1 Chinese:
1.1 E (6)
1.2 E (3)
1.3 E (3)
1.4 E (6)
1.5 E (3)
1.6 E (3)
24/24 credits, 100 grade point average
Level 1 English
1.1 M (3)
1.2 E (3)
1.3 M (2)
1.4 A (2)
1.5 M (2)
1.6 M (3)
1.7 E (3)
1.8 E (3)
21/21 credits, 83 grade point average
Level 1 History
1.1 E (4)
1.2 E (4)
1.3 E (4)
1.4 E (4)
1.5 E (4)
20/20 credits, 100 grade point average
Level 1 Mathematics
1.1 E (4)
1.2 E (3)
1.3 E (3)
1.4 E (2)
1.5 E (3)
1.6 E (2)
1.7 M (3)
1.8 E (2)
1.9 M (2)
24/24 credits, 95 grade point average
Level 2 Mathematics
2.1 M (4)
2.2 E (3)
2.3 M (4)
2.4 M (2)
2.5 E (3)
2.6 E (2)
2.7 M (2)
2.8 E (2)
2.9 E (2)
24/24 credits, 88 grade point average
Level 2 Music
2.1 E (6)
2.2 E (3)
9/9 credits, 100 grade point average
Level 1 Science
1.1 E (4)
1.3 M (5)
1.4 E (5)
1.5 E (5)
1.6 E (5)
22/22 credits, 94 grade point average
In total I got 132 excellence credits, 31 merit credits and 2 achievement credits

Latest on NCEA Results

NZQA have announced that NCEA results are in the post and will arrive at students’ mailboxes on either Monday 10 January or Tuesday 11 January. Results will be made available on the internet http://www.nzqa.govt.nz on Thursday 13 January.

Not too long now...

Even though January’s just started and school doesn’t start till February, time is definitely flying by, and before you know it, February will already be here! I got a reminder of just how soon we will return to school when I received a letter in the mail informing me of which classes I will be attending this year. According to them, I’ll be taking History, Chemistry, Biology, Chinese, English and Accounting. They left off Calculus! This means I’ll probably have to make an appointment with my dean to change it. Since this year I will be wearing the senior uniform (white t-shirt and navy blue shorts) for the first time this year as a year 12 student, I’ll have to attend school for half a day, for a uniform check. Then school will properly start on the 2^nd February. This year my class has a different form teacher. We’ve had three different form teachers in three years now! Usually you stay with the same form teacher right throughout your high school years. I haven’t actually checked with anyone else who was in my class last year though, so I hope I wasn’t moved down a class!

 

Another thing that will be arriving soon in the not too distant future (in fact very soon!) are our NCEA results. I haven’t really been worrying them till my friend Diane asked me if I was nervous about them. It was only then when I realised that they’re coming! To be honest, I’m dreading them because I know my results will be bad. My whole academic and love/social life of 2004 was a tragedy and I’m really not expecting my NCEA results to be any better. All I can do is not to worry about the past and just focus on the present and future. The only thing I’m worrying about is if the past will hinder my present.  

 

This afternoon a friend of the neighbours (McDougals) came over to fix up their basketball hoop. Previously, the backboard which was made of weatherboard (the soft weet-bix kind of wood) had been all chipped (thanks partially to Aonghas!), and the hoop was dangling. Now that it’s been all fixed, I wonder how long it will last. One thing to take into consideration though is that they don’t even have a basketball… Tonight I played American Football down the driveway with Aonghas and Crystal, when Szelin came out and so we just talked a bit and her dog Pepper ran round our backyard. Once Crystal went home Szelin came over and we watched a bit of the movie ‘Lake Placid’ on television. Thankfully the cow which was used as bait to attract the gigantic crocodile survived! I’ve just finished watching this Chinese movie on VCD about this dog who was always loyal to a woman who could never find the right man, when one day the dog fell into a lake at the same time as this guy who was hunting him down. The power pole fell over in the storm, and the electric shock switched their bodies. Yeah, sounds pretty strange but it was pretty interesting.

 

 

Have Faith!

Zippo’s already thinking of what she’s going to spend the $5 (that she’ll win off me from our bet) on. She thinks I’m hopeless and have always been! This is the time I turn to Chandler, off the American sitcom Friends. Everyone thought Chandler was hopeless and would never ‘score’, but look at how his fortunes turned around. He got happily married in the end! Zippo doesn’t realise that I even (regretfully in the softest possible manner) dumped a girl just to be with her, only to get dumped after one day!

 

Anyway today Szelin the younger sister of Zippo came over to visit the yet-to-be-named kitten, who has been hypo all day. After that we went over to their house to watch the movie ‘Johnny English’

 

What has really made me happy today is that I had a really good conversation with Diane, this friend of mine who I hardly see, but always chat to. It’s always fun to chat to her when she chats back, which is seldom (well no it shouldn’t sound as bad as that) but yeah its just been really great to chat to her tonight. I’ve been playing Mah Jong against her over the internet and I’m proud to say I’ve won 5 games in a row, even though I still don’t understand how to play it!

 

 

They're all Growing Up!

Yesterday afternoon, Aonghas and my mum saw the kitten in the neighbours' (the bad neighbours) garden, which mainly consisted of overgrown weeds. After a few hours, they managed to pick it up and took it inside. Later last night Szelin, the younger neighbour, came over to visit us...well...really it was the kitten she wanted to play with. Now it's official - Szelin Yap is the first visitor to the Anderson house for 2005! Anyway, not too long after she came over to visit, her mum rang us to ask if we wanted to watch a movie at their house. We went over to watch 'James Bond - Die Another Day', with Ester and Julia and their mum as well. The movie was pretty good, especially the gadgets James Bond gets to use! He had a car that could become camouflaged with the surroundings, as well as being equipped with weapons and everything!

 

Today we went over to St Johns to visit our relatives on my mum's side of the family. Joshua, my three year old nephew...or great-nephew...or something...anyway he is shooting up fast! The last time I saw him was in late November. Now he can run, laugh, jump and shout! He's been a bit ill lately so not too long after we arrived, he had to go off to see the doctor.

 

After that we paid a little visit to Nancy, Marcus and his little sister. Marcus used to go to Henderson Primary School with us and is one year younger than Aonghas. I think the last time I visited him was almost two years ago! Marcus looks a lot more maturer, but the biggest surprise of all was his little sister! I remember his sister being a crazy little girl with glasses, running all over the place tackling us! Now she's all grown up, mature, with no glasses! Whoowee...things change a lot over time...

 

We went into Auckland City to browse the Central City Library and it is massive! It's like 5 times the size of our local library and has a whole section dedicated to sheet music and scores. It costs people who live outside of the area $120 a year for membership, a bit too much for me!

 

Aonghas realised today that one of my dad's car doors wouldn't unlock, and when my dad inspected it, he realised that it had been broken into. Someone got into the car, but fortunately nothing was stolen, and neither was the car. It probably isn't worth anything anyway! I've just been wondering if there is a world record for the most times a vehicle has been repaired, because my dad's car must surely be up there somewhere!

 

The kitten is doing well at the moment. So far it has learnt to lick water from a dish. However, last night when it was all by itself, it was pretty calm and still. When we let in Tess, the father, they both got really excited, with Tess rubbing against everything it could in the house, before settling down to sleep. The kitten kept jumping everywhere, licking our coffee table legs, and started playing with Tess's tail. That's when it started...Tess started grabbing the kitten by the neck with his mouth and looked as though it was attacking the kitten. The kitten was howling as well! Aonghas got pretty spooked out. We decided to let Tess go out for the night while the kitten slept in the box overnight.

 

Someone New!

Yesterday we were in the bathroom when we spotted our cat Tess outside with something in his mouth...a little kitten! We're not 100% sure whether he's the real father or not though as we don't know who Tess could've shagged! It's possible that he had some sort of one night stand with a neighbourhood cat because he hasn't been muted (in other words his balls are still there!) The kitten looks a lot like Tess anyway.

After spotting the kitten, we were invited over to the neighbours' house to watch the movie The Day After Tomorrow. Ester (I might've spelt her name wrong) and Julia, the two Malaysian girls who just moved to New Zealand...and the ones I tried starting a conversation with but didn't go too well...were there, and Ester will be attending Rutherford College this year as a year 11! That'll be interesting...

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No More Mr Nice Guy!

That’s it. I’m now determined more than ever to win this bet with Zippo. I want to see that all the put-downs and every other disparaging remarks she has thrown at me are proven wrong. I will prove that I’m not hopeless!

 

OK anyway yesterday I missed church (yes I know I feel guilty!) to help my mum finish stripping the wallpaper off the hallway walls. Something went wrong with our hallway light switch and so our dad had to replace the whole switch. He was lucky to come across an electrician while waiting in line at Dick Smith, who kindly explained (for free) how he could fix the switch. He also commented that the switch he was holding (similar to nearly every switch in our house) was probably more than 40 years old and irreplaceable. He managed to fix it before he went off to work anyway.

 

We played around with the neighbour Crystal. We played a bit of touch before she went on a rampage trying to attack Aonghas and my ‘red boxes’ (the crown jewels). After Aonghas got off my back while looking for the ball in the tree, I instantly had a backache, which was probably one of the side effects of the pimple pills. So I fell down to the ground, and while on the ground, Crystal started killing me in the nuts! She soon pushed Aonghas over onto the ground, and he got annoyed with her and went inside. Crystal got all moody and threw the ball into the tree.

 

Stripping (the wall)

The neighbours offered to lend us the steamer they hired to strip their bedroom walls of wallpaper for the night, and my mum grabbed the opportunity with both hands. We spent all day stripping wallpapers off the wall. What made it worse was that on one wall the previous owners had put two layers of wallpaper over another, so we had three layers of wallpaper to take down!

So all day together with my brothers and my mum, I used the steamer to wet the wallpaper, then scrape it off with a wooden spatula (yep had nothing else to use). Unfortunately I burnt myself several times with the hot steam and boiling water, and I won’t be surprised if I have heaps of blisters on my fingers tomorrow.

 

My nana asked us to perform for her arthritis club next Tuesday which is cool because at least it means that they want to hear more of us. I really want to ‘crack the Asian market’! By this, I mean that I would like to perform at a few Asian events because we are able to play traditional Chinese music and it would open more doors for us to perform to a wider variety of audiences, instead of just the older people. We’ll have to see. Anyway my blisters won’t be doing me any favours!

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Man there is so much to talk about. Yesterday (Friday 31 December) I was invited by my Korean twin friends Hyun and Joon to go to the movies with them. Surprisingly, my mum gave me permission to go! We watched National Treasure (starring Nicholas Cage and Sean Bean). It turned out to be a great movie! Nicholas Cage was good as usual. My brothers came with me and we stayed right to the end, even after the credits had finished, as we wanted to make the most of our $7.50 ticket. Hamish and I bought children’s tickets. Hyun went up to buy one and the person at the counter asked him how old he was. He answered:

“I’m um…….about 12….”

That sounds pretty convincing! Anyway, fortunately they believed him. I can now say that in 2004, I watched ONE movie! Yay!!! On the very last day of the year as well! The last movie I had seen was Looney Tunes in December 2003 with Chen and his cousin Diane.

We spent last night at the First Light 2005 Event at Aotea Square. The main thing that impresses me is the fact that the event is alcohol and drug-free. How do they control this you may ask, especially in today’s world, full of people influenced by such heinous things? They put up a fence right around the whole building and square, with a few guarded entrances. The guards would search your bags for any alcohol, etc. You may think that it would’ve felt like we were trapped within a fence, but you could barely notice it, and the absence of an alcoholic smell was very refreshing. Now if only it could be smokefree…

We watched a few Classical Chinese performances of people playing Chinese instruments. After that, we checked out the stalls and other stages. There was a karaoke stage with this really HORRIBLE singer. However, on the main stage outside there were performances by Deceptikonz, Tadpole, Adeaze and Goodshirt. I was really looking forward to Adeaze because I’m still not sick of their song ‘Getting Stronger’!

I met a really good friend last night as well…Teresa! The last time I met her was when she dressed up as a student from Rutherford College and visited us one day when she had a day off from her real school. Although she pretended to be a student visiting for a day, she sure had the teachers fooled. Last night she was with her boyfriend Steve (I hope I got his name right!), but yeah it was pretty cool catching up and seeing her again.

When the clock struck midnight, fireworks shot out from the Sky Tower in all different directions! It was great. There were many couples all round the place hugging each other as they watched the fireworks, it was really cool. On our way back to the car we witnessed a guy and a girl round a corner beginning to make out!

Anyway, it’s 2am now and I’ve got to get off to bed so I can start off the new year 2005!