To Tour or not to Tour?

Should the Black Caps tour Zimbabwe with the current situation under President Mugabe's rule? If they decide not to, they will be fined about $2.8 million by the ICC, who have refused to ban Zimbabwe from international cricket (their justification being that sport and politics should not mix). Even so, we must put pressure on Zimbabwe to change!

National have pledged to pay for any fines incurred if the Black Caps forego the Zimbabwe tour, which is likely to be above the $2.8 million fine as television rights etc. must be put into account. Why should taxpayers' money have to be spent on this? We shouldn't have to be paying anything to Zimbabwe. If this occurred President Mugabe would be smiling.

If the government bans the Black Caps from touring Zimbabwe, then the Black Caps would be exempt from having to pay the fine. OK so we have human rights, freedom of choice and so on, but surely this could be a feasible option? NZ Cricket would not have to pay out.

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Blind Date

Well it is official now. I've bought my ball tickets and (if the ball does go ahead!) my partner will be Ayesha...or at least on paper she will be. What makes this interesting is that although I've chatted to her on MSN, I've never actually talked to her nor have I met her in real life. So really this is a bit like a blind date, even though we're really going as friends.

I met Ayesha through Kat, and originally our plan was to get Kat and Joon (neither of them were keen on going to the ball at first) to go to the ball together. Kat was starting to think about it, but would only go if her friend Ayesha went with her (and other conditions as well). Anyway so Ayesha decided to go to the ball as my partner (I hope she didn't feel forced to!)

Now we all know what happens when you pair Calum up with a girl...DISASTER

A bet has been put on the table - if I kiss her on the cheek, I won't have to pay Zippo the $5.00 I owe her for the last bet I made with her (the person who bid $20.00 on Heather's artwork would pay up). I will definitely not do something like that again...for a while at least! It wasn't too bad last time because when I screwed up it was in front of strangers whom I would never have to see again, but I definitely don't want to look like a fool in front of friends I spend most of the year with!

I have no idea how the ball will turn out, whether Ayesha will ditch me or whatever, but hey at least it'll make things a lot more interesting! That's definitely something I need in the days of repetitiveness and boringness! Whatever happens happens! Bring on the ball!

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Where's Calum?

See if you can spot me in the orchestra! (with a little help!)

Performances

On Saturday and Sunday Hamish, Aonghas and I performed with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra at the Night of the Proms concert. It featured British music, with some of the highlights being Scottish bagpipers and Irish dancers who danced to Lord of the Dance (which I really enjoyed playing!).

We had to attend orchestra rehearsals every Monday and Wednesday nights leading up to the performances, and now that it is all over its a bit sad and I'm starting to miss playing in the orchestra! Hopefully they will call us back sometime soon when they're short on players!

 

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Calum Comments - Monday 27 June 2005

What are we doing with our prisoners? They most likely are living a better life in prison than out there in the real world. The latest is that inmates were given KFC for allowing prison guards to search their cells, despite drugs, cellphones and other objects being found.

Why are inmates given TVs, pool tables, and other luxury items in prison? In prison they should be given the basics - a bed, toilet, wash basin and two or three meals a day. Nothing fancy, no flash meal, just enough to get through the day. Prison is about punishment, not reward.

Rid our prisons of those unnecessary items, and reduce spending on these crims. Would bringing back capital punishment be another possible way to reduce costs, possibly for the worst offenders?

Now would be about the right time for Labour to start bucking up its policies. Obviously people are not happy with the current situation. National have been making all sorts of unrealistic promises which they have yet to prove how they will fulfil, and if Labour lets these elections slip from them, the NZ public will only realise once Dr Brash is in power that they have elected a lemon.

National plans to open a few more single-sex schools and convert a few co-ed schools to single-sex schools. National claim that the best achieving schools are single-sex schools, but this isn't the only factor. Most of these high-achieving single-sex schools are also private, and so obviously have an advantage over state schools who don't get adequate funding from the government!

I watched TV ONE's Test the Nation quiz show tonight. Shamefully...I only got 69/100!  Most of the questions were related to pre 1980s New Zealand. It was good to watch some video clips of historical moments in New Zealand!

The end for Judy Bailey is nigh. You can tell the bosses at TVNZ don't want to fork out that $800,000 for another year just to keep her on. Head of TVNZ News and Current Affairs Bill Ralston claimed the days when TV personalities held networks to ransom were over, and he is probably making this true.

Possible replacements for Judy Bailey are:

• Wendy Petrie
• Kate Hawkesby

I remember watching Wendy Petrie reading the news at the time when the tsunami hit. I was amused at how it looked as though she was smiling right throughout that! She probably wasn't though!

Ralston has also been auditioning/trialling male newsreaders thank goodness! We need a few more men on our TV screens!

One thing I still don't understand is that if personality-driven current affairs shows are supposed to be a thing of the past at TVNZ, why does Susan Wood's face appear in most Close-Up billboards and advertisements?

 

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Business Experience

Well our team (seen in the photo below) who sold the 'ultimate' couch 'the Waterboy' (features mentioned below) faced up to the judges, presenting our product to them and explaining how we would make some grand million dollar profit.

Unfortunately the judges didn't buy our idea (no pun intended) and we didn't win the grand prize. Nor did we win any of the four speciailist prizes!

Some of the winning ideas included:

• New sort of energy drink company won the top award
• A gym cafe (team Shen was in) and a toothbrush with both brush and toothpaste (Joon's team) in one won the finance award
• Wireless earphones won marketing award

All in all it was a good experience and I got to spend a lot more time with people I usually wouldn't!

>>Additional photos of the Lion Business Experience at Rutherford College can be checked out here

 

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The Best Team!

Our (should've been award winning) team at the Lion Business Experience. Unfortunately our team 'Lazy Lounging' didn't win a single award

Unbelievable!

I tried emailing the person who placed the winning bid on Heather's artwork at Trade Me, only to receive an automated message telling me that it failed to send because the email didn't exist! The whole bid was a joke! Now I owe Zippo another $5.00 (I was demonstrating my faith in Heather's artistic skills when I made that bet with her!)

 

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The First Photo

I've traditionally stuck to text with my blog, but I guess posting photos wouldn't hurt and I've got a few interesting ones (don't I hyun? ;) ) so I might start posting some photos from now on.

The photo above is of our two cats/kittens, Meow-meow (or Mao-mao if you're Chinese!) our recently car-striken leg broken pelvis crushed kitten, and Tess, the father on the right.

Seriously?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

A lot has been happening over the last few days.

Today after school we had our Young Enterprise presentation. Our company named 'The Flashcard Company' had to give a presentation on our whole business process to two judges. We weren't really expecting too much, but surprisingly the judges broke protocol to tell us that they wanted to see us make it through to the regional finals! Kudos to Hyun for writing up the speech in 3 hours this morning! Now the pressure is on for us to replicate our success with the Reserve Bank of NZ Monetary Challenge presentation on Monday. Thank goodness Joon has to do all the speaking! I still haven't come to grips with all these economic terms and definitions! I probably should've bought one of those flashcards with economic terms our team has been selling!

From yesterday till tomorrow, I've been attending this Lion Business Experience course at school. We are randomly put into teams and have to pretend to be a business, which means coming up with an idea, determining cost prices for all aspects. Our team had real difficulty in coming up with a product. We first brainstormed ideas that revolved around the toilet, but then we decided to expand.

Our first really good idea was a toothbrush with toothpaste attached to it, one where you squeeze and paste comes out onto your brush. We we went up to register, only to find out that the team beside us had already registered with that idea! Thanks Joon!

This guy Max in our team kept pushing for the idea of a car that runs on grass. After school when my dean asked how the course was going, I mentioned that idea to her. She told me:

"That's called a cow!"

Our team had to resort to getting an ordinary reclining chair and add on features to it:

• radio
• water (later silicon)-filled cushions
• electrical sockets
• heaters
• fans
• remote controls
• fridges
• and more

Half of us in the team couldn't believe we were going to go ahead with this! This morning we searched the net for those useless Japanese inventions and found Butter Stick, so we thought we would take that idea and use it! But the man in charge of the course wanted us to stick to our original idea of a couch.

So once again we were stuck with the sofa. We decided to cut back on features, and in the end it only had about 3 of those mentioned above.

Later in the day we had to bid at an auction for expo sites (we're holding an expo tomorrow to present our products). None of the other teams realised that we could buy more than one site and then sell them to other teams! We did though, and so we bought three for $2500. The team beside us (yep the team that stole our idea!) tried to buy a site off us. We started off with $30,000 but they refused to buy it. Gradually (and i mean gradually!) we went down to $4000. In the end we were stuck with two sites, one which we can't use, and we sold the third site to another team for $3800!

Tomorrow we'll find out if we have the ultimate product!

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Attack of the Girls

Okay so what really happened was Zippo and Szelin was helping us tidy the bedroom, and since we usually take photos of what our bedroom looks like before and after (it�s not often that our bedroom is tidy!), I thought I�d take a photo of our bedroom with Zippo and Szelin. They didn�t like it and tried to grab the camera off me. As I tried to make my way out of the bedroom and into the lounge, the girls had grabbed hold of me and Zippo was blocking the door! So I tried to carry her to move her aside!

 

In the end I couldn�t move her and Zippo thumped me to the ground. I managed to pass the camera on to Aonghas when they had me against the ground, but the batteries fell out!

 

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End of the Road

Well our debating team are officially out of the competition. In the octofinals we faced 2nd ranked St Kentigens College (with us being ranked 13th). The moot was:

"That New Zealand political parties should have gender quotas"

with us being the affirmative team. So already we were on the back foot!

To be continued...(I've got to go to bed!)

 

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Close Shave

What an interesting day it turned out to be!

After church I was at Westcity with my mum and brothers, when I realised that Ayesha, who I haven't met in person was at Westcity right at the same time. She's Kat's friend and a prolific comment-poster to this blog! Anyway she had just finished watching a movie! This might've been my chance to meet Ayesha! However, it was not to be. She was at The Warehouse while I was at Countdown, and afterwards I left Westcity, so I didn't get that chance. I might meet her at the ball if I go though.

When I got back home, Szelin and Zippo, my two favourite! neighbours (well only normal ones I have anyway!) wanted to come around to visit...mainly our sick kitten Meow Meow. While they were here they saw how messy our bedroom was and decided to steer us on the right track, so they helped us tidy our bedroom! Three hours later, and the impossible was made possible!

Sooold!

Congratulations Heather! Her painting was sold for $20.00! The winning bid was placed late last night at 8:11pm, after a very slow start to the auction.

 

 

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Business as Usual

Finally the end of the week! I haven't had much homework to do at home until yesterday, when I was given to presentations to complete. Our group has made it into the regional finals of the RBNZ competition. I'm still not exactly too sure what it is all about but hopefully by creating the presentation I'll get up to speed on everything! Some lady is also coming along in a couple weeks time to watch a presentation by our company 'The Flashcard Company' on how we have conducted business so far.

Next week for three days is also the Lion Business Experience which has survived, despite initially only having four people registered, when 80 is really required. The ccounting teacher cunningly pointed out the fact that it will be 3 days of mufti and no schoolwork. Now nearly our whole class is attending! It'll be interesting though. We'll have to get into groups and come up with ideas for products and then create some display at a mock expo.

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An Artist is Born!

Heather's artwork (which may I add was done in under 15 minutes as a result of boredom during form period in our art room) is now up for auction at Trade Me!
Check it out! Starting bid is 50c, with the reserve price $5 (bids must reach $5 in order it to be sold). It's on its way though, with bids at $1.00 at the moment! Auction closes this Friday, so anyone who wants an exceptionally good painting at a discount price feel free to place a bid!

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Calum Comments - Tuesday 14 June 2005

(Sorry to be brief my brother needs to do his homework)

Thank goodness Michael Jackson was found innocent. The prosecution was flimsy, key witnesses were inconsistent and have had a very ...checkered...history.

Despite having our second meningococcal vaccine today at school, people are still sharing food and drinks! Unfortunately these people do not understand that this vaccination only (hopefully) protects people from the B strain, not the C or other existing strains. They may not be as prevalent in New Zealand as B, but it is still possible to catch those other strains. Besides, it is disgusting! I know I know kissing, etc etc etc is also sharing spit and so on but still!

How to Catch a Thief, TV2 on Thursday Nights - not only does it give people advice on how to break into houses, the background music loops endlessly, the ex-burglars are not convincing actors when they show us how 'improved' a house's security system is after they've broken into the house. The show also seems to pride the burglars on having so many convictions. Is this charter television? Thursday nights on TV2 seem to show a lot that sort of stuff, at the bottom end of the quality scale (i.e. think Renters, Eat Yourself Whole) When will they move away from creating shows based around people's ordinary lives and day jobs, and instead create quality local drama, comedy and documentaries (or in TV3's case news and current affairs)?

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Partnering Up

There has been a lot of talk about who will be partners to the ball. YAY Joon is going to the ball! Hopefully Hyun will follow suit. Kat's coming along too! (Absolutely no connection between those two whatsoever... the decision to mention those two particular people is purely because both originally had doubts as to whether they would attend the ball! They're both attending Rutherford's ball...I refuse to speculate anymore on that matter!) Shen, Lindsey, Joanne, Sarena, Estee, Nikki...heaps of people are coming, which is a lot better than last year, as I had to sit at a table with all these year 13 students whom I didn't really know! Last year there were so few year 11 students, whereas this year quite a lot of people I know are going. I still don't know if I'll be going this year (no need to convince me to go! Last year was great; if I have $70 I'll be there in no time!)

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Kitten Update

We got a call from the vet, who says they'll need to operate on the kitten. Meow-Meow is still alive and active, despite being limited in what she can do because of her broken leg/pelvis, and will undergo an operation this Thursday. Afterwards she will have to stay in a box for about a month, allowing her pelvis to heal. Please all pray for Meow-Meow!

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A Miracle (Or Close to One)

Our little kitten Meow-Meow had been missing since last Saturday, but fortunately just yesterday our very kind neighbours from across the street came over to our house to ask if a kitten they had found was ours. They had found it in the bushes across the road. It turned out to be ours, with a broken leg! We had to look around the place for a vet that was open on a Saturday. We found one in Swanson, which was unsurprisingly expensive!

According to the vet Meow-Meow's pelvis is broken in several places, and if it can't go to the toilet, then there isn't much the vet can do for her. Fortunately though it went to the toilet at our house as soon as it arrived, so there is still hope! She may have to have a cage around her for the next 3-4 weeks though. We pick her up from the vet tomorrow.

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Chamber Music Contest

Last night I performed with the school string quartet + a Rangitoto College cellist (since our school doesn't have one) at the Chamber Music Contest at Dilworth School. We were all required to dress in formal clothes, i.e. white shirt, black pants and red tie, and we all agreed to show up in those clothes. Unfortunately I don't think the Rangitoto College student understood. He showed up in a ripped up white long-sleeved shirt with a huge picture on it, and grey trackpants! Fortunately one of the twins lended him their navy blue school trousers and white t-shirt to cover up the logo, and we lended him a red tie. He hid behind the cello anyway so that wasn't too bad. We performed with a few hiccups but it was a good experience. The audience wasn't too big, being around 30-50 people large. While we were in one of the practice rooms practising though, one of the Dilworth School students started chucking eggs at the window...boiled ones too! We didn't really mind though. It's a private school and his own he's wrecking.

 

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Calum Comments - Thursday 9 June 2005

Seatoun Primary School have blocked a christian club from holding get-together meetings during lunchtimes at their school, claiming their school is secular. Even lawyers are getting involved, saying the school has no obligation to provide religious education to their students. The thing is, this club is voluntary. Students have NO obligation to attend these get-togethers during lunch. It is optional, just like joining the choir, the orchestra or the netball team. Not everyone at school must join them, what makes the BOT of this school believe all students must attend this religious get-together?

I was appalled at the choice of music TV3's Sports Tonight show chose to use in the background of their soccer segment. Lyrics included

"S#ck my balls!" and

"Fu*k! Fu*k! Fu*k!"

How is this appropriate for what I assume is supposed to be a sports news show? Of course on TV3 you never have any idea what is news and what isn't. I've sent them feedback giving them hell, and hope they reply. They didn't the last time I sent them a complaint via the feedback form on their website, which says a lot.

Winston Peters - must I say more? Why does he pick specifically on Asians? OK so they may turn some areas of Auckland into Hong Kong, and they congregate together and speak in their own language and leave you out of everything, but you can't deny the fact that there are also Pakehas (white people - using a few terms from our second official national language of course) who can pose as threats to national security, or take advantage of our welfare system. I don't know if Mr Peters is deliberately targeting Asians, but it sure feels that way.

Let's Go!

I've been meaning to post in the past few days but yesterday after squash practice my hand was so stiff I couldn't type!

Ball fever has been building in the past few days. I've been persuading a CERTAIN someone to go to the ball. However, I'm guessing that someone will only go to the ball if someone else and someone else and someone else goes and someone may go if someone else goes...

My parents will only pay for me to go to the ball next year so If I want to go this year I'll have to try find some money around the place to go.

I've gotten nearly most of my exam results back. Most of them were OK, but not too great. I luckily managed to get E for my creative writing (which is a miracle, if you consider what I got last year!) I'm not too happy with chemistry, as I only got M in titrations and E for calculations, but...there isn't really anything I can do about it so I'll just have to put up with it.

Happy 21st Birthday Jeremy!

Happy 21st Birthday Jeremy! (My cousin)

I was at his party tonight, which was cool. Of course you can trust me not to have touched any booze at all! I managed to stay sober and still have fun!

My cousins texted a few random girls on my contacts list calling them baby and telling them that I was madly in love with them, and I got a few replies asking who it was, saying that if it was Calum, they'd smash me!

They then realised it was my cousin and when I asked how they knew, they replied:

"Coz it didnt sound like u, n if it was u, id knock da sh!t outta u!"

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Accordion Champs

My brothers and I entered the accordion championships once again this weekend, and got the following results:

Aonghas:

1st - NZ 14 years and under solo

3rd - South Pacific/NZ 15 years and under solo

Hamish:

1st - 16 years and over solo

3rd - NZ Open Free Bass

Calum:

2nd= - NZ Open Solo

1st - NZ 17 Years and under Junior Virtuoso

Hamish Calum and Aonghas - 1st NZ Open Trio/Ensemble

Calum and Aonghas - 1st NZ 17 years and under Duet

I was fortunate enough to win the Samantha Rutherford Award for Most Promising Musician (and some money too!), but that probably means I've now got to work even harder to make sure I win the NZ Open next year!

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No Change

Exams over, now time to look to the accordion competitions this weekend.

I had my NCEA Music performance assessment this morning. I performed second early in the morning, playing the piece Figaro by Rossini. It was really bad! Heaps and heaps of mistakes! Fortunately the teacher let me 'reperform' it, which was a lot better than the first performance.

I had to go off to the dentist (orthodontist) at Middlemore Hospital for my annual check-up, and once again it was all bad news. They measured my height and even took an x-ray of my hand to come to the conclusion that I have stopped growing (with maybe a few cm's left in me!), which means I can now be put on the waiting list for surgery. I originally thought it'd take a decade for me to get to the top, but apparently it isn't that long, and I should be able to get to the top by next year! That'll mean I'll be another person to have braces for a year to straighten my teeth, and then they can operate on my jaw. That means I'll get a two week break from school (or university by then).

Some of the risks I read on the pamphlet are that they may damage my nerves, which means I may not be able to feel in my chin, cheeks or lips. That could mean someone could keep slapping me in the face without me feeling a thing! I'm mainly afraid of waking up in the middle of the operation to see myself all cut up and covered in blood, or even worse, if something goes wrong, dying! I'll say my goodbyes before my operation though, just in case I don't make it! I hope you all come to my funeral though!

One good thing I read in the pamphlet (well there were a lot of good things but this one was interesting) is:

"may also improve facial appearance"

A Little Help

While I was at The Warehouse Stationery photocopying my music for my music performance tomorrow, with that sappy love music playing in the background (I went to a few shops tonight, and love music seemed to be playing in the background wherever I went!), when this elderly man was trying to work the photocopy machine next to me. My mum and I offered to help him out. He was photocopying a twelve page letter he had written. I had a look at the address on the envelope and it was addressed to:

Minister of Police

Parliament Buildings

Wellington

I wonder if he is another one to complain about the police!

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Almost Done...

I had my biology exam this morning which is the last of my exams, apart from the music performance exam tomorrow morning but I don't really consider that as an exam because I enjoy performing to people anyway!

It has been a disastrous week for me. I completely screwed up my calculus exam, and most likely my biology. My calculus teacher told me there would be no calculus reassessment for me (despite everyone else having the opportunity to be reassessed) but I hope he was only joking now! I suppose I did barely OK in English and Chinese wasn't too bad, but I'm now uncertain about chemistry.

For those of you who sat the chemistry exam you may be interested to know that Mrs van Wingerden (chemistry teacher) said there was a slight complication in that there were three different concentrations of vinegar, so let's hope for those of us who are unlikely to pass that this warrants a resit!

 

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