Rutherford Idol Crew

Some of us tech crew after Rutherford Idol (from left) Aonghas, me, Jacqueline, Jonathan and Ben.

Open All Hours

I went to the University of Auckland Open Day today in the city. Even though Kat and Ayesha was going, I couldn't be at the right place at the right time in order to meet them, but there'll be a next time! Because I arrived late at the open day, I had to quickly have a look around. I don't think he saw me but I saw David from my form class walk by, and my Sunday school teacher who's a doctor was at one of the medicine stands. Conveniently the health stand and the law stand, two stands I wanted to see were opposite each other. I ended up checking out health, law, business and music. I went in to watch the NZ Trio perform, but it turned out not to be too thrilling. They performed a piece composed by a New Zealander, which sounds more like random notes put together rather than music.

A good thing I found out that many students who hate English would be glad to know is: if the course you want to take at university requires you to take at least one NCEA subject in the A list (which includes history, classical studies, English, Te Reo Maori, geography), you will not be disadvantaged if that one subject you have chosen to take is NOT English. Therefore if you find history or classics easier than English, then go ahead! Then again if you like English this probably won't concern you. As for me, I might just drop it...

Later that night I went to the Town Hall to watch the NZSO Youth Orchestra perform. That turned out to be a fizzer too, as they played 10 minute + pieces which weren't too exciting either. I got the tickets from school, and as you could expect, we probably got the worst seats in the house. We were seated at the very last row on the balcony level (third level up), which is a long long way away from the stage!

So in the end it was a long day in the city for me. After the concert I had to sit outside Britomart for a few hours waiting for my dad to finish work so he could take my family and I home. While doing so, we were entertained by some drunken guys outside a club humping a pole, and some other girl riding around in a shopping trolley. Come to think of it, we saw all types of people in the city: straights, gays, goths, rockers, drunks, Asians, straights, homeless, trans, boy with eye shadow...We sure live in a country full of many different people don't we?  

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Idol-ed Out

I was only told earlier this week that the Rutherford Idol grand final would be held on the Friday of the same week, and that I had to create 16 videos for it in three days! So I spent all of my out-of-school hours on Rutherford Idol videos (literally, with only 2 hours sleep in 2 days) and only managed to have them finished 15 minutes before the show started! My mum gave me Chinese tea to bring to school when I hadn't slept all night to help me not fall asleep, but unfortunately we watched a really boring video in biology which left me dozing off. I stayed awake in chemistry and English because we had an assessment to finish (which I had only planned the night before!), but I tried drinking the Chinese tea before Physics, which is dead boring on best days, but it didn't work!

Rutherford Idol Grand Final was great and a thousand times better compared to last year's, everything from the quality of singers and their performances, to audience size and enthusiasm, to videos, to technical stuff! We had a full house on the night who were really supportive of most people except Mr Mataia (one of the judges).

In the end the results were: 1st Chantelle, 2nd Janet, 3rd Elisapeta, 4th Tim. It's so sad now that it's all over! I'm already missing working with the top 8 finalists and the tech crew who were a great bunch of people to work with! Bring on next year! (If there will be one!)

The Sun Still Shines

I managed to redeem myself today by getting a Merit in my Calculus assessment in trigonometric equations. I'll just have to try again next year!

My Chinese speech didn't go too badly yesterday (I think...) Nikki (this girl in my Chinese class) and I were the only two who could memorise our Chinese speech, while everyone else gets to redo theirs tomorrow!

I also found two 5c coins on the ground at school today! Yay! I know I really should've done the honest thing by handing it in to the office, but seeing as the 5c coin will get dropped next year, I guess that shows its worthlessness, so I didn't bother.

In the past few days it has been great to see the school getting in behind various activities at school such as Rutherford Idol, SADD sponge-throwing at the teachers, International Language Week Fear Factor, the presentation at assembly, wearing international language badges, the basketball afterschool today and today's sale of international food. Hopefully more can be done for students in the coming year!

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How NOT to Give a Speech

This morning I gave a Chinese speech at the Auckland Chinese Speech Competition, and following the latest trend, it didn't go well!

Because I had only finalised my speech late last night because I had realised my speech was over 3 minutes long, I only had late last night and this morning to memorise it.

I was first to give a speech in my class because of alphabetical order. The lady rang the bell to signal that I was allowed to start...the only problem was...I couldn't remember how my speech started off! After a few stutters I finally got started.

I managed to stagger along, mispronouncing words using the wrong tones, when I heard the lady ring the bell. I thought something was wrong with it (it was one of those kitchen timer things) so I carried on. A little while later it started ringing again, and so I kept going. Finally I had finished my speech!

I soon realised that everyone else had used cue cards, so I could've used them rather than memorise my whole speech. I also realised that the bell meant I was supposed to stop because I went over time!

The speech prize-giving will be in a couple weeks time, but I won't be marking it in my diary!

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What a Horrible Day

Nothing seemed to go right today:

-I was going to practise my Chinese speech for the speech competition during Chinese but there was no teacher so it was noisy

-I got sent to guidance and was asked to prepare a little speech on the 'Kia Kaha' bullying programme at assembly in less than a few hours away

-I had to prepare the stage for the International Language Week presentation but the projector wasn't working

-The laptop wasn't working

-When the CD with the Korean video I was asked to create for a teacher was tested, it wasn't working

-I was told that the Calculus reassessment I sat two days ago had a page missing which means I've got to spend 20 minutes of my lunch next Monday finishing that page

-I timed my speech tonight after managing to memorise bits of it, and realised it is over the 3 minute time limit which means I've had to truncate it tonight and try to somehow memorise it before tomorrow morning!

Boy oh boy oh boy...

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Tight Squeeze

I've got a Chinese speech competition this Saturday morning and an NCEA Chinese speech assessment this Monday and my speeches aren't ready yet, which means I haven't memorised anything!

For the Chinese speech competition I'm speaking about my crazy cat Mao-mao, and for NCEA I'm speaking on why I want to go to China.

I had finished writing my speeches during last weekend but it keeps getting changed everytime I take my speech to a Chinese person!

No Stopping

Rutherford Idol was a lot more successful today. It got off to a rocky start though, when Mr Thompson (school arts coordinator) began to wonder if Rutherford Idol should be postponed to tomorrow because of sports photos taking place in the hall and the supposedly unexpected fire drill during 5th period before lunch. I wasn't keen on the semifinal being moved to Friday because a) SADD's throw sponges at teachers' faces would be very popular and b) I wanted to miss English!

Anyway it went ahead and we had a bigger audience than yesterday! I can safely say that despite having a smaller audience than last year, we made more money from door sales in one day than we did in two days last year!

I had plugged our camera battery charger into the power socket on stage and went backstage to film the contestants as they waited for their turn to perform (they weren't very happy with me filming but I was just doing my job!) When I looked out onto the stage the battery charger was gone! It became apparent that it was most likely (especially at our school) stolen. I looked all around the place but fortunately Mr Thompson told me he had put it away somewhere! Thank goodness or else my mum would be mad!

After lunch was form period and the first 'Kia Kaha' peer-mentoring...thing. Originally I was going to be Kia Kaha peer mentor for 10WO, my English teacher's 'really naughty' form class, but my partners (Jonathan and Ben) and I got shifted to 9MX, the year 9 Kaleidoscope (enrichment) class which was really cool! Ben's brother was in that class and Jonathan's sister was in that class too (and I think Shen's sister is in that class as well) so that was even better! I missed most of it because I had to pack up all the filming equipment, but I'm sure Ben and Jonathan coped without me!

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Flat-Out

Today was hectic. I got 5th period (Physics) off today to help coordinate filming for the Rutherford Idol semifinals during lunch, and then straight after lunch I had to rush off to the maths room for my calculus reassessment. I lost 6 minutes!

The Rutherford Idol semifinals today wasn't too bad. The audience might not have been as big as last year but at least everyone in the audience paid to watch, whereas last year everyone crashed in.

Because Steven and Jay-cee, the 'supposed-to-be' judges both weren't at school today, we had to look for a replacement judge in short notice. Thank goodness for Troy! As the fill-in host and the field reporter for Rutherford Idol, he did a good job.

Tomorrow's another day with the second round of semifinal performances. Expect them to be a whole lot better! Tomorrow form period will also be my debut as a 'Kia Kaha' mentor for 10WO, apparently a not so well-behaved year 10 class...

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Assssessmentsss

The biology test was six pages long. My answers were probably only a page long if you took away all the blank lines. At least the test didn't have any real significance except for letting us know what we need to study.

Thank goodness my Chinese teacher has postponed our speech from this Monday, to tomorrow, to next Monday! I would never have been able to memorise it by tomorrow!

Today I had an NCEA music assessment after school. For my solo I performed Jolly Cabbalero by Frosini. I was originally going to perform Three Little Pigs but two weeks wasn't enough time to learn the whole thing. So instead when I came home from the BOT meeting last night I just got that old song out (the first song I ever performed at Rangeview!) and started practising it. I performed it today, and made a few mistakes. I have a tendency to smile or make some sort of face whenever I make a mistake. The music teacher asked me to perform my solo again without making those faces. Tells you how my performance went didn't it? Fortunately the second time round was a lot better. Aonghas and I performed Bohemian Rhapsody on the accordion for our group performance. That went OK even though Aonghas took it slightly faster than usual!

Now I've just got a calculus assessment to go tomorrow and then I can stress a little less!

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Calum Comments - Tuesday 16 August

This is very short. The focus will be on GAYS, in other words homosexuality, in light of certain events taking place around me (and I'm not only referring to Labour's social agenda)

I think one of Labour's weeknesses is the social agenda they have had while being in government this past term. Prostitution is now legal - a totally legit profession for women (and men...we don't want to be sexist now) Next thing you know there will be prostitution apprenticeships (how else would they learn apart from in the workplace?).

The civil union has also come to fruition, where you and your partner could walk into the place where you get civil unions one day after buying your onions from the vegetable shop and buy yourselves a civil union. 

I am not really against the civil union completely, but I am against the fact that straight couples can apply for one. Marriages should be for heterosexual couples, civil unions for gays.

In complete honesty, I am not against gays and would stand by any friend who is (don't think I have any yet, but then again...), as long as he doesnt' hit on me ;) That would just be awkward

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RIP Zippo

RIP Zippo

I promise this blog won't resemble an obituary, but today saw the loss of another life. It ain't my real neighbour, but rather the fish Zippo that died late last night. She was the fattest of them all, and the oddest looking. She leaves behind three remaining fish, Hyun, Sarena and Rydia.

We will be working determine the cause of death. At the moment the water is clean and has been changed, and we have a water pump and filter. We have been feeding our fish, but whether we've fed them too much or too little, we're not too sure. According to the fishes' previous owner, feeding them too much can kill them! Something else we must look at is the water temperature.

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Farewell Mr Lange

It was saddening to hear the passing away of David Lange, former Labour prime minister, and a truly great one. He had great intellectual wit, and was a politician many people liked (which is uncommon!). My sympathies go out to all the family members he has left behind.

Rest in Peace David Lange

 

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Left is Best in More Ways than One

Happy Left-Handers Day!!!

Even if you're not left-handed, feel free to join the very special 10% of us who are in celebrating our uniqueness!

Just while we're on left-handeds, here are a few interesting facts to show how left-handeds such as Prince William, Marilyn Monroe, Estee Leong, Leonardo da Vinci, Ryan Benjamin, Jimi Hendrix and Nicole Kidman are great (OK the greatness of some of those is questionable).

• Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater
• Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing
• 4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed
• 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed - 250% more than the normal level.
• Left-handers are generally more intelligent, better looking, imaginative and multi-talented than right handers (according to most left-handeds anyway!)

(http://www.lefthandersday.com)

So take some time out to wish a left-hander well on their special day today! Go the Lefties!

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Here comes the Storm

The school week ended on another dull Friday, with the only major highlights being the fire alarm during Chinese, interrupting our farewell to Danny (this Korean student who is leaving us for America!), International Languages Week meeting, where we're organising a week full of activities related to international languages/cultures for students, and discussing and debating the TV3 Leaders Debate that screened the following night with Heather (another political junky!).

Next week will be hectic. On Tuesday I have an NCEA Lvl 3 Music performance assessment, and on Tuesday I have a Chinese speech assessment on why I want to go to China, as well as a Calculus assessment on trigonmetric equations. The following Saturday is the Auckland Chinese Speech Competition, which I still haven't written a speech for! I can't think of anything to speak about! My Chinese teacher suggested talking about something personal such as...finding a girlfriend! (yes out of all the possible topics she comes up with something like that!) I might talk about our crazy kitten called Mao-mao, who runs around wrecking our house, scratching us all and causing mischief...oh yeah and getting hit by a car.

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Career Ideas

Fortunately there wasn't much of school I had to attend today, with the careers expo cutting into three periods. I only had to endure calculus in the morning, and then the expo! Having English and Chinese afterwards wasn't too bad.

The expo was huge, with three rooms full of stalls! I ended up stopping at each stall talking to everyone, including this lady about water!

I did get some ideas on what I could possibly do when I leave school. Ever since I got elected as student rep, I've been able to see the other side of things regarding education that most students don't get to see, and this has interested me. I've also always thought of teaching as something rewarding and giving something back to the community - you're able to pass on your knowledge to the younger generation and watch them grow and see where they end up! It was interesting to know that you only have to do one year of teacher training after you get your degree to become a teacher in the field your degree specialises in. My long term plan is to become an intermediate school music teacher after I've worn myself out in my main occupation (whatever it may be) and before I retire. Now I've just got to work out what I want to head towards...Mrs Taylor first suggested going for a conjoint Law/Science degree, so that if I get bored with law I could always go into science, but then later today suggested Law/Health Science so that I could choose between becoming a doctor or a lawyer later on. I have no idea!

I met Shrikkanth for the first time since yr 9 at the expo today which was really cool! He's pretty much the same funny guy he's always been, and wanted an ice-cream as soon as he saw that it was being sold!

Reunion at the Expo

All of us at the Coca-Cola Careers Expo - Vincent, Shen, me, Nick, Ben, Srikkanth and a few other of Shrikkanth's friends from St Peters College

Calum Comments - Wednesday 10 August

High-tech high school for West

'Avondale College's new architect-designed technology building, which cost more than $5 million, will open at the start of term four.'

(The West Aucklander, 10 August 2005)

I'm glad to hear their technology building was designed by an architect, but really, what building these days isn't? I suppose this is supposed to make Avondale's new building sound slightly 'flasher' because it was 'architect-designed' (everyone ooo and ahhhhh)

The Western Leader and The West Aucklander are increasingly looking like an Avondale College newspaper with the number of articles on their college students that feature in one issue. Today's The West Aucklander had at least three articles on Avondale College students. Obviously Avondale College is spending a lot to submit all these articles (do reporters for local newspapers ever find their own stories nowadays?) and make their school look good, which over-represents them, and does not necessarily mean that everything good that is done in West Auckland is done by an Avondale College student. Their efforts just get publicised more than those of students from other schools who aren't as lucky to have a big marketing budget.

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Count on your Friends to Liven things Up!

This weekend has been typically normal, but thanks to my friends there has been a lot of soap drama and worrying going on! Once again two of my friends hate each other, which I have no idea what to do about...I don't want to put myself on one side or else I may lose the other as a friend, but I want to be supportive of each other...哎哟！(ai yo! in Chinese means Oh Dear, Oh My Goodness or...Great Guns!-my favourite expression because it sounds funny when my mum says it!) Last year I had to deal with two of my infamous friends hating each other, so it isn't supposed to be anything new to me :S

I've also had a friend contemplating suicide because of certain issues, which has gotten me worried, but thankfully things have died down and normal life has resumed (not that it stopped!) for her.

I've been helping Aonghas film this little movie for his English 'Journeys' assignment, and got manhandled by Zippo today when she came over to watch us film and she...got in the picture.

Boy, how boring would life be if it weren't for friends?

(Not to suggest anything but all the friends mentioned above are female!)

The Mobberley Bros

The Mobberley boys Phillip the birthday boy, Kenneth and Bevin

Happy 21st Birthday Phillip!

Happy 21st Birthday Phillip!

Last night was my former neighbour Phillip's 21st birthday party. All his family was there including his two brothers Kenneth and Bevin. Phillip is studying to become an engineer, while Kenneth is now training to be an electronics guy in the army while Bevin is an architect. It has been so long since we last saw them! Kenneth lives down in Upper Hutt while Phillip lives in Palmerston North, so it was great to see them all again!

We all had dinner there, then at 10pm the brothers departed to go clubbing. They asked my brothers and I if we wanted to come, probably jokingly, knowing that we would be too young!

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Something to Ponder

When asked why girls act in one way in one day, another way the next, my good friend Ayesha
answered by saying...

PMS

I asked if that was post-menstrual stress just to make sure, and she corrected me by saying it was both PRE and POST.

'What are girls like in between?' I asked.....EVEN WORSE!

What it got me wondering is...does pre and post menstrual stress overlap for some people?

The Squash Team & Chess Team + Sarena

At Rydia's request Sarena has been added to the group photo at the expense of...someone else...See if you can spot her!

The Squash Team & Chess Team

All of us guys from squash and chess together at Wendy's

The End of It

We had our squash/chess end of season dinner at Wendy's after school today. It was pretty good because for once Aonghas and I got to eat more than a bacon cheeseburger (if that is what it's called!). Awards for Most Valuable Player, Most Improved, etc. etc. will be announced at the end-of-year sports prize-giving dinner, so that will keep most of us squash players/chessies in suspense..apart from me of course! Having won not one chess game, I'm almost certainly out of the running for any award.

Tomorrow will be Phillip's 21st birthday. He used to be my neighbour for 12 years before Zippo moved in. Whoever lives at that house always seem to be great neighbours! Can't say much about the neighbours on other sides of us, especiailly the state house a couple of blocks away! Let's just say...wackybacky...

 

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Happy Birthday Esther!

Happy Birthday Esther (yesterday))!!

I just want to publicly wish her a happy birthday for yesterday!

Congratulations too to Evan who's the very first student of the month!!!

Open Day

Tonight was the Rutherford College Open Evening, and having been involved with every open evening at school since third form, I couldn't resist taking part in tonight's one too! Originally the Chinese teacher had asked me to help out with the languages department display by cooking some dumplings, even though I don't know how to! After being offered the opportunity to be a tour guide though, I took up the offer.

I've got a friend from Rangeview Intermediate who's coming to Rutherford next year. She originally has a sister at our school. I was going to be her tour guide tonight, expecting her to come around at about 6pm. I took around this girl who's sister won heaps of awards at the Rutherford College prize-giving last year for about half an hour, and then spent the rest of the night welcoming people to Rutherford College at the front door with Mr Edmeades while waiting for my friend to come. By 8pm she still hadn't come, and so i assumed she didn't come at all. When I chatted to her older sister though, she said that she had come at 5pm!

We all got a bit of pizza and a drink for dinner at school tonight which was cool, but of course not the reason why I chose to help out!

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RIP Joon

RIP Joon

Sorry guys not the Korean Joon, but our fish Joon died this morning. It was found lying at the bottom of the fish tank. I can assure you that the fish ARE being fed, and the fish tank HAS been cleaned. We even have an air pump and a water filter and other decorative features in the fish tank. There is no explanation for our fish's death apart from it being of natural causes.

Four survivors remain - Rydia, Zippo, Sarena and Hyun. Lucky Hyun!

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Happy Happy!

My niece...or great-niece...or something along those lines from my mum's side of the family is getting married! Unfortunately she lives all the way in Hong Kong and will get married in September so there's no way I'll be able to make it there.

She used to play with my brothers and me when we were little, giving us piggy-backs and everything! My big niece all grown up!

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