Unexpected Drop-by

Yep that's Shen and me in front of the clothesline that we broke while playing basketball

Food, Soccer No Study

This weekend hasn't been too bad. On Saturday I taught my recorder classes in the morning. I was talking to them all about how I was looking for another part-time job, when one of them said

"How old are you?"

I told them I was 16 and the girl replied

"You look old! "

I asked how old and she said

"umm...about eighteen!"

That made me feel old! Anyway after that I had accordion lessons and then it was off to my aunty's surprise 50th birthday party! It wasn't much of a surprise because she noticed that food was missing from the fridge in the morning so she suspected something was up. There was heaps of food there, and I ended up eating too much. My cousins once again got hold of our phone and texted some random friends, but we did the same to them!

Today church was shorter because instead of Sunday school there was just an Annual General Meeting which we didn't stay around for. We got home and later on Shen came over and hung around to play a bit of basketball and talk a little! Thank goodness he let me know my fly was down before anyone else noticed! I'm sure I didn't go through church like that though... Before he went off he gave me a little drive down the road and back. He looks a lot more mature and grown up behind the wheel!

At the party last night our cousins invited us to come with them to play indoor soccer with them today too so they came over and picked us up. The team we played for consisted of all of our cousins so it was pretty much an Anderson/Brens team. Unfortunately we lost 0-6, and because my shorts were held up with a safety pin which came off halfway during the game, I had to run around holding my shorts up!

When we got home we found our mum sick because she had eaten unproperly cooked chicken that was leftover from the party the night before, so we thought we would try cook dinner ourselves! Unfortunately us guys in the household didn't know how to use a rice-cooker or the stove, so thankfully Zippo came to the rescue and helped cook the dinner for us (we helped around too!). I'm pleased to say I'm still alive and on the record the food did taste good! (baked beans, egg, mixed veges and rice)

I really should've been studying though...

The Wait is Nearly Over

Another week is over, with 18 days to go before externals! Today I was told though that we will find out who will become head/deputy head boy/girl for 2006 this Monday, so that will be nerve wracking!

Today we did an electrolysis experiment for chemistry which involved CuSO4. I spent a lot of time cleaning the metals and ended up getting the smell all over my hand which I couldn't get rid of for a loong time! The blue CuSO4 got on my hands too which made my fingernails blue and I spent a lot of interval trying to scrub my fingers but the blue colour wouldn't come off! An interesting thing happened in chemistry today too...Sarena fell for on Hyun (or was it Joon?) hmm.......;)

I applied at a couple of places for another part-time job and so far have received one response from McDonalds:

"Thank you we will contact you when we have a suitable position available"

So I'll be waiting! (It probably was an automated reply!)

Labour Weekend Labour

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA (for Monday)

 

Sorry I didn't get round to posting earlier! I don't want to embarrass Jessica but she's probably one of my main rivals at the accordion (and often she comes out on top!) and is definitely a future accordion champ!

 

Labour weekend was full of hard labour...in terms of studying. I was originally going to use the weekend to get a few English essays planned but I didn't get round to doing them because I couldn't think of anything, so at least I managed to memorise colour changes of Oxidation-Reduction reactions. I have an exciting life! :D

 

The recorder classes I taught on Saturday morning were probably the most exhausting they've been in a while, even though maybe less than half of my students turned up because of Labour weekend! I had one student who brought along her friends and kept talking (funnily enough her birthday is on the same day as Sarena's!) and was impatient for class to finish probably so she could go off with her friends to play.

I'm also starting to feel the pressure to get the students to put on a good show for the end of year music school performance where all the classes of different musical instruments perform a few pieces. I want my students to look good so it doesn't reflect badly on them or myself and so parents will know their kids learnt something this year! I've also got to decide which students to give certain awards to, which will be difficult because I don't like choosing a few over the other!

 

Anyway the Monday off school was a deserving break from school no matter how short it was. Today I brought a watch to school which was good because I didn't have to keep asking Hyun for the time during calculus and I could determine it myself during physics! Now I've just got to work out a way to determine the date!

Englishache

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARENA!!

 

Today was another one of those days. I got caught out in biology class because I wasn't able to answer a question - I had done the wrong thing for homework and so I tried making up the answer on the spot but it didn't work out! Fortunately I have an understanding biology teacher!

 

We got our marks back for our English monologue assessment today) the one I dressed up as a roadworker for). I only got merit :S Prior to the performance I had asked the English teacher if it was OK that I didn't move around too much in my monologue since I was a roadworker who had to control traffic, and so obviously I'd have to stand beside my imaginary road and keep an eye on traffic. Despite missing a few lines in my monologue, it wasn't the reason I got merit - it was because I didn't move around enough and make more of my voice or something like that! Say one thing and change your mind later...They encourage us not to go over-the-top and I agree as when you're acting you're trying to act as if what is going on is real, but these English teachers most probably wanted us to exaggerate everything in order to get excellence which I don't quite understand. . Thank goodness I won't have to be subject to this subjectedness next year! If the Calum Curse has come back to haunt me it's a pretty bad time to!

What a Wonderful Wednesday

Today after school my parents, Aonghas and I went to North Shore via the Harbour Bridge to do some shopping only to find out upon arriving at the shop that someone had just jumped off the bridge and committed suicide. That was a freaky thought!

 

I also got my Chinese writing assessment today while tomorrow I'll be doing the last of my solo and group performances for my music internal assessment. I don't know why they leave it to the last minute when its less than a month to go before we have exams and we're all bogged down with studying!  But with all those other assessments we have throughout the year I suppose it's the only time to have them...

 

 

Student Politics Taking its Toll

Voting forms for head boy and head girl were distributed today. Knowing that the principal has the final say on who becomes headboy and headgirl, apparently students think I'll definitely get headboy and so they're taking the headboy contest as one for deputy headboy and so they aren't voting for me but for other people. Lord all I ask is for at least one vote...

 

My friend also told me today that after school on the bus he asked this guy who he was voting. He replied:

 

"Well my form class is definitely not voting for Calum"

 

When my friend asked why, he said:

 

"Because Calum has pi$$ed everyone around and hasn't done anything anyone has asked him to do"

 

Yeah that's a bit of a spirit-killer. It made me rethink why I was going for headboy in the first place and whether working for students and doing all the stuff I have for them for the past three years has been worth it when people treat you like this. Then again, this is what politics is all about.

 

What made today worse for me was I had to perform at this music performance, and I completely stuffed it up.

 

It's times like these the only thing you can really do is *think of happy thoughts think of happy thoughts*

Hard Work

Calum the roadworker (for our class's NCEA English internal assessment monologue) I'll post more about it and some more photos later today!

The Simple Man

After receiving a few requests, I have decided to post a couple sexist jokes just for fun! (I have nothing against women!)

Familiar Faces

Notice any face faces in this article that featured in four different Korean newspapers?

Korean Superstars

I was shopping at this Korean Food shop with my mum and trying to see if I could remember how to say some of those Korean characters (several months ago I thought I would try learn some Korean...when you can't beat them join them!) when we thought we would pick up a few Korean newspapers and guess who was in four different Korean newspapers: The Sunday Times, The Newstoon,  The Korea Herald and another newspaper with a Korean name (OK so I was informed prior to visiting the shop)...Hyun and Joon about them winning their scholarship!

Here is the article:

한국학교 장학생 5명 선발

우수학생 몰려 당초 3명에서 2명 더 늘려

선데이타임즈 article@sundaytimes.co.nz

오클랜드 한국학교(교장 계춘숙)가 당초 계획보다 2명이 더 늘어난 5명의 장학생을 선발했다. '비전 2020'의 일환으로 실시하고 있는 장학생 선발은 작년에 이어 올해 두번째로 1차 서류 심사와 2차 면접 등 엄격한 심사를 거쳐 결정됐다. 한국학교측은 "작년에도 그랬지만 올해는 특히 우수 학생들이 대거 몰리는 바람에 5명으로 늘려 선발하게 됐다"고 밝혔다. 선발된 학생은 독고이랑(오클랜드 대학교 1학년), 김지현(Rangitoto College F7), 오현석(Rutherford College F6), 오준석(Rutherford College F6), 신종하(King's College F5) 학생 등이다. 한재관 장학생선발위원장은 "장학생으로 지원한 학생 모두 뛰어난 학업 성적과 다방면에 걸친 재능과 봉사정신을 발휘하고 있어 우열을 가리기가 매우 힘들었다"고 심사 소감을 밝혔다. 계춘숙 교장은 "3~4세때 이민을 왔음에도 불구하고 유치부부터 중등학년까지 꾸준하게 한국학교를 다닌 결과 정확한 발음으로 한국어를 구사하는 것은 물론 현지 학교에서도 우수한 성적을 거두고 있음을 확인할 수 있었다"면서 "이는 학생과 학부모들의 성실성과 적극성이 밑받침됐기 때문에 가능한 결과"라고 말했다. 우준기 BOT 의장은 매년 훌륭한 한국 학생들을 격려하고 지원하기 위해 앞으로 장학제도를 더욱 발전시키는데 최선을 다하겠다고 밝혔다. 한편 선발된 학생들은 어렸을 때 부모님의 권유로 억지로 학교를 다녔지만 지금 와서는 이중언어의 필요성과 중요성을 깨닫고 있으며 부모님께 감사드린다고 말했다고 학교측은 전했다. 장학금 수여식은 15일 오전 10시 30분 북부캠퍼스 강당(Sunnybrae Normal School-36 Sunnybrae Rd. Takapuna)에서 열린다. (사진 왼쪽부터)독고이랑, 신종하, 오현석, 오준석, 김지현 학생

(http://www.sundaytimes.co.nz/news/read.php?idxno=1835 )

If you can't read Korean, never fear! I have spent *hours* putting my ability to speak fluent Korean to use and have translated the article to English (nah just joking!):

Korean school scholarship student 5 person selections

2 people compared to it increases from rainwater student being pursued very first time 3 people,

 

The Oakland Korean school (principal total Choon Soog) 2 people the very first time plan than compared to selected the scholarship student of 5 people which increase.

 

The scholarship student selection which it is executing in link of the vision 2020 was last year and at this year 1st document mind and the2nd interview back it passed by the mind which is strict second and it was decided.

 

The Korean school side even in last year like that this year in the wind where the rainwater students are pursued great movement specially increased with 5 people and but it selected and it revealed.

 

The student who is selected the poison nicely Rang (Oakland university1 grade), Kim Ji Hyun (Rangitoto College F7), 오현석(Rutherford College F6), 오준석(Rutherford College F6), 신종하(King's College F5) 학생 등이다 .

 

The drought disaster tube scholarship student selection chairman of a committee the student whom it supports with the scholarship student all was displaying the talent which superior extends in studies record and many sidedness and a service spirit and hides a superiority or inferiority was strenuous very and it revealed a mind impression.

 

The total Choon Soog principal 3~4 three time the emigration it came in spite of the result which the Korean school comes and goes until a custody couple sprouting middle class grade steadily it gathers the record which is excellent even from of course local school it will be able to confirm the thing which seeks an office the Korean language with the pronunciation which is accurate and it talked the result which is possible because the sincere result positive characteristic of the students and the parents had become underlay

 

Right the flag BOT design which it gives yearly will encourage the fine Korean students and it revealed that in the future the hazard which it supports the place best which develops the encouragement of learning system more it will finish.

 

One side the students who are selected come and when being young, the necessity and an importance of duplex language and the now when the school it comes and goes with hundred million Ji in inducement of the parents but they comprehend it talked that to the parents thanks they give, the school it conveyed sympathetically.

 

Scholarship presentation ceremony 15th morning 10:00 30 minute northern part campus auditorium (Sunnybrae Normal School-36 SunnybraeRd. Takapuna)에서 열린다.

 

(From the photograph left side) the poison nicely Rang, Under new species, Five present three, Five three which it gives, Kim Ji present student

 

http://www.sundaytimes.co.nz/news/read.php?idxno=1835

 

End of Week

Finally the end of the week, which means one week of term four down, four more to go, and four more till NCEA exams! The first week back hasn't been too bad, which is what I like about the first and fourth term of every year! We don't get much homework and we don't have to learn much more either.

It's starting to get sad though as we come close to the end of the year. I know many people (both yr 12 and 13) who won't be back next year, which is the first step towards all of us guys breaking apart from each other. I've got to make sure I bring a camera towards the end of the year to take photos of everyone! I just got a 1Gb card today which said on the camera that it could store 700 good quality photos and 300 best quality photos on it, so now the only thing that can stop me are be the camera batteries going flat!

A friend pointed out to me yesterday (you know who you are!) 'that being ugly is not too bad - when you're in war the soldiers will probably capture the good-looking girls and leave you behind'...he then realised it only applied to females...

Bite-Sized Thoughts

• Yay for Otago beating Canterbury in the NPC semis!!! Let's hope North Harbour beats Auckland tomorrow night so we can see a Otago vs North Harbour final! (go the underdogs!)
• Ain't it great we live in a country where a cat stuck up a very tree dominates the media?
• Air New Zealand has found its new chief executive after a 'worldwide'  search - he came from within Air New Zealand's board

Good News All Round

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS RAI! (Rangeview Intermediate's beloved music teacher!)

We tried visiting her today after school but she had already taken off. I miss that school! Congratulations too to the Oh boys who were told today they have won a Korean scholarship and our Young Enterprise team The Flashcard Company (no prizes for guessing what we sell!) have taken out the West Auckland regional competition!
 

Worrying Times

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACQUELINE (for last Sunday!)

School's started again, with only five weeks left till the proper proper NCEA exams, and I'm worried! I'm fast running out of time, and am not at all ready, especially for physics! To make things worse there are all these distractions - four internal assessments next week: Chinese writing, music solo and group performance and English monologue thing. I just got asked today to perform at a charity performance next Tuesday as well which will add to it all, although I suppose it'll help me prepare for my NCEA solo performance.

Head student elections will also kick-off next week. There are five girls running for headgirl (Kirsty, Renee, Heather, Jane and Joanne) and five guys running for headboy (Shen, Patrick, Hyun, Ryan S and me). Everyone who put their name down for the student leader group (which was predominantly students from the kaleidoscope class with the exclusion of two!) will most likely end up in the student leader group, which is cool because I don't think I could stand to see anyone have their hopes dashed or anyone split up from their friends (I know it probably isn't a big deal for some but yeah I feel bad about a lot of things!) Anyway next Monday at assembly all of us will most likely give a few words to the senior school before they vote in an indicator vote (the teachers also have a chance to vote and the principal makes the final decision).

It hit me today though that it's looking like an uphill battle for me to become headboy, as I'm up against some very able guys! If you get the most votes, it's most likely the principal will go with you and so you're a bit screwed if you don't. I was talking about this to my mum on the way home today and my mum suggested that if I don't get headboy I could maybe try apply for university instead. That could be an option...apart from a bit of extra knowledge and friends (not so sure about that one!) there isn't exactly a lot for me to stay around for. If I manage to pass all my level 3 assessments I might be able to get enough credits to pass NCEA Level 3 (but that's a long shot!), and if I go to university I'd be able to do all my university studies and finish a year earlier as well. Then again, I still have no idea what I would study at university, so that will most likely see me stay for year 13 regardless!

Power Out

This isn't too exciting but this was Glenfield Shopping Centre during the power-cut - as shops closed everyone had to wait around the place

A Series of Interesting Events

Yesterday I went to Westcity with my mum to check out some of the optomotrists so I could finally get my eyes checked and then get my learners license! Unfortunately none of them were as cheap as the Chinese optomotrist I've seen in the past over in East Tamaki, so I'll probably have to wait till next week to go over to East Tamaki to get my eyes checked at a cheaper price.
Anyway at Westcity when we went outside by E-Thing and Burger King, there were a few guys there with black eyes, one holding an ice pack to his eye, and at least half a dozen police officers around the place. As we walked past a police truck came over and all of these guys got put in there and taken away.

Today I was at Glenfield Shopping Centre, which is adjacent to the Music Education Centre where I learn the accordion every Saturday, when most of North Shore was hit by a power cut! Everyone poured out of the shops as they all closed. People selling ice-cream were in a rush to sell it all before it started melting. This old lady pushed her trolley onto a stationary elevator, and we all know what happens when you push a trolley onto an elevator don't we? It locks up and doesn't move. Unfortunately this old lady didn't realise that her trolley would get stuck and wouldn't move. This caused a big jam around her as people tried to get to the lower level. Fortunately, the power went back on just in time for my music lesson!

B-Grade (Which is Pretty Good!) Yum Cha

My parents, Aonghas and I went over to South Auckland to have cheap yum-cha at this Chinese restaurant. The last time we went there in the last school holidays, it had a D-grade rating for hygiene. Today it was B! Next thing you know they'll be raising their prices!

 

It was an uneventful lunch, apart from one of the waitresses (if you can call them that) dropping a plate of food on the ground, a Chinaman walking in on me in the toilet with no locks. My dad also met an old Chinese friend he knew in Wellington several decades ago, and with nothing to do, I ended up drinking a whole teapot of tea!

 

Anyway its so sad...holidays nearly over, little accomplished!

 

 

Bye-bye Social Life

My social life looks set to be over (till I've finished high school anyway), before it really began. So far this year I've already missed a couple of opportunities to go to the movies with some friends because my mum thought I had priorities or it was too expensive, and now another friend has invited me to go to her birthday party/dinner but my mum thinks it'll be too expensive to go too! Soon no one will invite me anywhere, as they'll think Calum's wrapped up in bubblewrap away locked at home. My mum has this way with me, where after she tells me I can't go and I've pleaded with her to go, she says I can go if I spend my own money, knowing I can't get any of it out as it's stuck in this bank account that will drop in interest if I take anything out, plus I'll feel guilty because I wouldn't be working at home.

 

During these holidays apart from pushing me to finally see the optomotrist so I can finally get my learners (after sitting the test last school holidays), my parents have also been pushing my brothers and I to go out and look for jobs (in addition to my recorder teaching job because despite a good hourly rate I only work one and a half hours a week!) for the Christmas holidays. I've noticed how heaps of people have got part time jobs, with a few working at BLOCKBUSTER, Wendys and Pak N' Save, which is cool because you can see your friends in uniform when you come across them at work! We have this Hello Kitty soft toy (I don't sleep with it) dressed up in a McDonalds uniform which looks really cool, so I might try apply at McDonalds and hopefully get a discount on food too! Hopefully by getting another job and earning a bit more money I will be able to pay off a bit of that student loan when I get one, as well as maybe go out with my friends at least once or twice in a while!

Random Rant

According to this random name generator I found, my rap name is Dodgey Dog lol

Anyway today according to my pedometer, I took 1225 steps, walked 1.030km and lost 37.5 calories just walking around the house. Then I accidentally dropped it on the ground and it broke...hopefully it can be fixed! After eating a pie I probably would have gained those calories again 

 

Amongst other things, farewell Judy Bailey, who will be leaving reading the 6pm news for ONE News after 18 years of doing so. Thank you for all those nights of news that you have read out to us Mrs Bailey! You can probably imagine Ms Clark smiling as $800,000 has been saved!

Imagine 'The Beehive'

I've just finished watching The West Wing which screens afterthe Tonight news on TV ONE every Monday night, and I'm really starting to get into this series! Despite the characters spending most of their time running around The White House or meeting at Camp David, it's interesting seeing how they operate and deal with conflicts such as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Iraq and Iran and other policial matters.

It got me wondering what a drama based on our own government would be like. All they would be talking about would be treaty negotiations, Auckland's traffic congestion and NCEA. Aren't we so insignificant!

Anything Goes

This is something my friend Zippo came across on Trademe and showed to me:

Some guy has put a painting up for auction, the thing though is that the only body part used to paint it was the guy's...genitals!

The painting is titled 'Sexual Rage':

'I painted this using only my genitals i.e. penis.
If you dont like the idea of this please do not be disgusted as its just another form of art, no body is asking you to bid on this.

But if you do like it, hey feel free to bid. its the only one I have done so it is an original I dont plan on doing any more at this point, so you may have one of a kind. However I do reserve the right to paint more pictures of this type.

This painting was painted by my self and i have signed the back of it.'

So far bidding has reached as high as NZ$61.00! If you're interested in making a bit, or just want to have a look at a picture of the painting, check it out here

 

NB the painting is not explicit but really is only a few swirls around the place

All for Nothing

My family got a bit of a reality check and decided to do a bit of home maintenance, starting with our clothesline. When my brothers and I were little we liked to swing on stuff like our gate and our clothesline, so if you're lucky enough to visit our house, you will notice our slightly slanted gate, and our leaning clothesline! Our mum should probably thank us for that, or else she wouldn't have been able to reach the clothesline!

Anyway our clothesline has this handle that you can wind, that makes the clothesline higher or lower. Over the years it has rusted and has been stuck, so my dad decided he would try fix it. We took the clothesline apart and got rid of a bit of rust, and after a bit of cleaning we put the clothesline back together again and tested it out. It moved up a little bit! Although all our work was for nothing when later in the day, Aonghas, who woke up once we had all finished, came outside to play basketball and noticed the handle at a different angle than it was the day before. He thought he'd try twist it and broke the handle off! 

 

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