Today I went with all the Chinese students at our school to the Fo Guang Shan Temple in Howick. It's this really big flash Buddhist Temple that kinda looks like one of those buildings in Ancient China. I was the camera guy there so I wasn't put in any of the three groups and was given a lot more freedom to go wherever I wanted and do more than the students!
Everyone started off with Tai Chi, following the monk lady outside in the courtyard, followed by meditation. We did meditation in this little room with a shrine up in front. This tape was playing while we sat there in the dark room:
'Relax your brain......breathe in, breathe out.....relax your eyes.....breathe in, breathe out.......'
After that we did some walking meditation (walking around waving your arms) before watching this movie called Fluke, about this guy who dies in a car crash and returns to the world as a dog and starts to remember what his former life was like.
We then had lunch which was probably the best part of the day - rice, pasta, vegetables and spring rolls! And I mean full-sized spring rolls! I haven't had those in aaages! We had to eat everything we were given, and were allowed seconds and thirds which was great!
After lunch we got to have a tour around the temple where the lady just talked and talked and talked, while promoting the temple to us. Finally we discussed the movie we watched, before we left to return to school.
I forgot all about going on this Chinese trip and was planning on buying my ball ticket today! Today also happened to be the last day to buy ball tickets! My dean fortunately said she'd save a ticket for me tomorrow! Once that's sorted I've got to get the clothes I'll be wearing for the ball sorted, but I might just leave that to ball day Friday, since I've got more important things like my Chinese speech assessment to sort out!
Random but...I seem to get this feeling I must be the most boring person to chat to on MSN...how some people just kinda say a few words to me and nothing else (you know like those human auto-responders 'oh yip' 'oh yip' 'oh yip' 'oh yip'), and some people just chat to me whenever they need something from me...lol oh well...anyway
OTHER RANDOM STUFF:
Has anyone else seen the latest issue of the free English newspaper for the Chinese community IBALL? I would've thought there would be thousands of important Asian-related issues to feature in their newspaper, but guess what they have on their frontpage as one of their main headlines?
'I CUT MY HUBBY'S PENIS OFF'
They also feature a news article about an 18-year-old woman who was tricked into sleeping with a medium when he told her that he could transfer some powers that would help her underperforming boyfriend through to her by having sex with her. However after a few 'limp experiences' the couple smelled a rat...
They must be really desperate for some news...either that or people to read their news...
Tuesday 27 June 2006
Monday 26 June 2006
Slips and Trips
Yesterday morning I woke up late and had to rush to church. I was going to get someone at church to proof-read my Chinese speech but I couldn't print it in time. My mum had already honked the horn twice and had driven the car to the end of the driveway. So I ran out the door carrying the whole folder (where I thought my Chinese speech might be), jumped over the fence and...slipped. I dropped all my paper and grazed my knee and hands and made a hole in my only good pair of trousers :( Luckily I was able to wrap my knee with tissue from church to prevent the blood from getting on my trousers.
Later that afternoon I had to go to Takapuna where I was to perform in front of three accordion teachers (not mine) to let them critique me on my performance and presentation. I'm part of this 'development group' they're trying to prepare for the Accordion World Championships when it comes to Auckland in 2009. They want us to perform as much as possible, so this will happen every 6 weeks from now on.
Anyway I played my piece Russian Dance in front of them, and they gave me comments. One comment I kinda expected was to TRY NOT TO SMILE TOO MUCH, which my mum has been going on at me for the last few years. Whenever I smile you know I've done a mistake! So I'm going to have to work on keeping a straight face whenever I play.
Yesterday was also a very sad day. Last day of free texting. I'm going to miss you all!
Later that afternoon I had to go to Takapuna where I was to perform in front of three accordion teachers (not mine) to let them critique me on my performance and presentation. I'm part of this 'development group' they're trying to prepare for the Accordion World Championships when it comes to Auckland in 2009. They want us to perform as much as possible, so this will happen every 6 weeks from now on.
Anyway I played my piece Russian Dance in front of them, and they gave me comments. One comment I kinda expected was to TRY NOT TO SMILE TOO MUCH, which my mum has been going on at me for the last few years. Whenever I smile you know I've done a mistake! So I'm going to have to work on keeping a straight face whenever I play.
Yesterday was also a very sad day. Last day of free texting. I'm going to miss you all!
Sunday 25 June 2006
Fitting Farewell
On Friday night the school held a farewell evening for our departing principal Mr Edmeades for the community to attend. I was there to perform as part of the string quartet and the choir, as well as to give a farewell speech. The function was supposed to start at 7pm but we were told by our beloved string quartet teacher to start playing at 6.30pm. The twins had somewhere else to go so they were adament they were going to leave at 7pm on the dot. So there was no chance of shifting our performance to start at 7pm and we ended up playing to people setting up the hall at 6.30-7pm.
After that I caught up with a few old friends from last year who turned up, as well as the head students who did stay, my family and some other people while enjoying some of the food the waiters and waitresses were serving us. What was really impressive was that their aprons had embroided on them 'Rutherford Hospitality' which was really impressive! Us head students who didn't get to go to Rangeview because of the history trip also managed to catch up with Mr Jameson! We kinda shuffled little by little while he was having a conversation with someone else till he was by himself. He didn't really say much. I then had to excuse myself so that I could join the choir.
That's when the programme actually started. Our choir started off by performing two pieces. We had quite a few people missing. Ms Faaea the music teacher talked a little bit, and mentioned that she was only here till the end of the year which is really a shame as she has brought the choir back from the brink of death! If there was any chance of her being retained I'd be four limbs in favour of it!
After us was Jipers and No Right Turn which was a real treat! They were superb. They also sang the school song which is a great song. Following that were many speeches, including one from his wife, which Mr Edmeades had no idea she had written and planned already. Heather and I also gave our speeches. I had only just made some changes a few minutes before I had to give my speech because I realised some of what I had written wasn't true! Our speeches went well although I hope I didn't sound as though I was about to cry towards the end of my speech! My voice got a little weaker towards the end as it only just hit me how much of a loss he would be to all of us and how much I was really going to miss him and his speeches. No longer would I be hearing his voice at assemblies and giving us words of wisdom!
There was also this crossword competition for chocolate our history teacher ran as well. No one really took much notice in the crossword till the long trip back home from Rangiriri when Heather was asking me how I had been doing, and said she wanted to beat me because she enjoyed it so much! That's when I thought it's about time to step up a gear and get going! At that point I hadn't done much. Now it was all on! Christine and I worked hard trying to solve the crossword, trading words with others in order to try beat Heather and Patrick. We were all down to the same last three words that we couldn't seem to get. When it started to seem as though I didn't really have a chance to win and Ellyce only needed one more word, Christine and I decided to put all our energy in trying to help Ellyce win! In the end though Casey ended up winning the chocolate.
Anyway it was good fun for a history trip!
After that I caught up with a few old friends from last year who turned up, as well as the head students who did stay, my family and some other people while enjoying some of the food the waiters and waitresses were serving us. What was really impressive was that their aprons had embroided on them 'Rutherford Hospitality' which was really impressive! Us head students who didn't get to go to Rangeview because of the history trip also managed to catch up with Mr Jameson! We kinda shuffled little by little while he was having a conversation with someone else till he was by himself. He didn't really say much. I then had to excuse myself so that I could join the choir.
That's when the programme actually started. Our choir started off by performing two pieces. We had quite a few people missing. Ms Faaea the music teacher talked a little bit, and mentioned that she was only here till the end of the year which is really a shame as she has brought the choir back from the brink of death! If there was any chance of her being retained I'd be four limbs in favour of it!
After us was Jipers and No Right Turn which was a real treat! They were superb. They also sang the school song which is a great song. Following that were many speeches, including one from his wife, which Mr Edmeades had no idea she had written and planned already. Heather and I also gave our speeches. I had only just made some changes a few minutes before I had to give my speech because I realised some of what I had written wasn't true! Our speeches went well although I hope I didn't sound as though I was about to cry towards the end of my speech! My voice got a little weaker towards the end as it only just hit me how much of a loss he would be to all of us and how much I was really going to miss him and his speeches. No longer would I be hearing his voice at assemblies and giving us words of wisdom!
The night turned out to be a truly fitting and moving farewell to Mr Edmeades and now we've got a lot of work to do to make Friday's student farewell assembly just as good!
Oh yeah on Thursday we went on our year 13 History trip to various historical locations around South Auckland and upper Waikato. It was amazing to see how some of the trenches that had been dug maybe over a century ago are still there today! You'll be pleased to hear our Ritchies bus didn't break down and in fact was one of those flash buses with curtains, radio in the background and air conditioning! I sat next to Christine throughout the whole trip so hopefully I didn't annoy her too much!
We visited Pukekohe East Church (where there were some bullet holes from past battles on the site), Alexandra Redoubt, Meremere and finally Rangiriri where we watched a DVD presentation and stopped for lunch. That's where I had to endure coconut soya drink my mum gave me...
Our history teacher created this photo taking competition for the best photo with caption and the wackiest photo, so throughout the trip people were taking heaps of photos. I have a strong feeling Nick has the inside running on winning at least one of the competitions!There was also this crossword competition for chocolate our history teacher ran as well. No one really took much notice in the crossword till the long trip back home from Rangiriri when Heather was asking me how I had been doing, and said she wanted to beat me because she enjoyed it so much! That's when I thought it's about time to step up a gear and get going! At that point I hadn't done much. Now it was all on! Christine and I worked hard trying to solve the crossword, trading words with others in order to try beat Heather and Patrick. We were all down to the same last three words that we couldn't seem to get. When it started to seem as though I didn't really have a chance to win and Ellyce only needed one more word, Christine and I decided to put all our energy in trying to help Ellyce win! In the end though Casey ended up winning the chocolate.
Anyway it was good fun for a history trip!
Thursday 22 June 2006
Sing Along
It's been a very busy few days lately. On Monday we had a half day, and because our string quartet rehearsal was during lunch (which we no longer had) we weren't too sure if we were going to have rehearsal. According to our string quartet teacher it was always on and never cancelled and we were selfish for thinking otherwise and making our own arrangements home. Her fuse blew and she had a go at all of us. So straight after school we were going to have string quartet rehearsal instead. Fortunately for me I had to go to an extra Chinese class to work on my Chinese speech assessment, so I got out of the first hour of string quartet. The twins and Aonghas were unlucky. Apparently she unleashed her fury at Joon.
Anyway yesterday I got the first half of the day off school because I got to go to The Big Sing Choral Festival to perform as part of our school choir. Our choir actually sounded good this year! We sang three songs, and then afterwards watched a few other songs. I asked my mum to come and record us on video so the school could have a copy and we could also put it on the student website. I told her to come at 10am though when the performance actually started at 9.30am! Thank goodness her bus arrived on time and she made it. UNFORTUNATELY we didn't know the tape was locked and she didn't manage to record any of our performance! Something always goes wrong when we try recording things!
We performed again tonight at the Gala Concert which was really fun. About 20 schools out of 50 that performed in the festival got chosen to perform, including us, and we were the only West Auckland school so thats even better! A few of the girls in our choir managed to get some numbers from guys from other schools, and we got big cheers from the other school choirs. I also came across Stephanie, this girl who plays the accordion and is like Aonghas's number 1 rival!
I've been working on my Chinese speech throughout this week, and after wasting most of my Chinese periods, I had to get working, and ended up writing a 5 minute speech when the minimum is only 2 minutes! What's worse is that half of it doesn't make sense, and my Chinese teacher says she's not allowed to check it! Luckily I managed to find Phoebe who was able to help check it for me.
Anyway yesterday I got the first half of the day off school because I got to go to The Big Sing Choral Festival to perform as part of our school choir. Our choir actually sounded good this year! We sang three songs, and then afterwards watched a few other songs. I asked my mum to come and record us on video so the school could have a copy and we could also put it on the student website. I told her to come at 10am though when the performance actually started at 9.30am! Thank goodness her bus arrived on time and she made it. UNFORTUNATELY we didn't know the tape was locked and she didn't manage to record any of our performance! Something always goes wrong when we try recording things!
We performed again tonight at the Gala Concert which was really fun. About 20 schools out of 50 that performed in the festival got chosen to perform, including us, and we were the only West Auckland school so thats even better! A few of the girls in our choir managed to get some numbers from guys from other schools, and we got big cheers from the other school choirs. I also came across Stephanie, this girl who plays the accordion and is like Aonghas's number 1 rival!
I've been working on my Chinese speech throughout this week, and after wasting most of my Chinese periods, I had to get working, and ended up writing a 5 minute speech when the minimum is only 2 minutes! What's worse is that half of it doesn't make sense, and my Chinese teacher says she's not allowed to check it! Luckily I managed to find Phoebe who was able to help check it for me.
Monday 19 June 2006
A Normal Day
Today I went to Sylvia Park Shopping Centre in Mt Wellington which even though hasn't been completed is still pretty flash, especially The Warehouse Extra. My dad, wary of spending any more of the last of his money, was pleased after we came out. We spent a grand total of $2.50 during our three hours at the shopping mall. Well we're poor people from the West, we can't afford anything from there except 50c soft-serve ice-cream cones from McDonald's for the family!
Throughout the day I was texting Aneesya and Melissa, two of the girls from Kelston I met at the Bruce McLaren Intermediate enrolment evening. They're pretty cool people with interesting lives!
I also made a $50 bet with Ayesha on...something...which I will win! It's a long term bet so I'll be 30 by the time we determine who wins and hopefully by then I'll have a job that pays enough for me to be able to afford to pay off a $50 if it comes to it.
My parents don't seem to be as keen on letting me drive as they are with my little bro Aonghas. They're already letting him park their cars in the garage! I begged to try, so my dad let me the other night and I managed to do it perfectly...while my dad stood in front and my mum stood at the back watching nervously and shouting at me with directions. Yesterday I got the opportunity to park my mum's car in the garage. She didn't really want to let me but yeah I hassled her...Anyway as I was slowly moving, and I mean SLOWLY MOVING, my mum was kinda holding onto the car (I don't know why...maybe she thought that if I drove too fast she'd be able to slow it down. Then again she'd probably end up flying into the garage wall!) while my dad was watching on once again shouting out directions. Once again I managed to park the car into the garage! Then I realised I did it with the hand brake on the whole time. Stupid me forgot to take it off and got a shouting for that DONG
I just want to retract what I said yesterday about saying stuff to someone that made me look like a retard. Not that it matters but what I said probably did make me look like a retard :D but I said it willingly and am glad I did to the right person.
Anyway I was chatting to...someone...I can't remember now maybe Phoebe when I came up with this analogy. Now it may not make sense or someone may have already come up with it but yeah I've been hoping to come up with at least one meaningful analogy during my lifetime. Here it is - that finding love is like playing a pokie machine, you may have many tries that don't work, but eventually you'll hit the JACKPOT. OK that was it, maybe it ain't so great.
Throughout the day I was texting Aneesya and Melissa, two of the girls from Kelston I met at the Bruce McLaren Intermediate enrolment evening. They're pretty cool people with interesting lives!
I also made a $50 bet with Ayesha on...something...which I will win! It's a long term bet so I'll be 30 by the time we determine who wins and hopefully by then I'll have a job that pays enough for me to be able to afford to pay off a $50 if it comes to it.
My parents don't seem to be as keen on letting me drive as they are with my little bro Aonghas. They're already letting him park their cars in the garage! I begged to try, so my dad let me the other night and I managed to do it perfectly...while my dad stood in front and my mum stood at the back watching nervously and shouting at me with directions. Yesterday I got the opportunity to park my mum's car in the garage. She didn't really want to let me but yeah I hassled her...Anyway as I was slowly moving, and I mean SLOWLY MOVING, my mum was kinda holding onto the car (I don't know why...maybe she thought that if I drove too fast she'd be able to slow it down. Then again she'd probably end up flying into the garage wall!) while my dad was watching on once again shouting out directions. Once again I managed to park the car into the garage! Then I realised I did it with the hand brake on the whole time. Stupid me forgot to take it off and got a shouting for that DONG
I just want to retract what I said yesterday about saying stuff to someone that made me look like a retard. Not that it matters but what I said probably did make me look like a retard :D but I said it willingly and am glad I did to the right person.
Anyway I was chatting to...someone...I can't remember now maybe Phoebe when I came up with this analogy. Now it may not make sense or someone may have already come up with it but yeah I've been hoping to come up with at least one meaningful analogy during my lifetime. Here it is - that finding love is like playing a pokie machine, you may have many tries that don't work, but eventually you'll hit the JACKPOT. OK that was it, maybe it ain't so great.
Saturday 17 June 2006
Future Plans
I got a letter in the mail from Middlemore Hospital today. I'm going to get braces next month! Even though I really want my jaw fixed it is kinda freaky because I don't know how I'm going to look with braces on, and what food I won't be able to eat afterwards... Anyway short-term loss for long-term gain I hope!
Anyway I got a new recorder student today. He's this 7-year-old boy and he started off really well today, being able to play three notes already! Now I've just got to make sure he keeps progressing well.
I had my first accordion lesson after the championships. I've got to decide on a whole new programme for next year's championships. My teacher wants me to enter the top NZ/South Pacific class next year (not that I'll stand a chance in it!) which means I'll have to have a 20 minute programme. He also suggested the Coupe Mondiale (World Championships) in Washington DC next August, as a way of getting some experience before the world champs come to NZ in 2009. I don't think we'll have enough money to be able to go to Washington though so I may not be going.
I caught up with my number one rival in the accordion just before my accordion lessons today and had a little talk with her, and it was her mum who appeared on ONE News that night when they did a report on Rangitoto College!
Stupid Me
ARGH I fell asleep in Chinese class AGAIN! I've got one more chance to finish my Chinese speech on Monday or else I'm stuffed. No more sitting at the back of the classroom!
I think I'm running my parents dry of money. I had to pay $15 for the Big Sing, $24 for the history trip, $25 for the Chinese trip, and next I'll need to buy my ball ticket for $80! I promise to pay my parents back for everything they've spent on me one day when I'm bringing in the money with my cool flash job :D ...wishful dreaming...
I'm a bit of a gumbie I told someone some stuff I shouldn't have (no displays of affection or anything) which will probably make me look like a retard to her, and that's why I don't say stuff like that!...Oh well I gotta do something stupid once in a while to make life more interesting for me.
Reports yesterday-mine was kinda OK but not too great, especially for Physics. I'm not properly in the physics class as I did the whole course last year, so I only need to come to class whenever I need to or whenever I'm bored (I guess..) but this term I've missed quite a few physics classes. Anyway my physics teacher's comment in my report was that I missed too many physics classes which led to a disappointing result in my physics test. Mum wasn't too happy with that.
But yay Nick's going to the ball and yay Joon might be going to the ball if he can find some money! If you have some spare change give it to Joon it'll help him out a lot. I've still got to buy my ball ticket, and ticket sales are open to yr 11s next week so yeah I gotta move quickly. Mr Langdon has been on my case about who I'm going to ask to the ball. Let's just make this clear I will not ask Hyun! (nothing personal Hyun but you know...it just wouldn't work out...) I'm more open-minded about going without a partner as I guess it's not too important...plus who is there to ask anyway?!
I think I'm running my parents dry of money. I had to pay $15 for the Big Sing, $24 for the history trip, $25 for the Chinese trip, and next I'll need to buy my ball ticket for $80! I promise to pay my parents back for everything they've spent on me one day when I'm bringing in the money with my cool flash job :D ...wishful dreaming...
I'm a bit of a gumbie I told someone some stuff I shouldn't have (no displays of affection or anything) which will probably make me look like a retard to her, and that's why I don't say stuff like that!...Oh well I gotta do something stupid once in a while to make life more interesting for me.
Reports yesterday-mine was kinda OK but not too great, especially for Physics. I'm not properly in the physics class as I did the whole course last year, so I only need to come to class whenever I need to or whenever I'm bored (I guess..) but this term I've missed quite a few physics classes. Anyway my physics teacher's comment in my report was that I missed too many physics classes which led to a disappointing result in my physics test. Mum wasn't too happy with that.
But yay Nick's going to the ball and yay Joon might be going to the ball if he can find some money! If you have some spare change give it to Joon it'll help him out a lot. I've still got to buy my ball ticket, and ticket sales are open to yr 11s next week so yeah I gotta move quickly. Mr Langdon has been on my case about who I'm going to ask to the ball. Let's just make this clear I will not ask Hyun! (nothing personal Hyun but you know...it just wouldn't work out...) I'm more open-minded about going without a partner as I guess it's not too important...plus who is there to ask anyway?!
Friday 16 June 2006
Screaming and Shouting
This afternoon after school we had the Chamber Music Contest. Our really strict string quartet expected us all to be at Epsom Girls Grammar by 4.30, but Aonghas, Hyun and Joon all had to go to their Young Enterprise oral presentation thing in Kelston first. I went there by myself with my parents when we got stuck in motorway traffic at about 4.15. I then got a phone call from Aonghas on the twins' phone, telling me they were just about to leave Kelston then!
I got to EGGS by 4.35 and met up with the teacher. I started warming up in the practice room while the teacher was starting to get more and more furious at how late the others were. Eventually it was 5 to 5pm, when we were supposed to perform and she was screaming and shouting at me about how they should've been here 15 minutes ago. Then I get a phone call from Joon telling me they've just gotten off the motorway and will soon arrive. The organisers fortunately moved us from no. 3 on the programme to last.
When they finally arrived Aonghas asked me if we brought his viola, but we thought he took it with him! So now we were short on an instrument! Fortunately (again) we were able to borrow a viola from EGGS.
We performed our piece on stage. The chairs were slightly higher than the ones in the practice room so I had to adjust that metal rod thing at the bottom of my cello on stage. I didn't tighten it up enough though, so throughout our performance my cello was slowly slipping and getting lower and lower! I was thinking come on finish before I fall over! Luckily we did.
I got back to find out my mum thought the teacher told her to record every performance (instead of just recording OUR performance), which meant by the time it was our performance she ran out of tape!
Next our trio (Josefia on flute, Catherine on piano and me on cello) performed in the 7pm session. That went a lot better, even though apparently my cello wasn't tuned properly (which both my teacher and the judges pointed out). I ended up sitting beside my teacher throughout the rest of the performances watching the others while my teacher commented on the performances to me. She kinda got nicer along the way though which wasn't too bad!
Just back to what happened at Bruce McLaren Intermediate with the Kelston girls, this is what one of the girls posted on her blog:
I'm sure I said hi first! Anyway chemistry homework to finish off and try to get to bed earlier than ever this week...gotta get to school on time for once. I'll talk bout my school report tomorrow...:S
I got to EGGS by 4.35 and met up with the teacher. I started warming up in the practice room while the teacher was starting to get more and more furious at how late the others were. Eventually it was 5 to 5pm, when we were supposed to perform and she was screaming and shouting at me about how they should've been here 15 minutes ago. Then I get a phone call from Joon telling me they've just gotten off the motorway and will soon arrive. The organisers fortunately moved us from no. 3 on the programme to last.
When they finally arrived Aonghas asked me if we brought his viola, but we thought he took it with him! So now we were short on an instrument! Fortunately (again) we were able to borrow a viola from EGGS.
We performed our piece on stage. The chairs were slightly higher than the ones in the practice room so I had to adjust that metal rod thing at the bottom of my cello on stage. I didn't tighten it up enough though, so throughout our performance my cello was slowly slipping and getting lower and lower! I was thinking come on finish before I fall over! Luckily we did.
I got back to find out my mum thought the teacher told her to record every performance (instead of just recording OUR performance), which meant by the time it was our performance she ran out of tape!
Next our trio (Josefia on flute, Catherine on piano and me on cello) performed in the 7pm session. That went a lot better, even though apparently my cello wasn't tuned properly (which both my teacher and the judges pointed out). I ended up sitting beside my teacher throughout the rest of the performances watching the others while my teacher commented on the performances to me. She kinda got nicer along the way though which wasn't too bad!
Just back to what happened at Bruce McLaren Intermediate with the Kelston girls, this is what one of the girls posted on her blog:
v r bein all nice,frndly n sugarcoaty bout our skool wen callum*hwever u spell it* n co wlk up 2 our table.so me bein me introduce myself n den guess wat hppnz????
me:hi,im aneesya,katz frnd.
him:ur da gurl dat all da guyz r crazy bout???
DUDE NOT EVEN A HI!
me:umm..ahem..i guess so (confusd but hyper luk on my face whle mel n tonez laugh dere headz off)
him:hi itz nice 2 finally meet u..so is it u??
me:hi (click 2 katz blog entriez) yep itz da 1 n onli me!(putin on my smirky face)
so v end up chatin n i wlk out wif his #!! dn't ask me hw dude lol
(http://kelstonchick.blogspot.com)
(http://kelstonchick.blogspot.com)
I'm sure I said hi first! Anyway chemistry homework to finish off and try to get to bed earlier than ever this week...gotta get to school on time for once. I'll talk bout my school report tomorrow...:S
Thursday 15 June 2006
*Cough Cough*
Most of today was ordinary for me. I've got a Chinese speech assessment on where I have to first write up the Chinese speech in class. I was sitting right at the back of the class supposed to be working on it but kinda fell asleep a little bit...I do that a lot these days don't I? I need to get to sleep earlier!
Us head students (except Joanne) went to Bruce McLaren Intermediate School last night to promote our school alongside other West Auckland high schools. I'd have to say we were probably one of the best looking schools there, even with our makeshift blazers (me wearing my dad's, while Hyun and Patrick wearing the twin's ball jackets).
I met my cousin Graeme promoting his high school Henderson High, and we had a little joke about each other's school. I was going to get a photo of him with me but the camera battery died on me!
A staff member from each school had to give a little 5 minute speech about their school before the exploring resumed. Towards the end when all the people started leaving I thought I'd have a look at the other school stands. Green Bay...Kelston Boys...hmm Kelston Girls... Surprisingly the deputy head girl asked me if my name was Calum! I said it was and she said she had heard about me from Kat and Ayesha (who goes to and who went to Kelston Girls respectively). I started talking to Aneesha (I think that's her name) and the two other girls Melissa and Antonio (or some other name like that) about all this stuff like their ball and guys blablabla when they saw Hyun walk by, and we all know what everyone thinks about Joon and his ball partner last year don't we? So they started interrogating Hyun on why he isn't going to the ball this year. He wouldn't tell me the REAL reason (must be something really embarrassing if he doesn't want to tell!) but he was prepared to tell the girls, so I let him to it. Afterwards when he left I sneaked back to the girls to see if I could try get them to tell me. They whispered 'I think he likes..." and asked me for my number and they'd talk to me more some later as they had to go.
So yeah that was interesting...apparently Hyun didn't tell them the REAL reason, but we'll see what they got out of him...
Us head students (except Joanne) went to Bruce McLaren Intermediate School last night to promote our school alongside other West Auckland high schools. I'd have to say we were probably one of the best looking schools there, even with our makeshift blazers (me wearing my dad's, while Hyun and Patrick wearing the twin's ball jackets).
I met my cousin Graeme promoting his high school Henderson High, and we had a little joke about each other's school. I was going to get a photo of him with me but the camera battery died on me!
A staff member from each school had to give a little 5 minute speech about their school before the exploring resumed. Towards the end when all the people started leaving I thought I'd have a look at the other school stands. Green Bay...Kelston Boys...hmm Kelston Girls... Surprisingly the deputy head girl asked me if my name was Calum! I said it was and she said she had heard about me from Kat and Ayesha (who goes to and who went to Kelston Girls respectively). I started talking to Aneesha (I think that's her name) and the two other girls Melissa and Antonio (or some other name like that) about all this stuff like their ball and guys blablabla when they saw Hyun walk by, and we all know what everyone thinks about Joon and his ball partner last year don't we? So they started interrogating Hyun on why he isn't going to the ball this year. He wouldn't tell me the REAL reason (must be something really embarrassing if he doesn't want to tell!) but he was prepared to tell the girls, so I let him to it. Afterwards when he left I sneaked back to the girls to see if I could try get them to tell me. They whispered 'I think he likes..." and asked me for my number and they'd talk to me more some later as they had to go.
So yeah that was interesting...apparently Hyun didn't tell them the REAL reason, but we'll see what they got out of him...
Wednesday 14 June 2006
Not Right
We were learning about cyclohexane and adding bromine to it in chemistry class yesterday. Mr Breckall our chemistry teacher was warning us about the dangers of cyclohexane being non-polar and all this. At the end of class though he nearly dropped a container or beaker of the stuff but me managed to catch it. Unfortunately it splashed on his face and got in his eyes! Man he sounded really worried! He was checking with the science technician what sort of symptoms he should look out for. He then announced to the class
"I was going to give back to you your test marks but I want to be serious when I do it and right now I'm just too de... I'll give them to you tomorrow"
But he ended up just giving the results back to us. I felt a bit bad for him. I wanted to see him after school just to check if he was OK because in class we were all joking and laughing about things. I think someone even joked he was going to turn into a cyclohexane monster!
Anyway later in that evening the group of us went back to Smales Farm for another session to listen to speakers talk about their technologically-based careers and companies. We were also told which companies we are going to learn more about by spending a day there. I'm going to go check out AJ Park, some patent and legal advisor firm I think. There's only one other Asian girl from Westlake Girls going as well so maybe I might be able to make a new friend! Hyun, Joon, Sarena and a few others are all going to some BioTech place while Shen got stuck with Healtheries, and so he was going on all evening about how he had to learn how minerals were made.
Alex owes me 50c after making a bet that Joon would fall asleep during at least one of the presentations when he didn't! Actually Hyun fell asleep (like I knew he would!) and I ...nearly...dozed off during one of them... Thank goodness for the Subway food they gave us!
"I was going to give back to you your test marks but I want to be serious when I do it and right now I'm just too de... I'll give them to you tomorrow"
But he ended up just giving the results back to us. I felt a bit bad for him. I wanted to see him after school just to check if he was OK because in class we were all joking and laughing about things. I think someone even joked he was going to turn into a cyclohexane monster!
Anyway later in that evening the group of us went back to Smales Farm for another session to listen to speakers talk about their technologically-based careers and companies. We were also told which companies we are going to learn more about by spending a day there. I'm going to go check out AJ Park, some patent and legal advisor firm I think. There's only one other Asian girl from Westlake Girls going as well so maybe I might be able to make a new friend! Hyun, Joon, Sarena and a few others are all going to some BioTech place while Shen got stuck with Healtheries, and so he was going on all evening about how he had to learn how minerals were made.
Alex owes me 50c after making a bet that Joon would fall asleep during at least one of the presentations when he didn't! Actually Hyun fell asleep (like I knew he would!) and I ...nearly...dozed off during one of them... Thank goodness for the Subway food they gave us!
Sunday 11 June 2006
Chill
Finally one busy and horrible week nearly over. I just finished the second orchestra performance of Last Night at the Proms. The first half was full of slow music and being sleep-deprived I really felt like falling asleep while playing. Not helping was my starvation and dry lips! We got to play Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance No. 4 which is one of my favourite tunes.
There was also a pipe band playing some modern music with the brass and percussion section of the orchestra. It really made me feel proud to be part Scottish *sniff sniff*. I just found out yesterday that I'm part Danish and part French from my dad's side as well!
I haven't been feeling the best lately with a sore throat, runny nose and cough. Yeah it's really horrible especially in places where you can't sniff. You end up dripping and then have to go into the toilet and blow your nose and...anyway I wish our house had better insulated walls! I don't even think we've got Pink batts in them, so its freezing cold in the morning and at night. I think I caught my cold one night when I stayed up late working on the website and I was only wearing a t-shirt. Now I'm wearing 5 layers of clothing :D
I stuffed a tissue in my mouth on Friday during stats class so that when I breathed out through my mouth I wouldn't pass anything on to anyone else and the teacher asked what I was doing...Fortunately the orchestra was loud enough at the performance for me to sniff in the middle of playing. I think it's starting to go away...I hope...I want it to be gone by the ball at least!
There was also a pipe band playing some modern music with the brass and percussion section of the orchestra. It really made me feel proud to be part Scottish *sniff sniff*. I just found out yesterday that I'm part Danish and part French from my dad's side as well!
I haven't been feeling the best lately with a sore throat, runny nose and cough. Yeah it's really horrible especially in places where you can't sniff. You end up dripping and then have to go into the toilet and blow your nose and...anyway I wish our house had better insulated walls! I don't even think we've got Pink batts in them, so its freezing cold in the morning and at night. I think I caught my cold one night when I stayed up late working on the website and I was only wearing a t-shirt. Now I'm wearing 5 layers of clothing :D
I stuffed a tissue in my mouth on Friday during stats class so that when I breathed out through my mouth I wouldn't pass anything on to anyone else and the teacher asked what I was doing...Fortunately the orchestra was loud enough at the performance for me to sniff in the middle of playing. I think it's starting to go away...I hope...I want it to be gone by the ball at least!
Near Sleepless Nights
I've been busy outside school hours all week, not being able to sleep till 2 am on most days, which has made me really sleepy! I don't even have any time to have extra sleep in the weekends, or even post on this blog!
In the last week I've been at rehearsals for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra, our school's musical trio and the Studio Show performance.
The rehearsals for Auckland Symphony Orchestra have been towards two Last Night at the Proms concerts this weekend at the Bruce Mason Theatre which are part of North Shore's British Festival. Yesterday (Saturday) I spent nearly the whole day over in Takapuna (after music teaching), as first we had a 2 hour technical rehearsal. Aonghas and I then walked to Wendy's to have dinner, and then at 7.30 till 10.30pm it was the actual performance. Today we have another performance at 2pm
I performed at the Studio Show on Friday night which was cool and slightly different to previous years because of the venue change. There wasn't much to do while waiting in the music room so I just practised my solo for most of the night (I was third to last). Fortunately I didn't stuff up like I did when I first played the piece in front of Mrs Klaassen (performing arts teacher) when I lost my right hand on the keyboard and couldn't recover!
I've also had to work on this rutherfordstudents.com website trying to get it up and running by Friday. Because I only got home at about 9pm each night there wasn't much time and I ended up staying up till 2am each night adding stuff to the website. It's up now, but there's still more content to be added...
Friday was also mufti day at school. I hate mufti days! I feel so poor compared to all those other people wearing fancy clothes with their labels. Do people deliberately wear nice clothes to school on mufti days or do they just buy new clothes so regularly that it all looks good? I think I've only got about 5 t-shirts, 3 jumpers, 3 shorts and 2 trousers in my whole wardrobe that I just pick to wear each day (in varying combinations). I'm sure some people have seen me in the same clothes more than twice! I've also been wearing some of the same clothes for the past three years too! (Yeah shows I haven't grown much aye) I noticed there were a lot of people dressed up in black...guess they may be emos...but then again there's nothing wrong with black clothing and any ordinary person could wear black if they wanted to!
Yeah anyway it's 2am now so I'm off to bed. Ready for church and another performance!
In the last week I've been at rehearsals for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra, our school's musical trio and the Studio Show performance.
The rehearsals for Auckland Symphony Orchestra have been towards two Last Night at the Proms concerts this weekend at the Bruce Mason Theatre which are part of North Shore's British Festival. Yesterday (Saturday) I spent nearly the whole day over in Takapuna (after music teaching), as first we had a 2 hour technical rehearsal. Aonghas and I then walked to Wendy's to have dinner, and then at 7.30 till 10.30pm it was the actual performance. Today we have another performance at 2pm
I performed at the Studio Show on Friday night which was cool and slightly different to previous years because of the venue change. There wasn't much to do while waiting in the music room so I just practised my solo for most of the night (I was third to last). Fortunately I didn't stuff up like I did when I first played the piece in front of Mrs Klaassen (performing arts teacher) when I lost my right hand on the keyboard and couldn't recover!
I've also had to work on this rutherfordstudents.com website trying to get it up and running by Friday. Because I only got home at about 9pm each night there wasn't much time and I ended up staying up till 2am each night adding stuff to the website. It's up now, but there's still more content to be added...
Friday was also mufti day at school. I hate mufti days! I feel so poor compared to all those other people wearing fancy clothes with their labels. Do people deliberately wear nice clothes to school on mufti days or do they just buy new clothes so regularly that it all looks good? I think I've only got about 5 t-shirts, 3 jumpers, 3 shorts and 2 trousers in my whole wardrobe that I just pick to wear each day (in varying combinations). I'm sure some people have seen me in the same clothes more than twice! I've also been wearing some of the same clothes for the past three years too! (Yeah shows I haven't grown much aye) I noticed there were a lot of people dressed up in black...guess they may be emos...but then again there's nothing wrong with black clothing and any ordinary person could wear black if they wanted to!
Yeah anyway it's 2am now so I'm off to bed. Ready for church and another performance!
Tuesday 6 June 2006
Haywire
The last day of accordion competitions on Sunday saw my brother come third in his South Pacific accordion championship class, which was unexpected as the other accordionists made more mistakes than him and played easier pieces than him but still managed to get a higher mark than him! We suspect it's probably due to the 'North Shore' group - most of the accordionists are from North Shore and know each other well. Us Andersons are like the outsiders from the West.
Anyway today this morning I woke up late at about 8 in the morning, because I stayed up till 3am this morning working on the student website. I was originally hoping my mum would let me sleep in for the first two periods (my free periods today), but she said if I did I'd have to walk to school, so there wasn't any real point in doing that because it takes about an hour to walk to school from my house! . We came to school slightly late and Aonghas was all worried because he had maths first period. He ran off, forgetting his folder. I took it and went to the office, assuming he'd be waiting there to collect his late detention. He wasn't there, but I came across the principal and deputy principal who asked me if I was supposed to be somewhere. I gave them a blank look till Mr Edmeades reminded me I was supposed to be speaking at staff assembly! Fortunately Mr Coughlan the associate principal was understanding about me sleeping in and had spoken to them on behalf of me!
back at school I've had people asking me who I'm going to the ball with, and that I should ask someone and do it soon and raaadyraaadyraaa. There just doesn't seem to be anyone to ask!
Statistics class was interesting today. A certain someone sat to another, which I think must have been a dream come true for him! During the weekend my friend (a concerned individual) and I warned our friend against asking this girl to the ball just in case he got hurt because she may not be interested in any guys at the moment. Fortunately he took it pretty well!
Anyway today this morning I woke up late at about 8 in the morning, because I stayed up till 3am this morning working on the student website. I was originally hoping my mum would let me sleep in for the first two periods (my free periods today), but she said if I did I'd have to walk to school, so there wasn't any real point in doing that because it takes about an hour to walk to school from my house! . We came to school slightly late and Aonghas was all worried because he had maths first period. He ran off, forgetting his folder. I took it and went to the office, assuming he'd be waiting there to collect his late detention. He wasn't there, but I came across the principal and deputy principal who asked me if I was supposed to be somewhere. I gave them a blank look till Mr Edmeades reminded me I was supposed to be speaking at staff assembly! Fortunately Mr Coughlan the associate principal was understanding about me sleeping in and had spoken to them on behalf of me!
back at school I've had people asking me who I'm going to the ball with, and that I should ask someone and do it soon and raaadyraaadyraaa. There just doesn't seem to be anyone to ask!
Statistics class was interesting today. A certain someone sat to another, which I think must have been a dream come true for him! During the weekend my friend (a concerned individual) and I warned our friend against asking this girl to the ball just in case he got hurt because she may not be interested in any guys at the moment. Fortunately he took it pretty well!
Sunday 4 June 2006
Competition Flop
I competed at the NZ accordion champs yesterday, where I competed in three classes - the open solo championship, the open duet with Aonghas and the open trio with Aonghas and Hamish.
I had to play three pieces for the solo championship - 3rd Mvt of Italian Concerto by Bach, Figaro from Barber of Saville by Rossini and Russian Dance by Shenderyov (I kept forgetting that guy's name..first started out as Shernikov, then Shendikov, till I read the music and found out it was Shenderyov a few minutes before my performance!) Anyway my first piece the Italian Concerto was my weakest and of course I didn't really play it too well. Anyway I ended up coming second, three points behind the guy who came first.
The duet didn't go too badly. I translated it wrongly when I filled in the entry form though, so it appeared in the programme as Gong Nan Hao instead of Jiang Nan Hao. We came first for the duet. We played Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Allegro for the trio, and I kinda played a wrong note and laughed about it loud enough for my mum to have heard it! We luckily came first in the trio as well.
My accordion teacher was a little disappointed with me losing the solo though, saying I didn't practise enough, but I'm adament I'll try to do more from now on!
Friday 2 June 2006
Today was an interesting day. I had asked Mrs Taylor (my dean) if she could help get a list of all the student names and their enrolment numbers for me so I could use it for our student website. When I came into history class after lunch, a girl told me that Mrs Taylor was looking for me and wanted to give me something 'I really want'. Hmmm....well the class took that the wrong way and started joking about my dean wanting to do...something...with me... My history teacher joked about getting satisfaction out of it :S I came back afterwards and one of the guys told me that I didn't take too long!
At assembly Heather and I had to call up the Junior Council members so that the principal could award badges to them. I introduced the members with positions, but there was a little problem with Ben who was the secretary of the group, because I had no idea which word to use since secretary is kinda a feminine word (well that's what people think anyway!), so I called him the 'administrator'.
I've got accordion championships this weekend but fortunately all my performances are on Saturday so I can relax on Sunday!
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