While chatting to Hyun, I thought I'd give something a try - giving him a video call. Amazingly it worked! Unfortunately Hyun doesn't have a webcam over there so while the voice conversation was two-way, they could only see me.
It was good hearing their voices after a couple months! They sound healthy! They've also got new cellphones too. I tried sending them a text last night, but I got a text message back from Vodafone the first time saying:
"Sorry your mobile phone has been barred"
So I tried texting a friend in Auckland just to make sure I could still use my phone, and I didn't get that message again so that's good! Although my phone sent her the same text message three times and woke her up! I tried sending them another text message this time with the country code and didn't get that message back so fingers crossed my text message got sent to them!
I've decided to not wait to get a new phone and just buy a new sim card so when I sign up to stuff I can give them some sort of mobile number to them. After picking Aonghas up from basketball practice after school, we rushed down to Dick Smith to check out the phone numbers, but none of them are particularly that easy to memorise, so I might wait till tomorrow.
If my mum had a cellphone that would be useful! Today was Rutherford College's athletics day at Trusts Stadium, and I had planned on going down there to visit my good old prefect friends (stalking them again! :D) who had to attend, as well as do some filming for Aonghas. My mum told me she was just going out to buy some fish and bread at about 11am. Two hours later, I got a text from Gwen asking me if I was still coming, but my mum hadn't come back! Three hours later, and the time was 3pm. My mum pulled her car into the carpark, and I came out asking her where she had been and that I had wanted to go to athletics sometime round midday! She then asked me if I wanted to go...when school had already finished! So yeah I'm really gutted about that! It was one of my last opportunities to visit those guys before I have to start university next week! I finish university by midday on Fridays though, so I might pop by during lunch sometime and say hi to them again!
My conversation with Hyun and Joon did make me think a bit about certain things. It kinda made me realise that sometimes you've got to take a step back and gain some perspective! I've come to question whether some things I'm doing are worth it, and if I'm just too blinded by things to notice a hidden agenda. Then again it ain't good to be cynical and mean-spirited, so instead of standing still and sometimes drifting backwards I'm going to move forward! Onwards and upwards with life and technology! (No this last paragraph probably does not make any sense at all...)
Wednesday 21 February 2007
What a Surprise! Uni ain't so Bad!
Wow going to university was so fun! Or at least Orientation Day! The powhiri was supposed to be at 9am and I was thinking about going as I felt guilty if I didn't! However I ended up going over to Shrikkanth's house to join him, Shen, Nick and David.. We sat at the bus stop for about twenty minutes for the bus to come. It took us a further half an hour to an hour to get into the city. We got off at Britomart and had to walk all the way up Queen St and eventually to university.
Along the way we came across Nick's girlfriend Natasha. That was so cool seeing them together! OK well we turned away a few times to avoid seeing certain things! After that little stop we finally got to campus where the first stand we checked out was ANZ who were enticing us to open a bank account with them to get some free Student Card, so Shen and I did!
Across the lawn was the Kiwi Asian Club tent so Nick, Shen and I paid our $7 and signed up with the promise of future encounters with hot Asian girls!! :D We tried to encourage Shrikkanth and David to join, even though David wasn't Asian at all, but those two refused to.
There were so many people around campus, good looking, odd looking, all sorts of people! Us guys just wandered around signing up for stuff and getting free stuff from people. It was funny with all the odd questions Shen asked people at the stands, like whether the lady at the Student Job Search stand got good pay for working for Student Job Search, and asking the ANZ lady if he could get a job at ANZ if he opened an account with them!
While we didn't go on a tour with a uniguide, Heather and Estee did and made a few new friends, so I guess in hindsight maybe it might've been advantageous to have done so! But despite not making any new friends there, we caught up with heaps of old friends like Grainam, Andromeda (she was funny! She initially pretended that she could only remember me and none of the others which really had Shen fooled!), Neha, George (I missed him though!), Pita, Elena and Alice! That's actually the first time I've met Alice in real life! She was going to text me and when she hadn't by midday I was thinking maybe I might not come across her, but as I was walking past I heard my name called out, turned around and saw her with Elena! She says my jokes aren't lame! Yay!
Anyway back to the free stuff - we were approached at least ten times by the National Bank people who kept asking us to open up a bank account. I did the first time I was asked, as you get to choose whether you want a free mp3 player or a school bag! Definitely mp3 player!
The BNZ people gave us a little bag with a mousepad, Kit-Kat bar and a can of drink along with a free Student Card (discount card for students). It was funny as the Student Card stall was right next to the BNZ stand, and they were trying to sell the Student Card for $20. We told them we had no money and that we had already opened a bank account with BNZ, and then the lady told us that BNZ's was full of hidden costs and complications! Shen went up to one of the BNZ guys and asked if that was true, and he told us that was wrong and that it looked like there was a little bit of competition going on!
We all signed up for the Auckland University Students Association, which got us a free orientation pack. That contained a student diary, wall planner and a Hell's Pizza condom. That's like the first condom I've ever had! Not that I will be using it any time soon though unless I happen to run out of balloons! We had gone upstairs to collect our pack several times but Shrikkanth never got round to getting his and ended up having to go up there one more time to get it!
After lining up for our free sausage and then eating it, we wandered across the road to check out the engineering building before coming back and being inundated by people wanting to sign us up for stuff we had already signed up for. We managed to find one last stand - the ASB caravan. It was amazing! It was like a mini bank inside a caravan complete with its own security guard! Yes I did end up opening a bank account with them too to get my $40 credit..
When there was nothing left to do we cut through Albert Park and headed down to Sky City Metro where we farewelled Nick and Shrikkanth who were off to buy some music concert tickets and then just hung out checking out all the stuff (and rubbish) we had collected.
David and I then left Shen and walked back to Britomart where we met up with Alex!! David and Alex caught the train home while I took the bus (which I was hoping was the right one!) To end the day, I drifted off to sleep reading up on ANZ's service charges zzzzzzzz........(got home safely though!)
Along the way we came across Nick's girlfriend Natasha. That was so cool seeing them together! OK well we turned away a few times to avoid seeing certain things! After that little stop we finally got to campus where the first stand we checked out was ANZ who were enticing us to open a bank account with them to get some free Student Card, so Shen and I did!
Across the lawn was the Kiwi Asian Club tent so Nick, Shen and I paid our $7 and signed up with the promise of future encounters with hot Asian girls!! :D We tried to encourage Shrikkanth and David to join, even though David wasn't Asian at all, but those two refused to.
There were so many people around campus, good looking, odd looking, all sorts of people! Us guys just wandered around signing up for stuff and getting free stuff from people. It was funny with all the odd questions Shen asked people at the stands, like whether the lady at the Student Job Search stand got good pay for working for Student Job Search, and asking the ANZ lady if he could get a job at ANZ if he opened an account with them!
While we didn't go on a tour with a uniguide, Heather and Estee did and made a few new friends, so I guess in hindsight maybe it might've been advantageous to have done so! But despite not making any new friends there, we caught up with heaps of old friends like Grainam, Andromeda (she was funny! She initially pretended that she could only remember me and none of the others which really had Shen fooled!), Neha, George (I missed him though!), Pita, Elena and Alice! That's actually the first time I've met Alice in real life! She was going to text me and when she hadn't by midday I was thinking maybe I might not come across her, but as I was walking past I heard my name called out, turned around and saw her with Elena! She says my jokes aren't lame! Yay!
Anyway back to the free stuff - we were approached at least ten times by the National Bank people who kept asking us to open up a bank account. I did the first time I was asked, as you get to choose whether you want a free mp3 player or a school bag! Definitely mp3 player!
The BNZ people gave us a little bag with a mousepad, Kit-Kat bar and a can of drink along with a free Student Card (discount card for students). It was funny as the Student Card stall was right next to the BNZ stand, and they were trying to sell the Student Card for $20. We told them we had no money and that we had already opened a bank account with BNZ, and then the lady told us that BNZ's was full of hidden costs and complications! Shen went up to one of the BNZ guys and asked if that was true, and he told us that was wrong and that it looked like there was a little bit of competition going on!
We all signed up for the Auckland University Students Association, which got us a free orientation pack. That contained a student diary, wall planner and a Hell's Pizza condom. That's like the first condom I've ever had! Not that I will be using it any time soon though unless I happen to run out of balloons! We had gone upstairs to collect our pack several times but Shrikkanth never got round to getting his and ended up having to go up there one more time to get it!
After lining up for our free sausage and then eating it, we wandered across the road to check out the engineering building before coming back and being inundated by people wanting to sign us up for stuff we had already signed up for. We managed to find one last stand - the ASB caravan. It was amazing! It was like a mini bank inside a caravan complete with its own security guard! Yes I did end up opening a bank account with them too to get my $40 credit..
When there was nothing left to do we cut through Albert Park and headed down to Sky City Metro where we farewelled Nick and Shrikkanth who were off to buy some music concert tickets and then just hung out checking out all the stuff (and rubbish) we had collected.
David and I then left Shen and walked back to Britomart where we met up with Alex!! David and Alex caught the train home while I took the bus (which I was hoping was the right one!) To end the day, I drifted off to sleep reading up on ANZ's service charges zzzzzzzz........(got home safely though!)
Monday 19 February 2007
Random Bite-Sized Bits
It's funny seeing how much these Rutherford prefects have been squirming all over the Kelston prefects! Then again I suppose it was bound to happen given that the Rutherford prefects group consists of all girls (bar four guys) while the Kelston prefects are...well...all guys, but you've got to feel for those four guys in the Rutherford prefects group! You can see the girls all jostling for the Kelston guys! Guys can do wonders can't they ;) I wonder how they would've found camp had Kelston not been there, and who (if anyone) will end up with who...
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I can't understand the logic in Britney Spears shaving all her hair off and getting a tattoo, unless it's supposed to be some new image makeover for her. I don't know but it looks a little...odd...
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I was talking to a friend who was explaining to me how girls have two ladders: the boyfriend [material] ladder and the friend ladder. You can go from boyfriend ladder to friend ladder, but not the other way round. So in other words does that make it true you've got to make a good first impression and once a girl loses interest in you she won't like you again?
Apparently a boy just has one ladder - the ladder of f*kability which applies to girlfriends [material] and friends, basically all girls.
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Ain't Bebo great? I caught up with an old primary school mate who I haven't talked to in at least seven years! What it's really doing is giving me something to do while withering away in the heat during the day, just searching and searching and searching and searching...for long lost friends...
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My inaugural month of TXT2000 is coming close to an end! Only four days left and about 70 txts to send! Less than 20 txts a day I suppose that's not too bad. My brother who's been using some of those txts uses it as a good excuse to end conversations:
"Oh ive used my daily limit so ill txt u again sometime!"
It felt so much better being able to txt freely and not have to worry about limits and how much you are using though, just like back in the good old days when there was free weekend texting! I suppose that's what Best Mate is for though...
Sunday 18 February 2007
Chinese New Year!
Gong Xi Fa Cai! Xin Nian Kuai Le!!! 恭喜发财！ 新年快乐！！ Happy Chinese New Year!!
I suppose you could say we started our celebrations by driving all the way to the city late last night to watch the fireworks as that massive luxury cruiseliner Queen Mary II left Auckland Harbour. It was a little hard leaving the house as on TV was the movie Mean Girls which wasn't too bad for a Lindsey Lohan movie! (well the beginning anyway...)
As soon as we got into the city though the traffic was really bad! We got stuck and ended up driving all the way to Mission Bay at a really slow pace. I was surprised at how many people turned up to watch the QMII leave! There were people lining up the footpaths clamouring to get a good view of it as we slowly crawled along the road! By the time we got to Mission Bay we discovered there was a jazz and blues festival going on, which was probably contributing to the huge traffic jams! We only got to watch the fireworks and the ship from the car as we couldn't find a carpark for miles, even though others had parked at bus stops and on kerbs. We finally find a legal carpark, but by then it was all over so we just had a little walk (in the opposite direction to most other people!) before going off home.
Triangle TV were broadcasting CCTV4 live right throughout the night and so I watched a bit of that till 3am and it was really cool watching the Chinese people doing their dancing and singing and singing and dancing together! They did a few skits/comedy things at times and even though I couldn't understand them it did seem a little...odd...
I managed to wake up in time for church anyway. The minister the week before asked us all to dress up in red, so we all did our best to! I was a little weary of doing that as when we approached church I couldn't see anyone else in red! As we walked in though there were quite a few people in red, traditional Chinese dresses or just wearing pink (good enough!).
The minister used his sermon to try encourage us all to get to church early and blablabla....I stopped listening after that! We were all given a little bookmark card thing before the service ended. I then caught up with Angie who was wearing pink (but yeah good enough!!). Before the special lunch, we were all numbered off and split into groups to do some activity where we had to introduce ourselves with a Chinese New Year greeting and memorise each other's. Fortunately the game didn't last too long and we went off for lunch.
Everyone had to contribute a plate of food. These types of lunches are my favourite, as there are usually heaps of yummy stuff and you can eat as much as you can! Angie went to have lunch with one of her friends while I had lunch with my family. Aonghas soon had to go off to work (once again they ring him right at the last minute to ask him to come in! So much for rosters!) Angie came over a while later for a talk and I ended up buying a chocolate bar from one of her sister's friends...you know Chinese New Year spirit!
It was really cool walking around Westcity when picking Aonghas up from work to see Asian people around the place either wearing red or pink! It'd be like 'Hey that person's wearing red!" (Yeah I sound like a dork!)
I haven't gotten any lucky red envelopes yet from my parents but it's all good, it's Chinese New Year, the year of the pig! It's my dad's year!! Plus it's also around this time of year I usually feel more Asian than usual!
Thursday 15 February 2007
A....nice(?) Valentine's Day
(continuing from previous post..) I had one of the worst sleeps in a while that night. I woke up once to try wake my arm up after sleeping on it for a little while (you know when your arm goes dead?) before waking up again to peel my face off the mattress. It got colder later in the night and so I got out of the bed again and tiptoed over to the guys' cubicle to grab the blanket Lauren offered me the night before. I ended up waking up at 5am, thinking that was when we were supposed to wake up. Everyone was still asleep though, so I just lay there till more people started waking up afta 5.30am. By the way, throughout the night, someone snored really really badly! I won't name any names ;);)
When everyone was up there were heaps of hugs around with Valentine's Day wishes. I managed to hug nine people, with one of them being Zahir! :D Yeah what a great consolation for being single! I went and had a shower, and was amazed at how fast I showered compared to the time it takes for me to shower at home! I only had one bar of soap so I came out of the shower smelling like a big strawberry. In the bag of stuff Patrick picked up for me I had the t-shirt that Gwen and Alex got me for my birthday so I wore that for the day. I even got a compliment from Christine about that t-shirt, and that was probably the first time EVER someone has complimented me on what I am wearing!!
We got all our stuff packed, the dorm cleaned up and then we all headed down to the carpark to wait for the taxis. Michaela, Patrick and I ended up catching a ride with Miss Nepe after all the taxis got filled. Because we were some of the last people to arrive, everyone else had already eaten their breakfast. Michaela wasn't feeling too well, while I ate my muesli with fruit salad. Once everyone finished their breakfast the Rutherford and Kelston prefects had to go into the marae to take part in the powhiri to welcome the next two schools Tangaroa and Onehunga.
The powhiri followed the usual protocol, speech from each party, song and then that thing Maoris do when you rub noses with each other or kiss the girls. There were about sixty prefects from both of those schools, so we all stood in a line and noogied them or kissed the girls one by one. What a way to celebrate Valentine's Day!!! As soon as that was over we jumped on the bus and headed across the bridge to the North Shore campus. There was love music playing in the bus, all of us singing to Kelly Clarkson, oh what fun it was!
As soon as we got to the campus we got straight into things. The police had set up a little course on the field. Apparently they use this course to train their police recruits. It consisted of such obstacles as climbing over walls, through holes in walls, sliding underneath bars, jumping over fences, dragging a 70kg dummy several metres and pushing a trailer. Man compared to all those strong guys I was like a weakling! At least I didn't embarrass myself too badly. The first time I tried to take a run up to the wall to jump it I ran straight into it, and I didn't exactly dive properly underneath the bar for fear of wrecking my t-shirt! The three groups went around trying the different obstacles before a few brave souls attempted to do the whole course within the time limit of 1.57 minutes. Some of the Tamaki College students who we were with went under 1.40!
We all had a bit of morning tea and headed back up to the room to work a bit more on the action plans. I mainly hung with Chen and Charlene who were working on the Junior Council plan. At least now I can rest assured that the Junior Council is in good hands! After the allocated time had passed each group had to state their main goals for the year before we could go to lunch.
During lunch Patrick and I went to sit in a discreet little corner with Rebecca to have a private conversation about certain matters like who we thought should be deputy head boy and our future involvement in helping out with the Prefects that Peak programme. We concluded our little talk with discussing if Patrick and I had any girlfriends. Patrick's kinda seeing someone, and as for me I'm still single. Rebecca told me that I've got a few 'best mates' in the group and I think she said something about things not happening or something I don't know...
So I went back to the field to join Chen and learn the names of Ruth's friends like Rita, Tinnah, Matilda and Falen. That was embarrassing having to ask them what their names were! I'm sure I knew some of their names but I just got their faces mixed up! After a while the girls came over and started approaching me with evil looks before accusing me of telling the great Rebecca stuff about them! I wouldn't do such a thing! They then told me the predictions Rebecca made for them - Zahir and Angie, Phoebe and some new guy some day, Jenna and a younger guy (I think?).
We then joined the Tamaki College and Kelston guys in playing some more team building games. Everyone thought we were going to have a water fight and so there was a frantic rush to fill water bottles and buckets with water, but...it didn't eventuate. The last game the group played was really weird-looking - the group had to come up with some way of shifting a bucket of water with only a certain number of people touching the ground.
After that we all went into the gym to watch farewell skits/performances from each school. Tamaki performed a nice song, Kelston sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight (what they performed down the street when busking earlier) which was funny with the white guy doing a little rap in the middle. I was hoping and hoping Rutherford's would match the rest as I saw a little bit of what they had planned - a little chant that lasted only a couple seconds. They managed to pull a good one off! We all said our goodbyes to each other before jumping on our buses and heading our own ways.
The bus ride back to school was good. I sat next to Gwen talking about...certain things in Cantonese (I need the practice!!). Everyone was pretty worn out by the time we got back to school. Patrick and I had a short little walk through the school to check out the changes and caught up with the science teacher Mrs Butler Shaw and the year 10 dean/history teacher Ms Cumming before heading off home.
So yeah I originally didn't think I'd even get a chance to go to camp and ended up being allowed to stay the night! It was really cool seeing all the guys again and being able to help out wherever possible. I'm missing them already!! I'm sure those who dreaded going to camp had changed their mind after the three days. It certainly did help the group get to know each other better, and through up some interesting questions...
When everyone was up there were heaps of hugs around with Valentine's Day wishes. I managed to hug nine people, with one of them being Zahir! :D Yeah what a great consolation for being single! I went and had a shower, and was amazed at how fast I showered compared to the time it takes for me to shower at home! I only had one bar of soap so I came out of the shower smelling like a big strawberry. In the bag of stuff Patrick picked up for me I had the t-shirt that Gwen and Alex got me for my birthday so I wore that for the day. I even got a compliment from Christine about that t-shirt, and that was probably the first time EVER someone has complimented me on what I am wearing!!
We got all our stuff packed, the dorm cleaned up and then we all headed down to the carpark to wait for the taxis. Michaela, Patrick and I ended up catching a ride with Miss Nepe after all the taxis got filled. Because we were some of the last people to arrive, everyone else had already eaten their breakfast. Michaela wasn't feeling too well, while I ate my muesli with fruit salad. Once everyone finished their breakfast the Rutherford and Kelston prefects had to go into the marae to take part in the powhiri to welcome the next two schools Tangaroa and Onehunga.
The powhiri followed the usual protocol, speech from each party, song and then that thing Maoris do when you rub noses with each other or kiss the girls. There were about sixty prefects from both of those schools, so we all stood in a line and noogied them or kissed the girls one by one. What a way to celebrate Valentine's Day!!! As soon as that was over we jumped on the bus and headed across the bridge to the North Shore campus. There was love music playing in the bus, all of us singing to Kelly Clarkson, oh what fun it was!
As soon as we got to the campus we got straight into things. The police had set up a little course on the field. Apparently they use this course to train their police recruits. It consisted of such obstacles as climbing over walls, through holes in walls, sliding underneath bars, jumping over fences, dragging a 70kg dummy several metres and pushing a trailer. Man compared to all those strong guys I was like a weakling! At least I didn't embarrass myself too badly. The first time I tried to take a run up to the wall to jump it I ran straight into it, and I didn't exactly dive properly underneath the bar for fear of wrecking my t-shirt! The three groups went around trying the different obstacles before a few brave souls attempted to do the whole course within the time limit of 1.57 minutes. Some of the Tamaki College students who we were with went under 1.40!
We all had a bit of morning tea and headed back up to the room to work a bit more on the action plans. I mainly hung with Chen and Charlene who were working on the Junior Council plan. At least now I can rest assured that the Junior Council is in good hands! After the allocated time had passed each group had to state their main goals for the year before we could go to lunch.
During lunch Patrick and I went to sit in a discreet little corner with Rebecca to have a private conversation about certain matters like who we thought should be deputy head boy and our future involvement in helping out with the Prefects that Peak programme. We concluded our little talk with discussing if Patrick and I had any girlfriends. Patrick's kinda seeing someone, and as for me I'm still single. Rebecca told me that I've got a few 'best mates' in the group and I think she said something about things not happening or something I don't know...
So I went back to the field to join Chen and learn the names of Ruth's friends like Rita, Tinnah, Matilda and Falen. That was embarrassing having to ask them what their names were! I'm sure I knew some of their names but I just got their faces mixed up! After a while the girls came over and started approaching me with evil looks before accusing me of telling the great Rebecca stuff about them! I wouldn't do such a thing! They then told me the predictions Rebecca made for them - Zahir and Angie, Phoebe and some new guy some day, Jenna and a younger guy (I think?).
We then joined the Tamaki College and Kelston guys in playing some more team building games. Everyone thought we were going to have a water fight and so there was a frantic rush to fill water bottles and buckets with water, but...it didn't eventuate. The last game the group played was really weird-looking - the group had to come up with some way of shifting a bucket of water with only a certain number of people touching the ground.
After that we all went into the gym to watch farewell skits/performances from each school. Tamaki performed a nice song, Kelston sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight (what they performed down the street when busking earlier) which was funny with the white guy doing a little rap in the middle. I was hoping and hoping Rutherford's would match the rest as I saw a little bit of what they had planned - a little chant that lasted only a couple seconds. They managed to pull a good one off! We all said our goodbyes to each other before jumping on our buses and heading our own ways.
The bus ride back to school was good. I sat next to Gwen talking about...certain things in Cantonese (I need the practice!!). Everyone was pretty worn out by the time we got back to school. Patrick and I had a short little walk through the school to check out the changes and caught up with the science teacher Mrs Butler Shaw and the year 10 dean/history teacher Ms Cumming before heading off home.
So yeah I originally didn't think I'd even get a chance to go to camp and ended up being allowed to stay the night! It was really cool seeing all the guys again and being able to help out wherever possible. I'm missing them already!! I'm sure those who dreaded going to camp had changed their mind after the three days. It certainly did help the group get to know each other better, and through up some interesting questions...
Camp Surprise
The prefects of Rutherford College for this year were to have their camp at AUT this week from Monday to Wednesday. After an offer was made late last year before school finished, Jacqueline decided to take it up and try find out if it we were still allowed to come visit. However Jacqueline hadn't gotten a reply from Rebecca (the AUT lady in charge of the programme) and it was the Saturday before the camp! I also heard at Lindsey's farewell party that only ex-prefects who would be attending AUT this year would be allowed to come and help out, so I pretty much gave up hope! I told a few of the prefects that I wouldn't be coming and then that had undone all the work I had been doing trying to get them to look forward to camp, as coming into the camp many of the prefects were dreading it, with some even contemplating dropping out of the group because of it!
Monday was Chen's birthday (by the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHEN!!!). I didn't really do much apart from watch TV as usual (like Desperate Housewives!!!! yay!!), when I got a text from Jacqueline letting me know that Rebecca said we could come visit the next day on Tuesday! Jacqueline had her AUT Orientation Day that day so straight after at about 3pm she would go visit the prefects. Because I didn't want to be random (plus I wasn't sure if I was allowed to!) I thought I would just go at the same time as Jacqueline.
On Tuesday morning I drove my dad to Glenfield to his Tai Chi practice, while I just read newspapers in the nearby library. After an hour I drove home and got prepared to catch the bus at 2pm. As usual I wasn't prepared in time, and I was running down the road and back up the hill only to see the bus drive by! I continued to the bus stop where I checked the timetable and found out the next bus would be coming in half an hour! I decided to walk all the way back home and recheck the timetable on the website. There was a bus at 2.15, which was...right then! So I just missed that bus too! This time my mum dropped me off at the bus stop to make sure I didn't miss it this time and sure enough I didn't!
With Jacqueline putting the heat on me to hurry up and get to AUT (she was waiting outside the building where the prefects were) as soon as the bus arrived in the city I jumped off and hit the ground running! I made my way to AUT Tower, before realising I went down the wrong road and was at the wrong place! So I ran back down Queen St and up another road, before I missed the turn and had to run back down and take the turn! Finally I got there and saw Jacqueline sitting there waiting for me. We sat there for a few minutes so I could catch my breath, and Mr Sizer (year 13 dean) came by. He told us our dean from last year stayed the night yesterday. He told us which level the prefects were on and so we made our way up there.
We were waiting outside the room in which they were in deciding what would be the best way to get in. Jacqueline tried ringing and texting Rebecca but she must've had her phone switched off, so we just decided we'd walk on in. When we did, I hope it came as a bit of a surprise to a few of the prefects to see us! They were working on their action plans for the separate groups. After going around saying 'Hi' to everyone, Jacqueline and I helped out with a few of the groups. Not too long after the prefects were given a bit of a break before they had to head back to the Marae for dinner. I was going to go off with Jacqueline to have a bit of a feed as I didn't think I would be allowed dinner, and so I walked with her up this big hill to go visit Connie first before Jacqueline said I could meet her at Sky City Metro. While I was walking back down the hill, I realised that AUT wasn't too far away, so I walked back there to join the group (and then quickly run back to Metro when Jacqueline texted me later!)
Back at the marae the Kelston Boys prefects were there mucking around. I caught up with a few of the village girls and some of the other prefects when Phoebe told me Mark was there! I used to go to primary school with Mark and hadn't seen him since Rangeview. Boy is he tall!! He and Phoebe got along well at camp. I think he was trying to match her up with one of the other Kelston prefects (some Korean guy). We'll have to see what arises from that! After talking to Mark for a while he pointed out to me that Paaka was at camp as well! Paaka also went to primary school with me as well! He, Chen, Mark , a few others and I used to play handball with each other at primary school. Paaka was one of my main rivals with his low skims and everything! Anyway we had a bit of a catch-up, kinda neglecting Phoebe a bit. At that time I was asked if I wanted to stay the night, so originally I thought that just what I had on me - my wallet, a pack of biscuits, camera, phone and the clothes on my back, would be good enough for me, when Patrick who was coming later to stay the night offered to pick some stuff up for me from my house on the way there.
Dinner tables were mixed with Rutherford and Kelston prefects. I sat at the table with Ruth, some really...different...white guy, Paaka and a few others. We had potatoes, meat, chicken and mashed pumpkin for dinner. On my way to the food table I met Eddie the Kelston Head Boy. It was really weird whenever I met any of the Kelston prefects. They would ask me if I was from Rutherford, and I would tell them I went to Rutherford last year, and they would have this weird reaction. When I told Eddie he asked me why I was at camp, and I just said that I was helping out. That was a bit of an awkward conversation! He walked off after that. For dessert we had ice-cream, fruit salad and truffle (I think that's what it's called?) but by the time I got to the food most of it was gone but that was OK!
After dinner the prefects had a little meeting with Mr Moore (the principal), Mr Coughlan (deputy principal) and Miss Nepe (a teacher helping out). They first gave a short self-introduction each, before the prefects put forward questions to the staff. After taking a few photos of the group Jacqueline and I just sat around nearly falling asleep. I think it went on for nearly half an hour! At that time Patrick had arrived at Youthtown, where the prefects would be staying the night. After the meeting we all walked back to Youthtown, with me and Jacqueline making a quick detour (I needed the toilet, Jacqueline wanted a coffee to keep herself awake). Even so, after meeting Ryan outside the Civic Theatre where he was about to attend some teachers workshop, we managed to catch up with the rear of the group and got back to Youthtown. I was really impressed with what I found inside the building! There were basketball courts, swimming pools, games room (with pool and table tennis tables) and dorms. I hung out with the group (my favourite people oh yeah!) playing cards. This guy from Kelston called Ben joined in a little while later. We played this name game where we had to give ourselves a name. In the game he joined in, we each had to choose an animal, and I chose cow. It's funny that the next day when he saw me, he said
"Hi Cow! (Sorry I can't remember your real name!)"
I had to take another toilet break later and went back up to the dorm afterwards to find everyone else coming back as well. Everyone had already chosen their beds. There were about eight bunk-beds in each 'cubicle'. I hadn't really chosen a bed when Adam asked me to help him get out of Youthtown so he could buy a drink at the nearby dairy, so I went with him outside and he bought me a Coke while he bought three big bottles of Coke as well. When I got back, everyone were in their pyjamas and just hanging around their beds. I came into the girls' 'cublicle' and just sat on Gwen's bed talking to Gwen and then Chen and then Phoebe as she was putting on her make-up (yeah sounds like Gwen's bed was a popular meeting place!) before it was time for lights out at 10.30. Gwen and I, who are used to sleeping late quickly jumped into the spare bed underneath Melissa's and just sat there whispering to each other while all the other girls and guys in the 'cubicle' on the other side of the wall were texting (you could see people's shadows!) till Miss Nepe popped her head in and told us to go to sleep. I just stayed in the bed while Gwen jumped back into hers.
Drinking Coke isn't good before bedtime, and not just because of the sugar! I thought my breath would stink, and so I wasn't too keen on sleeping till I had brushed my teeth! After texting Gwen and Chen for a little while (before they fell asleep) I tried to devise a way for me to get from bed to the toilet. There were two toilets, one at the other end of the aisle, and another one very close nearby. Getting off the bed was the first tricky bit! Jenna was sleeping on the bed right next to mine and because the mattresses had a sort of smooth leathery cover, any slight move made a sound. I waited for a little while after midnight when all was silent, then I made my move! I tiptoed back into Chen and Zahir's cubicle to quietly pick up my toothbrush and toothpaste and went into that nearby toilet. I switched on the light and then this whizzing sound started, so I quickly turned the lights off (I didn't want to wake anyone up!) I used my phone as a torch and brushed my teeth in the dark. Because I needed to go to the toilet afterwards (no I don't have a weak bladder!) I decided what the hell I'll just turn on the lights so I don't miss! After that I sneaked back quietly onto my bed. With no blanket and no pillow and Melissa's stuff at the end of the bed I was in for a long sleep!
Monday was Chen's birthday (by the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHEN!!!). I didn't really do much apart from watch TV as usual (like Desperate Housewives!!!! yay!!), when I got a text from Jacqueline letting me know that Rebecca said we could come visit the next day on Tuesday! Jacqueline had her AUT Orientation Day that day so straight after at about 3pm she would go visit the prefects. Because I didn't want to be random (plus I wasn't sure if I was allowed to!) I thought I would just go at the same time as Jacqueline.
On Tuesday morning I drove my dad to Glenfield to his Tai Chi practice, while I just read newspapers in the nearby library. After an hour I drove home and got prepared to catch the bus at 2pm. As usual I wasn't prepared in time, and I was running down the road and back up the hill only to see the bus drive by! I continued to the bus stop where I checked the timetable and found out the next bus would be coming in half an hour! I decided to walk all the way back home and recheck the timetable on the website. There was a bus at 2.15, which was...right then! So I just missed that bus too! This time my mum dropped me off at the bus stop to make sure I didn't miss it this time and sure enough I didn't!
With Jacqueline putting the heat on me to hurry up and get to AUT (she was waiting outside the building where the prefects were) as soon as the bus arrived in the city I jumped off and hit the ground running! I made my way to AUT Tower, before realising I went down the wrong road and was at the wrong place! So I ran back down Queen St and up another road, before I missed the turn and had to run back down and take the turn! Finally I got there and saw Jacqueline sitting there waiting for me. We sat there for a few minutes so I could catch my breath, and Mr Sizer (year 13 dean) came by. He told us our dean from last year stayed the night yesterday. He told us which level the prefects were on and so we made our way up there.
We were waiting outside the room in which they were in deciding what would be the best way to get in. Jacqueline tried ringing and texting Rebecca but she must've had her phone switched off, so we just decided we'd walk on in. When we did, I hope it came as a bit of a surprise to a few of the prefects to see us! They were working on their action plans for the separate groups. After going around saying 'Hi' to everyone, Jacqueline and I helped out with a few of the groups. Not too long after the prefects were given a bit of a break before they had to head back to the Marae for dinner. I was going to go off with Jacqueline to have a bit of a feed as I didn't think I would be allowed dinner, and so I walked with her up this big hill to go visit Connie first before Jacqueline said I could meet her at Sky City Metro. While I was walking back down the hill, I realised that AUT wasn't too far away, so I walked back there to join the group (and then quickly run back to Metro when Jacqueline texted me later!)
Back at the marae the Kelston Boys prefects were there mucking around. I caught up with a few of the village girls and some of the other prefects when Phoebe told me Mark was there! I used to go to primary school with Mark and hadn't seen him since Rangeview. Boy is he tall!! He and Phoebe got along well at camp. I think he was trying to match her up with one of the other Kelston prefects (some Korean guy). We'll have to see what arises from that! After talking to Mark for a while he pointed out to me that Paaka was at camp as well! Paaka also went to primary school with me as well! He, Chen, Mark , a few others and I used to play handball with each other at primary school. Paaka was one of my main rivals with his low skims and everything! Anyway we had a bit of a catch-up, kinda neglecting Phoebe a bit. At that time I was asked if I wanted to stay the night, so originally I thought that just what I had on me - my wallet, a pack of biscuits, camera, phone and the clothes on my back, would be good enough for me, when Patrick who was coming later to stay the night offered to pick some stuff up for me from my house on the way there.
Dinner tables were mixed with Rutherford and Kelston prefects. I sat at the table with Ruth, some really...different...white guy, Paaka and a few others. We had potatoes, meat, chicken and mashed pumpkin for dinner. On my way to the food table I met Eddie the Kelston Head Boy. It was really weird whenever I met any of the Kelston prefects. They would ask me if I was from Rutherford, and I would tell them I went to Rutherford last year, and they would have this weird reaction. When I told Eddie he asked me why I was at camp, and I just said that I was helping out. That was a bit of an awkward conversation! He walked off after that. For dessert we had ice-cream, fruit salad and truffle (I think that's what it's called?) but by the time I got to the food most of it was gone but that was OK!
After dinner the prefects had a little meeting with Mr Moore (the principal), Mr Coughlan (deputy principal) and Miss Nepe (a teacher helping out). They first gave a short self-introduction each, before the prefects put forward questions to the staff. After taking a few photos of the group Jacqueline and I just sat around nearly falling asleep. I think it went on for nearly half an hour! At that time Patrick had arrived at Youthtown, where the prefects would be staying the night. After the meeting we all walked back to Youthtown, with me and Jacqueline making a quick detour (I needed the toilet, Jacqueline wanted a coffee to keep herself awake). Even so, after meeting Ryan outside the Civic Theatre where he was about to attend some teachers workshop, we managed to catch up with the rear of the group and got back to Youthtown. I was really impressed with what I found inside the building! There were basketball courts, swimming pools, games room (with pool and table tennis tables) and dorms. I hung out with the group (my favourite people oh yeah!) playing cards. This guy from Kelston called Ben joined in a little while later. We played this name game where we had to give ourselves a name. In the game he joined in, we each had to choose an animal, and I chose cow. It's funny that the next day when he saw me, he said
"Hi Cow! (Sorry I can't remember your real name!)"
I had to take another toilet break later and went back up to the dorm afterwards to find everyone else coming back as well. Everyone had already chosen their beds. There were about eight bunk-beds in each 'cubicle'. I hadn't really chosen a bed when Adam asked me to help him get out of Youthtown so he could buy a drink at the nearby dairy, so I went with him outside and he bought me a Coke while he bought three big bottles of Coke as well. When I got back, everyone were in their pyjamas and just hanging around their beds. I came into the girls' 'cublicle' and just sat on Gwen's bed talking to Gwen and then Chen and then Phoebe as she was putting on her make-up (yeah sounds like Gwen's bed was a popular meeting place!) before it was time for lights out at 10.30. Gwen and I, who are used to sleeping late quickly jumped into the spare bed underneath Melissa's and just sat there whispering to each other while all the other girls and guys in the 'cubicle' on the other side of the wall were texting (you could see people's shadows!) till Miss Nepe popped her head in and told us to go to sleep. I just stayed in the bed while Gwen jumped back into hers.
Drinking Coke isn't good before bedtime, and not just because of the sugar! I thought my breath would stink, and so I wasn't too keen on sleeping till I had brushed my teeth! After texting Gwen and Chen for a little while (before they fell asleep) I tried to devise a way for me to get from bed to the toilet. There were two toilets, one at the other end of the aisle, and another one very close nearby. Getting off the bed was the first tricky bit! Jenna was sleeping on the bed right next to mine and because the mattresses had a sort of smooth leathery cover, any slight move made a sound. I waited for a little while after midnight when all was silent, then I made my move! I tiptoed back into Chen and Zahir's cubicle to quietly pick up my toothbrush and toothpaste and went into that nearby toilet. I switched on the light and then this whizzing sound started, so I quickly turned the lights off (I didn't want to wake anyone up!) I used my phone as a torch and brushed my teeth in the dark. Because I needed to go to the toilet afterwards (no I don't have a weak bladder!) I decided what the hell I'll just turn on the lights so I don't miss! After that I sneaked back quietly onto my bed. With no blanket and no pillow and Melissa's stuff at the end of the bed I was in for a long sleep!
Sunday 11 February 2007
Another One Leaving
While on my way back home from my first accordion lessons of the year yesterday, I got a text from Lindsey inviting me to his farewell party later that night. I was a little nervous as I hadn't been to one of these types of parties where everyone just sits around drinking and talking, and I wasn't too sure how I would respond, whether I would be there in force promoting water or what!
When I got there, there was only Heather, Lindsey, Jane, Janine and Claire, and we just sat around talking about all sorts of stuff. After a while more and more people showed up and got out the drinks. I fortunately had a cup of good ol water so I was good. I managed to have a lot of fun talking to all the guys! I spent a while catching up with Jane, Nick and Jacqueline with Sarena. I was trying to tell Jacqueline something in Mandarin as I realised Sarena could also speak Cantonese, and so she got frustrated, chucked peanuts at us and went off! Sarena was pretty deadly with that bowl of peanuts. Shen was too, aiming at certain places!
It was really cool catching up with all the old Rutherford guys after not having seen them since the farewell dinner, but more importantly it was good seeing Lindsey for one last time before he flies off to Otago this coming Friday to study law, politics and history. It's so sad!! I've known Lindsey for the past six/seven years and he's been a really great friend, and now he's going! I'm sure he'll be on to bigger and better things though, so make sure you all look out for him when he appears on TV as the next best thing in politics! (I'll put up photographic memories of him soon!)
When I got there, there was only Heather, Lindsey, Jane, Janine and Claire, and we just sat around talking about all sorts of stuff. After a while more and more people showed up and got out the drinks. I fortunately had a cup of good ol water so I was good. I managed to have a lot of fun talking to all the guys! I spent a while catching up with Jane, Nick and Jacqueline with Sarena. I was trying to tell Jacqueline something in Mandarin as I realised Sarena could also speak Cantonese, and so she got frustrated, chucked peanuts at us and went off! Sarena was pretty deadly with that bowl of peanuts. Shen was too, aiming at certain places!
It was really cool catching up with all the old Rutherford guys after not having seen them since the farewell dinner, but more importantly it was good seeing Lindsey for one last time before he flies off to Otago this coming Friday to study law, politics and history. It's so sad!! I've known Lindsey for the past six/seven years and he's been a really great friend, and now he's going! I'm sure he'll be on to bigger and better things though, so make sure you all look out for him when he appears on TV as the next best thing in politics! (I'll put up photographic memories of him soon!)
Saturday 10 February 2007
Comfort Me Dr Phil!
Not that I have problems...I just have nothing better to do than to watch him and that Dr Keith Ablow on the other channel everyday! Today Dr Phil was dealing with a girl who liked having tattoos...
Yesterday I had originally planned to go into the city with my dad who had to visit the optometrist to sort out some uni stuff such as buying course books, my finances and the lot. I wasn't ready in time though and so my dad left without me. I ended up managing to sort everything out over the phone which was convenient! Apparently I'm not supposed to buy the books till Orientation Week!
Because my dad had liquid in his eyes, we had to come into the city to pick him up, and so at the same time we thought we'd try grab Hamish from the library and take him home at the same time. He didn't have his cellphone on him though (not that it would've been a great help as 80% of the time it's dead in his bag!) so I had to search all seven-eight stories looking for him which was awkward especially when it was so silent in there and my stomach was grumbling!
I gave up in the end and we went back to Henderson when I ran into Jacqueline at Foodtown! She made it into AUT!! Yay!!! I'll be able to see her around now!
It was the first full day of school for all those little kids including Aonghas, so I decided I'd tag along so I could drive the car back home and get some practice. I kinda went to sleep late the night before due to various reasons including the heat! Boy it's been hot in the past few days! Anyhow I managed to wake up early enough to jump in the car with Aonghas and my mum and went off to school. For the record, Aonghas wasn't late today! After Aonghas got out, I jumped in the driver's seat and drove off with my mum. We drove around Te Atatu Peninsula for a while, having to slow down at every crossing point the primary school kids were using. After a while I drove back home.
I did the whole watching TV and delivering newspapers thing before driving back to school with my mum to pick Aonghas up. I parked right up by the back gate in front of this van. While we were waiting for Aonghas, this little Korean girl who must've been looking for someone came over to talk to my mum. Their conversation went something like this:
"Is that your son driving?"
"Yeah he's my son"
"Ooooooh OK...just don't crash into the van because it's my aunty's aye!!!"
It was really interesting wandering around West City after school, seeing all these students in all sorts of different uniforms! Waitakere College's boys uniform looks exactly like Rutherford's except for the emblem on the polo shirt. I noticed this uniform that is a blue buttoned shirt/blouse and navy blue shorts/skirt that I've never seen before! I originally thought that might've been the new Rutherford uniform but it doesn't look like it! I saw a boy from that new rich private school Sunderland College though. His uniform is....interesting...
I guess there's no point hiding this now that good ol' Mr Breckall told his whole chemistry class, but I heard from Chen today that when explaining why titrations was taken out of the year 13 chemistry course this year, he said it was down to luck, not skill and used me as an example of someone who failed it last year! Thanks Mr Breckall I was hoping no one would ever find out! :D But oh well that's the past, at least I passed NCEA so that's the main thing!
I've had some interesting conversations with people in the last few days, discovering opinions and thoughts I never knew people had! But but but...I'm not at liberty to publicly disclose any of those thoughts or opinions, just a sign of my ability to keep my mouth shut;) So feel free to share as much as you want with me! ;);)
I did discover that apparently everyone thinks I like this person, when I thought it was just a few people who were joking about it and had made it up from nothing! I guess it's lucky then that I don't go to school then so that that person won't get shamed anymore!
Yesterday I had originally planned to go into the city with my dad who had to visit the optometrist to sort out some uni stuff such as buying course books, my finances and the lot. I wasn't ready in time though and so my dad left without me. I ended up managing to sort everything out over the phone which was convenient! Apparently I'm not supposed to buy the books till Orientation Week!
Because my dad had liquid in his eyes, we had to come into the city to pick him up, and so at the same time we thought we'd try grab Hamish from the library and take him home at the same time. He didn't have his cellphone on him though (not that it would've been a great help as 80% of the time it's dead in his bag!) so I had to search all seven-eight stories looking for him which was awkward especially when it was so silent in there and my stomach was grumbling!
I gave up in the end and we went back to Henderson when I ran into Jacqueline at Foodtown! She made it into AUT!! Yay!!! I'll be able to see her around now!
It was the first full day of school for all those little kids including Aonghas, so I decided I'd tag along so I could drive the car back home and get some practice. I kinda went to sleep late the night before due to various reasons including the heat! Boy it's been hot in the past few days! Anyhow I managed to wake up early enough to jump in the car with Aonghas and my mum and went off to school. For the record, Aonghas wasn't late today! After Aonghas got out, I jumped in the driver's seat and drove off with my mum. We drove around Te Atatu Peninsula for a while, having to slow down at every crossing point the primary school kids were using. After a while I drove back home.
I did the whole watching TV and delivering newspapers thing before driving back to school with my mum to pick Aonghas up. I parked right up by the back gate in front of this van. While we were waiting for Aonghas, this little Korean girl who must've been looking for someone came over to talk to my mum. Their conversation went something like this:
"Is that your son driving?"
"Yeah he's my son"
"Ooooooh OK...just don't crash into the van because it's my aunty's aye!!!"
It was really interesting wandering around West City after school, seeing all these students in all sorts of different uniforms! Waitakere College's boys uniform looks exactly like Rutherford's except for the emblem on the polo shirt. I noticed this uniform that is a blue buttoned shirt/blouse and navy blue shorts/skirt that I've never seen before! I originally thought that might've been the new Rutherford uniform but it doesn't look like it! I saw a boy from that new rich private school Sunderland College though. His uniform is....interesting...
I guess there's no point hiding this now that good ol' Mr Breckall told his whole chemistry class, but I heard from Chen today that when explaining why titrations was taken out of the year 13 chemistry course this year, he said it was down to luck, not skill and used me as an example of someone who failed it last year! Thanks Mr Breckall I was hoping no one would ever find out! :D But oh well that's the past, at least I passed NCEA so that's the main thing!
I've had some interesting conversations with people in the last few days, discovering opinions and thoughts I never knew people had! But but but...I'm not at liberty to publicly disclose any of those thoughts or opinions, just a sign of my ability to keep my mouth shut;) So feel free to share as much as you want with me! ;);)
I did discover that apparently everyone thinks I like this person, when I thought it was just a few people who were joking about it and had made it up from nothing! I guess it's lucky then that I don't go to school then so that that person won't get shamed anymore!
Wednesday 7 February 2007
Doing Things
It's been another non-eventful week. Aonghas and my dad have been working on networking the house, I have been frantically trying to work on the student website for Rutherford College going (yes I know I've left the school I'm passing it on once I've finished with it!) as well as sort out all my uni stuff.
On Saturday I went to the Chinese New Year Festival at the Auckland Showgrounds. It was jam-packed with Chinese (or Asian) people! The Prime Minister Helen Clark (my hero!!!!) and a few other MP's crossed my path!! We caught up with Chen who was already there with his mum and grandma, and then we went inside to check out all the stalls. The stage had some really terrible karaoke singer! I think it's the same guy who turns up every year! While I was walking around looking at what was on offer I heard Unchained Melody being butchered and then thought...if only Phoebe was there to hear it! (it's one of her favourite songs)
I was carrying around this really tall, ugly, green plant that swirled around towards the top, when I had some lady came up to me and asked me where I bought it from! I think they were all sold out but I didn't know what to tell her, so I just told her I got it from somewhere over there. A few minutes later another person came over and asked me and I told her the same thing. When the third person asked me a while later, my dad told him they were all sold out, and there was this awkwardness before he left! I soon found out the reason why people wanted such an ugly plant was because it was a bamboo plant!
We spent quite a while at this Chinese movie stall checking out the VCD's and DVD's for sale. They advertised DVD's as $2 each and VCD's as $1 each, but they actually meant $1 per CD! Because each VCD movie contained two CD's, they cost $2 as well! We ended up buying eleven of all these random Chinese movies. My mum didn't bring her glasses so she couldn't read the back of the covers, and I...well can't read Chinese all that well, so it was a pretty random selection process!
After eating as much of the free food samples as we could (kiwifruit juice, noodles, everything!) and checking out the stalls, we soon decided to leave. It was approaching 3pm when it was due to finish anyway, so we were about to leave when my mum took a detour to have a look at the outside food stalls. So while I was standing there eating the food she bought me, I met Melissa, who I thought I wouldn't come across since she was about to leave too! It was good seeing her there, and got a photo together with her too! :D I've added photos showing the weird and wacky at my Windows Live Space.
Sunday marked the start of Sunday School at church for 2007. I was in danger of losing my favourite church buddies when the roll was called out and Angie and Jennifer's names were on the other class's list. Jennifer was pleading desperately to Shirley her Sunday School teacher (and my old teacher) to let her and Angie join my class, and I could tell Shirley really didn't want them to go! In the end Angie and Jennifer tagged along with our group! :D The class didn't seem to interesting though, with the teacher talking the whole way through and hardly anyone saying anything except Hamish answering the questions! I hope they're not regretting joining my class now!
It was interesting hearing other people's Chinese names when we went around a circle introducing ourselves. Jennifer's Chinese name meant 'Yellow Sun' in Chinese (I think), one girl's Chinese name was something like 'Qian Qian', and so she had a nickname ChiChi (I think! My memory's bad!), while Angie's was simply An Qi! How cool is that! The easiest to remember! I can't even remember Hamish's Chinese name!
After talking to a couple of friends, I realised I should enrol in my second semester courses as well! So today I enrolled in my second semester courses, and my timetable doesn't seem as bad as my first semester timetable! I get to finish at 10am on one day! I was trying to pick my general education course (a course completely unrelated to my degree) and ended up choosing law, as if I don't make it into medicine at the end of this year, at least I might have a chance of doing a law conjoint together with my health science degree (if I'm not allowed to change completely!)
It's funny, as I think I've talked to more year 13 students than students at my year level these holidays, so I don't really have much of an idea what many of the others are doing at uni...yet! I've got to get in touch with them to see who I'll be able to catch up with during lunch!
Yesterday while my mum was out shopping with Aonghas for a schoolbag, I thought I better do some housework around here and surprise my mum, make her come home happy! I hate it when my mum's mad! So I thought...why not try some cooking! :D I looked for cookbooks but could only find an egg cookbook so I grabbed that, opened the book at page 96 and found meringues, and off I went! It didn't start out too well. I was supposed to split the egg white from the egg yolk, but it didn't work! There went one egg! Fortunately the other two worked according to plan. Next was beating the egg white and adding sugar and a pint of salt. It was supposed to go foamy then stiff, but it never did! The recipe also said I required half a cup of sugar, but that was way more than the amount of egg white I had in the bowl! Oh and I couldn't find the egg beater so I was using a teaspoon...maybe that's why it didn't work...Anyway I gave up, quickly wiped all the egg off the table and poured everything down the sink, rinsed the bowls and everything and pretended nothing happened! My mum would've killed me if she found out I wasted three perfectly good eggs!
Today was the first day the year 12 and 13 students started school at Rutherford. It feels weird not being there while everyone else is! I want to go back and visit but I'm a little hesitant to, as it doesn't seem as though it has been long enough since school started, plus I feel a little out of place walking in there being the only one not wearing a uniform! I might sneak up the back gate and visit the people who take over transition sometime, or maybe come by during athletics if the public is allowed in! Anyway I'm sure all those happy souls at school are having a good time there! You guys don't know what a good thing you've got until you leave it! (Actually wait until I start university to see if I'll be saying the same thing then!)
I heard they put me down as Head Boy for 2007 on the Honours board, and Chen LUI (note the spelling mistake) as Head Boy for 2006!
On Saturday I went to the Chinese New Year Festival at the Auckland Showgrounds. It was jam-packed with Chinese (or Asian) people! The Prime Minister Helen Clark (my hero!!!!) and a few other MP's crossed my path!! We caught up with Chen who was already there with his mum and grandma, and then we went inside to check out all the stalls. The stage had some really terrible karaoke singer! I think it's the same guy who turns up every year! While I was walking around looking at what was on offer I heard Unchained Melody being butchered and then thought...if only Phoebe was there to hear it! (it's one of her favourite songs)
I was carrying around this really tall, ugly, green plant that swirled around towards the top, when I had some lady came up to me and asked me where I bought it from! I think they were all sold out but I didn't know what to tell her, so I just told her I got it from somewhere over there. A few minutes later another person came over and asked me and I told her the same thing. When the third person asked me a while later, my dad told him they were all sold out, and there was this awkwardness before he left! I soon found out the reason why people wanted such an ugly plant was because it was a bamboo plant!
We spent quite a while at this Chinese movie stall checking out the VCD's and DVD's for sale. They advertised DVD's as $2 each and VCD's as $1 each, but they actually meant $1 per CD! Because each VCD movie contained two CD's, they cost $2 as well! We ended up buying eleven of all these random Chinese movies. My mum didn't bring her glasses so she couldn't read the back of the covers, and I...well can't read Chinese all that well, so it was a pretty random selection process!
After eating as much of the free food samples as we could (kiwifruit juice, noodles, everything!) and checking out the stalls, we soon decided to leave. It was approaching 3pm when it was due to finish anyway, so we were about to leave when my mum took a detour to have a look at the outside food stalls. So while I was standing there eating the food she bought me, I met Melissa, who I thought I wouldn't come across since she was about to leave too! It was good seeing her there, and got a photo together with her too! :D I've added photos showing the weird and wacky at my Windows Live Space.
Sunday marked the start of Sunday School at church for 2007. I was in danger of losing my favourite church buddies when the roll was called out and Angie and Jennifer's names were on the other class's list. Jennifer was pleading desperately to Shirley her Sunday School teacher (and my old teacher) to let her and Angie join my class, and I could tell Shirley really didn't want them to go! In the end Angie and Jennifer tagged along with our group! :D The class didn't seem to interesting though, with the teacher talking the whole way through and hardly anyone saying anything except Hamish answering the questions! I hope they're not regretting joining my class now!
It was interesting hearing other people's Chinese names when we went around a circle introducing ourselves. Jennifer's Chinese name meant 'Yellow Sun' in Chinese (I think), one girl's Chinese name was something like 'Qian Qian', and so she had a nickname ChiChi (I think! My memory's bad!), while Angie's was simply An Qi! How cool is that! The easiest to remember! I can't even remember Hamish's Chinese name!
After talking to a couple of friends, I realised I should enrol in my second semester courses as well! So today I enrolled in my second semester courses, and my timetable doesn't seem as bad as my first semester timetable! I get to finish at 10am on one day! I was trying to pick my general education course (a course completely unrelated to my degree) and ended up choosing law, as if I don't make it into medicine at the end of this year, at least I might have a chance of doing a law conjoint together with my health science degree (if I'm not allowed to change completely!)
It's funny, as I think I've talked to more year 13 students than students at my year level these holidays, so I don't really have much of an idea what many of the others are doing at uni...yet! I've got to get in touch with them to see who I'll be able to catch up with during lunch!
Yesterday while my mum was out shopping with Aonghas for a schoolbag, I thought I better do some housework around here and surprise my mum, make her come home happy! I hate it when my mum's mad! So I thought...why not try some cooking! :D I looked for cookbooks but could only find an egg cookbook so I grabbed that, opened the book at page 96 and found meringues, and off I went! It didn't start out too well. I was supposed to split the egg white from the egg yolk, but it didn't work! There went one egg! Fortunately the other two worked according to plan. Next was beating the egg white and adding sugar and a pint of salt. It was supposed to go foamy then stiff, but it never did! The recipe also said I required half a cup of sugar, but that was way more than the amount of egg white I had in the bowl! Oh and I couldn't find the egg beater so I was using a teaspoon...maybe that's why it didn't work...Anyway I gave up, quickly wiped all the egg off the table and poured everything down the sink, rinsed the bowls and everything and pretended nothing happened! My mum would've killed me if she found out I wasted three perfectly good eggs!
Today was the first day the year 12 and 13 students started school at Rutherford. It feels weird not being there while everyone else is! I want to go back and visit but I'm a little hesitant to, as it doesn't seem as though it has been long enough since school started, plus I feel a little out of place walking in there being the only one not wearing a uniform! I might sneak up the back gate and visit the people who take over transition sometime, or maybe come by during athletics if the public is allowed in! Anyway I'm sure all those happy souls at school are having a good time there! You guys don't know what a good thing you've got until you leave it! (Actually wait until I start university to see if I'll be saying the same thing then!)
I heard they put me down as Head Boy for 2007 on the Honours board, and Chen LUI (note the spelling mistake) as Head Boy for 2006!
Friday 2 February 2007
To 2007 Prefects: Why You Should Go to Camp
After talking to many of the 2007 prefects of Rutherford College, it seems as though hardly anyone is looking forward to the camp in two weeks time, which is something I can't understand! Last year our prefects group enjoyed camp so much we were begging for another one! (read of it here or here) Here are some reasons why camp ain't that bad and you guys should be looking forward to it:
- No school! No uniforms! You spend three days at AUT, mainly at the marae (where you'll have your meals and sleep), and possibly the business school and Akoranga Campus (North Shore)
- For most of the time you'll be together with the rest of the group apart from when you split up into little groups for games and activities
- You get to play many different games to improve teamwork and leadership skills. The AUT guys don't place huge expectations or apply heaps of pressure on you to perform and prove yourselves though. They already know you're worthy of being in the group since you've been chosen to be in it
- The AUT guys are really nice and funny! Through her own observations she was able to identify potential couples who ended up getting together during camp!
- While you may have to do a bit of public speaking practice, it's only in front of a group of 20 or so of your peers who aren't going to be judging you on what you say, and remember in the end it's all a bit of fun! What's the worst that could happen if you don't say the right thing?
- The food is great. We had Hell's Pizza, Subway, and for dinner we got to decide amongst ourselves what we wanted, and then Heather and I went out to Foodtown to buy the food!
- You get to choose which group you want to contribute to, e.g. Environmental Committee, Junior Council, marketing, Student Welfare, etc. so you get to do what you want to do. You'll probably spend some time working with the group drawing up mind-maps with possible ideas for the group and coming up with timeframes etc
- You DO get free time to hang around with fellow prefects
- You get to know your fellow prefects a whole lot better. We did this activity last year where we had to fill in this sheet answering questions such as what we thought of ourselves, what we thought other people's impressions of us were, what we needed to improve on, etc. and then pass the sheet to one other person to fill in about ourselves. We then shared with the whole group, and it was amazing how people were open and honest. We actually got to know each other heaps better after that!
- You guys will probably have the opportunity to go on a scavenger hunt around the city, where you have to find and do certain things (e.g. go busking, advertising, find symbols, etc)
- You will see a completely different side to The teachers/staff who come with you guys. Last year we saw Mrs Reid reading women's magazines in her sleeping bag at night, Mr Coughlan cracking jokes and Mrs Taylor teasing us.
- The facilities are really good. You've got clean showers with hot water, toilets, etc.
I'm sure there are millions of other reasons why there is nothing wrong with this camp, and I will add some more later! But remember guys it ain't so bad! Believe me it will be one of the highlights of your year 13 year, one that you will remember this year by, like the ball!
- No school! No uniforms! You spend three days at AUT, mainly at the marae (where you'll have your meals and sleep), and possibly the business school and Akoranga Campus (North Shore)
- For most of the time you'll be together with the rest of the group apart from when you split up into little groups for games and activities
- You get to play many different games to improve teamwork and leadership skills. The AUT guys don't place huge expectations or apply heaps of pressure on you to perform and prove yourselves though. They already know you're worthy of being in the group since you've been chosen to be in it
- The AUT guys are really nice and funny! Through her own observations she was able to identify potential couples who ended up getting together during camp!
- While you may have to do a bit of public speaking practice, it's only in front of a group of 20 or so of your peers who aren't going to be judging you on what you say, and remember in the end it's all a bit of fun! What's the worst that could happen if you don't say the right thing?
- The food is great. We had Hell's Pizza, Subway, and for dinner we got to decide amongst ourselves what we wanted, and then Heather and I went out to Foodtown to buy the food!
- You get to choose which group you want to contribute to, e.g. Environmental Committee, Junior Council, marketing, Student Welfare, etc. so you get to do what you want to do. You'll probably spend some time working with the group drawing up mind-maps with possible ideas for the group and coming up with timeframes etc
- You DO get free time to hang around with fellow prefects
- You get to know your fellow prefects a whole lot better. We did this activity last year where we had to fill in this sheet answering questions such as what we thought of ourselves, what we thought other people's impressions of us were, what we needed to improve on, etc. and then pass the sheet to one other person to fill in about ourselves. We then shared with the whole group, and it was amazing how people were open and honest. We actually got to know each other heaps better after that!
- You guys will probably have the opportunity to go on a scavenger hunt around the city, where you have to find and do certain things (e.g. go busking, advertising, find symbols, etc)
- You will see a completely different side to The teachers/staff who come with you guys. Last year we saw Mrs Reid reading women's magazines in her sleeping bag at night, Mr Coughlan cracking jokes and Mrs Taylor teasing us.
- The facilities are really good. You've got clean showers with hot water, toilets, etc.
I'm sure there are millions of other reasons why there is nothing wrong with this camp, and I will add some more later! But remember guys it ain't so bad! Believe me it will be one of the highlights of your year 13 year, one that you will remember this year by, like the ball!
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