Yesterday I got a chance to hang out with one of my very bestest friends Diane, which was pretty cool because while I talk to her heaps I hardly get the chance to hang out with her. In fact for the first five years I knew her I had only met her in person twice! (She lives in another area of Auckland). Unfortunately if she gets in, she'll be off to Palmerston North to study at vet school which means I won't get to hang out with her any more than before...OK maybe that's unfortunate. She deserves to get in so it'll be a good thing if she does go!
Anyway, originally we were going to hang out last Friday, the day after her last exam, but the bad weather forced us to settle for Monday. While the weather was slightly better on Monday, Diane slept in! Just as well though, as my mum forced me to have a haircut, so finally Tuesday was going to be the day! It didn't start off too well though. I missed all the early buses and the earliest bus I could catch would get me into the city by 11.25am when I was supposed to meet her at 10am! Along the way the 'Bus Stopping' light got stuck and so there was a slight delay. God just didn't want us to meet!
He couldn't stop us though as I finally got into the city and met up with her outside IMAX. From there we went to buy our tickets to watch Shrek the 3rd before waiting around sharing files with our phones. When it was time to go we went into the theatre to find there was only about ten of us in the theatre!
Shrek the 3rd was a pretty good movie! I thought another sequel wouldn't work with Shrek, but they still managed to do it! Thrown in were some good old positive messages too which made me think! In some previous posts I've compared myself to the ogre, and while I was watching this movie I noticed another similarity...our teeth!! We've both got crossbites! Hopefully surgery will stop me from looking like an ogre!
After the movie we went down to Burger King where I bought some combo.(I have no idea what...I said yes to everything and ended up with a large cup of drink and two burgers???). After paying I nearly forgot to get my food and started walking to Diane's table!
I was trying to eat all my food while she drank her pearl milk tea and just as we had finished, Grace, one of Diane's vet school friends came by with a friend of hers. After catching up a little and all the introductions, we headed off to look for the pool place. Following Diane was a bad decision! Grace told us the place she knew was opposite Sky City, but Diane thought she knew of another place, so we followed her and ended up walking right around the block to find ourselves at the pool place opposite Sky City!
We paid for an hour's worth of pool play. It was the guys vs the girls. I was terrible, banging into the light and knocking and missing things, while the guy I was playing with (I should've remembered his name!!), despite claiming he didn't know how to play pool, carried our team to victory! Grace was like me and had to use that cool extension stick! The final result: Guys 2 - 1 Girls (oh yeah!!!!)
I was amazed at how fast time flew by, and by the time we got out of the pool place it was almost 4pm, and so everyone had to go. Sadddd!!!! Well she's still got a couple more weeks here in Auckland and so I'll probably get a chance to hang out with her at least one more time before she goes. Watch out for the waterworks!
Diane, one of my very bestest friends may be off to Palmerston North if she gets into vet school, and
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Happy Birthday Daddy!!
This is a little late as my dad's birthday was on Saturday. It was a bit of a milestone as he was turning 21 (uh huh!! nah uh huh!!) so we were going to have a birthday party at our cousins' house (our house is too messy and small) Now all we needed was a birthday present for him!
Saturday was a bit of a hectic day with my mum busy cooking food and getting things organised, while us Anderson brothers were searching for a birthday present on the internet. We decided we'd get him a laptop, seeing as our main computer is out of order at the moment and because the rest of us are using laptops, nothing has been done to fix it which had left our dad on a slower computer. We finally spotted one from Dick Smith with good enough specifications so that it was better than my laptop in certain areas despite costing half the price that I bought mine! There were only a few left though with the closest DSE shop being in New Lynn, so we quickly went over to our cousins' house to drop off some food before heading off to the shop.
When we got to DSE we were greeted by some Indian lady who showed us the laptop. We told her we'd buy it but we'd need to cross the road to Lynn Mall to get some money first, so she said she would reserve it for us. We went off to Lynn Mall in search of a Kiwibank ATM only to find the single Kiwibank machine out or order! So we dashed across the road in the rain searching for the post shop.
We finally got back to DSE when the Indian lady told us the laptop they were going to reserve for us had actually been reserved for someone else already! There were no laptops left in any Dick Smith store in Auckland and the only ones available would be the store model. We had a tough decision, but with no alternative, we decided to get the store display. We were informed that it would take half an hour to restore the laptop to factory settings so we decided to wait around.
Fortunately it paid off, as the person who had reserved the last laptop just pulled out, and so we were able to purchase that one! We were saved!!
Even though a few of the family couldn't make it IE AONGHAS (production commitments taking priority over his dad's birthday party aye!) the party was still pretty good, with yummy food. As usual I got myself full again and then spent the night talking to my cousin Janice and flicking through my cousins' Sky TV channels hunting for Cartoon Network and I've got to say, once I found it I wasn't disappointed! Samurai Jack, Teen Titans, aaaaaahhhyeeeeaaaah!!
My relatives got my dad a book on philosophy and an Antarctic journey (??) and some clothes, so it was a good way to celebrate his 21st, the first time we've bought him a birthday present with our own money too!
Saturday was a bit of a hectic day with my mum busy cooking food and getting things organised, while us Anderson brothers were searching for a birthday present on the internet. We decided we'd get him a laptop, seeing as our main computer is out of order at the moment and because the rest of us are using laptops, nothing has been done to fix it which had left our dad on a slower computer. We finally spotted one from Dick Smith with good enough specifications so that it was better than my laptop in certain areas despite costing half the price that I bought mine! There were only a few left though with the closest DSE shop being in New Lynn, so we quickly went over to our cousins' house to drop off some food before heading off to the shop.
When we got to DSE we were greeted by some Indian lady who showed us the laptop. We told her we'd buy it but we'd need to cross the road to Lynn Mall to get some money first, so she said she would reserve it for us. We went off to Lynn Mall in search of a Kiwibank ATM only to find the single Kiwibank machine out or order! So we dashed across the road in the rain searching for the post shop.
We finally got back to DSE when the Indian lady told us the laptop they were going to reserve for us had actually been reserved for someone else already! There were no laptops left in any Dick Smith store in Auckland and the only ones available would be the store model. We had a tough decision, but with no alternative, we decided to get the store display. We were informed that it would take half an hour to restore the laptop to factory settings so we decided to wait around.
Fortunately it paid off, as the person who had reserved the last laptop just pulled out, and so we were able to purchase that one! We were saved!!
Even though a few of the family couldn't make it IE AONGHAS (production commitments taking priority over his dad's birthday party aye!) the party was still pretty good, with yummy food. As usual I got myself full again and then spent the night talking to my cousin Janice and flicking through my cousins' Sky TV channels hunting for Cartoon Network and I've got to say, once I found it I wasn't disappointed! Samurai Jack, Teen Titans, aaaaaahhhyeeeeaaaah!!
My relatives got my dad a book on philosophy and an Antarctic journey (??) and some clothes, so it was a good way to celebrate his 21st, the first time we've bought him a birthday present with our own money too!
Child Abuse!
I'm not the one abusing children, I'm the one being abused by children!
Friday was the second day of looking after the kids. Because the four-year-old had no kindy on Friday, it mean I had to play with him (good clean playing of course!) ALL day! Some time during the day my parents wanted to visit my uncle and aunty's new lunch bar in Avondale, so we strapped the kid into his kiddy seat in the car, all jumped in and drove over there. When we got out my mum asked the boy if he wanted to hold her hand or my hand, and he wanted to hold my hand so I got stuck with the kid (not...so much a bad thing!) However, it was a little dangerous taking him into the kitchen with all the knives, stoves and everything else around the place! He kept spinning around, jumping up and down and running around with me trying to be the buffer between him and danger! My mum asked me to take him outside for a little walk, so we walked around the building before the boy wanted to sit up against a garage door and play with water squirted from his drink bottle.
He then dragged me back inside, and started demanding to go to my parents. My parents hadn't finished talking to my uncle and aunty, so I had to somehow keep this kid at bay. He kept unhooking the lock on the door to the kitchen and trying to open it to get out, so I stuck my foot up against the door at the far end, and pretended that the door was stuck and that we had to wait until our parents were finished so they could 'unstick' the door. The boy started going around pretending he had glue and started gluing the door and then CHOP CHOP CHOPPING the door down!
We got home not too long afterwards and then my mum had to pick up the other kids from school. When they got home they were all over the place! We played a game of Monopoly and we managed to get the eldest girl (the one who hates guys) to join in! I tried having a bit of a conversation with her, so I made a little progress! Later when the girl and her brothers left, we were left with the Eurasian girl, so we played a little basketball with her before letting her use the computer to create a Bebo profile. It's amazing how much these little kids are catching up to us! She tells us kids at her school have cellphones! I think our family got our first cellphone when I was at high school!
Yesterday we didn't look after the kids for as long, as their parents picked them up earlier. While we were hanging out with the Eurasian kid letting her customize her Bebo profile, she asked me if I had a girlfriend and I told her I didn't. She then asked me if I used to out with Zippo, and when I asked her how she knew about that she told me they talked about me and that they think I'm annoying! Ouch! She then later told me I wasn't hot! When I asked if Aonghas was hot she said no as well, but hotter than me...and Hamish was...so-so.. Double ouch! My feelings hurt by an 8-year-old girl!
Friday was the second day of looking after the kids. Because the four-year-old had no kindy on Friday, it mean I had to play with him (good clean playing of course!) ALL day! Some time during the day my parents wanted to visit my uncle and aunty's new lunch bar in Avondale, so we strapped the kid into his kiddy seat in the car, all jumped in and drove over there. When we got out my mum asked the boy if he wanted to hold her hand or my hand, and he wanted to hold my hand so I got stuck with the kid (not...so much a bad thing!) However, it was a little dangerous taking him into the kitchen with all the knives, stoves and everything else around the place! He kept spinning around, jumping up and down and running around with me trying to be the buffer between him and danger! My mum asked me to take him outside for a little walk, so we walked around the building before the boy wanted to sit up against a garage door and play with water squirted from his drink bottle.
He then dragged me back inside, and started demanding to go to my parents. My parents hadn't finished talking to my uncle and aunty, so I had to somehow keep this kid at bay. He kept unhooking the lock on the door to the kitchen and trying to open it to get out, so I stuck my foot up against the door at the far end, and pretended that the door was stuck and that we had to wait until our parents were finished so they could 'unstick' the door. The boy started going around pretending he had glue and started gluing the door and then CHOP CHOP CHOPPING the door down!
We got home not too long afterwards and then my mum had to pick up the other kids from school. When they got home they were all over the place! We played a game of Monopoly and we managed to get the eldest girl (the one who hates guys) to join in! I tried having a bit of a conversation with her, so I made a little progress! Later when the girl and her brothers left, we were left with the Eurasian girl, so we played a little basketball with her before letting her use the computer to create a Bebo profile. It's amazing how much these little kids are catching up to us! She tells us kids at her school have cellphones! I think our family got our first cellphone when I was at high school!
Yesterday we didn't look after the kids for as long, as their parents picked them up earlier. While we were hanging out with the Eurasian kid letting her customize her Bebo profile, she asked me if I had a girlfriend and I told her I didn't. She then asked me if I used to out with Zippo, and when I asked her how she knew about that she told me they talked about me and that they think I'm annoying! Ouch! She then later told me I wasn't hot! When I asked if Aonghas was hot she said no as well, but hotter than me...and Hamish was...so-so.. Double ouch! My feelings hurt by an 8-year-old girl!
Thursday 21 June 2007
Operation Getting Used to Boys: DAY ONE
While our friends have gone off to Malaysia on holiday for the next three weeks, we've been asked to look after their bird and dog while they're away, and to look after the kids they usually look after after school for the next week. There are four of them - a four-year-old and a six-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, and an 8-year-old girl from a different family. For some reason the eldest girl doesn't like boys and always snubs us or hides from us whenever we come to visit! Now that we'll be looking after them after school for the next week, it is up to us Anderson brothers to introduce her to MAN. So here's how DAY ONE went:
The youngest finished kindergarten at midday, so I drove my mum to the kindy to pick him up. Before we left for home my mum wanted to have a look through Foodtown, so she made me hold hands with the little boy. He ended up dragging me around the place showing what his parents usually buy him, like chocolate cake and chocolate milk. I wouldn't mind swapping places with him! This little kid is so random at times, and asks so many questions, but I guess that's just a sign of a very curious child!
When we got home (with the lounge tidied at the last minute!) my dad gave him some paper to draw on and some pictures to trace and so he drew some pictures of planes. It's funny seeing my parents with little children as they're so different! Maybe that's what they were like to us when we were younger!
After lunch, I had the task of entertaining him right throughout the day, so I got out some of our old toys. It just happens this kid turns out to be a Transformers fan! I also introduced him to some of our exercise equipment which he took a liking to, especially the exer-cycle. After lowering the seat down for him, he started cycling and cycling until he had cycled for 1km! He then took a break to play more with toys before we decided to watch TV.
When his brother and sister and the other girl got home it all went crazy! The two girls stuck together and played around on the piano while the boys played around with the exercise equipment. I tried talking to the eldest girl but she didn't really talk much. My mum later asked if the kids needed to get anything from our friend's house, so we led them there. I checked up on the dog, but the dog managed to get inside the house. With Aonghas, my mum and me not being too keen on picking up the little dog and getting bitten or hurting the dog, we relied on the four-year-old to get the dog out of the house for us, which wasn't such a great plan! The dog ran upstairs, and then when we finally chased it downstairs ran under a bed! I went back home to ask the girl (who had been eager to get back to our house away from us!) if she could get get the dog out of the house as we were afraid of him, and she sighed quite heavily!
The two boys and the girl soon left when their friend's dad came to pick them up, and so we were left with the other girl. Aonghas and I played a little basketball with her outside in the cold (she was only wearing a t-shirt while I was wearing four layers of clothes!) before she said she had never seen a college student do homework and wanted to see Aonghas do some! We found out Aonghas didn't have homework, so we decided to play some board games while Aonghas went off for his squash thing.
An 18 year old vs an 8 year old in chess...who won? Depends on which rules you go by. If you went by her rules where any piece can go anywhere, she won, but if you went by the official rules, it probably was a tie. I then tried some card tricks on her which didn't work, before Hamish and I went up against her in Monopoly.
We were talking to her while playing games, and it's amazing how much she knows! The latest she's ever stayed up is 1am and she usually watches Desperate Housewives. She sometimes watches C4 so she could basically tell me everything going on with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and when I put some music on from my phone's loudspeakers (such as Akon and The Fray) she could sing the songs well!
Her dad eventually came and so I don't exactly know who won Monopoly, but as soon as the last kid left, I slumped on the couch and took a break. Tomorrow's another day!
--
Yesterday I went over to visit my relatives on my mum's side. Finally I could practise listening to my mum and her cousin speak Cantonese to each other and try to figure out what they were saying! We drank tea and had our cups refilled constantly till I needed to go to the toilet. I'm sure I had ten cups of tea by the time I left!
Soon Joshua my nephew came home from school. Damn he goes to St Kents! I managed to start a conversation with him about Star Wars which led him to explain to me all this stuff to do with Star Wars. I wonder what he'll be like in 10 years time!
--
I went to see the Rutherford College production 'Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat' last night with Heather, my mum and Hamish (OK pretty much my family except for my dad who went to see it tonight) and I must say we were impressed! It's great seeing how far people have gotten since those days of Wizard of Oz and Aladdin. Troy was the lead male (or is it male lead?) as Joseph, while Michaela was the lead female (or female lead?) Troy will always be Tin Man to be though, and Michaela will always be Dorothy to me! We also noticed the girl who played Toto (the dog) in the choir! She was only a primary school student back then! It was good to see heaps of music (complete with harmony!) throughout. I caught up with them after the show, as well as with Alex during the break, Andrew and Chelsey who was doing the lighting. So if you have a couple hours to spare from 8pm-10pm tomorrow or Saturday night, go check out Rutherford College's production! Oh yeah by the way Aonghas is playing trumpet too...added bonus ;)
The youngest finished kindergarten at midday, so I drove my mum to the kindy to pick him up. Before we left for home my mum wanted to have a look through Foodtown, so she made me hold hands with the little boy. He ended up dragging me around the place showing what his parents usually buy him, like chocolate cake and chocolate milk. I wouldn't mind swapping places with him! This little kid is so random at times, and asks so many questions, but I guess that's just a sign of a very curious child!
When we got home (with the lounge tidied at the last minute!) my dad gave him some paper to draw on and some pictures to trace and so he drew some pictures of planes. It's funny seeing my parents with little children as they're so different! Maybe that's what they were like to us when we were younger!
After lunch, I had the task of entertaining him right throughout the day, so I got out some of our old toys. It just happens this kid turns out to be a Transformers fan! I also introduced him to some of our exercise equipment which he took a liking to, especially the exer-cycle. After lowering the seat down for him, he started cycling and cycling until he had cycled for 1km! He then took a break to play more with toys before we decided to watch TV.
When his brother and sister and the other girl got home it all went crazy! The two girls stuck together and played around on the piano while the boys played around with the exercise equipment. I tried talking to the eldest girl but she didn't really talk much. My mum later asked if the kids needed to get anything from our friend's house, so we led them there. I checked up on the dog, but the dog managed to get inside the house. With Aonghas, my mum and me not being too keen on picking up the little dog and getting bitten or hurting the dog, we relied on the four-year-old to get the dog out of the house for us, which wasn't such a great plan! The dog ran upstairs, and then when we finally chased it downstairs ran under a bed! I went back home to ask the girl (who had been eager to get back to our house away from us!) if she could get get the dog out of the house as we were afraid of him, and she sighed quite heavily!
The two boys and the girl soon left when their friend's dad came to pick them up, and so we were left with the other girl. Aonghas and I played a little basketball with her outside in the cold (she was only wearing a t-shirt while I was wearing four layers of clothes!) before she said she had never seen a college student do homework and wanted to see Aonghas do some! We found out Aonghas didn't have homework, so we decided to play some board games while Aonghas went off for his squash thing.
An 18 year old vs an 8 year old in chess...who won? Depends on which rules you go by. If you went by her rules where any piece can go anywhere, she won, but if you went by the official rules, it probably was a tie. I then tried some card tricks on her which didn't work, before Hamish and I went up against her in Monopoly.
We were talking to her while playing games, and it's amazing how much she knows! The latest she's ever stayed up is 1am and she usually watches Desperate Housewives. She sometimes watches C4 so she could basically tell me everything going on with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and when I put some music on from my phone's loudspeakers (such as Akon and The Fray) she could sing the songs well!
Her dad eventually came and so I don't exactly know who won Monopoly, but as soon as the last kid left, I slumped on the couch and took a break. Tomorrow's another day!
--
Yesterday I went over to visit my relatives on my mum's side. Finally I could practise listening to my mum and her cousin speak Cantonese to each other and try to figure out what they were saying! We drank tea and had our cups refilled constantly till I needed to go to the toilet. I'm sure I had ten cups of tea by the time I left!
Soon Joshua my nephew came home from school. Damn he goes to St Kents! I managed to start a conversation with him about Star Wars which led him to explain to me all this stuff to do with Star Wars. I wonder what he'll be like in 10 years time!
--
I went to see the Rutherford College production 'Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat' last night with Heather, my mum and Hamish (OK pretty much my family except for my dad who went to see it tonight) and I must say we were impressed! It's great seeing how far people have gotten since those days of Wizard of Oz and Aladdin. Troy was the lead male (or is it male lead?) as Joseph, while Michaela was the lead female (or female lead?) Troy will always be Tin Man to be though, and Michaela will always be Dorothy to me! We also noticed the girl who played Toto (the dog) in the choir! She was only a primary school student back then! It was good to see heaps of music (complete with harmony!) throughout. I caught up with them after the show, as well as with Alex during the break, Andrew and Chelsey who was doing the lighting. So if you have a couple hours to spare from 8pm-10pm tomorrow or Saturday night, go check out Rutherford College's production! Oh yeah by the way Aonghas is playing trumpet too...added bonus ;)
What a Pain!
It has been a while since I last posted on my lack of understanding of the female human species, but here is one that has me completely confused and clueless.
I was chatting to a friend asking how she was doing when she told me she was upset. I asked if I could guess why she was upset, and managed to guess right (based on what I had heard around the place and from piecing things together). She quizzed me on how I knew and I told her I knew very little, having only put things together. She told me she needed to be alone and so I left her. A week later I tried chatting to her to see how she was feeling and she told me to go with what I hear.
So I'm guessing I got my friend angry at me for either hearing things about her or guessing why she is upset. I have no idea. If only I had that power Mel Gibson has in What Women Want, then I'd be able to hear what girls are thinking which, despite an invasion of privacy, would be pretty cool! It probably won't work over the internet though...
--
On Tuesday morning I woke up especially early just to get all the way to Middlemore Hospital for my orthodontist appointment. I'm supposed to have a check-up every six weeks but because my dentist didn't give me an appointment card at the end of my last appointment in...March...I haven't been to an appointment since! So after about twelve weeks I finally had my next appointment!
They went through the routine of tightening my braces (which they said should hurt more than usual because of the longer time between two appointments) before letting me know roughly when I will go in for surgery - around the 12th November, so prior to that date I will be sure to get around to talk to all of you before my surgery just in case the worst happens!
My teeth haven't been hurting as much as the dentist said it would which is a good thing because tomorrow I might be meeting up with my long-time friend Diane (who's going down to Palmerston North if she gets into vet school!! :'( ) for our day of fun!! We're also having a birthday party for my dad at my cousin's place on Saturday which will require a lot of munching!
I was chatting to a friend asking how she was doing when she told me she was upset. I asked if I could guess why she was upset, and managed to guess right (based on what I had heard around the place and from piecing things together). She quizzed me on how I knew and I told her I knew very little, having only put things together. She told me she needed to be alone and so I left her. A week later I tried chatting to her to see how she was feeling and she told me to go with what I hear.
So I'm guessing I got my friend angry at me for either hearing things about her or guessing why she is upset. I have no idea. If only I had that power Mel Gibson has in What Women Want, then I'd be able to hear what girls are thinking which, despite an invasion of privacy, would be pretty cool! It probably won't work over the internet though...
--
On Tuesday morning I woke up especially early just to get all the way to Middlemore Hospital for my orthodontist appointment. I'm supposed to have a check-up every six weeks but because my dentist didn't give me an appointment card at the end of my last appointment in...March...I haven't been to an appointment since! So after about twelve weeks I finally had my next appointment!
They went through the routine of tightening my braces (which they said should hurt more than usual because of the longer time between two appointments) before letting me know roughly when I will go in for surgery - around the 12th November, so prior to that date I will be sure to get around to talk to all of you before my surgery just in case the worst happens!
My teeth haven't been hurting as much as the dentist said it would which is a good thing because tomorrow I might be meeting up with my long-time friend Diane (who's going down to Palmerston North if she gets into vet school!! :'( ) for our day of fun!! We're also having a birthday party for my dad at my cousin's place on Saturday which will require a lot of munching!
Friday 15 June 2007
Overdue
I've been procrastinating too much ever since holidays started yesterday but I've finally gotten around to posting! I had two exams at the beginning of the week, Population Health: Health Systems 1 on Monday and Biosci on Tuesday.
I had to wake up extra early (or so I thought) on Monday to catch the bus into the city so I could catch the uni bus over to Tamaki where my exam was to be held. I got off the bus only to find it was only 7.20am! I saw Heather about to cross the road so I quickly joined her. She was going to grab a latte, so I thought I might as well get one, since well it might be the last thing I ever do with Heather before she goes down to Christchurch!
I was a 'noob' at Latte drinking. I discovered the 'take-away' container people drink coffee from! It's the cup with a plastic lid and a hole in in! That was pretty cool drinking latte like one of those rich people, except for the burning my tongue part...
We got to the bus stop outside the uni library where I caught up with a few of my other uni friends only to find out the bus timetable had changed for the duration of the exam period! Buses would be leaving later!! I stood there at the bus stop trying to study with my friends before deciding to go off to the toilet to blow my nose before the bus arrived. Stupid me put all my notes under my arm as I blowed my nose and then flushed the toilet...I dropped my notes in the toilet! :S Fortunately they didn't get wet and I was still able to retrieve them!
The population healh exam wasn't too bad, especially the paragraph and one page answers! I was surprised at how much I could stretch one slide on improving the NZ health system by writing a whole page about it!
I missed the bus back to the city from Tamaki so I had to wait an hour. I got my assignment back, which was full of
Reference Reference Reference Reference Reference
Hmmm...I think I need to reference more...
After spending an hour with Alice at some 50% off Whitcoulls sale, I caught up with Heather, Jacqueline, Connie (or is it Konnie/Konny? Anyway...) and my mum at the Town Hall to support the Rutherford College choir. They were first to perform. They did pretty well, and their choir was a reasonable size! There were only three West Auckland schools at the competition - Massey, Henderson and Rutherford. Rutherford was probably the more serious of the three with the other two opting for light-hearted performances. The four of us ex-Rutherfordians decided to give Rutherford a wild standing ovation at the end of their performance. For some time no other school could match the crowd applause that Rutherford got from us! :D OK I'm over exaggerating. Auckland Grammar got great applause after their amusing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.
I caught up with Issac the Head Boy of Henderson High, who used to go to my primary school, and Sam the deputy Head Boy of Massey who used to go to Rangeview! It was funny when Sam first recognised Aonghas but told him he forgot his name, but then managed to remember mine!
The next day I got into the city early in the morning to study Biosci at the General Library. A table facing a window in which you can see everyone walk by isn't the best place to study at! Despite this I just kept on studying right up till 1.30pm, just under an hour before my exam. Biosci is my worst subject, or the subject I've devoted the least amount of time to, so I didn't go into this exam too confidently!
In fact the exam was terrible! Oh well we'll just have to see how it goes! After the exam I went off to buy some fries to make myself feel better (not very good taking comfort in food...well it was more a way of celebrating exams all being over!) I then set off looking for the right bus stop to catch the bus to Diocesan (no not to perve at girls but to watch my brother debate in the octofinals!). I saw one bus go past down Queen St. I think that was the one I was supposed to catch! So I sat there at the bus stop, eating my lunch, when another bus whizzed by! After walking up and down Queen St till I found the bus stop (which turned out to be the one really close to uni that I had walked past earlier!) and caught the bus.
The next problem - getting off at the right stop! I had some idea of where to get off at, which would be somewhere around Dilworth School. I got off opposite this school only to cross the road and find out it was...Epsom Girls Grammar School! I walked up and down a few streets around Epsom till I found myself at the University of Auckland Epsom Campus which was definitely NOT where I was supposed to be! With the occasional glance behind I strolled along a few more dark roads until I made it back to the main street and saw a bus stop with one of those electric bus schedules saying the next bus back into town was DUE. Guess what? It was the bus waiting at the nearby intersection, which had just given it a green light! I was about to run across the main street while dodging cars if it weren't for a police car that turned the corner! So I had to wait another few more minutes for the next bus into the city.
Now I can officially say I'm on holiday!!! My main task for the holiday will be to determine what I should do next semester, whether I will continue with Health Science, or change to something else...only problem is what else?
I had to wake up extra early (or so I thought) on Monday to catch the bus into the city so I could catch the uni bus over to Tamaki where my exam was to be held. I got off the bus only to find it was only 7.20am! I saw Heather about to cross the road so I quickly joined her. She was going to grab a latte, so I thought I might as well get one, since well it might be the last thing I ever do with Heather before she goes down to Christchurch!
I was a 'noob' at Latte drinking. I discovered the 'take-away' container people drink coffee from! It's the cup with a plastic lid and a hole in in! That was pretty cool drinking latte like one of those rich people, except for the burning my tongue part...
We got to the bus stop outside the uni library where I caught up with a few of my other uni friends only to find out the bus timetable had changed for the duration of the exam period! Buses would be leaving later!! I stood there at the bus stop trying to study with my friends before deciding to go off to the toilet to blow my nose before the bus arrived. Stupid me put all my notes under my arm as I blowed my nose and then flushed the toilet...I dropped my notes in the toilet! :S Fortunately they didn't get wet and I was still able to retrieve them!
The population healh exam wasn't too bad, especially the paragraph and one page answers! I was surprised at how much I could stretch one slide on improving the NZ health system by writing a whole page about it!
I missed the bus back to the city from Tamaki so I had to wait an hour. I got my assignment back, which was full of
Reference Reference Reference Reference Reference
Hmmm...I think I need to reference more...
After spending an hour with Alice at some 50% off Whitcoulls sale, I caught up with Heather, Jacqueline, Connie (or is it Konnie/Konny? Anyway...) and my mum at the Town Hall to support the Rutherford College choir. They were first to perform. They did pretty well, and their choir was a reasonable size! There were only three West Auckland schools at the competition - Massey, Henderson and Rutherford. Rutherford was probably the more serious of the three with the other two opting for light-hearted performances. The four of us ex-Rutherfordians decided to give Rutherford a wild standing ovation at the end of their performance. For some time no other school could match the crowd applause that Rutherford got from us! :D OK I'm over exaggerating. Auckland Grammar got great applause after their amusing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.
I caught up with Issac the Head Boy of Henderson High, who used to go to my primary school, and Sam the deputy Head Boy of Massey who used to go to Rangeview! It was funny when Sam first recognised Aonghas but told him he forgot his name, but then managed to remember mine!
The next day I got into the city early in the morning to study Biosci at the General Library. A table facing a window in which you can see everyone walk by isn't the best place to study at! Despite this I just kept on studying right up till 1.30pm, just under an hour before my exam. Biosci is my worst subject, or the subject I've devoted the least amount of time to, so I didn't go into this exam too confidently!
In fact the exam was terrible! Oh well we'll just have to see how it goes! After the exam I went off to buy some fries to make myself feel better (not very good taking comfort in food...well it was more a way of celebrating exams all being over!) I then set off looking for the right bus stop to catch the bus to Diocesan (no not to perve at girls but to watch my brother debate in the octofinals!). I saw one bus go past down Queen St. I think that was the one I was supposed to catch! So I sat there at the bus stop, eating my lunch, when another bus whizzed by! After walking up and down Queen St till I found the bus stop (which turned out to be the one really close to uni that I had walked past earlier!) and caught the bus.
The next problem - getting off at the right stop! I had some idea of where to get off at, which would be somewhere around Dilworth School. I got off opposite this school only to cross the road and find out it was...Epsom Girls Grammar School! I walked up and down a few streets around Epsom till I found myself at the University of Auckland Epsom Campus which was definitely NOT where I was supposed to be! With the occasional glance behind I strolled along a few more dark roads until I made it back to the main street and saw a bus stop with one of those electric bus schedules saying the next bus back into town was DUE. Guess what? It was the bus waiting at the nearby intersection, which had just given it a green light! I was about to run across the main street while dodging cars if it weren't for a police car that turned the corner! So I had to wait another few more minutes for the next bus into the city.
Now I can officially say I'm on holiday!!! My main task for the holiday will be to determine what I should do next semester, whether I will continue with Health Science, or change to something else...only problem is what else?
Sunday 10 June 2007
Typical Screw-up
I'm currently half-way through my exams, having sat two with two more to go. Current assessment: OK...till chemistry exam on Friday!
My first exam on Thursday was population health. I was a little worried prior to it that I wasn't well prepared. I only had three days to study for two exams because of the disastrous accordion competitions. Since my exam started at 9.15am in the morning I had to wake up early once again just to get to the city in time (a bit hard after a week off from waking up early!). My exam was to be held in a lecture theatre in the Biology building, which I've never been in before. I managed to get through the exam within the first hour and a half, which allowed me some time to go to the toilet!
I have a bit of a cold so lately I've been blowing and blowing and blowing my nose. I've used up one box of tissues at home and filled up the rubbish bin! I was a bit afraid of how I was going to get through three hours without blowing my nose! Well...I didn't manage to. I was crying through my nose and to save the two people beside me from further distraction I asked the exam person if I could go to the toilet. Next was figuring out how to get out of my seat! I was blocked off from the aisle by some guy, and so the exam supervisor asked me to climb over the table! That was a bit weird, especially in an awfully quiet room!
After that exam I went and bought myself a cup of fries, as you do, just to de-stress myself before I hit the books to study for chemistry. When I got to the university library I couldn't find a spot to study! I ended up having to go study in the public library. Because I was sharing a table with three other people, it helped me stay awake which I suppose is a good thing. The Korean guy opposite me didn't have such luck though.
The next morning, the same routine. Wake up early, shower, catch the bus, go into the city. I had a bit of time before the exam to do some last minute revision for chemistry before having to head off to the Old Government House for my exam. I've never been in that building before either. That's one of the great things about exams. You get to check out lecture theatres you never knew existed!
The exam wasn't too bad to begin with. Chemistry has been probably the subject in which I've had the best shot at getting something around A in, but after the coming events I highly doubt that will happen! I managed to get through the paper within the first two hours, so I had some time to climb over the table to head off to the toilet for my usual mid-exam blow (of the nose) before coming back to spend the last hour checking and rechecking my paper and solving the more difficult questions. We were down to the last three minutes of the exam. I thought I was nearly all sussed, when I flicked the last page to reveal...another page I hadn't seen before!!! In a state of panic I quickly tried to fill in the answers as quickly as possible until the exam supervisor told us to put our pens down. There goes five marks!!! That really got me down afterwards, realising I had lost marks unnecessarily because of a stupid mistake! Trust Calum to do something like that!
So I've got two more exams to go. I've kinda lost a bit of motivation, although I'm going to try at least get through them, and then reconsider my future!
RANDOMS
What's the deal with 3News reporting on people complaining about the excessive cleavage on their 'hot new game show' Deal or No Deal? Their news is increasingly being used as a promotional tool, either to bag TVNZ whenever they have the chance to (oh and yes TVNZ do that too) or to try draw attention and create publicity for their TV programme? There are probably more important issues regarding the show than cleavage, such as why the show drags on for an hour, why Jeremy C. is the host, what is up with the phone call (I thought it was a phone somewhere in the room when it went off during the show!)... Nowhere near as exciting as the Aussie Deal or No Deal. Then again I hardly watch it unless my mum steals the remote at 5pm.
-
Three cheers for the judge who had the balls to send Paris Hilton back to jail to serve out the rest of her sentence!...or till the next time she's released!
And to end with an advert:
Anyone else who is other half-less on Bebo, I am now other half-less as well after my unexplained shafting by my ex-other half! So if you need an other half on Bebo, you know where to go!
My first exam on Thursday was population health. I was a little worried prior to it that I wasn't well prepared. I only had three days to study for two exams because of the disastrous accordion competitions. Since my exam started at 9.15am in the morning I had to wake up early once again just to get to the city in time (a bit hard after a week off from waking up early!). My exam was to be held in a lecture theatre in the Biology building, which I've never been in before. I managed to get through the exam within the first hour and a half, which allowed me some time to go to the toilet!
I have a bit of a cold so lately I've been blowing and blowing and blowing my nose. I've used up one box of tissues at home and filled up the rubbish bin! I was a bit afraid of how I was going to get through three hours without blowing my nose! Well...I didn't manage to. I was crying through my nose and to save the two people beside me from further distraction I asked the exam person if I could go to the toilet. Next was figuring out how to get out of my seat! I was blocked off from the aisle by some guy, and so the exam supervisor asked me to climb over the table! That was a bit weird, especially in an awfully quiet room!
After that exam I went and bought myself a cup of fries, as you do, just to de-stress myself before I hit the books to study for chemistry. When I got to the university library I couldn't find a spot to study! I ended up having to go study in the public library. Because I was sharing a table with three other people, it helped me stay awake which I suppose is a good thing. The Korean guy opposite me didn't have such luck though.
The next morning, the same routine. Wake up early, shower, catch the bus, go into the city. I had a bit of time before the exam to do some last minute revision for chemistry before having to head off to the Old Government House for my exam. I've never been in that building before either. That's one of the great things about exams. You get to check out lecture theatres you never knew existed!
The exam wasn't too bad to begin with. Chemistry has been probably the subject in which I've had the best shot at getting something around A in, but after the coming events I highly doubt that will happen! I managed to get through the paper within the first two hours, so I had some time to climb over the table to head off to the toilet for my usual mid-exam blow (of the nose) before coming back to spend the last hour checking and rechecking my paper and solving the more difficult questions. We were down to the last three minutes of the exam. I thought I was nearly all sussed, when I flicked the last page to reveal...another page I hadn't seen before!!! In a state of panic I quickly tried to fill in the answers as quickly as possible until the exam supervisor told us to put our pens down. There goes five marks!!! That really got me down afterwards, realising I had lost marks unnecessarily because of a stupid mistake! Trust Calum to do something like that!
So I've got two more exams to go. I've kinda lost a bit of motivation, although I'm going to try at least get through them, and then reconsider my future!
RANDOMS
What's the deal with 3News reporting on people complaining about the excessive cleavage on their 'hot new game show' Deal or No Deal? Their news is increasingly being used as a promotional tool, either to bag TVNZ whenever they have the chance to (oh and yes TVNZ do that too) or to try draw attention and create publicity for their TV programme? There are probably more important issues regarding the show than cleavage, such as why the show drags on for an hour, why Jeremy C. is the host, what is up with the phone call (I thought it was a phone somewhere in the room when it went off during the show!)... Nowhere near as exciting as the Aussie Deal or No Deal. Then again I hardly watch it unless my mum steals the remote at 5pm.
-
Three cheers for the judge who had the balls to send Paris Hilton back to jail to serve out the rest of her sentence!...or till the next time she's released!
And to end with an advert:
Anyone else who is other half-less on Bebo, I am now other half-less as well after my unexplained shafting by my ex-other half! So if you need an other half on Bebo, you know where to go!
Monday 4 June 2007
Could this Weekend BE any Worse?
...well besides getting killed...but what a Queen's Birthday weekend! Once again it was the National Accordion Championships. This must've been the worst prepared us Anderson brothers have been for the competitions of any year, as we hadn't even memorised our trio till the night before, and due to uni and everything I hadn't done enough practice!
It all started off on Saturday. None of us had any classes in the morning. In fact I was the only one out of the Anderson brothers performing that day in the NZ/South Pacific Open Solo class (second top one). My first stuff-up of the competitions happened a couple months ago. I entered the wrong class. I was supposed to enter the top class but thought my teacher wanted me to enter the second class! Oh well so I had to perform in the second class.
I was drawn last to perform, and so I had quite a while waiting for each of the five contestants ahead of me perform their 10-15 minute programmes. My programme consisted of Sonata in D Minor by Scarlatti, Sonata in D by Haydn and Russian Dance by Shenderyov. I've never performed Sonata in D Minor before and only got it up to full speed the week before, and I had performed Sonata in D Minor three other times and screwed it up each time, so my confidence wasn't too high! I was hoping like hell I wouldn't screw it up for the fourth time!
While waiting in the Draw Room with this other accordionist George, I admit to a little bit of
Please screw up please screw up please screw up!!!
while listening to the other competitors perform over the PA, but to be honest who doesn't think that?! ;) Well you'll be pleased to know they all performed very well! Except for me that is...I finally got on stage, and screwed up my first piece! My second piece the one I've screwed up three previous times, didn't actually go too bad and I managed to get through it without stuffing it up too much! Then came Russian Dance which is probably my most confident piece as since it's more of a dance I don't have to play 'delicate' and 'light'. It was all going good...till my last part where I was supposed to get faster and faster with my runs. My fingers lost it, I lost my place and ended up playing a bass solo until I could find the right place to come back in! Oh the shaaame!!
I didn't get a placing, and some of the comments on my scoring sheet were:
(under Programme) "Pieces suitable for concert/exam. Need more flashier pieces for competition"
I've never had a comment like that before! I'll be sure to take that on board for next year!
Later that night when we got home Aonghas, Hamish and I got practising for the next day of competitions, which would feature our trio, duet, and Aonghas's solo. While taking a break, Aonghas left his accordion sitting on the ground, which was a good place for it to get knocked, leaving it with some stuck notes! Aonghas's accordion was broked! We started working out a contingency plan. Aonghas would have to use my accordion for his solo and the duet, while I would have to use Hamish's for the duet. As for the trio, we'd have to try beg someone to lend theirs to Aonghas to borrow. Aonghas, who hadn't even learnt his pieces fully and memorised them was practising right up to 2am (trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not disturb the neighbours!). He was contemplating pulling out altogether as well.
Sunday morning arrived. We got up, quickly had a few practise runs before our mum shouted us out of the house. My mum went out to arrange the accordions in the car while I was waiting on the computer to finish transferring photos. With my mum shouting at me, I quickly grabbed the card and the camera, shut the door and left the house. When I got to the car, Aonghas asked for the keys to the car. That's when my mum realised her handbag was in the house... WE LOCKED OURSELVES OUT OF OUR HOUSE We went around the house trying to look for possible ways to get back in but our house was securely locked! (thanks to our dad who's a secure freak!!) My mum called over a neighbour who brought along some of her own keys and a wire, so we had a go with them, but none of them worked. We thought we'd give lock-picking a go, but we aren't skilled thieves so that failed too!
I rang my accordion teacher to let him know we locked ourselves out of the house and would be late to the competition, as our first class would be at 9.05am in the morning! I also delivered him the bad news about Aonghas breaking his accordion. He said he'd try get our classes shifted while we try get back into our house.
We rang our uncle originally to ask for advice on how to get into our house (no he's not a thief..just skilled with tools!) but he did one better and offered to take us to the competitions. The only thing is..our judges' copy of our music was locked inside the house as well! We decided to drive all the way to our dad's office in the city to grab his keys, come back home, unlock the house and grab our stuff before heading to the competitions.
FINALLY we got to the competitions late. I went inside first with my accordion and as soon as I entered the foyer some people sitting around eating their morning tea stood up and started clapping! I thought OK.... I then walked into the draw room where all the accordions are stored, and Jessica and Christopher (my accordion rivals) turned to me, smiled exclaiming how I was finally here. I asked them if they knew, and they told me one of the competition organisers went around telling everyone the Andersons locked themselves out of their house!
It was funny. Everyone smiled as we walked past, and we got quite a few people telling us they heard about our morning and that things would get better! Aonghas had some Asian man ask him how we got locked out of the house. He had to explain to the man that we did it to ourselves! My mum was talking to another lady, and she didn't even need to say something:
"You...heard about this morning didn't you?"
".....Yeah"
As soon as we all got there we were shepherded straight onto stage, but not before we pointed out that Aonghas's accordion was stuffed. The backstage crew were frantically trying to see if there was anything they could do to fix it before they concluded it couldn't be fixed straight away. So Aonghas had to borrow someone else's accordion which was a lot larger than his!
Our trio went OK, as did our duet. Aonghas's solo...let's not go there! All I'll say is that he got there!
We watched a few performances before the results were announced. We won our trio and duet, while Aonghas came second in his class. Once the results were over, we caught up with my very first accordion teacher Sonja. We had a good catch up before going our separate ways for lunch. I was talking to someone else, and when I turned to walk away I bumped straight into her, who was carrying a cup of coffee at the time, and spilt it all over her hand! She was like
"That really hurt Calum! You gave me third degree burns!" (she was joking)
I offered to help clean up with my big pile of tissues in my pocket but she said it was OK. Not a great day!
The afternoon farewell performance was good, even though I dozed off slightly during the performances by the Australians (nothing against the Australians!) The world champion performed, including performing a piece Jessica played earlier in the weekend, but of course Jessica played it better ;)
So yeah. Broken accordion, screwed up solo performances, locking ourselves out of the house, spilling coffee on former teacher, spending $3.00 worth of mobile phone calls - 2007 accordion championships not too successful, but definitely memorable!
It all started off on Saturday. None of us had any classes in the morning. In fact I was the only one out of the Anderson brothers performing that day in the NZ/South Pacific Open Solo class (second top one). My first stuff-up of the competitions happened a couple months ago. I entered the wrong class. I was supposed to enter the top class but thought my teacher wanted me to enter the second class! Oh well so I had to perform in the second class.
I was drawn last to perform, and so I had quite a while waiting for each of the five contestants ahead of me perform their 10-15 minute programmes. My programme consisted of Sonata in D Minor by Scarlatti, Sonata in D by Haydn and Russian Dance by Shenderyov. I've never performed Sonata in D Minor before and only got it up to full speed the week before, and I had performed Sonata in D Minor three other times and screwed it up each time, so my confidence wasn't too high! I was hoping like hell I wouldn't screw it up for the fourth time!
While waiting in the Draw Room with this other accordionist George, I admit to a little bit of
Please screw up please screw up please screw up!!!
while listening to the other competitors perform over the PA, but to be honest who doesn't think that?! ;) Well you'll be pleased to know they all performed very well! Except for me that is...I finally got on stage, and screwed up my first piece! My second piece the one I've screwed up three previous times, didn't actually go too bad and I managed to get through it without stuffing it up too much! Then came Russian Dance which is probably my most confident piece as since it's more of a dance I don't have to play 'delicate' and 'light'. It was all going good...till my last part where I was supposed to get faster and faster with my runs. My fingers lost it, I lost my place and ended up playing a bass solo until I could find the right place to come back in! Oh the shaaame!!
I didn't get a placing, and some of the comments on my scoring sheet were:
(under Programme) "Pieces suitable for concert/exam. Need more flashier pieces for competition"
I've never had a comment like that before! I'll be sure to take that on board for next year!
Later that night when we got home Aonghas, Hamish and I got practising for the next day of competitions, which would feature our trio, duet, and Aonghas's solo. While taking a break, Aonghas left his accordion sitting on the ground, which was a good place for it to get knocked, leaving it with some stuck notes! Aonghas's accordion was broked! We started working out a contingency plan. Aonghas would have to use my accordion for his solo and the duet, while I would have to use Hamish's for the duet. As for the trio, we'd have to try beg someone to lend theirs to Aonghas to borrow. Aonghas, who hadn't even learnt his pieces fully and memorised them was practising right up to 2am (trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not disturb the neighbours!). He was contemplating pulling out altogether as well.
Sunday morning arrived. We got up, quickly had a few practise runs before our mum shouted us out of the house. My mum went out to arrange the accordions in the car while I was waiting on the computer to finish transferring photos. With my mum shouting at me, I quickly grabbed the card and the camera, shut the door and left the house. When I got to the car, Aonghas asked for the keys to the car. That's when my mum realised her handbag was in the house... WE LOCKED OURSELVES OUT OF OUR HOUSE We went around the house trying to look for possible ways to get back in but our house was securely locked! (thanks to our dad who's a secure freak!!) My mum called over a neighbour who brought along some of her own keys and a wire, so we had a go with them, but none of them worked. We thought we'd give lock-picking a go, but we aren't skilled thieves so that failed too!
I rang my accordion teacher to let him know we locked ourselves out of the house and would be late to the competition, as our first class would be at 9.05am in the morning! I also delivered him the bad news about Aonghas breaking his accordion. He said he'd try get our classes shifted while we try get back into our house.
We rang our uncle originally to ask for advice on how to get into our house (no he's not a thief..just skilled with tools!) but he did one better and offered to take us to the competitions. The only thing is..our judges' copy of our music was locked inside the house as well! We decided to drive all the way to our dad's office in the city to grab his keys, come back home, unlock the house and grab our stuff before heading to the competitions.
FINALLY we got to the competitions late. I went inside first with my accordion and as soon as I entered the foyer some people sitting around eating their morning tea stood up and started clapping! I thought OK.... I then walked into the draw room where all the accordions are stored, and Jessica and Christopher (my accordion rivals) turned to me, smiled exclaiming how I was finally here. I asked them if they knew, and they told me one of the competition organisers went around telling everyone the Andersons locked themselves out of their house!
It was funny. Everyone smiled as we walked past, and we got quite a few people telling us they heard about our morning and that things would get better! Aonghas had some Asian man ask him how we got locked out of the house. He had to explain to the man that we did it to ourselves! My mum was talking to another lady, and she didn't even need to say something:
"You...heard about this morning didn't you?"
".....Yeah"
As soon as we all got there we were shepherded straight onto stage, but not before we pointed out that Aonghas's accordion was stuffed. The backstage crew were frantically trying to see if there was anything they could do to fix it before they concluded it couldn't be fixed straight away. So Aonghas had to borrow someone else's accordion which was a lot larger than his!
Our trio went OK, as did our duet. Aonghas's solo...let's not go there! All I'll say is that he got there!
We watched a few performances before the results were announced. We won our trio and duet, while Aonghas came second in his class. Once the results were over, we caught up with my very first accordion teacher Sonja. We had a good catch up before going our separate ways for lunch. I was talking to someone else, and when I turned to walk away I bumped straight into her, who was carrying a cup of coffee at the time, and spilt it all over her hand! She was like
"That really hurt Calum! You gave me third degree burns!" (she was joking)
I offered to help clean up with my big pile of tissues in my pocket but she said it was OK. Not a great day!
The afternoon farewell performance was good, even though I dozed off slightly during the performances by the Australians (nothing against the Australians!) The world champion performed, including performing a piece Jessica played earlier in the weekend, but of course Jessica played it better ;)
So yeah. Broken accordion, screwed up solo performances, locking ourselves out of the house, spilling coffee on former teacher, spending $3.00 worth of mobile phone calls - 2007 accordion championships not too successful, but definitely memorable!
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