And here's the usual Year In Review - the first sentence of the first post of each month along with my highlights of the month. I actually discovered some of my blog posts are missing from Windows Live Spaces! Shame on them! Thank goodness for Blogger!
January
'Another year has just started! May it be a great year for you all, and an even more prosperous and special year than 2007 ever was!'
- Set off fireworks outside Sarena's house, nearly hit some cars
- Aonghas and I try jazzing up the car
- Watch National Treasure 2 with Chen and the girls and play a bit of squash
- Hamish and I chill out in the park with Megan and her friends
- My suggestion of 'The Burger Burger' makes the honorable mentions list for the new McDonald's burger!
- Our youth group is born
- Boring birthday - get an electric toothbrush from the mother
- RIP TV
Feburary
'Yesterday Hamish had a job interview in the city, and so I went in with him too as I was going to catch up with my really good friend Diane, who I haven't seen in over half a year.'
- Have the annual catch-up with Diane going shopping
- Decide to study pharmacy
- Festival month - Chinese new year festivals galore, and also Air NZ Open Day at the airport
- Get my restricted license!
- Perform at a rest home
- Go away on pharmacy camp for three days, where I get tossed in the pool but meet some really cool guys and girls!
March
'Those looking for pharmacy camp photos can find them here under photos or at Flickr (larger size). Enjoy!!'
- Orientation Day and uni starts
- RIP Hayden Adams
- My first task as Dessert Club Committee member - running the orientation sign-up stall
- Rangeview classrooms catch on fire
April
'After nearly two weeks of absence, I'm finally back with a lot to catch up on! I've had quite a few assignments and lab reports to complete and have been soooo tired!'
- Our youth group goes out for yum-cha and shame ourselves in Cornwall Park
- Mid-term tests!! PHARMACY101 mixes up our rooms
- Watch my friend Eliza perform with the Auckland Youth Symphony
- Aonghas heads off to Atlanta, USA
- I get hypnotised at a hypnosis show
- We hand in our accordion championship entries after the deadline!
- Protesters take over Grafton
- Pharmacy dinners! I get to go to both first and second year dinner
May
'I was in the chemistry lab today when my phone started vibrating for about a minute in my pocket, which meant someone was trying to ring me.'
- Attend Rhea's birthday dinner at the flash Sky City restaurant
- Horrible horrible CHEM240 test!
- I feed some hungry homeless people some oranges!
June
'Since it was the fifth Friday of the month it was supposed to be the night we celebrated people's birthdays in the past couple of months at youth group, but we spent the first half designing our noticeboard thingy for the church foyer.'
- We have a youth group 'drag' race...back to church from ...The Warehouse
- Accordion competitions don't turn out so badly, but still aren't that great
- Aonghas and the Rutherford College choir perform at The Big Sing
- Exams and then the semester is all over!
July
'The holidays have just started and already I've nothing to do, but hey I'm not complaining! After twelve weeks of constant uni, boring is just what I need!'
- Woops slip over in the shower!
- Iphone is released - BOOOO to Vodafone!
- Spend a week at the Tamaki Campus for Maori Health Week
- High-speed drug-making begins!
August
'Thursday night was Dessert Night!! It was the first KiwiAsian Club event I've attended this year as I thought I better attend at least one event before their next AGM! It was an interesting experience...'
- I attend my first KiwiAsian Club event for the year - Dessert Night!
- Get a Facebook warning for apparently violating their Terms of Use :S
- We have a bit of a Rutherford reunion dinner
- Get barred from borrowing books from the uni library!
- Olympics gets underway
September
'I just got a random phone call from someone. I originally thought it was my neighbour but I'm starting to have doubts now.'
- Buy a new laptop
- Recorder students go crazy
- Our church's minister goes in for brain surgery after collapsing at church
- Our youth group attends some talk at another church in the city, get hugged by an emo
- Have to help out with Dessert Club's Amazing Race
- Make suppositories for the very first time!
October
'Two weeks since the last post this must be the longest I've been away from blogging and I admit to procrastinating as well, thinking to myself well...I'll post something tomorrow... Although I do have a good excuse for the past couple of weeks - my two assignments!'
- Have a catch-up with Rhea before she leaves for Australia
- Steven and I complete our formulation assignment, name our new drug 'Paediatric PP'
- Semi-sprain ankle when I trip down stairs in lecture theatre
- Pharmacy formal dinner - catch a bus to get there (wearing a suit)
- Attend Jacqueline's birthday get-together at Mission Bay
- Help out with Dessert Club's Ice-Cream Eating Competition
November
'We finally bought a cello, abeit a very cheap one off Trade Me! Sure it's made in China and probably basic quality, but hey at least it does the job and it's not like any of us are professional cellists anyway!'
- Finally buy a cello!
- Have a horrible community pharmacy placement that puts me off becoming a pharmacist
- Parents and Hamish go down to Christchurch for a week. Aonghas and I are home alone
- Our youth group goes bowling and laser-forcing. We 'drag' race back home
- Labour loses the election (that's how National won it!)
- Semester two finally finishes. I hang out with Young-Bin and Eliza during study period
- I go into hospital to get photos, x-rays and the whole shebang done.
- Eliza takes me to Auckland Symphony Orchestra concert
December
'Besides having his [Aonghas] chemistry exam on that day, he had a happy day going out to lunch with his friends after the exam and got a few presents from them.'
- I spend most of beginning of holidays finding Christmas music for church concert
- We have Sunday School barbeque at Jennifer's
- It's our end-of-year music school concert and my recorder students do me proud!
- My brothers and I perform with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra at their Christmas concert
- I help out with pharmacy interviews, chatting up the guys and girls before their interview
- My surgery gets delayed again!
- RIP Fridge
- A group of us from church go caroling at Waitakere Hospital and outside various Chinese grocery shops
- Our string group performs at church Christmas Eve concert and at Christmas service
- We spend Christmas morning playing cards in back room during service
- Boxing Day sales!!!
- Catch up with a few friends at Alex's birthday gathering
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
End of Year Survey
Once again here's another End of Year Survey I got sent, here we go:
Was 2008 a good year for you?
It was so-so. Certain things were difficult, such as having to change degree..
What was your favourite moment of the year?
Let's make it favourite moments
- the pharmacy camp (at first I wasn't so sure but by the end of it I enjoyed it and now I am definitely thankful I went!)
- pharmacy ball, hanging out with the first years
- going to yumcha and hanging out at Cornwall Park with the youth group
What was your least favourite moment of the year?
First semester exam period and after it - I can't explain how vulnerable I felt and how much I didn't know!
Where were you when 2008 began?
Outside Sarena's house setting off fireworks and nearly hitting a car!
Who were you with?
All the old Rutherford guys and girls!
Where will you be when 2008 ends?
Probably on the side of a road somewhere in Te Atatu Peninsula watching the fireworks
Who will you be with when 2008 ends?
With my family!
Did you keep your new years resolution of 2008?
Most of them.....no...(I'll comment on them in a later post!)
Do you have a new years resolution for 2009?
Yes! (I'll comment on them in a later post)
Did you fall in love in 2008?
Uhhh.....noooo I don't think so, but then again...I did like a couple of people though (not at the same time of course!)
If yes, with who?
Won't name them because it doesn't apply anymore!
If yes, do they know?
Nope don't think they did (know I liked them)
Are you still in love with them?
Not in love, like? Maybe but I can't tell haha
Do you regret it?
Yes...
Did you break-up with anyone in 2008?
Can't break up with anyone when you're not with anyone!
Did you make any new friends in 2008?
Yes! Quite a few!
Who are your favourite new friends?
The first year pharmacy guys and the people in my youth group. They're really cool and easy-going!
What was your favorite month of 2008?
Don't think I really had one but I'll say January because I did actually go out a bit and do stuff
Did you travel outside of the country in 2008?
Nope
Did you lose anybody close to you in 2008?
Can I say Sir Edmund Hillary? If not then probably no (unless I've forgotten someone!)...although there was Hayden Adams. I wouldn't say I was close to him as I haven't talked to him since he left Rutherford but I did know him and it came as a shock when I discovered the guy who died at the beach nearby was him. He certainly went before his time!
What was your favourite movie that you saw in 2008?
Uhhhh....If it means favourite movie that was released in 2008, well then I only saw one that was released in 2008 - The Simpsons Movie, and it isn't exactly the best movie I've ever seen. If it's of all the movies I've watched this year, then probably About Schmidt and My Sassy Girl!
What was your favourite song from 2008?
I've got too many so I'll name a few instead of just one - Human by The Killers, Viva La Vida by Coldplay, Love Lockdown by Kanye West, 1 2 3 4 by Plain White T's...oh and anything by Ne-Yo!
How many concerts did you see in 2008?
I only went to symphony orchestra concerts - I think I saw maybe two concerts and performed in a couple
Did you have a favourite concert in 2008?
The Christmas concert because I got to perform in it? ;)
Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2008?
Nope still drinking my non-alcoholic beverages!
Did you do a lot of drugs in 2008?
I made a lot of drugs, but didn't do them! (My favourite being suppositories! ;) )
How many people did you love in 2008?
Outside of my family and relatives, if it's friendly love then probably quite a few! If it's love love, umm....well....maybe....
Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
I'm sure I've said a few things that I thought afterwards was either inappropriate or slightly harsh. Either I'm too hard on myself or I just don't think before I speak! Anyway there were countless times that's happened to me!
What was the worst lie someone told you in 2008?
I can't really think of one...maybe I haven't discovered they lied to me? haha
Did you treat somebody badly in 2008?
I don't know if it's considered as treating somebody badly, but I did feel bad about it and it definitely wasn't intentional - I promised I'd lend my textbook to one friend but then told another friend he could borrow it, since I thought my other friend wasn't interested anymore. When the first friend I had promised it to asked for it, I had no choice but to give it to him since I had promised it to him first, leaving my second friend a little miffed!
Did somebody treat you badly in 2008?
Let's just say that this year was the year I discovered those who were true friends and those who sorta just forgot about me!
How much money did you spend in 2008?
I spent a bit more on food than I did last year, but I managed to save most of it, until the end of this year when I bought that TV (I'm still waiting for my mum to pay me back!)
What was your proudest moment of 2008?
The end-of-year concert at the music school I teach recorder at. My students played so well and I was so proud of them!
What was your most embarrassing moment of 2008?
I can't really think of one but one of them was when I turned up late for a pharmacy lab and the guy in charge gave me a warning!
If you could go back in time to any moment of 2008?
I would have marked my recorder students a little easier for their reports, especially how they performed at the end-of-year concert!
What are your plans for 2009?
To do a lot better at uni and meet new people!
Was 2008 a good year for you?
It was so-so. Certain things were difficult, such as having to change degree..
What was your favourite moment of the year?
Let's make it favourite moments
- the pharmacy camp (at first I wasn't so sure but by the end of it I enjoyed it and now I am definitely thankful I went!)
- pharmacy ball, hanging out with the first years
- going to yumcha and hanging out at Cornwall Park with the youth group
What was your least favourite moment of the year?
First semester exam period and after it - I can't explain how vulnerable I felt and how much I didn't know!
Where were you when 2008 began?
Outside Sarena's house setting off fireworks and nearly hitting a car!
Who were you with?
All the old Rutherford guys and girls!
Where will you be when 2008 ends?
Probably on the side of a road somewhere in Te Atatu Peninsula watching the fireworks
Who will you be with when 2008 ends?
With my family!
Did you keep your new years resolution of 2008?
Most of them.....no...(I'll comment on them in a later post!)
Do you have a new years resolution for 2009?
Yes! (I'll comment on them in a later post)
Did you fall in love in 2008?
Uhhh.....noooo I don't think so, but then again...I did like a couple of people though (not at the same time of course!)
If yes, with who?
Won't name them because it doesn't apply anymore!
If yes, do they know?
Nope don't think they did (know I liked them)
Are you still in love with them?
Not in love, like? Maybe but I can't tell haha
Do you regret it?
Yes...
Did you break-up with anyone in 2008?
Can't break up with anyone when you're not with anyone!
Did you make any new friends in 2008?
Yes! Quite a few!
Who are your favourite new friends?
The first year pharmacy guys and the people in my youth group. They're really cool and easy-going!
What was your favorite month of 2008?
Don't think I really had one but I'll say January because I did actually go out a bit and do stuff
Did you travel outside of the country in 2008?
Nope
Did you lose anybody close to you in 2008?
Can I say Sir Edmund Hillary? If not then probably no (unless I've forgotten someone!)...although there was Hayden Adams. I wouldn't say I was close to him as I haven't talked to him since he left Rutherford but I did know him and it came as a shock when I discovered the guy who died at the beach nearby was him. He certainly went before his time!
What was your favourite movie that you saw in 2008?
Uhhhh....If it means favourite movie that was released in 2008, well then I only saw one that was released in 2008 - The Simpsons Movie, and it isn't exactly the best movie I've ever seen. If it's of all the movies I've watched this year, then probably About Schmidt and My Sassy Girl!
What was your favourite song from 2008?
I've got too many so I'll name a few instead of just one - Human by The Killers, Viva La Vida by Coldplay, Love Lockdown by Kanye West, 1 2 3 4 by Plain White T's...oh and anything by Ne-Yo!
How many concerts did you see in 2008?
I only went to symphony orchestra concerts - I think I saw maybe two concerts and performed in a couple
Did you have a favourite concert in 2008?
The Christmas concert because I got to perform in it? ;)
Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2008?
Nope still drinking my non-alcoholic beverages!
Did you do a lot of drugs in 2008?
I made a lot of drugs, but didn't do them! (My favourite being suppositories! ;) )
How many people did you love in 2008?
Outside of my family and relatives, if it's friendly love then probably quite a few! If it's love love, umm....well....maybe....
Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
I'm sure I've said a few things that I thought afterwards was either inappropriate or slightly harsh. Either I'm too hard on myself or I just don't think before I speak! Anyway there were countless times that's happened to me!
What was the worst lie someone told you in 2008?
I can't really think of one...maybe I haven't discovered they lied to me? haha
Did you treat somebody badly in 2008?
I don't know if it's considered as treating somebody badly, but I did feel bad about it and it definitely wasn't intentional - I promised I'd lend my textbook to one friend but then told another friend he could borrow it, since I thought my other friend wasn't interested anymore. When the first friend I had promised it to asked for it, I had no choice but to give it to him since I had promised it to him first, leaving my second friend a little miffed!
Did somebody treat you badly in 2008?
Let's just say that this year was the year I discovered those who were true friends and those who sorta just forgot about me!
How much money did you spend in 2008?
I spent a bit more on food than I did last year, but I managed to save most of it, until the end of this year when I bought that TV (I'm still waiting for my mum to pay me back!)
What was your proudest moment of 2008?
The end-of-year concert at the music school I teach recorder at. My students played so well and I was so proud of them!
What was your most embarrassing moment of 2008?
I can't really think of one but one of them was when I turned up late for a pharmacy lab and the guy in charge gave me a warning!
If you could go back in time to any moment of 2008?
I would have marked my recorder students a little easier for their reports, especially how they performed at the end-of-year concert!
What are your plans for 2009?
To do a lot better at uni and meet new people!
Who Let Calum Out?
Call me pathetic but for the first time in a while these holidays I hung out with some friends! Usually conversations happen like this:
"Hey Calum are you going to xxxxx?"
"Xxxxx is happening? I never knew that!"
This time I was actually invited to my friend Alex's little birthday gathering on Saturday at his house and so I asked my friend instead if she was invited...of course she was! I ended up going and caught up with a few old high school friends there. Alex had some of his Air Force buddies there too. Our side formed sorta the sober side while the Air Force guys did the drinking for us. It was pretty cool catching up with the guys though as I hadn't seen anyone since uni finished!
Just last night while watching War of the Worlds on TV I got a text from my sometimes-neighbour Zippo asking if I wanted to come over and play some board games and stuff, so since we had seen War of the Worlds how many times, we went over and played a few games with her while catching up with her after all this time. It's been ages since I last talked to her!
And finally Boxing Day sales...I went to West City on Boxing Day and it was packed! I don't think I had ever seen it that full before! I'm glad I wasn't Aonghas who had to work at Cotton On during that day. They have no air conditioning and when you have heaps of people in a confined space it gets a bit hot and smelly!
We finally bought ourselves an DSLR camera, getting the Canon 450D. It's sorta the only one that we could afford (that was a Canon of course!). We've started taking random photos around the house but we're going to see how it fares when we take photos of the fireworks tonight when it hits New Years!
"Hey Calum are you going to xxxxx?"
"Xxxxx is happening? I never knew that!"
This time I was actually invited to my friend Alex's little birthday gathering on Saturday at his house and so I asked my friend instead if she was invited...of course she was! I ended up going and caught up with a few old high school friends there. Alex had some of his Air Force buddies there too. Our side formed sorta the sober side while the Air Force guys did the drinking for us. It was pretty cool catching up with the guys though as I hadn't seen anyone since uni finished!
Just last night while watching War of the Worlds on TV I got a text from my sometimes-neighbour Zippo asking if I wanted to come over and play some board games and stuff, so since we had seen War of the Worlds how many times, we went over and played a few games with her while catching up with her after all this time. It's been ages since I last talked to her!
And finally Boxing Day sales...I went to West City on Boxing Day and it was packed! I don't think I had ever seen it that full before! I'm glad I wasn't Aonghas who had to work at Cotton On during that day. They have no air conditioning and when you have heaps of people in a confined space it gets a bit hot and smelly!
We finally bought ourselves an DSLR camera, getting the Canon 450D. It's sorta the only one that we could afford (that was a Canon of course!). We've started taking random photos around the house but we're going to see how it fares when we take photos of the fireworks tonight when it hits New Years!
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Celebrating Christmas
We started our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve with a concert in the evening in which my brothers, Jenny and Jireh from our youth group and I performed as a string group. We performed five pieces - Jesu Joy of Our Desiring, Deck the Halls, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Hallelujah Chorus and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We were somewherei in the middle of the concert so we prepared in the library and sat there and mucked around until it was our turn to sing with the carolling group and then perform as the string group.
Our string group performance went not too badly! We didn't screw up and we got through without a hitch! Too bad the little kids were running around making noises and crying though!
We also got our Secret Santa presents. I ended up getting this Rubix Cube game thing, while Aonghas got a High School Musical 3 soundtrack (there's a story behind it - Aonghas came up with the High School Musical theme for our youth group's board) and Hamish got this calendar thing.
Prior to that concert we had rushed around dropping off presents to family friends and went over to farewell Chen who was leaving for Australia early the next morning. Aonghas and I turned up at the door in our black uniform and Chen's mum asked if we were going partying!
Earlier that morning of Christmas Eve it was finally the day we decided to replace our TV! We've been living off a 21" TV for the past year after our 29" blew on us. We went all the way to Manukau City to buy this LCD TV and got this salesperson who was pushing us to buy another brand which was at a higher price. The only thing was I only had enough for the one we had in mind so we stuck to our guns and got the one we came for!
We got home, bought ourselves a Freeview box and went about connecting everything together. I have to say HD is amazing! You notice the camera movement so much more and the picture is extremely clear! I'm a little concerned at how some tickers (especially TVNZ News) is occasionally blurry though. For some reason BBC News' news ticker isn't too blurry though.
With Freeview we seem to be watching TVNZ7 quite a lot, especially its news every hour and some of the interesting documentaries they have on. Admittedly some of the news headlines on their news ticker are useless/pointless and a lot of the news is repeated but with no other TV news alternative it'll have to do for now. On the other hand I haven't come across anything too interesting on TVNZ6 (the other Freeview-exclusive channel). I did come across Bumble and remembered reading that Jason Gunn does Bumble's voice. Now that just puts you off Bumble doesn't it!
On the night of Christmas Eve I was busy writing Christmas emails and watching Christmas movies when Christmas Day came along.
The next morning we had our Christmas church service. We woke up late and rushed to church a few minutes before it started! It was a combined service with the other churches so it was a lot more packed than usual. Our string gruop was due to perform at the beginning and the end of the service. We managed to perform without a hitch and then left the hall for the backroom.
Once we got to the backroom after our performance we didn't really have much to do while waiting for the service to end but to play cards! We had a few rounds of various card games before going outside and watching the guys play around with the tractor. We went back inside to build card towers...yes that's how we spent our Christmas morning!
The service lasted over two hours thanks to all the baptisms going on as well. Finally we performed right at the end of the service. Everyone remained seated to hear us play Hallelujah, which we nearly stuffed up when Hamish got ahead of time! Fortunately we all regained our places and finished together. We began We Wish You A Merry Christmas and that's when everyone just upped and left! The service must've been too long for them to sit any longer!
For the rest of Christmas Day we were sitting at home finding something to watch on ad-free TV. Sadly this year Christmas TV was really poor! I decided to use my time sending the remaining Christmas emails/texts. We ended up playing with my Rubix cube and watching The Simpsons Movie while starving (since our mum forgot to go shopping for food the night before!). Our parents had gone over to the neighbours to give them a present. We watched Home Alone 2: Lost in New York which was our first time watching something in HD! It was cool watching the movie for the first time in a while. You notice things you didn't when you watched it as a little kid.
The other television highlight of the night was Love Actually, one of my (and TV One Breakfast's Paul Henry's) favourite Christmas movies! Once again it didn't fail to disappoint! I really enjoyed the soundtrack music too! Sadly I didn't watch Notting Hill the night before, which is apparently better than Love Actually!
So that was pretty much our Christmas, spending half the day at church playing cards and then the other half of the day watching TV!
Our string group performance went not too badly! We didn't screw up and we got through without a hitch! Too bad the little kids were running around making noises and crying though!
We also got our Secret Santa presents. I ended up getting this Rubix Cube game thing, while Aonghas got a High School Musical 3 soundtrack (there's a story behind it - Aonghas came up with the High School Musical theme for our youth group's board) and Hamish got this calendar thing.
Prior to that concert we had rushed around dropping off presents to family friends and went over to farewell Chen who was leaving for Australia early the next morning. Aonghas and I turned up at the door in our black uniform and Chen's mum asked if we were going partying!
Earlier that morning of Christmas Eve it was finally the day we decided to replace our TV! We've been living off a 21" TV for the past year after our 29" blew on us. We went all the way to Manukau City to buy this LCD TV and got this salesperson who was pushing us to buy another brand which was at a higher price. The only thing was I only had enough for the one we had in mind so we stuck to our guns and got the one we came for!
We got home, bought ourselves a Freeview box and went about connecting everything together. I have to say HD is amazing! You notice the camera movement so much more and the picture is extremely clear! I'm a little concerned at how some tickers (especially TVNZ News) is occasionally blurry though. For some reason BBC News' news ticker isn't too blurry though.
With Freeview we seem to be watching TVNZ7 quite a lot, especially its news every hour and some of the interesting documentaries they have on. Admittedly some of the news headlines on their news ticker are useless/pointless and a lot of the news is repeated but with no other TV news alternative it'll have to do for now. On the other hand I haven't come across anything too interesting on TVNZ6 (the other Freeview-exclusive channel). I did come across Bumble and remembered reading that Jason Gunn does Bumble's voice. Now that just puts you off Bumble doesn't it!
On the night of Christmas Eve I was busy writing Christmas emails and watching Christmas movies when Christmas Day came along.
The next morning we had our Christmas church service. We woke up late and rushed to church a few minutes before it started! It was a combined service with the other churches so it was a lot more packed than usual. Our string gruop was due to perform at the beginning and the end of the service. We managed to perform without a hitch and then left the hall for the backroom.
Once we got to the backroom after our performance we didn't really have much to do while waiting for the service to end but to play cards! We had a few rounds of various card games before going outside and watching the guys play around with the tractor. We went back inside to build card towers...yes that's how we spent our Christmas morning!
The service lasted over two hours thanks to all the baptisms going on as well. Finally we performed right at the end of the service. Everyone remained seated to hear us play Hallelujah, which we nearly stuffed up when Hamish got ahead of time! Fortunately we all regained our places and finished together. We began We Wish You A Merry Christmas and that's when everyone just upped and left! The service must've been too long for them to sit any longer!
For the rest of Christmas Day we were sitting at home finding something to watch on ad-free TV. Sadly this year Christmas TV was really poor! I decided to use my time sending the remaining Christmas emails/texts. We ended up playing with my Rubix cube and watching The Simpsons Movie while starving (since our mum forgot to go shopping for food the night before!). Our parents had gone over to the neighbours to give them a present. We watched Home Alone 2: Lost in New York which was our first time watching something in HD! It was cool watching the movie for the first time in a while. You notice things you didn't when you watched it as a little kid.
The other television highlight of the night was Love Actually, one of my (and TV One Breakfast's Paul Henry's) favourite Christmas movies! Once again it didn't fail to disappoint! I really enjoyed the soundtrack music too! Sadly I didn't watch Notting Hill the night before, which is apparently better than Love Actually!
So that was pretty much our Christmas, spending half the day at church playing cards and then the other half of the day watching TV!
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Merry Christmas!!
Merry Christmas!!!
So it's about 6.55pm and nearly over in New Zealand but oh well hope everyone [who is reading this] is having a very Merry Christmas! I've only nearly finished sending out Christmas emails and texts. I left things a little late this year! If I didn't wish you a Merry Christmas then I'm sorry I haven't forgotten you I'd only have forgotten to email or text you!
Anyway I'll post on what I've been up to on Christmas a little later on...
So it's about 6.55pm and nearly over in New Zealand but oh well hope everyone [who is reading this] is having a very Merry Christmas! I've only nearly finished sending out Christmas emails and texts. I left things a little late this year! If I didn't wish you a Merry Christmas then I'm sorry I haven't forgotten you I'd only have forgotten to email or text you!
Anyway I'll post on what I've been up to on Christmas a little later on...
Monday, 22 December 2008
Spreading the Christmas Joy!
The past few days have all been about carolling, music practice and shopping!
A couple Saturday's ago a group of us from our church went round Waitakere Hospital singing carols to patients. Well this past Saturday, we went to the local Tofu Shop to sing outside! There was a smaller group who showed up this time round, no surprises there. Apparently...yes 'apparently' many of them had to work that day and a few of them went back to China. OK those people can be excused!
At first it was a little embarrassing. Aonghas and I were accompanying the singers by playing the accordion since they had no one else playing music. We were standing in the back which wasn't as bad. Over time though the carol singing wasn't too bad and the shame went away! During the five minute break a guy from my youth group and I even played a few random carols to see how much money we could scab off passing shoppers! Total...zilch...
After the break we took a walk down the road past all the shops to the other Chinese grocery store. Aonghas and I just kept repeating Joy to the World as we walked! It was a lot busier at this Chinese grocery store, and I even saw a guy I recognised from university walk by with his mum! I tried to turn away so he wouldn't see me ;)
The carol singing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and while there were a few people who looked at us and were probably smiling for the wrong reasons, there were also those who enjoyed our singing which made it worthwhile!
On the subject of carollers, the other night I was on the computer when I heard a horn outside playing carols! I looked through the window and saw about twenty people with santa hats outside the neighbours' front door singing carols! I went outside to watch and listen, and when they stopped they started talking. I managed to catch
"We haven't made much money!"
They then all disappeared inside our neighbours' house! If they had come to our house I would've given them some money!
Our youth group are doing the Secret Santa thing which meant we drew someone's name out of a hat and had to buy a present for them. It'd all be anonymous too...well for a little time anyway! Our budget was set at $20 and we had to buy the present by yesterday. It was Saturday night and we still had nothing! Thank goodness for shops opening till midnight!
We were looking around West City until it closed at 10pm. At that time we were forced to go into The Warehouse, which was open till midnight. We ended up going to Kmart to have a look. I found a gift for my person, while Aonghas and Hamish were still looking. We went back to The Warehouse to have a look.
That's where I saw a reindeer costume for $10!! I want to get it just in case I may need it some time in the future!
Anyway Aonghas bought his present before we decided we'd go back to Kmart to have a look again. By then it was 11.40pm. We tried to enter when we were turned away by the girl at the entrance who told us they were about to close! They had been advertising that they were closing at midnight!!! I suppose everyone needs sleep...We got Hamish's gift the next morning.
A couple Saturday's ago a group of us from our church went round Waitakere Hospital singing carols to patients. Well this past Saturday, we went to the local Tofu Shop to sing outside! There was a smaller group who showed up this time round, no surprises there. Apparently...yes 'apparently' many of them had to work that day and a few of them went back to China. OK those people can be excused!
At first it was a little embarrassing. Aonghas and I were accompanying the singers by playing the accordion since they had no one else playing music. We were standing in the back which wasn't as bad. Over time though the carol singing wasn't too bad and the shame went away! During the five minute break a guy from my youth group and I even played a few random carols to see how much money we could scab off passing shoppers! Total...zilch...
After the break we took a walk down the road past all the shops to the other Chinese grocery store. Aonghas and I just kept repeating Joy to the World as we walked! It was a lot busier at this Chinese grocery store, and I even saw a guy I recognised from university walk by with his mum! I tried to turn away so he wouldn't see me ;)
The carol singing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and while there were a few people who looked at us and were probably smiling for the wrong reasons, there were also those who enjoyed our singing which made it worthwhile!
On the subject of carollers, the other night I was on the computer when I heard a horn outside playing carols! I looked through the window and saw about twenty people with santa hats outside the neighbours' front door singing carols! I went outside to watch and listen, and when they stopped they started talking. I managed to catch
"We haven't made much money!"
They then all disappeared inside our neighbours' house! If they had come to our house I would've given them some money!
Our youth group are doing the Secret Santa thing which meant we drew someone's name out of a hat and had to buy a present for them. It'd all be anonymous too...well for a little time anyway! Our budget was set at $20 and we had to buy the present by yesterday. It was Saturday night and we still had nothing! Thank goodness for shops opening till midnight!
We were looking around West City until it closed at 10pm. At that time we were forced to go into The Warehouse, which was open till midnight. We ended up going to Kmart to have a look. I found a gift for my person, while Aonghas and Hamish were still looking. We went back to The Warehouse to have a look.
That's where I saw a reindeer costume for $10!! I want to get it just in case I may need it some time in the future!
Anyway Aonghas bought his present before we decided we'd go back to Kmart to have a look again. By then it was 11.40pm. We tried to enter when we were turned away by the girl at the entrance who told us they were about to close! They had been advertising that they were closing at midnight!!! I suppose everyone needs sleep...We got Hamish's gift the next morning.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Studylink Stuff-Up
Today I got started working on my Summer School study (they've finally put up all the resources for STATS101G yay!!!), making the most of the nothing that occupies most of my time, when I got a call on my mobile phone. I repeat, a MOBILE phone call! Now how many of those do I get a year? Maybe one or two?
Anyway this time it wasn't from someone who dialed the wrong number or even someone who wanted to declare their love to me, it was from Studylink. Now I could only think of a few reasons why they'd want to ring me - a) they wanted to advertise some new service to me, or b) something was wrong with my Student Allowance application, and it turns out b was the correct answer! No surprises there. I originally thought it could've been because I only provided documents proving the birthdate of one of my brothers, but no. It was a fault on their part. No surprises there...They hadn't sent me the complete form for me to fill out and return, and so they were going to resend it to me to fill out again.
You may notice the cynical tone of this post, but really Studylink seems to have a habit of getting things wrong, and it seems to be developing into an annual thing for me (see: Sorry Saga of the Student Allowance Struggle).
Anyway this time it wasn't from someone who dialed the wrong number or even someone who wanted to declare their love to me, it was from Studylink. Now I could only think of a few reasons why they'd want to ring me - a) they wanted to advertise some new service to me, or b) something was wrong with my Student Allowance application, and it turns out b was the correct answer! No surprises there. I originally thought it could've been because I only provided documents proving the birthdate of one of my brothers, but no. It was a fault on their part. No surprises there...They hadn't sent me the complete form for me to fill out and return, and so they were going to resend it to me to fill out again.
You may notice the cynical tone of this post, but really Studylink seems to have a habit of getting things wrong, and it seems to be developing into an annual thing for me (see: Sorry Saga of the Student Allowance Struggle).
Monday, 15 December 2008
Christmas is Coming!
Christmas is upon us - the decorations are up, the carols are playing, the people are shopping, yay for the festive season!
On Saturday a few of the fellowship groups from our church including our youth group went to Waitakere Hospital to do some carolling. It was a bit random and felt a bit weird because it was like a group of Asians stopping at various places such as beside nurses' stations, in empty lounges and along some corridors singing carols in English to what seemed to be an invisible audience! I guess the people in the wards probably would've been able to hear us even if they couldn't see us. There was one time when we heard clapping about ten metres down the corridor after we finished singing! We also had one elderly patient in a wheelchair who told us she'd be offended if we didn't sing Silent Night! So we happily obliged! However there was one guy sitting in the lounge before we arrived. I saw him fiddling with the remote control so I'm sure he must've been trying to watch TV before we invaded his territory! Apparently he sang along with us once we got going though so that wasn't too bad then.
Our next round of carolling will be outside the Tofu Shop near Warehouse Stationery. Oh dear goodness.....
Our church is also having a Christmas Eve concert at church and I was asked to get some music performance prepared for it. Originally I thought we would play an accordion trio as well as maybe get some of the others from our youth group to join us to form a string group. The others were keen to get the string group going and with the help of one of the church members who is really good at music, we've been practising lately. It'll be the first time I've performed the cello since 2006!
As for the accordion trio, I've been trying my hardest to find suitable music to play. After attempting to arrange some big-band/orchestral music for three accordions before giving up, I decided to juts look for quartet music on the net. I managed to find Once in Royal David's City which sounded really cool and a jazzy version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. We went through them the night before the day the lady chasing me up wanted to hear them when I discovered the latter didn't sound too great. I ended up spending all night looking for other Christmas songs and listening to them with no success. Unfortunately I suffered from Christmas carol haunting throughout the night :S
Anyway the lady who has been chasing me up on the music performance has been (I think) a little worried, thinking that nothing has been prepared for the concert which is only a week and a half away as she isn't aware of the string group's existence. She wanted to hear our accordion trio yesterday at church. Just before she did though the guy helping run our string group talked to her and she realised there was a bit of a miscommunication and decided they would probably just go for the string group and not the accordion trio. I ended up wasting the first few weeks of my holiday on nothing!
We went Christmas shopping (and buying a new lightbulb for our newish fridge!) and one of the funniest things I found was this - soft toys that are part of a 'Fruit Salad' series, such as Tracy Tangerine and Pamela Pineapple with tags that say
'NOT FOR CONSUMPTION'
It's great seeing Christmas decorations up everywhere too!
On Saturday a few of the fellowship groups from our church including our youth group went to Waitakere Hospital to do some carolling. It was a bit random and felt a bit weird because it was like a group of Asians stopping at various places such as beside nurses' stations, in empty lounges and along some corridors singing carols in English to what seemed to be an invisible audience! I guess the people in the wards probably would've been able to hear us even if they couldn't see us. There was one time when we heard clapping about ten metres down the corridor after we finished singing! We also had one elderly patient in a wheelchair who told us she'd be offended if we didn't sing Silent Night! So we happily obliged! However there was one guy sitting in the lounge before we arrived. I saw him fiddling with the remote control so I'm sure he must've been trying to watch TV before we invaded his territory! Apparently he sang along with us once we got going though so that wasn't too bad then.
Our next round of carolling will be outside the Tofu Shop near Warehouse Stationery. Oh dear goodness.....
Our church is also having a Christmas Eve concert at church and I was asked to get some music performance prepared for it. Originally I thought we would play an accordion trio as well as maybe get some of the others from our youth group to join us to form a string group. The others were keen to get the string group going and with the help of one of the church members who is really good at music, we've been practising lately. It'll be the first time I've performed the cello since 2006!
As for the accordion trio, I've been trying my hardest to find suitable music to play. After attempting to arrange some big-band/orchestral music for three accordions before giving up, I decided to juts look for quartet music on the net. I managed to find Once in Royal David's City which sounded really cool and a jazzy version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. We went through them the night before the day the lady chasing me up wanted to hear them when I discovered the latter didn't sound too great. I ended up spending all night looking for other Christmas songs and listening to them with no success. Unfortunately I suffered from Christmas carol haunting throughout the night :S
Anyway the lady who has been chasing me up on the music performance has been (I think) a little worried, thinking that nothing has been prepared for the concert which is only a week and a half away as she isn't aware of the string group's existence. She wanted to hear our accordion trio yesterday at church. Just before she did though the guy helping run our string group talked to her and she realised there was a bit of a miscommunication and decided they would probably just go for the string group and not the accordion trio. I ended up wasting the first few weeks of my holiday on nothing!
We went Christmas shopping (and buying a new lightbulb for our newish fridge!) and one of the funniest things I found was this - soft toys that are part of a 'Fruit Salad' series, such as Tracy Tangerine and Pamela Pineapple with tags that say
'NOT FOR CONSUMPTION'
It's great seeing Christmas decorations up everywhere too!
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Frigid Fridge!
It turns out there was an actual reason for why our fridge/freezer hasn't been working lately! It hasn't been all that cold inside either our fridge or our freezer, which is joined together. The motor also turns on periodically, which we originally thought was normal.
Well, the repair guy came over the other day and it turns out there was a gas leak in our fridge and so the motor has been working over-time to make up for the extra work. In the end it has resulted in our fridge not working. We could get it repaired but it would cost just as much as a new fridge.
It was just fortunate that when we mentioned it to our aunty and uncle who came to visit the other night (and we managed to tidy the lounge in an hour! Probably because we chucked everything into other rooms and shut the doors!) as they had a spare fridge that they said we could have!
This morning we got up early and had to empty our fridge and then try shift it out of the house which turned out to be quite a difficult task. Our dad put two planks of wood on the steps and we used it as a ramp to push the fridge down.
We then went over to our aunty and uncle's and they put the fridge in their car which made it resemble a hearse, only with a fridge in it rather than a coffin! We took it home, brought it inside and got it going.
We now have a fridge that actually works!
Well, the repair guy came over the other day and it turns out there was a gas leak in our fridge and so the motor has been working over-time to make up for the extra work. In the end it has resulted in our fridge not working. We could get it repaired but it would cost just as much as a new fridge.
It was just fortunate that when we mentioned it to our aunty and uncle who came to visit the other night (and we managed to tidy the lounge in an hour! Probably because we chucked everything into other rooms and shut the doors!) as they had a spare fridge that they said we could have!
This morning we got up early and had to empty our fridge and then try shift it out of the house which turned out to be quite a difficult task. Our dad put two planks of wood on the steps and we used it as a ramp to push the fridge down.
We then went over to our aunty and uncle's and they put the fridge in their car which made it resemble a hearse, only with a fridge in it rather than a coffin! We took it home, brought it inside and got it going.
We now have a fridge that actually works!
Bumped Off Again!
Once again I've been bumped off and my surgery has been delayed even further, from the 5th January now to the 2nd February! It's getting closer and closer to the start of uni which isn't good as I'll need time to recover. Even worse is that it'll only be two weeks before Summer School exams start. I'll be spending one of those weeks at hospital for a start! I guess I'll have to study there.
What is the chance this surgery date may change yet again?
What is the chance this surgery date may change yet again?
Helping with Interviews
Pharmacy interviews began this week and because I had nothing to do, I decided to help out! I originally put down my name for all three days, both morning and afternoon sessions. A week before though I thought that maybe two days will be enough so I pulled out of the last day.
I wasn't sure what to expect, except that this might be a good chance to meet some new people. At least that part was right. There were quite a few interesting people from as far as Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch! My job was to chat to the students waiting in the foyer for their interviews, to calm them down, relax them, and then take them to their right interview room! The helpers I was with were mostly first years, fortunately people I knew which was cool!
We started off assigning one interview room to each person - we would take students to that particular interview room. As the day wore on though I ended up spending more and more time just hanging in the foyer chatting up the girls...and guys...
Most of the students who had interviews on the first day were students who had just completed their first year at uni. Sadly most of them were biomed students, and even sadder was the fact that many of them had medicine interviews and were just treating the pharmacy interview as practice! How dare them!!
There were one or two school leavers on the first day who we thought must've had a special reason for having their interview so early (as usually school leavers have their interviews in January!). One of those people was Grammy, this girl who used to learn the violin with us till she found another teacher and has become heaps better!
The afternoon session on the second day though was full of school leavers so they must've run out of students to interview for alternative admissions! The second day wasn't as bright and fun as the first day wihch could be attributed to several possible reasons - different helpers, the weather was miserable on the second day, or the school leavers were a lot more tense and not as talkative!
There were quite a few familiar faces who came by too. Chen for one had his interview in the morning of the second day. Not too long after my intermediate school friend Lance rang me asking me to help him get to the Pharmacy School for his interview! Later in the day this girl asked me if I was Szelin's neighbour, and then told me she was her friend from St Doms! This other girl also asked me if I was Aonghas's brother, as she went to this science camp with him eariler this year and I looked like him!
The most memorable moment must've been on Monday, the first day, when we were waiting for this person to arrive for his/her interview at about 10.50am. This guy came in at about 11am and we assumed he was that person and told him he was a little late and sent him to the interview room. A little while later he was sent out and we were told there was a bit of a mix-up! He was supposed to have his interview at about 11.30am. He had a very similar name to the 10.50am girl! He told us his interview started off along the lines of
"So you play badminton?"
"Noo........"
So that guy was lucky and got an interview and a half!
Another memorable moment was when I took this girl to her interview room and she asked me if I used to Rutherford College as she just finished school there! Rutherford represent!!!!
So my pharmacy pride started to shine and grow thanks to those past two days. That's the REAL reason why I wanted to help out of course...oh and also because of the really nice morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea we were provided! Niiiiiiiiiice.....
I wasn't sure what to expect, except that this might be a good chance to meet some new people. At least that part was right. There were quite a few interesting people from as far as Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch! My job was to chat to the students waiting in the foyer for their interviews, to calm them down, relax them, and then take them to their right interview room! The helpers I was with were mostly first years, fortunately people I knew which was cool!
We started off assigning one interview room to each person - we would take students to that particular interview room. As the day wore on though I ended up spending more and more time just hanging in the foyer chatting up the girls...and guys...
Most of the students who had interviews on the first day were students who had just completed their first year at uni. Sadly most of them were biomed students, and even sadder was the fact that many of them had medicine interviews and were just treating the pharmacy interview as practice! How dare them!!
There were one or two school leavers on the first day who we thought must've had a special reason for having their interview so early (as usually school leavers have their interviews in January!). One of those people was Grammy, this girl who used to learn the violin with us till she found another teacher and has become heaps better!
The afternoon session on the second day though was full of school leavers so they must've run out of students to interview for alternative admissions! The second day wasn't as bright and fun as the first day wihch could be attributed to several possible reasons - different helpers, the weather was miserable on the second day, or the school leavers were a lot more tense and not as talkative!
There were quite a few familiar faces who came by too. Chen for one had his interview in the morning of the second day. Not too long after my intermediate school friend Lance rang me asking me to help him get to the Pharmacy School for his interview! Later in the day this girl asked me if I was Szelin's neighbour, and then told me she was her friend from St Doms! This other girl also asked me if I was Aonghas's brother, as she went to this science camp with him eariler this year and I looked like him!
The most memorable moment must've been on Monday, the first day, when we were waiting for this person to arrive for his/her interview at about 10.50am. This guy came in at about 11am and we assumed he was that person and told him he was a little late and sent him to the interview room. A little while later he was sent out and we were told there was a bit of a mix-up! He was supposed to have his interview at about 11.30am. He had a very similar name to the 10.50am girl! He told us his interview started off along the lines of
"So you play badminton?"
"Noo........"
So that guy was lucky and got an interview and a half!
Another memorable moment was when I took this girl to her interview room and she asked me if I used to Rutherford College as she just finished school there! Rutherford represent!!!!
So my pharmacy pride started to shine and grow thanks to those past two days. That's the REAL reason why I wanted to help out of course...oh and also because of the really nice morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea we were provided! Niiiiiiiiiice.....
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Music Madness
My brothers and I performed with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra in their carols concert at the Auckland Town Hall on Friday night which was really fun! I sat with Hamish right at the back of the viola section and right next to the drums which was deafening at times! Aonghas was filling in for the second violins so he was on the other side of the stage to us.
Prior to the performance we had to look all over the place for black dress shirts as it is the Auckland Symphony Orchestra uniform. I can't believe how much black shirts cost! Some places like Hallensteins cost over $100! The cheapest we could find was at Farmers for $30! Even then there was only one left of each of our sizes!
The programme was fairly similar to previous years' Christmas concerts except for the solo performances by various choirs that formed the combined choir which performed along with us. The solo performances were mostly own compositions by the respective choirs' church music directors and they were really catchy and moving songs! Our section leader (our violin/viola teacher) gave us all reindeer antlers to wear just before we played Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I brought along my mini-santa hat as well but when I tried putting on both of them they fell off not once but twice! Hopefully nobody saw that! Then again I was at the back so probably not!
After the show we got a photo with the conductor Gary Daverne who asked us when we were going to join permanently, so we might have to think about that over the holidays!
--
Yesterday morning was the end-of-year concert at the music school where I teach recorder. I was a little worried as I wasn't too sure how ready my students were and this concert is usually my best chance to prove myself as a teacher. I guess the students sorta reflect how well I teach!
Fortunately recorder was in the middle of the concert so I was able to go through a few pieces with my students in one of the back rooms before they had to perform. My students were a little unfocused though and after one student discovered that poking me in the side with her recorder gives me an 'electric shock', they all started doing it! Unfortunately there was this girl from my church who learns flute there who was warming up in the same room and started dissing me and the recorder! I'm going to have to get her back next time I see her at church!
Anyway my students went up on stage. My two youngest students who were only about 5 years old and had never played together till the performance performed Jingle Bells. I made a little booboo when I introduced them to the audience - I got them mixed up! My older Korean first year students each performed a duet with me by memory which was sooo impressive, before they peformed a duet together on their own! The recorder section of the concert concluded with my two more advanced students performing on treble recorders.
My students did so well! I was so proud of them! I gave them their reports and some lollies afterwards and I got a present from two of my students, the most I ever have in one year since I started teaching two years ago! I wanted to take a photo with my students but I didn't have a camera so one of my students' parents took one but just before I managed to get their email address I had to rush back on stage to perform violin!
After all the prizes were awarded and the concert finished, I had a chat with my boss about next year. I've been a little worried about how many students I'll be getting next year since quite a few of my students are going to learn other instruments like violin and flute next year. It turns out that next year there will be a policy that if you are under seven years old and want to learn violin you must do one year of recorder before you can, so they'll just give me all the younger students who know nothing! I've also asked if they can advertise that I can teach music theory too, so hopefully I'll be able to get some students to sit some music theory exams!
Us three brothers were about to leave when our violin teacher invited us to coffee at a nearby cafe which was nice. I tried a spirilina, which apparently has seaweed and some other stuff to give it a green colour. It tasted a lot better than it looked though!
To continue with the music, we had to off to church afterwards for a meeting about the upcoming children's summer camp we're helping out with at camp and also our first string group rehearsal! Let's just say we've got a bit of practice to do before the Christmas Eve concert...
Prior to the performance we had to look all over the place for black dress shirts as it is the Auckland Symphony Orchestra uniform. I can't believe how much black shirts cost! Some places like Hallensteins cost over $100! The cheapest we could find was at Farmers for $30! Even then there was only one left of each of our sizes!
The programme was fairly similar to previous years' Christmas concerts except for the solo performances by various choirs that formed the combined choir which performed along with us. The solo performances were mostly own compositions by the respective choirs' church music directors and they were really catchy and moving songs! Our section leader (our violin/viola teacher) gave us all reindeer antlers to wear just before we played Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I brought along my mini-santa hat as well but when I tried putting on both of them they fell off not once but twice! Hopefully nobody saw that! Then again I was at the back so probably not!
After the show we got a photo with the conductor Gary Daverne who asked us when we were going to join permanently, so we might have to think about that over the holidays!
--
Yesterday morning was the end-of-year concert at the music school where I teach recorder. I was a little worried as I wasn't too sure how ready my students were and this concert is usually my best chance to prove myself as a teacher. I guess the students sorta reflect how well I teach!
Fortunately recorder was in the middle of the concert so I was able to go through a few pieces with my students in one of the back rooms before they had to perform. My students were a little unfocused though and after one student discovered that poking me in the side with her recorder gives me an 'electric shock', they all started doing it! Unfortunately there was this girl from my church who learns flute there who was warming up in the same room and started dissing me and the recorder! I'm going to have to get her back next time I see her at church!
Anyway my students went up on stage. My two youngest students who were only about 5 years old and had never played together till the performance performed Jingle Bells. I made a little booboo when I introduced them to the audience - I got them mixed up! My older Korean first year students each performed a duet with me by memory which was sooo impressive, before they peformed a duet together on their own! The recorder section of the concert concluded with my two more advanced students performing on treble recorders.
My students did so well! I was so proud of them! I gave them their reports and some lollies afterwards and I got a present from two of my students, the most I ever have in one year since I started teaching two years ago! I wanted to take a photo with my students but I didn't have a camera so one of my students' parents took one but just before I managed to get their email address I had to rush back on stage to perform violin!
After all the prizes were awarded and the concert finished, I had a chat with my boss about next year. I've been a little worried about how many students I'll be getting next year since quite a few of my students are going to learn other instruments like violin and flute next year. It turns out that next year there will be a policy that if you are under seven years old and want to learn violin you must do one year of recorder before you can, so they'll just give me all the younger students who know nothing! I've also asked if they can advertise that I can teach music theory too, so hopefully I'll be able to get some students to sit some music theory exams!
Us three brothers were about to leave when our violin teacher invited us to coffee at a nearby cafe which was nice. I tried a spirilina, which apparently has seaweed and some other stuff to give it a green colour. It tasted a lot better than it looked though!
To continue with the music, we had to off to church afterwards for a meeting about the upcoming children's summer camp we're helping out with at camp and also our first string group rehearsal! Let's just say we've got a bit of practice to do before the Christmas Eve concert...
Friday, 5 December 2008
Auckland Symphony Orchestra Christmas Music Concert
If you want something to do tonight, come watch me fill in for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra at their Sing-Along Carols and Popular Christmas Music Concert! I'll be right at the back of the viola section, right in front of the drums (so if I have problems hearing after this concert, you'll know why!):
Future CONCERTS with the AUCKLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Conductor: Gary Daverne ONZM Concert Master: Michael Hunter
Conductor: Gary Daverne ONZM Concert Master: Michael Hunter
FREE FAMILY CONCERTS
SING-ALONG CAROLS
and
POPULAR CHRISTMAS MUSIC
CONCERT
with the
AUCKLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
CONDUCTOR: Gary Daverne O.N.Z.M.
Featuring
The combined Church Choirs of
Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints
Greyfriars Presbyterian Church
Manurewa E.F.K.S. Choir
Tangaroa College Choir
Great Hall - Auckland Town Hall - THE EDGE®
FRIDAY 5 December 2008 at 7.30 p.m.
(Duration about 80 minutes, no interval, tickets not required)
Song Sheets provided
FREE ADMISSION - ALL WELCOME
The Auckland Symphony Orchestra
acknowledges the support of the Auckland and North Shore City Councils and Creative NZ
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Weekend Barbeque
Saturday night was the first time our Sunday School class ever socialised outside of church. We had a barbeque at the house of one of the girls. Jennifer and her mum who helps out our class kindly hosted the occasion at their house!
We were a bit rushed as we were coming from accordion lessons over in North Shore and we decided to take a detour before coming home to meet our mum! We heard about some car audio sale at this shop and so decided to check it out. One of the girls offered to have a look at the speakers in our car and when she saw the wiring, she commented
"This is hori wiring!"
So to the barbeque...Their house is massive! Most people were there by the time we got there but at least we got there before anyone had started eating! We arrived at the same time as their neighbour, who turned out to be a pretty cool guy!
Most of the night we just spent talking to each other, making conversation, and of course eating! This time I didn't eat any mussels for fear of getting sick! After dinner we all sat around and shared our favourite Bible verse, what it meant and why it was our favourite. I hadn't thought about it much and so I just came up with a random one!
We finished the night off by hanging out in the lounge and talking for a while longer before all going our separate ways.
The next day at Sunday School there was even talk of another get-together! One can only hope..
Angie turned up to Sunday School for the first time in aaages! It was good catching up with her! I felt a little bad because I didn't tell her about the Sunday School barbeque! Hopefully the next get-together will be enough to encourage her to come more regularly!
We were a bit rushed as we were coming from accordion lessons over in North Shore and we decided to take a detour before coming home to meet our mum! We heard about some car audio sale at this shop and so decided to check it out. One of the girls offered to have a look at the speakers in our car and when she saw the wiring, she commented
"This is hori wiring!"
So to the barbeque...Their house is massive! Most people were there by the time we got there but at least we got there before anyone had started eating! We arrived at the same time as their neighbour, who turned out to be a pretty cool guy!
Most of the night we just spent talking to each other, making conversation, and of course eating! This time I didn't eat any mussels for fear of getting sick! After dinner we all sat around and shared our favourite Bible verse, what it meant and why it was our favourite. I hadn't thought about it much and so I just came up with a random one!
We finished the night off by hanging out in the lounge and talking for a while longer before all going our separate ways.
The next day at Sunday School there was even talk of another get-together! One can only hope..
Angie turned up to Sunday School for the first time in aaages! It was good catching up with her! I felt a little bad because I didn't tell her about the Sunday School barbeque! Hopefully the next get-together will be enough to encourage her to come more regularly!
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Not So Happy Birthday
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AONGHAS (for Friday)
Besides having his chemistry exam on that day, he had a happy day going out to lunch with his friends after the exam and got a few presents from them. Unfortunately for the rest of the world it wasn't such a happy day with the Air New Zealand plane going down over in France (29 years after Erebus; Aonghas's birthday isn't a great day for flying is it!), the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the airport in Bangkok being held by anti-government protesters!
As for me I went into the city for a meeting with some of the Dessert Club committee members. We ended up going to Tonys for lunch. I'm going to end up knowing all these restaurants in the city thanks to Dessert Club guys!
I also went to try photocopy some Christmas string quartet music in either the public library or the university's music library but it was all gone! They were all borrowed! Arggh!
To end Aonghas's birthday we had youth group at night where we played some games involving feet...yes I know...a little weird, but there was some meaning to it!
I also went to try photocopy some Christmas string quartet music in either the public library or the university's music library but it was all gone! They were all borrowed! Arggh!
To end Aonghas's birthday we had youth group at night where we played some games involving feet...yes I know...a little weird, but there was some meaning to it!
Monday, 24 November 2008
It's a Start
So what has Calum been doing during the holidays? Absolutely nothing...OK that's not absolutely true but most of the time has been spent doing nothing but wasting time watching TV or on the internet mucking around on Facebook (surprise surprise). In fact I just recently discovered games on Facebook which I'm sure to waste a bit of time on in the coming weeks!
On Friday though I went into the city for the Dessert Club AGM which didn't turn out to be much of an AGM in the end since half the committee members were late and the original location of our meeting was closed which meant we had to have it in Albert Park! A few speeches were read before we all decided we'd go for lunch.
We had lunch at this place (the name eludes me). We ordered things like cold oysters, a mussel pot and a metre long sausage! I'm usually hesitant when it comes to eating things like oysters and mussels because my dad has instilled this fear in me, but this time I thought to myself what-the-hey I might as well try! I had a few of each, but it was only towards the end when I heard one of the committee members mention that you're not supposed to eat mussels whose shells haven't opened fully! I instantly spat the remains of my mussel out and onto my tissue. For the rest of that night and the next morning I kept on the look-out for any signs of possible sickness but fortunately it's now Monday and I still haven't thrown up!
Yesterday after church Aonghas dropped me off in the city and I met up with my friend Eliza who had invited me to attend the Auckland Symphony Orchestra concert with her as she had a spare ticket, so we caught a bus over to the shore and her dad gave us a ride to the Bruce Mason Centre where the concert was held. We met up wth her mum and her siblings and the concert began! As usual the concert was great and I especially enjoyed the movie music at the end which featured music from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! One of Eliza's friends who's really really good at the oboe and is only 16 years old performed this piece which is one of my favourites by Amici Forever called Nella Fantasia (of course instead of singing it was oboe playing!). Thanks Eliza for having me come along!
I have been doing a few other things these holidays and have started putting together a TO DO list as well. I've got to work on some Christmas music for the church's Christmas concert on Christmas Eve. I was asked if we could sort out something for ten minutes, and so I asked if we could maybe perform an accordion trio and then maybe form a string quartet/quintet along with some others from our youth group. This time since we've got a cello we'd be able to restrict it to strings rather than include random instruments like the recorder!!
Finding music is quite a task. I can only find string quartet arrangements of the more traditional carols when they want something more jazzy/contemporary frmo us! I'll probably have to end up arranging something.
Aonghas also has to put together a Leavers' DVD for his year at school similar to how we did one last year for the year 13's at Rutherford College. Aonghas has been bogged down with NCEA exams though and still has another four in the next two weeks! Therefore the task of doing a lot of the videos has once again been passed on to me. I really should get started on that...
Another thing on the TO DO list is to find a job. My mum has been telling me to try find a pharmacy-related job which was met by a less-than-enthusiastic response from me, which I will probably elaborate on in my next post!
On Friday though I went into the city for the Dessert Club AGM which didn't turn out to be much of an AGM in the end since half the committee members were late and the original location of our meeting was closed which meant we had to have it in Albert Park! A few speeches were read before we all decided we'd go for lunch.
We had lunch at this place (the name eludes me). We ordered things like cold oysters, a mussel pot and a metre long sausage! I'm usually hesitant when it comes to eating things like oysters and mussels because my dad has instilled this fear in me, but this time I thought to myself what-the-hey I might as well try! I had a few of each, but it was only towards the end when I heard one of the committee members mention that you're not supposed to eat mussels whose shells haven't opened fully! I instantly spat the remains of my mussel out and onto my tissue. For the rest of that night and the next morning I kept on the look-out for any signs of possible sickness but fortunately it's now Monday and I still haven't thrown up!
Yesterday after church Aonghas dropped me off in the city and I met up with my friend Eliza who had invited me to attend the Auckland Symphony Orchestra concert with her as she had a spare ticket, so we caught a bus over to the shore and her dad gave us a ride to the Bruce Mason Centre where the concert was held. We met up wth her mum and her siblings and the concert began! As usual the concert was great and I especially enjoyed the movie music at the end which featured music from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! One of Eliza's friends who's really really good at the oboe and is only 16 years old performed this piece which is one of my favourites by Amici Forever called Nella Fantasia (of course instead of singing it was oboe playing!). Thanks Eliza for having me come along!
I have been doing a few other things these holidays and have started putting together a TO DO list as well. I've got to work on some Christmas music for the church's Christmas concert on Christmas Eve. I was asked if we could sort out something for ten minutes, and so I asked if we could maybe perform an accordion trio and then maybe form a string quartet/quintet along with some others from our youth group. This time since we've got a cello we'd be able to restrict it to strings rather than include random instruments like the recorder!!
Finding music is quite a task. I can only find string quartet arrangements of the more traditional carols when they want something more jazzy/contemporary frmo us! I'll probably have to end up arranging something.
Aonghas also has to put together a Leavers' DVD for his year at school similar to how we did one last year for the year 13's at Rutherford College. Aonghas has been bogged down with NCEA exams though and still has another four in the next two weeks! Therefore the task of doing a lot of the videos has once again been passed on to me. I really should get started on that...
Another thing on the TO DO list is to find a job. My mum has been telling me to try find a pharmacy-related job which was met by a less-than-enthusiastic response from me, which I will probably elaborate on in my next post!
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Jaws III
Maybe that should be Jaw. Anyway I got called to hospital for an appointment at very short notice (make it two hours notice) so they could take moulds, x-rays and photos of my jaw. They were going to enter all the data into some computer software so they can generate a 3D model of what I may look like after the surgery. They called me in two days later to redo a couple of moulds.
It turns out the new surgery date for me will be the 5th January (for now anyway unless they bump me off again). They're planning on operating on both of my jaws so that they don't have to move them as much as they would if they operated solely on my bottom jaw, and this will hopefully increase stability or something like that. It'll also mean I'll be in hospital for three-four days after surgery.
I haven't really thought much about the surgery but I guess I will the closer I get to it!
It turns out the new surgery date for me will be the 5th January (for now anyway unless they bump me off again). They're planning on operating on both of my jaws so that they don't have to move them as much as they would if they operated solely on my bottom jaw, and this will hopefully increase stability or something like that. It'll also mean I'll be in hospital for three-four days after surgery.
I haven't really thought much about the surgery but I guess I will the closer I get to it!
Monday, 17 November 2008
Three Seconds of Fame!
Tonight there was a news report on ONE News on the start of NCEA exams, and when I first saw it I thought oh not again they film Avondale flippin' College, but later on in the night I was pointed out by my friend Julia (she's Esther's sister for those of you who know her) that she appeared on ONE News for a few seconds in the background!
There she is, in the middle of that screenshot getting something out of her schoolbag!
--
In other news apparently some people got into the digger that's on the construction site of Rutherford College's new social sciences building, hot-wired it and went on a joy-ride around the school before going down the road in it. Someone reported seeing a digger travelling down the road to the police and that's when the joyriders ditched the digger! When they were driving round the school they managed to slightly damage C-Block a little bit too.
The digger was then broken into a few days later but they didn't manage to drive it anywhere after the builders took away the battery!
There have been some suggestions that these joyriders were copy-catting a similar scene in Outrageous Fortune the night before where a digger got broken into!
Only in West Auckland...
There she is, in the middle of that screenshot getting something out of her schoolbag!
--
In other news apparently some people got into the digger that's on the construction site of Rutherford College's new social sciences building, hot-wired it and went on a joy-ride around the school before going down the road in it. Someone reported seeing a digger travelling down the road to the police and that's when the joyriders ditched the digger! When they were driving round the school they managed to slightly damage C-Block a little bit too.
The digger was then broken into a few days later but they didn't manage to drive it anywhere after the builders took away the battery!
There have been some suggestions that these joyriders were copy-catting a similar scene in Outrageous Fortune the night before where a digger got broken into!
Only in West Auckland...
Turning Japanese
It was a Japanese bonanza yesterday at the ASB Stadium in Kohimarama yesterday as everyone turned out to celebrate Japan Day! We skipped church just to attend. It didn't seem to be as big as previous years though.
When we got there there were food stalls outside and inside the building, as well as two stages, one inside and one outside. The lines of people at the food stalls were massive though! We didn't end up buying any food since it was quite expensive.
I came across a couple of my pharmacy friends Ai-Ping and Jamie and her boyfriend and then I caught up with Jacqueline, my old high school friend! We just talked for a while since she was bored (she was dragged along by her family!). It was good catching up with her since I hardly talk to many people from my old high school these days, or at least people in my year. I think they've all forgotten me after I've been spending a lot of my time in Grafton! hahaha According to Jacqueline the guys don't know where I've gotten up to and can't keep up with which degree I'm studying towards!
Anyway some of the performances were quite unique and entertaining, but that's what you'd expect from the Japanese (in a good way!). Some of the dances are pretty cool and the dancers are quite into it! I'll put up some videos.
One thing I noticed too was the number of people with dSLR (digital single-lense reflex) cameras there! dSLR's are those big fat professional cameras with those huge lenses! After outgrowing our digital camera we've been meaning to buy one but we're still at that stage of deciding which one to get. We've been Canon fanboys after having good experiences with their video cameras and scanners, and their SLR's seem quite good too, but we've heard that Nikon SLR's are quite good too, so we're still pondering! They're quite expensive too and the lenses can get quite expensive too! We're only amateurs though so we probably wouldn't spend thousands! If any of you know a lot more about SLR's feel free to share your opinions!
So back to Japan Day, we left late in the day but it was a good day. I think I learnt a bit more about Japanese culture!
When we got there there were food stalls outside and inside the building, as well as two stages, one inside and one outside. The lines of people at the food stalls were massive though! We didn't end up buying any food since it was quite expensive.
I came across a couple of my pharmacy friends Ai-Ping and Jamie and her boyfriend and then I caught up with Jacqueline, my old high school friend! We just talked for a while since she was bored (she was dragged along by her family!). It was good catching up with her since I hardly talk to many people from my old high school these days, or at least people in my year. I think they've all forgotten me after I've been spending a lot of my time in Grafton! hahaha According to Jacqueline the guys don't know where I've gotten up to and can't keep up with which degree I'm studying towards!
Anyway some of the performances were quite unique and entertaining, but that's what you'd expect from the Japanese (in a good way!). Some of the dances are pretty cool and the dancers are quite into it! I'll put up some videos.
One thing I noticed too was the number of people with dSLR (digital single-lense reflex) cameras there! dSLR's are those big fat professional cameras with those huge lenses! After outgrowing our digital camera we've been meaning to buy one but we're still at that stage of deciding which one to get. We've been Canon fanboys after having good experiences with their video cameras and scanners, and their SLR's seem quite good too, but we've heard that Nikon SLR's are quite good too, so we're still pondering! They're quite expensive too and the lenses can get quite expensive too! We're only amateurs though so we probably wouldn't spend thousands! If any of you know a lot more about SLR's feel free to share your opinions!
So back to Japan Day, we left late in the day but it was a good day. I think I learnt a bit more about Japanese culture!
Friday, 14 November 2008
The End of Another Year at Uni
I had an eight day gap between my last exam and yesterday's exam, so I ended up taking the first day off and just do nothing. The next day my mum got me to go shopping with her and so I didn't do anything for another day. The third day was Election Day of course!! I did a little studying on Saturday and Sunday but finally got started on Monday!
I can only really seem to study when I'm away from the house because of the TV, the internet and the fact that we don't have clear tables at home!
So for the past week I've been at uni drinking V (an energy drink) and studying as much as possible for the dreaded CHEM230 exam.
On Tuesday I caught up with Young-Bin and Eliza, two first year friends and went for lunch with them (which was just popcorn for me...I was being cheap that day!) when Jennifer (a friend from church) came by with her friends and noticed it was her high school friend (Eliza), science camp friend (Young-Bin) and church friend (Calum) all hanging out together! She had just finished her engineering exam and went off shortly after.
After that lunch though we went back to studying and thanks to them two I managed to get a seat at the Information Commons which is really full during exam period!
We also had dinner later in the evening with a couple of Eliza's orchestra friends who were pretty cool and entertaining! So we managed to fit in a bit of fun even amongst the study!
On Wednesday, the day before the exam, I had no popcorn but I bought one of those large 500mL cans of V and drank that for most of the day and I have to admit V has definitely been keeping me awake! I think it was a bit too much for me that day though. Towards the end of the night my mind was all over the place! I also happened to miss the 9.30pm bus that night and so had to endure sitting at the bus stop for an hour till the next bus came! That night I had all these dreams of chemical reactions and their reagents, none of which I think were entirely correct, but then again I can't even remember!
The chemistry exam was teeeerrrrible! It was really bad! Even the last stuff I covered didn't even fit in with what the questions were asking! Many of us pharmacy students came out of it not feeling too great about it, but then again some were not feeling too great about it because they thought they were going to lose ONE mark!!
I went to the toilet during the exam, and went into one of the cubicles. I could hear someone flicking through pages in the cubicle right next to me though! I was thinking maybe someone was doing a little bit of cheating...but when I came out the exam man was standing there waiting for me! I didn't realise he would come into the toilet with me!
Anyway the feeling of no more exams felt great, despite the possibility that we might have just failed! We all collected our pharmacy t-shirts from our class-rep Daniel and then a few of us wandered around looking for lunch. We ended up in a nearby Japanese restaurant where half of us had rice, the other had noodles and some others just had dumplings and octopus balls I think?
There was supposed to be a pharmacy picnic at a park near Grafton which we were planning on attending, but in the end we couldn't be bothered. The girls who were with us wanted to just Facebook (if you can use it as a verb!) and so us guys, with nothing better to do, went to play a bit of Foosball.
And that caps off another semester and another year at uni!
I can only really seem to study when I'm away from the house because of the TV, the internet and the fact that we don't have clear tables at home!
So for the past week I've been at uni drinking V (an energy drink) and studying as much as possible for the dreaded CHEM230 exam.
On Tuesday I caught up with Young-Bin and Eliza, two first year friends and went for lunch with them (which was just popcorn for me...I was being cheap that day!) when Jennifer (a friend from church) came by with her friends and noticed it was her high school friend (Eliza), science camp friend (Young-Bin) and church friend (Calum) all hanging out together! She had just finished her engineering exam and went off shortly after.
After that lunch though we went back to studying and thanks to them two I managed to get a seat at the Information Commons which is really full during exam period!
We also had dinner later in the evening with a couple of Eliza's orchestra friends who were pretty cool and entertaining! So we managed to fit in a bit of fun even amongst the study!
On Wednesday, the day before the exam, I had no popcorn but I bought one of those large 500mL cans of V and drank that for most of the day and I have to admit V has definitely been keeping me awake! I think it was a bit too much for me that day though. Towards the end of the night my mind was all over the place! I also happened to miss the 9.30pm bus that night and so had to endure sitting at the bus stop for an hour till the next bus came! That night I had all these dreams of chemical reactions and their reagents, none of which I think were entirely correct, but then again I can't even remember!
The chemistry exam was teeeerrrrible! It was really bad! Even the last stuff I covered didn't even fit in with what the questions were asking! Many of us pharmacy students came out of it not feeling too great about it, but then again some were not feeling too great about it because they thought they were going to lose ONE mark!!
I went to the toilet during the exam, and went into one of the cubicles. I could hear someone flicking through pages in the cubicle right next to me though! I was thinking maybe someone was doing a little bit of cheating...but when I came out the exam man was standing there waiting for me! I didn't realise he would come into the toilet with me!
Anyway the feeling of no more exams felt great, despite the possibility that we might have just failed! We all collected our pharmacy t-shirts from our class-rep Daniel and then a few of us wandered around looking for lunch. We ended up in a nearby Japanese restaurant where half of us had rice, the other had noodles and some others just had dumplings and octopus balls I think?
There was supposed to be a pharmacy picnic at a park near Grafton which we were planning on attending, but in the end we couldn't be bothered. The girls who were with us wanted to just Facebook (if you can use it as a verb!) and so us guys, with nothing better to do, went to play a bit of Foosball.
And that caps off another semester and another year at uni!
Sunday, 9 November 2008
The End of an Era
And that's it...Thank you Helen Clark for everything you've done for the country as prime minister, it's definitely going to feel very weird without you leading us!
As for John Key, all the best. Hopefully he does what's best for the country and doesn't let ROGER DOUGLAS get a word in!
You can probably guess I'm feeling a bit gutted right now, similar to how I felt when the All Blacks lost the world cup last year - not the result I wanted! I'm going to go have a cry in the corner and probably get depressed tomorrow morning when it truly sinks in but then I'll get over it!
Edit: For all those wondering, The Bill and Ben Party gained 0.51%, more than Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (0.36%), NZ Pacific Party (0.33%) and the Family Party (0.33%), but less than the Kiwi Party (0.56%).
At the bottom of the list is the Worker's Party (0.04%), RAM (0.02%), and the Republic of NZ Party (0.01%).
As for John Key, all the best. Hopefully he does what's best for the country and doesn't let ROGER DOUGLAS get a word in!
You can probably guess I'm feeling a bit gutted right now, similar to how I felt when the All Blacks lost the world cup last year - not the result I wanted! I'm going to go have a cry in the corner and probably get depressed tomorrow morning when it truly sinks in but then I'll get over it!
Edit: For all those wondering, The Bill and Ben Party gained 0.51%, more than Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (0.36%), NZ Pacific Party (0.33%) and the Family Party (0.33%), but less than the Kiwi Party (0.56%).
At the bottom of the list is the Worker's Party (0.04%), RAM (0.02%), and the Republic of NZ Party (0.01%).
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Fear for the Future
It really isn't looking too good and I don't even know which is worse - National on its own or National + ACT? I suppose having Peter Dunne in there will keep things closer towards the centre but he only holds one seat while ACT is likely to bring in five seats including....Roger Douglas!!
Things haven't looked too good out west. While David Cunliffe and Chris Carter are likely to win their seats Lynne Pillay is likely to be out, being about 1000 votes behind Paula Bennette of National with 81% of the vote being counted.
To make things worse the National party vote has outnumbered the Labour party vote in all three West Auckland electorates, even if it is by a hundred or so votes.
One of the weirdest things I heard on TV tonight was by an Indian guy voting for National -
"Labour's done a lot of good things for the country but it's time for a change."
He is, in Paul Henry's mind and words, a 'stupid voter'!
Things haven't looked too good out west. While David Cunliffe and Chris Carter are likely to win their seats Lynne Pillay is likely to be out, being about 1000 votes behind Paula Bennette of National with 81% of the vote being counted.
To make things worse the National party vote has outnumbered the Labour party vote in all three West Auckland electorates, even if it is by a hundred or so votes.
One of the weirdest things I heard on TV tonight was by an Indian guy voting for National -
"Labour's done a lot of good things for the country but it's time for a change."
He is, in Paul Henry's mind and words, a 'stupid voter'!
It's all On!!!
It's about twenty minutes till voting closes and the counting starts, talk about the excitement building! The election campaign has ended and we'll soon find out who will be leading our country for the next three years.
Yesterday saw a late flurry of campaigning with candidates and helpers waving banners and making a lot of noise at various intersections and round-abouts. I caught Tau Henare at the Te Atatu South round-about, while Labour supporters had the New Lynn intersection covered. I did my part by honking my horn as I went past them, only to have my mum shout at me for nearly colliding with the middle barrier!
This morning voting booths were open at the school I teach recorder, and so I taught the kids before I went to lose my voting virginity. Boy are some of those kids getting cheeky! I had one of the girls saying to me
"You're still single! Eeeeewwwwwwwwww!!!!!"
And before the conversation went started to be about me hitting on them (which I absolutely didn't!) I decided to completely change the topic and get them playing music!
Anyway in true Election Day spirit I conducted my own poll of 6-9 year old children (with a margin of error of...I have no idea...):
Yesterday saw a late flurry of campaigning with candidates and helpers waving banners and making a lot of noise at various intersections and round-abouts. I caught Tau Henare at the Te Atatu South round-about, while Labour supporters had the New Lynn intersection covered. I did my part by honking my horn as I went past them, only to have my mum shout at me for nearly colliding with the middle barrier!
This morning voting booths were open at the school I teach recorder, and so I taught the kids before I went to lose my voting virginity. Boy are some of those kids getting cheeky! I had one of the girls saying to me
"You're still single! Eeeeewwwwwwwwww!!!!!"
And before the conversation went started to be about me hitting on them (which I absolutely didn't!) I decided to completely change the topic and get them playing music!
Anyway in true Election Day spirit I conducted my own poll of 6-9 year old children (with a margin of error of...I have no idea...):
Calum's Election Day Poll of 9 - 11 Year Old Children
Labour 0
National 1
New Zealand First 0
Maori Party 1
Act 0
HUH???&% 4
Labour 0
National 1
New Zealand First 0
Maori Party 1
Act 0
HUH???&% 4
So according to these results the seats in parliament will be split 50/50 by the National and Maori Party. I'll report on the results and how accurate this poll turns out to be as results come to hand!
Finally after recorder lessons and the violin lesson, Hamish my mum and I finally got to voting. I went in and gave my two ticks to a certain political party and nearly put it in the wrong box but thanks to my mum who called out to me just in time I stopped myself and made my vote count!
Let's roll on the elections!!
Let's roll on the elections!!
Examache
Blasted exams meant I missed watching the American elections vote count and only just got out in time to hear that Obama had won! History is made and I'm stuck doing a stupid exam!
I got a week off to prepare for exams and so this time I went into uni everyday to study so I wouldn't get distracted. I don't know how much I spent on V energy drinks! It's really hard finding somewhere to study at uni as the General Library and Information Commons are so full! I also tend to get intimidated by others around me studying so intently, so I have been doing most of my study in the public library.
Actually there was one day I was on the bus thinking how great it was that I was absorbing the stuff I was reading! That was until this heavy metal guy sat across the aisle from me. His music was on so loud that he definitely wasn't the only one listening to it, the rest of us with no way to block out his sound were forced to listen to it too! Thank goodness he got off a little while later,
The distractions didn't stop that day though. I was trying to study in the public library and I happened to be close to this conference room where one woman and one man were having some sort of meeting. They didn't however realise that their room wasn't sound-proof and so they were quite loud! The man left the room for a while before returning and I was sorta looking at him. I think he must've got the clue as after that they were a lot quieter!
I've met some new people during the study period too, like this girl I randomly met in the Information Commons who seems to know everyone! I also caught up with her again a few days later in the Architecture Library which was the first time I'd ever been in there! I had no idea where it was either! We kinda whispered to each other for quite a while till we got shushed by someone (I admit it was a bit rude of us, I would hate to be trying to study around us! We really should've left the library!). I'm not too sure if I'll go there again anytime soon! haha
I had about three exams within a week starting last Saturday morning which meant I couldn't teach that morning and couldn't perform at the school's violin concert. That exam was a bit icky with all these questions on plants and sludge which I wasn't too confident on.
I admit I wasn't studying he night before that exam but instead went with my youth group to Laserforce and bowling over in North Shore. Well I needed a break!! It was the first time I had been to Laserforce and it was pretty intense for the 10-15 minutes it lasted (it felt much longer!). Our team won overall in points and I managed to score the most points, but only because I shot these targets that give you bonus points!
Bowling was quite fun too, albeit slightly frustrating! I was playing my D game and did quite badly, while Aonghas was scoring highly! The bowling alley stuffed up a few times though, like when it set the pins and a few at the back fell over. Hamish also bowled so slowly the ball didn't make it to the pins and stopped half way there in the gutter. Someone else from youth group tried bowling another ball to push that ball along, only to get her ball stuck!
We finished the night off though with a surprise car race along the motorways with our youth group leader (which we didn't expect from him, especially since he has a family and everything!). We had a guy and his younger brother in our car while the rest were in the other car. We stuck to the speed limit though...honestly!! I'm not so sure about the others though.. The funniest thing was that the boy in our car made a prayer request that following Sunday morning at children's Sunday School to
'Thank the Lord for Laserforce, bowling and the car chase at 120km per hour'
Hmm hope that's not what he told his parents!
Back to exams! My Pharmacy exam on the following Monday wasn't too bad, only that it was quite long and we only got two hours! My first three exams have all been three hours so that hasn't been too bad.
As I mentioned earlier, my Medsci exam later that week coincided with the American elections which was really disappointing! I was telling one of my pharmacy friends how we'd be missing the excitement on TV by being stuck in the exam, and she sarcastically remarked
"Yes because that's what we'd be doing if we weren't in an exam..."
Yes it would be!! That exam was slightly different with a 25 mark crossword for us to complete. Most of us flicked through the multi-choice questions and answers looking for words that would fit in! Before that exam I had been studying all morning in the public library till I could study no more by midday and decided to see how things were going on CNN on the big screen. I was sitting there when this guy came and sat next to me and started to ask me where I was from. He then went on to tell me how he was half Samoan and half Chinese and couldn't get a job and so he'd be voting Labour (don't use this against me people!!).
Anyway I have one last exam this Thursday - Chemistry, which is quite difficult, so I better get started studying!
I got a week off to prepare for exams and so this time I went into uni everyday to study so I wouldn't get distracted. I don't know how much I spent on V energy drinks! It's really hard finding somewhere to study at uni as the General Library and Information Commons are so full! I also tend to get intimidated by others around me studying so intently, so I have been doing most of my study in the public library.
Actually there was one day I was on the bus thinking how great it was that I was absorbing the stuff I was reading! That was until this heavy metal guy sat across the aisle from me. His music was on so loud that he definitely wasn't the only one listening to it, the rest of us with no way to block out his sound were forced to listen to it too! Thank goodness he got off a little while later,
The distractions didn't stop that day though. I was trying to study in the public library and I happened to be close to this conference room where one woman and one man were having some sort of meeting. They didn't however realise that their room wasn't sound-proof and so they were quite loud! The man left the room for a while before returning and I was sorta looking at him. I think he must've got the clue as after that they were a lot quieter!
I've met some new people during the study period too, like this girl I randomly met in the Information Commons who seems to know everyone! I also caught up with her again a few days later in the Architecture Library which was the first time I'd ever been in there! I had no idea where it was either! We kinda whispered to each other for quite a while till we got shushed by someone (I admit it was a bit rude of us, I would hate to be trying to study around us! We really should've left the library!). I'm not too sure if I'll go there again anytime soon! haha
I had about three exams within a week starting last Saturday morning which meant I couldn't teach that morning and couldn't perform at the school's violin concert. That exam was a bit icky with all these questions on plants and sludge which I wasn't too confident on.
I admit I wasn't studying he night before that exam but instead went with my youth group to Laserforce and bowling over in North Shore. Well I needed a break!! It was the first time I had been to Laserforce and it was pretty intense for the 10-15 minutes it lasted (it felt much longer!). Our team won overall in points and I managed to score the most points, but only because I shot these targets that give you bonus points!
Bowling was quite fun too, albeit slightly frustrating! I was playing my D game and did quite badly, while Aonghas was scoring highly! The bowling alley stuffed up a few times though, like when it set the pins and a few at the back fell over. Hamish also bowled so slowly the ball didn't make it to the pins and stopped half way there in the gutter. Someone else from youth group tried bowling another ball to push that ball along, only to get her ball stuck!
We finished the night off though with a surprise car race along the motorways with our youth group leader (which we didn't expect from him, especially since he has a family and everything!). We had a guy and his younger brother in our car while the rest were in the other car. We stuck to the speed limit though...honestly!! I'm not so sure about the others though.. The funniest thing was that the boy in our car made a prayer request that following Sunday morning at children's Sunday School to
'Thank the Lord for Laserforce, bowling and the car chase at 120km per hour'
Hmm hope that's not what he told his parents!
Back to exams! My Pharmacy exam on the following Monday wasn't too bad, only that it was quite long and we only got two hours! My first three exams have all been three hours so that hasn't been too bad.
As I mentioned earlier, my Medsci exam later that week coincided with the American elections which was really disappointing! I was telling one of my pharmacy friends how we'd be missing the excitement on TV by being stuck in the exam, and she sarcastically remarked
"Yes because that's what we'd be doing if we weren't in an exam..."
Yes it would be!! That exam was slightly different with a 25 mark crossword for us to complete. Most of us flicked through the multi-choice questions and answers looking for words that would fit in! Before that exam I had been studying all morning in the public library till I could study no more by midday and decided to see how things were going on CNN on the big screen. I was sitting there when this guy came and sat next to me and started to ask me where I was from. He then went on to tell me how he was half Samoan and half Chinese and couldn't get a job and so he'd be voting Labour (don't use this against me people!!).
Anyway I have one last exam this Thursday - Chemistry, which is quite difficult, so I better get started studying!
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Several Short Stories
Let's get this blog back up to date with a few short stories!
--
We finally bought a cello, abeit a very cheap one off Trade Me! Sure it's made in China and probably basic quality, but hey at least it does the job and it's not like any of us are professional cellists anyway!
It was actually the first time I had been involved in a Trade Me auction and I must say it was quite exciting, if not a little frustrating, especially when you've got someone who's on Auto-Bid! We managed to outbid them in the end and still stay below our limit.
--
I had this Pharmacy Communications Workshop which was on dealing with difficult patients. I was paired with this guy who's a mature student and likes to... how should I put this... thoroughly critique others. So we did some roleplay where I was the pharmacist and he was a patient wanting some sleeping pills. According to my piece of paper I had to explore further into the patient's feelings, but as far as I could tell there was nothing wrong and I proceeded to sell him sleeping pills. It turned out his mum had just died, and I'm supposed to figure that out?! The guy told me I smiled too much, but it's a little hard not to especially when you know it's not real and everyone else is taking it pretty seriously!
The next roleplay was me being the pharmacist (again oh yay...) and my partner being some drug-seeker. When I heard this I started cracking up laughing, which you could say is a little immature but hey. That's when my partner told me I should work with kids at Starship Hospital or something!
--
My pharmacy placement was on the same day my parents and Hamish left for Christchurch. I was placed in this pharmacy out in the wopwops of West Auckland. I came dressed up and everything only to discover it was being run by several middle-aged women. I was the only guy in the pharmacy!
There wasn't much to do in the pharmacy besides completing my workbook, which I did by midday. They gave me a few tasks such as checking off new stock against the invoice, putting them on the shelves, doing medico packs (those little packs that elderlies get which help them figure out which pills to take with each meal), and eventually when there was nothing else to do, a stock-take of how many pills they had in the dispensory. Yes...PILLS!
One of the ladies looked through the pills I had been sorting out for the medico packs when I went over to the other side to check something, and when she found I put in the wrong pill (exactly the same drug, same strength, just different colour pill) she asked me what colour it was, what colour it should be, as if I was thick! I sorta avoided her from then on!
The owner of the pharmacy, a guy who was supposed to be my supervisor, came in later in the day and was there for a few hours. He was pretty cool, oh and also was this other pharmacy technician who talked to me and helped me out throughout the day. The owner got me to do what was probably the most technical thing I did in the dispensory - pour 200mL of paracetamol into two bottles each. I can say I fortunately didn't screw that up!
Eventually the day ended, as all days do, and I got to go home. I'm not so sure if a day at a community pharmacy affected my motivation level in a positive way though. In all honesty, there were only a few patients in the pharmacy at most at one time. After midday there was hardly anyone who came in. All the pharmacist did was check off prescriptions and double-check everything, no making drugs no compounding nothing. They don't do that that often in the dispensory these days anyway.
I was left thinking - I'm spending four years studying to end up doing something like this?!
But I am appreciative of being given the opportunity to spend a day at a community pharmacy and see what pharmacists actually do though.
--
The last few weeks of uni were hectic. We had our second and third lab assessments where we got tested on . I got a PRODUCT FAILED for my second lab assessment despite just passing it percentage-wise, but to be told a product you've dispensed is FAILED doesn't do wonders for your confidence! We had to make a cream for the assessment and I did screw up a calculation afterall..
Fortunately the final assessment which is worth the most didn't go as badly and I managed to get a reasonable mark for that!
I also had a lab test for my MEDSCI pharmacology paper which wasn't too great either but I fortunately managed to pass that. I sometimes feel out of my depth with all this science stuff!
--
OK they weren't exactly several short stories but I think I've got things covered!
--
We finally bought a cello, abeit a very cheap one off Trade Me! Sure it's made in China and probably basic quality, but hey at least it does the job and it's not like any of us are professional cellists anyway!
It was actually the first time I had been involved in a Trade Me auction and I must say it was quite exciting, if not a little frustrating, especially when you've got someone who's on Auto-Bid! We managed to outbid them in the end and still stay below our limit.
--
I had this Pharmacy Communications Workshop which was on dealing with difficult patients. I was paired with this guy who's a mature student and likes to... how should I put this... thoroughly critique others. So we did some roleplay where I was the pharmacist and he was a patient wanting some sleeping pills. According to my piece of paper I had to explore further into the patient's feelings, but as far as I could tell there was nothing wrong and I proceeded to sell him sleeping pills. It turned out his mum had just died, and I'm supposed to figure that out?! The guy told me I smiled too much, but it's a little hard not to especially when you know it's not real and everyone else is taking it pretty seriously!
The next roleplay was me being the pharmacist (again oh yay...) and my partner being some drug-seeker. When I heard this I started cracking up laughing, which you could say is a little immature but hey. That's when my partner told me I should work with kids at Starship Hospital or something!
--
My pharmacy placement was on the same day my parents and Hamish left for Christchurch. I was placed in this pharmacy out in the wopwops of West Auckland. I came dressed up and everything only to discover it was being run by several middle-aged women. I was the only guy in the pharmacy!
There wasn't much to do in the pharmacy besides completing my workbook, which I did by midday. They gave me a few tasks such as checking off new stock against the invoice, putting them on the shelves, doing medico packs (those little packs that elderlies get which help them figure out which pills to take with each meal), and eventually when there was nothing else to do, a stock-take of how many pills they had in the dispensory. Yes...PILLS!
One of the ladies looked through the pills I had been sorting out for the medico packs when I went over to the other side to check something, and when she found I put in the wrong pill (exactly the same drug, same strength, just different colour pill) she asked me what colour it was, what colour it should be, as if I was thick! I sorta avoided her from then on!
The owner of the pharmacy, a guy who was supposed to be my supervisor, came in later in the day and was there for a few hours. He was pretty cool, oh and also was this other pharmacy technician who talked to me and helped me out throughout the day. The owner got me to do what was probably the most technical thing I did in the dispensory - pour 200mL of paracetamol into two bottles each. I can say I fortunately didn't screw that up!
Eventually the day ended, as all days do, and I got to go home. I'm not so sure if a day at a community pharmacy affected my motivation level in a positive way though. In all honesty, there were only a few patients in the pharmacy at most at one time. After midday there was hardly anyone who came in. All the pharmacist did was check off prescriptions and double-check everything, no making drugs no compounding nothing. They don't do that that often in the dispensory these days anyway.
I was left thinking - I'm spending four years studying to end up doing something like this?!
But I am appreciative of being given the opportunity to spend a day at a community pharmacy and see what pharmacists actually do though.
--
The last few weeks of uni were hectic. We had our second and third lab assessments where we got tested on . I got a PRODUCT FAILED for my second lab assessment despite just passing it percentage-wise, but to be told a product you've dispensed is FAILED doesn't do wonders for your confidence! We had to make a cream for the assessment and I did screw up a calculation afterall..
Fortunately the final assessment which is worth the most didn't go as badly and I managed to get a reasonable mark for that!
I also had a lab test for my MEDSCI pharmacology paper which wasn't too great either but I fortunately managed to pass that. I sometimes feel out of my depth with all this science stuff!
--
OK they weren't exactly several short stories but I think I've got things covered!
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Home Alone
Last Wednesday our parents and Hamish flew down to Christchurch to catch up with relatives and attend the funeral of one of our great aunts (I can't exactly remember which one...I think it was Great Aunt Ruby? I've been telling people Rose but found out we have no Great Aunt Rose!).
This meant that Aonghas and I would be home alone for the next five days! I can say now that our house is still in tact and Aonghas and I got along well!
The most pressing issue was what to eat...That Wednesday morning before we got back to Henderson from the airport Aonghas and I had breakfast at McDonald's wihch wasn't too bad, and I had lunch at Wendy's that day. We just had a pizza at night. On Thursday though Aonghas had to go to work so I just ended up having a pie. Friday...now Friday I decided to try something different! I went to the Korean pancake stall that everyone's been raving on about! I have to say it was quite good! It was a little unusual having meat in a pancake but I got over that and enjoyed it! I next went down to this Asian foodcourt which I must say was a little grubby. I bought this bowl of fried rice with crab meat though which came with a bowl of soup, and it certainly was filling! It took me quite a long time to finish the huge bowl of rice! I've been warned by my friend Phoebe though that it's not safe to eat down there so I'm not too sure if I'll be back...since I haven't gotten food poisoning so far I probably will be back!
Aonghas and I binged on Wendys food on Friday night and I ended up going with pizza and popcorn on Saturday night (yes yes I can't cook) when Aonghas went off to someone's birthday party. By now there were dishes piling up and the dining room table was covered in junk. I decided on Sunday afternoon that it was about time someone got this sorted before our parents got back and through a hissy! I spent several hours after church washing dishes, and discovering that the forgotten leftover food we had in some pots had gone mouldy by now, along with all the buns we hadn't touched since our parents had gone!
The mum of this girl Jennifer in my Sunday school class (who also happens to be one of my Sunday school teachers!) was really kind, giving Aonghas and me plenty of cooked rice and vegetables for dinner on the last day we were home alone. That meant we didn't have to cook or buy any food!
OK this post has ended up about food but I guess that was one of the most noticeable differences! Of course we also had to wake up early by ourselves without our parents screaming at us, we had no one to tell us when to go to bed...so much freedom!...And so much money spent!!! But it's pretty good having them back now too though. Things are definitely a lot louder around the house!
This meant that Aonghas and I would be home alone for the next five days! I can say now that our house is still in tact and Aonghas and I got along well!
The most pressing issue was what to eat...That Wednesday morning before we got back to Henderson from the airport Aonghas and I had breakfast at McDonald's wihch wasn't too bad, and I had lunch at Wendy's that day. We just had a pizza at night. On Thursday though Aonghas had to go to work so I just ended up having a pie. Friday...now Friday I decided to try something different! I went to the Korean pancake stall that everyone's been raving on about! I have to say it was quite good! It was a little unusual having meat in a pancake but I got over that and enjoyed it! I next went down to this Asian foodcourt which I must say was a little grubby. I bought this bowl of fried rice with crab meat though which came with a bowl of soup, and it certainly was filling! It took me quite a long time to finish the huge bowl of rice! I've been warned by my friend Phoebe though that it's not safe to eat down there so I'm not too sure if I'll be back...since I haven't gotten food poisoning so far I probably will be back!
Aonghas and I binged on Wendys food on Friday night and I ended up going with pizza and popcorn on Saturday night (yes yes I can't cook) when Aonghas went off to someone's birthday party. By now there were dishes piling up and the dining room table was covered in junk. I decided on Sunday afternoon that it was about time someone got this sorted before our parents got back and through a hissy! I spent several hours after church washing dishes, and discovering that the forgotten leftover food we had in some pots had gone mouldy by now, along with all the buns we hadn't touched since our parents had gone!
The mum of this girl Jennifer in my Sunday school class (who also happens to be one of my Sunday school teachers!) was really kind, giving Aonghas and me plenty of cooked rice and vegetables for dinner on the last day we were home alone. That meant we didn't have to cook or buy any food!
OK this post has ended up about food but I guess that was one of the most noticeable differences! Of course we also had to wake up early by ourselves without our parents screaming at us, we had no one to tell us when to go to bed...so much freedom!...And so much money spent!!! But it's pretty good having them back now too though. Things are definitely a lot louder around the house!
Hitting it Head-On
So let's make up for lost time with a few posts...The Dessert Club Ice-Cream Eating competition was on a couple Mondays back (the 13th to be precise) and to be honest it wasn't as successful as last year's competition, but at least the weather was good and we still got a few people competing! Each competitor had to eat 1L of ice-cream in the fastest time possible, and it was amazing how the winner could manage doing it in about a minute!
There was also this lost property sale going on as well, where the students association sells off handed-in lost property that hasn't been claimed after a certain time period. I wanted to buy two really cheap textbooks but didn't have any money, so I went all the way down to Queen Street to use the Kiwibank ATM only for it to give me a receipt but not my cashflow card back! I didn't know what to do so I stood there thinking for a few minutes when out popped my card! I wasn't too sure what was wrong so I reinserted my cashflow card (yes in hindsight this probably wasn't the brightest thing to do!). This time I actually noticed the message that said
"Sorry this ATM cannot process this transaction at the moment"
so I quickly walked all the way up the road to the nearest Kiwibank ATM only to discover a message on the screen saying it was out of order! Argh Kiwibank!! If only they had a working ATM on campus!
I was back in time for the ice-cream eating competition though. After a while of running the competition we ended up giving away free ice-cream which saw this large group of people sitting nearby who told us they couldn't enter as they needed to get to class soon come over to us!
It was also the day Jetstar made some important announcement, but not that important for me to remember what it was of course... They were doing some promotional thing with a koala mascot around campus and they came over. I asked for a photo with the koala and so while someone had the camera ready in the hand, I ran up to the koala and our heads collided! I probably came worse off!
Fortunately all was well. I was the only one with the sore head but to cap off the day a few of us Dessert Club members went over to some Japanese restaurant for a yummy Japanese feed!
There was also this lost property sale going on as well, where the students association sells off handed-in lost property that hasn't been claimed after a certain time period. I wanted to buy two really cheap textbooks but didn't have any money, so I went all the way down to Queen Street to use the Kiwibank ATM only for it to give me a receipt but not my cashflow card back! I didn't know what to do so I stood there thinking for a few minutes when out popped my card! I wasn't too sure what was wrong so I reinserted my cashflow card (yes in hindsight this probably wasn't the brightest thing to do!). This time I actually noticed the message that said
"Sorry this ATM cannot process this transaction at the moment"
so I quickly walked all the way up the road to the nearest Kiwibank ATM only to discover a message on the screen saying it was out of order! Argh Kiwibank!! If only they had a working ATM on campus!
I was back in time for the ice-cream eating competition though. After a while of running the competition we ended up giving away free ice-cream which saw this large group of people sitting nearby who told us they couldn't enter as they needed to get to class soon come over to us!
It was also the day Jetstar made some important announcement, but not that important for me to remember what it was of course... They were doing some promotional thing with a koala mascot around campus and they came over. I asked for a photo with the koala and so while someone had the camera ready in the hand, I ran up to the koala and our heads collided! I probably came worse off!
Fortunately all was well. I was the only one with the sore head but to cap off the day a few of us Dessert Club members went over to some Japanese restaurant for a yummy Japanese feed!
Sunday, 12 October 2008
A Brief Appearance
I may be trying to study, but it ain't working too well!
Anyway the boys who hover around the Sky City bus stop asking for donations towards their sports academy's trip to Sydney finally approached me earlier this week. Since I had been thinking earlier this year that if they ever asked me I'd give them some money, I thought I better live up to my word, or my thought on this occasion. I ended up giving them $5 since I had a $5 note in my wallet. Finally I have made a donation! I admit there are many more worthy causes out there, but they'll just have to approach me first! (Don't think of that as an invitation though! haha) There was one guy who was busking on Queen St, playing his guitar and singing 'Grow Old with You' (from the Wedding Singer) which was really nice! I would've given him some money but I was in a bit of a hurry and didn't have my wallet on me at the time.
I was rushing to get back to uni after buying a birthday present for a girl in record time! I think I'm getting better! OK I admit I had a little bit of help...
It was Jacqueline's birthday on Thursday and she had organised a little get-together for some of her friends at Mission Bay. I wasn't too sure if I was going as late as that morning as I wasn't too sure if anyone I knew would be going, and whether the weather would even be good! Fortunately I found out my other friend Sarena was going and she offered to give me a ride which saved me from having to catch the bus. She was coming in twenty minutes to pick me up and so with still no birthday present for Jacqueline I rushed down to the shopping centre and started looking around. Teddy bears and chocolate were sorta ruled out early since I bought her those last year. I was wandering around looking for something when I came across the jewelery and perfume stand! The jewelery was slightly out of my price range, but there was some perfume! I asked the lady at the stand if some perfume I was looking at was good but after telling her the age of my friend she showed me some other perfume, telling me the other perfume was aimed more at older women! So I trusted the perfume lady and she helped make the decision for me!
I power-walked all the way back to uni just in time for Sarena to pick me up and we headed off to Mission Bay. We got there and wandered around looking for Jacqueline before deciding to just sit beside the fountain. Sarena had to leave by 1.30pm to get back to uni in time for her class and I was going back with her, and so we were hoping Jacqueline would get there soon. I texted her asking where she was. When she didn't reply to me after several minutes, Sarena tried texting her, and we said to each other this would determine who Jacqueline loves the most! Well it only took a few minutes before Sarena got a reply! No fair!
We caught up with a few of Jacqueline's friends who Sarena recognised and we waited outside the Fishpot Cafe for Jacqueline. She finally turned up half an hour later! I packed a little sad when she tried giving me a hug (as a joke!!) but I forgave her! Even after Jacqueline turned up we still had to wait for her other friends! Larry, Sarena and I decided to order first since we had to leave early and we ate before the others.
We soon had to leave just as the others were about to order and as Sarena was pulling out of the carpark Ben, another ex-Rutherford guy came out of nowhere asking us where everyone was!
I went to Sarena's psycholagy lecture when we got back to uni because it sounded like it'd be interesting, and it actually was! We learnt about social stereotyping! Sometimes I wish I was studying psychology!
We caught up with a few of Jacqueline's friends who Sarena recognised and we waited outside the Fishpot Cafe for Jacqueline. She finally turned up half an hour later! I packed a little sad when she tried giving me a hug (as a joke!!) but I forgave her! Even after Jacqueline turned up we still had to wait for her other friends! Larry, Sarena and I decided to order first since we had to leave early and we ate before the others.
We soon had to leave just as the others were about to order and as Sarena was pulling out of the carpark Ben, another ex-Rutherford guy came out of nowhere asking us where everyone was!
I went to Sarena's psycholagy lecture when we got back to uni because it sounded like it'd be interesting, and it actually was! We learnt about social stereotyping! Sometimes I wish I was studying psychology!
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Put Off Again!
Today I just found out that my surgery has been postponed yet again! Apparently the theatre was shut down for a day and so a lady who was scheduled to have surgery that day will be taking my place and my surgery will be moved to December or January some time. I guess the silver lining, if you can call it that, is that I'll be able to sit my last chemistry exam without any problems and don't have to apply for any special conditions or anything!
I also rang the supervising pharmacist for my externship today and this guy answered the phone. He sounds pretty laidback and joked about me being the lucky student who gets to spend a day at their pharmacy! I'll be doing that next Wednesday!
We got to make the medicine we came up with for our formulation assignment in the lab today. That meant I got to make my Paediatric PP! :D It didn't look too appealing though. It was a browny colour. Fortunately it wasn't too thick though! We didn't use real pseudoephedrine of course as...well you know...Steven, my partner for the assignment thought he'd give the medicine a go and found it very bitter! Thank goodness we won't be marked on the *actual* taste of our medicine!
I've been starting to do some 'real' study today but I just keep on falling asleep! After half an hour I've only covered a page! I really need to buy some lollies!
I also rang the supervising pharmacist for my externship today and this guy answered the phone. He sounds pretty laidback and joked about me being the lucky student who gets to spend a day at their pharmacy! I'll be doing that next Wednesday!
We got to make the medicine we came up with for our formulation assignment in the lab today. That meant I got to make my Paediatric PP! :D It didn't look too appealing though. It was a browny colour. Fortunately it wasn't too thick though! We didn't use real pseudoephedrine of course as...well you know...Steven, my partner for the assignment thought he'd give the medicine a go and found it very bitter! Thank goodness we won't be marked on the *actual* taste of our medicine!
I've been starting to do some 'real' study today but I just keep on falling asleep! After half an hour I've only covered a page! I really need to buy some lollies!
Formal Dinner Fun
The pharmacy Formal Dinner was held on Saturday night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, a place I've become familiar to after having attended three school balls there, accordion scholarship evenings and a few other events!
Even though I spent $50 on a ticket I wasn't even sure I was going to go as late as Saturday as I didn't even have transport! In the end I had to catch the bus...in a suit...That felt really weird, but I suppose it wasn't too bad since there weren't that many people on the bus. I was wearing the suit I had bought earlier in the morning. My brothers and I each bought a suit at this outlet store one of our relatives (or soon-to-be I suppose) works at as they were on discount!
My bus came late so I ended up sitting at a bus stop beside the main street for at least ten minutes, in my suit of course..The bus ride on the Ritchies bus wasn't too bad, and in fact impressed me! They actually had background music playing in the bus! Classy!
When I got to the hotel I thought I'd be late but everyone was still standing around in the foyer. One guy was dressed in a panda costume! Eventually we made it into the main hall. Everyone found a seat to sit at. My friends and I were trying to look for one, and after they managed to find seats at separate tables, I was still left with no seat! I found some other pharmacy girls who had no seat and joined them in looking for a table to sit at. I caught up with Eliza, the only first year to be at the dinner! She deserves an award just for that!! Eventually we were left standing in the corner waiting for someone to find a table for us. We ended up sitting at the sponsors' table since they didn't show up. That was a little awkward, especially sitting at a table with people you're not too close with and when the people beside you are busy texting it doesn't really make a good atmosphere for conversation-making!
Anyway dinner was all right. It was buffet. I had seconds for dessert as that was really nice! There was cheesecake and lychee!!
The formal part of the dinner got under way with the speeches and awards. Ravit got ladies' man award in our year while Ahmed and Richard got most likely to form a scooter gang award. Congratulations to Mimi for being elected Vice-President of the Pharmacy Students Association and Ahmed and Richard for Sports Reps as well!!
I managed to make my way over to the tables where most of the second years were sitting at and did some photo-taking before we all made our way to the dancefloor for the last part of the evening which was a lot more fun! Michael was most definitely the dancing king (if you could call him that!) with his slick moves! Me...I was just shuffling and trying to dance!
Towards the end of the night I took my glasses off and put them in my pocket as they were quiet loose and I didn't want to drop them. Once the night was over I reached for them but couldn't find them! Since I couldn't see the ground (bad eyesight+not much light!) I tried asking a few others if they could help me find them but no one could find my glasses, so I was about to give up on them. Aonghas and my dad came to pick me up and my dad sent Aonghas and I to look for them one more time. We still couldn't find them and the staff who were cleaning the room said they hadn't seen any glasses. We were about to leave when Judy, one of the APSA execs came running to catch up with me and handed me my glasses! Someone had found them! Yay!!! To be honest I wouldn't have minded getting a new pair of glasses but hey this way I don't have to spend extra money now!
So it was a good and happy end to the night!
Even though I spent $50 on a ticket I wasn't even sure I was going to go as late as Saturday as I didn't even have transport! In the end I had to catch the bus...in a suit...That felt really weird, but I suppose it wasn't too bad since there weren't that many people on the bus. I was wearing the suit I had bought earlier in the morning. My brothers and I each bought a suit at this outlet store one of our relatives (or soon-to-be I suppose) works at as they were on discount!
My bus came late so I ended up sitting at a bus stop beside the main street for at least ten minutes, in my suit of course..The bus ride on the Ritchies bus wasn't too bad, and in fact impressed me! They actually had background music playing in the bus! Classy!
When I got to the hotel I thought I'd be late but everyone was still standing around in the foyer. One guy was dressed in a panda costume! Eventually we made it into the main hall. Everyone found a seat to sit at. My friends and I were trying to look for one, and after they managed to find seats at separate tables, I was still left with no seat! I found some other pharmacy girls who had no seat and joined them in looking for a table to sit at. I caught up with Eliza, the only first year to be at the dinner! She deserves an award just for that!! Eventually we were left standing in the corner waiting for someone to find a table for us. We ended up sitting at the sponsors' table since they didn't show up. That was a little awkward, especially sitting at a table with people you're not too close with and when the people beside you are busy texting it doesn't really make a good atmosphere for conversation-making!
Anyway dinner was all right. It was buffet. I had seconds for dessert as that was really nice! There was cheesecake and lychee!!
The formal part of the dinner got under way with the speeches and awards. Ravit got ladies' man award in our year while Ahmed and Richard got most likely to form a scooter gang award. Congratulations to Mimi for being elected Vice-President of the Pharmacy Students Association and Ahmed and Richard for Sports Reps as well!!
I managed to make my way over to the tables where most of the second years were sitting at and did some photo-taking before we all made our way to the dancefloor for the last part of the evening which was a lot more fun! Michael was most definitely the dancing king (if you could call him that!) with his slick moves! Me...I was just shuffling and trying to dance!
Towards the end of the night I took my glasses off and put them in my pocket as they were quiet loose and I didn't want to drop them. Once the night was over I reached for them but couldn't find them! Since I couldn't see the ground (bad eyesight+not much light!) I tried asking a few others if they could help me find them but no one could find my glasses, so I was about to give up on them. Aonghas and my dad came to pick me up and my dad sent Aonghas and I to look for them one more time. We still couldn't find them and the staff who were cleaning the room said they hadn't seen any glasses. We were about to leave when Judy, one of the APSA execs came running to catch up with me and handed me my glasses! Someone had found them! Yay!!! To be honest I wouldn't have minded getting a new pair of glasses but hey this way I don't have to spend extra money now!
So it was a good and happy end to the night!
Monday, 6 October 2008
Those Darn Assignments
Two weeks since the last post this must be the longest I've been away from blogging and I admit to procrastinating as well, thinking to myself well...I'll post something tomorrow... Although I do have a good excuse for the past couple of weeks - my two assignments!
But let's start off with something I missed mentioning in my last post several weeks ago - Rhea's farewell dinner! It was on the 19th of September I think...Anyway Rhea was an old mate from school and I also got to know her younger brother through one of the Studio Shows back at Rutherford when I was performing the accordion in one of them and he was playing the drums with a band. They also lived just down the road from us!
Anyway Rhea and her family were moving to Australia noooooo! More people moving away!! She had a bit of a farewell dinner the night before at Nando's at West City. I didn't know who else was going but when I got there...slightly late...there were a few of the old guys from her year at Rutherford such as Aone, Natasha (Howdle), Lisa, Caroline and Jenna! I haven't seen quite a few of them since they were still at school last year!
We had a bit of a catch-up over a feed before we went over to the arcade place by the movies to play a few games. The cinemas had plastered all these signs everywhere saying you had to be a movie-goer in order to enter the arcade and to use their toilets too! Oh well we just disregarded those signs! A few of the girls played the basketball shooting game while it was Natasha vs Caroline in air hockey (is that what it's called?). Caroline had a bit of trouble with one of bike-racing games munching up her money! I managed to scare Natasha while she was playing this shooting game with Caroline ahahahahaha! The security guard was quite nice too, often calling some of the girls over to play free games whenever one of the machines said there was credit left!
So Rhea's now gone off to Melbourne. Hopefully she's having a terrible, terrible time being surrounded by Ockers and feeling homesick. Nah nah it sounds like she's adjusting well and having fun over there! Hopefully she comes back and visits sometime in the future!
--
In the past week I've been mainly working on two assignments, one a formulation assignment where I have to come up with my own drug, while the other is a 3000 essay on a certain drug.
For the formulation assignment, I was partnering with my friend Steven to come up with a drug that contained at least paracetamol and pseudoephedrine. What we had on our side was that one of my youth group leaders is a pharmacist who's in the manufacturing/formulation side of things and was able to give me advice on what sorta ingredients to use and how to go about deciding which excipients to use.
In the end we came up with a paracetamol and pseudoephedrine suspension with orange syrup and...well I won't tell you what else is in it or else you might steal it ;) The morning of the day it was due Steven and I were making last minute checks and fortunately the guy sitting at the same table as us was a pharmacy student, probably a year or two ahead of us, who offered to help check things for us! He said it looked good so hopefully it's all OK! We ended up naming our drug: Paediatric PP! We were thinking about Paradrine, or Pseudomol, but then just before one of my pharmacy labs I heard someone else talking about those names and came to realise that a lot of people were using names like those!
--
I had my Individual Student Assessment in the pharmacy lab last week. That is when a tutor pretends to be your patient and you have to pretend to be their pharmacist and instruct them on how to use the drug you've made. They then ask more technical questions to test your understanding of of the drug. I got this Korean tutor who I must say was HARSH! She asked me all these technical questions and I couldn't tell if she was still pretending to be the patient or not! She asked me a question I wasn't too sure how to answer, and so I was thinking...should I make something up or be honest and say I don't know the answer? So I thought I'd go along with the roleplay and say
"I'm not exactly too sure sorry but I'll go get the pharmacist"
That's when my tutor/patient said
"But you ARE the pharmacist!!'
Oh boy.... no marks back for that yet though.
--
And finally, my MEDSCI204 assignment, a 3000 word essay on one of six drugs. I (stupidly) chose atomoxetine to write about. It just happened to be one of the newest drugs of the six, the one with probably the least information. For example, when it came to the mechanisms of action, most of what I got was
"Scientists are still unsure how it works..."
That's great help! Now I admit I did miss quite a few lectures that week just to work on my essay, but despite that, I still ended up doing an all-niter on Thursday night and only just got the essay finished at 7.30am Friday morning! It was due at 1pm later that Friday, but because I had a BIOSCI lab from 10am-1pm that day I pretty much had to submit it before I went into the lab.
I caught the bus into uni with Phoebe as I usually do on Friday mornings. We got into the city so early that we had plenty of time to go into a computer lab and just muck around, put on makeup (and I'm not talking about Phoebe...jk), and submit my essay before having to go to class. I was so tired that day I sorta fell asleep in the lab while the tutor was going through the instructions! I was about to attend my chemistry lecture straight after, but I only sat down for a few seconds, thought.....NAAAHHH and left. When I exited the building I came by the Music School, so in a spur of the moment sorta thing I attended the lunchtime music concert, which probably isn't such a good thing when you're tired, because you're bound to sleep right through it, especially when it's classical music!
Well I was determined to attend my BIOSCI lecture after a week's absence, but it turned out there was none! That meant I could go home early! :D When I say early I really mean 3pm. I was sitting at the bus stop when these teams of people dressed up came by. One team was dressed in rugby gear, one in army gear...they were carrying scales and asking people at the bus stop if they could weigh them! Apparently it was part of their company's team-building competition 'The Amazing Race'. They did adjust the scales to start at 10kg though. Talk about cheating! I managed to catch the bus back home with Phoebe again so that was cool catching up with her again.
Now I've only got one more assignment to go..my pharmacy externship! Unfortunately the pharmacy I'm spending a day at is in Ranui. My friends who don't live in West Auckland anymore but still put down West Auckland as their preferred location managed to get a pharmacy in Te Atatu Peninsula, the one this girl in my Sunday school works at as an intern! My friend who lives in Lynfield also got a pharmacy in Henderson! I suppose Ranui isn't too far away anyway. At least it isn't as bad as my friend who lives in North Shore but was given Penrose after there were no more pharmacies left on the Shore!
--
I've been catching up with my friend Alice in the past few weeks too. We had a big long discussion on all sorts of stuff at one time and then the next week we went for a little visit to the laptop shop where I had bought the laptop case that was too small for my laptop. Fortunately hers fits! After talking to her though I kinda wish I bought a Sony Vaio now! Maybe I'll make that the next brand I try!
--
You may be aware that I semi-sprained my ankle after falling down the stairs in a lecture theatre a few weeks ago. Well a week later at youth group it was activities night and we were playing some game with balloons...sorta like netball...and I somehow bent my middle finger back and sprained...or bruised it? It turned brown at least! Now it is feeling a bit better and I can still play the accordion! Oh and my ankle's all better now!
As for my application to sit my exam early because of my surgery, I'm still waiting for my orthodontist to write a letter for me. Please please please write the letter before the due date Mrs Orthodontist lady!!
But let's start off with something I missed mentioning in my last post several weeks ago - Rhea's farewell dinner! It was on the 19th of September I think...Anyway Rhea was an old mate from school and I also got to know her younger brother through one of the Studio Shows back at Rutherford when I was performing the accordion in one of them and he was playing the drums with a band. They also lived just down the road from us!
Anyway Rhea and her family were moving to Australia noooooo! More people moving away!! She had a bit of a farewell dinner the night before at Nando's at West City. I didn't know who else was going but when I got there...slightly late...there were a few of the old guys from her year at Rutherford such as Aone, Natasha (Howdle), Lisa, Caroline and Jenna! I haven't seen quite a few of them since they were still at school last year!
We had a bit of a catch-up over a feed before we went over to the arcade place by the movies to play a few games. The cinemas had plastered all these signs everywhere saying you had to be a movie-goer in order to enter the arcade and to use their toilets too! Oh well we just disregarded those signs! A few of the girls played the basketball shooting game while it was Natasha vs Caroline in air hockey (is that what it's called?). Caroline had a bit of trouble with one of bike-racing games munching up her money! I managed to scare Natasha while she was playing this shooting game with Caroline ahahahahaha! The security guard was quite nice too, often calling some of the girls over to play free games whenever one of the machines said there was credit left!
So Rhea's now gone off to Melbourne. Hopefully she's having a terrible, terrible time being surrounded by Ockers and feeling homesick. Nah nah it sounds like she's adjusting well and having fun over there! Hopefully she comes back and visits sometime in the future!
--
In the past week I've been mainly working on two assignments, one a formulation assignment where I have to come up with my own drug, while the other is a 3000 essay on a certain drug.
For the formulation assignment, I was partnering with my friend Steven to come up with a drug that contained at least paracetamol and pseudoephedrine. What we had on our side was that one of my youth group leaders is a pharmacist who's in the manufacturing/formulation side of things and was able to give me advice on what sorta ingredients to use and how to go about deciding which excipients to use.
In the end we came up with a paracetamol and pseudoephedrine suspension with orange syrup and...well I won't tell you what else is in it or else you might steal it ;) The morning of the day it was due Steven and I were making last minute checks and fortunately the guy sitting at the same table as us was a pharmacy student, probably a year or two ahead of us, who offered to help check things for us! He said it looked good so hopefully it's all OK! We ended up naming our drug: Paediatric PP! We were thinking about Paradrine, or Pseudomol, but then just before one of my pharmacy labs I heard someone else talking about those names and came to realise that a lot of people were using names like those!
--
I had my Individual Student Assessment in the pharmacy lab last week. That is when a tutor pretends to be your patient and you have to pretend to be their pharmacist and instruct them on how to use the drug you've made. They then ask more technical questions to test your understanding of of the drug. I got this Korean tutor who I must say was HARSH! She asked me all these technical questions and I couldn't tell if she was still pretending to be the patient or not! She asked me a question I wasn't too sure how to answer, and so I was thinking...should I make something up or be honest and say I don't know the answer? So I thought I'd go along with the roleplay and say
"I'm not exactly too sure sorry but I'll go get the pharmacist"
That's when my tutor/patient said
"But you ARE the pharmacist!!'
Oh boy.... no marks back for that yet though.
--
And finally, my MEDSCI204 assignment, a 3000 word essay on one of six drugs. I (stupidly) chose atomoxetine to write about. It just happened to be one of the newest drugs of the six, the one with probably the least information. For example, when it came to the mechanisms of action, most of what I got was
"Scientists are still unsure how it works..."
That's great help! Now I admit I did miss quite a few lectures that week just to work on my essay, but despite that, I still ended up doing an all-niter on Thursday night and only just got the essay finished at 7.30am Friday morning! It was due at 1pm later that Friday, but because I had a BIOSCI lab from 10am-1pm that day I pretty much had to submit it before I went into the lab.
I caught the bus into uni with Phoebe as I usually do on Friday mornings. We got into the city so early that we had plenty of time to go into a computer lab and just muck around, put on makeup (and I'm not talking about Phoebe...jk), and submit my essay before having to go to class. I was so tired that day I sorta fell asleep in the lab while the tutor was going through the instructions! I was about to attend my chemistry lecture straight after, but I only sat down for a few seconds, thought.....NAAAHHH and left. When I exited the building I came by the Music School, so in a spur of the moment sorta thing I attended the lunchtime music concert, which probably isn't such a good thing when you're tired, because you're bound to sleep right through it, especially when it's classical music!
Well I was determined to attend my BIOSCI lecture after a week's absence, but it turned out there was none! That meant I could go home early! :D When I say early I really mean 3pm. I was sitting at the bus stop when these teams of people dressed up came by. One team was dressed in rugby gear, one in army gear...they were carrying scales and asking people at the bus stop if they could weigh them! Apparently it was part of their company's team-building competition 'The Amazing Race'. They did adjust the scales to start at 10kg though. Talk about cheating! I managed to catch the bus back home with Phoebe again so that was cool catching up with her again.
Now I've only got one more assignment to go..my pharmacy externship! Unfortunately the pharmacy I'm spending a day at is in Ranui. My friends who don't live in West Auckland anymore but still put down West Auckland as their preferred location managed to get a pharmacy in Te Atatu Peninsula, the one this girl in my Sunday school works at as an intern! My friend who lives in Lynfield also got a pharmacy in Henderson! I suppose Ranui isn't too far away anyway. At least it isn't as bad as my friend who lives in North Shore but was given Penrose after there were no more pharmacies left on the Shore!
--
I've been catching up with my friend Alice in the past few weeks too. We had a big long discussion on all sorts of stuff at one time and then the next week we went for a little visit to the laptop shop where I had bought the laptop case that was too small for my laptop. Fortunately hers fits! After talking to her though I kinda wish I bought a Sony Vaio now! Maybe I'll make that the next brand I try!
--
You may be aware that I semi-sprained my ankle after falling down the stairs in a lecture theatre a few weeks ago. Well a week later at youth group it was activities night and we were playing some game with balloons...sorta like netball...and I somehow bent my middle finger back and sprained...or bruised it? It turned brown at least! Now it is feeling a bit better and I can still play the accordion! Oh and my ankle's all better now!
As for my application to sit my exam early because of my surgery, I'm still waiting for my orthodontist to write a letter for me. Please please please write the letter before the due date Mrs Orthodontist lady!!
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Making Interesting Things
This week has been a bit of a tricky week. With two assignments due next week, I admit I've been skipping a few classes to work on them! After a couple days of planning to bring my laptop to uni, only to decide against it because of the weather and then realise the weather wasn't bad afterall, I finally managed to bring it to uni yesterday and today.
We had a bit of a cool pharmacy lab on Tuesday when we made suppositories - sorta like a pill you put up your rectum and leave to melt for those of you who don't know what one is! Fortunately I wasn't assessed that day, but then again maybe it would've been better to have been assessed so I wouldn't have to worry about being assessed next week or the week after!
Later that day I had to go see one of the university doctors to talk about my dilemma regarding my surgery being three days before my scheduled exam. Initially she said I'd have to apply for aegrotat and there'd be no way I'd be able to sit the exam as it was unlikely I'd be allowed to sit the exam under special conditions i.e. earlier or later than the exam date. After asking (in a pleading sort of way because I didn't want to trust my mid-term results which they would base my overall grade on - and rightfully so, since I did badly in the test!!), she contacted the exams office and they suggested I fill out an application. It's going to cost me $100 to apply to sit the test under 'special conditions' and $25 for aegrotat. Boy is that expensive!
I've also been assigned a pharmacy for my community pharmacy externship, and it's located in...drumroll please...Ranui!!! It's this suburb in West Auckland which....hhhmmmmmmm mmmmm....OK it's down Swanson Road so it's not too bad I guess. I'll have to contact the pharmacist sometime to arrange the time I have to spend a full working day there.
We had a bit of a cool pharmacy lab on Tuesday when we made suppositories - sorta like a pill you put up your rectum and leave to melt for those of you who don't know what one is! Fortunately I wasn't assessed that day, but then again maybe it would've been better to have been assessed so I wouldn't have to worry about being assessed next week or the week after!
Later that day I had to go see one of the university doctors to talk about my dilemma regarding my surgery being three days before my scheduled exam. Initially she said I'd have to apply for aegrotat and there'd be no way I'd be able to sit the exam as it was unlikely I'd be allowed to sit the exam under special conditions i.e. earlier or later than the exam date. After asking (in a pleading sort of way because I didn't want to trust my mid-term results which they would base my overall grade on - and rightfully so, since I did badly in the test!!), she contacted the exams office and they suggested I fill out an application. It's going to cost me $100 to apply to sit the test under 'special conditions' and $25 for aegrotat. Boy is that expensive!
I've also been assigned a pharmacy for my community pharmacy externship, and it's located in...drumroll please...Ranui!!! It's this suburb in West Auckland which....hhhmmmmmmm mmmmm....OK it's down Swanson Road so it's not too bad I guess. I'll have to contact the pharmacist sometime to arrange the time I have to spend a full working day there.
Mimi for VP!
Everyone who are eligible to vote in the APSA (pharmacy students association) elections then vote Mimi for vice-president!!!! Oh and don't forget to vote for Richard and Ahmed for sports reps and Asal for Otago liason officer!!! I have no idea who anyone else is...
They did their speeches/promos/publicity stunts on Monday morning before our lecture with Richard and Ahmed doing a little skit based on the Snickers 'Get Some Nuts!' promo which was pretty cool! They were dressed in army uniforms and even made their own little cardboard tanks and did a little dance to 'Eye of the Tiger'! (That's not why I'm voting for them though of course!)
They did their speeches/promos/publicity stunts on Monday morning before our lecture with Richard and Ahmed doing a little skit based on the Snickers 'Get Some Nuts!' promo which was pretty cool! They were dressed in army uniforms and even made their own little cardboard tanks and did a little dance to 'Eye of the Tiger'! (That's not why I'm voting for them though of course!)
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