Year In Review

Time for my annual Year In Review, looking at the first sentence of the first blog post of each month with a summary of what happened that month:


January


"Wow 2009 is finally over, the first decade of the 21st century has passed and 2010 is just beginning!"


- Sky Tower fireworks are a bit of a disappointment
- Spray the house with '30 Seconds Spray and Walk Away'
- Have a sleepover at the Chins', and get my hair straightened
- Fine dining for Diane's 21st and do a bit of clubbing
- Help out with children's summer programme at church, I'm in charge of singing
- BBQ at Grace's!
- The church congregation goes for an outing to the Botanical Gardens
- I have Wendy's on my 21st and KFC with the Chins and Grace 
- I score a job as a Student Ambassador at University of Auckland
- Some Indian lady cons us into giving her our peaches!


February


'Last Friday night was the first 'official' youth group of the year. There wasn't much planned for the night except for a potluck dinner where we each had to bring a plate of food to share.'


- First youth group of the year, get the letter I wrote to myself back
- Have a reunion for children's programme helpers, as well as a shared dinner for my mum's church group
- My alternative NZ flag makes it on the NZ Herald website!
- I have a 21st birthday at my cousins' house on Waitangi Day
- Chinese New Year Festivals!
- Watch Avatar for the second time, this time with the family
- Bye-bye old brown couch
- Jeremy and Asumi get married!
- Diane and I have a catch-up and spend the time at the park
- Meet my recorder students for the first time


March


'Last week was Orientation Week, in which I spent helping out as a Student Ambassador around uni. Okay, maybe it would be more accurate to say that I was paid to be a Student Ambassador!'


- Orientation Week and I help out as an ambassador!
- Lantern Festival and Japan Festival brings out the Asian in us
- I hurt myself twice in the aseptic dispensing lab, smashing stuff on my hands
- Join all these clubs at uni, rejoin an entirely new Dessert Club Committee
- Lecturer chucks chalk at me for falling asleep in his lecture
- Have a couple meet-ups with Student Life people
- Learn about STI's!
- Our car tyre blows out on the way to Piano Traders
- Our church goes on camp!
- I find a black beetle in my hot chocolate from McDonald's
- We have fun at Jennifer's 20th birthday
- Pita and Estee get engaged!
- My uncle's health takes a turn for the worst
- Our Dessert Club tries to sell cake at uni after a movie day


April


'I completely forgot it was April Fools' Day again for the second year in a row! I had an aseptic dispensing lab all morning and only realised after midday when I was in the toilet! Grrrrr!'


- I miss April Fools Day again!
- Special Easter service at church
- Jennifer and Derek from church get baptised
- Dessert Club have their first Easter Bunny Hunt!
- I attend a first aid course and get a certificate
- We buy a massive amount of ice-cream that will last us the next year
- Gabrielle gets engaged!
- My brothers and I go out for Korean BBQ with some Student Life people
- Oddfellows have an Ultra-Mega-Get-Together, we go watch KickA$$
- A week later Oddfellows go bowling, first day for Amy!
- Keep getting complained at in dispensing labs


May


'Today I taught my new class of beginners for the first time! Originally I was expecting only two new students (twin brothers), but in the end I got four!'


- Number of recorder students continues to grow
- 4th Year Pharmacy class dinner at La Porchetta
- Dessert Club holds their annual Pie Eating Competition, we make a whole lot of pies
- Oddfellows perform/rap Jay Chou's 'Ting Ma Ma de Hua' for mothers on Mothers Day
- Celebrate Jane's 21st 


June


'RIP our beloved rabbit Caramello. We've had her for many years, but she passed away this morning when our dad went outside to feed her and clean up her hutch, only to find her motionless.'


- RIP our rabbit Caramello
- RIP Uncle David, who passed away on first day of exams
- Impressed with quality of choirs at The Big Sing Choral Festival
- Oddfellows put on a musical to farewell our leader Karvin
-  Spend a week in Christchurch on hospital placement, staying with the relatives


July


'This was the last day I would be staying at the Borastons’ house as they would be leaving tomorrow for Blenheim to go olive-picking.'


- Travel to Wellington for a day for a job interview in Lower Hutt
- Spend a week working at a community pharmacy
- The Huang family come from Australia to visit! We visit Western Springs and dine at Valentine's
- Oddfellows have a sleepover at church
- Last ever semester at uni starts, bump into Zippo
- Get hooked on Asian drama
- Rejected by Lower Hutt Hospital for a job
- Have another job interview at a community pharmacy
- Our pharmacy indoor soccer team comes 2nd...again


August


'I attended my first MHSSSO (Medical Health Sciences Students Symphony Orchestra) rehearsal tonight after a while.'


- Attended first MHSSSO (Medical and Health Sciences Students Symphony Orchestra) rehearsal, felt exposed as only violist
- Jesus Week at uni, get asked some really weird questions
- Go through the Yellow Pages, contacting almost every pharmacy in West Auckland looking for a job
- Free pizza for pharmacy students!
- We support Phillip at the Rutherford X-Factor competition, seeing him take out 2nd place
- We then support Cleo at her school's Chinese Extravaganza
- Angie and I catch up over lunch a few times
- Another job interview all the way in Hobsonville
- We farewell Mr Yale, Jonathan
- KBB School Orchestra Festival!!
- Job interview at Campus Pharmacy
- I help out as ambassador at uni Courses and Careers Day
- Rayson's live stream of his wedding doesn't work, so we just hang out at the Chin's
- Dessert Club's Epic Race turns out to be too epic for some
- I get a job!


September


'This morning I finally managed to get my mum to give me a haircut after the AA man came to fix our car.'

- Chen, Rose and I have lunch together, revisiting old memories 

- Alice invites me to join her MCC team and compete in a case competition - we reach the finals

- Some Hari Krishna woman cons me into paying for her book

- We support Eva in her school's production

- Naughty kids disrupt my music class and I have to kick them out

- The MHSSSO performs at a charity concert

- It's the Pharmacy Ball/Formal Dinner!

- My USB Stick of 4 years dies on me, and I lose all my work

October


'After spending a whole year together, our group finally got our final year dissertation finished today! '


- Our research dissertation is finally complete and gets printed!
- I get my thumbnail buffed and polished
- I buy an iPod Touch!
- We learn how to encourage people to quit smoking
- I meet up with Rutherford friends for a Japanese dinner
- I buy a massive bolo bao while having lunch with Angie, then bump into Zippo!
- Oddfellows have a baking night
- We get our leaver's hoodies for pharmacy! 
- We have our last classes ever
- I farewell Dessert Club by giving a speech at the AGM 
- EXAMS!!


November


'This morning I had my PHARMACY408 OSCE (oral exam). I don't do so well in the dispensing lab and with this whole lab process as I always end up making stupid mistakes, or get criticised by the supervisors for one thing or the other.'


- Exams are over, freedom! But...nothing to do...
- We give our dissertation presentation and give our supervisors lolly jars with cartoons of ourselves on them
December
- Try to make origami Pokemon out of total boredom
- We check out the new Chinatown in East Tamaki!
- Phillip, our old neighbour comes over with his fiance and we set off some fireworks
- Lindsey holds a dinner/BBQ to celebrate his birthday
- We watch the Waitakere Fireworks from church, I trip over and scrape myself all over after challenging a girl to a sprint in the church carpark
- Mum buys a deep-fryer, we deep-fry stuff!
- I grow long facial hair due to my injuries from the sprint race, but soon shave it all off
- A few of us from church spend the whole day at Kathmandu before having dinner together
- The final Dessert Club event of the year - Mulan Rouge!
- We buy a small BBQ set, put together and try it out on Hamish's birthday
- Celebrate Zahir's birthday by playing Xbox Kinect
- Celebrate Zahir's girlfriend Alex and Yeeping's birthday at a party a week later
- Aonghas gets a lot of cakes on his birthday, we go out for dinner and visit the Telecom Christmas Tree


December


'I got a letter in the mail from Santa Claus!'


- My students make me proud at the end of year concert
- We sing carols at Waitakere Hospital
- Us Rutherford friends have a Post-Exam/Pre-Christmas dinner at an Italian restaurant
- We rehearse hard for the church's Christmas play
- It's Janice's 21st birthday party and this time we make it!
- We farewell James at the airport early in the morning
- Sing carols outside Asian grocery stores later that same day
- Scholastica shouts me buffet lunch!
- We have a church auction to fundraise for the church building
- We also play music at the church's Christmas service
- Catch up with Chen and Diane over Nando's and bowling
- I buy my Desire
- Jireh and I go do some manly shopping
- It's Christmas Eve and time to perform the Christmas play!
- We hang out at the park for a BBQ on Christmas Day
- Spend Boxing Day at church and dinner with the relatives

Skype Introduces Video Calls!

Skype has finally introduced video calling to iPhone/iPod/iPad apps! This now means that you can make video calls from a computer or Apple product to another using Skype! I had a go this morning with my friend Grace and it worked just as well as Facetime!

Year in Review Survey

1.What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?

I helped complete a research dissertation with a group of people which was great!


2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I partially kept some of them, only kept a few of them but failed to keep most of them! I'll post later about my New Year's Resolutions, but I will definitely make more for 2011 and will do my best to keep them!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Karvin, my youth group leader's wife gave birth (I think it was this year?), but quite a few people I know will be giving birth early next year though!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Sadly my Uncle David passed away in June on the first day of my exam period which made it a pretty difficult time

5. What countries did you visit?

I didn't get to visit any other countries, but for the first time in several years I got to travel by plane TWICE - first to Christchurch for a one week hospital placement, then down to Wellington for a day one week later for a job interview in Lower Hutt.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

Maybe a full license, and...maybe a significant other?

7. What date(s) from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Probably the day my uncle passed away. It was the morning of my first exam and my dad woke us up early in the morning to let us know the news. On the other hand, I had a good get-together at my cousins' on Waitangi Day for my 21st which was quite a night for me.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Completing my Bachelor of Pharmacy degree, and finally getting a full-time intern job for next year after many unsuccessful job applications and interviews!

9. What was your biggest failure?

Being lazy 'socially', according to my friend. I missed many opportunities at being better friends with people at uni because I couldn't make it to their 21st birthdays, or because I couldn't make it to meet-ups/gatherings with them.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Only a wart on my finger and getting that burnt off, and some superficial wounds to my face, arms and legs when I tripped over while competing with a 13 year old girl in a sprint race at church!


11. What was the best thing you bought?

I made a few relatively big purchases this year, including a Samsung camcorder, iPod Touch and HTC Desire, but I'd have to say so far the iPod Touch has been the best thing I've bought (the jury's still out on the HTC Desire!)

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

My good friends, mainly those from high school and church who have never forgotten about me and have been there for me.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

I discovered that one person who I thought was a good friend of mine and who I had stood by for many years had been talking about me behind my back despite everything I've done. I won't say anymore about it.


14. Where did most of your money go?

Sadly....food! I couldn't help myself and spent a bit on food at the bakery near campus as well as fast food restaurants such as Burger King and Wendy's! My self-control wasn't as great this year as it has been in past years

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The BPharm Completion Ceremony, or pretty much finding out I had passed everything and finished my degree! I also got quite excited (but a little nervous) about getting to fly in a plane again!

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?

Let's be happy and say Fireflies by Owl City!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

happier or sadder?

About the same I'd say. I've felt happy about some things this year, and sad about others. You could say I've been a lot more lost this year than past years, doing a lot more soul-searching!

thinner or fatter?

I feel fatter but the scales say otherwise - I weigh less than last year!

richer or poorer?

Richer in terms of money in my bank account, but when you add student loans and everything then things may change...

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Exercise, practise music, and explore the world

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Staying up late and watching TV!

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

Since Christmas was a few days ago, you can read what I did for Christmas here!

21. Who deleted question 21?

It's not deleted? :O

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?

That would've been nice!

23. How many one-night stands?

Zero!

24. What was your favorite TV programme?

It's probably Grey's Anatomy, Devil Beside You (wasn't on TV but it used to be on TV!), 

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Not hate but thought less of, yes.

26. What was the best book you read?

I don't think I've read that many books this year! I'd have to say Pharmacotherapy, A Pathophysiologic Approach Handbook since it helped me understand the actual 5kg thick textbook? o.O

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Owl City and various Chinese artists - I knew only of Jay Chou and Wang Lee Hom but only knew a couple of their songs. This year I discovered a lot more of their music. Oh, and also Phil Collins!
28. What did you want and get?

Some sort of portable device to access the internet, as well as something handy to record videos..oh and a new mobile phone


29. What did you want and not get?

My dream phone and...something else...

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

If it's going by the movies I watched in the cinemas (Avatar, Inception, KickA$$...others not memorable enough to remember), I'd have to say Inception!

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 21, and I went to Wendy's with the brothers as well as had KFC with the Chins and Grace the next day before our first youth group of the year. I also had a little get-together at my cousins' on Waitangi Day as well.

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I would say see question 6! Oh and probably better grades!

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?

Lighter clothes? Maybe it can be summed up with one word - YELLOW.

34. What kept you sane?

Studying and certain friends knocking me back to Earth when I needed it

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Rainie Yang or Jessica Alba? ;)

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

I'm not as into politics as I have been in the past, but I'd have to say...no I can't say. I can't really think of one!

37. Who did you miss?

My uncle

38. Who was the best new person you met? (as in someone I've met/gotten to know this year)

I've met a lot of great people this year but I've probably gotten to know Grace the most this year. I also got to know Jireh a lot better this year, but he's not new :P

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.

I'd have to say I've learned that not everyone is who you think they are and to know and cherish those who are truly your friends. Spend the most time with them over others who don't appreciate you and you will enjoy life a whole lot more!
The three most important words that have also helped me get through the year are:
"JUST DON'T CARE" 

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

"P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face!"

An Ode to Daisy

There are only a few days left of 2010, and there is one New Years Resolution I want to be sure of fulfilling:

13. BE NICE TO DAISY! (and all those other girls I've been mean to!)

To complement the quality time I spent with Daisy during lunch at church last Sunday complimenting her (in front of witnesses) on how she is a supercool, awesome person (and no, there is no gun pointed to my head), here is a special poem I have written that I've dedicated to that very cool person, which I like to call...

An Ode to Daisy 

O Daisy, bright and shiny,
a white blotch in a sea of green,
standing tall on your little hiney.
Some could say, you're the lawn queen,
not the kind to be vile,

but still tougher than a gym shoe.

I remember Patrick Swayze

and his awesome hair style,

but it's nothing compared to you, 

O Lawn Queen Daisy.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laKnoF76xDg)

A Facebook Status Year in Review

Here's a look back at 2010 through Facebook statuses!


January:

Calum discovered the magic of 30 Seconds - *Spray and Walk Away!!* today!

Battleship grey 

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! I'll get around to thanking you all personally soon! 

I'm not Harry Jenson, but I wish I was!

February:

Doppelgänger week...during this week please change your profile picture tosomeone/something famous you have been told you look like for the week.Copy & paste this for your status. (Mine's Keanu Reeves' forehead...not the rest of the face though) 

Calum has been enjoying watching the figure skating at the Olympics today!

Calum really hopes he gets his uni timetable sometime soon so he can see if he can sleep in! 

Calum is very concerned for Radio New Zealand's future under National! 

Calum has to perform a violin solo at a wedding...eeek! (There's a reason why I haven't done this before!) 

Calum will be helping out at the help desk outside the UoA Clock Tower this week so come say hi and give him something to do! 

Calum is sooo tired and uni hasn't even started..... 

March:

Calum now has two accident/incident report forms to fill out after today's aseptic dispensing lab! 

Oh how things change so quickly... 

Don't fall asleep in class, don't fall asleep in class, don't fall asleeeee...... 

Calum didn't get slaughtered in dispensing lab today! Yuss there is still hope!

Calum got a wake up call...time to work hard! 

Calum is loving Radio New Zealand Concert's Afternoon Requests today 

Calum thought I'd finally find out what all this talk about Justin Bieber was...now can't get his music out of my head! 

April:

Anyone need CPR? Or maybe an abdominal thrust? 

Third time I've told myself I'll work hard and actually do work all day...tomorrow I'll really start! 

Time to do it all again! 

A Maree Jensonism - 'People who don't put their name on their work deserve to DIE!' 

Calum is finally on a roll at 1.42 in the morning! 

Calum is having fun learning SPSS! 

May:

Calum wishes he could go check out the World Expo! 

Tortara and Derrickson...reliving the memories! 

Calum better get the CV and cover letters done or else all the job application deadlines will come and pass! 

Calum feels a little disconnected! 

Calum can't remember how many people he's promised to sponsor for 40 Hour Famine! :O 

Boo to you Vodafone! 

struggle struggle struggle... 

Filling the brain with drugs 

Calum could tell what they meant on Shortland St tonight when that guy's GCS score went down from 14 to 9! Studying is paying off! 

June:

One more week, one more week.... 

Calum wonders how they manage to get so many crazy people to appear on Neighbours at War! 

Wow the high school choirs at The Big Sing have been great today! 

Sorting out all of my semester one notes, if only I could just chuck them all away and never have to read them again! 

Why does it have to be so hard to get a fire going? 

Go home Italy!! 

Calum thinks he might have just gotten addicted to Asian drama :S 

Ooooh well....Bye bye Italy! 

Calum doesn't want to go! 

Calum is leaving Auckland on a plane for the first time in over 10 years! Please please plane don't let me down! (this is what disaster movies do to you...) 

July:

Calum is finally back in Auckland for a day! 

Back in Auckland...again...for good! 

Paul the Octopus predicts Spain will win, but Mani the Parakeet predicts Netherlands will! Who to believe??? 

Here comes the most exciting week of this year...community pharmacy placement week! Oh fun! 

So it turns out my cat can pick losers! 

so maybe working at a community pharmacy isn't too bad after all... 

Calum needs to stop short-changing customers! 

Waaahhhhh why do I keep getting rejected! 

you're cool 

Oh Chris Carter you're so funny 

August:

Woah was everyone watching Inception tonight?

Calum is loving Ben Calum Anderson Wong's middle name!

Phillip Wang is the master beat-boxer! See Jenny Wang and Amelia Wong, Rutherford does have talent! :P 

EGGS Chinese Extravaganza was Extrava...ganza...tastic! GO Cleo Chin!!! 

Calum might just have a plan... 

Calum Has a greater appreciation for brass 

Calum Sometimes some things are best kept in! 

Calum accidentally sat on my phone and broke the cover. Very soon I'll have no choice BUT to get a new phone! :D 

September:

After many applications and interviews I've finally got an internship! Now to make sure I don't fail the exams! 

OK tomorrow I shall try to start my assignment for the fourth time 

Calum has just written 1000 words of rubbish, that should be enough for tonight 

Antonia Su owes me one, just to make it official

Calum had a great time at our last pharmacy ball!

Dissertation is almost over! Yay!! 

October:

Wasting too much time reminiscing over old photos!

No Paul Henry you can't resign!!! 

Calum Is starting to enjoy law readings... 

Calum Is outraged! How could Camp Rock lose to Camp Star?! 

Antonia Su picks on little boys ! 

Congrats to 2011 Dessert Club Committee members and thanks for the gift! Gonna miss working with you guys! 

trying to do anything BUT 408 

6 minutes is not enough! Prepare for presentation on steroids! 

Bye-bye Waitakere City! 

Calum ok that's it! who's calling me and trying to scare me tonight? 

Exams all done for now at least...hopefully forever! 

November:

what to do now... 

Argh my face!! 

Anne Tolley's really in the #$(* now isn't she? 

Why can't cooking be as easy as Cooking Mama? 

Chocolate overload! 

Calum had a great Completion Ceremony! Uni is finally definitely over! 

December:

Some of the newer versions of Christmas carols are quite awful aren't they? 

Well since everyone else is doing it... 

Calum Just found my first grey hair! :O I'm too young too young to have grey hair!

Time to save money!

My phone can't even make two minute phone calls! 

Merry Christmas Everyone! (now there's an original Facebook status)

Facetime!

I finally got Facetime going with my iPod Touch! I have to say it's a lot better than video calling with my Sony Ericsson K800! 

Boxing Day Feast

Every year our family and our relatives get together for a big meal at Christmas time. While usually it's on Christmas Day, this year it was planned to happen on Boxing Day. We would be getting together for both breakfast and dinner.

My brothers and I missed out on the breakfast though, as our parents only woke us up at 8.30am and told us that breakfast was at 8am! Also, Aonghas and I had to lead children's worship at church, so instead, my brothers and I attended church and had to miss out on the breakfast. I heard there was heaps of food too!

Children's worship wasn't too bad; I hope the kids had fun! The service was a special combined baptism service so I just went into the minister's office with his son Jireh and Andrew and just sat around talking (I know, bad Calum for wagging the service!). We came out just to see the certificates being presented to those who were baptised, and then were asked to help put pies in bags.

We then had to hand out the pies to people for lunch! I learnt how to say the two flavours in Chinese, and tried to say it to a kid who came by wanting a pie, but he asked me what it was instead in English! 

Gabrielle, who has trained me in children's worship and is also my youth group leader also gave me a thank-you present with a really nice note! 

I was surprised at how empty the church was so early, but then realised it's Boxing Day...everyone's probably cleared off to go shopping!

We did a bit of that after as well, but there really isn't much that I want right now, so I didn't find any of the sales too appealing.

In the evening we had dinner with the relatives over at their house which I always enjoy as there is always plenty of food, and it's great to catch up with the family. Aonghas came a little late as he had to work. There was still plenty of food left over for him after though!

That ends the Christmas festivities for another year!

Christmas in the Park

Today we celebrated Christmas by joining up with other families from church to have a BBQ at Cornwall Park.

At first it didn't feel as though we would ever get there, as it was already 1pm and we were still at home packing! We had to constantly remind our mum that we weren't travelling overseas and didn't need to bring the kitchen sink with us!

We parked quite a long way away and had to walk a long distance to get to where a couple of the families already were. There were heaps of people at the park, including a lot of Koreans! When we got there I just joined in some of the kids in playing ball while waiting for others. 

When a couple more families arrived, it was time to do some cooking! There were several barbeque's along a  stone wall nearby, and we managed to find a free one to use. My mum complained me for not helping, so I tried to help cook, but then she shunned me away for being useless! Oh well!

By then the minister's family had arrived and we just chucked a ball around and had something to eat before the minister got us together to play touch rugby. I was surprised at his enthusiasm! He only played for a few minutes before leaving the game and letting someone else take his place.

My brothers and I were on one team with the girls (Joylynn, Ruth and Jessica), up against a team made up of Jireh, Jessica's older brother, Angie, Tommy and Harris. You'd think the teams were even with them having two young boys, but well...we got wasted. I'd argue that there were differing interpretations of the rules and boundaries weren't clearly defined but it was just a game after all. We played with our small grid iron ball, so some of the Pacific Islanders nearby were probably laughing at us Asians playing touch rugby!

After playing for quite a while, I was feeling more exhausted than before with saw thighs! Talk about a good workout! It was time to eat, even though I didn't really feel too hungry! Either that or I was talking too much!

 We had plenty of meat, sausages and fruit/vegetables, and so we just sat around eating and talking before a few of the guys got up to play with the frisbee and take photos. 

We all got together for some individual family photos and then a big group photo before it was time to disperse. We played some games with each other such as Mercy and trying to push each other over as some of the families decided what to do next. 

While some decided it was time to go home, a few of us such as the Tans, the Ongs and our family decided to check out the Christmas lights down Franklin Road in Ponsonby. It was still quite light so we weren't too sure if we'd see anything.

Because it was early though, we were able to find a free car park down Franklin Road, and so Aonghas double-parked till we confirmed the Tans had a car park. While we were doing that, we had a lot of cars approach us and hover around us. We probably annoyed them all!

Once we found out where the Tans and the Ongs were (at the other end of the road), we decided to meet half way and then walked down one side of the road together checking out the lights. I'm amazed at how fast it got dark!

Once we got to the bottom of the road, we walked back up. As it got darker, the lights looked more impressive and there was one house that had heaps of lights flashing in sync to a rock version of 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody! It was probably the most impressive house we saw!

When we got to the top of the road, we then went for a 15 minute walk (although it felt much, much longer as the soreness from the touch rugby game was starting to kick in!) along Ponsonby Road to the Telecom Christmas Tree.

Harris and Tommy were quite excited to see it, and were eager to call Santa in one of the telephone boxes! There were quite a few bean bags underneath the tree, so we were able to lie there and just stare at the lights. It was quite hypnotising! I did a lot of thinking under that tree! I could sleep there for the rest of the night if I was allowed!

It was getting late and so it was time to go.

What almost seemed destined to be another boring Christmas turned out to be quite a memorable one that I really enjoyed! Hopefully our families get together again sometime to do more!