I shouldn't be saying this as it might still be a bit premature (I haven't signed a contract yet) but today I got an email informing me that a pharmacy would like to offer me an intern position at their pharmacy for next year!
Last weekend at the university Courses and Careers Day I got told by my friend she had been shortlisted and given a second interview at two pharmacies I had also had interviews at, which was a bit of a confidence killer, as it obviously meant I hadn't been shortlisted and they weren't interested in me.
However, I'm extremely happy about the pharmacy I've been given an internship at, as I won't have to work late nights, public holidays and weekends which means I can continue to teach music on Saturday mornings!
As Hannah Montana says, it's the best of both worlds!
All I've got to do now is make sure I pass all my exams!
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Monday, 30 August 2010
An EPIC Race
Today was our Dessert Club's annual Amazing Race competition, only this time it was renamed the EPIC Race!
It was originally going to be held on Saturday but got postponed.
I hadn't been able to attend the meeting the day before to finalise everything, so when I got in to the city in the morning I didn't really know what was going on. I was asked to go down to the Britomart Train Station to stick clues under seats.
When I got there, I realised the seats by the cafe where they wanted me to stick clues was quite exposed! I tried asking one of the cafe staff members, who initially said it was fine. When I started though he thought maybe...it wouldn't be such a great idea, seeing as there would be heaps of customers during lunch time.
I then went over to ask the security guard supervisor if it was OK for me to hide clues around Britomart, and he radioed head office to ask, but they said no. He then went on to give me alternative ideas, such as having someone handing out clues themselves at Britomart. He was really friendly!
I tried calling the other committee members and they asked me to stay down in Britomart to hand out the clues. So....I spent the next couple of hours wandering around Britomart, looking up at the electronic timetables, reading timetables, watching TV...It was all really boring, especially since the first team didn't arrive till an hour later and I just happened to be sitting outside the main entrance.
They seemed quite annoyed! I think they had spent a long, long time looking all around Britomart for me! They quickly got over it after I told them they were the first team to arrive though!
I was down near the platform when the second team found me. One guy approached me and asked
'Hey sorry this is a bit random but are you from the Dessert Club?'
I had to go off to my research dissertation project meeting at around midday, and after went back to my EPIC Race duties at Britomart.
I sat there for ages doing nothing. I was thinking that this must've been the most boring station! I eventually received a text from the club president telling me some teams were finding it hard to find me! I told her I was right by the entrance!
It was not long before one team came over and asked if I was from the Dessert Club. When I said yes, I got a big
'FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF#$*K!!!!'
They had spent over an hour looking for me! Another team nearby saw and came over as well.
I didn't see any other team come by for the next two hours! By 5pm all teams were told to return to Level 0 of the Information Commons. When I got there, it turned out only four teams arrived back! No team had completed all the challenges either! We awarded the prizes and finished with some fish and chips.
Talk about an EPIC race!
It was originally going to be held on Saturday but got postponed.
I hadn't been able to attend the meeting the day before to finalise everything, so when I got in to the city in the morning I didn't really know what was going on. I was asked to go down to the Britomart Train Station to stick clues under seats.
When I got there, I realised the seats by the cafe where they wanted me to stick clues was quite exposed! I tried asking one of the cafe staff members, who initially said it was fine. When I started though he thought maybe...it wouldn't be such a great idea, seeing as there would be heaps of customers during lunch time.
I then went over to ask the security guard supervisor if it was OK for me to hide clues around Britomart, and he radioed head office to ask, but they said no. He then went on to give me alternative ideas, such as having someone handing out clues themselves at Britomart. He was really friendly!
I tried calling the other committee members and they asked me to stay down in Britomart to hand out the clues. So....I spent the next couple of hours wandering around Britomart, looking up at the electronic timetables, reading timetables, watching TV...It was all really boring, especially since the first team didn't arrive till an hour later and I just happened to be sitting outside the main entrance.
They seemed quite annoyed! I think they had spent a long, long time looking all around Britomart for me! They quickly got over it after I told them they were the first team to arrive though!
I was down near the platform when the second team found me. One guy approached me and asked
'Hey sorry this is a bit random but are you from the Dessert Club?'
I had to go off to my research dissertation project meeting at around midday, and after went back to my EPIC Race duties at Britomart.
I sat there for ages doing nothing. I was thinking that this must've been the most boring station! I eventually received a text from the club president telling me some teams were finding it hard to find me! I told her I was right by the entrance!
It was not long before one team came over and asked if I was from the Dessert Club. When I said yes, I got a big
'FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF#$*K!!!!'
They had spent over an hour looking for me! Another team nearby saw and came over as well.
I didn't see any other team come by for the next two hours! By 5pm all teams were told to return to Level 0 of the Information Commons. When I got there, it turned out only four teams arrived back! No team had completed all the challenges either! We awarded the prizes and finished with some fish and chips.
Talk about an EPIC race!
Sunday, 29 August 2010
The Wedding We Never Witnessed
Today, Rayson and May, two people from our church were to get married over in Hong Kong. Because all of us back in New Zealand wouldn't be able to make it, Rayson had set up a live stream so we could all watch it.
At church in the morning, we all had a discussion about who was going to watch it, what time it would be taking place and whose house we'd go to watch it. We finally decided we'd go to the Chins' house!
Aonghas and I (Hamish stayed home because of an assignment due the next day) picked up Jenny and then went over to their house. We were slightly late because picking up Jenny was a last minute thing. Claire got the laptop connected to the TV but...the live stream wouldn't work! We tried and tried again but it still wouldn't work! On (our youth group leader) and Hamish sent me texts asking if I could get it to work as well!
We ended up just spending the night eating chips, burnt popcorn and watching the beginning of Shutter Island before we had to go and drop Jenny off!
We didn't get to watch the wedding in the end but we're sure it was a good day for Rayson and May. Congratulations to the both of you!
At church in the morning, we all had a discussion about who was going to watch it, what time it would be taking place and whose house we'd go to watch it. We finally decided we'd go to the Chins' house!
Aonghas and I (Hamish stayed home because of an assignment due the next day) picked up Jenny and then went over to their house. We were slightly late because picking up Jenny was a last minute thing. Claire got the laptop connected to the TV but...the live stream wouldn't work! We tried and tried again but it still wouldn't work! On (our youth group leader) and Hamish sent me texts asking if I could get it to work as well!
We ended up just spending the night eating chips, burnt popcorn and watching the beginning of Shutter Island before we had to go and drop Jenny off!
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Spreading the UoA Word!
This morning I had to wake up extremely early to get to uni at 7am as it was the Courses and Careers Day (sort of like a uni open day) and I was helping out as a student ambassador. I had originally planned to catch a 5.50am bus as it was the only one that would get me into town on time, but I missed it so my dad had to drive me into the city. I managed to get into the city by 6.20am though, which was extremely early! It was raining quite a bit though so I just slept in the car for a while before going in.
I was the first to get to the meeting area, and eventually people started arriving. We soon found out that we had to meet up in the Clock Tower though.
We were all briefed on what we had to do, and were given our blue Student Ambassador t-shirts. We were also provided breakfast which consisted of muffins, fruit, muesli bars and juice.
By 9am, we had to carry our equipment out and set up our stalls. Once again I was stationed outside the Clock Tower which wasn't exactly the most exciting stall to be at since most of the activity would be happening around the Quad and the Business School! I saw Grace, her brother Sam and their friends just as I came out though.
Right at the beginning though when all the buses arrived with school students from in and out of Auckland, we had heaps of people to take on tour. I'm sure I had about 30 people in my group! As I took them around the uni, I tried to get to know them a bit better by asking questions such as
"So where are you guys from?"
"Do any of you have any idea what you want to study next year?"
"Do any of you have any questions?"
No one would say anything though! I just had to carry on with the tour. I lost quite a few people...actually almost everyone along the way and ended up with maybe only four people left in the tour group!
I had to look after the stall and go inside the Clock Tower to make sure people there were OK before I had to take my next tour. I had a smaller group, but one mum did ask me a lot of questions which was quite good!. I like answering questions!
After I got back, I had a chance to take my half hour lunch break. We got supplied lunch which consisted of sandwiches and chips. I then went over to the Business School to check out the Medicine and Pharmacy School stands, while meeting Cleo and Sam along the way.
I was originally going to pretend to be a prospective student, but the pharmacy students seemed to know me! I was then going to try the Medicine stand, but it was my friend Chen who was there! It was cool seeing a lot of friends helping out. I also saw my friend Ji Eun helping out at the Audiology stand!
I had to go back to the Clock Tower after lunch and was asked to look after one of the lecture theatres downstairs to make sure aisles weren't blocked, they weren't over capacity and to do a head count.
I got there just in time for the last lecture on archeology, something to do with ancient Egypt. I didn't think it would be that popular, but after the previous philosophy lecture finished early, people started filing in till the lecture theatre was completely filled 10 minutes before the lecture was due to commence! I had to tell the lecturer that I'd have to stop people coming in, and stood at the door turning people away.
There were at least 30-40 people waiting outside wanting to come in, and even after I told them they couldn't they just continued to hang around! One lady was quite disgruntled! I felt like a bouncer!
The Courses and Careers Day was almost over, and all the students who had come in on buses (especially those from out of Auckland) had to make their way back to their buses. Princes St had been completely closed and lined up with buses.
I decided to wait outside the West Auckland bus to help students on. Buses started to leave though, and there was one student who came running down to the West Auckland bus I was by only to find out he was supposed to catch the West Auckland bus at the other end of the road! I think he ended up missing his bus. I think a few students from Tauranga missed their bus as well!
Before I could go home, a few of us guys had to help fold and put some tables into storage over in the Architecture building.
It was such a tiring day but it was still quite fun!
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Festival Full of Music
This week has been the KBB Auckland Secondary Schools Orchestra and Band Festival, which is the musical highlight of the year for me (or at least one of them!). I was originally planning on skipping all non-essential classes, but in the end I managed to fit in classes with performance times, but only just!
The first day of performances was on Tuesday and Rebecca, one of the girls from my youth group was due to perform with her school concert band at 11.30. My class finished at 11am, so I thought I'd have time to walk down to the Town Hall from Grafton. However, our lecturer was having technical problems with his powerpoint presentation and so it was delayed by half an hour! I was thinking of just leaving early and skipping the lecture, but just as I was about to, the lecturer decided to start! I was trapped! I ended up playing Naughts and Crosses with a friend while waiting for the lecture to finish.
Fortunately he sped up towards the end and finished slightly after 11. I rushed out of the lecture theatre to catch the bus. I thought this would take less time, but every traffic light we approached seemed to turn red! I ended up getting off at a bus stop which was not that close to the Town Hall at all! I could've walked there in a shorter amount of time!
Anyway, I luckily got there just in time to witness Rebecca's performance! Her school's band, the Westlake Girls High Concert Band performed a Lord of the Rings suite as well as a couple other pieces. I really enjoyed their performance!
After their performance, Rebecca and her group came back into the hall to watch the rest of the performances in that session, and I managed to say hi to her since I was sitting in the row right behind her! I then met one of the viola players in the Auckland Symphony Orchestra who had come to watch her daughter play as part of the same group!
I watched a few more of the performances which were really entertaining. I have a whole new admiration for brass instruments! I couldn't stay for long before I had to rush off to meet up with Angie for lunch. She just bought sushi from the Quad while I bought a few things from that Asian bakery and we just had lunch by that waterfall outside the art gallery.
Once she went back to class, I went back to the Town Hall to watch a few more performances before having to go home to deliver newspapers all on my own!
You can check out some of the highlights of the performances I got to watch below.
The first day of performances was on Tuesday and Rebecca, one of the girls from my youth group was due to perform with her school concert band at 11.30. My class finished at 11am, so I thought I'd have time to walk down to the Town Hall from Grafton. However, our lecturer was having technical problems with his powerpoint presentation and so it was delayed by half an hour! I was thinking of just leaving early and skipping the lecture, but just as I was about to, the lecturer decided to start! I was trapped! I ended up playing Naughts and Crosses with a friend while waiting for the lecture to finish.
Fortunately he sped up towards the end and finished slightly after 11. I rushed out of the lecture theatre to catch the bus. I thought this would take less time, but every traffic light we approached seemed to turn red! I ended up getting off at a bus stop which was not that close to the Town Hall at all! I could've walked there in a shorter amount of time!
Anyway, I luckily got there just in time to witness Rebecca's performance! Her school's band, the Westlake Girls High Concert Band performed a Lord of the Rings suite as well as a couple other pieces. I really enjoyed their performance!
After their performance, Rebecca and her group came back into the hall to watch the rest of the performances in that session, and I managed to say hi to her since I was sitting in the row right behind her! I then met one of the viola players in the Auckland Symphony Orchestra who had come to watch her daughter play as part of the same group!
I watched a few more of the performances which were really entertaining. I have a whole new admiration for brass instruments! I couldn't stay for long before I had to rush off to meet up with Angie for lunch. She just bought sushi from the Quad while I bought a few things from that Asian bakery and we just had lunch by that waterfall outside the art gallery.
Once she went back to class, I went back to the Town Hall to watch a few more performances before having to go home to deliver newspapers all on my own!
You can check out some of the highlights of the performances I got to watch below.
I didn't get to watch too many performances on Wednesday, as I had a workshop on sunscreen and travel medicines at 8.30 in the morning (in which I had to do a roleplay in front of the class as a pharmacist for the first time!) and then another stressful dispensing lab in the afternoon.
The pharmacy dodgeball competition was on at night, and I was originally thinking of participating in it since I hadn't participated in any pharmacy sports events during my time at uni. However, there was also a Dessert Club meeting and of course the KBB Music Festival all on at the same time! Oh...and I almost forgot the most important of all - a job interview in the afternoon before all that!
The interview wasn't too bad, in that the lady interviewing me acknowledged that I didn't have as much experience as other applicants, but asked me what I could bring to the pharmacy. She also asked me what my dream job was, to which I replied
"Prime Minister!"
She probably thought I was joking. Whether I was or not...I'm still not too sure myself!
After the interview, I went to the library to try do some study since I had a small test the next day, but kept falling asleep at the computer! I ended up deciding I would go to the KBB Music Festival first, then drop by to check out the dodgeball competition, then finish off the night at the Dessert Club meeting!
I watched a few of the bands at the KBB Music Festival before I went back up to the gym, but the door was locked! OK I could've made more of an effort, but it was rainy and I was tired so I just went straight to the Dessert Club meeting.
Thursday was the big day - the day the orchestras would be performing! I had a class and a small test in the morning, but straight after, I skipped an extra class on gout to go watch some of the orchestras perform. I'm forever amazed at just how large and good these high school orchestras can be! When I was back at Rutherford, our orchestra was no bigger than 20-30 people! These school orchestras were almost symphony-sized, while some actually were symphony orchestras!
I caught up with Aonghas during lunch and went off to buy an SD-card for our dSLR, as I realised I had forgotten to put one in.
We got back for the afternoon session to watch Cleo and her school orchestra the Epsom Symphonia perform. I was supposed to meet my friend Scholastica but she missed the performance, but Jenny, the former concert master and also from our youth group made it. The orchestra was pretty good. Cleo plays the big bass drum which is pretty cool!
Her school's performance was supposed to finish by 2.45pm which would have given me enough time to get back up to Grafton for a workshop on wound care, but it lasted a bit longer than planned, and I had to run all the way back up to Grafton, arriving about 10 minutes late!
The professor taking the workshop didn't seem to mind or notice though, which was really good. He was showing us all these different types of bandages, plasters, hydrogels and all sorts of tools to manage wounds. He even demonstrated some of them on us! Because I was sitting at one end of the room, he would often demonstrate on us, including wrapping this clingy type of material around my wrist to show how it's much better than that white material-like stuff!
After the workshop, I headed back into the city just in time for the second half of the evening session, when all the big guns would be playing like Westlake Symphony, and Macleans Symphony!
They didn't fail to impress! Westlake Symphony Orchestra even brought a combined choir as well!
To finish off the night, Burger King! What a week. I've been musically inspired!
Check out the highlights from Thursday below:
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Farewelling our Yale Friend
For the past two months we've had Jonathan, a Yale University student come to our church, and our youth group and Sunday School while in NZ on an internship at the University of Auckland. He entertained and informed a lot of us with his intelligent insights into all sorts of things.
Last Friday night however was his last night at youth group, and so after we talked about reading the Bible as part of our special topic night, we let Jonathan have the last word, and he thanked us all for the time he had while with us for the past two months.
Earlier in the day my mum and I had gone out to look for a farewell present to buy him on behalf of our youth group. We know that he's into dragons, so we thought we'd try give him something that would remind him of NZ and have something to do with dragons - Taniwha! (they're sort of a dragon...right?) We couldn't find any taniwha souvenirs though, so we got this Maori wood carving (it's not real wood though, just resin which means he shouldn't have any trouble bringing it back to America!), which he seemed to appreciate!
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| Jonathan with his Maori wood carving! (Thanks to Tim for the photo) |
At the end of youth group we got quite a few group photos with him before taking individual photos with him (he's incredibly intelligent! Who knows, he might become famous one day!
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| Jonathan with the Oddfellows Youth Group (Thanks to Tim for the photo) |
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| Awwww me with Jonathan! (Thanks to Tim for the photo) |
We also got a chance to say farewell to him in Sunday School today as well.
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| Jonathan with our Sunday School class |
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Interview Number Two!
I just had my second community pharmacy interview in Helensville! Boy I didn't realise Helensville was that far away from Henderson! I had to get home straight after class (an early morning law workshop which I started to doze off in!) so I could leave early enough to get there.
My dad drove my mum and I to Helensville, which took about 40 minutes. The traffic wasn't actually too bad!
Helensville was quite quiet and it started to rain and hail when we got there! I was a bit early so I waited for a little bit before going in.
The pharmacy looks like a good place to work, as they seem to provide many services! The interview went well (I hope!) and we made the journey back to Henderson.
I'll be finding out next week if they want me to come back in for another interview and a possible trial. Fingers crossed!
My dad drove my mum and I to Helensville, which took about 40 minutes. The traffic wasn't actually too bad!
Helensville was quite quiet and it started to rain and hail when we got there! I was a bit early so I waited for a little bit before going in.
The pharmacy looks like a good place to work, as they seem to provide many services! The interview went well (I hope!) and we made the journey back to Henderson.
I'll be finding out next week if they want me to come back in for another interview and a possible trial. Fingers crossed!
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Fun Food and Wounds
This morning we had one of the most interesting lectures on wound management - how to deal with wounds and heal them as quickly as possible. The lecturer was an associate professor from Monash University and he seems to know all there is to know about wound care!
He showed us quite a few gruesome photos, which made me start to feel a bit funny half-way through, but it was still interesting nonetheless!
The lecture straight after on smoking cessation was not as exciting compared to the wound management lecture!
Because it's Tuesday, Angie and I caught up for lunch again today. I was going to ask her first this time, but she asked me even earlier this time!
We decided to do something different this time and went over to the Korean pancake shop where I had my second ever pancake! I don't think I've had one since 1st or 2nd year! I tried the beef and cheese and it was quite nice! Angie decided to try the new chocolate Korean pancake.
We were going to walk back up to Albert Park when I noticed that new Asian bakery just down the road from the Korean pancake shop, so we went over to have a look and I ended up coming out with a custard bun which was really nice!
We then walked around before we ended up at the business school which was just about the right time as Angie had a class and I had to run back to Grafton for a lecture on our internship next year. I took the wrong way and walked through the domain! It seemed to take me less time though!
The lecture on pharmacy internships next year was a little depressing as they asked everyone who had their internships sorted to raise their hands. I just buried my head in my jumper when I saw that almost everyone has got it sorted! According to one of my pharmacy friends only about 10 people in our class still haven't sorted out their internship! I better get a move on!
He showed us quite a few gruesome photos, which made me start to feel a bit funny half-way through, but it was still interesting nonetheless!
The lecture straight after on smoking cessation was not as exciting compared to the wound management lecture!
Because it's Tuesday, Angie and I caught up for lunch again today. I was going to ask her first this time, but she asked me even earlier this time!
We decided to do something different this time and went over to the Korean pancake shop where I had my second ever pancake! I don't think I've had one since 1st or 2nd year! I tried the beef and cheese and it was quite nice! Angie decided to try the new chocolate Korean pancake.
We were going to walk back up to Albert Park when I noticed that new Asian bakery just down the road from the Korean pancake shop, so we went over to have a look and I ended up coming out with a custard bun which was really nice!
We then walked around before we ended up at the business school which was just about the right time as Angie had a class and I had to run back to Grafton for a lecture on our internship next year. I took the wrong way and walked through the domain! It seemed to take me less time though!
The lecture on pharmacy internships next year was a little depressing as they asked everyone who had their internships sorted to raise their hands. I just buried my head in my jumper when I saw that almost everyone has got it sorted! According to one of my pharmacy friends only about 10 people in our class still haven't sorted out their internship! I better get a move on!
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Chinese EGGS-travaganza!
Not too long after supporting one of our fellow youth group members at his school’s talent quest, a group of us from our youth group went to support another member of our youth group. This time Cleo was performing at her school’s Chinese Extravaganza, an Epsom Girls Grammar (EGGS) and Auckland Boys Grammar (AGS)-combined show with Chinese drama, song and dance.
First of all though, we had to pick Aonghas up from work before picking up two other guys Jireh and Phillip. We stopped off at Wendy’s for a bit of a feed before we headed off to EGGS.
We made it there with a bit of time to spare, so we just sat in the car and finished off our food before crossing the road to the school to watch some boys from AGS performing a lion dance in the carpark outside the school’s theatre.
The show got off to a start with some dances, such as a dragon dance, an umbrella dance, fan dance, people playing with diablos, singers (who sang this Wang Leehom song ‘Another Heaven’ with a solo guitarist in the middle!), and modern dance. Cleo was in modern dance! I was trying to take photos of her but realised halfway through that I was taking photos of the wrong girl! I did manage to take photos of Cleo though!
Throughout the performances we tried calling out to Cleo and cheering her on. We think she noticed!
During intermission we went outside the theatre to chill out and talk about the show before going back into the theatre. Just as I was about to go back in, I caught up with one of my uni friends Eliza and talked to her for a bit before Gabrielle our youth group leader came by and asked me to let Claire know that the rest of them were in the theatre if she was wondering. I thought that meant I had to wait for Claire, so I stayed outside for a little while before just going in. When I went to take my seat with the rest of the guys they were all going
“Awwwwwwwwww!”
At first I thought they were aww’ing because I had to wait outside for Claire when she was already inside the threatre. However, it turns out Jenny (another girl in our youth group who I was sitting next to and is in the same orchestra as Eliza) had told the others that Eliza already had a boyfriend! I wasn’t hitting on her!
Anyway they second half of the show got started with a band performing to great applause. There was a paper dance (I think that’s what it’s called?) before the show finished with a drama about the Monkey King, in which our very own Cleo was one of the main characters! We had a tip-off that she was going to die in the drama and so we were all going to cheer for her. When that moment came though I think we were all caught up in the drama and were aww’ing instead!
At the end of the show while all the performers had a mass group photo on stage, we waited at the back of the theatre so we could take a photo together with Cleo. Jireh, Phillip and I also took out the Rutherford scarf to hold out (just to stick that in Jenny’s face after she dissed Rutherford when we went there to support Phillip!). We finally got a group photo with Cleo outside the theatre after waiting for a little while.
We were then going to head home, but made a detour to McDonald’s where Phillip and Jireh bought a burger combo…maybe that’s a bit of an understatement as Jireh bought FOUR burgers! My brothers and I just bought a sundae each! We talked for a while and the guys played Tap Tap on their iPod Touch before we dropped them home.
What a night, and wow at the talent we have in Oddfellows!
First of all though, we had to pick Aonghas up from work before picking up two other guys Jireh and Phillip. We stopped off at Wendy’s for a bit of a feed before we headed off to EGGS.
We made it there with a bit of time to spare, so we just sat in the car and finished off our food before crossing the road to the school to watch some boys from AGS performing a lion dance in the carpark outside the school’s theatre.
I also caught up with two of my friends from uni who were both ex-EGGS students! Hannah who studies pharmacy and is also the leader of the city church’s English youth group was there to watch her brother who was one of the leaders of the show, while Anzie who I met at a KiwiAsian Club event years ago was there to support her younger sister, who was also one of the leaders of the show!
After the lion dance, everyone made their way into the theatre to take their seats. While we were waiting, some of us guys were just talking about how this was the perfect place to meet girls – at a girls’ school! Aonghas was sitting next to some girls and tried asking them if they go to EGGS, but the girl just turned away! We all just laughed.
“Awwwwwwwwww!”
At first I thought they were aww’ing because I had to wait outside for Claire when she was already inside the threatre. However, it turns out Jenny (another girl in our youth group who I was sitting next to and is in the same orchestra as Eliza) had told the others that Eliza already had a boyfriend! I wasn’t hitting on her!
At the end of the show while all the performers had a mass group photo on stage, we waited at the back of the theatre so we could take a photo together with Cleo. Jireh, Phillip and I also took out the Rutherford scarf to hold out (just to stick that in Jenny’s face after she dissed Rutherford when we went there to support Phillip!). We finally got a group photo with Cleo outside the theatre after waiting for a little while.
We were then going to head home, but made a detour to McDonald’s where Phillip and Jireh bought a burger combo…maybe that’s a bit of an understatement as Jireh bought FOUR burgers! My brothers and I just bought a sundae each! We talked for a while and the guys played Tap Tap on their iPod Touch before we dropped them home.
What a night, and wow at the talent we have in Oddfellows!
Saturday, 14 August 2010
Back to Reality
Well I've just completed watching all 30 episodes of It Started with a Kiss, the first Asian drama series I've watched in its entirety!
I won't spoil it for others who want to watch it but it was pretty cool! I came home from the Rutherford College X-Factor talent show last night and tried to watch the remaining three episodes but Aonghas was uploading some videos from the talent show, so the internet was a little slow and I gave up half-way through the last episode. I watched the remaining part of the episode when I came home from teaching today though.
I can't believe I've spent almost 30 hours this semester watching drama! Just imagine what I could have done in that time! Then again I enjoyed the drama so that's all that matters!
There's a sequel to the drama called 'They Kiss Again', but I don't think I'll be watching that till after the semester is over or else I might not pass!
I won't spoil it for others who want to watch it but it was pretty cool! I came home from the Rutherford College X-Factor talent show last night and tried to watch the remaining three episodes but Aonghas was uploading some videos from the talent show, so the internet was a little slow and I gave up half-way through the last episode. I watched the remaining part of the episode when I came home from teaching today though.
I can't believe I've spent almost 30 hours this semester watching drama! Just imagine what I could have done in that time! Then again I enjoyed the drama so that's all that matters!
There's a sequel to the drama called 'They Kiss Again', but I don't think I'll be watching that till after the semester is over or else I might not pass!
Friday, 13 August 2010
Phillip has the X-Factor!
Uh oh Friday the 13th! A lot could have possibly gone wrong today, but as far as I know it wasn't too bad all round! I did have a calculations test earlier in the day which I was a bit iffy about. That might have been where all the bad luck was aimed at. At least there was no bad luck later in the night!
Tonight our youth group all went to Rutherford College to support one of our fellow youth group members Phillip, who would be performing beat-boxing at his school's X-Factor talent show! We had only organised the outing a week in advance, when one of the youth group leaders On and I were discussing what to do for activity night at youth group. Phillip said he was going to miss it because of his talent show performance, and that's how we ended up going to support him!
We originally were going to meet up first at church to see who needed transport, but when only a few guys showed up, we guessed the rest of them were going directly to the school so we just left.
We all met up with each other in the school foyer. It was great being back! I hadn't been back to Rutherford in more than a year! The school renovated the English classroom block, and now it definitely looks better than before. It has balconies, and even a lift!
After Gabrielle, another of our youth group leaders came with the tickets, we all went into the hall and took our seats. I didn't realise that my high school friend Alex was sitting right behind me! Her sister was performing a Korean dance that night too!
The first competitor was a guy who was going to solve the Rubix cube as fast as possible. Apparently he could do it in under 49s! He admitted he did it a little slow that night though! We got to watch Alex's sister perform a Korean dance with some other girls (one of the songs in their remix was SNSD's Gee!!), a rock band perform, three girls sing Miley Cyrus's Climb and then....it was Phillip!
We weren't too sure what to expect from Phillip, as we had only heard him beat-box a little from time to time at church, but when he got going, he blew everyone away! Whoever knew he was such a pro! He had the whole hall clapping as he was going and then breaking into a loud cheer and applause at the end!
Straight after was intermission, when we all got to catch up with Phillip and congratulate him on a performance well done. He had made us proud regardless of what the result was, although we were tipped off that Phillip was leading at that time! ;)
Once the show got back on the road, we watched a few performances by groups who sang, with some spot prize giveaways in between. Ticket 017 was called out and guess who had that ticket...me! What a surprise! I never win things! They were about to redraw as I went up to the front so I had to be quick about it to get my prize which was a block of chocolate!
Throughout the second half I had to endure taunts from the girls I was sitting next to, trying to boast how much better their school was! Excuse me but Rutherford just rules! hahaha (there goes my school pride)
After all the performances were done, the judges went out to deliberate while the prefects performed a little dance and some guy tried to do the Cadbury eyebrows which was quite random.
The judges came back in, and the winners were announced. Phillip came...2nd! First place went to one of the group of singers, but hey Phillip came 2nd!!
Afterwards we all went over to Phillip to congratulate him. What a great night! We'll have to make more use of Phillip's beat-boxing skills at church from now on!
Tonight our youth group all went to Rutherford College to support one of our fellow youth group members Phillip, who would be performing beat-boxing at his school's X-Factor talent show! We had only organised the outing a week in advance, when one of the youth group leaders On and I were discussing what to do for activity night at youth group. Phillip said he was going to miss it because of his talent show performance, and that's how we ended up going to support him!
We originally were going to meet up first at church to see who needed transport, but when only a few guys showed up, we guessed the rest of them were going directly to the school so we just left.
We all met up with each other in the school foyer. It was great being back! I hadn't been back to Rutherford in more than a year! The school renovated the English classroom block, and now it definitely looks better than before. It has balconies, and even a lift!
After Gabrielle, another of our youth group leaders came with the tickets, we all went into the hall and took our seats. I didn't realise that my high school friend Alex was sitting right behind me! Her sister was performing a Korean dance that night too!
 |
| The girls perform a modern Korean dance |
 |
| Phillip does his beat-boxing |
We weren't too sure what to expect from Phillip, as we had only heard him beat-box a little from time to time at church, but when he got going, he blew everyone away! Whoever knew he was such a pro! He had the whole hall clapping as he was going and then breaking into a loud cheer and applause at the end!
Once the show got back on the road, we watched a few performances by groups who sang, with some spot prize giveaways in between. Ticket 017 was called out and guess who had that ticket...me! What a surprise! I never win things! They were about to redraw as I went up to the front so I had to be quick about it to get my prize which was a block of chocolate!
Throughout the second half I had to endure taunts from the girls I was sitting next to, trying to boast how much better their school was! Excuse me but Rutherford just rules! hahaha (there goes my school pride)
After all the performances were done, the judges went out to deliberate while the prefects performed a little dance and some guy tried to do the Cadbury eyebrows which was quite random.
 |
| Prefects perform a dance |
 |
| Phillip gets awarded 2nd place |
 |
| Oddfellows with Phillip |
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Who Knew Class Could be Interesting?
I was dreading going to class today. An email from our lecturer said class would be from 10-2pm, that's four whole hours! Surely they wouldn't make us sit through a four hour lecture would they? I was also supposed to have a lecture at 9am but I didn't realise that till I was in the shower and by then it was too late!
After having lunch with my friend Angie on Tuesday for the past two weeks, I also wasn't sure if she would want to catch up for lunch again today either, and whether I could anyway because of this long lecture! I was going to text her to ask but...well she texted this morning anyway!
It turned out that our lecture was only going to be two hours, and we would be listening to an accountant specialising in pharmacies giving us tips on buying a pharmacy and how to run one, as well as someone from Pharmacy Brands (the company that owns the Amcal, Life Pharmacy and Unichem brands) telling us about how they arrange products in shops. I have to say it was really interesting! I want to own my pharmacy one day now, and maybe buy a few more when I become rich and then make heaps of money! :D hahaha yeah I wish...
Once the lecture was over by midday, we were told that Pharmacy Brands had bought pizza for us for lunch! The speaker mentioned something about pizza throughout his talk, but I thought he was just joking! It turns out he wasn't! We made our way back upstairs to one of the rooms behind the campus cafe and 50 Domino's Pizzas were delivered to us! I managed to grab a couple slices, before I saw that it was almost 1pm, the time I told Angie I'd meet up with her in the city.
I power-walked my way back to the city to meet up with Angie and we walked over to Albert Park to have lunch. We couldn't find any free benches so we just shared one with a guy. It was pretty cool, we just ate and talked for a while, before she had to go to her next class in an hour.
I had nothing better to do, so I went off to catch the bus, and caught up with my old friend Phoebe! It was her and her boyfriend's anniversary, so Happy Anniversary you too!
After having lunch with my friend Angie on Tuesday for the past two weeks, I also wasn't sure if she would want to catch up for lunch again today either, and whether I could anyway because of this long lecture! I was going to text her to ask but...well she texted this morning anyway!
It turned out that our lecture was only going to be two hours, and we would be listening to an accountant specialising in pharmacies giving us tips on buying a pharmacy and how to run one, as well as someone from Pharmacy Brands (the company that owns the Amcal, Life Pharmacy and Unichem brands) telling us about how they arrange products in shops. I have to say it was really interesting! I want to own my pharmacy one day now, and maybe buy a few more when I become rich and then make heaps of money! :D hahaha yeah I wish...
Once the lecture was over by midday, we were told that Pharmacy Brands had bought pizza for us for lunch! The speaker mentioned something about pizza throughout his talk, but I thought he was just joking! It turns out he wasn't! We made our way back upstairs to one of the rooms behind the campus cafe and 50 Domino's Pizzas were delivered to us! I managed to grab a couple slices, before I saw that it was almost 1pm, the time I told Angie I'd meet up with her in the city.
 |
| Edwin and Amy enjoying some pizza |
I had nothing better to do, so I went off to catch the bus, and caught up with my old friend Phoebe! It was her and her boyfriend's anniversary, so Happy Anniversary you too!
Sunday, 8 August 2010
She Wants to be a Pharmacist!
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| She's holding onto Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, a textbook I used a lot in 3rd year! |
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| ...so she can get with the doctor... |
Friday, 6 August 2010
When You Keep Getting Knocked Down
I've been being a bit more proactive in looking for an intern position in the past couple days, having emailed four pharmacies my cover letter and CV, and going in to one pharmacy to drop a copy of them off.
I spent the whole afternoon ringing pharmacies around West Auckland however, and out of around 20 pharmacies that I contacted, a few were engaged, while the rest of them said they weren't taking on interns next year! In one phone call to a pharmacy I was in the middle of my question when the pharmacist answered
"No we're not taking interns next year but all the best bye!"
before I could even finish!
It has taken the number of community and hospital pharmacies that I've approached/applied at to around 30 now, and I'm still unsuccessful! It gets quite depressing thinking about it, getting all these rejections. It sorta makes you feel like you're not wanted or that you're not good enough.
Sometimes I think maybe I just won't bother doing an internship next year and it would be so much easier, but I keep telling myself that this is something I need to do and just have to keep trying.
--
I was also leading worship (singing) at my youth group tonight. I'm in charge of sorting out who will lead each week, and well...I forgot to tell anyone to do it this week so Aonghas and I just did it ourselves.
I was up in front singing loudly, trying to encourage everyone else to sing, but I could clearly see that very few people were singing! I understand that they are in their younger/teenage years and that they're very self-consciousness and don't want to embarrass themselves, but it is very depressing when they just sit there looking on not even trying, while you've put so much effort into preparing everything for them.
Sometimes I feel like it's all a waste of time and wonder why I bother, but I always try to remind myself just why we do it.
I spent the whole afternoon ringing pharmacies around West Auckland however, and out of around 20 pharmacies that I contacted, a few were engaged, while the rest of them said they weren't taking on interns next year! In one phone call to a pharmacy I was in the middle of my question when the pharmacist answered
"No we're not taking interns next year but all the best bye!"
before I could even finish!
It has taken the number of community and hospital pharmacies that I've approached/applied at to around 30 now, and I'm still unsuccessful! It gets quite depressing thinking about it, getting all these rejections. It sorta makes you feel like you're not wanted or that you're not good enough.
Sometimes I think maybe I just won't bother doing an internship next year and it would be so much easier, but I keep telling myself that this is something I need to do and just have to keep trying.
--
I was also leading worship (singing) at my youth group tonight. I'm in charge of sorting out who will lead each week, and well...I forgot to tell anyone to do it this week so Aonghas and I just did it ourselves.
I was up in front singing loudly, trying to encourage everyone else to sing, but I could clearly see that very few people were singing! I understand that they are in their younger/teenage years and that they're very self-consciousness and don't want to embarrass themselves, but it is very depressing when they just sit there looking on not even trying, while you've put so much effort into preparing everything for them.
Sometimes I feel like it's all a waste of time and wonder why I bother, but I always try to remind myself just why we do it.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Celebrating Several Birthdays
After my law workshop today which probably was one of the easiest ones we've had so far this year, I had to make my way home quickly so I could go over to my cousins' house to celebrate my aunty and cousins' birthdays. It was my Aunty Noeline's birthday on the day, tomorrow would be my cousin Martyn's birthday and then the following day would be my other cousin Graeme's birthday.
We all just sat around talking and catching up with one another. Aonghas came a little later because he had a test tonight. After a while, dinner was finally served! I usually over-eat at these family gatherings, so I tried to control myself!
We all ended up watching Shortland Street for a laugh, before I tried explaining to my cousin a bit of pharmacology.
When the dessert was ready, it was time to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday people, watch them cut the cake, and then eat it!
To finish off the night, we just watched a Zumba DVD that our aunty and uncle had. I had never seen any Zumba at all before then. Some of the moves look kinda fancy! The DVD was just an instructional DVD though, so there were just three women showing us how to do each of the dance moves. I wouldn't dare try them, especially anything requiring hip-shaking!
We all just sat around talking and catching up with one another. Aonghas came a little later because he had a test tonight. After a while, dinner was finally served! I usually over-eat at these family gatherings, so I tried to control myself!
We all ended up watching Shortland Street for a laugh, before I tried explaining to my cousin a bit of pharmacology.
When the dessert was ready, it was time to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday people, watch them cut the cake, and then eat it!
To finish off the night, we just watched a Zumba DVD that our aunty and uncle had. I had never seen any Zumba at all before then. Some of the moves look kinda fancy! The DVD was just an instructional DVD though, so there were just three women showing us how to do each of the dance moves. I wouldn't dare try them, especially anything requiring hip-shaking!
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Am I Dreaming?
Today the uni students in my youth group and I finally managed to find a time to hang out together for lunch at uni. The night before, Angie and I were sorting it out, and originally thought about all going to watch Inception, but we couldn't find a time we could all go together. We ended up agreeing to just hang out together for lunch.
I had two lectures in the morning, one was actually quite interesting in which an accountant who specialises in pharmacies talked to us about owning our own pharmacy! I think I might buy a pharmacy one day!
Once the lectures were over though, I walked over to the city through the terrible weather. When I got to the city campus, I discovered it was Jesus Week! One of the Christian groups was offering free Milo, which was nice for the wet and cold weather we were in! I met Elena, an old intermediate school friend who was helping out!
I went over to the Quad where there were some music performances, people trying to get my vote for some student elections (bribing me with free badges!) and a free sausage sizzle being held by another one of the Christian groups, along. The catch was you had to answer three questions! I think they were more targeted at non-believers, like
'If Jesus came to New Zealand, where would you take him?'
I did answer all the questions but I didn't have time to line up for the sausage, as I was to meet up with the others outside the uni library at 12.30! Jenny, Aonghas and Claire were already there, so once I joined them we went over to the Quad to have lunch.
Angie showed up at 1pm and Aonghas had to leave for his class. In the middle of our conversation, this random Asian guy came over, sat at our table and started talking to Angie! She and the other girls were a bit weirded out and looked at me, wondering if I knew who he was! They ended up just carrying on with the conversation without him, and I felt a little bad about it. I sort of wanted to try talk to him a little at least. What if I was him, and everyone just ignored him? He soon left though.
That's when we started discussing when we should all go see Inception! We couldn't watch it on any other day in the week since others wouldn't be free, so we thought about watching it later tonight. Jenny went ahead and rang her mum who gave her permission, and offered to take her and the girls home afterwards. Getting transport home for my brothers and I would be a problem though, since it'd be late and it'd be a long wait to catch the next bus home for us. We had to part ways before it was confirmed as to whether we'd be watching Inception that night. That meant it was up to me to sort it all out!
I rang home and only my dad was home, so he agreed to let us go...phew! I then tried texting my brothers, and after a while they replied saying they had tests and assignments due the next day, so they wouldn't be coming. It looked like it'd just be me and the girls then! When I booked the tickets for the movie at 3pm, the cinema was almost sold out except for the first two rows. The best I could do were the seats in the middle of the second row.
I just read my law book for a while before jumping on a computer to watch part of my Taiwanese drama, before I realised it was almost 6pm and I had to be down at the cinemas to get the tickets! When I got there, the foyer was busy and something was going wrong with one of the ticket kiosks. After a while of waiting, I got the tickets and met up with Jenny and Claire and eventually Angie who somehow made it from her class in five minutes!
As we were sitting there eating our leftover lunch, I spotted my Dessert Club friends who were going to see Inception at the same time as us! That was pretty cool!
We then decided to go in to the theatre. By then the whole theatre was sold out! This was the first time I'd ever been in a full theatre!
Now I won't tell you what Inception is all about. All I'll say is that it is definitely worth it, and that you've got to pay attention during the whole movie! The ending was also quite good too. I enjoyed the audience's gasp right at the end!
As I was getting up, someone further back in the theatre called out my name, and I spotted a whole row of 3rd year pharmacy students! Wow, everyone was seeing Inception tonight!
When we got out of the cinema and waited for Jenny's dad to pick us up, everything just felt weird! We couldn't stop discussing the movie!
It was a good day and a good movie! My brothers will check it out in a couple of days so I can discuss it with them then, and hopefully these get-togethers will become a regular thing!
I had two lectures in the morning, one was actually quite interesting in which an accountant who specialises in pharmacies talked to us about owning our own pharmacy! I think I might buy a pharmacy one day!
Once the lectures were over though, I walked over to the city through the terrible weather. When I got to the city campus, I discovered it was Jesus Week! One of the Christian groups was offering free Milo, which was nice for the wet and cold weather we were in! I met Elena, an old intermediate school friend who was helping out!
I went over to the Quad where there were some music performances, people trying to get my vote for some student elections (bribing me with free badges!) and a free sausage sizzle being held by another one of the Christian groups, along. The catch was you had to answer three questions! I think they were more targeted at non-believers, like
'If Jesus came to New Zealand, where would you take him?'
I did answer all the questions but I didn't have time to line up for the sausage, as I was to meet up with the others outside the uni library at 12.30! Jenny, Aonghas and Claire were already there, so once I joined them we went over to the Quad to have lunch.
Angie showed up at 1pm and Aonghas had to leave for his class. In the middle of our conversation, this random Asian guy came over, sat at our table and started talking to Angie! She and the other girls were a bit weirded out and looked at me, wondering if I knew who he was! They ended up just carrying on with the conversation without him, and I felt a little bad about it. I sort of wanted to try talk to him a little at least. What if I was him, and everyone just ignored him? He soon left though.
That's when we started discussing when we should all go see Inception! We couldn't watch it on any other day in the week since others wouldn't be free, so we thought about watching it later tonight. Jenny went ahead and rang her mum who gave her permission, and offered to take her and the girls home afterwards. Getting transport home for my brothers and I would be a problem though, since it'd be late and it'd be a long wait to catch the next bus home for us. We had to part ways before it was confirmed as to whether we'd be watching Inception that night. That meant it was up to me to sort it all out!
I rang home and only my dad was home, so he agreed to let us go...phew! I then tried texting my brothers, and after a while they replied saying they had tests and assignments due the next day, so they wouldn't be coming. It looked like it'd just be me and the girls then! When I booked the tickets for the movie at 3pm, the cinema was almost sold out except for the first two rows. The best I could do were the seats in the middle of the second row.
I just read my law book for a while before jumping on a computer to watch part of my Taiwanese drama, before I realised it was almost 6pm and I had to be down at the cinemas to get the tickets! When I got there, the foyer was busy and something was going wrong with one of the ticket kiosks. After a while of waiting, I got the tickets and met up with Jenny and Claire and eventually Angie who somehow made it from her class in five minutes!
As we were sitting there eating our leftover lunch, I spotted my Dessert Club friends who were going to see Inception at the same time as us! That was pretty cool!
We then decided to go in to the theatre. By then the whole theatre was sold out! This was the first time I'd ever been in a full theatre!
Now I won't tell you what Inception is all about. All I'll say is that it is definitely worth it, and that you've got to pay attention during the whole movie! The ending was also quite good too. I enjoyed the audience's gasp right at the end!
As I was getting up, someone further back in the theatre called out my name, and I spotted a whole row of 3rd year pharmacy students! Wow, everyone was seeing Inception tonight!
When we got out of the cinema and waited for Jenny's dad to pick us up, everything just felt weird! We couldn't stop discussing the movie!
It was a good day and a good movie! My brothers will check it out in a couple of days so I can discuss it with them then, and hopefully these get-togethers will become a regular thing!
Monday, 2 August 2010
Exposed
I attended my first MHSSSO (Medical Health Sciences Students Symphony Orchestra) rehearsal tonight after a while. They emailed me last week pleading for me to come since they really need viola players, and I didn't attend last year because of my job interview.
Well anyway I showed up tonight, and once again I was the only violist and possibly the only non-med student there! It's a little awkward for me sometimes, especially when I'm exposed and I have to play my part all on my own! I'm not exactly a confident string player!
I'm going to have to practise a lot anyway, as we're having a concert in September and I don't want to be a fool!
The pieces we've been playing are:
1st Movement (Pastoral) Symphony no. 6 in F major by Beethoven
Slavonic Dance no. 3 by Dvorak
Slavonic Dance no. 4 by Dvorak
I've always wanted to play the Pastoral Symphony, so I guess you could say I'm fulfilling my dream! If only we had more musicians, instruments and sounded a lot better!
Well anyway I showed up tonight, and once again I was the only violist and possibly the only non-med student there! It's a little awkward for me sometimes, especially when I'm exposed and I have to play my part all on my own! I'm not exactly a confident string player!
I'm going to have to practise a lot anyway, as we're having a concert in September and I don't want to be a fool!
The pieces we've been playing are:
1st Movement (Pastoral) Symphony no. 6 in F major by Beethoven
Slavonic Dance no. 3 by Dvorak
Slavonic Dance no. 4 by Dvorak
I've always wanted to play the Pastoral Symphony, so I guess you could say I'm fulfilling my dream! If only we had more musicians, instruments and sounded a lot better!
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