Now the Real Work Starts

Today was the first day of uni, which meant work was going to get a whole lot busier! For some reason though it didn't feel much busier than last week! We had two extra staff working today though, so maybe that helped a bit.

What was quite different though was during my lunch breaks. Usually I would either sit outside in the Quad or sit in the study area of Level 0 of the IC to eat lunch, but today there were students everywhere! There was nowhere to go!

People had to line up at the ground floor to get their MAXX stickers (to get 40% off public transport) and the line stretched all the way across the bottom floor of IC, went out the door and then went in a semi-circle! I think I might have to stay in the tea room during my breaks in the future!

I Can See Clearly Now

So for the first time, I bought something from Groupy, one of those online deal websites yesterday! In the morning I saw in one of the emails I received that they were offering an eye exam and two pairs of designer glasses at Specsavers for $179.

At first I didn't know what I should do, whether get the deal or not as I didn't know what sort of glasses they were talking about. I was thinking about it all day at work (lucky it wasn't all that busy at work either!) and asked a few friends at youth group who encouraged me to do it.

In the end I thought 'what the hey' I'll just do it! The worst possible outcome is that I will have wasted $179!

The glasses I'm wearing right now are over three years old, covered in scratches and quite dirty anyway. A lot of people think I look quite old in them too!

Now the only thing to do is to decide which frames I should get. I went to the local Specsavers to try some on today and, well...these are some that I can choose from (just ignore the fact that the lenses are covered in stickers!):

View all

The Wedding Gift

A week after their wedding, Gabrielle and Tim made it to our youth group night tonight, in which we were having movie night - How to Train a Dragon.

I was put in charge of getting a wedding present for them on behalf of Oddfellows. I had asked for contributions a week before the wedding and was surprised at just how generous everyone was! We raised over $100!

The only problem was what to give them...We had a discussion at the end of youth group the night before the wedding and ended up deciding to buy them a digital photo frame.

Aonghas bought one today before youth group and loaded it with some wedding photos On had taken and some music Tim had recorded on a CD that he gave to everyone who attended their wedding banquet.

After the movie and the discussion, Aonghas and Cleo presented the present to the newlyweds and it turns out Tim has been wanting to get a digital photo frame for quite a while now! Thank goodness no one else gave one to him!

Hopefully they don't delete our photos!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDDYot53iL4)

A Marriage to Make it Official

It was the big day today. Tim and Gabrielle were finally tying the knot!

Because we all had a role to play in this wedding, we all needed to be there earlier than others. My mum was helping with the food preparation so had to get to the church by 10am, while Aonghas was doing all the videography which meant he would be filming everything from the beginning of the day till the end, so he had to meet the bride and groom at their house by 9am. As for the rest of us, Hamish and I were part of the string quartet who would be playing music in the ceremony, so we had to get to the church by midday.

Hamish, my dad and I got to the church and we started setting up in the hall when the drama started though. Hamish's A-string broke! It's the second time in less than a week that his A-string had broke! We had to decide whether to quickly go out and buy a new A-string, or go all the way home to grab the other viola. My dad and Hamish ended up going all the way home to get the other viola since it would be too costly to buy just one string and a new string would be hard to tune in such a short time.

While they went off to get the other viola, I was tuning my cello when my bridge collapsed! It came as quite a shock as it made a huge sound! Luckily nothing broke and with Jenny's help I was able to put the bridge back up, and tune the cello properly.

By then we didn't have much time left and the wedding was soon about to start. Aonghas had only just arrived and was busy setting up all the cameras and audio equipment, while Hamish still hadn't gotten back. The wedding had to be delayed a few minutes for both of them. Hamish soon arrived though and it was all go!

We started off playing Humoresque in the background, before playing For Unto Us a Child is Born as the parents walked up the aisle. Finally it was Gabrielle's turn to walk up the aisle with her dad as Jenny, Richard and I played The Prayer.

We sang a couple of hymns before the minister spoke and his wife gave a heartfelt speech speech about Tim and Gabrielle's love for each other.

After that, it was time for the bride and groom to exchange vows. Tim gave his in Cantonese while Gabrielle gave her's in English.

Finally the minister announced them husband and wife, and the highlight of the wedding...time to kiss the bride! Everyone was cheering, especially all the young people watching from upstairs!

We played 'You Raise Me Up' as they signed the marriage register. Gabrielle then treated us to a rendition of Amazing Grace with Tim playing on the piano, before it was time for us to play the 'Hallelujah Chorus' as they walked down the aisle as husband and wife.

It wasn't too long till they came back in and took photos with various different groups. I was lucky and got to be in two group photos - the string quartet photo and the Oddfellows photo. I have to admit I've never seen Oddfellows dressed this nicely and formally! I was quite impressed!

Because Oddfellows were the last group to take a photo with the bride and groom, we were the last to get to the food! There was still plenty of food for all of us when we got there though, and my mum had saved a plate of food for me too! BONUS!!

The bride and groom mixed and mingled with all the guests before Gabrielle did the bouquet toss. The bridesmaid, Lilian, ended up catching the flowers (I missed out grrr) but she didn't get it without a fight! She was nice enough to share the flowers with the other girls though!

People started leaving soon, and because Oddfellows had to help clean up, we had to stay behind and do exactly that. The only problem was there were only a few of us! It was just as well there wasn't too much cleaning that needed to be done.

By the time we had finished cleaning up, it was 5.30pm and it was time to head on to the next venue - Si Chuan Restaurant for the wedding banquet!

Our family was seated at table 16, which was all the way in the far corner. I was seated next to Tommy and Harris, while I had Jenny, Angie and Nadine opposite me. Besides me though was an empty seat, so I was pretty much on my own for the night!

 This was the first Chinese wedding banquet I'd been to, so it was quite different to what I'm used to at restaurants. Instead of ordering our own food, dishes trickled out throughout the night.

We got a quite a range, from meat to green vegetables to lobster and fried rice. There was even a edible bowl made of dry noodles with vegetables in it! We were all warned by Gabrielle at the beginning to pace ourselves!

While we were eating, Tim and Gabrielle started off the speeches and then invited their best man, bridesmaid and parents to give speeches. Because I was right in the corner right next to kids making heaps of noise, I had a hard time hearing what they were actually saying!

I didn't really have anyone to talk to for most of the night, but fortunately Jireh came over to my table to talk and entertain me! We even made the phrase

'I <3 U'

with the puzzles that were scattered across all the tables!

The night ended with Tim and Gabrielle going around to have a toast with each table.

I still can't believe they're finally married! They've been together for quite a while now and are quite a great couple. I wish them all the happiness for their marriage and hopefully it's a long, happy and fun marriage!

- Some photos courtesy of On, Nadine and Tim!

The Final Rehearsal

Tonight was the final wedding rehearsal for Tim and Gabrielle's wedding before the big day this coming Saturday.

Angie needed a ride so my brothers picked her up before coming to pick me up in the city after work. I first had to return some medicine to another pharmacy that we borrowed from earlier in the day though. While I was there, I saw this offer of a free first aid kit with every purchase of this antiseptic, and because I've been looking for a small first aid kit to buy for myself for a while now, I just bought it!

Once they picked me up, we headed over to the church in Remuera and after finding where it was, we decided to pick up some food from the nearby McDonald's before returning to the church.

This was the first time we had been to this church and it was quite nice and modern looking inside. It looked slightly smaller than our own church though.

We just ran through some of the key moments of the wedding, like the beginning when the important people walk up the aisle, the vows and the signing of the marriage register before the night was over.

The big day is drawing closer and closer each day!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCWf8q17iv8)

Boo to you Valentine's Day!

Oh yay it's that day when nothing exciting happens for those of us who are single - February the 14th.

How was my Valentine's Day you ask? Let's just say it was like every other February the 14th! Just like any other ordinary day.

I did find something out last night just before the clock ticked over to Valentine's Day though. Let's just say the worst thing you ever want to hear is that all you may possibly be is just a friend! Boo!

So here's to February the 14th and the nothingness it brings!

Happy February the 14th everyone!

Minigolfing

So even though I've got an assignment (that's due this coming Friday) to finish, after church and wedding music rehearsal today, Hamish and I were invited to go play mini-golf with Nadine, Winston and Tommy, and...I agreed to go! They had bought some tickets for half price on one of those online deal websites and they were due to expire tomorrow.

After Nadine got back to church, we all jumped in her car and headed off to Mission Bay. It was really sunny today so we had to slop on some sunscreen!

The mini-golf place looked quite nice, and with the beautiful weather and surroundings, it was a pretty cool place. There were two 18-hole courses and we opted for the easier course.

The course consisted of mainly par-2's or par-3's, but some proved to be quite tricky! I ended up winning (not skiting or anything!) but the highlight was Nadine's hole-in-one! That's something you don't see very often!

By the time we finished playing mini-golf, it was about 4pm and while we were sitting outside eating ice-cream in the hot weather, we decided to head over to Mission Bay for a little walk.

I was surprised at just how populated the beach was, especially since school has already started! It's good to see people enjoying themselves at least! Nadine and Tommy went onto the beach to walk around in the shallow water while us guys stood a little way back to keep our feet clean!

We then went walking along the beach before ending up at the playground, watching Tommy play. It brought back quite a few memories of when we were younger and just how fun playgrounds were!

It got late and it was soon time for us to go. It wasn't such a bad outing, only now I've got an assignment to complete!

Long Absence

Apologies for the long absence! I've been busy working for the past two weeks which has been taking some time to get used to. I will fill in the gaps this weekend!

Happy Birthday Scholastica!

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY SCHOLASTICA!

To celebrate her 21st birthday, Scholastica had a birthday dinner at the Grasshopper Restaurant tonight which was perfect timing for me as I could just go there straight after work.

Because of work, I had to quickly buy her a birthday present as soon as I finished work. I managed to find her a box of chocolate in tablet form which is quite appropriate seeing as she studies pharmacy! I'm not too sure whether it's more suitable for guys though...

When I finally got to the restaurant, everyone was sitting at this very long table at the back. I didn't really recognise anyone except for Kathleen, another pharmacy student, so I just sat next to her for the night and caught up with her.

The restaurant was a Thai restaurant so a lot of the food was marked with how spicy they were. I tried to choose a dish that was the least spicy. It turns out most of the plates weren't spicy at all! I think I chose the sweet n' sour dish.

I had to leave after a couple of hours and was ready to go when speeches were about to start, so I decided to stay for a little bit longer to hear the speeches. A few of Scholastica's friends gave speeches which were quite entertaining!

The cake was soon brought out and so I stayed A BIT longer to have some before I finally had to go! 

 Hopefully Scholastica had a great night and will have a great 21st year!

The First Step Towards Buffness

I finally joined the gym last Thursday after saying I would for the last two years, and today was the first time I actually went to the gym! 

Aonghas cycled in to the city to meet up with me after work and we went in together. Aonghas was more or less my personal trainer for the night, taking me around to some of the machines and teaching me how to use them. 

We started off doing some leg presses (is that what they're called?) where I sat down on this machine and pushed up against this platform with my feet. Aonghas told me to do 12 at a time, take a rest and do 12 more, then take another rest before doing one final set of 12. My legs were sore after that!

Next on the circuit was this machine that made me push these two bars forward using my hands and upper body strength. We also lifted weights, and used this other machine where I had to pull down this handle thing to lift some weights. Boy were my arms so sore by the end of it!

The final thing we did before we finished for the night were the good old sit-ups. Aonghas then cycled back home while I went to McDonald's (there goes all the hard work!).

I never expected working out at the gym to make me feel a lot better after a bad day at work! 

A Chinese New Year on Waitangi Day

It was Waitangi Day today but that was the last thing on people's minds at our church, as we celebrated Chinese New Year!

We had a normal church service, and then had a pot luck (shared) lunch which is something I always look forward to as there's so much food!

After lunch though we had games! Originally when they split everyone up into age groups I thought we would be competing against each other based on age. A lot of my friends were in the 11-18 age group and so I was looking forward to wasting them since I got sent to the >19 age group! They ended up mixing us up into six groups. I was in the green group!

The first game was sort of like charades, where each team was given a Bible story they had to silently act out in front of all the other groups. There were a few weird skits that we couldn't figure out, while ours was Jonah and the whale. I don't think our team won that round though!

The next game was a bit of a relay where pairs of team members had to run to the other side of the gym, carry a balloon without using their hands back to the team and get the word from inside the balloon to form a Bible verse with the first team to complete it the winner.

The final game was more our kind of game. It was newspaper hockey! It got a bit vicious a few times, with some people falling over and others getting whacked! Our team came runner-up so we faced off against red team in the final but...we lost!

After all the fun and games though, we still had a music rehearsal for Gabrielle and Tim's wedding. By then I was really exhausted!

22 New Experiences in my 22nd Year: Waxing

After the Children's Summer Programme Reunion today, I decided to go ahead with something I'd never tried before - waxing! Grace and Carmen had previously offered to give it a go on me and made me promise I wouldn't back out!

It was decided that we'd experiment with my arms. Carmen took my left arm and Grace too the right arm. Before I had a chance to think things over, they put these strips over my arm and started rubbing them to ensure the strips were properly stuck to my arm.

Without warning they just ripped them off me! It actually only hurt momentarily! My arms were left with a lot of spots though.

Unfortunately, they didn't have enough wax strips to wax my entire arms so I was left with hairy patches on my arm! I look a bit weird but I might just roll my sleeves down for the next few days till Grace does the rest of my arms with her hair removal cream!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGXH4XgQvr8)

My First Day at Work

I finally have my Annual Practising Certificate to practise as an intern pharmacist!

Today was my first day at work, which meant I had to wake up at 6.30am to get ready. I caught the bus into the city but I got there so early I managed to spend an hour on the uni computers (I can still log in, yay!!).

On the first day of work I got to meet all the staff and they're all quite friendly. I mainly spent my time in the dispensary helping enter prescriptions into the computer, dispensing and handing out medicines to customers/patients though. 

It was quite quiet at work too! I get two breaks throughout the day, a half hour lunch break around midday. I just went upstairs and sat outside in the Quad to eat my lunch, as it was good being outside after being stuck in the pharmacy all day!

I got a nice surprise when one of my friends Eliza came into the pharmacy just to drop off a little first day of week present for me - a really nice cupcake! Thanks so much Eliza, that made my day!

I finally finished work by 5.30, and I was going to join the gym but I didn't know which membership I could qualify for so I had to email the manager. No New Years resolutions fulfilled today!

I then met up with another one of my friends Scholastica who was going to shout me dinner at the Sky City Fortuna Restaurant sorta as a birthday and first day of week treat! 

As soon as we got seated we went straight to the food! Last time we went to a buffet we ate and got full too fast, so this time we paced ourselves! 

 

There was quite a lot to eat, and it was really nice, especially the dessert! Scholastica and I chatted throughout dinner about all sorts of stuff and also made a toast to a successful year ahead!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1PlvwSoJTU)