And I thought I was Bad at Keeping Secrets

So on Sunday night I was having this group conversation with guy A and B on Skype. Guy A knew something about me after one of my friends (who I trusted to keep a secret) TOLD him, and must've thought Guy B knew, so he started talking about it. Now Guy B knew!

Guy C later joined in on the conversation and asked what us three had been talking about. That's when Guy A told Guy C my secret!

The next thing I knew I was having this conversation with a girl on MSN, and she told me she knew my secret as she had some reliable sources. I had a feeling I might know who her 'sources' were, and asked this 'source'. I was correct. She told me this other girl knew!

It doesn't seem to be much of a secret anymore :S

So It Wasn't Broken Afterall..

This weekend has been tough on me - my phone died on Sunday and I've been using Grace's old phone. Today though I put my foot down and decided that enough's enough! It's time to end this misery and buy a new phone!

It almost didn't happen yesterday though as I tried ringing the shop in the morning and only got the voicemail message. I was thinking that maybe the shop was closed due to Labour Day.

Later on in the day I decided to try again, and was surprised to have my call answered! They said they would be closing in half an hour. I grabbed Aonghas, jumped in the car and took off!

We only just got to the shop in North Shore just as it was about to close. You can now say hello to Samsung Galaxy S2!

Along the way home we stopped off at a KBB Music Store so that Aonghas could check out the electronic drums that were on sale, then badum before you know it, we were directed to their Henderson Rock Shop and ended up buying an electronic drum set!

We came home not knowing how to break the news to our parents that we had just bought a drum set. We didn't even know where we were going to put it yet either! We thought maybe we'd put it in our bedroom, so we told our parents when we got home that we were going to clean up our bedroom! They thought it was a little fishy that suddenly we were keen to tidy up the house.

You end up realising you can't hide anything from your parents, so by the end of the day we manned up and told our parents about the drum set!

Today I ended up passing on my old HTC Desire to Aonghas and told him that he could have it if he could get it to work, and he could then pass on his HTC Legend to Hamish so Hamish could finally jump on the Android bandwagon.

It turns out all Aonghas had to do was wipe the data (or something like that) and my (old) phone was working again! He rooted it like a true engineering student does and it's working and doing a lot more than I ever managed to make it do!

Back to the Future

I've been saved! Grace lent me her old Sony Ericsson K700 phone to use till I get a new phone! It's brought back many memories of texting with a keypad! I'm slowly getting used to it again. Thanks heaps Grace you lifesaver!

Here's a little bit of Rugby World Cup magic I captured at the West Fanzone last night using this phone!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypcn9l2Fmo4)

A Day Without a Cellphone

Yesterday I finally signed up to Vodafone's Smart $45 plan during my lunch break. I thought that it might take less time going into a shop and doing it in person, what with the credit check and everything. I was surprised at how fast it took for the credit check to be done! 

I was asked to switch my phone off and turn it back on in ten minutes though, and this is when the problems started.

I turned it back on after work, and the HTC boot sound sounded, which I thought was weird as I had put the phone on mute. I then noticed all my text messages had disappeared.

It was not until I was on the bus that I decided to switch my phone off and back on when I started having real problems. My phone would show the HTC boot screen and make that sound, then it would go black and show  the boot screen all over again. This would just continue in a loop! The unfortunate thing was that I was on the bus as this was happening, and it was embarrassing having this sound keeping on going! I had too many things in my hands to take the battery out and so I managed to endure the embarrassment and take the battery out once I got off the bus.

I was going to use my old Sony Ericsson K800i as a back-up phone for now, but I can't seem to find it, and the old Nokia 3315 phone doesn't seem to want to charge up! This meant I had/have no phone to use all day today!

I went out shopping with my mum, visiting a couple Chinese grocery stores and then Lynn Mall. I have to say it reminded me of back in the days before we used cellphones frequently to keep in touch with others. I felt a little isolated! I guess I did bond a bit more with my mum though...

Maybe this is just what I needed - an incentive to finally buy that new phone I've always wanted. Now the only decision to make is whether to get an iPhone, the Galaxy S2, or wait longer for a better phone!

A Difficult Decision

At the beginning of the week my preceptor asked me again if I thought I'd be ready to sit my pharmacist registration exam on the 1st November, which is coming up in a little over a week. I don't think she reckons I'm ready, and that's why she asked me again.

She said I pretty much had two options:
- Sit the exam in a couple weeks, and if I fail then I'd have to continue my internship for another five months and pay ~$2000 to do so
- Don't sit the exam, and just work for another five months and sit the exam in May when I feel more ready, and pay only about $200 to do so.

Originally I had my mind set on finishing my internship by the end of the year and starting something new in 2012, and so having to work for another five months would throw me off my plans. After I talked to my parents and my preceptor though, I started to think that maybe another five months wouldn't be the end of the world. I would still be getting paid I suppose. I think my preceptor and parents want me to do another five months though, so maybe I might once again listen to my parents.

After going to the intern exam revison evening though my friends were telling me that I've spent ten months working as an intern and so I shouldn't waste this opportunity and I should just sit the exam. To be honest though, having to think about this dilemma has thrown me off my study and I don't think I'd be ready to sit the exam anymore.

Therefore I guess I'll be an intern for another five months...

Exam Revision Time

Tonight I had an intern exam revision session in the pharmacy building at the Grafton Campus which brought back many memories of my time at uni up there. 

One of the new buildings is almost finished and looks quite flash! I didn't get a chance to go in and have a look though since it was closed.

We got into three groups and went through some cases and learnt more about what to expect in the exam.

It was good seeing all the interns again, but the revision session has left me feeling a little anxious about the exam!

If Only I knew How to Cook

Tonight I joined Natalie and Kunsala for our weekly study session, this week at Natalie's flat. Natalie and Kunsala were cooking while I was bringing the Diet Coke, chocolate and apple pie! I have to admit I felt a bit bad not being able to help in the kitchen! They were cooking butter chicken and it sure did smell and look good!

We ate the food along with a my very first papadum (I love that word!) before settling down to study while the apple pie sat in the oven to cook.

If only we kept an eye on that apple pie...It got burnt around the crust! That was OK that though, as we just ate the middle part of it and it still tasted good!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmXyHlb6ROk)

Baking for a Good Cause

Today was our church's bake sale organised and run by our youth group. Yesterday Oddfellows were divided in three groups, each meeting at a different house to bake some food to sell today.

This morning we had English service and I was a back-up singer to On who was leading worship, while Cleo was on keyboard. The only problem was that the keyboard wasn't working! We ended up having to sing without music. The upside though was that we could hear everyone singing!

I also had to do the Bible reading as well. Talk about full-on Sunday!

Sunday School only lasted for 15 minutes since we had to leave early to prepare for the bake sale.

The bake sale was held outside the front entrance of our church since it was a sunny day today. We had rainbow cupcakes, caramel slices, ULTIMATE brownies, noodles, lollies, coffee and other food. 

As soon as adult Sunday School finished, there was a stream of people coming out to buy food! Many of them gave us more money than we were asking for the food, telling us to keep the change! This is probably because it was all going to a good cause - our church building!

I didn't bring any money, so luckily my mum bought me some food. I tried the cookies and a curry puff, and I have to say they tasted really good! I wanted to try a rainbow cupcake, since the last time we tried baking rainbow cupcake at youth group was a fail, but they all sold out! I managed to save two caramel slices for Rebecca and me to have our next challenge! I had to put it on my 'tab' of course.

 Eventually when our food started running out and it started to die down, we dropped our prices, kept pushing and eventually got rid of most of the food to raise a grand total of ~$1090!

Well done Oddfellows!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6zZzTuNZjY)

To finish off the day, I had my challenge with Rebecca - to see who could eat a caramel slice the fastest. I was even generous enough to give her a ten second head-start! The result was inconclusive though with the challenge sorta ending in...a tie...

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krFObwFD1b8)

Opening Ceremony Closure

Today Aonghas and I got a large envelope each and inside it we found a Rugby World Cup 11 Certificate of Appreciation! This was for participating in the Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony a few weeks ago. 

We also got a programme, with photos of the main people involved and...the rest of us listed at the back! See if you can spot our names!

Flicking through the programme did bring back the memories!

In the meantime, GO THE ALL BLACKS!!

A Whole New Side

We've been playing this game after youth group called Psychiatrist ever since Jenny introduced it to us that night we had to help clean the church. The game involves everyone who does know the rule sitting around the outside in the circle, and everyone who doesn't sitting in the middle. Those who don't know the rule have to ask any 'yes' or 'no' questions to those sitting in the circle to try determine what the rule is. If, after one person in the circle answers the question and someone else shouts

'PSYCHIATRIST'


then everyone in the circle has to get up and switch places. I won't say what the rule is or else it'll kill it for those who don't know, but it can get quite interesting as you get to know each other's secrets! We did have one game which kinda failed when the people asking questions started thinking tactically and started asking about clothes. That was a little boring for us...

However, we have uncovered a secret from one particular person and last night it felt as though I got to know a whole lot more about that person! I have to say it's a really good feeling when someone trusts you enough to open up to you. I admit to sometimes being too loose with my trust..(or is it my mouth?) and just blurting everything out and then realising I've said too much!

Yawn...

I ended up leaving a lot of my paperwork till the last minute so it looks like I'll be staying up all night to get it done...

As part of my internship I have to submit documents every three months to the intern programme to be filed in my portfolio. This is the last lot I have to submit, so once I've finished it and sent it, I can completely focus on my exam which will be in a couple weeks' time!

Back to work!

Big 10,000

We've reached 10,000! Woohoo!

An Early End of Year Concert

Today was the big End of Year Concert at the music school I teach at. It's not really the end of the year as there is still Term Four to go, but because of renovations to the school hall and the November elections, it was decided to bring it forward to the end of Term Three.

I've been preparing my students for the past three weeks, trying to get them ready and so I was probably more nervous than they were before the concert! 

I asked them all to get to the school half an hour before the concert as I wanted to have a run through with them. The recorders would be the first to perform, then the flutes and then the violins. 

I got half of them to practise with Aonghas on the keyboard while I practised with the other half of them just to save time. 

We only just had enough time to have a group photo before the concert started!

My first year students started off the concert, performing Easter Bunny, Playing in Parts and Two Birds Together. I was a little worried about them as one of them went camping and so missed last week's lesson. The most pleasant surprise was that they played very well!

My first second year class then performed Puff the Magic Dragon, Triplet Round and Little Brown Jug with Aonghas on keyboard. They also did very well which made me very proud, as they must've practised heaps over the past week!

My next second year class performed Donna Nobis Pacem, I Like the Flowers and When Johnny Comes Marching Home with Aonghas on keyboard.

My last second year class (who I've taught the treble recorder to) performed Scarborough Fair, Putta Nera Ballo Furlano and The World in Union (to get in the Rugby World Cup spirit!). The tunes involving all four of the different recorders sounded really neat!

To finish off the recorder section of the concert, I got all my students to come up to perform It's a Small World. Even though I had practised the song with everyone only once earlier this morning before the concert, they managed to pull it off! I was so proud of my students!

After the recorders were done, the flute students performed. Rebecca, Joylynn and Nadine who go to the same church as me all performed, and I also saw some of my ex-students which was really cool!

The violins finished off the concert. Nadine also learns violin so she performed with her class, and our class performed last.

It was really good to see all the students performing today and I was so proud of my recorder students! I had a lot of positive comments from parents and other teachers so I can relax a bit now, and just hope I don't lose too many students to other instruments next year!

Cake Does the Trick

Tomorrow is the pharmacist manager at our pharmacy Aula's birthday, so the rest of us thought we'd surprise her with a birthday cake! Jenny, one of the pharmacy technicians bought a cake and we all shared the cost.

I think it made our pharmacist happy, because she offered to buy me a coffee or hot chocolate in the morning! 

It made for a very easy-going day at work! 

Happy Birthday Aula for tomorrow!

Joyboy's Birthday

We had church service today and it was Joylynn's birthday, so I rushed to buy a cake for her in the morning before the service (OK well maybe just as it started!) and then returned to church. Fortunately I didn't miss too much.

When I got there though the hall was full and a certain someone was supposed to reserve a seat for me but didn't, so I ended up sitting by myself!

 After service though we found Joylynn and were about to surprise her with the cake, but her dad (who's our church's pastor as well!) had also brought little cupcakes for her too! It looks like she was going to have a big feed today!

Catching the RWC Fever

On our way home after dropping Aonghas off at work in the city, we thought we'd stop by one of those discount stores and join in on the fun by buying a couple flags for our car! 

We originally got just one silver fern flag but then our dad, who initially thought the whole idea was a waste of money, asked if there were any Scotland flags! We've got Scottish roots on his side of the family, you see.

Hopefully Scotland beat England tonight, so we can continue to fly the Scottish flag!

It's amazing just how many people are getting into the Rugby World Cup! We passed a KFC that has been decked out in black...

When we visited Geoff's Emporium which is full of costumes, it was really busy! I'm guessing everyone was preparing for the game tonight! I met up with Janey, an old Dessert Club Committee friend who is going to the game. Hopefully the weather holds up!