Congratulations to my good friend Diane, who's passed all her exams in her fifth and final year of vet! All her years of hard work have finally paid off and she's finally going to become a fully-fled veterinarian!
Go you, Diane!
Wednesday 30 November 2011
Monday 28 November 2011
Celebrating Aonghas's 21st
Aonghas has finally hit the 21 mark, and and so we decided to celebrate like only we know how - have dinner together!
Originally we were thinking about going to the place in Mt Albert that we always go to, but Aonghas wanted to try somewhere different, so we went to this food court in the CBD.
There were so many different food stalls to choose from, all with different types of food - Malaysian, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indonesian and of course Chinese!
It took a while for all of us to choose what we wanted, but in the end we all made our own decisions. My dad went Malaysian, Hamish had Thai, Aonghas chose Korean, my mum had Chinese and I ended up having Japanese, or Teriyaki Salmon Don to be more specific!
Hamish struggled with his dish as it was quite spicy. He went back to ask for a cup of water, and an on-looker commented that he looked like he was struggling!
My dish tasted quite nice and there weren't any bones in my salmon! I had a hard time asking the lady before paying if there were any bones. She would just smile and say it was good. I don't think she understood me!
After dinner we decided to walk down Queen Street to Smith and Caughey's to check out the Christmas display with the moving dolls.
We got side-tracked by this new Japanese store along the way, that was still open at 9.30pm at night! It was sort of underground as we had to go down the stairs to check it out.
While we were there I skyped with Amy who was at the airport, about to depart for China! I was amazed at how well that went, considering I was using mobile internet and haven't had the best experience in the past.
After almost half an hour of wandering around the store, then waiting for our mum to wander around the store looking at stuff, we finally left the store and made our way to Smith and Caughey's.
I always like these displays they put up in their shop windows each year. They must spend quite a bit on them, but it really does get you into the Christmas spirit!
So hopefully Aonghas had a good birthday and a true start to adulthood. The celebration isn't over though. He'll probably have a proper celebration a little later on!
Saturday 26 November 2011
Camp Preview
This afternoon I was invited to go over to Willow Park Christian Camp to check out the facilities just to get an idea of what we will be working with when our church has its camp there in a few weeks' time. I'm helping out with organising the camp concert along with Jenny and Gabrielle.
I was waiting for Derek, one of the camp co-ordinators, to pick me up from the city, when Jenny walked by with her boyfriend! She originally texted me telling me she couldn't make it! She asked me if I was meant to be going to visit the camp site, and when I told her I was waiting to be picked up, she decided to make a run for it!
Derek eventually picked me up and saved me from the crazy homeless guy lying on a nearby bench.
By the time we got to the camp site all the way in East Auckland, the weather was perfect! The camp site is situated beside a beach and so it was picture perfect. Walking around the site brought back memories of last year's camp (we had it at the same place).
We had some food at this small Cantonese restaurant in Howick. I have to say it was a good experience. I usually eat the mainstream Chinese food, not the Chinese Chinese food!
Derek showed me 'Cantonese French Toast'! Basically it's two pieces of bread with peanut butter in the middle and butter on top all deep-fried. Oh, and don't forget to pour golden syrup on top of it!
After dinner, we said bye-bye to Derek and I went off with Tim and Gabrielle. We decided to stop by the Pakuranga Night Market.
It was the first time I had checked it out and I have to say I enjoyed the atmosphere! It felt like the Lantern Festival but in a carpark!
There were heaps of people, heaps of stalls selling food, gifts, clothes, plants and other stuff. I'll have to persuade my family to check it out next weekend!
I was waiting for Derek, one of the camp co-ordinators, to pick me up from the city, when Jenny walked by with her boyfriend! She originally texted me telling me she couldn't make it! She asked me if I was meant to be going to visit the camp site, and when I told her I was waiting to be picked up, she decided to make a run for it!
Derek eventually picked me up and saved me from the crazy homeless guy lying on a nearby bench.
By the time we got to the camp site all the way in East Auckland, the weather was perfect! The camp site is situated beside a beach and so it was picture perfect. Walking around the site brought back memories of last year's camp (we had it at the same place).
We checked out the hall, the dining hall and the rooms before making a few arrangements. We all then decided to go out to have dinner before parting ways.
We had some food at this small Cantonese restaurant in Howick. I have to say it was a good experience. I usually eat the mainstream Chinese food, not the Chinese Chinese food!
Derek showed me 'Cantonese French Toast'! Basically it's two pieces of bread with peanut butter in the middle and butter on top all deep-fried. Oh, and don't forget to pour golden syrup on top of it!
After dinner, we said bye-bye to Derek and I went off with Tim and Gabrielle. We decided to stop by the Pakuranga Night Market.
It was the first time I had checked it out and I have to say I enjoyed the atmosphere! It felt like the Lantern Festival but in a carpark!
There were heaps of people, heaps of stalls selling food, gifts, clothes, plants and other stuff. I'll have to persuade my family to check it out next weekend!
Making it Count
Today is Election Day, the day we can exercise our right to vote and decide on who will be in parliament for the next three years! It really seems a little pointless as National is most likely to romp back in to power.
After teaching music classes today I went with my mum and Aonghas to cast our votes. There was a polling booth at the school I teach, and that's where Hamish was working as an 'Issuing Officer', handing out voting forms to people.
Hamish didn't serve me but he served my mum. There were quite a few of them there! Aonghas and I voted in neighbouring booths, and even when I got to the booth I still hadn't decided which party I'd give my party vote to!
I ended up making a decision, but I won't declare how I voted here! As for whether I wanted to keep MMP or not, I voted to keep it. I really didn't have a chance to read up on the alternatives!
I really do want Labour to win, but I doubt they will (oops did I just reveal my political leanings?)
Ready, Set, Go!
It's the second-to-last music lesson for 2011, and it was probably one of the breeziest days I've had in terms of teaching. I made my Grade Two music theory students to sit a 'mock' exam, using one of the past exam papers.
I only had to teach one class in the morning before the exam and so I just gave them Christmas carols. All the kids seemed to have learnt some other lyrics to Jingle Bells! It was about Santa Claus being too fat, and that I'm glad I'm not a reindeer who has to pull his sleigh!
I got Aonghas to direct my music theory students to another room and I joined them just before the exam started. I have to say it felt quite cool to be in a position of power, on the other side for once! I gave them a run down of the exam rules, and Aonghas wrote down times on the blackboard so he could cross off over time.
I went off to teach one of my music theory students who wasn't sitting the exam, and as I was teaching, apparently the students who sat the exam finished it in about 45 minutes, when there was one and a half hours allocated!
I'll have to start marking the papers, so I hope to see some good results, especially as the pass mark is 66!
Friday 25 November 2011
Calum and Amy's Lunch
Amy was in the city today and she had been pestering me to buy her Starbucks, so I met up with her during my lunch break (had to power-walk all the way from work to meet her!)
It was my shout since well...I'm a nice guy (fo sho!) so SHE CHOSE (just saying Amy, just saying) a Cranberry White Frappucino or something like that. I just decided to get the same thing.
We then went over to check out Occupy Auckland in Aotea Square and....stare at them...
Half an hour went by really fast so we walked back to my work so I could show her where the magic happened, and that's Calum and Amy's lunch for you!
It was my shout since well...I'm a nice guy (fo sho!) so SHE CHOSE (just saying Amy, just saying) a Cranberry White Frappucino or something like that. I just decided to get the same thing.
We then went over to check out Occupy Auckland in Aotea Square and....stare at them...
Half an hour went by really fast so we walked back to my work so I could show her where the magic happened, and that's Calum and Amy's lunch for you!
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Waste of a Day Off
So while yesterday was a good day, today was a not so good day.
It started off good though! I woke up early despite going to bed at 3am last night (it must be a habit now!) and contacted a few dentists to find out how much it would cost to get my teeth cleaned. It turns out it would be around the $150 mark. One nearby dentist said they do a free consultation and then give you a quote, so I booked an appointment for 6.15pm later tonight.
I then thought I better go return my library books since they're due today so I can avoid getting another massive fine. I'm pretty sure I've paid over $50 worth of library book fines in the past year! I decided to drive to the library just so I could practise my driving skills, as you do.
I parked the car in the West City carpark, locked the car and was about to walk off. That's when I realised I was missing something...the car keys were still in the ignition!! Unfortunately I locked the car good so there was no way in!
I called Aonghas to see if there was a spare key at home, but my mum had gone out and had taken the set of keys with the spare! I tried calling my mum but she wasn't picking up her phone. Aonghas decided to ride his bike down to the place he thought she'd be, but her car wasn't there.
While I was waiting for him, I was standing on the path at a distance away from the car just so nobody thought I was leaving and also...so nobody could associate me with my poor parking skills!
He then rode over to meet me in the car park. We decided the only thing we could really do was to wait till our mum came home, so Aonghas got an extended parking permit from Customer Services inside the mall just so our car didn't get towed away (I only parked in a 90 minute spot!)
We just went back home, hoping no one would notice the key in the ignition and steal our car!
I had to walk down to the dentist later on in the day to get my teeth checked. After five minutes, the dentist told me I'd need a clean and TWO FILLINGS! I asked how much and he said $150 for the clean and $180 for each filling = over $500!!! Boy are dentists expensive!
It started off good though! I woke up early despite going to bed at 3am last night (it must be a habit now!) and contacted a few dentists to find out how much it would cost to get my teeth cleaned. It turns out it would be around the $150 mark. One nearby dentist said they do a free consultation and then give you a quote, so I booked an appointment for 6.15pm later tonight.
I then thought I better go return my library books since they're due today so I can avoid getting another massive fine. I'm pretty sure I've paid over $50 worth of library book fines in the past year! I decided to drive to the library just so I could practise my driving skills, as you do.
I parked the car in the West City carpark, locked the car and was about to walk off. That's when I realised I was missing something...the car keys were still in the ignition!! Unfortunately I locked the car good so there was no way in!
I called Aonghas to see if there was a spare key at home, but my mum had gone out and had taken the set of keys with the spare! I tried calling my mum but she wasn't picking up her phone. Aonghas decided to ride his bike down to the place he thought she'd be, but her car wasn't there.
While I was waiting for him, I was standing on the path at a distance away from the car just so nobody thought I was leaving and also...so nobody could associate me with my poor parking skills!
He then rode over to meet me in the car park. We decided the only thing we could really do was to wait till our mum came home, so Aonghas got an extended parking permit from Customer Services inside the mall just so our car didn't get towed away (I only parked in a 90 minute spot!)
I had to walk down to the dentist later on in the day to get my teeth checked. After five minutes, the dentist told me I'd need a clean and TWO FILLINGS! I asked how much and he said $150 for the clean and $180 for each filling = over $500!!! Boy are dentists expensive!
Tuesday 22 November 2011
A Good Day
Today turned out to be a pretty good day at the office, for the following reasons:
- My boss not only asked me to once again buy her some miso soup, but she shouted me one too!
- I got told I get tomorrow off work!
- I got to spend the day blister-packing!
- Oh and I ate macaroni out of a jar for lunch...
To finish off this wonderful day, Jenny and I had dinner at Tim and Gabrielle's house to discuss the church camp concert as our youth group is in charge or organising it!
- My boss not only asked me to once again buy her some miso soup, but she shouted me one too!
- I got told I get tomorrow off work!
- I got to spend the day blister-packing!
To finish off this wonderful day, Jenny and I had dinner at Tim and Gabrielle's house to discuss the church camp concert as our youth group is in charge or organising it!
Monday 21 November 2011
Aegyo!
Apparently you need 'aegyo' to be a Korean pop star. If you don't know what 'aegyo' is, check this video out and search it up on Youtube. Even I don't fully understand what exactly it is...I think it's making a cute pose or something?
Yeah don't worry, I'm thinking WHAT THE HEEBY as well!
Anyway us Anderson brothers have been practising getting our 'aegyo' on so we can wow those judges!
HAMISH!
AONGHAS!!
And for mine...well I don't have an animation so you'll just have to imagine me doing one...
Oh and girls just to let you know we're still single and straight!
The Worm Hates You John Key
The Ray Morgan Reactor, aka 'the Worm' featured in tonight's TV3 Election Debate between John Key and Phil Goff.
Basically, it is a line that shows the reaction of members of a studio audience as well as the home audience as the two party leaders speak. Home audience participants use an app downloaded on their smartphone while the studio audience use something similar.
I thought I'd participate and set the dial for whenever John Key spoke...
Sunday 20 November 2011
The Next Korean Pop Group
So today after the church service some girls called me over and told me about some auditions that are going to be held next month in New Zealand to find the next big Korean pop group. That's when I thought...maybe I should give that a go!
The idea soon evolved into getting my brothers to join in on the act! I enlisted the help of the church dance expert Jessica who has studied all the famous Korean pop groups and their dances, and she told me she'd be keen to train us and teach us some dance moves
Apparently the audition will be held on the 10th December (on a Saturday..YUSSSS), and there are several categories - singing, dancing, acting/MC'ing and modelling. Originally I thought we'd have to both dance and sing, but I think we might just audition in the dance category!
The song Jessica will be teaching us is Hello by Shinee:
The idea soon evolved into getting my brothers to join in on the act! I enlisted the help of the church dance expert Jessica who has studied all the famous Korean pop groups and their dances, and she told me she'd be keen to train us and teach us some dance moves
Apparently the audition will be held on the 10th December (on a Saturday..YUSSSS), and there are several categories - singing, dancing, acting/MC'ing and modelling. Originally I thought we'd have to both dance and sing, but I think we might just audition in the dance category!
The song Jessica will be teaching us is Hello by Shinee:
Don't think I'm joking about this, because I'm deadly serious! Sure, we'll have our hopes and dreams crushed when they realise we can't dance, but if we fail to be Korean pop stars we can always try out for NZ X-Factor next year!
Watch this space!
Saturday 19 November 2011
The Big Exam
The early End-of-Year Concert at the music school I teach may be over, but for my second year music theory students, they have an exam to study for in a week's time!
None of them wanted to sit the actual ABRSM exam, so I decided I'd hold a 'mock' exam and get them to sit it under test conditions just to simulate an actual exam...and also partially for my own enjoyment! I'm just kidding.
Anyway I'm a little afraid as to how well they'll do. I've given them past papers to complete at home over the past few weeks, but only a couple of them have remembered to bring them to class for me to mark!
The last few weeks have been a bit of a rush, so despite having covered the whole syllabus, revision hasn't been ideal and I don't think the students have memorised the performance directions/symbols and Italian words completely!
I guess we'll have to see this Saturday! I've told them that the exam is one and a half hours long but they have to stay for at least 45 minutes, and use as much time to check, check, check and RE-CHECK!
None of them wanted to sit the actual ABRSM exam, so I decided I'd hold a 'mock' exam and get them to sit it under test conditions just to simulate an actual exam...and also partially for my own enjoyment! I'm just kidding.
Anyway I'm a little afraid as to how well they'll do. I've given them past papers to complete at home over the past few weeks, but only a couple of them have remembered to bring them to class for me to mark!
The last few weeks have been a bit of a rush, so despite having covered the whole syllabus, revision hasn't been ideal and I don't think the students have memorised the performance directions/symbols and Italian words completely!
I guess we'll have to see this Saturday! I've told them that the exam is one and a half hours long but they have to stay for at least 45 minutes, and use as much time to check, check, check and RE-CHECK!
Thursday 17 November 2011
Spicy Birthday Dinner
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAMISH!
We decided to go to the restaurant in Mt Albert we regularly go to (the same one we went to just a few days ago on Sunday night!) to celebrate Hamish's 25th birthday after work.
We did visit Harvey Norman (or Andrew Norman as my dad likes to call it) to check out their special sale before we went though. Some salesman was trying to sell us an outdated laptop. What was worse was that it was a display model!
As he was talking, I started looking at the tablets and went to pick one up when I set the alarm off! That was embarrassing...
That was OK though, the food was still good and made us full!
Boy Hamish you're getting old!
Monday 14 November 2011
When We're Together Snowmen Come to Life
I met up with Angie after work to check out a few shops and then to Starbucks as my treat since she had just finished her last exam, and that's where I tried this drink called the 'Gingerbread Latte'!
It tastes like gingerbread kisses!
It tastes like gingerbread kisses!
Sunday 6 November 2011
Hacked!
This morning I had to lead children's worship, so I stayed up late last night till 3am practising a couple Chinese songs (looks like I'm not very good at dancing and singing at the same time, especially when I'm singing in Chinese!).
I also tried to come with something meaningful to link all the songs together instead of just singing one song after another:
In the Bible Jesus told his followers about two men. One was a wise man – he listened to Jesus and built his house on rocks. Another man was foolish – he didn’t listen to Jesus and he built his house on the sand. Who knows why he did, maybe he wanted to get a nice view of the ocean!
When the rain and the storm came along, the house that the wise man built on the rock stood firm and didn’t crumble. As for the foolish man’s house on the sand…well the rain came down and as the flood came up it washed his house away!
Jesus is the wise man who knows how to build good houses. More importantly, He knows the right way for us to live our lives, so if we listen to Him, we won't get into trouble like the wise man. If we ignore Jesus' wise instructions and try to live by our own rules, we may have a disaster and no one else will be able to help us.
SING WISE MAN BUILT HIS HOUSE UPON THE ROCKS
Hands up if you’ve ever felt saaaaad, like when when someone at school was being mean to you. You know, sometimes these kinds of things happen and you don’t know what to do, but one thing you can always rely on is Jesus being there for you, as long as you let him into your heart.
With Jesus in your heart, you can stay strong and overcome anything!
So the song we’re about to sing is about a time when Jesus got on a boat with some of his disciples. Now a storm came along and as Jesus slept in the boat, the disciples started to freak out! Jesus reassured them everything would be OK and Jesus being Jesus, he calmed the storm and everything was OK!
SING WITH CHRIST IN THE VESSEL
So when you don’t know what to do and you’re having a tough time, there will always be someone who can help you. He’s so great he created everything around you, the Earth, the stars, your mum, dad and even your cat!
Can anyone tell me who he is?
SING AH LORD GOD
God loves us so much and if we truly love him we should praise him. Make sure you let him into your heart, and love him with all you’ve got – pray to him and listen to what he wants you to do, as he knows what is best for you.
SING PRAISE HIM
Let me know what you think! The feedback I got from a couple of kids was they had learnt all this years ago! Well thank. You. Very. Much! Apparently my Chinese eeerrrrrmmm....I admit I forgot some of the Chinese words and mumbled through those songs. I told the kids to sing as loud as they could to cover me up!
Today was a special day, as it was Ada's farewell party after the service. Ada has been at our church for a long time, and was in fact Hamish and my first Sunday School teacher when we joined the church way back in 2002.
We sang a few songs to start off, then watched a photo slideshow which was quite touching (I was in one of the photos boo-yah!), before a few people came up to share their stories. (I'll post some photos as they become available)
People were still commenting on it even after I posted that it was a hoax when I got home! I don't think someone's messed with any of my social networking accounts since a few years ago when SHE changed my Bebo page!
As for the food, it was very nice! It didn't last too long once everyone came out!
We all had a mass group photo with Ada, before smaller groups had photos with her. Our youth group and our family managed to get photos taken together with her.
She's not leaving immediately so there's still a little time to say our goodbyes to Ada but hopefully she will do well in Hong Kong. We'll miss her!
After teaching the kids music, a few of us went to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for an early dinner (and when I say early I mean 4pm EARLY!). I had a big bowl of meat noodle soup and felt full after it, but right now I'm starving!
Saturday 5 November 2011
Growing the Family
Tonight the Andersons and the Brens all met together again for a big family dinner. There was a special reason for tonight's family dinner though - Martyn was bringing along Bronwyn (his new girlfriend) and her family along to meet all of us!
Martyn and his girlfriend along with her two younger sisters made a surprise visit on the night of the Rugby World Cup Grand Final, seeing our house in all its messy glory!
Anyway, once again we all got bloated eating wonderfully yummy food. I tried to pace myself so I wouldn't get bloated too soon, but after two plates I was already quite full, and there was dessert to come!
I really love dessert. There's always nice cakes, truffles, jelly and ice-cream! I'm just always too full to enjoy it!
We went outside to light...or watch our cousin Graeme light some fireworks.
They were from The Warehouse though so....think little fountain fireworks and those 12 shot fireworks!
We did have fun with the sparklers though, attempting to spell words in photos with them!
It was a great night catching up with the whole family tonight, and we might just be able to add South African to the growing list of nationalities that make up our extended family!
Martyn and his girlfriend along with her two younger sisters made a surprise visit on the night of the Rugby World Cup Grand Final, seeing our house in all its messy glory!
Anyway, once again we all got bloated eating wonderfully yummy food. I tried to pace myself so I wouldn't get bloated too soon, but after two plates I was already quite full, and there was dessert to come!
I really love dessert. There's always nice cakes, truffles, jelly and ice-cream! I'm just always too full to enjoy it!
We went outside to light...or watch our cousin Graeme light some fireworks.
They were from The Warehouse though so....think little fountain fireworks and those 12 shot fireworks!
It was a great night catching up with the whole family tonight, and we might just be able to add South African to the growing list of nationalities that make up our extended family!
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