Cooking Calamari

Tonight we finally cooked the calamari the pharmacist at my work bought me for my birthday. It was quite easy to cook/fry, and it tasted quite good!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQaD5TKnUTE)

Calamari for Calum!

Today the pharmacist at my work gave me a birthday present - Calamari!

That's her nickname for me, and because I told her I had never tried it before, she had bought a box of it for me! When I got to work, she grabbed it out of the freezer to show me!

Thanks so much Aula!

Toni Turning Chinese

Tonight after work I met up with my high school friend Toni and a few others to farewell her, as she is leaving New Zealand for China next Monday to teach English over there!

I had some Burger King before I was going to meet them all at Shadows, the uni bar. As I was walking back up to uni though, I saw them walking down the road, and it turned out that Shadows was closed!

We all walked to some bar in Metro. When we got in and sat down, a staff member came over to tell us that they would be closing in 25 minutes! We would have to find somewhere else to go! There was only enough time for Evan, Toni's boyfriend and classmate, to have a game of pool!

Our third attempt to have a catch-up was at Father Ted's, an Irish pub. It was quite packed, probably because it was pub quiz night. We thought we might just enter a team! Our group was split into two, so all the high school friends of Toni's formed one group, along with a few others.

There were several sections to the pub quiz format. There was a section on movies/TV shows, sections 1 and 2 of Pot Luck, a page of logos we had to identify, and a section on music.

I have to admit I felt quite out of shape when hearing the questions and not being able to answer them! I was able to answer to a National Lampoon movie question, but for the rest of them we relied on Evan!

We got to the end of the questions, and handed them all in. We waited outside in the fresh air till an announcement was made on the winner of the pub quiz. We were expecting to come near the bottom, but as it turns out, we came second, only losing by ONE point! Maybe we should do this a bit more often!

Karaoke was just about to start, but it was getting late and I have work the next day, so I had to depart, but it was a good long-overdue catch-up with Toni and high school friends!

Hopefully Toni has a safe and life-changing experience in China! I'm sure she will gain so much out of it.

There goes another high school friend! Bye Toni!

Something Amazing

This morning at church I got my second birthday present from Gabrielle and Tim:

Thanks guys! I've got more bedtime reading to do now!

What Birthday?

So today was my birthday, but without Facebook's help you probably wouldn't have guessed it, seeing as I didn't do anything special at all to celebrate. Instead I spent the whole day helping Aonghas film a friend's friend's wedding. I guess that made it special in a way, in that I will always remember their wedding anniversary. I'll also remember my 23rd birthday as being at their wedding as well! I'll talk about the wedding in another post.

I admit I did start off my birthday at midnight feeling a little down, contemplating life and how old I've become without achieving much, etc. etc. By the end of the day after the wedding was over I was too tired to think about it!

Now time for the thank-you's! So thanks Harris, Mimi, Natalie, Kate, Jacky, Asal, Himesh, Angel, Ms Faaea-Semeatu, Ellyce, Kelvin, Amber, Nikki, Phillip, Irene, Scholastica, Megan, Adam, Ting Ting, Regina, Christine, Yoon, Rachel, Andrew, Anisha, Johnny, Caylee, Melissa, Ayesha, Edwin, Ji Eun, Julie H, Aula, Kaytee, Ashleigh, Xin-Yan, Megan J, Jane, Henry, Cathie, Arina, Julia, Esther, Larry, Karmun, Ruby, Zippo, Daniel, Richard, Ellen, Shen, Joylynn, Leo, Amanda, Yan Yan, Jade, Stella, Kevin, Julie K, Ruby, Joon, Jonathan, Paul H, Peter C, Cicily, Eddie, Sarena, Jenny, Yeeping, George, Amy, Tracy, Bettina, Dillon, Harjinder, Uncle John, Daisy, Kavi, Fraser, Jasmine, Amy C, Mubashra, Brit, Bliss, Tim S, Sonja, Maxine, Kunsala, Michael Z, , Emily, Sol, Hana, Shameela, Ruth, Dora, Grainam, Stephanie, Tyler, Steven P, Kathleen, Zahir, Winston, Joe, Grace, Sirianne, Timothy S, Michael Y, Hyun, Hannah S, Korina, Leonie, Nadine B, Wei, Cleo, Kassandra and Bronz for the birthday wishes on Facebook.

Thanks Alice and Cookie Bear for the birthday emails! It was really nice to get an email from Alice even while she's all the way in Australia! I ought to reply very soon!

Thanks too to Alex S, Antonia, Grace, Diane, Rebecca, Chen and Andrew for the birthday texts as well! Sadly my phone just had to start malfunctioning on my birthday, and I started to realise I wasn't receiving all the texts people were sending me! I'm in the process of sorting that out, so if you texted me and I haven't thanked you, it's probably because I didn't receive it :(

Anyway, without all the birthday wishes, my day would've been like any other, so thanks for them and for acknowledging my existence ;)

Hopefully I will have a chance to celebrate my birthday at least with the family sometime in the future.

An Unexpected Follower

I was serving the last customer before closing the shop today, when the customer's friend exclaimed that she had read my blog! I was blown away!

I was trying to recognise her, just in case she was someone I knew from a long time ago, but I just couldn't put a name to the face and I was too ashamed to ask!

I didn't think anyone read this besides the few that I know of, and those spambots, so I guess that's kinda cool!

If you're reading this, random customer from today, HI!

I can now Leave the Country!

My passport finally arrived in the mail today! It's all new and flash!

It's all colourful and prettiful inside, and you can't see the stubble on my face in my ID photo!

Switch Around

This morning we had our monthly English service. This time I was being the usher, the first time I had held this position. All I had to do was hand our programmes, so it wasn't too bad! I felt sorry for the team leading worship though, as the keyboard was playing up again and they had to sing without it! It was the second time singing without the keyboard for On, and it meant all that practising the day before for Nadine was a waste!

After cleaning up the gym side of the church yesterday, today we stacked all the chairs in the church auditorium and shifted them into the gym, for what would be our makeshift auditorium for the next few months as the other side of the church gets repaired.

It wasn't too big of a job this time around, and we were done not too long after. Some of the people in our fellowship were having some Bible study meeting, so I was just playing around on the piano with Rebecca, Ben and Andrew till my mum decided it was time to go. Sadly we left just before the group finished and went to dinner, so we didn't join them!

Cleaning the Church

The gym and kindergarten side of the church has almost been renovated, so we spent most of this weekend dusting the gym, shifting all the kindergarten furniture and equipment back into the renovated kindergarten, and unpacking stuff from the giant metal storage container.

Our first job was to shift all this stuff back into a shed, before moving kindergarten back into the renovated kindergarten. It was tiring work!

 

After that, we took out all the tables from the giant metal storage container and put them back together in the new classroom before it was time for the best part of the day - lunch!

My mum and a couple others had prepared sausages, vegetables and bread for us. There was quite a lot of sausages, so we got plenty to eat!

We did a bit more work after lunch, including shifting some of the playground equipment. Boy was that hard work!

We finally called it a day by 6pm and that's when Winston invited my brothers and I to go watch Tin Tin as he had won a double pass! When we got to Westgate, we discovered his double pass was only valid during the week. Fortunately, he tried asking if they would accept it and they kindly agreed to.

The movie was pretty good, and the animation was impressive! I won't say anymore to avoid spoiling it for anyone.

We finished off the night with dinner at Burger King where we ate and talked till late.

Skills that will make me a REAL Man (Updated)

There are certain things a guy should be able to do (myself included) in order to become a REAL man who can live independently.

This is my checklist. I'm going to try accomplish them all by the end of this year:
- Wash clothes
- Iron clothes
- Cook
- Tie a tie
- Fix a car
- Perform the Heimlich
- Sew a button
- Know how to wear mens' cologne properly

Without being sexist, they sound like a lot of things females do, but I guess it's what makes a man a man right?

I'm sure there's more! I'll add some more as I think of any.

Update:

Thanks to some readers, here are some more things REAL men should know how to do:

- Swim
- Ride a horse
- Do archery (do you do archery, or do you...arch?)

My Dragon

Call it an impulse buy or whatever you want, but I was at PB Tech and saw one of these USB drives, apparently a limited edition Chinese New Year Dragon! Because it's Chinese New Year and well...I'm a dragon...

Here he is!

I know I probably don't even need a USB drive (don't  even ask me where my current one is!), but I couldn't resist!

Now let's just hope I don't lose his body!

Timely Teeth Clean

This morning I got my teeth and jaw checked at Middlemore Hospital. It's my yearly check-up to see how my jaw is doing after I had surgery on it to correct it all those years ago.

Prior to getting this check-up, I was really worried that my teeth was so dirty that the orthodontist at Middlemore would be disappointed in me, so I was hellbent on getting my teeth cleaned by a hygienist. Because of full-time work though, I've never gotten around to getting it done, as I couldn't decide what was a reasonable price.

It was only yesterday, the day before, that I decided to do something about it. I tried ringing a couple of dentists in the city to see if they had any free spaces after work, but I found out that it would cost $260 for a clean! They had no free slots anyway.

The dentist in Henderson originally told me he could do mine for $150. From the free inspection he gave me, he also said I'd need two fillings which would cost $180 each as well! Aonghas tried calling them but they were all booked as well!

I asked my dad to try ring around while I was at work, and I was fortunate that a dentist in Glen Eden had a free slot after someone cancelled!

Straight after work, my parents took me to Glen Eden and I got my teeth cleaned. I have to say I didn't feel like eating after that, for fear of getting my teeth dirty again!

Today at Middlemore after inspecting my teeth, the orthodontist said my teeth were looking quite good! I had to admit to her that I just got them cleaned yesterday though. I got a few x-rays and photos taken.

I also mentioned to the orthodontist that a dentist said I'd need two fillings. She had a closer look at my x-rays and got some close-ups taken, and then concluded that I didn't really need them, not for at least another year anyway. That saves me $360!

A Card from Korea

I got a surprise in the mail today. Ruby, one of my friends from high school posted a Christmas card to me all the way from Korea! She wrote a really nice letter inside for me too!

It's really cool getting letters from others. It doesn't happen very often, hardly ever actually! It's also cool keeping in touch with friends you haven't seen in years and who are also miles and miles away!

Thanks heaps Ruby!

Surprise Marriage

As you may have read earlier, Martyn and Bronz only just recently announced their engagement to us. Today was the BIG day!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the actual wedding at the registry office as it was during the day and I had to work, but my parents and brothers were able to attend though.

Apparently it was not a long ceremony with the registry lady asking Martyn and Bronz to repeat a few things before saying their 'I do's', exchanging rings and then the kiss.

I didn't miss out on everything though, as our family minus our dad (who had to work) attended the family dinner at Martyn's mum's house in South Auckland after work.

We don't visit Martyn's mum's side of the family that often, and so it was good meeting them and getting to know them a bit better.

We were one of the first people there and so we just waited around till everyone showed up. Some of our cousins came soon.

There were a few speeches made by parents of both of them, and others including our Aunty Noeline. After that, it was time for dinner! There was plenty of food to eat. Aonghas and I took our food outside to eat as there was more space, and ended up talking to Martyn's uncle.

We then returned inside to witness Martyn and Bronz cut the wedding cake, and then do some traditional Samoan dance. Despite Martyn's pleas, I think everyone was too shy to join in, except for our cousin Janice though!

Dessert was the last thing to do for the night, and just like dinner there was plenty of it!

I'm so happy for Martyn and Bronz! They look so happy together and with a baby on the way I'm sure they will make good parents!

Congratulations to the both of you!

Hello Hong Kong!

I've just booked my flight to Hong Kong! I'll be flying Jestar (fingers crossed it won't be as bad as everyone says they are...at least for my flight anyway!) there and back, stopping over in Singapore for the night on the way there and for a few hours on the way back.

I was fortunate enough to get a week off work to go in the middle of February to go to Hong Kong, so that I can get my permanent identity card renewed.

Once I got the week off though, I then discovered how expensive airfares were! Return flights cost around $2000!

Fortunately I spotted the Jetstar flight for about $1500. I was a little weary though, with Jetstar's reputation and everything. I rang them a few times to ask them several questions, making sure I knew what they would charge for and what they didn't.

The flight doesn't include inflight entertainment or food. It'd cost me extra to choose my seat, and to board the plane earlier than everyone else. It's going to be a very boring, long flight! I'll have to buy some extra batteries for my phone!

My family will be flying on Air New Zealand, and because they aren't working and have more flexibility, they may stay a little bit longer. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with a few people while in Singapore for the night though!

Three Simple Rules

One of my friends on Facebook posted this as her status, and I found it to be quite true:

Three simple rules in life:

(1) If you do not go after what you want, you'll never have it.

(2) If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.

(3) If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.

Dropping Off the List

The Top 100 Male and Female Baby Names for 2011 have been released.

Liam was the most popular name for baby boys for the second year in a row, with Joshua was second most popular and Oliver the third most popular for the second year in a row.

Ruby was the most popular name for baby girls, with Olivia and Sophie the second and third most popular respectively. Those three names were also the three most popular names for baby girls last year as well, just in a different order.

Now for the important ranking of Callum - not even in the Top 100 this year! This is after being ranked 78th last year, and as high as 53rd in 2006!

Hamish didn't make it in the Top 100 either, but Angus comes 66th.

The full list can be found here.

ID Change

Today we had a go at taking our own passport photos at home so that we can finally renew them. I don't think they've been renewed since 1995 when we (or maybe I should say 'I') went to Hong Kong!

After seeing this, I started wondering what I used to look like in my old school ID photos! (2005 is missing somewhere...)

 

Pizza!

Tonight we caught up with our old neighbour Phillip. It's the first time we've caught up with him since he got married. Instead of getting him to come over to our house, we asked if we could meet up with him, so we picked him up from his parents' house instead and we went off to fill the petrol.

From there, we didn't really know where we would go for dinner. La Porchetta just happened to be across the road, so we decided to go there! It's the first time I've been to the one in Henderson. I still remember when the building used to be occupied by Pizza Hut! Our family would go there once in a while when we were little kids! When we went in, I could remember where things used to be!

We didn't realise there would be a 15% surcharge because it's the Day-After-New-Year's-Day, and were considering leaving, but because none of us had been there before except for Aonghas, we decided we'd just try it.

It was quite busy tonight, something I didn't expect. Originally I was just going to order a medium-size pizza, but after Hamish chose a large size, I thought I might as well choose large as well! I got this pizza that has four different toppings.

The pizzas were quite good. Aonghas saw the waitress that he knows, and introduced her to us. She saw us and asked if we were the brothers people think are triplets! She reckoned Aonghas and I look similar, but not Hamish!

After dinner we went for a drive around the side streets before dropping Phillip off home and catching up with his brother Kenneth who decided not to join us!

New Years Dinner

To celebrate New Years Day, our family went to our favourite Mt Albert BBQ Noodle House in...you guessed it, Mt Albert!

This time we avoided anything spicy and had a few dishes such as braised hapuka, Indonesian fried rice. It was quite nice this time. I got full after a while and we hadn't even finished the fried rice!

I think I'm getting fat now. What a way to start the New Year!

New Years Blowover

I originally didn't have anything planned for New Years, but after a conversation with Chen, we got thinking, and ended up planning to have dinner followed by something else till midnight. We weren't too sure what we'd be doing till midnight but eventually we decided we'd go to this place that sells milk tea and hang out there till then.

Even though Aonghas was working till about 6.30, Chen, Rose, Diane, Hamish and I decided to meet up earlier to play a couple games of bowling till 8pm, when we had booked dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant.

Once again, competition was tense between Diane and me. I beat her at minigolf last time we met up. This time though she was wiping the floor at bowling! She won the first game and came second in the second game to Rose by one point!

My bowling game was not the best! It took me a while to get started and by the time I started knocking over a decent number of pins, it was too late!

After bowling, Diane left to go have dinner with...someone else...while we just drove down the road to the Vietnamese restaurant where we were going to have dinner. I had been there before, so this time instead of getting soup noodles I got a bowl of rice with chicken fillets (is that what they're called?). 

We only had an hour to eat before the restaurant closed, but we managed to do it in 40 minutes!

Chen booked us a table at The Drinks Lounge, which is sort of like Momo Tea, or Hulucat Tea.

We drag-raced there...no not really but we got to the place early as well but our table was reserved so we had a seat, chose our drinks and then the guys indulged in a bit of ...24 o.O You know that game you played at primary school where you have to use four numbers and make 24 by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing them? Some way to celebrate New Years' Eve, right? 

They eventually made it through a deck of cards, and as soon as they were finished I jumped at the chance to play Love Jenga! It's like regular Jenga, except each block has a task or something for the person to do after they've pulled the block out of the tower. They were quite tame though, such as 

'Say 'I love you' to someone of the opposite sex in another language'

'Let the person to the left of you look through your received calls log on your mobile phone'

'Call someone and say 'thank you' to them'

The first game didn't last too long after Hamish knocked it over, but the second game was so intense we forgot all about what was written on the blocks! Each time someone pulled a block out of the tower, we reckoned the next person would be the loser. 

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

However, it just kept going and going and going until the tower was really tall! Eventually someone had to be the one to knock it down, and that person was...HAMISH!

We played one last game that Chen suggested, in which we paired up and had to write down five words that we associate with the word given and see how many words we have in common with our partner. That was quite an interesting game.

It was soon about ten minutes till midnight, and we couldn't see the Sky Tower from outside The Drinks Lounge, so we decided to all jump in Chen's car and drive towards the city as much as we could before the fireworks went off. Of course, we had to spot the Sky Tower first!

We were driving down Dominion Road and saw these people just standing on the side of the road, but couldn't figure out what they were looking at! We finally spotted the Sky Tower, but couldn't see the top of if or the fireworks shooting from it, as the clouds were low and we could only see changes of colour! Some anti-climax!

Chen continued to drive into the city, getting stuck in traffic down Queen Street. The street was partially closed off, and there was a lot of people around the place. There was a freaky-looking guy in a mask (I'm sure he's an Occupy Auckland protester) who was just standing casually on the side of the road, letting fireworks off!

We eventually made it back to Dominion Road, where our car was and we parted ways. We did stop at Burger King for a feed before heading home though, but as part of my New Years' Resolutions for 2012, I will try to make it one of the few times I'll be eating fast food this year!

Happy New Years 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

There are only two words I really need to say to describe how I felt about 2011:

GOOD RIDDENS!

Despite us winning the Rugby World Cup, me graduating and also participating in the Rugby World Cup, Aonghas turning 21 and....OK that's probably it...there wasn't much else to be too happy about.

Think about it...the Christchurch earthquake, the Japan earthquake, Rena...

I suppose it was a year that cruel people passed away such as Gaddafi, Kim Jong Un, and Osama Bin Laden.

Hopefully 2012, the year of the dragon will bring us much greater luck, peace and prosperity! Let's make next year a year of new beginnings and one that is even better than this one! 

Now time to review my New Years' Resolutions:

- = Calum's 2011 New Years' Resolutions = -

(In no particular order...brace yourselves!)

1. Find a girlfriend (6th year I think 6 is a lucky number!)
FAIL - I did finally do something about someone after a long, long time, but it wasn't to be

2. Make two new friends or make two new close friends (i.e. get closer to them than before!)

YES - Rebecca and Eva have become two of my closest friends. I don't know what I'd do without Eva always being at the other end of a text, and Rebecca's craziness and the fact that she always seems to lose to me in challenges!

3. Keep my intern pharmacist job till the end of the year and become a registered pharmacist
SORT OF - I kept my intern pharmacist job, but I haven't become registered yet

4. Join the gym and at least get biceps! Abs are a bonus!
SORT OF - I did join the gym, but I'm pretty sure I'm flabbier than before!

5. Get my Full License
FAIL - Still on my restricted!

6. Buy a new car
YES - After the Nissan Pulsar (the first car I bought) died on us, we sought a new car, and I ended up contributing to buying a Mitsubishi Lancer!

7. Find and buy my dream phone
YES - Bought a Samsung Galaxy SII. That'll do for now!

8. Buy a new laptop
YES - Towards the end of this year after my terrible HP laptop finally died on me the night before my assignment was due, I converted to Sony Vaio

9. Make another short film with Aonghas
SORT OF - It wasn't entirely a short film, but we filmed a little bit for Aonghas' 21st video 

10. Find a cause and support it (Open to interpretation!)
SORT OF - I did end up agreeing to make monthly contributions to UNICEF, and then to Aaron Ku, a missionary from our church. I'm probably going to cancel my contribution to UNICEF though.

11. Read the whole Bible! 
FAIL - I have been slowly working through Genesis in Sunday School, but outside of that I haven't been as good as I'd have liked


12. Get baptised...if I feel I am ready
FAIL - Still not baptised, but maybe slowly getting closer to that moment


12. Sit a music theory/Chinese exam
FAIL - Self-explanatory

13. Get one of my music theory students to sit a music theory exam
SORT OF - Got my grade two music theory students to sit a mock theory exam. I guess that's as much as I could have hoped for


14. Decide what I want to do with my life after I (hopefully) complete my pharmacy internship
FAIL - Still haven't decided, but now I've got an extra half a year to decide


15. Grow some balls (that sounded wrong didn't it? Let me clarify - be more strict with my students and stop letting young girls walk all over me!)
SORT OF - I have been finding myself being a bit more stern when dealing with younger kids, especially my students. My patience has definitely been tested this year!


16. Find OLDER girls to hang out with (that also sounded wrong didn't it?)
SORT OF - I did have weekly catch-ups with two of my intern friends for a while, and did catch up with various friends from time to time. However, at church I'm still surrounded by younger girls. It might be time to look for other groups to hang out with!


17. Be more positive/optimistic, look more at people's strengths over their weaknesses, be appreciative of what I have and less jealous of others...you know all that good, happy stuff
SORT OF - I think I'm getting better! Maybe I'm setting my standards too high but I guess it's better to aim high and fall short


18. Do photo 365 (one photo a day) 
FAIL - Completely forgot about this resolution!


19. Learn at least 3 new pieces on the accordion (as in classical pieces that require practice!)
FAIL - I don't think I've touched my accordion all year!

20. This should've come earlier but study Chinese and return to at least NCEA Level 3 Chinese level..and be more Chinese (throw that in as well)
FAIL - While I have attempted to learn Chinese in bits and bobs, I'm yet to return to NCEA Level 3 level!


So overall, the final count is:

Fulfilled New Years Resolutions: 4

Failed New Years Resolutions: 9

Partially Completed New Years Resolutions: 8

That gives me a 19% success rate, which is a -6% improvement over last year. I think it is time to make some changes and increase that success rate!

Here are my resolutions for this year!

- = Calum's 2012 New Years' Resolutions = -

(in no particular order)

1. Find a girlfriend (pretty much cut and paste now, but hey it's the year of the Dragon, and 7 is a lucky number!)

2. Make two new friends or two new close friends

3. Become a registered pharmacist

4. Visit the gym a bit more often than in 2011

5. Find another musical instrument to learn up to a grade 4-5 level

6. Buy a bass guitar, learn it properly and get the Oddfellows band going 

7. Sit a grade 6 music theory exam (grade 6 at the very minimum!)

8. Follow a 365 day Bible reading plan

9. Have 3 completely new experiences in 2012 (i.e. do three things I've never done before in my life!)

10. Find a new social organisation/group to be a part of

11. Completely change my life (open to interpretation)

12. Attend a proper ongoing Chinese class

13. Travel to another city/town at least five times 

14. Be happier with life (or just content if really struggling)

15. Pick up the piano accordion again, lean another song and trio with the brothers

16. Buy less junk food/takeaways


I will add to this list over the next few days as I come up with more!