A Facebook Status Year in Review

It was a quiet year for me on Facebook, Here is a look back at 2012 through Facebook statuses:

January

Good luck with results NCEAers!

Thanks everyone for your birthday wishes I will reply as soon as! If I didn't reply to your txts then I probably didn't receive it..my phone's screwing up on me right now!

February

Packing at the last minute...always happens!

Right to permanent residence in Hong Kong is up for review :O

March

Back to the Nokia brick 

April

GOOO Breakers! Counting down the seconds!

Ice-Cream Sandwich! Finally! :D

May

All out of my hands now

June

Need to stop putting 'Limit Alcohol' on medicine labels for children! 

July

OK time to get back into music!

The lady at McDonalds tonight told me I was such a hustler for a white guy just because I asked for something off the Loose Change Menu!

That's it! Batman has inspired me to join a gym and become a superhero!

Answered the phone using the wrong pharmacy name in front of the boss today..woops..

August

It's all your fault Amy for making me feel so old right now! Why'd you have to remind me of my age! 

The Burger King guy asked me where I was from today. He said he has an Indian friend who looks just like me... 

Aaah Grey's Anatomy...good inspiration! (despite the lack of pharmacists)

September

Professional moppers 

Just has to rain on my days off work doesn't it!

Ever since working in pharmacy I seem to be talking to myself more and more...

Been realising I'm not very good at keeping in touch with people! I will be working on it!

The Lord's Prayer Concert! 

October

Congrats to all the graduates today! Made me feel young going back to uni today!

November

My one week Facebook ban is over! 

Time to do all those things I wanted to but never got round to doing! 

December

Last day at work! Time to find a new job!

So how exactly does end of the world work? Everywhere at the same time, or staggered?

All these Christmas statuses are making me feel Christmasy! Merry Christmas to you all too! 

A New Start

Today was a very special day - four members of our youth group were getting baptised today!

Because it was a special baptism service, all four of the churches combined for this service this morning. We only have a few of these each year. I wanted to arrive at church early as I needed people to sign some baptism cards we had prepared for them, but of course with us Andersons it's always hard to get anywhere on time! Fortunately I was able to call Joylynn at church and ask her if she could pass the cards around.

When I got to church, the service just started, and so I got the remaining people who were yet to sign the cards to come into a side room to do so. The plan was that I would get some people to present the gifts to the four people as they went up on stage after their baptism to receive their certificate. Well...that was the original plan...

After the sermon was over, it was time for the baptisms! Aonghas was out all morning filming the make-up of someone's wedding, so I was anxiously waiting for him to return. He didn't make it in time though, so it was up to me to film the baptisms! Tim had his camera, so at least there was someone to take photos!

One by one, Andrew, Wei, Angie and Grace went into the pool (which is on the stage) where our youth pastor Karvin asked them a few questions, to which they said 'I do'. After that, they were submerged in the water and officially baptised!

They went into the toilets to dry up while others from the other churches got baptised, and a choir from one of the other churches performed.

As they performed, I was frantically discussing with some of the others whether we were meant to present the gifts as they came on stage to receive their certificates, or if we should just give them their gifts after the service. In the end we decided to give the gifts to them after the service. PHEW!

The guys came on stage to receive their certificates and were each given a bouquet of flowers.

At the end of the service, we got all the youth group together ready to take photos with the newly-baptised guys! The only problem - everyone else was hogging the stage! We decided to storm the stage and hold our ground! After managing to round everyone up, we got our photos taken, and then it was off for lunch!

It was pie time for lunch - beef or chicken! When I went to get beef, the guy told me there were only chicken left, so I took a chicken pie. That kind soul Rebecca offered to swap her beef pie with mine. When we went outside to sit with everyone else, I bit into my pie only to discover it was a chicken pie, while she bit into a beef pie!

It was a really nice day, everyone just sitting outside in the kindergarten eating and talking together. There were quite a few pies left over! It was just a shame I had to leave soon to help Aonghas film a wedding!

Congratulations, Andrew, Angie, Grace and Wei on your baptism! May this be a new and exciting chapter in your spiritual life! :D

(Thanks Tim for the photos!)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

It's that time once again where we celebrate the birth of Jesus, spend quality time with our family and friends and get fat on food!

The weather isn't so great today, so I'm not too sure what we've got planned for today but hopefully we won't be stuck at home for the whole day!

Anyway I'm off to open some presents! I will be back on to report on the day later. 

Have a great day everyone!

Still Alive!

Well it looks like we're all still alive post-21st December.

Some reckoned the end of the world was actually midnight GMT dayime, which would mean 12pm later in the day. That came and passed, and nothing happened!

Probably the most memorable quote from the day came from a friend who just wanted to check up on me right after midnight...

A Christmas Card!

I got my first Christmas card from someone who isn't my student! Thanks Joanna! To be fair, she did write a Christmas card to hundreds of people, but that's still cool. The message made me smile!

A Dinner Catch-Up

Tonight Chen, Gwen and I caught up over dinner. It's the first time I've caught up with them in quite a while! 

We started off at this Japanese restaurant, which was quite nice. We just updated each other on what we were up to, as well as reminisce over past memories.

Soon it seemed as though the restaurant was about to close! We didn't feel full though, so we ended up finding ourselves at another restaurant, Carls Jr for our second dinner!

It was a good catch-up!

Wild West Auckland Weather!

Who knew things would get so crazy out in our neck of the woods today! When the skies looked dark this morning, I had a feeling the weather wouldn't be too good, but when I heard a huge bang which sounded like a cannon go off follow almost immediately after the flash of lightning, I knew something wasn't right!

Reports are now coming in that things are quite messy over in Hobsonville/Greenhithe, with a few deaths and injuries. Roofs have come off or caved in, trees have been uprooted..it's all sounding a little scary! Apparently the roof of the West Wave Swimming Centre's men's toilet has caved in, and people on talkback radio are reporting that roofs of other buildings, like Repco down Central Park Drive (which is down the same road as my church!) has come off!

The scariest thing is my mum and our friend's mum went to Albany for a clothes sale this morning. My mum isn't too familiar with driving to that area, and I had to give her directions. I've tried contacting her but she left her cellphone at home! I hope she's OK! I don't know how she's going to get home right now in this weather..

My Students Surprise me Again

This morning was the end of year concert at the music school. It started at 9.30 in morning, so I asked my students to be there about 15 minutes before, but when I got there around that time, they were already there!

Recorders were to perform second after the first group of flutes, so I gathered all my students together in one of the classrooms and tried to go through all their songs before we were to go up on stage. I have to admit, I was quite surprised at how well some of the students were playing! I have to admit I was a little nervous over the week thinking about how well they'd do.

After a bit of a pep talk, it was finally time for the kids to head to the hall to perform! I lead them to the seats on the side of the stage, and got each group to come up and perform one after the other. Some groups had a student who wanted to introduce the group themselves, while I had to do it for a few of the classes.

There were no major catastrophes. There were a few little mistakes, but I'm sure the cuteness factor covered it! I pretty much teach the youngest students at the music school, all the little kids who have never played music before! I was extremely proud of the way my students played, the way they were able to count themselves in, and keep going even if they stuffed up...a little!

I led them all back to the classroom to give them reports and a little prize afterwards. I gave them each a lollipop, a pencil, a little packet of Oreo's and a little notebook. I think I spoiled them!

I returned to watch the rest of the performances. I just missed Rebecca, Nadine and Joylynn (who attend my church) perform flute, but I guess I can re-watch the video! Before I knew it, the violins were up! My brothers and I were the last violin group to perform. We had Arthur (another violin teacher who often comes to help out) helping us which was good.

The guitar students were the last to perform before prize-giving. It's always a joy to see some of my old students performing, even if it's another instrument they're playing! I just hope the time I spent teaching them helped contribute to where they are today!

A few of my students actually won awards for other instruments too! My top music theory student, who won the top recorder award last year won the top flute award this year only after playing for one year!

I guess one of the benefits of being a music teacher are the presents you get from students (just a side thing of course!).

After the concert, my brothers and I met up with the music teachers at a nearby cafe for a coffee and a bite to eat. It was really good having a chat to them, as my teaching timetable this year didn't allow me to schedule a morning tea at the same time as all the other teachers! It was quite interesting talking to them about teaching, students and all sorts of other things!

Oh well, that's my seventh year of teaching down. Looking forward to the next!