On Thursday our dad was flying out to Melbourne at 7.20am in the morning as part of this 'Familiarisation Programme' with Air New Zealand, which meant we all had to wake up at about 4am to set off for the airport! We were all pretty excited as we haven't been to the airport in yonks!
We got there in plenty of time, and my dad joined his workmates, who then checked in. We just wandered around the airport looking through the shops and the places. The arrivals area was slightly different to what it looked like when we were last there several years ago. A lot of the chairs had been removed. There were heaps of people hugging and kissing each other. There were also people sleeping on seats!
Being around the planes did kinda remind me of the passion I once had for aircraft when I was a little wiener at primary school. Back then I always used to read books about civilian aircraft and draw planes (like Air New Zealand and QANTAS planes!) to the point where I could just look at a plane and identify it by the number of engines, the body and wing type (like a Boeing 747-400 or an Airbus A380)....yeah psycho! Anyway I couldn't remember much when we were on the viewing platform. It was fun though watching the planes being loaded, taking off and landing. There were several Air NZ planes, one QANTAS plane and a Cathay Pacific plane. The Cathay Pacific plane had a large brown mark near its rear wing, which looked like a burn mark. I would be freaked out if I was flying on that plane!
While waiting for our dad's plane to take off, I was freaking out a little bit. With everything that has happened in the aviation industry in the past few years such as September 11 etc, I was a little apprehensive about my dad being on a plane. I was hoping and praying his plane would take off safely and he would get to Melbourne in one piece (alive)! After one hour of waiting, the plane he was in (Boeing 747-400) took off safely!! We then left the airport quickly before we had to pay for three hours of parking.
Because we had all finished exams, and Aonghas was driving, we decided we'd just check out shopping malls around the area. We went to Sylvia Park, thinking Stage Two would be worth checking out. We were also looking for breakfast/lunch as we didn't have any time to eat earlier. It's amazing how when you wake up so early it feels like the day has passed but then when you look at the time it's not even midday!
Sylvia Park turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Stage Two was made up mostly of fashion stores, which were of no interest to us. We ended up just buying some food from Pak N' Save, eating it and then leaving. We went into the city so I could check on my Auckland University application (which turned out to be fine...my photo ID is still being processed!).
We got back home at a time we thought would be late afternoon, but turned out to be only midday! I got my EFTPOS card in the mail which was cool! A milestone for me! I can't wait to try it in ATM machine! Now if only I had money in that bank account...
Saturday, 9 December 2006
Christmas Concert
In the past couple of days my brothers and I have been practising with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra for this Christmas Carols concert at the Town Hall on Friday night. On Thursday night we went to the Town Hall for a rehearsal. We saw ...I can't remember her name but she plays the cello and she is the daughter of Mr Padoen (sorry I probably spelt his name wrong!), Rangeview Intermediate School's computer teacher. I used to go to intermediate school with her. She was playing in the orchestra as well, but I don't think she recognised me! We went through the programme, which included the traditional carols, solos from the South Auckland gospel choirs, and two Blue Grass singers.
It's really hot up there on the stage. Hamish and I sat next to each other in the viola section. We were right in the back, which meant we were right in front of the drums! I noticed a few of the viola players wore ear plugs. Fortunately we could still hear after rehearsal.
Last night (Friday) was the real concert. Because the previous night we couldn't get a carpark underground (which we had a free ticket for), we decided to leave earlier for the concert this time, and this time we managed to get a carpark! We were there for the concert just in time, although we had to wait a little while to get on stage.
Once we were though, it was all go! The Town Hall was packed, with all three levels filled. The real night of the concert is always a lot more fun than rehearsals, as they go by a lot faster, and everyone really gets into it! Plus you know you won't have to repeat it again!
The orchestra did stuff up a little in Jingle Bells, as half the orchestra didn't know where to go back to for the repeat, as Santa Claus was conducting, but apart from that the night went well! The choirs sounded great as usual!
It's really hot up there on the stage. Hamish and I sat next to each other in the viola section. We were right in the back, which meant we were right in front of the drums! I noticed a few of the viola players wore ear plugs. Fortunately we could still hear after rehearsal.
Last night (Friday) was the real concert. Because the previous night we couldn't get a carpark underground (which we had a free ticket for), we decided to leave earlier for the concert this time, and this time we managed to get a carpark! We were there for the concert just in time, although we had to wait a little while to get on stage.
Once we were though, it was all go! The Town Hall was packed, with all three levels filled. The real night of the concert is always a lot more fun than rehearsals, as they go by a lot faster, and everyone really gets into it! Plus you know you won't have to repeat it again!
The orchestra did stuff up a little in Jingle Bells, as half the orchestra didn't know where to go back to for the repeat, as Santa Claus was conducting, but apart from that the night went well! The choirs sounded great as usual!
Disaster
On Wednesday this week I had my very last NCEA exam - Chinese. This was supposed to be my easiest exam of the seven, but I wasn't going to take any chances, as usually I stuff things up! I spent all morning practising characters, grammar structures and listening to Chinese tapes right up till 1.30pm. Reporting time was supposed to be 1.40pm! So we rushed over to school where I met up with the rest of the Chinese class.
We didn't go into the room till about 5 minutes before the exam since there were so few of us. We sat our exam in the accounting room. We started off with the listening section, where we had to listen to passages read in Chinese on tape. It wasn't too bad at first. Listening is my worst paper in Chinese, so I usually have to concentrate very very hard whenever I listen to the tape! It was just a little unfortunate Nikki, who was a little sick, got into a bit of a coughing frenzy. I heard her plead to the supervisor to stop the tape, but to no avail. The tape kept playing. I ended up missing bits of the passage but just tried to make notes. I thought I'd just fill in the answers later on after I had completed the other two papers.
I rushed through the reading section and completed it, and then got to the writing paper. I spent a bit too much time deciding which topic to write on, either careers or sports/leisure. I was at first going to write about careers, but then after a few minutes I decided to go with the other. I wasted too much time planning and thinking about what I was going to write, that I had to rush through writing the whole thing. I ended up with 5 minutes remaining, realising I hadn't filled in the answers to the listening section! I quickly went back to that paper, but time ran out.
The Chinese exam in the end turned out to be a complete disaster. I've never done worse than excellence in any NCEA Chinese paper, and now I'm likely to get a not achieved in one or more of the papers! What I'm more worried about is that I did bad enough not just in Chinese but in all of my exams overall to not make it in the top 20% of NCEA Level 3 students in NZ, and lose my scholarship! I have a few weeks to worry about that now!
I got home that afternoon, feeling pretty bad, but fortunately my good friend was online so I just went on a chatting binge with her, which made me feel a lot better! We then got a phone call from the neighbour, and there was mention of heaps of people standing outside beside the road, and something about a fire. My family and I went outside to check it out, and to our surprise smoke was everywhere! There were also two firetrucks with a third coming up the road. The house on the other side of the road was on fire! The smoke was pouring out the bedroom, and all the neighbours could do was watch from the side of the road. A fire car (as I like to call it!) was parked right across the road blocking it off, while the firefighters did their job. The Pacific Island family who lived at their house were gathered together, with the little boy of the family looking pretty upset and crying. After a while it seemed as though the fire was put out, and the bedroom where the fire originated was all black. Fortunately no one was hurt or injured!
We didn't go into the room till about 5 minutes before the exam since there were so few of us. We sat our exam in the accounting room. We started off with the listening section, where we had to listen to passages read in Chinese on tape. It wasn't too bad at first. Listening is my worst paper in Chinese, so I usually have to concentrate very very hard whenever I listen to the tape! It was just a little unfortunate Nikki, who was a little sick, got into a bit of a coughing frenzy. I heard her plead to the supervisor to stop the tape, but to no avail. The tape kept playing. I ended up missing bits of the passage but just tried to make notes. I thought I'd just fill in the answers later on after I had completed the other two papers.
I rushed through the reading section and completed it, and then got to the writing paper. I spent a bit too much time deciding which topic to write on, either careers or sports/leisure. I was at first going to write about careers, but then after a few minutes I decided to go with the other. I wasted too much time planning and thinking about what I was going to write, that I had to rush through writing the whole thing. I ended up with 5 minutes remaining, realising I hadn't filled in the answers to the listening section! I quickly went back to that paper, but time ran out.
The Chinese exam in the end turned out to be a complete disaster. I've never done worse than excellence in any NCEA Chinese paper, and now I'm likely to get a not achieved in one or more of the papers! What I'm more worried about is that I did bad enough not just in Chinese but in all of my exams overall to not make it in the top 20% of NCEA Level 3 students in NZ, and lose my scholarship! I have a few weeks to worry about that now!
I got home that afternoon, feeling pretty bad, but fortunately my good friend was online so I just went on a chatting binge with her, which made me feel a lot better! We then got a phone call from the neighbour, and there was mention of heaps of people standing outside beside the road, and something about a fire. My family and I went outside to check it out, and to our surprise smoke was everywhere! There were also two firetrucks with a third coming up the road. The house on the other side of the road was on fire! The smoke was pouring out the bedroom, and all the neighbours could do was watch from the side of the road. A fire car (as I like to call it!) was parked right across the road blocking it off, while the firefighters did their job. The Pacific Island family who lived at their house were gathered together, with the little boy of the family looking pretty upset and crying. After a while it seemed as though the fire was put out, and the bedroom where the fire originated was all black. Fortunately no one was hurt or injured!
Friday, 8 December 2006
Visit to Gwens
On Monday we had book return day at school. I wanted to get to school early so I could see my friends, but of course Aonghas just had to wait till that morning to look for his school books that he was going to return! So we ended up coming to school late once again, possibly the last time I will ever go to school again! We missed the assembly at the beginning of school, so we just went off to form class.
After all the administration stuff was complete, we then went out to find our teachers to return our books. It didn't make me too long to return my books for history, chemistry and physics, but for statistics and maths there was one huge long line. After a while I got to the end of the line, returned my books and then went back to form class.
All of us 7th formers then had our final little assembly in the old library where we got our tickets to the dinner on the boat, and reminded that we had to board at about 6.30pm as it leaves at 7pm. OK so I'm definitely going to be there early!
After that I was about to join Joon, Gwen, Zahir and Alex, before another Alex (Daley) and David caught me and reminded me that I had a little date with the fire hose!
We couldn't use the fire hose by Room 51 because of exams in there, so we went to the fire hose outside Rooms 38 and 39. This was like the original fire hose the great Howard Gardner (former kaleidoscope student famous for his fire hose antics) first used to spray everywhere with. I was a little scared, keeping a look out for teachers and students passing by, as Alex was holding the camera ready to catch everything. After five tries and no water coming out, I finally got the hose working, squirting the roof of the shelter for about a couple of seconds before turning it off, putting the hose back and running off! OK that was done! (even though Alex wanted me to do it for about 5 seconds!)
I then rejoined Gwen, Joon, Zahir, and the other Alex, and we all walked out the school to explore Te Atatu Peninsula. On our way to nowhere we decided to go to Gwen's house, so we passed by Chloe's house along the way and grabbed her. We then kept walking around Te Atatu Peninsula talking about stuff and eating things until we finally got to Gwen's house.
We first played Singstar, which I lost to Chloe...but I beat Zahir! :D After a few rounds of that we then went up to Gwen's bedroom and checked that out. Man she's got her own toilet and shower! That is so cool! I'm so excited I got a picture of myself in there!!!! :D After a while we then went downstairs to watch The Incredibles. That was a cool movie!
By the time it was finished it was about 3pm and I needed to get home. I actually didn't tell my mum that I was going to Gwen's house so she was a little annoyed that I didn't let her know! I was originally going to walk home with Joon and Zahir, even when it started to rain and Joon was feeling a little bit sick. Joon and Zahir then decided to catch the bus an hour later so I just started walking home myself. Fortunately my mum came to pick me up on the way and we ended up taking Joon and Zahir home.
I managed to change the topic with my mum so that she wasn't too angry at me. Our other cellphone got barred as the credit expired. We hadn't used it in a whole year! So there goes $30!!! If any of you have 021 251 9573 in ur address book, you can now delete it!
Oh yeah the bet I made with Gwen, that if I could get Joon to sing by the end of term 4, was extended to book return day, with the bet doubled. I was that confident that Joon was going to pull through for his buddy o'pal, especially with a LARGE SUM OF MONEY. But noooooooo he didn't even play Singstar! I ended up losing the bet. While we were walking back to the main road after being at Gwen's house I tried taking a photo but realised there was no memory card. At first I thought it had fell out somewhere and that I was going to get the bashing when I got back home, but then I heard Joon ahead of me mention something to Gwen about payback, so I just played along as if I was still worried ;) When I was about to walk home by myself he gave me the card back so that was all good.
Later that night my brothers and I went to a rehearsal for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra to practise some Christmas music for the carols concert. Most of the music we played was the same as last year's so it wasn't too bad
After all the administration stuff was complete, we then went out to find our teachers to return our books. It didn't make me too long to return my books for history, chemistry and physics, but for statistics and maths there was one huge long line. After a while I got to the end of the line, returned my books and then went back to form class.
All of us 7th formers then had our final little assembly in the old library where we got our tickets to the dinner on the boat, and reminded that we had to board at about 6.30pm as it leaves at 7pm. OK so I'm definitely going to be there early!
After that I was about to join Joon, Gwen, Zahir and Alex, before another Alex (Daley) and David caught me and reminded me that I had a little date with the fire hose!
We couldn't use the fire hose by Room 51 because of exams in there, so we went to the fire hose outside Rooms 38 and 39. This was like the original fire hose the great Howard Gardner (former kaleidoscope student famous for his fire hose antics) first used to spray everywhere with. I was a little scared, keeping a look out for teachers and students passing by, as Alex was holding the camera ready to catch everything. After five tries and no water coming out, I finally got the hose working, squirting the roof of the shelter for about a couple of seconds before turning it off, putting the hose back and running off! OK that was done! (even though Alex wanted me to do it for about 5 seconds!)
I then rejoined Gwen, Joon, Zahir, and the other Alex, and we all walked out the school to explore Te Atatu Peninsula. On our way to nowhere we decided to go to Gwen's house, so we passed by Chloe's house along the way and grabbed her. We then kept walking around Te Atatu Peninsula talking about stuff and eating things until we finally got to Gwen's house.
We first played Singstar, which I lost to Chloe...but I beat Zahir! :D After a few rounds of that we then went up to Gwen's bedroom and checked that out. Man she's got her own toilet and shower! That is so cool! I'm so excited I got a picture of myself in there!!!! :D After a while we then went downstairs to watch The Incredibles. That was a cool movie!
By the time it was finished it was about 3pm and I needed to get home. I actually didn't tell my mum that I was going to Gwen's house so she was a little annoyed that I didn't let her know! I was originally going to walk home with Joon and Zahir, even when it started to rain and Joon was feeling a little bit sick. Joon and Zahir then decided to catch the bus an hour later so I just started walking home myself. Fortunately my mum came to pick me up on the way and we ended up taking Joon and Zahir home.
I managed to change the topic with my mum so that she wasn't too angry at me. Our other cellphone got barred as the credit expired. We hadn't used it in a whole year! So there goes $30!!! If any of you have 021 251 9573 in ur address book, you can now delete it!
Oh yeah the bet I made with Gwen, that if I could get Joon to sing by the end of term 4, was extended to book return day, with the bet doubled. I was that confident that Joon was going to pull through for his buddy o'pal, especially with a LARGE SUM OF MONEY. But noooooooo he didn't even play Singstar! I ended up losing the bet. While we were walking back to the main road after being at Gwen's house I tried taking a photo but realised there was no memory card. At first I thought it had fell out somewhere and that I was going to get the bashing when I got back home, but then I heard Joon ahead of me mention something to Gwen about payback, so I just played along as if I was still worried ;) When I was about to walk home by myself he gave me the card back so that was all good.
Later that night my brothers and I went to a rehearsal for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra to practise some Christmas music for the carols concert. Most of the music we played was the same as last year's so it wasn't too bad
Sunday, 3 December 2006
Scholarship Saturday
Yesterday I sacrificed my attendance at the music school (where I teach) prize-giving to watch my students perform just to be at school to sit my Scholarship Statistics exam. You don't know how much I wanted to be there to watch my students perform! Instead I had to sit in the school library for nearly three hours trying to complete an exam I would have no chance at passing.
Aonghas had to cover for me instead, and apparently it went well so that's good. I'm really proud of those kids for being able to get up there and perform in front of an audience!
As for me, because my parents had to drop my brothers off at the prize-giving, they dropped me off at school early. With no one around I just sat there by myself trying to study as much statistics as I could. In the days prior to the exam, I spent most of the time just mucking around and going shopping with my mum and brothers at Lynn Mall and West City.
So I was sitting there outside the library studying, checking my watch ocassionally. The time was approaching 9.10am, the check-in time, but no one else, not even the exam supervisors had turned up! A car then pulled into the carpark. At approximately the same time Joon, Hyun and Heather walked up the driveway. We all just talked and discussed leaving the exam early if we felt like there was no point (of course not Hyun though) before we all went in about five minutes before the exam.
We each got a nice comfy chair and a large table to sit at for our scholarship exam. I had to sit at the front table, so I didn't have the luxury of seeing how the others were coping with the exam.
The exam itself was...well I don't really know. I tried to put down as many answers as I could, and I filled 10 of the 26 blank pages they gave me to write on. Also as a promise I made with a few people (originally as a joke) I wrote down some names in my answer booklet in ...certain places...
Heather left the exam first, with Joon leaving about half an hour after that. It was now two hours into the exam and I had promised the others I'd leave by two hours into the exam or else I wouldn't leave at all. I really wanted to leave, but Hyun still going behind me kinda put some pressure on me to keep going! Also I kept wondering if I'd regret leaving early, knowing I could've done more! I also didn't know what I'd do with myself for the rest of the time, or what my mum would say if she knew I left early! In the end I decided I'd stay till two hours thirty minutes. I just sat outside talking to Joon for the rest of the time.
After the exam I had to rush off to accordion lessons still in my school uniform. When I got there my accordion teacher forgot that I had an exam in the morning and thought it was a bit odd seeing me in my school uniform, while Jessica (my fierce accordion rival!) also saw me in my uniform. I suppose that was good publicity for Rutherford!
I had church today, this time I wasn't the only person in my Sunday school class, with Angie and the other girl Jennifer showing up. We talked about school rules and family rules, and Jennifer, who goes to Westlake, told us about how they're not allowed cellphones PERIOD at school, and so all the girls go into the toilets at lunchtime to use their phones!! Angie and I just looked at each other and laughed. It's a bit sad, as I have to move to a different Sunday school class next year, the university students class, so I won't be able to be in the same class as them anymore!
Oh well I've got to go back to school for book returns tomorrow and to collect my money when Joon helps me win a bet! (He better!!) Only one more exam to go (Chinese), and then that'll be it for me!!
Aonghas had to cover for me instead, and apparently it went well so that's good. I'm really proud of those kids for being able to get up there and perform in front of an audience!
As for me, because my parents had to drop my brothers off at the prize-giving, they dropped me off at school early. With no one around I just sat there by myself trying to study as much statistics as I could. In the days prior to the exam, I spent most of the time just mucking around and going shopping with my mum and brothers at Lynn Mall and West City.
So I was sitting there outside the library studying, checking my watch ocassionally. The time was approaching 9.10am, the check-in time, but no one else, not even the exam supervisors had turned up! A car then pulled into the carpark. At approximately the same time Joon, Hyun and Heather walked up the driveway. We all just talked and discussed leaving the exam early if we felt like there was no point (of course not Hyun though) before we all went in about five minutes before the exam.
We each got a nice comfy chair and a large table to sit at for our scholarship exam. I had to sit at the front table, so I didn't have the luxury of seeing how the others were coping with the exam.
The exam itself was...well I don't really know. I tried to put down as many answers as I could, and I filled 10 of the 26 blank pages they gave me to write on. Also as a promise I made with a few people (originally as a joke) I wrote down some names in my answer booklet in ...certain places...
Heather left the exam first, with Joon leaving about half an hour after that. It was now two hours into the exam and I had promised the others I'd leave by two hours into the exam or else I wouldn't leave at all. I really wanted to leave, but Hyun still going behind me kinda put some pressure on me to keep going! Also I kept wondering if I'd regret leaving early, knowing I could've done more! I also didn't know what I'd do with myself for the rest of the time, or what my mum would say if she knew I left early! In the end I decided I'd stay till two hours thirty minutes. I just sat outside talking to Joon for the rest of the time.
After the exam I had to rush off to accordion lessons still in my school uniform. When I got there my accordion teacher forgot that I had an exam in the morning and thought it was a bit odd seeing me in my school uniform, while Jessica (my fierce accordion rival!) also saw me in my uniform. I suppose that was good publicity for Rutherford!
I had church today, this time I wasn't the only person in my Sunday school class, with Angie and the other girl Jennifer showing up. We talked about school rules and family rules, and Jennifer, who goes to Westlake, told us about how they're not allowed cellphones PERIOD at school, and so all the girls go into the toilets at lunchtime to use their phones!! Angie and I just looked at each other and laughed. It's a bit sad, as I have to move to a different Sunday school class next year, the university students class, so I won't be able to be in the same class as them anymore!
Oh well I've got to go back to school for book returns tomorrow and to collect my money when Joon helps me win a bet! (He better!!) Only one more exam to go (Chinese), and then that'll be it for me!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)