Everybody Needs Good (Ex-) Neighbours

The last week continued to be busy when our old neighbours Phillip and Kenneth came over to visit on Wednesday. They had driven all the way up from good old Palmerston North for the week to visit family and friends and we were lucky to be on their list!

They came over and we had a bit of a chat, a tour around our jungle of a backyard (it's a lot better now that I've mowed the lawn!) before going off to Wendy's for lunch where we continued our chat over upsized combos.

We then went over to Westgate to check out that new round-about with multiple traffic lights and then on to the Whenuapai Airbase with the hope of watching an Air Force plane taking off. Unfortunately the plane just travelled along the runway before turning around and going in the opposite direction!

We paid a visit to the Speedway to check out the track before heading back home.

We're going to have to visit them down in Palmerston North sometime this year as payback!

Summer School Sizzler

Summer School started at the beginning of this week and while my lecture was supposed to be on at 2pm, I caught the early 8.30am bus together with my friend Phoebe. I thought I might as well go in early and either do a bit of study or catch up with old friends. It would be good to get out of the house and away from the family for a little while (hey I've been stuck in the house for far too long!!).

When Phoebe and I got to the city we caught up with another friend Archi and went to Gloria Jeans Cafe (I think that's what it's called?) to celebrate the start of the uni year with a drink. I tried this Tim Tam chocolate smoothie-sorta drink (Tim Tam's a chocolate biscuit). I never realised the Tim Tams were blended and put into the drink! I thought I'd just get the biscuits!

We then went to the library basement where Phoebe was going to have her Commercial Law lecture. We caught up with some more Rutherford guys like Cameron and later on Gwen and Angie who unsuccessfully crept up on me! (I turned around too soon :P). I ended up deciding to attend the lecture.

It turned out to be quite fascinating and in the end inspired me to borrow a book on NZ's legal system later that day!! I was sitting next to Phoebe and Angie, poking Angie once or twice to keep her awake (I don't even know if she even fell asleep! Oh well..) I made the mistake of not going to the toilet during the break after the first hour, so I made a run for it as soon as the lecture was over.

Phoebe and I then went over to AUT to eat our homemade lunch till her boyfriend Alan came over. I thought I better go and just as I was about to leave them I caught up with my other friend Alice who was with her friend Lisa! I tagged along with them as they went over to Sky City to make some enquiries. We had to walk along a walkway that was above the casino, which was the first time I had ever seen what inside one looked like in real life! I have to say it was slightly underwhelming!

I then walked with them to their bus before walking back to uni when I caught up with Gwen and Cameron walking in the opposite direction to their bus stop, so I decided to tag along with them! Once they caught their bus I finally made my way back to uni for my lecture.

I caught up with some of the other pharmacy people in the lecture theatre foyer which was kinda cool as I hadn't seen or talked to any of them since last year. As for the Stats lecture, it was extremely slow and boring! It was the first couple lectures afterall I suppose.

After that day though I decided I won't bother coming to the lecture for another couple of weeks. OK that's not entirely true. I had booked myself out for the rest of the week and I'll be helping out with my church's children's summer programme all next week. They upload lectures to the internet anyway!

To be honest though I've been a bit slack and am about four lectures behind (although I have sorta gone through the lectures before Summer School started) so I'll have to have a Stats lecture binge tomorrow before the new week starts and I get further behind!

Painting Those Walls

We spent the first few days of 2009 painting walls which was extremely tiring and boring! I didn't expect it to be that tedious! The walls had such a dark colour which meant we had to cover them with several coatings.

To make things worse, our mum wasn't too keen on having music played while we were painting. We started with the radio playing 91ZM. Not too long later, our mum was calling out to us

"Change the music!!! Too noisy!!"

So we change it to More FM, which is more of a classic hits station with less hard-out music. Our mum then called out again

"Don't you have anything better to listen to???!"

So we ended up on The Breeze, and even then our mum wasn't too happy with the music! She would have probably preferred something like Concert FM!

Anyway we managed to get all the painting done in four days, but boy were the paint fumes strong!

And Another Year Begins..

So while everyone was out partying or on holiday wherever, I was watching Runaway Bride up till 15 minutes before midnight when my brothers and I jumped in the car, crossed the bridge over to Te Atatu Peninsula to watch the fireworks from the side of the road (the Peninsula's got some good views! That's why some of those houses are worth millions of dollars!).

We weren't the only ones though, as there were quite a few gathered around the place waiting for the fireworks. I'm sure a few of them were intoxicated! We brought along our camera to try get some photos. I don't think they turned out so well though. We still haven't learnt how to use the camera properly!

Anyway when the clock struck midnight the fireworks came shooting off the top of the Sky Tower, passing cars honked and the people inside them shouted out

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"

I tried sending 'Happy New Year' texts right after midnight, and that's when I realised why some people sent texts half a day ahead...so many people must've been trying to send texts that it made sending texts difficult and slow!

We got back home and spent the next couple hours watching some Taiwanese New Years show on Chinese TV since it was too hot to sleep. I texted my friend Angie for what seemed to be the longest period of time since a year ago which was weird!

We spent New Years Day shopping for paint to paint our house. We had originally planned on starting the painting that day but realised we didn't have paint! We were at Mitre 10 looking for paint when I got a text from Angie saying she was all alone at her work with nothing to do, and it was just a coincidence that her work was across the road! So Hamish and I crossed the road and said 'hi' to her. Her boss let her off early so she drove us back to Pak N' Save where our mum went shopping.

So it was a very uneventful New Years for us! Hopefully the rest of the year is a bit more exciting!

Happy New Year!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Byebye 2008, hello 2009! May you all have a great and wonderful 2009 that is thousands of times more fun, prosperous and memorable than the year before!

With it goes another soso year and all those failed New Years' Resolutions! Here's how successful/unsuccessful I was with them last year:

1. To become close with another person or even closer with an existing friend (bonus points if its a female or if I find a girlfriend...need to add that in for the third year in a row haha)

SOMEWHAT SUCCESSFUL...I think I've become closer with a couple of girls like Mischa.

2. To resume studying, practising and speaking more Chinese (either Mandarin or Cantonese)

FAILED...Still no one wants to speak to me in Cantonese/Mandarin! OK some people at church try to but I'm sooo slow!

3. To find a part-time job - anything, as long as I can get some pay! If not, find some volunteer work to get something to add to my CV

FAILED...I still only have the recorder teaching job. I have been doing more around church but I don't think that's included!

4. Join a gym and do regular exercise, or if not, do regular exercise at home, at least 20 minutes a week

FAILED...While I did get exercise by having to walk all the way from the K' Road bus stop to the Grafton campus, as well as having to walk up that steep hill in Albert Park, there was little else that gave me exercise and I didn't end up joining a gym

5. To get nothing less than A- in ALL my papers for whichever degree I end up doing (yep I've set standards higher, thanks for the pep-talk Alice! We shall prevail!!)

FAILED...Let's just say only a few were A-!

6. Take more video than photos but continue to try take 5 photos a week

FAILED...With a phone that takes horrendous videos I'm still stuck with taking photos. Don't think it has even 5 photos a week either!

7. To keep in touch with all my existing friends

Somewhat SUCCESS/FAIL Can't exactly tell. I've kept in touch with a few of my friends but with others they've stopped talking to me or just don't talk to me too much anymore!

8. To get the right balance between studying and socialising

FAILED...still don't have a life haha although I managed to hang out with people from time to time

9. To get more involved with at least one club (possibly moving up the ranks or networking with the right people!) and participate more in activities of clubs I join

SUCCESSI joined the Dessert Club Committee this year and will hopefully take on some extra responsibility next year...will keep you posted!

10. To spend LESS!

FAILED...I had been succeeding till the last week of these holidays when I went and bought a TV!

== Calum's 2009 New Years' Resolutions ==

1. Find a girlfriend (let's make it fourth year in a row!)
2. Make at least one/two new close friends (better if they're female!)
2. Join the university gym and finally get abs and become buff!
3. To spend less on food
4. To get a change of hairstyle and get rid of my pimples
5. To sort out my computer files, buy a hard drive and back up all the stuff (oh and reformat my laptop)
6. To get a part-time job in the holidays (bonus if it's pharmacy-related)
7. To memorise the Korean alphabet and learn a few words and phrases, as well as speaking more Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese)
8. To sleep earlier (preferably before midnight)
9. To keep in touch with friends, find the time to catch up and hang out with them
10. To do more regular music practice and prepare for a music theory exam, whichever grade I can manage

And that makes 10, some resolutions the same and some pretty random! Hopefully they're a bit more achievable!  I'll see you here again same place this time next year!