Tan Again

Today we hung out with the Tans for the second time in a few days as our mum, their mum and a few others were going there to learn how to bake cakes. We soon found out that the minister's family and the Chins would be joining us too!

 We got there first before Jireh, Joylynn and his parents arrived. We hung around with the Tans, Tommy and Harris and them, talking and playing a few games before the Chins arrived a little while later. 

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=non4vTqY784)

The Tans had Scrabble, so we decided to have a family vs family Scrabble challenge! Scrabble was quite fun when we played it on New Year's Eve and was just as fun this time! I think it must be my new favourite board game! 

It was Jireh and Joylynn (the Chans) vs Cleo and Carmen (the Chins) vs Calum and Hamish (the Andersons). Hamish and I were doing quite well at the beginning but soon were overtaken by the Chins who ended up beating us by about 40 points!

Aonghas and Claire had gone to pick up Leonie from work and came back with some pizzas for dinner. Tommy prayed for the food, praying that it wouldn't be too hot or too cold, and then it was time to dig in! The pizzas were from Domino's and because I don't usually go to pizza places, there were a few types of pizzas I'd never heard of like this pizza that has wedges on it! That was quite yummy.

The mums shared some cake with us which was equally as yum, if not yummier! Tommy and Harris's mum is the master at baking cakes!

We just hung around for a little longer chatting to each other before it soon was 11.30pm! Boy does time fly! We eventually left after a long day at the Tans'.

An Imperial Lunch

Because our church wasn't providing lunch after the service today, a group of families at our church decided we'd try out this restaurant in the city that offers buffet lunch and dim sum in the weekends for a not-too-expensive price. We were originally going to skip Sunday School and leave early so we could make it in time as our session went from 1-2.30pm and we wanted to eat as much as possible. We ended up staying for the entire Sunday School and leaving straight after.

I was driving (don't be so surprised!) and took my mum, Hamish, Jireh and his sister Joylynn and we got to the city quite quickly. We parked outside Albert Park and even had time to walk down to the restaurant in time!

I've been to this restaurant three times in the past but it has never been this packed! It has never had buffet dim sum before as I think they only offer it in the weekends! We bumped into a few other church people at the restaurant too!

There was quite a bit of food, and I had never eaten so much dim sum in one go! Usually at yumcha they charge you a lot for a small dish and you have to fill yourself up by drinking a lot of tea! This time I actually filled myself up with food! I tried to stay away from the deep-fried food and ate as much dim sum as I could!

After a few plates though I started to get full! Even Jireh who was pacing himself was getting full! That meant it was dessert time, or as Leonie called it...snacks! There were egg tarts, cakes and small cupcakes. I barely got through a plateful of that sort of food before I was full. By then, the food was starting to get cleared and so some of the adults told us to get some food before it was too late. It was a bit of a waste though as I couldn't even touch my plate and no one wanted any of my food!

It was time to leave, and once the bill was paid, we walked back down to Queen Street and walked towards the waterfront. We walked along the waterfront before realising we had been separated from the adults! We stood around checking out the water and the boats as Winston and Hamish tried contacting the other party. We soon discovered that they were sitting on the other side of the waterfront, outside the Hilton Hotel!

We reunited with them and talked for a while. We then headed back towards our car, taking a detour to that Look Sharp store (the one that sells heaps of costumes!) on the way.

It was soon dinner time, but none of us felt hungry! We just wanted to get home and lie down!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-tBfTHkkks)

Know Your Product, Vodafone Customer Service

This afternoon I rang up Vodafone to ask them whether it was possible for them to enable my phone to do Hotlink, as I had seen a Vodafone staff member being able to do it on one of their forums. I was surprised I was able to talk to someone within a few minutes of calling, but even more surprised by the service I received.

When I asked the customer service representative (who had a slight American accent and sounded like he wasn't from this country) about enabling Hotlink, he told me I'd have to contact the handset manufacturer (HTC) and offered to give me the company's website and phone number.

I asked him if there was anything he could do though, since Hotlink was a service provided by Vodafone. Now this was what caught me by surprise. He asked me what Hotlinking was! I would've thought he would have known what products and services the company he worked for sold/provided! I then proceeded to explain to him what Hotlink was.

He then told me that Vodafone didn't manufacture the handsets (obviously) and told me he could provide me with HTC's website, phone number and the Vodafone website. I let him continue to give me the details for HTC. I then asked him whether there was a specific page on the Vodafone website that could help me, as I was already on the site. That's when he told me I should be able to find it somewhere.

Thank goodness calls to customer service don't cost a dollar anymore, because that call definitely wasn't worth one dollar!

Celebrating the Last Day of the Year

To celebrate the last ever day of 2010, some of us from our youth group got together at Westgate Cinemas to watch the latest Chronicles of Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. To be honest, I haven't been the most enthusiastic fan of the Narnia series, and so haven't really watched the first two movies of the series properly. Being in the cinemas though and watching this third movie in 3D though made me have to pay attention and it wasn't that bad! One character in the movie even looked like one of the boys at our church!

After the movie finished, we all got rides back to church where we had dinner, which consisted of pizza, KFC and takeaways! There was quite a bit so I was pretty full afterwards! We all just hung around talking to each other when Jenny arrived with a Pavlova for dessert!

Someone mentioned the Trusts Stadium and the athletics track being open to the public, so a group of us walked down there after dinner to just play around. I was too full to go running, so I just headed to the playground with some of the girls!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U8dEY2nu2Y)

We were soon called back so we headed back to church where we went into the hall to play this game called 'The Appreciation Game'. We all got into groups and had to roll the dice to get through the course, while answering questions that required us to share a little bit about ourselves. It was interesting hearing what others had to say! There was even a spinning wheel which required you to share a fond memory of a particular person, depending on where the arrow stopped! I had to talk about my appreciation for my parents and for one of my neighbours in another round!

There were some questions on love, fond memories and other things. Andrew always seemed to get the deep questions, and always had a deep answer to reply with!

After the game ended, Gabrielle started off the sharing regarding the youth group this year. We then took turns talking about what we liked about youth group this year, which was nice to hear. Some talked about the performances we gave this year, such as the Mother's Day performance, Karvin's farewell and the Christmas play. Others talked about the random birthday surprises. Someone also brought up church camp and how they weren't allowed to stay up...WHEN WILL THEY LET IT GO?!?! (I'm kidding I don't mind I was following orders! haha).

It was also up to me to settle a score with Rebecca. Earlier in the week she challenged me to make her scream today, and so I tried during a supposedly scary part in the movie but it didn't work! She then got me back when she shook me and...I admit I let out a teeny weeny yelp! Well when we were leaving, I grabbed Joylynn's jandals, crept up behind her and tried to scare her but it didn't work! 

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

So here's my punishment...

It was getting late, and so it was time to leave church. A few of us though were going to head off to Jireh's house to see in the New Year.

At Jireh's house we all had a bit to eat and had Sound of Music on TV (we gave in to Jenny) while we played Scrabble. I have to say I'm surprised at how fun Scrabble could be! I suppose it's more fun when you're with more people.

Phillip and I were on the same team, up against Hamish, Andrew and Ben on one team, and Jenny and Grace on the girls' team. At first it didn't look too good with us behind in terms of score. 

We took a break right on midnight to welcome in the New Year. We used the countdown on TV and watched the fireworks that followed (on TV too). Hopefully it was live and not delayed! Jireh gave us all party poppers so we popped those and made some noise as we crossed into 2011! 

To start off the year in style, Phillip and I overtook the girls (who had been leading the game of Scrabble for the majority of the time) and won! Wooo go guys!

The guys who were staying the night started playing card games, while the girls, Hamish and I left for home not too long after.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUWSPSUvv3Q)

What a way to finish one year and start the other, with friends, Sound of Music and a game of Scrabble! Happy New Year everyone! 

Happy New Years 2011!

A year marred by earthquakes, a mining tragedy, and a death in the family is finally over. So long 2010, welcome 2011! 

2010 was an up-and-down year for me. I had good experiences in terms of being able to travel the country and completing my studies, while I also had some bad times such as my uncle passing away which was quite difficult. 


2011 will definitely be a huge step up in my life though, as I make the change from university study to full-time work. Hopefully the transition and change in life will be for good!


May 2011 be a happy and prosperous year for all of you! 


So let's see how well I did in fulfilling my New Years' Resolutions this year:

- = Calum's 2010 New Years' Resolutions = -

1. Find a girlfriend (fifth year in a row! Maybe last year at uni will be lucky one!)

Fail -Enough said 

2. Make two more close friends 

Yes - Along with all the other close friends I've made in past years, Grace has become one of my best friends

3. Stay at uni longer to study harder, pass all papers and graduate!

Fail, Yes and Yes = Yes overall! I didn't stay at uni longer, nor did I study harder (or maybe I did? It felt like a fluke!), but I did pass all papers and I am set to graduate in May!

4. Join the gym and don't look like such a twig but become buff and get some abs!

Fail - I didn't join a gym, but I've had several failed attempts at doing regular exercise in the mornings 

5. Buy a new cellphone

Yes - Bought myself an HTC Desire to get me through to the middle of next year!

6. Get a part-time job, preferably pharmacy-related

Yes - I got a job as a Student Ambassador at University of Auckland for Orientation Week and Courses and Careers Day that earned me some money so that counts! I've also got a full-time intern pharmacist job lined up for next year. I guess that sorta counts!  

7. Save enough money to be able to pay off all debts

Sort of - I've saved quite a bit of money, I just haven't paid off all my debts yet like my student loan and all the McDonald's I owe Gabrielle...

8. Come up with a 20-year life plan on where I want to be and how I'll get there

Sort of - I've decided to complete my internship and maybe be a pharmacist for a few years, possibly working part time after completing my internship to do post-graduate study and then work on making ANBRO a global empire! In other words....No...

9. Keep practising my existing musical instruments regularly and perform at least three times in 2010, as well as learn one more instrument (maybe flute or clarinet)

Sort of - I have performed at least three times this year, but I haven't been practising regularly, nor have I learned one more instrument! I've tried picking up the guitar again but gave it up not too long after!

10. Take up Chinese (Mandarin) classes

Fail - I joined a Chinese class for one day but then didn't continue because the time wasn't right

11. Spend less money on food, or else buy cheap food!

Fail - I think I've spent even more money on food than before this year! I couldn't help myself and spent money at the local bakery near Grafton, cookies at Subway and going out to lunches and dinners with friends

12. Get involved with another club at university besides the Dessert Club

Sort of - I entered a competition run by the Management Consulting Club thanks to my friend Alice! I guess that sorta counts...

13. BE NICE TO DAISY! (and all those other girls I've been mean to!)

See earlier post. I'd like to think I've been VERY NICE to Daisy! As for the other girls...I sorta forgot about that part of the resolution...

14. Do more driving so I can sit my full license or become closer to sitting it

Sort of - I'm definitely driving more! I haven't sat my full license though, so I guess we can make that a YES!

15. Take at least one photo/video a day!

Fail - I started off well, but then it died! Getting an iPod Touch did help and I now have a Youtube Channel filled with random, pointless videos of memories!

16. Stop making bets with people (late addition)

Fail - I've made bets that I will find a girlfriend before I get my dream phone, and that I 

will get married before 30...I probably shouldn't have...

So overall, that makes the final count:

Fulfilled New Years Resolutions: 4

Failed New Years Resolutions: 6

Partially Completed New Years Resolutions: 6

That makes last year's success rate at...25%! That's an improvement of...0% over last year!

Now for this year's 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!)

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

3. Keep my intern pharmacist job till the end of the year and become a registered pharmacist

4. Join the gym and at least get biceps! Abs are a bonus!

5. Get my Full License

6. Buy a new car

7. Find and buy my dream phone

8. Buy a new laptop

9. Make another short film with Aonghas

10. Find a cause and support it (Open to interpretation!)

11. Read the whole Bible! 
12. Get baptised...if I feel I am ready
12. Sit a music theory/Chinese exam 
13. Get one of my music theory students to sit a music theory exam
14. Decide what I want to do with my life after I (hopefully) complete my pharmacy internship
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!)
16. Find OLDER girls to hang out with (that also sounded wrong didn't it?)
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
18. Do photo 365 (one photo a day) 
19. Learn at least 3 new pieces on the accordion (as in classical pieces that require practice!)

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)