I had a weird experience on the bus on Monday morning on the way to uni. I got on and was about to sit down when this girl across the aisle said 'hi' and asked where I was going, and I told her I was going to uni. I swear I saw her holding a joint...on board a bus!
Anyway I thought that was it and decided to have a read through one of my pharmacy reference books as I was having my oral exam (osce) later that day. She then came over and sat next to me and asked me what I was reading. I happened to be reading up on asthma treatment, and so she started talking to me about her family and everything.
We were approaching New Lynn when she started telling me about how she just recently broke up with her boyfriend because he kept cheating on her. She then jokingly said I could be her boyfriend!
As the bus pulled into the New Lynn bus terminal, she got my number (I don't think she has a phone though?) and asked me if I wanted a kiss. This caught me by surprise and I was left going
"uhhhhhhh...."
trying to figure out what I was supposed to say or do next! That's when she kissed me on the cheek before getting off the bus! She just happened to put on some lipstick before doing that, so I made sure it was all gone before I got to uni!
Well that was a bit weird and unexpected! It's not often you get kissed by a random girl on the bus...
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Friday, 19 June 2009
Twittering Away!
Wow I just found out you can send and receive 'tweets' from Twitter for free on your mobile (thanks Jennifer)! That's pretty cool! Now I admit I didn't get what all this fuss and hype over Twitter was all about, and I sorta still don't, but when it's free, who cares!
So if you've got a Twitter account then follow me at http://www.twitter.com/euraznboy and I might return the favour!
So if you've got a Twitter account then follow me at http://www.twitter.com/euraznboy and I might return the favour!
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Suppressing Those Feelings!
Sigggghh.....BIG sigh......
I just had my first exam this morning, it was MEDSCI303, or in other words Pharmacology. I've had a week of study leave to prepare for it as well as all the other exams coming up, so I've been trying to balance my time (which I'm not good at). Originally I had planned on studying hard out at the library or somewhere where I could concentrate and hopefully not fall asleep, but the bad weather has left me stuck at home (we've had the fireplace going too!), so I've had to contend with studying with all those distractions like the TV and family around me.
I've been a little worried about MEDSCI as sometimes the questions can be a little tricky, especially the calculations. During our ten minutes reading time prior to the exam though, I looked through the paper and thought...this is do-able!!!
I managed to write a bit for most of the questions, except for two questions that were worth 20 marks each though, which I'm a little worried about. The last question in the exam also caused me a bit of worry as well, as I was using this equation that featured pKa - pH, and I started to question myself, wondering... is it supposed to be pKa - pH or pH - pKa? I was starting to get a little tense but decided to go with pKa - pH, my gut instinct. As soon as the exam was over I checked and it was right! Phew! While I feel good about being able to answer most questions...I've got to remind myself about those two 20 mark questions. I hope I've done enough to pass though!
After my exam today though I caught up with a couple of my second year pharmacy friends. I ended up having a bit of a moan (to use the nicest word I can think of!) session with Scholastica about how much we were fed up with pharmacy, and I think it has kinda let all those negative feelings I've had towards pharmacy that I've been supressing all come flooding out again! I've been spending the night trying to study as well as fight off all those questions I have about why I'm even studying pharmacy in the first place!
To be honest in the past several weeks I haven't been finding pharmacy too bad, and some of the stuff I've learnt I've actually found interesting. I guess it's just a case of enjoying it when you're coping, and hating it when you're not, and maybe it's just the pressure of exams that is doing me in! I'm sure I'll get over this. Remember Calum you're doing it for the graduation teddy bear!
On a completely unrelated but more brighter note, yay for my friend Jenny from youth group who made it to the semifinals of the NZ Chamber Music Contest Auckland District Semifinals with her chamber group tomorrow afternoon! Let's all wish her the best!
I just had my first exam this morning, it was MEDSCI303, or in other words Pharmacology. I've had a week of study leave to prepare for it as well as all the other exams coming up, so I've been trying to balance my time (which I'm not good at). Originally I had planned on studying hard out at the library or somewhere where I could concentrate and hopefully not fall asleep, but the bad weather has left me stuck at home (we've had the fireplace going too!), so I've had to contend with studying with all those distractions like the TV and family around me.
I've been a little worried about MEDSCI as sometimes the questions can be a little tricky, especially the calculations. During our ten minutes reading time prior to the exam though, I looked through the paper and thought...this is do-able!!!
I managed to write a bit for most of the questions, except for two questions that were worth 20 marks each though, which I'm a little worried about. The last question in the exam also caused me a bit of worry as well, as I was using this equation that featured pKa - pH, and I started to question myself, wondering... is it supposed to be pKa - pH or pH - pKa? I was starting to get a little tense but decided to go with pKa - pH, my gut instinct. As soon as the exam was over I checked and it was right! Phew! While I feel good about being able to answer most questions...I've got to remind myself about those two 20 mark questions. I hope I've done enough to pass though!
After my exam today though I caught up with a couple of my second year pharmacy friends. I ended up having a bit of a moan (to use the nicest word I can think of!) session with Scholastica about how much we were fed up with pharmacy, and I think it has kinda let all those negative feelings I've had towards pharmacy that I've been supressing all come flooding out again! I've been spending the night trying to study as well as fight off all those questions I have about why I'm even studying pharmacy in the first place!
To be honest in the past several weeks I haven't been finding pharmacy too bad, and some of the stuff I've learnt I've actually found interesting. I guess it's just a case of enjoying it when you're coping, and hating it when you're not, and maybe it's just the pressure of exams that is doing me in! I'm sure I'll get over this. Remember Calum you're doing it for the graduation teddy bear!
On a completely unrelated but more brighter note, yay for my friend Jenny from youth group who made it to the semifinals of the NZ Chamber Music Contest Auckland District Semifinals with her chamber group tomorrow afternoon! Let's all wish her the best!
Friday, 12 June 2009
Cramming It All In
First semester is all over for 2009, with the only thing remaining being....exams NOOOO!!!! I've almost reached that 'don't care' stage, where you just don't care how well you do in exams, so I sorta want exams to come sooner or later before that does happen! I've got a couple days before my first exam on Saturday morning so I've been doing my best to study as much as I can before the floodgates open and my exams all come a day or two after another. I've gotten so sick of pharmacy though so I thought I'd just take a break and update this.
The last two weeks of uni were quite hectic. Not only did I have two lab reports to complete, a wedding and accordion comeptitions to attend, I also had two tests, a group presentation and a 21st birthday dinner to go to (and this time I actually managed to make it to it! More on that later...)
Let's start off with the Super City Hikoi. In the second-to-last week of the semester, the Maori and a whole lot of other people who weren't happy with the way the government is going to amalgamate all of Auckland's city councils into one, staged a protest or 'hikoi' from all four corners of Auckland and by midday they were marching up Queen St to outside the Town Hall. Now I really should have been studying, but I couldn't resist and went for a little stroll along Queen St to check out the happenings. What I thought would be a protest looked more like a party! There was music, shouting, and everything! Everyone seemed to be behaving themselves though so no complaints from me.
In one of our classes that same week we were told that the format for one of our exams had changed - byebye multiple choice questions, hello short answer and long answer questions! I can say I was absolutely gobsmacked! As if I couldn't dislike pharmacy any more! I've gotten over it now and have accepted it!
I had a Medsci lab test a couple days later, which was a test on everything we've learnt in the labs this semester. I vowed not to have a repeat of my calculator failing on me, so I found another calculator that actually worked, and I stayed back at uni late the night before to do last minute study.
I sat the test though and after when I was in the Information Commons, I overheard others talking about what they wrote as answers and realised just how stupid my answers were!
With the accordion competitions and the wedding approaching the following weekend and everything else, I was running out of time. I was also invited to James' (this really cool guy - I owe him so much, without him I'd probably be failing pharmacy! haha) 21st birthday dinner at this Newmarket restaurant though. I was tossing up between whether I should go or not, as I had so much to do. Our family went out for dinner that night as well which cut down the time I had even further!
The day before though, I was walking back to the city from Grafton when this girl at the traffic lights asked me if I knew James. I must've had a mind-block that day as I was thinking to myself James...James...church? High school? Then it clicked!
"Kan!!!!" (That's his surname)
"Oh so is that what people call him these days??"
Woops...I didn't realise I spoke my mind...Anyway it turned out it was James' little sister who is doing 1st year pharmacy this year! I have no idea how she knew me! She asked me if I was going to the dinner as well, and I told her I would.
Regarding 21st birthdays - I've been invited to a few, but I've never been able to attend most of them because of where or when they've been held! (I'm so sorry to those who have invited me though, I really appreciate being invited though!) Fortunately James' was held on a Thursday night, which was good because I had a late lab that afternoon. I could go straight to the dinner afterwards.
Our last pharmaceutics lab was not too bad. We were learning all about tablets, like how to make them and test the quality of them. We even got to play with a tablet machine and make our own tablet! We were also using Paracetamol tablets and a tablet fight almost ensued!
After that lab I asked around to see if others had bought birthday presents for James, and most said they had, so I had to look in the limited shops around Grafton for something good to give James! I ended up finding this shop located within Auckland Hospital that sold a few novelty gifts. I ended up buying this capsule-shaped stressball, a bottle of pill-like lollies and some chocolate (notice the pharmacy theme?). I returned to Grafton to tag along to some others who were about to walk to the restaurant.
The restaurant was flash, and James had reserved almost half of the restaurant! I sat with the people I had walked with to the restaurant. To be honest, sometimes I still feel like an outsider amongst 3rd year pharmacy people because I don't belong to one group and sometimes hop from one group to another, so it can be a little awkward since I'm not extremely close to any particular person in pharmacy (although there are some I am closer to than others!). I was thinking I'd be sitting there not knowing what to say, but luckily one of my good friends from way back in my Health Science days, Kevin showed up! We had a good catch up.
He and a group of his other Malaysian friends decided to check out some of the neighbouring food joints, so I thought I'd tag along. We went and had a look at Foodtown and a few other places before returning, and discovering James had already started opening the presents! I think he had already opened mine by the time I got back. At least I got there in time to see him unwrap the Playboy Magazine he got given!
In the following Tuesday in the week after the accordion competitions and the wedding I had my pharmaceutics test, but thank goodness it was multiple choice! Now the only thing left to complete before the end of semester was my Medsci lab report! By now I just wanted to get started studying, but I had to get the report out of the way!
I had an orthodontist appointment on Thursday, and to my surprise I was told that I was almost ready to have my braces taken off! In fact I'll be getting them taken off in about a month's time! Wow it's almost been three years since I got my braces put on...I remember it being my high school's open evening and I was to give a speech! It doesn't feel that long! They also told me they'd give me some mouthwash which would be able to polish my teeth, which is cool because my teeth is getting a bit dirrrty. I was even considering getting my teeth whitened once I get my braces off! I'll talk more about this once it actually happens though.
Come Friday though, no more tests, no more lab reports, semester one over, and all there was left to do was STUDY!!
The last two weeks of uni were quite hectic. Not only did I have two lab reports to complete, a wedding and accordion comeptitions to attend, I also had two tests, a group presentation and a 21st birthday dinner to go to (and this time I actually managed to make it to it! More on that later...)
Let's start off with the Super City Hikoi. In the second-to-last week of the semester, the Maori and a whole lot of other people who weren't happy with the way the government is going to amalgamate all of Auckland's city councils into one, staged a protest or 'hikoi' from all four corners of Auckland and by midday they were marching up Queen St to outside the Town Hall. Now I really should have been studying, but I couldn't resist and went for a little stroll along Queen St to check out the happenings. What I thought would be a protest looked more like a party! There was music, shouting, and everything! Everyone seemed to be behaving themselves though so no complaints from me.
I had a Medsci lab test a couple days later, which was a test on everything we've learnt in the labs this semester. I vowed not to have a repeat of my calculator failing on me, so I found another calculator that actually worked, and I stayed back at uni late the night before to do last minute study.
I sat the test though and after when I was in the Information Commons, I overheard others talking about what they wrote as answers and realised just how stupid my answers were!
With the accordion competitions and the wedding approaching the following weekend and everything else, I was running out of time. I was also invited to James' (this really cool guy - I owe him so much, without him I'd probably be failing pharmacy! haha) 21st birthday dinner at this Newmarket restaurant though. I was tossing up between whether I should go or not, as I had so much to do. Our family went out for dinner that night as well which cut down the time I had even further!
"Kan!!!!" (That's his surname)
"Oh so is that what people call him these days??"
Woops...I didn't realise I spoke my mind...Anyway it turned out it was James' little sister who is doing 1st year pharmacy this year! I have no idea how she knew me! She asked me if I was going to the dinner as well, and I told her I would.
Regarding 21st birthdays - I've been invited to a few, but I've never been able to attend most of them because of where or when they've been held! (I'm so sorry to those who have invited me though, I really appreciate being invited though!) Fortunately James' was held on a Thursday night, which was good because I had a late lab that afternoon. I could go straight to the dinner afterwards.
Our last pharmaceutics lab was not too bad. We were learning all about tablets, like how to make them and test the quality of them. We even got to play with a tablet machine and make our own tablet! We were also using Paracetamol tablets and a tablet fight almost ensued!
The restaurant was flash, and James had reserved almost half of the restaurant! I sat with the people I had walked with to the restaurant. To be honest, sometimes I still feel like an outsider amongst 3rd year pharmacy people because I don't belong to one group and sometimes hop from one group to another, so it can be a little awkward since I'm not extremely close to any particular person in pharmacy (although there are some I am closer to than others!). I was thinking I'd be sitting there not knowing what to say, but luckily one of my good friends from way back in my Health Science days, Kevin showed up! We had a good catch up.
He and a group of his other Malaysian friends decided to check out some of the neighbouring food joints, so I thought I'd tag along. We went and had a look at Foodtown and a few other places before returning, and discovering James had already started opening the presents! I think he had already opened mine by the time I got back. At least I got there in time to see him unwrap the Playboy Magazine he got given!
I had an orthodontist appointment on Thursday, and to my surprise I was told that I was almost ready to have my braces taken off! In fact I'll be getting them taken off in about a month's time! Wow it's almost been three years since I got my braces put on...I remember it being my high school's open evening and I was to give a speech! It doesn't feel that long! They also told me they'd give me some mouthwash which would be able to polish my teeth, which is cool because my teeth is getting a bit dirrrty. I was even considering getting my teeth whitened once I get my braces off! I'll talk more about this once it actually happens though.
Come Friday though, no more tests, no more lab reports, semester one over, and all there was left to do was STUDY!!
Saturday, 6 June 2009
A Music Competition and a Wedding
Last weekend was a bit of a busy weekend, with the annual NZ Accordion Competitions and Benson and Danielle's (two people from our church) wedding taking place, almost at the same time! I was hoping to be able to make it to both, as I had to compete at the competitions as well as perform with some little girls at the wedding. The only problem was that my competition class was to start at 1.30pm on that Saturday, with me being drawn third to play, and the wedding was to start at 2.30pm! I was hoping to be able to be shifted to first so I could get away as soon as possible to the wedding.
I wasn't looking forward to the competitions as I hadn't really done much practice leading up to it due to uni and everything, and was sure I was going to screw up and embarrass myself in front of everyone. This year really should've been the pinnacle of my 'accordion playing life' as my original plan was to compete at these competitions with the aim to later compete at the World Championships being held in Auckland later this year. Because I haven't been able to practise as much lately though with uni getting so intense, my goal of competing in the world championships has well and truly evaporated. I suppose once I graduate if I'm motivated enough, still young and have money I could try compete in it somewhere overseas...
What made things worse for my championship preparation was the night before after youth group I was playing soccer with the guys, and as goalie I was trying to stop the ball flying in, and as I jumped to tip it over the goal my fingers got bent backwards slightly. That didn't hurt so much but later that night at home I was starting to feel muscle strain...in my hands! I guess I haven't been doing much exercise lately! I had a go at playing the accordion a few times that night and my fingers were so stiff! Before I went to bed I tried looking for some cream to rub on my hands. Apparently Deep-Heat would work, but I couldn't find any, so I just used Vicks, and surprisingly in the morning my hand felt as normal as ever!
Hamish was performing first on Saturday morning and so my dad took him there to perform while I practised in the morning. The plan was that Aonghas and my mum would go to the wedding while I performed at the competitions, and as soon as I finished we'd go straight to the wedding.
I got to the Raye Freedman Centre at Epsom Girls Grammar School where the competitions were held, and did my best to see if I could perform first, but I was told the playing order had already been drawn and it'd be unfair to the other competitors. I was just going to have to play 3rd.
It wasn't so bad, as even though each competitor's programme was about 10-15 minutes, it was about 2pm when it was time for me to perform. My programme consisted of two sonatas, Sonata in G Minor by Scarlatti and Sonata in B Minor by Tchaikin. I almost forgot the names of the pieces on stage!
My performance got off to a shakey start as I battled with the nerves, but I started to gain control, even though I made a few slips throughout. I came to the end of my piece, finished it and took my hand off the keyboard expecting applause, but there was none! Did the audience not realise I had finished my first piece? I was trying to think of some way to make it more obvious that I had finished, but it was getting a bit awkward so I decided just to start on my next piece. My accordion teacher later told me that when he noticed no one was clapping, he was about to start clapping for me but saw me about to play the next piece!
The second sonata, Sonata in B Minor, which was almost ten minutes long, was the piece I was most worried about. I haven't been able to play it from beginning to end without stuffing up, and so forget making it sound like music I just wanted to get through it! OK I did still stuff up a few times but at least I didn't embarrass myself majorly! I ended up coming third so that wasn't as bad as I predicted it would be.
As soon as I was done, my dad and I made a quick getaway to church to attend the wedding. I took my accordion into church with me to put into a spare room and some people were looking at me weirdly, wondering what was going on! I managed to make it to the beginning of the wedding and sneaked in to sit in the back row.
This was the second wedding I had attended for the year, and it was pretty cool. This time I was actually going to be involved in this one! After the couple shared their vows, exchanged rings and kissed, they signed the book on stage and as they did that Aonghas performed the violin with one of the church members on piano. Once they were done, we joined the 'Angels Choir' which was made up of these little girls from church to sing a couple of songs, one which involved waving ribbons.
Aonghas and I were standing at the back, and because we were the only two guys singing with a group of girls, our voices were quite low compared to theirs. When the songs went up high my voice got a bit quivery which was not too great! It was good fun though. One of the girls in our youth group told us that when she first saw us performing, she remarked
"I'd rather commit suicide than perform up there!"
not realising she was sitting next to our dad! But she swears she loves us haha.
After the wedding we went into the big hall for food. A few of the guys and I were scoping the field checking to see if there were any nice girls out there (sadly not haha ... nah I'm just joking) while hovering around the tables eating food when we were asked to serve some heart-shaped donuts to people. It ended up turning into a competition to see who could hand out all their donuts the fastest! Let's just say I didn't win. Everyone had a donut before I could get there!
Back to the accordion competitions, it continued the following day (Sunday). Aonghas was to perform and us three Anderson brothers were performing our trio straight after. I was going to stay long enough to try out the SLR camera and try take some photos of Aonghas but I ran out of time and had to go to the waiting room for the trio!
As a trio we were performing 'The Magnificent Seven', the theme song to this old western TV show/movie (I'm not entirely sure...), and so we decided to wear cowboy hats just to be different. I had to rearrange an accordion orchestral arrangement of this piece for accordion trio, so I'm sure it didn't sound quite like it was meant to, but our performance wasn't too bad! Straight after, one of the organisers had asked us to perform at the afternoon 'Farewell' Concert, sorta like the concert to showcase selected winners.
The results were announced, with Aonghas and our trio coming first in our respective classes! I think that makes it nine years in a row we've won the accordion trio class now!
We had about four hours to spare before the afternoon concert, my dad and us three brothers went to Burger King in Newmarket for lunch. In the middle of lunch our accordion teacher texted us to tell us that they wanted Aonghas to perform as well! We went home straight after to try convince our mum to attend, which we managed to do!
The concert wasn't too bad, but our trio didn't perform as well as our first performance in the morning. Hamish came in a bar too early but fortunately regained himself. We avoided a near disaster! Jessica Chen, my main accordion rival entered the top NZ Accordion Championship Class this year and....came first!! Go Jessica! She was really impressive. I entered the class below since I wasn't as prepared as I would've liked to have been, and I also didn't have enough music to play for the second year in a row!
So in the end I managed to make it to both with the results not being so bad. We also got to have a photo with the accordion 'world cup'! If you can't win it, get a photo with it!
I wasn't looking forward to the competitions as I hadn't really done much practice leading up to it due to uni and everything, and was sure I was going to screw up and embarrass myself in front of everyone. This year really should've been the pinnacle of my 'accordion playing life' as my original plan was to compete at these competitions with the aim to later compete at the World Championships being held in Auckland later this year. Because I haven't been able to practise as much lately though with uni getting so intense, my goal of competing in the world championships has well and truly evaporated. I suppose once I graduate if I'm motivated enough, still young and have money I could try compete in it somewhere overseas...
What made things worse for my championship preparation was the night before after youth group I was playing soccer with the guys, and as goalie I was trying to stop the ball flying in, and as I jumped to tip it over the goal my fingers got bent backwards slightly. That didn't hurt so much but later that night at home I was starting to feel muscle strain...in my hands! I guess I haven't been doing much exercise lately! I had a go at playing the accordion a few times that night and my fingers were so stiff! Before I went to bed I tried looking for some cream to rub on my hands. Apparently Deep-Heat would work, but I couldn't find any, so I just used Vicks, and surprisingly in the morning my hand felt as normal as ever!
Hamish was performing first on Saturday morning and so my dad took him there to perform while I practised in the morning. The plan was that Aonghas and my mum would go to the wedding while I performed at the competitions, and as soon as I finished we'd go straight to the wedding.
I got to the Raye Freedman Centre at Epsom Girls Grammar School where the competitions were held, and did my best to see if I could perform first, but I was told the playing order had already been drawn and it'd be unfair to the other competitors. I was just going to have to play 3rd.
It wasn't so bad, as even though each competitor's programme was about 10-15 minutes, it was about 2pm when it was time for me to perform. My programme consisted of two sonatas, Sonata in G Minor by Scarlatti and Sonata in B Minor by Tchaikin. I almost forgot the names of the pieces on stage!
My performance got off to a shakey start as I battled with the nerves, but I started to gain control, even though I made a few slips throughout. I came to the end of my piece, finished it and took my hand off the keyboard expecting applause, but there was none! Did the audience not realise I had finished my first piece? I was trying to think of some way to make it more obvious that I had finished, but it was getting a bit awkward so I decided just to start on my next piece. My accordion teacher later told me that when he noticed no one was clapping, he was about to start clapping for me but saw me about to play the next piece!
The second sonata, Sonata in B Minor, which was almost ten minutes long, was the piece I was most worried about. I haven't been able to play it from beginning to end without stuffing up, and so forget making it sound like music I just wanted to get through it! OK I did still stuff up a few times but at least I didn't embarrass myself majorly! I ended up coming third so that wasn't as bad as I predicted it would be.
As soon as I was done, my dad and I made a quick getaway to church to attend the wedding. I took my accordion into church with me to put into a spare room and some people were looking at me weirdly, wondering what was going on! I managed to make it to the beginning of the wedding and sneaked in to sit in the back row.
This was the second wedding I had attended for the year, and it was pretty cool. This time I was actually going to be involved in this one! After the couple shared their vows, exchanged rings and kissed, they signed the book on stage and as they did that Aonghas performed the violin with one of the church members on piano. Once they were done, we joined the 'Angels Choir' which was made up of these little girls from church to sing a couple of songs, one which involved waving ribbons.
Aonghas and I were standing at the back, and because we were the only two guys singing with a group of girls, our voices were quite low compared to theirs. When the songs went up high my voice got a bit quivery which was not too great! It was good fun though. One of the girls in our youth group told us that when she first saw us performing, she remarked
"I'd rather commit suicide than perform up there!"
not realising she was sitting next to our dad! But she swears she loves us haha.
After the wedding we went into the big hall for food. A few of the guys and I were scoping the field checking to see if there were any nice girls out there (sadly not haha ... nah I'm just joking) while hovering around the tables eating food when we were asked to serve some heart-shaped donuts to people. It ended up turning into a competition to see who could hand out all their donuts the fastest! Let's just say I didn't win. Everyone had a donut before I could get there!
Back to the accordion competitions, it continued the following day (Sunday). Aonghas was to perform and us three Anderson brothers were performing our trio straight after. I was going to stay long enough to try out the SLR camera and try take some photos of Aonghas but I ran out of time and had to go to the waiting room for the trio!
As a trio we were performing 'The Magnificent Seven', the theme song to this old western TV show/movie (I'm not entirely sure...), and so we decided to wear cowboy hats just to be different. I had to rearrange an accordion orchestral arrangement of this piece for accordion trio, so I'm sure it didn't sound quite like it was meant to, but our performance wasn't too bad! Straight after, one of the organisers had asked us to perform at the afternoon 'Farewell' Concert, sorta like the concert to showcase selected winners.
The results were announced, with Aonghas and our trio coming first in our respective classes! I think that makes it nine years in a row we've won the accordion trio class now!
We had about four hours to spare before the afternoon concert, my dad and us three brothers went to Burger King in Newmarket for lunch. In the middle of lunch our accordion teacher texted us to tell us that they wanted Aonghas to perform as well! We went home straight after to try convince our mum to attend, which we managed to do!
The concert wasn't too bad, but our trio didn't perform as well as our first performance in the morning. Hamish came in a bar too early but fortunately regained himself. We avoided a near disaster! Jessica Chen, my main accordion rival entered the top NZ Accordion Championship Class this year and....came first!! Go Jessica! She was really impressive. I entered the class below since I wasn't as prepared as I would've liked to have been, and I also didn't have enough music to play for the second year in a row!
So in the end I managed to make it to both with the results not being so bad. We also got to have a photo with the accordion 'world cup'! If you can't win it, get a photo with it!
It was a temporary distraction from studies and assignments, so now the focus is all back on that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)