ID Change

Today we had a go at taking our own passport photos at home so that we can finally renew them. I don't think they've been renewed since 1995 when we (or maybe I should say 'I') went to Hong Kong!

After seeing this, I started wondering what I used to look like in my old school ID photos! (2005 is missing somewhere...)

 

Pizza!

Tonight we caught up with our old neighbour Phillip. It's the first time we've caught up with him since he got married. Instead of getting him to come over to our house, we asked if we could meet up with him, so we picked him up from his parents' house instead and we went off to fill the petrol.

From there, we didn't really know where we would go for dinner. La Porchetta just happened to be across the road, so we decided to go there! It's the first time I've been to the one in Henderson. I still remember when the building used to be occupied by Pizza Hut! Our family would go there once in a while when we were little kids! When we went in, I could remember where things used to be!

We didn't realise there would be a 15% surcharge because it's the Day-After-New-Year's-Day, and were considering leaving, but because none of us had been there before except for Aonghas, we decided we'd just try it.

It was quite busy tonight, something I didn't expect. Originally I was just going to order a medium-size pizza, but after Hamish chose a large size, I thought I might as well choose large as well! I got this pizza that has four different toppings.

The pizzas were quite good. Aonghas saw the waitress that he knows, and introduced her to us. She saw us and asked if we were the brothers people think are triplets! She reckoned Aonghas and I look similar, but not Hamish!

After dinner we went for a drive around the side streets before dropping Phillip off home and catching up with his brother Kenneth who decided not to join us!

New Years Dinner

To celebrate New Years Day, our family went to our favourite Mt Albert BBQ Noodle House in...you guessed it, Mt Albert!

This time we avoided anything spicy and had a few dishes such as braised hapuka, Indonesian fried rice. It was quite nice this time. I got full after a while and we hadn't even finished the fried rice!

I think I'm getting fat now. What a way to start the New Year!

New Years Blowover

I originally didn't have anything planned for New Years, but after a conversation with Chen, we got thinking, and ended up planning to have dinner followed by something else till midnight. We weren't too sure what we'd be doing till midnight but eventually we decided we'd go to this place that sells milk tea and hang out there till then.

Even though Aonghas was working till about 6.30, Chen, Rose, Diane, Hamish and I decided to meet up earlier to play a couple games of bowling till 8pm, when we had booked dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant.

Once again, competition was tense between Diane and me. I beat her at minigolf last time we met up. This time though she was wiping the floor at bowling! She won the first game and came second in the second game to Rose by one point!

My bowling game was not the best! It took me a while to get started and by the time I started knocking over a decent number of pins, it was too late!

After bowling, Diane left to go have dinner with...someone else...while we just drove down the road to the Vietnamese restaurant where we were going to have dinner. I had been there before, so this time instead of getting soup noodles I got a bowl of rice with chicken fillets (is that what they're called?). 

We only had an hour to eat before the restaurant closed, but we managed to do it in 40 minutes!

Chen booked us a table at The Drinks Lounge, which is sort of like Momo Tea, or Hulucat Tea.

We drag-raced there...no not really but we got to the place early as well but our table was reserved so we had a seat, chose our drinks and then the guys indulged in a bit of ...24 o.O You know that game you played at primary school where you have to use four numbers and make 24 by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing them? Some way to celebrate New Years' Eve, right? 

They eventually made it through a deck of cards, and as soon as they were finished I jumped at the chance to play Love Jenga! It's like regular Jenga, except each block has a task or something for the person to do after they've pulled the block out of the tower. They were quite tame though, such as 

'Say 'I love you' to someone of the opposite sex in another language'

'Let the person to the left of you look through your received calls log on your mobile phone'

'Call someone and say 'thank you' to them'

The first game didn't last too long after Hamish knocked it over, but the second game was so intense we forgot all about what was written on the blocks! Each time someone pulled a block out of the tower, we reckoned the next person would be the loser. 

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

However, it just kept going and going and going until the tower was really tall! Eventually someone had to be the one to knock it down, and that person was...HAMISH!

We played one last game that Chen suggested, in which we paired up and had to write down five words that we associate with the word given and see how many words we have in common with our partner. That was quite an interesting game.

It was soon about ten minutes till midnight, and we couldn't see the Sky Tower from outside The Drinks Lounge, so we decided to all jump in Chen's car and drive towards the city as much as we could before the fireworks went off. Of course, we had to spot the Sky Tower first!

We were driving down Dominion Road and saw these people just standing on the side of the road, but couldn't figure out what they were looking at! We finally spotted the Sky Tower, but couldn't see the top of if or the fireworks shooting from it, as the clouds were low and we could only see changes of colour! Some anti-climax!

Chen continued to drive into the city, getting stuck in traffic down Queen Street. The street was partially closed off, and there was a lot of people around the place. There was a freaky-looking guy in a mask (I'm sure he's an Occupy Auckland protester) who was just standing casually on the side of the road, letting fireworks off!

We eventually made it back to Dominion Road, where our car was and we parted ways. We did stop at Burger King for a feed before heading home though, but as part of my New Years' Resolutions for 2012, I will try to make it one of the few times I'll be eating fast food this year!

Happy New Years 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

There are only two words I really need to say to describe how I felt about 2011:

GOOD RIDDENS!

Despite us winning the Rugby World Cup, me graduating and also participating in the Rugby World Cup, Aonghas turning 21 and....OK that's probably it...there wasn't much else to be too happy about.

Think about it...the Christchurch earthquake, the Japan earthquake, Rena...

I suppose it was a year that cruel people passed away such as Gaddafi, Kim Jong Un, and Osama Bin Laden.

Hopefully 2012, the year of the dragon will bring us much greater luck, peace and prosperity! Let's make next year a year of new beginnings and one that is even better than this one! 

Now time to review my 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!)
FAIL - I did finally do something about someone after a long, long time, but it wasn't to be

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

YES - Rebecca and Eva have become two of my closest friends. I don't know what I'd do without Eva always being at the other end of a text, and Rebecca's craziness and the fact that she always seems to lose to me in challenges!

3. Keep my intern pharmacist job till the end of the year and become a registered pharmacist
SORT OF - I kept my intern pharmacist job, but I haven't become registered yet

4. Join the gym and at least get biceps! Abs are a bonus!
SORT OF - I did join the gym, but I'm pretty sure I'm flabbier than before!

5. Get my Full License
FAIL - Still on my restricted!

6. Buy a new car
YES - After the Nissan Pulsar (the first car I bought) died on us, we sought a new car, and I ended up contributing to buying a Mitsubishi Lancer!

7. Find and buy my dream phone
YES - Bought a Samsung Galaxy SII. That'll do for now!

8. Buy a new laptop
YES - Towards the end of this year after my terrible HP laptop finally died on me the night before my assignment was due, I converted to Sony Vaio

9. Make another short film with Aonghas
SORT OF - It wasn't entirely a short film, but we filmed a little bit for Aonghas' 21st video 

10. Find a cause and support it (Open to interpretation!)
SORT OF - I did end up agreeing to make monthly contributions to UNICEF, and then to Aaron Ku, a missionary from our church. I'm probably going to cancel my contribution to UNICEF though.

11. Read the whole Bible! 
FAIL - I have been slowly working through Genesis in Sunday School, but outside of that I haven't been as good as I'd have liked


12. Get baptised...if I feel I am ready
FAIL - Still not baptised, but maybe slowly getting closer to that moment


12. Sit a music theory/Chinese exam
FAIL - Self-explanatory

13. Get one of my music theory students to sit a music theory exam
SORT OF - Got my grade two music theory students to sit a mock theory exam. I guess that's as much as I could have hoped for


14. Decide what I want to do with my life after I (hopefully) complete my pharmacy internship
FAIL - Still haven't decided, but now I've got an extra half a year to decide


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!)
SORT OF - I have been finding myself being a bit more stern when dealing with younger kids, especially my students. My patience has definitely been tested this year!


16. Find OLDER girls to hang out with (that also sounded wrong didn't it?)
SORT OF - I did have weekly catch-ups with two of my intern friends for a while, and did catch up with various friends from time to time. However, at church I'm still surrounded by younger girls. It might be time to look for other groups to hang out with!


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
SORT OF - I think I'm getting better! Maybe I'm setting my standards too high but I guess it's better to aim high and fall short


18. Do photo 365 (one photo a day) 
FAIL - Completely forgot about this resolution!


19. Learn at least 3 new pieces on the accordion (as in classical pieces that require practice!)
FAIL - I don't think I've touched my accordion all year!

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)
FAIL - While I have attempted to learn Chinese in bits and bobs, I'm yet to return to NCEA Level 3 level!


So overall, the final count is:

Fulfilled New Years Resolutions: 4

Failed New Years Resolutions: 9

Partially Completed New Years Resolutions: 8

That gives me a 19% success rate, which is a -6% improvement over last year. I think it is time to make some changes and increase that success rate!

Here are my resolutions for this year!

- = Calum's 2012 New Years' Resolutions = -

(in no particular order)

1. Find a girlfriend (pretty much cut and paste now, but hey it's the year of the Dragon, and 7 is a lucky number!)

2. Make two new friends or two new close friends

3. Become a registered pharmacist

4. Visit the gym a bit more often than in 2011

5. Find another musical instrument to learn up to a grade 4-5 level

6. Buy a bass guitar, learn it properly and get the Oddfellows band going 

7. Sit a grade 6 music theory exam (grade 6 at the very minimum!)

8. Follow a 365 day Bible reading plan

9. Have 3 completely new experiences in 2012 (i.e. do three things I've never done before in my life!)

10. Find a new social organisation/group to be a part of

11. Completely change my life (open to interpretation)

12. Attend a proper ongoing Chinese class

13. Travel to another city/town at least five times 

14. Be happier with life (or just content if really struggling)

15. Pick up the piano accordion again, lean another song and trio with the brothers

16. Buy less junk food/takeaways


I will add to this list over the next few days as I come up with more!