2006 New Years Resolutions Review:

1. Take at least five photos a week
I think I accomplished that!
2. Do at least 3 good things a day
Uhhh...not so sure hope I did!
3. Get good grades
FAILED
4. Achieve something as head boy
Not too sure...
5. Make at least one more really good close friend
Yep! Not too sure how I defined 'good' and 'close' but yeah made a few - Melissa's become a pretty good friend, Phoebe become one of my best friends (well I think so till recently anyway), and umm.....
6. Go to the ball with A GIRL
FAILED...sadly!

My 2007 New Years Resolutions:

1. To get over the girl(s) I like/have liked this year and in the past, and to start afresh in 2007! Make a new close friend with a girl or even find a girlfriend if I'm lucky! haha!
(I was told by a friend that I get too attached! No wonder I find it hard to get over people!)
2. Continue to keep in touch REGULARLY with my friends both at uni and also the ones fortunately still at school ;) At least visit those lucky souls at Rutherford once a term or something!
3. To pass everything at uni whether I decide to do Health Sci, Biomed or Law with nothing less than B+ (and don't lose my scholarship)
4. Make two really good close friends!
5. Continue to take 5 photos a week
6. Get fit by doing regular exercise
7. Find another part-time job, buy a cellphone and text people!

Maybe a few more to come soon...Hopefully I'll be more successful in fulfilling these ones in 2007 than I was in 2006!

Was 2006 a good year for you?

Yep really fun!

What was your favourite moment of the year?

Heaps of favourite moments! Slave Day, AUT Camp, International Languages Week, the ball, prize-giving, year 13 dinner, Sarena's party, Gwen's house, International Village at lunchtimes, last few days at school, OK maybe the whole year!

What was your least favourite moment of the year?

Pulled over by police

Where were you when 2006 began?

I was in Te Atatu Peninsula watching the Sky Tower fireworks

Who were you with?

My family and some random other people who were watching the fireworks too

Where will you be when 2006 ends?

This time probably in the city at that First Light thing at Aotea Centre/Square

Who will you be with when 2006 ends?

Probably my family again!

Did you keep your new years resolution of 2006?

See my next post for that!

Do you have a new years resolution for 2006?

See my next post for that!

Did you fall in love in 2006?

Nah not fall in love! Might have liked someone though...

If yes, with who?

Uh yeah

If yes, do they know?

Hope not but maybe!

Are you still in love with them?

Not in love

Do you regret it?

Yeah kinda (liking them!)

Did you breakup with anyone in 2006?

Nope!

Did you make any new friends in 2006?

Yip!

Who are your favorite new friends?

Probably Melissa, Stephen (he's pretty cool!), Gwen, Alex, Angie (I don't know if those people consider me as friends but I consider them as new friends I made this year and they were pretty cool!), who else...there are probably a lot more!! (Remember these are my favourite NEW friends! Everyone else I mentioned in this list have already been my favourite friends already ;) )

What was your favorite month of 2006?

Probably February, March or August as there were no exams and heaps of things at school were going on

Did you travel outside of NZ in 2006?

Nope

Did you lose anybody close to you in 2006?

Nah although Steve Irwin's death was pretty sad! Oh and so was Peter Brock's and James Brown's. Not so much Suddam Hussein's... None of these people are close to me though anyway! Although a few of my fish and tadpoles did die which was sad, as well as Uncle Tom who died a couple days before his wedding anniversary.

Did you miss anybody in the past year?

My dad when he went to Melbourne, and maybe the twins a little when they went away to Korea?

What was your favourite movie that you saw in 2006?

House of Flying Daggers! Not exactly a 2006 movie but I watched it in 2006!

What was your favorite song from 2006?

The Only Difference Between Martydom and Suicide is the Press Coverage by Panic! At the Disco (only one I can think of right now)

How many concerts did you see in 2006?

About 5-6? (Orchestral concerts though!)

Did you have a favorite concert in 2006?

Last Night at the Proms! lol nah but Spacifix at school was pretty cool too (yeah not actually a concert I paid to go to I know)

Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2006?

No more than last year, none :D

Did you do a lot of drugs in 2006?

Nah don't think so!

Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?

Yessss!!!!!! At Sarena's and Gwen's! Man I am not good at get-togethers! I need to get out more!

What was the worst lie someone told you in 2006?

Joon telling me he had a girlfriend! OK it wasn't that bad, I probably haven't found out the other lies people have told me yet

Did you treat somebody badly in 2006?

I hope not! But I have a feeling I have...let me know if I have so I can try rectify things!

Did somebody treat you badly in 2006?

Ummm.....nah I don't think any have!

How much money did you spend in 2006?

Enough!

What was your proudest moment of 2006?

Probably Senior and Junior prize-giving, not too sure if it's meant to be proud of myself or proud of other people though, as I was pretty proud of seeing all these people who you've grown up with getting awards.

What was your most embarrassing moment of 2006?

End-of-year exams!!

If you could go back in time to any moment of 2006 and change something, what would it be?

I would not have got involved in so many activities so close to exams and focus on exams more! But I would have tried to get the Junior Council to have done more and maybe have more events run more frequently towards the beginning of the year (all about school I don't have a life aye!)

I probably would change the times I took my stance against alcohol too far by persuading people not to drink. That was a bit over the top!

What are your plans for 2007?

Go to uni, learn to drive, get a job, buy a new cellphone!

Once again here is my annual Year in Review, the first sentence of the first post of each month this year and highlights from that month:

January

Yay another year begins! Another year older! All the best to everyone for the year 20 06 let's hope it'll be a great year!

- Tadpole runs away
- Watch the only movie I will have watched in 2006 - King Kong
- House gets painted
- Attend a music teaching training course and meet Elisabeth Yi!
- Sign up for some marketing survey
- Chinese New Year Festival on my birthday
- Meet Hussein!

February

Even though the year has only just begun, it feels like we're already well into the year! It's already February, which isn't a great month to start the year off with...school starts again...Chen's birthday... (nah I'm teasing Chen! Your birthday really is worth celebrating! Just wait and see!)...and worst of all that horrid Valentine's Day!

- Go back to school
- One of my best friends finds a boyfriend! Yay!!
- Lonely Valentine's Day but raise heaps of money from selling roses at school!
- Go on prefect's camp

March

This week has been pretty good so far. I've had to speak at two assemblies in one week which I don't think I've done in a while! I probably made a fool of myself both times as well! Hopefully I get better as the year progresses!

- Hounded by little year 9's for my socks
- Waste Corran School in debating!
- Patrick and I meet the Minister of Youth Affairs at AUT while updating everyone on our Prefects group's progress
- Snapped at by some girl at a Careers Seminar for trying to find out some info about her for my friend
- Shen talks to hot Asian girl at Careers Seminar
- Bombard Auckland Grammar with personal attacks in debating after a frustrating debate!
- Sarena gets late detention!

April

In light of my recent bad results, I've decided to drop out of school

- Told by some careers programme that my best career option is as a Call Centre operator
- Sell off Mr Jefferies, year 9 dean for $84 at Slave Sale!
- Make a bet with Zippo to french-kiss some girl by end of year for $10
- Burn toast yet again
- Heather and I stumble randomly into some ANZAC service
- I try sucking up to some TVNZ manager who comes to our AUT training in the holidays

May

Hi my name is Calum and I'm a chocoholic...no thanks to Easter!

- I sit in on a slinging match between school IT guy and Carey
- Meet a gorilla in the city raising money to get his daughter back
- Waste Avondale in debating!!
- Enter Russel McVeagh Debating Competition and beat Takapuna Grammar for calling us Rutherford Grammar!
- Catch up with Stephen when Spacifix comes to school!

June

Today was an interesting day. I had asked Mrs Taylor (my dean) if she could help get a list of all the student names and their enrolment numbers for me so I could use it for our student website.

- Accused of something going on between Mrs Taylor (year 13 dean) and me
- Accordion championship flop!
- Mr Breckall, chemistry teacher has a little accident involving splashing cyclohexane into his eyes
- Meet Melissa and Aneesya, two of Kat's friends at Bruce Maclaren Intermediate while promoting our school! (oh yeah and my cousin but...yeah)
- String quartet teacher throws a hissy after twins and Aonghas arrive late at String Quartet Contest
- Big Sing!
- Visit a Chinese temple
- Get to check out hills and trenches as part of a history trip!
- Farewell Mr Edmeades!
- Ball!! Partner: no one!

July

School holidays has gotten off to an unproductive and boring start. It's so hard to get into studying when you're stuck in a cold, messy, foodless house!

- Successfully lit a fireplace!
- Accused of being a stalker
- Fooled by Joon into thinking he has a girlfriend
- 5c coin finding spree
- First time in the city alone for work experience at law firm together with some Asian girl from Westlake
- Sarena dies (our second to last surviving goldfish), leaving Rydia the sole survivor
- Meet the new principal Mr Moore!
- Get braces the same day as school open day

August

We had this speaker as part of Amped4Life come to speak to us today during last period of school on making right choices in life. The speaker was some ex-druggie who had tried all sorts of drugs but had been clean for the past 12 years and turned his life around, with five kids.

- Mistake a hickey for evidence of domestic violence
- Have revenge on Joon, making him believe rumour is spread, leaving him...paranoid :D
- Get new recorder student whose dad joins lesson and learns more than the student
- Lose a bet to Alex on who could get the most pens at Coke Careers Expo (oh and a fight broke out there too!)
- Caught and warned by IRD
- Careers Seminar Awards - Two Amy Chau's?
- All those days of help from Phoebe finally put to the test with Chinese Speech Comp
- Teeth pulled out
- Salsa Dancing!
- Come to school in Scottish kilt, told to shave legs
- Go out for yumcha with Jacqueline and Hannah and check out Auckland Uni Open Day
- Defeated after a heated debate against the lowly Senior debating team on cabbages and roses

September

I think I finally settled on my future! OK it's a little messy, and may be a little stupid and unrealistic. My dean suggested it to me so right now since I have no other idea I'll just go with it!

- We beat Henderson High in water polo!
- Studio Show, meet the guys of Fyrewood
- Several encounters with cousins at Henderson High when we turn up to collect cheque from Children's Variety
- Angie comes to my church!
- Eden Park for scholarship awards
- Sworn at by lunchbox girl after school
- Receive ball photo I paid for...a photo of another couple???
- Whack car mirror into mailbox
- Pulled over by police for dangerous driving

October

The church service this morning was interesting, despite the not-so-interesting sermon. It was about love, go figure!

- Mysterious stranger txts me telling me she loves me, but then tells me she hates me and ditches me
- Inundated with manly hugs!
- Rutherford Day and opening of Info Commons!
- Sarena's party!
- Play with little kids at primary school travel launch
- Last day ever ever of free weekend texting!
- Halloween mask doesn't work

November

Today we got told we get to go home from school a period early on Friday if we attended Rutherford Day! Well I had to speak at the assembly so yay I get that period off!

- Helping Phoebe out with maths
- After-effects of no free txtn being to be felt
- Fireworks! Walk all the way from Phoebe's work to get there. Joon and *coughcough* are nowhere to be seen, apparently in a bush
- Chen appointed Head Boy, and Yvia Head Girl
- Goodbye Telecom, hello IHUG/Vodafone!!
- Photo-taking goes into overdrive!
- Sunday School class go out for Wendy's at church
- Last day ever of school, prize-giving and doing prize-giving speech
- Finally apply for uni!

December

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!

- Screw up exams
- Book return, then Singstar at Gwen's!
- Get-together at Gwen's house!
- Dad off to Melbourne
- Rejected by Sky City Cinemas for a job
- Year 13 Farewell Dinner - dancing, food, fun!
- Weird being back at school for Junior Prize-Giving
- Washing Machine dies, new washing machine and fridge arrives
- I buy a car
- Meet Chen and Diane and go for yumcha!!!
- Job hunt continues
- Uncle attacked by other uncle's dog
- Christmas at Mission Bay, frantically dropping things off for people
- Car fills with smoke

And that's 2006! Roll on 2007!
-

Not very eventful. Oh yeah. Yesterday I practised driving around Te Atatu Peninsula, and I now have a whole new respect for that suburb! I used to think that it was nothing more than a road! (OK a bit of exaggeration there). I drove past Gwen's house, Sarena's house, Shen's house...(yes I remember where you guys live! :D Don't worry!) It was so much more fun driving around there than around Kelston! I got back home in time to watch the news about Suddam Hussein's execution, while Hamish was taken out by my dad to practise driving in my car.

I got a phone call a few minutes later from my dad. I immediately asked him

"Oh no...what happened? Did Hamish crash my car?"

He replied:

"No no no, don't worry he didn't crash it. Smoke just started pouring out from under the bonnet so we pulled over. The guy living in the house we pulled over by came out with a fire extinguisher but fortunately didn't have to use it."

AAARRRRRRGGGHGHHHHHHHH I knew something like this would happen!!! When my mum got home from picking Aonghas up from work, they went out to look for Hamish and my dad, and then took the car to our mechanic friend to get it checked out. I'm a little scared of that car now, and even more scared that I wasted my money on a bomb! The mechanic guy thought the cause was possibly because a plastic bag got caught underneath the car and melted, but I'm not too sure...

Today we had a special New Year's Thanksgiving Service at Church. Hamish, Aonghas and I were playing in it, so yesterday Hamish and I (while Aonghas was working) had to go into church in the morning to have a practice with the pianist and Aunty Helen.

We had to play three tunes, two at the beginning and one after the message. We also played the descant part for these three tunes everyone else had to sing. It sounded a little weird on the accordion.

During the minister's message we went to our seats right at the front, which was scary as we had no one to cover us when we nodded off to sleep! Fortunately I had someone to stare at to keep me awake, as well as kicking Aonghas in the foot to keep him from falling asleep!

After the service we got into groups to share our thoughts on what we were thankful to God for, and my brothers joined my Sunday School class group to share their thoughts. I just said I was thankful for learning stuff in Sunday School, for the cool *winkwink* Sunday School teachers I had and the cool *winkwink* classmates. I was also thankful for cool friends, for my family, friends and me staying alive and healthy throughout the year, and also thankful for getting through 7th form. We had to staple the little stars we wrote down our 'thanks' onto this board. I was using this mini stapler that someone passed on to me, and while my star got stapled to the board, another fell down, and I tried putting it back up but then a few more fell down! Someone who had a more powerful stapler came over and took over for me thank goodness!

Us Anderson brothers sat together with my Sunday School teacher Shirley (or is it Shelly?) and Jennifer, the other girl in my class. We grabbed some food (it was a shared lunch sort of thing) and then ate! I managed to get into a little conversation with Jennifer yay! I've got to try make some friends at this church after several years! She's really the only one at church who's nearly the same age as me anyway! Oh apart from Angie...when she turns up! She hasn't come since Sunday School finished for the year, and the teacher and Jennifer keep asking me about her! I just told them I didn't have enough credit to reply to her.

I was going to buy this laptop on discount during the Boxing Day sales that stops tonight, but no one had any money, and I couldn't take any of my money out of the account because I don't have a card for it and the bank's closed today! So I tried shifting my money into Aonghas's account over the internet so he could withdrawal it. Unfortunately I only read afterwards that it would take one working day for it to be transferred, and it would cost me $3! Moral of the story - find these things out first! I could put a deposit on it and pay the rest later, but now I'm more inclined to just wait a little while. It's an AMD Turion X2. What I read was that it's better than Intel Core Duo, plus its 64-bit whereas Intel Core Duo is 32-bit, but Core 2 Duo, which catches Intel up to and overtakes AMD is out and isn't too expensive I don't think, so maybe I might just wait for Core 2 Duo-powered laptops to drop in price. I probably won't bother waiting for Quad-Core as that might be a while! But woah man those things must be really impressive! Anyway I probably don't know what I'm talking about!

Tonight I'll probably be off to Aotea Centre for that First Light event to welcome in 2 double O 7. Hopefully something good happens!

Only ten days to go before our good friends Hyun and Joon leave our shores for good! Of course that won't be a reason to party. I know I'll be drenching the carpet with my tears along with a few...others... (and by the way no I'm not gay if that thought did happen to pass your mind! I've just known them for about seven years, which is a long time!)

So as we approach the new year as well as the time they leave, I'll upload some photographic memories of their time here in NZ, right from their fobby days (well we were all fobby at one stage of our lives weren't we!) right to their post-pubertal days and post some interesting stuff they never thought I'd remember ;)

On Wednesday our family decided to spend a day out together. Originally I had been invited to go to the movies in the city with friends, but once again it just had to coincide with family get-together didn't it!! So yeah I had to choose family over friends again.

We had a huge long discussion on where we would go the night before, but couldn't decide, until Aonghas suggested visiting some random place called Lee (not too sure where that is...). It would only be a couple hours drive from Auckland, which was required so we wouldn't spend the whole day driving through countryside staring at cows and grass, and so we'd get back home in time to deliver newspapers!

In the morning however, things changed once again and it was decided that we'd wait for the next time my dad had a day off to go out, and that we'd just spend the day going to yum cha and visiting our relatives over in St John.

Yum cha was...well... yum cha. We went to our usual one in South Auckland with the B rating. We went there in my car, and you never realise how much you worry about thefts until it's your own property! When we parked the car down a side street, I was constantly turning around checking it as we were walking away from it, ensuring no one would pinch it! Then again it's not that flash so I don't know why anyone would pinch it, apart from some car parts!

For some reason my mum was willing to spend a bit more money than usual on food! But we were all a lot hungrier than usual so we were eating faster and that cancelled it out to make the time we spent there about the same as usual.

Our relatives in St John had to go out by 2pm so as soon as we finished our lunch we rushed over there. I got to meet my great nephew (or whatever he is!) Joshua again, who's about four or five and can speak (English AND Cantonese! better than me!!) and run around! I'm his goh goh!!! Awwww! His mum (my not too sure...aunty? Yeah well us Chinese call anyone Aunty so yeah Aunty) asked him to show his goh goh's his Star Wars Lego (because he's really into Star Wars!) but he was a little shy. My parents talked with Aunty Doreen about tax stuff (she's an accountant) for a little while, before we had to leave. As we were about to leave, Joshua crawled underneath the table and played a little hide-and-seek with me!

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, looking for a cheap steering wheel cover, which we found at the $2 Shop. I saw Zahir at work! (Long John Silver if you want to check him out;) ) He was in the back room so I don't think he saw me.

Yesterday my former neighbour Phillip came over again for one more time to meet Aonghas since the last two times he came over Aonghas was working. He took us for a drive, showing us his radar detector and speeding down the back streets at excessive speeds! He had to go off at 5pm for an appointment and Aonghas was called in to work again, so later that night my parents, Hamish and I went to visit Mrs Simpson, our other former neighbour. For you people from Rutherford she's the grandma of Miss Simpson at school!..I think...Her younger brother, Bruce used to come over and play with us when we were a lot smaller. He and Phillip didn't really like each other though!

We talked and talked again with our former neighbour. She's still doing pretty well for an 83-year-old, still able to talk and walk around freely. We had to leave at about 9.15pm to pick Aonghas up but she kept on talking and talking! I think we really need to visit her more than once a year since we've got so much to talk about!

Today Sarena also came over to pick up a DVD I was MEANT to burn her AAAAGES ago!!! I've been procrastinating too much these holidays! I've got to get back in gear! She accidentally dropped it so while I was burning another one for her I was just signing her book (with my already-planned message!) and talking to her outside the front doorstep, reminiscing and everything!

My brothers were doing a Google search of their Casio watches, and to his surprise Aonghas found out that he's wearing the 'watch of terrorists', the Casio F91W!

According to Wikipedia:
"This model of watch is notable because United States intelligence officials have identified it as the watch that terrorists use when constructing time bombs. Ahmed Ressam, the millennial bomber, bought two Casio F91W"

and that

"...it became known that the allegations against approximately one dozen of the Guantanamo detainees justified their continued detention because they had been wearing this model of watch, when captured"

However, Casio issued a statement saying that this particular watch has "no exclusive technology" and that "Casio continues to work closely with all government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security to help limit any potential threats and deal with security concerns."

A list is then provided of a few detainees who were held for wearing this particular type of Casio watch, with some of the reasonings being:

"The detainee was captured while in possession of a Casio watch model that has been used in bombings linked to al Qaida and radical Islamic terrorist groups with improvised explosive devices."

(Source: Wikipedia)

I spotted these two signs around the place:

(Saw that sign stuck on a building over in Mission Bay on Christmas Day)

LOST

Three legged large beautiful tabby cat Skills is diabetic and we desperately need to find him
Hme: **********
Mob: *********

How sad! A three-legged diabetic cat!

and this one I saw by the PS2 display at Dick Smith today:

Dear Customers

- 5 minutes only
- No cursing
- No food or drink

I love that second point! I wonder how common it was for people to curse out loud before that!

On Boxing Day morning I drove with my dad to Hyun and Joon's house to say Hi to them and drop something off, and ended up talking to them for a little while and show them my car (haha yeah not much to show!). After that we drove over to another family's house to drop something off before coming back home.

We were going to visit our Uncle and Aunty at 4pm so we had four hours to check out Boxing Day sales! We parked at The Warehouse Stationery car park (which was nearly full, despite not very many of them shopping at the shop!), and walked to West City. It was really really crowded! I'm guessing the close proximity of people around me made me start to feel hot and all sweaty (oh yeah combined with the really hot weather of course!). There were sales everywhere - 50% off clothes, 20% off jewellery, 50% Christmas goods...

After several attempts at trying to track down Julie while working at The Warehouse (oh yeah by the way Julie works at The Warehouse if you didn't know! ;) ) I finally spotted her working at the checkout today! I was really trying to find something to buy so I could take it to her checkout! Unfortunately there wasn't anything that interested my mum so we ended up not buying anything (actually nothing for the whole day! Dad was happy!) and I just had to walk by and call out to her. I had my camera ready too! Oh well next time when it ain't so busy!

We tried to look for Aonghas who once again was working from 7am to 7.30pm. He was on his break so we went down to buy some takeaways and ate together with Aonghas before realising we had overparked at the car park. There was only a one hour limit so we had to hurry back to save our car! Fortunately it was still there!

Later in the day we visited our Aunty and Uncle to give them their Christmas present. We had a little chat with them about all sorts of stuff, before our other Aunty and Uncle and cousin Martin came over! So we kept on chatting for another several hours till 7.30pm before realising that we had to pick Aonghas up!

Last night I watched The Shawshank Redemption which, I must say, has GREAT music, especially the main theme which is played during the credits! I don't know how many times I've listened to that tune but it's got to be one of the best movie soundtrack tunes out there!

Christmas Day was really good! Last night I felt really bad that I hadn't wished everyone a Merry Christmas like I usually do, including the people I haven't spoken to all year, so I started emailing as many people as I could until it was 1am and I decided to go off to bed and try email more people in the morning. I was thinking of waking up early in the morning and going driving around! Unfortunately, I typically slept in till 9am! My dad was originally going to take me driving, but he was on the phone for a while so we changed the plans, and decided to have a family outing to the city to drop our dad off at work!

We all went in my car so that we could listen to the stereo, and once we dropped our dad off, we didn't really know where to go, so Aonghas just decided to drive around the city until we thought we might check out what's around the bay (Mission Bay way!).

We drove around, past a few beaches with a few people there, until we got to Mission Bay where there were HEAPS of people! We stopped and got out to walk along the beach, and then have a little snack. It was really cool to see families having fun together at the beach, with all people of different nationalities playing with each other, beside each other and getting along with each other in the same area - Asians, South Americans, Middle Eastern people, Pacific Islanders...it was really great! It was starting to get late so we decided to head back home.

When we got home we decided we'd clean and vaccuum the cars! I can't believe how dirty some of the cars were! While we were cleaning we met Zippo, her boyfriend and Szelin. That was...an interesting experience...

The family spent the night enjoying our mum's Christmas cooking (which was nice!) and watching Phantom of the Opera which was a really cool and sad movie! I ended up singing along with the songs! (just an octave lower)

What did I get for Christmas? Third party car insurance...yeah like I really need it! Nah I didn't get anything but that didn't really matter as what really made my Christmas were the kind replies I got from people I emailed, especially the people I hadn't heard from in ages and had remembered me! You guys are all the best and I can never thank you all enough for being really great people and I'm so glad and honoured to know you all! I don't forget people that easily (apart from...some...people...nah jk) so I'll never forget you guys! I just hope you all don't forget me!

One of the highlights? Alice!! OK so I've never met Alice before and I don't really even know her! However several years ago when she used to be Diane's (my friend) friend, she added me. Then they weren't friends anymore (for whatever reason), but because she was still on my contact list I kept sending her Merry Christmas emails every year (a little random from a stranger I know!) despite not chatting to her all year! This year I was a bit late, and instead of me sending her an email first, she was first to send me one, which was amazing! Oh yeah and that she had read this blog! Yay!! So yeah that was a bit of a surprise and made my Christmas!

To add to it I even chatted to my friend Phoebe who I haven't chatted to in ages! Although she said it was only two weeks, but yeah that's a long time!

So yeah it was a great Christmas without the need or want of material posessions! Just the spread of Christmas cheer and joy and love all around the place! Ain't it sad it only happens once a year? Another 365 days till the next Christmas!

Yesterday we had a special Christmas Eve church service, where people from the other Chinese church joined together with ours for the service. People were baptised, and the little kids (including Angie's little sister!) sang these songs, which was really cute! Afterwards Hamish and I had a little rehearsal as we're performing at the New Year's service next week. Aonghas wasn't at church as he got called to work and had to work till 7pm - 11 hours of work!

When we got home we found Phillip again, who took Hamish and me out to lunch at Wendy's. I think I saw Tommy and some other girl from school (I can't remember her name though!) working there! I don't think they saw me though. Phillip hung around for a few more hours to play basketball and talk, before having to go home for dinner.

My mum, Hamish and I decided we'd go to Westcity early to do a little shopping before picking Aonghas up from work. We were going to try take some photos of Aonghas at work and also...tease him... We were surprised at how busy the shop was! We met our cousins who were shopping for clothes. Aonghas wasn't there so we went looking for him at the foodcourt and found him having his dinner. He was due back, so we followed him back to work and tried out some cheap clothes he pointed out for us ($5 clothes!). I came across Toni who was waiting for Evan, Vicki who had finished work, and Sheetal who was going up the elevator. Man I wish I went Christmas shopping a lot earlier! It's so fun when it's busy and you get to see everyone!

We had another hour to kill before Aonghas finished work so we went to The Warehouse for half an hour. I was going to try look for Julie who works there, but I couldn't find her! I can never seem to find Julie at work! I even had my camera all ready and everything!
So we just wandered around The Warehouse before spending the last half hour at Countdown where we bought some food for our Christmas dinner.

This year I left things a little too late (with exams and the year 13 dinner making things a bit difficult as well) and ended up not being able to write Christmas cards, so I've been frantically trying to type soppy emails to everyone wishing them Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! If yours haven't come yet I'm probably gettin round to it! I know it's a lot easier just to type one email and send it to everyone but yeah I'd rather send personal ones!

I just want to thank everyone for a great year! I've met heaps of really cool people and hopefully I'll keep on talking to them in the years to come!

Anyway hope everyone has a very very Merry Christmas! Hope you get heaps of presents, you eat heaps of food, watch heaps of good quality Christmas television, listen to happy Christmas music and most importantly spend quality time with the ones you love!

We spent most of Friday over at North Shore as Aonghas had his grade 8 accordion exam. As it was to last for an hour, my mum and I walked around the shopping centre in Milford, where there was not that much to look at, although we did come across Aunty Helen from church, who lived around that area and was just doing some banking. It was also the first time I had tried using an ATM machine!

As we were leaving the shopping centre we came across Mr Li, an old maths teacher from Rutherford College who left for Glenfield College. He was on his way to pick up his wife from work. He told us that because of decreasing numbers he was leaving Glenfield for Albany Junior High School. He'll get to work with Ms Takeda, the Japanese teacher from Rutherford who's also going to Albany!

We picked Aonghas up from his exam after an hour. He and my dad got a talking to from one of the Accordion Association ladies who kinda criticised us Anderson brothers for not participating more in accordion activities such as performances here and overseas, and the accordion orchestra. The main reason was that most of these events took place in North Shore and we're not that very rich! She was telling them that we should, or we NEED to participate more next year.

I got a phone call early that morning from Hallensteins! They wanted to have a phone interview with me so that if there was a position available at the Henderson store they could use me. The lady asked me some questions like:

-Why do you want to work for Hallensteins?
Because I want to serve the customers, communicate and connect with them, do Hallensteins proud, and SERVE STUFF!

-Have you had any previous work experience in retail?
I've taught music, and I've done some similar stuff at school but....no..

-What sort of pay would you expect?
I don't really mind, anything! (well I mean right now I'm earning nothing!)

-What do you think makes good customer service?
Attending to the customer's needs as promptly as possible, being open and friendly to them so they aren't hesitant to approach you for help, and to make customers' shopping experience enjoyable! :D

-How would your friends describe your work ethic?
If I'm given a job, I put my head down and get on with it, and give it all I've got to get the job done quickly and efficiently as possible

-How would your best friend describe you?
As loyal *winkwink*, fun-loving...OK maybe not fun-loving but....adventurous (I couldn't think of a word and they don't really know me so...oh well!)

Yeah so I my responses weren't too well thought out!


Later that afternoon Aonghas got called into work so he was working till midnight. I was just mucking on the computer when I got a phone call from who I thought was the Hallensteins lady ringing to let me know they needed me to work that night! Turns out it was just Zippo, my long-lost neighbour who I haven't seen in yonks...nah it was good catching up with her! She came over with Szelin (her sister) and hung out in our messed up bedroom checking out the school magazine and talking.

Yesterday morning I went driving in my Nissan Pulsar (oooh yah!)...with my dad of course...around Te Atatu South and Glendene for half an hour. When we were at BP about to fill the petrol, I tried pushing the lever to pop open the petrol tank cover, but for some reason the boot opened! I think I must've pulled the lever, because that's what's supposed to happen when you pull it, but we thought that was broken! So yeah I'm happy about that! Now we don't have to stop the stereo to open the boot!!

In the afternoon Aonghas got called to work AGAIN (he ended up working for ten hours, man that rich guy!) while Phillip, my former neighbour of about ten years who lives down in Palmerston North now came over to visit. He's got a flash Mazda with this really cool Sony stereo! He drives a manual, and so he was teasing me about how I could only manage an automatic. Pfffff well I enjoy the automatic thank you very much as I don't have to get heart attacks that often and I can relax and listen to the stereo more! :D

He ended up taking me driving for about an hour which seemed to go by fast despite me driving around and around the same place over again. He kept telling me to improve my turning as I kept turning too sharp, and keep an eye on the blindspot and the rear vision mirro, and told me to go read up on the road code as I didn't give way to this car! He let me reverse all the way down our long driveway too!

We got home to find my Aunty Noeline and Uncle Peter there! Uncle Peter got bitten by my other Uncle David's dog earlier in the morning and had to go to hospital, but he seemed fine when he was at our house. Now you see why I'm afraid of dogs! After a while of talking they left, and then Phillip left.

I spent all night watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation One and Two. I've seen the first one almost four or five times now. It's not so bad, but the second one was terrible! It must've been one of the worst movies I've seen! Thank goodness after that finished Aonghas was home and so we were able to watch the second episode of 24 Season One. I'm trying to convert Aonghas, who didn't get any of it when season five was on TV. Hamish and I haven't watched all of the seasons either so I thought we'd start right from the beginning and it definitely is good!

On Monday I went over to the neighbours to sort out the paperwork for the car that I've got to buy. While my parents were talking I wandered over to Szelin's bedroom and so we just started talking about her type of music...not too sure what you call it. Anything besides mainstream music? My parents had already left without me knowing, and when I heard something downstairs I thought my parents had left, but it was actually the little kids coming over, so I decided to leave at that point! Our fridge was going to be delivered any minute as well! I saw Kar-mun (this girl who seems to have a grudge against me for some reason...probably for being a guy!) and said HI to her! hehe

The Chinese man we bought the fridge from soon came with the fridge and we carried that into the house. It's one with a freezer on top and the fridge down below. We gave it a bit of a clean before we went down to Noel Leeming to do washing machine shopping. We were told that the washing machine we were originally looking at would be too small for a family of five. Even though we would get a year's supply of washing powder together with it (which is actually only 12 boxes of washing powder!!) we decided to pass on it and check out the neighbouring Bond and Bond. We found some pretty good washing machines that were slightly larger and slightly cheaper! So we went for those. They had none left though so we'd have to pick it up the next day. We picked it up on Wednesday and boy was it good to be able to wash clothes again! The smell of fabric softener! You don't really appreciate these sorts of things till you don't have it in a while!

We went to Westcity to get the paperwork sorted for the car and when we got back home we found it parked on in our backyard, already in our possession! On Wednesday we tried fixing the car stereo as there was a loose wire somewhere which caused the stereo to turn off just as we went over bumps. Aonghas pulled the stereo out a bit, stuck the screwdriver in and wiggle it about, put the stereo back in and wham bam it was working! It feels a lot better being able to drive down the road cruising to music with bass such as Affirmation by Savage Garden and The Fray! Oh yeah!!!

On Tuesday morning I went back to Middlemore Hospital where they took out those rings in between my teeth and put these metal rings around my back teeth. The dentist was having trouble putting the rings around my teeth because they were shaped funny! She gave up on one of my teeth. When I was about to leave it felt as though my gum was caught in one of the rings. I asked about it, and so the dentist rechecked my teeth. She then realised she had left one of the rings around my teeth and hadn't cemented it down! It was lucky I asked or else I would have loose metal in my mouth!

Yesterday Hamish and I went into the city to get our student allowance stuff sorted out. I was at the StudyLink office, handing my brothers' and my birth certificates to the lady, when I forgot how old Aonghas was! I first told her he was 15, then 16, then 15, then no 16 because he had a birthday last month! We got back home before midday. Aonghas was away with Szelin's dad helping him out with his work.

On Wednesday I was searching all over the net for jobs that I could apply for online, as Aonghas had been called into work (by the way he works at COTTON ON in Westcity so go look for him! He's the one who makes heaps of mistakes around the place ;) ) till midnight and my mum was complaining me for doing nothing. So I ended up applying for Hallensteins and the Pizza Hut Call Centre (in the city, with a carpark provided for that car of yours!) When I got home yesterday morning I was surprised to find that someone from Hallensteins had left a message asking me to ring back, as they wanted to conduct a phone interview with me (despite not having any positions available)! On Tuesday when I was at Westcity I tried asking around for a job. I met up with Elisapeta at No. 1 Shoe Warehouse where she's in some big higher-up manager position, and asked her if there were any positions available and she told me they were all full.

If anyone knows of any jobs that need doing, please let me know, as I am desperately in need of a part-time job! So far this is how my job searching is faring:

Sky City Cinemas: REJECTED
No. 1 Shoe Warehouse: FULL
McDonald's: NO REPLY (I'm going to apply with a paper application form this time!)
Hallensteins: FULL
Pizza Hut: NO REPLY
Burger King: In the process...

Wouldn't it be cool working at somewhere like McDonald's though? I could say to people

"Hi I'm Calum and I flip burgers!" :D

Or at No. 1 Shoe Warehouse

"Hi I'm Calum and I'm a shoe salesman!" :D

Or the Pizza Hut Call Centre:

"Hi I'm Calum and I answer phones at Pizza Hut!" :D

Anyway today Aonghas has his Grade 8 accordion exam so hopefully all goes well!

Yesterday morning's church service seemed to go on for aaaages and went on an extra half an hour longer than usual. We didn't have Sunday School and instead there was this combined thing where each Sunday School class had to sing in front of everyone, and us Anderson brothers would be performing a trio on our accordions. I had no idea about the classes singing songs till Angie texted me during the week asking me about it! She never showed up to church though. I'm guessing that's because I told her our class didn't have to sing!

We warmed up in one of the adjacent rooms till it was our time to perform. We performed Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Allegro. We were playing it half the speed you hear orchestras play it on CD's though! At first I was a little nervous and made little slips, but I heard somewhere that this was just a rehearsal for next week's REAL Christmas service, so I started to loosen up! We managed to stay in time despite playing a few wrong notes here and there, and we finished in time as well. Afterwards though, I discovered that that was it, the real performance! Oh well at least we don't have to practise that song anymore!

Jennifer, this other girl in my Sunday School class gave me a Christmas card and one to pass on to Angie if I saw her. I was really tempted to have a read of hers! But...I didn't ;) It's been really weird as whenever Angie wasn't at Sunday School class everyone would turn to me and ask where Angie was that day! Because I didn't see Angie and before I was tempted to read her card, I found her mum and passed it on to her.

After lunch Aonghas had to go to some meeting about some kids' summer programme that he would need to help out with. Hamish and I weren't asked so we were just mucking about in the carpark, till Aonghas came running out telling us that Jennifer suggested we help out! How nice! We joined the meeting, in which the head lady delegated jobs to people. It looks like the programme's theme will be Narnia, where they will learn related bible readings, learn about the characters, play games, watch the movie, etc. Aonghas got delegated the job of 'Toilet Supervisor', when just before morning tea he has to keep an eye on the little boys in the toilet to make sure they don't do anything funny! Aonghas told me he saw that when the head lady was looking for someone to help with collecting donations, she was looking at me, and then suddenly turned right around and asked some other guy to help out! I don't think they trust me!!

I got this text from a friend the night before telling me she saw the photos of my reunion with an old friend, and recognised one of the guys in the background to be this guy who I used to go to intermediate school with! I never noticed he was sitting right behind us at yum cha the day before! I told Aonghas about it and he told me that the guy was probably one of the people sitting at the table beside us laughing at me when I attempted to pick up the chicken's foot with my chopsticks and drop it, splashing stuff everywhere.

This afternoon we visited this person my mum found in the classifieds of a Chinese newspaper to check out her washing machine and fridge. Our washing machine is dead and our fridge door doesn't close properly. After a bit of inspection we decided to buy both of them, so hopefully they'll be delivered tomorrow morning!

Today I got to meet Diane for the first time in three years and six days!!! This now makes it three times I've met her since I first met her for the first time five years ago!

Aonghas and I were supposed to arrive at Chen's house at 10am but we were slightly late because we had to buy Chen a Christmas present. We got to his house at about 10.30am and found Diane by herself as Chen had gone off with his mum to buy a guitar. So Aonghas, Diane and I just sat around watching NZ Top 40, chucking grapes and dates in the air and catching them with our mouths, while Diane went on a chocolate eating binge. Diane didn't talk as much as I thought she would, but I think that was because she wasn't in such a good mood as she had warned me about last night.

Once Chen got back home in another half hour, we all left for yumcha in Mt Roskill, Diane's suburb. We had quite a lot to eat there! Food just kept appearing! Sitting next to Diane around the table we started talking a lot more. With Chen's mum around, we weren't able to talk about certain things so we had to keep it safe! I had a race with Diane to see who could finish their food first - Diane half a won ton and me a chicken's foot. It was pretty close but...I think I won (uh huh!) Chen was a really bad aimer with the teapot and nearly soaked half the tablecloth! There were two big wet patches on opposite sides of the table.

Once we had eaten as much as we could and were full, we left and went to Diane's house to drop her off. What came as a surprise was that we were allowed to come inside and check out her house! We got to have a look in her bedroom and watch her play the piano. It was pretty cool! It's just a shame it was for only half a day. We'll have to get together sometime again soon! I'm definitely not going to wait another three more years before I see her again!

What I'm most relieved about was that there wasn't that awkwardness that was between us three years ago, and I didn't freeze up and not talk like I did on Tuesday, so hopefully that means I don't ALWAYS shut myself up in social ocassions and that maybe Tuesday was just a bad day! Phew! I chatted to Diane as well soon after I got home and she wasn't bothered by my ugliness and didn't me annoying trying to constantly keep the conversation going so that's good!

The washing machine fixer-upper guy came over today and told us it would cost over $300 to fix our washing machine that blew a fuse or something like that, and that we should really just buy another one. Oh the memories we've had with that washing machine! It's nearly as old as Aonghas! When I was little and lighter I always climbed on top of it to reach the toilet paper placed in the higher cupboards beside it. Recently it was where we put the cat's basket for it to sleep in.

Yesterday was to be my last ever day at school...in school uniform anyway! I was invited to attend the Junior Prize-Giving, but wasn't required to do anything so I was allowed relax. The female head students couldn't make it, nor could Patrick, so Hyun took the Head Girl's seat on stage beside me!

Before the prize-giving started though, the 2007 head students, Hyun and I had to direct parents to seats in the hall. I had the unenviable task of telling parents to move from the seats beside the aisle as they were reserved for prize winners. It was really uncomfortable having to tell parents they couldn't sit where they were! There was this Indian couple who really wanted to sit beside the aisle to take photos and really didn't want to move!

Eventually when the prize-giving got started us head students future and present walked down the aisle following the teachers onto the stage. From there we watched the whole ceremony. The Gospel Choir performed a couple of pieces. It really brought back memories of me performing in the choir several years ago, only they sounded heaps better! It was really great to see all the hardworking juniors being rewarded though. Seeing Shameela and Te Kura, both Junior Council members, receive the special Services to Community awards was really cool.

After the assembly I went to see my dean to check up on that photo frame I broke! When I saw her she had removed the frame completely and told me she would buy a new one. She sounded really impressed with the picture, I'm just glad she wasn't offended by anything I said at the dinner on Monday night! I also caught up with Sarena, Amy and David along the way, and was meant to write a message in Sarena's book but didn't get to finish!

I went to give presents to a few teachers. Mr Watson spoke the least to me. He just said thanks and that was about it! But I guess that's kinda Mr Watson. Our parent teacher interviews were always less than three minutes long! Mrs Britten was really nice though. She said something along the lines of I (and later on afterwards Chen) made nerds cool lol nah she said something like one thing she was impressed about was how there was something about me that made people respect me for being intelligent which was a little different!

Hyun and I stayed for a little while after to have lunch with the staff. I had to pass on the bad news to Ryan that we would once again have to put off the date when we'd be able to give him the Rutherford Idol DVD due to a lack of disk space on our compuer! We're frantically burning heaps of data onto dvd's to clear up some space! We had to leave afterwards when the staff were to have their own little farewell function. While we were around the corner, we could hear the staff laughing hysterically. I wonder how many of them were already drunk!

The more I go back to school the harder it gets to leave the school! It was really sad watching the prize-giving from the stage, thinking this would be the last time I'd ever be in this hall, and that I wouldn't be around with all these people next year. But as Hyun keeps telling me, this is just the end of one chapter of my life, and another one is about to begin...

This morning I went all the way to Middlemore Hospital just for a five minute appointment where they put these blue rubber rings in between my teeth. Next week I think they're going to put rubber bands around some of my teeth or something like that. Having the rubber rings between my teeth has made it a lot more difficult to eat. I couldn't even eat my chips or my biscuits today!

After that my dad drove me to Mt Roskill, where he then let me try practise driving for the first time in several months. Driving a manual car put me off a little bit as I was really scared of uphill starts, intersections and rolling backwards and smashing into the car behind, so now I'll probably aim for the automatic. Yeah yeah I know that makes me a poof but if I can master the automatic at least then maybe I might get my restricted sometime before I get married!

My dad rang up the insurance company today to enquire about policies for the car we might buy. He ended up having this half an hour conversation with the customer service person about whether insurance policies for cars owned in West Auckland were more expensive than those in Remuera, which ended in the customer service lady asking her supervisor to ensure she gave a correct answer. The answer was that that was the way insurance companies operated!!

I've spent the rest of the night with Aonghas working on the Rutherford Idol DVD, which is looooong overdue! We should've had it completed by the end of last year at least, but we kept having to put it off! We finally got round to sorting it out tonight. I can't believe how many hours of video we recorded for that. Going through it again definitely brought back many memories!

I don't know why but I've been feeling bad about something for the past few days like I've screwed something up, which is really weird. Where's school when you need it to take your mind off certain things!

I realised that I've actually finished school (duuuuuuh you must be saying) but that means I'm allowed a girlfriend! HAHAHAHA...yeah just no girls at the moment...if you're interested my number's 021 10.......yeah...lol

Anyway I applied for student allowance today, which has also scared me as I'm not too sure if I gave the correct information, and if I haven't I might be...PROSECUTED!! Not too sure what that involves but I'm guessing some not so nice stuff. Besides that though, if all goes well, hopefully I'll get some free money next year so I can spend it on texting!!! (yes I miss texting really badly. I feel guilty everytime I spend 20c on a text now, as I'm down to my last few cents...or my mum's anyway, and my brother blames me for wasting money!)

On Thursday I'm back to school for my very last time ever in school uniform to attend the Junior Prize-Giving Ceremony. I don't think I'm required to do anything except show up and look pretty. Chen and Yvia will make their first speeches as head students so that'll be something to look forward to. I'll probably be taking Hyun there, and Patrick will probably come too, but I'm not too sure about Heather as she's gone off to Rotorua, while Jane and Joanne are at some drama thing.

Yay I got my Foodtown/Woolworths ONE Card today! Now I can go spend up large at those places and save money!!! I'm trying to fill my wallet with cards to make up for the lack of money in it! It's slightly bulging at the moment with all my past school ID cards in it, so I should probably take them out.

Tomorrow I'm off to hospital to get these little balls put in between my teeth, so that when I go back in a week's time they can put rubberbands somewhere inside my mouth. I'm in for another few days of painful eating, and my mum was thinking about taking us all out for yumcha after my dentist appointment!

My neighbours were left with the job of selling this car, and they offered it to us for $1000.  Now I don't have the FOGGIEST idea about cars, except that if it has electric windows, central-locking, a stereo with speakers in the front and back, then it's a pretty cool car! It's a white Nissan Pulsar with all that. We also got it checked out by a family friend who's a mechanic and he thought it was OK. My parents don't have any money though, and they think it'd be better for Aonghas and me to practise driving in that car rather than crash theirs, so it looks like I'll be footing the bill. Now if only I had a restricted so I didn't have to take my parents everywhere I drove!