VCE VET Electrotechnology

Anyone remember what my goal was in this subject?

Yup, I didn't just want a high score, I wanted to do better than anyone else and receive the Premier's Award – awarded to the top few students in any subject. It's ok to get a 50, it's something different to receive a Premier's Award.

Well, I haven't actually said it yet, but I think it's obvious: I got one!

I'm very very very happy about this; I really worked hard in Electrotech to deserve it.

So thanks to those of you that dealt with me talking about how excited I am about my project, ranting about how easy that last test was, and debating whether I should bother studying for the exam. Next step: Award Ceremony; where I'm missing out on a Math Test to attend...

Really busy at the moment, but I hope to make a post next week when I get back from Sydney.

Bones

Did the whole "family" thing today and went to the Melbourne Museum.

Lots of interesting exhibits for all really.

An Aboriginal history section, if you haven't quite had your fix yet from every other museum in Australia yet, which is actually quite detailed and informative.

That Forest thing, which is an actual forest in a nice cage so nothing escapes. Couple of nice doo-hickeys and thing-a-ma-bob's growing out of the ground and living in the water in it... Like fish... And poisonous snakes... But beware of the eels, I'm told they bite...

Bugs, if that's your thing. You can watch those bull ants drag dead ants out of a nest, round the ground for a bit, then back in their nest... I spent about thirty minutes mesmerised by the little buggers...

Marine life, which included a giant squid (seriously, I've caught bigger squid fishing off the Moonta jetty...). Also for those who don't know, the blue ringed octopus has a tetradotoxin... I learnt that not from the exhibit, but from the ambulance people that escorted the person to hospital who asked me to "Look at the beautiful blue rings on this octopus" that they held in their hand... Stupid fuck...

Right next to that, some trippy 3D exhibit, which nothing to explain the tricks of the mind and how 3D illusions work, but instead was determined to freak me out by reminding me about how freaking big the universe is... Seriously guys, how depressing for science guys like me, knowing that no matter what crap we EVER do in our lives, we're never even going to scratch the surface of our knowledge... At least it motivated me to learn more, like quantum physics more... Unfortunately it did it too late... AFTER I'd finished VCE... Gonna have to work on that...

Outside of that, some dead horse with a big dick... I think I saw its heart in Canberra when I was there... It won't be running far it seems...

Upstairs, after sprinting through the dinosaur exhibit (they're just freaking bones for Christ sake...) it was the human body... Wondrous naked bodies everywhere up here... Saw a young teenage girl get her picture taken with a worryingly realistic naked teenage female dummy... None of the naked girls in these exhibits looked as good as the one that's my wallpaper, which doesn't even come close to the one I've had in my bedroom occasionally... Noticed that guys outnumbered girls, six to one, in the sexual reproduction section, and shuddered when a little kid shouted out for all to hear "Wheeee... Tadpoles!!!" Those ain't tadpoles buddy; they're half of what you are... Skipped briefly through the incredibly morbid "we used to cut up dead bodies for SCIENCE" propaganda (already converted...). Only then did I notice I was being followed by intestines... Great...

On the other side, back past those unblinking naked people, and those obsessed with them, was the mind exhibition... I stress test informed me my brother was normal (phew, what a relief) but I was calm, not that I needed a machine to tell me I walk around half asleep most of the time... I wonder if I would have got a reading at all if I'd taken Valium first. I stood in a "pod" for three minutes, where someone abused me for cutting the queue, and someone else threw up. Just great people... Good to see we've got it together... Highlight of the mind exhibition, the "dream couches," where they get you to lie down and experience a dream... Would be a hell of a lot easier if they didn't force a TV in your face that does nothing but show a cloud simulation... All I wanted to do was sleep, and all they wanted to do was show me the freaking sky... After the alarm clock went off, or maybe it was that kid untying my laces, not sure which, I got up and peeked into holes two feet from the floor showing possible "normal" dreams... Yeah, cause we all regularly enjoy dreaming of looking like a little plastic figurine running along a dark alleyway... Or enjoy the experience of having a bird crap on your head (he was smiling...). I endured about thirty seconds of a movie on depression before I wanted to kill myself and instead gazed over the massive dead whale that found its way into the main hallway.

Seriously, I've caught bigger... (And for those of you who remember year nine, you'll probably also remember her name).

Gift shop had nice frosted shot glasses, but they had some crap with that horse again on its side... Plain frosted shot glasses look best, when will you learn?

And a CD rack for CD's that don't have cases, which is all of mine... At $20 a rack, I can think of better places to spend $20 and get more than just a good rack... The butchers... What were you thinking I was thinking?

However, I'm not complaining about my day in the slightest. Between all the stuff that stuff I described above there was solid, whole-hearted knowledge, and you can't complain about that... Also can't complain about prices: Free for kids under 16, free for anyone who can pull a concession card out of their... wallet... and only six bucks for those who should not take their clothes off in public without getting arrested.

So you've been tasked with your little brother, sister, cousin, neighbour or all of the above at once for the day? Take them to the museum, but glue a tracker device on them or something, or you'll spend more time trying to find them, as opposed to learning, which is the main feature of this place... Mostly it's morbid curiosity and a desire to look at naked bodies for the older kids, and a desire to poke bugs, plants and other slimy stuff for the younger ones... Plus sex... Everyone enjoyed the sex... I know I did...

Limited Information

Which pretty much sums up what photo's I can show you of Rosebud and our trip away.

Most of the pictures have been withheld, not because the actions depicted were illegal, just not required to tell a story...

So I was bartender, which was a lot of fun. Especially as Al paid for most of the alcohol... Cheers buddy... Amelia, Nick, Izzy and I went to the beach one day, which was a nice calming experience. Al and CVP stayed home to inspect the TV for subliminal messages, reports show that there several messages hidden, including a request from many for "MORE!!!"

Luke was our wonderful host, who ended up mowing the lawns himself. He didn't have to, but did it anyway... Sophie stayed a few days too, adding to our numbers, except in the mornings when she'd disappear for a few hours to check the surf. We had a water fight, and got pretty wet... We slept in, and stayed up late... We gave Al something of a male version of a make-over, with a new sleek black hair colour and a waxing of the back of his neck. Learnt some things about each other on "Truth or truth" night, cause no one could think of any dares (Though I've thought of several now that it's all over... I reckon watching Christiaan run up one of those hills would have been worth it).

Definitely a time worth remembering, plenty to take out of it...

And today we got our VCE results... Did almost exactly as I predicted, with two surprises:

One – English; I really kinda hate English, and sorta didn't try at all for it... So why the hell did I get a 39 for the subject???

Two – Electrotech; expected a little more from this one really, mainly because I know I'm better than the 43 I got. Though depending on the number of students that actually did Electrotech in the state, that 43 could still be the top grade (last year's top grade was 49, then 47, then 45, then 43).

Other subjects were really as expected, my 33 in Methods CAS got scaled up to a 40 and a 34 in Chemistry also went up to a 39.

Coupled with my subjects from last year, Biology and Geography, I pulled a solid 91.55 as my ENTER.

Which clearly fulfils my requirement of a 72.10 to get into Engineering at RMIT (it's the longest course name in the paper, if you want to know which Engineering).

Happy? Don't know... Hasn't sunk in yet... Maybe it never will... It is only four digits and a decimal place afterall... And if you don't get what you want this year, you do a year of something else and transfer... Doesn't count for anything really... Does it?

How much is that Doggie in the window?

So I've finished my exams now. If you ask me how I did in any of them, I've forgotten already... I've decided that there are better things in life than a high ENTER score. I do, however, need a high score, in more ways than one, and NONE of them to get into university. Now that it's done completely, finally and forever, I need to know I made the right choices this year for myself. I'm looking forward to getting blind drunk at the next available opportunity to celebrate choices, hopefully the right ones...

Ryan's Party was last night. Heaps of fun! I only have to say that without any bug stuff, without any vinegar, without jumping up and down like an idiot last night, I received one mozzie bite. Only one. On my thumb... Reinforcing my "soft skin" theory again...

But I've got a soft spot for our new puppy. He's a Cardigan Welsh Corgi (the same type the Queen breeds) and his name is Harry (Pedigree name: Cambrian Make My Day). He's full of energy and is bouncing off everything already. I'm going to have to hide my new shoes if I don't want them to become destroyed. Afrika is sceptical about the new arrival, but he'll just have to get used to the new fella, even if he shows Afrika up a few times. I've got photos of young Harry in the box just here, and some photos of Ryan's party down the very bottom.

What’s that Lassie? James has been busy? We’ve gotta save him!!

Yeah, trapped down a well or something...

So I've had a bunch of exams since my last post, and I've still got a few more. Let's revise over them shall we:

• English – The one subject I viewed as the biggest waste of my time was just that, a waste of my time. The exam was easier than I thought it would be and I'm happy to announce that I did NOT study for English... In fact, I did not willingly write any essays all year. Any essays that I did write were SAC's or trial exams. I'm guessing my study sore will be about 32 or 33 in this subject, which is about what I've been hoping for...
  
• VET Electrotechnology – Ah yeah... IF you could call that an exam it was not difficult in the slightest. Please regurgitate some basic electronics, easy. Please draw lines to connect these batteries, easy. Please read this graph by telling us what happens at when the time is zero, easy. Please copy the picture above, easy. And most of those questions are worth five marks or more!!! If you're looking for an easy subject with no homework, you've found it. Estimated study score: 47+ and the Premier's Award (quite probably 50, but they didn't give one last year).
  
• Math Methods CAS Exam #1 (Tech Free) – The one exam I've feared since year nine was everything it was hyped up to be I reckon. I didn't do badly, just ran short of time. And it was a fair bit longer than I expected it to be... That's ok though because tomorrow I have:
  
• Math Methods CAS Exam #2 (Tech Active) – This will be fun, I'm looking forward to going in there, answering it all and walking out to hear everyone whine like they always do. Math is my strong point, assuming I have a fancy calculator to do all the fiddly bits on (seriously, who does that unit circle shit in their head? And why?). I'm hoping to get around 35 for Methods, remembering that it's harder to get a better score in CAS (cause more smart people do it) and I did sort of shit on the tech free, but that mark could very easily be a 39 as well. Oh, and if I haven't told you enough already, CAS is harder and hence gets scaled more, so don't tell me it's easier cause we have a fancy calc, we have to LEARN more :P
  
• Finally, Chemistry – This is my wildcard at the moment. I'd like to place this in my top four, with English, VET Electrotechnology and Biology (or Methods if it makes it) but it could quickly. Did well on my trial in comparison to everyone else, but I didn't do that well on it (if that makes sense). Need to learn that whole redox/electrochemical series stuff and how to use it, especially as half the paper will be on it. I'll read my text book Tuesday and Wednesday probably. Estimated Study Score of about 38 – 42, but could be as low as 35.
  

Also, I've got myself a job recently. I'm now a food and beverage attendant, which is a fancy name for waiter. I've worked three days now at Flemington during the races and its lots of fun but really tiring:

• Saturday 3^rd November – First day of work. This was by far the toughest day. I was working in the birdcage which is a corporate like area. Each company has this tiny footprint the size of a shoebox and builds an ultra-modern square thing in it. They then go and invite everyone they know and cram them into that tiny room they've just built. I was working in the Longines corporate shoebox, where the manager or something has some special ties with the company I was working for or something. So when a usual function has one waiter per twenty-five guests, this function had one per ten guests, to make sure the best service was offered. Longines is some overseas watch company (we think it was Swiss) and hance had boxes built into the walls to display their products to the people who were already aligned to their way of life (EVERYBODY had an accent and had just got off a first-class overseas flight that morning). My supervisor was so tight... He had a ruler out before the guests arrived and was measuring the distance of the glasses from the edge of the bar to match them perfectly on both sides... Talk about tight... So I'm given a marble platter, about 3cm thick, 40cm square, and it weighs a tonne. They go and pile it up with food, dips and some stupid decoration, tell me to carry it with one arm and place napkins arranged all decoratively in the other hand. Hold the platter out from the body and go and serve the food, don't come back till it's empty. So I spent my day in a hot, tight, crowded room with my arm shaking, yelling "excuse me" or "would you like some fresh prawn cutlets with mango and lime dip?" or some other gourmet food to the guests. I had one break, eight hours into my shift, no lunch, and no water all day...
  
• Tuesday 6^th November – Melbourne Cup. This was the complete opposite of my first day. Assigned to the Phar Lap enclosure I was expecting more loud noise and drunken people. Instead, I was blessed with a nice plasma television nearby, and a collection of old people helped by a young generation (about 25ish). I was working the buffet, which meant I got to stand there and dish out whatever crap was in the thing. "Beef, Glazed Virginia Ham, Spinach and Fetta Pie and over here we have Chicken." Of course, if you read the menu in front of you I wouldn't have had to repeat myself 400 times (800 guests, and I seemed to repeat it every couple). But I had a good work mate, a New Zealand Chef who was supposed to make the food look all fancy and fresh by cutting the meat up while I served it. I explained to him what a stubby was (I still don't think he believes me...) and together we sussed out the turf, provided the "I got a spot for you right here under the counter" commentary and did the whole "who would you fuck from that table?" thing. Heaps of fun. Plus I had dessert for lunch.
  
• Saturday 10^th November – Emirates Stakes Day. Originally I was working as a bartender in the Ascot enclosure for "Make a Wish Foundation" but then got moved after an hour of work to "The Cancer Council" tent, also in the Ascot enclosure. And after a total of 3 minutes working there, I got moved again to Trackside, which is quite literally track side. On a raised platform on the bend just after the finish line, we were within a distance to drop items onto the track, or throw them at the horses that just lost our money. The setup here was like the Longines suite, but it wasn't as corporate and everything was more spread out with more room. Again, the audience was a little older than Longines, which made life quite enjoyable. The blokes drank beer and the chicks drank champagne. The older people all drank mixed drinks. The atmosphere was light and relaxed, though I did some grazing again (damn heavy platters... these weren't as bad though). One of the younger girls (about 25) had me follow her friend around with food all day, just for fun. Another one was insistent on giving me tips for being the opposite gender presents (she was really trying to get me to spend $1000 on a Tiffany's anklet...). A group of adults kept asking me to leave the platters at their table, which I can't do, so instead I just stood there at their table chatting while they finished off a basket of dim sim's or whatever it was. Another group kept wanting me to sit and actually share a beer or two (or twelve in one hour by my count). A set of older ladies were quite impressed when I offered to cut the queue at the bar for them and bring the drinks straight to their table (when in fact it gave me an excuse to stand around for five minutes instead of carry food). And some lucky bugger in our tent spent $2 on a quinella, and won it, winning $604,000. Damn, I'm jealous...
  

So that's my recent happenings. With a few more to go exams to go and Ryan's party thing on Saturday, there should be another one of these next Sunday, but no promises... After all, there will be a new puppy which might be stealing my attention...

I’m ready...

Wow... I'm graduating tonight...

It feels so weird, being that person you never thought you'd be, one of the members of the graduating class.

So today was my last day.

Final assembly, where we formed our circle and passed the colours, will remain with me forever, as will our final chapel service, where we belted out Jerusalem louder than I'd ever heard it before.

We spent a lot of time signing shirts. There's quite a few memorable ones:

"James, what a great name" –Pant

"I can feel your ass crack!" –Da only black guy in Methods CAS

"I'm... Sad..." –Ajit

"You dirty DOG!" - Ongas

"S.E.P.S" –Bevo

And a quote Matt could add to his blog: "There is nothing either good or bad – thinking makes it so" – Mr. P

And Picka's is right... It isn't good or bad that we are leaving, it's what we make of it after we are gone... If we choose to leave the school and never look back, so be it. But if we miss the place, we will return. To repeat someone's words from today: Haileybury has defined us, become a part of us, and everywhere we go from now on we take Haileybury with us.

I'm ready... Ready to say good bye, ready to leave school, ready to start the next chapter of my life book... But I'll never forget school and the way it has changed me.

New Boxes

Yawn! I feel nice and tired! And I know it was last night and my final speech night I'll be a part of, my final speech night that I'll walk across stage for... *tear...*

It wasn't until after I'd walked across stage twice and received all my awards that it fully set in how close to the end I am, how much I'll miss it all.

But now I have another decoration for my wall and a gold medal I apparently can't eat... The subject prize for VET Electrotechnology was no surprise for me, I thoroughly deserved it, being the top student in every aspect... But my high distinction was a little bit of a shock to me, because I didn't think I'd done all that well in some of my other subjects. A high distinction is defined at Haileybury as someone who manages to achieve a majority of A+'s throughout the year (Distinction is majority A's) and I hardly feel like a had a large proportion of A+'s... Though it could make sense considering I'm a member of Haileybury's Honours Society - with a total acheivements for the year of zero!

But the real shock to me was a Barney Allen Gold medal, for high performance in a number of areas around the school. I have Academic Honours, Drama Honours and Lawn Bowls Colours; which I'm led to believe is enough performance for a gold... Alastair got a silver, because he lacked a sport probably. Christiaan also did well, with the subject prize in Drama, which he was very impressed with (he is the best after all). Luke recieved one of the more... lethal... prizes of the night, with a trophy that's heavy enough to be a doorstop for his excellent contribution to the school, plus a Malthouse contribution to drama award (I feel like I'm missing something with Luke's prizes...). Our resident prefect, Matt, also wandered across the stage to receive a Editorial prize, plus a Citizenship prize.

And it seems that once again, the males at Haileybury have been discriminated against... Girls who received two prizes got two plaques, but males with two prizes (High Distinction and VET Electrotechnology) only got one...

But I forgive them for the fact they are in a new type of box to last year, more sturdy... And harder to open!!!

Mental Countdown

Is anyone else watching the days fly by before the end? Kinda sad isn't it...

I'm still not in the mindset that I'm at the end. It just doesn't seem as... final... as it's supposed to. I've been doing the same thing for thirteen years and now I'm at the end all of a sudden, and I feel like I'm being pushed of this plank...

Sure, I've had enough of school. Sure, I've had enough of these early mornings. Sure, I've had enough of putting of with bullshit from idiots.

But I haven't had enough of seeing my frineds everyday at school, and I don't think I'd ever get sick of it. It's always seemed like a part of our conversation is missing when someone isn't there to share it with us. It's that permanent feeling that I'm going to hate next year.

Okay, yeah, I'll make new friends, but I know that I'll never ever forget the ones that I met at school, they're the ones that change who your are. And I know that a day won't go by that I won't think of them.

They claim the whole purpose of going to school is to learn academically, to enrich your head with knowledge shared throughout generations, to learn the foundations of the knowledge that will make our society great... They are wrong... The whole purpose of schoool is to learn socially, to enrich your head with knowledge about others and their beliefs, to learn the foundations that won't just make our society great, but to make each and every person within it great, to make a person able to walk past a stanger to them and bid welcome and to create the one thing that no person in the world can truly succeed without... Friends...

Skid Marks

Did the Skilled Drivers Course a few weekends ago... Lots and lots of fun.

About half the people there were there on court orders, the other half had had serious accidents and wanted to learn to be safer drivers. Everyone, including me, was there for the 10% discount.

The morning consisted of some theory (but you didn't have to take notes) of accidents and how they occurred, how they could have been prevented and other contributing factors. We discovered accidents could be narrowed down to one or more of three things:

• Driving too fast;
• Following the car ahead too closely;
• Lack in concentration.

For those of you who are going to try and kick up a fuss and claim something like alcohol ain't there, that falls under concentration...

Also catching up on news, school is speeding along, and now that we should have finished the coursework, we are doing our trial exams.

Setting up the exam tables was quite fun... Until I woke up the next morning and felt my shoulders.

Exams completed to date: 2 of 5.

• English, where we had to write four essays. I did: Part 1, Citizen Kane (I can tell stories!); Part 2, Inheritance (Toilet paper...); Analysis of language (I did quite well I thought); and a Point of View (where I got really pissy with sporting people as a whole... It was worth it...).
• Methods CAS Tech Active. I found this far easier than I thought I would, which is a good sign...

I might as well explain my trial exam policy... I believe the whole purpose of trial exams is NOT to study your ass off, so that you can find out what you don't know. That way, when you get them back, you know what you need to study in the coming weeks and you don't repeat yourself by studying the wrong things. You can focus in on the areas that require work...

I will study for one exam though, Electronics. We've already been given the exam we'll be tested on next week and it's now a race to see who can memorize the most correct answers... If you want to see how EASY this exam is, check out the box down the bottom... Really really easy...

Now I'm at school again on the weekend, doing this aerobics thing. They took a break for lunch, where I assumed I would get more CD's to play, as I had run out...

They tried to start again without me having any CD's... Boy, was that ever cut short. I felt sorry for the girl that was on stage waiting for people to provide me with a stack of CD's to play. I felt sorry for myself, having an entire audience stare at me waiting for me to do something. I just stood there...

And as I wrote that sentence a CD I was supposed to play wasn't there... Nothing I can do, someone ran up and provided me with the CD for that one, as well as the next one (which was also missing). Thanks to whomever you were, with your spindle full of matching CD's...

So I'm stuck here till late tonight (finish about 10:30, but running an hour or so late) watching all these fake-tanned, underage (ie. Too young for ANYONE who reads this blog, even you Matt), barbie dolls prance about in their tight fitting, almost non-existent leotards to music that has been mixed really badly... Anyone watched "Little Miss Sunshine?" This reminds me of that...

Another post titled Fame!

And so Fame is over...

Upon reflection over the many years, school productions aren't just about the audience, aren't just about a great show, they're about taking out all the great moments we have when we bump in or out, have dinner together, or run the show.

And as usual, Fame has outdone itself with plenty of memories I will treasure forever... Confetti, a broken car, and the customary decorous conversation (yeah... RIGHT!).

I could explain how the show went, but if you don't know already then you should have bought tickets.

I could enlighten you as to the details of bump in and the construction of the set, or you could just look at the pictures and their descriptions down the bottom.

I could even inform you of our wonderfully exquisite conversation that we often had as we dined in fine restaurants, though I might not want that kind of conversation left in writing for the whole world to see.

So instead, just remember the days of hard work and hours of lost sleep shared by the crew:

Stewart Bell; Director.

Luke Hawley; Stage Manager.

Brett Pullyblank; Assistant Stage Manager, Locker mover.




Nic Frame; Assistant Stage Manager, Pain in the ass...

James Lescohier; I dunno, what did I do??

Jonathan Davies; Stage Crew.

Laura Matthews; Stage Crew.




Zabrina Batterham; Stage Crew, Locker mover.




Liam Burns; Stage Crew.




James Lee; Stage Crew.




James Panther; Venue Manager + more.

John Panetta; Lighting Design/Operator.

Steve Monkhouse; Lighting Queue person.

Alastair Bryant; Would-be Stage Crew.

Don Wallice; Sound, Music Industry teacher.

Matthew Sanderson; Wireless microphones/sound.
Linh Nguyen; Sound Queue Person.




Dale Krummins; Sound.

Steven Bowler; Pianist.




Kristy Kendall and Lauren Perfect; Dance and Choreography.




Clarabelle; King Cow...


There are plenty I have missed, let's not forget them too.

Thanks to all the cast too, though our jobs are usually easier without you!

We have lights!!!

So after two days of work (Thursday and today), we now have 95% of the lights hung from whatever they need to be hung from. Things like data and power are also 95% under control.

This is quite good, because it means we've done enough work to not really warrant the need to go into school again tomorrow (unless we want to work on the set).

Our IT guys, Pant and Rich, along with some useful but overall unneeded comments from the entire crew, managed to copy the entire pre-patched show to the GrandMA via a network connection. After which, they managed to install a wireless access point to the desk and connect a PDA to it and you can now control the entire show from anywhere within range, albeit on a very small screen and hard to do controls.

The pinspots, MAC 700's and Golden Scans were all hung from their various trusses today as the Cyber VL's had already been hung Thursday. The slight bow in the second truss indicated too much weight and we attached it from a third point to the roof.

The Miniscans also had to be hung from underneath the set which seemed a challenge as the bar we attached them to would rotate. My original idea was to attach clamps which sorta got ignored/not understood and wasn't used until we found that gaff wouldn't hold it quite right. In the end we used the clamps.

With a handful of extra pinspots we were a little stuck as to what to do with them, but I came up with the genius idea (if I do say so myself) of having them under the landing at the front of the stairs for a little bottom light (which I also remember Belly saying he'd like at one point) and it looks really sexy! Pant, however, will tell you it was his idea. We settled the matter by calling it "James' Idea." The whole design of the idea though involved me climbing under the set on the dirty dusty floor to put them in position and to address them correctly.

And so with the Parcans focused, the various moving lights in position, a couple of 2K's aimed at the stage and a hazer hidden away it seems like we're mostly up and going. I say mostly because we'll find work to do later, we always do.

Lunch today was also pretty fun. Luke took orders from everybody and we both went and bought it all from Hungry Jacks. I did the calculations and worked out the change... which mostly worked (everyone is out about 10c, some have more, some have less, I don't think you care though).

Make sure you take a look at the all of the photos at the bottom of the page that didn't make it onto this post. Also, there's a movie or two of people working.

A Fame Rehearsal

Well, I could tell you all about my day, or you could just read Luke's, Steve's or Jono's blogs...

I was there and did all that with them...

That's all I have to say really, I'm only writing this for my reference. Also this looks like my english homework to my mother...

Probationary...

Well I had my driving test today; I passed with only one mistake!

So now I have my new piece of plastic for my wallet. They let me keep the old license, but it has a hole in it... I could have sold it to someone who looks like me otherwise. I still could. Reckon I could find someone who looks like me and is really stupid? (I can hear your laughter from here...).

Also, the car has been transferred to my name, which means I own the car I drive around in. So if you see my little Ford Laser 1995 zipping down the streets down forget to wave, cause that's me behind the wheel!

As a result of all this stuff, I missed out on school today. This also means I missed out on one Chemistry and one Methods SAC... Oh well, do you really think I care? At least I have an English SAC tomorrow to do instead.

Finally, I plan on driving on the footpaths, my car is small enough and it has less traffic, so I recommend you start walking on the road, for your own safety...

Term Three

Well the end of the holidays has arrived for us all and I came to a shocking realisation for us Year Twelves: Only Sixty-Three days left of school... Ever...

Well, if you aren't freaked then you should be. That's next to no time at all.

Think about it; you've spent your last thirteen years at school, doing the whole learning thing for almost every day (for most of us anyway). You've been obliged to attend every single term, every single day and every single period (doesn't really stop some of us though). You've had someone watching over your shoulder every day, helping you achieve your best.

And next year, it all changes. You don't need go in every day; no one will notice if you don't go, no one will care if you don't go. No one cares; no one wants to know how your day was when you got home. You can spend the next few years without knowing anyone else in your classes, no, not classes anymore even, they will become lectures...

Those in other year levels, those that don't have to experience this until a few years, don't think that this won't happen to you or it is too far away... It isn't. It's only a few moments away. I was warned and I didn't really listen, I wish I had tried to create more memories of the greatest times of my life... You have been warned...

Deadlines...

Those dates and times are fast approaching, and I'm doing my best to delay preparing for them as much as possible.

I have three math assignments that I still haven't handed in (at least I handed in the one that was due last year last week). Thankfully, there's no other overdue work (that I remember).

But exams approach. I have Chemistry on Wednesday (or is it Tuesday? :P). Thursday is a busy one, with the GAT in the morning (thankfully you can't study for it, but you can try if you're an idiot) and a Math SAC in the afternoon. And Friday is the last of my unchangeable dates with my English Oral right in the middle of the day!

And with that much work it would be logical to be studying for them or writing a speech right? Not me... The only Chemistry study I've done is the stuff we did in class, which is one practice exam. Math SAC? I was planning on none at all, hopefully natural talent will get me far. And my English Oral? Well, I do actually have to do something for it, as much as I hate English. All I've managed to do is to write an opening paragraph for my 10 min speech (I suppose if I talk reeaallllyyy slllllloooooowwllllyy).

A lot of people have asked me how I'm doing my English speech and thankfully I actually have planned something. I will talk for my 10mins about water recycling like a politician, making promises I don't plan on keeping. For those of you who think it's stupid, my English teacher thinks it's bloody brilliant!!!

For those who think I haven't left enough time on these approaching deadlines, you're probably right, but I'll do well anyway... I always do!

Oh! I also have an Electrotech assignment due first day back of normal classes, but that can be done with my eyes shut.

Have fun this week with your exams or lack thereof!

Just a quick one...

Been playing round with the site and what not...

All my pictures/movies/music will be down the bottom probably, for you all to access as you want, and my link to Flickr and some people's blogs have been removed. Also, one new blog, Jonathan Davies (the roof bitch for Inheritance :P).

Also, expect more things for the site soon, I'm eighteen now, which means I can do a lot more with the internet (No Alastair, that's disgusting!).

Talk to you all soon!

Happy Birthday!!!

I turned eighteen today! At noon if you want to be more precise, so I'm eighteen and six hours at the time of writing. Don't really know what to say other than that except "Yay for me!"

I've been writing eighteen a lot more than 18 (cept for when I'm in a rush) because it has a special feel to it... I donno, maybe I'm just crazy...

List of presents? Sure!
From Dad: Indiana Jones box set (It's not a laptop though, still annoyed about that)
From Grandma and Grandpa (Mum's side): One of those outdoor chairs that folds up with a stubby holder in it.
From Michelle (Sister): Shirt and shorts, plus a nifty looking Tiki necklace :P
Other relatives from the US: Phone calls and cards to make sure that I know that they haven't forgotten about me.
From Mum and Michael: Bledisloe Cup tickets in really good seats, a BBQ (cos I was about to throw the pan out the window), Poster, Advanced driving course (so I become a 'safer' driver) and some workspace hazard tools (witches hats and 'DO NOT CROSS' tape for the desk).
From Hawley: Roger Waters tickets, even if it was a couple of months ago, still awesome!
And from Izzy: Well, a CD a guess, but she keeps forgetting :P (anytime is fine by me) (or maybe I just haven't looked under my pillow yet :P) and also her love (soppy... :P)

If you haven't got me anything yet, don't feel bad, I haven't actually had a party yet to warrant the need to presents. But I have had heaps of Birthday messages on my phone, thanks to all!

The reason for no party? Everyone is flat out with study for exams and SAC's and such, including me! So it makes more sense to have one when things have calmed down... like perhaps at the start or end of the holidays (I'll try to avoid the middle, most people go away).

Should this party have some sort of theme or something? That's your decision, I'm happy to do whatever so if you guys want a pirate party or something suggest it to me and I'll see what others think.

Going for my license on the 31st May. It was the closest date they had to my b'day in February when i booked it. Suggestion to those who haven't booked it yet: book now if you want it close to the day!

Finally, leaving you with something I thought of today: Eighteen, same as Seventeen, only legal!

Busy seems to be a running theme...

It's Friday afternoon, during my one and only spare during the day.

Homework to do, SAC's to study for and people to please.

I'm doing the latter, pleasing a bunch of you by doing numerous things:

• For those that have continually bitching and whining to me about the bus videos, they're removed, not even set to private. Reason: This weeks front page of the newsletter. They really seem like they're starting to get serious and I'd rather not get caught if I could avoid it. However they are not erased from memory and sit, encrypted, on a flash drive. I'm still considering allowing a few of you to have a copy. End of the year though (25th October) they'll all be up again, for the glory of us all!
• I've touched up a few of the photo's from Melbourne Girls Grammar Formal and plan to have them up very very soon (like tomorrow, when my upload limit for flickr gets reset). Assuming I get the time of course, I'm sure I'll manage.
• I've moved my computer outside on a permanent basis, so now can't be distracted by watching TV when I should actually be participating in the conversation we were having.
• I'm actually writing a post. Yup, I haven't done one for a while (I kept saying I'd do it tomorrow) so I figured I might as well keep you up to date.

And so what is keeping you up to date?

Well, since my last post I have been working hard to catch up with the school work I missed (still have an English SAC to catch up on, but that's tomorrow). Also, I have been to all the rehearsals for the school play, Inheritance (which has been fully discussed on Luke's, Matt's and Steve's blogs). I am the person that lifts the suicidal, depressed, farmers into the roof when they decide that life is just no longer worth living. Quite fun actually, who would have thought that killing people could be so much fun.

But I have only actually been at three of the four nights of the play so far, because I went to Izzy's formal on Friday 29th. My replacement, Martin Kinsey, did an excellent job of my work (the whole two cues) even if his feet were dragging on the ground. They did after all change the way it was going to be done (which is the reason why it didn't work that well).

Izzy's formal started with pre-drinks at somebodies place (You expect me to remember names! If it wasn't for my license I'd forget mine). Too many people there and it made it hard to talk to anyone (Not that I knew that many people to talk to, total of six). Izzy got a little tipsy after a few drinks, such is the price of not eating for most of the day (Actually, the same happened to me). The formal was fun, plenty of prizes (Compared to the three at ours), and music was good too (but the DJ had a Dale streak and played old music that no one wanted to hear). Food was fine, but I just didn't feel that hungry; but dessert was fun: chocolate ice-cream with chocolate moose and a choclate éclair. Ran though the rain to get changed (We could have walked, but the rain was evil, it also allowed us to get round the corners before the rest of our group). Taxi to afterparty, plenty of Pizza (Wasn't that right Christiaan? That's right, give Ian shit :P ). More dancing, but this time people had more alcohol in them. Didn't see Nick or Christiaan pulling off any smooth moves... disappointing... Went home, Izzy stayed the night (You know the story I think, if you don't then you need to ask me for it).

Pictures for the formal and after party are up HERE!

Also, last night of the play tonight, should be good, but we're all dog tired. This also means the after party for the play is on tonight. Late night perhaps? After my previous two? I'll be so tired tomorrow. Don't call me...

First day back...

Today was the first day back of school after the holidays, though I had already attended school for the previous five days, which really means that today was the first day back that I was actually expected to learn.

Nothing really to say about today except that I'm exceptionally tired because it's harder to get around now with a hole in me. I remember the walk to the science department being alot easier. It only hurts a little though.

Never knew how far I was really behind until today... Who would have thought the week and a half before holidays were important?

And to any teachers reading this: the worst way to start the term is double math, and it's even worse if it is differentiability of transcendent functions...

Ask me how my month was...

March has been a busy month, with lots of changes to my lifestyle...

On the first of March I moved house, leaving Dad back in Sandringham. The new house is much smaller and is nice and cosy.

However at the start of the month there was no gas, hence no hot water. The reason for having no gas was due to a major gas leak under the new house because the shower was not connected to any drainage, and the water would run over the gas pipe, which over time has rusted out.

And up to a couple of days ago, no phone line because Telstra was considerate enough to connect the wrong phone line to the house. Similarly there has been no Internet, so I wasn't able to update my blog, but now I have cable Internet (and a fancy new router) that keeps me sane for when there's nothing to do. I didn't have a computer anyway, cos something was seriously wrong with it; all it would do was to spin fans and that's it... no system ok beep... then it stopped even doing that... it just sat there... It now has a new power supply and runs fine, apart from only loading Windows every second time and being incredibly unstable. I only have to live with it till May though, when I get a new notebook!

In the middle of all this I'm involved with the year 10 play, Hating Alison Ashley, so my spare time created from my inability to be able to do anything at home has been used up there... Very very busy...

Oh and the Honours Society's Games of the World night was heaps of fun too. I have pictures of our School Captain dressed for the weekend!

Then I went to Sophie's 18th a couple of weeks ago (March 17th to be exact) and found myself a nice girl named Izzy (or did she find me?) and we invited each other to our formals (and mine was only two weeks away.. lucky I'm just so organised :p).

Wednesday the next week I got what felt like a stitch on my right side just under my chest, but it got worse and worse throughout the day. The pain spread up my body and into my right shoulder as well and it would hurt to breathe or move. Lucky the guys found it funny as I rolled on the ground in pain cos I didn't find it humorous at all (though I was laughing... which hurt). Panadol did nothing to ease the pain. 9 or 10pm that night (I wasn't really watching the time) I was taken to hospital. They prodded and poked me and at about 1am they decided I was in pain so issued me some Morphine (about bloody time). Couple of conclusion jumping moments later I was being taken into the operating theatre to remove my appendix.

Woke up the next day (about 4am) without any pain... feeling much better... and I didn't even have any Morphine in me yet! I was told that my appendix hadn't ruptured like they had suspected and it was completely normal, yet they removed it anyway. They asked if the pain from yesterday was still there and were confused with the outcome. Clinically, they had done nothing that would have an affect on the pain and its cure yet I was all better (apart from having a 10cm hole that never needed to be created). They told me I would most likely be in hospital for more than a week and I'd miss out on going to my formal, I was pretty sad about missing it. They ended up holding me in hospital for two days til Friday afternoon and I got a good experience of what boredom feels like, as I was unable to do anything in the hospital bed... Soooooo BORING!!! Had some visitors though which made my days really interesting, you have no idea how much more interesting my day would become when there was someone to talk to. No idea at all. Thanks to Martin, Alastair, Nick and Amelia for visits. A double thanks to Izzy for two visits. And another thanks to Simon for an attempted visit and a big bar of chocolate.

After a quick chat with the doctor I was allowed to go home. Dr Dyer told me I would be allowed to go to the formal, but I had to take it easy and no dancing. She suggested not too much drinking because throwing up would put me back in hospital. Also, not allowed to be sitting down for any great periods of time which eliminated me from heading over to South Australia these holidays (I'd be leaving now otherwise). Finally, I had to take it easy for the next three months and I wasn't allowed to do any heavy lifting for one to three months, which means I won't be able to help much for the next school play, Inheritance, and I'd miss out on the first half of the hockey season. I'm annoyed but thankful it ain't worse (like if they had went looking for what the problem was). Missed out on a week and a half of school, now have heaps of homework to catch up on.

Izzy helped me pick out a shirt and tie for the formal (Thanks for that, it turned out perfect). I was late to the before party at Amelia's but it was still fun, mostly photo's and talking which was a comfortable way to start the night. The formal itself was a good night, with lower than average food and quality music that started to head the wrong direction towards the end. Plenty of photos taken, I'll post a link when I finish uploading them to Flickr (There's another email address I've acquired in my travels, starting to get frustrating all these addresses). After party at Alastair's was excellent too; poker night worked well until Jess turned up and got distracting. Heaps of fun being dressed up playing poker and I had a very sexy partner helping me play.

The formal itself wasn't worth $140 but the whole night from start to finish definitely was, I had heaps of fun with everybody, especially Izzy.

Yesterday (Sunday 1st) I went to the Flower and Garden show with Izzy and that was a nice relaxing day out. Oh and flowers don't need water to live... nah...

Thanks all for keeping me alive (almost) during March, just hope next March ain't like it.

EDIT: Formal photo's uploaded - higher resolution pics available, send me a message. Anything with a _1 at the end has been edited and is at a lower quality. Again, just ask for the original if you want it.