It's come a long way, readers, but this is the 300th post in AB: A Blog! Comments may have declined, and posts procrastinated upon like crazy (sorry about that in advance), but the blog goes on, and I really enjoy doing these milestone posts, because I get to reflect on the past few months. So I'll do what I usually do; I'll go on about my day, and then I shall do the reflection/celebration part. Now, with that out of the way, let's get to it, shall we?
I woke up at around 7:30 (which seems to be the average time for getting up on weekends), and after the chores that I had to do, I quickly got into blogging. With the problem being, of course, I had a lot of posts to do, limited time to do it, and a tendency to get distracted. This, my friends, makes for a very shoddy way of trying to get up to date in posting (so, yeah, this is late. Extremely. Which is, for me, essentially unforgivable in milestone posting. I'm sorry.). So for a few hours, I attempted to post, and didn't get anywhere in particular. Bloody hell. Eventually, though, I had to get ready for a hapkido Christmas party which it seems I have not mentioned in previous posts (or at least, not that I can find. What it pretty much is is a get-together held where anybody from a few local dojangs and their relatives can meet and just see each other and talk outside of hapkido.). Well, I had to get ready for it, and at around 11:30, I left for it.
When I got to the venue (which I think was Bankstown Sports Club), I looked around, and I found Amadeus, and I talked to him while waiting outside the ballroom. When the doors opened, we went inside, and I went to go and sit with Amadeus (just a little side note here that I have no idea where else to add: I haven't seen Nick, that short orange belt, in a while. I hear he's quit.). After we sat down, a whole flock of kids came and found seats. And left them, and new ones showed up. This continued for a bit, until it all settled down and Amadeus and I were the only adults (as in, people in the adults class) on the table, although Amadeus's sister is advancing to the class now. We talked for a bit, and we were given sheets that were a bit of a hapkido quiz, just to liven things up. After all that, at around 12:30, the buffet opened and we got our lunch. And it was delicious. I had pasta, chicken, coleslaw... suffice to say it was very good. I also took some chips from the kids' buffet. Later, too, we had dessert, and I had cake. Cake and ice-cream (also from the kids' buffet.). It was a mouth-watering meal.
After all of that, they did some auctioning of hapkido weapons (I didn't get any), and then they gave out the Spirit Awards, which are sorta like the best and fairest for hapkido. I wasn't nominated for any, but Dylan got one. Once that was done, Grandmaster Geoff unveiled the preview for the new hapkido DVDs. And it looks like, no exaggeration here, the trailer for some kickass video game (here's the Youtube link, if you want to have a look. Just watch it and disagree with me about the video game thing. I dare you.). He then announced something else: the founder of hapkido, the person who came up with the whole thing, is coming to the mats at our dojang next year. Damn, I want to be there. We then had a big hapkido party picture, which I hope to be getting soon.
I got home from the party at around 3:30, and I spent the time after that doing some blogging. Also, when Dad asked me how the party went, I got a chance to quote Tom Lehrer, and replied with 'We ate, we drank, and we were merry,' which I've got to admit out of context must have been at least a little confusing (it actually comes from the song 'In Old Mexico,' which I, of course, have memorised. The next line is 'And we got typhoid and dysentery,' so of course, I didn't say that.). So I blogged for a little bit, and soon, we all went to a family movie, which was '2012.'
I have seen the ads for this movie, so let's just say that I did not go in with high hopes (example: it had waves flooding the Himalayas, in the ads. Need I point out the fact that the Himalayas are 8000 metres high? Where is all the water coming from?). But, I did attempt to watch it, and if you cut out all the stuff that doesn't make sense, it does make for a good movie, although I'm a sucker for a happy ending (and they barely mentioned the whole Maya calendar crap, so kudos there.). However, like many movies, once you start thinking about it, you notice a flaw here and there, and then another one, and eventually it loses a bit of its lustre. I was going to go science nerd rant here, and complain about many things that just didn't make any sense. However, I realised I would be going on for a while here, so I just want to point out one thing that really annoyed me. At one point it said neutrinos were mutating, thus gaining physical properties, presumably mass, and heating the Earth's core (in the first 5 minutes, in fact). This, as a physics lover, irks me so much that you have no idea. If you'll allow a bit of a rant here: Particles don't mutate, they decay. I don't believe neutrinos decay, but even if they did, they would lose mass, and thus lose physical properties (in the sense that the makers of the movie intended. It doesn't make all that much sense, but I'll let it slide.). And if these 'mutated neutrinos' did have the ability to heat something up, why the core? Why not the crust, the thing it would hit first? That's my thing there. There are a few more bits, but if you're not a physics nerd like me, it really doesn't matter all that much. Anyway. The movie itself was worth watching, I think, though probably just once. And when I got home, well, that was it. I went to bed.
And now... the celebrations! 300 glorious posts, each of them a memorial of a day past (well, once I did two posts for one day. But, that was in the earlier posts. Anyway.). There are over 210,000 words so far in this blog, and after this post, there shall be over 215,000. Putting it into scale, that's... well, something like 500 pages in a decent size novel. In this, the commemoration of 300 posts, I would like to remember some things that have happened in the past 100 posts and 100 days, stretching all the way from post 201. So, without further ado, let us look at the memorable events of the last 100 days, in chronological order and with links, to better remember them.
*First kiss: I'm not sure if this is embarrassing, but it's certainly something important that happened. It was just platonic, but I shall remember this.
*AFL Grand Final: This one isn't too personal, but it's still something big, and I watched essentially the whole thing. It was a great Grand Final, and possibly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, games I have ever seen.
*Promoting to Orange Belt in hapkido: My first belt promotion in hapkido, and something I'm certainly proud of. It was, with no exaggeration, one of the biggest achievements I've made in anything sport-related, and that feels good.
*Yearlies and the School Certificate: I can't really link to all of these, as I would be linking to something like 10 posts. But they start here, with the Drama Yearly, and end here, with the Computer Skills School Certificate. They were many exams, and I did pretty well in the Yearlies. I haven't got the School Certificate results back yet, but I hope I did well.
*Britney Spears Concert: It's been something I've been waiting for ever since I got into Britney Spears's music, which was about a decade ago (wow...). So going to the concert was most awesome. It was a great concert.
With remembrances over, I'd like to make an official apology for the immense backlog of posting. I know it's annoying, but there has just been so many things getting in the way, and being a serial procrastinator doesn't help. It really doesn't help. Anyway. I will try to get back up to schedule very soon. Stay tuned.
And now we turn to the comment replies section, with 2:
*Anon: Thanks for the reminder, anonymous random guy who is apparently up past midnight looking at my blog!
*Shafi: Hope you're having fun in Bangladesh, Shaf, and glad you agree with ARG (Anonymous Random Guy.).
That was my day; it stands as written, and it is (trying to make a last paragraph work here. Don't judge me.). Finally, I post, and, well, I've already made my regrets and condolences for late posts. So, what do I do here? Give up writing a closing paragraph, probably, at least for now. Happy 300th post!
300 down, with a cornucopia of posts to come,
AB
Showing posts with label hapkido. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hapkido. Show all posts
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Frisbees and Fighting
Again, I may have to clear something up, as with the last post. I did no fighting; the word in the title is a sole reference to hapkido. It was also for the same reason: for alliteration. I figure, as long as I can clear it up here, I can say it. Also, it helps with doing an opening paragraph. So, on that note, let's get to my day.
Before school, I talked to John and the others, and I finally came to grips with something. If you'll allow me a short tangent (and it's my blog, so I will), EA recently upped the prices in Battlefield Heroes. This would be understandable; if they didn't raise them by 2000%. That's 21 times what they originally were. The game is shot, and so I may not play it until they decrease them significantly. Bloody hell, that is so goddamn annoying. Well, it was fun. It was then Role Call, in which we did some new nominations for the categories to be announced at the formal next week (holy crap, it's a week away), such as 'Most Creative' and 'Most Likely to Come Back as a Teacher,' which Ebony is striving for, as I hear that she may not be winning 'Loudest' or 'Chatterbox.' I know, I know, but I voted for her. Period 1 was History, and it was yet more 'Man vs Wild.' At this point, I can say very little more about it, on account of the fact that I've already summarised it, pointed out exactly what he's doing wrong, and how he is right in some cases. Only parodying is remained, and I may have done that before as well (also, the guy's name is Bear Grylls. How the hell do I parody that? Bear Grylls already sounds like a parody name. Oy vey.). Period 2 was English, and we continued to look at George Bush, and specifically, his many classic quotes, which, unless you've been living under a rock since the year 2000, you should have heard of (Wikipedia has a whole list of them). One memorable one that I hadn't heard before was one made in April 2008, and which goes like this: "So long as I'm the president, my measure of success is victory -- and success." You would think that the fact that the President of the most powerful country on Earth said that would be cause for alarm. However, it's just funny. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was Ag, and we spent our time cleaning out the horticultural shed some more. In the process, we found some animals that looked frozen, and were dead, to put it bluntly. One was a rat (I think), and one was a blue-tongue lizard (which according to Wikipedia are technically called blue-tongue skinks. Now, that doesn't sound nearly as cool.). I originally thought it to be a snake, but Schippers identified it as a blue-tongue. My job, after Ebony took up the sweeping (not that I'm complaining or anything. She really enjoys sweeping, for some reason. Personally, I took it upon myself to make several bad puns, such as "sweepwalking" and "Orlando Broom."), was to hose away all the dirt collected from the sweeping. There was a lot of dirt there; there was a solid aggregation collected by the door (I use words like aggregation. You really should be used to that by now.). Lunch was talking and Charades. Some were easy, like 'Up,' and some none others got, like 'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.'
Next, it was Sport, and Kevin and I continued our game of Charades. Eventually I gave up, as he had never heard of '2001: A Space Odyssey' and couldn't work out something that sounded like 'Forrest Hump.' What we actually did do in Sport was play Ultimate Frisbee, which quickly devolved into walking up and down a field, throwing a frisbee. Eventually, most people left, and Ebony, Victor, Kevin and I just threw the frisbee back and forth, sitting down (we were quite lazy.). I ended up getting sunburnt. It was still fun though. And when I got home, I did some stuff and it was soon time to go to hapkido.
Grandmaster Geoff was here today, and the session itself was a good one. I just want to point out two things that were unique to the class (because a lot of classes are similar in some respects), which was that we did techniques with our eyes closed (which works surprisingly well, except when you try to do a technique with someone behind you. It tricks you a lot.), and in that we did front rolls over thigh pads. That was pretty fun, as you needed a little bit if a run-up. I wouldn't try it on a hard surface any time soon, though. So it was a pretty good class. And when I got home, I blogged, although not quite enough. So here I am.
And that was my day. I know about the late posts; I'm not so thick as to ignore that. It's just getting so... anyway. I'm trying, believe me, I'm trying. Titles don't help. And on that note, I might just sign off on this post, as this closing paragraph is getting nowhere slowly, to quote Futurama.
Partially misleading titles are more than partially annoying,
AB
Before school, I talked to John and the others, and I finally came to grips with something. If you'll allow me a short tangent (and it's my blog, so I will), EA recently upped the prices in Battlefield Heroes. This would be understandable; if they didn't raise them by 2000%. That's 21 times what they originally were. The game is shot, and so I may not play it until they decrease them significantly. Bloody hell, that is so goddamn annoying. Well, it was fun. It was then Role Call, in which we did some new nominations for the categories to be announced at the formal next week (holy crap, it's a week away), such as 'Most Creative' and 'Most Likely to Come Back as a Teacher,' which Ebony is striving for, as I hear that she may not be winning 'Loudest' or 'Chatterbox.' I know, I know, but I voted for her. Period 1 was History, and it was yet more 'Man vs Wild.' At this point, I can say very little more about it, on account of the fact that I've already summarised it, pointed out exactly what he's doing wrong, and how he is right in some cases. Only parodying is remained, and I may have done that before as well (also, the guy's name is Bear Grylls. How the hell do I parody that? Bear Grylls already sounds like a parody name. Oy vey.). Period 2 was English, and we continued to look at George Bush, and specifically, his many classic quotes, which, unless you've been living under a rock since the year 2000, you should have heard of (Wikipedia has a whole list of them). One memorable one that I hadn't heard before was one made in April 2008, and which goes like this: "So long as I'm the president, my measure of success is victory -- and success." You would think that the fact that the President of the most powerful country on Earth said that would be cause for alarm. However, it's just funny. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was Ag, and we spent our time cleaning out the horticultural shed some more. In the process, we found some animals that looked frozen, and were dead, to put it bluntly. One was a rat (I think), and one was a blue-tongue lizard (which according to Wikipedia are technically called blue-tongue skinks. Now, that doesn't sound nearly as cool.). I originally thought it to be a snake, but Schippers identified it as a blue-tongue. My job, after Ebony took up the sweeping (not that I'm complaining or anything. She really enjoys sweeping, for some reason. Personally, I took it upon myself to make several bad puns, such as "sweepwalking" and "Orlando Broom."), was to hose away all the dirt collected from the sweeping. There was a lot of dirt there; there was a solid aggregation collected by the door (I use words like aggregation. You really should be used to that by now.). Lunch was talking and Charades. Some were easy, like 'Up,' and some none others got, like 'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.'
Next, it was Sport, and Kevin and I continued our game of Charades. Eventually I gave up, as he had never heard of '2001: A Space Odyssey' and couldn't work out something that sounded like 'Forrest Hump.' What we actually did do in Sport was play Ultimate Frisbee, which quickly devolved into walking up and down a field, throwing a frisbee. Eventually, most people left, and Ebony, Victor, Kevin and I just threw the frisbee back and forth, sitting down (we were quite lazy.). I ended up getting sunburnt. It was still fun though. And when I got home, I did some stuff and it was soon time to go to hapkido.
Grandmaster Geoff was here today, and the session itself was a good one. I just want to point out two things that were unique to the class (because a lot of classes are similar in some respects), which was that we did techniques with our eyes closed (which works surprisingly well, except when you try to do a technique with someone behind you. It tricks you a lot.), and in that we did front rolls over thigh pads. That was pretty fun, as you needed a little bit if a run-up. I wouldn't try it on a hard surface any time soon, though. So it was a pretty good class. And when I got home, I blogged, although not quite enough. So here I am.
And that was my day. I know about the late posts; I'm not so thick as to ignore that. It's just getting so... anyway. I'm trying, believe me, I'm trying. Titles don't help. And on that note, I might just sign off on this post, as this closing paragraph is getting nowhere slowly, to quote Futurama.
Partially misleading titles are more than partially annoying,
AB
Monday, November 30, 2009
Hapkido and Humour
Do I honestly need to explain this one? There was humour, and I did hapkido. So, yeah. No further explanation needed. However, this also means the opening paragraph is a little shorter than I'd like. Although this little bit seems to be working. OK, I'll stick with that, but since I can't think of much else, I'll go into my day now.
Period 1 was Science, and we all went up to the computer rooms with Pitt, in order to graph the results of the height vs armspan measurements that we did a few days ago. And we found a correlation of about 1, which pretty much does mean that they were about the same, on average at least. In actuality, the points were scattered around the line of best fit, which means the measurements in approximate (by which I mean, your armspan will be approximately the same as your height, and vice versa.). We also went on something called WolframAlpha (link of website provided. If you want to know what it is, well, I'm about to tell you, and would have already done so if not for these brackets. So, yeah.), in which you input a question, and it gives you the answer. For example, you put in "Why is the sky blue?" and it tells you that it is Rayleigh scattering. Another example: put "pi to 15 decimal places" and it comes up with 3.141592653589793. That's pretty amazing (and it works to many decimal places of pi.). I recommend you try it. Period 2 was our year assembly, and it was rather funny, for two reasons. One was that Shane and Oscar did a performance that we originally saw in Drama. So while a few of us already knew what was coming, it was still funny. The second was that Mango did a brief stand-up routine, which wasn't entirely original (I'd heard at least one of the jokes before, and not from him.). Still, a lot of people enjoyed it, me included. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was English, and we had a lesson with Arnault for the first time replacing Hancock. We did the 'I Have A Dream' speech by Martin Luther King, which you may not have heard (I hadn't before today, which is slightly shameful), but you at least should have heard of. Having heard it now, I can say it was, and still is, a very good speech, and that you would have to be something other not to agree with him. Period 4 was Maths, and we were doing yet more work on parabolae from sheets. It is fetting rather boring, and Maths seems to be one of the only subjects in which we're doing work on the same level as before it all started to slow down. I'd say that's A1 for you, but other classes are doing it too. Ah well. Lunch was both playing DS and 13, which I somehow managed to juggle. I also got a massage from one of the random Year 7s that hang around with us. Why, I don't know, but it didn't feel too bad. Quite relaxing, actually.
Period 5 was Drama, and we were reading from plays from a play book. They were comedic plays, so we enjoyed it. I certainly did, as I took a role in almost every single play there. There was an absurd one, among others, which Tansy and I read from and a lot of other people didn't seem to get. It was very Monty Python (in that, it intentionally made little real sense), so of course I loved it. Period 6 was Commerce, and we had a substitute, Haracic (who I believe may or may not be a new permanent substitute. I don't think so, but I'm not sure what classes he teaches.), who got us to work from the textbook. Nobody actually did. It was mostly playing with some egg that may not have been an egg (hell, I was there and it didn't make much sense.). Eventually, I got home, and it was soon time for hapkido.
Grandmaster Geoff was here today, as was Shirisha. And I should know, as by a one of life's little coincidences, we were partnered together. I was slightly put to shame, as her kicks are better than mine (and I'm not sure whether that's taking into account belt colours. And no, that is not racism.). It wasn't a bad session; I enjoyed it, at least. And when I got home, I tried to blog, although evidently not quite enough. So here I am.
Thus was my day. It stands now in my blog, a testament to some random day (OK, I'm trying to think of new ways to start this closing paragraph. I actually don't think that that's too bad.). What isn't clear is the late post, of which is this is one. Annoying, I know. I'm trying.
Alliterative titling may be getting a little old,
AB
Period 1 was Science, and we all went up to the computer rooms with Pitt, in order to graph the results of the height vs armspan measurements that we did a few days ago. And we found a correlation of about 1, which pretty much does mean that they were about the same, on average at least. In actuality, the points were scattered around the line of best fit, which means the measurements in approximate (by which I mean, your armspan will be approximately the same as your height, and vice versa.). We also went on something called WolframAlpha (link of website provided. If you want to know what it is, well, I'm about to tell you, and would have already done so if not for these brackets. So, yeah.), in which you input a question, and it gives you the answer. For example, you put in "Why is the sky blue?" and it tells you that it is Rayleigh scattering. Another example: put "pi to 15 decimal places" and it comes up with 3.141592653589793. That's pretty amazing (and it works to many decimal places of pi.). I recommend you try it. Period 2 was our year assembly, and it was rather funny, for two reasons. One was that Shane and Oscar did a performance that we originally saw in Drama. So while a few of us already knew what was coming, it was still funny. The second was that Mango did a brief stand-up routine, which wasn't entirely original (I'd heard at least one of the jokes before, and not from him.). Still, a lot of people enjoyed it, me included. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was English, and we had a lesson with Arnault for the first time replacing Hancock. We did the 'I Have A Dream' speech by Martin Luther King, which you may not have heard (I hadn't before today, which is slightly shameful), but you at least should have heard of. Having heard it now, I can say it was, and still is, a very good speech, and that you would have to be something other not to agree with him. Period 4 was Maths, and we were doing yet more work on parabolae from sheets. It is fetting rather boring, and Maths seems to be one of the only subjects in which we're doing work on the same level as before it all started to slow down. I'd say that's A1 for you, but other classes are doing it too. Ah well. Lunch was both playing DS and 13, which I somehow managed to juggle. I also got a massage from one of the random Year 7s that hang around with us. Why, I don't know, but it didn't feel too bad. Quite relaxing, actually.
Period 5 was Drama, and we were reading from plays from a play book. They were comedic plays, so we enjoyed it. I certainly did, as I took a role in almost every single play there. There was an absurd one, among others, which Tansy and I read from and a lot of other people didn't seem to get. It was very Monty Python (in that, it intentionally made little real sense), so of course I loved it. Period 6 was Commerce, and we had a substitute, Haracic (who I believe may or may not be a new permanent substitute. I don't think so, but I'm not sure what classes he teaches.), who got us to work from the textbook. Nobody actually did. It was mostly playing with some egg that may not have been an egg (hell, I was there and it didn't make much sense.). Eventually, I got home, and it was soon time for hapkido.
Grandmaster Geoff was here today, as was Shirisha. And I should know, as by a one of life's little coincidences, we were partnered together. I was slightly put to shame, as her kicks are better than mine (and I'm not sure whether that's taking into account belt colours. And no, that is not racism.). It wasn't a bad session; I enjoyed it, at least. And when I got home, I tried to blog, although evidently not quite enough. So here I am.
Thus was my day. It stands now in my blog, a testament to some random day (OK, I'm trying to think of new ways to start this closing paragraph. I actually don't think that that's too bad.). What isn't clear is the late post, of which is this is one. Annoying, I know. I'm trying.
Alliterative titling may be getting a little old,
AB
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Recommendations and Removals
The recommendation refers to a sheet we were given in Role Call, which will be explained in the following paragraph, and a little quickly. 'Removals' may refer to quite a few things, including the fact that I was taken out of school to go to the orthodontist. So, let us examine how these two seemingly unrelated (and indeed, almost entirely unrelated) things played their part in my day.
Before school, we had Role Call, and sheets were given out, saying that we were to nominate people for various categories, and the winners of these were to get sashes at the formal. Some examples were best sportsman, most likely become to become Prime Minister and best hair (why, Victor of course.). But, there was one that stuck out for me. Near the bottom, it was, and just two words: Biggest Nerd. Now, as you can guess, this was a big thing for me, and I made a resolution to win it. So in the next period, which was History, most of the class watched 'Man vs Wild,' while I took some spare paper, cut them up into cards, then wrote 'Vote AB for Biggest Nerd' on them (you know what they say: if something's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.). When we got out of History, I promptly started handing out these cards to random people, in the hope that I would win it. In Period 2, in English, we got our report results back from Hancock, and I got, I'm happy to say, all As (as in the plural of 'A,' not the word 'as.'). That should certainly make up for my C in the middle of the year (damn the half-yearly. Damn it.). Recess was taking pictures on my phone (which I believe I am keeping), and trying to get one of a lot of people (Aleksa, a Year 8 or 9 who hangs with us sometimes, was camera-shy for some reason.).
Period 3 was Science, and we had Pitt instead of Robson, even though Robson was here (it was something to do with marking HSCs and Physics classes; I wasn't entirely sure. But, we had him regardless.). In it, we first talked a little about the LHC (when he asked what it was, I wasn't allowed to answer. Mainly because I knew a lot about it already, including a basic understanding of how it works and what it hopes to achieve, with supersymmetry and Higgs bosons and so on.), and then we started doing measurements for height against armspan (are they actually equal? Is it just an old wives' tale? We shall see.). It was then Lunch, where I played DS (yes, I brought it to school.) and messed around with the phone on my camera, where I finally got a snap of Aleksa. It was funny.
When the bell went, I went over to the office, because I had to get checked out in order to go to the orthodontist. I was picked up at around 1:30, and Mum and I promptly got EJ and made our way over to Liverpool. After having a look at some stuff, we went to the orthodontist, and I was ready to have my elastics put in. Or so I thought. Instead, they decided to take my expander out, which involved removing some of the actual braces, scraping the concrete-like stuff that stuck them to my teeth off, then removing the expander, then putting back whatever they had taken out in order to remove the expander (so, the concrete, the braces, and so on.). It took about 30 minutes, and when I got out, I could feel the top of my gums. Later, at around 7:15, we left for hapkido.
Grandmaster Geoff was here, and we were piled 5 to a row all the way down to the back of the dojang, which appears to be what is going to happen more often on Wednesdays (I personally think that they've messed up the system a little, but that's just what I think.). In the actual class, I was partnered with Tim, a white belt whose name I only remember because it was in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' (that's nothing against the guy, I'm just shocking at remembering names.). I did some work on techniques, and all in all it was a good class. And when I got home, I blogged a little, although quite obviously not enough to catch up.
This was my day. I apologise for the continued lateness, but, believe it or not, I am trying to get it back to normal. Quite frankly, I'm just surprised I can remember it all. Ah, the awesome power of the human brain. Or, something like that.
Goodbye expander, hello gums,
AB
Before school, we had Role Call, and sheets were given out, saying that we were to nominate people for various categories, and the winners of these were to get sashes at the formal. Some examples were best sportsman, most likely become to become Prime Minister and best hair (why, Victor of course.). But, there was one that stuck out for me. Near the bottom, it was, and just two words: Biggest Nerd. Now, as you can guess, this was a big thing for me, and I made a resolution to win it. So in the next period, which was History, most of the class watched 'Man vs Wild,' while I took some spare paper, cut them up into cards, then wrote 'Vote AB for Biggest Nerd' on them (you know what they say: if something's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.). When we got out of History, I promptly started handing out these cards to random people, in the hope that I would win it. In Period 2, in English, we got our report results back from Hancock, and I got, I'm happy to say, all As (as in the plural of 'A,' not the word 'as.'). That should certainly make up for my C in the middle of the year (damn the half-yearly. Damn it.). Recess was taking pictures on my phone (which I believe I am keeping), and trying to get one of a lot of people (Aleksa, a Year 8 or 9 who hangs with us sometimes, was camera-shy for some reason.).
Period 3 was Science, and we had Pitt instead of Robson, even though Robson was here (it was something to do with marking HSCs and Physics classes; I wasn't entirely sure. But, we had him regardless.). In it, we first talked a little about the LHC (when he asked what it was, I wasn't allowed to answer. Mainly because I knew a lot about it already, including a basic understanding of how it works and what it hopes to achieve, with supersymmetry and Higgs bosons and so on.), and then we started doing measurements for height against armspan (are they actually equal? Is it just an old wives' tale? We shall see.). It was then Lunch, where I played DS (yes, I brought it to school.) and messed around with the phone on my camera, where I finally got a snap of Aleksa. It was funny.
When the bell went, I went over to the office, because I had to get checked out in order to go to the orthodontist. I was picked up at around 1:30, and Mum and I promptly got EJ and made our way over to Liverpool. After having a look at some stuff, we went to the orthodontist, and I was ready to have my elastics put in. Or so I thought. Instead, they decided to take my expander out, which involved removing some of the actual braces, scraping the concrete-like stuff that stuck them to my teeth off, then removing the expander, then putting back whatever they had taken out in order to remove the expander (so, the concrete, the braces, and so on.). It took about 30 minutes, and when I got out, I could feel the top of my gums. Later, at around 7:15, we left for hapkido.
Grandmaster Geoff was here, and we were piled 5 to a row all the way down to the back of the dojang, which appears to be what is going to happen more often on Wednesdays (I personally think that they've messed up the system a little, but that's just what I think.). In the actual class, I was partnered with Tim, a white belt whose name I only remember because it was in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' (that's nothing against the guy, I'm just shocking at remembering names.). I did some work on techniques, and all in all it was a good class. And when I got home, I blogged a little, although quite obviously not enough to catch up.
This was my day. I apologise for the continued lateness, but, believe it or not, I am trying to get it back to normal. Quite frankly, I'm just surprised I can remember it all. Ah, the awesome power of the human brain. Or, something like that.
Goodbye expander, hello gums,
AB
Monday, November 23, 2009
Everything Back But Work
This being a reference to the song 'Everything Back But You,' as well as referring to the fact that everybody came back to school, and that we barely do any work now. OK, that's that. Now, let us have a look at my day, and soon, for I am running out of things to say in this opening paragraph.
Before school, we talked about the camp, and it appears there were a lot of highlights and lowlights (apparently Mango took his shirt off at the disco. I now use that as a reason for not going to camp, in favour of the Britney Spears concert. I mean, what would you pick: Mango shirtless or Britney Spears?). Period 1 was Geography, and we watched another episode of 'Man vs Wild,' which is becoming a bit of a running joke in our class (there appear to be a few running jokes in the people I talk to, with 'Is it David?' being one example.). I mean, the guy will seemingly eat anything and drink anything out in nature, which would be good, except for the fact that he antagonises snakes (because that's what you want to do if you want to stay alive in the wild. You piss off deadly snakes.). So, take whatever he says with a grain of salt. Period 2 was Science, and we continued to learn about the acceleration due to gravity through pendulum swinging. We got a result of about 9.9, which is very close, if I do say so. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was Ag, and we all went down to look at the potatoes. It looks like they're about ready to be harvested, and from what Schippers said, we may be pulling them out either next week or the week after. After the week off, the weeds have been taking over the beds, and whether or not the bed survived depends on how well you mulched, and a bit of luck. Our bed was relatively unscathed, but the one across from ours had weeds taking over over half of the whole bed. There weren't many potatoes surviving. Period 4 was PE, and we weren't really doing much at all. I mean, it really didn't matter either way, so a lot of people just talked. I didn't do much, personally (a big bludge, it was.). Next was Lunch, and I went down to the English cottage to check my mark, as I had heard good things from people who were here on Friday. I got 35/40, which I believe was second in the grade (so my yearlies went really well. First in Drama and Commerce, and second in Science, PE and English. Quite good.).
Period 5 was Maths, and we were just pretty much doing questions out of the book (yes, we are still doing questions. The Maths staff seems to be doing that; they were doing logarithms in B1, I think. So, it's not just A1. Hell, half of B3 is still going for it. Not sure about C1, though they're probably not doing much.). Period 6 was Drama, and we got into groups to write some of the play about Michael Jackson's life. Eventually, though, our group split up (I was going to say schism, to reference 'A Series of Unfortunate Event,' but it didn't really fit. Ah well.), with Alice, Cameron and me talking and making jokes, and Ebony and Pradeepti actually doing work. At one point, I interrupted Ebony (I think. I don't really know; Ebony can respond to the smallest of things.), and she gave me a big whack across my leg. I had a red handprint on the side of my left knee for about half an hour. Soon I got home, and we left for hapkido at around 7.
Both Grandmaster Geoff and Shirisha were here today, and at one point, Grandmaster mentioned something about if anyone went to the Britney Spears concert. I put up my hand, of course; and was promptly bagged beyond all recognition (I'm exaggerating a little here. But not by much.). I'm lucky he didn't ask about 'New Moon.' In the actual class, we worked on some techniques. Dylan and I were partnered, and we were having issues with one technique (it's supposed to hurt, and I was on the ground and I wasn't feeling any pain.) We figured it out eventually, though. When I got home, I blogged, though not much. So here I am.
This was my Monday. I am aware that this post is rather late, but I shall soon be free of the burden of lateness and be back to a schedule of normality. Soon. I hope it won't be long, but we'll have to see.
May the normality resume soon,
AB
Before school, we talked about the camp, and it appears there were a lot of highlights and lowlights (apparently Mango took his shirt off at the disco. I now use that as a reason for not going to camp, in favour of the Britney Spears concert. I mean, what would you pick: Mango shirtless or Britney Spears?). Period 1 was Geography, and we watched another episode of 'Man vs Wild,' which is becoming a bit of a running joke in our class (there appear to be a few running jokes in the people I talk to, with 'Is it David?' being one example.). I mean, the guy will seemingly eat anything and drink anything out in nature, which would be good, except for the fact that he antagonises snakes (because that's what you want to do if you want to stay alive in the wild. You piss off deadly snakes.). So, take whatever he says with a grain of salt. Period 2 was Science, and we continued to learn about the acceleration due to gravity through pendulum swinging. We got a result of about 9.9, which is very close, if I do say so. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was Ag, and we all went down to look at the potatoes. It looks like they're about ready to be harvested, and from what Schippers said, we may be pulling them out either next week or the week after. After the week off, the weeds have been taking over the beds, and whether or not the bed survived depends on how well you mulched, and a bit of luck. Our bed was relatively unscathed, but the one across from ours had weeds taking over over half of the whole bed. There weren't many potatoes surviving. Period 4 was PE, and we weren't really doing much at all. I mean, it really didn't matter either way, so a lot of people just talked. I didn't do much, personally (a big bludge, it was.). Next was Lunch, and I went down to the English cottage to check my mark, as I had heard good things from people who were here on Friday. I got 35/40, which I believe was second in the grade (so my yearlies went really well. First in Drama and Commerce, and second in Science, PE and English. Quite good.).
Period 5 was Maths, and we were just pretty much doing questions out of the book (yes, we are still doing questions. The Maths staff seems to be doing that; they were doing logarithms in B1, I think. So, it's not just A1. Hell, half of B3 is still going for it. Not sure about C1, though they're probably not doing much.). Period 6 was Drama, and we got into groups to write some of the play about Michael Jackson's life. Eventually, though, our group split up (I was going to say schism, to reference 'A Series of Unfortunate Event,' but it didn't really fit. Ah well.), with Alice, Cameron and me talking and making jokes, and Ebony and Pradeepti actually doing work. At one point, I interrupted Ebony (I think. I don't really know; Ebony can respond to the smallest of things.), and she gave me a big whack across my leg. I had a red handprint on the side of my left knee for about half an hour. Soon I got home, and we left for hapkido at around 7.
Both Grandmaster Geoff and Shirisha were here today, and at one point, Grandmaster mentioned something about if anyone went to the Britney Spears concert. I put up my hand, of course; and was promptly bagged beyond all recognition (I'm exaggerating a little here. But not by much.). I'm lucky he didn't ask about 'New Moon.' In the actual class, we worked on some techniques. Dylan and I were partnered, and we were having issues with one technique (it's supposed to hurt, and I was on the ground and I wasn't feeling any pain.) We figured it out eventually, though. When I got home, I blogged, though not much. So here I am.
This was my Monday. I am aware that this post is rather late, but I shall soon be free of the burden of lateness and be back to a schedule of normality. Soon. I hope it won't be long, but we'll have to see.
May the normality resume soon,
AB
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Combat and Computers
The second part of this title (third if you're counting the 'and') is simple, for I went on the computers. But, I played CounterStrike on it, and I did hapkido, both forms of combat (double meaning! ...sort of.). So, yeah. There's titles explained. With that out of the way, let us have a look at my day (hooray for unintentional rhyming!).
Before school, I went up to the Library, to see who was there and to talk to people. It was then Role Call, and we finally found out exactly how many people weren't going to camp, but also weren't going to school (the answer? Over 30 people were jigging both camp and school, although from what I heard beforehand, more than a few had good reasons.). We then went on the computers, when the bell went, where Kevin showed me where CounterStrike (a first person shooter, although explaining it would be like explaining Pokemon, in that you probably should have heard of it.) could be found, and we played a few games. Me, I had little to no idea of the strategy for the game, so I was winging it when I was picking guns (some worked out really well, some not so much. I just picked anything, really.). We played that for a while, against the computer and with each other, and we then went to see if we could find Warcraft III on the school's computer, as we knew it had to be around somewhere (although not without good reason; we had seen people play it.). However, try as we might, we could not find it in any folders. However, at Recess, we asked Andy, as we had seen him playing it, who gave us a username and a password (this is beginning to sound more and more like a bad movie, isn't it?) that contained the game.
When the bell went, we went back up to the computers, where we got on to the profile after much experimenting with passwords (we had remembered the pattern but forgotten the actual password) and last names (easy to say, slightly harder to spell), and we started to play. We did so for only a few minutes, because someone else needed to use the computers, and we had to actually do some work. Or, rather, Kevin and I watched Abridged on my iPod. It's fun to do that. Then, when the bell went for Lunch, we continued our watching of Abridged. Damn, that's some funny stuff. We also went to the PE staffroom to find out what Kevin and I would be doing for sport, considering Year 10 School Sport would be a bit undercrowded (that is, we were the only ones.). We thus were given the option to join the Year 9s.
Which, when the bell went, we followed up on, as we knew Andy would be doing it, and we wanted to be with somebody we knew, as opposed to Boot Camp, the other option (it didn't sound too great.). We went to play soccer, and I promptly managed somehow to kick the ball into my own face (how I did this is an utter mystery, but it happened. Soccer is not my thing.). I soon managed to sneak around and ended up again on my iPod, watching Abridged. We even got seen by a teacher, and got let off (although, it was McCord, who is rather lenient, in most regards.). So we sat around and watched my iPod. And when the bell went, I went home (although not straight away. That would be a major hassle for my brother. As well as impossible as per relativity. But, that's another story.). And around 7:15, we left for hapkido.
This session was absolutely packed. How packed, you ask (well, you might not. But I've got to segue this some way or another.)? Well, there were people backed all the way until the edge of the mats, and (get this) there were 5 people per row. To make pairing up both convenient and possible, the middle row had to alternatively face back and forward, so the outside two rows faced each other (so, the far left row faced the row on its right, and vice versa), while the middle row faced itself (more or less). I was paired with Tara, and of course Shirisha wasn't there, considering she was on camp (it would be quite a feat if she was there). I saw some yellow belt techniques in this class, and they were pretty cool. And when I got home, I blogged, although evidently not enough. So here I am.
This was my Wednesday. Insert rant about late post here (yes, it's getting to the point where I can't be bothered thinking about how else to phrase something about late posts. I will get up to date soon.). Also, I believe I may make some longer posts soon. Though we'll see.
Being outside of camp has proven to be fun,
AB
Before school, I went up to the Library, to see who was there and to talk to people. It was then Role Call, and we finally found out exactly how many people weren't going to camp, but also weren't going to school (the answer? Over 30 people were jigging both camp and school, although from what I heard beforehand, more than a few had good reasons.). We then went on the computers, when the bell went, where Kevin showed me where CounterStrike (a first person shooter, although explaining it would be like explaining Pokemon, in that you probably should have heard of it.) could be found, and we played a few games. Me, I had little to no idea of the strategy for the game, so I was winging it when I was picking guns (some worked out really well, some not so much. I just picked anything, really.). We played that for a while, against the computer and with each other, and we then went to see if we could find Warcraft III on the school's computer, as we knew it had to be around somewhere (although not without good reason; we had seen people play it.). However, try as we might, we could not find it in any folders. However, at Recess, we asked Andy, as we had seen him playing it, who gave us a username and a password (this is beginning to sound more and more like a bad movie, isn't it?) that contained the game.
When the bell went, we went back up to the computers, where we got on to the profile after much experimenting with passwords (we had remembered the pattern but forgotten the actual password) and last names (easy to say, slightly harder to spell), and we started to play. We did so for only a few minutes, because someone else needed to use the computers, and we had to actually do some work. Or, rather, Kevin and I watched Abridged on my iPod. It's fun to do that. Then, when the bell went for Lunch, we continued our watching of Abridged. Damn, that's some funny stuff. We also went to the PE staffroom to find out what Kevin and I would be doing for sport, considering Year 10 School Sport would be a bit undercrowded (that is, we were the only ones.). We thus were given the option to join the Year 9s.
Which, when the bell went, we followed up on, as we knew Andy would be doing it, and we wanted to be with somebody we knew, as opposed to Boot Camp, the other option (it didn't sound too great.). We went to play soccer, and I promptly managed somehow to kick the ball into my own face (how I did this is an utter mystery, but it happened. Soccer is not my thing.). I soon managed to sneak around and ended up again on my iPod, watching Abridged. We even got seen by a teacher, and got let off (although, it was McCord, who is rather lenient, in most regards.). So we sat around and watched my iPod. And when the bell went, I went home (although not straight away. That would be a major hassle for my brother. As well as impossible as per relativity. But, that's another story.). And around 7:15, we left for hapkido.
This session was absolutely packed. How packed, you ask (well, you might not. But I've got to segue this some way or another.)? Well, there were people backed all the way until the edge of the mats, and (get this) there were 5 people per row. To make pairing up both convenient and possible, the middle row had to alternatively face back and forward, so the outside two rows faced each other (so, the far left row faced the row on its right, and vice versa), while the middle row faced itself (more or less). I was paired with Tara, and of course Shirisha wasn't there, considering she was on camp (it would be quite a feat if she was there). I saw some yellow belt techniques in this class, and they were pretty cool. And when I got home, I blogged, although evidently not enough. So here I am.
This was my Wednesday. Insert rant about late post here (yes, it's getting to the point where I can't be bothered thinking about how else to phrase something about late posts. I will get up to date soon.). Also, I believe I may make some longer posts soon. Though we'll see.
Being outside of camp has proven to be fun,
AB
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Just Hapkido It
...a play on words, of course, for 'Just Do It.' OK, so it isn't the best. But that's fine by me, because today wasn't too good for titles. Some posts aren't good for them. Anyway. Soon I'll post on time, but only soon. We'll see. So, let's get to my day, shall we?
Before school, we talked about Battlefield Heroes, of course. Role Call was reading. I'm reading a book by Brian Greene, called 'The Fabric of the Cosmos,' which is all about what spacetime is, and the direction of time and that type of thing (this may seem like a simple question, but apparently the laws of physics do not distinguish between the direction of time. This is amazing. Of course, not everyone enjoys these type of books. I do, at any rate.). Period 1 was Maths, in which we got some results back. It turned out that I got 96% for my Maths Trial School Certificate, which was not so much as good as 'Holy crap, over 90% in a subject that actually matters' (no offence to Drama, but it doesn't count for much. Unfortunately.). Period 2 was Drama, and we were supposed to be doing stuff about the Michael Jackson play. Of course, that sort of evolved into a discussion with Cam about a whole range of things. Mostly relationship involved, although, with Cameron, that's pretty normal. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was Commerce, and Kearney was away, yet again. Why, I don't know, but he was. So we had a sub, which usually happens (if it doesn't, it's a free period. I do enjoy free periods. I mostly use them to do some stuff on my book.). The sub, who I believe was Spies again, got us to do some work from the textbook, which oddly enough was the exact same work that we were given yesterday. So I just sat and read for the lesson. I love doing that. Lunch was yet more talking.
It was then time for School Sport, and we went to the netball and tennis courts to do, you guessed it: soccer (wait, what?). However, due to the many failings of the system in place to do School Sport, about 8 people did soccer, 12 people did netball, and everybody else did a range of things. Ebony and Victor sat together, while Kevin and I played with a bug (in a way. Kevin picked one beetle up so many times for some reason that we joked it was his next girlfriend. In the end, it was given the flick. Poor Kevin.), tossed a ring around (no idea how that started), and played some handball. That was fun. Once we had a drinks break (and I use the term loosely; barely any of us were actually doing any work), Kevin expressed his interest to watch Abridged over my iPod, probably because he was feeling out of the loop for the fact that it is referenced in our group on a daily basis. So I showed him the first 5 episodes or so, and he loved them. Of course he did. The bell eventually went, and when we got home, we watched some 'Rove.' At around 7, we left for hapkido.
There was a mixed class today, as belts ranging from black belt to new people. Luckily, however, we did not do multiple grabs, so I did not have to face up against one of them. If I did, then there would be some difficulties to say the least. Anyway. Shirisha ended up coming, but Grandmaster Geoff didn't. It was a pretty tiring class, but that's good in hapkido. I also brushed up on some techniques, and it was a good class. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.
And that was my day. I was going to say something about lateness and that type of thing, but that's been done. Hmm. What to do, what to do... how about, trying to get back up to schedule by Sunday? Sunday sounds like a good idea. I may also try to get longer posts, but that's always a problem.
Really running out of things to say in some points,
AB
Before school, we talked about Battlefield Heroes, of course. Role Call was reading. I'm reading a book by Brian Greene, called 'The Fabric of the Cosmos,' which is all about what spacetime is, and the direction of time and that type of thing (this may seem like a simple question, but apparently the laws of physics do not distinguish between the direction of time. This is amazing. Of course, not everyone enjoys these type of books. I do, at any rate.). Period 1 was Maths, in which we got some results back. It turned out that I got 96% for my Maths Trial School Certificate, which was not so much as good as 'Holy crap, over 90% in a subject that actually matters' (no offence to Drama, but it doesn't count for much. Unfortunately.). Period 2 was Drama, and we were supposed to be doing stuff about the Michael Jackson play. Of course, that sort of evolved into a discussion with Cam about a whole range of things. Mostly relationship involved, although, with Cameron, that's pretty normal. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was Commerce, and Kearney was away, yet again. Why, I don't know, but he was. So we had a sub, which usually happens (if it doesn't, it's a free period. I do enjoy free periods. I mostly use them to do some stuff on my book.). The sub, who I believe was Spies again, got us to do some work from the textbook, which oddly enough was the exact same work that we were given yesterday. So I just sat and read for the lesson. I love doing that. Lunch was yet more talking.
It was then time for School Sport, and we went to the netball and tennis courts to do, you guessed it: soccer (wait, what?). However, due to the many failings of the system in place to do School Sport, about 8 people did soccer, 12 people did netball, and everybody else did a range of things. Ebony and Victor sat together, while Kevin and I played with a bug (in a way. Kevin picked one beetle up so many times for some reason that we joked it was his next girlfriend. In the end, it was given the flick. Poor Kevin.), tossed a ring around (no idea how that started), and played some handball. That was fun. Once we had a drinks break (and I use the term loosely; barely any of us were actually doing any work), Kevin expressed his interest to watch Abridged over my iPod, probably because he was feeling out of the loop for the fact that it is referenced in our group on a daily basis. So I showed him the first 5 episodes or so, and he loved them. Of course he did. The bell eventually went, and when we got home, we watched some 'Rove.' At around 7, we left for hapkido.
There was a mixed class today, as belts ranging from black belt to new people. Luckily, however, we did not do multiple grabs, so I did not have to face up against one of them. If I did, then there would be some difficulties to say the least. Anyway. Shirisha ended up coming, but Grandmaster Geoff didn't. It was a pretty tiring class, but that's good in hapkido. I also brushed up on some techniques, and it was a good class. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.
And that was my day. I was going to say something about lateness and that type of thing, but that's been done. Hmm. What to do, what to do... how about, trying to get back up to schedule by Sunday? Sunday sounds like a good idea. I may also try to get longer posts, but that's always a problem.
Really running out of things to say in some points,
AB
Monday, November 2, 2009
Martial Starts
Am I ashamed of that bad pun about 'Martial Arts'? No, not really, though it would have made a kickass post title about the first time I did hapkido (the night of March 30, if I'm correct. This is one reason I love my blog.). Instead, it gets put to mention the fact that I did hapkido, and the fact that we started a few things. Also, I've just done one decent sized opening paragraph about two words. Yeah. This is good.
Before school, we talked about our weekends, and specifically, Battlefield Heroes, as we do. I also gave them my idea for a Youtube profile for potential videos we could make. Period 1 was English, and we started a new topic, which was something called 'Many Voices.' What does it mean, I'm not sure. I think it's a poetry thing, but I'm not entirely sure. I'd actually like to write some poetry, believe it or not. It's not going to be good, but I like being creative. Not like in Art or Music, where you can have it all planned in your head but just not be able to put it on paper. Anyway. Period 2 was Maths, and we also started a new topic, which was on probability (I would have made a joke in class about the Infinite Improbability Drive, but I don't think many people would have got it. Shame, too.). I, however, got caught up trying to work out stuff about logarithms, which all started from me thinking about rolling dice. This gradually evolved until I actually solved the birthday problem (it's a mathematics thing; have a look) from scratch, which involved work about logarithms, and ended with a quadratic equation (I am not ashamed of my nerdiness!). The answer I got was 23, and that is the correct solution. I'm quite pleased with that, actually. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was Drama, and there weren't that many people there, as was the case in the other classes, because of a triathlon that was on (even Ebony was doing it). For the first half of the lesson, we talked about something that the class will be doing for the end of the year, which is a Michael Jackson tribute play, which was apparently Wuhrer's idea (had to be a music teacher). So we're going to be doing a biographical play, sorta. It's difficult to explain, and it will be even more difficult to do costuming, I think. After that though, we did do some of the plays that we were practicing on Friday, and Cam and I did ours. I don't think it was as good as the last one, but I still think it was good. Period 4 was Commerce, in which we talked about politics, and what makes a good politician (the answer being charisma and speaking skills, among other things. And by speaking skills, I mean that they can be persuasive and actually string a sentence together, not like the last American President.). Lunch was talking.
Periods 5 and 6 were double PE, for the first time for the term, mainly because of exams getting in the way and other quirks of the six day cycle. What we did was have a look at a number of Aboriginal sports, out of a dubious booklet (I don't think Aboriginals had socks. Though I could be wrong.). We played such sports as kee'an, which involves throwing a ball in a bucket. We also played one sport that was almost exactly like dodgeball. Then we changed the rules to make it work better, and it became exactly like dodgeball. A bit pointless, if you ask me. When we were done, and the bell was gone, we went to the local shops with Dad and EJ, and then we went home (well, we had to, didn't we? Would have been pretty awkward if we didn't.). At home, I played some Battlefield Heroes with Kevin, and we did pretty well, considering it was 2 against about 6 at one point (we also got off a game from guys who were owning us. One of them had a really high accuracy, so it's a little suss. Still, he had Frenzy Fire, so maybe that's why.). At around 7, we left for hapkido.
And I say 'we' because Dad did it too. I suppose I need to say a little backstory, because otherwise this will make no sense: Our dojang (as well as two others) is having a promotional thing going for the whole of November, where any friend or family member can go to a class for free, where they can try out hapkido and see what it's like. EJ was too young, and Mum would never do it, but it just so happened that Dad was home. So I asked him. He was a bit worried, as you probably would be if you're going to a martial arts class for the first time. And it was a tough lesson. I didn't get to see him much though, considering he was a 'no belt' and I'm an orange belt. Still, we both left the class in a sweat, which is always good. And when I got home, I blogged, and we watched 'FlashForward.'
That was my day. At this point, I'm not going to apologise for lateness or shortness of posts, and titling is dealt with in the first paragraph. Which sorta leaves me at a loss for this post as to what to put in the last paragraph. Although, I link from what I said in Maths about Douglas Adams... yeah, I'll go with that.
So long and thanks for all the fish,
AB
Before school, we talked about our weekends, and specifically, Battlefield Heroes, as we do. I also gave them my idea for a Youtube profile for potential videos we could make. Period 1 was English, and we started a new topic, which was something called 'Many Voices.' What does it mean, I'm not sure. I think it's a poetry thing, but I'm not entirely sure. I'd actually like to write some poetry, believe it or not. It's not going to be good, but I like being creative. Not like in Art or Music, where you can have it all planned in your head but just not be able to put it on paper. Anyway. Period 2 was Maths, and we also started a new topic, which was on probability (I would have made a joke in class about the Infinite Improbability Drive, but I don't think many people would have got it. Shame, too.). I, however, got caught up trying to work out stuff about logarithms, which all started from me thinking about rolling dice. This gradually evolved until I actually solved the birthday problem (it's a mathematics thing; have a look) from scratch, which involved work about logarithms, and ended with a quadratic equation (I am not ashamed of my nerdiness!). The answer I got was 23, and that is the correct solution. I'm quite pleased with that, actually. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was Drama, and there weren't that many people there, as was the case in the other classes, because of a triathlon that was on (even Ebony was doing it). For the first half of the lesson, we talked about something that the class will be doing for the end of the year, which is a Michael Jackson tribute play, which was apparently Wuhrer's idea (had to be a music teacher). So we're going to be doing a biographical play, sorta. It's difficult to explain, and it will be even more difficult to do costuming, I think. After that though, we did do some of the plays that we were practicing on Friday, and Cam and I did ours. I don't think it was as good as the last one, but I still think it was good. Period 4 was Commerce, in which we talked about politics, and what makes a good politician (the answer being charisma and speaking skills, among other things. And by speaking skills, I mean that they can be persuasive and actually string a sentence together, not like the last American President.). Lunch was talking.
Periods 5 and 6 were double PE, for the first time for the term, mainly because of exams getting in the way and other quirks of the six day cycle. What we did was have a look at a number of Aboriginal sports, out of a dubious booklet (I don't think Aboriginals had socks. Though I could be wrong.). We played such sports as kee'an, which involves throwing a ball in a bucket. We also played one sport that was almost exactly like dodgeball. Then we changed the rules to make it work better, and it became exactly like dodgeball. A bit pointless, if you ask me. When we were done, and the bell was gone, we went to the local shops with Dad and EJ, and then we went home (well, we had to, didn't we? Would have been pretty awkward if we didn't.). At home, I played some Battlefield Heroes with Kevin, and we did pretty well, considering it was 2 against about 6 at one point (we also got off a game from guys who were owning us. One of them had a really high accuracy, so it's a little suss. Still, he had Frenzy Fire, so maybe that's why.). At around 7, we left for hapkido.
And I say 'we' because Dad did it too. I suppose I need to say a little backstory, because otherwise this will make no sense: Our dojang (as well as two others) is having a promotional thing going for the whole of November, where any friend or family member can go to a class for free, where they can try out hapkido and see what it's like. EJ was too young, and Mum would never do it, but it just so happened that Dad was home. So I asked him. He was a bit worried, as you probably would be if you're going to a martial arts class for the first time. And it was a tough lesson. I didn't get to see him much though, considering he was a 'no belt' and I'm an orange belt. Still, we both left the class in a sweat, which is always good. And when I got home, I blogged, and we watched 'FlashForward.'
That was my day. At this point, I'm not going to apologise for lateness or shortness of posts, and titling is dealt with in the first paragraph. Which sorta leaves me at a loss for this post as to what to put in the last paragraph. Although, I link from what I said in Maths about Douglas Adams... yeah, I'll go with that.
So long and thanks for all the fish,
AB
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Rest and Results
Could it be? Another alliterative post? I really had to, though, because I couldn't think of anything. Anyway. Rest means a break with no exams, and results means, well, I got some results. Pretty straight-forward, really. So, without further ado, to my day.
I got to school, of course, and before school, we talked about a whole range of stuff, mostly BFH related (isn't it always?). I also lent Shafi 'Five Greatest Warriors,' as I had finished it yesterday. It was epic, plain and simple. Anyway. First, it was Role Call, which was reading, of course. I was reading 'The Genius Wars,' by Catherine Jinks. I really don't like her 'Pagan' books, to be honest (having had to read them in English in Year 8 may or may not have had anything to do with it. Seriously, I don't know, but I don't think so. I can appreciate good novels. Anyway.), but her 'Genius' books are very good. Period 1 was Drama, in which we were making plays from prompts. Cam and I were in a pair, and we ended up doing this thing where Cam is selling stuff in a cosmetics store, and I am the guy buying it who is getting steadily ripped off. It's a bit like the scene with Rowan Atkinson in 'Love Actually,' if you've seen it, which is actually where Cam got the idea. Ours was apparently really funny (or so people told me; Cam did come up with some really good lines, such as the finder's fee in a shop: 'Well, I found this for you, sir.'), though I think Shane and Oscar were better. I mean, they're Shane and Oscar; they're hilarious (proof. Possibly conclusive.). Shane did the best American accent. He was a pretty good Basil Fawlty too. Period 2 was Maths, and as Rawson was late, we played hangman for a while (my skill in the game lies in three letter words, like 'dog.' But harder.). He did eventually get to class though, and we mostly talked about the format of the School Certificate, and to make sure that we avoid overthinking things, which I sometimes tend to do. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was PE, and in that, we got our assignment back (remember the one I handed in on the last day of term 3? That one.). I got 18/20, which I think is pretty good, considering how much time I spent on it (read: it was still getting finished after dinner on the day before it was due. What we were supposed to do in the period was work from the orange book, but instead, Wilson put on the computer, and (get this), went on Youtube. I had no idea the staff were able to go on Youtube, although I probably should have guessed. So the class pretty much just watched that. Lunch was talking, as usual.
It was then time for School Sport, and it seems we are getting lazier and lazier (I'm all for it, by the way.). We didn't even leave the main quad. No, really. What we did was cricket in the main quad, and I unfortunately got picked for the team of boarders. There were two teams: the Asians and Ebony, and the Boarders and AB, originally called Asians vs. Boarders before it was realised that Ebony and I counted for something. Our team won, and I had to bowl underarm, because it seemed nobody could actually play cricket, except for the occasional boarder who lost balls smashing them over the roof into the donut quad. Or maybe they just got stuck on the roof. Either way, they got lost. I think we lost 2 or 3. While playing, near the end, Kolodziej came by, and told me what I got for Drama. Which was 100%. No, really. I think that's the first time that has happened in an exam (not an assignment. That's been done before. But with exams.). Damn, that was good. After school, I talked to Ebony about string theory (I think it started with the Science exam from yesterday, and just kind of evolved from there. I'm just surprised that it happened.). After I got home, Dad did, and he had brought his friends from Canberra, Alan and Pixie, though I'm not entirely sure why. Around 7, we left for hapkido.
Shirisha wasn't here, but Grandmaster Geoff was. He tired us out a lot, and to top it off, Grandmaster Geoff doesn't give water breaks often. In an example of how he worked us, he gave us 20 of the 'Super Set of Six,' which involved tricep dips, wheelbarrow push-ups, and clap push-ups. No, really. It's a lot of work. I collapsed more than once. 20 just pushed me a lot. Anyway. I also got help with my reverse bear hugs, which I was sucking at. We ended up fixing it up, though, so that's out of the way (for now, anyway.). And when I got home, I tried to blog, but not enough. Ah well.
And that was my day. Sorry about the very late post, but, well, you knew that. I'll see if I can get back up on the weekend. There aren't any exams then, which is good. Tomorrow is Maths and HSIE, so be ready for a post similar to Tuesday. Except, maybe a bit longer. Who knows.
One more day of exams to go,
AB
I got to school, of course, and before school, we talked about a whole range of stuff, mostly BFH related (isn't it always?). I also lent Shafi 'Five Greatest Warriors,' as I had finished it yesterday. It was epic, plain and simple. Anyway. First, it was Role Call, which was reading, of course. I was reading 'The Genius Wars,' by Catherine Jinks. I really don't like her 'Pagan' books, to be honest (having had to read them in English in Year 8 may or may not have had anything to do with it. Seriously, I don't know, but I don't think so. I can appreciate good novels. Anyway.), but her 'Genius' books are very good. Period 1 was Drama, in which we were making plays from prompts. Cam and I were in a pair, and we ended up doing this thing where Cam is selling stuff in a cosmetics store, and I am the guy buying it who is getting steadily ripped off. It's a bit like the scene with Rowan Atkinson in 'Love Actually,' if you've seen it, which is actually where Cam got the idea. Ours was apparently really funny (or so people told me; Cam did come up with some really good lines, such as the finder's fee in a shop: 'Well, I found this for you, sir.'), though I think Shane and Oscar were better. I mean, they're Shane and Oscar; they're hilarious (proof. Possibly conclusive.). Shane did the best American accent. He was a pretty good Basil Fawlty too. Period 2 was Maths, and as Rawson was late, we played hangman for a while (my skill in the game lies in three letter words, like 'dog.' But harder.). He did eventually get to class though, and we mostly talked about the format of the School Certificate, and to make sure that we avoid overthinking things, which I sometimes tend to do. Recess was talking.
Period 3 was PE, and in that, we got our assignment back (remember the one I handed in on the last day of term 3? That one.). I got 18/20, which I think is pretty good, considering how much time I spent on it (read: it was still getting finished after dinner on the day before it was due. What we were supposed to do in the period was work from the orange book, but instead, Wilson put on the computer, and (get this), went on Youtube. I had no idea the staff were able to go on Youtube, although I probably should have guessed. So the class pretty much just watched that. Lunch was talking, as usual.
It was then time for School Sport, and it seems we are getting lazier and lazier (I'm all for it, by the way.). We didn't even leave the main quad. No, really. What we did was cricket in the main quad, and I unfortunately got picked for the team of boarders. There were two teams: the Asians and Ebony, and the Boarders and AB, originally called Asians vs. Boarders before it was realised that Ebony and I counted for something. Our team won, and I had to bowl underarm, because it seemed nobody could actually play cricket, except for the occasional boarder who lost balls smashing them over the roof into the donut quad. Or maybe they just got stuck on the roof. Either way, they got lost. I think we lost 2 or 3. While playing, near the end, Kolodziej came by, and told me what I got for Drama. Which was 100%. No, really. I think that's the first time that has happened in an exam (not an assignment. That's been done before. But with exams.). Damn, that was good. After school, I talked to Ebony about string theory (I think it started with the Science exam from yesterday, and just kind of evolved from there. I'm just surprised that it happened.). After I got home, Dad did, and he had brought his friends from Canberra, Alan and Pixie, though I'm not entirely sure why. Around 7, we left for hapkido.
Shirisha wasn't here, but Grandmaster Geoff was. He tired us out a lot, and to top it off, Grandmaster Geoff doesn't give water breaks often. In an example of how he worked us, he gave us 20 of the 'Super Set of Six,' which involved tricep dips, wheelbarrow push-ups, and clap push-ups. No, really. It's a lot of work. I collapsed more than once. 20 just pushed me a lot. Anyway. I also got help with my reverse bear hugs, which I was sucking at. We ended up fixing it up, though, so that's out of the way (for now, anyway.). And when I got home, I tried to blog, but not enough. Ah well.
And that was my day. Sorry about the very late post, but, well, you knew that. I'll see if I can get back up on the weekend. There aren't any exams then, which is good. Tomorrow is Maths and HSIE, so be ready for a post similar to Tuesday. Except, maybe a bit longer. Who knows.
One more day of exams to go,
AB
Monday, October 26, 2009
Yearlies '09: Agriculture
The second of the most worried about exams has arrived, my perpetual concern for these last few years, Agriculture. But, after today, it was done, it was finished, and Ag had essentially finished for the year. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. So, let's get to my Monday, and see if I can try to beat this late post streak. Probably not, but we'll see.
I was driven to school today, as I was for Friday, just in case the train was late and I miss part of the exam because of it (Mum insists, but not unreasonably.). I went straight up to the library, where I saw Eric, John and Shafi sitting around a table, where they were studying for Ag. I joined them, of course, and we discussed many things and anything from our Ag books, in an attempt to get ready for the exam. I also told Shafi that I had 'The Five Greatest Warriors,' at which point he sat bolt upright, checked his watch, exclaimed that the book was already out, and begged for the book. It was quite funny to see, but also predictable in a sense (Shafi is like that with books.). When the bell went, we all went down to our rooms, to start the Ag exam.
It went for 80 minutes, as it usually does. I wouldn't say that it was easy (they never are; you have to memorise a lot of facts for Ag), but it was easier than I expected. Probably because of my study, though: it did help quite a bit. Without that, I would have been in severe trouble in some parts. I think I did well, but we'll have to see. I finished with a few minutes to go. Here's hoping the Ag exam comes up good. Recess was talking about the exam.
Period 3 was Maths, in which we did a non-calculator exam. So we did that for 30 minutes, and then we marked it, because that's just the sort of thing we do in A1. I got 22/25, which is pretty good (only one person got 25, and Mango got 21.). It was stupid mistakes that tripped me up, as they so often do. They get very annoying sometimes, as I can, say, miss one word in the question, which is so often one of the most important ones, giving me the wrong answer. Damn. Period 4 was Science, which was doing study for the exam tomorrow. Do these exams ever end? (Yes, on Thursday. That's not soon enough.) I also finished 'And Another Thing...' It's good, to say the very least. Lunch was more talking.
Period 5 was Commerce, where we too had a study session. Apparently, we aren't going to start any new work until the exams are over, which seems fair to me. Now, if some of the other classes were like that, we'd hopefully be going better. Ah well. Period 6 was English, where we got a copy of the Year 11 exam for Advanced English, and we went through one of the sections together as a class, just to have a look at it and maybe prepare for next year. I think. It wasn't really too clear (you'd reckon with an English exam tomorrow... anyway.). And when I got home, I did some study, blogging, and then it was time for hapkido.
Shirisha wasn't there today, and neither was Grandmaster Geoff. Not entirely sure why for the latter, but he doesn't have to come. So we had Manuel (I think that's his name) for the first half of the lesson, who works us a lot, and Tina for the second half, who is equally as tiring for us, maybe more so. One thing's for sure: you get a good exercise in hapkido. I learnt how to get out of a bear hug, for one. And when I got home after a time, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.
That was my Monday. I am really sorry about the late post, believe me, I don't like it. It's not fun trying to remember two days back, and doing a decent sized post about it. But I'm trying, and soon I'll get back up to schedule. Soon.
Yearlies down, Trial School Certificate to go,
AB
I was driven to school today, as I was for Friday, just in case the train was late and I miss part of the exam because of it (Mum insists, but not unreasonably.). I went straight up to the library, where I saw Eric, John and Shafi sitting around a table, where they were studying for Ag. I joined them, of course, and we discussed many things and anything from our Ag books, in an attempt to get ready for the exam. I also told Shafi that I had 'The Five Greatest Warriors,' at which point he sat bolt upright, checked his watch, exclaimed that the book was already out, and begged for the book. It was quite funny to see, but also predictable in a sense (Shafi is like that with books.). When the bell went, we all went down to our rooms, to start the Ag exam.
It went for 80 minutes, as it usually does. I wouldn't say that it was easy (they never are; you have to memorise a lot of facts for Ag), but it was easier than I expected. Probably because of my study, though: it did help quite a bit. Without that, I would have been in severe trouble in some parts. I think I did well, but we'll have to see. I finished with a few minutes to go. Here's hoping the Ag exam comes up good. Recess was talking about the exam.
Period 3 was Maths, in which we did a non-calculator exam. So we did that for 30 minutes, and then we marked it, because that's just the sort of thing we do in A1. I got 22/25, which is pretty good (only one person got 25, and Mango got 21.). It was stupid mistakes that tripped me up, as they so often do. They get very annoying sometimes, as I can, say, miss one word in the question, which is so often one of the most important ones, giving me the wrong answer. Damn. Period 4 was Science, which was doing study for the exam tomorrow. Do these exams ever end? (Yes, on Thursday. That's not soon enough.) I also finished 'And Another Thing...' It's good, to say the very least. Lunch was more talking.
Period 5 was Commerce, where we too had a study session. Apparently, we aren't going to start any new work until the exams are over, which seems fair to me. Now, if some of the other classes were like that, we'd hopefully be going better. Ah well. Period 6 was English, where we got a copy of the Year 11 exam for Advanced English, and we went through one of the sections together as a class, just to have a look at it and maybe prepare for next year. I think. It wasn't really too clear (you'd reckon with an English exam tomorrow... anyway.). And when I got home, I did some study, blogging, and then it was time for hapkido.
Shirisha wasn't there today, and neither was Grandmaster Geoff. Not entirely sure why for the latter, but he doesn't have to come. So we had Manuel (I think that's his name) for the first half of the lesson, who works us a lot, and Tina for the second half, who is equally as tiring for us, maybe more so. One thing's for sure: you get a good exercise in hapkido. I learnt how to get out of a bear hug, for one. And when I got home after a time, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.
That was my Monday. I am really sorry about the late post, believe me, I don't like it. It's not fun trying to remember two days back, and doing a decent sized post about it. But I'm trying, and soon I'll get back up to schedule. Soon.
Yearlies down, Trial School Certificate to go,
AB
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Yearlies '09: Commerce
Yes, it's the second exam in this session of many, and this is the post talking about such a fact (I started that sentence having no idea where I was going, and so I got caught in the middle of the sentence having no idea what to do. Damn, I suck sometimes.). Yeah... Anyway, it's a late post, but that's because the bloody schedule has been thrown off yet again. I have no idea when I'll get it back up. Probably when exams are over, but we'll see.
Before school, I looked for my shoes (this does have a point), and after some searching, it turned out Dad had taken them to Canberra (yes, my feet are that big). So I used his. They fit. When I got to school, there weren't that many people in our group, as a lot of our group does IPT, and they had the option to not go to school to study (it was the same yesterday, but there was an exam yesterday. Today, it would be IPT. Anyway.). First, it was Role Call, which was reading, as well as doing some studying for Commerce. Period 1 was Science, and in that we started a new topic, which was evolution (which, you can probably guess, due to my atheism and self-confessed science nature, I am all for. Quite frankly, I'm surprised that there wasn't any religious objections, although, in all fairness, we aren't that much of a really religious school.). That was pretty fun, and I actually read through the whole chapter in the period, as well as reading up for Commerce. Period 2 was Computer Maths, or, rather, it would have been if we actually went on the computers. Instead, we did a non-calculator test, and talked about the School Certificate (which, according to Rawson is sorta pointless. Certifiably pointless. ...OK, even I thought that pun was bad.). The non-calculator test was pretty easy, really, and I spent the remainder of the time doing more Commerce revision. The more the better! Recess was talking, as I'm yet to bring cards. After exams.
Period 3 was the major exam (that's not to say it was the major exam, except it was an exam on my major. That's still confusing. Anyway.), which was the Commerce exam. It was long, it involved a lot of writing for 40 minutes, and it was... easy. Or, rather, it was easier than I expected. I expected long questions needing statistics and knowing in-depth stuff about employment. Instead, we got questions that just needed far-reaching answers, ones that didn't need that much detail. And, from what I heard from other people who did Commerce (such as Kevin), they thought the same too. So, yeah. I got good luck on the Commerce front, and I hope I get good marks. Lunch was more talking, with the only people there: me, Kevin, Victor and Ebony, the latter two having come down from study (I have no idea where Andy got to.).
After Lunch, we had sport, or that's what we called it. What we actually did was go down to the computer rooms (they said it was because it was too hot. I'm not entirely sure, but I'll run with it.), and mess around for a while. For about half an hour, I went on the school's version of Pivot, which, if you don't know what it is, is a program that lets you create animations with stick figures (here, let Wikipedia show you). However, we soon actually had to do sport, as a teacher came in and said we had to do it. So we went down to the oval; and he promptly said that we only had to play sport if we wanted. So 7 people did it, and the rest sat down. Pretty much pointless, really. When 'sport' eventually ended, I went and read for a while, and once I got home, I did a little study for PE tomorrow. And at around 6:45, we left for hapkido.
When I got to hapkido, I talked to Amadeus for a while, on a whole manner of things really. Shirisha wasn't there today, but that's understandable, as she goes erratically anyway (it's not her fault.). It was another tiring session today, and coming up to summer that means a lot of water being lost. Today, I learnt a bit of a new technique, which was a way of getting out of a bear hug, I didn't get to try it for long though. I was also Grandmaster Geoff's training dummy at one point when it came to doing stretches, and damn did it hurt. I mean, jees. And after hapkido, I blogged, but not enough.
And that was my day. Next in the line of exams is PE, which should be pretty straight-forward; you don't need to know that much. You just need to memorise a few choice facts, use common sense, and you'll most likely pass with ease. And we don't have much to study, since we didn't have many periods (hell, that was why the half-yearly for PE didn't go ahead. Not enough classes.). Anyway. Soon I will post on time. Until then, I'll keep trying.
2 down, 4 to go,
AB
Before school, I looked for my shoes (this does have a point), and after some searching, it turned out Dad had taken them to Canberra (yes, my feet are that big). So I used his. They fit. When I got to school, there weren't that many people in our group, as a lot of our group does IPT, and they had the option to not go to school to study (it was the same yesterday, but there was an exam yesterday. Today, it would be IPT. Anyway.). First, it was Role Call, which was reading, as well as doing some studying for Commerce. Period 1 was Science, and in that we started a new topic, which was evolution (which, you can probably guess, due to my atheism and self-confessed science nature, I am all for. Quite frankly, I'm surprised that there wasn't any religious objections, although, in all fairness, we aren't that much of a really religious school.). That was pretty fun, and I actually read through the whole chapter in the period, as well as reading up for Commerce. Period 2 was Computer Maths, or, rather, it would have been if we actually went on the computers. Instead, we did a non-calculator test, and talked about the School Certificate (which, according to Rawson is sorta pointless. Certifiably pointless. ...OK, even I thought that pun was bad.). The non-calculator test was pretty easy, really, and I spent the remainder of the time doing more Commerce revision. The more the better! Recess was talking, as I'm yet to bring cards. After exams.
Period 3 was the major exam (that's not to say it was the major exam, except it was an exam on my major. That's still confusing. Anyway.), which was the Commerce exam. It was long, it involved a lot of writing for 40 minutes, and it was... easy. Or, rather, it was easier than I expected. I expected long questions needing statistics and knowing in-depth stuff about employment. Instead, we got questions that just needed far-reaching answers, ones that didn't need that much detail. And, from what I heard from other people who did Commerce (such as Kevin), they thought the same too. So, yeah. I got good luck on the Commerce front, and I hope I get good marks. Lunch was more talking, with the only people there: me, Kevin, Victor and Ebony, the latter two having come down from study (I have no idea where Andy got to.).
After Lunch, we had sport, or that's what we called it. What we actually did was go down to the computer rooms (they said it was because it was too hot. I'm not entirely sure, but I'll run with it.), and mess around for a while. For about half an hour, I went on the school's version of Pivot, which, if you don't know what it is, is a program that lets you create animations with stick figures (here, let Wikipedia show you). However, we soon actually had to do sport, as a teacher came in and said we had to do it. So we went down to the oval; and he promptly said that we only had to play sport if we wanted. So 7 people did it, and the rest sat down. Pretty much pointless, really. When 'sport' eventually ended, I went and read for a while, and once I got home, I did a little study for PE tomorrow. And at around 6:45, we left for hapkido.
When I got to hapkido, I talked to Amadeus for a while, on a whole manner of things really. Shirisha wasn't there today, but that's understandable, as she goes erratically anyway (it's not her fault.). It was another tiring session today, and coming up to summer that means a lot of water being lost. Today, I learnt a bit of a new technique, which was a way of getting out of a bear hug, I didn't get to try it for long though. I was also Grandmaster Geoff's training dummy at one point when it came to doing stretches, and damn did it hurt. I mean, jees. And after hapkido, I blogged, but not enough.
And that was my day. Next in the line of exams is PE, which should be pretty straight-forward; you don't need to know that much. You just need to memorise a few choice facts, use common sense, and you'll most likely pass with ease. And we don't have much to study, since we didn't have many periods (hell, that was why the half-yearly for PE didn't go ahead. Not enough classes.). Anyway. Soon I will post on time. Until then, I'll keep trying.
2 down, 4 to go,
AB
Monday, October 19, 2009
Back and Fourth
You know, there are some titles I don't like. This is not one of them. This is a good title. Why? Because it means that I went back (to school) and it is the fourth term. Also, it's a play on words on 'Back and Forth.' Really, this is a kickass title. Anyway. Yes, I went back to school today, as well as a few other things. So, let's see, and just this once, let's cut the theme music. Because, I didn't make it on the holidays. Ah well.
I woke up at 6-ish, as it turned out my alarm forgot to go off. Luckily (or, unluckily, depending on how you look at it), EJ got me up, and I spent the morning getting ready for school, and finishing Sunday's post. I mean, it wasn't on time, but it was near enough that I'm starting to get hopeful about posts that are actually on schedule. When we left, we dropped by the local shops to put credit on my phone, which was playing up and made us think there was nothing left, when there was. Oy vey. When we did get to the station, I listened to my iPod, and at school, I caught up with the guys at school. Which sort of evolved into tales about Battlefield Heroes (evolved may be a bit of an overstatement; the whole conversation was basically BFH-centred. It's something that we pretty all have in common, except Ian, Cameron and Mango. Everyone else, I'm pretty sure plays it. Oh, and Ebony.).
Period 1 was Science, and Robson was away, and Bruce was our sub (no offence to the guy, but I prefer Robson. He's nice and everything, but...). To top it off, a minute into class all the lights went out. So yeah, we were having a fantastic start to the lesson. The period itself was going through notes and flicking through the textbook, as well as trying to remember stuff from last year. Period 2 was Geography, in which we did more study, as Johnson gave us a book which had all the skills in it (and I would like to say here: I finally know the difference between longitude and latitude. Latitude measures north and south, and longitude is the other one. Yes!). Recess would have been cards, but I forgot to bring them (you would think I would have remembered something as important as that. But, no.). So it was yet more talking.
Period 3 was English, in which we talked about the right way to do an essay, and specifically, the right way to do the yearly. And from what I hear, you have to remember stuff (which we've already done an assignment on), and not read a page and a half about some random guy called Walter which, if you get wrong, amounts to a shocking English fail, even if you explained it well and wrote (even the English staff admitted) a good story! (Sorry, that really touches a nerve. Goddamn English staff.). Period 4 was Maths, where we traded rooms for what turned out to be no reason (yeah, it was just one of those days.). We just basically did revisional work (revisional is a word, right?), and looked at different topics we had done. I'm fairly confident about the Maths exam, if only really because maths is a fairly logical subject and, well, I'm good at Maths. I don't like to brag, but I am. Lunch was talking, as well as going up to the library to print out my Science assignment and hand it in, as well as see if they've got the sequel to 'The Colour of Magic' by Terry Pratchett, called 'The Light Fantastic,' which they didn't. Damn.
Period 5 was Drama, in which you would think we would have studied (I mean, it's the first bloody exam!). But no, we did something which was more fun, if perhaps a tad less sensible: we got into groups, and Kolodziej gave us a script from a scene from a great episode of 'Fawlty Towers,' called 'Waldorf Salad.' (Wikipedia article included, of course.) I played the part of Mr. Hamilton, the American who stands up to Basil. If you've seen the episode, you will know what I'm talking about. If not, then you will mostly likely be confused. Ah well; it ain't my fault if you haven't seen it. Period 6 was Commerce, and we got our assignments back. No, not marked: they're our new study guides. Apparently, in the exam, we have to write about whatever we wrote about in the assignment. Come to think of it, that's what we have to do for English too... Anyway. When I got home, I studied for Drama, played some Battlefield Heroes, and at about 7, we left for hapkido.
It was a pretty tiring class today, considering we had Tina and Grandmaster Geoff. They make for a very good combination for class, but it really takes it out of you. I was partnered with Dom today, and he helped me with a new technique, which starts off with a cross hand grab, and ends with a sort of karate chop to your tricep that can put you flat on the ground if you do it well enough. Hapkido is awesome like that. In fact, in multiple grabs, when Amadeus said something, I was able to hurt him (I forget what he said.). After class, we nominated people for hapkido awards (I had never heard of these), which are things like 'Best Effort' and 'Best Technique.' I can't say who I nominated, as it's a secret ballot and I somewhat forgot. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough (I got halfway through the post.). So here I am.
And that, my friends, was my day. Sorry about the fairly late post, but things got in the way. Most of them study or hapkido related. Ah well. Also, if you haven't noticed, it's a rather long post. I really thought that once I got back to school, I could post longer; and I did. The system works! Anyway. I'll try to get back to schedule, but with exams, promises really can't be made.
The final term of Year 10 begins,
AB
I woke up at 6-ish, as it turned out my alarm forgot to go off. Luckily (or, unluckily, depending on how you look at it), EJ got me up, and I spent the morning getting ready for school, and finishing Sunday's post. I mean, it wasn't on time, but it was near enough that I'm starting to get hopeful about posts that are actually on schedule. When we left, we dropped by the local shops to put credit on my phone, which was playing up and made us think there was nothing left, when there was. Oy vey. When we did get to the station, I listened to my iPod, and at school, I caught up with the guys at school. Which sort of evolved into tales about Battlefield Heroes (evolved may be a bit of an overstatement; the whole conversation was basically BFH-centred. It's something that we pretty all have in common, except Ian, Cameron and Mango. Everyone else, I'm pretty sure plays it. Oh, and Ebony.).
Period 1 was Science, and Robson was away, and Bruce was our sub (no offence to the guy, but I prefer Robson. He's nice and everything, but...). To top it off, a minute into class all the lights went out. So yeah, we were having a fantastic start to the lesson. The period itself was going through notes and flicking through the textbook, as well as trying to remember stuff from last year. Period 2 was Geography, in which we did more study, as Johnson gave us a book which had all the skills in it (and I would like to say here: I finally know the difference between longitude and latitude. Latitude measures north and south, and longitude is the other one. Yes!). Recess would have been cards, but I forgot to bring them (you would think I would have remembered something as important as that. But, no.). So it was yet more talking.
Period 3 was English, in which we talked about the right way to do an essay, and specifically, the right way to do the yearly. And from what I hear, you have to remember stuff (which we've already done an assignment on), and not read a page and a half about some random guy called Walter which, if you get wrong, amounts to a shocking English fail, even if you explained it well and wrote (even the English staff admitted) a good story! (Sorry, that really touches a nerve. Goddamn English staff.). Period 4 was Maths, where we traded rooms for what turned out to be no reason (yeah, it was just one of those days.). We just basically did revisional work (revisional is a word, right?), and looked at different topics we had done. I'm fairly confident about the Maths exam, if only really because maths is a fairly logical subject and, well, I'm good at Maths. I don't like to brag, but I am. Lunch was talking, as well as going up to the library to print out my Science assignment and hand it in, as well as see if they've got the sequel to 'The Colour of Magic' by Terry Pratchett, called 'The Light Fantastic,' which they didn't. Damn.
Period 5 was Drama, in which you would think we would have studied (I mean, it's the first bloody exam!). But no, we did something which was more fun, if perhaps a tad less sensible: we got into groups, and Kolodziej gave us a script from a scene from a great episode of 'Fawlty Towers,' called 'Waldorf Salad.' (Wikipedia article included, of course.) I played the part of Mr. Hamilton, the American who stands up to Basil. If you've seen the episode, you will know what I'm talking about. If not, then you will mostly likely be confused. Ah well; it ain't my fault if you haven't seen it. Period 6 was Commerce, and we got our assignments back. No, not marked: they're our new study guides. Apparently, in the exam, we have to write about whatever we wrote about in the assignment. Come to think of it, that's what we have to do for English too... Anyway. When I got home, I studied for Drama, played some Battlefield Heroes, and at about 7, we left for hapkido.
It was a pretty tiring class today, considering we had Tina and Grandmaster Geoff. They make for a very good combination for class, but it really takes it out of you. I was partnered with Dom today, and he helped me with a new technique, which starts off with a cross hand grab, and ends with a sort of karate chop to your tricep that can put you flat on the ground if you do it well enough. Hapkido is awesome like that. In fact, in multiple grabs, when Amadeus said something, I was able to hurt him (I forget what he said.). After class, we nominated people for hapkido awards (I had never heard of these), which are things like 'Best Effort' and 'Best Technique.' I can't say who I nominated, as it's a secret ballot and I somewhat forgot. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough (I got halfway through the post.). So here I am.
And that, my friends, was my day. Sorry about the fairly late post, but things got in the way. Most of them study or hapkido related. Ah well. Also, if you haven't noticed, it's a rather long post. I really thought that once I got back to school, I could post longer; and I did. The system works! Anyway. I'll try to get back to schedule, but with exams, promises really can't be made.
The final term of Year 10 begins,
AB
Monday, October 12, 2009
Houses and Hapkido
Houses mean Monopoly, and Hapkido means Hapkido. Sometimes I can't title well, OK! And that means alliteration. Ah well. Good titles don't come naturally to all posts. But, that's to be expected. Anyway. It's a late post, of course. But you'd be used to that, of course. It's not like it's a new thing.
I was gotten up at around 8, and by 9-ish (give or take), I was already playing Monopoly with EJ (yes, I know.). It's the only game we've actually completed all the way until the end for many months; possibly years (the other games, if you read back, were never finished. I did surrender one game, but it wasn't actually done up until the end.). And guess what? I won! I was doing really bad in the beginning, but after EJ offered a trade that let me complete the orange properties in exchange for completion of the green ones (and according to statistics that I trawled from the net looking for strategies to win at Monopoly, that is a really bad decision. Orange is the best property economically, green is the worst.), the tide of the game changed a lot. I put many houses on orange and yellow properties and watched the cash roll in. I ended up winning after about two and a half hours later, by something on the magnitude of all the properties and $3000.
By that time, it was about 11 or 12 (I'm not that good with time when it comes to holidays, and I therefore could be off by a bit.). I then got out my laptop and watched TV for a while. At about 1, though, I decided that I should really catch up on my posting, considering I hadn't even done Saturday's yet. However, during my frequent tangents (which is probably the main reason behind the late posts), I found an AMV (which according to Wikipedia, means Anime Music Video. See?) by the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged. It was called 'The Origin of Love,' and, well, I'll let you see for yourself. Me, I had that song caught in my head for quite a while. Then, at around 7, it was time for hapkido.
Shirisha was there again, which was good. And today, for the first time as an orange belt, I was partnered with another orange belt: Dylan, who is about my age, maybe younger. I learnt two strikes, as well as another self-defence technique. Dylan also showed me this thing that hurt like crazy. I grabbed his shoulder from behind, and suddenly I've been karate chopped in my arm and it hurts like hell. Luckily, though, I traded it back with some of my new orange belt techniques. Martial arts: where pain isn't just frowned upon, it's rewarded. And when I got home, I posted, but about Sunday.
To comments now, 1 from Ebony.
*Ebony: I don't move garbage and go on the whipper-snipper every day. And besides, I can listen to my iPod while I'm doing it. Meanwhile, you've already wasted most of your day, and you've missed lunch. I can't do that.
And that was my day. I will try to catch up on posting, I swear, but trying may not be good enough. But, still, I will persist. No promises, but... anyway. It also seems I'm getting more comments, which I think is good. It's always nice to see what other people think of my posts.
Only a week until it begins again,
AB
I was gotten up at around 8, and by 9-ish (give or take), I was already playing Monopoly with EJ (yes, I know.). It's the only game we've actually completed all the way until the end for many months; possibly years (the other games, if you read back, were never finished. I did surrender one game, but it wasn't actually done up until the end.). And guess what? I won! I was doing really bad in the beginning, but after EJ offered a trade that let me complete the orange properties in exchange for completion of the green ones (and according to statistics that I trawled from the net looking for strategies to win at Monopoly, that is a really bad decision. Orange is the best property economically, green is the worst.), the tide of the game changed a lot. I put many houses on orange and yellow properties and watched the cash roll in. I ended up winning after about two and a half hours later, by something on the magnitude of all the properties and $3000.
By that time, it was about 11 or 12 (I'm not that good with time when it comes to holidays, and I therefore could be off by a bit.). I then got out my laptop and watched TV for a while. At about 1, though, I decided that I should really catch up on my posting, considering I hadn't even done Saturday's yet. However, during my frequent tangents (which is probably the main reason behind the late posts), I found an AMV (which according to Wikipedia, means Anime Music Video. See?) by the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged. It was called 'The Origin of Love,' and, well, I'll let you see for yourself. Me, I had that song caught in my head for quite a while. Then, at around 7, it was time for hapkido.
Shirisha was there again, which was good. And today, for the first time as an orange belt, I was partnered with another orange belt: Dylan, who is about my age, maybe younger. I learnt two strikes, as well as another self-defence technique. Dylan also showed me this thing that hurt like crazy. I grabbed his shoulder from behind, and suddenly I've been karate chopped in my arm and it hurts like hell. Luckily, though, I traded it back with some of my new orange belt techniques. Martial arts: where pain isn't just frowned upon, it's rewarded. And when I got home, I posted, but about Sunday.
To comments now, 1 from Ebony.
*Ebony: I don't move garbage and go on the whipper-snipper every day. And besides, I can listen to my iPod while I'm doing it. Meanwhile, you've already wasted most of your day, and you've missed lunch. I can't do that.
And that was my day. I will try to catch up on posting, I swear, but trying may not be good enough. But, still, I will persist. No promises, but... anyway. It also seems I'm getting more comments, which I think is good. It's always nice to see what other people think of my posts.
Only a week until it begins again,
AB
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Monopoly, Moving and Martial Arts
To explain: Monopoly refers to the board game, moving is a way of saying we moved lounges (hard to fully explain; it will make sense when I get to that), and martial arts (I almost wrote marital arts. That would make for a rather different post, don't you say?) means, of course, hapkido. Now that that's out the way, I can get to my day.
I woke up at around 7:30, and soon EJ got up. We then, somehow, started to play Monopoly, and I ended up losing after about an hour after I got caught up in a hotel. After that, though, I decided that I'd had enough Monopoly for a while, and I settled into some Battlefield Heroes (prepare for some going on about the game which will make barely any sense if you've never played the game). Now, I went on an utter rampage; it was the best 2 or so hours (from about 10:30 to 12:30, though I could be wrong) I've spent on the game in my whole length of playing it. I got another 50-0 game (with John, of course); and I also won a game when it was 2 Nationals (I'm a Nat) against 4 to 6 Royals (some quit after we started; we were doing very well). I got something like 5500 points, and considering that 1000 is slightly above average and 2000 is quite good, you'll understand that 5500 is bloody awesome.
At lunch time, though, I figured I'd pack Battlefield Heroes in for the day, and I went out to play yet another game of Monopoly, after being convinced by EJ to play another game. This one was interrupted halfway through, however, as we (Mum, EJ and I; Dad's still at sea, and should be until Friday, I think) all had to get the lounge in the Kid Zone (I'm sure I've gone through this; it's just like a mini-loungeroom for me and EJ) through to the garage. We had to take off the cushion, because that was way too heavy, and then manoeuvre the actual frame of the lounge through the side door (which involved rearranging furniture and much twisting). Once that was done, we took the lounge cushion and put it back onto the frame in the garage. After that, we got about 20 minutes of Monopoly in until the new lounge came; although they had workers who put it in for us. We had to take the wrapping off and place the lounge into place after they had left, though it wasn't particularly strenuous. We thus got back to Monopoly, which sorta just ended in a draw after we both stopped playing after it got boring (there were houses, but cash just kept being transferred back and forth.). That took us until 2 or 3, and so for the rest of the day, I just watched some TV and surfed the net. And at 7, we left for hapkido.
It was my first lesson under the orange belt, and naturally I was rapt and ready to learn (I'm even alliterating in the actual posts now... though I must admit it works better this way). Shirisha was there, and it turns out she was on Monday too. Hmm. I was partnered with a white belt, whose name is Maudhri, or something to that effect; I am awful with names. While I was doing striking and such, Grandmaster Geoff came over and showed me some of the orange belt techniques. And it was like being let into some sort of secret club (bear with me here): From the outside, it looks like all of their rituals and that type of thing are utterly incomprehensible, and you couldn't possibly work out how to do it. But, you get accepted into that club, and suddenly it all becomes clear. It was like that. I learnt the basics of some of the strikes, kicks, self-defence and the side fall. I really like the orange belts techniques: they're fun! When I got home, I blogged for a while. But not much about today, so here I am.
And as there are no comments, I end with this paragraph (hey, sometimes I like to change things up a bit when I'm doing the closing paragraph. It's good to avoid being repetitive.). Orange belt is really good; I like being considered to have at least some experience when I'm out at class (and believe me; you see a big difference between white and orange belts. Or at least I did.).
Hey, a fairly long post!,
AB
I woke up at around 7:30, and soon EJ got up. We then, somehow, started to play Monopoly, and I ended up losing after about an hour after I got caught up in a hotel. After that, though, I decided that I'd had enough Monopoly for a while, and I settled into some Battlefield Heroes (prepare for some going on about the game which will make barely any sense if you've never played the game). Now, I went on an utter rampage; it was the best 2 or so hours (from about 10:30 to 12:30, though I could be wrong) I've spent on the game in my whole length of playing it. I got another 50-0 game (with John, of course); and I also won a game when it was 2 Nationals (I'm a Nat) against 4 to 6 Royals (some quit after we started; we were doing very well). I got something like 5500 points, and considering that 1000 is slightly above average and 2000 is quite good, you'll understand that 5500 is bloody awesome.
At lunch time, though, I figured I'd pack Battlefield Heroes in for the day, and I went out to play yet another game of Monopoly, after being convinced by EJ to play another game. This one was interrupted halfway through, however, as we (Mum, EJ and I; Dad's still at sea, and should be until Friday, I think) all had to get the lounge in the Kid Zone (I'm sure I've gone through this; it's just like a mini-loungeroom for me and EJ) through to the garage. We had to take off the cushion, because that was way too heavy, and then manoeuvre the actual frame of the lounge through the side door (which involved rearranging furniture and much twisting). Once that was done, we took the lounge cushion and put it back onto the frame in the garage. After that, we got about 20 minutes of Monopoly in until the new lounge came; although they had workers who put it in for us. We had to take the wrapping off and place the lounge into place after they had left, though it wasn't particularly strenuous. We thus got back to Monopoly, which sorta just ended in a draw after we both stopped playing after it got boring (there were houses, but cash just kept being transferred back and forth.). That took us until 2 or 3, and so for the rest of the day, I just watched some TV and surfed the net. And at 7, we left for hapkido.
It was my first lesson under the orange belt, and naturally I was rapt and ready to learn (I'm even alliterating in the actual posts now... though I must admit it works better this way). Shirisha was there, and it turns out she was on Monday too. Hmm. I was partnered with a white belt, whose name is Maudhri, or something to that effect; I am awful with names. While I was doing striking and such, Grandmaster Geoff came over and showed me some of the orange belt techniques. And it was like being let into some sort of secret club (bear with me here): From the outside, it looks like all of their rituals and that type of thing are utterly incomprehensible, and you couldn't possibly work out how to do it. But, you get accepted into that club, and suddenly it all becomes clear. It was like that. I learnt the basics of some of the strikes, kicks, self-defence and the side fall. I really like the orange belts techniques: they're fun! When I got home, I blogged for a while. But not much about today, so here I am.
And as there are no comments, I end with this paragraph (hey, sometimes I like to change things up a bit when I'm doing the closing paragraph. It's good to avoid being repetitive.). Orange belt is really good; I like being considered to have at least some experience when I'm out at class (and believe me; you see a big difference between white and orange belts. Or at least I did.).
Hey, a fairly long post!,
AB
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Seventh Kup: Orange
That's right; I have finally got my orange belt! And yes, my title may seem strange at first, but we martial artists from hapkido call orange belt seventh kup. So I've decided to call any belt promotion that from now on. Anyway. Without further ado, to my day.
Role Call was reading, of course. Period 1 was Maths, in which we did some work from a sheet. You know, the type of work which isn't so hard that you just look at it and go, 'Enough of this!', but isn't so easy that you do it in 5 minutes, then mess around for the rest of the period. No, it was just work. It kept me working, though, and I was able to remember stuff that I'd forgotten. So, congrats maths staff, your plan worked. Period 2 was Drama, where we tried to watch 'Thank God You're Here,' brought in by Alice. However, for some reason it wasn't working because the geographical location was off (is it so hard to make DVDs work anywhere? Or, failing that, make the computer realise it's in Australia and not Western Europe? Or am I missing something?). So we tried my 'Fawlty Towers' disc, which worked even though they were both Australian. Does that make sense? No. Do I care? No, because we got to watch 'The Germans,' one of the funniest, if not the funniest episode of 'Fawlty Towers' ever made. Recess was cards.
Period 3 was Commerce, in which Kearney was away. So we didn't hand our assignments in. Bloody hell, that's annoying. However, considering I didn't stay up late to finish it (as some people did; they were annoyed, to say the least.), it's OK. Just means I'll have to hand it in tomorrow. In the actual period, I pretty much read for the whole lesson. We really didn't do much. Lunch was cards with John, Kevin and Victor, as Ebony was away.
It was then School Sport, which was a very big bludge. We started off playing cards, then changed to flicking rubber bands around (this is still in the Main Quad, because they were playing cricket there). I can now shoot rubber bands with my hands, which is somewhat of a feat (well, not really. Anyway.). We then somehow started throwing sticks up in trees to try to get them caught amongst the branches. I don't exactly know how. Victor, Kevin and John all got one stuck up there on their first try, it took me about 20 goes. Oy. We then went to the music rooms, after Cam had gotten back, and messed around on the keyboards. And when I got home, I did some assignment, and at around 7, we left for hapkido.
OK, the title sorta gave away the drama of this. But I'll persevere just the same as if it didn't. I got to hapkido, and I stretched, as I do. Shirisha was there, so we talked to her, and so on. In the class itself, we did quite a few things, including something that we haven't done for a while: rolling. I wasn't bad, though, but I might need some more practice to catch up. After the class, while we were sitting in our circle, Grandmaster Geoff called my name up, and he gave me my orange belt. Me, I couldn't stop smiling. When all that was done, I got a photo, and then I got home, where I blogged.
Comment replying time, one from Mango:
*Mango: Let's see... 'writing a comment telling you that I...' Que? I've tried reading that several times; please, please make that easier to read. The first sentence takes up half of the comment.
And that was my day. Damn, I'm still trying not to smile about getting my orange belt; it's not working. I mean, that took me almost 6 months to get that belt, I think I have a right to be completely and utterly pleased with myself, don't you think? Anyway. Sorry for the late-ish post; blame the PE assignment. And society.
Orange down; next stop, yellow,
AB
Role Call was reading, of course. Period 1 was Maths, in which we did some work from a sheet. You know, the type of work which isn't so hard that you just look at it and go, 'Enough of this!', but isn't so easy that you do it in 5 minutes, then mess around for the rest of the period. No, it was just work. It kept me working, though, and I was able to remember stuff that I'd forgotten. So, congrats maths staff, your plan worked. Period 2 was Drama, where we tried to watch 'Thank God You're Here,' brought in by Alice. However, for some reason it wasn't working because the geographical location was off (is it so hard to make DVDs work anywhere? Or, failing that, make the computer realise it's in Australia and not Western Europe? Or am I missing something?). So we tried my 'Fawlty Towers' disc, which worked even though they were both Australian. Does that make sense? No. Do I care? No, because we got to watch 'The Germans,' one of the funniest, if not the funniest episode of 'Fawlty Towers' ever made. Recess was cards.
Period 3 was Commerce, in which Kearney was away. So we didn't hand our assignments in. Bloody hell, that's annoying. However, considering I didn't stay up late to finish it (as some people did; they were annoyed, to say the least.), it's OK. Just means I'll have to hand it in tomorrow. In the actual period, I pretty much read for the whole lesson. We really didn't do much. Lunch was cards with John, Kevin and Victor, as Ebony was away.
It was then School Sport, which was a very big bludge. We started off playing cards, then changed to flicking rubber bands around (this is still in the Main Quad, because they were playing cricket there). I can now shoot rubber bands with my hands, which is somewhat of a feat (well, not really. Anyway.). We then somehow started throwing sticks up in trees to try to get them caught amongst the branches. I don't exactly know how. Victor, Kevin and John all got one stuck up there on their first try, it took me about 20 goes. Oy. We then went to the music rooms, after Cam had gotten back, and messed around on the keyboards. And when I got home, I did some assignment, and at around 7, we left for hapkido.
OK, the title sorta gave away the drama of this. But I'll persevere just the same as if it didn't. I got to hapkido, and I stretched, as I do. Shirisha was there, so we talked to her, and so on. In the class itself, we did quite a few things, including something that we haven't done for a while: rolling. I wasn't bad, though, but I might need some more practice to catch up. After the class, while we were sitting in our circle, Grandmaster Geoff called my name up, and he gave me my orange belt. Me, I couldn't stop smiling. When all that was done, I got a photo, and then I got home, where I blogged.
Comment replying time, one from Mango:
*Mango: Let's see... 'writing a comment telling you that I...' Que? I've tried reading that several times; please, please make that easier to read. The first sentence takes up half of the comment.
And that was my day. Damn, I'm still trying not to smile about getting my orange belt; it's not working. I mean, that took me almost 6 months to get that belt, I think I have a right to be completely and utterly pleased with myself, don't you think? Anyway. Sorry for the late-ish post; blame the PE assignment. And society.
Orange down; next stop, yellow,
AB
Monday, September 28, 2009
That's Mondaymatics
Well, I was going to title this 'The Beginning of the End.' But, erm, I've already used that (damn my preemptive title stealing!). So I've decided to make a reference to Tom Lehrer, and his classic song, 'That's Mathematics' (here it is. Soon I hope to sing it.). I also use it to mention how it's Monday. So, yeah. Let's have a look at my day.
Period 1 was Geography, where we changed rooms for some reason or another. We never got told why. What we just did in class was look through topographic maps. And I'm not the biggest fan of topographic maps (seriously, what's the point?). We also looked at longitude and latitude; I still can't tell them apart. I am getting better, but it's a slow thing. Period 2 was Science, in which Robson returned! It's been a while. He started off the lesson by talking about his trip to China, in which it appeared he was pretty lucky. Apparently, he was one of two people out of 30 in his tour group who wasn't awfully sick (as in, in their hotel rooms unable to move or in hospital). What we actually did in class (apart from the 20 minute talk about his trip) was look at Newton's Third Law again, featuring another return of the mutant horse (man, I should really trademark that, last seen almost 3 weeks ago (specifically, September 9). Recess was spent talking to mostly Ian about history (ultra-nerdy, I know. But Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire is a really interesting topic) and John and such about Battlefield Heroes.
Period 3 was Agriculture, where we did another budget for a farm. What it really is an exercise in calculator work, and if you know what you're doing, it's really easy (hell, even if you don't know what you're doing. It's putting numbers in; it ain't exactly rocket surgery. Wait...). So most of the class, me included, finished with about 20 minutes to go. So I read for the rest of the period. Next was PE, in which we wrote a mock letter to somebody of your choosing regarding a teen problem in your area of study for the assignment (road safety. Also, damn that's a confusing sentence.). I wrote about my teenage son (I called him Zac, as homage to my book. Which is actually coming along well.) whose car broke. Lunch was cards, as we risked it with the Year 12s around. Muck-Up Day is tomorrow, and they're getting ready. I actually got hit by a water balloon, but I was extraordinarily lucky, and it bounced off me. I'm just amazed that that can happen.
Period 5 was Maths, in which we did yet another practice test. I guess they're getting us ready for the Yearlies and School Certificate, but they're getting bloody boring. Although, it did have one of the easiest Maths questions I've seen for a Year 10 exam (possibly even any exam). What it was is that we had two triangles that were similar. One had sides of 6, 6 and 9. The other had sides of 6, 6 and __. I swear, they must think we're stupid or something. Period 6 was Drama, in which Kolodziej was here, but we didn't watch 'Fawlty Towers' yet again. Instead, we went up to the library and watched a video on the different types of humour, featuring one of the funniest men ever, Rowan Atkinson (I'm not sure who would be the funniest, but he would be up there. So would John Cleese.). When I got home, I did some work, and around 7, we left for hapkido.
Before class, I congratulated Amadeus on his green belt status (he is younger than most people in the class, me included, and he is a green belt. The guy's a hapkido freak.). I was then doing some stretches before class, when I was called over by the receptionist, whose name I still don't know (I swear, I'll learn it soon). She said to me that the printer was out of ink, and then looked at me. I then put two and two together. Basically, when you get a belt promotion, you get a certificate and the new belt. No ink means no certificate, and therefore... (a witch!). So what I'm guessing is that I should have got it today, but will instead get it on Wednesday. Well, here's hoping. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.
To comments now, but first a comment I got about Friday's post, which I just got.
*Mango: I already went through this! Also, at the end of this sentence, this reply will be exactly 12 times longer than your actual comment! Jees.
Now, Ebony's for yesterday.
*Ebony: I didn't? Well, they're fixed now. Though, yeah, it wasn't actually that interesting of a day.
And that was my day. Tomorrow's post should be a fairly long one, what with Muck-Up Day and going to the orthodontist and all. Anyway. I look forward to Wednesday, when my orange belt may come to me. I'll love that, if it happens, of course.
Damn, you're fun to quote, Tom Lehrer,
AB
Period 1 was Geography, where we changed rooms for some reason or another. We never got told why. What we just did in class was look through topographic maps. And I'm not the biggest fan of topographic maps (seriously, what's the point?). We also looked at longitude and latitude; I still can't tell them apart. I am getting better, but it's a slow thing. Period 2 was Science, in which Robson returned! It's been a while. He started off the lesson by talking about his trip to China, in which it appeared he was pretty lucky. Apparently, he was one of two people out of 30 in his tour group who wasn't awfully sick (as in, in their hotel rooms unable to move or in hospital). What we actually did in class (apart from the 20 minute talk about his trip) was look at Newton's Third Law again, featuring another return of the mutant horse (man, I should really trademark that, last seen almost 3 weeks ago (specifically, September 9). Recess was spent talking to mostly Ian about history (ultra-nerdy, I know. But Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire is a really interesting topic) and John and such about Battlefield Heroes.
Period 3 was Agriculture, where we did another budget for a farm. What it really is an exercise in calculator work, and if you know what you're doing, it's really easy (hell, even if you don't know what you're doing. It's putting numbers in; it ain't exactly rocket surgery. Wait...). So most of the class, me included, finished with about 20 minutes to go. So I read for the rest of the period. Next was PE, in which we wrote a mock letter to somebody of your choosing regarding a teen problem in your area of study for the assignment (road safety. Also, damn that's a confusing sentence.). I wrote about my teenage son (I called him Zac, as homage to my book. Which is actually coming along well.) whose car broke. Lunch was cards, as we risked it with the Year 12s around. Muck-Up Day is tomorrow, and they're getting ready. I actually got hit by a water balloon, but I was extraordinarily lucky, and it bounced off me. I'm just amazed that that can happen.
Period 5 was Maths, in which we did yet another practice test. I guess they're getting us ready for the Yearlies and School Certificate, but they're getting bloody boring. Although, it did have one of the easiest Maths questions I've seen for a Year 10 exam (possibly even any exam). What it was is that we had two triangles that were similar. One had sides of 6, 6 and 9. The other had sides of 6, 6 and __. I swear, they must think we're stupid or something. Period 6 was Drama, in which Kolodziej was here, but we didn't watch 'Fawlty Towers' yet again. Instead, we went up to the library and watched a video on the different types of humour, featuring one of the funniest men ever, Rowan Atkinson (I'm not sure who would be the funniest, but he would be up there. So would John Cleese.). When I got home, I did some work, and around 7, we left for hapkido.
Before class, I congratulated Amadeus on his green belt status (he is younger than most people in the class, me included, and he is a green belt. The guy's a hapkido freak.). I was then doing some stretches before class, when I was called over by the receptionist, whose name I still don't know (I swear, I'll learn it soon). She said to me that the printer was out of ink, and then looked at me. I then put two and two together. Basically, when you get a belt promotion, you get a certificate and the new belt. No ink means no certificate, and therefore... (a witch!). So what I'm guessing is that I should have got it today, but will instead get it on Wednesday. Well, here's hoping. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.
To comments now, but first a comment I got about Friday's post, which I just got.
*Mango: I already went through this! Also, at the end of this sentence, this reply will be exactly 12 times longer than your actual comment! Jees.
Now, Ebony's for yesterday.
*Ebony: I didn't? Well, they're fixed now. Though, yeah, it wasn't actually that interesting of a day.
And that was my day. Tomorrow's post should be a fairly long one, what with Muck-Up Day and going to the orthodontist and all. Anyway. I look forward to Wednesday, when my orange belt may come to me. I'll love that, if it happens, of course.
Damn, you're fun to quote, Tom Lehrer,
AB
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Another One In the Dust
OK, there was a dust storm in Sydney today; I'll get to that, most likely in the first real paragraph. But, you know, I had a most favourable opportunity to quote Queen (what other songs have 'dust' in them?), and I did. You know how I love Queen, and if you don't, you really should. Anyway. Let's have a look at my day, which was just downright bizarre in some cases.
I woke up at 6, as I do, and I looked out of the window, you know, just glancing. The whole of the outside was a dark orange colour, almost red. It seemed like the windows were tinted; it was freaky. It was as if the house had been teleported to Mars. Wikipedia already has an article on it (I mean, wow, that was quick), but it also has a picture. The outside of my house looked something like this (I didn't take this picture, mind you. But the whole of Sydney looked like this, so, yeah.). It started to clear after a while, after powerful winds swept the dust cloud away, gradually but surely.
When I got to school, most of the dust cloud had gone, but there was still dust on almost everything. Periods 1 and 2 were PE, in which Wilson said that, due to health problems caused by the dust, we couldn't go outside. So what we did for the two periods was go into the dance studio and look for magazine cutouts in Men's Health and those types of magazines for our PE scrapbook (which is due Friday week. Goddamn!). However, as I'm doing road safety, and that was in none of the magazines (I didn't really expect it to be), I just read the mags, read some of the book I brought, and worked out the plot for the book I'm trying to write. I haven't looked at it in a while, and I thought that I might as well get back to it.
Recess was 31, since John and Andy weren't here. Period 3 was Commerce, in which we went to the computer rooms to do some more of our assignment. I really hope I finish soon; what with the Geo assignment and the PE assignment. Oh, I can't wait for the holidays. But, yeah, pretty much the entire period was a bludge. Most computer periods are. Lunch was 13 with me, Kevin and Victor, since Ebony was with her friends.
Next was School Sport, or rather it would be if not for that dust storm this morning. Like in PE, it was still a health hazard (it apparently was to be for the whole day). So what we did was go to one of the Ag rooms and watch 'Groundhog Day.' So what we did was go to one of the Ag rooms and watch 'Groundhog Day.' (OK, that was intentional. If you have watched the movie, you will find that funny. If not, you will most likely be completely confused. Watch it.). While we watched the movie, we also played cards. After Sport (in name only), I got home, and did some assignment. At around 7, we left for hapkido.
Shirisha was there (she wasn't there on Monday, apparently), but Grandmaster Geoff wasn't. I'm not entirely sure why, but I suspect he'll tell us so next Monday, if he's there. Instead, we had this black belt (I'm not sure of his name, but he's there a bit), who worked us quite a bit. After my class off on Monday, I was still working into it. At the end of the class, while waiting around in meditation, I saw the receptionist bring out an orange belt. My heart rose in anticipation; and sank in disappointment, after it transpired that it belonged to somebody else. Soon, soon I will get it. When I got home, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.
To comments now, one from Mango.
*Mango: Curse you and your radians! I've known about that calculator function for ages, man, and you take it off me. That just ain't fair! Lol.
And that was my day. Sorry for the later post, although it was a much longer one. I do like the long post, though you may have already known that. I just like to write a lot. Anyway. I'll attempt to get back on schedule soon, though we'll just have to see.
Don't I love to quote Queen,
AB
I woke up at 6, as I do, and I looked out of the window, you know, just glancing. The whole of the outside was a dark orange colour, almost red. It seemed like the windows were tinted; it was freaky. It was as if the house had been teleported to Mars. Wikipedia already has an article on it (I mean, wow, that was quick), but it also has a picture. The outside of my house looked something like this (I didn't take this picture, mind you. But the whole of Sydney looked like this, so, yeah.). It started to clear after a while, after powerful winds swept the dust cloud away, gradually but surely.
When I got to school, most of the dust cloud had gone, but there was still dust on almost everything. Periods 1 and 2 were PE, in which Wilson said that, due to health problems caused by the dust, we couldn't go outside. So what we did for the two periods was go into the dance studio and look for magazine cutouts in Men's Health and those types of magazines for our PE scrapbook (which is due Friday week. Goddamn!). However, as I'm doing road safety, and that was in none of the magazines (I didn't really expect it to be), I just read the mags, read some of the book I brought, and worked out the plot for the book I'm trying to write. I haven't looked at it in a while, and I thought that I might as well get back to it.
Recess was 31, since John and Andy weren't here. Period 3 was Commerce, in which we went to the computer rooms to do some more of our assignment. I really hope I finish soon; what with the Geo assignment and the PE assignment. Oh, I can't wait for the holidays. But, yeah, pretty much the entire period was a bludge. Most computer periods are. Lunch was 13 with me, Kevin and Victor, since Ebony was with her friends.
Next was School Sport, or rather it would be if not for that dust storm this morning. Like in PE, it was still a health hazard (it apparently was to be for the whole day). So what we did was go to one of the Ag rooms and watch 'Groundhog Day.' So what we did was go to one of the Ag rooms and watch 'Groundhog Day.' (OK, that was intentional. If you have watched the movie, you will find that funny. If not, you will most likely be completely confused. Watch it.). While we watched the movie, we also played cards. After Sport (in name only), I got home, and did some assignment. At around 7, we left for hapkido.
Shirisha was there (she wasn't there on Monday, apparently), but Grandmaster Geoff wasn't. I'm not entirely sure why, but I suspect he'll tell us so next Monday, if he's there. Instead, we had this black belt (I'm not sure of his name, but he's there a bit), who worked us quite a bit. After my class off on Monday, I was still working into it. At the end of the class, while waiting around in meditation, I saw the receptionist bring out an orange belt. My heart rose in anticipation; and sank in disappointment, after it transpired that it belonged to somebody else. Soon, soon I will get it. When I got home, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.
To comments now, one from Mango.
*Mango: Curse you and your radians! I've known about that calculator function for ages, man, and you take it off me. That just ain't fair! Lol.
And that was my day. Sorry for the later post, although it was a much longer one. I do like the long post, though you may have already known that. I just like to write a lot. Anyway. I'll attempt to get back on schedule soon, though we'll just have to see.
Don't I love to quote Queen,
AB
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
So Much Assignmenting
Yes, I use assignment as a verb. As in, to assignment, meaning to do assignments. Assignmented, assignmenting. Anyway. Enough title explanation. I know the title isn't too good (well, it's bad. No getting around that.), but there was a lot of work. Hell, I've complained about this before; you should know this by now!
I woke up early this morning, and I used the time productively to finish my Science assignment. One down, too many to go. Role Call was us doing a vote for next year's SRC, or rather, voting for a new member for next year's SRC. I'd say who I voted for, but it's a secret ballot. So, yeah. I hope the people I voted for get in, anyway. Period 1 was Ag, in which we went down to the farm to finish off the mulching of our potato beds. By the time we got through doing them, ours was one of the tallest in the class (across the whole grade, even), and definitely the thickest. It looked like a gigantic hay caterpillar monster (if you'll pardon the lack of poetry there). Of course, many Ag prac classes are just excuses to listen to my iPod, which I did. Period 2 was History, in which we did some work on Gough Whitlam. Just some standard stuff, really. Recess was trying to think of names for a new soldier I'm thinking of getting (he's not going to be my main guy, of course. I just want a spare soldier.). Some ideas that were thought up were OMG-SMG, AchillesHeal, RhysPawn (as in, respawn), and my favourite: YellowSubmachine. Yes, they are all plays on words, but I love them all.
Period 3 was Maths, in which we started a new topic, which we found is Extension 1 work for Year 11: 3-D trigonometry. From what I can understand, it's just like regular trigonometry, except it can get a lot harder. Sometimes it's pretty simple, a bit like the trig we're used to, but sometimes it gets a bit complex, to say the least. Lunch was cards, of course, and we got asked to leave the Science block by Crancher (a Maths teacher, mind you) for something that we'd always done and never been told off for. Yeah. Thanks, Crancher. Sport was rugby, and so it was my sacred and sworn duty to try and get out of it as soon as I could. I found a way that often works: find somebody who wants to play who isn't playing, and switch with them. We don't usually switch back. We played cards for a while, and we realised that the 10 of clubs was gone. Nowhere to be seen. Damn. After Sport, I printed out my Science thing in the library (since my printer is being somewhat uncooperative. Read: it doesn't work.), and found the 10 of clubs. It was back where we were playing cards at lunch, of course. I also talked to Ebony for a bit. We talked about whether the plural of Millennium Trains is Millenniums or Millennia (meanwhile, this spellchecker doesn't recognise millennia as a word. What the hell, spellchecker?). We also talked about the new Tangaras, as we were on one. When I got home, I did a lot of my assignment, and around 7, we left for hapkido.
Shirisha went today, but Shaylee didn't. And she won't, because she gave me a call, saying she quit. She apparently couldn't balance everything, what with work and all, and she gave up hapkido as a result. Bugger. Ah well, though. I suppose that happens. The class today was a real workout, as the first 20 minutes or so was spent doing isometric exercises, stretches, push-ups, crunches... You get the picture. One big workout. The rest was good, although I didn't get my orange belt. I guess I'm still waiting for it. Ah, maybe Monday. We'll just have to see.
And that was my day. I should be finished my English assignment by tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow night, depending on how things work out. We'll just have to see. The posting will all relate to what happens then.
I will be so glad when this week is over,
AB
I woke up early this morning, and I used the time productively to finish my Science assignment. One down, too many to go. Role Call was us doing a vote for next year's SRC, or rather, voting for a new member for next year's SRC. I'd say who I voted for, but it's a secret ballot. So, yeah. I hope the people I voted for get in, anyway. Period 1 was Ag, in which we went down to the farm to finish off the mulching of our potato beds. By the time we got through doing them, ours was one of the tallest in the class (across the whole grade, even), and definitely the thickest. It looked like a gigantic hay caterpillar monster (if you'll pardon the lack of poetry there). Of course, many Ag prac classes are just excuses to listen to my iPod, which I did. Period 2 was History, in which we did some work on Gough Whitlam. Just some standard stuff, really. Recess was trying to think of names for a new soldier I'm thinking of getting (he's not going to be my main guy, of course. I just want a spare soldier.). Some ideas that were thought up were OMG-SMG, AchillesHeal, RhysPawn (as in, respawn), and my favourite: YellowSubmachine. Yes, they are all plays on words, but I love them all.
Period 3 was Maths, in which we started a new topic, which we found is Extension 1 work for Year 11: 3-D trigonometry. From what I can understand, it's just like regular trigonometry, except it can get a lot harder. Sometimes it's pretty simple, a bit like the trig we're used to, but sometimes it gets a bit complex, to say the least. Lunch was cards, of course, and we got asked to leave the Science block by Crancher (a Maths teacher, mind you) for something that we'd always done and never been told off for. Yeah. Thanks, Crancher. Sport was rugby, and so it was my sacred and sworn duty to try and get out of it as soon as I could. I found a way that often works: find somebody who wants to play who isn't playing, and switch with them. We don't usually switch back. We played cards for a while, and we realised that the 10 of clubs was gone. Nowhere to be seen. Damn. After Sport, I printed out my Science thing in the library (since my printer is being somewhat uncooperative. Read: it doesn't work.), and found the 10 of clubs. It was back where we were playing cards at lunch, of course. I also talked to Ebony for a bit. We talked about whether the plural of Millennium Trains is Millenniums or Millennia (meanwhile, this spellchecker doesn't recognise millennia as a word. What the hell, spellchecker?). We also talked about the new Tangaras, as we were on one. When I got home, I did a lot of my assignment, and around 7, we left for hapkido.
Shirisha went today, but Shaylee didn't. And she won't, because she gave me a call, saying she quit. She apparently couldn't balance everything, what with work and all, and she gave up hapkido as a result. Bugger. Ah well, though. I suppose that happens. The class today was a real workout, as the first 20 minutes or so was spent doing isometric exercises, stretches, push-ups, crunches... You get the picture. One big workout. The rest was good, although I didn't get my orange belt. I guess I'm still waiting for it. Ah, maybe Monday. We'll just have to see.
And that was my day. I should be finished my English assignment by tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow night, depending on how things work out. We'll just have to see. The posting will all relate to what happens then.
I will be so glad when this week is over,
AB
Monday, September 14, 2009
A Manic Monday
Allow me to say that that is not such a lame title, I am quoting (probably misquoting) from Futurama, and specifically, Love and Rocket (I'll let Wikipedia explain, if you are one of those poor individuals who hasn't seen Futurama.). Anyway. Now that that's over, I can get to my day, so that this post isn't so delayed. Assignments, remember (although I wish I could forget)?
Mum drove me to school, as we left late and otherwise I probably would have missed my train. However, due to the car travel time, I actually got to school early, so I was able to do a bit of my assignment at school (I sent it to the school's computers just in case). Period 1 was Maths, in which we did some Maths stuff that looks difficult but was actually somewhat easy (did you know that the square root of 8 multiplied by sin 15 equals the square root of 3 minus 1? Neither did I!). One of the boarders (I think her name is Zoe) also came to our class for some reason. No idea why. Period 2 was Drama, in which we went to do some acting out of a scene from 'King Oedipus.' (I keep calling it 'Oedipus Rex,' if only because of the Tom Lehrer song. Listen to it on Youtube.) Remember on Thursday when I was doing that assignment? Turns out we were supposed to be practicing for this very performance. Goddamn! Luckily, Cam and I didn't have to do it today, and the scene we picked out isn't particularly difficult. Recess was talking, and cards.
Period 3 was Commerce, in which we went to a seminar in the library about how we should study Law at the University of Wollongong, much like the Thursday before last when we did the same for Ag. It wasn't a bad presentation, but it got sort of rambling towards the middle, and the person started speaking in a bit of a monotone. Although, based on their presentation, it sounds like a really good Uni. Anyway. Period 4 was Science, in which we went back to the library (I know; again), and did some work on my Science assignment (OK, this is utterly ridiculous.). Corinne, Lana and I also talked about our Ag presentations. Apparently mine was 'epic.' I know it sounds like I'm bragging, but... I am. I'm proud of my Ag presentation, man! Lunch was the usual, although we did talk a lot about movies for some reason. It also led to Shafi asking us if 'The Lion King' was Japanese. Oy vey.
Period 5 was English, in which we watched a lot more of the movie 'Shine.' It's getting really good; I would recommend it. The best thing is that the guy who acts like he's had a mental breakdown, Geoffrey Rush, also plays Barbossa from 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' I swear, you would never realise that they were the same person; they don't look or sound the same. At least to me. Period 6 was History, in which we did some work on Gough Whitlam, and how he was ousted (ousted is a weird word. I mean, look at it. Anyway.) in the constitutional crisis of 1975 (let it not be said that I don't learn anything in class. Although, in all fairness I did know that beforehand). I got home at about 3:30, and after a lot of work on my assignment, it was time for hapkido.
Shaylee had work today, so she didn't go. But Shirisha was there today, although she came just in the nick of time. Beforehand, I handed in my attendance card, signature sheet, and $35 to the front desk, so that I can get my orange belt. It's only a matter of time now! In the class today, we started off doing catches and all that, and we did starjumps for the first time in a while. And in case you're thinking, 'Well, they're only starjumps,' try doing 120. On a hot day. In a long sleeved uniform with long pants on. Hapkido gives you quite a bit of a workout. About halfway through, though I had another panic attack: and I refused to let it show. So I pushed through it, and sure enough, I got it to stop, even in the middle of exercise. These are good signs, people. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough. Ah well.
Comments now (yes!), 1 from an anonymous person (even though I think it's pretty obvious who it is):
*Anon: I know assignments are more important than computer games, Dad (lol). And I do agree with you about balance. You know what they say about all work and no play. I laughed when I read that 'breaking things' crack (pun intended); that's good.
And that was my day. Sorry about the late post, though I've already explained this and shouldn't have to explain it again. Probably. Anyway. I'll try to get back on schedule, but assignments come first, I'm afraid.
Hooray for comments,
AB
Mum drove me to school, as we left late and otherwise I probably would have missed my train. However, due to the car travel time, I actually got to school early, so I was able to do a bit of my assignment at school (I sent it to the school's computers just in case). Period 1 was Maths, in which we did some Maths stuff that looks difficult but was actually somewhat easy (did you know that the square root of 8 multiplied by sin 15 equals the square root of 3 minus 1? Neither did I!). One of the boarders (I think her name is Zoe) also came to our class for some reason. No idea why. Period 2 was Drama, in which we went to do some acting out of a scene from 'King Oedipus.' (I keep calling it 'Oedipus Rex,' if only because of the Tom Lehrer song. Listen to it on Youtube.) Remember on Thursday when I was doing that assignment? Turns out we were supposed to be practicing for this very performance. Goddamn! Luckily, Cam and I didn't have to do it today, and the scene we picked out isn't particularly difficult. Recess was talking, and cards.
Period 3 was Commerce, in which we went to a seminar in the library about how we should study Law at the University of Wollongong, much like the Thursday before last when we did the same for Ag. It wasn't a bad presentation, but it got sort of rambling towards the middle, and the person started speaking in a bit of a monotone. Although, based on their presentation, it sounds like a really good Uni. Anyway. Period 4 was Science, in which we went back to the library (I know; again), and did some work on my Science assignment (OK, this is utterly ridiculous.). Corinne, Lana and I also talked about our Ag presentations. Apparently mine was 'epic.' I know it sounds like I'm bragging, but... I am. I'm proud of my Ag presentation, man! Lunch was the usual, although we did talk a lot about movies for some reason. It also led to Shafi asking us if 'The Lion King' was Japanese. Oy vey.
Period 5 was English, in which we watched a lot more of the movie 'Shine.' It's getting really good; I would recommend it. The best thing is that the guy who acts like he's had a mental breakdown, Geoffrey Rush, also plays Barbossa from 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' I swear, you would never realise that they were the same person; they don't look or sound the same. At least to me. Period 6 was History, in which we did some work on Gough Whitlam, and how he was ousted (ousted is a weird word. I mean, look at it. Anyway.) in the constitutional crisis of 1975 (let it not be said that I don't learn anything in class. Although, in all fairness I did know that beforehand). I got home at about 3:30, and after a lot of work on my assignment, it was time for hapkido.
Shaylee had work today, so she didn't go. But Shirisha was there today, although she came just in the nick of time. Beforehand, I handed in my attendance card, signature sheet, and $35 to the front desk, so that I can get my orange belt. It's only a matter of time now! In the class today, we started off doing catches and all that, and we did starjumps for the first time in a while. And in case you're thinking, 'Well, they're only starjumps,' try doing 120. On a hot day. In a long sleeved uniform with long pants on. Hapkido gives you quite a bit of a workout. About halfway through, though I had another panic attack: and I refused to let it show. So I pushed through it, and sure enough, I got it to stop, even in the middle of exercise. These are good signs, people. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough. Ah well.
Comments now (yes!), 1 from an anonymous person (even though I think it's pretty obvious who it is):
*Anon: I know assignments are more important than computer games, Dad (lol). And I do agree with you about balance. You know what they say about all work and no play. I laughed when I read that 'breaking things' crack (pun intended); that's good.
And that was my day. Sorry about the late post, though I've already explained this and shouldn't have to explain it again. Probably. Anyway. I'll try to get back on schedule, but assignments come first, I'm afraid.
Hooray for comments,
AB
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Orange Belt Awaits
By that, of course, I mean that I got my last signature in hapkido. Which in turn means that I'm almost at orange belt. There's still some formalities to go through, but it's a near-certainty now. I'll go through all of that when I get to it. But, yeah, that was the biggest thing that happened today, although I will get to the rest; right now.
Period 1 was Science, in which we talked about Newton's Third Law, which was rather interesting and ended with a mutant horse being drawn on the board which originally levitated and talked telepathically (I know that that probably makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. What I mean is that Robson drew a horse on the board which had no mouth and whose legs didn't touch the ground at first. It made a lot more sense if you were there.). We learnt about many technicalities of the Third Law (well not technicalities, as they're aren't really trivial. But rather, it's more complicated than it seems, and we learnt how that happens.). We also said goodbye to Robson, who was going away for 2 weeks. We are thus getting Bruce as a sub; brilliant (warning: sarcasm). Period 2 was Geography, in which we went to the computer rooms to do some more of the assignment. I also spent about 15 minutes messing around on Excel trying to fix some stuff before I realised what I was trying to do wouldn't work; and even if it did, it wouldn't work in the assignment. Goddamn!
Recess was 13. Period 3 was English, in which we did yet more work for Squizzy Taylor, only this time it was quote mining. In other words, find lines in the book that, for example, say he's a gangster even though it's already made clear that he is a gangster even without a quote that says 'I, Squizzy Taylor, am a gangster.' I managed to find an indirect one, but it wasn't easy. But, enough of my ranting. I also had a look at my English assignment, which is due on Friday week. I started on that, which looks complex, but looking at it, it's actually fairly easy. Not incredibly easy, but still. Easier than it seems. Lunch was also 13, and in which Cam told me to do the script for the Drama assessment. Due tomorrow of course; it just never ends, does it?
It was then Sport, which was rugby yet again. And, unfortunately, the system of playing was made so that it was pretty much compulsory to play. There were 3 teams, and they switched around continuously. Or rather, that was what they said the system was. How it actually turned out was different: our team, whose players included John and Kevin, stayed on the field for the majority of the day. And when I pointed out that I did not really know the rules of rugby, I was told that maybe if I ask other people, they'll tell me. Not the teachers, they don't have nearly enough time (well, one teacher didn't know the rules either. So that's useful.). So, for the pretty much the whole game, I hung back and watched people run. I think I got the ball once, and I passed it away as soon as I could. Towards the end, though, our team did finally leave the game, and so we just played 31 for the rest of the day. And after school, I talked with Ebony, and we had a heated argument about AFL versus NRL. I insist that good old AFL is better and that NRL makes no sense; she says the reverse. Hmm. When I got home, I blogged a bit, and did the Drama script, which was only about a minute or so, so not too hard. Around 7, we left for hapkido.
Shay had work, as it seems she now has every Wednesday, but Shirisha was there, which is twice in a week. I don't think that's happened before, but I could be very wrong. The class was going well, and then it was time for my back roll signature. I was slightly confident, but not very. I went for it, and in the end, Grandmaster Geoff said: 'Go as fast as you can.' So I did, and I then promptly got my back roll signature. I did a silent expression of relief and joy (I can't explain it well, but I mouthed the word 'Yes!' while forming my right hand into a fist and brought my arm down, like I was pulling something down slowly. Hard to put it any way else.). I had gotten my very last white belt signature, thus leaving very little in my way to orange belt. The sad thing is that I didn't have to do a roll on my wrong side; the very reason I was putting it off. Oy vey. So what I now have to do now to get my orange is to submit my sheet with all my signatures and the my card with the dates of doing hapkido on it, along with $35 (I assume to buy a new belt), and wait. When I got in the car, I told Mum, 'I have bad news,' while turning away so she couldn't see me smiling. When she asked why, I replied: 'You're gonna have to pay $35...' And then she got it. I called Dad, and when I got home, I posted. But not enough.
And that was my day. Sorry about the later post, but hapkido was in the way, and there was still a post to do. Not a good combination. Ah well. Soon I will get back. Soon. No promises when.
Soon I will be past my orange belt; Hooray!,
AB
Period 1 was Science, in which we talked about Newton's Third Law, which was rather interesting and ended with a mutant horse being drawn on the board which originally levitated and talked telepathically (I know that that probably makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. What I mean is that Robson drew a horse on the board which had no mouth and whose legs didn't touch the ground at first. It made a lot more sense if you were there.). We learnt about many technicalities of the Third Law (well not technicalities, as they're aren't really trivial. But rather, it's more complicated than it seems, and we learnt how that happens.). We also said goodbye to Robson, who was going away for 2 weeks. We are thus getting Bruce as a sub; brilliant (warning: sarcasm). Period 2 was Geography, in which we went to the computer rooms to do some more of the assignment. I also spent about 15 minutes messing around on Excel trying to fix some stuff before I realised what I was trying to do wouldn't work; and even if it did, it wouldn't work in the assignment. Goddamn!
Recess was 13. Period 3 was English, in which we did yet more work for Squizzy Taylor, only this time it was quote mining. In other words, find lines in the book that, for example, say he's a gangster even though it's already made clear that he is a gangster even without a quote that says 'I, Squizzy Taylor, am a gangster.' I managed to find an indirect one, but it wasn't easy. But, enough of my ranting. I also had a look at my English assignment, which is due on Friday week. I started on that, which looks complex, but looking at it, it's actually fairly easy. Not incredibly easy, but still. Easier than it seems. Lunch was also 13, and in which Cam told me to do the script for the Drama assessment. Due tomorrow of course; it just never ends, does it?
It was then Sport, which was rugby yet again. And, unfortunately, the system of playing was made so that it was pretty much compulsory to play. There were 3 teams, and they switched around continuously. Or rather, that was what they said the system was. How it actually turned out was different: our team, whose players included John and Kevin, stayed on the field for the majority of the day. And when I pointed out that I did not really know the rules of rugby, I was told that maybe if I ask other people, they'll tell me. Not the teachers, they don't have nearly enough time (well, one teacher didn't know the rules either. So that's useful.). So, for the pretty much the whole game, I hung back and watched people run. I think I got the ball once, and I passed it away as soon as I could. Towards the end, though, our team did finally leave the game, and so we just played 31 for the rest of the day. And after school, I talked with Ebony, and we had a heated argument about AFL versus NRL. I insist that good old AFL is better and that NRL makes no sense; she says the reverse. Hmm. When I got home, I blogged a bit, and did the Drama script, which was only about a minute or so, so not too hard. Around 7, we left for hapkido.
Shay had work, as it seems she now has every Wednesday, but Shirisha was there, which is twice in a week. I don't think that's happened before, but I could be very wrong. The class was going well, and then it was time for my back roll signature. I was slightly confident, but not very. I went for it, and in the end, Grandmaster Geoff said: 'Go as fast as you can.' So I did, and I then promptly got my back roll signature. I did a silent expression of relief and joy (I can't explain it well, but I mouthed the word 'Yes!' while forming my right hand into a fist and brought my arm down, like I was pulling something down slowly. Hard to put it any way else.). I had gotten my very last white belt signature, thus leaving very little in my way to orange belt. The sad thing is that I didn't have to do a roll on my wrong side; the very reason I was putting it off. Oy vey. So what I now have to do now to get my orange is to submit my sheet with all my signatures and the my card with the dates of doing hapkido on it, along with $35 (I assume to buy a new belt), and wait. When I got in the car, I told Mum, 'I have bad news,' while turning away so she couldn't see me smiling. When she asked why, I replied: 'You're gonna have to pay $35...' And then she got it. I called Dad, and when I got home, I posted. But not enough.
And that was my day. Sorry about the later post, but hapkido was in the way, and there was still a post to do. Not a good combination. Ah well. Soon I will get back. Soon. No promises when.
Soon I will be past my orange belt; Hooray!,
AB
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