An End and a Beginning

Well, my friends, you have seen many a post, and if you've been following my blog, you will notice that it's the 23rd of January, and there hasn't been a post since the 5th. Of December. And it has slowly come to my attention that this blog is slowly slipping away. So, it is to my regret that I cannot keep up with the month's worth of posts. And so, readers, I must say goodbye to the type of blog in which I post about every single day. Instead, I am going to begin to post whenever I feel like it, and about whatever I want.

Rest assured I am not taking this decision lightly. I have been thinking about this for a while, ever since I realised there was a month of posting to do and there wasn't much chance of it getting done. My blog is thus undergoing a transition of such. With this in mind, I need to do two things. One: stop talking like this (I am beginning to sound very stuck-up and formal here. Hooray, brackets!). Two: recap everything that has happened in the last month, in one post. So, of course, it won't be as detailed as every post. Though, it will be very long. Then, I'll talk about precisely which way the blog is going, and comment replies.

Bloody hell, there is a lot to write here. So, I'll try to do one or two paragraphs for every day that I want to blog about, because some days I did nothing and I forgot about more. (oh, boy, this will be long. Really long.), although there may be problems with some days. That's understandable, though. Bear with me here, for this is a post that may seemingly go on forever. It'll go up to the end of 2009 in detail, because I took notes. Not much afterwards, though.

*Monday, 7 December: The last week of school started today, and Period 1 was Ag, where we dug up potatoes by the kilo. There were two bags full. That's Hurlstone for you. Most of the day wasn't too exciting, although at Lunch I had a rant similar to the one I did about 2012. After school, we had EJ's formal to go to, which brought up memories of my Year 6 formal. Happy days, my friends, happy days.
*Tuesday, 8 December: Period 1 was Science, and it was funny. We proved much of science wrong (though some experiments may have been set up wrong.). We tried to make the greenhouse effect, and the carbon dioxide bottle got cooler; and Pitt tried to show us how you can't get a bottle to break by throwing it against a wall. I broke it on the first try. Next was Geography, we watched a little of 'The Gods Must Be Crazy.' Period 3 was listening to a funny speech by Will Ferrell, and next was Period 4, where we watched the Muppets on Youtube with Rawson. That was funny. Lunch was puns galore, Period 5 was playing CounterStrike (I sucked), and Period 6 was Commerce, which was playing DotA. I was alright; Ian owned.
*Wednesday, 9 December: You will not believe what happened today, readers. I should have been doing the 'All My Own Work' seminar in Periods 1 and 2. However, while walking into school, I was stopped outside the gate by Coombes, who said that there was a NASA thing going on in the same two periods, and it may be possible that I get into it. Skip to me running around the school to see Norris, and I managed to get into it and do the 'All My Own Work' with 10I (Victor, Eric and Kevin's class.). The NASA thing was very good, and we learnt much. Ebony was jealous. Then, later it was the seminar itself, which was rather simplistic. Put it this way: there was a find-a-word in it. And more than one crossword. I rest my case. Then it was Sport, which was rollerboards, and later iPods. Later, it was hapkido, which was not much special.
*Thursday, 10 December: This was the big day: the final Year 10 Assembly, and the formal. Dear god, I wish I could make a full-length post of this. But that would cause a lot of problems, so I'll try to compress as much as I can. Before school, there was a bit of a fiasco, as I thought I had to wear a winter uniform, instead of a summer uniform. Well, long story short, Mum rushed home, and I changed with barely minutes to go before the ceremony. Which was quite an awesome one. Why? Because I got 5 out of 6 Band 6s in the School Certificate, and 100% in Maths. Only person in the grade to get that. If that doesn't qualify as a right to brag, I seriously don't know what does. Anyway. Soon, we went to the formal, and I was crowned Biggest Nerd of the grade. With the 100% I got (I may mention that a lot), they were great awards. There was a lot of dancing and talking, up until 11.
*Monday, 21 December: (Yeah, I skipped a lot. Holidays blend together.) The main thing that happened was that we went over to Shay's, where we exchanged pressies. I got mangles (man bangles. They don't look too bad.) and books.
*Friday, 25 December: Happy Boxing Eve, everybody! We exchanged presents at around 7:30, and soon went to Aunty Karen's, where it was mostly reading and escaping from their crazy-ass dog. Towards the end of the day, we went to Paul's.
*From Sunday, 27 December to Monday, 4 December: This was the big family vacation, to a town called Port Fairy, which is about 3/4 of the way from Melbourne to the border of Victoria and South Australia. We went with Shay's family, and some of her friends and extended family. There was scuba diving, reading, and Sims 3 on Shay's laptop. Also, New Year's. Happy New Decade, people.
*Saturday, 9 January: Shay and I went shopping for clothes, for my birthday. It was in line with my resolution: To care about my appearance more. We spent $150.
*Sunday, 10 January: I turn 15! Yes, indeed, and I get many a book. There was also 'Family Guy,' and going out to dinner. Banana cake, as well. Mmm, banana cake.

I have not much else to add. I mean, two weeks, a lot blends together. That's a problem. So, I'll just pretty much sign off here. I shall blog when the mood takes me. Otherwise, I won't. Farewell, previous blog mode. It's been fun.

For a new future,
AB

Official Duty

As in, I did Office Duty. OK, this play on words is not all that great. While things did happen in the day, the problem is that they didn't make for the best titles. I hate when that happens. Ah well. So, to my day, where I did more than just Office Duty (if I can make that clear).

When the bell went, I went on the computers, of course, and Kevin and I tried to go straight into Warcraft III. However, someone had to do Office Duty, and as I hadn't done it, I was chosen, along with Jackie. So, with a heavy heart (I mean, we could have played Warcraft III. I like that game, although I suck against the computer.), I got my bag, and made my way to the office, where I promptly read. When I'd finished the book I was reading (and of course, I'd taken my other book, the one I was going to read, out of my bag just this morning), I promptly got bored, and started thinking of things I could do to pass the time. After some pondering, I hit upon an idea: chess! But how to do it, I wondered. What I originally planned was drawing the pieces on a piece of paper, and then rubbing them out and drawing them somewhere else (I would, of course, use pencil.). I told this to Jackie (or rather, I suggested we play chess), who then had a better idea. He then left the office and came back with a chess set and board (presumably from the library), and we began to play. We played throughout Recess, with me winning a game, him winning a game, and me again pulling off a spectacular stalemate (I was almost dead, too. I'm surprised I could force a draw; he had two rooks left.). We also attempted to play checkers, with pawns being the regular pieces and the other pieces being the kings. We had little idea how to play, but we worked around that.

At Lunch, though, I actually met up with Kevin, and found out what he had been doing in the Library while Jackie and I had been running errands (answer: very little. It was apparently very boring.). We then watched the entire Abridged movie on my iPod (yes, the guy abridged the whole movie. It goes for over half an hour. And damn, it's funny.). I was surprised it didn't run out of charge, but there you go. After Lunch, Jackie and I went back, and tried to play some more checkers, but we were interrupted, and we went down to the hall to set up for some assembly thing for parents (I think Year 12s had something to do with it, but I'm not too sure.). I got a Mars Bar for doing it (mmm, chocolate...). Then, when the bell went, I made my way home, where Dad handed me his phone, after he bought an iPhone (he really likes technology. You should see our TV. Any wider and we would need to seriously reconfigure the lounge room. Seriously. Dad has a thing for big TVs.). So I was told to trial his phone for a week, and I was a little reluctant (I'm proud of my almost 6-year-old phone. Just for the fact that it is old.). And then I went to the movies.

I'm sorry, that may have come out of nowhere. But pretty much Shaylee invited me to watch 'New Moon,' and we brought along EJ and Lachlan, who both enjoy it (although, I'm guessing they only like it for the vampires. And the werewolves. I'm not going to explain what 'New Moon' is, because that's pretty sad if you don't know it.). Within an hour in, the phone broke, which was, as you can probably guess, a major detractor in the possibility of me deciding to use the phone (do I have to use long words like that? Well, I only do it to try to express what I'm saying in as little words as possible.). However, Shay got it to work, and we soon watched the movie. The movie itself was good, although it is not fun listening to half of the girls in the audience screaming for Edward, and the other half for Jacob. After the movie, I got dinner, thanks to Jo, and I went to blog.

This was what happened on this particular Thursday. I know this post is incredibly late, but, well, it's a self-perpetuating cycle of late posts, where one leads to another. Don't worry, though, I am working towards getting them back up on time. I am.

I did enjoy the movie,
AB

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

Circus: Tour '09

Yes, that's right, it's the big day today! The concert I've been waiting for in spirit for about a decade (I've been a Britney Spears fan since then), and actually been waiting for since I found out about it in maybe February (I mentioned it in passing when I talked about the Veronicas concert. Jees, has it been that long?). The first time she's been to Australia, and I went to the first concert in Sydney. So, I'm going to talk about my day, and then go on about the concert. So probably expect a post of epic proportions.

When I got to school, it seemed somewhat deserted, as there was nobody at our table (with the Year 10s and 12s gone, the school seems a lot emptier.). So I took a guess and headed up to the library where, sure enough, I found Kevin watching Andy play on his PSP. I also saw Alice and Rhoda, so there were good signs as to how many people would show up. When the bell went, we stayed at the library, as we were staying there. 5 people showed up, and I'm including the people I already said, the last one being a guy called Jackie (Andy is in Year 9, for those who don't know). We were given a booklet to start off with, which was packed full of mindless, repetitive work that really wasn't all that exciting. Luckily, the boredom was punctured by a teacher asking Kevin, Jackie and me (Alice and Rhoda were doing office duty) to show a family around Hurlstone for a tour, as they weren't going to be at Orientation Day. The kid (I think her name was Rahini, or something.) came from the same school as EJ, so they knew him. I showed them all around, from the hall to the cows to the uniform shed. When I was done, it was pretty much the end of Recess, and so we then went back to the library.

At the library, I surfed the net a little, and I discovered that you could download Scratch on the school's computer, and I promptly did (I'm surprised; I thought something blocked that on the computers. But, there isn't, so, cool.). I then surfed the net and found that you can get two player chess online (learning something new about these computers.). I thus promptly played with Kevin, with both of us winning one game. We also surfed the net. Lunch was showing Kevin some Abridged on my iPod.

Next, I went on the computers, and Kevin introduced me to a little thing called 'Fantastic Contraptions.' What it is is a website wherein you get a lot of gears and that type of thing, and get an object into an area (I assure you, it sounds much less fun than it actually is. It is very fun, and you can play it on the website, appropriately called 'Fantastic Contraption.'). I was playing that for quite a while, struggling with some of the levels, which involved (in some cases) moving stuff around while still trying to keep a vehicle upright. It was a bit difficult, but I managed to pull it off eventually. When the bell went, I went home, and I then prepared for the big concert.

We (Shay and I, she's going too) got to Acer Arena for the Britney Spears concert (I never get tired of saying that) at around 6:30, and I got some merchandise (I got a program and a keyring. I would have gotten a hat, but they were a bit expensive. Ah well.). It was here I found one thing: there were seemingly no other guys here except me and the security guards (I have since found out that females outnumbered men by a six-to-one ratio. Quite frankly, I'm surprised it wasn't more than that.) So we went into the arena, where Shay and I bought dinner, which was mostly chips and drinks, although I also had fish. We finished our dinner and went into the concert by about 7:30.

It was gigantic. If you've never been to Acer Arena, imagine a big stadium, sort of like Telstra Stadium or the SCG or something like that (and if you've never been there, shame.), then put a small stage there, right in the centre. We found our seats, which were truly excellent seats, by the way (they were close enough so you could really see the stage, in all its detail. We were about level with the stage, and about 50 m away, although I'm not the greatest when it comes to judging distance. Close, is what I'm trying to say here.). At 8, the curtain rose; to see a DJ, who it turns out was a woman called Havana Brown (I've never heard of her, tell you truth, but she was quite good, and not that bad looking.). From the back, she looked a little like Britney, but when she turned around, I was slightly confused. I mean, I sort of expected Britney to be there, but she wasn't (not that I noticed straight away. I was thick there. But I suspected it once I saw her face.). She went off the stage at 9, and we then had a countdown to when she would come out. And at 9:30, the stars came out. Or, rather, the one star: Britney Spears (I'm sorry, as soon as I thought of it, it had to be said.).

Now, I'm sure that, unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard that Britney was going to lip-sync in concerts. Now, she started off with 'Circus,' and while I knew she was going to lip-sync, she could have fooled me. She was very good, and the dancing was really good. It was way better than the Veronicas concert, and even Shay agreed with me. Britney did a lot of dancing (she looked pretty good too), and she sang, throughout the night, basically every great Britney Spears song under the sun, except for two: 'My Prerogative' and 'Oops!... I Did It Again.' She did everything from '...Baby One More Time' to 'Toxic' to 'Womanizer,' but she did not do 'Oops!... I Did It Again,' which is probably my favourite Britney Spears song. She did sing one song live (although I could have sworn she sung others live, she did not), and it was 'Everytime.' If you have ever heard 'Everytime,' you will most likely love it, and she sang it live. There was only one problem: because of a coincidence of lighting, I could barely see anything as Britney was blocked out by a spotlight. I only managed to see her by covering the spotlight with my program and closing one eye (it was difficult. Still, it was good.). She finished the concert by about 10:30, after 'Womanizer,' and confetti rained down. I could say that it was the best concert I've ever been to, but my experience is limited. It was very good though. I ended up getting home and falling asleep by about 12:15 (what, in the morning?).

That was my day, which was a great one. I'd like to take this time out, to apologise for posts that are late, and posts that haven't occurred yet (yes, I am quoting Akon shamelessly. I should know that song, I made a parody of it. Which was sort of a success. Then I sang it, which was a bit of a failure. My singing is not all that great.). Seriously though, I know this post is spectacularly late, and I'm working towards it. But, until then, we're gonna have to grin and bear it. Anyway. Today was brilliant, and I fully loved the concert.

That's one life goal fulfilled,
AB

Cutting and Cooking

In cutting, I mean I did mowing of the lawn (I needed a thesaurus for that one; I was having difficulty), and by cooking, I really mean helping my Dad out with a barbecue. I also did other things, but working that into the title might be pushing it. Anyway. So, yeah, let's get to my day, shall we?

I got up at about 7:30, as we were going to our grandparents' place for morning tea (well, not all of our grandparents. EJ's and my grandparents, Mum's parents... Nanny and Poppa, OK?). We went because Poppa's birthday was on Wednesday, and we came over to celebrate that. I ended up bringing my cards. So we got to Nanny and Poppa's, and we (everyone except EJ) all talked about Christmas and birthday presents and that type of thing, for quite a while. We also talked about my electives, and my exams and so on. By this time, of course, EJ was bored out of his brain, with there being nobody around to play anything with (Dad and EJ are the type of people who need others around to have fun. Mum and I are the opposite, as we can entertain ourselves without company. That's not to say we don't prefer company, but... anyway.). However, soon I figured it was time to go play with EJ, who promptly beat me at chess (I'm not the greatest at chess, I'm the first to admit.). I then made up for it by beating him at cards a few times. Everything works out in the end.

When we were finished up at Nanny and Poppa's, we went shopping, or rather, I sat in the car while Mum and Dad went into Bunnings to pick up some stuff for the lawns. When we eventually did get home, we briefly got some lunch, and then we went straight into doing the lawns, as we hadn't finished from last time. So I got my iPod out, as I do almost all the time when I'm doing the lawns, and after a few hours of listening to random songs from my iPod and occasional whipper-snipper problems (aren't there always problems with that whipper-snipper? Or, with all of them. This one kept having problems with the cutting cord, of which I still have no idea as to its actual name. 'Cutting cord' is probably going to stay.), it had been done. The lawn was done, the whipper-snippering was completed; at least for another few weeks.

When that was done, it was something like 4, and I adjourned to my laptop for the first actual time for the day (isn't that crazy? First real time was at 4... Another reason for the late posting.), and soon, I had to go out and help Dad cook a barbecue. Is it hard? I wouldn't say so, although the occasional rather large tongues of fire that leapt up as a result of the fat dripping off the sausages made me somewhat nervous. Other than that, it wasn't too hard (can I just now express my love of kebabs, which was something else we also cooked. Also tacos, although that has little to do with barbecuing.). And when we had dinner and so on, I tried to post back, but it was a problem. Ah well.

And that was my day. I am trying to get back, but after the revelation that there will be more late nights (especially tomorrow; the big night, the Britney Spears concert! To say that I am excited is an understatement.), well, let's say it may be a while, though I am trying. Also, can I point out one more thing: I made it to 200,000 words. Wow. Just, wow.

Can't wait for tomorrow,
AB

Bludge & Gold

OK, I'm having slight titling difficulties. This one is a reference to the song 'Black & Gold.' So, yeah. I know my titling is a problem, I am trying to fix it. Some things are unavoidable though. Ah well. I better get to my day, which was quite good.

I was driven to school, after a stuff-up I made with packing my bag, and so I got to school early. At school, I talked to people, and I somehow started going nuts with puns, shoehorning everybody's names into puns (or, at least, I tried. I got most people though.). Throughout Role Call, which was first, I tried to think of a pun to go with Victor's last name (he said I couldn't do it. I got into the mindset that there had to be one, and I was going to find it.). We then had Assembly, and I told Victor and Ebony (who was with him, of course) what I had come up with, which was not something to write home about, but acceptable. In the Assembly itself, we had one guy who finally explained the signs that were up around the school about calling something 'gay' (it's hard to really explain, but he was pretty much saying that calling something 'gay' was wrong, comparing it to calling someone Asian or Christian, and to pick something else, which I fully agree with.). Most people I talked to were all behind him, some people were against him, and at least one person entirely missed the point, calling him 'gay.' Oy vey.

Period 1 was Geography, where we watched more of that 'Man vs. Wild' thing, with the guy this time going to Belize, where he told viewers to stay clear of a boa constrictor; and then promptly attacking it. I mean, he did kill it (and eat it), but if you don't get to kill it, then you could be in a bit of a fix. He also ate spider-scorpions (a sort of cross between the two, found in a cave. I forget the actual name, though.), and went after a rat. Period 2 was Science, in which we finished the experiment on pendulums (in the plural, I refer you to yesterday's post.). I think we mostly got an accelerator due to gravity of about 9.6, which is pretty damn close for a Year 10 experiment, I must say. Recess was me up at the office trying to pay for raffle tickets and return unsold ones, which took up a bit and I didn't get finished.

Period 3 was Ag, and we all went down to the farm to check our potatoes. We mostly spent the period weeding and mulching, and I of course listened to my iPod. The various groups and classes are all having different levels of successes with weeds, with some being almost free of them, and some being packed so close to the potato plants that you can't see the beds properly and pulling them out would be a significant hassle. It's pretty surprising (we are going pretty well, by the way.). Period 4 was PE, and we got our exams back. It seems a lot of people messed up, with the highest mark I saw being something like 85%. I actually got second in the class, which I'm pretty satisfied with (I really want to mention something here, although it's a little braggy, but here goes. I have had at least 4 top two results in exams in my class, not counting the Trial SCs that don't count, so to speak, with those being Commerce, Drama, Science and PE. I don't want to seem like I'm showing off, but that's damn good, if I do say so myself.). Lunch was the raffle tickets, doing a brief 'Bohemian Rhapsody' thing with Victor (at least four people in the group know a lot of the words to it: John, Ebony, Victor and me.), and talking about a burn that Ian did to Matt. I wasn't there, but I was told what happened by separate people, and suffice to say that it was the most epic burn I have ever heard, with little exaggeration. And coming from Ian... anyway.

Period 5 was Maths, and we were going to do probability before I brought up my School Certificate last question (the one about the sum of the cubes.). Rawson then got the class and him to work it out mathematically, which I didn't do in the exam. And for good reason, as it took quite a bit of the class (I got it right, by the way. Oh, yeah.). You have to work it out by mathematical induction (I'm not entirely sure what it is, but the Wikipedia article explains it pretty well.). Period 6 was Drama, and we had a pretty fun, sort of bludgy lesson wherein we talked about the play we are doing in a few weeks, the Michael Jackson tribute one. At one point, though, in the midst of discussing a lot of random stuff, Kolodziej came out with 'I wish there were more kid like Alex.' To which I responded with an confused and surprised look. It was jut something to do with doing well in class and doing what Kolodziej says, but still, it threw me quite a bit. We also talked about the Britney Spears concert, which I'm going to on Monday in place of camp (jees, I can't wait. It's gonna be great.). When I got home, I blogged some, and then we as a family watched a movie, which was 'The Boat That Rocked.' It was a pretty good movie; I sure enjoyed it.

That was my Friday. I'll really try to get back up when it comes to the ways of the on time posting, but we'll have to see. I'm just lucky my memory has improved slightly and I can remember in some detail about what I did on the days. Anyway.

So ends a week of exams,
AB

Slow and Steady

That's right, we're going slow now that all the exams are done. And, erm, I couldn't really think of any better title. Sorry. Just ain't working out between me and titles for the moment. Ah well. Hopefully soon it'll all be patched up. Anyway. To my day, away!

Period 1 was Science, and we did an experiment, following up on yesterday's results of the assignment. We did work on pendulums (is it pendulums? It seems a bit off, it sounding Latin. Pendula would work, but it too just doesn't seem right. ...OK, I did some brief research on the subject, which can be found here. From now on, I'll just say pendulums. Ah, how crazy the English language is.), and the working out of the acceleration due to gravity of the Earth (do I find this interesting? Yes, I do.). Period 2 was Geography, in which we had a bit of a bludgy period watching a DVD (I know, I'm as shocked as you are) on some show called 'Man vs. Wild,' which was one of those nature survival shows, although it was a little different. A little different in that the guy (whose name is 'Bear,' which doesn't bode well) drinks his urine in the first 15 minutes, eats a spider (which he claims was only a little poisonous), then uses a snake as a necklace as he carries it across a river for some bizarre reason (what makes it worse is that the snake was territorial.). I'm sure it all made sense to him, but we were more than a little confused by the end. Recess was talking.

Period 3 was English, where we looked at a poem by Keats, called 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci.' That may not ring a bell to many, but I still remember looking at the poem from Year 6. I don't remember what I thought of it, but it must have been good for me to remember it from so long ago (it's a bit like 'Lily the Pink,' from which I can still remember some from the one playing of it by a teacher in Year 3. The lyrics are here, if you want to have a look; it's quite catchy.). I enjoyed it. Period 4 was Maths, and our teacher never showed up, and half the class were at their Computer Skills thing. So we all went to A2, and Eric, Kevin and I all watched Abridged on my iPod, and did puzzles and that type of thing. Lunch was talking, and going down to the music room.

Period 5 was Drama, and we all made parody plays on soap operas (you know, the overdramatic, tangled web of relationships show. I'm guessing about half of the people in the plays were gay. It just added to the drama.). Our group didn't get to finish when the bell went, which sucked because I didn't get to do much, but we were improvising most of it anyway. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, really (damn, I love that expression. No idea why though.). Period 6 was Commerce, in which we all watched a video on businesses (it sounds bad, but that's because explaining it would take a long while. It was good, trust me). We also got our results back, and I got 95%, which I believe was top of the class. So, pretty good, I must say. These Yearlies have been good to me (although I haven't got English back...), with the exception of Geography. And when I got home, I struggled with a capped internet, or at least, I think it's capped. I honestly don't know. Still, I'd prefer it if it wasn't of course.

Let's have a look at the comments, one from Shafi.
*Anon: I can tell it's Shafi because (and this needs some explanation) I asked him for a song that he had. However, it's not 'Can't Touch This,' so I have absolutely no idea where that last line comes in (it was 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams.').

And that was what happened in my day. I officially apologise for gradually later posting, but I am having real difficulties keeping up. Soon, soon, soon I'll get back up and I'll be posting in the same day. But not now. Just wait, though, it'll be coming soon.

Hooray for no exams!,
AB

School Certificate: Computer Skills

Well, this is it, folks: the last exam of the School Certificate, and the last exam of the year. We've come a long way for this one (I'm talking about exams, not this particular one), and it is finally the day where we can officially relax. So, with that in mind, why don't we have a look at what happened in the day, the day of the last exam.

Before school, we had Role Call, where I read, and where a lot of people were asking around to see if anybody actually knew where the exam was being held, and not that many people did (a pretty big oversight not to be told where a bloody School Certificate exam is being held, don't you think? I mean, we need it to complete Year 10, and people don't know where... anyway. I think I've made my point.). A few people did, though, which was enough, as we just followed them. Once we knew, we made our way down to Room 42 (insert 'Hitchhiker's Guide' joke here; I certainly did, not that many people noticed or even understood.), and we eventually got into the room.

We all took up our separate computers, and logged in. Now, what happened was that there was a separate program on all of the computers, which, after clicked on, got us to do a computer exam. And the thing was, it would have worked perfectly well off computers (of course, they could have set it up so that if you can't do the exam, then you automatically fail. Aha! That's it! Those sneaky buggers...). So I did the 100 questions, and checked over them twice (it was rather boring when you complete them with about half the time yet to go. I seem to be doing this lately. I don't know whether that means I'm doing it really right or really wrong.). I then settled down to having a close to a rest as you can, before realising that most of the class had finished, and were in fact sitting directly behind me. Oy vey. So I clicked 'I'm Finished,' and went to go listen to my iPod. Eventually, the bell went.

When I went to Recess, I saw a set of speakers (you know, the big speakers) playing music (it seemed like real life had just got its own soundtrack). However, when Recess finished, it transpired why they were there; it was the Remembrance Day service. That went for most of the period, and the majority of the people were respectful (I saw the occasional person talking through it, which I think is a disgrace.). When the service ended, we went to Science, where we briefly talked about our assignments, which we got back (I got 20/25, which was apparently pretty good.). We're also going to be doing some work on experiments, as a lot of people messed up parts of the assignment. Lunch was some Abridged with Kevin.

We then went to School Sport, which was a choice between soccer and netball, which promptly evolved into a choice between netball and netball (it was a difficult decision.). Our team kept winning, so Kevin and I, being in the same team, were stuck playing for ages. However, like many sessions of School Sport, we all went for a drinks break, and the majority of people didn't get up to play sport again (only the people who actually wanted to play, which numbered a few people, but didn't include me.). So I read, and did more Abridged on my iPod with Kevin. I also, eventually, got into a conversation with Alex Bui (the other AB), Kelvin (not Kevin) and Lana about everything from string theory and extra dimensions to the formal and what we're all doing on the holidays (it seems more people than you'd expect are going to Europe.). And when Sport was done, I went and got picked up by Dad, after which we picked EJ up, swung by the local shops, and went home. At around 7;15, we left for hapkido.

Grandmaster Geoff was, oddly enough, not here again (I don't know where he is), but Shirisha was. In the lesson, almost the whole dojang was taken up by people, as they do mixed lessons on Wednesday (as in, with black belts.). It was a rather tiring class, although an enjoyable one. That seems to happen a lot. In it, I tried out some techniques (messing up on more than one occasion, although I am still learning some of the orange belt stuff), and we got taught some stuff about actual fighting, such as how to use the length of your arms and legs (which is not a problem for me). I got home at about 7:45, and we watched 'FlashForward,' although I didn't catch up on posting. So here I am.

And that was my day. Well, there it is, the last exam of the year, and thus about the point where we can stop stressing and just take it easy for the rest of the year (hopefully). Anyway. I'll try to catch up soon, but we'll see when.

5 down, and not a one to go for quite a while,
AB

School Certificate: Mathematics and HSIE

You know, if I had taken the full title, I would have gotten 'School Certificate: Mathematics and History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship.' I have no idea why it is so long. I think 'HSIE' works better anyway: it's more succinct, and it's actually one word (well, acronym, but let's not get technical here.). So, let us have a look at my day.

Before school, I went to the bus stop, and briefly told some guys who were lost where they were (they said that they were trying to get to northern Sydney. No idea how they stuffed up that badly.). When I did get to school, I talked, and suddenly went into a panic: I needed a protractor. I asked Cam, but then everybody laughed. Turned out that about 4 other people in the group had asked him already, and Eric was the lucky one that got it. So I rushed to the Maths staffroom, as I knew that they were lending people stuff for the exam. However, it seemed everybody needed a protractor, and so a lot of people were there. They then told us that we had to get it from our teacher, which was very annoying. What made it worse was that the bell went and neither Rawson nor Faulds had arrived (and knowing how late they get to class, I wasn't too hopeful). Luckily, Crancher gave me one, which was good, because, well, I needed it for the exam, or at the very least, I may have needed it.

We got into the exam, and we, after reading time, put our calculators and part of the exam into an envelope, as they were trying to prevent cheating in the non-calculator test (which makes sense. Just seemed a little odd.). So I did the non-calculator test, and after checking, only had 5 or 10 minutes left. Doing the actual test was much longer, and I only had about 10 or 20 minutes left. The last question was something to do with working out the formula of 1 cubed plus 2 cubed plus... n cubed (or something similar to that). I eventually worked it out, although I may have put too much work into it (it was an exam designated for the average person, and a lot of the kids in our school had trouble with it.). When the exam was finished, we went for a break.

In the break, we went to have a look at our electives, and it doesn't seem like I'll be doing many electives with the people in the group (I mean, a lot of us are still doing Physics and Chemistry and such, but in different time slots. Ah well.). We also tried to do some study for HSIE, but the same thing happened as what happened yesterday; we tried not to stress out. I actually talked about the different names for the book that I'm perpetually trying to write (Soon I'll get around to it, but I won't say when.). I also got my Geography Yearly back and, well, the less said about that the better (I mean, I didn't fail, but I got something like 67%. Not entirely sure how, but anyway.). However, the bell had to go some time, and when it did, we made our way down to the hall.

The last big exam for the year came, and it was HSIE (yes, there is Computer Skills tomorrow, but I'm not particularly concerned. I mean, it's computer skills. What am I using right now to write this post? Exactly.). I did say the full title in the opening paragraph, so I'm not going to repeat myself, but suffice to say that HSIE is not the official title. Anyway. So I went through that, and I don't think it was really hard. I mean, there was a lot of work, and some of it we didn't really study for, or even cover, in class (Luckily, you could do a good answer with a little common sense. Or at least, that's what I'm hoping.). And when the bell went, I wandered over to the uniform shop, listening to my iPod, of course, to get a new blazer for next year (I also found out that EJ is getting a bomber jacket, just as I have and have had since Year 7, as I don't like the jumper. Neither does he.), as Mum was there. So we got that, and when we got home, I studied for the computer skills test. And by studied, I mean I just went on my computer. I blogged, of course, but not enough, unfortunately.

To comments now, two from two people this time. It's a far cry from the good old days of four or five individual commenters, but that's OK.
*Anon: OK, I'll run through them, as I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not (I honestly have no clue). 'Tautology' means unnecessary repetition; having a 'penchant' for something means you have a liking for it; and 'ambivalent' pretty much means you're on the fence (metaphorically speaking).
*Mango: Yeah, I think it was, now that I think of it... Well, if you want to know what it means in more detail, just have a look on an online dictionary (here's the one I usually use. Probably because the URL is easy to remember.).

And that was my day. I'd probably apologise or complain about the late post, but really, it would be no use. Just know, as I've said many times before. I am trying. I really am. I just have a sort of packed schedule, though it should really slow down soon. Anyway.

4 down, 1 to go,
AB

It's The Lawn

Do you enjoy bad puns? Then you'll love this one (even I think this one was terrible.). Basically, I'm referring to 'It's the law.' I was considering 'Taking the Lawn Into My Own Hands,' but that was a bit long. I didn't really feel that I wanted it. Good pun, bad title. Anyway. Let's have a look at what happened in my day. Cue the non-existent theme music!

I woke up at around 8, and played some cards with EJ, as he really wanted to play (I didn't want to disappoint him that much. I mean, I didn't mind playing.). After doing a lot of chores, I then sat down to watch a little TV, and play some more cards. Around 10, though, we were sent out to do the lawns, after a misunderstanding that we had in the game (that always seems to happen. It's probably due to the rules; they do get a bit contentious. Or, more likely, EJ and I are both equally as stubborn and absolutely sure that we are right. You know, it's probably that last one.). So I went out, getting my iPod, of course (when you're doing repetitive work that doesn't involve that much higher thinking, it's really good, if only to keep you occupied on something. Hell, I've listened to my iPod when brushing my teeth on at least one occasion. Note: attempting to sing while brushing your teeth does not work.), and I went to whipper-snipper the front lawn. And then we got onto the back lawn, which we were supposed to do next weekend, but we did it anyway. It saves us doing it later. Halfway through, though, the whipper-snipper ran out of wire to cut with, so Dad just went up to the shops to get new ones, so I finished off the actual mowing. Then it started raining (it sorta seemed like that type of day).

At that point, though, I had finished the mowing, and when Dad got back, he pretty much said that because it was raining, we were done. And so, seeing that we were done, I figured I could finally get some study for the School Certificate in. Of course, you can't study too well for English (you have to be good at writing and comprehension and so on, not actually know stuff. It's even more skills-based than Maths.), so I did study for Science, going over all the Year 9 stuff. I think I am ready for the exam. So, when I was done, I watched a new series that Dad had just bought the first two seasons of, 'Two and a Half Men.' May I say that it is hilarious? I think I can. It is very funny. I then blogged, although I didn't catch up. Damn. Ah well. So, here I am.

Let us now reply to comments, with one by Mango, who has been commenting a bit recently. Thanks, Mango!
*Mango: Yeah, yeah, I know. I really gotta charge it more often. I tend to let it run out of battery first; I'm not entirely sure why.

That was my Sunday. Trying to catch up, and failing. Trust me here, I'm giving it a shot. It just doesn't seem to be working. Soon though, soon. Anyway. Tomorrow is the English and Science School Certificate tests, and whether or not they count for anything, I'm still gonna try to get good in them. Well, obviously.

Bring on the School Certificate,
AB

Borders Patrol

OK, I'm back in the realm of titling with plays on words. This one is referring to the fact that I went to Borders, the great two level book store in Macarthur Square that holds a number of magnificent books at prices at Dymocks level (that's not to say that they don't have, in my view, overpriced books. But so do Dymocks. Average price is what I'm saying here.). So, yes, I went to Borders. Anyway. Onward to my day!

I woke up at around 7:30, and I eventually, after messing around and doing chores, did some Science study. Mostly Year 9 stuff, as I need to know that and there are questions where you have to remember the facts, not like in Maths, for example, where you can work it out, or some other exams, where you can guess it pretty well, as the answer is fairly straight-forward (like PE, where you may only know a few facts, and use common sense to get the rest. How well you get usually depends on how well you guess.). Around 11, we left for Macarthur Square.

We went to Borders first, and there was a reason (we weren't just going in for no particular reason. We should actually do that more often.). You see, it was Shaylee's birthday about a week ago (November 2, to be precise), and I hadn't had a chance to get anything for her. So I looked around the shop, and I ended up finding a book for her (I haven't read it before, but it looks pretty good). Mum got her something too, and so with that done, I went to the lower level to check out the physics book. I ended up finding another book on string theory, which is surprising as this one isn't by Brian Greene. I got it of course; it wasn't too expensive, as some physics books are (I saw a book for $40! And not one of those gigantic, hardcover, A4 sized books, either; a regularly sized paperback. Jesus, that's a rip.). I also found something for Dad for Christmas, or, rather, Mum found it and I got it. I think he'll like it. We then wandered around the shops for a while, and at around 12:30, we left for home.

When I got home, I blogged for a bit, and played cards with EJ. For dinner, we went to Moorebank Sports Clubs, with the family of one of Dad's friends from cricket. Unfortunately, the oldest kid is EJ's age, so I was feeling a little bit left out. Dinner was good, though, as I had a bacon and beef burger (it didn't have any cheese on it, which is something that could have made it much, much better.). And for dessert, I had ice-cream with chocolate topping. I think it can be safely said that it was a good dinner, although I didn't have much to do. On the car ride to Club Italia and back (we had to drop Dad off to a meeting), I listened to my iPod, which promptly ran out of charge. In all fairness, I haven't charged it in a while. And when I got home, I blogged, but not enough. So here I am.

I shall now go on to comment replies, with two from the one person.
*Mango: ...that makes sense. Thanks for that!
*Mango: I rarely actually use that calculator, and I have never had reason to check the modes. So, there.

And that was my day. I'm trying to get back up to schedule, trust me, but there's been study for exams getting in the way, and a lot of other stuff coming up (did I expect to go to that dinner? No.). So I'm guessing after exams. And I know I'm procrastinating, but what do you expect?

I do enjoy book shopping,
AB

The Answer

I thought the title should be a bit reflective of the last one. Basically, this just seemed to follow on, and I didn't want to do something like a play on words for something that's a little serious like the answer to the first time I've actually asked a girl out (this just in: AB has a blinding case of perspective). So, without further ado, let's have a look at my day, and the results of yesterday's big event.

Before school, Ebony and the girl I asked came up, who I can reveal was Shirisha (cue the dramatic theme music! Seriously, though, I asked her because she was nice, she was a girl that I talked to, and there weren't that many, and she went to hapkido with me. I asked her just as friends.). She said to me that she didn't want to go to the formal with a guy, which I accepted. I mean, I can't pretend that I wasn't a little disappointed, but I asked, and she said what she said. I was just proud of myself for actually plucking up the courage and asking. We then, afterwards, went to Role Call, where I read (Role Call on Fridays? It's a thing that goes on when the HSC is on. No idea why though.). It was then Assembly, where we has teachers talk for 10 minutes, after which we talked about electives (Cam is up in arms about the fact that they cancelled Multimedia. Me, I'm fine, as I got all of my electives; I found out yesterday. They also cancelled Art, which makes it really unfortunate for Victor, who I think picked Art and Multimedia. Damn.)

Period 1 was Science, and we got our results back. A lot of people messed up the exam, and nobody got over 90 (the highest mark, I think, was 89. It was out of 100.). I got 87, which was pretty good. A lot of the stuff I pretty much just guessed (not blind guesses, but logical guesses. But guesses nonetheless.) I got right, which was pretty good. Period 2 was Computer Maths, and we did some more studying for the Maths exam. Not that much of us in A1 need it, quite frankly (apart from one person who lost 20 marks because they actually missed a section. I mean, wow. I get missing a question, but missing a whole section... Anyway.). I also found out that the calculator that comes with Windows can become a scientific calculator. I was rather amazed. Recess was more talking.

Periods 3 and 4 were Ag, and we all went down to the sheep yards to do some vaccinating and ear tagging. And by ear tagging, I mean piercing the sheep's ear and putting a tag there. I mean, there's a solid reason (they have to keep track of them, disease and what not), but I couldn't do it. However, I went into the mentality of 'I could at least vaccinate the lambs,' but after I actually heard the ear tagging, I lost all hope of doing it. So for the two periods, I played Solitaire on my iPod and listened to Billy Joel. They were very bludgy periods, and they were good. Lunch was the usual (which is now talking instead of cards. I mean, I still bring them, but we don't play them that much any more. Maybe after exams.).

Period 5 was English, in which we all got our speeches and short stories back (the ones we did for the Trial School Certificate). I actually did pretty well, getting 28/30 combined for the section, which gives me hope for the School Certificate, and the Yearly (I hope I did well, to make up for the Half-Yearly. Damn that exam.). I also read a lot of other people's stories, and they were all really different. And a lot of them, I think, were better than mine, disregarding the fact that a lot of them got the same mark as me. Exam marking is fickle like that. It was then Period 6, which was History. In it, we got a lot of our exams back (Are you seeing a pattern here? Then again, considering it's the Friday before the School Certificate, we probably need them.). I got my History mark, which was 88% (not bad), and a bit of my Geography mark, but only a bit. When I got home, I blogged, although not enough, of course. So here I am.

To comments now, 1 from Mango:
*Mango: Please don't mention late posting. Believe me, I am trying to catch up, but what with studying and a lot of other stuff that keeps cropping up at the last moment, I'm struggling. Sorry, but that is what's happening, I'm afraid.

Now, you see, I would usually put here some complaint about the post. I can't even do that now, though, without being repetitively repetitive, because I put it in the comment reply. So I want to do a little reflection here, on what has happened over the past two days. I think I have taken a step up socially, and I think that if I were to ask someone again, I would be better capable of doing it. And that is good, regardless of what she said. Will I ask anyone else? Probably not, but you never can rule it out.

I am glad that I did ask,
AB

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

AFL Presentation Day '09

Yes, with this, the AFL season, from my point of view, can come to an official close, as the actual AFL season was really ended last month, and this presentation day is the last thing of my brother's season (as I was sorta affiliated with that, what with Dad being the President, Mum managing, EJ playing, me boundary running unofficially. So on and so forth.). It was also responsible for throwing off posting in a massive way, considering how long it ran. Also, yes it's a very late post. I really hope I can get back on track soon. And there is an arguable titling problem.

I woke up at 6:30, and once I'd got stuff done, I adjourned to my room, to play some Battlefield Heroes. I was doing pretty well, until about 8:15, when Mum and I had to leave to go set up for the presentation. I read in the car for a while, but soon we actually did have to go and actually do stuff. We started by unpacking seemingly endless supplies of bread rolls and seven boxes (seven!) of donuts (I could say 'doughnuts,' but I won't.), as well as much sausages, salad, cutlery, serviettes, and so on. Say what you like, but we were ready to feed an army. We then all went inside, to set up for the presentation itself. We moved tables, organised chairs, and did more unpacking, this time of trophies, as essentially everybody who plays gets a participation trophy, as well as Best & Fairests, Coach's Awards (possibly Coaches Award, I'm not too sure) and Most Improveds. Every single one of these was packed in cardboard and foam, so until about 11:15, I was a human conveyor belt, transferring packing materials to a large bin outside, coming back, and repeating. It was repetitive, tiring, boring work, as you can guess. Not particularly fun at all. Anyway. As I said before, at 11:15, we left, so that Mum and I could get lunch and be ready for the presentation.

When we did get home, I had a big lunch, and packed some stuff to go to the presentation. However, at about 1 when we had to leave, Mum put her foot down and said that I couldn't bring my laptop, which was a shame because I was told when we were going to get home, which was about 9. So instead, I grabbed my iPod and a book. We were the first people at the presentation (again), so for a while we just hung back and did whatever. When people started to arrive though, I went to my table, and read for a bit. Soon the actual presentation did start, but before that, I happened to see some old friends. Nicole, Darren's brother, and her Mum were there, and we talked for quite a bit. After that, Shaylee and Jess got me selling raffle tickets, as I took the box and thought we were all doing it together. I was wrong, but I didn't mind. They got me fair and square. I went around for a while, selling tickets, when I was called up to give out my own trophy (well, it's named after me, for no other reason than that I had been playing for a while when they thought up the idea for it. Still, it's pretty cool to have a trophy named after you.), which is the goalkicking medal for Under 12s. But after they handed that out, I went out to the canteen.

There, Shaylee and Jess were preparing for the feast that we were all to have after the presentation, which means that they were cutting open bread roll after bread roll. It didn't look particularly exciting, but they had music on and they didn't seem too bored. After I got there, I ended up showing them some hapkido stuff, because Shay left and she wanted to see some orange belt stuff. They laughed at my fall, which I do admit looks a bit strange, but it is pretty cool nevertheless. So I talked with them for a while, and soon people began to file out of the room and outside to near the canteen. The presentation had evidently ended, and people were ready for dinner, as was I. I had a sausage roll, a bread roll, and much potato salad (mmm, potato salad...).

After that, Shay, Jess and I wandered around, until we came across a game that most of the kids were playing. I can't say what it was called, because it seemed like they made it up. But, from what I can guess from playing, you get a goal by putting it in a goal, like in soccer. You can use any part of your body (not just feet or head, like in soccer), and if it goes out of bounds, then people just run after it, and bring it back into play. Tackling is grabbing someone until they let go. Basically, it's utter chaos contained in a theoretically limitless playing field. It was fun. I scored a great goal at one stage, pushing many people out of the way, then throwing it sideways with only a slight inclination as to where the goals were, while being tackled to the ground. Damn, it was good.

Soon after, they broke out the donuts, all seven boxes of them. A lot of people didn't notice. I, however, did. And as there were many more donuts than people (and even then, quite a few didn't take any), I decided to gradually take some. I then went to go and talk to people who were there, and even as people left, we talked to others. Soon, a game of cricket started, and I was called upon to be the umpire for some reason. And so I did, and we played until it was dark. Then, we went to sit down, and I talked and played Solitaire on my iPod (by this time, it was about 8:30). We also ate donuts, but soon nobody could eat anymore. So we went inside, where there was a group of retired (or, so I guess) people dancing. In there, we started handing out free donuts, and almost everyone took some. I thus learnt one important lesson: It doesn't matter your age, sex, race or religion, everybody likes a free donut. After more talking, and drinking (alcohol by some, Solo by me), we left at about 10 (not 9, as I expected). And when I got home, I blogged a bit, but only a bit, considering the time. Which should hopefully explain the very late post.

And that was my day. I can't complain about shortness of post, seeing as this one is over 1100 words (whoa), but that could have been a contributing factor as to why this one is so late. Others are shopping on Sunday, and study and hapkido on Monday. However, if you are still short of things to blame, well, you know who to blame (society. It's society.).

So long AFL season, see you next year,
AB

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

We Will All Mow Together When We Mow

What a comforting fact that is to know... If you're wondering where that title came from (and I do admit, it does seem a little strange at face value), it's a take-off of a Tom Lehrer song called 'We Will All Go Together When We Go,' which you really should listen to: it's a very good song (some people don't really get Lehrer. Here's the song, at any rate.). Anyway, let's have a look at my day, as I want to try to get back to my schedule.

I was woken up at about 8:30, but for a good reason: we were having pancakes. We had maple syrup on them, but, and call me crazy here, I much prefer honey on them. And the problem with that is we only have a jar of Hurlstone honey (gotten from the country fair; it wasn't in a squeeze bottle, though. Hard to spread across pancakes, is what I'm saying here.) and a jar of creamed honey, which has the same colour and texture of, say, wood putty but according to my brother is actually quite nice (don't microwave it though. Dad tried that, and it became slop, which has same colour and smell of vomit. And taste, according to EJ.). When that was done, we went to go and mow the lawn. The whipper-snippering was done, of course, so we just went to mow it (Dad had already left for cricket by this time). The grass was short, so it didn't involve that much work, and for the most part I just listened to my iPod (do I have to tell you that it was Tom Lehrer? Really?). We finished at about 11.

When that was done, I decided to blog a bit, as Thursday's wasn't even done, on account of being at Shay's for the afternoon, which came as a surprise. So I did that, and once it was done, I decided to play some Battlefield Heroes. Well, by play, it was mostly getting a heap of screenshots, such as saluting the flag (that took a while to get right), and, in the tutorial, I finally got one of me facing a rocket at the camera while on the wing of a plane (that involved having to get in the pilot's seat, then manoeuvring the plane so that I could get on the wing, and take a screenshot as the plane is falling. I've been trying to get a screenshot like that for months now.). And when I was done, with that, I pretty much just blogged for the rest of the night, though I did get to watch an episode of 'Invader Zim' on Foxtel. Damn, I love that show.

And that was my day. At this point, I might apologise about late posts, but it might seem a bit hollow. So I'll just say that I will hopefully get back very soon. Also, I really like this title. Don't ask me why, I just do.

There is only one day left until the fourth term of school begins,
AB

Shop 'Til You Stop

Yes, I suppose this is a little play on words. Not as good as the other one, I think, but I still like it. It's also a bit of a tautology, which I love, because it makes you a double-take (I mean, of course you shop until you stop! Or, does the stopping rule out the until... see, stuff like that can make you think.). Anyway. Yes, it's a late post again, and I'm not going to blame anyone. Except society.

I was gotten up at around 8, as we had stuff that needed to be done in the day. At around 9, after getting ready for the day, we went out to go shopping. Now, as I so love to do, I brought my iPod. I try to put this in if I'm doing something else which doesn't involve much thinking, and more doing. In shopping, for example, all I really did was walk around. So I decided to get out my iPod, and listen to who other than Tom Lehrer. Soon I will probably become bored of it, like I did with Queen (that's not to say that it will become bad, but I'll be able to sing all of it off by heart, and something else will come along. Still good, though: I'm not saying Queen is bad, god no. Queen is epic.). So for something like one and a half hours, I walked around, mouthing the words of many songs, getting strange looks from at least one person, possibly others. But I only noticed the one person (most people don't seem to understand, I've noticed, me mouthing the words. I figure that I love to sing along, but I'm a bad singer. So I compromise. Anyway.). We got home at about 10:30.

When I did get home, I decided I would play some Battlefield Heroes, as I hadn't played any at all yesterday. I played for about one or two hours. In one memorable occasion, the top three players in the National team (I was one of them) towered above the rest, getting a total of 42 kills (42! It lives!) and 10 deaths, and over 7000 points. Yes, we won that round. I got 15-2, and one of those was a double death, in that the guy I was shooting and I both died at the same time. I finished up at about lunch time, and after that, I worked a little on Scratch and watched TV. At around 3, we had to move the garbage that we moved into the garage on Sunday out to the front yard for the council to pick up. Then, Mum told us something: the council would only pick up so much (it's by volume, not by mass). It was slightly annoying, but partially understandable. I say partially because if we had just a little more (or so I was told), then they wouldn't pick it up. And they only have two pick-ups a year. Is that a little ridiculous? Yes. Anyway. So we put down what we could, and the rest was taken back around to behind the house. And so essentially the rest of the night, I blogged, as well as doing some study (yes, it begins. The yearlies start on the second day back, after all.).

Comments now, 1 from Ebony.
*Ebony: By you, I meant the hypothetical you who gets up at 2 in the afternoon, who I still say is crazy. And only a small amount of talking to Victor? I would have guessed it'd be a lot (lol). Also iPod listening is not time wasting. Garbage moving did serve a purpose.

And that was my day. It does seem that comments are starting up again, doesn't it? Although this time around, I won't take them for granted. Also, I'm messing with titles a bit, as I'm trying to avoid using alliteration. I hope it's working.

Maybe it's the stopping that makes the 'until' redundant, though it's still confusing,
AB

Seinfeld and Snipping

OK, not the greatest title. But today wasn't very friendly (I was going to write conducive, but I don't like to put words like that on my post. Don't ask me why.) towards titling. Ah well. By snipping, I mean whipper-snippering (it's a funny word.). Anyway. To my day.

I was gotten up at around 8:45, which is probably the latest I've gotten up for a while (I'm not sure if that's early or normal. I do know that some of my friends have gotten up at 2 in the afternoon. Now that's weird. Anyway). So I had breakfast, and eventually, while doing chores, I was called out with everybody to come help move stuff. In essentials, we've got a heap of junk at the back of our house, and Tuesday is when the council comes to pick it up. But, to save time, we were all going to move it into the garage, so we don't have to haul a gigantic amount of garbage on the one day. Well, if you can get it out of the way... At any rate, about 20 minutes in, Dad asked if I wanted to do the whipper-snippering done now and get it out of the way for later. I figured I could grab my iPod and listen while doing that (Dad, knowing me, actually suggested this. Guess he knows I love music.), so I agreed.

We then, naturally, spent 10 minutes attempting to get the actual thing working. You would think that there would just be a button on it saying 'Start.' Well, (get this), there is, but it doesn't actually start it. After some experimentation, some heavy profanity on my Dad's part, and a feared repeat of the smashed snipper (I have linked to this already, in another post, but here it is again.), we finally figured out how to do it: you hold two switches on "on" for about ten seconds, flick down a lever, then pull another lever which you have to hold down to make the actual thing go. Then, if you take your hand off the second lever for more than an instant, then you have to flick the first lever again. Is this mentioned on the whipper-snipper? No. Is it obvious? No. Anyway. We did end up getting it to work, and I thus put on Tom Lehrer. I had to replace the little clippy strings (you know, the strings you put through the whipper-snipper that are the ones that actually cut? I don't actually know what they're called.) twice. The second time, I considered calling it a day, but I figured no, considering I could do the front later, but I decided to do it. So of course halfway through whipper-snippering the front, it ran out of petrol. That's when I gave up.

By this time, it was about lunch time. And so after lunch, EJ and I watched the final episodes of 'Seinfeld.' I'm not entirely sure why they ended the show, but I do say it continued strong until the end. I also played some Battlefield Heroes, and I had fun rocketing people from up on the cliffs in Buccaneer Bay. Then, later on in the night, after EJ had gone off to bed, Mum, Dad and I watched 'Rove.' It is a very good show, I must say.

That was my Sunday. Can you believe that now we're heading into the last week of holidays? Damn, it goes quickly. Anyway. I am partially making up for the very late post of yesterday's. I mean, this is still late, but it's less late. Comparatively. Well, I'd better just end the post; I'm beginning to rant.

Halfway through the holidays,
AB

The Term, It Is A-Endin’

Yes, the term has ended, it is finished! Bring on the two weeks of freedom, or, as free as I can be when I've got to studies for the Yearlies and the Trial School Certificate that start on the second day back, as well as a bloody Science assignment. Anyway. I'm not supposed to be thinking about that now, because it's the end of term! Also, yes, it's an incredibly late post. But that's because I went to Canberra; more information to follow.

Before school, I handed in my PE assignment, and went to borrow books from the library, for the holidays. I got Harry Potter 6, amongst other things, as our copy had been broken (EJ threw against a wall for some reason). Period 1 was Agriculture, and the whole class went down to the farm to check out our potato crops. Ours hasn’t sprouted yet, but some have. As usual, I put on my iPod. I also talked to the girls about the formal and jokes. Not telling jokes, talking about jokes. Period 2 was History, and Johnson was away. Instead, we had Crancher, and I celebrated the end of the term by reading. A lot of other people were doing their PE assignment, and I’m glad I wasn’t under so much stress by finishing the assignment the day it was meant to be handed it, I can tell you that. Recess was mostly 31, as there were many people who usually play cards not here.

Period 3 was Maths, and we learnt about abundant, deficient, perfect and weird numbers. (I was going to explain what all of those numbers actually are, but I realised I would be going on for quote a while, and it wouldn’t make for good reading. So here are the articles for abundant, deficient, perfect and weird numbers from Wikipedia. Anyway.) Much innuendo was made about being ‘deficient’ and other such puns, which you wouldn’t think was possible until you realise this is A1 we’re talking about and it all makes sense. Period 4 was Science, and we watched a video on the Challenger and Columbia disasters, which, if you don’t know what they are (and if you don’t, you really need to look them up. Of course, it could just be my nerdiness. Here are the Wikipedia articles for Challenger and Columbia if you don’t. Also, sorry for the link explosion, but let it never be said that my blog isn't informative.), were two incidents where space shuttles were destroyed, killing seven. It was pretty interesting, although in a freaky sort of way. I do like astronomy (if I haven’t mentioned this yet, it is a big oversight. It’s one of my favourite subjects, if not the favourite.). Lunch was discussing superstring theory and the possible existence of extra dimensions for the first half (only in Hurlstone), and cards for the second half.

Period 5 was Commerce, in which I read for pretty much the entire class. We weren’t actually doing anything; just talking about our assignments and what we need to study for the yearlies. Well, sorta; Kearney told us what topic was going to be covered. Not that much, really. Period 6 was English, and the whole class talked about a whole manner of things. Memorably, Courtney asked if Hancock was married, and he retorted ‘Why, are you proposing?’ This, of course, prompted the whole class to fall about in laughter, and Courtney didn’t help her case by saying that she was asking for Lana. We also discussed Kolodziej’s short temper (which Hancock, as him and Kolodziej are both English staff, disapproved off, but who couldn’t think of any comebacks to our telling him some examples of his temper, such as the ‘spatial awareness’ incident, and the time he broke his watch while telling off his class.), and other such random topics.

When the bell went at around 2, as it does for end of term, I walked up to the Glenfield corner shops, as I was in little rush to get home (I wasn’t avoiding it or anything, but the bus wasn’t coming for a while). I bought hot chips and a can of Solo, and wandered to the train. I got home at about 3, and got EJ from the bus stop at around 3:30. And so for most of the rest of the night, I blogged, and then played Battlefield Heroes for a while. I really enjoy this new map (Riverside Rush, for all you non-BFHers), and I participated in a strange game: one ending in 0-0. I didn't even know that was possible. The day ended soon after, and the holidays began.

And that was the last day of term. Sorry about the very late post; that will soon be explained. Although, if you want to blame my procrastination, that would work, I suppose; it is partially responsible. A third option would be to blame society. That's a great option, in my opinion. Anyway. Expect the posts for the next few days to come in soon.

Bring the holidays in,
AB

Muck-Up Day '09

Yes, it's that day which Year 12s revel in and all others dread: the muck-up day. Norris wants us to call it a "Fun Day" for no real reason, but I refuse to call it that. So muck-up day it is. Anyway. I will be recounting what the Year 12s did and how I avoided or attempted to avoid them, as well as a lot of other things that happened. It was a really packed day.

Before school, I put my umbrella in my pocket, which at first may seem like a bad idea, but you have to remember that this is Year 12s we're talking about, and they really like water balloons. So I got into the school, and had to pay admission (I had no money, so I did push-ups. Hapkido counts for something, because 10 seemed easy.). Period 1 was Science, in which Robson got us to put our bags inside. Probably for the best. Anyway. What we did was check the effects of acceleration with trolleys and masses and stopwatches; it's sorta hard to really explain it. Fun, though. Period 2 was Computer Maths, where we had goes at making pendulums on Geometer's Sketchpad (now, is that awesome or what!). Once I'd figured out how to do it (it involves the x coordinates of points going around circle and arcs connected to the point and so on. It's a lot easier shown than explained.), I messed around with other points making the pendulum go quicker or swing more. Pretty fun, to a nerd that is. Recess was spent mostly avoiding the water balloon onslaught; and the Year 12s were prepared. They had whistles (to coordinate attacks) and a seemingly endless supply of balloons. It was incredible.

Periods 3 and 4 were double Ag, and the whole class went down to the cow sheds to weigh the cows, or something. It wasn't made entirely clear. Most of the class did essentially nothing, and I was included in that majority. I ended up getting out my iPod and playing Solitaire while listening to Tom Lehrer. Ah, good times. We even finished our prac time early, so I was able to get out my cards and play 13 with Tan and Chris and Alan. Ah, I do love cards in class. Lunch was actually spent relatively free from the onslaught of the Year 12s, as most of them were down playing a rugby game with some of the teachers. Now, me being the AFL fan, I gave it a miss, and spent most of the time talking and playing cards.

Period 5 was English, and when I got to the class (we had changed rooms so we could go on the computers), there was nobody there but the teacher. There was a trickle in, as students gradually found the class, but even so there was only about 10 towards the end. So I spent most of the time looking at some other School Certificate papers such as Maths and Science, and surfing Wikipedia. It's fun doing that. Period 6 was History, in which we found out exactly what happened: the Year 12s had taken the sign off the door saying where the class was going. So simple, yet so diabolical. In the actual class, we just watched a video. However, afterwards, it was time to try to get to the station, which in Muck-Up Day is always difficult. And today's was one of the worst I'd seen. But I did get through, after sprinting past Year 12s, ducking and weaving through the splashes of water balloons, and the dash to the stairs, umbrella up. I think I got a few drops. It was great. And when I got home, it was almost straight to the orthodontist.

We got there at about 3:45, and we were out by around 4:30. In that time, I was able to read, and get a new wire put through the braces on my top teeth. I also got my jaw expanded with the expander, as has to be done from time to time. Although, it was business as usual apart from that. When I did get home, and after spending time getting ready, we had to go basically straight to EJ's school for his play.

OK, this I didn't really see coming, though I probably should have. When we got in there, while Mum and I were waiting, we listened to the songs about sailing and the sea and boats and so on that they played over the speakers (including, on one notable occasion, 'Seven Seas of Rhye' by Queen), as well as Sudoku on Mum's phone. However, it was soon time to see EJ's play, and I will say that while the plot was a bit odd (OK, it was bloody strange), the acting was really good. They also sang one song 4 or 5 times, which mostly consisted of the words 'Seven Seas' repeated over and over. Jees. Anyway. We got home late, and I was able to post. But not this one, as I was late. So here I am.

To comments now, one from one person.
*Mango: Fair enough, but just next time, read up first. Also, warn me when you're doing a comment for posts past, I'm just lucky I caught that one.

And that was my day. Sorry for the really late post, but everything you just read got in the way, as well as hapkido and assignments on Wednesday. It's annoying, sometimes, I know, but after things get done, the schedule will hopefully resume.

I can't wait until our grade's muck-up day,
AB