I actually got to sleep into 8:30 this morning, a nice change in scenery that. For the past week I've had quite a few early starts - last weekend was the joyful business of getting up at 4am. On Monday I'd caught a semi cold, not completely fully blown out, but enough to be annoying. Wednesday and Thursday were also 4am starts, Saturday and Sunday 5am starts and tomorrow I've got to be up at 4 again. So this morning, sleeping in about 4 hours was bliss!
I've worked out I've done about 60 hours of straight relief milking this month, with a bit of calf feeding to add to it. It may not seem like many hours of work, but when you consider it in a "just milking" perspective where you work anything between 2-4 hours, it is actually quite a bit of work. Also the great thing about being in my job is the different times you have to be up at and it continuously changing - your body clock gets well and truly stuffed up. But hey, it's better than taking orders at Macca's - that is one job I could never do....!
On Friday I finally got back my NCEA results summary that had to be signed by a teacher for my science event application. So Friday I managed to print everything off and send it all in. Applications close on Wednesday this week and my application will probably arrive today or tomorrow. Talk about cutting it fine! I decided just to apply for the trip to England, as when I thought about the Aussie one it just didn't feel right to me. So I don't know when I find out if I got in, I guess it'll be in a month or so. Meanwhile I don't have my hopes up too high in case I don't get accepted and I've had a look at the price range for flights over there. You know a trip to England, via Hong Kong is between 25-30 hours? That's including stopovers of course, but gosh! Also the airfares will hopefully cost no more than three thousand for the cheapest option. Anyway, I'm just gonna sit here and wait :)
However while I'm talking about applying for trips, I've decided to also apply for the Outdoors Pursuits Camp that the correspondence school is having at Turangi/Mt. Tongariro. There are no fees except bus tickets there and back and 20 students get in, I thought - why not? As it's my last year of school, and I don't generally do many things like these, I figured it'd be cool to experience. I mean, who doesn't want to do a week's worth of rock climbing, abseiling and whatnot?!
School is coming along OK. I finished another Chem booklet today - just need to do the TMA now. Also I'm currently doing the practice assessment for Stats, I have to write a report on liquor retailing. Oh, and I was super clever too, cos I figured out on my own that the reason for very large drops in liquor sales between 2007 and 2010 was because of the Global Financial Crisis and the recession. Excellent idea to add to my report!
I really haven't done much Biology, which is surprising and I'm midway through an Ag booklet. My Ag teacher is great as last week she sent me a few university prospectus books and some information on the Beef+Lamb scholarships - which I might go for this year. We'll see.
Spot the Loon was canceled last week due to lovely Lusi who came to nothing, but Saturday night we played it. Two girls and I were spotted three times and we received heaps of odd and incredulous looks from passers by. Some people laughed, others probably thought we were off our rockers, but we made it to the park where the lollies were hidden. Eventually though, the lead spotter gave us a free for all, where we could search without the tyre tubes and no worry about being spotted. I found the last bag of lollies under the skate ramp, pity we didn't find them during the actual game though! It was fun, but I'm still so sore from all the running in new sneakers.
Monday, 24 March 2014
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Lusi
I Survived Cyclone Lusi, this is a new page somebody has created on Facebook. I kid you not. Seriously though, every time some new "event" happens somebody has to make a page about it and heaps of new memes to go on it. I really wonder what the big deal is, I mean, it's just a storm.
Speaking of Lusi though, we haven't had any damage as of yet, thankfully. Other than a few little tree branches coming down, a couple of short power cuts and 30mm of rain we really haven't had anything. But I guess that status might change tomorrow. You never can tell!
I felt like a drowned rat this morning at milking, even with my wet weather gear I still got pretty soaked. Especially as I had to get the second herd in right as it started bucketing down. It sure was a jolly good time!
Spot the Loon was canceled last night, our youth leader decided it wasn't worth battling Lusi as she wasn't being very forthcoming in an agreement. So we had to reschedule for next Saturday, fingers crossed the weather is a little bit more pleasant come then! Although I did drive up to my friends' place for the afternoon, it's always great to catch up with her even for a short time. I hadn't seen her since my birthday which was nearly three months ago! :O So we just hung out, watched a DVD and had delicious homemade pizza for dinner, then I came back home at eight just as the weather was setting in.
Having a drivers license really does give me more independence. What on Earth would I do without it?!
Recently I've developed an odd enjoyment for Statistics. For a person who doesn't really love maths all that much I'm pleasantly surprised. Although, it is pretty easy as I'm working off OTLE instead of the booklet. All it is is watching half hour presentations the teachers have made on Excel, take the practice spreadsheet with all of the data, do a few equations like working out the moving means, making a graph and forecasting the next four quarters. So it's really quite simple and more focused on making sure I type in the correct numbers and not mess up the cells.
After making the odd error or two, it is a bit unfortunate to have to wipe all of the new data I've made and start from the beginning to figure out where I went wrong. However after three practice sheets and watching the presentations, I've come to the conclusion that in the fourth quarter - Christmas period, people seriously do buy more alcohol and groceries. It's pretty easy to guess, but if those were real statistics then it's quite scary looking at the sudden increases.
The online Chemistry tutorials are in full swing now and are every Tuesday afternoon and next Wednesday the Biology tutorial start up their weekly occurrence. It's good having the tutorials because it keeps us up to date with the workload and helps us understand things better. Some people probably think homeschooled or correspondence students must have it so hard, but really with all of these tutorials and prerecorded presentations, it's a heck of a lot easier! We get to see a teacher every week, have them explain things properly and if we don't get it, or if we don't remember it it's pretty simple to re-watch the recording as and when we please. Somehow I think if somebody were to set up a video camera in a public school class the teacher wouldn't be all that impressed :D
I was disappointed on Thursday as I missed being able to watch the live webinar I mentioned. All it came down to was not receiving the login details I needed to participate in it, evidently meaning there was no way to view it. As it turns out I wasn't the only student who never got the login details. However I've now had a thought that maybe too many students and teachers applied to watch it? Maybe there was only a certain number of participants that the system could hold, so the later applicants simply had to miss out? I know, it does seem a bit far fetched.
The days are slowly getting shorter now, daylight savings is gonna end soon. I think every year they extend it, because it always seems to be a week later than normal....
Speaking of Lusi though, we haven't had any damage as of yet, thankfully. Other than a few little tree branches coming down, a couple of short power cuts and 30mm of rain we really haven't had anything. But I guess that status might change tomorrow. You never can tell!
I felt like a drowned rat this morning at milking, even with my wet weather gear I still got pretty soaked. Especially as I had to get the second herd in right as it started bucketing down. It sure was a jolly good time!
Spot the Loon was canceled last night, our youth leader decided it wasn't worth battling Lusi as she wasn't being very forthcoming in an agreement. So we had to reschedule for next Saturday, fingers crossed the weather is a little bit more pleasant come then! Although I did drive up to my friends' place for the afternoon, it's always great to catch up with her even for a short time. I hadn't seen her since my birthday which was nearly three months ago! :O So we just hung out, watched a DVD and had delicious homemade pizza for dinner, then I came back home at eight just as the weather was setting in.
Having a drivers license really does give me more independence. What on Earth would I do without it?!
Recently I've developed an odd enjoyment for Statistics. For a person who doesn't really love maths all that much I'm pleasantly surprised. Although, it is pretty easy as I'm working off OTLE instead of the booklet. All it is is watching half hour presentations the teachers have made on Excel, take the practice spreadsheet with all of the data, do a few equations like working out the moving means, making a graph and forecasting the next four quarters. So it's really quite simple and more focused on making sure I type in the correct numbers and not mess up the cells.
After making the odd error or two, it is a bit unfortunate to have to wipe all of the new data I've made and start from the beginning to figure out where I went wrong. However after three practice sheets and watching the presentations, I've come to the conclusion that in the fourth quarter - Christmas period, people seriously do buy more alcohol and groceries. It's pretty easy to guess, but if those were real statistics then it's quite scary looking at the sudden increases.
The online Chemistry tutorials are in full swing now and are every Tuesday afternoon and next Wednesday the Biology tutorial start up their weekly occurrence. It's good having the tutorials because it keeps us up to date with the workload and helps us understand things better. Some people probably think homeschooled or correspondence students must have it so hard, but really with all of these tutorials and prerecorded presentations, it's a heck of a lot easier! We get to see a teacher every week, have them explain things properly and if we don't get it, or if we don't remember it it's pretty simple to re-watch the recording as and when we please. Somehow I think if somebody were to set up a video camera in a public school class the teacher wouldn't be all that impressed :D
I was disappointed on Thursday as I missed being able to watch the live webinar I mentioned. All it came down to was not receiving the login details I needed to participate in it, evidently meaning there was no way to view it. As it turns out I wasn't the only student who never got the login details. However I've now had a thought that maybe too many students and teachers applied to watch it? Maybe there was only a certain number of participants that the system could hold, so the later applicants simply had to miss out? I know, it does seem a bit far fetched.
The days are slowly getting shorter now, daylight savings is gonna end soon. I think every year they extend it, because it always seems to be a week later than normal....
Monday, 10 March 2014
Decisons Decisions...should never have searched Google images for lambs! Too cute!
I have been doing so many milkings, it's just not funny. This weekend I worked twice a day each day, for about 7 hours each day all up. One of the people there were sick, so I had to help them out again this morning, now somebody else is sick so I have to help them out tomorrow morning as well. I also did a one off milking this afternoon. Not that I'm complaining, I certainly don't mind doing the work. And the calves are cute, so hey!
Agriculture is frustrating me at the moment, the things you need to do for it! Every week I need to go online or through newspapers and find relevant information on lambs and apples for 12 different market forces. So I need to search for articles on promotions, or sudden climatic events or market trends to name a few.
But the stupid thing is, there is hardly anything on lamb and apples. For instance we get ag newspapers every week - the Straight Furrow, Dairy Man, Dairy News, and I think there may be one more as well, however they're all about dairy. And they all have the same stories! Heck, there are even the exact same advertisements...So you really have to wonder... Right now I need to find two advertisements on primary products. It doesn't mention lamb/apples specifically or what kind of advertisements they have to be. For all I know I could get it from an ag magazine or a supermarket catalogue. So it's rather difficult and mind boggling as to what they are wanting.
I've got one advertisement on a big Ram auction, but I'm a little confused whether a ram would get away with being a primary product...I should probably call my teacher but I don't really want to sound stupid if it is obvious!
In the end I gave up with ag/hort and continued to write and edit my CV and application letter for these science events. Golly I'm certainly glad I didn't find out last minute because it's taking forever! But at least I got some done, which makes me a little happier. Who knew these things could be so hard? If I had an English teacher this year I might've been able to send her the CV for her to check, but as I've finished English I don't think I'd get away with it very easily...lol
I got a lovely surprise in my email inbox today - an invite as a biology student to join a live chat room next Thursday on a LENS Webinar. A world renowned Professor Robert Winston is doing a seminar and the topic is Reproductive Technologies: An Issue for Our Time. I think it's on IVF, and NZ and Cook Island biology students are able to take part in the live chat and have the chance to ask questions and whatnot, just like being in a normal scientific lecture. Hopefully it's pretty interesting! I'll say on here after Thursday if it was.
On Friday - depending on the weather since the lovely Tropical Cyclone is on it's way - we've got our first fun event for youth group. It's called Spot da Loon. Similar to spotlight, it's at night, we team up in groups of three or four and take a tyre tube each. Then we're given instructions and have free rein to run around town acting loony with our tyre tubes....ok maybe not.
The idea is that one of the leaders hides a couple prizes, generally in the park and they're usually a bag of lollies, we have to make our way to the park to find the prizes while the leaders and spotters are driving around in cars with spotlights. If we see them we have to be all sitting on the tyre tube when they shine the light, otherwise we're penalised and have to go back to the beginning.
Our entire team has to make our way to the park and find the prizes and try not to get spotted off the tube. It's actually really fun! Last year when we did it I said, "can you imagine the people when they go back and look at their security footage?!" Because they'd see a heap of teenagers sneaking around town in the shadows, looking extremely suspicious carrying massive black tyre tubes! Every so often we randomly all sit down on it in a big rush and then run off again.
In previous years they've used couches, so I think it's way more easier hauling a tube around rather than carrying a massive, heavy couch! Could you even try to imagine sneaking around with a couch anyway? No, I couldn't either... But the looks that random people on the street give you...priceless!
Agriculture is frustrating me at the moment, the things you need to do for it! Every week I need to go online or through newspapers and find relevant information on lambs and apples for 12 different market forces. So I need to search for articles on promotions, or sudden climatic events or market trends to name a few.But the stupid thing is, there is hardly anything on lamb and apples. For instance we get ag newspapers every week - the Straight Furrow, Dairy Man, Dairy News, and I think there may be one more as well, however they're all about dairy. And they all have the same stories! Heck, there are even the exact same advertisements...So you really have to wonder... Right now I need to find two advertisements on primary products. It doesn't mention lamb/apples specifically or what kind of advertisements they have to be. For all I know I could get it from an ag magazine or a supermarket catalogue. So it's rather difficult and mind boggling as to what they are wanting.
I've got one advertisement on a big Ram auction, but I'm a little confused whether a ram would get away with being a primary product...I should probably call my teacher but I don't really want to sound stupid if it is obvious!In the end I gave up with ag/hort and continued to write and edit my CV and application letter for these science events. Golly I'm certainly glad I didn't find out last minute because it's taking forever! But at least I got some done, which makes me a little happier. Who knew these things could be so hard? If I had an English teacher this year I might've been able to send her the CV for her to check, but as I've finished English I don't think I'd get away with it very easily...lol
I got a lovely surprise in my email inbox today - an invite as a biology student to join a live chat room next Thursday on a LENS Webinar. A world renowned Professor Robert Winston is doing a seminar and the topic is Reproductive Technologies: An Issue for Our Time. I think it's on IVF, and NZ and Cook Island biology students are able to take part in the live chat and have the chance to ask questions and whatnot, just like being in a normal scientific lecture. Hopefully it's pretty interesting! I'll say on here after Thursday if it was.
On Friday - depending on the weather since the lovely Tropical Cyclone is on it's way - we've got our first fun event for youth group. It's called Spot da Loon. Similar to spotlight, it's at night, we team up in groups of three or four and take a tyre tube each. Then we're given instructions and have free rein to run around town acting loony with our tyre tubes....ok maybe not.
The idea is that one of the leaders hides a couple prizes, generally in the park and they're usually a bag of lollies, we have to make our way to the park to find the prizes while the leaders and spotters are driving around in cars with spotlights. If we see them we have to be all sitting on the tyre tube when they shine the light, otherwise we're penalised and have to go back to the beginning.
Our entire team has to make our way to the park and find the prizes and try not to get spotted off the tube. It's actually really fun! Last year when we did it I said, "can you imagine the people when they go back and look at their security footage?!" Because they'd see a heap of teenagers sneaking around town in the shadows, looking extremely suspicious carrying massive black tyre tubes! Every so often we randomly all sit down on it in a big rush and then run off again.
In previous years they've used couches, so I think it's way more easier hauling a tube around rather than carrying a massive, heavy couch! Could you even try to imagine sneaking around with a couch anyway? No, I couldn't either... But the looks that random people on the street give you...priceless!
Sunday, 2 March 2014
A Simple Reminder
Yesterday was the beginning of good old Autumn - my second favourite season of the year. I generally dislike Winter and Summer because of the weather extremes; too cold or too hot. Summer coming to pass has made me realise how quickly the year is going. With a guilty look at my glowering school work I can unfortunately see how already far behind I am. It is a disappointment, but I'm trying not to be too hard on myself and just carry on.
On Friday Dad, my brother and I went over to the Northland Field days for a few hours. It was so odd without Mum! We've never gone to the field days with somebody missing, so you can rest assured that it was extremely weird. Mum's still staying with Nana, but we're planning on going to pick her up this week sometime. As she's been away nearly a month it is going to be funny seeing her every day again, but I'll be glad to have her here again as running after everything here on my own is beginning to be a tad tiresome. And it'll be good to have someone have my back when the two guys team up against me as they like to do. I've missed having her around.
It was hot at Field days, as per normal. However I wasn't very clever in wearing a black singlet and no sunscreen, so my shoulders and back of my neck got rather burnt, I paid the price, especially in the shower the first night. But it was the last day of Summer so what can I say? ;) We didn't see anybody we knew there, which was a shame because it's always interesting stopping and chatting for a while to people you haven't seen recently. Instead we plodded along after Dad as he stopped at Bank exhibits, shed companies like Total Span and different car dealers to look at utes. At Holden I got to have a good look at my dream car while Dad talked to the dealer. The bright green Holden Barina Spark *sigh*. I love that car, it's cute, small and nifty (I never say that word!) and it's my favourite colour, so there's no surprise of my liking it! Until then I'd never seen inside it, and I was not disappointed. It's lined in some places with the same colour green as the exterior, overall it looks really comfortable and neat. I could definitely see myself in that one day. The great part about it is that it is so cheap! 15-20 thousand for it new, which is pretty cheap. Of course I couldn't get away with taking it to milking! But I really would love to have that or something similar one day. People say it's a grandma car, but I think it's cute!
Yesterday I heard of a three car crash in a section of road that is notorious for bad accidents. For the past few years it's been an 80kph zone yet there are continuous accidents that occur there. What really got me was that for the second time in a couple of days there's been an accident only a few hours after our driving through, which reminded me of something my youth leader said on Wednesday, "Remember to be thankful, not only in the good times, but for the bad times especially". This made me stop and think. Yes it's sad that there were accidents, but gosh I'm glad I wasn't a part of it. Another youth leader gave us an example of being thankful during a bad time - when the house he rented out caught fire and was mostly destroyed.
He said, "One part of the house was ruined by the fire, and the rest of it was ruined by the tenants...Instead of being angry or upset I just stopped and thanked God for what was happening and was overcome with a feeling of peace..." It was not the best thing to happen but it meant that he had a good reason to get rid of the messy tenants and the insurance money was able to build them a brand new house that they could design how they wanted it, and now they've got awesome people living in there. A lot of great things came out of a bad situation!! This story was followed up with the honest reminder to not complain when you have to do the tedious dishes, because it means you've eaten. And it may be a pain having to make your bed, thus be thankful because at least you've got one to sleep in.
But it was upon hearing of the crashes that reminded me of what they'd talked about and it made me realise how we should be more thankful more often. So for the next little while I'm going to keep an eye on myself and see how thankful I really am. Last night I thought of a few examples - for instance. We're overrun with work so much so that we have to turn some people away. Yes, it's a bad thing to be doing as we may lose good clients, but hey, at least we've got work! Another thought was when Mum was in hospital last month, which was a really horrible thing. It is hard to be thankful in a situation like that, but the biggest thing I'm thankful for is that she's still with us. And finally I'm thankful for my Nana and the strength she has. I don't think I've ever met a stronger person, to go through what she's going through would take some serious faith and strength - of which she has both.
So considering that thought, from now on I'm going to just stop and remember to be thankful, but not only in the good times. Because quite honestly, I've got it pretty good.
On Friday Dad, my brother and I went over to the Northland Field days for a few hours. It was so odd without Mum! We've never gone to the field days with somebody missing, so you can rest assured that it was extremely weird. Mum's still staying with Nana, but we're planning on going to pick her up this week sometime. As she's been away nearly a month it is going to be funny seeing her every day again, but I'll be glad to have her here again as running after everything here on my own is beginning to be a tad tiresome. And it'll be good to have someone have my back when the two guys team up against me as they like to do. I've missed having her around.
Yesterday I heard of a three car crash in a section of road that is notorious for bad accidents. For the past few years it's been an 80kph zone yet there are continuous accidents that occur there. What really got me was that for the second time in a couple of days there's been an accident only a few hours after our driving through, which reminded me of something my youth leader said on Wednesday, "Remember to be thankful, not only in the good times, but for the bad times especially". This made me stop and think. Yes it's sad that there were accidents, but gosh I'm glad I wasn't a part of it. Another youth leader gave us an example of being thankful during a bad time - when the house he rented out caught fire and was mostly destroyed.
He said, "One part of the house was ruined by the fire, and the rest of it was ruined by the tenants...Instead of being angry or upset I just stopped and thanked God for what was happening and was overcome with a feeling of peace..." It was not the best thing to happen but it meant that he had a good reason to get rid of the messy tenants and the insurance money was able to build them a brand new house that they could design how they wanted it, and now they've got awesome people living in there. A lot of great things came out of a bad situation!! This story was followed up with the honest reminder to not complain when you have to do the tedious dishes, because it means you've eaten. And it may be a pain having to make your bed, thus be thankful because at least you've got one to sleep in.
But it was upon hearing of the crashes that reminded me of what they'd talked about and it made me realise how we should be more thankful more often. So for the next little while I'm going to keep an eye on myself and see how thankful I really am. Last night I thought of a few examples - for instance. We're overrun with work so much so that we have to turn some people away. Yes, it's a bad thing to be doing as we may lose good clients, but hey, at least we've got work! Another thought was when Mum was in hospital last month, which was a really horrible thing. It is hard to be thankful in a situation like that, but the biggest thing I'm thankful for is that she's still with us. And finally I'm thankful for my Nana and the strength she has. I don't think I've ever met a stronger person, to go through what she's going through would take some serious faith and strength - of which she has both.
So considering that thought, from now on I'm going to just stop and remember to be thankful, but not only in the good times. Because quite honestly, I've got it pretty good.
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
For my Grandad. July 5th 1949 - February 16th 2014
Apparently life isn't endless as my blog name suggests, but it is endless in other forms. For example when a life ends in the passing of a family member or pet, that life doesn't just stop per se. It's the continuance of the sharing of stories or memories from that individual who has left us that keeps the life of the individual living on for many years to come. They may leave us physically, but in all honesty they're still going to be right there in the hearts and souls of those who loved and knew them. A life can never leave us forever, so long as we keep on remembering them.
My Grandad was a really neat person. Whenever you saw him he'd either be reading yet another book from his massive collection, playing what must've been addictive games of "Hearts" on the computer or continuously beating the rest of us at other forms of card games. If he wasn't doing that he'd be sitting in his chair telling us funny stories of his past and the people he knew or rattling off jokes so fast that he'd be onto the second one before we'd even sussed out the first. Most of the time our email inbox was clogged up with piles upon piles of funny emails he'd forwarded, sometimes you'd get emails that you'd already had ten times over, but we didn't mind because they were usually absolutely incredible or hilarious. And if myself, siblings and/or cousins got up to no good at his expense he'd always jokingly say "It may be against the law to hit your children, but it's perfectly alright to hit your grandkids!"
That is why it came to such a shock to all of us when he passed away Sunday morning, because we'd never imagined him not being there.
In my minds eye I can see many old memories of him, such as when my brother and I were younger and were dubbed "The Two Little One's". During the visits to Nana and Grandads house for some reason, and I've no idea how or why it started, if we woke up in the early hours of the morning I would jump into bed with Nana and Nick would sit on Grandads knee in the lazy boy and fall asleep again instantly.
Then when Grandad went off to work to sell cars, each day he wore a different tie, I think he even had a Christmas one. Sometimes Nana would take us down to see him at work, and right there on his desk was a jar full of lollipops, without a doubt it was always there. Those lollipops nowadays aren't the same and they probably cost three times as much... Every morning when we were at Nana and Grandads we'd have delicious homemade bread, toasted for breakfast. Every time I used "Grandads honey" and every time up until a few years ago I was tsked for it!
As a child I was gullible, whenever I saw Grandad he'd point at my shirt and say "what's that?" upon my looking down he'd flick me across the nose and burst into laughter for, yet again, tricking me. Because that's the sort of person he was, always having a joke around and enjoying himself. And that's how I'll remember him, as I'm sure, will others.
Rest In Peace Grandad. xx
My Grandad was a really neat person. Whenever you saw him he'd either be reading yet another book from his massive collection, playing what must've been addictive games of "Hearts" on the computer or continuously beating the rest of us at other forms of card games. If he wasn't doing that he'd be sitting in his chair telling us funny stories of his past and the people he knew or rattling off jokes so fast that he'd be onto the second one before we'd even sussed out the first. Most of the time our email inbox was clogged up with piles upon piles of funny emails he'd forwarded, sometimes you'd get emails that you'd already had ten times over, but we didn't mind because they were usually absolutely incredible or hilarious. And if myself, siblings and/or cousins got up to no good at his expense he'd always jokingly say "It may be against the law to hit your children, but it's perfectly alright to hit your grandkids!"
That is why it came to such a shock to all of us when he passed away Sunday morning, because we'd never imagined him not being there.
In my minds eye I can see many old memories of him, such as when my brother and I were younger and were dubbed "The Two Little One's". During the visits to Nana and Grandads house for some reason, and I've no idea how or why it started, if we woke up in the early hours of the morning I would jump into bed with Nana and Nick would sit on Grandads knee in the lazy boy and fall asleep again instantly.
Then when Grandad went off to work to sell cars, each day he wore a different tie, I think he even had a Christmas one. Sometimes Nana would take us down to see him at work, and right there on his desk was a jar full of lollipops, without a doubt it was always there. Those lollipops nowadays aren't the same and they probably cost three times as much... Every morning when we were at Nana and Grandads we'd have delicious homemade bread, toasted for breakfast. Every time I used "Grandads honey" and every time up until a few years ago I was tsked for it!
As a child I was gullible, whenever I saw Grandad he'd point at my shirt and say "what's that?" upon my looking down he'd flick me across the nose and burst into laughter for, yet again, tricking me. Because that's the sort of person he was, always having a joke around and enjoying himself. And that's how I'll remember him, as I'm sure, will others.
Rest In Peace Grandad. xx
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Ye Olde Green Shorts
My favourite pair of shorts went through their last use today. I'm heartbroken. I've had those shorts for three years, and we've been very close companions up until now. I happened to glance down at the back of them to find a large slit where the fabric had worn down and split apart. I was mortified. And the problem is that I've grown so used to them! Depending on what I do during the time I wear them, I keep them for two days before chucking them in the wash and swapping to my other pair of shorts for the next day. So now I've only really got the one pair of shorts to wear, and they aren't really the best. I prefer not to wear them in public and use them only for when I'm working. Darn it, now I've got to go find another pair of shorts similar to my old green ones. Those shorts were perfect! :'(
It's honestly quite frustrating. Especially when at the time you are wearing your Dads old sweatshirt that just happens to be going on 20 years old. Yes, all the cuffs are quite shredded, there's a hole in the elbow, a slit in the shoulder and rugged neckline, but it's perfect for what I need it for. It's lasted 20 years of use by Dad, my sister and now me. Yet those shorts couldn't last longer than three years. -_- They never make things how they used to...
Stupid really, but what on Earth am I going to wear to the beach on Saturday, without a decent pair of casual, able to get dirty, shorts? Grr
My life in a nutshell that.
I did a few things today. Did some chemistry, now I've only got three (?) chapters left in the booklet I'm working on. Wrote a letter to my friend Miriam, now I've just got to go to the post office and figure out the cost to send mail to China. And I got an email from my Biology teacher about potential science events I could apply for this year. One is the "London International Youth Science Forum" where 350 year 13 students aged 17-21 from 60 countries meet up in a university in London for two weeks and attend heaps of lectures and science related things. It's in mid July and goes through to August 6th and I'd say only the best of the best get chosen. In your application you have to include NCEA results and a myriad of other things to prove your worthiness to attend.
The other is the "Youth ANZAAS" (Australia New Zealand Association for Advancement of Science) This is a smaller event for year 12 and 13 students from New Zealand to go to Melbourne in early July and join with Australian students for five days. Only five students from NZ are selected however.
Both applications need a tonne of school results, teacher references, letters of worthiness, CV's etc etc and the students who do get in will get a 60% scholarship for the fees of travel and attendance. I would love to have the opportunity to get in. Mum sort of cringed when she heard when they were as they are during the beginning of our busy time of work, but the way I see it, these opportunities don't come up very often, so what is the harm in applying? Although the London one conflicts with the Massey university open day that I had planned to go to on August 6th. However, what I'm thinking is this. These are once in a life time opportunities for me, I'll never have the chance to apply for this sort of thing again and if - and I do say if - I just happened to gain a place at either of these then it is meant to be, isn't it? Things don't just come up in a blue moon, they come up for a reason, and in a few years time if I skipped out on applying I'll kick myself for it. And as they saying goes - "You've gotta be in it to win it" so there.
So, I've decided I'm going to apply for both options and just wait and see what happens. Anywho, I can go to a university open day any old day. Lots of people start uni without seeing their uni in the open day, they certainly don't skip big events such as a trip to London for them that's for sure! And also, being part of one of these will definitely help me out in the future, so why not give it a chance? :) We'll just have to wait and see. First off, I've got to figure out how to sell myself in a letter and a CV...Mind boggling that..
Youth Group started again last night. It was fun to get back and see all the people after the summer holidays. I was super shocked how many people showed up! About 30 people! We never have that big a turn out, so it was a bit odd seeing so many chairs filled up in the circle. This Saturday is our first event of the year, just a barbeque down at the beach and such. I'm not completely sure that I'm going yet. 1) because I'm honestly not sure what the heck I'll be able to wear and 2) I dunno, sometimes I feel like going to the beach, other times I just don't.
I don't swim at beaches really anymore, I prefer pools and lakes in a controlled situation. I used to swim at beaches all the time, but for the past five years I haven't really been to the beach and before then I had some not very nice experiences, being bashed around by waves and such, my body board suctioning to the sand, just silly little panic moments where you lose all sense of control. So if I were to go on Saturday, it definitely wouldn't be to swim! My favourite part about beaches is feeling the sand between my toes, making massive words and pictures in the sand and digging huge holes until we find water. Ok, so the latter part is a little bit dangerous, especially when stories like that of the little boy who dug a tiny hole, poked his head in and the sand collapsed, killing him, but if you'd seen the massive hole we dug when we were little, and then all stood in it.... hmm hehe
I keep looking and my school work and groaning. Just the little bit I've got already seems like so much and we're only in the second week of February! It's so difficult getting back into the swing of things after summer and I'm not used to already having my teachers and everything organised so soon. So much to do, so little time. I'm feeling really old and tired...
It's honestly quite frustrating. Especially when at the time you are wearing your Dads old sweatshirt that just happens to be going on 20 years old. Yes, all the cuffs are quite shredded, there's a hole in the elbow, a slit in the shoulder and rugged neckline, but it's perfect for what I need it for. It's lasted 20 years of use by Dad, my sister and now me. Yet those shorts couldn't last longer than three years. -_- They never make things how they used to...
Stupid really, but what on Earth am I going to wear to the beach on Saturday, without a decent pair of casual, able to get dirty, shorts? Grr
My life in a nutshell that.
I did a few things today. Did some chemistry, now I've only got three (?) chapters left in the booklet I'm working on. Wrote a letter to my friend Miriam, now I've just got to go to the post office and figure out the cost to send mail to China. And I got an email from my Biology teacher about potential science events I could apply for this year. One is the "London International Youth Science Forum" where 350 year 13 students aged 17-21 from 60 countries meet up in a university in London for two weeks and attend heaps of lectures and science related things. It's in mid July and goes through to August 6th and I'd say only the best of the best get chosen. In your application you have to include NCEA results and a myriad of other things to prove your worthiness to attend.
The other is the "Youth ANZAAS" (Australia New Zealand Association for Advancement of Science) This is a smaller event for year 12 and 13 students from New Zealand to go to Melbourne in early July and join with Australian students for five days. Only five students from NZ are selected however.
Both applications need a tonne of school results, teacher references, letters of worthiness, CV's etc etc and the students who do get in will get a 60% scholarship for the fees of travel and attendance. I would love to have the opportunity to get in. Mum sort of cringed when she heard when they were as they are during the beginning of our busy time of work, but the way I see it, these opportunities don't come up very often, so what is the harm in applying? Although the London one conflicts with the Massey university open day that I had planned to go to on August 6th. However, what I'm thinking is this. These are once in a life time opportunities for me, I'll never have the chance to apply for this sort of thing again and if - and I do say if - I just happened to gain a place at either of these then it is meant to be, isn't it? Things don't just come up in a blue moon, they come up for a reason, and in a few years time if I skipped out on applying I'll kick myself for it. And as they saying goes - "You've gotta be in it to win it" so there.
So, I've decided I'm going to apply for both options and just wait and see what happens. Anywho, I can go to a university open day any old day. Lots of people start uni without seeing their uni in the open day, they certainly don't skip big events such as a trip to London for them that's for sure! And also, being part of one of these will definitely help me out in the future, so why not give it a chance? :) We'll just have to wait and see. First off, I've got to figure out how to sell myself in a letter and a CV...Mind boggling that..
Youth Group started again last night. It was fun to get back and see all the people after the summer holidays. I was super shocked how many people showed up! About 30 people! We never have that big a turn out, so it was a bit odd seeing so many chairs filled up in the circle. This Saturday is our first event of the year, just a barbeque down at the beach and such. I'm not completely sure that I'm going yet. 1) because I'm honestly not sure what the heck I'll be able to wear and 2) I dunno, sometimes I feel like going to the beach, other times I just don't.
I don't swim at beaches really anymore, I prefer pools and lakes in a controlled situation. I used to swim at beaches all the time, but for the past five years I haven't really been to the beach and before then I had some not very nice experiences, being bashed around by waves and such, my body board suctioning to the sand, just silly little panic moments where you lose all sense of control. So if I were to go on Saturday, it definitely wouldn't be to swim! My favourite part about beaches is feeling the sand between my toes, making massive words and pictures in the sand and digging huge holes until we find water. Ok, so the latter part is a little bit dangerous, especially when stories like that of the little boy who dug a tiny hole, poked his head in and the sand collapsed, killing him, but if you'd seen the massive hole we dug when we were little, and then all stood in it.... hmm hehe
I keep looking and my school work and groaning. Just the little bit I've got already seems like so much and we're only in the second week of February! It's so difficult getting back into the swing of things after summer and I'm not used to already having my teachers and everything organised so soon. So much to do, so little time. I'm feeling really old and tired...
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Been Busy
It's been a fair while since I wrote my last update. Since then quite a bit has been going on.
Yesterday I was called by my Learning Adviser, it's great to finally be in touch with her again. She informed me of what an awesome start to the year we're going to have as the term is 12 weeks long. Meaning there's going to be plenty of time to rank up the workload and earn a bunch of credits. Well that's the intention anywho! As it's so early in the term, we aren't completely sure who my teachers are going to be as they're always shifted around at this time of year. So far though I've got last years Chemistry teacher - he's really nice but as my LA said - very difficult to get a hold of. For Biology I've got this lovely lady who is an amazing biology teacher. She was my Level 1 science teacher and she did the online tutorials for level 2 bio last year as well. We're going to have fun this year I think! And I've also got an Agriculture and Statistics teacher, neither of which I've heard of before. But then again, I've never done their subjects either!
Since I had my first school stuff arrive mid January I've sent back the Ag and Bio questionnaire and what appears to be two maths books - the level 2 stuff I had to catch up on. Chemistry pre questionnaire is a little harder though. Unlike Bio and Ag which just ask a bunch of questions to see where you're up to, Chemistry is a really big booklet with the learning in it as well that you have to go over from Level 1 and 2 and then do the typical Teacher Marked Assessment section without the answers. It's not exactly difficult, but more frustrating and time consuming. There is a disk that should've been sent with it that you need to do certain activities. It is possible to do these activities online after doing a free download, but my computer doesn't seem to agree with it. It is also possible to do the activities without the download or disk, but that is also time consuming as you have to work everything out in your head or on paper. However, as most of these questions are so basic, I may just skip them. The only important part is getting the TMA right...Chemistry and I don't usually get along too badly, but we also don't go skipping in the park together because we love each other so much, like it is with Bio. Some things I do really well on, other things I just. Don't. Get. But hey, I can figure it all out eventually! Biology is less equations but big words and explanations. Much more enjoyable! :D My LA is happy I've made a good start to the year, so fingers crossed I can keep up the enthusiasm!
This weekend I'm back into milking, it's not too bad at the place I'm at. It doesn't take too long these days as they're split calving farmers, they're in the middle of drying off half of their herd in time for them to calve in March. So it means a heck of a shorter time to milk. I just realised it took less than two hours to milk this morning, Mum and Dad will have to use the two hour minimum policy we've got to cover the cost of travel to the job, it won't increase by much though, only 15 minutes which is nothing really. These days we're only milking on the weekends because that is the only time people seem to be booking us for. Although we're almost fully booked out on the weekends until the end of the season - the end of May. So it's pretty great! We're desperately trying to find extra staff to help the four of us get through the workload so we won't have to turn so many people down. However we're also trying to convince farmers to have weekends off during the week. Sooner or later they're going to have to get the idea and use it to their best advantage. But it's great for me though, because it means I've got definite work for the weekends and free weeks to get my school work done! Sweet!
Last weekend I caught a bus and went to Te Awamutu in the Waikato to see my best friend. It's been four years since I'd seen her and we've been best friends since before we were born. I'm sure we have anyway! Lol, as our Mum's had been friends for years before then. So it was really good to see her again, and as per normal, we got on just fine and had a great weekend! We went Ten Pin Bowling, Go-Carting and shopping with her Mum and little sister at the Base in Hamilton, just basically hanging out and having a good time. Though it was pretty lame boarding the bus to go home again on Monday after only a short weekend visit, but hey, I'm glad I saw her. I'm hoping they will come this way at the end of this year so we can catch up again, and our Mum's can too. Fingers crossed!
Wednesday night I went up to my youth leaders house for a few hours with other members of the group. Everyone kept ringing them asking if youth group was on that night, eventually they just said "nope it's next week but how about coming to our place for a movie and such?" The text message was sent out and I think ten of us showed up, had some roasted marshmellows and just caught up and chatted about the holidays and suchforth. It was fun, I took my famous chocolate brownie up there for them, yet again, they loved it. I'm beginning to think it isn't them just saying it's good, because it is almost fully devoured in minutes....I had to leave by 9:30 though to be home in time for my 10 o'clock driving curfew. Seriously, I can't wait to get my full license in August after doing a defensive drivers course. Not that I want to stay out late, I just hate having to constantly look at the time. Mum and Dad are happy so long as I'm back by ten, which is the main thing.
Yesterday I was called by my Learning Adviser, it's great to finally be in touch with her again. She informed me of what an awesome start to the year we're going to have as the term is 12 weeks long. Meaning there's going to be plenty of time to rank up the workload and earn a bunch of credits. Well that's the intention anywho! As it's so early in the term, we aren't completely sure who my teachers are going to be as they're always shifted around at this time of year. So far though I've got last years Chemistry teacher - he's really nice but as my LA said - very difficult to get a hold of. For Biology I've got this lovely lady who is an amazing biology teacher. She was my Level 1 science teacher and she did the online tutorials for level 2 bio last year as well. We're going to have fun this year I think! And I've also got an Agriculture and Statistics teacher, neither of which I've heard of before. But then again, I've never done their subjects either!
Since I had my first school stuff arrive mid January I've sent back the Ag and Bio questionnaire and what appears to be two maths books - the level 2 stuff I had to catch up on. Chemistry pre questionnaire is a little harder though. Unlike Bio and Ag which just ask a bunch of questions to see where you're up to, Chemistry is a really big booklet with the learning in it as well that you have to go over from Level 1 and 2 and then do the typical Teacher Marked Assessment section without the answers. It's not exactly difficult, but more frustrating and time consuming. There is a disk that should've been sent with it that you need to do certain activities. It is possible to do these activities online after doing a free download, but my computer doesn't seem to agree with it. It is also possible to do the activities without the download or disk, but that is also time consuming as you have to work everything out in your head or on paper. However, as most of these questions are so basic, I may just skip them. The only important part is getting the TMA right...Chemistry and I don't usually get along too badly, but we also don't go skipping in the park together because we love each other so much, like it is with Bio. Some things I do really well on, other things I just. Don't. Get. But hey, I can figure it all out eventually! Biology is less equations but big words and explanations. Much more enjoyable! :D My LA is happy I've made a good start to the year, so fingers crossed I can keep up the enthusiasm!
This weekend I'm back into milking, it's not too bad at the place I'm at. It doesn't take too long these days as they're split calving farmers, they're in the middle of drying off half of their herd in time for them to calve in March. So it means a heck of a shorter time to milk. I just realised it took less than two hours to milk this morning, Mum and Dad will have to use the two hour minimum policy we've got to cover the cost of travel to the job, it won't increase by much though, only 15 minutes which is nothing really. These days we're only milking on the weekends because that is the only time people seem to be booking us for. Although we're almost fully booked out on the weekends until the end of the season - the end of May. So it's pretty great! We're desperately trying to find extra staff to help the four of us get through the workload so we won't have to turn so many people down. However we're also trying to convince farmers to have weekends off during the week. Sooner or later they're going to have to get the idea and use it to their best advantage. But it's great for me though, because it means I've got definite work for the weekends and free weeks to get my school work done! Sweet!
Last weekend I caught a bus and went to Te Awamutu in the Waikato to see my best friend. It's been four years since I'd seen her and we've been best friends since before we were born. I'm sure we have anyway! Lol, as our Mum's had been friends for years before then. So it was really good to see her again, and as per normal, we got on just fine and had a great weekend! We went Ten Pin Bowling, Go-Carting and shopping with her Mum and little sister at the Base in Hamilton, just basically hanging out and having a good time. Though it was pretty lame boarding the bus to go home again on Monday after only a short weekend visit, but hey, I'm glad I saw her. I'm hoping they will come this way at the end of this year so we can catch up again, and our Mum's can too. Fingers crossed!
Wednesday night I went up to my youth leaders house for a few hours with other members of the group. Everyone kept ringing them asking if youth group was on that night, eventually they just said "nope it's next week but how about coming to our place for a movie and such?" The text message was sent out and I think ten of us showed up, had some roasted marshmellows and just caught up and chatted about the holidays and suchforth. It was fun, I took my famous chocolate brownie up there for them, yet again, they loved it. I'm beginning to think it isn't them just saying it's good, because it is almost fully devoured in minutes....I had to leave by 9:30 though to be home in time for my 10 o'clock driving curfew. Seriously, I can't wait to get my full license in August after doing a defensive drivers course. Not that I want to stay out late, I just hate having to constantly look at the time. Mum and Dad are happy so long as I'm back by ten, which is the main thing.
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