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Monday, December 31, 2007

The Countdown Begins...

Well now there is 24 hours left in the year of 2007. I must say that it has been an eventful year, what with my HSC and all that jazz. I must thank everyone who has helped me this year because its been tough, and I guess I got the result I deserved as a reflection of my entire effort this year, and not just in the last few months.
Next year is they year 2008, and in 23 hours and 57 minutes that year will begin. It is the year of the Rat, the year of the Beijing Olympics, the year I start university but it will differ from this year because I have made some New Years Resolutions.
I resolve to:
  • use my gym membership more and get fit, because I've been real lazy this year.
  • not stay home all the time, because thats no fun.
  • never be bored ever again, because that is a waste of time.
  • never waste my time, because we only have a limited ammount
  • apply myself better to my studies because I know I can do well, I just don't try
and
  • enjoy myself
Hopefully I can stick to these resolutions and make the most of my year.
In 23 hours and 40 minutes the year will end and a new one will be born, who knows what will happen... see you on the flip side
-Charles

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Some one get me OUT OF HERE!!!

I do believe I am going to go crazy in here. I'm currently stuck at home with nothing to do but go onto the net and read. I'm bored stiff in this environment.

This is me at the beginning of the day. I look pretty ok, but thats because I was in la la land in my dreams. The day before i had basically demolished my room to appease my mum's order to organise things ( my method is one step at a time) and to have something to do.










And this...

This is me at the end of the day. I am driving my self nuts in here.

Someone, anyone
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-Charles

Friday, December 28, 2007

Photo Updates

As you may have noticed, my blog is a bit of an under achiever when it comes to photos.
In fact right now, I'm sure you've noticed that its a bit word heavy.
Anyway I'm going to change that, starting on my next post. (sorry its late and I'm too tired to be stuffed to add photos).
Also, I'm going to add photos to the old posts I have which are photo less.
anyway ciao for now (or as I'm learning in Portuguese tchau... darn I forgot the rest)
-Charles

Thursday, December 27, 2007

GRRRRR!!!!

I have come to the realisation that I'm wasting my time. That said, I am very angry and frustrated with myself.
To explain, I have been out of school for over a month and a half now, and I'm still unemployed, I'm still not going out and doing any thing, and I'm STILL resting on my laurels.
I've been looking for a job, but its my fault for being stupid enough not to look before the end of christmas casual hiring.
That said, I feel like changing the way I am, because I'm tired of certain aspects of my life. I'm tired of being socially stunted, and I'm tired of being unfit (for those of you who know me and think im fit, I really have no endurance what so ever) and I'm so tired of wasting my time.
Time is a valualbe and rare comodity, us men have about 72 years on average of it to spend, women 80. And since time is so valuable, there is no sense in wasting it.
I HAVE WASTED ENOUGH OF MY LIFE!
I'm going to start getting out and enjoying myself and living.
For those of you who are still wasting your lives, please do something with your time. Even if you're going to sit infront of the TV, don't let that time fall to dis use, make something of it, because i can think of nothing sadder than not making something of your life

-Charles

Christmas, the Commercial Caper

I for one am not a fan of Christmas, not because I don't like what the holiday stands for, but because of what its become. In the past few deccades christmas has become increasingly commercial, and children turn into little monsters around this time of year too (well most children, there are some good ones out there), its all christmas catalogues and what are you going to buy those little ankle biters. What happened to family? Oh i know its there still, but what happened to just being with each other?
I've become disenchanted with the whole affair, especially with the mass bought products turned presents. If I wanted to get a gift from someone, I'd want something i can use, not a tea set, or a vase.
This just tells me that others are frustrated with the entire process aswell. choosing something to buy your closest, from the pelthora of products with "buy me" or "great gift idea" attatched.
well I don't agree with it, you might like Christmas but I don't like what happens before and after. I'm the sort of person who invests a great deal of effort in the gifts I give to others, call me a bit old fashioned but i believe gifts should be able to be used for a purpose or a life time, and making a gift for someone speaks in decibles of volume greater that you care, than some tacky mass manufactured thing with a kitsch christmas card.

That said, i did enjoy my christmas with family. And i did get some useful gifts. I got a new wallet which i desperately needed, some books on cooking and some extra spending money, which will go towards savings (or if in the form of gift cards) save me money when shopping.
I do hope with my whole heart that you all had merry christmases and that you got gifts that you may not necessarily have wanted but have needed.
Best wishes for the new year
-Charles

A night with Miss Kieran, member of the order of the silver spoon

On the 23rd of December, I spent my afternoon and evening with Kieran and Vicky, at Kieran's place in Carlingford.
Now just for those of you who don't know Kieran and Vicky, they are very funny, charismatic young women who I met through my good pal Daniel Reynolds when I went to my first Rocky Horror Audience Participation Show. Yes you heard me right, Kieran, although posessing a mans name, is a woman.
Anyway we hung out at her's she took loads of photos on her new LOMO cameras, and we watched anime films, like Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Monoke. Vicky got sunburnt on her arms and we both got retinal damage from the various coloured flashes from Kieran's new cameras.
Had fun, looking forward to hanging out again.
-Charles

Thursday, December 20, 2007

AHHH THE HSC - The Grand Finale

Well the clock struck 09:00 hours on the 20th of December and around 66000 students across NSW logged into the UAC website and found out their UAI's.
There I sat on my bed, laptop infront of me and after failing to log in several times (not because it was busy but because i was stupid enough to not read the fine print on what to do with your student number to make it a uac number) i finally got through the login process.

The little blue box turned grey and stated it was processing my login...

drums, or timpani's (i wasn't concentrating on what sound effects my subconcious was creating to make my mundane life more interesting for itself), were rolling in my head. I had one set of fingers was crossed and my other hand touching my bedside table (touch wood cause i had begun to doubt myself vocally) as my results were queryed and loaded.
What took only seconds, in my mind, took an minute or two (probably because my subconcious was still trying to make mundane old me interesting to itself) as my school year flashed before my eyes, all the work (and in some cases lack there of) the time (used and wasted) and the effort (sometimes to no avail) all synthesised into a montage of images until it all became a blur of white light...
the header for the screen popped up and the boarder as with all the rest of the items on the page, in chronological order until, anticlimatically, my UAI popped up on screen...

79.45

I stared at it for a moment, weighing up if I was pleased or not... after a second or two my mind decided on happy and i cracked a smile, in my solitude and thought it was going to be a good day. I wasn't expecting a 90 after seeing my HSC marks the day before, but a 79.45 was a fair bit above my expectations and I was quite stoked.
Ok so a while back i would have liked to get 85, but no matter, I have what I have.
Some higher being or force chose to give me lemons or some other not so great comodity (like dirt), and I'm going to make the best lemonade (or bricks) that I know how :)

the future looks uncertain but i can finally lay this chapter of my life to rest and be glad that I didn't totally bomb out.
to all my friends who got their UAI's, i hope you did as well as you expected and if you didn't (and at the risk of sounding cliche) take my advice...
its not the end of the world and you just have to make the best of what you got. Keep trying and you can get anywhere.
I may not have gotten a good UMAT score, or an incredibly high UAI, but i (in the words of my primary school principal Mr. Huckabee) "I did my PB and thats what matters" and now, although my goal is a bit further away, I'm going to work towards being a doctor... or a chef... or an artist... haven't decided which one yet, but it'll be one

-Charles

AHHH THE HSC, the finale

Well the HSC 2007 is finally drawing to a close and i must say i am proud of my results.
Here's what i got in units, course offered, examination mark, assesment mark, HSC mark and performance band:
2 biology 88/100 84/100 86 5
2 chemistry 73/100 77/100 75 4
2 English Adv 72/100 73/100 73 4
2 Mathematics 74/100 69/100 72 4
2 Music 1 *88/100 88/100 88 5
2 Visual Arts 88/100 88/100 88 5

-board endorsed courses:
1 Visual Arts/Intensive Studio Practice N/A 39/50 N/A N/A

*school assesment used to determine result - education act 1990 (section 96)

Very pleased with myself, especially with maths (even though its my lowest score) I did better than i had expected to,
now in approximately 7 hours the UAI's come out, and then i'm off to school to go tell them what i got. Hope it all pans out well, as i'm nervous as all hell.
wish me luck and that i don't bomb out (touch wood)
-Charles

Killara High Presentation Day, the day an entire school got to hate Brendan Nelson in person

Well the Killara High School 39th Presentation day was on Monday this week. It was a ceremony lasting several hours, with much talking and a year 7 choir that was ok but could have done better ( i so reckon that the actual school choir could have out sung them and they were 8 times the size of us). anyway this is not what i wanted to talk about. One of the special guests, who's role was to stand up in their academic robes and hand out awards, was Dr Brendan Nelson himself. Former Federal Education minister and then Former Federal Defence Minister and now the Current Opposition Leader, but I don't think he'll survive there, he's to outrageous for the Australian Liberal Party. Anyway, the esteemed Dr Nelson was responsible, during his time as Education Minister, for the change of the HECS scheme (which is government help for tertiary study) in which the old system prices were (mostly) raised. This legislation directly affected the graduating class of 07 (high school graduates) because our year was the first to be placed onto the entirely new system. So WE end up paying more for our tertiary studies, which could leave us thousands of dollars extra in debt than our predecessors.
So here Dr Nelson was, at the Killara High Presentation Day. He strolled in with the official party and was saying "hello" to all the students he passed as if they loved him (don't worry he didn't get any responses) and was charged with giving awards to US, THE YEAR 12's that he F*@%*ED over with his new legislation.
He was all smiles and congratulations! while everyone in the hall was like
"what the hell are you doing here..."
sigh
oh well that's my rant for now
-Charles

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A can of Sweetend Condensed Month

Well i haven't been blogging for a bit, just can't seem to make it part of my regular rouitine. anyway i'm just going to update you on what i've been up to this past month and a bit.

On a night like this:
Formal was on the 19th of November. Props to Saba and Sami for organising the formal and after party respectively.
I had pre formal drinks at pip's place in Castle Cove (which I walked to, warm afternoon sun plus walking plus hills equals one sweaty Charles), as ususal people decided to drink as much alcohol as they could (in moderation or secrecy because their parents were there), which led to several people busting to go to the bathroom on bus trip to the formal. Stand out memories of this pheomenon were 6 boys jumping off the bus BEFORE we got to the venue and doing their business between the gaps of someone's white picket fence, BM breaking a massive sweat just from the effort he was putting into not pissing his pants and all the girls (who had more sense to just hold it in because we were only a few minutes away from the venue) quicky walking off the bus and into the lobby in search of a bathroom.
Formal was at Le Montage in Liedchardt, which over looks a waterway of some kind. I said to myself that I'd get into plenty of photos that night and only ended up in 3 professional photos and a couple of photos taken by various friends cameras. That said i've come to realise im not much of a "photo whore". The food was good and the DJ's were ok, I ended up dancing untill the lights turned on and i had to run for the bus to the afters.
Afters was organised by Sami and she did a brilliant job considering all the shit that she got put through in the process. Originally we were supposed to be at the civic hotel, but due to legislation passed by the NSW state Govt, minors couldn't be in there without the company of a parent or nominated guardian. The problem was that a quater of the grade was under age and the legislation was only passed the week before the afters. Not a big problem you say? a week is a lot of time to organise guardians? true it is, but the after party company called yourafterparty.com.au only told our organiser that we had to have guardians at 10pm of the 17th... leaving only 1 full day to get guardians organised.
In the end we were moved to this korean restaurant called Kabow. to say that most people were disappointed is an understatement. All up the waiting lines people were complaining and bitching about how they paid to go to the civic and ended up in a korean restaurant.
To be honest it wasn't all that bad, people just had to forget their woes and have fun. The only bit about that night was the fact that the Djs kept raising the volume, which was ok at first... except they kept going... It got to one point where they were playing a track that had digitized harmonic ascending appeggios playing each bar. The accoustics of the basement that we were in was such that the second highest note of the appeggio would just resonate throughout the room. Couple with the volume that they were playing their music at, that one note was like a pin through the eardrums.
at 1 or 2 am my ear had had enough, so i went outside to find my friends sitting around. We decided to go to pancakes, but not realising the darling harbour franchise (although alot closer) was closed, spent 15 minutes walking to darling harbour to discover they were closed and then walking another 30 minutes to go to the Pancakes on the Rocks.
Good fun.


Past the 18th milestone:
My birthday is the next big event that i can remember, aside from vague memories of spending time with a few friends, hanging out with a couple of my cousins, my cousins boyfriend and some of his friends. Now for those of you who don't know my birthday is on the 8th of December, and this year, me being me, i had a small family get together, because i had left the planning of my birthday party too late. None the less i had a good time.
I started my celebrations at someone elses party in the blue mountains. half a month before i had gone with my cousin Katie to my second cousin Martin's house in the Blue Mountains, as a sort of end of HSC party. There we met quite a few of Martin's friends ( hey josh, hamish, sam, liz, rosie, kenny, jules, jullian, corey and ben if you're reading this) and on the train ride home (hello vanessa if you're reading this too) got invited by liz to her own birthday party on the 7th of December.
So kate and i, on friday the 7th hopped on the 4:something train to hazelbrook and met up with martin, had dinner at his place, got a lift to the station from Ian (martin's dad) and took the train
to springwood to find out what a real blue mountains party was like.
To say that it was great would not be doing it justice. Liz's party was awesome! Now i don't drink, smoke or take drugs, but im not morally against others doing it. This party was, as martin described it, more like a normal blue mountains party, some alcohol, some dope and a real relaxed chilled atmosphere, which is totally unlike sydney parties which are dancey and loud with alot of people hooking up. Liz had live music, african drumming, african dancing and fire twirling aswell which was great fun.

On that night martin also shared with me his theory on the two types of schools. He said that one type was an anti drugs pro slut school, where they don't use drugs (im talking about the majority of the students) on a casual basis but will go to a party to get drunk and hook up with some one. the other type was a pro drugs and anti slut school, which obviously is the opposite of what i said earlier. I can say that I went to a anti drugs pro slut school because most parties i go to in sydney are full of alcohol and all people talk about after is who hooked in with who.
anyway when the clock ticked over to the 8th of december i was watching the fire twirling and looking up at the multitude of stars in the blue mountains sky, which was a great way to spend the start of my 18th year of life.
back at home the next day, I planned a menu for my family birthday get together and spent my entire afternoon cooking, which was good fun. There weren't that many people there but I didn't mind. in the end i ended up getting $50 from my aunty Li, a tool kit from my uncle geoff, aunty linda and cousins Annie and Katie, a very philosphical card and a $300 gift card from my aunty mindy, uncle Tim and cousins andrew and jessica, the cook's companion by stephanie alexander and Maggie's Harvest by Maggie Beer (the cook in the cook and the chef) a few days late from my brother Alex, a braun electric shaver from my dad and a telescope from my mum. I was gob smacked at that. A TELESCOPE! i mean that would have to be the coolest most practical present i had ever gotten and I love practical gifts, after all
there's no sense in getting something that you can't use.


Seek and you shall find:
Now after all that excitement, i was supposed to find a job. unfortunatley for me, i had left looking for one too late as the hiring season for christmas casuals was over. Currently im still not working and bumming around the house, but things might get more active... but i'll tell you about that at another time.

well thats all I have for the moment, To all my friends who are reading this, i miss you guys alot and we need to hang out some time soon.


-Charles