I guess I’ve been putting off writing this far too long. So, finally, you all get a recap of my trip away at Asia. (And by you all I mean the two people who actually visit this site). Here it goes
Day 1: Auckland, New Zealand – Bangkok, Thailand
Dad and I went to Auckland Airport to catch our flight into Bangkok via Sydney, Australia. He made me wear business clothes. That’s alright, apart from the fact that I don’t have any good businessy shoes… So that meant that I had to wear my dress shoes. Now, I’m not sure if you’re too aware of this, but dress shoes are horribly uncomfortable. Especially for a flat-foot. Sucks to have hobbit-feet. Anyway, at that point I wasn’t aware of how much I would loathe dress shoes by the end of the 13 hour flight.
As I sat down, buckled my seatbelt and started playing some video games, the captain announces that an instructional video would be displayed on everyone’s personal screen. Immediately afterwards, this is announced in arabic (it was an Emirates Airline flight). Now, I understand most arabic, but this guy sounded like the godfather, minus the age and the cicilian-ness. Well, actually, he sounded like he had cotton-balls in his mouth, either that or he was 7 marshmellows into “Chubby Bunny” and didn’t want to lose. The instructional video played once. Then again, in arabic. I put on some music, namely Neil Diamond (I am not ashamed). After take-off, the pilot said a safety video would be displayed on the screen. And surely, “Chubby Bunny” announced this in arabic afterwards before the video screened. I sat through it. This video was horribly acted. I don’t know if it was because I sat media studies or not, but the cuts between shots were incredibly fast for a safety video. Very fast-paced. It was kind of like the cuts you’d expect in James Bond action scenes. I guess buckling my seat-belt and not using a laptop is as James Bond as things get on an Emirates flight. As I was anticipating getting back to Old Mr Diamond, the video was once again played in arabic. I think I kind of understand hostility against arabic people these days…
After 10 minutes of waiting, I started watching “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”. Admittedly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. After it ended, I put on more tunes from my dear friend Neil, only to have my headphones taken away by a hostess because we would be landing in half an hour. Great. I was stuck playing airline games that claimed interactivity, yet no one really wants to interact with you. So I played some Yahtzee against my personal screen until we landed.
Dad and I waited in the Emirates Gold lounge (because he has a Skywards Gold card). I ate free food. ‘Twas most nice. And I drank free drink. Which was also most nice. Soon after, we were ready to go through a solid 10 hours of flying. Great.
Once again, the instructional videos played. Chubby Bunny talked after the pilot did. I began to wonder as the origins of his voice. Maybe it was a disgruntled passenger who was sick of hearing everything in arabic and not being able to listen, watch or play something of his or her choosing so they decided to beat his jaw. He’s still doing his job. You have to admire the man’s willpower.
I slept most of the way to Bangkok, because the person in front of me had put their seat back, thus making the personal unit too low (even for me). These seats were horribly designed. My feet couldn’t touch the ground (yes I am short) and I only found out about the foot rests halfway through the flight. I should’ve paid more attention to the video =\
Got off the plane at Bangkok. It was surprisingly hot there. As we stepped out of the airport, we were greeted by a giant surge of heat. Unfortunately, in Thailand, with heat always comed about 20 people wanting you to ride their taxi to your destination. We got into one taxi told the driver where to go. He was travelling close to 120kmph along the motorway. Kind of an uncomfortable speed. No seatbelts on the back seats made me more uncomfortable. The man offered us some gum. We politely refused. He hocked(sp?) a loogie a numerous amount of times and spat them out the door (apparantly his window didn’t work). Great first image of Thailand.
We got to our hotel at about 3am. The taxi driver said the toll was 400Baht which comes out to about $16 in New Zealand, which was an average rate. Though he did have the taxi meter off the whole time. Cheating bastard. We went up to our room on the 27th floor with a great view of the city. I took off my shoes and realised that I had lost the feeling in my feet. And when it came back, I wished that I would lose feeling again. Planes are annoying. I went to sleep.
So that’s Day 1 of my trip to Asia. I will be writing in more as time permits, but right now there is a cold pomegranate with my name on it. Not so much on it as will be. And not so much my name as my stomach acid.
Ciao.
Filed under: Acting, Computer Games, Education, Exam, Life, Rambling, Travel
I was thinking today about what inanimate object it would suck to be the most.
I considered a toilet brush – Brushing down crap and what-not off the surface of the inner toilet-seat isn’t the best of jobs. That being said, there is a lot of idle time between each use of the brush. The brush is then put to writh in it’s own (and the person who just used the toilet’s) filth. However – this being said, the toilet brush never really knew freedom or cleanliness, so it would, in fact, not know what it was missing out on and think that it was living a relatively normal life.
Then I let my mind ponder a bit more. I eventually got to feminine sanitary items. Ofcourse, immediately I wished that I haden’t, bashed my head against a wall and thought of the Care Bears. Ofcourse this now means that the Care Bears indirectly will always remind me of sanitary items… but I don’t think I will miss out on too much there… Disqualified on accounts of being too… I can’t even continue. This paragraph ends now.
I then thought of a chair. Chairs have it the worst out of anything else in the world. They just sit there and look uninteresting. All of a sudden – they are smothered by some person’s buttocks (most likely an obese person, because of the epidimic and such). Then they are let to breath after a prolonged sitting. Chairs taste freedom. They know what it is like to not be sat on. So it would be rather unpleasant (if they could feel) for a chair to be sat on by someone. Furthermore, it isn’t far from often that chairs are on the receiving end of a Liverpool Raspberry. Having someone flatulate near you is bad enough – let alone directly into you. “But, Moody…” I hear you ask, “Chairs don’t get sat on ALL the time… They have lots of moments of freedom!”. Well, oh imaginary enquirer, how would you feel if the whole purpose of your existence lay in people pressing up against you with all their weight and occassionaly flatulate into you? What if that was the whole reason for you being there? Wouldn’t it suck? Which brings me to my point of it actually does Suck to be a Chair…
I finished my exams a couple of days ago. It felt so good to finally step out of the dark (HO HO! Photography Pun!). Most of my photography exam consisted of time spent in the dark room, hence the horrible, horrible pun. But I managed to complete 3 boards – which consisted of 22 photos in total of varrying size and a bit of journal work. I am never to do another visual art subject for as long as I live and I am glad. It was 15 hours of absolute blonk. The word ‘blonk’ actually describes the experience very well. I shall have to use it more often…
“So, Moody… Why aren’t you on a plane to Asia right now?” I hear you ask (well, not really, but if you were here you would probably ask me that). Dad called me 3 hours before our plane leaves to tell me he needs to stay here for a couple more days to finish a current project he’s doing… So, looks like I’m here until the 3rd of December… Meh…
The roles for “The School for Scandal” have been released to us and I got the part of Sir Oliver Surface – on the grounds of him being called little, and my height to be rather… little… Anyway, it shall be great and atleast I can find happiness in the fact that I will not get raped during this production. But, being raped onstage was not such a bad experience (this is theatrical, onstage, not-real-but-acted-behind-a-screen rape). It was rather fun… Did I just say that? No. I blogged it… Much worse…
Bleh. I’m kind of tired today. I’ve been killing virtual Iraqi soldiers for a while on the computer (by virtual I mean computer-generated, not almost). I stumbled across my copy of “Conflict Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad” and have been playing it quite obsessively. I don’t know what I find so entertaining about wreaking havoc in the city where I was born on the computer… Bang Bang Explode Weeee Testosterone…
That ends this blog. I shall Blog to you next from Asia.
Ciao.
I have received a response to my last post about the flaws I have observed throughout my only year doing an NCEA subject. I thought that it would be interesting to try to answer this response. I shall keep the person anonymous – as I would like to save them the embarrasment.
1. your a twat, u no they dnt use cie in england anymore, cos they realised it was so outdated
CIE teaches us where to use proper punctuation. You’re a twat for not realising this. England is a proper noun and needs a capital letter. I guess a grasp of the English language is an outdated skill – especially in an primarily English speaking country. I guess it is about time we go back to communicating through monosyllabic grunts and wooden clubs again…
2. what do u wanna suck off bentley or something? just cos the principle has wacked out belieifs dnt mean u have 2 follow
No, I do not want to “suck off” anyone. It goes against my principles to suck off a male principal. “Sucking off” is not part of my beliefs. Anyway, just because one person has one opinion, does it mean that everyone who has a similar opinion wants to suck them off? And putting an ‘i’ before and after the ‘e’ does not mean that you will be marked correctly because one of the two places are correct.
3. yea keeps u on ur toes all year by using internals, which helps you 2 learn 2 concentrate throughout the year, nt just learn how 2 sit an exam like macleans college teaches
The teachers also solve the homework assigned the previous day in class – thus defeating the purpose of homework. And I had previously stated that it keeps you alert for the whole year. Does that mean you want to suck me off?
4. they nt treating us like indesisive youngsters they are teaching us 2 make intelligent decisions about taking control of our lifes, and putting effort in even after you have acheived the bere minimum.
There is no motivation to achieve excellence. Once you have achieved, a student will not be motivated enough to further their knowledge, whilst in Cambridge – a student does not know their marks until the following year, thus making them strive to the best of his or her ability as insurance for a decent result.
5. they are not however teaching bullshit old skills that will never apply in the new zealand workforce, i swear people like u are scared of change, scared of something new.
Scared of something like proper grammar and correct use of language devices? Is now, suddenly everyone who knows how to use the English language a “twat” with “old outdated skills that will never apply in an English speaking country”?. Is Media Studies really THAT much more important than learning how to say… develop a technology to… I don’t know… make a camera? or a television set? How about broadcasting devices? I’m sure Physics and Maths are not as needed as a subject as elemental to the core of our society as Media Studies…
WELCOME to the new world, its time that macleans college grows some sacks and accepts it, like the rest of the country
So trusting in a relatively new education system, which clearly has flaws (as most new systems would), is better than trusting in a world-renowned system that can be measured evenly over all countries? I think safety would really be in numbers. Would you buy Digimon cards if everyone else was already playing with Pokemon cards?
Oh well… I guess holding up a decent, impersonal and intellectual debate is also an extremely outdated skill that is not needed anymore.
Adios Muchachas.
I sat my first, only and last NCEA exam of my life today. And I’m glad. NCEA – for all those who aren’t from New Zealand – is the standard national education system (National Certificate for Educational Achievement). To be fair – the only subject I am doing in NCEA is Media Studies, which has been challenging at times. This qualification has made able the student to stay on their feet the whole year through, as there are assessments being conducted the whole year round. But by doing this – the pressure and importance of the end of year exam is lifted.
As I was lined up outside, I read posters which listed everything not allowed to bring into the exam. This ranged from Blank Paper to Ipods and Mobile Phones. Having gone into Cambridge Exams – I would have thought that students would have enough initiative to be able to distinguish whether or not to pack their laptop into their bags as they enter the exam room. In Cambridge – you get the boot. Fair enough. I mean, if you’re too slow to realise that a coffee machine is not allowed into the exam-room, then you shouldn’t be allowed to get a college education. It’s that simple. Well, I think so. But then again, I don’t enjoy unintellectual company.
Going into the exam room was suprisingly the same. However, there was an empty desk to either side of me, one space ahead of me, and one behind. This was, I assume, to prevent cheating. Even though you can look at a peer’s paper during a written exam (which this was), you wouldn’t REALLY be able to cheat. It’s hard. Harder than a necrophiliac in a morgue (I should really stop saying that).
The exam started. 45 minutes into it, the examiner announced “You may leave the exam now, if you wish”. I was kind of shocked. The whole room was sitting 3 papers simultaneously. Each of which take ATLEAST 45 minutes each to complete. Besides people leaving the room distracting those who are still doing the paper, it really jeapordises their future. In Cambridge students are basically forced to spend a certain amount of time with a paper in front of them – offering no other alternative than to actually do the paper. In NCEA – it’s “Day-dream for 45 minutes and leave”.
And these students can afford to leave. Because they have enough credits from the year’s work they have done to pass. However, it was the ones who didn’t have those credits who were leaving the room.
This system is not lost. I think if the necessary improvements are made to NCEA – it can be made into a respected and renouned qualification. Right now, however, it is for those students hoping to do the bare minimum and just pass the year – without really excelling in anything. Don’t get me wrong, I know some people whom I respect both academically and socially who do NCEA, but it seems to be at a trough right now. CIE is definitely the way to go for the next few years, until NZQA have sorted NCEA out.
The first step NZQA need to take is to realise that by treating New Zealand Youth like indecisive children who cannot think for themselves, they are forcing them into acting like indecisive children who cannot think for themselves. NZQA is doing too much for the students. They should take a couple steps back and let the students fend for themselves. I’m sure the ground-shock that occurs when they pass onto university will be much much less if this happens.
In other news – my exams are almost complete. I have only one remaining exam which lasts for 15 hours (spread over 3 days) which is my photography exam. I get to inhale fumes for 15 hours… great…
The Junior Theatresports Team are in a competition on the 30th November, and I’m going in to school with Anthony tomorrow to train them up a bit for it. This should be swell. They won their last competition. Ryan, who is a part of the team is featured in “A Rocky Situation” which is my media studies movie. Take a look at it by clicking the link.
I took Jimmy out for a walk today, and he was rather well-behaved. He didn’t pull that much on the leash and is walking beside me rather than in front of me – which is a good sign.
Angela (my bass) is a-callin’ for a string change. So I shall go re-string her for the first time in 2 years.
Auf Wiedersein.
Today was one of those days where it was uncomfortably warm from the moment I woke up. You know how there’s a warm and nice temperature that makes you want to sleep in the afternoon? Well, this wasn’t it. This was in the band of temperature just a notch up from there. But still below the “Damn, I’m so hot I’m sweaty” region. It’s more in the “I want to sweat but I can’t”. Kind of like that speed at which you aren’t walking or jogging – it’s too fast to walk and too slow to jog. Very uncomfortable…
Anyway, I had an English exam today. It was alright. Didn’t study for it. I never study for English though. I just… can’t. I can, however, write a whole bunch of nonsense about any subject. Much like I am right now. I don’t like English essays and the way we must strip down a poem, play or book to it’s bare skeleton and examine everything with detail. Whatever happened to “That play was nice and evocative…”. Now it’s more “Why was it nice and evocative? Discuss this whilst paying close attention to the language techniques and dramatic devices used throughout it.”. I liked life more when I was ignorant.
Mum had an operation today. She had some sort of thing in her throat and got that removed. She can’t talk for the next three weeks. I try to keep her company whenever I can and just talk to her. Atleast she can’t vocally tell me off for the next three weeks. As I am writing this my desk is littered with mess. She would have gone ballistic – but she can’t. Atleast I’m treating her well 
In other news. I am going to China. Today Dad confirmed that we leave New Zealand at 5:00pm on the 1st of December. I can finally get a decent phone that doesn’t turn off whenever it feels like it. It’ll be a bummer to miss out on December here though – it’s my favourite month in New Zealand. Then again – the beaches are way too crowded on sunny days. It’ll be nice to have a break from everything and everyone here. I mean, I have great friends and a great life here. But, I haven’t really been away from it at all. Kind of an “absense makes the heart grow fonder” thing.
In other news – tomorrow is my final Physics exam. Thus concluding the exams I actually care about. The remaining ones are Media Studies and Photography. Media Studies is NCEA and doesn’t count for me. And Photography… It’s more or less shitting out a brick with rusty nails coming out of the sides for a 15 hour exam spread evenly over 3 days – whilst in a dark-room with chemicals and fumes and the ability to make Zyclon-B gas.
I best be off now to do some last-minute-before-I-sleep-because-my-exam-is-at-9:00-in-the-morning-tomorrow study. Shall be swell.
Adieu.
Filed under: Food, Jimmy, Life, Procrastination, Purchases, Pyromania, Study
Today was a rather crap day. I awoke when my dear mother placed Jimmy (my dog) into my room because he was going crazy and they didn’t want him disrupting the two builders they had made an appointment with at 8:00 in the damn morning… So I awoke to incessive barking and scraping at my door (from my side). After ignoring Jimmy for as long as I could – he started licking the underside of the door. Possibly one of the strangest sounds I’ve heard in a long while. You know you’re desperate to get out of a room when you start licking the bottom of a door… So I let him out and went back to sleep. Only to have him returned into my room within a minute or so. I spent the next hour in my room with him…
After I awoke and really got ready for yet another day of intensive procrastination and unproductivity(?) – I was hungry. So I went out to McDonalds and bought a Big Mac combo and brought it home to eat. Gave some of the patty to Jimmy. Then I realised how crap I feel after eating a Big Mac. And I was faced with a stomach-ache as I burnt the packing of my meal and takeaway bag in the woodburner.
In other news. My Towery shirt arrived today! Officially the most offensive shirt I now own. It features an ecstatic personified cartoon drawing of the World Trade Centre wearing a Yankee’s Cap and Ramming a burning plane into it’s side whilst giving the thumbs up with it’s other hand. Comedic Genius. And I have Nobody Likes Onions to thank for that! Take a look at www.nobodylikesonions.com/towery to view the animation and what Towery looks like.
That’s basically all I’ve been up to today…
‘Till Next time…
So, here I am at 12:10am a day and a half before my final english exam and two days away from my physics exam. I haven’t studied all day and hope I can manage to squeeze out a little turd of the constipated crap that is study.
It’s amazing the amount of things one can do whilst procrastinating. The very depths a human being would scower away to so that he may get away from a task that is not interesting to himself. I made a couple of interesting observations. The fact that I would rather break into my uncle’s house using a shovel to get their camera to upload my video to the computer than think of the units of Voltage (Joules over Coulombs if you were wondering). The fact that I would rather watch Love Actually for the fifth time this week than to think whether or not Brutus was a noble Roman. The fact that I would rather make a sandwhich out of ingredients not meant to be incapsulated between bread then realise I’m not hungry and end up shoving it into the woodburner and setting it on fire than to even consider what the ultimate tensile stress of a length of copper 2×10^-4 cm^2 in cross-sectional area is.
Truth be told. I hate doing what is important.
I’d rather spend my whole day partaking in trivial activities that would not matter 5 years from today than to actually sit down and study in the hope of getting into a decent university a year and a half from now. Oh well…
Today was the last day of tutoring my drama class. It’s an easy $25 per hour, tutoring drama. It was a shared lunch and we spent the first half hour of the lesson eating chips next to the waterfountain because no one organised bringing a drink so we ended up with a dozen packets of corn-chips and the like. I have my last lesson with my Improv group on Friday. Another easy $25. And another shared lunch. But with gas prices today. None of that matters.
Well, anyway, I’ll put on the latest episode of Nobody Likes Onions now and get some sleep. I have another day of study leave tomorrow and I have a feeling it’s not going to be any different than today’s…
I’ll catch you up later.
