Finally 17!

Hey I know it's been a while since I last updated.
It was my birthday on Tuesday :) and yes now I am finally 17. Clap clap for me haha. Last Saturday I had lunch at Grand Harbour with Jennifer, Joanna, Florence, Tamsin and Yi Lein. It was nice and we ate till we were so full!
Afterwards Jennifer, Joanna, Yi Lein and I went up to Atrium on Eliott where we looked for Joanna's ball dress. We found this lovely black one which really looked good on her but I'm not sure if she's going to buy it or not.
After some pearl milk tea Jennifer left and the three of us made our way to Britomart to see Joanna off on her train. Then Yi Lein and I caught the free bus with the intention of going further up Queen St then shopping our way back down in time for our train. Only, our bus didn't stop where we wanted it to so we kind of just sat there. We got off and walked straight down again :p yeah caught the train home after that.
It was a nice day and I enjoyed it ^^ Here are some pics taken at Grand Harbour.

Hadn't seen Flo in a while, so good to catch up!

Flo gave me two pairs of earrings that are all shiny and lovely ^^ I like them very much so thank you! Jennifer got me a pair of really awesome gloves with dual purposes! So handy! And a black scarf from Joanna will come into frequent use this winter :) Yi Lein gave me a box of chocolate covered almonds (yummy hehe) and a Winnie the Pooh note book, it's so cute!

On Tuesday Tamsin gave me her present which was a magnet that says "Anyone who says money can't by happiness doesn't know where to shop." Haha hard! She also gave me a nice photo frame with a picture of us from Saturday in it. So sweet! It now sits on my desk so I see it whenever I do my homework haha. Joanna also gave me an extra prezzie which was this little coin-purse thing with a cat inside. Sooo adorable! Yi Lein made me a chocolate cake too! It was really nice hehe Erika got me sunflower. It had lost some petals and by the end of the day it was looking a little worse for wear from being dragged around all my classes. Haha.

Here is a pic of me with my sunflower (this was at lunchtime so it looked marginally better than it did at the end of the day lol) and Yi Lein and Tamaki - my darling 5th formers.

And here is the gang between 5th and 6th period. Tracey the poser! Haha. Yeah still got my sunflower. And Jane on the far right there :)

On Thursday was the Zpeedie concert, the charity one organised by my committee. It turned out okay, I was fretting before that no one would turn up and I would just sit down and cry. But a good 150 or so people turned out which was good enough for me haha. That afternoon we were kinda...sorta...wasted by Roskil in badminton. But all good.

On Friday I went to the Music Committee's concert which encountered something along the lines of major technical difficulties. The music was good though. Jane, Yi Lein, Joanna and I sat together in the second row in front of some really annoying uniformed people. Irritating. Afterschool my chamber group (less Tracey) had a good practice. I'm happy with the progress we have made. Just as I was about to get in the car afterwards, Ella came running up telling me Tamaki had been locked in the store room. I told her to run to the office and was madly worrying in the car, thinking I should have stayed to have things sorted out. But they got her out soon after.

Yesterday...was rather uneventful. I did some housework (I'm such a good daughter) but jack all homework. Classics is really frustrating me. I can't seem to put into words what I want to say. I'm encountering a similar problem in English. Our 3.1 internal (creative writing) is tomorrow and I don't think I'm going to be able to do well.

On another note, I've entered two articles into the college herald. One on the Anti-Smacking bill and the other on the Budget which was released just over a week ago. Hopefully I will get at least one in!

Next Wednesday is Open Day and my chamber group is performing, I'm also doing some flute duets with Joanna and being a guide for potential students and their parents. I'm looking forward to it actually :) showing people around is always fun haha.

Well that's me for now, hopefully I'll be able to update sooner next time. Hope you all have a good weekend and enjoy your week :)

Holding Up For Now

Chamber has taken up a lot of my thinking space this week. We have some serious problems with finding practice times. My group is made up of 4 people who are invovled in so many aspects of the school other than music; peer mediation, waterpolo, show band, badminton, string, orchestra and my prefectship. It's so difficult so now our only full group rehearsals are Monday and Wednesday formtime/recess. No lunchtimes, no afterschool. *sigh* so reassuring. We do have our lesson on Thursday mornings and it's a blessing for us that the same song is done for String. I maintain confidence in my fellow musicians however, and we still have time to pull it together.

Tuesday was quite psycho in terms of what I tried to juggle. I went to music before school to have an informal meeting with Ms Moller about the avilability of music rooms throughout the week which is yet another problem. The production is taking up a lot of time as well, thus Ms Moller and I concluded that the department has outgrown its block.

At recess I was holding two meetings at once; my committee and my chamber group. It involved a bit of dashing in and out on my behalf, but we sorted out what we needed to. In terms of committee, we're planning a charity concert. However, it's hard to not to clash with the production and with all that Tamsin and Joanna have planned for NZ Music Month.
Lunchtime was English tutorial; joy. I'm so in too deep with English right now. I'm finding it harder to be motivated and I don't really enjoy what we're studying. We've finished King Lear but I feel like it's just all gone over my head; it's not as interesting as I heard it was. I also wrote another Citizen Kane essay and recieved heart-breaking feedback...talk about shaking my already fragile confidence in the subject...

After school was badminton practice and we didn't start playing until 4.10pm! So I told my parents I would be catching the train. What a mistake that was. I rushed down to Britomart (walked!) and made it to my train only to be held up for something like 20mins between Newmarket and Boston Rd at which time we were told that our journey to Waitakere could take "a couple of hours". You've got to be joking. So I'm sitting in the train just loving the fact that I get off at the third to last stop...
I actually ended up getting off at Kingsland and having a coffee before I was picked up. Shocking really. I read in the paper the following morning that the train stopped at New Lynn and the passengers were transfered to buses; ah don't you just love it when that happens?

Wednesday formtime/recess my chamber group had a quick rehearsal and at lunchtime I was...sitting with friends. Amazing...I hardly get to do that anymore. It was raining so we were sitting just outside the upper gym and I relished in the freedom to simply sit and eat my lunch. Yi Lein nearly tripped over me in her rush to get to class after badminton training though, so I guess I shall try to sit further from the door next time. Haha.

Thursday recess I was at my prefect meeting where we discussed leavers gear and the possibility of special polos for prefects. I rather like that idea. We also found out at formtime that our chamber groups will be performing either Friday 22 June or Sat 23. Also, Ms Rose is away because she had some operation (which not that many people even knew about...including myself who spent the first half of the week cursing the fact that she was never at her desk when I tried to find her). So we signed a card and have an obligation to bring her something on Monday...
Right, anyway, orchestra was at lunchtime and I am very proud to say that Yi Lein brought her violin and joined the string section at my side. So did Shelley which was a little odd, we never see her at music usually, lol, but we're so happy she was able to make it. Every person counts in the attempt to fatten up our string section.
And afterschool we had badminton games (our first of the season) and I forgot my hair tie ^^" so I borrowed Yi Lein's and ... I snapped it... I was rather distraught that I killed it. But yes, thanks for the generosity... :)
I ended up losing my singles match :( and I was very frustrated with myself to say the least. We played EGGS and they were a really nice team, pleasant people. But I lost by one point! After like 7 match points! Ahhh...and I didn't even have to lost that point...I could have regained the advantage if I had of left it but nooo I had to attempt and skim it even though it went out. *sigh*

We had string today formtime/recess which went rather well and we started the moderato movement which actually sounds really lovely, I like it very much! I invaded music period 4 for cello practice and sorting out possible dates for my charity concert with Ms Moller. Then band practice began and I was still hanging around so I sort of aided Yi Lein in setting up her keyboard, though I don't think I helped as much as got in the way. I decided to stay and study for my eco test last period which seemed to work alright, though I find it hard to study for eco. I'm just not sure how often I can read the same sentence again and again. It doesn't seem to help much when push comes to shove. Ah well, I semi-wing it all the time.
But I did aid in packing up, and walked to English with my two lovely 5th formers.
The eco test was alright... It didn't go as well as I would have hoped. Well what's the point in beating around the bush - I think I did horribly. Crapness...so much for top eco student...
Afterschool my chamber group (less one violin who was ill) had a practice. I'm so happy that I have good people in my group who turn up to practice ^^

Next week I hope to go to the World Vision meeting on Wednesday (it was yesterday but I was at badminton, shamelessly losing a game...) and sit the Price Waterhouse Coopers New Zealand Economics Competition on Thursday at lunchtime. Missing orchestra...oh dear what a shame :p no no it's all good. But this is a one off which is yet another thing I think I'm going to do quite badly in....heh heh.

So it's busy busy busy but I think I'm used to it. And as crazy as this sounds, I really love it. It gives everyone such a sense of purpose; that you're achieving so much and making the most of every moment. Sure it's hectic and I guess for some people, it gets really stressful, but you learn to hold up and juggle everything. "Bit of more than you can chew, then chew it." I don't think that's the best advice to tell everyone, but I would say it's something along the lines of what I'm doing. Though not on a large scale. I suppose "Unless a man undertakes more than he can possibly do, he will never do all that he can." from Henry Drummond, is my philosophy right now.

There is also the fact that if we're really busy, doing everything every day and trying to plan for the next week, taking it a step at a time; we can pretend that the end isn't approaching. Of course it is, amazingly fast; but it's something we can do to try and convince ourselves that yes, we did live every day. That's the case for me anyway, I'm not sure about the rest of the 7th form. But it's been such an incredible year so far, I am really loving it. Insanely so. And it saddens me to hear my friends from other schools so depressed with high school life and eager to get away. I only wish that they could have what I do right now; there are no adequate words for how I've been feeling on a whole lately. I just can't stay angry or upset with anyone or anything, there is too much for me to be pleased about.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend ^^