I took part in the choir competition for Iona Trophy against Salmond and St Mags halls on Sunday night. We sang 3 (and a half) songs: Ave Verum Corpus, Down to the river to pray, In the still of the night, and Don't worry, be happy.
There wasn't much time for practice, and frankly, I thought the songs couldn't bring out our full potential. Anyways, going into the choir competition as the "underdogs" put a lot of pressure on us, especially even when Ziggy said that there is no chance of us beating St Margaret's coz they'll win eventually. -___- So the only thing we could do was to sing our best, and have fun!
So yeah, that was exactly what we did. This year's choir/speech competition was held at Salmond hall. Our dear ole Sam Brown gave the first speech about the fate of Kiwi blokes (translation: New Zealand guys) as they are slowly taken over by metrosexuality. His opening line: "It's nice to see those from St Margaret's still awake at this time of the night..." teehee. For those who didn't know yet, those staying in St Mags are known for studying all the time and sleeping before 10pm. Mocking them sure is fun. In short, the speech was so hilarious and well presented.
Next was Salmond Hall choir presentation. They only had 9 people in the choir, which I think was the main reason they didn't do well. St Mag's choir completely stole the show in a sense that they sounded absolutely like those professional gospel choirs. Though we knew we couldn't beat them in any way, we performed as best as we can. Seeing the audience grin when we started singing "Don't worry, be happy" (esp the whistling part) was satisfying enough to reimburse the fact that we could never win the choir competiton, yet beat the St Mags choir in entertaining and bringing joy to the audience. =)
Bravo also to Mata on her impromptu speech though the title of the speech was completely misinterpreted: "A highbrow is a person who is educated beyond his intelligence." NOBODY knew what a highbrow is. haha. Imagine preparing a speech knowing nothing about the topic. Anyway, it was so funny watching her turn the topic completely around and ended up telling a story about her uncle from Samoa. XD
After all the speeches and choir presentations, the results were announced. As expected, St Mags won the choir, Studholme and Salmond drew at 2nd place. =( However, Sam Brown won the prepared speech! haha. Congrats to Mata on her bravery though she got the last place for impromptu speech.
Refreshment was served after that. Salmond hall has a slushie machine! *jealous* When it was time to announce the overall results, the people from St Mags had already gone back to the hall. Even the judge made fun of them for going home so early. hehe. The really surprising thing was that Studholme had the most points overall and retained the Iona Trophy!!! *I forgot that it includes the debate competition results* =D
blasting it
I'm on cloud nine! Woohoo!
My Altec Lansing VS4121 3 way speaker system has just arrived! *squeals* It sounds absolutely brilliant, and really complements my laptop. Most importantly, I can really enjoy good quality sound which my laptop alone does not offer. Thanks heaps Raymond for the recommendation!
Retail therapy never fails, for me at least. I had a super shopping spree yesterday with Angeline, spent LOTS. Teehee. Wanted to buy a skirt from Amazon but it's 10 dollars to a hundred, so I'll just have to wait til it's on sale to buy it. =( Other than that, bought a Billabong sling bag and a cute teddy bear key chain for my new 4Gb flash drive. =P
Weekend is here! And so is the sunshiny weather and floaty skirts. keke. Which also means 4 weeks to the final exams of my first year in uni. =O
As the year is coming to an end, I can't help but feeling that I've grown so much as a person, a teenager, a Christian, a friend, and as a daughter. Though the path may not always be as smooth as I hope it should be and somehow I keep making enemies I don't want to make, it has been a satisfying and eye-opening year for me.
Speaking of the year end, I'm going to Auckland this year end! keke. Since AirNZ has cheap domestic fares during November, we decided to take that opportunity to really visit Auckland and Rotorua (the only time I've been in Auckland is in its airport)- for 8 days. Can't wait!
My Altec Lansing VS4121 3 way speaker system has just arrived! *squeals* It sounds absolutely brilliant, and really complements my laptop. Most importantly, I can really enjoy good quality sound which my laptop alone does not offer. Thanks heaps Raymond for the recommendation!
Retail therapy never fails, for me at least. I had a super shopping spree yesterday with Angeline, spent LOTS. Teehee. Wanted to buy a skirt from Amazon but it's 10 dollars to a hundred, so I'll just have to wait til it's on sale to buy it. =( Other than that, bought a Billabong sling bag and a cute teddy bear key chain for my new 4Gb flash drive. =P
Weekend is here! And so is the sunshiny weather and floaty skirts. keke. Which also means 4 weeks to the final exams of my first year in uni. =O
As the year is coming to an end, I can't help but feeling that I've grown so much as a person, a teenager, a Christian, a friend, and as a daughter. Though the path may not always be as smooth as I hope it should be and somehow I keep making enemies I don't want to make, it has been a satisfying and eye-opening year for me.
Speaking of the year end, I'm going to Auckland this year end! keke. Since AirNZ has cheap domestic fares during November, we decided to take that opportunity to really visit Auckland and Rotorua (the only time I've been in Auckland is in its airport)- for 8 days. Can't wait!
being 19
Birthdays are fun! hehe.
Being a moderately vain person, I'm wishing myself a belated blessed and awesommmmme 19th birthday, and also my 2nd birthday away from home and family.
On Friday night, music practice is as usual, then I had a brief guitar lesson after that. Halfway through the practice, May suddenly told me that an RA had accounced through the intercom that someone was looking for me and told me to go to the office at once. I was dumbfounded for a second and didn't know who would come looking for me at 11pm.
Lo and behold, when I reached the lawn outside Studholme Hall (where my supposedly visitor was waiting), I saw my friends waiting there, with candles on the table, and they started singing Happy Birthday. hehe. Gosh was I touched *wipes away happy tears*.
It was pitch black outide (and really chilly too), and we set up cute heart-shaped candles on the ground surrounding the table, and on the table was a chocolate cheese cake, chicken drumsticks, ice cream, and drinks. Thanks to the girls for making me the home-made chocolate cheese cake, it was so yummy! We sang songs, laughed and basically had a really good time.
Woke up Saturday morning at 9 after 5 hours of sleep. *groggy* But it was my birthday! haha. So I was kinda hyper the whole day, and thanks so much for the Man above for providing such a wonderful weather yesterday. We went to Domino's Pizzas to get job applications for next year: work experience is always good. Went to get some guitar picks (thanks Alex for the cute PINK tortoise pick) and checked out the keyboards for sale. Then, had a yummy lunch at a new Vietnamese restaurant "Saigon" *thumbs up*! Watched Pirates II during the afternoon, Johny Depp rawks!!! *listening to PoTC OST now*
I wasn't expecting any surprises last night, but my friends brought me to the beach to celebrate once again. It was freezing cold as the winds these few days came from the Antartika, but the stars across the skys made it so worthwhile. We chose a place to sit down on the sand, dug a deep hole and placed candles in it, played the guitar, sang a few songs, ate chips, drank sparkling grape juice, and enjoyed the stillness of the night accompanied by the bright stars.
Finally, I'd like to thank all my awesome friends for making my 19th such a memorable and wonderful experience. Thanks so much to Janice, Rebec, May, Sing Sii, Alex, Raymond, and Sarah!!! Love you guys heaps, thanks for the presents, surprises, and for just making my birthday special. =) Thanks also to those who wished me a happy birthday, may all your dreams come true too!
Being a moderately vain person, I'm wishing myself a belated blessed and awesommmmme 19th birthday, and also my 2nd birthday away from home and family.
On Friday night, music practice is as usual, then I had a brief guitar lesson after that. Halfway through the practice, May suddenly told me that an RA had accounced through the intercom that someone was looking for me and told me to go to the office at once. I was dumbfounded for a second and didn't know who would come looking for me at 11pm.
Lo and behold, when I reached the lawn outside Studholme Hall (where my supposedly visitor was waiting), I saw my friends waiting there, with candles on the table, and they started singing Happy Birthday. hehe. Gosh was I touched *wipes away happy tears*.
It was pitch black outide (and really chilly too), and we set up cute heart-shaped candles on the ground surrounding the table, and on the table was a chocolate cheese cake, chicken drumsticks, ice cream, and drinks. Thanks to the girls for making me the home-made chocolate cheese cake, it was so yummy! We sang songs, laughed and basically had a really good time.
Woke up Saturday morning at 9 after 5 hours of sleep. *groggy* But it was my birthday! haha. So I was kinda hyper the whole day, and thanks so much for the Man above for providing such a wonderful weather yesterday. We went to Domino's Pizzas to get job applications for next year: work experience is always good. Went to get some guitar picks (thanks Alex for the cute PINK tortoise pick) and checked out the keyboards for sale. Then, had a yummy lunch at a new Vietnamese restaurant "Saigon" *thumbs up*! Watched Pirates II during the afternoon, Johny Depp rawks!!! *listening to PoTC OST now*
I wasn't expecting any surprises last night, but my friends brought me to the beach to celebrate once again. It was freezing cold as the winds these few days came from the Antartika, but the stars across the skys made it so worthwhile. We chose a place to sit down on the sand, dug a deep hole and placed candles in it, played the guitar, sang a few songs, ate chips, drank sparkling grape juice, and enjoyed the stillness of the night accompanied by the bright stars.
Finally, I'd like to thank all my awesome friends for making my 19th such a memorable and wonderful experience. Thanks so much to Janice, Rebec, May, Sing Sii, Alex, Raymond, and Sarah!!! Love you guys heaps, thanks for the presents, surprises, and for just making my birthday special. =) Thanks also to those who wished me a happy birthday, may all your dreams come true too!
"A reassuring presence
A light when times are dark
A hand reaching out
Is what friendship is about."
-Anonymous
Queenstown trip 06
Studholme College organised a trip to Queenstown last weekend. The whole trip was subsidised at least half the price, so we took the opportunity to tag along .
It was a four hours' drive to Queenstown, the "tourist town" of New Zealand, where there is an activity for everyone: Bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, snowboarding, paragliding, horseback riding, gondola, luge rides, shotover jets, sandy beaches, fishing, shopping, and so much more.
The journey alone was already worth the $51 dollars I paid. The snow capped mountains, green pastures, blue skies, and cute/fluffy grazing sheep seem so much prettier in real life than those seen on TV! haha. All in all, more than 350 pictures were taken.
We reached Pinewood Lodge around 4pm, and hurried off to the gondola/luge rides without a road map and ended up going through all the "short-cuts". First was the gondola (cable car) ride up the mountains where once again, the view was awesome. Too bad we only bought 2 luge ride tickets coz it was soooo fun! haha. (Imagine go-karts ran only by gravity down a 900m hill, racing against each other).
Next day, we followed the "mystery bus trip" to Arrowtown, a nearby town renowned for being a former Chinese gold-mining settlement, where the Chinese migrated to NZ in the 1800s to dig for gold, literally. I can't believe the actual huts of those who lived there a century ago were still there. The toilets did't even have doors! eeks.
Before the trip back to Dunedin, there was still 2 hours to spare. We went to the harbour for lunch, and AGAIN the view was magical. hehe. I almost didn't want to go back to uni.
Cherry blossoms!
paragliding.
snowsnowsnow!
view from the top. after gondola ride.
more mountains.
classic gondola shot.
mountains. again.
at Arrowtown.
Arrowtown scenery.
A cute little guy at the beach!
Lake Wakatipu(?)Though the time was too short and we didn't have enough time to do all the activities we wanted, at least now we have an idea of where to go, how much the prices are, and what to do during the next trip to Queenstown, which is probably next winter/spring. Can't wait!
Always in our hearts
Questions we shouldn't be asking:
1. Who is Steve Irwin?
2. Is Beyonce a boyband?
I won't mention who asked those questions, but the second one did give me a good laugh.
Speaking of the passing of Steve Irwin aka the Crocodile Hunter, it is a real loss to not only his family, his country, his fans, but also to whomever that appreciates what he had contributed in making wildlife seem more approchable and beauuutiful. I remembered during one of his shows, he held up an ugly and slimey looking snake, yet he said "Look at the beauty!" I guess that's where we can learn from him. Not that we should go around saying ugly things are indeed beautiful, but just to not take things for granted.
To those who are getting sick of people putting a tortoise in front of our nicknames or those who just don't get it, it's just a simple way of remembering him and how much he influenced the world with his unfailing passion for mother nature. While his good name will be embedded in our hearts forever, the tortoises will soon have to go. ;P
When I saw the news at CNN online around 5pm yesterday, I knew this time it was real (unlike the rumours going around few years back), and my heart sank. His death just seemed so untimely, but no matter how unfair this might seem, God has a reason for it all.
May he rest in peace, and may his family and loved ones find comfort.
1. Who is Steve Irwin?
2. Is Beyonce a boyband?
I won't mention who asked those questions, but the second one did give me a good laugh.
Speaking of the passing of Steve Irwin aka the Crocodile Hunter, it is a real loss to not only his family, his country, his fans, but also to whomever that appreciates what he had contributed in making wildlife seem more approchable and beauuutiful. I remembered during one of his shows, he held up an ugly and slimey looking snake, yet he said "Look at the beauty!" I guess that's where we can learn from him. Not that we should go around saying ugly things are indeed beautiful, but just to not take things for granted.
To those who are getting sick of people putting a tortoise in front of our nicknames or those who just don't get it, it's just a simple way of remembering him and how much he influenced the world with his unfailing passion for mother nature. While his good name will be embedded in our hearts forever, the tortoises will soon have to go. ;P
When I saw the news at CNN online around 5pm yesterday, I knew this time it was real (unlike the rumours going around few years back), and my heart sank. His death just seemed so untimely, but no matter how unfair this might seem, God has a reason for it all.
May he rest in peace, and may his family and loved ones find comfort.
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