Me at the ball. That's Steph, looking fine as usual. The freaky eyes belong to Thomas.

...I forgot the preball.

==pre-ball==

Tomo's family gave me and sonny a ride there. Me and sonny waited outside my house since 5.00 to be picked up at around 5.45 but it's all good. While we waited I sang really loudly, songs like "Mexican Wine" and "New York, New York" and "Come Fly With Me". Must have been weird for people driving past to see a person in an orange suit singing really loudly.

The preball itself was kinda nice. I only ate one item of food, some random won-ton thing. The photo shoot was silly though. 20+ parents. 15+ cameras. Me being hidden behind Andrew because I'm short and Asian and he's white and studly. Flashes in all directions disorientating you and not knowing which camera to look at and blinking at inopportune moments.

But all is forgiven. :)

The RIDE TO THE BALL I CANT BELIEVE I DIDNT MENTION IN THE PREVIOUS POST

EASILY WORTH THE $30 going in the limo...

Rode in a Daimler DS420 (I think)...such a styly classic limo. Our driver was really cool and British like and polite and stuff. There was a centre window! It went up and down and scared Tomo because his head was in the way! The seats were leather and really luxurious...and very soft and springy. Tomo yelling "JAHOOO" and other assorted things to passersby (peasants as our driver called them) was entertaining. It just felt so classy...getting there in the limo. It was great...it was so great.

Huge thanks to Tomo for organizing that. And his mum too for fronting the money.

Oh man I am exhausted. I didn't get home after the after-after ball until 7.30 in the morning...and I slept until 5.00 in the evening. -_-

But it was a great time I thought. Much much better than last year anyway.

==The actual Ball itself==

So much better than last year! Even though the venue did seem a lot more crowded than last year (having a lot more people doesn't help) it was a great time. Things I remember:

+ Fake monopoly money used in the table centrepieces. (yes, fake monopoly money. Join me in saying "BWAHAHAH")
+ There were tables! More than two! People had room to sit down! The tables were nice, with a red felt throw over them.
+ Walking into the ball venue, red carpet! That cool music that they play at the Oscars when people arrive!
+ The cool bar place for drinks!
+ The music wasn't very good this year though...mostly techno/electronic drivel mixed with a few more pieces of shit like Britney Spears and Geri Halliwell.
+ But everyone loved my orange suit!
+ Seeing my photography teacher was kinda scary.
+ The food was great! Carved ham....cheesecake (which I ate upside down for no apparent reason), brandy snaps (which I don't really like anyway), banana cake with chocolate icing, lamingtons...mmm...and then there were the chips, samosas, chicken satays, sushi...a lot better than last year.
+ Sitting around in a table destroying the table piece and throwing cards around and the dice they hotglued to kebab sticks.
+ Watching Sonny go crazy.
+ Watching Brad go crazy.
+ BAND PHOTO!

Was it worth $80? Verdict: Yes, I suppose. Even though I didn't really do much for the night because I'm a loser and such, yes.

==The afterball!==

Didn't like the bus. Standing in buses when you're sleepy is poo. Especially when you're standing next to people who smell chronically like weed...or people who keep hassling your friends camera while singing Ben Lummis (you know who you are, you cunt) According to reports from my friends the set was exactly the same as last year, except in a different location (I'm not exactly sure but one of the parents said Onehunga and Tomo's cell said "Dresssmart") The alcoholic punch stuff was kinda diluted...which was strange. I don't think I had much at all, really. Five of those cranberry thingies. Only the slightest hint of alcohol. Still, was fun.

The portaloos at the place are funny. Those waterless hand sanitisers are really creepy...urghghg. And people who kick portaloos when people are still in there are just damn rude (not that I did it or had it done to me but I witnessed it happen enough to get a little annoyed) The lights were funky, and epileptic fit inducing.

And the burgers were nice! I hadn't had actual food in a while so I had to have two burgers. I could have gone for a lot more but I was too lazy to try and push through the huge conglomeration of people getting burgers.

I didn't really dance, no...I did for a bit but not enough to be justified or anything. I did sing a lot though. Well, relatively a lot. Anything is infinitely more than zero I suppose.

Yeah...and then I remember this story from Dion (the guy Kirsten took) about how his friend was killed by a machete over weed which is why he doesn't smoke it anymore. Yeah.

What else...oh the sand was nice. Though very bizzare, it was nice. It was probably covered in puke though.

And that was pretty much the afterball...like the ball itself except more partylike and less food and me getting progressively more tired.

The bus back to the Highland Park carpark was just as bad as getting to the afterball...

But Raymond's dad driving out a no-exit path was pretty kewl.

==after-afterball==

Here is where I am confused. I'm not sure whether this was great or not. It was nice being very tired in a room full of 50 odd people...I suppose. I remember playing with Ellens "MY FIRST PIANO" book (THANKS ELLEN)...yeah...and also Ryan sleeping in the doorway you silly Ryan you. And...I remember undoing my tie and helping Steven undo his (I actually tied my own tie this year, which was quite nice I suppose although it was a bit munted - no where near as gimpy looking as Willie's tie though, no offence) I remember John pulling the fingers at me because I woke him up. And then he kept scaring me with eyebrows.

I slept for four minutes at Ellen's after-afterball. Nodded off at 6.56, woke up at 7.00 when Ellen turned the light on and woke everyone up..tee hee

Ellen's mum nicely cooked everyone breakfast, I wish my parents were that cool. She liked me and Raymond's suits too which makes her EXTRA cool. Tee hee. I didn't have any food which I'm kind of regretting right now because it looked good and I was kinda hungry and I'm still kind of hungry now and I don't think I'll be seeing food that great until my mum gets back.

Yes. Then Raymond's mum gave me a lift home...and on the way back I saw the most incredible sunrise I'd seen in a very long time (I don't wake up early enough to see it usually) - it was a golden wash of brilliance. A great end to a great night.

And then I fell asleep when I got home and woke up at 5.00 in the afternoon. Come on give me a break I was up for almost 22 hours.

Now I'm hungry.

Damn I wish I had decent food right now...

If you want a really bizarre experience let me recommend getting your hair cut in a hair salon which caters for customers who speak a different language to you. For example, English speaking in a Korean hair salon.

Okay okay I admit yes I went and got my hair cut at a Korean hair salon just then, and Sonny and his mum nicely dropped me off there and Sonny stayed to translate. It was just so bizarre, three people talking away in Korean and you standing there just going "uh...". Yeah..

But anyways I'm really happy with my new hair, although I'm still having to get used to my head being about half the weight it normally is. The hair is, kinda long, yet not really. It's a lot thinner. And comfy, yes. All for $10 which is cheaper than wherever Thomas was gonna take me so nyah nyah take that.

The ball is almost here. I'm kinda pseudo excited, it's just fun dressing up formally and seeing all your mates in dresses and suits. The list of things I've done in preparation so far are:

+ Get a ball ticket (duh)
+ Get an afterball ticket (duh)
+ Get invited to an after-afterball (hmm...)
+ Get transportation to the pre-ball.
+ Get transportation from the pre-ball to the ball.
+ Get transportation from the ball to the afterball.
+ Get transportation from the afterball to the after-afterball.
(here is where the transportation train stops - I don't know how I'm getting home from the after-afterball but I'm sure I'll figure that one out..)
+ Take a shower this morning (hurrah)
+ Shave (wasn't much but just to look extra extra clean shaven)
+ Get my hair cut
+ Get my suit altered

And the list could go on but I'm bored and more pressing matters are at hand.

To those going to the ball I'll see you there!

I'm sitting here typing this blog feeling really poor and ghetto like.

For dinner I'm having cereal...more specifically a blend of tasteless Kellogg's Wheat Biscuits, which is basically their throwback to Weetbix (har har) mixed with some Corn Flakes (the one and only) which expired August 2003.

Tastes bland.

I'm not having a good day today, I just feel really agitated and annoyed. Officially I can't milk any more money out of our home pantry, it's all run out. I managed to scrounge up enough money for one more week of tuition ($50) and $15 for a haircut tomorrow but after that, our financial status is a big nice ZERO.

The haircut better not cost more than fifteen dollars...

I mean, technically we haven't run out of money - I've still got my own eftpos card and all. It's just I really really don't like touching that money because it's so hard for me to earn money that each time a dollar leaves the account a little baby dies somewhere. A cold and gruesome death, may I add.

Oh yes. Haircut. I've decided I could at least look decent for the ball, not that it really matters or anything but if the ladies are gonna spend hours (literally) doing their hair in all sorts of manners I could at least go and get mine cut properly. People playing with the back of my head kinda got really annoying today as well.

Hmm, hmm hmm....

My internet right now is pooey. Sites can take anywhere from INSTANTANEOUSLY FAST to ridiculously s l o w to load, and it's really annoying me. My computer in the pre-virus era at least was kinda predictable...

Tomorrow 7th Formers doing NCEA (most of them) get the day off. It's going to be a very crappy day tomorrow....

116.

Me and Mr. T just went on a giant quest to obtain the ever elusive "AFTERBALL TICKETS"...yes. They cost so damn much though but I don't have a choice since there's really no other way that I can get back home from the ball.

The tickets are really funky (although they must have cost so much to make...) - they're blue...they're plastic and have a magnetic strip. Talk about technology.

The afterball had better be good.

Apparently some people don't like my hair now (ie Thomas' mum :P ) but some people like it.

But I don't see my own head often, and even less so the back of my head so I don't really care too much. I might get it done properly or something though before the ball...but I'm probably just saying that.

Okay. Woke up today. Kinda felt really poo and tired because of yesterday's grueling boredom of sitting down in the same seat for hours listening to (mostly) the same old drivel brand of music...but meh, what can you do.

After I came back from tuition, I was going to go and get my hair professionally cut.

But then I realised that I didn't give a shit (and also we didn't actually know where this place to get your hair cut was anyway)

So I got home, got my brother to just snip off hair at the back of my head so it doesn't touch my collar (I had promised Mr. Campbell that I'd have my hair cut by Monday which coincidentally is tomorrow)

It's a great feeling because:

1) I won't be getting in trouble with the school yay (the cunts gave me a 4 for appearance..out of 1 - 6 where 1 is the highest)
2) I saved ten dollars, yay!

Indeed. I was originally planning to lobby this year and try and get the rule changed and all but then I realised I really didn't care. If the school wants my hair cut, whatever. It's just hair. I mean, it probably looks like shit now after my brother haphazardly cut it but I can't see the back of my head anyway so it matters very little to me.

Although I still disprove of the rule, I really cannot be bothered going through all the effort to deliberately break it and all.

This morning, woke up, got ready, took a shower, had muesli (Hubbards Cereal is the best...)... got in the FIST FULL OF FIVES VAN (tm) and I recieved my official "BAND MEMBER T-SHIRT", complete with logo and my nickname on the back. Apparently, I'm cursed, because my shirt screwed up so they re-did it. Or so says John.

Back from the Rockquest. We didn't make it through...which I didn't mind. It was a great experience, with all the gear and the rest of the guys were awesome (except that I couldn't really hear them because my kit was shitty and the foldback speaker next to me wasnt working) It's just that some of the "bands" that got through I don't think deserved it as much as some other people there. Like, there was this one band with some crappy high-nuts 10 year old kid...who I assume only got through because their guitarist was decent and the singer was like...10...but everything else, the drumming, the vocals, were shite. Sitting down from 11.30 to 6.00 just to find out that you've wasted six and a half hours of your life is kinda stink though.

At least 44th Calibre got through.

Hmm. Yes. We then went to "drown our sorrows" at a party. Actually I didn't drink much at all, just had one Flame so it didn't really do anything. I did have fun acting like a shit though, what with all the random singing and yelling comments at the stupid TV (ah, that stupid cunt on Who wants to be a Millionarie, or more like Who wants to waste all three of their lifeline thingies on a fucking Fifth Form Chemistry question)

I'll be here wondering how we got beaten by a band from an intermediate school and four black people. -_-

I HATE COMPUTER VIRUSES SO MUCH I HATE THEM I HATE THEM

I hope the rotten bastard who sits in front of a computer with malicious intent gets his fingers ripped into little tiny pieces and fed to Ethiopians (killin two birds with one stone...or finger)

I also thought my brother's laptop died but it was a false alarm, I noticed that there was a floppy disk inserted, took it out and then it worked. Dang boot disks.

My computer at home is now dead. I got struck with the Sasser Worm (which is a fucking virus made by some dirty cunt in Germany I'm sorry I'm just really angry)...so I'm making this post at school during my study period.

So basically, the worm deleted my Windows. So now I can't run it without the Boot CD. In a panic when I got windows back up and running temporarily I backed up all my music and files and so on.

Hmmmmmm it sucks.

If you use Windows 2000/XP make sure you get your computer patched:

http://www.microsoft
.com/security/incident/sasser.mspx

Yes...

Fix it before the worm deletes your windows -_-

There was a meeeaaaan sunset on the way home from school...the sky was literally orange and magenta for about ten minutes of blazing glory.

Yes.

I had a very intriguing and thought provoking blog post in my head somewhere but that has disappeared...other than I've started workin on a website for Fist Full of Fives, nothing's really changed.

My thoughts on: "six degrees of separation".

I know that's a phrase. I know it's well known. I just...don't know enough to make a good statement on it. Sorry Rikky.

I'm sorry, I'm listening to Blink 182 again. "lalalal did you hear he fucked her"

Went to the Rockshop today with Tomo. He bought a new guitar strap with flames (yus) and strap locks so that his strap doesn't keep falling off...and I was gonna buy brushes but they cost waaay too much. ($45ish)

But at least we have that discount card thing. I'm sitting here and thinking about Saturday and I'm already nervous. It's crazy.

I haven't had a "philosophical thought-provoking" blog post in a while. I thought I'd give you, dear reader, a refreshing change to my boring pointless drivel on things happening in my mundane life.

I'm now accessing my innermost thoughts.

I was browsing through my links...and realised just how many darn blogs you can link to. It's crazy, it's like a spreading virus. What manner of beast have I unleashed? (Or rather, what manner of beast has my brother unleashed? And so on.) It's like the internet, everything's connected.

That brings me to my belief of "interconnectedness". Like, how everything is related. Let's take the example already cited.

cause ---> my brother creates blog ---> I create blog ---> Rikky creates blog ---> a fucking shitload explosion of people create blogs

Would any of this possibly have happened if my brother had not create a blog? Probably not - but then by the realms and rules of possibility who knows what the true answer to that question is (other than nobody knows?)

It's a lot like life. Kinda like that stupid French guy in the matrix who says "causality blah blah other French shit etc... cause and effect". Life is one big cause and effect. Your mum and dad had a fun night, effect = you. Like the internet! Click on a link, go to somewhere. Which has a link. To somewhere. Just how damn far does the rabbithole go? Maybe the rabbithole never ends, you just end before the rabbithole does.

Hmm.

Life is like the internet, a giant mass of events that occur sequentially.

Hmm.

Yes.

Someone ask me an intriguing question in the tag-board, I'll answer it to the best of my ability.

Came back from a very nice lunch with Sonny (black bean noodles, delicious).

Performed in the DeCroy Chamber Music Competition this morning which was at Dilworth College...it was a lot of fun, strangely...even though I almost walked onto the stage before the people were ready -_-

But it was fun.

All boys schools are strange indeed, and for rich people....damn you rich people! (I'm just jealous) But imagine spending your entire school day never seeing a mint lass. That would be a sad sad time indeed.

Of course it also means you can prance around naked if you're into that kind of thing.

While in Physics tuition I had the Blink 182 song Dammit stuck in my head. Couldn't realy concentrate but I managed to work out why I wasn't getting Kirchoff's Loop Law to work properly for me and my school work on capacitance saved my bum.

I think I'm addicted to drumming. I think I'm addicted to the band.

Screw video games, music's where the fun is really at.

I want a kit. I want to practice. I want to be as good as the drummer for 44th Caliber and Gladdis. I want our band to win the Coke Smokefree Rockquest. I want it. So incredibly badly.

The first step is the heats. I'm kinda worried. Even just thinking about it now makes me kinda nervous...but I really really really wanna go through the heats. I really do. I think I'll have to work on creating more interesting and kick-ass drumming patterns if I wanna enhance our original, cause Dave does brilliant bass work, Thomas thrashes out these mean guitar solos, John's got the mean vocal melody...but I pretty much play boring staple drumming (which is at the moment all I can do)

I wonder if I can pull out something fantastic by Tuesday.

I need to practice to be good. I wonder why I didn't work this one out before ;_;

This morning, even though I didn't get to sleep until about 12:00 (although I physically went to bed at 10.15) I managed to haul my butt out of bed at 6:00 in the morning, feeling incredibly, incredibly tired and took a shower and chowed down breakfast and ran off to school for a band practice at 7.00 in the morning...;_;

To try and boost our spirits/energy, John (the singer) brough along these carboshot things, which is basically this extremely extremely high-inducing gel substance that tastes slightly better than glue...after eating about half a tube I felt like throwing up because it was just so...blerghg. But it did give me a crazy kick.

The rest of the day was pretty boring as usual, but after school there was the school "Rockfest", in which our band (Fist Full of Fives) was opening for...it was really really great, except that:

1. The smoke machine was a bit overused...I couldn't see the rest of the band at times.
2. I dropped my sticks while playing in a song....o_O I really hope that doesn't happen. Ever. Again.

But it was fun, even though again I have this crazy feeling that I've let the entire band down. Hmmmmm...

Yeah, the other two bands that were playing (44th Caliber, Gladdis) had wicked awesome drummers and I would give a lot of money to have even a little bit of the talent and drumming wickedness they had. I just feel like I'm letting my entire band down for some strange alien reason...maybe I am, maybe I'm not - who knows?

But Gladdis had a hard time since they were last (most of the crowd actually left after we stopped because those were the people who just hung around after school to see it for a bit and go home) and it was their first time playing publicly (I think) - and it really didn't help that they had technical difficulties. They dealt with it really well though, not panicking or anything.

We had a great crowd response. We got crowdsurfing (YEAH) and the most moshing (YEAH)...44th Calibre played a decent (but very dragged out and tedious set) I thought, but their drummer makes up for it all. \o/ It's so not fair, I swear there's a group of drummers hiding somewhere going "tee hee look how crap the drummer for Fist Full of Fives is compared to the other two bands te hee"

;_;

I hope this feeling passes. Maybe it's just because I dropped my sticks. I hope John can get the performance in house assembly organized so I can try and redeem myself from that horrible, horrible mistake.

Tomorrow I have to wake up early again -_- because of the DeCroy competition. But I'm not really worried/looking forward/caring about that...it's more the rockquest I'm psyched for. I REALLY REALLY WANT TO WIN IT IR REALLY RELAYRLEYALRY DO.

If I get through the heats I swear I will actually start taking lessons and find some time to practice. I just don't think it's fair for John, Tomo and Dave to be stuck with me at the current standard I am. ;_;

Yeah. That was depressing I'm sorry. Or maybe you're laughing at me, that's all good. Meh.

Wahoo, we got the original nailed now I think. It's a lot better I think because:

1. It's tighter and sounds more like an actual song (since originally the verse and chorus was pretty much exactly the same thing)
2. New and improved vocal melody/lyrics - I kinda gave John a few ideas but he deserves all the credit.

Yes.

Tomorrow morning I have to be up at like 6.00 because we want a practice at 7.00 since....we're playing tomorrow after school.

Hmm.

Yes.

Hmm came back from a "band meeting". Kinda fixed up the original to make it more "fresh and new and youth of NZ music" (which is coincidentally what we wrote on our entry form to the Rockquest.

It appears that our band is most likely entered down under the Auckland heats. Yes.

I want a drum kit. I miss my red nice one in Malaysia...I really want to get it shipped out to New Zealand...but hey...hmm.

Yes. The sunsets are now a lot earlier in the morning and in the evening now...it's strange, we've had such brilliant ones recently...and the air's been a bit cold.

After the Chem exam earlier this morning I went to see "The Day After Tomorrow" which is extremely good and bad at the same time. (SPOILER WARNING, I WILL RUIN THE MOVIE FOR YOU IF YOU READ ON.) Good first:

+ Nice touchy feely family movie designed for an American audience

+ Fantastic touch of irony where the people are saved by books. Har har har.

The rest was pretty bad. It's just that it seemed so damn unreasonable...maybe it is feasible but if it was I doubt you'd be able to run away from freezing cold like the people in the movie did. Okay, I'll list all my complaints.

+ The damn painfully obvious American Patriotism. Look at the Statue of Liberty, and see how it stands after being hit by a fucking massive tidal wave! Look at the American flag waving so valiantly in the wind! It's so fantastic! (puke puke)

+ The entire movie is all that one guy's fault. The guy running the drill...I swear he actually did do something very stupid...and cause that huge chunk of ice cap to break off and melt, and disrupt the balance between fresh and salt water in the oceans and cause all this shit to happen all over the world!

+ That silly girl in the "main romantic interest" of the story. She was incredibly, INCREDIBLY stupid. If you cut your leg open trying to save a French lady, fair enough, but at least have the sense to get it looked into. I mean, how could she not have noticed how damn shitty it looked or felt? To ignore a cut for three days that severe was pretty stupid...if she had gotten it cleaned up she wouldn't have forced those three people to go into a ship and find some medicine for her - and as a result hurt some OTHER guy's leg.

+ You can't run away from "APPROACHING SUB ZERO TEMPERATURES!!!" (well, common sense dictates otherwise)...watching the people run away from the cold was just really funny for me to watch.

+ To be saved by some piddly fire created by burning books was kinda stupid...but not as bad as being saved by a shitty as gas burner in some Wendy's. The fire was so small and crap, it wouldn't have done anything other than waste fuel. Wouldn't the gas have frozen at that ridiculous temperature anyway? Hmm.

+ Fucking retard astronauts. What the hell do they not have, windows? (oh wait, they do) They actually need to be ASKED whether the sky's cleared up...you'd think sometime one of them would just happen to glance out the window and go "Hey look it looks clearer, let's do our job and tell the people down there it looks like it's clearing up" instead of floating around like dipshits and playing with each other or whatever they do to pass time in space...until they get asked to do something.

---

Sorry if I sound angry. I believe it was almost worth my $9 that I paid for it...almost. It was fun to laugh at and I suppose it was very touching in a very "I'm not American but if I was narrow minded like most of them were" way.

Finished the last Chemistry exam.

It was kinda fun in a "spiritual release" kind of way. I used up the rest of the ink in my nice black inky pen but that's okay...

There is absolutely no chance at all that I will pass this time, what with my fantastic answers to the questions.

Example: Inert organic compounds that involve elements from the halogen group are important. Name three compounds and their uses.

Answer: HCl. It is used in swimming pools, because of its inertness. If it was not inert it would eat little children.

Example: State the reagents and conditions which are required in the hydrolosis of an ester.

Answer: Agent Smith: "Have you ever had that feeling, where you're not sure if you're awake, or still dreaming?"
Yes, my chances bode well for me...-_-

I had a lot of fun though. I drew many many things, such as Shrek the Sheep, a box, James Bond, moles (in reference to a question which asked how many moles there were of a substance...hahah get it moles hahah) and leaf alcohol.

Eating Media Lunch is the best TV program..ever.

What with (what I hope) is the fake screening of the death of Shrek the sheep, Jeremy Wells nicely saying "Cuntstable" (on national TV HAHAHA) and footage of the dumbarse Paul Holmes going "DONT WAVE CHILDREN NO DONT WAVE THE VIEWERS AT HOME DON'T LIKE IT" (which I think is a load of horseshit, if kids want to wave let them, don't get all uptight just cause it may set off your prostate Mr Holmes)...Eating Media Lunch = best TV show ever.

My thoughts on:

Cheese.

Some cheeses have holes. Now I think that was a devious marketing ploy by the Swiss to make having less cheese more desirable. Holes don't taste like anything. Are they even required in the cheesemaking process? Perhaps I'm wrong but...I don't know. The taste of holes is not good for me. Some may argue on the same premise of donuts but to be honest donuts are just overhyped fried pieces of dough anyway. Speaking of devious marketing ploys, what's with associating cute cartoony mice with cheese? I think they want little kids to go "hey that's cool the mice which are the protagonists who escape from the evil things like bad cats and fangs and consumption of self eat cheese - MUMMY I WANT CHEESE" and watch the little kids proceed to bawl their eyes out in some stuffy Supermarket Aisle. Kids like that are stupid, spoilt and should be kicked very hard in the butt for being stupid, on the account that:

1. Mice are not real.
2. Mice like all food, not just cheese.
3. Your mum pays for your food. Stop complaining.

Hmm. I think I'm getting quite angry. I don't mean to be, I think it's just my sickness and headache showing through.

Today, I went to school only for the first early bit because:

1. I wanted to hand out all the CDs I made for the band (which I did)
2. I had to hand in my Ball entry form and pay for the tickets.
3. I had a performance in House Assembly.
4. I had to pay Pei Yun to get on the PARTAY BUS which will take me to the ball.
5. I didn't really want to miss anything in class even though I'm on study leave.

I woke up feeling moderately crap, but by the time Maths was over I was very, very sick so I had to go home, getting Jason to write down nice notes for me in Physics...yes...I then went home and slept from 11.00 to 2.45 - which figures. I feel a little bit better though, even though I have an exam tomorrow and I am completely screwed over for it.

I'm still very happy about Sunday night. I can't wait to watch the video which I hope is good.

And if anyone has any ideas on where to rent a very cool flash car, let me know - I may not go to the ball in the party bus but I might get my brother to chaffeur me there. Maybe.

Maybe.

Random interesting things I remember from last night:

- The people literally brought the house down while we were playing. Like, for a while near the end of our set there were people trying to put back the support beam in Kim's garage.

- The moment when the crowd chanted "Fist Full of Fives". It was at that moment I was like, "hey, I could get used to this."

- Tim. 100% respect to you. 99% because you kick major booty on the drums, 1% because I believe you were wearing the same pair of underwear as I was. o_O

- Ellen as the dirty maid, singing really loudly along with "All The Small Things". Classic.

---

Anyway the recordings have been transferred onto my computer in which it will springboard into the rest of the world. Unfortunately while transferring from Sonny's MD to my computer the sound went from Stereo to Mono, and since there really wasn't another way I could think of to get the music off the MD for now Sonny still has the ultimate recording of it. He'd better not lose it.

I also made six CDs just then, a personalized copy for each band member and Sonny, and a distribution copy in case people actually want to listen to it. I think I'll let John handle that.

If anyone can think of an awesome place to put the recordings (on the internet) please let me know. I'm workin on that.

My stupid internet is also randomly disconnecting on me, which doesn't make my uploading job any easier.

Okay, I just came back from a party. I am soooo psyched. It just hit me now (not while I was there...like sudden onset AIDS.)

Well basically our band did our first ever live performance, complete with a darkish room, video recording, sound recording, people (lots of them, about 100) and music! AND IT ROCKED IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE. Just to watch a crowd jump up and down to music you play, man, that's an awesome feeling. I can't wait to see the video and get the recording (which is pretty high quality) on my hands!

I'm excited for the Rockquest, I really am.

There was this drummer though, Jen's boyfriend and he was really good. I kinda felt a bit stink for a bit cause he was so much better than me :P But he was really really great. It was nice getting his approval too.

It was great. Really, really great.

AH IT WAS SO GReATTETEAEATEAEAT

When I get the recordings back I'll link to them.

I had a strange dream where I had a hair cut.

I can't decide if it was scary or not.

Thomas tell your mum she is kool. With a "k".

Hmm. I wrote something for the College Herald. I want $250. I WANT IT WE WANTS IT


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Yesterday, I heard from one of my friends that a student somewhere in New Zealand was suspended from the school he attended. Why? Because he fashioned his hair after our New Zealand Idol and his famous shaved haircut.

Of course, he only said this to me because of my own hair, which passes the top of my shirt collar – an offence of my school’s uniform rules or so teachers tell me every day. As much as I love being a rebel, disobeying the school is not something I or most students enjoy doing. So “what gives”, you ask?

Common sense tells us that school rules are created to protect students and encourage a positive environment for learning and education. Keeping that in mind, how does having hair past the collar on your shirt stop you from solving a mathematical equation or writing an essay? The weight of my hair is not enough to force my head backwards or slow me down, and does not house head lice (or at least I hope not).

Although it may not seem like it, I think that most of my school’s rules are reasonable. No smoking and alcohol? I support that – usage is illegal for most of the student population anyway. No makeup? I would not be using makeup anyway, as much fun as it would be to attend school with lipstick and eyeliner. It is when a school forbids its male students to have their hair past their collar that I object.

All I really want is to have my hair long – today’s society is all about freedom of choice and having rights, after all. Most normal people would give in to the pressure and spend ten dollars or more to get their hair cut. But I am not a normal person so I stand up for my rights.

The next step for me if I was to try to keep my current hairstyle meant finding out what would happen if I refused to get my hair cut and ignored the teachers. Apart from the typical school fare of detentions and essays, a quick internet search showed me that according to the YouthLaw website (www.youthlaw.co.nz), a student can be stood down or suspended on the grounds of continual disobedience where he or she is “deliberately and regularly failing to do what [they] are told”.

My heart sinks. I do not want to be stood down, and as strange as it may sound I really do enjoy school and the people I meet there. But I read on. “As well as being...’continual disobedience’, [the] behaviour must set a harmful or dangerous example to other students. The behaviour must be likely to cause serious harm, not just to be harmful.”

Having my hair past my collar has definitely not been harmful and has not set a dangerous example to other students. Nobody seems to have suddenly started growing their hair just because I have. Although it would have been very flattering, I am glad nobody has since it is part of what defines me and my individuality. In the same way, a Ben Lummis hairstyle does no harm to anyone, but as it got a student suspended it must be harmful in a way. Maybe the school I heard about got it all wrong. Perhaps the suspension was unjustified.

To take away the right of education of a student because their hair looks different to everyone else’s seems unfair. Suspension on the basis of looks sounds a lot like discrimination. YouthLaw states that “students have the legal right not only to attend school but to be educated.” What a student’s choice about their hairstyle has to do their right to schooling bewilders me.

School rules are like society – most of them work well for the good of us all, but a few of them are unhelpful and negative. A school rule should be for the good of all students, and all other reasons are secondary. I hope that in the future, schools will look past shallow appearances and focus on the important things. However, until they do, I will probably remain a rule-breaker.

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Critique as much as you want, I want that $250.

Also I have to hand in my money for the ball...man I'm so poor it's not fair. Stupid fucking corporate world we live in.

I was gonna say something about Asian musicians doing crappy Asian covers of songs such as "Murder on the Dance Floor" and "All Right"...but then I realised I just did.

Tomorrow I will attempt to only turn right.