Today was a very tiring and eventful and rewarding day. I'll try to tackle it categorically but obviously the ideas will bleed into one another and the whole post will get contaminated.

But you'll forgive me.

==THE BAND==

It was pretty good. Warwick covered for David who had an ear infection and we did pretty well, I thought. The crowd seemed to like us. Of course, I disappointly dropped my sticks (AGAIN, the last time which it happened was during the "Rockfest" that the school held as practice for the Rockquest, a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away)...so I went and bought another pair to keep on top of the bass drum in the likely eventuality that I ever drop them during a performance again.

Cons: Half of the stick is purple. They are slightly heavier and therefore will probably end up tiring me faster. Or something. $17.95

Pros: The purple half is some crazy rubberish coating which improves my grip, so therefore the odds that I'll drop the sticks are slightly lower. They're longer...and they're thicker. I assume that means they'll be louder, too. They were actually $19.95 but I got a discount because of the Rockquest HURRAY

Maybe instead of keeping them on top of the bass drum I'll keep them in a backpack that I'll wear and if I drop sticks, I'll act all ninja like and whip out a new pair from my bag. How cool would that be....(not much, but better than looking like a tard while the drumming stops for a decent amount of time and you grab your sticks off the floor)

Actually, talking to people after the performance I was surprised at the number of people who didn't notice I dropped my sticks (I also pulled the fingers at the drums out of habit which really wasn't a smart idea with the principal watching but that's...another matter) Maybe they were too caught up in the music. Maybe I played the drums with my mind while I was picking my sticks up. Maybe those people were deaf.

Yeah, but it was fun. I had fun, playing. Yeah...I felt like a huge tard afterwards though, because I'd dropped my sticks. But when I talked to people and found that at least one person didn't notice it didn't feel so silly any more.

(sidenote: The electronic drum kit I'm trying to save up for isn't $2000 like I thought, but $2999...at least I have a job now, as low paying as it is. Maybe me and Tomo should go busking)

==LICENSE==

Today I went to reclaim my learner's license. If you remember, I had lost my entire wallet at KLIA a long time ago and ever since then I'd been slowly replacing everything I had in it. Yeah, I'd lost my learners there which meant I had a very good excuse for not learning to drive yet.

I lost that reason today. I went and paid the $31.50 it cost for a replacement, saw Gareth there booking his full license test and felt a twinge of...guilt? Whatever, it was just that he was in Sixth Form...and booking his full...and there I was getting back my learners. o_O

Then my mum drove me to the Temple Carpark and told me to drive around. It was quite embarassing because:

1. It was totally illegal - we didn't put up L plates yet.
2. All of my mums friends were there and looking at me strangely.
3. I drive incredibly shittily.

More on point number three: I can drive a mean bumper car, but a full sized proper fuck-off car is a bit much for me to handle. The main problem is just that I can't see anything...I have no idea where the left side of the car ends, and where the back ends, and reversing is incredibly hard and I always seem to cut too much into the right side of the road (simply because I don't know where the left side is)...the pedals were way too sensitive for my tastes (especially the brake, I never knew a car could brake so hard.)

Anyway, I've made up my mind. I hate driving. I mean, sure, it's great and convenient and it's great that you can drive around and be cool and pick up friends and stuff...but I guess I'm a bit selfish.

I'd rather ride a motorbike for the following reasons:

1. I can actually see where I am with no problem.
2. It's probably a fuckload easier to control.
3. I can only take one passenger at a time (no, I'm never getting a sidecar) - that means no group of stragglers trying to get a ride off me.

I mean, it's kind of stink for me to say all of this and keep accepting rides from Thomas which I'm really quite grateful for...I've always liked motorbikes. Sure, they're a lot more dangerous but it's probably a lot more fun too. It'd probably be a lot easier to get from place to place as well if I was in a big hurry as they're easier to weave in and out of traffic. So yes. I'd like to learn to ride a motorbike. My mum, however, won't let me. I guess it will have to wait until I move out or something.

==OTHER==

I gave those whiteboard pens that Mr. Barrett gives out on occassion to my Physics Tutor. It makes sense, really. Mr. Barrett is the Head of Maths at Macleans, he can pretty much do whatever the hell he wants with stationery. His handwriting is shocking and partly because of how he holds his pens - at an angle, so that all the whiteboard fluidwriting stuff flows to the back of the pen and he thinks it's out of ink. He then gives them out, but they're perfectly fine.

Of course, on the other hand, my Physics tutor's whiteboard pens are refilled and it's semi-depressing, that they're kinda dull and make it hard to read. So by giving him the whiteboard pens I got from Mr. Barrett:

1. The pens don't end up in the "refilling bin" in the Staff Room which I hear is overflowing and nobody ever refills those pens.
2. The pens don't end up in the rubbish bin when they're still perfectly useable.
3. Mr. Barrett feels good. (I may be making this one up.)
4. My Physics tutor saves money.
5. I get better quality tutoring as I can read what has been written the whiteboard much easier.

It all makes sense!

Also, while I was getting my new pair of sticks, me and my mum went to New World (the place where I lost my "watch people pack your groceries like ACTUAL grocery packers that do nothing but pack your grocery, just like in America, land of the stupid ideas, virginity") and we bought a lot of juice. By a lot, I mean in excess of 40 litres of the stuff. That meant putting all this stuff in a trolley and rolling it through most of Botany Town Centre to where our car was parked.

I felt like an idiot for a while, but I soon got over it. I then noticed that the Town Centre was a strange place indeed. Where else can you get idiotic preteens, poser-like skanks and losers who have pants ten sizes too big and geriatric couples shopping together in (relative) harmony? It's crazy.

Anyway, that's that. I can't wait for tomorrow night because Tomo's having a party. Kind of. Actually, no, not really. Here's hoping.