Friday July 25. It’s Barker Swings night, and the choir will be performing.

Tonight felt special, not because I was wearing the red and black for the last time, but because it was the last time we were performing from our ‘battle’ repertoire. JAllington, our conductor, called it “the ridiculous”, but we all loved it. That night started at 5pm, the rehearsal.

Nostalgia filled the room, as we were all moving to the music that we sung, what felt like, many months ago. Then, the choreography was changed to fit the longer version of “Say a Little Prayer”. For an hour, we went through moves with O’Brien, but in the end it was what she described “three songs mashed up into one”. We all felt good, now it would be up to the performance.

Five hours later, we were just about to enter the hall for our part of Swings. Everyone was hyped; it couldn’t get better than this. The Big Band started to play; we ran on, the crowd loved us. About five minutes later, it was over. Our last performance as the ‘battle’ choir was done. As we left the stage, I felt happy and slightly sad. Battle of the Choirs had been a great experience for all of us. Now, it was back to our normal repertoire and schedule.

Working for TV is very different to what many people think it is. On our filming days, there were many rehearsals to get the best camera positions, basically to get everything right. Filming 40 minutes of footage took about three hours! I can’t stress how unique and fulfilling this experience was.

As the end of the holidays fast approaches (next Tuesday), it is time for me to ask myself, what have I done that was worthwhile? You know, every minute of every day in your life should be lived to its fullest. I’d like to share the answer to the above question with you.

I must say, that it was pretty difficult to get out with others, as most were away somewhere out there, or have gone skiing with friends or family. That was fine, so I turned my attention to preparing myself for school next term (lame I know, but it had to be done). With a shocking report card for the past semester, it brought a severe reminder of what would happen if this continued on.

On the bright side, I did manage to spend some time with friends. I had coffee with someone on their birthday, and made people happy. Lame I know, but it’s what I do best.

Spending money is something I (and possibly everyone) do very well, so I bought myself a few things to prepare for Europe at the end of the year. Lame I know, but it had to be done.

I suppose that this holiday was not full at all, but the time to rest was certainly welcome.

I know that sometimes, you think I don’t make any sense at all. To that I say never mind, because it shows how difficult some minds work.

It was a good three weeks, but reality must come back sometime.

So, it has been two weeks since the start of the holidays. And how do I feel? Really lonely.

I hear you asking, shouldn’t holidays be restful, fun, enjoyable?

Yes of course, but there is an underlying problem. It’s so bloody quiet around town and on the tubes. No one is in Sydney, everyone has gone away, and no one is online! On weekends, its worse.

This raises a lot of questions. Is it normal for people to go away at this time? Is my image of what holidays should be outdated? Or am I too closed up to know what really is happening?

I believe that I am getting out of my way to find out what people really do nowadays during these few weeks. What do people do? I think I am just forgotten about these holidays.

Please help out my mind to rest by commenting and answering my questions!

Well, now it is my school holidays. Three weeks of rest from a long short term 2. To answer all the obvious questions, I am not going anywhere, I’m just staying in Sydney. I will be doing a bit of photography, a walking trip or two and I will be celebrating people’s birthdays.

There is a new project that I want to get cracking with, and that will be based on my webserver. (Note, this will get a bit techy!)

I want to make a directory accessible from mobile and from the web. It needs to be able to be updated with new information almost instantaneously. I am thinking of using Wordpress as a CMS, with a few plugins and themes, but if you have something better to use, leave a comment below.

OK, that was my tech talk for now. Hope to write a bit more these holidays.

Last night was the formal. I thought it was going to be a great night. Unfortunately for me, it  mostly wasn’t.

To put it simply, the formal was a great idea at first, but it quickly loses its panache as the night progresses.

We started off with a three course dinner. Entrée was a green salad, then the main course was a steak. The steak was done really well. The atmosphere was very positive (as it usually is). Once dinner was over, things went from good to bad.

I was asked to nominate someone to ‘cut the cake’ symbolically and to say thanks. That was slightly surprising to the special someone, but the speech was terrible. (Almost) everyone cheered their head off every few seconds and I felt the spotlight taken away from me. Then came the dance.

In my opinion, the DJ really didn’t satisfy anyone. The music was this new stuff, I couldn’t tell. It did get better towards the end, then it was the end of the night.

I was beginning to question whether the night was worth it, but I didn’t let that get in the way. It is a problem of being under-recognised when you do so much for everyone.

On a lighter note, if you are reading this via Facebook, don’t feel offended. I thank you very much for all your support! In my opinion, the best form of recognition in this situation is a thanks, and a nice hug.

Link to photoset on flickr.

I sat down yesterday evening and thought about how interesting my life is. It wasn’t.

It seemed that my life was made up of too much sitting down. Sitting down in front of the computer, doing school work, or just messing around. I wasn’t getting out much at all. Hey, think about the number of night outs and parties I’ve been to in the last year: 0. Nights are really boring for me. Even looking at Facebook photos makes me feel weird.

This makes me feel really bad, as it is a sign of becoming a social outcast. It feels like as if this is a death spiral; work work work and no play leads to “more devo”.

I think the reason that I feel this is that I am too different to everyone else. I’m not the type of person that goes to these “doing absolutely nothing” parties. I have my own style, but no one else likes it.

Do I need to change? Am I too different for this society?

Do I make sense?

PS: On a happier note, Coldplay’s new album Viva la Vida is out. Review soon (yes I am serious this time). Battle of the Choirs is on 7:30pm Sundays on Channel 7. I am in the Barker choir.

Today was mufti day. The Student Council (which I am part of), raises money to put to a cause. Also there is usually a positive vibe around the place, as people can express themselves truly. I’m really tired after counting lots and lots of money.

I was on the train that evening, and saw a few mates of mine at the station. I had my laptop with me, and I showed them photos of a concert yesterday. They were impressed, and we talked about photos for various occasions.

It is through this which I realised that having connections with even the most remote people in the year group, is key to maintaining a good relationship with everybody. Getting yourself known for the right reason is something that is a bit difficult in a large group, but that is what I have done.

Today was two of my friend’s birthdays. I gave them both presents. One got a candle, and the other, five dollars. They were really really happy. The rest of the day, I kept the happy vibe going. Until I checked my email sometime in the afternoon…

I got an email from one of the mothers who is organising the formal. (BTW In all honesty, this year’s formal is going downhill). She replied to my email about how to submit photographs. (There will be a screen at the formal showing photos of us. I am coordinating the photography). She called me “rude” for trying to convey information and calling this situation my problem.

Seriously, we are doing a lot of work for the formal, and you are not realising that. For the photography, I have been making announcements, putting posters up etc. It’s not my job to get photos from everyone, it is the responsibility of the people to give photos to me.

Please judge for yourself (after this break). Read the rest of this entry »

The next month or so will be busy for me. The amount of school work is increasing, and so are the other commitments.

You may know that I am in the choir. We are actually going to be on the glorious Television later in the year as part of a choir competition. I am also going on the choir and orchestra’s Europe tour at the end of the year. New music will have to be learnt.

This means that Twitter and all the other networks will be looked upon less now. I will not update as often as I can.

Thanks for all your support with reading this blog and viewing my photos and Twitter and etcetera.

Everyone and the mascots

Originally uploaded by hohohob

Last Sunday, I had my birthday party. There were five of us to begin with at Luna Park. There, we had fun for a while, before Simon left and the rest of us took a ferry. It went to Circular Quay, and after getting off, we walked to Wagamama, one of my favourite restaurants. Dinner was had, before Georgina left us. The rest of us took the train home.

That’s it in a nutshell.

You know, the party went better than expected even though the other five I invited were away or sick. It was right after a week long camp some people went to, and it rained every single day. Just a small group of people, having a good time.

Now to get on with life.

Flickr photoset