Somewhere Else

Con-bloody-ception Day. What a farce.

From The Notepad: My Holiday

From The Notepad is a new occasional series of things that I wrote in my notepad. I digitise them if they're significant.

I am what you might call a 'nerd'. I consider myself a 'geek'. You know, a really smart guy, who, when you ask them something, talks for ages about it. They never talk about too much else, they are reclusive and are really bad when it comes to socialising and, they usually wear glasses.

Basically, nerds and love don't go together.

Recently, I held a party, and invited a very mixed group of people; people that normally don;t hang out with each other but whom I knew for a while. Although half the people were sick, it was still fun, especially G, who lightened the mood just that little bit.

Several days later, I got an email from a friend I invited, asking whether I'd like to go and have coffee with her. I accepted and, then, the rumours started to fly.

Was I stealing her from her boyfriend? Has she changed? Have I changed?

Proper Functions of a Choir from a Chorister

At the start of this week, I was at Music Camp. This is where music begins every year; the first event of many. I am in the Senior Choir, which is the choir for years 10-12 at my school.

Observing the choir a year ago was very different. Back then, I was one of those year 10s. Having sung in the middle school choir, I saw that Senior Choir was a much better experience. I don't know whether it is just me or it's normal, but I seem to think that we were far better last year than this year's year 10.

This year, I can't remove myself from the fact that there are some people not in the choir to do good. The way I see it, these people (and others) are here to socialise rather than sing. This attitude can also be seen when they are asked "What do you think of the music?". A typical response would be, "I hate it" or "It's gay" or "It's really bad". These people also don't take any effort to sing. They don't sing the correct notes, constantly make mistakes and worst of all, they sing down the octave (sing at a lower pitch). These behaviours really slow down the progress of the choir and this is not what we want considering we have concerts as early as March!

I am also in the top choir in the school. It is a much better environment than senior choir. We get through more music in one rehearsal than any other choir. I feel good getting stuff done, as well as being in a room full of talented people.

As obscure as this blog post is, I would like those lazy people to take notice of what you are doing and then think about whether you really should be in a choir.

Songs that bring emotion to you

Have you ever been all alone listening to music one day? Sometimes songs bring out deep, hidden thoughts from the deepest parts of your brain. These emotions are so strong that you break down.

I had this feeling last night while listening to Coldplay. It brought out the strongest feelings of sorrow and sadness.

Recollections of a Camp: Day 1

It was the day after the formal. All the glitz and glamour from that night just disappeared that afternoon. It was the beginning of Adventure Camp 2007. 180 people gathered beside the oval, ready to be whisked away to Jindabyne. Some people were excited about it, others not so.

I arrived at 1pm with my large bulky pack and a small daypack. At the time, there weren’t many people there yet. I went to my team bus and sat outside for a short while. Several minutes later, Mr Ashby called us over. He had some things to talk about, one of which was to not take this camp for granted because it was a rare opportunity to do so many activities in one week. I took this into mind, but it did not stay there. In my mind, there was opposition to the camp. Nevertheless, those thoughts could not overpower the schedule of the camp. I felt helpless and trapped.

We left Barker half an hour later, in a minibus with the rest of the tutor group. I stayed quiet, taking in the last of the cityscape that I would not see for five days. We drove on to the M2, then the M7, then the Hume Highway. The journey seemed endless. It was already half past three and we were not even half way there. At that time, we took a break at a servo in Marulan. I saw everyone and made conversation. There wasn’t much joy around. Everyone was quiet. At four, the buses continued the long journey to Jindabyne. I continued to stare at the countryside, taking in the scenery. Somewhere along the way, there was a loud whistling noise in the bus. We were slowing down and pulled into the shoulder. The bus had broken down. Thankfully, I was not stranger to this. We got off at the rest area and waited. Minutes later, another group stopped and their teachers tried to contact help. A third bus had stopped as well. Wow, two buses stop for one broken bus? Now that’s commitment. Half an hour passed and we were on the road again.

At about seven, we arrived at Cooma. This was our dinner stop. Now this was where I wished I had brought more cash. I only had ten dollars to spend on dinner now and some food on Friday. I waited in line at the KFC and bought a burger for $4.75. I ate it, looking in envy of others who had feasted on a variety bucket. Loneliness also crept into me. I was quiet and down. I didn’t know why. We were off in half an hour, ready to arrive at Jindabyne.

We arrived at Jindabyne at about nine in the evening. I was luckily still awake. We went into a briefing and met our team leader, Paul Hoyer. He introduced himself and told us that we were going to have a great camp. I was sceptical about what he said, but later in the week, it turned out I was wrong. I got shown the cabin we were staying the night. It surprised me that the cabin was very new, clean and quiet from other people. Just before I went to bed, the guys from the other room annoyed us. It wasn’t serious and after a while, I fell into my sleeping bag preparing for tomorrow.

Finding hidden talent

Today in geography class, we had a debate. Some of my mates egged me on to speak. I did. My team won this debate. Now, there is a story behind this success.

As a self appointed leader, I came up with a clear cut plan on how we would address our case. This blew our opponent out of the water. With some prior experience of debating, I layed out the plan on who spoke what. The order of our arguement was paramount. in addition to that, there was a clear rebuttal plan. This combination of techniques was unstoppable.

This brings me to the point of hidden talent. I had found out that I may be good at debating. After thinking this, I might try out for it next year.

I just hope that this is not one of those thoughts that inspire you and then leave you in a mess, mentally and emotionally.

Ringing false in their ears

Give me some freedom will you?

I don't know how many times I need to say this. If I say "its not me who planned this", I mean it. It doesn't mean "you planned this". The words speak for themself. I hate people who can't understand the simplest of sentences.

Social worries

I feel really bad today. I feel as I have been unable to talk to anybody today. My ability to talk to people has been terrible since day 1. Though it may seem unnecessary to have a new relationship, I feel as though I need one.

Skiing Day 0

Today we arrived at Falls Creek. We had initially stayed at Mount Beauty, a town at the bottom of the mountain. The road from Mount Beauty was very winding, it took almost an hour to get up there. The view from the village was stunning.

We hired our skis and were able to ski for half a day.

Double Dells at Hornsby station

This is a picture of the new monitors.

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