The HSC, plus Forgetfulness, plus the PUNCast

WEll, again I have been lax in posting. Again, I have forsaken the written record of my life (well, at least parts of it). I had even forgotten my username and password (but I remembered them, after much trial and error.)

But I have returned.

First off, the HSC. I'm smack bang in the middle of it. I've done English 1, and have only 5 more exams left to go. But, I finish on the last day (arghh. Drama! Why do you hate me so). But, I guess its nearly over. OR so they say. Woo

And finally, our church youthgroup has produced a podcast, in a sorta chat show style, except less organised. Indeed, after listening to episode 1, it was, well, rather disorganised. The running sheet went who knows where. BUT, it was still funny, and still had a worthwhile look at the Bible, and we now know what things to improve on :)
Check it out at http://puncast.podomatic.com and drop us a line, with your thoughts or whatever.

Signing off

The Socceroos and the Asian Cup

Well, I have to say, the recent socceroos matches have been disappointing, to say the least (that is, if you were able to see them, seeing as you either had to go to Thailand or its nearby neighbours, or have CABLE!!)

To beat Singapore 3-0 is one thing (even that match was very "leave it till the last minute") but to draw 1-1 with Oman is totally another, and that doesn't match Australia's potential cup-winners billing. Now, you can go on about weather conditions and playing away, and I can sympathise with that to an extent. But some of the defending I saw in highlights against Oman was atrocious. The defenders were all over the place, and failed to mark the forward players, which is where the first goal came from. While Schwarzer could well have saved it, Oman's Badar Mubarak should never have gotten into that sort of position.

The sad thing is is that we know these guys can play good football, football that has earned them a spot amongst the favourites for the Asian Cup. I don't know whether its Arnold (who I don't think is as bad as everyone says he is) or the conditions, or the pressure, but I do know that we need to play a stack better if we want to win silverware. Maybe it was a freak accident, but in truth, we were at times OUTPLAYED by an Omani side much lower in the world rankings, and devoid of international talent the likes of which we had

The only concellation is that the rest of the group drew, as well as potential quarter final rivals Japan. Maybe something in the water...

Simon Cowell actually being nice

Check this out. This 6 year old girl comes out onto Britain's Got Talent, and sings incredibly well: actually, pretty much flawlessly, and Simon actually is nice to her, and then says how she is prime pick to win the thing.



Good stuff

Yeats.....

We just had an assesment task today on the poetry of William Butler Yeats. The guy is a pessimist. I don't know if I would call him an emo, but he still has a rather depressing outlook on life. Possibly because people have told him he's ugly. Maybe also because he got rejected by a lday several times over the course of his life.

His poetry reflects this. He spends a lot of time contemplating old age, and a desire for immortality. He also has a bit of a go at everyone else. In one of his poems, The Second Coming, he seems to have a bit of a dig at Christians, saying that they are apathetic, that "the best of us lack all conviction", while waiting for 'someone' to save the world.

I don't think most Christians would agree with this. While we certainly wait for the day when Jesus will return, I don't think we're apathetic. We are called to go out, and share the news that we are already saved, not by anything we can do, but what Jesus has done on the cross. We are called to live lives that honour God, and while we by no means always manage to do this, we sure try.


Mind you, Yeats won a Nobel Prize for his writing. He must have been doing something right!

History Quiz: Weimar Germany

1. Name the mutiny that occured at the start of the November Revolution

2. What was the november Revolution and when did it occur?

3. Which Democratic Party was the most important at the time of the November Revolution

4. Name the Article of the Weimar Constitution that allowed the German President extensive emergency powers.

5. Who was the first president of the Weimar Republic and which party did he come from?


One star for each correct answer, with each person able to earn a maximum of 3 stars (I'm not expecting a rush of posts, but if you read this... TELL THE WORLD!!! WORD OF MOUTH!!!

The Elephant Song

Essays

Arghh. Who can say 4 essays in one week. I know I can.... And the best bit is, none of it actually goes towards anything. But we still have to do them, or we get letters home and the like. Its basically 'compulsory homework.'

Oh well. Only two more to go...

Driving is only getting harder....

Now, you may call me biased just because I'm on my L's, but I think some of these laws that are being brought in in NSW are pretty dumb. The 'enhanced' test, which they'll probably have to dumb down anyway, I can deal with, and I'll probably have to sit it, but the 120 requisite hours is ridculous. I don't think I need to do 120, that being the component that doesnt work retrospectively, but its still a major nuisance for new learners. They are more than doubling the number of hours you have to complete.

In the end, all I think this will do is either deter people from learning to drive in the first place, or worse, prompt people to forge their logs, which are basically unpoliceable anyway, unless you get a licencesed officer to sign off each entry, which would be absolutely ridiculous. If I'm lucky, I won't have to sit the enhanced test if I sit for my P's before July, but that may be pushing it.

Oh yeah. And no mobile phones. At all.

The Cadbury Easter Bunny......Day 2

The Cadbury Easter Bunny...... Day 1

Easter...... Creeping Up Slowly

I find it exceptionally interesting how little attention people in general pay to Easter. With Christmas there's all this hype for up to two months before, with plenty of sales and things at store. The realm of presents during Christmas is along the vein of 'anything goes' . Heck, they even have Santa plastered all over Coke bottles!!

With Easter, any 'presents' are limited to chocolate. Store sales are limited to choclate. Everything essentially revolves around chocolate shaped into the vague likeness of eggs or rabbits. Easter just doesn't hold the same place in peoples hearts and minds as Christmas.

If you look at the religous significance of the two days, however, it would seem that Easter should be ranked higher. Sure, the birth of Christ as a human is pretty up there, but his death and resurrection you think would be the most important, it being kinda the reason he came in the first place. I suppose this is just another example of commercialism coming along and ruining everything for everyone.

Have a Good Friday.

END OF HALF YEARLIES

WOOOOOO!!! END OF HALF YEARLIES!!!

Well, not quite. I have a drama prac on Thursday that it is impossible to prepare for seeing as we get the topic on the day, but stilll......

END OF HALF YEARLIES!!!!

(As you can probably tell, I'm really happy!)

Tsunami

Well, we think Tsunami are things that can only happen overseas. It turns out that we could have had one here. After an 8.1 earthquake to the West of the Solomon Islands, and an accompanying tsunami resulted in at least 10 deaths in Gizo, it was feared that we fight get something similar. Thankfully, we only had raises in something like 10 cms, so in the end we weren't in any danger, unlike those guys in the Solomon islands, but it still serves to make us think that maybe we're not immune to this sort of stuff. Whether you think that these tidal waves are a result of global warming or not, perhaps it pays to be careful.

I was just driving down the road...

Learning to drive is such a wonderdull thing. I've been doing really well recently. Haven't stall, haven't hit anything, no kangaroo hopping. nothing. Then, sunday arvo I was driving to church. I went the longer way, and cam up to this nasty intersection where I have to cross to lanes of traffic going one way, then two the other. As i started to move across the two lanes, I stalled. I did this not once, not twice, but three times. Yes three. The car immeadiately was driven by a guy I knew, and they just had a good laugh at my expense, but behind THEM was a p-plater. They were honking and being all round nasty. P-platers, of all people, should know what its like to be a learner. In any case, I know I won't be like when I get my p's. Well, maybe a little.

Well....

Another day, another exam. Today's was maths. Its probably also the first maths exam I've actually put some real hard study into. Of course, I probably still didn't do as much as I should, and so probably won't get as high marks as I would like, but....meh.

I find it interesting, though, how much importance the people around me put on getting high marks. Sure, you should try your best, but there is a point where such work starts to consume you (the exact opposite problem to what I have!). There are more important things in life, the most important being God, who, again, I probably don't spend as much time with as I should. But if you don't at least check out God, you're leaving yourself short. Asking questions is fine. Those people who I know, feel free to hunt me at school or whatever and grill me (not too much though). And, any others, just comment here, or wherever.

At the very least, don't burn your brain out with exams. Its pretty painful.

My Dream PC

My Dream PC would have....

1. Windows XP for starters (I'm currently stuck with ME)
2. A Core 2 Duo (double the power..well not quite, but anyway)
3. An Nvidia GeForce 8800GTX(Who needs SLI?....)
4. 2GB of DDR2 Ram
5. A really mad flat screen monitor of some sort (I don't know anything about monitors)
5. Various extras (DVD drives, keyboard, speakers)
6. A cordless mouse

Oh, and it would be cool if it was an Alienware PC. , cause they have to be one of the best looking PCs on the market today!

And cause its a dream PC, I wouldn't have to pay for it, so there!

Sydney Vs Asia

Well, we all know how awesome Sydney FC are, and how they are the greatest team in the world. They had beaten China's Shanghai Shenua 2-1, and then came up to play against the Urawa Red Diamonds. Of course, no one was suprised when Sydney went 1-0 up through Super Dave in the first minute, then 2-0 through Talay. The only shock was that Sydney allowed the Japanese champs back into the game, to draw 2-2.

Okay, maybe 2-2 was actually not a disappointing result for sydney in only its second Asian outing, and this was against one of the comp's stronger teams. I think we can safely say that the lads are doing not only Sydney, but also Australia proud. Here's to hoping we can get to the next round!!

I'm Back!!

You know, I almost forgot i had this blog. Blogging is one of those things where, if you don't get into the habit of doing it regularly, then you won't be bothered to post about 50% of the time. I also always seem to start blogging again around exam time....

Anyway, I have returned again, and greet all 3 of you (if that) who check this place from time to timel. If you are reading this, please, please, PLEASE keep reading! I swear i'll remember to post semi-regularly..... maybe.

Have a good one