adam’s [insert adjective(s) here] blog

so here’s what i look like after growing a moustache for one whole month…

ugh…this pic was taken at about 7:00am this morning

Team X went to North St. to teach for the last time today. ran the Summary programme with rooms 4 and 3. it went well. the kids loved our game show :o) we had our last shared lunch with them and signed books and felt all celebrity-like. i wonder how many of the kids will actually keep their books and certificates for years to come…?

we set up for the North St. DaVine #2. i was once again delegated to the BBQ, seeing as how i did such a good job last time :o) we ran the Friendships programme for the kids and their parents. i was cool. said our last goodbyes and packed up. we’re going back to North St. once more this year, for the year 8’s leavers’ dinner. that should be really fun.

tonight, it all came to an end. my one month of growing a mo. it all got shaved off…all 11mm of it. that’s not a bad effort for 30 days i reckon. my upper lip is once again naked, and it feels weird. there’s nothing there to fiddle with.

back to normal…?

had our guy’s meeting this morning. it was cool. we all got sorted for the day, then our team went to LAC for the last time. ran the Summary programme with both classes. they were pretty well behaved considering it’s a pretty boring programme. we try to make it exciting by turning it into a quiz, but it’s still pretty boring.

we had a shared lunch with both classes, so that was pretty cool. we got to hang out with all our kids one more time before we left school, and the food was good. shared lunches have evolved over the years. teachers finally started figuring out that if they told kids different things to bring, then you don’t end up with 29 bags of chips and one plate of sandwiches.

practiced for tomorrow when we got back to the office, then i came back to Jono’s. watched TV all night again. there’s really not a lot else to do here.

went to Team X today. i stayed in the office, ‘cos the school that was being taught at, i don’t teach at…there’d be very little point in me turning up for their last class…typed a bunch of stuff up on the computer instead.

started feeling pretty rank around lunchtime. one of those stomach bug things - painful, not sickly. lunch didn’t help, so i sort of skulked around the office for the afternoon.

got back to Jono’s after Team X and pretty much watched TV for the rest of the day. i felt better after NCIS, so that was good. me and Katie played some card games to try and kill time, but in the end we both decided to call it a night.

meh…

finished packing this morning. hopefully i haven’t left anything behind. i guess i’ll find out when i nee something and it’s not in my bag. usually i’m pretty good at packing, so that shouldn’t happen.

here’s an update on my mo:

me and my sister Jen. she loves my mo…

drove up to Palmie this afternoon. got all sorted for the North St. room 1 and 2 DaVine (parent’s evening). i was the designated BBQ guy, so i cooked my way through 150 or 200 or something sausages. now i smell like BBQ. it’s good to be a guy :o)

we ran the Friendships programme for the kids and their parents. it was awesome. chatted to some kids and their parents afterwards. got some cool feedback from some parents about how their kids have changed in the last couple of terms and what aspects of the Team X programme they’ve started putting into practice.

i don’t understand :o( i’m going to bed.

caught up with Jon and Steve today. we sorted out some details for our trip. Jon’s going to finalise some of the details this week, then we’ll pay money and it’ll be all go. sweetness!

spent this afternoon writing on more certificates for Team X. i’ve done 3 of my 4 North St. small groups now. watched Pirates of the Caribbea: Dead Man’s Chest with Mum later. it’s cool.

started packing for my 2 weeks away in Palmie and Gisbourne. i was gonna burn another ATRAC3plus CD tonight, but for the life of me couldn’t figure out how to add new music to pre-existing albums in my music library in SonicStage. there’s no simple ‘add files to album’ option. and it imports my music weirdly now. i haven’t used it in a while, but i sure don’t remember having this much trouble with it…

if i try and import a music folder, for some reason, SonicStage reads all my mp3s’ ID3 tags weirdly, and puts the artist name as the album name, so instead of getting one album with 17 songs, i get 17 seperate albums all with one song.

i really don’t have time right now to go through and rename every singe file just so it goes into the right album…also, if i do rename the mp3s in SonicStage, then it screws up their ID3 tags.

on a completely different note, all my pics have disappeared from my blog. according to my stats, i haven’t exceeded my image bandwidth, so i don’t know what the heck is going on there.

it’ll be nice to get away from it all and go on holiday :o)

caught up with Carl today. we went and saw ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’. it was pretty much what i expected it to be. funny and politically incorrect.

Borat marks the 35th movie that i’ve seen this year, and the 300th movie that i’ve seen at a cinema since 1999. not a bad effort, eh?

i cruised over to Jon’s later. we were meant to meet up with Steve and sort out some details for our Eurotrip next year, but Steve had to work. me and Jon went and played mini golf instead. it was cool. i won this time with a 4-under-par score of 38. sweetness!

drove over to the Hutt tonight for the Frequency Big Nite Out. we played Christians and Communists, which is a weird name for a game. meh…

what happens is that the kids get dropped off in groups a long way from the base, and then have to make their way back without being tagged by leaders who are driving around in vans. if the get tagged, their team has to jump in the van and they get driven back some distance and have to continue.

it went pretty well. we had to rescue a few girls from a steep hillside on which they had become stuck, and some kids got chased by a bull (allegedly) when they ran across a paddock, but nothing major.

worked today. it kinda sucks that just as they get a whole lot of work in that i can do, i can’t actually turn up to do any of it. i’m going to be away with Team X for most of the next 3 weeks. i would like a way to earn lots of money fast (and legally…). i need to start saving for next year when i’ll be going to Europe on another OE.

Jon’s sorted out the itinerary, which is cool, so now i just need to put together $6,000 or so before Sept next year. hopefully, if everything falls nicely into place with Team X next year, that shouldn’t be too hard. but if the finances don’t all come through as planned, then it might not be so easy…

anyone want to sponsor me for Team X next year? $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 a week? let me know if you want to and i’ll give you some more details.

i’m sure God’ll help me through.

i was going to go for another run tonight, but i didn’t.

went out and saw ‘The Departed’ with Jon instead. it was pretty cool. it had a few nice plot twists and wasn’t too deep and psychological for me. it did seem a bit slow to start off with, but it was interesting for the most part.

maybe i’ll go for a run tomorrow.

had my devo today. talked about worship and praise and music. it went pretty well. we cruised to North St. later and ran our new and improved Summary Game Show with room 1. it was fun. we went over everything we’ve taught them in the last 2 terms. we all got cards from our small groups at the end of class. it’s cool to see that we’ve impacted the kids that much. it’s really gonna suck not seeing them next year.

we had a combined shared lunch with rooms 1 and 2. there was so much food. hung out with the kids for the rest of lunchtime, then taught room 2. we got cards from the as well, and we each got a painted rock with a message on it. mine says ’shoot for the moon, if you miss you will land among the stars’.

we went to a café afterwards for a bit of thanksgiving-ness. it was a cool time to refelct on the year that’s been.

i was so tired by the time that i got home that i’m going straight to bed!

we had a couple more people helping out with Team X today - 2 girls who’ve just finished 7th Form (Year 13 for those who go by the dumb new system) at St. Peter’s College. one of them, Chanelle, came with our team to LAC and hung out for the day. she was cool.

i wish that people were queuing up to joint the Hutt Valley team…

we taught the kids about Addictions today and how to avoid getting addicted to stuff. it’s kinda weird having been caught up in addictions in my own life and telling these kids what to do to avoid being caught up. it makes me wonder what my life would be like today if a group like Team X had come into my school…

spent most of tonight watching TV, but i did go for a walk with Katie. that was nice. she wanted someone to go for a run with and said that i could come and time her while she ran. i did one better and ran with her :o) we only managed 11 mins of running all up, but i was good. it made me think about getting back into the whole fitness thing. i wonder if i’ll keep it up…i’ll see how i’m feeling tomorrow. if my legs work, then i’ll think about it…