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

well, i didn’t get around to updating yesterday. Deus Ex took priority, but here is an update today!

on Tuesday and today, we ran our Comfort Zone programme with our Maidstone students. Tuesday went well, today went weird. our first class today seemed really flat. we all felt it, and put it down to having to set up in a hurry and not having enough time to focus on the class at hand.

the second class was weirder. it felt like the team was under attack, spiritually. some people don’t believe in that kind of thing, but we do at Team X. the class was different, and at points, it felt like i was being attacked personally. we drove back to the office at lunchtime and talked with the office staff and prayed together. felt much better afterwards. our third class ran in stark contrast to the first two. it was a great ending to the day :o)

on Tuesday night, we ran a Whanau Evening for St. Bernard’s. it was cool. got to meet some of the parents and had some nice chats with them.

went into the office on Wednesday and Andy was down. he and Whetu were tlking about Team X conference and training. i finished writing my certificates for St. Bernard’s…now i’ve only got my Maidstone ones to write (about another 40!)

Thursday was our last programme with St. Bernard’s. we ran our Dreams session. it was pretty fun. now we have no more schools on Thursdays. went to Queensgate afterwards and talked to various places to see if we could get deals on some things for Team X conference. we scored some bargains from a couple of places. watched Maverick on DVD when i got home.

and now we’re back to today. my discman brok this morning on the way to Team X. it got bumped around a bit and wouldn’t load CDs anymore. i was upset.

when i got home, i took out my handy screwdriver set and dismantled the thing. i reattached a small piece of plastic and looked at it as if i knew what i was doing. screwed everything back together and it’s working again! sweetness! now i am no longer upset. who knows why taking stuff apart and putting it back together makes it work again…i’ve got no idea, but as long as it keeps working, i’ll keep doing it.

meh…i’m tired again. i’ll update the last couple of days tomorrow.

meh…

worked in the office today. surprisingly, i found stuff to do all day. website updates, bringing new schools on board for next term, mailing lists, conference invites, funding applications, assessments, photocopying, a whole lot of stuff.

me and Whetu went to Avalon Intermediate to talk with the principal about trialling Team X next term and he’s really keen! sweet!

came home and mucked around online. watched TV later. watched Doctor Who from Sunday. i just remembered that Jon gave me the whole of series three already, so i don’t need to worry about it clashing with The Simpsons on Sunday nights. i can watch it whenever. sweet!

played Deus Ex for a while. i wonder if Paris really looks like it does in the game…i’ll find out soon enough :o)

went to church this morning. helped out at Frequency again today. talked about Adam and Eve. every time someone talks about Adam and Eve and creation, and i’m in the room, they point me out and say something retarded like, “look, there’s Adam…hahaha”

uh, yeh…my name is Adam…but as far as i’m aware, i didn’t have anything to do with creation, and i’m neither married to nor dating someone named Eve…you’re not original, so unless you’ve got some really clever joke about my name that i haven’t heard, don’t even try.

came home and watched Walking Tall. i saw in a video store recently that there’s a Walking Tall 2 - straight to DVD sequel. WTF? it stars Kevin Sorbo (of Hercules fame) and has nothing to do with the original, which itself was inspired by true events. oh, Hercules, how you have fallen…

played Deus Ex for a while later. the last FPS i played was FEAR, so i died a few times in Des Ex while i got used to the controls again and realised that ’space bar’ wasn’t actually slowing time down but was actually putting my weapon away while being shot at.

meh…

so yesterday, i got to go to Auckland. for free. you know sometimes when you get free stuff and you’re excited, but then it turns out to be less than what you expected? that’s kinda what yesterday was about.

got up early. too early. at some time that started with a ‘5′. got to the airport and met Kaiona and his mum. we flew to Auckland. caught up with the rest of the Wgtn peeps. Amanda Jo and her mentor Tania, Hayley, her dad and her mentor Karlene. the “fun day” in store for us didn’t start ’til 10:30, so we hung out at the airport for 2 1/2hrs. ate McD’s and chatted and had a few laughs. in hindsight, it wasn’t too bad.

got picked up in a minibus and met the rest of the Projeck K regional winners and their parents and mentors. our first stop was a fire station, where we got introduced to the history of the fire service. we watched a live demonstration of the firefighters cutting up a car to get to the people inside. it was quite interesting. after that, we got to walk around inside their training house, which was heated up to a balmy 70°C.

afterwards, we drove to Auckland harbour and ate lunch (filled rolls - average) on the side of the road. there was some coffee expo across the road, so everyone went across and scored a free coffee.

we then got to board NZL41, an America’s Cup yacht. we sailed around for two hours, griding and tacking. it’s quite cool sailing at 45°. i got to steer to yacht for a while, so that was quite cool :o)

then the students got rushed off to get changed for the function, while the parents and mentors went back to the hotel (at which the Wgtn crew hadn’t stayed) to get changed. becuase we hadn’t stayed here, we had no rooms to go to, so ended up getting changed in the hotel’s pool changing rooms.

went to the Deloitte building where the function was and mingled for a bit. all the students did their speeches and then got awards, then we had nibbles and drinks. no dinner was served. just as we started to mingle and talk with people again, we learnt that the people flying home had to leave in five minutes. suck!

went to the airport and got there 1 1/2hrs before we had to board our plane…which was then delayed for an hour, so in all we spent another 2 1/2hrs at the airport.

got home into bed at 12:00. i have photos somewhere…if i can be bothered uploading them, then i will and i might attach some to this post later…

so my 18 1/2hr day included 4 1/2hrs of travelling and 5hrs of waiting around at Auckland airport. those are the “less than expected” bits.

today i slept in ’til 11:30 or something. watched DVD special features for a while, then Matt came round and we chatted and played Age of Empires. the original.

went out tonight for Grandma’s 80th birthday. we caught a limo into town and went up to the Skyline restaurant at the top of the cable car. it was nice. the food was expensive and nothing incredibly special. i’ve had better steak.

came home to find Jon and Si sitting in our lounge watching TV. we hung out and chatted.

Team X today was pretty cool. we ran our Peer Pressure programme at St. Bernard’s. it went really well. we heard from one of the teachers that our Whanau Evening there might have to be cancelled due to lack of responses…but that’ll be confirmed tomorrow.

came back to the office and after doing assessments and stuff, we played Catan.

came home. Grandma came up today. it’s her birthday. we’re going to go and celebrate on Saturday, ‘cos i’m not here tomorrow. i get to go up to Auckland. sweetness!

speaking of which, i need to go to bed now. i’ve got to catch a 7:00am flight tomorrow.

luckily, they booked me on an early flight so i have a lot of time to wait in the airport before we start the days activities at 10:30am or so…

[/sarcasm]

Wednesday is my mid-week casual day. it’s great. sleep in, watch a DVD (Total Recall), go to Team X, work for a few hours, go shopping (if required), order foreign currency (if required), come home, relax, eat food, watch another DVD (Reservoir Dogs), go to bed.

that’s pretty much it. Total Recall is great. it’s one of those older “this is what the future will be like in a few years” movies, but then the future isn’t like that at all. hahaha. still, can’t go wrong with Arnie, Mars and guns…lots of guns.

Reservoir Dogs is messed up, but that’s Tarantino for you. to be honest, i was expecting more gore.

meh…

went to Team X today. Katie, Nicole and Zane came along. it was a bit of a weird day, ‘cos everyone was in and out of the office all day. some time after lunch, i got to catch up with Katie. she’s not too sure what she’s doing next year. it’d be cool if she came back and joined the Hutt Valley crew…even part time :o)

finished watching Independence Day on DVD when i got home. my sisters came round for dinner. the usual hilarious antics ensued. Mum decided that dessert was to be crafted out of muffins, yoghurt, mini-merangues and ice-cream. there were some pretty creative desserts…

watched Wild Wild West on DVD later. i still remember seeing that at the movies eight years ago and being highly impressed by the 80-foot metal tarantula and all its whirring noises and twanging cables. still am :o)

went to church this morning. Katie, Nicole and Zane were down from Palmie for the weekend. it was cool seeing them :o) i helped out at Frequency this morning. they didn’t really need me, and it was actually kinda boring. a lot of stuff is after being involved with Team X. Sunday School will never be the same :o(

went round to Katie’s place with a few people after church for lunch. it was cool. chatted and played Eye Toy for a while. drove to Jon’s later, where him, me and Steve talked about our trip. we sorted out some stuff that we’re going to do in Hong Kong and on our trip around Europe. doing all the optional extras on the tour isn’t actually that expensive (comparatively…)

came home and mucked around online, then Si came round and we went into Porirua. met up with Jon and we went and saw ‘Die Hard 4.0′. it was cool. action and stuff blowing up. seems like a typical Die Hard movie. less swearing and blood in this one though. it wasn’t rated R ‘cos they wanted to reach a larger audience or something…

had a great sleep in this morning. ate breakfast at lunch time. mucked round on my computer, then watched half of Independence Day. Matt came round and we watched I, Robot. played on the computer for a while, then he left.

went out to a quiz night at The Rock tonight. Jo invited me. it was pretty cool. the quiz was broken up by an auction, which dragged on for a while. no one at our table won spot prizes or bought anything in the auction. but our team did end up coming second in the quiz. yay! we each won a gift pack with shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and toothbrushes in it.

meh…