Faux emo rage

So like, I was gonna all emo rage and stuff in this post. Then I ran out of angst.

I dunno what's wrong. I just have this feeling inside of me. I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with exams, although I'm sure after them it'll be a lot better. Just feeling blue at the mo. Not that anybody cares.

Sorry about emo rant. Wasn't very emo. I feel much better now though.

Memories of joy, pain, and bad jokes

Time stops for no man. Or woman. Fate, it seems, has caught up with us. The day that seemed so far away in year 9, or even at the start of this year, 2007, has finally caught up with all of us. Thursday was our last day of high school. Ever. The last time we would ever be dismissed by our teachers. The last time that teachers would glare at me reproachfully. The last time 'SAC' and 'fail' will ever be used in the same sentence. The last time that I'll have so many friends around me again. The almost-last time that we wait for the 3:20 bell with bated breath. I'm gonna miss all those things. Even the 'SAC' and 'fail' in the same sentence.

When Marc (I think) played Go the Distance (that Hercules song we sang in Year 10) on the piano, I almost cried. Almost. Music speaks to the soul, man, and right then, my soul was in torment. On the one hand, I couldn't wait to get out of there, the scene of my every failure. On the other hand, I couldn't bear to leave the place where I had actually felt that I belonged for the first time in my life. I think this calls for a summary of my years at the Castle on the Hill, Melbourne High School.

Year 9:
Man, I was the biggest dweeb back then. I was so lost. I had no clue where to go, what to think, what to do, who to talk to. But I got by. Somehow. I think I knew how to spell everything except "funny" and "cool". Not that I'm either of them at the present moment. But far out. I've improved, I think. So anyway, people that I met:

• First person, Steven Tu. Great mate, still is.
• James Cheng, ditto.
  
• Orrin, the guy who looks like a serial killer, but really, he couldn't even be a cereal killer. Torres is the worst, by the way.
  
• Kishara, taught me that bendiness in fingers is pretty disgusting. I won't even try his last name.
• Ben Niles, thought he was African, I mean, come on, he's that black, and his name isn't exactly unAfrican.
• Jinn Kan, didn't understand why he has so many Ns, and I still don't. Thought he was a gangsta, until he talked. Please don't kill me.
• Pramuk, resident black guy who's not Ben Niles. Great kid.
• Ivor, the empitome of violence. Not really. Just seems that way cos he's unco and left-handed.
  
• Gary Zhang, super-dux.
  
• Flanno. I never knew someone could be so dedicated to a cause.
  

Those are the people from 9J (I hope and think that's all). Now to miscellaneous:

• James "Purple Dinosaur" Banh, train line buddies since year 9, even though I've only been in one of his classes ever.
• Nigel (I think), another train buddy of Asian descent.
  
• James Brown. I like his name.
• Chiu twins. No comment.

Likewise, I hope I didn't miss anyone.

Some highlights of the year:

• Camp. Was freaking stupid. Almost froze to death. Loved every moment.
• The trip to Sydney. Highly entertaining meeting and talking to Sydney people.
  
• That is all I can remember.

Lowlights:

• Losing the Cockhouse. This would be the last time.
• The lonely hours.
  
• Lack of iPod. I don't know how I managed.

All in all, a bland and getting-to-know you year.

Year 10:
10J was the form, O'Reilly was the teacher. Worst. Teacher. Ever. Ms "fix up your handwriting when mine's the worst handwriting ever." Also gave me my first and last detention at MHS. That aside, this is where it really took off. I met so many new people that I won't even bother dot pointing them. I know I'll miss someone, so if I do, just give me a shout and I'll try to rectify the situation. So I met: Alexei, David Lee, Garyn T, Il Joong, Jimmy Luu, Simon, Kong, Ron Shell (best day of my life according to said person). That is all I can remember. So maybe it didn't take off after all.

Highlights:

• Actually winning the Cockhouse.
  
• Finding Tattam Band.
  
• Red Cross thing.
  

Lowlights:

• Spraining ankle first night at camp. Fantastic.
• Community service and work experience. Man, that was...Tedious. I'll just say tedious, because me, being the noble person that I am, decided to do 22 hours of ComServe instead of the 20.
  
• Losing chorals again.
  
• Detention, which wasn't all that bad. It was more the reason that I got it. On hindsight, it was stupid. Playing calculator games. Me is cool.
• Social. I thought it would be awesome. Turned out it wasn't really my type of thing.
  
• My memory is really faulty. I can't remember anything else, even though I know I should.

Year 11:
Seriously, this is where it really took off. This was probably the worst year, academically and pyschologically. I never felt comfortable. The whole year was like sitting on a hedgehog with blunt spikes. People that I met: Jack Liang (even though he doesn't do me the courtesy of acknowledging it on his blog - the hate is felt mutually), Simond (lol blogger says that's a typo), Meng (funny guy), Botros (crazy laugh), Victor Chiu, Ken, FinnDo, Josh (I think). That is all I remember. Again, if you're not listed, I either intensely dislike you, or I've forgotten and I really love you. You pick. If it's the latter, I apologise and will try to fix it up.

Highlights:

• Cultural involvement was actually quite fun, especially the rugby bit.
• WORLD CUP!!! That was the best ride of my life, especially following the Australian adventure. That Grosso dive almost made me cry. It still does.
• Man, this is horrible, I can't remember any happy thoughts. Oh wait. One not exactly happy, but not depressing thought. We didn't come last in chorals.

Lowlights:

• Coping, or not, with Year 11.
• Australia and the World Cup exit.
• Having Pask as form teacher. Scared every moment of form.
• Finding out that not all Sydney people were as nice as my host family back in Year 9. In fact, far from it.
  

I think the less we say about this year, the better.

Year 12
Simultaneously the worst and best year ever. God, I had massive amounts of fun and work as well. People that I met include our resident man for all seasons, Isaac, Victor Yiu (someone who actually said football instead of soccer), Brendan Hong (possible co-dux), Chantapon (kept me entertained during methods), reaffirmed acquaintance with Eugene, Ognalla (this year or last? I forget), Michael Tran, Denny, Anh (funny girl), Loke (fob Australian), and that is all I can remember.

Highlights:

• Winning chorals. I was instrumental (geddit) in our second placing in instrumentals. But, man, winning chorals. That sparked celebrations bigger than winning the world cup. I remember bouncing up and down in a massive crowd. That is all. And don't listen to all the other houses complaining how we shouldn't have won. See below, and bask in our obvious superiority:

A tool of a conductor. Compare to Yarra:



It seems lacking in vibrancy and delicacy, no? All power and no touch. Which reaffirms my belief that we deserved to win.

• Winning the Cockhouse for the third year running. Becoming a bit easy now.
• The Formal. That's right. With a capital F. First time that I had ever worn a suit. Thanks again to Anh for being a great date, and to all my friends who made it special.
  
• Picked up a habit of playing lunchtime soccer. It was great.
• The release of Harry Potter, although the actual book should go in lowlights.
• Oh mah gawd, like, man, you've got some Up-dog on your shirt. Best bad joke all year.
  
• Kelvin actually checking the back of his bag for Up-dog.
• Andrew Bolt wrote A Man for All Seasons, according to a person who's name starts with I and ends in C and has the letters 'saa' in the middle. No wonder the books so opinionated and conservative.
  

Lowlights:

• Harry Potter and the horrible plot. Disappointed.
• Work. And more work.
  
• Getting into fights and arguments.
• Post-formal depression.
• Generally feeling blue randomly.

A great four years at Melbourne High. I think I'm gonna start truly missing it after exams. Friendships, anti-friendships, it's been great. Be comfortable in the knowledge that if you are mentioned here, you're a great person. I generally don't hang out with bad people. I don't think I do anyway. I learned one very important thing among others. Don't go chasing respect or care from others that won't give it to you. It'll only hurt you. I hope I have made a good difference to the lives of the people that I have met these past four years, and hope you all get the 99+ ENTER you deserve. Until next time, peace out.

Milk Run

The annual highlight on the Melbourne High calendar. Not exams. Not any of the sporting carnivals. No. That would be too sane. Ladies, gentlemen and others, welcome to Milk Run 07. The rules of the game: Drink a litre of milk, supplement with lemon juice every lap the contestant runs, and hurl. No one really knows how you win.Whether it's the person who doesn't puke, or the person who pukes the most, or the person who pukes the most flamboyantly, or whether it's the person who runs the most laps. All I know is (within my knowledge) we are the only school to do it. At least annually. Who would do it, you ask? Well surprisingly, they only wanted 40 competitors and they got 50-odd. Amazing the lengths that people will go to to humiliate themselves.

It was disgusting, filthy, rank and stunk like hell (man, if I could have recorded smell, you'd probably be dead after watching the vids). So what did I do? Record it of course. It's oddly entertaining in a sickening way. Now, on to the complication. I had to load the vids in parts cause Blogger won't let me do otherwise. Also, if you want to skip the entertaining, but slightly tedious commentary, skip the first ten minutes. Without further ado, enjoy.

Let the Mucking Up begin

And so it begins. The last week of high school ever. I regret not taking part in the water fight, owing to my lack of spare clothes bringing. However, I did get this video, which I hope you can all see and/or hear clearly:



It looked like major ownage when I was there live anyway. The poor quality was due to my lack of foresight of bringing my videocam.

I will be filming the annual milk run (tomorrow, I think), in better resolution, of course. And I will post it. Might be a bit disgusting though, so much so that you might wish that I had never filmed or posted it.

Photos/videos of people in superhero costumes will also appear here shortly.

Now is not a time for reflection. That shall be on Thursday night. Stay tuned for more, and enjoy the last week of school.

Egged

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a new blog layout. This Togepi layout marks the start of a new era in my blogging career. Not really, no. But I think it's pretty cool. Courtesy of my sister Sarah. I wouldn't have been able to do a new blog layout, and even if I could, I probably wouldn't be stuffed. But it doesn't matter what I think. Tell me what you think of it. That would be much appreciated.

So, "holidays" have been a week and a bit gone. Been studying hard (well, I think so) and generally haven't had much of a life. Talked to a few people on msn, but generally haven't had any human contact with friends as such. I'm gonna go insane soon if I don't. Which is quite a conundrum, seeing as I don't want school to start.

Actually I lie. Well, I don't. I saw friends at the VFL Grand Final gig that out (Tattam) Band did on the first Sunday of the "holidays." I count Yap and Jimmy. That is all. And maybe Simmo. The rest of the people there are pretty much tools.

Now, why am I so early, posting about random stuff? The Champions League match, of course. Man U vs Roma. What a rematch. We all know what happened last time they met. Well, some of us do. 7-1 or some such score line. But Man U don't look like they're going to repeat that with the current goalscoring form they're in. Looks like a bit of 1-0 to me. Lol, watching a replay of the caning now. Cronaldo on fire, as he was liable to be back then. And the match just started, and Louis Saha just headed thin air. And a good header it was. And Cronaldo has an awful haircut. It's almost worst than mine. Almost.

Arsenal top of the league. Study going mildly well. Football to watch. I'm almost a happy man. Except for the lack of human contact. And a decent pair of shorts. Well, anyway, I'll leave you all to watch the game. Or for those of you that don't, I leave you to do whatever you will. You just don't know what you're missing out on.

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