just a quick update

ok, so a couple of weeks ago, i was given my draft itinerary. I'm going Adelaide > Kuala Lumpur direct, and then Kuala Lumpur > Narita Airport (the international airport of Tokyo). On the itinerary, it says that it's at narita that i'll be picked up. So, just for kicks, i had a look at how long it takes to get from Narita to Seki on google maps. If we're driving, it'll take about 6.5 hours, and if we're taking trains, it'll be about 3.5 hours, including several transfers.

I can tell you now, i'm going to be tired, because the Kuala lumpur > tokyo flight is overnight. the people are gonna want to talk to me, and i'm gonna be like: uh………… ぼくはねたいです… (ie. I want to sleep……) and it's not gonna make a good impression.

Or, it could be like dad thinks it'll be like. I'll be picked up by my host family, and they'll take me to their car in the airport, and it'll be some microscopic keicar (a 600cc micro box car) and i'll get in the back, and they won't even be able to see over the top of my head, because i'll be too big, compared to them. dad then goes on to think that they'll be like: "oh god, what have we gotten ourselves into??!?!"

either one of those situations don't seem particularly appealing. fingers crossed i'm not too bad that morning, because i land at 7:15, tokyo time, according to the itinerary.

btw, i love will and grace. it might be one of the best tv shows i've ever watched. I love it! :)

oh, and a couple of days ago, it passed below 2 months to go! currently, i've got only 58 days, and 13 hours! it's not too much longer to go now! ahh! :D

something miraculous has happened

I can't believe it.

this day has finally arrived. I've finished year 12. I remember, in the first week of school, when it was still late january, i started a countdown on my dashboard, counting down the days until year 12 would be finished for me. it was like 220+ days. and now, it is -8 hours! :) i can't believe i'm finally finished.

I remember talking to a few people who finished last year, and they all remarked on how quickly it went past. at the time, i couldn't believe them; it felt like this year would go on forever; i'd have no free time, i'd spend every waking moment doing solid work all year. that didn't happen! :) instead, i worked a little, and wasted a huge amount of time, but i enjoyed myself. and i think i actually went OK! :)

i had a moment just now, where i had a thought of "ok, what is expected of me now?? what is somebody demanding of me at this moment??" and i realised, there's absolutely NOTHING i need to do. I leave for japan in only 65 days, (AAHHH! :D ) i've probably got a job lined up, and tomorrow morning, i'm gonna buy Modern Warfare 2. Life is good! :)

oh, exchange wise, i got an email last week; i now know what high school i'm going to. It's in Seki, which, i think, is a small city close to gifu. don't quote me though! :P It's a technical/commerce highschool, and i was sent an email, asking which school section i would like to be part of. I had a look at the school's website, and I've decided that i'm going to be part of the commerce section. It should be good!

anyway, i've got NOTHING to do,

so cya! :)

best feeling this year! :)

ok, so as of now, i've finished both my physics and english exams, and hence, the ENTIRE course for my entire schooling life. as in, never having to have to do anything to do with physics or snow falling on cedars, or poetry EVER again! :) that's a bloody good feeling to know that you never have to write a crappy essay on poetry techniques anymore! that in its self is a reason for celebration!! :)

but here was the best thing; i was just doing some japanese revision, for my exam tomorrow, when of the example sentences was to do with not finishing an essay. and instantly, my mind did a sweep of "do i have any english essays due??" and i had to remind myself that, "no, i do NOT!!" hahaha it's such a good feeling knowing that i don't have to do english studies anymore, and especially knowing that i've finished it forever!

but, i've still got japanese, geography and a token music exam to go. the cruel, evil people at the SACE board decided to give me three exams in a row, which has been lovely, i can assure you. on monday, i had english, which went quite well, i believe, much better then i was expecting, which wasn't much! today, i had physics, which i know i didn't fully revise for, or so i thought, but i think i actually went really well! :) it seemed that i knew how to do almost every question! it was quite a relief! :) i'm still riding on a sense of elation, especially knowing that the exam is worth half of my entire physics mark! :D note the large use of smilies. this is how happy i am with it! :) :D :P

tomorrow, i've got japanese, which should be ok. i'm a little worried about the listening, but maybe, i'll fluke that too! :)

then, next week, on thursday, i've got geography, which i'm hoping I'll ace.

then, the week after that, on the 18th of november, 2009, i have my last ever school test/exam/markable piece of work. it's a music exam that won't count for anything! :P this is because i'm doing 1.5 music subjects; solo performance, ensemble performance, and musicianship. the top two marks are used to make me a music mark, and the lowest mark is discarded. as i know i went really quite well in my solo and ensemble performance, i know that my lower musicianship mark won't be used, so really, this exam is worthless… but meh. but, solo and ensemble performance together make a HESS restricted, but it doesn't really matter, because I'm doing four other HESS general subjects.

oh! i've sort of been recommended for a job by my Japanese teacher to be sort of like an english tutor/chaperone for a group of japanese students for about 3 weeks over the holidays! this is exciting! i think it could actually be really fun! :)

i hope that was riveting enough for you caity! xx haha

ben, the veryhappilyrelievedbutstillgottostudy,(asinrightnow) guy.

only 80 days to go! ahhh! :)

goals, aspirations and expectations. wow, that sounds deep… :)

OK then…

well, today is my last day of swotvac; my exams start tomorrow, with english studies up first. it's funny; for several years, i always thought that in the week that just passed, i would be working incredibly super hard for the entire time, and not waste any time whatsoever, because exams are right around the corner. Well, i can assure you, that most definitely didn't happen.

what did i do, you may ask? well, i did do some study, but really, not much more happened then in a normal week of standard homework, to be truthful. But i don't really care anymore… i mean, the course i want is only a 67 TER last year; and I doubt it will get much higher next year, and using last year's TER table, my current scores will hopefully get me somewhere in the mid80s anyway, so not all is lost.

But, i did have my japanese conversation exam yesterday; that went really quite well, i think. i know that i stuffed up a little bit in some points, but overall, i think i answered almost every question, except the ones that i couldn't understand, correctly, which is good! :)

i also had my solo and ensemble performance on thursday the week before last week, which i also think went pretty good. like A range good. :) i'm doing 1.5 music subjects, so the half subject (which will be musicianship) won't be counted, while solo and ensemble will. personally, now that i know that musicianship won't be counted, i really cbf doing the end bit of my arrangement; it's just not worth it, you know?? i'm like: fuck it, it won't count for ANYTHING, so why bother??

wow, i've got my exams like tomorrow… that's crazy, my whole schooling life has really been building up to this point, and i'm not studying… what does that say about me? haha that i don't like english studies, i think. :)

only 16 days and 17 hours until i'm finished exams… 3 this week, (monday: english, tuesday: physics, and wednesday: Japanese) and then one the week after that (geog on thursday morn) and then music the week after that on the wednesday; and then I'M FINISHED!! :D can't wait!

and also, just to let everybody know, caity owns the inactive half of my soul for the next two weeks. then i'll get it back again. :)

playlist wise: 9.1 hours, 127 songs, including one from caity that cost me half my soul for two weeks… :)

muck up day was fun, btw. i had a super short dress on, but there's no chance of me posting a photo up here! :) sorry guys! haha

oh, and i still don't know where i'm going or anything, just the district, still… ehh… annoyed…

my last…

ok, so today was my last monday of normal school ever. tonight is my last monday night of normal homework ever. tomorrow is seriously my last concert band morning rehearsal ever. and on and on it goes.

seriously, it just never stops. i can't stop thinking about how, incredibly soon, i'm going to be free of school. 29 days, 12 hours 7 minutes exactly, until i'm free of school forever. It's impossible for me to do something at the moment, without thinking, 'hey, will this be my last ever english lesson on a monday??' (today, it was! haha)

in other news; I might have a summer job!! i applied for a job at cibo, and called my old boss from fresh choice to ask her if it was ok to use her as a reference. and then i was denied my job at cibo, so i was depressed. and then my friend, who's family owns the restaurant, talked to me in my free today, and she's like 'hey ben, mum was surprised you didn't ask to work at fresh choice again' or something like that, and it turns out, i've still pretty much got a job at fresh choice if i want it! yay! but, i'm gonna work at yum sing express instead, because it's closer. and the other good news: another be working with me, because he's been failing at finding summer work also… haha

I'm so ready for school to be over… pretending to study is just getting old… i'm quite excited for uni, but school… it's just frustrating that i'm doing english studies. i'm regretting that decision so much… it's a really difficult, frustrating and boring subject, and it's really hard to try to make myself study for it, even more than the other subjects… (except music haha)

if i could change one thing this year, it would be doing english coms instead of studies. i would've gone so much better… i know it. argh…

in other remotely school related news; it's muck up day this thursday. i bought a fluro singlet (blue) and some fluro/black bonds undies this evening from Big W. having never worn a singlet before, it's a bit weird… not particularly in a good way either… haha. also, on friday, is our final yr 12 assembly is on friday, and i'm doing IT stuff, so it should be good. i know i'm gonna tear up in the formal bit; i was even a little close to it last year! haha

music playlist wise: 124 songs, and 8.9 hours!! i've pretty much made it to my goal! yay! :)

how on earth did caity's blog get so many views in such a short time??!?!?! that makes no sense… haha

that is all.

ben xx

caity owe's me one! :P

okay, so here's a post that i was pressured into writing, so as such, it won't be anywhere near as good as a normal one. any complaints can be directed to caity norsworthy. :P

Okay, so here goes.

rotary wise, nothing's really happened this week. as of this moment, it's 105 days, 18 hours 12 and minutes until i leave. speaking of leaving: my mum left us yesterday. :D she went on holiday to Japan, so i'm really jealous, obviously! currently, she's in Kyoto, and staying at the Granvia. Dad got me to talk to the woman at the desk when we called the hotel; and it was the most awkward conversation i've ever had with any body ever in japanese, and counts the time that i mixed up someone from China with a student from a Japanese High-School! :P

tomorrow, when we call, i'll try doing it in Japanese, and see how that goes instead. probably better, especially now that i know the room number.

Also, japan-wise, i was watching one of my fave shows ever, The Amazing Race, and it was the start of the new series. and the first place they were going was to TOKYO!! it was a pretty lame episode; i wouldn't have wasted japan on the opening episode, but fun nonetheless. Phil, if you're reading this, please have me and mum on the next season; we'll do anything!!!

currently, i'm on holidays in-between terms 3 & 4, and i know i'm not doing as much work as i should be. i'm gonna read back on this and be pissed at myself, but seriously, i just don't want to work… it's just uninteresting… you know?

oh, because mum's in japan atm, we as a family are going all japanese-y. yesterday, we made a version some may call tonkatsu (for those learning/speaking japanese - 豚カ) and today, i went down to woolies and bought stuff for curry rice, which i made. just a pointer, guys; - if you're looking for older women, look no further than the supermarket during the middle of weekdays. i was seriously the only teenager that wasn't working at the checkout in the whole store! :P

anyway, better get back to some english work… warning to all scotchies: DON'T DO ENGLISH STUDIES. if i knew how bad it is atm, i would not have done it at all…

cya!

my rotary life this month

ok, it's very early/late in the morning, and can't be bothered going to bed, so i'll do a post instead!

on saturday, i had the rotary short term youth exchange district conference/meeting thing. it involved all the outbounds and inbounds from the two SA rotary districts, and associated counsellors, random rotary people, and parents. it was a day of lectures, listening to some quite interesting talks on things ranging from home sickness, travel itineraries, to personal safety, and "what is rotary" style things. the travel and homesickness talks were the most interesting, especially hearing things from the "rebounders" ie people who have already gone on exchange, and come back home. that was definitely the most interesting thing about that day, hearing about other people's experiences.

also, i found out where the other people were going to. a significant majority (ie 90%) were going to Europe, with only me, and two other rural girls (one to america, and one to brazil) not going to europe. out of the people going to europe, most were going to scandinavia, with the rest dotted around germany (popular) switzerland, belgium and france (only 1 or two each). I, on the other hand, am braving it in the only asian country at all! :) The other outbounds and inbounds are all really nice, and i've made fb friends with some of them already! i can't wait to spend more time with some of them, it'll be great! :)

we heard a talk from a guy called Brad who had been to Japan in 2007, where he had a great time, but also some difficulties. mum, dad and my counsellor had a talk with his mum, where she detailed some of the problems that he faced. When he first arrived, for about 5-6 months, he wasn't allowed to have a mobile phone, which i felt to be pretty weird. Apparently, the boy that was at the district before he was, was very rowdy, and as such, they think rotary was trying to clamp down on brad before he could do anything out of line, even before they realised what kind of person he was: a nice, easy going, hard studying honorary student. after a bit of cerfuffling, they eventually allowed him a phone, but there were still some other issues.

i was also told by his mum that apparently, for all of last year, Brad, and my own japanese district, have banned all exchange students from having a mobile phone at all. so, i used my facebook contacts to check out whether that was the case, and apparently, it's not anymore, which is good! haha

I also found out that i'm going on the 23rd of January, and that i'll be going into Singapore or Kuala Lumpur and then onto Nagoya airport. I was having a look this morning with mum, and we found that Malaysia doesn't go into Nagoya, but Singapore does, so it looks like I'll be going Adelaide>singapore>nagoya on the saturday, 23rd of january, which is only 138 days and 10 hours away! ahh!! i'm really excited!

anyway, this is a really long post, so i better get to bed!

night/morning! :)

ps music wise: i've got 4 and a half hours of music, after raiding my radiohead collection, which added quite significantly to my playlist! :)