Ok!
This past week or so has probably been the busiest I've had all holidays. The first thing I did was go to a Guidedogs camp thing. We went to the Australian War Memorial, a walk-in bird aviary and rock climbing. Instead of being with the Canberra people, I was with the people who came from the sticks, which meant I got to stay the night. The ACT lot did everything all in one day, which I reckon would've been a real drag. I shared a room with a really nice girl called Errica from Goulburn, and her parents had an adjoining room, which turned out not to be an adjoining room because there was no key available to open the door between the rooms.
The war memorial was alright, but not as good as the aviary or the rocks. The first thing we did was have various itums from the war passed around, while a tour guide explained what they were and the importance of them to the soldiers and such. Amung these objects were some soldier's helmits, a coat and a rattler. I got to have my picture taken wearing the coat and one of the helmits, while holding the rattler in one hand and having the other hand on a huge cannon.
Then we had to do a quest thing that involved counting various things like guns on a tank. We had this guy who recently went blind but was in the army before that. Having him in our group was a really handy thing, as he'd been to the war memorial so many times that he could give us all the answers. Errica and her Mum found it really difficult though, as they both can't see well at all in the dark. But on top of that, Errica was in a wheelchair due to falling over in her boyfriend's driveway the night before. After the quest, we went to a place called the discovery zone, at which I drove a chopper and went in a trench.
Then it was back to the hotel. Errica was hungry and I was thursty, so her parents went out and got us a party. They also got me some handcream, which I had forgotten. I thought that was really nice of them and thanked them multiple times. Dinner that night was a Barbecue, which was alright. Then Penny (my instructer) went to the shop and got us all icecreams.
It was when I went for a shower that things became very interesting. Errica wanted a bath so she told me I could have a shower first. So I turned the thing on, only to hear the pipes start to bang and crash like you wouldn't believe. I started screaming and freaking out, Errica heard me and started to freak too. Her parents could hear us, and apparently Penny could hear the pipes banging too. When Errica looked at the wall, she said she could see the boards shake. That scared the shit out of me. I did manage to have my shower though.
The aviary the next morning was great. I was finding it really hard to get a bird to land on me and eat my apples, but a few did. One also tried to eat my shoes, and another tried to eat Penny's bag. Not too long before we left, I had a big parrat thing land on my neck. This thing was really noisy, and it screamed in my ear all the time it was on me.
While I was trying to feed the birds before that I had a chat to Karen who was my first instructer who gave me my first cane. We just chatted about old times and stuff.
Rock climbing was also awsome. I did about four walls, but only completed one. After that while having lunch, I managed to receive a cup of Coke that had a whole in it. This damaged some of the clothes that I wanted to wear to Sydney, which made me quite upset. I washed them when I got home though. As soon as they went into the dryer, I had to leave for a hair appointment which took two hours. Apparently I look really good.
Then there was Sydney. As usual, I went there to see Andrew. The bus was to leave at 9:00 am, but I had to pay so we went there at 8:00. Paying only took 2 seconds though, because as soon as I walked in the woman found my name on the screen. So there we were at the Jolymont centre, with nothing to do and an hour to do it with. We ended up having coffee and Dad got a paper for himself to read. The bus trip up wasn't so interesting. When I got there I was picked up by Andrew's Father and taken to their house. We didn't actually do much while I was up there. I started to have more trouble with Andrew's Mother, which must have just been really hard for him. He'd never say it, but I know that what she does hurts him. The most eventful thing that happened was going out to a farm that was owned by some of Andrew's family friends. There was one point where Collin the owner of the place was getting a massage from Donna and making noises as if he was getting far, far more than just a massage. Of course, Andrew and I heard him getting more than just a massage, and we cracked up laughing. Only trouble was, Andrew was trying to drink a coke without winding up wearing it. He was trying to wait till Donna and Collin took a break before drinking. At one point, he thought he'd got the time he needed, so he started drinking. Unfortunatly, he was wrong.
And so, poor Andrew ended up dribbling all over himself, doing what I'd done 2 days before.
When he did at last get the time he needed, he didn't think it would last, so he sculled it down as if he'd not had a drink in the last 10 years. As a result of this, he wound up feeling sick afterwards.
The next day, we just sat around and watched some more of my DVD of the Choir of Hard Knocks, who I was going to see live the day after that. His Mum came in to tell us that lunch was ready, only to find us pigging out on lollies. I went home not long after all that. There's really not much I can say about that weekend without possibly being thrown in the clink, but it was one of the best I've had so far this year.
Now onto the concert...
The Choir of hard knocks are possibly the best thing that's happened to the world in a long time. If you don't know about them, go read about them and see why I'm saying that.
They opened the show with Love is In the Air, some of which I'd heard on the documentary. This was brilliant, as it really set the mood for the next two hours. I can't say the name of every song they did, but some of the highlights were a young woman called Nettie playing the piano, an older woman called Pat singing acopella, Jonathan singing, a bizarre arangement which incorperated three songs (I'm not sure what they were), an aboriginal song which was originally written for the 2000 Sydney Olympics led by Hank and Wayne, an arangement of Imagine by John Lennon, the audience participation session, much talking and singing about Jonathan's crying and of course the ending. Sandra, Chloe, Tess and I had all seen a snippet of them performing 'Shout' live at their launch concert, but it was nothing like seeing it live in front of you. It was the most wonderful thing, standing there clapping and smiling like a maniac, while the whole choir in front of you is smiling back at you. I went out of there inspired and feeling happier than I had in a long time.
I bought a CD partly to donate to the choir, but also because I really wanted to take more of their music home with me. I got heaps of the members to sign it, including Jonathan Welch himself. Meeting the people in the choir in person is the strangest experience. As Tess said, "When you see them on TV it's like meeting them, then you actually meet them and wonder why they don't know you." They were all so real though. Of course, I got them all to sign my CD. That was probably the best experience I've had all holidays.
Since then, I've not done much at all. The most productive thing I've done was probably my washing. I've wanted to do more of my guitar course, but been unable to due to a dead Iriver and the temperary inabillity to have the internet in my room. But now, I shall go post this, and make this another productive thing.
The war memorial was alright, but not as good as the aviary or the rocks. The first thing we did was have various itums from the war passed around, while a tour guide explained what they were and the importance of them to the soldiers and such. Amung these objects were some soldier's helmits, a coat and a rattler. I got to have my picture taken wearing the coat and one of the helmits, while holding the rattler in one hand and having the other hand on a huge cannon.
Then we had to do a quest thing that involved counting various things like guns on a tank. We had this guy who recently went blind but was in the army before that. Having him in our group was a really handy thing, as he'd been to the war memorial so many times that he could give us all the answers. Errica and her Mum found it really difficult though, as they both can't see well at all in the dark. But on top of that, Errica was in a wheelchair due to falling over in her boyfriend's driveway the night before. After the quest, we went to a place called the discovery zone, at which I drove a chopper and went in a trench.
Then it was back to the hotel. Errica was hungry and I was thursty, so her parents went out and got us a party. They also got me some handcream, which I had forgotten. I thought that was really nice of them and thanked them multiple times. Dinner that night was a Barbecue, which was alright. Then Penny (my instructer) went to the shop and got us all icecreams.
It was when I went for a shower that things became very interesting. Errica wanted a bath so she told me I could have a shower first. So I turned the thing on, only to hear the pipes start to bang and crash like you wouldn't believe. I started screaming and freaking out, Errica heard me and started to freak too. Her parents could hear us, and apparently Penny could hear the pipes banging too. When Errica looked at the wall, she said she could see the boards shake. That scared the shit out of me. I did manage to have my shower though.
The aviary the next morning was great. I was finding it really hard to get a bird to land on me and eat my apples, but a few did. One also tried to eat my shoes, and another tried to eat Penny's bag. Not too long before we left, I had a big parrat thing land on my neck. This thing was really noisy, and it screamed in my ear all the time it was on me.
While I was trying to feed the birds before that I had a chat to Karen who was my first instructer who gave me my first cane. We just chatted about old times and stuff.
Rock climbing was also awsome. I did about four walls, but only completed one. After that while having lunch, I managed to receive a cup of Coke that had a whole in it. This damaged some of the clothes that I wanted to wear to Sydney, which made me quite upset. I washed them when I got home though. As soon as they went into the dryer, I had to leave for a hair appointment which took two hours. Apparently I look really good.
Then there was Sydney. As usual, I went there to see Andrew. The bus was to leave at 9:00 am, but I had to pay so we went there at 8:00. Paying only took 2 seconds though, because as soon as I walked in the woman found my name on the screen. So there we were at the Jolymont centre, with nothing to do and an hour to do it with. We ended up having coffee and Dad got a paper for himself to read. The bus trip up wasn't so interesting. When I got there I was picked up by Andrew's Father and taken to their house. We didn't actually do much while I was up there. I started to have more trouble with Andrew's Mother, which must have just been really hard for him. He'd never say it, but I know that what she does hurts him. The most eventful thing that happened was going out to a farm that was owned by some of Andrew's family friends. There was one point where Collin the owner of the place was getting a massage from Donna and making noises as if he was getting far, far more than just a massage. Of course, Andrew and I heard him getting more than just a massage, and we cracked up laughing. Only trouble was, Andrew was trying to drink a coke without winding up wearing it. He was trying to wait till Donna and Collin took a break before drinking. At one point, he thought he'd got the time he needed, so he started drinking. Unfortunatly, he was wrong.
And so, poor Andrew ended up dribbling all over himself, doing what I'd done 2 days before.
When he did at last get the time he needed, he didn't think it would last, so he sculled it down as if he'd not had a drink in the last 10 years. As a result of this, he wound up feeling sick afterwards.
The next day, we just sat around and watched some more of my DVD of the Choir of Hard Knocks, who I was going to see live the day after that. His Mum came in to tell us that lunch was ready, only to find us pigging out on lollies. I went home not long after all that. There's really not much I can say about that weekend without possibly being thrown in the clink, but it was one of the best I've had so far this year.
Now onto the concert...
The Choir of hard knocks are possibly the best thing that's happened to the world in a long time. If you don't know about them, go read about them and see why I'm saying that.
They opened the show with Love is In the Air, some of which I'd heard on the documentary. This was brilliant, as it really set the mood for the next two hours. I can't say the name of every song they did, but some of the highlights were a young woman called Nettie playing the piano, an older woman called Pat singing acopella, Jonathan singing, a bizarre arangement which incorperated three songs (I'm not sure what they were), an aboriginal song which was originally written for the 2000 Sydney Olympics led by Hank and Wayne, an arangement of Imagine by John Lennon, the audience participation session, much talking and singing about Jonathan's crying and of course the ending. Sandra, Chloe, Tess and I had all seen a snippet of them performing 'Shout' live at their launch concert, but it was nothing like seeing it live in front of you. It was the most wonderful thing, standing there clapping and smiling like a maniac, while the whole choir in front of you is smiling back at you. I went out of there inspired and feeling happier than I had in a long time.
I bought a CD partly to donate to the choir, but also because I really wanted to take more of their music home with me. I got heaps of the members to sign it, including Jonathan Welch himself. Meeting the people in the choir in person is the strangest experience. As Tess said, "When you see them on TV it's like meeting them, then you actually meet them and wonder why they don't know you." They were all so real though. Of course, I got them all to sign my CD. That was probably the best experience I've had all holidays.
Since then, I've not done much at all. The most productive thing I've done was probably my washing. I've wanted to do more of my guitar course, but been unable to due to a dead Iriver and the temperary inabillity to have the internet in my room. But now, I shall go post this, and make this another productive thing.