Hamish’s Work Blog

 Blood Brothers is a musical with book, lyrics and music by Willy Russell. It is one of the longest running works of musical theatre in history, with the 1988 West End production still running after 20 years. The play is a contemporary nature vs. nurture tale revolving around fraternal twins separated at birth. The twins’ different backgrounds take them to the opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming an Oxbridge graduated councilor and the other ending up on the dole and in prison for a while. Both fall in love with the same girl; this girl is married to one of them and the other is stealing her, and ultimately this conflict leads to their tragic death. This also shows how a difference in class can make a big difference, how two babies brought into the world by the same parents can lead two very different lives and be two very different people; “And do we blame Superstition for what’s come to pass, or is what we the British have come to know as class?”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Brothers_(musical)

This play has been in production at the Woolshed Theatre in Te Awamutu by permission of The Play Bureau (N.Z.) Ltd. I went and saw this play which is directed by Coral Taylor and it is amazing. The music and actors really pull the whole things off. The standard of talent is great, and the singing is very powerful. Some of my favourite actors was Karen Gibson who played Mrs Johnstone, and Bryan Bevege  who was the Narrator they both played excellent roles (and the Narrator was a bit scary at times). It was well choreographed and I really enjoyed it. I would absolutely, definitely, positively recommend you go and see it wherever you are it is on in many places around the world. One of the best plays I have seen and the first I have watched performed by the Te Awamutu Light Operatic Society. It was great (no real words to describe it).

Hey everyone, it has been some time since I did a post so I decided to make this one about something relevant to this weekend.

The World Vision 40 Hour Famine is on this weekend (23-25 May 08). The famine raises money to help World Vision work with children, families and communities overcome poverty and justice in over 100 countries. They help in times of disaster and emergency, to help people work their way out of poverty and to teach poor people their right to basics such as healthcare, education, shelter and food. I am doing a Theme Famine so I am only eating rice and water (and maybe a barley sugar or two to keep my sugar levels up) for 40 hours. I am in the middle of my famine now and will finish it tomorrow at 12 pm. I think this is a very worthy cause and I hope that everyone makes the effort to do the famine or at least give a donation. If you are doing the famine please leave a comment to tell me what you are doing (it would be really interesting to know).  The 40 Hour Live is an event in Auckland, New Zealand, to promote the famine. People who are doing the famine are invited to go there this weekend and do their famine there with their friends, there will be heaps of bands and celebrities performing and even if you can’t attend you can do to 40hourlive.org.nz during the famine weekend to watch it streamed live.

So far I have raised about $90 and hope to raise even more to help such a worthy cause. If you would like to help donate you can go to famine.org.nz and follow the links at the bottom of the page.

Happy Blogging
Hamish

(So there you are, a new post finally)

Hey everyone, thats right I’m in America well Los Angeles CA, to be correct. My family and I (mum, dad, brother and me) took off from New Zealand on Wednesday last week from Auckland Airport. It was about a 12 hour flight I think and we arrived on Wednesday that same week. Which is sort of weird as we left on a Wednesday and arrived on what was supposed to be the same one. When we got to America we checked in through customs and then took a shuttle to our hotel, the Howard Johnson, which is right across the road from Disneyland. That first night we went out for dinner, there are a lot of food outlets down the road across from Disneyland some of them were really weird and sold food that I had never heard of. So we went to Mc Donald’s, it was ok for the first night. The next day we went for our first time to Disneyland. It was heaps of fun and really exciting, however there were millions (literally) of people there. What we didn’t know was that it was some parts of America’s Spring Break, but it was ok. One of the best things about that trip to Disneyland was watching the night time show ‘Fantasmic’ which had incredible special effects and the one and only Mickey Mouse. The next day we were really tired after staying up till midnight so we slept in and went shopping at the Anaheim mall that day. The next day we took a bus to Sea World, San Diego. Here we saw dolphin, seal, and orca whale shows. On our fourth day we again took a bus to Universal Studios, Hollywood. We went on some really cool rides, including ‘The Mummy’ which was really fast. We also watched some special effects shows. One thing that I did learn from Universal Studios was that you should never underestimate anything that you see, what I mean by this is when you see a statue or a puppet don’t think that it is not real, they keep so still then they jump out right in front of you which is not nice at all. The next day we went to California Adventure which is another theme park owned by Disneyland. This had some other different rides, one of the best was ‘Soarin’ over California’ in which you took a handglider over California (really you were lifted to a huge screen which played the images right in front of you), which was really fun. On Tuesday we went for our final day to Disneyland, we had a Magic Morning ticket which let us in one hour earlier than everyone who would purchase tickets. We got to do all the rides that we had not got to do the first day and we did all the shopping that we wanted to do. That night mum and I went to Downtown Disney which is a complete shopping and food area beside Disneyland. And now that leads us to today, taking another bus rather early in the morning to go to the world famous San Diego Zoo. This was really a great experience as we got to see animals up close that we would not normally see in New Zealand. Tomorrow we leave for Honolulu in Hawaii, which is about an eight hour flight. So I will try to get to a computer over there and update you on all that is happening.

For now, Happy Blogging
Hamish
(Sorry if there are some spelling words, the spell check is giving me a hard time)

I have just heard on the radio that the medals stolen from the Waiuru Army Museum in New Zealand have been recovered. These medals included ones such as the Victoria Cross which has been one by a couple of New Zealanders. The medals were found unharmed, but I’m not to sure where they found them from or if they have found the thief’s. The heist however must have been carefully planned right from the start because authorities were not alerted of this untill the medals were out of the building and probably far away from the area. I’m sure that the winners of these medals and their families are very pleased to hear that they have been found, as well as police, museum staff and some famous New Zealanders who made a video plead to the thief’s to bring these treasured medals back.

I now expect that museum staff are going to be definitely rethinking their security measures but for now they are just glad that they have the medals back. Keep watching this page for more information on the stolen medals as more information is revealed.

Well school is back and everything (well especially at Boys High) is getting back to the ’swing’of normal school life. There have been so many interesting, amazing and exciting things that I have done in just the first two weeks of high school. I’ve had three school photos taken (id cards, year 9 class, tutor group), swimming sports, music sign ups, a whole bunch of new subjects/classes and heaps more. I have really enjoyed it, there have been some great opportunities that I have been able to take part in and many more to come throughout the year. One downside however is getting up really early at like 6.30am so that I can be ready to catch the bus by 7.30. But I am getting used to it so it’s just becoming part of my school-daily routine. I do enjoy high school and I hope that all my friends both at college and intermediate are having a good start to their year.

That’s all I have time for now (as there is some homework I have to do!) so I hope to see everyone soon and to keep blogging.

Happy Blogging
Hamish

Well the holidays are nearly over for me, I myself have to go to school for 2008 on Monday. However some people are already at school and those that are started on really weird days, some on a Thursday and a Wednesday even a Friday. I’m not to sure what is happening with all these school dates! My brother who is at intermediate this year is having (I think this statement is true) only one week off in the Term 1 holidays whereas I get the standard 2 weeks. Very interesting I must say! Well that’s all from me for now I will be writing a bit more when school starts (that’s if I don’t have too much homework!) and I’ll tell you what my first day was like starting a new school at Hamilton Boys High.

Sploder is an interesting game site that I came upon. Its fun to play on other peoples games and as an added bonus you can make you our games for people to pley. It is all free which is a bonus and I think they may be aable to be added edublogs (but I’ll have to check on that one).

Have a try of it - http://sploder.com/

As you may know from some of my previous posts, I along with my 2007 class participated in an international project called Life ‘Round Here. For those who don’t already know what this is -

It is a project that asks students to create a photostory sharing their life in their town/city etc. It is not supposed to be like a brochure and the aim is not to try and sell your town. The aim is to think of creative ways to share with people life in your area. Once we had created our projects six were picked by students from our class. These were then judged by some of the other participating schools and the top two were picked from our six. Holly (a fellow classmate) and I were picked from our classes finalists (and we too judged another schools entries).

So this is where we are now. The ones that were picked by the other schools had to go to a judging panel (or something like that) and they were to pick the winners for the competition. But my intermediate school year has finished and there were still schools that had to be judged we found that we had no result for the end of the year. Mrs C. said she would get in contact with us when she hears what happens. But yet nothing has happened. I saw Holly recently over our summer holidays and she had heard nothing either (but had been trying to find out as much as me). I have left comments to Mrs C. but no replies as of yet. I also visited the site http://chriscraft.pbwiki.com/ but there is nothing there that I can see which would explain or give answers to my queries. It seems so far that the project has been dropped but I’m not sure. I have a feeling that there may be a problem or something is holding them up from posting results.

So I guess we all just have to sit and wait. But if there is anyone who participated in the competition or just knows anything about it I would be glad to hear from you.

Hello everyone

I hope you all had a happy new year and are having a great start to your 2008 year. I thought I would just write this post to share with you (and to keep up my writing scils - see I told you i need to keep them up) the things that I have done so far in my holiday. We’ll for New Years my family and I went to Tairua up round the Corramandel (thats round the top half), we did a whole bunch of just beach stuff like swimming etc. Then on New Years Eve we saw an amazing fireworks display. There was a boat out in an estuary by the main street and all the fireworks were shot off this large boat. It was really exciting and went for at least 10 minutes. Once we arrived back home in Te Awamutu a few days later we were off to Mount Maunganui to watch The Port of Tauranga Half Ironman and to have a trip some where else. A few people that we new were in the race so this was partly the reason that we went. Quite a few people that I new were staying at the Mount that weekend, so we all caught up along the way. Like in Tairua we also did beach stuff! We arrived back in town after a couple of days of being at the Mount. Now I am just hanging around home, I have hired a few movies out but other than that it has been pretty laid back…

So untill I post again,
Happy Blogging

Well there we are, another year been and gone. It felt like the whole of 2007 was in a matter of days so now as we have just recently celebrated with New Years we are in 2008. A new year a new start for some a new school or job, and for others just another year of life. This year for me is my first year of college at Hamilton Boys High.  This is going to be a whole new adjustment for me as I start at a new school in a new city (which is Hamilton, right beside Te Awamutu) and are going to have to remember a whole bunch of new names. I am also splitting up from some of my friends but I’m sure we will all keep in touch. Most of them are going to different school than me but some are still at intermediate. As a goal for this year I will keep blogging and remain in touch with my friends via different means of ICT. Hopefully all the Year 7’s and Year 8’s at my old school will continue with my Room 3 TV idea. Well that’s all I have to say for now. Oh yes one more thing, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Merry Blogging
Hamish