Well since Thursday ive been out of the house because we have been getting our new timber floor sanded and polished and today we finally got back home. We stayed at Quest apartments in Narre Warren which were good but the crap mattress gave me a sore back. So now the house stinks like vanish and lacquer and everything is covered in sawdust which is a bitch even everything in the pantry and the fumes from the floor are still around and we’ve had doors and windows open all arvo because of it. Im starting to get used to it but it gave me a headache earlier.

Well now its the final week of the holidays before work experience for which i am going to the local computer technicians who dad knows through work they do a fair bit of enterprise stuff as well as home users so it should be interesting and im looking forward to it.

Well thats about all for now good to be back home with a real bed and everything.

- JD

Today was the last 2 days of my year 10 coursework with the conclusion on my exams. Overall i think that i have done pretty well across all my exams and was impressed with my 4 and half page history essay and the ease of the VET electrotech exam which was pretty much almost the same as the revision tests we were given. There was only one question that i wasnt 100% sure on but i still think i got it right. So now its 2 weeks hols, 1 week work experience and 2 weeks of a special maths and English program before yr 11 work commences.

Well today we started to get our timber floor redone so after having had to move the fridge and dishwasher, couches and dinner table the plywood that gets layed down first was done today and the timber which im pretty sure is greygum was also delivered which looks to be very nice. That will all get layed down over the next 2-3 days and then next week we have to move out for 3 nights for when it gets the gloss and coatings put on it because of the fumes but it should look good in the end.

Tomorrow im heading off to Ikea with my bro to hopefully get some cheap (and pain in the ass to put together furniture) furniture for when he moves to Darwin for work in about 2 months so its getting close now. Its good though coz i get to go up to Darwin in the xmas hols and in the middle of next year to visit which will be good.

Well thats about all for now

- JD

Well the end is near for year 10 with our end of academic year exams commencing tomorrow afternoon with English which should be overall a relatively easy exam but lots of writing its like 3 essays in 90mins. Luckily i get 2 days off during exams Tuesday will be good as it give me an opportunity to study between blocks of exams. House competition is also coming to an end with academics the last item for the Thomason shield where Sholto has the chance to take the lead and win over Rendall (we are smarter than them, arent we?)

After exams its 2 weeks of holidays then a week of work experience, im going to Computer Initiatives in Berwick which should be good as i get to go out on service calls and stuff like that. Then comes 2 weeks of a maths and english program then its straight  into Yr11 the Monday after APS aths where i hope we will have a decent cheer squad this year.

Its amazing how fast time goes especially at school. It seems like not long ago it was term 4B and i just started all my yr 10 subjects. This school year has been great with both Fame and Inheritance which were fantastic production.

- JD

tonight there is a lunar eclipse which should be pretty cool, first one ill actually watch properly well kinda because the clouds are in the way!! But the ABC have set up a cool site which is ‘Moon Cam’ in which it can be viewed. Eclipse

I should interesting. The time of complete eclipse is supposed to be around 8:30 i believe so keep a lookout.

-JD

The last few weeks have been flat out with the school production of Fame and this is the first time i have had a chance to really reflect upon the amazing show we put together it really has been a memorable experience and it is a shame that it is the last show that people such as Luke, James and Alistair will get to work on, but I’m sure they’ll be back next yr as old boys.

The show went really well except for some sound issues that could not be solved due to the fact the set was made of out metal which interfered with the radio mics. All 3 nights went pretty well except for the curtain closing too early at the end of act 1 on opening night which was not Luke’s fault but Belly’s explanation of when to close it. It has been such a great show to be involved with from from set construction, bump in to bump out, to breaking into Luke’s car, to the XLR-Cat5-VCR-Coax CCTV, to listening to the most annoying feedback ever, to confetti and king cow. There have been so many good moments and it has been a learning experience for me with moving lights and the like.

On the last night the techies gave gifts to the major people involved with Tech Crew vests for Don, JP and Pullyblank. Venue Manager for Pant and Director for Belly, which they all really loved and Pant wore his the rest of the night.

This weekend i have also had Haileybury Aths Champs which consisted of a generally poor turn out from the senior students and it has also been my sisters 21st which was good to catch up with extended family.

I look forward to finishing bump out this week. It amazes me how long it takes to put stuff together but how fast it can be taken down.

All for now

- JD

Yesterday we were notified of the sad news that Dr Pargetter had passed away. Many of us never knew the Doc on much of a personal level but overall he has been one of the better things that has happened to the school. There has been so much change with Dr Pargetter at the helm, the introduction of girls, parallel education, lecture program, and term 4B which gives us such an advantage. Dr Pargetter was the perfect person at the right time for Haileybury and under him the school has grown so much and would not be close to where it is today. His pioneering ideas and visions will be greatly missed within the Haileybury community

On a more positive note the musical ‘Fame’ is getting very close. Opening night is Wednesday next week. Lighting wise is pretty much done. It was completed on Thursday and Saturday last week. (see james’ blog for more info). Sound is due to be done on Friday and the full dress rehearsal is on Sunday so it looks to be a busy schedule before opening night but all in all should be a very good show.

The main purpose for this post is to talk about the rehearsal for fame but first i will mention x country from yesterday. Yesterday was the second last round of APS cross country which was hosted by Haileybury at Edrington. The head of cross country had put in a load of effort with a digital clock at the start/finish, 2 hay bayles as obstacles, and even had vests for all the officials. One detail he did have though which made the whole team laugh was he has written H2XC on the hill (dont ask about the origin of that its quite sad). Overall we beat caulfield and MGS and if we beat St Kevins next week we will win the premiership. The girls are also in a position to take their premiership.

Today was a rehearsal for fame in which we got alot of work done. We managed to hang the blacks which will need to be fixed with the cougar because some are hung at angles and just cant be fixed from the roof. More of the walls went up on the set. All the remaining lights from Inheritance were lowered. The 2Ks got a well deserved clean and 22/40s were hung on the side perches which was a major task. Lukes rather genious idea for the ladder worked quite well but Belly insisted that we use the harness. After a decent days work i now have some rather severe rope burn from lowering so many lights and hanging blacks. Thursday looks to be a good day because it is our major bump in which means we get all our hired lights which will be my first experience with movers so that should be good fun.

We also found why James failed his P’s the first time, indicate then turn! and yes we can flash our brake lights too. Luke on the other hand is a much safer driver.

It looks to be a short but intense time until opening night but will be worth it in the end. Only 17 days left until opening night.

Bye for now   – JD

well its been 9 days since i last updated my blog and now monkey wants me to update so just to make him happy i will, even though i dont have much to write about.

Its seems that my slack start to the term and my high hopes for it to remain that way have come to an end. Fame is coming up in the middle of August which will take a good chunk of time before opening night with rehearsals and car tasks such as hanging the blacks. I also have an outcome to prepare for history. Our teacher has set us a really strict timetable to get all the stuff done but i dont know how ill go with it because it looks as if it will take forever.

Today we had an R&S lecture (monkeys most favorite subject of course) which was pretty much a chance to catch a few Z’s.  I wasnt really paying a whole lot of attention but the general gist was bhuddist core beliefs.

In other news it seems that another interesting sport has been added to the list of house activities. Rock, paper, scissors. Yes you heard it. Today was the final in assembly and im glad to say that the mighty SHOLTO won. Rock paper scissors is right up there with lawn bowls, who wants to be a millionaire and chess.

And congratulations to James who finally got his P’s today.

Thats all for now

JD

well as soon as i got home from cross country training tonight i completed the stereo that i have been building. there are still a few little things that need to be tidied up such as labels for the other inputs and stuff but overall i am very happy with it and it sounds great. Well here is a photo:

These holidays i was down at Autopro with Nat and we say some car head units with speakers for sale for a mere $10. At this price is was a steal and i bought one with no intention of putting it in a car at all, i had better ideas. For ages i have had speakers sitting in the lounge that are not being used. they are medium-large and have good quality seas drivers in them (more info at http://seas.no/) this brand is generally reserved for higher end audio. So i whipped out a spare computer power supply which i modified the end of to be able to power the head unit, and hot wired it with a switch so it doesn’t need to be connected to a motherboard which worked a treat. Then since it is only a cassette head unit i have modified it to accept a CD player (old PC CD drive the ones that u can play CD’s and stuff with the buttons on the front), ipod or MP3, pair of RCA’s and i have space for another input if i need it. and if i wanted to i could even use the 5V rails off the PSU to charge an ipod or sumthing. these input are selectable via a rotary switch. As i write this i am waiting for the paint to dry because i only painted it this arvo then its back to installing everything and then its pretty much done. Total cost so far is only $15 which includes the head unit and some of the connectors and stuff, the rest i had lying round the house.  Overall the testing i have done for the sound is pretty good thanks to my good speakers i need to get a decent antenna for the radio though.

Well the holidays are almost over i guess ive done a bit seen a few movies, built a stereo, overclocked some PC’s due to boredom. all in all not too bad but im looking forward to double electrotech tomorrow mornin.

- JD

btw ill update u with pics as soon as my stereo is all together