Tomorrow I will be leaving for an overnight school trip. We are going somewhere not too far away and will be doing something that I do not know. So as of around 11pm tonight, that will be the last time I use my computer until I get back on the Tuesday afternoon.

Now that’s around 40 hours with no computer, no cellphone or iPod or anything of the sort. I am not going to have any technology for a long time. I can’t remember the last time I have been away from my computer for that long, but its probably been years. The longest I am usually away from the internet world is about 10 hours which isn’t that long but I am going to be away from it all for 40 hours and in 10 hours the internet moves pretty fast so I’m going to have a lot to catch up on being away from it for 4 times that.

Being away from the internet for so long is going to make it hard to come back with a huge pile of articles in my RSS reader, stories on Digg, Tweets to read, and other things to catch up on. This opportunity my help me by evaluating my internet usage and possibly help me make some cuts on unnecessary parts so I have more time to do other stuff and be more productive. As well as helping me through the experience of going away, it may also help me in my current life, online and offline. Maybe 40 hours away from it all will do me some good after all.

On Friday, 9th of May, I turned 18 years old. Now this is a big thing because it means I can legally do a lot of things. Purchase Alcohol and Cigarettes, Gamble money, and do other things that I will think of later. Anyway, its supposed to be a milestone for a young person. To be honest, I couldn’t care less. It doesn’t feel any different and I probably won’t do any of the things stated above for a fair while because I don’t care and am not interested in wasting money on those luxuries.

Now onto my birthday… Every year for a few years now, Birthdays haven’t really meant much. They seem like normal days, only slightly different because I get a few gifts and people give you a different number to associate how long you have been alive. This year, I didn’t really get much in the terms of the gifts department. I did get gifts, but they weren’t anything special or anything worth talking about. Maybe that is one of the reasons I don’t care much about birthdays anymore, I don’t get cool toys like when I was little.

And in case you are wondering, no, there was no party. Parties do not appeal to me really. I did not have friends over and do stuff. There is really nothing to do, nor a reason to celebrate, in my opinion. Some would say I have a negative or bland view on birthdays, or celebration in general, and yes, you are probably right. Why don’t I care? Maybe because no one else does either.

On Tuesday, it was tertiary open day in Dunedin. This was an opportunity for year 13 students to go onto campus and find out information on courses and such that the Otago University and Otago Polytechnic has to offer. This was compulsory for the year 13’s at my school to go to and the roll was taken to make sure we at least showed up (although that didn’t stop everyone from wagging it *cough* GTA IV *cough*.)

I turned up there and had a fair idea at the presentations I was going to see and the pamphlets I was going to take. I also went to a couple that I wasn’t going to but ended up going to because they were kinda relevant and a mate was going anyway and I needed something to do to pass the time. I went to the General Science presentation which covers the different courses for a Science degree. After that I went to the Applied Science presentation which has Software Engineering, although they didn’t say much about it. Then later on, I went to a Information Science presentation which talked a lot about IT. It was the most interesting presentation up to this point because the others were boring.

At the end of the presentation, I had 5 minutes to get over to the Polytechnic buildings to see a presentation for Information Technology. On my way there, I didn’t make a turn when I should have and I got completely lost. I had had to find my way back to on the right path. When I did finally figure out where the hell I was, I managed to find my way to the building. I was already 5 minutes late and I had difficulty finding the room in the reasonably large building. When I got to the room, there was a notice on the door saying there was a change. Different building, different room. After making my way to the correct room, I was 10 minutes late and I had missed quite a bit of the presentation. I was a little annoyed.

Anyway, after that fiasco, I made my way back to the University area and went to the Computer Science building for my last presentation before I go home. If you hadn’t guessed, the presentation was on Computer Science. It wasn’t that bad of a presentation. After seeing all of the presentations, I am still not 100% sure what I want to do next year but I am swaying towards doing Computer Science at Otago University. Now I just need to get that one pesky English credit and I should be well on my way of getting there.

One of my favourite times of the year, along with Christmas and my birthday, is Easter. Why do I like it so much? I think the answer there is obvious, I LOVE CHOCOLATE! Or to be more specific, I love Easter eggs, especially ones of the Cadbury variety, which happens to be the majority of the Easter chocolate sold here.

This year, I decided to save up my chocolates over the short 5 day Easter break and eat them afterwards. In the end, I think it was a great idea because it gave me something to look forward to after Easter. During Easter I was waiting to see what chocolates I get, and after easter I wait till I can finally eat my chocolaty treats. I normally eat the chocolates in order from worse tasting to best tasting. In all honesty, Cadbury chocolate all tastes good so for that it turns into eating the one with the least chocolate to the most. About a fortnight after Easter, I had eaten all my chocolate and was left with boxes in my closet.

Easter is normally during the term 1 holidays but this year, it was in the middle of the term which means we got a few random days off. We got 3 extra days which in total means a 5 day holiday. It was great to have a break during the middle of the term, the only problem was having to come back in such a short time to finish off the term. I can’t wait for the real holiday coming in a weeks time! I love chocolate!!!

No, I am not going to give you a list of things I plan to do for the new year. I have never, and will never make a new years resolution list. I think the lists are stupid and pointless. It’s fine if you are one of those people that do make these lists, I have no problem with you and will not hold what you do every year against you.

The typical resolutions are things like stop smoking and more exercise and be healthier and so on. Why should you wait till New Years to start this. If it is so important, why don’t you do it the moment you think of it. You have come to realise that smoking is probably not the best for your health so what do you do, keep doing it and wait for new years to start stopping. You get a headstart on doing something important to you and your life, and if you screw up, it’s not going to be a big deal. People are weak. “Oh I didn’t do this so my resolution is ruined. Oh well I’ll just go back and start again next year.” There are going to be people that are like that. If you need to make a change, do it now and not wait for a new year to come for you to start.

Playing devils advocate here, people do need a starting line, and New Years Day is a good place to start. New year means a new slate and a point to make changes for the rest of the year, it’s a good opportunity for people to make big lifestyle changes. Even though they have set a time for hen changes happen, at least they are trying to change for the best instead of shrugging it off or denying that they could make changes to be healthier and live healthier. There are a lot of people who just ignore and continue the bad, hectic lifestyles they currently live.

It would be hypocritical of my to make a new years resolution list because the things I would probably put on such a list would never be accomplished, I know that. Then again, I probably could be doing better but decided to ignore the fact that there is room for improvement for a better and more enjoyable life. My loss. I suppose I’ll just say that my first new years resolution was to not make any new years resolutions, so I am doing quite well for myself on that one.

Well it officially just ticked over to 2008 in New Zealand. I wish my regular reader a Happy New Year! For the rest of you, New Year, it would be happy if you were a regular, but you aren’t. Best of luck for 2008 and lets hope it brings joy to you and your friends.

Well midnight just passed on my country of New Zealand and it is officially Christmas Day, the 25th of December, 2007. No, I am not going to write anymore today because this is not a long rant and I don’t think it is really a good time for you to be reading a three hundred to seven hundred word rant on something silly, in this case, something about Christmas.

All the staff here are Yum9me’s Journal wish you a happy and safe Christmas. I hope Santa, your parents, and your relatives are all generous and give you what you have been wanting all year. Have a wonderful day!