Thursday, November 29, 2007

English Exam

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog - Thu 29 Nov 2007

I hate myself. [1]

Last Thursday we had our NCEA[2] English external exams. I did an almost complete repeat performance of the practice exams, where I did Unfamiliar Texts and Formal Writing[3], and then ran out of time. But that's not why I hate myself.

After the exams, I hung around a bit outside, catching up with some of my friends in the English 100 class, who were also taking exams that day[4], as well as some of the guys I had taken our exam with. We talked, joked, and so on.

By and by, I decided to walk home, like I usually do when I go home from school mid-day. (Study leave is awesome.) As I was making the turn just past Gallony Avenue, I saw someone lying on the ground, moaning, with tear-filled eyes. (I think she's from my English class.[5]) Evidently, she had twisted some part of her foot, or something was making it unbearable for her to walk. So, like the dolt that I am, I asked her if she was OK. She didn't answer, possibly because she was in too much pain to do so, but more probably because she was too busy considering whacking me with a large mallet. So, announcing that I would go back to the school (to look for any of her friends that were still hanging around), I proceeded to do just that.

Now, sometimes when you're focused on something, it takes a while for your brain to process your surroundings. And so, it wasn't until I had reached the school gates that the cogs started whirring: Didn't I just pass two guys?

Looking back, I saw the afore mentioned dudes turning the corner. I backtracked, and sure enough, the two were doing what I should have done: they had flagged down a car and were now helping her on. At least, I think so, and that's what it looked like.

So, tell me: did I do the right thing?

Footnotes:

[1] By "I hate myself", I, of cause, mean "I hate the course of action that I'd taken", not "I'm going all emo".

[2] If you're not from New Zealand, you probably won't know what this is. It's the national certificate for New Zealand, and it's based on arbitrary levels of achievement designed to show your knowledge of a subject. You can either achieve (A), achieve with merit (M), achieve with excellence (E), or not achieve (N). Markers often write up a grid, showing you how much of each you got, which forms the word NAME across the page.

[3] Unfamiliar Texts is answering a bunch of questions on poems, extracts from literacy, "visual texts" (static images) and the such. Formal Writing is writing a x-word essay, where x=~200-300 words, choosing from an unknown list of subjects. The other two sections are film and book essays, the former being What's Eating Gilbert Grape, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, and the latter, Alex, by Tessa Duder.

[4] I am not in the English 100 class, instead I am in one of the many 101 classes, which are basically mid-range. Apparently, the reason I wasn't put into such a class was my lack of organisation, a decision with which I can't find fault with. You should see my room...

[5] Not naming names, of cause. I mean, it was rather embarrassing.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Is Windows Live Suite a good idea?

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Age Before Intellect

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog - Sun 12 Sep 2007

I've updated my website. 'Tis at http://markk-b.sitesled.com http://www.markkb.com/. Yays.

OK, here's the other anecdote I promised earlier:

Mrs. Donnell, our English teacher, was talking to us about our upcoming external exam (1.6 - Unfamiliar Texts), and during this talk she revealed that she had started high school in 1975. It was at this moment that one of my fellow learner-peoples felt the uncontrollable urge to utter the following:

Wait, that means you're older than me!

'Cause everyone knows 12 is a popular age to start teaching...

NB
I have not posted the above mentioned student's name for a reason. Please, no guessing, no telling, and no mean words.

Updated 14/07/2013 to fix broken links.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

What Mornings Do To You

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]

MarkKB's Blog - Sun 26 Aug 2007

I know, it's been a long time since my last post, but from now on I'll try to post with more regularity.

Having said that, I have two rather interesting anecdotes that I'd like to share with you guys... but I'll save the second for later. First, something from Tuesday about two weeks ago.

Well, I was late.
OK, I know, no surprise there. But this time I was super-extra lateTM, and so was told by Mr. Van Niekirk (the Te Henga dean, who was at that time performing a crackdown on lateness) told me to go to the sign-in window.

Now, the sign-in window is on the side of the office block opposite to the one facing the street. Most people take the (literal) high road/pavement, which went directly past said window; I, however, usually walk down the driveway and then up the stairs. I really don't know why. Map of front of school

Here's a map to illustrate. The 'most people' route is in red, while my way is in green. Not to scale, if you're wondering.

Well, anyway, I set off down the driveway, and after a few moments, Mr. Van N. shouted for me to go to the sign-in window. I shrugged my shoulders and continued. When I was about halfway to the stairs, he shouted again. But it wasn't 'till the third time that it clicked.

He thought I was going to class.

After shouting back something that resembled "I'm going this way!", I continued down the driveway, up the stairs, and to the window.

NB
This post is not meant to be hurtful to anyone. Please don't take it the wrong way, and, if you guys comment, please don't say mean things about anyone.
Oh, and sorry if I spelt Mr. Van N.'s name wrong.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Eh.

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]
MarkKB's Blog - Thu 10 May 2007
I really gotta write stuff in this more often. But then again, no-one ever comments.
News
  • I've survived a term, the holidays, parent-teacher interviews, assesments and ringworm.
  • Achieved with merit (M) on my static image. Yays.
  • Still working on my website. I hope to get it out some time over the next three months.
  • I really need to get organised - especially with Japanese. I'll be working on that over the next few weeks.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

New year. Eh.

This post was originally posted at my Windows Live Spaces blog. [View original post]
MarkKB's Blog - Sat 27 Jan 2007
OK, I know I need to make a point to update this blog more. I'll try to do that, K?
what's new?
  • For those who've been wondering where I got to for the last week, I've been in limbo. Actually, I've been trying to reinstall Windows XP. Fresh install didn't work. Tried installing Windows 2000 first - it wouldn't at first, but then it did. Hello 16 colours and 800x600. Bleh. So I've been booting into BartPE for the past week (works perfectly, 'cept there's no sound). And yesterday we tried swapping the DVD-RW with a CD-RW we had lying around - it worked. Eh.
  • School on the 7th of Feb. NCEA. Oh, goody.
  • I'm thinking of doing a little thing on YouTube - actually I've been thinking of it since 'round late November. Tell ya more later.
  • Work on my website has taken a back seat, as have Project Nelson. I've been working a bit on meh fics, but other than that, I've been browsing on Slashdot or clicking every link I don't know about on Wikipedia. Eh.
  • Got ringworm. Got anti-fungal cream. Delightful.

Thanks for tuning in! I look forward to seeing some of you back at Massey on the 7th.