Well 2007 has finally ended and what a year it has been. It amazes me just how fast 2007 went, it seems like it was only yesterday that I was recapping 2006. So here’s what happened in my life in 2007.

• Turned 18 (probably the biggest thing to happen)
• Subsequently went to Crown and a great time was had by all (you all know the story)
• Got my license (again a very big thing)
• Began, and successfully completed Year 12
• Graduated from Haileybury.
• Went to the Year 12 Formal
• My Great Grandmother passed away
• Had a fantastic year as a School Prefect and Vice Captain of Editorial
• Bought an iPod (who’d of thought!)
• Also bought a GPS (yeah I know it was only a couple of days ago but it was a highlight of 2007)
• Went to the Boxing Day Test
• Drastically improved this blog by getting a domain name, a host and moving it to the Wordpress platform
• Went to Sydney to visit my brother and see the city (twice)
• Went down to Phillip Island for ’schoolies’
• Saw the school play ‘Inheritance’
• Saw the school musical ‘Fame’
• Saw the Castlefield musical “A High School Musical” (Luke also went to see it as he “received” tickets for his birthday)
• Applied for University, and received my VCE results.

So that’s 2007 in review, I wish everyone a happy new year and I look forward to recapping what I hope will be a wonderful 2008.

After the conclusion of Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test, Pat and myself decided that we would celebrate Pat’s recent 18th with a trip to Crown. We decided to kill some time after the cricket by seeing National Treasure - Book of Secrets which was pretty good (I also liked the first one). Then after our Disney movie adventure we hit the casino. It was a good night and both of us came out ahead with Roulette being the game of choice (and most profitable).

Then this morning we both decided that it was way to hot to be going to the Cricket so we stayed at Pat’s apartment and watched it in air conditioned comfort. So now I’m finally home and getting ready for another big night on New Years Eve.

Well today I went out and finally bought myself a GPS. Since I wanted a simple unit without all the bells and whistles I opted for the TomTom ONE Version 3. It is a nice little unit, and after giving it a bit of a run today I am very impressed. In other news I also went to the second day of the Boxing Day Test which was good, although India’s excessive caution practically brought the game to a stand still.

Well it’s that time of year again and I must say I have always enjoyed Christmas (especially all the food). Today we put the Christmas tree up which was good, and amazingly all the Christmas lights worked straight out of the box for the first time every (usually your going along trying to find out which globe is blown). So that was basically my adventure filled day, and now its only two more days until I’m enjoying Sydney.

On my way to buy a new printer and other computer goodies my car decided that it no longer liked its occupation and died. So after a call to the RACV my car was being loaded on the back of the tow truck to take to the mechanics who will look it over. The RACV guy reckons it was water leaking all over the distributer that was causing the problem so if thats the case it will be a simple fix and may mean that my head gasket is indeed fine. So without a car I have resorted to buying things on eBay which is annoying because I hate waiting for things and I absolutely hate people that charge outrageous postage (especially from the US).

That’s right, daylight savings has begun, which has meant that I have spent a lot of my day changing all the things that seem to have clocks in them, ie. car, iPod, alarm clock, stereo, phone (landline and mobile) and even my blog. The start of daylight savings heralds in sunny days, warm nights and here in the land of OZ - flies, wasps and everything else that annoys the hell out of you during the day.

Today I had my Probationary Licence Test which I managed to pass (Have no idea how considering I was convinced I made about 20 mistakes). So I can now drive around anywhere, anytime no matter what my parents are doing. The most exciting part of this is that I now no longer have to rely on Connex to get me anywhere, so all I can say is Au Revoir!

I then just got an email telling me one of my SAC’s is now rescheduled for Thursday which just topped my day off, so overall I had a very good day.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released yesterday to great fanfare. I had the morning off so I decided that I would join the hundreds of people at Borders Chadstone. Now your probably wondering why I, the same person that can’t tolerate standing in line at the canteen for longer than a couple of minutes actually managed to wait in line for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. The reason was, I had agreed to pick up a number of people’s pre-ordered copies thinking that it would take me 15 minutes max, I also had my pre-ordered copy (and owl) waiting. Also if I had been at home dad would of had me busy preparing for my brothers 13th Birthday (more about that later on). The experience of being at Borders yesterday morning was pretty cool, and it is probably the only time I will see hundreds of people queuing up for a book (some sad people actually felt the need to dress up, I mean if it’s a little 8 year old then yeah it’s cute, but seriously if your 45 and went to the launch yesterday dressed as a wizard then you really need to re-evaluate your life). I felt sorry for the staff at Borders who a) had to dress up b) had to deal with hundreds of screaming kids & c) deal with their normal workload on top of that. I was very proud of myself for cutting about an hour from the wait time by going down to the magazine and CD level where the queue was drastically shorter, you see people don’t realise you can pay for books down there, they think that you can only buy CD’s. After that I headed to school and got the team photo for First Football which turned out pretty average. Then I headed home to help set up my brothers 13th. He ended up having about thirty kids over which was good for me because I was on alcohol patrol, you see my parents had decided that they weren’t allowing alcohol at this party so I went around and confiscated it off all the kids who ’smuggled’ it in, the best part is I got to keep it all because none of the kids wanted their parents to find out, so I now have (well at least did have until I decided to drink it) about $150 worth of booze including a full bottle of Wild Turkey (still sealed) and a bottle of Vodka (I still can’t believe these kids brought so much). Dad also managed to score some fireworks off one of his many ‘contacts’ which was awesome (we of course warned all the neighbours so they could lock their dogs up) I am still amazed the cops didn’t turn up. Finally today we dropped my brother off at the airport (he had flown down for the weekend) after having lunch in Lygon Street.

Well my wonderful week in Sydney ended today which is rather sad, but it’s good to be home. The flight back was interesting as I sat behind a couple of people (executives etc) from Wesfarmers (the people buying Coles). Anyway I’ve decided to put on this blog what I did each day before I forget so that in a couple of years I can remember it all (I don’t actually expect you to care, its merely for my own benefit)

Monday: Flew to Sydney on QF430, Visited MaCarthur Square Shopping Centre

Tuesday: Went into the Sydney CBD and had a look at the Pitt Street Mall, and around the CBD.

Wednesday: Went to Homebush, then made my way to North Sydney and walked back to Sydney across the Harbour Bridge. Went up to Pylon Lookout at the bridge which gave awesome views of Sydney and the harbour.

Thursday: Went to Bondi beach and then made my way back through Kings Cross (a very seedy place).

Friday: Went to the top of Sydney tower which gave me a 360 degree view of Sydney (well worth the entrance fee if your ever in Sydney), then made my way back down to earth and walked through Hyde Park and saw the barracks, then made my way north along Macquarie St and walked to the Opera House via the Botanical Gardens. Walked around the Opera House and got some awesome photos of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Then Friday night went out to Club 209.

Saturday: Took the ferry to Manly, then went to North Head (the northern opening of the harbour) which afforded some awesome views of Sydney and the harbour.

Sunday: Had a walk around The Rocks and Circular Quay.

Monday: Flew back to Melbourne on QF 419.

In other news I got my phone and VOIP adapter today, anyway its with MyNetFone and costs me $0 per month with a free DID (normal phone number). It offers me 10c untimed national calls, 15c per minute calls to mobiles and from 1.9c per minute international (very handy for calling people I know overseas). The reason I got a VOIP service was to try and cut down on my mobile usage and it was a really awesome offer (via Whirlpool). I was very glad that I made the order in time (offer ended last Friday) because the ANZ took ages in issuing me with my Visa Debit Card (benefit of VISA without the debt!!!).

The ANZ finally approved my application for a Visa Debit Card so I will soon be making purchases with it (and without the debt as well!). I also has a driving lesson with my driving instructor today and I’ve now perfected the art of the three point turn and reverse parking, I’m fairly confident for my driving test which is in August sometime.

Today was the ever exciting GAT which I finished after about an hour and a half. Tomorrow I have to head into school before making my way to Castlefield for a matinee performance of “High School Musical”, at least it will be something different.