Saturday, December 27, 2003

Merry Christmas everyone! I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I'm away up the coast and so not been online until now. There'll be a full update later, but suffices to say we're incredibly relaxed. Aaron and I are up in Lennox with Pete and Johnno and it's been the most fantastic Christmas. Later today we head to Ocean Shores for part two of the adventure... 10 of us in a house until after New Year. Be very afraid. Big thanks to P+J (and Sue, Pete's sister for Xmas lunch - fantastic!) for the most wonderful time and for being great hosts. More soon.

Monday, December 15, 2003

Monday afternoon and by rights I should be working. However, I’ve done quite a bit today and so I feel like I should get this up to date instead and work tomorrow as it’s already almost 5.30pm and it’s not really worth starting my monthly report (which is the only thing outstanding on my to do list). Thursday night ended up being noice – home, veg out a bit, food (well, muffins with vegemite – that counts!) and then out with Pete and Johnno for a quick coffee in the humid night air. We talked about the house and how much it would cost for renovations to make it liveable as a one bedroom place, so at least I have a better idea of how much dosh I need to get together. Friday was another normal day. No gym though. Home and shower and change and then out to meet Pete to talk houses. Had beers at the Colombian and basically got things sorted. I need to get those plans submitted to council this week! Go Davie, go. Home to meet Aaron via Hungry Jacks and that was most of the evening. We were both a bit tired as it had been hot and stormy the night before and it was the end of another long week. I had to make some phone calls about various things to the UK – Dad, Frank the financial advisor, Fenella the accountant (no, really), The Woolwich re my endowment policy, Nick in Bangkok re the apartment sale. And shock horror I did it all. And found out stuff I needed to know re filing tax claims etc. That done I joined Aaron in bed and we slept longtime :o)

Saturday morning not too early we got up and had brekky. Then after dawdling a bit we hit town to try and find some shorts for me. But failed. I really have no clue where’s good to shop for clothes in Sydney! I suppose I’d better start finding out seeing as I intend to remain living here… We had some nosh at the food court and then finally headed home. I got a haircut and then got ready to head to start the musical excesses of the weekend. First up, Duran Duran and Robbie Williams in concert. We got to the stadium around 6.20pm - in plenty of time to meet up with Rich, Russ, Rod and Terry before Simon, John, Nick etc. hit the stage. And although they were looking a little ragged (Five and the Ragged Edges?) they were great. All the classics were there and we were belting out those old familiar lyrics along with them. Apparently there’s a new album and another tour next year – I’ll be there. Robbie was also good – I’m not as big a fan of his as I was a Durannie, but he was nevertheless the consummate entertainer. We left there happy at almost 11pm and walked home. I then hung around for Aaron before we hit Bad Dog and partied on (dude). Again it was a fun party, though noticeably quieter than the last one. There was an extra few dollars on the ticket price for a live band, which may have frightened a few people off, and of course Robbie too. Anyways we were soon in full swing. The music was great and it was only the live band that stopped the flow around 3am. Sadly the live experiment wasn’t a huge success. The Presets were OK, but I think the break caused a few people to reassess their evenings and too many people left. When the music got back into full swing the crowd was much more sparse and there was only just enough people to make a party quorum. Still we danced on undeterred until around 5.20am when we nipped home; rejigged and were back out again to the Phoenix to meet up with Pete and Tony (Johnno having decided not to kick on). However the Phoenix was also quiet and so we hit Arq. Which was surprisingly good! So good that we didn’t leave there until 11am. Pete was also there having some fun and it was nice to see him out and about having fun like we used to.

On arriving home we decided not to sleep. We showered and then hit Aaron’s before deciding vodka was the way forward. We hit the Bank Hotel and also had some food, which ended up being a bit of a mistake as then we felt sleepy. We got provisions and headed back to mine with the intention of watching DVDs, but after about 15 minutes we had to retire to bed. We slept until P+J phoned to ask us to have fish and chips on the beach at Bondi. What a great offer! So we did – along with Cassius, who’ll also be up the coast with us. We ate and drank champagne as the sun set. Marvellous. Home to bed.

Today has been work. A bit tired to say the least, but not too foul. Pete’s headed off round the world tonight so I’m going to try and get as much house stuff organised whilst he’s away. Only 4 more working days and then I’m off until 6 January. Have you any idea how excited I am? I’ve not had a beach holiday since September 1999… bring it on! Also, it’s going be to great fun spending the first week with Aaron, Pete and Johnno, and then the second week with Rich and Russ etc. in the original house we booked. We’ve got our NYE party tickets for Tropical Fruits and seemingly half of Sydney is going to be up there. I’ll post a full itinerary soon! Meantime – it’s time for this one to head for the hills.

Thursday, December 11, 2003

OK. I started an update last Friday – the 5th – but seem to have failed to finish it. Let’s put that to rights shall we? This reads on from the last entry at the end of November. Who made it halfway through December already?

Friday afternoon, over a week since the last blog entry. And I'd been doing so well too... oh well. Here goes nothing. Thursday night I ended up doing nothing as I was really tired. Pete was to-ing and fro-ing with Rich and Russ to the new apartment and so I went grocery shopping and came back and ate and then it was too late and... blah. Friday was work and a half-hearted gym workout. Friday night was drinks at Peter the vet's for Gary's birthday and then out to Saigon Bay for thai food. Fun. To Bears briefly at the Oxford but it wasn't too much fun. Pete was drunk and had a bit of a go at me for not meeting up the previous evening - turned out to be a bit of a misunderstaning but... bah. Grr. Home with Aaron and sleep. Saturday we slept in a bit and then had healthy breakfast - Weetbix, banana, yoghurt and then toast and coffee. Woohoo. Healthy is good. And then we probably did some other stuff. Not sure what! Hold on Davie.. think. Ah yes, nipped to see Rich and Russ in their new place with all the furniture in (looks great!) and then it was on to Murray's birthday drinks about 4pm. Lots of people there and it turned out to be quite a lot of fun. So much so that I can’t remember what we did later. Doh! Sunday was more healthy breakfasts and then a picnic down in the Botanic Gardens with Pete, Johnno and Michael. Dave joined us a bit later. It was nice to do something a bit different! This however lead to more drinks at the Colombian and hanging around to see what the official opening of Taylor Square held. Not much to be honest. But the furore of the whole thing ended up with us at Arq. Not a good idea with work the next day…

Monday and December dawns. I remember feeling fairly ordinary at work and not going to the gym – beyond that? Your guess is as good as mine. Ditto Tuesday. Wednesday I had the gym trainer and came over all queer (insert joke here). That night me and Aaron headed over to Pete and Johnno’s for pizza and Terminator 3 on DVD. Cool! After feeling strange the day before I skipped gym on Thursday too. That night I met up with Pete at the Colombian to talk houses. Well it was the opposite of ‘It’s all good’. Bit of a disaster really. For various reasons Pete has decided he doesn’t want to renovate the house any more. Great. The conversation talked around it for a while before finally ending with that. In trying to sort out a time to talk more I got a bit frustrated and left. Not the happiest of bunnies, that’s for sure. However, at this point there’s not a great deal I can do… If it’s Friday morning it must be time to see the dental hygienist. And so I did. And then basically got told that one of my wisdom teeth has to come out early next year. So I decided to bite the bullet (as it were) and find out about getting braces on my teeth. Watch this space. I may be up for a cameo in a James Bond movie yet. Friday night stayed in with Aaron and watched Lord of the Rings: Two Towers on DVD. Well the first half anyway. Bed. Saturday met Gary and his Peter for breakfast to talk sensibly about the house options. That done I got my hair cut and abluted and tidied and so on. Went into town to try and Xmas shop but was having none of it when I got down there. Headed back to the apartment and vegged. Aaron came over and cooked. We watched the remained or LOTR and fell to bed. Sunday was nice brekky then went our separate ways to sort things out. Next was brekky #2 with Pete and Johnno at a cafĂ© near the new house. Then we hit Wayne and Andrew’s for their renovation drinks and then on to Bar Cleveland for Allan’s birthday bash. This with Rich and Russ by this point. Then it kind of became a free for all and suddenly we were drunk; we’d had dinner at a lebanese place with little Daryl; we’d been to the Colombian to carry on the shenanigans and suddenly we were at Arq. Again. How did that happen two Sundays in a row? Home at 4.30am and Aaron was up at 6.30am for work. Great. I dozed another 2 hours then fell in to work myself. Not big or clever. Except for the fact that one of our major systems had thrown a fit over the weekend and had broken. Woohoo! Less to do. Monday night was home and something trashy on telly – Pitch Black. Tuesday was home to meet real estate agent to talk house prices then shopping then home. Something else trashy on telly. No gym either day :o( Yesterday I did work out with the trainer and had much more energy than last week, so that was something. Ended up over at Rich and Russ’s with Aaron for dinner – impromptu BBQ. Noice. Too much wine though and then a bit of a chat with Aaron as he dropped me home. Commitment time. Or not. I’ve got so much going on in my head re the house I’ve no energy to spend on thinking about anything else right now. I’m happy for things to continue as they are at the moment… it’s fun and Aaron’s lovely. Let’s take things slowly…
Anyway, I slept badly and ended up in work not particularly early, so no gym today. Working out what to do with the evening. I need to speak to Pete some more, and catch up with Pete and Johnno – all house related, and I’m trying to work out if I can buy Pete out, which will involve selling my house in the UK and getting all my assets over here. It’s all a bit grown up really and requires effort and no procrastination – neither of which are my forte. We’ll see…

It’s 4.15pm Thursday. Time for a cuppa. Tonight will involve ringing of UK type people and sorting out Xmas pressies. Beyond that… who can say?