Crack Your Skull

Another day down, another few hours closer to getting out of here and getting up the mountain. I won't lie. I'm really looking forward to this holiday. I can't wait to get up the mountain again, breathe the cold air, pelt as fast as I can down the slopes, look out over magnificent vistas and to feel the blood pumping through my veins. It's going to be awesome.

I wish that there were more to write about, but there isn't. Last night I discovered that my nipple was swollen with blood and pus. I expelled both from the piercing, and this morning I took the bar out. I'm not sure what has caused it to flair up. Perhaps I haven't been taking enough care of it. Perhaps the bar is slightly too small, aggravating the area and causing a small tear. I don't know. Anyways, I'm going to leave it out for a couple of days, wait for it to clear up, then I might think about putting it back in. My nipple is now mis-shapen. I don't know if I will leave it out permanently. No-one really sees it, and that's kind of why I like it, but if no-one ever sees it, what is the point? When I first got it, I just wanted to see if I could handle the pain, and I could. Maybe I should let it close over again, then get it pierced again. It certainly hurt like a bitch, but sometimes pain isn't a bad thing. It can be your friend. Maybe I just need to start being a self-harmer. Get into mutilation. Somehow I don't think that this is such a good idea though.

This afternoon I bought a bee sting home to have for afternoon tea. I would have to say that the bee sting is one of my favourite treats to buy from the bakery. They're awesome. The custard, the slithers of nut, the bun. They really are delicious.

My iPod is really giving me the shits at the moment. I'm pretty sure that there is something wrong with it. In fact I know that there is. It won't sync up with anything, and it's not even recognised as an iPod anymore. I can't even reset it. I'm worried that if I take it into the store, they'll reset it and it won't be ready for my trip. I guess I can live with it the way that it is for the next little while. Why can't I just be satisfied with what I have? Short attention span I guess.

I'm reading a book by Bryce Courtenay at the moment. It's called Brother Fish. It's proving to be alot like other Bryce Courtenay books I've read. Long winded, very involved with in-depth descriptions for everything. Why use 15 words to describe something when you can use a page? I'm not complaining, it's pretty enjoyable, it's just that it's thicker than a brick. There's that short attention span again.

Head-Like A-Hole

Yuck. I keep having these mini sleeps when I get home in the afternoon, and they're not helpng me out at all. They suck. They last from about 4:30 through til about 5:30. I wake from them feeling lethargic, disoriented and with a bad taste in the mouth. The sooner I leave these behind, the better. They're not even a proper Granny nap, it's more like I blink an forget to open my eyes for an hour.

I guess school holidays are a little bit like that. You're not doing as much work, but it's taking longer. The jobs that I'm required to do over the break are the real mind numbing ones. The ones that are so boring I feel like crying. Maybe I just feel like crying.

Still, only another 2 more proper days, with one of them being Friday, and then I'm almost away. It shall be great to be in the mountains again.

I haven't written all that much this week, and do you know why? There hasn't been all that much happening. On the weekend I let myself down and didn't get to the party on the Saturday that I was hoping to be at. It kind of sucks that I couldn't get my shit together enough, but some days are kind of like that. I do have a pretty cool present for the girl though. And card. As you can see, I had the complete intention of getting there. The other presents I bought on Saturday were a little boring. I kind of regret not putting more effort into it, but at the time I just wasn't in the zone. And you can never have enough empty bottles, can you?

Sunday I went into town to do some shopping for the first time in a very long while. Unfortunately I didn't go up past Hungry Jacks to see the latest trend in disaffected youth, I'm sure I'll get another chance. The reason for my expedition into town, with my Dad, was to procure a new pair of boots. And I did. I am now the extremely proud owner of a pair of R.M. Williams boots. Black ones. Leather sole. I put these boots on, and I don't think that my feet have ever looked so good. Plus, they trew in an oilskin jacket, so I can be a real urban cowboy. Ha.

Sunday lunch time Dad and I ate a place on Brunswick st that was a cafeteria type thing. It was delicious. I had the vegetarian lasagne. Dad had the meatballs. I also had a meatball. After that I was dropped off at Merthyr Bowls where I proceeded to shoot the shit for a while and drink some beers. After that I went back to Ria's place where we had a nap and then ate some pizza.

My Mum and Dad are away celebrating the 25th wedding anniversary tonight. They're going to be gone til the end of the weekend. Congratulations to them. It's not easy.

Kransky And Cucumber

I knew it was trouble as soon as I walked into Pancho's last night. It was 4 or 5 tables put together to create a monster table, and it had 25 people sitting around it. Of those 25, about 8 of them were dangerous dudes. Dudes that make it very easy to have a massive night, and actively encourage it. I was a goner.

The reason that all these chaps were under the one roof was to say farewell to one of their own. He is off to run with the bulls in Spain and other things. He could be gone for a little while. I'm sure that he will have a bonza time.

So, yeah, we were all at a huge table. I was given a shot of sambucca before I could even sit down. All sorts of loose behaviour were exhibited. Sending shots to other diners. Singing of Happy Birthday to people who weren't celebrating a birthday. Food being thrown. Glasses of gross cold spaghetti juice were drunk. Yahooing. Kilos of spaghetti were eaten. Pizzas demolished. Once I'd relaxed it was pretty fun. I guess I was just worried that things were going to go too crazy. Thankfully this was prevented by some of the guys leaving for a SchoolFight concert. It took a bit of the pressure off.

Once everyone had eaten their fill we retired to the pub on Oxford street for some refreshments. Lots of refreshments. I saw a few familiar faces. Was given a yellow card by Katie the bartender. I bought some birthday girl a birthday drink. Stuey gave her a kiss. I did a whole lot of dancing. It was great. I think I was dancing for a pretty long time. I had a few more shots and things. Eventually I had too much of a good time and I was asked to leave and escorted from the premises. I went willingly. That hasn't happened for a while, but I don't really mind. I wasn't too out of control crazy drunk, and it was a good time to make a move.

Today has been a reasonably slow day. Apparently my breath smelled like alchohol for a good portion of the morning. I feel okay now, and I'm doing some washing. I'm off to Merthyr Bowls in a minute for a birthday. It should be fun. I'm off there again tomorrow too. For another birthday. Yay!

I Kiss Your Lips And Close My Eyes

I've been feeling a little funny this week. I'm not really too sure why, and I haven't exactly been feeling weird, but I've been doing weird stuff. Things that I probably wouldn't do normally. Perhaps I'm ready for a holiday. Actually, take away that perhaps. I'm ready for a holiday.

I went up to the cinemas last night to see The Fast and The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift. The storyline was bad. I'm not entirely sure what was going on, and why some things were happening. I don't think that I want to know why. Still, there's something about loud noises, fast cars and girls in skimpy clothing that appeals to me. So, it wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. Of course, when I walked out of the cinema, all the guys got into their cars and couldn't help themselves. They had to give the engine a bit, try and squeal the wheels on the way out. Oh, to be youthful and full of zest for life. Ha.

I was talking to Kapila, the lady I work with in the afternoons, for a while today. Kapila is a wonderfully beautiful person, very giving, very centred and peaceful. Working with her is a delight. She is a very spiritual person, and has a guru who's teachings help guide her. I know she sounds a little bit like a hippy, and I guess she is. The good kind though. She's trying to save the world, and she does make a difference. This week she organised some medicines and supplies to go to Indonesia in the wake of the latest earthquake. She really is amazing. Anyways, we were talking about stuff, things like whether human nature is innately good, and that corporate culture is unsustainable and destroying the world we live in. Things like that. This afternoon she told me that a man proposed to her last weekend. She turned him down. She said that she wasn't interested in having to compromise her life, she wasn't interested in having to think of someone else, she wasn't interested in becoming someone's wife. It wasn't for her. It would only slow her down.

That's fair enough too.

Arrest In Effect

Everything was peachy for a while there. Then I had to go and fuck things up with my big mouth.

I understand that me saying that you really didn't want to know would have only spurred you on, but it's the truth. It was something that you really didn't want to know. And it was something that I really didn't want to tell you. I still don't know why I did. But, it's done now. The words can't be unsaid. I can't take it back.

I bet that you wish I could un-say it as well. If only you'd believed me. I told you. There are some things that are better left unsaid. I haven't always done the right thing. I have let myself down before, in many different aspects. I'm sure everybody has. I now know what it feels like though, and I know that I really don't want to have to feel that way again. It sucks.

I bet you didn't think that I was capable of such a thing. I bet you thought that I'd always been a reasonably nice guy. I bet you thought that I may have done some things in the past that were a little off colour, but I bet that you didn't think that I'd do something so low. Well, I did. And it made me feel low. So I decided that I wouldn't do it anymore.

In some ways I'm kind of glad that you were able to get it out of me. It means that I don't have to worry about it being discovered anymore. Luckily I don't get much worse than that. I don't think that it's possible to. At least now I don't have to hide. You've seen it all. I guess I've got to show you the best of me now.

It's funny how things can be going swimmingly, then one conversation can change things. I'm still exactly the same person that I was before. It's just you know a little bit more about what made me the person that I am. Still, I'm sure you would have preferred if I'd kept my big mouth shut.

I Know You Want To Kiss Me

Okay, so Saturday night was a total blast. I am kind of sketchy on some details, but the overall vibe of the night was fantastic. It was great to see so many friendly faces on home soil and I hope that everyone had a pretty good time. I don't think that anybody had as good a time as I did, but I guess it was my party.

I received some terrific gifts, including some more Lucky Beer, cufflinks, chocolates, some bourbon, assorted beers, a tray of fruits (including bananas), some coconut soap and a set of white laces. Very exciting. Apparently Jimmy Wilson was going to swing by a sex shop in the Valley on the way in, but I guess whatever he bought he decided that he'd prefer to keep. Ha!

We managed to pound a fair bit of booze. I know that at least two cartons were destroyed and two bottles of Jaegermeister. I don't know how much help I was in knocking those over, as I'm pretty sure I didn't need too much help. I don't know if it was the overwhelming excitement, or all of the gardening that I had been doing during the day, or the lack of food or the excessive amount of alcohol, but by the end of the night, I was pretty tired. I'd had a great time though.

Specific events of the night that I can recall were dancing with Tony, fighting a losing inner battle over whether I wanted a cigarette or not, looking at Tim's reattached ear, watching the ham disappear before my very eyes, managing to avoid barbecue duty and generally being a menace. It was tops.

The only disappointments that I have are trivial. The first that is apparently some people didn't get word of the brouhaha that was going to happen, and so missed out. The second is that I was persuaded to go home with Ria. I'm not too sad about that though because it turned out pretty well. I just feel bad for not cleaning up in the morning and having breakfast with Josh, although I'm sure that he would have preferred to sleep in a bed as opposed to on the couch.

The next morning I woke up at a reasonable hour, and still felt pretty good about myself. I don't remember a whole lot of the conversations I had that morning.

Eventually I got my brother, Dirty Dave, to come and pick me up. On the way home we made a detour to Carindale so that we could pick up some presents for my Mum's birthday. Unfortunately we were at the shops too early as nothing was open, so we had a half hour to kill. Which we did. In Hungry Jacks. It was pretty good hang over food.

Dave and I picked out some pretty cool presents, then headed home to give them to Mum. I think that she liked the cow bell best.

For Mum's birthday we were going into the Hilton for lunch. They've got a seafood smorgasbord there, so I smashed the Moreton Bay bugs, as I think that they might be my favourite variety of seafood, after soft-shell crabs of course. Over the course of lunch I stuffed myself stupid, as I always do when confronted with a buffet. The desserts on offer were exceptional, my favourite being the rhubarb jelly. It was sensational. We grazed on the food for a couple of hours before it was decided that it was time to leave. It was a lovely way to celebrate Mum's birthday.

After the lunch was over I went back with Ria to her place. I didn't think that I'd be wanting dinner that night after the amount of food that I ate, but after a bit of a nap and things I found that I was pretty hungry again. So Ria and I had ate some more food. It wasn't as good as the lunch though.

Work these past two days has been okay. I'm putting the fees up, again. I hope that the parents take this change as well as they took the last set. I guess they don't really have a choice.

Another Dollar Ten

I've finally made it to 24. It's not that great. Although I did have a massive meat loaf on my birthday which was totally ace. It had some hardboiled eggs in it, and it was made by Mum, and bacon all over the top, and was unreal. I think that I ate about a kilo of it. I felt kind of sick all the next day, but I guess that's what happens when you have too much of a good thing.
The night before my birthday Ria and I went down to the Gun Shop Cafe in West End to have dinner. After some confusion concerning the menu, we were able to enjoy a wonderful meal. Ria had a seafood risotto while I had a goat curry which was fantastic. Very enjoyable. After dinner we picked up some ice cream, and then headed in for the night. Queensland even won the State of Origin!

The next day was my birthday, and even though I was at work, it was still a pretty sweet day. I got a fair bit done, had Happy Birthday sung to me three times and had a massive continental apple cake. I also received some vouchers and a little bag of malteasers.

After work I gave Disco Stu a hand to move some stuff for Brett Bowler, then I headed over the Gateway Bridge to pick Ria up after work.

When I finally made it home there was a bit of a commotion as my grandmother and aunt were in attendance. We made some small talk, accused Dave of being gay, then it was time for meatloaf. After dinner was finished everyone blamed everyone else for a packet of cigarettes that had been left in the lounge room. I still don't know who they belonged to. Next I received some gifts which include, but aren't limited to, a belt, some Bulgarian Rock, some books, a jumper and some crayons. It was a great birthday.

The only thing left on the agenda was dessert, apple crumble, birthday cake and ice cream. It was great.

In all, I had a lot of fun on my birthday. I scored some tops presents and it was good to get people wishing me well during the day. I'm kind of glad that birthday's only happen once a year though, or otherwise I would be the size of a house.

So, now tonight there's a few people coming over. I hope that it's not too cold. I don't think that I'll be able to feel it, I plan on drinking several beers. Possibly more than several. Anyways.

Orange Slices

I'm a little bit worried that I'm going to jinx myself here, but I'll do it anyway.

I have had a remarkable run of luck with police for a long while with regards to driving. I have only ever recieved one ticket for speeding, and this surprises me a great deal. I am not a hoon. I don't race between points A and B. I don't do crazy burnouts regularly. This could have something to do with the car that I drive, but I like to think that that is not the case. I like to think that I have a little bit of self control. What I am guilty of, however, is consistently travelling at slightly higher than the speed limit on suburban streets and highways. I have done this for many years now. I don't feel guilt over it.

It's been very surprising, I can't count the number of times that I've been driving too quickly and zooming past a police officer as he was writing a ticket for someone else. It happened today, and is what inspired this post. It also happened on Sunday. I've been very fortunate. I also get lucky when I'll have been driving too fast but then I'll have to slow down because of a car in front. And then I'll go past the radar trap. This is a blessing.

I do have the bad habit of getting towed though, so maybe it all balances out.

I've been getting a bit of grief from the kids at the centre about my new shoes. They've been called funny, weird, kid's shoes, clown's shoes, bright, interesting and cool. I first saw them a couple of months ago in a store, and I wasn't sold on the idea. I mean, shoes made from rubber? Wouldn't your foot just sweat and sweat? Anyways, some time passed, and one day I was trawling the aisles at Coles when I saw a dude wearing a pair of lime green ones. I thought that they looked pretty snazzy. The next time I saw them was only last weekend, down in Byron. I saw that they were only 50 bucks, and that they had a heel strap so they'd be suitable for work. I thought that I may as well get a pair. The fact that my old work shoes have been destroyed helped.

I haven't completely retired my old shoes. I remember how many different stores I went into looking for those shoes. I couldn't find any anywhere that I liked. I finally found a pair that were everything that I wanted. The only problem with them was they cost more than any other shoe I had ever bought. Over a hundred dollars more. But, I really liked them, and I had looked everywhere else and hadn't seen anything, so I sucked up some big lungfuls of air, grabbed my nuts and bought them. I was exceedingly happy with my purchase. There were some teething problems, but we made it in the end. I wore them so much I had to have them re-soled!

Unfortunately they weren't really designed for life at the centre, and copped a bit of a battering. I've decided to do the right thing by them now, seeing as they did the right thing by me for such a long time. I'm giving them regular rubbings of dubbin and keeping them away from all those things that they don't like very much. I really liked those shoes, and I was so cruel to them. If I could take it back, I would.

Valletta Fanfares

Last night I headed down to the Plough Inn again at Southbank. This time it wasn't to attend a work mate's 40th, but to watch the rugby. When I was there on Saturday I didn't realise that they've done a whole heap of work on the beer garden, because I was shocked when I went out there last night. It's all new. And modern. I don't know if I like it. It used to be a proper beer garden, but it's sort of lost that. That's progress.

After drinking too many drinks with Nick and Tom I headed over to the Lychee Lounge where Stuart was. I only had one drink, a Tequila Mockingbird, and then I decided that I had to go. I ordered a pizza from next door, waited for it to cook, then hopped in a cab and came home. If I'd held on for an extra 15 minutes I could have got a ride with my brother, but sometimes when you've got to go, you've got to go. I'm putting my urgent need for sleep down to waking up at 5. I managed to get undressed before I went to bed, which is always nice.

This morning I woke up feeling a little bit worse for wear. I really shouldn't be smoking, but it's the weather. Smoking in the cooler months is infinately more enjoyable.

I went out for breakfast this morning with Mel Hailley. It's always good to see Mel and find out what she's been up to. Her sister was going to be an air hostess for Arab Emirates, but apparently she hated living in Dubai, so she quit and came home. For breakfast I had a vegetarian frittata which was delicious.

After I dropped Mel home, I decided that I'd go to the beach. Stuart wanted to come down too, so off we went. We made pretty good time, but finding a park was hard. There was alot of people at the beach, having picnics and things. The surf was pretty good and there were quite a few people in the water with their boards. Stu went for a surf and I had a swim. We were probably in the water for about an hour. It was fantastic, the only downer was a huge sweep. I kept having to get out so I could back up on the sand.

Unfortunately, because it is winter, the local council down there turns off the showers at the beach, so we were unable to get the salt and sand off our bodies. It's not a big deal though. We grabbed a couple of burgers from Big Chief and then looked at some sunglasses. We also looked at the breasts of the girl in the sunglass shop. Stuart ended up buying a pair of sunglasses. They are totally ace, and I'm kind of jealous. They're Lisa Ho ones though, so they're meant for girls, but who cares? Once we had left the shop Stuart and I discussed whether her breasts were real or not. In the end I think that we agreed that we thought they were.

This has pretty much been my Queen's Birthday holiday. It's been pretty good. I had a Hello Kitty lolly before from Ed Coghlin's girlfriend, Suzie. It was tasty.

The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You

Another long weekend, huh? Doing anything interesting? I haven't been. Yesterday I threw a heap of shit out of my bedroom. Then I threw a heap of shit out of the space under the stairs. Today I've been down at Bunnings, Hawkens Garden Centre and also the markets at Chandler. I've also been digging holes and then filling them back up again. How exciting is that? Real fucking exciting.

Actually, I don't know why I'm down on this weekend. Maybe I need a beer. I've been up at 5 the past two days, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I went to a 40th last night. It was one of the girl's from work. I was only there for about 3 hours, but that was enough time. It's kind of funny how you work with some people all week long, and then you go to a party and spend most of the night talking to the same people. I don't really like it. I did get a chance to talk to the mother-in-law and also a couple of sisters. One of them was missing quite a few teeth.

There was also this other woman there who looked at me with a decidedly sour face when I introduced myself. It was rather unpleasant. The only thing that I can think of is that perhaps she thought I was going to hit on her or something. She probably wishes. She probably should have put a bra on before she left the house too.

I took Ria with me to the party and all of the girls at the centre were very excited to meet her. I went to the bar to get some drinks and she was kidnapped. They pumped her for information for about a half hour. Apparently one of the first things they asked her about was where my piercing was. Somehow they caught wind of the fact that I had a hole in me somewhere, but the didn't know where it was. I guess they knew that it wasn't anywhere visible, and they came to the conclusion that I had a Prince Albert. Unfortunately Ria set them straight. I wouldn't have.

I've been listening to a lot of My Chemical Romance recently, and I'm not sure why.

Also a bit of Sway.

Tonight I'm going to go and watch the rugby down at the pub. I think that I'm going to have a few beers. Maybe more than a few.

My birthday is this week, and I think that I might try and get some people over for some drinks next Saturday. Nothing big, very relaxed. If you're free, come on down!

Yes Fight It!!!!!!

I eventually hit up the movies on Monday night. I caught a 9:30 session of X-Men, there were only two other people in the cinema, and I think that they were a little bit disappointed when I showed up. I say that's tough luck.

I was underwhelmed by the movie, I was overwhelmed though by the iced coffee that I purchased from the snack bar. It was awesome. If I ever go up to Carindale cinemas again, I will have to have another. It was the highlight of the viewing.

After the movie finished I roamed the streets of the suburb for a while. It was a crisp, clear night. A great night for walking around. The only way it would have been better is if it had been a full moon. When I eventually made it home I finished reading a book that's been pissing me off for about a month now.

The problem with this book is that some parts of it are great. They are funny, they are insightful and well written. The majority of it sucks though. This is why it has taken such a long time to complete. The ending was possibly the worst part of all. It was really lame. If you ever see a book entitled Who's Who In Hell, avoid it. There's actually a concept for a book within the book which would have been a much more entertaining read, and I don't know why the author wasted his time on the novel. So, yeah, I didn't like this book, but now I can read another, so that's good news.

After I finished the book I was unable to sleep, so I lay in bed for an hour or so. I was tossing and turning. I had some itches that needed scratching so I did that. Instead of laying in bed for that hour I think that I should have had a shower and blown my nose and things, I think that would have worked. Oh well, that's the price you pay.

Understandably, I was very tired the next day. I was slurping cups of coffee all day. I also had a delightful cupcake which I think helped sustain me. Work was over reasonably quickly and then I headed over to Ria's place. We went out for dinner, down to Sakura which is next to Krap Hair on Bennetts Road. The food was, as always, exceptional, and it's always fun trying to understand what the waiters are on about. I devoured many soft-shelled crab.

Apparently I did a whole lot of snoring last night. It's kind of funny, because I'm pretty sure that when I'm alone I don't snore. It's only when there is someone else there that I know about it. That must be right, mustn't it?

I had another cupcake today, and it was terrific too.

Terror Couple Kill Colonel

I've had a pretty wholesome past few days, and have been very busy. I'll try and get a fair bit of it down, but I'm thinking of heading up to Carindale to watch a movie. I was given a free ticket as a gift a little while ago, and it was only one ticket so I guess Monday night movie it is.

Let's kind of do this in reverse. I had an okay day at work today. Nothing too exciting happened, although one girl did draw a picture of me and said that I was weird and silly. Oh yeah, another girl told me that she wants her unborn sibling to be called Robb, but I don't know how her parents feel about it. I still thought it was kind of cool though.

Yesterday I went to the Italiafest which could have been a great day. The things that stopped it from being a great day were few, but fairly important. The main one was probably that too many people decided that they'd make the most of the day and get out in the sun and enjoy themselves at the Italiafest. This meant that lines for everything were incredibly massive. Over half an hour long to get a bite to eat. They even ran out of pizza, so I had to wait longer for that. It would have been easier to just go directly to New York Slice to get my pizza, because that was who was supplying it by that stage.

Another reason that it wasn't the best was that I got towed. Again. This is now twice in a month, so I don't think that I am going to chance it anymore. I am going to stop parking illegally. I hope.

Sunday started off really well though.

Saturday was a great day. I woke up and wasn't too hungover. I put this down to the fact that Callum and I had devoured a bucket of KFC on the way home from the pub. I took my Stuey's jumper while I was eating so I didn't grease it up, and I took my shirt off at the same time. Let me tell you that there is nothing sweeter than picking pieces of the Colonel's secret recipe out of your navel at 3 in the morning when you are incredibly intoxicated.

After a little bit of breakfast we hit the road. Me, Stu and Callum. We were taking Callum down to Byron Bay and drove down the coast roads from the Spit. It was a lovely drive, although Stuart probably shouldn't have been behind the wheel seeing as he didn't get home til after 4 the night before. During the tour we made a couple of pitstops. One was at Cavill where we watched some mental unit escapee destroy a little girls bike by "testing" out it's suspension. At Point Danger I could have watched the surf all day. At Humble Pie I was given a styrofoam container containing only peas, no pie. An eventful trip.

I have never really spent too much time in Byron, only really dropped in. I was there for a few hours on Saturday and it really is lovely. The water was clear and calm. A little chilly, but it was refreshing. Thankfully, there weren't too many hippies around town and there were some beautiful backpackers. I kind of wish that I could have stayed down there the night with Callum and had some beers at the pub, but unfortunately it was not to be.

Stuey and I said good-bye to Callum and returned back up the coast to Brisbane. It was a little emotional.

Saturday night I had a lovely roast dinner and retired to bed at a reasonable hour.

Friday morning I woke up and didn't have too much of a hangover which was a bonus. My mouth was extremely dry though. Friday was spent taking Callum up to Australia Zoo. Before we got there I had one of the most fantastic burgers that I have ever had. It was in Beerwah and was absolutely huge. It was larger than a babies head. After I ate that it was time to hit the zoo. It was a great day. Beautiful weather, beautiful animal handlers. I especially liked learning about elephants. No Steve unfortunately, but I did get to watch all the shows in the Croc-aseum. Or however it is spelt.

After the zoo we went and had a swim at Caloundra and then a few beers up in the surfclub. Tim came and joined us for a while and then it was time to head home.

Once we got back into Brisbane we had a bite to eat and then it was time to hit the town. We went to the Story Bridge hotel and proceeded to get pretty drunk. After the girls left things got a little loose. At some point in the evening we tired of the Story Bridge and went to the Regatta. Things got looser there. John Loth is always dangerous. Callum doesn't actually remember being at the Regatta at all. After we left there it was time for KFC. As I said before, it was terrific.

Thursday was a work day, but the last of the week which was nice for a change. After work I came home and caught up with Callum. He hasn't changed at all and is still a great guy. Hearing his accent always brings a smile to my face. Stu, Callum and I went and picked up Dave from footy training and then went to the pub. After the pub we bought a carton and then came home. Once we were here we had a huge barbecue with a lot of meat, just like the good Aussies we are.

I think that that is about it. There was more that could have gone in here, but I've run out of time unfortunately.