Chop Me Up

Another week without posts. Another week of forgotten highlights. I can't even really recall what I wrote about here last time? I think that it was something about not caring. Trying to make the next day a good day. I'm pretty sure that I succeeded. In fact, I'm not entirely sure why I was having a bit of a whinge that night. Maybe I was tired?

So the dinner that I cooked up that night was awesome. The potatos in particular. I even had enough left over to have some for breakfast. I managed to get out to the pub. I wasn't out there too long in the end, I was pretty worn out. I hope that Nick has a great time away. I'm sure that he'll have a tonne of wild and crazy stories, because he has a tonne of them from here, and this is just little old Brisbane.

Thursday and Friday at the centre were both busy days. The phone was ringing off the hook with people that were wanting to start up which was great. I'm trying to slam as many of them home while Louise is away as I can. I think that I'm getting the hang of it.

One of the new families, one that I can't take all the credit for, are a group of recent immigrants to Australia. They are from a place that I haven't even heard of before, Burundi. They don't speak much English. They came with a translator. The dad's name is Sylivester. He seems a happy soul. Except when he shakes my hand he doesn't always let go. So we'll be talking, and shaking hands, and talking more, and shaking hands more. It can end up that I'll be holding his hand for a while, because when we talk, we don't speak the same language, and it can be quite difficult making our points to each other. Especially with one hand. Still, that's pretty minor.

The family live in the same street as one of my other families. She was telling me that they were in the South East Advertiser when they first got out here. Apparently they spent 13 years in a refugee camp before being able to come out. And apparently there's an army of them! Sylivester told me that he had 7 children. I couldn't help but think that there's not too much to do in a refugee camp.

I saw the mother's entrance papers to Australia. In the papers they had her down as having a birthday on the first of January. The translator commented that it seemed like half the population of Africa were born on the first day of the year. I also noticed that instead getting the mother to sign her name, they used her thumbprint. In all, it was a very interesting day.

I've had some other people coming in. Tomorrow I've got a Japanese lady coming down. I don't think that she's bringing a translator.

Last Thursday night Ria and I had a bit of a shocking run of luck together. To begin with, we went to the movies to see Talladega Nights, which was quite enjoyable. Except I lost my wallet. And Ria locked herself out of her house. I wasn't overly pissed off about losing my wallet. It's been a long time since I've lost it, and even though there was some money in there, I was most annoyed when I thought about all the lining up I was going to have to do in order to get all my cards replaced. I wasn't looking forward to that at all. Ria leaving her keys at home wasn't a huge deal either, all we had to do was pick them up from her housemate, John. John was even in West End, and we were at Southbank, so it was just down the road. Except Ria and I had no idea where the Tongue and Groove bar was in West End. Eventually we found it on Hardgrave Road. We thought that after all this bad luck we'd go and get a pizza from Earth and Sea. So we did. I still had some money, but no wallet, and Ria now had a key to her house. We ordered a pizza that looked great. Ria, in particular, was looking forward to the succulent prawns which were to adorn our choice. The pizza came out. No prawns. Uh oh.

It was a fitting end to the night when nothing could go right.

Friday night was a nice night.

Saturday morning was a bit of shemozzle. I finished reading my book though. The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs by Irvine Welsh. I didn't mind it. I didn't love it though. I guess the impossibility of it was a little frustrating.

I eventually made it home on Saturday, and that's where things took a bit of an interesting turn. Stuart and Tim came home. The sun was shining. So I had a beer. Then I rang the cinema to see if my wallet was there. It was. So I had another beer. Then I got dressed. I'd decided to go to Parklife.

I picked up my wallet, then bought a ticket, then headed in. Then proceeded to get intoxicated. I ran into some familiar faces. Some I haven't seen for a long time, and some I've seen more recently. At one point I remember trying to think of something to say to somebody, but I couldn't. They were standing in front of me, and I was thinking of things that I shouldn't say to them, but I didn't want to say those things. I can't remember how I got out of that one. I might not have. I was pretty drunk.

Unfortunately my phone ran out of juice later in the day. Unfortunately I didn't. At one point I walked over to bridge to the city to get some more money. And a chocolate thick shake. And I ate some vegetarian food. And I made the change from beers to Smirnoff blacks. I bought a pack of Marlboro Reds. And I danced. And it was a good time. I'm not entirely sure who I saw. A bit of Mix Master Mike. A bit of Krafty Kuts. A bit of Cut Chemist. A bit of My Ninja Lover.

At one stage I was dancing, and this dude in front of me collapsed and started having a seizure. At first I bent down to pick him up, then I realised what was happening. Some other dude was clearing him a space, so I went and grabbed a medic. I'm not too sure what happened to him. I headed off to another stage.

The night ended with me going to the Fox with Stuart. I ran into a guy I knew back in Whistler. He was being a bit of a dick I think. I didn't hang around too long. Stuart disappeared with some girl so I took that as my cue to head home too. Which I did.

When I woke the next morning I didn't feel too crash hot initially, but then I had a shower. Stuart was going to play some lawn bowls with my grandmother, and I wasn't going to go. But then I thought to myself, Robb - Stop being such a pussy. Suck it up and get out there. You're not going to do anything but sit around at home and feel sorry for yourself. Do something!

So I went and played a few ends with Stuart, Nanna and Dean. Dirty Dave didn't want to come. It was a nice morning. I even had a bit of a win on the pokies.

That was about it for my weekend. It was a big one, and it had its ups and it had its downs.

It's dinner time.