Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Walter's Not Dead!
I admit I was starting to get worried. I never thought that I might have eaten him (Nick, I'm looking at you) but I did wonder if he'd moved on for the winter. I was excited to see that's not the case, and my shy wee friend Walter is still with me.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Cotton Club
As some of you know I have taken up Swing Dancing by way of Lindy Hop lessons run by an outfit called Jitterbugs. I'd always been interested in the dance style - in an academic way - but when I went to Perth nearer the start of the year I was able to see some first-hand and realised this was more than half a fancy.
Upon my return I mentioned this off-hand to my best friend Rachie (still need a code-name for her!). She replied enthusiastically that her flatmate Johnno did swing dance and did I want her to to find out where he went for lessons? So it was that I joined Johnno at Jitterbugs. Well, I sort of joined him. First I didn't tell him I was going - I just turned up to the Lindy 1 class, and as he turned up at the end of my lesson for his Lindy 4 class he was surprised to see me there!! Now he comes a little earlier to join in and have a wee social dance with me between classes. Isn't he lovely!?
I have managed now six lessons - the first time I dragged The Agent with me and had to dance lead. The second time I took The Ginge and learned the part of a follow. Third time I invited a salsa-dancing South African and was follow again. For lesson number four I turned up on my own and opted to take the lead again making it 50/50. Mean skillz huh?! It wasn't the easiest to get away from work in order to make these lessons. I have to take roughly two to 2.5 hours off work every second Wednesday, and this means I need to have already worked those hours somewhere else. (We are given Time Off In Lieu - TOIL, for every hour of overtime we work. If we haven't clocked up extra hours, we don't get to take them off). So far it's worked out okay and I still have 4 hours I can take for the next two night shifts, but it might be getting a little tricky after that.
Anyway, here I was having learnt the lead twice and learnt the follow twice and I decided I'd quite like to keep the pattern. By learning to lead I was becoming a better follow, and I certainly hope the reverse is also true. The people at the class are all smiley, happy people, and I really enjoy the atmosphere as well as the dancing - it's all a lot of fun. So after learning the follower's part for my fifth lesson I decided I was keen to join them all at the Point Chevalier Returned Services Association (Or Pt Chev RSA) for a two-monthly event they call The Cotton Club.
Although it was $20 at the door to get in, I invited Rachel to come with me and she was keen so on the night I picked her and Johnno up from their flat and off we went. The theme was Black & White and while I'm not one for wearing dresses I was keen to put some effort in so I wore black shirt and pants with white braces and a white tie. I also have a mock-fedora style hat I picked up from an emporium for about $5 so I wore that too. I flatter myself that I did look quite dashing (just call me Jo March). Johnno had a very nice-looking waist-coat and tie and Rachel was lovely in a dress which definitely looked the part.
Everyone's dancing skill was well above my own. Even Rachie, who's only lesson was the half-hour quick intro on the night, picked it up like a duck to water. I practiced my social dancing as lead by taking Rachie out for some unimaginative spins on the floor and tried not to trip on my toes when Johnno, Matt or another would ask me up and I had to do everything off the other foot.
But the music was simply divine - a live jazz band - and the dancers were a glory to watch. It really solidified in my mind that this is definitely something I want to do. I am enjoying the little bit that I do know, and I am looking forward to being able to dance like this:
Yep, that's the Cotton Club at the Pt Chev RSA. I took that video myself, can you tell? I am, if nothing else, a professional ;-) Watch this space though - in four years time it should be me dancing like that!!
Upon my return I mentioned this off-hand to my best friend Rachie (still need a code-name for her!). She replied enthusiastically that her flatmate Johnno did swing dance and did I want her to to find out where he went for lessons? So it was that I joined Johnno at Jitterbugs. Well, I sort of joined him. First I didn't tell him I was going - I just turned up to the Lindy 1 class, and as he turned up at the end of my lesson for his Lindy 4 class he was surprised to see me there!! Now he comes a little earlier to join in and have a wee social dance with me between classes. Isn't he lovely!?
I have managed now six lessons - the first time I dragged The Agent with me and had to dance lead. The second time I took The Ginge and learned the part of a follow. Third time I invited a salsa-dancing South African and was follow again. For lesson number four I turned up on my own and opted to take the lead again making it 50/50. Mean skillz huh?! It wasn't the easiest to get away from work in order to make these lessons. I have to take roughly two to 2.5 hours off work every second Wednesday, and this means I need to have already worked those hours somewhere else. (We are given Time Off In Lieu - TOIL, for every hour of overtime we work. If we haven't clocked up extra hours, we don't get to take them off). So far it's worked out okay and I still have 4 hours I can take for the next two night shifts, but it might be getting a little tricky after that.
Anyway, here I was having learnt the lead twice and learnt the follow twice and I decided I'd quite like to keep the pattern. By learning to lead I was becoming a better follow, and I certainly hope the reverse is also true. The people at the class are all smiley, happy people, and I really enjoy the atmosphere as well as the dancing - it's all a lot of fun. So after learning the follower's part for my fifth lesson I decided I was keen to join them all at the Point Chevalier Returned Services Association (Or Pt Chev RSA) for a two-monthly event they call The Cotton Club.
Although it was $20 at the door to get in, I invited Rachel to come with me and she was keen so on the night I picked her and Johnno up from their flat and off we went. The theme was Black & White and while I'm not one for wearing dresses I was keen to put some effort in so I wore black shirt and pants with white braces and a white tie. I also have a mock-fedora style hat I picked up from an emporium for about $5 so I wore that too. I flatter myself that I did look quite dashing (just call me Jo March). Johnno had a very nice-looking waist-coat and tie and Rachel was lovely in a dress which definitely looked the part.
Everyone's dancing skill was well above my own. Even Rachie, who's only lesson was the half-hour quick intro on the night, picked it up like a duck to water. I practiced my social dancing as lead by taking Rachie out for some unimaginative spins on the floor and tried not to trip on my toes when Johnno, Matt or another would ask me up and I had to do everything off the other foot.
But the music was simply divine - a live jazz band - and the dancers were a glory to watch. It really solidified in my mind that this is definitely something I want to do. I am enjoying the little bit that I do know, and I am looking forward to being able to dance like this:
Yep, that's the Cotton Club at the Pt Chev RSA. I took that video myself, can you tell? I am, if nothing else, a professional ;-) Watch this space though - in four years time it should be me dancing like that!!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Queen's Birthday Weekend
Here I am at last writing about my Queen's Birthday Weekend. It was some time ago now - 4th-6th June - it's just that I've been fairly busy in the meantime and haven't taken a moment out to fill you all in.
My friends Jamo and Megs, and their son (my Godson), moved to Wellington last year and I have no longer been able to drop in and visit once or twice a week on my way home from work. I miss them a lot and so I thought I would make an effort to be with Megs on her birthday this year. I called her up and asked what she was up to and would she have me. Megs and her husband Jamo had already made plans to be with his parents for the weekend but it was a very simple business to organise to fly to New Plymouth on the Saturday, travel with them back to Wellington on Monday, the day of her birthday, and fly back to Auckland on Tuesday. Because it's a long weekend (or as the British would say, a bank holiday) I only had to take annual leave for Tuesday.
The flight down was rather uneventful which was a pity because the weather had been somewhat wild and I'd heard the plane had been subject to severe turbulence on its way up. I love turbulence so was disappointed to have missed it.
Now, we didn't really get up to anything spectacular over the weekend - there were no shows or sports events or games of backyard cricket to rave about. It was just a nice, slow, relaxing weekend with friends. On Sunday we went out for a walk with friends and dogs. I didn't take any photos because like a fool I left my camera back at the house. This was a mistake because New Plymouth has an amazing footbridge on the way to the beach which was begging to be photographed and I was gutted to miss the opportunity to do so. That night the same friends came round for dinner and Pete and I ended up spending the majority of the night playing with the little wooden train set I had bought my Godson so there was plenty of fun to be had by all!
The Wee Man (Godson's official nickname) was such a darling and it wasn't long before he had (once again) stolen my heart. He would climb up onto the chair with me and hand me his favourite book of fairy tales to read. I wish I could say I spent all my time reading to him, but he was always more interested in looking at the pictures and turning the pages for himself. Finally he would close the covers and declare "Ah-Duh!" which meant 'All done!' clamber back down off my lap and continue causing his usual havoc. We played plenty of games of chase and I was offered lots of hugs and snuggles. By the end of the weekend he was making sounds which his mother translated to be 'Auntie Sez.' For a 15 month old he was doing well!!
What else can I say? It was a wonderful weekend and I loved spending time with my good friends and my special Wee Man. Conversation with people who know me so well is therapeutic so it was as good for me to be there as it was for Megs to have me down for her birthday! If you're interested in seeing the photos of flowers I took after the rains then check out my Deviant Art Account.
(I'm still trying to upload the dancing video, so more on that later.)
My friends Jamo and Megs, and their son (my Godson), moved to Wellington last year and I have no longer been able to drop in and visit once or twice a week on my way home from work. I miss them a lot and so I thought I would make an effort to be with Megs on her birthday this year. I called her up and asked what she was up to and would she have me. Megs and her husband Jamo had already made plans to be with his parents for the weekend but it was a very simple business to organise to fly to New Plymouth on the Saturday, travel with them back to Wellington on Monday, the day of her birthday, and fly back to Auckland on Tuesday. Because it's a long weekend (or as the British would say, a bank holiday) I only had to take annual leave for Tuesday.
The flight down was rather uneventful which was a pity because the weather had been somewhat wild and I'd heard the plane had been subject to severe turbulence on its way up. I love turbulence so was disappointed to have missed it.
Now, we didn't really get up to anything spectacular over the weekend - there were no shows or sports events or games of backyard cricket to rave about. It was just a nice, slow, relaxing weekend with friends. On Sunday we went out for a walk with friends and dogs. I didn't take any photos because like a fool I left my camera back at the house. This was a mistake because New Plymouth has an amazing footbridge on the way to the beach which was begging to be photographed and I was gutted to miss the opportunity to do so. That night the same friends came round for dinner and Pete and I ended up spending the majority of the night playing with the little wooden train set I had bought my Godson so there was plenty of fun to be had by all!
Little Toys for Big Kids!
The Wee Man (Godson's official nickname) was such a darling and it wasn't long before he had (once again) stolen my heart. He would climb up onto the chair with me and hand me his favourite book of fairy tales to read. I wish I could say I spent all my time reading to him, but he was always more interested in looking at the pictures and turning the pages for himself. Finally he would close the covers and declare "Ah-Duh!" which meant 'All done!' clamber back down off my lap and continue causing his usual havoc. We played plenty of games of chase and I was offered lots of hugs and snuggles. By the end of the weekend he was making sounds which his mother translated to be 'Auntie Sez.' For a 15 month old he was doing well!!
The Wee Man helps with household chores.
No table is too high for The Wee Man!
Auntie Sez and The Wee Man read together
What else can I say? It was a wonderful weekend and I loved spending time with my good friends and my special Wee Man. Conversation with people who know me so well is therapeutic so it was as good for me to be there as it was for Megs to have me down for her birthday! If you're interested in seeing the photos of flowers I took after the rains then check out my Deviant Art Account.
(I'm still trying to upload the dancing video, so more on that later.)
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Vintage Ads for Modern Products
One website I enjoy stalking is Cracked.com. It's a humour website and under the title Pointless Waste of Time they run photo manipulation competitions they call "Photoplasty." Every week they put up three subjects and readers of the site can post their submissions. The best are displayed and the #1 picture wins money. Recently I had a good chuckle looking through 26 Old-Timey Ads for Modern Products and I thought I would share a couple of the good ones with you so that you, too, can laugh away while I find the time to write about my Queens Birthday weekend and upload a video from my night at The Cotton Club.
I hope you are sufficiently tantalised about my upcoming posts. Now here's the funnies:
Tomorrow night I have a formal dining in (look it up) and then I have taken Friday off to recover. Friday night I hope to be watching the new movie Green Lantern with friends, so watch this space.
(this one. right here. watch it. waaaatch iiit!).
I hope you are sufficiently tantalised about my upcoming posts. Now here's the funnies:
by Alaisin13
by maas
by DarrenJames
by egaeus
Tomorrow night I have a formal dining in (look it up) and then I have taken Friday off to recover. Friday night I hope to be watching the new movie Green Lantern with friends, so watch this space.
(this one. right here. watch it. waaaatch iiit!).
Thursday, May 26, 2011
2nd Hand Gems
Found in the Sallies at The Mount:
How awesome do you have to be before you get your own orchestra?
Jim was always one of my Granma's favourites, and my parents have this record. Just seeing the cover reminds me of the music of my childhood.
Neil is so fantastic, and sparkly, I had to include his backside too. ;-)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sezmeralda and the Agent of Trouble
(1st Edition)
Sezmeralda and the Agent of Trouble
In the City of Sails, in Jafa-land
where the weather is just a game
there hides a modern witch-like woman
and Sezmeralda is her name.
She came from further south
and she's a strange one it is true.
She lives in a cave on the edge of town,
her friends are good but few.
She is a bit like a Discworld witch:-
a practical woman, though grumpy.
Her friends turn to her now and again
when their own roads get too bumpy.
Her magic is music and song and dance
and a damn good listening ear
and though she's reclusive she cares a lot
and can be called on through the year.
One evening she left her cave
for a night of jovial drinking
and that is where she met The Agent
who asked her "Vat are you sinking?"
The Agent had a merry eye
and a funny, mischievous nature
and although her name was Trouble,
Sezmeralda just couldn't hate her.
The two were very different
and yet somehow the same,
The Agent was a people person
while Sez forgot their names,
They both were practical people
and worked well with their hands
they shared a similar humour
but were from different lands.
Their friendship grew at a steady pace -
they'd often share a meal,
then one evening they both agreed
that there was more to feel.
And so began a whirlwind
of emotion, fun, and fears.
But in truth they weren't made to match -
it would only end in tears.
The Agent is a mover
and motion is her style,
Her trouble is always welcomed
though she stays for just a while,
And the witch she is a stayer
with her music in her cave,
and company she will not keep
though closeness she doth crave.
The Agent was the first to see
while the witch she closed her eyes.
Eventually Trouble declared:-
It's time to break the ties.
And so they parted ways -
not without some pain
and their story it is over now - at least
until we meet again.
Sezmeralda and the Agent of Trouble
In the City of Sails, in Jafa-land
where the weather is just a game
there hides a modern witch-like woman
and Sezmeralda is her name.
She came from further south
and she's a strange one it is true.
She lives in a cave on the edge of town,
her friends are good but few.
She is a bit like a Discworld witch:-
a practical woman, though grumpy.
Her friends turn to her now and again
when their own roads get too bumpy.
Her magic is music and song and dance
and a damn good listening ear
and though she's reclusive she cares a lot
and can be called on through the year.
One evening she left her cave
for a night of jovial drinking
and that is where she met The Agent
who asked her "Vat are you sinking?"
The Agent had a merry eye
and a funny, mischievous nature
and although her name was Trouble,
Sezmeralda just couldn't hate her.
The two were very different
and yet somehow the same,
The Agent was a people person
while Sez forgot their names,
They both were practical people
and worked well with their hands
they shared a similar humour
but were from different lands.
Their friendship grew at a steady pace -
they'd often share a meal,
then one evening they both agreed
that there was more to feel.
And so began a whirlwind
of emotion, fun, and fears.
But in truth they weren't made to match -
it would only end in tears.
The Agent is a mover
and motion is her style,
Her trouble is always welcomed
though she stays for just a while,
And the witch she is a stayer
with her music in her cave,
and company she will not keep
though closeness she doth crave.
The Agent was the first to see
while the witch she closed her eyes.
Eventually Trouble declared:-
It's time to break the ties.
And so they parted ways -
not without some pain
and their story it is over now - at least
until we meet again.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
I Am Addicted To Llamas
Not actual llamas.
The llamas on Deviant Art.
I don't know why I want them so bad but I think it is a self-worth thing. More llamas means more people like me. Even though I know it's not true. Maybe it's a competition thing - more More MORE!
Here's my Deviant Art Profile Page:
But back to llamas. You can't give someone a llama until you receive one. I wandered aimlessly through the halls of DA for about a week before someone gave me a llama. Then I had one llama. From there I can go about the website giving llamas to anyone I want and it costs me nothing at all. But I can only give one llama to each person. Sometimes people return the favour, and after a while the llamas get "better." Over on the right hand side of my profile page (near the scroll bar) you can almost see my llama. Here's a close up of someone else's llama:
See it there? It's golden coloured with a red bow tie and sunglasses. Let's see how many people had to give this person llamas for them to be classed as golden:
Now lets look at how many llamas I have been given:
I know there aren't 73 people on DA who think I am awesome (especially since I've had to give more than twice that away) but I am still proud of my albino llama.
I just wish it were a ninja llama.
The llamas on Deviant Art.
I don't know why I want them so bad but I think it is a self-worth thing. More llamas means more people like me. Even though I know it's not true. Maybe it's a competition thing - more More MORE!
Here's my Deviant Art Profile Page:
Yah, click on the image to go to my actual DA page and find out what kind of soup I'm holding in my hand...
But back to llamas. You can't give someone a llama until you receive one. I wandered aimlessly through the halls of DA for about a week before someone gave me a llama. Then I had one llama. From there I can go about the website giving llamas to anyone I want and it costs me nothing at all. But I can only give one llama to each person. Sometimes people return the favour, and after a while the llamas get "better." Over on the right hand side of my profile page (near the scroll bar) you can almost see my llama. Here's a close up of someone else's llama:
See it there? It's golden coloured with a red bow tie and sunglasses. Let's see how many people had to give this person llamas for them to be classed as golden:
Now lets look at how many llamas I have been given:
I know there aren't 73 people on DA who think I am awesome (especially since I've had to give more than twice that away) but I am still proud of my albino llama.
I just wish it were a ninja llama.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Photos from the Street
Here are some things I've seen around in the last couple of months:
This one was written by a friend of Nick's.
These are the chillies being grown by the 'Skin Bay' at work.
A beautiful desk in one of the displays at MoTaT in Western Springs, Auckland.
One day I will make one of my own!
This was the statue on top of the desk. I just loved the shadow it cast on the wall behind.
Also at MoTaT. Just because the Allies were on the winning side doesn't mean they didn't cause injustice. NZ sent their 'enemy aliens' to an island off the coast. God forbid they send the countries secrets back to Europe. Wait... what secrets?
That is all.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
In The Time Since Easter
To all of you I apologise! It has been too long. But I have had a busy couple of weeks since Easter and my social calender has been more filled than - possibly - the rest of the year combined. But here I am, back again. I hope you enjoy the post and forgive me for the time it took in coming.
-----
The weekend after Easter was a full one. I took leave on Friday so that my RPG group and I could go to Sylvia Park to watch the movie Thor on the XTREME Screen. This is a screen so extreme it had no time for more than two e's.
I stayed with The Agent of Trouble that night and then had a lunch date with my best friend Rachie. (I am still working out a code-name for Rachie). We tried a place we hadn't been to before near the Grafton Bridge and each had a little boutique pizza and a sweetie. Mine was pain au chocolat which was delicious! After lunch I was off home to get all the chores done before a dinner event that night.
This last summer I played cricket for the Waitakere Cricket Club Women's Senior Grade team headed up by the delightful Tash and coached by the inescapable Garry-with-two-arr's. It took us a long time, but finally (now that it's Autumn) it was time for our end-of-season celebration which was to be held at Genghis Khan's Mongolian Restaurant in New Lynn. Now, normally it doesn't really bother me if I have to drive to a dinner and therefore cannot drink. But on this particular day I really wanted to be able to go over the limit. So I caught a lift in with fellow cricketer Roach. The dinner was nice and we all ate too much before proceeding up the road fifty metres to a local pool bar. Rav had spent the better part of the last five minutes telling us all that she'd never been beat at pool so it was with great delight and pure blind luck that I managed to pull one out at the last second and defeat the self-proclaimed champion.
To be fair, the game was an unusual one. Four of us were playing. We each chose three of the available numbers (8-ball included) then took it in turns to sink any ball which was not our own. It was an honesty system and we had to declare if someone sunk one of our numbers. In that situation only was the current player permitted to have a second shot. (If she potted a ball which did not belong to anyone she didn't get the free shot).
If all three balls a person had secretly nominated were potted then that person was out of the game. It came down to two final numbers, and I sunk Rav's. YAY!
After a quick doubles game of regular pool we'd all had enough (aren't we sad?!) and though Roach had gone home I was rescued by the Agent in her Silver Audi Steed. We had a really nice Sunday morning watching Green Wing on DVD and she even made me her specialty scrambled eggs for breakfast - with seasoning all the way from Germany and all. It didn't look like any kind of scrambled eggs I'd ever had before but it was definitely a tasty breakfast!
So, thus far I have been to the movies, gone out for lunch, gone out for dinner, moved on to a bar, had scrambled eggs and watched DVDs. This has been a very busy weekend so far. But wait, there's more. That's right - my regular every Sunday games night with the RPG crowd. Starts at 2pm and goes to 10. I was very tired by the time Monday came round.
Rachie is, though lacking a code-name, a very good friend. While impressed with my sudden increase in social activity (and all-round organisation) she did caution me not to over-extend myself. This is important for people like me who are heavily-introverted and need to balance their social activities with enough re-charge time to recover properly from said activities. I thanked her for pointing this out and agreed with her I would have to be careful. Especially since it wasn't all over. Oh no.
Tuesday night was Roach's birthday. I joined her for dinner at Indian Summer in West Harbour for a very pleasant evening indeed. Then like a love-struck fool, and determined not to get any sleep at all this week, instead of going home afterwards I snuck up on the Agent again. Thank you kindly for your concern Rachie but it would appear I intend to enrich the zombified experience which is currently my working life by screwing up your good advice and throwing it in the furnace of un-reason and foolishness. On the other hand, I got to spend another night with Trouble so I think it's all working out okay. Besides - I can sleep properly tomorrow night!
Hehe.
Or not. You see, tomorrow night is Wednesday night. And Wednesday night is Mike & Virginia night.
Anyway, the real significance of Mike & Virginia is not who starred in it (because I actually didn't put two and two together until I saw her on stage) but that this was a really wonderful, funny, truthful, talented look at love and relationships and it was written by - drum roll please - Kathryn Burnett and Nick Ward. If Nick is a good man he will re-send me the link he sent me last week and I will put it up here for you because I am not a good woman and although I promised ever so faithfully to read it, I didn't. Sorry Nick.
(UPDATE:- Read Nick's words on his play and see plenty of great links at the bottom.)
Well, we absolutely loved it! And we were even lucky enough to catch Nick very briefly after the show. He was busy of course and most everyone there was more important than us, but we were special enough to get 5 minutes or so of undivided time chatting with him which made me feel loved!
Oh! And there was ice cream!
Now it's really rather getting on.. and I haven't made it to the end of the week yet - let alone the weekend. I wonder if you are all feeling as exhausted as I am simply by reliving this hectic time? I won't sport with you a great deal longer then. Thursday was thankfully uneventful.
Friday I was under a self-imposed obligation to do everything in my power to fulfil two requests of the Agent's. One was to cook dinner, and the other was to get a hold of some 'Allo 'Allo for us to watch on both Friday and Saturday. This combined with a long working day which finished late made for a tiring night.
Saturday (I'm really getting short now, aren't I?) was for late rising and more scrambled eggs (sans German seasoning) and an evening mission to Te Atatu Peninsula for ice cream with The Agent, Ginge & his friend Daz. I was rendered grumpy by what I considered to be a failed mission and disappointment given that I wanted to go to my favourite ice cream shop in Onehunga. But the walk down near the sea, the views, the singing and the company of my Trouble were enough to help me get over it.
Sunday.... Sunday is another day. It was full too. Too full it was. I will write about Sunday another time.
And now it's Tuesday night - or, more accurately, Wednesday morning which may count for the excessive use of hyphens and commas, or it might not. Tomorrow night is dancing night (round one) and I'm hanging out for Friday. No particular reason - I just like weekends.
-----
The weekend after Easter was a full one. I took leave on Friday so that my RPG group and I could go to Sylvia Park to watch the movie Thor on the XTREME Screen. This is a screen so extreme it had no time for more than two e's.
I stayed with The Agent of Trouble that night and then had a lunch date with my best friend Rachie. (I am still working out a code-name for Rachie). We tried a place we hadn't been to before near the Grafton Bridge and each had a little boutique pizza and a sweetie. Mine was pain au chocolat which was delicious! After lunch I was off home to get all the chores done before a dinner event that night.
This last summer I played cricket for the Waitakere Cricket Club Women's Senior Grade team headed up by the delightful Tash and coached by the inescapable Garry-with-two-arr's. It took us a long time, but finally (now that it's Autumn) it was time for our end-of-season celebration which was to be held at Genghis Khan's Mongolian Restaurant in New Lynn. Now, normally it doesn't really bother me if I have to drive to a dinner and therefore cannot drink. But on this particular day I really wanted to be able to go over the limit. So I caught a lift in with fellow cricketer Roach. The dinner was nice and we all ate too much before proceeding up the road fifty metres to a local pool bar. Rav had spent the better part of the last five minutes telling us all that she'd never been beat at pool so it was with great delight and pure blind luck that I managed to pull one out at the last second and defeat the self-proclaimed champion.
To be fair, the game was an unusual one. Four of us were playing. We each chose three of the available numbers (8-ball included) then took it in turns to sink any ball which was not our own. It was an honesty system and we had to declare if someone sunk one of our numbers. In that situation only was the current player permitted to have a second shot. (If she potted a ball which did not belong to anyone she didn't get the free shot).
This is Tash, not Rav.
If all three balls a person had secretly nominated were potted then that person was out of the game. It came down to two final numbers, and I sunk Rav's. YAY!
After a quick doubles game of regular pool we'd all had enough (aren't we sad?!) and though Roach had gone home I was rescued by the Agent in her Silver Audi Steed. We had a really nice Sunday morning watching Green Wing on DVD and she even made me her specialty scrambled eggs for breakfast - with seasoning all the way from Germany and all. It didn't look like any kind of scrambled eggs I'd ever had before but it was definitely a tasty breakfast!
How could you not want to watch this show?
So, thus far I have been to the movies, gone out for lunch, gone out for dinner, moved on to a bar, had scrambled eggs and watched DVDs. This has been a very busy weekend so far. But wait, there's more. That's right - my regular every Sunday games night with the RPG crowd. Starts at 2pm and goes to 10. I was very tired by the time Monday came round.
Rachie is, though lacking a code-name, a very good friend. While impressed with my sudden increase in social activity (and all-round organisation) she did caution me not to over-extend myself. This is important for people like me who are heavily-introverted and need to balance their social activities with enough re-charge time to recover properly from said activities. I thanked her for pointing this out and agreed with her I would have to be careful. Especially since it wasn't all over. Oh no.
Tuesday night was Roach's birthday. I joined her for dinner at Indian Summer in West Harbour for a very pleasant evening indeed. Then like a love-struck fool, and determined not to get any sleep at all this week, instead of going home afterwards I snuck up on the Agent again. Thank you kindly for your concern Rachie but it would appear I intend to enrich the zombified experience which is currently my working life by screwing up your good advice and throwing it in the furnace of un-reason and foolishness. On the other hand, I got to spend another night with Trouble so I think it's all working out okay. Besides - I can sleep properly tomorrow night!
Hehe.
Or not. You see, tomorrow night is Wednesday night. And Wednesday night is Mike & Virginia night.
Recognise her anyone? Mum? Mel? Well you should. That's Lisa Chappell.
This is also Lisa Chappell. I am not kidding you.
Anyway, the real significance of Mike & Virginia is not who starred in it (because I actually didn't put two and two together until I saw her on stage) but that this was a really wonderful, funny, truthful, talented look at love and relationships and it was written by - drum roll please - Kathryn Burnett and Nick Ward. If Nick is a good man he will re-send me the link he sent me last week and I will put it up here for you because I am not a good woman and although I promised ever so faithfully to read it, I didn't. Sorry Nick.
(UPDATE:- Read Nick's words on his play and see plenty of great links at the bottom.)
Well, we absolutely loved it! And we were even lucky enough to catch Nick very briefly after the show. He was busy of course and most everyone there was more important than us, but we were special enough to get 5 minutes or so of undivided time chatting with him which made me feel loved!
Oh! And there was ice cream!
Now it's really rather getting on.. and I haven't made it to the end of the week yet - let alone the weekend. I wonder if you are all feeling as exhausted as I am simply by reliving this hectic time? I won't sport with you a great deal longer then. Thursday was thankfully uneventful.
Friday I was under a self-imposed obligation to do everything in my power to fulfil two requests of the Agent's. One was to cook dinner, and the other was to get a hold of some 'Allo 'Allo for us to watch on both Friday and Saturday. This combined with a long working day which finished late made for a tiring night.
How could you not want to watch this show?
Saturday (I'm really getting short now, aren't I?) was for late rising and more scrambled eggs (sans German seasoning) and an evening mission to Te Atatu Peninsula for ice cream with The Agent, Ginge & his friend Daz. I was rendered grumpy by what I considered to be a failed mission and disappointment given that I wanted to go to my favourite ice cream shop in Onehunga. But the walk down near the sea, the views, the singing and the company of my Trouble were enough to help me get over it.
Sunday.... Sunday is another day. It was full too. Too full it was. I will write about Sunday another time.
And now it's Tuesday night - or, more accurately, Wednesday morning which may count for the excessive use of hyphens and commas, or it might not. Tomorrow night is dancing night (round one) and I'm hanging out for Friday. No particular reason - I just like weekends.
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