The Life, Travels and Meals of Simon and Co.: December 2005

God dammit!
I just spent half an hour recalling the tale of my formal night when my PC crashed for no apparent reason. I cannot receover what I wrote, and I don't feel like going into detail again.
So I'm keeping it much more brief this time...
Sooo...
Marty invited me out to the UTS end of year engineers ball on the 2nd Dec. It was a formal event, with a 3 course meal and unlimited drinks. His mate Tony (an engineer at UTS) was going and wanted us to come too.
I would have to catch the train down to make it, because I'm still a bum with no license, and Mum doesn't go down to Sydney on Fridays. We took longer than expected to get everything ready (things to do in Cessnock, including pressing my suit), so we ended up having to catch a train from Gosford rather than Morrisett (Gosford station being 1 hour away, rather than 45 minutes away). Mum dropped me at the station in time to catch my train, but unfortunately on the way home, she had a car accident. Luckily noone was hurt, but both cars were seriously fucked up. Our smash repairers are trying to get ours back before Christmas (fingers crossed). After the accident Mum had to fo down to Sydney Airport to get a hire car (the only place still open). She ended up getting a POS Magna. The insurance company won't pay for the car beyond a certain date, so bow we've had to rely on the Smash repairers courtesy car: a Daewoo Hacthback. Now we realise what a POS actually is... I don't believe it, but I miss the Magna. The Volvo moreso, but the Magna is still better than the Daewoo.
Anyway.
So I get down to Sydney, meet Marty, drop my bag off with his Mum, put on my jacket and tie, and head into the city to meet Tony. We got to UTS before him so we indulged in a pre-dinner Becks. I'm pretty keen on Becks these days, but the price usually scares me off.
Tony arrived shortly and we headed up. Neither Marty nor I knew anyone there, but we were introduced, and we made conversation easily.
After a few more pre-dinner beers, we sat down for the Entree. Tony had 4 female friends arriving later, so our table looked pretty empty. Because of this, a random guy came and sat with us. Andrew was his name, and he was leaving for Japan at the end of the year, so I told him some tales from my trip to Japan in April.
Tony's friends arrived shortly after Entree (we ate some of their portions... oops), so there was no longer any room at the table for Andrew. Luckily enough there was room at the table next to us, so we continued talking.
Talking, drinking, eating and more talking ensued for the next few hours. Tony's lady friends were very interesting, and conversation never waned. Nor did the wine actually...
After dessert, we headed out to the dance floor (via the bar). The band were pretty cool, and played a few original tracks in amongst their covers.
Unfortunately, the bar closed at 11:30pm, regardless of what was left on the tab (it started at $7000, and we didn't finish it). So after the band finished up, we headed out to the nearest pub for more beer. Someone mentioned coming from the Foo Fighters concert, and that made me call Boggle to see if he wanted to meet up with us (having himself just been to the concert). Of course I didn't think that the concert actually ended 2 or 3 hours before my calling him. I woke him up, but he was sleepy enough, and I was drunk enough for neither of us to make any sense. Needless to say we didn't meet up.
So headed back inside, and we left that pub shortly after to head over to the Slip Inn (where Tony's girls said they'd be heading). The Slip Inn is on the other side of the city, and all the people walk too slowly, so Andrew and I stopped off for a Kebab half way. Mmmmm Kebab... Strangely Andrew and I beat Marty and teh rest to Slip Inn, and becase my phone battery had died, I had to borrow a phone off of a stranger to make the call. Lucky I know Marty's number by heart. Turns out they'd stopped at another club, so we just waited outside Slip Inn until they arrived. There was a $10 cover charge that Andrew and I managed to "slip" (haha) by when we first got there, but there was no way the 8 of us would get away without paying it. So we though "Fuck that," and headed down to cargo bar.
I don't know how long we stayed there, but we had at least one beer, and then decided to head home. After all, I had to go to Homebake the next morning.
We walked back to George Street, and Marty and Tony decided they wanted a Kebab. Having already had one, I decided to get KFC. BIG MISTAKE. The Twister I ordered must have been sitting there for > 30 minutes, and was one of the very worst meals I have ever eaten. Fucken pile o' crap.
After Marty finished his second Kebab (in that sitting), we headed to the buses. It was a long wait for the bus home, but there were a few idiot homies at the bus stop that managed to keep us amused by being generally stupid. We ran into someone from Uni (whose name we've never caught, but who we've seen in the bar many a time before), and he too was entertaining. We all fell asleep on the bus, but managed to wake up at the right moment, and were back at Marty's by dawn.
Damn, and I had to go to Homebake...

I was awoken by a phone call from Alex a short 3 hours later at 9:30am, informing me that he was already heading in and that he'd meet me in the city. So I got up, went to the toilet, nearly fell aslepp there. Went back to my couch, and went back to sleep. I woke myself up half an hour later and called Alex and told him I'd meet him later, and for him to go to Homebake without me for the time being.
So I slept a little longer (until Marty awoke). We talked about honours, about the ladies last night, about his lady in Antarctica (seriously, she's in Antarctica!!), about what has happend since we last met and generally shot the breeze.
Marty's Mum (Sue) arrived a little later with Bacon and Egg Rolls. Despite how tasty they were, it tookme sometime to eat mine.
I bummed around Marty's place for a few more hours, until Steve and his girl Nat (?) took Marty away for a BBQ. I then got a lift to the station from Sue, and I headed into Homebake (leaving my suit and bag at Marty's place).
Unfortunately I missed The Herd (I was too late), but I caught everyone else I gave a shit about. Because I was so buggered, Alex gave me a bit of this wonderful stuff I put in my water that gave me the energy I needed. Thanks Alex, I couldn't have done it without you!
The first decent (well, awesome actually) act were Wolfmother. So god-damn rockin it was amazing. Oh my God, his 'fro is massive! It must be a metre across. Totally awesome. So yeah, they rocked.
After they finished we headed over to the smaller stage to catch The Beautiful Girls. Luke and I (hold on, I'll fill you in on who was there. Alex, Ally, Jason (from Safe Installations), Paul (His mate), and Luke (one of Alex's mates)), were thirsty, and our water empty, so we went on a quest for free water.
On the way there, a pretty face flagged me down. I recognised this face, and the face of one of here two friends, but I didn't know from where. I assumed Uni, but I don't know who introduced us. And both were very familiar faces. So we talked for a while, danced a little while, but unfortunately Luke and I were still thirsty, so we headed off for that water. The queue for the bubbler was huge, and teh bubble low pressured, but we eventually got our water, and I headed back to this mysterious girl. We talked a little longer, and she recommended me seeing Wolf & Cub, who were playing next at the even smaller stage. Alex soon called me and told me that my beerwas getting warm, so I said goodbye and headed over to meet him.
I told him that I had had Wolf & Cub recommended to me, and that we should go see them. So when The Beautiful Girls finished up, we did just that. The teeny stage where Wolf & Cub were playing was near empty, so it was no surprise when that same pretty face flagged me down. So I stood with her and her friends for the show. Alex and Co. headed off to see Pnau, but Wolf & Cub were too damn good, the company too damn enjoyable, and the face too damn pretty for me to want to leave so soon. So I stayed for a while longer. My assumption that she was somehow tied to Uni proved correct; she was doing the same degree as me, only one year behind, and was actually about to go on the same NZ field trip that I went on in 2003 (and that I'll actually be in NZ when she is - only on the North Island rather than the South). She said we should catch up so I could give her some pointers on the assignment (being that I got a Distinction++). So I got her number. Not wanting to embarrass her or myself and admit to me not knowing her name, I sneakily handed over my phone with no name written in the name field. So she typed in her name and number, and I headed off to Pnau (after staying for longer than intended). Her name was Agata. That added some confusion. How do I pronounce that? or did she mis-type her name in my phone... shit... I knew whe would be at The Cat Empire, so I hoped we'd see each other again there.
Pnau were cool as feck (as was expected), but I didn't see Alex and Co. there. So I called them afterward, and we met up again. There was nothing to see until The Cat Empire, so we all bummed around doing nothing much, but having a fantastic time doing it.
I ran into Mark Terei at The Cat Empire, and we talked for a bit, but it was absolutely packed at The Cat, and he wanted room to dance, so he headed off shortly. Alex was having bongs in the mosh with an off-duty Cop standing next to him, and sharing the bongs with her (the cop's) friends. Funny. Unfortunately I didn't see Agata there.
So when The Cat finished up (no encore... grrr), we headed over to the Dirty Three because they were the only band playing other than the Finn Brothers (and they suck). The Dirty Three had a novel sound (drummer, bassist, violinist), and it was powerful to listen to, but the songs melded into one, and the novelty wore off. Why they were one of the last bands was beyond me. The Herd should have played then, not The Dirty Three. We all lost interest, and waited outside the tent where they were playing. And wiated. And waited. And waited for Luke to arrive. In the mean time Mark Terei called me and we talked for a bit before he headed home. We resumed wiating. We eventually called Luke and gave up waiting for him. We then made the long walk to Pitt St McDonalds for some munchables (having not eaten since the Bacon and Egg roll at Marty's).
Alex was getting the irrits, and wanted to go home, and so Did Ally and I. Jason headed off shortly after Maccas, but Paul and the rest of us went for a beer. Paul convinced us we were up for a game of pool and a Jagermeister, and we eventually obliged. We leftshortly after that though (much to Paul's disappointment). We headed back to Alex's,a nd I realised that the magic powder I'd added to my water had worked a little stronger than I realised because I kept talking. We eventually went to sleep and woke up at not too bad an hour (10ish maybe?).
Boggle called and wanted to go out that night, and I was keen for the idea. So I decided that this was a perfect oppurtunity to call Agata. So I did. Seeing that I never introduced myself, she was alittle confused when I introduced myself as "Simon." So a breif recall of the previous day was needed. Much to my dismay she was unable to go out that night (she stayed out much later than I did after Homebake, and also had to go home to Blacktown that day - she was staying at her brothers place in Surry Hills). Despite this dismissal, we talke for a good 15-20minutes, and agreed that we needed to catch up again before I left for NZ. Yay! I called Marty, but he couldn't make it out either. So I called Boggle back and we decided to meet at Mac Centre and buy some cheap (<$5) DVDs, then head back to his for beer and pizza. Tops. So I swung by Marty's to grab my stuff, and met Boggle and Mac Centre. Met up with Boggle, and we found some pearler DVDs @ an average of $2 each. Tops. Went back to his house, Brendan and Leanne came over (and there was also a brief visit from Monique), and we started watching The Howling III. NOt a movie that makes a great deal of sense, but it certainly served it's purpose and payed itself off. We also watched an OJ Simpson movie called Codename: Alexa. It was even worse. Overall A top night. The next night Brendan held a DVD night of the same nature, only this time with fried food rather than Salad. It too was a top night. I had to meet up with Alex the following afternoon to do a job in Cessnock, and decided to stay home that night (rather than go back down to Sydney with Alex). It turns out that I was meant to work the next day, and then Mum was actually driving to Newcastle with Peter the next day to pick up his car. This meant that there was actually no way for me to get to work. Another reason why I need my damn license. So the jobs had to be fucked around to accomodate this. Newcastle sucked arse. It was hot and boring, and it took hours for the fucking finance idiots to do what they said they'd done the day before. After 4 or 5 hours of waiting around, the finance guy informed us that the finance couldn't actually go ofrth today (despite them telling us that it was ready at 3pm the day before). Luckily the guy with Peter's car trusted us and let us take the car anyway and would just wit for us to send the payment. It took them another 4 or 5 days for it to go through after this. To say that they were fucking useless would be kind of me. So that day sucked more than most could. Peter's new car is sexxxy though. That was Wednesday. Thursday was Atomic Live at Fox Studios (which was, in essence, a geek convention... http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/atomiclive-blog.asp ). Boggle, Michael S, and I had been planning this for months. And Alex was going for his Motorbike training course that day, and Safe Installations wanted me to work in his place. I had to decline, and told them that I had told Mum the week before that Alex's license would clash with that convention. Despite this, Mum blamed me for not telling Simon (my Boss, her Brother, the man she works with EVERY day), and Grandad (the boss too) was pissed off at me for saying I couldn't work. Despite this I was still keen to go. So I stayed at Boggle's place the night before and we watched more Pete and Pete (I absolutely LOOVE Pete and Pete). The Geek Convention was very enjoyable, but the highlight was my photo with teh Orc and the Asus mug I got (a good mug too). We met a guy on the bus on the way who was a cool kid (only 16). Actually, the coolest thing was the WMD case Mod ( http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/atomiclive-gallery.asp?i=21 you can see the guy we met on the bus... he's the guy with the pony-tail at the bottom left of the pic). I'm kinda in one picture: http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/atomiclive-gallery.asp?i=55 I'm obscured by the guy in beige. You can see Boggle's head to the right of the guy-in-all-black's shoulder. Wow. We're totaly famous. Michael had to leave the convention by about 1:30pm for a job interview (which he subsequently got!), and Boggle and I gre bored of the convention by about 3pm (depsite door prizes being drawn at 5pm, we just couldn't see it all again for another 2 hours). So we went to teh nearest pub, which incidentally had free pool. Tops. Although we woudl have been pissed off if they charged us for the pool; the tables were ~1 foot lower than usual, the balls were bigger, and the tables were thinner and shorter too. There were also no marks on the table for the balls to sit on. Yeah crap. but Free! I had to go back to Grandad's that night becasue I was starting work at 7am the next day. Peter gave me a lift back to Grandad's but he didn't stay there (social responsibilities). So I checked my email, listened to music, played my DS, and eventually decided to call Agata. After priming myself for 50 or 10 minutes, I dialled her number. Her phone was switched off. I laughed at that. So I carefully worded an SMS showing my desire to meet up, and went back to my music. Grandad arrived shortly aftre, and I went to bed. Work wasn't too bad. All the jobs went off with near no troubles, and despite being called back or overtime, it wasn't a bad day. We had promised Jon that we would help him move back to Sydney that weekend. But because Mum had crashed her car, we cuold no longer tow our trailer (rental cars don't come with tow bars). Because we had promised him, and because he was relying on us, we headed down to Canberra anyway. We headed down late because we had things to do and didn't get down to Canberra until 10pm or something. Most of the Hotels were full, and the place we stayed at was shit, despite being expensive ($20 less than the intercontinental... we really should have stayed there). So Sunday involved us packing up Jon's stuff,a nd driving back home. Well kinda. I had to work Monday, so I once again stayed at Grandad's and headed in to work the next day. Jason called in sick, so we had to postpone one job,and couldn't do the job that we had postponed on Friday. Not well done Jason... But Agata messaged me that day saying that she was in Tasmania and would like to catch up :) I also worked Tuesday and Wednesday, but don't really remember anything much. Excpet that we did the jobs that were postponed. It was also Alex's 23rd birthday on Wednesday, and my Mate Michael S's 22nd on Thursday. Agata messaged me on Wednesday, and we agreed to meet up on Firday for dinner and a movie. That's a date isn't it? It was actually my first ever "first date." A little nerve racking... We had Alex's birthday dinner on Thursday, so I didn't get to Michael's party until a little later than most others. Michael's Party rocked my fucking socks off. Actually it rocked them off so hard that I sprained my ankle pretty bad. I was actually dancing, and not wanting to tread on anyone's toes (I'm such a good dancer), I took my shoes off. Only a minute or so after, I landed badly on my foot (the side of my foot) and fucken my ankle up. So I would have to go to my date with a fucked ankle. Neil was good enough to bandage it up for me. Beside that, the party was awesome, and wound down at about 4am. I slept on a chair. Linden woke me up at 9am or so, and wanted to take me back to her place so she could help with my ankle and give me some needed rest. She's good to me that girl. So I washed my clothes, had a shower and a rest, and hung out with Linden until it was time for my date (and for her to go off to Chatswood to see Harry Potter). I had an appifany that day that maybe I'd met Agata at Tree Of Life in Macquarie Centre. Jen's boyfriend drove me, and Agata was waiting for me on a bench outside the movies. we saw The Brothers Grimm. It was alright. Pretty average, but not terrible. I probably won't ever bother seeing it again, but it was better than, say, Legally Blonde or Final Fantasy. After the movie we talked for a few hours (no real silence), and it was confirmed that she used to work at Tree of Life at Macquarie. Agata ran into one of her friends, which I also recognised very well. Dammit. Where the hell DID I meet her?!?! She left and we kept talking, but 9pm came around and Agata had to catch her bus (her, like me, doesn't have a license), so we said our farewells. She said it was likely that we wouldn't see each other until I'm back from NZ, but expressed interest in seeing me then. I'm going to see if I can catch her on her lunch break tomorrow while I'm doing some Christmas shopping near her work. Anyway... So I stayed the night at Linden's place. Monique was over, and her friend Hannah (the barrel of energy) was coming over despite us all being tired. She brought with her a bottle of Champagne. A few hours later Monique left, and we eventually went to sleep. I kept my sore ankle elevated, and it felt a little better the next morning. It was what was planned for Saturday that pissed me off most when I sprained my ankle. Michael S, Michael KP, Alex, Denise and I were meant to be heading out to Gatecrasher at Home Nightclub for a night of drugs and dancing till dawn (and a little later). So me having a fucked ankle was was not a good thing - especially as we planned it months ago. Despite all this I was determined to make a go of it. I headed into the city witH Hannah and Boggle (Boggle coincidently had a birthday do on at Circular Quay that night, and Hannah lives in Newtown) for a few pre-night beers and a delicious hamburger. Hannah had a concert (where she sould be meeting Monique and Linden later), so when the time came closer for her to get there, we all headed off to our various destinations, a little pissed. Boggle left us when we got to the pub in order to make it to the birthday do on time, but Hannah and I enjoyed a few more drinks at the Three Wise Monkeys. I then met up with Ross and his Friend James, and Hannah left shortly after to get to her concert. Ross and James didn't stay long, as they had a party to go to, and only 1 hour of parking in the city. Shortly after I met up with Denise. Gods this post is long. And we headed toward Home (the club, that is). Alex wouldn't be getting there until after his concert finished, so we went to a pub for some drinks, and waited for the two Michaels to meet up with us. They were about an hour or more, but the time passed well as Denise is great company. When they got there it was only half an hour until Alex got there, and then we headed into Gatecrasher. Alex had the drugs, Michael the tickets, and the club the music. It was all we could do to dance. And dance we did. What a tremendous night it was. Met a few great people, bonded with those I knew,and dance my fucken arse off. Couldn't even feel my ankle for most of the night. The night ended at about 6:30am in the club, and we caught a train back to Michael KP's car at Gordon (sans Alex, who went home). We then headed back to Michael S's and just chilled there for a few hours before Michael KP and Denise left. I slep until about 3pm, and then we headed out to Hornsby for lunch (breakfast) and CD shopping. I eventually went over to Linden's to pick up my stuff, and was about to head off to the station to catch a train home when Monique called (Linden's house actually) and asked if she could drive me home. She was keen to come up. I'm not going to turn that offer down. So she drove me up, and spent the night here. We were meant to be organising as much as possible the next day, but all we ended up doing was buying her ipoo. Mum accidently left her paperwork at home, so we had to drive it down to her. We didn't get down to Sydney until late (my place has a habit of sucking time), so we didn't even get any of the things we wanted to get done in Sydney done. With the exception of buying a cheap FM transmitter of NZ - on the off chance that the rental cars didn't have tape players (we wanted to hook up our mp3 players). Monique got a bit surly (as she does after long drives), but we lived. I then met up with Mum, and I headed home again. What an adventure. So, I'm keen to see Agata tomorrow, but haven't yet called her to arrange it. I should do that after this. I also have to get Christmas presents for Mum and Peter tomorrow. So I'm hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Since my last post, Alex has since got his KTM 640 Lc4 2005 Supermotard Bike, and as impressive as it's name is, the bike itself is moreso. Very cool. What else? I think that's actually more than enough for this time around. I promise not to write this much ever again. I'm sure none of you read it. Until next update!

Listening to: Underworld - Everything, Everything (Album)

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Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Break down

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Back home.... A mammoth post ensues

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Still in Sydney.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

So much to tell you...

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