Boggle's 24th, a Meeting with Sophie, and an Overpriced CD.

EDIT: Photos added!
Fun!
Although things get a bit hazy toward the end...
Met up with Boggle at the blisteringly early hour of 4pm (what's a birthday party if the host isn't drunk by the time the guests arrive?), and started on the turps at Lord Nelson's. The wonderful thing about winter is that it means Nelson's Blood is on tap. I fucking love that beer. While Boggle and I were hoping to get a meal there, the kitchen was not yet open, so we grabbed a pork pie each... I could totally go a pork pie right now, actually... they were good. Served with Mustard and Relish. Mmmm. Yeah, I want one now. Dammit. Stoopid stuck at work.
Anyhow.
We left there after a pint and a pork pie to head to The Hero of Waterloo, which was to be the main destination of the night, and the meeting point for everyone else. Pints are tricksy things, y'know... I was close to drunk by the time Leah (sorry if I spelt that incorrectly...) arrived. So as Boggle and I were getting drunk quickly, and Leah was hungry, we decided to get some food. Both Boggle and I bought their Hero Beef Burger, and Leah a salad. Tasty burger, man. I like the Hero; good food, good music, good atmosphere. Just wish they had Lord Nelson's beer...
We ate and continued drinking, and started moving further into the realm of drunk.
More and more people arrived, but I don't so much remember the order in which they did do.
We met some cool random people; Italians and Campbelltownians among the memorable.
Actually, the guy from Campbelltown was pretty fucking funny. He was hyperactive and had a good sense of humour (even if quite often it was "at" not "with"). He reckoned John 5 (not the robot) was the best guitarist ever, and said this as if it was fact. He only said it because his brother said so, and he trusted his brother's opinion. Of course, this is the first time I've ever heard of him being an exceptional guitarist... needless to say, I don't believe him. He claimed that he was good at bluegrass, and bluegrass was the hardest style of music to play. Silly man.
But he was funny.
So by now, my memories are becoming hazy. I remember Leanne arriving. I remember leaving the pub. I remember going to one nearby (although I don't remember the name). I remember getting cocktails there (and a TASTY chocolate one). I remember falling off my chair because of my heel getting caught on the foot rest (heel + a chocolate cocktail sounds a little queer...). I remember seeing Boggle in a bin. I remember going to McDonalds. I remember ending up at The Brooklyn. I remember not enjoying it and feeling drunk. I remember leaving. I remember the bouncer not letting Boggle in because he had a bag. I remember insulting the bouncer because of it. I remember a cab trip home (but not hailing it). I remember the cabbie nodding off and drifting across lanes. I remember surviving, and being happy about it. I remember waking up, feeling like I was floating. I remember waking up a second time and feeling better.
But indeed, it was good fun.
Sophie contacted me that night. She's about to leave for England (maybe even left by now?), and we both wanted to meet up before she left. So we arranged to grab lunch the next day - so it was good that I felt better the second time I woke up.
We met up at Macquarie Centre, and had Japanese. Very tasty. It was good to see her again, and I'm envious of her trip to England. I wish I could be travelling again. I really, really, really want to go travelling again.
Saturday night was the Cracker Carnival at Leanne's old Primary School (Murray Farm Public). It was cool. We took a lot of photos, and they too will be posted to flickr. Link coming soon. It was cool to have be around a carnival atmosphere again, and fireworks are always cool.
The next day we were to meet up with Pete (Talan) down at Newport, as I haven't seen him in some time. Mum was up in the Hunter, but she arrived by about 7:30pm and we had Thai with her. Tasty Thai down at Newport, but their noodles aren't as good as Sweeney's or Chat Thai. Also, my new Sopor Aeternus CD (and LP) was down there waiting for me.
I'm a little disappointed with it. Not worth the $100 they charged (for the CD alone). Because the site I bought it off was in German, I couldn't get a decent description of what it contained (despite using online translators), but looking at their previous bonuses (grave dirt, communion wafers, funeral wreaths, tshirts, patches, posters, DVDs among others, I figured it would be something super cool.
Nope.
It's in a nice box, and it's in a nice format (large, maybe 20cm x 20cm) with a nice booklet. But the bonus was a signed card (which, despite being cool, I already have one of) and a manga comic of the album. Whoopee. Well, the comic is big, but I don't like Manga. Here is what Babel Fish tells me it came with:

The CD comes in, a stable Deluxe limited on 2000 copies box with 6-seitigen Digipak in the 7"(!)-Sonderformat, 40-seitigem Booklet of inclusive all texts, extensive illustrations and exclusive photos, 112-seitigem Sopor Aeternus Manga Comic and one of Anna Varney personally by hand coined/shaped and marked dear map.

Dear map? Coin? Those where the the things that intrigued me. The coin is a stamp in the corner of the signed card, and the dear map is the card. Shit. $100 of terrible value. Dammit. The last box set was heaps better. I haven't really listened to the album yet, as I wasn't really home yesterday to listen to it, and I forgot to rip it to my mp3 player before I left for work on Monday morning. I also didn't bring my iriver to work today. So tomorrow I shall have a listen. I hope it's really good. I might add I got number 1999 (2000 would have been cooler, but 1999 is still pretty cool)
I also bought the album as a twin LP set (which was only $50, and limited to 500 copies! Where's the logic? - I got number 147(?) maybe?), and as is the usual deal when vinyl comes through the post, it was damaged, so that was disappointing. I actually ordered the vinyl because I'm quite fond of vinyl, and it had a different cover - because of this different cover, I thought there would be different artwork, but no, it's an identical booklet to the CD. And while in transit, the booklet tore away a little from the staples that hold it to the sleeve. This on top of the dents in the corners makes me a little unhappy. Grrr... But it came with two posters (which means I now have three Sopor Aeternus posters now... hmmm, I don't think I need three...). So, a disappointing parcel.
On a happier note, the adaptor that I bought to hook up Peter's laptop HDD to a USB port works a charm! I tried it when I met him at Newport, and moved his old music and photos off of his broken laptop, and onto his new one. So that's good.
I should cover the events of today and last night, but I think I've typed enough for one post, so I will leave you at this, and add the events when I get home tonight, or maybe even tomorrow at work (as this lack of work will probably continue).