Hey everyone, I’ve had an awesome weekend, hope you did too. Friday night was a lazy night for me - I’d been to the butcher’s earlier that day and picked up some meat for the week, and on a whim decided to also grab some marinated chicken wings. I mean, these things are like $3/kilo so you can’t beat them for price, even if they are mostly bones. So I popped them onto a baking tray and they came out a treat. Watched Jamie Oliver while devouring chicken wings. My dogs would’ve been so jealous!

Saturday I was up suprisingly early, mostly due to my early night Friday night. I really felt like a good breakfast, so I succumbed to this idea that I’d been processing for a brunch/hors doeuvre type finger food and see how it turned out. You know those Melba toasts that you can buy in a packet? A bit like inch-square croutons. I lined a pan with those, and piped a swirl of tomato paste onto it, then a piece of basil and a square inch of thinly-sliced cheese. Bake at 180 until cheese slightly browns. How did they turn out? Fantastic, actually. They would’ve been better if there’d been a little something on top of the cheese for presentation … I was thinking a small square of bacon would do nicely. Suggest something else if you can think of anything.

Later in the day, Glenn and Lara (or Glara as they’re also known) and Kristian visited. We supervised Kristian in the pool while enjoying a few cold beverages. Glenn tempted me for a flutter in the TAB, which didn’t work out the way I’d hoped. I picked Lions to win by less than 39.5 points, and Storm to beat the Bulldogs, which also didn’t happen. Stupid gambling. Oh, and there was this horse that we’d been told was a “dead cert” but apparently everyone else thought so too - $1.10 for a win and $1 for a place. Who’d bother? It won, by the way.

There were loose plans for watching the football that evening, but Blacky accepted an invitation to a last-minute fishing trip, so plans got simpler. Glara invited me to their casa to watch the game, and Lara made dinner. I brought drinks and desert (no wine, because Lara’s not drinking it at the moment). Glenn and I ended up opening a bottle in the second quarter anyway, so next time I’ll take wine, and bugger the consequences. Yay Lions won, but this is bad news for Bek’s September Beach Party, as it was slated for the same day as the AFL Grand Final. I didn’t like our chances of making the final, so it wasn’t a big deal, but now that we’ve made it, we might as well watch it. Expect to see a modified invitation to Bek’s party soon.

Sunday, I made eggs benedict for brekkie (quite a gourmet weekend, I guess) and caught up on some CD burning. Lara was having a tupperware cocktail party which I was super-excited to be going to, so in preparation, I went to the pub next door to use the ATM. I got sidetracked at the pool tables, and after a couple of woeful games, went back to the apartment to cool off. Hot air rises, and in the pub next door, it seems to rise even quicker.

The tupperware party was a treat. The tupperware representative’s name was Tuppence, which made for some mirth afterwards. She made Copha Cherry Ripe slice which we got a little sick eating, especially Brett and I, who both agreed that boys have no self control. I bought some great stuff, but I’ll tell you about it when it arrives. The only disappointment? The fact that I went over budget buying what I wanted. I didn’t need the cash, as the credit card options were just so easy. /sigh. At least I drank a lot of champagne.

Bek and Brett were kind enough to have driven me to the party, and home, so I invited them to stay for dinner. I whipped up pasta with a bottle of the fabulous italian tomatos I bought from the deli last week, and the marinated capsicum also played a part. Another bottle of wine shared over dinner left me quite sleepy.

I’d been waking up recently with quite a sore back, and I was blaming the bed. That evening while lying umcomfortably, I noticed that bed seemed to sag on the right hand side. I soon discovered that one of the wheels on the base had fallen off, and this bowing effect may’ve been hindering my sleep. Sweaty work, especially in the heat, removing the wheels and base (and my bed is now, like, 10 cm lower, “fully lowered and sick, bro”) but I slept better last night. I’m almost at the stage where I need a new bed anyway, but hopefully this will wrong another few weeks out of it.

Whoa, I wrote a lot today.

Collin and Stella made their way through the turnstiles, found Stacey and Gavin and they all had a good laugh about Jenny and Darryl’s sudden exit.

‘So they were going at it while he was driving, eh?’ asked Gav.

‘Sure looked like it’ said Stella, ‘I think she was having a bit of trouble with the gearstick though, if you know what I mean’

Their fits of laughter were interrupted by an announcement blaring over the speakers.

‘Ladies and Gents’, the track announcer was saying, ‘if you take a look at your race guide for this evening, you’ll notice that Race 5 is listed as the WD40 Maiden’s handicap. We’ve got a special surpise for you all tonight, as Race 5 isn’t really a race, it’s actually a surpise wedding. I’ve got young Warren Davidson here with me at the moment. He’s recently proposed to his girl Debbie and tonight he’s surprising her with a wedding. Now, we’ve got a surprise for Warren as well, because we’ve managed to get Angry Anderson to perform the ceremony and also give us a couple of songs. We do, of course, have to make sure the track is cleared for Race 6, so let’s get this wedding happening’.

‘Bloody hell’, said Gav, ‘I was sure no. 8 - Bridesmaid’s Drunk Uncle was a shoe-in for Race 5….though come to think of it, all these flamin’ nags had strange names like Teary Mother, Eager Groomsman, Shotgun Wedding an’ that’

‘I wonder if that’s hairdresser Debbie of bakery Debbie’, said Stacey, ‘I went to school with both of ‘em, but I can’t remember which one had the hots for Waz’

‘We’ll find out soon enough’, said Collin, ‘looks like they’re just about ready to start. Look, there’s old Angry….I reckon he’s polished his head for the ceremony, if it was any more reflective I’d have to put me sunnies on.’

Once Jen was in full swing it was pretty obvious to everyone, most of all Darryl, what her intentions were - subtlety wasn’t her specialty. After some whispering and giggling and a notably long absence to get the next round of drinks, it was clear to Gav and Stacey that they had been abandoned by their respective dates.

“So do ya always get your own way like this?”, Stacey smirked at Gavin.

“You can flamin’ talk! You can’t tell me you were seriously wantin’ to hook up with that Galah! He’s as slimy…. as something very bloody slimy!”. With that, the two of them burst into fits of laughter and struggled to contain themselves as Darryl and Jenny approached them with drinks, Jenny looking very dishevelled and Darryl looking very happy with himself.

“The young lady here isn’t feeling the best so I’m going to do the gentlemanly thing and give her a ride home”, Darryl managed to say without making eye contact with either Gav or Stace.

“Yeah… a ride”, Gav didn’t have time to finish before Stacey’s elbow jabbed into his ribs.

“Ok then Daz, thanks for the dinner n that, hope you’re feelin’ better soon Jen”, Stacey was still struggling to keep a straight face.

Collin and Stella walked towards the entrance of the track just in time to see Darryl’s ‘78 Fairmont drive away. “Crikey, I’m sure that was Jenny pressed up against Daz”, Stella pointed out to Collin.

Collin laughed, “Flamin’ heck that mongrel moves fast”.

How good are Fridays? I got in this morning to find the phone ringing and ringing, which is a little unusual, and was greeted by a US customer ringing in to report a bug. Poor guy, I wonder how long he’d been ringing.

So Leyton and I had lunch yesterday, and then afternoon tea at work a little later on. I believe that lunch is also scheduled for today, but maybe I dreamt it. I’m notoriously unreliable when it comes to things like that.

So I bailed on soccer last night, and went to M&D’s where Bryce and I watched a VCD, the name of which I cannot reveal, lest everyone pay me out for being such a geek. Alright, it was the first episode of the new series of Enterprise that screened in the US last week. Happy?

I ate what may be dodgy ham on my ham sandwiches this morning - I didn’t get it from the butcher, as I didn’t want to bother him for two measly slices, so I got it from the bakery’s sandwich bar instead. It may’ve been bad, and I may die because of it, but cest la vie.

I’ve got a lot to do today before the weekend bites in, so I’ll sign off now and talk with you again after the weekend. Ciao!

Oh, man, I’ve been here for ages, but I knew there was something I forgot .. can you believe that this is the first time I’ve actually forgotten to update my website, as opposed to thinking about it but not for a variety of reasons. I actually forgot. Must’ve been due to the fact that I played squash with Edward last night, and got royally whipped, but had fun.

Tonight I’m playing soccer, or at least, I hope I am, and this afternoon, Edward heads down south for two weeks and I am left with running the show here at work.

The week can’t end fast enough for my liking … this weekend will be great. I must watch the Lions game on Saturday, and Lara’s thing on Sunday afternoon … so far there’s nothing planned earlier than early-afternoon. I think I’ll even turn my phone off to secure the laziness.

Back at the track, Gav’s plan was going down a treat…half the time at least. The girls were very competitive, but the problem was they couldn’t decide which bloke they were fighting over. If Stacey started talking to Darryl, Jen would come over and giggle in his ear. Alternatively, if Jen and Gav were getting close, Stacey would go and intervene.

Jen didn’t really care if she ended up with Gav or Daz, but there was no way she was letting Stacey make the decision for her. ‘I’m not gonna be stuck with that scrubber’s leftovers’, Jen thought to herself, ’so I just need to choose which one of these blokes is worthy of me attention’. She looked at Daz, oozing the sophisticated charm that comes with living in outer suburbia for 20 years. Her eyes started at his mullet, with his soft silky locks, shorn sides and slighly spiky fringe, where his hair gel was waging a war with the remnants of his previous man-perm. They then moved down to the open collar of his best hawaiian shirt, where the curly tufts of chest hair poked out from behind the jungle of gold chains. She didn’t spend much time on the beer gut, instead moving quickly down to his black skintight jeans and his tooled leather belt with a Harley Davidson buckle. ‘He sure is a package’ she concluded.

Jen had a quick glance over at Gav and it didn’t take her long to relegate him to second place. ‘Sure he might be a bit fitter’, she thought, ‘and he’s probably still got all his own teeth…but he just doesn’t stack up in the charm stakes. I reckon this Daz might be a bit flush with the cash too - he’s definitely the pick of this litter’.

Now that she had made up her mind, it was time for Jen to make her moves….

Stella ran upstairs to get changed into something a bit nicer since it was Ladies Night and all, besides she was a little embarrassed that Collin had seen her unprepared. She realised as she got into her room that she was wearing a black bra under a white tank top. “Crikey, very classy Stell”, she muttered to herself. She hurriedly changed into her favourite stone wash skirt and off the shoulder knitted top and started to apply make up.

Collin took the opportunity to have a bit of a look around. He was glad to see a family photo that allayed all fears regarding Stella’s mother, ‘Jeez, some stock this family’s breedin’ from’, Collin thought to himself. As Collin took in the warm feeling of Stella’s family home, he knew right then that this was the kind of life he wanted. Collin had never had much of a family life and until now, looking at the brown velour lounge and imitation wood grain furniture, he hadn’t known what he was missing. He could certainly see a future with Stella, who knows, maybe they’d a have a fibro house as nice as this one some day.

Stella ran downstairs, much more confident now that she had adequate amounts of blue eyeliner in place. “C’war Stell, you look ace”, Collin felt his heart thumping in his chest. “How’d a bozo like me end up with a…. girlfriend… like you?”, Collin hoped he hadn’t been to presumptuous but he liked the way that sounded and couldn’t help but grin.

“You deserve me just fine Col”, Stella smiled back.

He took her hand and they made their way out to the Kingy. Collin filled Stella in on the situation down at the track, they wondered about what they might find when they got there.

Family night was pretty good - Mum had made pizzas, and although I’d had pizza the night before, there’s something about home-made pizzas that make them not count as pizza. You don’t need to drink 100L of water to counteract an incredibly dry mouth, you don’t wake up with a hangover regardless of whether you’ve been drinking with said pizza or not. You can just enjoy it with no unpleasant side effects.

Bryce and I murdered a few games of pool after dinner. It was a shocker. He won the first, I won the second, and then he clinched the decider.

I taped The Agency, so I can’t comment on whether it sucked or not yet. I have a good feeling about it though.

Tonight I’m going to be playing squash, which I haven’t done for ages, so we’ll see how that turns out. I hurt my ankle by slipping on some loose carpet last night but it feels ok, I guess.

Fortunately for Collin, Stella had given him her address when they made plans to go to the drive-in together, so it was a bit easier to track her down this time. It wasn’t until he pulled up though, that he remembered she still lived with her parents.

‘Flaming heck’, he thought, ‘I’m not ready to meet her oldies just yet….though it might be a good chance to get a look at her Mum to see how Stella’s gonna turn out in a few years’.

Col took a moment to run his fingers through his hair and pick some assorted dirt off his boots before he walked nervously up to the front door. Stella had been watching him the whole time and opened the door just as he landed on the doorstep.

‘Cripes Stel, you just about gave me a coronation…or whatever they call a heart attack nowadays. I was just getting meself psyched up to meet your Old man…uh, I mean your Dad….sorry Stel, I’m as toey as a roman sandal when it comes to this ‘meet the parents’ caper.’

‘Don’t worry Col, me folks aren’t home - it’s darts night down at the Royal Albert pub. What can I do ya for?’

‘Geez Stel…I’m not really sure why I’m here’, Col stammered, ‘I was just down at the trots with Gav and Jen and Stace and Darryl and found meself a bit lost. There’s all sorts of scheming going on there, and it just made me realise how glad I was to have a found a sheila like you’.

‘Aw Col’, Stella blushed, ‘If you were any sweeter there’d be a swarm of bees following ya around. Tell ya what - why don’t we head back into the trots and show em how the other half live?’

As of this morning, my car loan is fully paid off. Congratulate me, I’m stoked.

Oh also, tonight, replacing The West Wing is a show called The Agency which looks pretty darn good. I’d tape it if I were you.