Is it just me, or does this song NOT appear on the Triple J Hottest 100 voting form? WTF? It’s on their Hottest 100 Album, but you can’t vote for it? “Boo!” I say.

It’s been a good weekend - the highlight for me was SLC Brunch at Harvey’s, New Farm. Regular readers may recall I had mixed feelings about the last time I ate there - it was much average compared to how I recollect it. Well, yesterday it was good. Very good. I had their big breakfast, almost had their pasta salad, which also looked good.

I spent yesterday afternoon watching the cricket. I love watching the cricket in the aircon on hot summer days. Luckily it was a sellout in Brisbane, so it was televised in Brisbane as well.

On Friday, I had dinner with M&D and some friends of theirs at the Foo, which was great, as always. Saturday morning I drove M&D to the airport, and then bounced around at their place for a while before catching The Producers at the movies with Woo. Obviously, it wasn’t as good as it was live … and even worse still than it was live on Broadway, but it wasn’t bad. They cut at least one song - “I Used to Be the King” - but it still lasted around 2 and a half hours. The real shock was that stupid Rent aka “Everybody has Aids” is being made as a movie. Whoop de friggin’ do. I hope noone wastes their money on it.

Saturday arvo, Glara came around and killed some time, and Charlotte amused us with her antics, especially her Captain Feathersword impression. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: Cute as balls.

Hello peeps. I had a really nice night at Rob and Nadia’s last night - it had been ages since I saw them last, so it was good to finally catch up, and we all had a lot of stories to tell. Rob cooked up a storm - we had Thai-style prawns, bbqed baramundi on a Morrocan risotto with baby spinach salad, and stone fruits for desert. I can never compete with that when they next come over to my place!

Been thinking more and more about the office space - I think it really needs to happen in some form. Most likely, I think I’ll continue to live here, and get office space somewhere close by.

Blacky’s home sick today, so I’m trying to steer clear, so I don’t get what he’s got. Our first sodastream soda tube ran out today, so I’ll post soon as to how much it costs to replace. I have to go to a Kmart and replace it apparently.

Hope everyone’s having a good day - would be nice to have SLC this weekend if people are interested.

Well, yesterday (Wednesday) was Sam’s 21st birthday. It was a busy day for me. I woke up and went to Officeworks to sort out the mess with the keyboards, before continuing on to Dean’s. He had some business things for me to look at, so I did that for a little while. I returned home, and did some postage for Dean, to find Ben and Renae at home. They took off and had Maccas, as a special pseudo-grandma treat, while I bummed around at home.

I seem to have blanked out the few hours in between then, as when I next arose, Berny and Karen were here. They were planning foo for tea. I however, had different plans.

The previous night, Rowena called me to concoct a cunning surprise for Sam’s birthday. As far as he knew, he was going to Dean’s for poker, before continuing on to the casino. This worked to our advantage, but posed a problem too, as we had to somehow get from Sam’s @ Cannon Hill, to Row’s @ Chapel Hill, bypassing Dean’s, which you will find is virtually DIRECTLY in the middle of the two. It wasn’t going to be easy.

I’d played poker with Sam and Andrew on prior evenings, so thought Andrew might be an option to involve in making it happen. He lives in the Jindalee area, so is close enough to Row’s place to inadvertently get very close.

So after driving around the south side, trying to get to Andrew’s place without actually knowing where we were going at first, we finally arrived. Normally he drives everywhere, but we organised a spiel that his car was dead or something or other, and hence I would pick him up.

The next part of the story is poetry. As if by reflex, I turned off the Centennary Highway onto Moggil Road, (which is the exit for Rowena’s) and then promptly got “flustered” because I didn’t know where I was. Andrew played the card perfectly, and instructed me to “turn left” to get back onto the motorway. Getting back on the motorway is a piece of cake, and virtually impossible to miss, (and I knew where I should’ve gone) but I “accidentally” turned left a few streets too early, which conveniently took us RIGHT past Rowena’s house. The gem of it is, the fact that we’d driven around aimlessly all afternoon let the whole act slip right under Sam’s radar.

Sam even commented “we’re going to go right past Row’s place…”, which I quietly diffused. The look on his face, and the tone of voice as he asked, “what’re you doin’? what’s goin’ on?” as I pulled into their driveway was priceless. He was truly got.

We had a lovely pool party, and despite the generous ammount of egg on his face, Sam had a great birthday too, at least I hope so.

Holla, my peeps, and happy Tuesday. I’ve been working hard lately, because people wake me up after working late, and I can’t get back to sleep. So, I work. One thing’s for sure: the March US trip is not going to be as fruitless as the Barcelona trip was.

I need to speak with Lisa in the US, too … see if I can stay at her place and get stuff delivered there. I’m thinking of printing 300 CDs and 1000 beach balls, because my theme is kinda “beachy” so beach balls (printed with our name, website and phone number) are a good promotional tie-in, I think.

Lara Day here at work today, so I have to be on my best behaviour. Had a nice night with Glenn and Lara on Saturday, while everyone else was partying/out of town/whatever. Had fish from the place over their new road, and it was quite good indeed. The salad was especially good - how long have I searched for greek salad without the stupid lettuce! Ah, bliss.

I’ve been thinking (and I’m still thinking for those I’ve discussed with before) about getting a proper office to work from. Biggest pro is getting some level of normality back into my home life. Biggest con is the cash I’d have to outlay, which would otherwise be mine. Would I be better off, perhaps, moving out, renting my apartment out and getting a bigger place? I’d buy a bigger place (ie a house) if I could afford it, but who can afford real estate by themself these days? BTW, does anyone reading this want to buy half a house with me?

There’s a new photo on the ChucklerCAM too - this is from when the gang went to Thai Phoenix with Rob B while he was back in the country. Great night, and a really nice place - their warm beef salad is fantastic. We had Baskin’s afterwards, too, which was refreshing in the summer heat.

Hi all,

A fair bit’s happened since last entry. Bryce came home on the 22nd, and then there was Christmas, which was huge. We always have the whole family over for the day. We start the day just our immediate family, then the hoarde come over after church and what-not for lunch. We had 20 people around the table for dinner which is a pretty tight squeeze, especially when you factor in how much is eaten at Christmas.

So after Christmas, we recovered for a few days, including a visit to Gary and Romaine’s, which I unfortunately couldn’t hack the pace, going home with a migraine. That kinda sucked, but, ya roll with the punches. The migraine interfered with my plans to drive up to Mapleton following mum and dad, stay the night, and then drive home, so my plans were put back a day.

The next day, Bryce drove up to mapleton with me. I’d decided to stay up there instead of coming back the next day, and Bryce would return after lunch. He dissapeared without warning after realising he had a doc’s appointment in Brisbane. He returned a little later to stay the night, much to our surprise. He left the next day.

I did a myriad of cool things while up there, as I always try to. The first day was a giant swing, which you’re harnessed into, and upon releasing a rope, you swing out over a chasm. I’d done something similar before, so to spice it up, I did an upside-down release, which was a bit exciting.

Also did some rock climbing, a raft-building competition/race which was hilarious good fun, plenty of swimming and bomb-diving and a bit of orienteering.

I spent New Year’s there, which was less than spectacular :tongue: but still nice. We walked to an empty lot on the side of the range and tried to see the fireworks going off along the coastline. We could see some, but only barely.

Monday I hit the wall after doing everything I possibly could, so I slept all day. I was shagged. The next day, fortunately, I was tip-top again, in time for orienteering.

I must admit, by the time it was time to go home, I was ready for it. People started leaving, and after a while you just feel reay to leave. Perhaps a day earlier would’ve been better, but oh well.

So since then I’ve been a lazy lazy bugger. Have barely one anything.

I did go out and buy a new keyboard and mouse the other day though, at a bargain price. If any words appear to be missing the “D”, it’s because this new keyboard has a dodgey D key. Might take it back.

Hurrah! Those of you playing at home will have perhaps noticed the all-new-and-improved chuckler.org layout. There’s still some work to be done, that’s for sure, but at least things are now starting to come together and look good. I just figured it was time for a change. The upshot is that anyone who was subscribed to the old blog might not be subscribed to the new blog. I’m not sure about that.

I was up super early today to take our dogs to the vet - don’t worry, they’re fine, thanks for asking - it’s just that we’re getting their teeth cleaned, as a much resented christmas present. Also, Chaz needed his claws trimmed, and he hates it too much for us to do while he’s awake, so we’ve asked the vet to do it while they’re asleep.

I also have my new prescription lenses in what used to be my sunglasses. Now I just need Godfrey to furnish me with my repaired regular pair, and these new sunglasses will become sunglasses once again.

Mum and I had breakfast today at the Aspley Hypermarket, which was outstanding value, with scrambled eggs and toast for $2.90. While we were there, we noticed Coke Zero had been released, so bought a few cartons and took one to Berny and Karen’s.

So yeah, today’s been busy already, so forget about the last week. I had an eye test, a visit with a surgeon for surgery I’m having in April, and I’m thinking of getting office space. Hope everyone had a good week - chuckler.org will be getting back to normal broadcasts shortly.

Happy New Year to you all, from Squinty the Pirate