Listen up ladies …. poker is off. I know this is disappointing, but it just has to be this way - there’s too many last minute cancellations, and it’s not really worth doing with 5 people. Berny is keen, but unavavilable Monday. Same deal with Steve - both suggested Wednesdays work better, which was the day we always had last year. So, at the risk of another poor showing, I’m going to make one more try for a Wednesday, after I get back from America.

Great weekend though … full blog entry on this topic a bit later. I feel bad for bailing on Naomi’s party, but I was far too drunk to go anywhere from the Saturday I had - I passed out at 7:30pm and woke the next morning at 11am. Whoa.

Sunday was a really nice day too - was good to see y’all for cake.

24 should be this week, Brek and Leyton if you’re interested. Let’s say … Wednesday? No poker this week to clash with that schedule.

Well, my review of the birthday dinner was that it went great - I feel awful that as I left my apartment I forgot Glenn’s present, but I was just too self-absorbed to remember it. Woo, Rob & Nadia, Glara + Charlotte, Brek, Blacky, Leyton and I pretty much had the restaurant to ourself. The beef salad was again, awesome, but I was suprised how good the duck red curry was. Delicious. I had a lovely haul of presents. Thanks everyone for coming - pics to come soon.

Oh, remind me to blog the poker scam story. Hilarious!

Alright, so I’ve got a busy busy weekend coming up … and I need to write some of this stuff down so I don’t forget. Today is the new “Brenden Day” who is replacing Lara since her brain put all her cognitive power into fetus-growing. :p I jest, I jest. Rob Wilson is coming over today to leech my skills for a website he’s doing. I jest, I jest.

Saturday is bbq at Glara’s during the day, and I’m going to make an appearance at my cousin Naomi’s MASH-themes 18th. Leyton is bringing me a scrubs mask and a head-thing, so I’ll be going as a doctor. I think non-army scrubs are blue, so I’ll just wear blue and hope nobody notices.

Sunday, hopefully we’ll get a group together for Adam Hills final show at QUT? 7:30pm, tickets are around $30, I think. Brek was interested, I’m interested … anyone else? I have an engagement for Mongo’s going away party Sunday afternoon, so I need to keep that in mind.

There are now two episodes of 24 to catch up on, also. And I’m going to see the Umbillical Brothers on Thursday the 2nd March.

I am just about to head out the door, but I gotta blog this real quick:

Blacky noticed that Adam Hills is performing in Brisbane tonight till Saturday … anyone interested in going? He thinks it’s at QUT Gardens Point.

Another day older, and deeper in debt. At least, if you believe Merle Travis, Johnny Cash and a bunch more artists who’ve been flogging this tune since the 1950s.

Slept poorly last night - and this morning, was awoken by Leyton who came to sleep here in between lectures and what-not. It’s the Ultimate Lara Day here today too … we’re finally rid of her. She’s moving on to bigger and better things, we’re moving in another direction, we’re downsizing the operation, we’re letting her go, and so on, and we’re getting Brenden in to take care of operations.

I’m a bit reflective today - turning 27 tomorrow, and here I am in a worse position than I was last year. I’m tired too, so that doesn’t help proceedings … and I’m starving. Part of the reason I think I’m so tired is the war in my mind to get junkfood and prozac myself to sleep.

I am looking forward to tomorrow, though, in some sick way. It’s the one day of the year I get to do whatever I want. I think I’ll kill Gretel Kileen, since I’ll be untouchable and I hate her so. Or maybe I’ll just laze around doing nothing, but how will I tell the difference from any other day? Taking care of business.

Hello one and and all, and happy Monday. My weekend was very *very* quiet but enjoyable none-the-less.

Friday evening, Leyts and Blacky were doing something at Dreamworld, so I was at a loose end. Fortunetly, so were Brek, and they invited me around for tea. Luckily, Carmen had come over during the week to my place to print her thesis on my printer, and gave me a nice bottle of red for my trouble, which I took to dinner. It was lovely .. that Brett’s quite the chef. We had coffee at Park Road afterwards, which just went to show how hot it was outside.

Saturday I went back to M&D’s and bludged around all day. Sunday was much of the same, and now I’m officially back at my place.

Wednesday, shall we sasy 6:30pm? Sounds good to me.

It’s been near on 3 weeks since I last wrote on here, and I can’t even recall what’s really gone on in that time. A fair bit, which is why I suspect.

After the inspiring events at the Australia day party, I’ve decided I’m going to get into flying remote control gliders. No, just kidding - but only about the inspiration. I helped a mate install a stove at his house, and then he invited me to watch him fly his glider with some mates of his. They were dog-fighting and knocking each other out of the sky and generally having a splendid time so, I want in.

Jake came “home” on the 5th, and stayed at our house for 3 days. It was as if he’d never left, cos we were straight into it with idiotic and hair-brained schemes - who’d have thought eh?. We saw Narnia, and visited heaps of people, as well as turning an old fridge that we stole off a roadside junk pile into an esky. It needs some completion, but is mostly there. So he flew out on the 8th. I’m sure mum and dad were glad to see us separated and the whirlwind we create downsize intoa tropical storm.

Sam and Rowena had a combined 21st birthday party on the 11th, which was awesome. Beach themed party with a spit roast. They got 1.5 cubic metres of sand for some of their yard and around the pool, and it was awesome. There were about 90 people, and everyone had a nice time I became photographer for the night cos nobody else had a camera.

The next morning, quite early, I flew to Rocky. It was one of those little propeller planes, and despite arriving at the airport as they were making final calls for checkin, I got an exit row seat, which was also right next to the landing gear. I had a great view of everything that was going on. The flight was only slightly longer than a jet, but the intimate flight surroundings was delightful, and the time went quickly.

Rocky is hot. First semester of 2004 I learned why - the axis of rotation of the Earth makes the Tropic of Capricorn the closest point to the sun in the summers. I met Jake and his dog at the airport and we immediately began scheming. Jake wanted to make a tennis ball launcher for his dog, so we stopped by the dumpshop to buy some supplies. We made several trips back and forth in our quest to build a trebuchet. And I’ll leave it at that - this is getting long, and will only get longer if I ellaborate.

So now I’m back. I’ve been hurriedly organising my passport which unfortunately expired over 12 months ago, so I have to go through a bit of hoop-jumping to get it all done again, but It should be all good.

Uni starts in a few days, so I’ve gotta email all the unit coordinators regarding America, and will see what happens.

As a public service for anyone who doesn’t routinely watch programs on the ABC, I’m pleased to announce that the ABC will begin screening the fabulous “The West Wing” starting Thursday 23rd Feb. Also, on Parky this weekend are the guys from Little Britain. Looks to be an interesting one.

Things are going well. Callun is coming to America with me, so that’s good. He’s back from Rocky tomorrow, and then I’ll share the Mum-caring-for with him as well as Dad.

Man I’m looking forward to the birthday … both the Wednesday night Thai drama, and the Saturday bbq. I was thinking Glenn, (you’re probably reading this) I would bring meat and cake if you guys could bring salad and rolls? I will also bring at least one carton of something boozy. It’s gonna be cool.

Oh, and if people were wondering about the wierdness of the timing with poker in a week and a half, that was a mistake, I meant this Monday coming, but since we’re advertised now, let’s make it happen on the 27th. Commence planning, peeps. With all the practice I’ve had, I’m going to hand you your ass on a plate.

I was chatting with Steve today, who was lamenting the loss of our regular poker night, that he played a couple of games of before the interest dwindled. That’s crazy, I mean, think about it. Some of us have resorted to playing online in lieu of these games, and the rest of us complain that the poker’s no longer around. Well, this ends HERE.

Next Wednesday’s bad because we’re off for birthday din-dins at Thai Phoenix. Someone should get numbers and book that, by the way. :tee hee hee:

Ok, so … next poker night will be on Monday 27th. How’s that for everyone?

Hey peeps. Things are good - airconditioners are installed, and today and electrician comes out to hook them up. Life is sweet.

It took a fair while to do, though - they arrived around 11:30am, and finished at about 5pm. Fortunately Leyton brought lunch, so in between bouts of them hammer-drilling into the walls, we watched Arrested Development.

I visited Mum last night - apparently she is going home today, and I too am making my way to Chez Stafford for the next few weeks. I’ll be back at the Gabba periodically to enjoy my new aircon, and take care of business that can’t be taken care of from there.

I should explain the reason for yesterday’s post being titled “Ball Bag”. We were laughing on Sunday night remembering how Reggie from Big Brother pronounced it on the show one night. Insert your own impression here. Anyway, next morning, things were normal, until I’m showing the air con installers the still-in-box airconditioner, which I only then notice have “Ball Bag” graffitied all over the box. They didn’t mention it, and neither did I.

Lara Day today - well … half day - and next week we’ve decided will be her last week. Ah, the end of an era. I hope Brenden bitches about his personal life during the day, or things will get quite boring!

Today is a very exciting day for me. Airconditioning is finally being installed in my bedroom. Ah, happy, sweet, sweet day.

Not a bad weekend just gone - Friday night I took care of some TT stuff and got woken up early Saturday morning. I visited Mum in hospital on Saturday. Of course, I went to the wrong hospital first because I’m an idiot, but eventually I found my way.

I was bored Saturday afternoon, but that special kind of bored where you can’t possibly bring yourself to do any house work. Eventually I organized Blacky and myself to go out for Ginga in southbank and a movie - Jarhead - at Southbank. The food was great - I was DESPERATELY in the mood for a few beers, and a Ginga chicken curry and miso soup to accompany those beers put me in a better frame of mind. The movie sucked a bit - it was about the long, boring-ness of war, and predictably, the movie was long and boring.

SLC was the order of the day for Sunday, and it was a nice day. Stones Corner pub, I think it has a nice ambience, and while it’s not *cheap* it’s also not too expensive. I was trying to be good, and ordered a salad, but it was in a creamy dressign, so it probably wasn’t as healthy as I’d originally hoper. Brett’s panini-burger looked good.

The gang all found their way back to my place for a cuppa and watching the cricket. Glenn, who was on severe poker withdrawals, played in the tournament and came pretty much last. I’m sure it was just the lack of experience with that particular format, as he doesn’t suck that bad normally. I had a game going as well, before I felt a bit self conscious being the only player while everyone did stuff - Blacky died his hair with Bek’s help, Lara had a nap, Charlotte and I looked at pictures - so I went “all in” on a hand that I normally wouldn’t. Then I was out.

Glara left, and Brek stayed around for 24, when Leyton finally arrived. Oooh, it wasn’t bad at all. Me rikey a rot.

We’re planning on eating at Thai Phoenix on our birthday proper - of course, everyone’s welcome, no reporters. Saturday following, we’ll be “Lunch Clubbing” at Glara’s pool and having a few beers and so on.That’s the 25th for those playing at home.