Bangkok is amazing! We're about to fly out to Krabi (via Phuket), so we only had one day and one night. We went to the Grand Palace, Chatuchuk market and the muay thai boxing at Lumphini. Don't have to time to blog properly, as our flight is boarding. More when we get to Krabi later.
Hi - we're at Melbourne airport, just cleared customs. I was walking past this kiosk and got home sick :-)
Pretty excited - we'll fly out in an hour and a half!
You'll also notice that we have a new website statistics partner: the good people at eXTReME Tracking are now providing the service, gratis. The foolish people at stats4you got greedy and started charging money for the formerly free service. Well, I've just learnt a valuable lesson about life: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. And they've learnt a valuable lesson about the internet: No One Pays For What Was Once Free.
On Saturday, I had a family lunch with my Mum's side of the family: her sister Merla, and her daughters (and partners and offspring) Judith (and Peter, and Brooke and Will), Heather and Ron and Rhonda, and her friend Grant. Katy, Alison, Mum and Aunty Dexter wer there too. We had a lovely time in Rhonda's backyard in Flemington.
On Sunday, Katy, Alison and I drove to Warrnambool for Christmas. On Monday (Christmas Eve) I went to the pub and caught up with some school friends - Jonny, Sabine, Kate, Rickie and about half a dozen others. Christmas lunch we had 20 - which is pretty much the entire extended family! There was: Mum & Dad, Hoang & Phuong (and Claire), Thanh & Khanh (and Caitlin), Dexter & Doug, me, Alison, Katy and David, and family friends Lyndon, Viv, Marna and Andrew, and Khanh's sisters Patty and Julie. Phew! That's not even counting Jack, Ginnie, Jenna, Balu, Nikita, Beau and Caddie. Today, we had a visit from a school friend of Alison's, Sharon, and her husband David, and their two kids, Montana and Alyssa. I think it was our biggest Christmas ever, and I really enjoyed playing with my little nieces, and teaching them the joys of cat patting!
I'm now back in Stewart St, mentally preparing myself for the gruelling ordeal that is international holidaying.
On Monday Marie and I had dinner at Clifty's, in Clifton Hill, with his SO Anita. Dave played a tape from High School, and Marie was quite amused to see some footage of me from my youth.
We had a house barbie on Tuesday and burnt in Marie's new barbie. There was us, plus Paddy, his mate Andrew, Rach, Tamara and Jo. A good time had by all!
Last night my sister Alison got back from Japan, so Marie and I went to Dexter and Doug's place (my aunt and uncle) in Macleod. Katy and David were also there, and I got to have a quick squiz at their new place in Yalambie. (Very nice house in leafy environs that backs onto the creek.) Great to see Alison again after, what, 18 months? We'll catch up with her tomorrow night too.
Went up with Sabine, and caught up with Alicia and Jonny, and his mates Kate and Daniel. Also bumped into (amongst people)Lachlan and Ami - friends from high school whom I haven't seen for a year or two! Was really good to see them again.
Had a really nice time there. My favourite act was TISM.
Of course Augie March were good, and the new act I liked was Sydney outfit Prop - funky bass and samples with two vibraphones. These guys are very polished, and have that music geek intensity that comes from the academic/Conservatorium "trained musician" crowd.
Tonight Marie and I going to Clifty's, for dinner with him and Anita. Tomorrow is the house barbie, and Wednesday is family barbie at Dexter and Doug's (Alison's back). Saturday arvo will be another family catchup, this time with my cousins from my Mum's side. Probably head back to the Bool on Sunday with Katy and Alison.
Got back from three days in lovely Ararat with Marie. We visited with Marie's aunt and uncle, Di and Rob. And their kids Harry and Jack. And their dogs, Bill and Max. And their cat, Simba, who's had kittens (Charlie, Survivor and Ginger). We hung around, had nice food, read and went for a walk around the countryside. Beautiful!
On Friday, I took Marie out to Singin' In the Rain to celebrate her end of exams (and Uni!). It was a fantastic show: great production (sets, costumes etc), talent (orchestra and musical numbers) and faithful to the movie too. Thoroughly recommended.
Neal, do you want to 'fess up about the little number you did on your pool opponents? It's always a sad sign when patrons have to ask the bouncer what the hell the house rules are re: the pool table. For shame.
But, credit where credit's due: Theresa did a magnificent job putting in another 4 hours on the rest of us.
My Big Sis Alison arrives from Japan on the 19th, so I'll be heavily involved in family commitments from then on (also my Mum's birthday).
Here's a quick recap of the last week, in a photojournalistic vein:
Last Monday I went to Noodles on Brunswick St with Neal, Paddy and Paddy's friend Jo.
Thursday was Marie's last day of exams, and she has now finished her law degree! She had a big afternoon with the kids from her course, so instead of going out we had a quiet night in and watched a movie.
On Friday we went to the Afghan Gallery for a Tent Party. This was to celebrate Marie's (belated) birthday and her completion of her course. There were several dozen people there, so I won't be able to list them all. Broadly speaking, though, they fell into "school friends" (both Strathcona and Wesley), "uni friends" (mostly political) and "housemates" (including boyfriend).
It didn't actually look like this, but the image search at google hasn't been forthcoming. No, we weren't feasting on yellow US aid packets containing peanut butter. And no, we avoided the senseless tastelessness of ordering a B-52 for the birthday girl.
As Sunday was Neal's birthday, we obliged by going to Cafe Nova for dinner with about 20 people. Again, too many to list, but we had the "work crew" (mainly from Novotel), the "climbing kids" and the "housemates" again. We pushed on to the Commercial Club Hotel for beers, where we met up with Katy's David, and then on to the Laundry for late night pool and drinking.
I'd like to add that while my weekend was bracketed by the drunken excesses of my housemates, I at all times remained composed and ensured the safety and comfort of the respective birthday celebrants. It also must be noted that while there are two toilets in the house (one in Marie's and my en suite, and one for Neal and Gerd/Theresa), both will be require a damn good cleaning in the next day or two.
For shame, Neal and Marie! At least Neal drank a lot. Though he should know better being older.
Tonight is Monday Mexican Madness at the Chilli Kiss!
