Jamie’s Journal

I live in a low mountain range and once every few years it gets cold enough to snow. Yesterday was one of those days. The snow flakes started falling from the sky while I was driving home from uni. It was magical and put me in a very good mood. There’s something peaceful about snow falling. Unfortunately, it does make driving difficult. Snow flakes aren’t transparent and the ice builds up on your windscreen despite your windscreen wipers. However, I didn’t have far to go so I could just enjoy it.

A short 15 minutes later the snowflakes stopped. Everything looked pretty and white but there wasn’t nearly enough to build a snowman. Thus, we turned up the central heating and life went on as per usual. However, just before bed mum looked out the window and noticed it was snowing again. Thus, we quickly put on our outside spotlights and watched with awe as snow-flakes as big as 20 cent pieces floated past. Given that funky occurrence, I had no alternative but to postpone my sleeping plans.

The view from the kitchen door.

At this point we called our family friend Jo who appears to be quite snowflake crazed. (We’ve seen her cut out paper snowflakes, use computerised snowflake creators and publish links to snowflake websites…) As mum and I were describing the scene before us I ascertained there was sufficient snow to create a snow man. Thus, I quickly excused myself from the phone, pulled on some heavier clothes and set out to build my midnight snowman. Construction took place at midnight and was finished at 12:30am. Isn’t he cool?

My midnight snowman!

My midnight snowman & I.

He was still standing in a sea of white this morning… However, during the day there was rain and his nose fell off. He’s presently still standing… but there’s no snow left around him.

The view of the house this morning. The roof’s normally brown!

Just a note. You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Hope you’re all well!

Friday night started out innocently.  As per usual, CJ, Nicki & I played squash and indulged in souvlaki from our favourite fish ‘n chip shop. However, after that, things got very interesting. For the first time ever, after six years of friendship, the squash gang hit the town together in an alcohol consuming capacity.

Three Angels – Myself, Nicki & CJ

The original plan was to quickly freshen up at Nicki’s and then head straight to the pub. However, as I’m suffering financial limitations I refined our plan to include numerous pre-drinks at Nicki’s. My wish was perfectly accommodated as Nicki’s basement has a bar with a decent sound system. Thus, in no time at all we were enjoying Bailey’s, Bourbon and Vodka whilst bobbing away to the Jane Fonda. Yes, that’s right! There’s a song with chorus lyrics “You know you wanna do the Jane Fonda”. What exactly the Jane Fonda is we can only speculate. Perhaps plastic surgery? Buying a walking frame? Regardless, it’s a good drinking song.

Hitting the pre-drinks…

 
Perhaps too many pre-drinks…

Alright! Yes, there were a few incriminating photos of myself too… However, as it’s my blog I have the editorial privilege of not displaying them. Unfortunately, both CJ and Nicki have copies and I have a bad feeling they’re going to surface at my 21st…

At about 10pm we arrived at the pub and began pondering why there weren’t many people there. A few minutes later we knew exactly why. A large, ugly, intoxicated male leered up on to the DJ’s platform, oafishly grabbed a microphone off a wall rack and began wailing. It was Karaoke night and oh my god, it was bad! Despite consuming heavy amounts of alcohol, I still couldn’t get rid of the involuntary shivers brought about from the auditory crime. Furthermore, the songs that were chosen were all songs that should never have been written in the first place… Thus, you couldn’t even enjoy the backing music! The only relief came in 30 second blocks between karaoke songs where the DJ played something decent. We’re never going to the Hawthorn on a Friday night EVER again! EVER!

Thankfully, the Hawthorn had pool tables and it was through them that CJ introduced us to some of his uni friends… and their friends. Despite the fact that Jamie isn’t really that common a name, there was another Jamie in the group! We played pool together in a team and won! JAMIE POWER! Oh yeah! There was also another guy called Chris who works for a web-hosting company. He was quite surprised when I knew it by name, where it was located, and quizzed him about wages. (I’d considered applying for a job there once…) It turned out he goes to my uni and is doing my course, albeit a year ahead of me. Freaky but cool! You don’t meet many web-hosting enthusiasts off the street!

Ever since watching Miss Congeniality I’ve always wanted to try beer and pizza. It has such a cool ring to it! “Beer and Pizza.” How can you resist? Earlier in the evening, on the way to the pub I’d noted the local pizza place and that it closed at midnight. Thus, at 11:50pm I ran around to everyone and excitedly ranted and raved about ‘beer and pizza’ and soon I had a small procession of people that followed me down to the pizza place at the end of the block. It was the best pizza I’ve ever tasted! As we realised we couldn’t bring beer to the pizza place, and couldn’t bring pizza to the pub, we ate the pizza and then went back to the pub and ordered a jug of beer. (The line we actually used was “a jug of your cheapest beer”. We’re uni students ok? There’s no shame!) It was awesome! Fantasy fulfilled.

Before we knew it we were on the last train and back at Nicki’s place. Unfortunately, we were all feeling a little dance-deprived as the music quality at the pub had not permitted dance as an option. Thus, we enjoyed a few post-drinks while bobbing to the clubbing songs on the early morning radio.

Chris (web-hosting dude) and the gang.

Finally we unwound by watching “Bring It On Again”, the poorly made sequel to the much worshipped “Bring It On”. It had potential but just never made it. There were no fun cheers and the lack of boisterous music made the routines positively boring. I’m not sure whether it was the movie or the hour… but one of them served to put us to sleep and the next thing I knew, it was 1pm on Saturday. Very good times. Thanks guys!

I woke up this morning, rolled over, reached for my phone, knocked over a pile of CDs, swore, restacked my CDs, and then successfully got my phone and turned it on. Within seconds it was beeping telling me I had a few missed calls… all from Krystal. As I wasn’t yet in any fit state for a phone call I wandered, in my typical morning daze, to the bathroom. Much to my horror, while in the bathroom I could hear my phone start to ring… and I wasn’t in a position to run and answer it. Thus, I made the only sane decision and decided to be at peace with nature and let it ring out. A minute later I exited the bathroom to find my Dad standing by the door holding our house-phone… and you can guess who was on the line! That’s right! Krystal! I’ll tell you what, if she were a tele-marketer life wouldn’t be worth living!

Anyway, as a result of the subsequent phone call I met Krystal for a picnic lunch in a local park… and she brought Leo! Leo’s her young, friendly, playful and absolutely adorable Labrador! (Boy can they grow a lot in a year! I was with Krystal when she got him and he was tiny back then!) Anyway, we demolished a couple of salad rolls and had a good catch-up before moving on to Frisbee! (Yeah, that’s quite an obsession of late!) Leo didn’t seem too interested in playing, but he used the Frisbee as a drinking bowl so we all benefited…  Actually, it’s not that clear cut. Whether Krystal benefited is under some doubt.

One of my first throws fell short and ploughed into Krystal’s big toe. However, she was strong, put on a brave face and we continued to play. (You go girl!) However, a minute or so later Krystal was wounded again when one of her attempts to catch the Frisbee failed. The disc hit her hands and bounced up hard into her forehead. (It’s quite a solid Frisbee too so I’m guessing this hurt a lot!) Krystal didn’t look quite as keen to resume play this time, but she did so anyway. However, it must have been Krystal’s unlucky day as strike three came after another few throws. The Frisbee danced around Krystal’s hands and slammed into her gut. (I’m sorry Krystal… I thought you’d have fun!) As a result, we called it quits and took some photos.

However, Krystal’s pain didn’t end with Frisbee. We both lay down next to each other to try and take a photo of our heads by holding the camera above us. However, Leo apparently interpreted this as a signal to play stacks-on! He appeared to have a mini tap-dance on top of Krystal before she managed to remove him.

In conclusion, I went home feeling refreshed and happy. Leo went home happy and well exercised. Krystal went home battered and bruised.

Well, despite the fact that this party occurred at the start of the year, I promised everyone the photos. Thus, here’s a blog entry… only a couple of months late. :-p Click on the photos to display a larger version.

In mid-February I held a post-Christmas party. Why post Christmas? Because I promised everyone a party in December… but it didn’t happen! In short, the party was a blast… my favourite night ever! We played twister, toasted marshmallows on the fire, watched a DVD, decorated ourselves with glow-sticks, played table tennis, roamed a children’s adventure playground and played THE GAME (I just lost by the way…). Furthermore, much to my delight, about 10 people stayed the night so the fun continued into the next day! Despite the fact that we had all had an hour or less sleep, we grabbed a Frisbee and went down to the village green. We split into teams and played a Frisbee adaptation of netball! It was awesome!

A slightly tipsy Jamie…

I’d like to quickly thank my parents for vacating the house at my request… Mum was a bit wary at first but quickly came around. Before she returned at the end of the night she even rang me to ask “Is it okay to come home now?” While I was in the planning stages of the party I was talking to Haley and said that my parents would probably hear a headline “House burns down during party!” and come back and murder me… However, Haley quickly put me at rest and told me the headline would be “House burns down during party… in a responsible fashion!” LOL

Just out of interest, it appears that at every single party there’s a group photo featuring Heidi and I with our arms around each other. Take a look at this blast from the past! I barely recognise myself… good thing too!

My 16th birthday party…

TWISTER!

Heidi doing the splits… involuntarily! OUCH!

Heidi’s rear end under close inspection from Sarah and myself… Clearly it’s better!

Anyway, I’m really lucky to have you all as friends… You’re the best! I seriously couldn’t ask for anyone better!

So you think Charlie’s cool with his three angels? Well step aside Charlie… I have five!

Robyn, Ellen, Tracey (Melissa), Haley, Lini & myself

Last Tuesday several uni friends and I spent the evening in Melbourne’s botanical gardens. It’s a fantastic destination made all the more special by the fact it’s one of the few places where the grass is still lush and green. It’s now quite apparent that water restrictions are really taking their toll! The State Library’s lawn is now just dust. Anyway, upon arrival at the gardens our group commandeered a large area of this precious commodity to play frisbee. Unfortunately, a few of us hadn’t played in a while and an innocent lady suffered as a result. It’s almost certain she won’t turn her back on a frisbee again… at least not one in the hands of *censored*! Thankfully, the lady was very good natured about it. As a small consolation, by the end of our sessions we posed almost no threat to public safety.

 
Myself & Mike

As luck would have it, despite the fact we’re in a serious drought, the one night we chose to go out it started to drizzle. As a result, we prematurely adjourned our lawn sports to shelter under a tree to eat. We enjoyed a scrump-didly-umptious meal featuring Ellen’s quiche and Robyn’s home-baked Turkish bread (suspiciously sealed in commercial packet). Unfortunately, Haley committed a serious crime and took photos while we were eating. All I can say is that the lens must have been reinforced as any other would have shattered. I dare not display the images here for fear of damaging your monitor!!!

Amanda & I

Thankfully the drizzle stopped after dinner and allowed us to set up camp to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed live on the outside stage. The performance far surpassed my expectations and I think I speak for everyone when I say we thoroughly enjoyed it. Long live the Australian Shakespeare Company! The play was easily comprehended and balanced the traditional script with modern humour. For instance, when the Fairy Lord was angered by his servant Puck, he sent Puck away with the command, “Puck off!” Many of you may also recall sitting down to watch a movie and seeing a lion’s head in a circle roaring as part of a film production company’s advert. In the play, the Athenian theatre company had a banner with a circle on it. As their play was being introduced a lion’s head burst through the circle and roared. It was really unexpected and gave me a good laugh! The props employed were also quite inventive. For instance pink glow-sticks were used to represent fairy magic! I was very impressed.

During interval, when the sun had set, I revealed my own glow-stick stash which brought out the angelic side in everyone. We also hit the chocolate, brie & biscuits and Haley’s awesome brownies. Haley also took the opportunity to make up for her earlier wrongs and took some nice photos of everyone.

Haley & I (Our true colours as depicted by Haley)

After the play, on the way back to Flinders Street Station, I was amazed to see how just how wonderful Melbourne looks at night. The Shrine was lit up brilliantly, the spire was its usual neon glowing self and there were green floodlights in the trees. Really spectacular! I need to try to get in there more often.

Once we reached the station, Amanda and I caught a train back to her place. As neither of us felt like sleeping, we amused ourselves watching the quality *cough cough* free-to-air TV programming of the early morning. We started with Quizmania and went downhill from there. After Passions we progressed to Christian fanatics instructing us how to get out of a pit we’re in, even if we don’t know we’re in it! For more information we were directed to buy a book selling for $39.95 but with free shipping if we bought while the show was screening. It was so bad we just couldn’t look away!

In short it was a fantastic night with great friends! Thanks Lini & Tracey (or was it Melissa?) for doing the organising!

University course offers for 2007 were released on Monday night. As a result I found Monday quite a stressful day! I couldn’t focus on anything and my muscles were tight and cramped frequently. Thankfully, relief came at 7:30pm when the Herald Sun published our offers. I drove over to our local newsagent with mum to discover I got my first preference – a Bachelor of Business Information Systems at Monash Clayton.  Woot! *Mass hysteria!* While I was at the newsagent I used my mobile to tell Dad the good news and when I returned home I was greeted with the sight below… Hehehe! Thanks Dad!

The following day was awesome and it couldn’t have come at a better time as I was in a seriously celebratory mood. As it was a 40-degree scorcher, CJ, Nicki, Damien and I headed off to Sorrento for the day/evening. It took two hours by car to reach and it was two hours too long! CJ and Damien used their time productively to repetitively ask Nicki & I, “Are we there yet?” *Throttle!* However, we arrived and after a desperate loo stop (I never knew I could hold that much fluid!) I led the group to my favourite fish & chip shop to grab some takeaway. (In my opinion they do the best flavoursome crisp chips in the world. Nicki agrees now too.) We had planned on eating at the beach. However, this was not to be. We arrived at the back-beach car park to find we had to que for a parking spot. “One car out, one car in.” Thus, we ate in the car. Upon completion of our meal I began to panic and tried talking Nicki into a complicated reversing manoeuvre. I didn’t like the idea of being stuck in a que for hours. However, seconds later a string of cars left and we cruised in. Patience is a virtue!

So finally we were able to get on the beach and set up quite an impressive camp. We had a beach umbrella, boogie boards, goggles, a cool bag with cans of coke, food, cameras, towels, sunscreen, thongs (I bought a pair for Damien and CJ for $1.74 each! As you can imagine they weren’t exactly fashion items… but they worked!) yet we all forgot our bathers so we were forced to swim nude. JUST KIDDING! We would have been arrested… The beach was packed! We had to move right down to one side until we found an empty patch of sand. Thankfully it was the side closer to the rock pools and that’s the side I love the most.

Nicki, Damien & CJ

The rock pools ranged in depth from a few centimetres to a few metres and they also ranged massively in size! The smallest was little more than a puddle while the largest was about half the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Needless to say, we spent several hours exploring the majority of them. Much to my delight we saw a variety of fish, crabs, starfish and a couple of weird sea worm/eel things. Thanks to the goggles we were able to get an awesome look and follow them around. I’ve wanted to do this for years and it was absolute heaven for me! At the moment I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.

After we had exerted substantial energy in one of the larger rock pools we retired to a smaller shallower version. The deepest point was probably about 50cm and the water was the temperature of a hot bath - absolutely luxurious to lie in. Furthermore, we were kept amused by a school of about 15 tiny fish that swam around our legs. An effort to catch a couple in my cap scared them into shallower water whereby a couple were eaten by seagulls before they could escape. I didn’t try catching anymore after that as I felt bad.

Eventually the tide rolled in and the rock pools began to disappear again under the surf. At this point we got on our boogie boards and started riding waves in on the sandy part of the beach. As we didn’t have enough boards for all of us, we shared and I was forced to try body surfing for the first time. Body surfing obviously has its benefits over using a boogie board. Who could deny the delight of being force-fed delicious mouthfuls of sand? Mmmm! Crunchy!

Nicki, myself and a distant Damien (We’re so pale!!!)

Throughout the day we took a number of photos on Nicki’s camera which revealed Nicki’s ideal man. As an old guy in speedos, beer gut and all, walked past our camp, Nicki casually took out her camera and took a photo of him. (She claims it was a photo of me putting on sunscreen… Though that’s not what it looked like to the rest of us!) We also learned of CJ’s craving for yummy-mummies. Very yummy mummies… The ones that need to get off the yummies and diet! At one stage CJ chose to remain at our beach camp while the rest of us went swimming so he could perv on the yummy-mummy camped next to us. (He maintains he wanted a nap… but we’re not so sure!)

Once the sun started to droop we hit the road back to Nicki’s palace whereby we had a horror movie marathon. We started with Cherry Falls which was an incredibly bad movie! The basic plot was that a serial killer in a small town decided to kill virgins who attended the local high school. As a result, the high school kids decided to have a mass orgy so they’d no longer fit the killer’s target profile. However, this orgy was interrupted as the killer attacked people while they were ‘doing it’. The killer died at the orgy after being thrown off a balcony. End movie. BAD BAD BAD! So bad we were laughing! Thankfully, we followed this up with Copy Cat & Kill Bill. Both are excellent movies. Once we’d completed our viewing the sun had risen on Wednesday so we lay down on Nicki’s couches and went to sleep for a couple of hours.

On Thursday, much to my horror, I was forced to get up early in order to meet my uni friends Ellen, Louise, Tom & Mike at Melbourne Central to see Dejavu, have lunch, and wander around the city. We had a good time… However, I pushed my body too far and came down with the flu that night. Thankfully it wasn’t so bad that I was crippled. I managed to dope myself up on Cold n Flu and play squash on Friday afternoon and I forced myself to go to work yesterday. I survived at work but I definitely didn’t enjoy it. I was slightly dizzy so I couldn’t climb any ladders and I lost my voice a couple of times. I was actually a little offended when I had to tell one of my workers I was sick. At the time my voice sounded hideously bad – a gurgling croak! How could he think that horrid sound was normal for me? Bah!

Today I’ve had a lazy day. I’ve talked to the masses on Yahoo! & MSN, dug out my old N64 to play Mario Cart, and read some of my book. I’m hoping I’ll wake up tomorrow and the bug will be completely gone! Fingers crossed!

Anyway, hope you’re all well!