In a crazy turn of events...

Most of my 'blog crew' haven't added anything new in the past few days.... except for Ange. Ange NEVER updates her blog. Quite shocking! If anyone feels like giving advice, she is undergoing a self-imposed 'lent' and has given up her five favourite indulgences. She wants suggestions on new indulgences she can take up to fill the void.

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Sam's Gathering

I think Sammy can be pretty proud of the turnout on Friday. Looking around, I was already feeling anxious about what I can do for my own 30th (next year) ... and doubt I could get even half that many people. Though, I could bulk it up with relatives..... Hmmmm.

Great theme. It was nice to be able to go out and not have to think too hard about what to wear (as a girl). And it was a nice wee talking point to start conversations. Also possibly a good excuse for guys to check out girls' breasts and have a context for it.....

For the record - me and Ange were there first. That means we are the most loyal friends of all! Though, at some point Ange snuck out (her alcohol lent was badly timed). Before that, I got to sneakily point out a few 'bloggers' she hadn't been able to put a face to. Well done to Leon for the tattoo idea. I told Sam me and Cass have a 1/15th part ownership of it. I shall be choosing that 1/15th carefully. Possibly somewhere on the beak.

Lots of interesting moments to witness. I got to introduce Morgue to the the netballer who he callously replaced in our team, got to see Cassie try to balance six shot glasses on top of each other (note the use of 'try'), played around with static electricity, saw Sam's lovely older sister Kate.

One interesting thing was noticing that while Sam himself isn't a match-maker, there were a lot of people at his 30th who had previously dated/slept-together. I counted at least nine people who had two previous partners of some kind at the party. And that's only the ones I knew about.
I found myself pointing people out to Ange (who knew hardly anyone there) and saying, 'Yeah - he used to go out with that girl over there' and the like.

Saturday

I watched some great crap TV with Matt. The highlight was My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss. I'm sure it's been on before, but I mustn't have watched it. It's a reality TV show with the same format as The Apprentice, but they are tricking the contestants and the boss is really just an actor. Their first task was to pan-handle and see how much they could get. It was hilaaaarious. The car-salesman was taking money off kids, the men's team had hand-made t-shirts with 'Help Chicago' hand-written on them (and they looked like the biggest crooks ever) and the Ivy League women were selling hugs.

The actor-boss got told by the producer who to fire but got to make up his own reasons. So he said one guy was too short, and you can't succeed in business if you're short... and he said the other guy's suit looked too expensive, and he said he wasn't just after a 'suit' guy.

We were laughing out loud. It was one of those episodes that had lines in it that we were still saying to each other later that day. Funny. On Saturday afternoon on TV3.

Saturday Night

I went to a gangster themed party with Matt's friends. Except Matt was a party pooper and didn't go in costme, so neither did I (flapper dresses don't suit me anyhow). We were almost the only ones not in costume. I was at least able to blame it on Matt :)

I was still wearing my 'I Stopped in Levin' tshirt, and let me tell you what - it's a talking point! It started at least two conversations. A German girl actually said 'Levin - I like that place!' which was a little odd. She'd been camping and op-shopping. Another girl, it turns out, was in the year below me at school (we don't remember each other) but has somehow gained an English accent recently so I never would've picked her as a Levinian.

The oddest thing was talking to the Scottish guy who used to work at Newtown United Video. I was what you might call 'a regular' there and also garnered a lot of fines. Me, Nicky and Rebecca had a weekly ritual of getting out two DVDs each on $1.25 Tuesday and we had nicknames for all the people who worked there. Scottish guy was one of the stalwarts.

Anyhow - last night it turned out he has known Matt for years (he said to me 'How the hell do you know this mother-f****? He's the most random guy in Wellington') but he also remembered my full name and year of birth......... I like that attention to detail. And that's after me living in Hataitai all of this year and him not having worked there for over a year himself. Anyhow, interesting actually having a chat to one of those iconic Wellington figures (to me).

Sunday

Lots of netball. That's the best exercise I've had in ages. Sweating buckets. Though, I had the worst shooting night that I've had in years. Odd. I wasn't actually nervous about shooting- it surprised me greatly any time I missed. Just kept happening again and again..... I refused to accept that I was crap, and kept trying. That must be what Tony Rampton is thinking when he shoots 3-pointers for the Tall Blacks.

My highlight was Morgue somehow losing the ball when there was nobody else around for miles and it was just dribbling along the ground..... kinda summed up that second game.

Now I actually have to do some marking. Bugger it. Bring on the holidays. Only five days of teaching to go...... COUNTING DOWN.

I'd say it's almost tennis weather too (I'm going to start trying to drum up interest in after-work tennis matches next term).