Hey all.

I was out last night and one of my good mates commented on that i haven’t updated my blog in a while, so here goes. This one’s for you, Sarah!!

Well time certainly has flown since my last blog. Soo much has gone on. I’m currently sitting at my computer with my digi camera and calendar, trying to remind myself what i‘ve been up to.

By far the biggest thing that has happened in my life over the last 2 months is that Michelle and i have started seeing each other. ahhhhhhhh!!! Yep, we’d been spending an awful lot of time together and it just felt right to take the next step. I was a bit worried at the beginning, not knowing how i really felt, but this feels right. It feels right in every way. I’m so happy. It feels soooo good to be close to someone. Just to hold someone’s hand or rest your head against another. I’ve never been this close to anyone and knowing that the other half wants to be with you too is sooo re-assuring. A friend asked me a few months back “If you had to rate your quality of life and satisfaction out of 10, what would it be?”  Well, a few months back I said 7.5. I live in a kick arse house, have awesome mates, love my job and I’m healthy. The only thing missing was someone to share it with. If that question was asked now, i’d say 9.9. Just have to get rid of a lil ‘parental loan’ and i’ll be as happy as a pig in shit!!

These last 2 months have been filled with good times. Loads of gigs have been the order of the day.  At the beginning of June Shell and I had a bit of a The Basics fest!! They were doing a bit of a tour, so we decided to have a few road trips to go and catch them play.

First gig was in Geelong. I picked up Shell and headed off on the hour trip to Geelong. We hadn’t seen The Basics is ages, so we were keen to see their latest.  We arrived at the joint, and there were abut 5 ppl in the audience. eek. Not a good start.  Anyway, we had a bit of a chat to the boys, then they started to set up. Just before they got on, Kris comes over and asks if we’d sit on their merch stand and sell stuff. Sure we said. So, we got a seat the whole gig, nice. It was pretty messy. Drunk fools and The Basics didn’t play all that well.

The next night Shell and I jumped in the car and headed out 1.5hrs to Castlemaine. We both had the next day off, so we planned on crashing in Castlemaine for the night. We arrived at about 9pm, drove around the town a bit looking for a place that was open, but everything was shut or full. Bugger. Well, looked like we were driving back to Melb after the gig.

I’m happy to say that the Castlemaine gig was a lil ripper. Plenty of good vibes and sweet rockin music. It was held in the National Theatre down the main drag. It’s a sweet venue, with 1950’s booth seating at the rear and a cool stage and dance floor. Castlemaine is Tim’s hometown, so i think all his relos were there to support the band. The gig went for about 2hrs and we were all danced out by the end.

The last Sunday in June was a pretty busy one. Shell and I saw 2 gigs that day. The first was Jordie Lane at the Northcote Social Club. I’d had a pretty big week and was pretty knackered. Shell and I struggled through the gig, which at one point I nearly fell asleep standing up!! It was a pretty good gig, I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. After that we headed into the city and caught a comedy gala. I’m sure it was funnier than I thought, but my tiredness had gotten the better of me. There were some pretty big comedians there and I did laugh out loud on more that a few occasions. Shell is slightly obsessed with Judith Lucy and that’s who she really wanted to catch.

I caught up with Pete and Jackie at the start of July. It was Jacks birthday, so they headed to Melbourne for a dinner and catch up with friends. It was also a chance for Pete to meet Shell. It was a pretty fun night. Again, good food and company.

I’ve been doing a fair bit of riding also. A few weeks ago me, Raenier, Ollie, Andy and Gilles headed out to the You Yangs for a day of sweet riding on the wicked trails out there. We met at 11am and rode till about 4pm. It was sweet fun. I haven’t had that much fun in aaages. It was a sweet day and the trails were in super good condition. Checkout the VIDEO HERE and the pics below.

My good mate Jules recently celebrated his birthday, so we all headed out for a meal and a few drinks. We all met up near their place and rocked the night out.

Work has been going pretty good. I’m loving it at the moment. Having Jess there has really lightened the mood and given the shop something that it had been missing for a while. We’ve been trying a few different things to get people to come into the shop. One thing was to sponsor a bike club. We organised sponsorship with a club then organised a special sale night, where they could all come and get stuff at a pretty big discount. A special night, only for them and not the general public. We brought bikes down from Sydney and organised special deals and displays for the night. What a fizzer. Pretty much, out of the 500 active members, we only saw about 5. It was soo shit. We go out of our way to help people out and you just get a kick in the nuts for it. Fuckin roadies. All the same. Whore themselves round the shops and don’t show their support to the people that try to help them out. They can all go to hell. And i even missed a The Vulpine gig for the sale.

The next night was a lil pearler. Me, Shell, Jess and Jimmy had tix to see The Herd. They are an Ozzie Hip Hop band and they really rock. They played in StKilda and it was totally packed out. They played all their big hits and got the crowed jumpin!! Good times indeed!!

The next major gig was The Hilltop Hoods Friday night gig at the old Metro, and it was also the beginning to a very busy weekend. I went with Shell and Jess. We’d had tix for a while and they’d sold out shortly after they went on sale. The security was pretty tight getting in. They scanned our license and then patted us down for any weapons!! Talk about strict!! It was kinda funny when i gave my license to the dude. He scanned it then gave it back saying “wow, that’s as old as mine!!” Haha!! So, the gig. How was it?? Well, i think that Jess couldn’t have said it better. “They were good, but i don’t think i’d see them again.”    I concur.

The night after Hilltop Hoods, Shell and i went to a very special solo show by Katy Steel, the lead singer from Little Birdy. She was performing with another few artists who were involved with the FreeZa foundation. She played at the Play House at The Arts Center. I got tix pretty early, so the seats were uber good. We were about 6 rows from the front and right in the middle. It was an awesome gig. She’s got such an amazing voice for such a lil gal.

Now, Shell seems to think that i’m obsessed/stalking Katy Steel, but it’s simply not true. Yes, I like seeing them perform and try to get to every gig they do. Yes we did see her catching the tram home the night after her solo gig. Yes, i did see her changing her socks on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Street one morning on my way to work. Yes, I saw her running around Princess Park and then go into a house. And yes, I did get tix numbered 1 and 2 for their next gig at the Ferntree Gully Hotel. It’s all just a coincidence!! Nothing to be worried about Shell………. It’s not ‘stalking’, it’s ‘selective walking’.

Sunday was Avenue Q day. Now i’m not quite sure how to explain what Avenue Q is. I suppose that it’s The Muppets crossed with South Park. You can read about it HERE or see a video sample HERE. It was a pretty fun time. Lots of laughs. I’d never been to anything quite like it. If it’s playing near u, go see it!!

Over the last few months I’ve been attending Wednesday night trivia down at the Comfy Chair. It’s pretty fun. I’m pretty crap at it, but i’m not there to win, i’m there to catch up with people and have a good meal out. It’s also a really good thing for Shell. She comes along and meets new people and gets out of the house. It’s really cool that she’s willing to come out and meet all my mates. A few weeks back me, shell, nick and jess headed out to the Ultimate Trivia Championships out in Diamond Creek. There were about 12 other teams there, all from around the traps, aiming for the title of Ultimate Trivia Champions. We usually come top 2 or 3 at the local trivia, so we thought we’d do ok. Boy were we wrong. We go hammered!!!! thing we came like 9th or something. Suppose that it shoes the standard of trivia at The Comfy Chair!! Haha!!! Ah well, it was good for a bit of a road trip and it killed an afternoon!!

Last week Shell and i went to see FourPlay at the East Bruns club. I haven’t seen them for about 2yrs and it was a pretty good gig. They rocked out. It’s been so good seeing gigs lately. And having someone willing to go see them with me is even better!! However i’m spending a lot of money on gigs and I need to save a bit before i head overseas. Oh, have i told you i’m going overseas?? Well, i’m heading to Las Vegas for InterBike, then riding for a week there, then onto the UK to hook up with Amy and ride for another 2 weeks, then onto Hong Kong to see Kathy, then home. Oh, then up to Port Mack to see Shell’s folks. 5 and a bit weeks in total. Can’t bloody wait. SUMMER HERE I COME!!!!!

Oh, some other VERY exciting news has happened over the last month too!! My really good mates Ian and Carli are having a baby!! Yep, they are about 19weeks now. Sooo exciting. So, Ian is having his last hurrah over in Vegas with me in September!!! Oh and some even bigger news, but i’m not aloud to say yet!!!! But it’s exciting!!! More in the coming blog!!

We’ve also changed housemates in the last month. Tara, who has been living here for like 3yrs has moved out to find a house to buy and Hugh, who moved in only a month ago, moved out with his missus. So, Simon and I had to find 2 new people. It was pretty shit. We got dicked around soo much. I hate finding new people, im over it. Think that the start of next year i’l prob move out. Just over living with 3 other people. I’d never live by myself, think i’d go craaaazy. 1 or 2 other people is prob the go.

So my life is pretty good at the moment. I just have to keep reminding myself not to spend too much time with Shell, or i will neglect my other mates. I don’t want to become one of those people who never goes anywhere without his girlfriend and won’t go out unless she goes. I have to make a point to see my mates. Mind you, most of my mates have partners now and we’ve all seemed to have quieted down a bit. That might just be because it’s Winter, but we’ll see.  I was chatting to Kelly last night and we were talking about organising a camping weekend in November. Now that should be fun!!!

This coming weekend shell and i are seeing The Audries, then i’m riding with Ian on Tues, then Shell’s dad comes down the following week, then Little Birdy on the 12th out at the Ferntree Gully Hotel.

Later dudes!!!

Hey everyone.  I just had a pretty cool weekend.

I had Friday and Sunday off, so my weekend was a bit split up, but still uber cool.

Friday wasn’t really a whole day for me. I got out of bed at the very respectable hour of 12:30pm. Yep, a bit of a sleep in for me. It’s been ages since i’ve really slept in like that, my body must have really needed it. Friday was a pretty much a lazy day. After breakfast/lunch, i sat inside and finished my last blog, which took FOR-EVER!!!! So, i sat in my pj’s all day and pat next door neighbour’s kitty, which i’ve adopted through feeding and showin it a lil bit of love. For dinner i headed into the city and met up with Jo. She had bought me tix to see Little Birdy at the HiFi Bar in the city. I was pretty excited. We met up at Chocolate Buda, at Fed Square, for a spot of dinner, then we headed down to the gig.

I’ve seen Little Birdy a few times and was very impressed with their sound and live show, so seeing them again was a real thrill. The lead singer, Katie Steele, is a lil sexy minx.  We were standing a fair bit away during the gig, so the feel wasn’t quite there, but it was still good fun. We were standing on the top of a flight of stairs, so we could really see the action down on the dance floor.

Saturday was a looong day. I got home from the Friday nights Little Birdy gig at about 1am, then i got up at 5:50am Sat morn to go to the shop to lead the shop road ride to Mordy and back. It was a pretty nice morning. I didn’t mind taking the ride. Get out early, see the beach and catch up with some mates. It was a really nice ride down there. I was on the front setting the nice casual pace, i didn’t want to leave anyone behind, so i was taking it really easy. We arrived in Mordy, where Megan met us and rode with us back to the shop. It was really good to ride with Megan again. I haven’t ridden with her for ages, so it was good to spend some time with her on the bike. We arrived back at the shop at about 8:45, where Jess was setting up.

Saturday night was a lil ripper too. After work i went over to Shell's and picked her up. She’d bought me tix to see Little Birdy out in Ferntree Gully!!! Pretty funny!! So, we had a lil 1hr road trip out to the far East burbs, there the Ferntree Gully Hotel is. We had a good ol Roast of the Day, then headed into the gig.

It was a pretty sett gig, freakin loud though. Both Shell and i had ear plugs, and it was still uber loud. We were much closer this night, with only about 3 people in front of us, super close!!! Katie totally rocked out and the crowd was pretty revved up.

Luckily I had Sunday off, so i had time to recover. On Sunday arvo Jimmy came over and we went for a bike ride out at the You Yangs. It’s been a few months since he’s been out there, so there was a heap of changes which he hadn’t ridden. We rode for about 2hrs, and we were buzzing by the end. It was a really good ride, perfect way to finish the weekend. Good riding with good company.

Speaking of good company, i’ve been spending a bit of time with Shell. We hang out heaps and have become pretty close. I can feel our friendship taking the next step and I think that i’m kinda ready for it. She’s super nice and really caring. Well, we’ll see how things go. I don’t wanna rush anything cause she’s just gotten out of a 8+ year relationship and i really don’t want to rush her into anything.

Next Wed night is Pub Trivia. I went there last wed night and we came second. It’s a real fun night and i’m really enjoying the fun and atmosphere. Bring on Hump Day night!!!!!

That’s about it for now.

Later dudes!!!

I had a few big things on during the week following Pete and Jacks wedding.

About a month before, i’d been chatting to a few mates who i use to do Taekwondo with, and i suggested how we should all turn up for a one night only slog fest/training night. We all agreed and the date of 22nd April was set. We all hadn’t trained for about 4 years, so it was going to be interesting to see how much we’d all lost!! The night was a secret, so none of the TKD instructors knew, just me, Sarah, Rach, , Peils, Pauline, Angie and Naomi. 2 other mates, Garry and Dave were going to show up, but they piked!! Softies!!

The night before training i headed out to the garage and dragged out my TKD uniform from the bottom of my cupboard and ironed all the heavy creases out and hung out to air. I was getting a lil excited. I really enjoyed training when i was there, but towards the end, i’d lost allot of motivation and the classes had changed its dynamic a bit, so it wasn’t as fun.

We all met out the front about 10mins before training, not knowing what was install for us. It was really good to catch up with everyone again, although i see them every few weeks. We headed up stairs and caught up with our head instructor Alf, and a few of the gang which i recognised. It was a super massive class because they’ve been struggling with numbers, so they had combined the classes to make one massive class.

We trained for a full hour and by the end i was pretty tired. We did heaps of arm work (punching and jabbing) and a fair bit of kicking. I didn’t find it too hard to keep up. However, when we were doing doubles (2 kicks with each foot one after the other), in my head it was POW POW, but in reality my legs were doing POW…….POW. Haha!! After training we all went for a hot chocolate and more of a catch up and a good ol laugh. My body wasn’t too sore straight after training, however 2 days after, i could hardly walk!! My whole upper body was sore. My arms were super sore and my back muscles had seen better days!!

It was cool to go back for one night, but i really need more motivation to keep going.  Same time next year?????

The next Saturday was ANZAC Day. Like last year, i organised a MTB ride. I got up at 4:15am and headed down to the Shrine of Remembrance, where i met up with some others. We attended the dawn service, the  jumped on our bikes and went on a MTB ride along the Yarra. It was a pretty good ride, with some good laughs and riding.

I got back home (after riding 45kms), jumped in the shower, then headed over to James’s Bucks day. We all met at a Paintballing in South Melbourne. I’ve never been to paintballing before, so i was a lil worried about what was going to happen. There was about 20 of us that turned up, s it was a really good group. After signing all legal rights to sue over injury or death away and sitting through a safety video, we were each given a mask, jersey and a painball gun.

It was pretty cool fun. We were put into groups and headed out onto the playing field, filled with obstacles to hide behind, for a few games of shoot em’ up!! One thing i was amazed at was how far the balls fly. I thought they’d be only go like 10meters, but they fully go like 50meters!! I got hit a few times. It kinda stings when you get hit, but the adrenaline is pumpin so much that you don’t realise how much it hurts till you’ve finished! We played paintball for about 3hrs. I was pretty tired by the end.

After paintballing we all headed to a pub down in Port Melb for a few drinks and snacks. After then we headed into Crown Casino and hung out an another pub, before heading to dinner. Sitting at the pub in Crown i was nearly falling asleep. I was finding it hard to concentrate and my eyes were stinging!! We headed to dinner, but didn’t eat till about 8:30pm, cause there was a stuff up with our booking. The meal was pretty good and i was pretty stuffed by the end. After dinner, we headed down to King Street and went to the strippers. We went into Spearmint Rhino. Now, i’m not an expert on strip joints, but i’d have to say that out of the 3 or 4 i’ve been to, the Spearmint Rhino would have to be the shittest. There was only one stage, so there wasn’t much going on. I hung out there, with the boys till about 10:30pm.

After leaving the strippers i headed over to Shauna’s housewarming party. It was an S & M theme, so you had to dress up an something starting with S or M. I had a look in my dress up cupboard the night before and dragged out my Surgeon costume.

Me checkin if Megan was still alive. She was….obviously.

It was a pretty fun party. There were Milk cartons, Mix Tapes, Spartans, McDonald’s workers, Merv Hughs, Ski Bunnies, Milk Cows, Satan and Milk Maids. I ended up leaving the party at about 12:30am. I was totally wrecked by the time i got home. I’d been up since 4:15am Sat morn and got to bed at about 1am Sunday morn. 21hrs awake. Woo for me!!

The following Monday my crazy week had caught up with me. TKD training on Wed, then paintballing on Saturday, meant my legs were totally shot and my body was in a world of pain, but totally worth it.

The next major even was Caitlin and James’s wedding. The ceremony was out in the Dandenong Ranges, about an hours drive out of Melbourne. I headed out there with Rach, Jimmy and Peils. It was a really good ceremony, however i’m more a traditionalist and prefer a proper wedding, with a minister and readings and in a church and all, but that’s just me. When i get married, i’m gunna get done in a church. It was a really good night, with loads of good food and dancing to be had by all!!

Last weekend my mate and I headed to Bendigo and the weekend. The main reason was to go to a music festival called Groove in the Moo. It’s a big day of bands playing on 4 stages at the Bendigo Show Grounds. On the Saturday morning me, Andy, George and Michelle met up with a bunch of local road riders and went for a 65km ride with them. It was really nice to get out and ride in the country. No dickhead cars, no dickhead other riders and no freakin traffic lights. It was a really good ride.

We headed to Groove in the Moo at about 3pm. There were 4 stages, so we spent the day walking round the stages and saw many bands. We saw The Grates, Van She, De La Soul, The Hilltop Hoods and The Living End. I’d have to say that the best band of the day was by far The Living End. I’m not a huge fan of them, but they totally rocked out. We ended up getting home at about 11pm.

Jees dude, your nuts must be getting squished!!

One thing that was pretty shit at the gig was the amount of people drugged up to their eyeballs. When i was walking round i’d pass groups of people with bags of pills, dealing them out. At one stage, when we were watching The Hilltop Hoods, there was a group of guy in front of us snorting stuff from a vial. What dickheads. Well, i hope they all die from drug overdoses. At least that will clean up the gene pool!!

So, that finally brings us up to speed. I’ve just had today off. I was pretty tired last night. I had a shop MTB night ride, that finished at 10pm. I got out of bed at 12:30pm today and i’m still now sitting in my PJs (it’s not 5pm). Tonight i’m seeing Little Birdy with Jo and tomorrow night i’m seeing Little Birdy again with Michelle. Can’t wait.

Well, that’s about it for now.

Later dudes!!!

Hey there everyone.

March and April were pretty huge months, busy busy busy, so i’ve decided to combine them together.

As you can guess from the title, there were lots of weddings, parties and other shenanigans that went on.

The beginning on March started with going to see Basement Jaxx. I’d seen them a few years ago and was pretty impressed with their sound and show, however this time i wasn’t so impressed. They’ve lost a lot of their flair and that big dance sound. It was an average gig, nothing to really write home about.

Probably the biggest thing to happen this year happened on the 14th of March.  For the month prior I was collecting donations for the “Leukaemia Shave for a Cure”. I had a whole stack of hair on my head, that needed a good cut, so, what better way to cut it then to raise money at the same time. There was the choice to color your hair of shave it all off. I said that if i raised $1500 i’d shave my head. Well, up until about 4 days before the shave party, i looked pretty safe, with only about $1000 raised, but as the day got closer, so did the $1500 mark, and sure enough, the day before the shave party, i’d reached the $1500 mark. I pretty much knew i was gunna get there, a few of my mates were like “If you need $500 to get you to the $1500 mark, i’m putting it in. You’re gunna be balder than a babies bottom mate!!”

I had a Shave party, with a Hat theme, for the big shave. The hat theme was because I was going to be wearing a hat for the next few months, till my hair grows back. Also, I had a Silent Auction. The auction was to bid on who got to shave my head. The highest bidder, wins the privilege. It was a pretty fun party. Everyone was in a party mood and having a good time. I’d also organised The Vulpine to play a mini gig in my kitchen too.

So, during the night I had people placing secret bids, to shave my head. The winning bid was put in by the members of The Vulpine, for $120!! Everyone gathered outside, then the clippers came out.

Before…

During……..

After……..

Bald as a Babies bottom!!!!

By the end of the night I’d raised a total of $2199!!!! WAY more than i could ever had hoped for. A HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who donated for a good cause……….my baldness!!!!!

So, it feels pretty funny with no hair. I’d gone from a full head of Crusty the Clown hair, to looking like i’m joining the army!! One HUGE shock was how cold my head is now. I nearly died from brain freeze the first morning i rode to work. I’ve since bought a skull cap to put under my helmet!! I also can’t stop rubbing my head. It’s strange, it just feels nice. Am i strange?? Haha!! Everyone’s been pretty positive with the new do. Much better than the mop i use to have!

Jess and Gus’s wedding was coming up at the end of March, so Gus had his Bucks party the weekend before. We all met up at a pub in the city then headed to the European Beer Cafe for a spot of dinner. My brother’s Bucks was coming up at the start of April, so i was keeping an eye on what worked and what didn’t on the bucks, so i could make Pete’s a good one. After the Beer Cafe, we all wandered the streets for about 30mins, not really knowing what to do or where to go. We ended up in another bar, for more drinks. That’s where i left the boys. Apparently, after i left they moved onto the strippers, sure i didn’t miss anything there.

The next weekend was Jess and Gus’s wedding. Over the last month or so before the wedding, i’d been Jess’s lil Guinea Pig. She was making lil Giger Bead Men to have on the tables, to show people where to sit. So i was her lil taste tester. I was totally over Ginger Bead by the time the wedding happened!! Haha!!

So, the wedding was held in a tiny lil chapel in Melbourne Uni. Jess looked totally amazing. I hardly recognised her.

At the start of April was my bro, Pete’s, Bucks party. I’d been organising it for the last month, so finally it was time to see if it would all come together. We all met at the pub in South Melb for a meet and greet and a spot of lunch. People had come from all round. There was a bunch from The Dong that came down and also from here in Melb. After lunch we all headed down to Sde Track, which is a Go Karting place. We drove for about an hour and we were all pretty tired by the end of that.

After punishing ourselves at Go Karting, we headed down to Albert Park Driving Range for a few hours of “Whack-fuck”. Again, there was heaps of laughs and bevvies consumed, which added to the excitement!!

After we’d all suitably whacked as many balls as we could handle, we all made our way into the city to a restaurant called The Hofbrauhaus. It’s a German themed restaurant, with loads of schnitzels and HUGE beers!!

We all had a gut full of food at the restaurant then moved our full bellies to a bar call Madame Brussels. It’s a trendy bar with 20 somethings getting round in skinny jeans and fluro clothing, not really the place for a Bucks night. Anyway, we hung out there for about 2hrs, then finally decided to move on to some better entertainment……..and that’s where that night will end………

All in all it was a very successful night, with loads of laughs and good times. What did i learn about planning Bucks parties? Make sure you organise to do different things and not just wander round the city and also make sure you do things that The Buck wants to do, because it’s all about him!!

On the 9th April was my 30th Birthday. Yep, i’m finally out of my 20’s. Again, there was a party at my place, and the theme this time was Fluro. It was a kinda weird party. All the regulars showed up, dressed to impress, but the vibe was a bit different. There wasn’t the party atmosphere which usually happens. Everyone was pretty reserved. I think they’d all partied out from my shave party, now that was wild!!! Although it was a crazzzy party, everyone that matters to me showed and it was really good to catch up with everyone.

The night after my party me, Shell, Sarah, Jules, Raenier and Emma went and saw Dylan Moran. He’s the lead character from Black Books and is super funny. My cheeks were seriously sore by the end of the night.

On the 18th was Pete and Jaqui’s wedding. My younger brother was getting married before me…..damn him!! hahaha!! I drove up to The Go with Andy, another Groomsman, on Friday arvo. We arrived at Pete and Jacks place, then we all headed down into town, where we were all having a big family dinner. After dinner, we all went back to the Hotel where we were all staying. It was pretty funny that night. The last night my bro is an un-married man, he’s spending it with his brother in the same bed!! Haha!! Not gay at all!! Haha!! Yep, we were short one bed, so me and Pete shared a bed.  What??? Haha!!

The wedding day started at about 7am, with Jaqui’s Dad shouting at something!!! So, we were awake. The morning pretty much consisted of us killing time till the wedding. The wedding was at 3pm, so we all headed into the city and had breakfast. Then me and Andy bummed round the city and checked out some bike shops.

1pm came and it was time to get ready. All us Groomsmen had hired suits, so it was time to get all spiffy and show the world that we can scrub up ok!! Everything went ok, apart from a lil hick-up with the flowers for our suit collars, but it was all sorted.

We arrived at the church at about 2:40 and hung out in a back room till all the guests had arrived and Jaqui was out the front in the car.

Finally the big moment arrived. The service went soo smoothly. Jaqui looked sooo beautiful and the brides maids were looking stunning too. Everyone said the right things in the right spot and by the end i had a new sister in-law. After the service we had a load of pics out the front of the church, then we were whisked away for more formal pics.

We arrived at the reception at about 6:30pm. It was kinda cool sitting up the front at the bridal table. You get to look at everyone all night, but everyone also gets to look at you too!!

There was plenty of good times at the reception, loads of dancing and drinking too. Finally the speeches came about. Dad gave this really awesome speech, based on this song and how we are all like a Moat to Pete and Jack. It was soo sweet. Jaqui’s dad also gave a sweet arse speech too, him and Pete are pretty close and pretty much best mates. There was one sour point to the night. One of the speeches didn’t really go according to plan, or to everyone’s taste. I was, and still am, pretty pissed off with what was included in the speech, it was horrible. I didn’t know where to look. I know that there was 2 people who wanted to pull the speech, but you can’t do that. We all just had to sit through it. How can you get up at a wedding and bitch and moan about how bad your love life is at the moment and how much your life sucks. It’s meant to be about the married couple and how happy they are and how perfectly suited they are to each other and ponies and flowers and mushy shit like that. Anyway, it was just a lil disappointing.

So, the night raged on with plenty of drinks and food and dancing, till about 1am, when i retired for the night!!

The next we all had a huge breakfast and reminisce on the night before.

It was such a cool weekend. My lil bro got married to the girl of his dreams (a gal that I hope to meet someone like one day), all the fam was together and the weather was spot on. I’m soo happy for Pete and Jack and they will be happy together forever.

Ok, so i’m pretty stuffed from all this writing. I’ve been at it for like 4hrs now. I gotta go to bed.

Part 2 to follow shortly.

Later Dudes!!!

Well, the title says it all. Not very much happened in Feb.

2 major things happened in February. I bought a new car and Black Saturday.

Saturday 8th Feb will be remembered in Australia for many years to come. On that Saturday, the temperature reached 47degs and there was a wild hot northerly wind reaching up to 100km/h.  I remember riding my road bike in the morning and it being 30degs, at 7am. I finished work at 12noon and the temp was about 36degs and by 4pm the temperature hit 47degs. Crazy arse bushfires ripped through north east Melbourne and through east and south east Victoria.  173 people died, 2,030 homes destroyed and over 4,500km2 of land was turned into a smoldering black mess.  Check out more details here.

The other thing will change my life for ever……well for the next 10yrs at least. I purchased a new car. Now, when i say new, i really mean second hand…..from my folks.

From this……..  

To this………

So, i managed to sell my ol’ Charade for $1500!! I was pretty sad to see it go, but i knew i had to retire her. My new car is pretty good. She’s my first car i’ve had with power steering, power windows, automatic, cruise control and all the good stuff. She is a bit boring to drive, but at least she’s reliable and that’s what i need. I haven’t found myself drivin much more, i’m still getting use to how big she is.

So, that was Feb…..told you so.

Later dudes!!

Yo freaks!! Yeah, i know, looong time no read blah blah blah. Just haven’t been in the right frame of mind, or had spare time to do an entry, but, here i am.

So, it’s May already. The 5th month of the year. I’m really struggling to remember what the hell i’ve been up to since my last entry, so i’ll have to get my calendar…………………right, got it.

Right, where to begin?? Suppose the start of the year is a good place.

So, i started 2009 in a relationship!! Yep, that’s right. I was seeing this gal, Lauren, for about a month, before she dumped my ass. She said that she was too busy and wasn’t prepared to slow down a bit and fit me in. I really thought we had something special, but I guess she had other ideas and wasn’t willing to change. I’m the kinda person who likes to feel wanted and needed. I felt that in the beginning, but she just seemed to shut me out towards the end. So, that was that. Kinda spoilt my New Years though. I left a sweet arse party with all my really close mates, drove an hour, to spend NYs with a gal who didn’t want to be with me. Next year will be better…..couldn’t get much worse. However one funny thing that did happen was down at the beach. We were all walking along the beach, watchin the fireworks around the bay, then Nick wades out into the water. The next thing, he’s holding this baby Shark!!! We were all long WHF???!!! It was pretty funny. Nick just grabs this shark and is holding it!!

January was a pretty busy month. It was full of gigs and spending time with good mates. My good mate Michelle came down from Syd and stayed for a week. We just bummed round and had a good ol’ time.

January also mean cricket time. Pete and Wallaby organised a Day/Night cricket match at the MCG. Was a hoot. I got pretty sun burnt, just like last year.

But, by far the highlight of January was seeing Camelle. She’s a French musician, and she totally rocked out. That gig is deff in my top 5 gigs (behind Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, Tool and TISM). You should deff check her out!!

Let me start by saying a big Happy New Year to everyone out there. I trust you all had a sweet arse festive period.

So, 2008 has come and gone, now 2009 is upon us. What will the year have install for us this year?

I was copying all my camera pics over to my poota and was looking back on the year. It has been a pretty fun year. Below are some of the highlights for me.

The Buddies:

The Bizz:

The Bands:

The Basics  The Vulpine Little Birdy MORE COW BELL!!!!

The Grates The Herd  Block Party The Bawdies The Basics. R.I.P. The Vulpine EP launch

My friends have been very important to me in the this last year. their friendship, love and just being them, has made my year. They are always there, through thick and thin. I'm always worried that i'll get old and not keep in contact with them, just like my school mates. But, i've realised that the friends i have now, I'll keep for life. They are the most special people to be around and I look forward to the coming year, full of good times.

What will 2009 have install for me?? Only Jesus knows.

Later Dudes!!!

Right, December.

The start of December was interesting. The Basics had a gig on at the East Brunswick Hotel, along with The Bawdies (a Japanese Rock n Roll band). It was a co-headline act, so i was really looking forward to seeing both bands rockin out. I headed down there with Jess and Lauren. First up were The Bawdies. I tell you what, they totally wail!!! We'd seen them about a year ago at Ruby's and they were good then, but now they are really really good!! Full of energy and excitement.

And now to The Basics. Watching the last few Basics gigs has been like watching a baby Deer die.  It tries to get up, but it just doesn't have the strength to get to it's legs, no matter how hard it tries. same with The Basics. They try to get the vibe back, that they had back in the beginning, but it just doesn't come, no matter how hard/drunk they try. The Basics gig set started with Tim going missing. Kris, Wally and Dave had set up all their stuff and did a sound check, while Tim was nowhere to be seen. Finally Tim shows, pretty pissed and not really organised. The other's weren't impressed and sat to the side of the stage looking uber unimpressed. The Basics had a very hard act to follow and i was very afraid that it was gunna be a fizzer. How right i was. There was no love between them all, they'd even left their signature suits off. Kris stood to one side of the stage and Tim the other, not really giving each other anything. Wally was looking mega tired on the drums and didn't seem to care. It was horrible. As the gig went on, people were leaving and at the end, it was pretty much the die hard fans left. Kris announced that it was pretty much their last gig in Melb and The Basics were going to be no more. They all looked soo tired.

The Basics falling apart

Tim and Kris

One funny thing to come out of the gig was the on going joke that i'm Tim's brother.  4 people came up to me and asked if i was Tim's brother!! One girl, who was a photographer which i'd met at a few past gigs, was introducing me to her friends as Tim's brother!! Haha!! Pretty funny!! Tim's my brother from another mother!!!

As i rode home, i was pretty sad. The Basics have been a part of my gig scene for the last 2yrs and i've had some pretty amazing times seeing them. I'm going o be keeping an eye on what they all get up to next.

The middle 2 weeks of December I was Shell come and stay with me. She was down to check out Universities and to chill out for a bit. She's just broken up with her long term boyfriend and sold their house, so she's on a mission to re-invent her life!! We hung out a fair bit and did some touristy things. I thought that we could possibly have something, but i quickly realised that our lives were too different and there was no way i was going to have a long distance relationship. It was cool to spend the week with her, but after catching up with her in Sydney a few months back, it made me realise that there was no way. I know that she wanted something more, but I wasn't going to let myself go there. 

On the 12th was The Vulpine's EP launch. I'd been looking forward to this for the last month. I was super excited to see them play at a really good venue, with loads of people. The night went smashingly!!! The sound was awesome and the vibe was hot hot hot!!! It was really good also to catch up with everyone again, together. It's been months and months since we've all caught up and i realised that i'd missed them all so much.

I went to another track even in the middle of Dec. It was the third race in the Track Revolution series.  I organised a bit of a crew to meet there and hang out. There was Murray, Raenier, Emma, Shell, Jess, Jo, Megan, Lauren, George & Michelle and myself. We all met up and headed into the center bar area. It was a really really good night. There were heaps of people there that i hadn't seen in aaages. Pete and Heidi, Damo and Libby, Loren, Jimmy from OnOne, Chris from GKA, Vince from St.Kilda, Marlon and a few others. I felt kinda bad chatting to everyone, cause i'd organised a whole group to go and now i was kinda just going off on them. But i couldn't just ignore the people there, would have been rude. You don't really realise how small the cycling industry is, till everyone is together having a good ol' time together. Lauren was like "How do you know so many people??" I guess if you act like an idiot at races, then people remember you!! haha!! There was some good racing and some good crashes too!!

Just before Christmas Caitlin organised for us all to catch up, before the holidays. I headed into Cookie, in the city, where i met up with Caitlin & Jimmy, Sarah & Jules, James & Peils, Rachel, Felicity, Jam and Cristen. It was a really good night. Everyone was in a super fun mood, with a lil help from Mr. Alco-ma-hol. James was totally pissed, cause he'd been drinking from lunch!! Sooo funny!!

Christmas this year was like no other. Because the folks had sold their house in The Dong, we had Christmas in Bendigo. No more Christmas in The Dong. I caught the train up there on Wednesday after work. It was only $14 one way!! feckin cheap!! Mum and Dad picked me up from the station and then we headed to their new place. Christmas day arrived and me, Mum and Dad went to their local church for a Christmas Day service. After church, Isabel arrived at the house, from Geelong, and then Pete and Jacky arrived after lunch. I'd eaten soooo much for lunch, i felt like a real fatty. It was present opening time!! We all sat around the tree and watched Dad play Santa. We all opened our presents and had a good ol' time, with a few big laughs thrown in!!

After opening the prezzies it was dinner.....more food!! Haha!!

According to my state-of-the-art 'micro' watch, it's FOOD TIME!!!

Healthy!!

 
 
Santa had a few too many Brandys and miss judged how close to park the sled behind Is's car!

Boxing Day, George and Michelle arrived. They stayed Boxing night and i scabbed a lift back with them on the next day. It was a pretty good Christmas, full of good times and good food!!

Next major even in New Years. Can't wait. I'm going over to Jimmy's place for his NYs party.  Should be a hoot.

Later Dudes!!!

Hey everyone.

So, it only a few weeks till the end of the year. Where has it all gone??

As you've all realised, I've been pretty lazy with my blogs entries, so I apologies. I know how much you all hang out for my dribble.

November was pretty busy for me, so I'll start at the beginning.

It was cup day at the beginning of Nov. I organised a shop ride, out to a place called Diggiwarrah. I've ridden out there a few times with Gilles and Carli, and it is a really good trail. It's probably the most technical trail around Melb. Anyway, we had about about 8 riders turn up. It was a small, but really fun group. We rode for about 4hrs and by the time we got back to the cars, we were all pretty knackered. It was the first real MTB ride I'd had since i'd gotten back from my hols. It was really good to get back out on the bike. I'd been a bit worried about my neck, and what my riding was doing. It was a bit sore during the ride, however, the next morning i woke up, it was like day one again!! Soooo stiff and sore. I went to my Physico for another 3 times in November. My neck is about 90% better. I still get a lil twinge every now and then.

The second week in Nov was the Gravity 12hr Mountain Bike Race, held out at Rosewhite in country Victoria. This year me (Pirate Doug), 'First Seaman' Gills, 'Captain' Carli and 'Deck Hand' Angus were in the "6 Nuts and a Beaver" team. We've ridden this race the last 3 years, and it's a highlight of my MTBking calendar during the year. Everyone came over to my place on Friday morn, where we did a final pack and jumped into the cars and began our 4hr journey to the race track. It was a lil cloudy in Melb when we left, and the closer we got to Rosewhite, the worse the weather got. We finally arrived at Rosewhite at about 3pm, to rain, wind and cold weather.  We drove down to where we camped last year, and who should be there, but the guys that camped next to us the last 2yrs!!

We found our spot and began to set up. Because it was raining, we set up the Gazebo, then each of us set our tent up under it, then moved the Gazebo, then set another tent up under it, then moved it and so on, until we had a tent city of about 6 tents and 2 Gazebos!!

The rain continued for all the afternoon and into the night. It was freakin freezing. Camping along side us, were some more of my mates. Andy and Dee with their lil son Xander, and Dee's sister Sharon and their Dad Harold. It was their first trip to the Gravity and they were pretty excited!!

So, after setting up our tents and sitting in the rain and cold, i can tell you that I was totally over the whole camping thing!! Haha!! Still, what's camping without good mates, fun times and dodgy weather!!

At about 2am the wind really picked up. There was a massive crash out near our tents. I got up to find my Gazebo had taken flight and landed about 10meters away between 2 cars and a tent!!. I secured it with a few containers of water, then headed back to bed.

By the time Saturday morning had arrived, the rain had all gone, the wind was light and the sun was shinning brightly!!! What a fabo day!!!

The race started at 9am, and went till 9pm. Angus was the first rider, then me, then Carli and finally Gills.

The day turned out to be a pretty special day. I'd have to say that it was the most fun i've had at this race. We had a sweet camping spot, my team mates were super fun and everyone was having a really fun time.

As usual, we all took the day pretty casual. We weren't really bustin our balls to race hard, just treated it like it was a day out on the bike. This year i'd brought a Black Board, so during the day we were writing messages of love to the riders as they passed us. We had a lil countdown on the bottom, also, to let ppl know how long to go. It was a huge success. We could see peoples faces light up as they rode up to the sign, which we'd change the message every hour or so.

Again, i couldn't help myself and dressed up for the occasion. I rode 3 laps in a Pirate's costume, then my final lap in this:

The night ended in a huge gathering for presentations, where we ended up coming 2nd in the mixed 4s, and then heading down to the massive Bon Fire, for more shite talking.

All in all it was a super fun weekend which i'll look back on for months to come.

In the middle of November my cousin Erin came down from QLD for a week. She was down here with some workmates and they were stayin in the city together. It'd been nearly a year since i'd seen her and I was pretty excited to spend some time with her. We hung out a few times and just chilled.

During November I also went and saw Block Party. Jo and I headed down to Festy Hall to see them play. They totally rocked out, however Festival Hall is a shit of a place to see a gig at. The sound is pretty shit and the stage area is pretty average too.

The Track UCI World Championships were also on during November. I went on the Friday and Saturday night. Friday night i went with Megan, it was her birthday, so i shouted her a ticket, then Saturday I headed down there with Raenier and Emma and Ollie. Both nights were pretty fun. On the Friday night I had a pretty embarrassing moment. So, we are sitting on one side of the track and there are some mates on the other side. We were trying to find each other, so, i stand up and start waving the program guide in the air, to get their attention. As I'm waving it around, a piece of paper has shot out of the guide and landed on the track, then slid down!! EEEKKK!! Everyone pretty much saw it, and i was a lil embarrassed. If a cyclist had run over it, there could have been carnage (not that that's what I want....no...of course not....). Luckily an official saw it and picked it up, phew!! Pretty funny though!!

I think i mentioned a girl named Jackie in my last post. Anyway, we had been spending a fair bit of time together and I thought that we were getting on like a house on fire, but it seemed that it was only pretty much one way. Anyway, i hadn't heard from her for a few weeks, she had had exams, so i thought i'd leave her to concentrate on that, so i asked her if she'd like to hang out some more. Well, she pretty much said that because she knew how i felt, that she didn't want to hang out anymore. It was a shot in the nads, but at least she was honest. Her loss i guess.

At the end of November I headed down to the folks new place in Bendigo. They'd sold the place in The Dong and i was there for their first weekend in Bendigo. It's a pretty nice house, very 'hobbyish'. They will love it there. It was a bit of a rushed weekend. Drove up on Sat morn, and then drove back on Sunday arvo. My car is going pretty shit at the mo, so the drive wasn't that crash hot.

And so ends November.

Later Dudes!!!!

Cutting Fully Sick!!!

Later Dudes!!!

Hey everyone. 

Last week was a pretty interesting week.  Monday, my ex-housemate, and good mate, Jess, started at my work. She's the new mechanic to help me out at work. We've been getting busier and busier at work, so we had to hire a new staff member. I wanted someone who hadn't worked in a bike shop before, had a bit of retail experience and was a gal. Jess fit the bill pretty much spot on. So, this first week has been pretty long, with working hours. I've been starting at 8am and finishing at about 8pm most nights. I knew i was going to be doing long hours in the first few weeks Jess started, so i wasn't surprised. It's been fun having Jess there. She is super keen to learn, and most of the stuff i teach her sticks. She's really pick with things too, which is good. Attention to detail will get her far if she keeps it up. I use to have that attention to detail, but it's dropped off somewhat in the last 2yrs. I need to get back to the level i use to be at. I've had 1 or 2 repairs come back, cause i'd missed something, so i've really gotta get my shit together.

So, yeah, it's been busy. Well, i've been busy. It feels like that i'm really the only one at work that's busy. I'm doing long hours and working pretty hard during the day, while i just feel like the others are just cruising along. There's plenty to do in the shop, and it just seems like stuff just keeps getting put off. I know work is meant to be a bit relaxing, but when stuff doesn't get done, then that's bad. Anyway, that's my vent. Suppose that as long as my work gets done, to a good level, then that's all i should be worried about.

One night I was working late and I get a call from Sarah. She was at The Empress, where The Basics were putting on a secret gig. It was a Crowded House Karaoke special. They'd done a Beatles one a few months back and it was pretty good. So, i left work and headed down to The Empress. It was a pretty cool night. There were only about 50ppl in the audience, who were mostly the devoted fans. I recognised a few of them and again, i got a comment that I could be Tim's brother! Haha!! It was a pretty fun night. Jam and Jay got up and sung. Check it out here.

Dave, Wally (aka Gotye), Chris and Tim (left to right)

Last weekend I headed up to Sydney. I'd never been to Sydney CBD before. Well, I have, bit i was about 10 and I can't remember any of it. I was meeting up with Michelle and going to see Blue King Brown, who were supported by TZU. I flew up on Friday midday. After checking into the hotel, which Michelle had found through Lastminute.com, it was a 2 bedroom apartment on Darling Harbor, I had a few hours to kill before she arrived. I headed into the city for a bit of an explore. I headed to Clearance Street Cycles for a bit of a look around, then headed to George St, to experience some of the Sydney shopping. I must say, Sydney doesn't really do anything for me. It's missing something. It's very....cold. No vibe to it. In Melb there's street art, and band posters and buskers and stuff going on all the time. In Syd there wasn't any of that. There wasn't even any graffiti.  Very stale. It might be different out in the burbs, so maybe i'll have to do that next time. 

Saturday Shell and I did the touristy things in Sydney. We walked down to the Sydney Harbor. Looked at the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge and just chilled out in the sun watching some buskers. We caught a ferry back to out hotel and got ready to see Blue King Brown.

Before BKB we met up with some of Shells mates, for a bite to eat. We caught the Monorail.....YES....they have a Monorail, into the city and met up with the girls at a local bar. It was pretty fun. She's got some pretty cool mates and they were really friendly. You know how you sometimes meet friends of friends and they just don't include you in their conversations?? Well, Shells mates were cool and made me feel welcome. After dinner, we walked down to The Metro and headed inside. BKBs support was TZU. They really wailed!! Can't wait to see them again. BKB wasn't as good as i had hoped. I don't know what it was. I think that i was pretty tired and i just couldn't enjoy the gig as much as i had hoped. It seemed that every song was a marathon, with each member of the band, and there's 11 of them,  had a solo in each song. Kinda dragged out a bit. We didn't stick around for the encore. There were tonnes of pissed and wired ppl there too, knocking into me and spilling their freakin drinks all over us.

I got onto the plane back to Melb at about 12noon. The flight back went pretty quick. It was a big weekend and i was shattered. Pretty much slept all the way home. After I got home, I went to work and took a MTB maintenance course from 4-9pm. I was really tired by the time i got back home. Was really glad to get to bed that night.

I mentioned in my last post that i had a bit of a stiff sore neck. Well, it's still with me.  I've been seeing a Physio for the last 2 weeks and the start of this week i've been also seeing a Chiro. I'd never been to a phisio before, so i didn't really know what to expect. My good mate Andy recommended her to me. The first session was the worst. God!! Lauren has torture master hands. But, i knew that all that pain was good for me. Anyway, i've been seeing her every 2nd or 3rd day, and my neck is sort of getting better. I was chatting to my bro, Pete, and he said that i should see a Chiro. So, my mate Naomi recommended one of her mates. So, Rachel is my Chiro. After my first session with Rachel I'd have to say that i am more worried about seeing her, than Lauren. Lauren makes pain in my shoulder, but Rachel makes really strange cracking noises from my neck....eeekk!!! Rach is a pro, so i totally trust her, but that sound.......shish.

Anyway, so today I went pillow shopping. I gots meself a spiffy new contoured pillow. See how that goes tonight................

Well, it's Saturday morning, and I'm not sure that my pillow did anything. My neck is still pretty sore. Guess i'll keep going to the Chiro. I headed down to St Kilda last night and met up with Megan and her mate Naomi. It was Halloween last night and all the freaks were out!! It's kinda funny hanging out with Megan again. Sometimes she can be really cool and will give anything a go and want to hang out, while other times she can be really reserved and almost distant. I can't really decide what kind of a friend she should be. About 2yrs ago, we'd hang out a air bit. But then I was getting the vibe that I was always organising things and she was saying no to allot of things. I was pretty keen on her and I wasn't sure how she felt about me. She wasn't giving me any indication that she was interested. So, i decided that I'd do a lil experiment. I stopped organising us hanging out. I thought i'd see if she'd organise anything. Well, for about 4 months we didn't speak. It was really hard not to call her, considering we'd been hanging out soo much, but it had to be done. Seems that I was pretty much the one who was keeping the friendship going.  Well, that's in the past and we've started hanging out a bit more again. She has started to chill out a bit more and get out more, so i guess she might have changed over the last year or so. I'm seeing glimpses of the other Megan. We'll see how it all goes.

This week is going to be a pretty short working week for me. Work on Monday, Cup Day on Tues (with a shop ride on that day), work Wed & Thurs, then the Gravity 12hr Fri, Sat and Sunday. Should be a fun week. Really looking forward to the race this weekend. Super fun!!

Later Dudes!!!

Hey everyone. Well, i've been home for a few weeks now and things are sort of back to normal. So, lets start with a few weeks ago.

So, i got back to Melb on the Tues morning and went back to work on the Wednesday. The shop has gone through a pretty big change since i'd been away. Before i'd left we were planning on the shop getting painted and re-arranging the bikes. Well, to my surprise the painting and re-arranging went ahead!! It looks sweet as!! I was kinda excited to get back to work, to see the change. It's the biggest change the shop has seen in a VERY long time.

The Wednesday night I went to the movies with Jo. We saw Wall-E. It's such a cool movie. Kinda sad in the middle. I had a lil lump in the middle and at the start. It hit a nerve, cause Wall-E is a robot who is the last robot on earth and is all alone and all he wants is to hold someone's hand and to feel loved. Anyway.....  I use to have a thing for Jo. I thought we would have been good together and I told her that. We were spending allot of time together and I thought we were getting pretty close. I was pretty honest with her, when telling her how i felt, and when she told me that she wasn't interested in anything more that mates, because she was thinking of going back to bat for the girls, i accepted that. However when we caught up after I got back and she told me that she'd hooked up with a Triathlete guy, i was kinda like 'what?' If she had told me that she wasn't attracted to me, it would have been fine with it, but to go back on the "i'm going to be a lesbian again" thing, was a cheap get out. Felt kinda hurt.

Friday was dinner at Jess's place. She'd just downloaded the latest episode of HEROS, so i went over there and hung out for a bit.

Sunday was Pete and Jackies engagement party in Bendigo. George and Michelle picked me up and we drove there together. All the fam was there and it was really good to see them all. Mum and Dad have just gotten back from Hawaii, so it was good to see them and chat up on their trip. It was also a good chance to catch up with some of Pete and Jack's mates, which i have got to know. Megan had just come back from 2yr working overseas. It was good to see her and hear all about her travels.

The following Monday I realised that i'd been living in this house for 6yrs!! Wow!! i was counting and there's been 9 people to have lived here and moved out. There's even been a wedding come out of the house!!

Tuesday I went and saw Wall-E again. I met up with Jimmy, Peils, Jess and Gus. It was better the second time around. There were parts of the movie that I didn't even remember seeing in the first viewing!

Second week in Oct was pretty cool. I had my mate, Michelle, come down from Sydney and stay for a few days. She caught the train down here, a 12hr trip, because she freaks out a bit on planes, so I picked her up from the train station on Thursday night. We spent Friday out at Chaddy, doing the shopping thing. I'm currently on a mission to find a Pirate's outfit to wear at an up coming race in November. After Chaddy we met Jess in the city, at The Spiegeletent, and enjoyed a nice cruisy set by Jordie Lane. After the gig jess headed home and we headed to The HiFi Bar where we were seeing The Grates!!! I've never seen them before, but i will be seeing them again. Their show was ace!! The lead singer, Patience, totally wails!!! She has soo much energy and fun about her. really enjoyed the gig. After the gig we got home and switched RAGE. God that program is addictive!! Saturday Shell and I bummed around all day, we didn't get to bed till about 5am, bloody RAGE. Saturday night we went over to Jess and Gus's place for a lil housewarming party. Shell left on Sunday arvo, after i finished work. It was really good to have her down. I know she's been having some probs at home, so it was nice to see her have a good time. I'm going up to Syd on the 24th to see Blue King Brown with her. My first time to Syd, should be fun.

This past 2 weeks have been super busy at work. I've been doing 10 & 11 hr days and try and keep up with the work load. It's been uber busy mainly because the Round the Bay in a Day was this weekend. Servicing has been going crazy. I feel like i'm the only one working. There is a light at the end of the tunnel however. My ex-housemate, Jess, is having a career change and is coming to work for us as a new part time mechanic. It's going to be good. She'll be my lil Grasshopper. I will teach this young student the ways of Bicycle Mechanic fine arts. She too will have 'Spirit Fingers' soon....but with long hard training. Haha!! She starts on the 20th, so not long now.

Last Thurs morning I woke with the stiffest neck. I couldn't turn my head without a stabbing pain shooting down the left side of my neck. It was a killer. I drove to work on Thurs and worked all day with the pain. I thought it might go away on Thurs night, but no. After work I went to the Felt 2009 bike launch. I wasn't much interested then. I was feeling like shit and my neck was killin. I stayed at Megan's place on Thurs night, cause she lived just round the corner from the show, and it saved me driving all the way back home, then back into work on Friday morn. She was going to Bright for the weekend, so i helped her pack her bike and we caught up over a few TimTams.  2 Tuesdays ago, we'd had an epic Hard Rubbish session. Driving round her neighborhood at middnight, picking up dunger townie bikes, for her to fix up, was really fun. She'd never done it before and she had a fun time. I saw a different side, to the usually quite reserved Megan, that night. Good to see she's relaxing a bit. My neck was still killin on Friday morn. I woke on Saturday morn and I was still in pain. Friday night was hell. I prob got about 4hrs sleep. I ended up taking some Nightime flu tablets, to see if that could knock me out, it seemed to.

Saturday morning was the shops road ride. My neck was still killin and I wasn't sure if i could ride my bike. I arrived at the shop at 6:45am. I went for a short ride round the shop to see it my neck hurt, and it didn't. So i lead the group on the weekly Mordy ride. We rode the 45kms in about 90mins and my neck didn't ache. but as soon as i got off and turned my head, it started hurting again. Bugger!!! I worked all day, but at 1pm i went to the physico. I'd never been to a physico before, i usually hate massages and stuff like that. She worked my neck for about 40mins. It seemed to be better, but now (11:30pm) it's still killin. I couldn't even got to The Vulpine gig tonight. I've got tomorrow off work, so we'll see how i go tonight. If it's still bad tomorrow arvo, i'll book in to see the physico on Monday morn.

Oh yeah, yesterday I had a very nice visit from Sophie and Jenny. I mechaniced for them last year at the World Champs in Geelong. Sophie is VERY pregnant, infact she was 2 days overdue when she visited on Friday, so for all i know she could be poppin right now!!!. Jenny has just come back to Ozz to find a job in Sydney. She's from Ireland and is hoping to stay out here on a permanent basis. It was really good to catch up with them. felt like the good ol times!!

So, the coming week looks like this. I'm working all week, Jess starts on Monday, I fly to Syd on Friday to see Blue King Brown, then I have a MTB instructional course on Sunday night.

Later Dudes!!!!

China

After the 3 weeks riding in Canada, Slovenia and Croatia, it was time to pack my bike up and start to head home. I jumped on a plane from Ljubljana to Frankfurt, then onwards to the mighty China.

It was a pretty crap flight. Usually I request a window seat, so i can lie against the wall, but my flight from Frankas got in with only an hour to check-in, so i got a shite middle seat. So yeah, the 9hr flight was pretty crap.

I arrived in Beijing to hot and very humid weather. Walking through Beijing International Airport I was blown away by how clean it was. I could see my reflection in the floor and there was no dirt or rubbish to be seen. Very impressive.  I picked up my bags, left my bike in the Left-Luggage, and jumped into a taxi to head to my hotel. Problem one: no one speaks english and i have my hotel name and location written in english. DOH!! I remember reading in my Lonely Planets guide, that I should have my hotel written in Chinese. Anyway, after about 10mins of complete confusion, with hand signals, me unconsciously talking loud (because if they speak another language, talking louder makes them understand??!!), the driver knew where to go.

My first impression on Beijing? Very clean. Yep, clean. The city it really really clean. I thought being a city with a squillion people living in the size of a matchbox, that there would be rubbish everywhere. But no. Much cleaner than Melb. However, the smog was a huge contrast to cleanliness of the city. The smog was terrible.

 
This is taken at 4pm. A 'normal sunny' day in Beijing......

 
My spiffy room. The bed was so wide I couldn't even reach the sides!!

After unpacking my stuff i walked down to the local supermarket, to buy some fruit. As i was walking around the super I came across  the meat section.   As i walked past there was a crowd of ppl around a fish tank, with live turtles swimming in it. As i watched they pulled the turtle out, flipped it over and broke the shell open, while it was still alive and kicking. Then they pulled it apart and scooped it out, still alive, and started cutting it up. That poor turtle. What a way to die.

The first night was pretty interesting. I thought that i'd go out for tea and try some of the local food.........i'll never forget that night.

So, i walked across the road to a place that sold....um...food and walked in. No one spoke english....funny that. Anyway, i got a table and sat down. They handed me a menu, which was.....yes.....in Chinese. So, after a few minutes of trying to explain that i wanted to try something that wasn't still moving, they ticked a few boxes and left. So, they brought out a big pot of boiling soup stuff and put it in front of me and continued to boil it. Next the meal was brought out. I said that I wanted some chicken, some duck and some dumplings. Well, first bowl had a pile of chicken feet! That's right, feet of chicken that were probably connected to their owners body only moments before being put on my table!! Next, some raw duck meat, that was boiled. Then, a bowl of diced ducks blood.....eeeek!!! It was like jelly. They cut it up and boiled it too. Now that was weird. Anyway, it was a pretty interesting meal. Everything was put in this big boiling soup stuff and then put on my plate. The feet were interesting. I had no idea what part to eat. As far as i could tell there was nothing to eat!! I kept thinking of the ducks and chickens running (well not the chicken) around all happy then WHAM!!!

The next day I went on a tour out to the Great Wall of China. Damn, those Chinese know how to build a wall!!!!  It was totally amazing. I was kinda awe-struck. It was soooo big!! Freakin huge!! And steep. Some sections were soo steep, it was like climbing a ladder.

The next day I headed to the Forbidden City and Tienienem Square. Again, the Chinese sure know how to build temples!!  Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see the olympic sights, that will be next time!!

My second last morning in Beijing I was having breakfast at the hotel and one of the waitresses, Linda, started talking to me. She recognised me from the morning before. She commented that I wasn't wearing my John Deer hat. I thought nothing of it at the time, but later it would make perfect sense.  She was interested in why i was in Beijing and was surprised to hear that i was here by myself. We chatted for a bit then said that she was finished work at 3pm, and that she'd like to show me around some of the sights. I said sure. So at 7pm i met up with her and she took me to a Kung Fu show. It was pretty amazing. Kinda like the Shaolin Monks, but in theatre form. After the show, we headed to the central bar district and had a drink and a meal.  As we were chatting she told me why she remember that i was wearing a green hat. So, as it turns out, there is a traditional meaning behind wearing a green hat. So, say i was married. say i was away from home allot. If one of my friends thinks my wife is cheating on me, he'd send me a green hat. So, the green hat is a bad sign!!! Linda was saying that the first morning i had breakfast in the hotel, I was wearing my green hat. When i left all the waitresses were saying "did yu see that man with his green hat on?? I wonder what his story is??" Hahaha!! So, i didn't wear my green hat for the remainder of my time in China!!

The next morning was time to fly to Changsha, to meet up with my friend Hui. I was feeling pretty shit that morning. After the 3hrs flight to Changsha I was feeling really average. I was meant to meet Hui at my hotel, but I was soo crook that I just sat in my room and chilled out. Think i had a bit of food poisoning from the previous night.

The next day I caught up with Hui. she took me out and showed me around her city. We went to a restaurant and had lunch, then we headed inside, to a movie. It was soo freakin hot and humid, that everyone spends the middle of the day inside. So, we caught a movie. We went and saw Flood. It was pretty good.  After the movie we walked around a bit more and took in the sights. It was kinda funny walking around. Because I was like the only tall white guy around, everyone was totally looking at me. It was like I had a huge tail or a bit Neon sign above my head saying "Tourist"!!  I'd be walking down the street and lil kids would come up to me saying hello, or they'd be mesmerised by me. But it wasn't just th kids. Everyone was was like transfixed on my. I kinda felt like a rockstar!!  I'd be walking past ppl and they'd stop what they were doing and stair, then i'd pass them and I'd turn around and they'd be still stairing!!  It's not like I stood out or anything..........6foot, white, blonde hair and wearing shorts, thongs and a tee......no, I fit riiiight in.......not!!! 

After dinner Hui got in a taxi and met up with some mates in the city. At about 9:30pm I got a call from her saying that she was at a night club with her mates and wanted me to come. So, I had noting else to do, and i'm up for anything, so i got in a taxi and went to the club. It was pretty funny. I was in the only Westerner in this club, with about 300 people drinking and dancing their brains out. Anyway, the night was really fun. I taught Hui some classic movies, The Lawn Mower, The Shopping Trolly, The Sprinkler and the old fav Big Fish Small Fish Carboard Box. Haha!! Hui tried to teach me The Snake, but i was sooo shit at it. I kinda looked like a stiff corpse trying to breakdance!! It was such a fun night. I finally got home at about 2am.

The next day was still hot, so I met up with a few of Hui's mates and we went to Karaoke. Yep, Chinese style!!! We hired a room and sung our lil hearts out for about 5hrs!! It was soo much fun!! It was good to go to Karaoke with people who actually want to sing. In Ozz it's usually people not wanting to sing. But in China it's seen as the 'norm'. People would go 2 or 3 times a week!!

Cop a load of this!!!

After that we just bummed around for the rest of the day. It was really good to spend some time with someone i knew. The last week in China i was getting a bit homesick. I know that i was only away for a month, but i would usually see my mates once a week, and to not see them for 4 in a row was hard. Also, not sharing all the experiences with someone was hard. I couldn't laugh about things that had had happened to us or anything. I felt pretty alone and a bit scared about the future if i was alone.

The next day I jumped on the plane and flew the 14hrs home. The flight was ok, nothing special.

I'd have to say that China was a big highlight of this trip. Going to a totally different country and experiencing the culture and the people was a big eye opener. I'll deff be going back and spending a bit more time there.

Well, that's about it for now. No doubt i'll think of stuff in the coming months.

Later Dudes!!

Slovenia and Croatia

The flight from Canada to Slovenia was pretty shit. It was 9hrs of boredom from Calgary to Frankfurt, a 3hr stop over, then another 3hrs to Ljubljana, Slovenia.  However, I was sitting next to a nice Canadian lady. No fat Germans for me this plane trip!! We chatted for a bit about what she was doing in Germany and how much she hated Calgary.

I arrived in Ljubljana at about 2pm. Jumped in a taxi and headed to the hostel. Bad choice. This ride in a taxi was a new first for me.....the first time i've ever been 180km/h in a car!! That's right, this 50somthing year old man floored it to my hostel. He was crazy. Speeding up behind slower drivers, honking, flashing his lights, then speeding past past them. was kinda freaked out, but the 80 Euros, for the 20min ride, it cost me was even more of a shock!!!

So, the hostel was kinda weird to. I was the only one staying there. Kinda sucked. No one to chat to or tour the city with. On my second day in Lju I hired a bike and explored the city. The weather was sweet and I really enjoyed bummin round.

After spending 3 days in Lju I took a 3hr bus trip through the Slovenian Alps, to a town, where i got picked up by Dixi. Dixi is the owner of the MTB tour company we were hooking up with for the 14 days. I had arrived 3 days before the rest of the crew arrive, so i could just bum around and enjoy the quietness.  As soon as I arrived at the B & B I was given a shot of the local Schnapps. God, it burned....all the way down. I hadn't had any alcohol for 3yrs, and it seemed like I was going to become a raging alcoholic in Europe!!

Mike arrived the next day. Mike is the owner of Sacred Rides and was the organiser of the group riding over here. He's thinking of expanding his Canadian trips to Europe, so he was here to check out the scene and meet the locals.

The next day Mike and I were looking for somewhere to ride and we were told about a Potato Festival in a local town 2okm away. It sounded pretty cool, so we jumped on out bikes and headed off into the Slovenian Alps in search of this famous Spud Gig.

We rode and rode and rode, until finally we arrived. It was a tiny town. We rode through it, then came across a small number of people crowded around a table, with some potatoes on it. Mike and I looked at each other. Surely this can't be the 'festival'? We kept riding down the road, then finally came across a field filled with dozens of cars, then another field field filled with tents, stalls, a stage, bands and loads of people getting really drunk and eating loads of potatoes!! BINGO!!!

The potato festival was pretty funny. There were hundreds of people there. It started at about 8am and went all day. As far as i could tell, the main aim of the festival was to get totally hammered and eat potatoes!!

Check out the footage here.

It was a pretty long ride back to the accommodation. We were staying on the top of a massive hill, so after riding 50km, to the festival and back, then to have a 3km uphill climb, Mike and I were pretty shattered when we got back home.

The next night everyone finally arrived. There were 10 of us riders. 3 were journalists, who were taking pics and writing articles for up coming MTB mags.

The next 12 days riding was interesting. I wasn't really sure what to expect with the type of riding, but i'd heard loads of cool things about the sweet trails. Unfortunately, the guides and locals we met didn't know what 'single tracks' were. Their idea of single trails was old overgrown fire trails, or double tracks.

Slovenian and Croatian 'single track'

So, the trails were pretty average and it became the running joke throughout the trip, how fire road was "Slovenian Singletrack"!! Haha!!  However, because the trails were pretty average, gave me a chance to stop and actually have a look at the sweet arse scenery. Slovenia and Croatia are one of the most beautiful countries i've ever been to.  Take a look.

I'd love to be able to tell you where all of these pics are taken, but I have no idea!! In the Alps somewhere, in Slovenia and Croatia. That's as good as i can get.

Oh, a huge highlight was riding our bikes through a 5km dis-used mine. We spent about 2hrs underground, and we were 2km below the surface. Pretty cool. We all had head lights and stopped at spots to explore huge cavities and pits.

Here's a vid of riding in the mines

The 4th last day I had a pretty hard crash. I'd just gotten over my left knee healing, and I go and crash hard on my right knee and banged my hand up on a rock and cut up my arm. I had a pretty bad days riding. It was my 'Off Day'. By the end of the ride, my body was all cut up and bruised. Not a happy camper. The next day I was all cheered up and ready to ride. Remember, a bad days riding is still better than a good day at work!!!

The last night we stayed in a huge castle on the top of a mountain. It was pretty sweet. We all went out the last night and everyone got pretty hammered. One of the gals got pretty tanked and ended up having "Sexy Time" with one of the other riders, in the room adjoining mine, not cool. Lalalala, fluffy kittens, fluffy kittens, fluffy kittens.

Again, there were plenty of funny times during this 2 weeks, and I'll be sure to share more of them in the coming blogs, as i remember them.

Next stop, China!!

Later Dudes!!!

Hi there everyone. Yep, i'm back from my whirlwind trip around the world......well, actually, i've been back for 2 weeks now, but my life has been pretty crazy crazy, so haven't had time to write stuff.

I'm going to break my hols down into 3 different blogs. Week 1, week 2 & 3, and week 4.

So.....

Week 1. Weeks 1 was spent in Canada....again. Yes, i hooked up Sacred Rides, for another week long tour through the Rocky Mountains. My trust mate, Carli, drove me to Melb airport, at 4:30am, where i flew to Sydney and then onto Calgary. This year was the first year that there were direct flights to Canada, without stopping in US of A. So, it cut a few hours off....but was still 14hrs flying, and about 25hrs transit time.

I finally got to Calgary at 9:15am and checked into my hotel, which was plonked in the middle of nowhere. I caught the train into the center of town and bummed around for a few hours. Nothing really worth writing about happened in Calgary. Oh, i did go up the Calgary Tower. It's tall....can't remember how tall....and really, who really gives a feck. So, i killed 36hrs in Calgary, and it went pretty slow. Calgary is a shit hole. NEVER GO THERE!!!!

So, i got picked up on the friday by Sean, the newest Sacred Rides guide. In the van was 3 New Zealanders and a few Canadians. The 4 hr trip to Fernie was pretty good. We all chatted and got to know each other.

All the days riding during the trip are a bit of a blur, so i think i'll just write about things, when they come into my melon.

It was really good to see Eddie again. I look forward to going to Canada each year, and it's not just because of the riding, but for the friendships i've made with the guys from SR. Each year i go back and see my mates that i get to hang out with and ride with for a week or 2.

Ok, so day one was a bit of a shock to my system. I'd been really ill the week before the trip, so i pretty much hadn't ridden my bike for about 2 weeks. The group set out, lead by Eddie and tail guided by Sean. The first lil climb was a bit of a killer. One of the clients wasn't very fit and had to turn round and go back to base in the first 5mins of the 20min climb. I stuck to Edd's tail and climbed it with him. At the top of the climb I was feeling quite average, quite ill. I waited till a few others arrived, then quietly walked down the trail, stood behind a tree, where i was out of sight, and proceeded to 'blow chunks' for 30secs or so. Then, stood up, wiped my mouth, drank some water, and then casually walked (well as casually as you can be, after you've just 'spoken to Ralf' behind a tree) back down the trail to the guys. It's amazing how good you can feel after a good chuck. It must have been the remainders of my flu leaving my body. The rest of the day went fine.

Anyone see the bird?????

The third day in was the 'rest day'. After 2 days of riding, everyone was pretty much hanging out for the rest day. I was feeling pretty good, so i Edd, Mike and a few of the guys decided to ride a new trail called S.L.U.N.T. Why was it called this?? well, because it's a slog and a grunt to get to the top. Boy was it a SLUNT!! It was a 1:40min disused fire road climb, where it was so steep that i had to get off and "hiker-bike" up (at one stage I looked at my GPS and it said that the grade was 31%!!!) in 27deg heat, but well worth it. This trail was about 3 months old and Edd had been bangin on about, to me, for the last month before i got there.

The top section was hand cut, out of the side of the mountain and took 2 guys about 2 weeks to cut a 400m section. But it was a sweet 400m section. You have a mountain on one side, and a drop on the other. Take a look.

    That patch of green in the middle was where that above section of trail was cut.

As we arrived at the trail head, this random dog found us and decided that he was going to follow us for the whole ride!! That was a 15km, 630m ascent, 2:30min run for that dog. Good job!!! It was pretty cool riding with the dog. He'd know how to run beside you, not cut across the trail right in front of you and just stay within contact with you. We were all pretty buggered by the time we'd gotten home. Was a good day in the life.

Edd at the entry to S.L.U.N.T.

That night I caught up with Kim and Ian. Kim was a SR guide from my first 3 trips. She's super cool and I look forward to catching up with her every year. She'd had a baby about 9 months ago, so she has had her hands pretty full, but is finding time now to get out on the bike. I also caught up with Rich as well. We all went out for drinks one night and laughed over old times.

I had a bit of a crash on the last day of riding. I was climbing Cox Hill when I had a slow-mo stack and banged my knee on a sharp rock. It hurt at the time and for the next 3 weeks it was stiff and sore.

Was a bit cold on the way up Cox Hill.

Top of Cox Hill

All in all, the riding in Canada was ok. It wasn't the best trip i've had. They didn't ride as much techy stuff this ride, as they've ridden in the last few years. I missed the challenge of riding skinnies and trying bridge work and teeter-totters. Still, it was cool as to ride with Edd and catch up with Mike, Kim and Rich. Think i'll go back next year and just go riding with them, instead of with a tour.

There's plenty of other stuff, but i'm pretty tired and I'll write about it in a later blog.

Next is Slovenia and Croatia. Stay tuned!!

Later Dudes!!!!!

Hey there everyone. I'm currently sitting at home, sick as a mofo. Got a wicked cold, which hit me like a tonne of bricks last Thurs night.

So, last weekend was a bit upsy-downsy. I got a call from Dad on Wed, saying that my uncle had died and the funeral was on the Friday morning. He'd been suffering from cancer for a while. So, Mum and Dad came down here on Thurs night and stayed at my place. Friday we drove down to Rosebud and went to the funeral. It was pretty sad. I'm never really sure how to act at funerals. Everyone is so sad, but i'm usually so happy, that I find it hard to be really sad. However, i know that i'll be sad when the times arrives. Going to the funeral got me thinking about what song I'd like my coffin to be taken out of the church with. It'll have to be a Radiohead song. Their song Videotape is the one. Have a listen here.

So, after the funeral we drove up to The Dong. It was a pretty long day. Took like 5hrs to get there. On Saturday was my old mate, Marty's, wedding vowel renewal. I've known Marty for like 25yrs. His family and my family use t go to the same church together and go camping all the time together. Ah, the good ol' days of camping. Every Easter out at Mitta Mitta and Tumut. I remember some very cold camping days. All of us kids playing Monopoly and sitting around a big ol' camping fire. Cooking chocolate in Bananas, wraped in foil and apples with saltanas. Marty just got married over in Mexico, so he brought his wife home to Oz to have a lil service and party here. Was really good to see him.

Marty's Dad, Marty and his new wife Nadxieli

Sunday morning I went to church with Mum and Dad, then headed over to Marty's place for a post wedding brunch. After that I headed over to Albury, bought myself some spiffy new Ugg boots and caught up with another mate Naomi. Monday morning I got on the train, at 6am, and headed back to Melbourne. I got into Melb at 10am, then got home, had second breakfast, then headed to work. That was probably the last time I'm going to have a house in The Dong. Mum and Dad are selling the family home on the 11th Oct.

On Wednesday night I headed down to Bar Open to see a band, Milique, with Sarah and Hannah. The singer in Milique, Roni, is in another band who supported The Vulpine a few weeks back. It was a pretty good gig. Their sound is pretty Portishead/Tricky like, that Trip Hop kinda sound.

Thursday was my day off. I woke up with a little cough, but thought nothing of it. I rode the townie into the city, got a hair cut then had lunch with Megan. She's just come back from a 6week riding holiday over in France and Scotland. After lunch I caught up for a cuppa with Carli.

Thursday night Lauren came over and dropped her bike off. She's going OS for 3 months, so she left her townie with me to look after. Jess also came over and we had dinner together. After dinner I began to feel a little weired. I was feeling really cold, but my skin was feeling hot. At about 8:30pm Jess and I headed down to The Evelyn Hotel to see The Basics play. Hannah, Jimmy, Peils and Emma all showed up. It was looking like a sweet arse night, until about 10:30pm. The Basics had just started playing, then I wasn't feeling too crash hot, then suddenly I felt really light headed, I started sweating really bad and shivering too. I turned to Jess and said that I really had to go home. I said a quick goodbye to the others then headed for the car. I was shivering really bad and feeling really cold. Thursday night was a shocker. I could remember waking up sweating really bad, but feeling really cold. I called in sick on Friday and today (Saturday). I spent all day on Friday on my Beanbag watching the Olympics and trying not to move. Last night (friday night) was better than Thurs night. At least i got some sleep. I went to bed at 9pm and slept all the way through to 8:30am Sat.

So today I have actually felt like eating something. After a very small breakfast I headed down to the chemist and stocked up on vitamins and cold and flu stuff. So now i'm drugged up to my eyeballs. I'm meant to be going GoKarting tonight and leading a shop MTB ride tomorrow, but both are a no go. I want to get better before I go away next Friday. Actually I wanna get better before next Thurs, cause I've organised to a heap of mates to go see The Basics again.

I'm getting pretty excited about going away. But i'm also excited about getting back too. I've got my bro's engagement party the weekend after i get back, then a few weekends later I'm going to see The Grates with Michelle, and possibly Hannah, and then I'm flying up to Sydney to see Blue King Brown, also with Michelle. It's kinda funny that i've found a new Gig Person to go to gigs with and she's in Sydney!! Seems that we are taking in turns to see gigs in each others cities!!

Anyway, i'm not sure if i'll get the chance to do a blog while I'm OS, so I guess this is bye to now.

See ya'll in 5 weeks!!

Later dudes!!!

This weeks has been pretty busy, awesome and interesting, hence the updated blog.

My boss and his wife have been away for the past week, so it's been pretty good at work. Nothing getting stuffed up, or ordered wrong. All smooth sailing. Because they've been away, I've been looking after their house, and their 2 Egyptian Hounds. One of their dogs, Sharny, is about 10yrs old, and is pretty mellow and.....well....old.The other one, Bluey, is a 1yr old and is super hypo and pretty much scared of everything.  The first night I stayed there was ok. I got home and went to bed and they were all fine, slept like a log. The second night was another story. I got home from seeing The Basics, which I'll talk about a bit later on, at about 11pm. Bluey was pretty hypo. I sat with them for a bit and watched a bit of tv, then headed off to bed. After about 30mins, Bluey was starting to get restless and obviously missing his masters. He was running round the house, in and out of the dog flap, running up the side of the house, barking and scratching at my bedroom door. He'd obviously settle down, if i ignore him, after a while and he'd sleep the night. But no. I gave him an hour, then 2, then 3. Finally by the time 3am came about, and he hadn't settled down, I'd had enough!! I got all my stuff together, got in my car and drove home, to spend, what remained of my night, in my own comfy and quiet bed. Stupid dog!!

Tuesday night I caught up with a new friend, Jacky.  I met Jacky at my local cafe, she makes my lunch on the weekends, and we seemed to gel, so I asked her if she'd like to catch up sometime and we have.  We caught up for dinner a few weeks ago, then for a hot chocolate a few days after that.  She's pretty interesting. She's 27, originally from Holland (she's got a wicked Danish accent) and moved here 7yrs ago. She's got her residency here and is becoming a citizen later this month, pretty committed. She's also studying medicine at Monash. Anyway, on our second meeting she clarified with me that we were only meeting up as friends and that she enjoyed spending time with me, so i was a lil bummed about that, but at least it was out in the open and there was no mistaking of how things were going. Anyway, we caught up for dinner on Tues night. She invited me round to her place, where she cooked me dinner and I brought desert. It was kinda really nice to have a home made meal cooked for me. Also really nice that Jacky feels comfy enough to cook for me. I'd be shitting myself, mainly cause boiling water is a lil beyond me!! We also caught up last night too. We went to a veggie place for a meal, was pretty nice. After dinner I drove her home. I was fully content on just dropping her off, but then she asked me in to finish off the desert from the start of the week. So, we finished it off and just hung out for an hour or so. I was totally buggerd by Sat night, so I called it quits at 9:30.

On Wed night I caught up with Jo and we saw the new Batman movie. It was pretty good, long , but good. Heath Ledger really did do a good, totally suited the Joker part.

Thursday night I caught up with Jess and Raenier and we saw The Basics perform at a place called Roxanne's in the city.  They were supporting a gal named Paris Wells.  The Basics set was pretty sweet. They've just released their re-mastered first album Get Back and Thursday night was it's re-launch. They played all their songs off the album. It was a really good gig, just like they use to be like about 18months ago. Their music off that first album was really boppy and rock n rolly. Their new stuff is kinda surly. We were there pretty much to only see The Basics, and I was wondering how many other people were only there for them too. Anyway, after their set, there were a fair few of us that headed to the lift to get out. In the lift on the way down from the gig, we were all packed in like sardines. I made the VERY sarcastic comment "Gee i hear that that Paris Wells really rocks......NOT!!!" clearly not know what she sounded like and also stating that we'd all only came for The Basics. Everyone sniggered. We all got out of the lift and headed to the door, but only me, Jess and Raenier went to exit the place. The rest of the people were just going to have a smoke!! Whoops!!!  I'd just bagged out Paris, in a lift full of Paris fans!! EEK!!! Hahaha, awkward.........

Friday night Jess, Gus and I went and saw The music.  They totally wailed!!! They played at the HiFi bar in the city. I saw them a few years ago and they were good, so I was expecting a good show, and we got one!!

The Music live Vid
Another The Music live Clip 

I've been having rather long Saturdays lately, and last Saturday was pretty looong. I've been riding on my shops road rides each Sat morning at 7am. 7am!!! I know, freakin early, but i'm kinda enjoying them. It's pretty social, like our MTB rides we do. We meet at the shop at 7am, then ride to Mordialoch and back. It's about 45ks and takes us about 90mins. Because I've started road riding, it's getting harder and harder to do my Track riding on Sunday morns. So, i've had to sell my Track bike. I totally love riding track, but I haven't ridden it for about 3 months, because I've had mtb rides to take, going home to The Dong, illness and I have to get up at 7am on my day off. So, it was too difficult to ride, so I sold it on Ebay.

Next week shouldn't be as crazy as last week.  Tonight I'm seeing The Vulpine at the Empress, then seeing The Vulpine again play at the Elwood Lounge on Thursday night, then next weekend I'm heading to The Dong to see my long time friend, Marty, is getting married.

Only 19 days till i'm off around the world!!!

Later Dudes!!!

Hey ya'll!! Sorry it's been a while since my last entry, just trying to motivate myself to write one. I've been pretty busy, over the last month, so it's not like i've got nothing to write about.

So, i'll start back yonder.

At the beginning of July me and the housies went and saw KungFu Panda. What a lil ripper of a movie. Deff worth seeing, but take a child along with you. Might look a bit strange you going to a kids movie with out a child!! Before the movie started there was a preview for a movie called Wall.E. Looks uber good. Now, who can i take to see it?? Speaking of movies, I also went and saw Batman: The Beginning at IMAX. That was pretty cool too.

Also at the start of the month was the first The Basics gig for about 3 months. Wally (Gotye) has been overseas on a solo tour for the last few months, so the boys haven't played anywhere.  I sent out a shout out to the gang and we all met at the Empress, for a spot of dinner before the gig.  The last The Basics gig i saw, i was a bit worried about. Their spark seemed to have gone, and they'd lost a bit of their vibe. I'm pleased to announce that they have got their spark back, and the gig was a huge success. They were supported by a band called Smurfinger. They totally wailed!! Gunna check them out in the future for sure!!

The Basics at The Empress

Another gig I went to was Lior, live in Belgrave.  I've seen Lior a few times and loved each time, so when I saw he was playing at Ruby's, I had to go. Again, I put a shout out, and Caitlin was up for it. She's livin out there, with Jimmy, so it was a hop, skip and a jump from their place. It was a pretty good gig, with the place totally packed out. Abby Tucker, from Leonardo's Pride, was the support. She was kinda crap. Made me want to slash my wrists.

See a video of Lior.

On the 12th was a The Vulpine gig at The Elwood lounge. It was a pretty good gig, with a pretty big turnout. The usual suspects turned up, along with a few extras.

Over the last month's Sundays, I've been pretty busy with riding. Unfortunately, it hasn't been my Track riding. I haven't ridden my Track bike for about 2 months, and I feel pretty bad for it. I love Track, but I just can't fit it in. So, i've had to sell my Track bike. It was just sitting around, doing nothing, so I got rid of it. Shame really. I've been running a few shop MTB rides. Recently we had a beginners ride, where we took a heap of beginners out mountain biking. It was pretty god fun. Seeing the look on the guys faces when they ride something. I've also been doing a few advanced shop rides too. We've just been out to The Youies, and had a sweet arse time there. There were about 20 of us that went. Was cool as. 2 weekends ago we had a shop ride along the Yarra. Was good also. The weather held off and everyone had a cool time. Jess and Gus hired some MTBs and came along also. By the time we got home, we'd done bang on 50kms. Not bad.

I've had a few days this month, where i've been a bit down. Now I don't wanna bang on about this, but being single isn't fun. And when you've been single for the last 6yrs, it just plain sucks. You start to wonder what's wrong with you. Sure i'm getting out there and meeting new people, and you think you've met someone who is cool, you catch up a few times, everything going smooth, only to be told that you are a really good friend, and then it's weird. It's happened to me 3 times in the last month or so. I don't know if this is going to sound bad or not, but I put all this time into spending time with her, getting to know her and showing that I'm interested, and I think we click, but then, it comes. "I just want you to know that i really enjoy hanging out with you, and I just want you to know that we are just good friends". SNAP!! I usually act all "yeah, that's ok. It's fine, really." But, inside I'm like shish!!! I just can't catch a break. I was chatting to one of my housemates about this and she's like "I find that if they say that, it's because there is no physical attraction, so they see you as a friend, and nothing more." Now, i'm the fist to admit that I don't have those chiseled features or good looks of other guys, but I do have a nice personality. And, yes i know, a physical attraction is a huge part. So, what can i do. Do i need to change?? Do i need to buy a new wardrobe, get a hair cut and buy a new car?? I don't want to change. If i change, i feel like i'm not being me. Me is me and I don't really want to change that. I don't want to feel like I need to act to attract someone. So, i have been getting out there, and taking some risks, but i'm starting to feel like every girl i meet I think we could be good together. Like I just can't be friends with her, I have to take that next step, i've got nothing to lose. It sounds so desperate and I don't want to look like i'm sleazing onto everyone I meet.

Amongst the down time, was Jules's birthday drinks. The usual suspects all turned up to The Local down at Elwood. It was actually a pretty good night. It was a loong day for me that day. I've been going on my boss's shop rides, which start at 7am Sat mornings. So, by 8pm Sat night, I had hit the wall. I dragged my sorry ass into my car and headed to the pub. As I said, it was a pretty good night. Good vibe, good friends and good music.

The day after I went for a ride with Jess, Gus and Lauren.  We all met at our place and rode along the Capital City Trail. It's a 30km bike path, which loops from our place, follows the Yarra and into the city. It was a pretty casual ride and we had a bite to eat at the Children's Farm.

I think that I told you all that Jess was moving out. Well, she is. In fact, today she moved the last of her stuff out. After a month of searching, we've finally found a new victim for 461. His name is Simon. He's 29, works on a warehouse, studies part time and is in the Arm Reserve. He seemed pretty cool. Not too loud and seems pretty 'normal'........though we've been wrong before!! So, today he's moving in. My ex-housemate, Marian, was super keen to move in, but she came over and didn't really gel with Toni. So we decided not to get Marian in. Everyone had to be happy with the new person, we all have to live together.

A few days ago, I got this totally random email from a guy I met 5yrs ago, on my very first MTB trip to Fernie. Paul was part of a group of 4 that came over from England, for the week long trip back in 03'. We all got along really well and seemed to have the same relaxed attitude to life. So, he sent me this email saying that he was coming to Melb and was keen to catch up. He came to the shop and we chatted for about 2hrs!! He hadn't changed very much, apart from getting married and having a child!! He still rides heaps and hangs out with the other guys he came to Ferni with.

Last Saturday night was a lil pearler. I had 2 firsts happen.  I went to see Little Birdy, for the first time, and I finally met Michelle from Sydney. I'm not sure if i've mentioned Michelle before. How do i explain how I know her?? well, I think the easiest way to explain is that she reads this blog and we've gotten to know each other through that. Sounds kinda weird eh?? So, yeah. She randomly got onto my blog, thought it was interesting, sent me an email and the rest is history. You can check out her blog here. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to see Little Birdy, and she's like "Shit yeah, me and Matt (her boyfriend) will fly down to Melb for the weekend and we'll go see them!!" Sweet!!! So we met up before the gig and headed down to St Jerome's Bar for a few drinks before the gig.

The gig was freaking sweet as!!! The lead singer, Katy Steele, is truly a lil honey and she is going to have my babies!! But if they turn out as strange as her bro, leader singer from Sleepy Jackson, then I guess we'll have to skip having the babies, but focus on the 'process' of how babies come about!! Haha!!

Anyway, the gig was sweet as and the crowd was full on into it. They played all their hits and some new stuff to, which sounds sweet too. Here are some pics:

See the Little Birdy video

So, this month is set to end on a high. I'm going to watch a mate of mine, Jo, get her first tattoo on Wednesday, then I'm seeing The Basics on Thurs night, then on Friday night I'm seeing The Music!!!

25 days till i'm overseas, biatches!!!!!

Later dudes!!!

Last weekend i headed back to the Dong for a few days with my folks.  I borrowed the new van from work and headed up the Hume. I always dread having to drive back to the Dong, because if the 3.5hr drive along the hideously boring Hume Highway. However this time it went a lil quicker. The new van has Cruise Control. Oh how i love Cruise. I want to have babies with Cruise and put cruise on my car!!

Anyway, the trip to the Dong went pretty well.....as you can see from the pics, i was still uber bored......

 
Hahaha!!!

So i arrived at the Dong on Sunday afternoon. It was really good to see the folks again. I hadn't been home since Christmas and I had the itch to get home. There's something about my childhood house. It just makes me want to forget all about the outside world and stay in the safety of the house. There's the familiar smell and sound that my house has, that always brings back memories.

And speaking of memories, because they are selling the house and moving to Bendigo, they are cleaning out the house.  Dad has been emptying draws and boxes and is finding all this stuff from our childhood. Dad brought out a folder with a load of old school stuff. It was really funny to read back on old grade 4 stories like this:

 

 
45000 glasses of beer!!! Wow, aiming high!!!

and Kinder pics like this when i was 4:


Notice where the hammer is pointed!! Whack!!!!

It's kinda funny. As i looked through the stories and pictures I can still remember drawing them. Thinking about to draw bodies and houses and stuff. Makes me feel all good inside, like I'm a child again. There's also a grade 6 final report card. My teacher was Mrs Lowcock and the stuff she writes is pretty much me now. Reading her comments about my personality and my grip on things really shows through today. I thought that I would have changed heaps, moving to Melb and growing older, but it seems that i've still got the basic values and personality that i had as a child. That makes sense right? Maybe i should have changed??? Do i still act like a kid?? Or was a VERY mature for my age???...........I think not!!!

While i was back home I also organised to catch up with some old mates. I use to have a bunch of mates that we'd all go BMXing together. So, I caught up with one of them. It was interesting to see that nothing had really changed....apart from a few of them having kids and still living at home. I often wonder where i'd be if i hadn't taken that job down in the bike shop in Melbourne. Where i'd be, if i'd be married or even have kids. Anyway, my life down here is pretty good, and i think it would be a lot better than if i'd stayed in the Dong.

So I pretty much spent a few days sitting at home and just being with my folks. I even found time to read the paper. Shock horror i know!! I get in a paper reading mood when i'm there. Mum and dad have about 5 different papers on the table and they just work their way through them.

On the Tuesday dad and I packed the van with a load of house stuff and drove to their new house in Bendigo. It was an ok trip, nice to have someone to chat to along the way. Their new house is a total contrast to the house in the Dong. It's more of an 'old retiring peoples' home, very cute. You know?? Brick, white rocks around trees, pink kitchen, largely weed ridden un-mowable lawn, dodgy watering systems. Sort of a hobby garden. It's really nice. Good place to bring the grand kids to.

After unpacking the stuff we headed over to my bros place. They have just moved there and started working at the local hospital. I always give him shite, saying it's like 'Everyone Loves Raymond"!! The folks will be round all the time!! Haha!! It's not going to happen, but i like to bag him over it.

I could have spent a few more days in the Dong. The place has a sense of country, that I don't get from other towns. It's the innocence of it, the relaxed vibe and the kindness of it all. I'd move back there, but i've really got nothing there. If only i could convince all my Melb friends to move to the Dong with me!!

Later Dudes!!!

Hey there.

I've been feeling a lil upsie/downsie over the last month or so.  I haven't really been motivated to write anything and, to tell you the truth, still finding it hard to sit down and write.  I guess that my upsies are to do with my 'external/doing' life and the downsies is pretty much my personal life.....you know, the usual stuff.

I've been keeping pretty busy over the last month or so.  Early last month there was a KEEN Adventure Race post race catch up, for competitors, support crew and volunteers. It was at The Riverside Hotel, a nice lil pub in the city. It was a pretty fun night, with loads of stories and good times spread round. It was also really good to catch up with some of the support crews I'd made friends with during the race. After that me and Emma (one of the KEEN organisers) headed over to the Empress and caught The Vulpine do a set.

The following weekend, and for that whole week to follow, I was a sick as a dog. I'd go a pretty nasty cold and I ended up taking a day off work. I didn't even go to Jimmy's house warming, which I was super bummed about. The cold really knocked me round. I couldn't see my Mum on Mums Day, which i was pretty bummed about also. I had the cold for about 3 weeks. I've still got it in my nose, but i'm about 90% better.

During my 'sick week', I was house sitting for my friends Dee and Andy. They were MTB racing up in Alice Springs, then doing a bit of a Central Ozz tour, for a week and a bit. Looking after their house for that week and a bit made me realise that I could never live by myself. Getting home from work, to an empty, cold house, would drive me crazy. I found myself wishing that there was someone to talk to and spending most nights on the computer waiting for people to come online so i could chat to them!! Pretty sad really. However, the house was 10mins drive from work, so getting up at 9:30am was a dream!!

A few weeks ago Carli and I competed in another Tri X race, out at the Youies. Once again, Carli and I were taking it super serious........NOT!!!! Was kinda funny, we walk up to the registration area and go to register. I walk up to the table and say "Hi, I'm.." and before i  could finish, the girl's like ""2 Nuts and a Beaver right??" hahah!! They knew who we were!! Mind you I was wearing a stupid fluffy hat and Carli was dressed like this!!

Anyway, Carli had a really good first run, doing it in about 30mins (37th fastest).  My ride went ok also. They'd changed the course slightly, so it was a lot more singletrack, but it was mostly uphill. Not really suited to my Single Speed rigid. I did it in about 1:02 (8th fastest), then Carli did her final run in 26mins (14th fastest). All up we were 1st mixed team, 5th team and 14th overall. After the race, Raenier came out and we rode some new trails out there. By the end of the day I was totally wrecked. I'd forgotten how hard it is on my body when you ride a bike with no suspension!!!

My housemate, Toni, finally convinced me to go to a Drag Kings night with her. "What the hell is Drag Kings?" i hear you ask. Well, you've heard of Drag Queens?? Well, Drag Kings is the opposite. Girls dressing up a dudes, and singing. She'd been on my case to go and check it out with her for ages, so i finally gave in. It was their 8th birthday, so she promised that it's be a good one......and she wasn't wrong. It was a pretty fun night- good acts and HEAPS of chicks!! Haha!! Well, i didn't really know what to expect, i'd never been to a Kings night.....or any sort of night like that before. There was one pretty obvious thing there, there were 2 types of groups. The 'try hard/cool' lesbians, and the rest (who looked normal). You had your EMO group, your older group, your chik lezzos and finally the group that was along to support their gay friend. I also noticed, that the more i asked Toni about people there, the more i realised that it's super bitchy and 'clicky', the gay scene. Everyone just seemed to sit in their groups. Anyway, it certainly was an eye opener. Oh, and there certainly are hot lesbians out there!!!! Hahaha!!!

The 1st June was my shops beginners ride out at the Youies. I've been organising shop rides over the last year or so, and i really enjoy them. The beginner ones are really cool. I take a bunch of beginners out and we session obstacles out in the bush, like rough terrain, log roll overs and other stuff we come across. We had about 13 riders come to the latest one. It was super fun. Everyone had a sweet time and most of them found themselves riding stuff they thought they'd never ride. Take a look.

After the ride, there was a screening of the new mtb movie by The Collective. It's called Seasons. GO SEE IT!!!

My car broke down on the way home from the Espy on the 4th. Well technically it was the 5th, because it was at 12:30am!! I was almost home, when it just died. I called the RACV and they showed at about 1am, then I finally got home at about 1:30am. It was the fuel pump. Luckily i had the next day off. There is a mechanics right round the corner from my place, so i thought I'd try to drive there. I got in my car, and it started!! I pulled out, to do a Uie, only to have the car stop in the middle of the road!! Damn!!! So I push it back to my parking spot and called for a tow truck. I got it towed to my mechanics, on the other side of town, then spent the remainder of the day on public transport getting home. I was without my car for a week and a half, and it cost me $500!!! Bugger.

The next day, Pete and Jackie got home from their European holiday. They had been over there for 6 weeks, just enjoying some time away. Because I didn't have a car, George and Michelle picked me up and we drove out to pick them up from the airport. They stayed at my place that night.

On the Queens Birthday holiday we had another shop ride. This one was for more experienced riders. Again, we headed out to the Youies, but in the more aggressive trails. It was a really good turn out, with about 16 riders. We all rode for about 3 hours and were all pretty rooted by the time we got back to the cars.

A few nights ago a bunch of us went down to Vodafone Arena to see some track cycling. It was pretty good, with some fast, hard and close racing and with a few stacks thrown in for good measure!!

Friday 13th was a very special day for Toni. It was the night she was performing at Drag Kings. She'd been stressing about this for the last month. So finally the night had arrived.

All us house mates went along, as well as Angus, to see Toni give it her all. It was a pretty funny night. The first performer was a Britney Spears tribute band. They were uber funny!! Toni did really well. Her performance depicted her slight obsession with Angelina Jolie. Again, it was a pretty good night, though we left early.

Last night was a big night for The Vulpine. They had 2 gigs in one night. The first was at The Empress at 4pm, then at The Elwood Lounge at 9pm. I worked all day, so i turned up to Empress gig at about 5:30pm. We all had a noice dinner after the gig, then headed over to the Elwood, for the second installment. Sarah, the keyboardist, was super sick, so she couldn't play. The band still sounded really good, just a lil more stripped back.

Today Raenier, Carli and I headed out to the Youies to session some new trails out there. We weren't really up for a massive ride, so we stopped and practiced some sections of the new trails out there, and took some pic too. It was pretty fun, finding new lines and riding things faster.

I'm looking forward to next weekend. I am going back the the Dong for a few days. Heading up there on Sat night, the coming back on Tues arvo. Really looking forward to getting back to the country, airing my brain and relaxing. Missing home a bit and Mums cooking.

Later Dudes!!!!