The Book of Ashes

Dad's 50th birthday 10:13AM

The gym rocked! I used to laugh at people who went to the gym, but then I used to think McDonalds was good for you and that BASIC was the best programming language in the world that would one day over take C++ and Pascal. I had a lot to learn. Dan & I went for a medium workout. He has noted his cookie dough weight of 84kg (now updated) and my pathetic weight of 73kg. I used to be 78 and then I thought I had virtually no fat on me. Anyway his goal is to loose weight (FAT), mine is to gain (MUSCLE)... should be interesting. They couldn't sign us up that night (Friday) but we just went in this arvo and got ourselves sussed (alone with another good workout). I now belong to a gym. Who would have ever guessed :)

Friday was Dad's 50th birthday. He arrived around 6pm with his new girl friend who was pretty cool. We got him a dinner set for his birthday from all us kids. Later that night he admitted to having just brought one 4 days prior. How unlucky is that? Anyway we swapped it for an electric shaver the next day and all was sweet. Eddie was up from Dunners, Robyn now back and living in Wellington was there and Thomas was down from Palmy for the weekend. It was great to catch up with the family.

We went out to Little India for an excellent assortment of curries acompanied by a couple bottles of Shiraz. Nice. Afterwards everyone retired to their respective sleeping places and I headed out to investigate the night life...

A little while later found me outside the Malthouse on a rather chilly night. Deanne & Emma were (unknowingly) awaiting me outside. Deanne was a little upset over girl politics and left shortly after. The rest of us headed out to Diva with Tom & friends following shortly after.

Diva was pretty cool. This night had been Sarah's last day at work and she was nicely sloshed. She insistantly asked me to take photos which the disturbances will pay tribute to.

Saturday found me not hung over, a rare occurance indeed. I arose early to accompany Dad to Briscoes to exchange his gift then for a walk round the water front and a coffee before he headed up to Paraparaumu to visit Grandma & Grandpa. All good.

Tammy's 22nd birthday 10:51AM

Happy 22nd Tammy!

Sunday was Tammy's 22nd birthday. Saturday we went out to celebrate with her. First we stopped at Crip' & Tammy's place for pre-drinks. It was like old times, back when Tammy used to flat with me. There was the old crew, a re-uniting of the original four savants, Sifty, Psykx, Ashes & Crispy and then there were the Hawkes Bay chicks. There is something to say about Hawkes Bay chicks but you really need to meet them to understand. It was cool. Damian and I chopped back a few brewskies and caught up on lost memories.

Time passed and we headed out to some Italian place for dinner. Our dinner took ages and we were all hungry so we resorted to a few games to keep us entertained. First it was Damians mission to get Perihelion stickers stuck on someones boobs. But that was Damian. We had no takers and Kelly soon shut down that game. Next we took turns shaking the pepper then the salt into our mouths. We quickly stopped that as it just was yuck and you could have done it for ages. Then Damian got his plate of olives and it became the sneak an olive stone into someones glass of wine game. They look like mini poo's and fizz up heaps. Vicky was having a D&M; and took many a sip before noticing one was in her drink. Finally our meals came. Mine came last as apparently they were growing the peas out back. I got a free salad but wasn't too impressed. The table next to us were just as bad and ended up tying there napkins to the tops of the candles and creating large flames. Quite entertaining. One of the girls decided to dip a napkin in wine and try light that but ironicly it was Damian who brought order to the table and stopped that from happening.

After dinner we headed out on the town for a bit of a boogie. All in all a good night. Great to catch up with everyone.

Sunday was Dad's 50th birthday party. It was excellent catching up with the family, having a few drinks, playing some games and eating an awesome meal. I was most contented afterwards.

Later that day Dan & I went to the gym and signed up alone with a medium workout. It was good. Soon it will be time to go hard core and then the becoming will truely be nearing its end.

Question for the day. If you suffer enough pain do you eventually become immune? Or do you just snap