The Book of Ashes

Surprise visit from Wayne 7:54AM

Here I sit, a glass of red sitting to my right on clear glass table. Laptop in front of me i type, words of encouragement, words of wisdom and just plain words. I am back in the brick coloured house, orange textured wallpaper with mustard yellow couches to match. Sublime plays in the background on a sub quality stereo (Tom's gonna hate it). It is warmer since last time. The days are lengthening and the nights are warming. Food is sparse here. My wine is almost two weeks old and all I have remaining is a slice of processed cheese (eaten already), 4 toaster hash browns (eating two now), some rice, a tin of baked beans and some sultana bran (no milk). Tomorrows breakfast shall consist of baked beans and toaster hash browns me thinks.

So once again time passes. Its August already, winter is almost spent and another Christmas looms. Dad wants us kids to go to Hong Kong for Christmas. I am semi keen. I want to go, I don't want to spend the money. The lure of the car calls. The freedom, the fun of driving, the excitement of travelling new places. I saw some cool places on the way up here. Sign posts to new adventures, the lavendar farm, the beaches, all the little places and I want to go to them all. Only once I have a car.

Sunday lived up to its full name; Lazy Sunday. Saturday night I invited Martin round for a drink or two. He brought the L&P; and I supplied the spirits. We were happily drinking away, Martin, Bonnie and I when there was a knock at the door. Averil was out and all my friends were here. Who could this be, this blue blob through the glass? I opened the door and to my surprise, there stood my ex-flatmate Wayne. He'd dropped his wife (shit I remember him coming home and telling me about this hot chick he'd hooked up with the night before (her) then stuffing up the phone call to her) off at some crystal reading thing?!? and just wanted to see what was going on. After 5 mins in the flat he was off to the super market for some beers and back to join us. Towards 9 we headed up to Martins for some big screen action (Wayne was impressed) and a few more beers. Ahhh... all good.

Anyway I digress. I was talking about Sunday, Lazy Sunday. It began with an excellent sleep in. Upon ceasation of this excellent sleep in the curtains were pulled to reveal a most excellent day, warm and full of streaming rays of this rare stuff called sunlight. We bathed in it. So after an excellent breakfast I put on my tramping boots (Which feel more comfortable than many shoes I have purchased before) and Bonnie and I went for a walk up Mt Vic. The sun shone and the birds chirped as we puffed and panted up through the pines. It was such a beautiful walk through there. We could see down through the trees to the super still harbour and the new sand which is Oriental beach. We finally reached the top of Mt Vic and we went round to visit my uncle and cousins who where home to return a borrowed copy of CivIII. After a quick catch up there it was off to Nana & Poppa's where we met Nana reading in the sunny conservatory. We sat there and chatted for a while until Nana mentioned that Robyn wanted her ski's sent over and so we had to take them up to mum in Palmy. I said, well I'm off to Palmy tonight! Nana didn't believe me. We rang mum and she said no Robyn wanted her ski clothes from next to her skis. After pulling them out we found that they fitted Bonnie perfectly and she is coming skiing with us at the end of this month in QUeenstown but doesn't have any gear. We reckon Robyn won't need it by then so Bonnie now has clothes. We also were able to courier a cheque down to Thomas who was meeting me at my place after N&Ps.;

Up in Palmy once again... 8:03AM

Back at my place a feirce battle arose. Thomas was white and I was black, each a king of our own men. I took Thomas and gave him a general thrashing in the first game then the second stretched on for what seemed like years. I was always a piece or two up on Tom but he eventually wore me down so I lost gracefully. 1 each.

In other news. New guy down by the lifts has now put up partitions around his desk so people walking past his glass walls (eg me) don't stare all the time. He has settled in a little now and you can see hes not quite as energitic and as excited as he originally was. This will continue to fade until a month or a year or even 5 years later he will be worn down and hate coming to work like the rest of us... hehehe.

So I'm hanging out for a pay rise. I was meant to get one 3 days ago now but no... bastards. Someone shall pay... (me).

So its another day. I'm sitting on the custard couch now, red wine on the floor by my feet, relaxing. Shit its been a long day and shit the work up here is a bitch. Just the little job I'm trying to do that is. It just won't get done. Nothing seems to be going well for me its like its a life force of its own and its resisting... hard.

I am now wary of earth quakes. I keep looking towards the curtains on one of the walls as if thats the direction the earth quake will come from. As if looking can help. Better to sleep under the table or a door way, at least that way you're relaxed when it hits.

Did I mention Palmy at night? You can see it from a distance as this dull orange glow, lighting up the skies like Mordor, except that Palmy's so tame no one would be afraid to go there.

What else, oh yeah, reason I mention Earth Quakes is that last night around midnight the world shook for me. The ground was undulating on the spot (creative license of the word there) and there was a quick jerk followed by some smaller follow up bowel movements. It wasn't enough to freak me, but enough to get me under the door waiting for the next one. My creaky old knees give it a 4.1 on the Ashes scale (same as richter scale but with a cooler name). So enough of the silly Seinfeldism's, I wanna be back in Wellington tonight. It sucks, could be up here any other time and I wouldn't care but tomorrow is Bonnie's birthday and I don't know whether I'll get my shit done in time to get back there for that. Bastards, they killed Kenny!

Oh yeah, that reminds me of a habbit (two b or not two b's?) I've been forming of recent and that is to use cool sayings totally out of context but utilising there cool sound when I want to say something that sounds cool. An example is when I'm in a good mood, walking round the flat and I'm about to go out or something I might say ""Rock and Roll is Dead!"". Its a cool line I like from a song which has absolutely nothing to do with the current moment and most likely brings blank looks followed by ""yes Ashley"" or ""OK then"", but it expresses exactly how I feel. Yeah, fuck yes, rock and roll is dead. Means nothing but I know you can feel the power behind those words. ""Rock and Roll kiddies"" is another, inherited from the K-man.

Stamp that funky monkey... was reminded.