Friday, January 29, 2010

Piñata Piñata!!!

I'm always up for a get together, a nice party, a catch up, drinks, dinner, chilling out at a cafe. Whatever really. It's just nice to DO SOMETHING. Anything is always better than nothing.

I had a great reason to do something though one weekend recently. One of my good friends had recently overcome some health problems and what better way was there to celebrate than to have a party near the beach (being my house of course)!

In honour to make the party truly awesome, I decided that we needed a piñata. We needed something to best represent the annoyance and suffering that the illness had caused her so that she could beat the hell out of it. I wandered off to the shops searching for the perfect piñata and to my immense surprise, I was confronted by one of those rare situations in life where what you get far exceeds anything you could have hoped for or imagined.
With the choice of either Dora the Explorer or Elmo, I knew that I was going to have to choose Dora. Leaving Dora in my apartment the nights before the party was more than a bit disconcerting.... the way she would stare at me with her empty eyes.....

The day of the party came and everyone seemed happy enough. Once Dora came out, the hilarity began though.
One by one, everyone gave in to their desires and started swinging away at Dora. It really didn't take long for people to get over their original nervousness and to start attacking this poor defenceless cartoon character.
As Dora was finally smashed open and the candy gathered off the floor, we were then treated to the bizarre sight of one of the kids at the party deciding that Dora needed to be rid of her head. Everyone stood in awkward silence as Dora's head was methodically removed. This was followed by the equally bizarre sight of the smiling child hugging the head and giving it a kiss.... lovely.
With Dora's head off, it seemed a shame to waste it, so I decided to turn it into a mask. I think it looks rather fetching.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

An explosive start to the new year

Spending 11 days in Newcastle with the parents was an interesting experience.

What made it even more interesting was the fact that of the 11 days I found myself in Newcastle, it was raining for 11 days. By the end of my stay, the feeling of cabin fever was more than overtaking me. Being unable to go to the beach, being unable to go for a run, being unable to really even go outside.... there's something incredibly unsatisfying moving from one inside location to another by car. Whilst you may be in a new place, it still feels as though you are trapped and unable to get out.

Finally, my time came to an end though, and I began my trip back to Sydney.

The road works between Sydney and Newcastle have been completed and so the trip is now an easy one. There is little in the way of distractions and there are clear landmarks that help to notify you of just how far into the journey you are. It's a journey I've done numerous times now with no incident.

That should have alerted me. I had had it far too easy.

On this occassion, a little bit out of Sydney, just after Gosford, it was my time to come to grief. Driving along, I suddenly lost power and I found myself losing control. Luckily, I was able to pull my car to the side of the road. Unluckily for me, it was at a part of the road that did not have a shoulder, and so I found my car perched precariously between the deep storm water gutters and the left hand lane of traffic.

Getting out of the car, I quickly found out the problem. My right rear tyre had exploded. So badly in fact that the tread had become completely separated from the side wall. I came disturbingly close to some serious damage and harm it seems. After jacking up my car, I steeled myself to walk into the left hand lane of traffic to change the tyre.... I quickly lost my metal when the first semi-trailer screamed past at 110kph. I made the wiser decision of calling roadside assistance, who sent a truck to drag me to safety where I was able to change my tyre in peace and safety.
The tyre is finished. Completely destroyed. It's a good indication to me that I probaably need some new tyres on all my wheels.

Either way, what a way to bring in the new year....