2009, overall has been a most triumphant year. As always there have been low points, but these have been more than balanced out by a few awesome adventures, the awesome people with with the adventuring has been had, and some pretty big and excellent changes. I thought I’d take this opportunity as the year draws near to a close to take a look back at a few of the awesome things that happened.
Like many good stories, this one includes — and in fact begins with — pirates. We all know pirates are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and so they made an excellent theme for the surprise party we held for Cara’s birthday near the start of the year. We got a great turn out with some excellent costumes, and a good time was had by all.
William and I gave Cara a ticket to SoundWave ‘09 as her birthday present. ‘Twas the day of rockening, and we both dared and won. A most excellent day filled with many awesome bands. William spent almost 2 hours (or was it a little over 2 hours?) in the merchandise line to score some t-shirts, and Cara was nearly trampled; not in a mosh-pit, but whilst sitting around having a drink.
A few of us had a random trip to Queensland when Steve found some cheap airfares available and booked for all those who replied quickly that they would come and had a great time visiting theme parks and just generally being tourists and not working for a few days. Points of interest included an ibis trying to steal my hotdog and seeing Vanilla Ice at the Hard Rock cafe.
…and still much more of the year, and some very awesome stuff to come. Part 2 to follow soon…
A few of a recently took a random (random in that we went largely due to the availability of cheap airfares when we hadn’t been considering travelling at all let alone the particular destination; a certain amount of planning did go into the trip after initial conception of the idea) trip to Surfer’s Paradise on The Gold Coast in Queensland.
Flights were reasonable, no major difficulties were encountered and the accomodation was excellent; a good time was had by all.
Day 1 - getting there:
9 of us meant multiple drivers to reach the airport. I drove one car, picking up Nat, Tyle, Brooke and Ro on the way and parked in long-term parking at the airport. Thanks to Steve’s mum for dropping off (including picking up Sean from work on the way) the others at the airport. We were pre-checked in for this flight and avoided most of the potential queueing involved with flight as a result. Upon arrival we settled into our two rooms on the top floor of the Centre Point Hotel, purchased a few supplies — mostly of the alcoholic variety — and settled into one of the rooms for some drinking games and general hanging out before heading off to bed for the night.
Day 2 - Dream World:
First full day there we got up in the morning, got some coffee for a few folks and headed off to catch the bus to Dream World for a day of awesome rides. An Ibis tried to steal my hotdog at the themepark. That evening we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for an excellent dinner and drinks before heading back to our rooms to have a few quiet drinks and watch people we could see in the windows or on the balconies of neighboring hotels; slightly creepy, but entertaining none-the-less.
Day 3 - Wet ‘n Wild:
Second full day there we headed to Wet ‘n Wild (where the picture above was taken) for another day of cool rides and a bit of sunburn.
Day 4 - Ice Ice Baby:
Last day we checked out of our rooms in the morning and left the majority of our stuff in lockers at the hotel before heading out for some exploration. Vanilla Ice was doing a little meet-and-greet session at the Hard Rock Cafe, where Sean, Nat and Brooke got photos taken with him. Benjamin and Ro tried a “slingshot” ride, and a few of us tried a fantastic contraption given the alluring name of “The Vomitron”. The flight back was very mildly turbulent, scared a couple of people with louder-than-normal engine noise on take-off but was largely uneventful.
All in all an excellent trip with a good mix of chillaxing and awesome rides, etc. We must do it again sometime, perhaps with a few of those who didn’t attend this time tagging along.
So, I’m way overdue for an update, and although I’ve been working away at them I’ve fallen way behind on the personal projects mentioned and hinted at in previous entries on this blog.
I’m still not really great with people, but I do feel like I’m a little better than a used to be. Certain friends insist that I’m really better than I think I am, but personally I tend to think I do a pretty reasonable job with friends but still manage to be near useless with strangers, which obviously is fairly useless for making new acquaintances. I am still trying to work on this, but I’m really not good at letting go of the safety net that established friends provide and trying to talk to people who I don’t already know.
My arthritis (in combination with some old running injuries) is playing up lately, which is pretty painful and sort of puts a cramp on trying to go out and be social, although I’m trying not to allow it to effect me too badly.