Nothing Rhymes With Pirate

My sister arrives tomorrow night.

Yay!

We are going to eat horrendously expensive food at (Gary) Rhodes Mezzanine because Verre (Gordon Ramsay's restaurant) isn't open on a Saturday night - outrageous!

My brother and I decided to organise to take my sister out for her birthday, since we weren't going to be in town on her actual birthday next week. It was a milestones of sorts.. with this being the first time that the three of us had actually been out together. The bit about my mum being a bit cut about not being invited is a different story! G made a booking at the new Ottoman (same as the Canberra one) down at Pier 2.

All the stories I read on the interweb were true.. the service is pretty atrocious! After sitting there not even 10mins, the waiter who was walking being me was carrying a bottle of red wine on his tray, when it tipped over and spilt all over the floor. His response? "Did I miss everyone?" And after we'd ordered (off Danny Tosolini.. y'know, of TOSOLINI's fame!) a waitress swaggers over and goes "here's your rice" and puts it on the table. Amanda (G's friend who came along) goes "Uh. We didnt order any rice. Its probably for the table there". She looks over and goes "Oh. Yeah right." Picks it up and walks off. Not exactly something you expect from a silver service restaurant!

But the food was pretty great.

( I only took a couple of photos so I wasn't doing The Azn.. )

So it all starts on Friday.. I mosey on down to Paddington after work to get a haircut (almost 6mths overdue). Dont worry, its nothing too drastic.. just re-shaped and took some weight out etc etc. I then went over to Kings Cross to see my sister's new apartment. Pretty prime location on the corner of Ward & Bayswater in a Melrose-Place type setup set off the main road. "Cosy" little one-bedder.. watched a bit of tv.. and then got booted out with a green shopping bag with a half cooked roast lamb, some veggies and my clothes smelling like the shepherds pie we had for dinner. Stopped by Tonic for 5secs (literally).

Worked on Saturday. Long day due to the big sales already starting. milkbar_nick dropped by but then went back to his hotel to rest. We couldn't get into the Hellenic Club :o( I went home to get changed and then met Nick back in the city. RAIN! GRRR! ARRRGH! We went into china town for dumplings (which later proved to be really really fatal.. haha!). Noticed the time and hi-tailed back to the other end of the city with 10mins to spare for Laundry's 9th Birthday Free Drinks Hour (plus the mystery free shot at the door). Those Smirnoff Twists are really lethal. Everyone was there! Saw a bit of PQM and then down into the Cave for Ajax, which we had to pull ourselves away from to get to Tank. Booo. Walking along, I was feeling alright with a hint of "Hmm, I think I should be a lot more drunk than I'm feeling..?" Got to Tank, saw Nik warming up for Carlos ("y'know.. DJ Sneak..")... parked with a drink.. had a bit of an "episode" with Patrick (GRR! ARRGH!).. then Nick started playing and I sat down for a bit and started to feel pretty drunk. Yes everyone, I "accidently" got drunk. Still a cadbury, but not really as bad as I used to be.. which is odd. Anyways, I had to smarten up fast as I was intending to drive back home AND its double demerits this weekend (I was totally crapping myself about blue zones on the way home). Wandered out to the mainroom every now and then to see Sneak, but I wasn't feeling it... seemed a bit too hectic. So after Nick's set, we headed back towards Laundry, but I decided to go home as I was a bit paranoid about making sure I rested enough for my big SunDay.

Woke up pretty fressh (thanks again caztothextreme for that supermega box of Berroccas) and hit work. Mmmm.. Big Mac medium meal with extra McChicken mayo for the fries. Was able to leave work at about 530 [insert mini-fiasco about Dayna and hairspray] and we (Dayna + Leanne) headed towards the Hordern to meet up with Tash + Doug for We Love..Sounds!

a) Happy it stopped raining.
b) It was FRICKIN' cold, man!

What I saw:
1. Luke Fair - Some nice beats. Couldnt really get into it as I didn't feel to be in the right "frame". Was looking for him to drop some massif "CHOON", but it didnt happen, so left.
2. Annie (Live) - OMG. It really was unbelievably crap. The album is just ruined now. Ruined.
3. The Presets (Live) - Always a pleasure to see them. So I've heard 'Girl and the Sea' 3 times live in about 6months and each time they've played it differently. *applause*
4. DJ Sneak - Just the final bit as we squeezed back into the Forum to secure a spot. Very different from the night before (maybe what he should have been playing at Tank?). Big room house. Funky beats. Touch of boompty every now and again.
5. Tiefschwarz - Just to be upfront, Ali (the shaggy-haired one) + Basti (in his red wifebeater) are teh sex. Found their 2hrs a little bit all over the place.. jumping around from tech to minimal to electro.. but from our balcony position over looking the stage, it was all a big perv really!
6. The Youngsters (Live) - I can see where they were going and what they were doing (rock/breaks/electro.. with Audio Bullys type vocals on top), but really wasn't in the mood as the long day seemed to finally be catching up on me.
7. Digitalism (Live) - the final set at The Forum and the 2nd time I've seen them in 8 days. They had a 2hr set in Canb, which they were able to spread out more with 'the journey'. This was only 1hr so they got straight into it, cutting out all the minimal stuff and smacked you across the face with hard edge electro, rocky beats and everyone having a gurn to Zdarlight near the end. I enjoyed the ANU gig much more, especially as I didn't have any little photowhores there who were BangGang-Dance-Bashing me.
8. James Zabiela - the last 1/2hr. Again, different to when he played at Academy last week. Less squelching and boring noise and more proper "tracks". He played that song again as his finale (Milky.. y'know which one I mean..)

Photos: Laundry's 9th Birthday / Tank / We Love..Sounds

Today has been nice. The sun was shining. The weather was sweet. Yeah. (although a bit chilly still)
tashrocks was here from the night/morning so we spruced and went with my Dad and The Boarder to have dumplings down the road. No burns this time luckily! I've got my eating tactics down pat. Popped in to say hi to Nicass down at Bob + Yolla's.. battled the lift politics and shopping down at The Mall.. and basically just relaxing. I'm making the roast lamb tonight and I have the last hour of the finale of the Amazing Race to watch. Yesssssss.

My sister should be on a plane right now for the start of her Around-The-World (around the woooorld) trip. I said goodbye to her when I was back home yesterday. Well, by goodbye, it was her going "I'm going to Louise's now.. so.. see you later.. email me if you think of anything you want me to buy". Me, nodding, hug and kiss.

She should be landing in Brazil in about 24 hours.
We already have Havaianas on that list. Haha! What else is good to get? Shht! I forgot to ask for snodomes!

Then I think she's then off to Vegas & LA to meet Ken for the Oscars and then over to London for a visit and sort/sell all her crap.


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My theory of 'I think left-handed boys are cute' has been proven again today.
I noticed that one of the boys from upstairs (i think he may have heard me say to Joel the other week "hey, he's kinda cute.. but he's legs are so chickeny") is a lefty!


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Mel was just telling me that she went to Minus 5 Bar last night down at Circular Quay. Its like the vodka castle in Finland where you get given a big fridge coat when you walk in and its timed that you have to leave after 1/2hr (incase you freeze, i s'pose). I think this is a must-do peoples!!