That was the season that was 2008…

This time last year my friend Meg was out from LA and we were preparing for our P Party. It ended up being about 40 degrees at midnight. (That’s just wrong in any system of measurement).

So far this NYE I have changed my brother’s wallpaper on his computer from some random half naked chick to Ben Hilfenhaus (wanted Ben Cousins but I couldn’t find a pictire of him in  a Richmond jumper) and watched crappy TV. Another girl fell victim to the gorilla in the pantry last night which amused me muchly.

Have  a great NYE gang – I read a total of 55 books this year (would have read more but I kind of fell in a heap after New Moon). Here’s to a rock’n'roll 2009, filled with books, beer and Ben Cousins (well, my year anyway).

Ten Songs To Sum Up 2008 (aka Songs For Walking to Work In The Rain)

Viva La Vida – Coldplay
Sealings – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
This Years Love – David Gray
Dancing In The Dark – Tegan and Sara
Come Together – Joe Cocker
Hearts A Mess – Gotye
The Killing Moon – Echo and the Bunnymen
Chocolates and Cigerettes – Angus and Julia Stone
Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits
Moonlight Sonata – Ludwig Beethoven

Fun, frivolity and more gorilla suit.

Merry days between Christmas and New Year when everyone is too full to do anything. I hope you all had a lovely time, ate ridiculous amounts of food and all good things like that. I didn’t think I could get a better Christmas present than Ben Cousins in a Richmond jumper, but a new MP3 player came awfully close. (Incidentally, my cousin sent me a message on Christmas Day to tell me I wasn’t his favourite cousin any more, which made me laugh so hard I nearly fell off the stairs)

I’ve started a new novel. Again. I swore I wouldn’t but I felt like I was beating my head against a brick wall with the last attempt, so it’s been temporarily shelved and I’m trying again. The good news is, I’ve outlined the first half of it (Egad Brain! An outline) and all systems are go.  Really very excited actually. There aren’t enough fairy tales with swearing in them, and frankly this one is making me laugh with the possibilities.

In other news, my brother and Luke have been scheming for quite some time to terrify this poor girl who has the supreme misfortune to be a friend of theirs .  The plan was for Luke to hide in the pantry in the gorilla suit and send the poor girl in to grab something off the shelf. Just before I got a text message from Liam:

We got Anna with the gorilla suit in the pantry.

To which I replied:

That’s one messed up game of Cluedo.

Zing! Even with a monstrous head cold I can still serve up a winner. Really very proud of that one actually.  Now, off to consider new years resolutions, cricket scores, and what I’m going to eat next.  Anyone got some new years resolutions for 2009? Mine generally are many, varied, and irrelevant by about the third of January, still I make a list every year.

Merry Christmas!

I was going to blog about my views on New Moon, but as that can be summed up in one sentence  (Bella Swan, seriously, shut up!) I won’t bother. Instead, congratulations Courtney – I can’t wait to get my paws on Cracked Up to Be!

All my northern hemisphere friends, have a lovely Christmas and I hope it snows.For everyone down here in the southern hemisphere, I hope summer has finally kicked in and there is absolutely no trace of snow. Should you be in the general neighbourhood tonight please feel free to join in the festivities as my brother, my friend Luke and I sing dirty versions of as many Christmas carols as we can think of before recreating the below youtube moment by running around the beach with pots and pans, a gorilla suit and a dog named Kevin.

Merry Christmas!

So. Apparently there is a movie called Twilight?

I just got back from seeing Twilight.

I hate the world.

Ever since I finished reading Twilight I thought I was okay. I thought I had a handle on it. I didn’t have the same crazy addiction that certain people in my acquaintance have (my mother).

Then I watched my friend Susie from work descend into Twilight addiction. We agreed that clearly the only cure was to see the movie. And as I am horribly drawn to things against my will, I went too. We both thought that seeing the (crappy) movie would end it all and I wouldn’t be forced into reading the rest of the books.

Epic fail. I hated it it so much that I loved it. Or, I loved it so much that I hate it. I can’t tell. It’s a drug. There were times when I nearly died from laughing quietly. But still. And I take back almost everything I’ve said about Robert Pattinson. Even if in this movie he looks like what would happen if James Dean and Derek Zoolander had a lovechild. He made me swoon just a teeny tiny bit.

But it is agreed. Susie and I have a vampire thing. I’m going to make her watch True Blood, she’s going to make me read the rest of the books and we shall Debate the Merits of Both. And the worst part is, my housemate has just heard about Twilight so I leant her the book. She nearky missed her stop on the train. Twice.

God help us all.

(The wedding  was great. I successfully made it to the speech relatively sober and then managed to blank out the memory of the speech by getting ridiculously drunk afterwards. I ended up being kicked out of a nightclub for falling asleep. For I am HARDCORE.)

I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried: part 2

So, here is my Friday:

I managed to get to work with my rum balls largely intact (had a morning tea. Was up until 10pm the night before making the damn things, for a visual representation I give you the following

At work I got an email from a supermodel regarding her entry in the book. I also got an email from the Divine Miss Em to tell me that her parents house got broken into while her brother was still at home. He locked himself in his bedroom, and called the police who arrested the guy as he was climbing out of the window with their passports, travellers cheques and cameras. If that’s not a dramatic act to foil a burglary I don’t know what is.

After work I went and finally bought The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which I’m about to start reading (finally finished Shantaram. MAN could that book go on for longer?), and dropped around to Ye Old Employment to catch up with a few people. As I hung around outside loitering and looking suspicious (heh) I noticed the following:

1. There was a Lamborghini acrosss the street waiting to turn.
2. There were no cars coming.
3. There were cars going around said lamborghini that would pull up, drivers would wave their arms in exasperation and then suddenly look suprised.

For there was noone in the car. Someone abandoned a Lamborghini Diablo. Right in front of my nose. And me (being me, on a Friday afternoon) DIDN’T SEE THEM DO IT, despite being across the street. SO MAD. I could have foiled a crime!  As it was I went inside to reception to call the police and had to give a description of the car (bearing in mind that I didn’t know it was a Lamborghini until later, when a couple of bogans went past and said ‘Hey look at that Lamborghini Diablo;). I maintain that silver and nice looking is an accurate description of a car dammit. (I did remember the license platw though, so partial credit)

Seriously guys, I am DYING to find out what the story was. As I told the receptionist, I’ve seen too much Underbelly and am convinced there was a body in the trunk or some such. (On a slightly related topic a girl at work saw Roberta Williams out and about last night. Apparently she’d just had a nose job…I guess her interviews on ACA are really paying off).  But I guess we’ll never know.

As for the door to door salesmen having a turf war, well I can’t really explain that one at all, except to say that I have no idea who my gas provider is now, and that they totally took advantage of me – after the day I had, I was in no fit state to talk about gas retailing!

In other news, I am supposed to be writing my speech for my best friends wedding on Saturday, but have successfully avoided it in many ways including but not limited to: novel writing, playing facebook word twist, cooking actual food and throwing things at the cat. Am dreading the damn thing. Even though I will have known half the audience since I was ten, I still can’t bear to think about it. Any words of wisdom/encouragement/pre-prepared speeches would be gratefully accepted. Am trying to focus on the good bits, like the ceremony and the loveliness and the dessert buffet Nina promised  me as a reward for making a speech. (Really, if there is anything greater than the concept of a dessert buffet  I want it brought to my attention now)