WORKING FROM MELBOURNE

My boss was very supportive during this time. He told me I can take as much time off as I wanted. However I decided to keep busy and thought I can simply work from our Melbourne office since it was only a few tram stops away from the hospital.

So I decided to head into the office the next morning at 9am. Our company was sold off to Clemenger communications in 2005. We are now apart of the big fish out there. Our Melbourne office moved offices at the start of this year. They are now situated in the Clemenger building in Richmond in VIC. There has been rumors that our Sydney office will also move to Clemenger some day.

Now I was intrigued when I arrived at the office. It was so modern and funky compared to our more professional atmosphere in Sydney. I met up with my friend Masoud who is also my Victorian State Manager at reception. Masoud showed me around the office and I was so impressed.

They have a pool room with a fridge with unlimted beer and wine anytime they want it.

Masoud shows off the pool table

A playstation room with a couch an a LCD screen. A total of 3 kitchens spread out the company.

Playstation room with LCD Screen

One of my favourite areas was "Traffic". For those that dont know Traffic is an event marketing company linked to Clemenger. They specialise in experiential marketing. The staff working in this area was so funky and down to earth. For a moment I pictured myself working here!

Masoud working hard

I managed to meet some of the staff that I have been speaking to over the phone and on email. I only worked for a few hours before heading back to the hospital to check up on my brother.

30 hours plus to Melbourne

Ok I thought I had issues getting to Melbourne after being trapped on the M5, then Virgin's IT system going down and the last straw with the Pakistian cab driver. Well my friends it gets better. Let me explain to you my brother's girlfriend.

The accident happened early Tuesday morning around 1am. My brother's girlfriend Tammy gets a call at 3am from his boss to inform her about the accident. One would think the obvious thing to do is call his family to inform them but no what does she do? She sits in bed crying for 6 hours straight. Once she got that out of her system, at 9am she wanders off to the nearest Flight centre to book herself a ticket to Melbourne, still not calling my parents to inform them of the accident.

She some how manages to book a flight at 4pm for herself. I still dont understand why she didnt book an earlier flight for herself. I'm assuming there should have been earlier flights unless they were all booked out.

Anyway she wanders back home to pack without paying for the flight. Even though she reserved the flight she agreed to pay for it at the airport for some reason?

Around 3pm my parents get a call from someone at my Brother's work informing them that their son has been in an accident and is in a critical condition. They refuse to give anymore details and hang up. My parents hit panic mode at this stage. Apparently my father starts crying while my mother decides to take charge and not panic as much. She calls her cousin to organise plane tickets to Melbourne on the first flight available.

Once the flights were booked my mum calls Tammy to see if she knows about the accident. Tammy informs her that she knew since 3am this morning but didnt call her beacause she didnt know what was going on and didnt want to tell her that she knew but didnt know what was happening. Who the hell doesnt call in an emergency like this?

Meanwhile my mum tells Tammy they have booked flights to Melbourne. Tammy tells her to book her a flight as well. I still dont understand this. Tammy had booked a flight for 4pm but she was still at home at 3pm when my mother called her. Anyways my mum calls my cousin back and books her a flight as well.

Obviously for some stupid reason Tammy decided not to catch the 4pm flight she booked and decided to meet my parents at the airport around 6:30pm. Maybe she was having round 2 of her crying fits?

Meanwhile my mother manages to find out what hospital my brother is at and calls them up. The hospital refuses to disclose any information to her stating he is currently in a comam waiting to be operated on.

So Tammy decides to get a lift from her friend to the airport. Tammy lives in Campbelltown. Most people would know the quickest way to the airport from the west is the M5. It would take you max 15 - 20 minutes. If it's peak hour traffic maybe a little more. For some reason Tammy's friend decides to go through Parramatta onto the M4 to get to the airport.

As they past parramatta on the M4 the car breaks down smack bang in the middle of peak hour traffic. Tammy storms out of the car calling my parents and demanding them to pick her up in the middle of the freeway. Those that know my parents would know they go to the airport like 3 hours in advance. My mum tells her that they are already at the airport and cant pick her up. My mum tells her to catch a cab.

So in a mad rush Tammy grabs her suitcase from the boot and starts walking the M4. I dont understand why she didnt try and flag down a car or cab. Actually I dont understand how she walked the entire M4. That's right my friends she walked the entire M4. Normal people would have taken the nearest exit. I'm think the sliverwater exit would have been the next exit to take but for some reason she decided to walk from Parramatta to Strathfield aka the end of M4. This out does me dragging a suitcase on a freeway in Pammukkale in the middle of the night after the bus dumped us there.

I'm not sure how long it took her to walk the entire M4 but she obviously missed that flight as well. In fact she missed all the flights that night and didnt arrive in Melbourne until the next morning.

Now lets recap. She found out at 3am Tuesday morning. She didnt arrive in Melbourne until Wednesday morning. Thats over 30 hours. Who the hell wastes that much time in an emergency? I could have gotten to Turkey faster.

We still dont know how long it took her to get to the airport from Strathfield. Infact we dont even know if she caught a cab, a train or walked. She only had $200 on her. She claims to have used $190 on flight to get to Melbourne. Which leaves her a total of $10 to get to the airport. Plus we dont know if she paid for the toll to get through on the M4! The question is would you have to pay the toll or use an etag?

I'm assuming she spent the night sleeping at the airport and some how still missed the morning flights due to Virgin's system going down. I think my grandmother and I got there before she did.

Finally when she arrives at the hospital she has a break down screaming about going on Today Tonight to reveal everything and tell people how there was no occupational health and safety used at the carnival.

She starts blurtting out that apparently the carnival runner hired some backpackers to work at the carnivale with no training at all. My mum decides to take her downstairs for a smoke to calm her down. I decide to follow them as well.

Were standing outside of the hospital when a bunch of camera crews start running into the hospital towards the lift. Tammy throws her ciggerate onto the street and starts running like a lunatic screaming that the camera crew are here for my brother and she starts chasing them in the hospital corridors.

We decide to let her be until she returns to the room to tell us that the camera crew came for someone else.

Meanwhile the updates on my brother's condition is good. Even though he has broken his ribs, fractured his kidney and squashed his small intestones (Which they has to cut 20cms off), the doctors finally reveal he will recover slowly.

THE ACCIDENT

Trust me it only gets better. We arrive in Melbourne to queue up in a taxi rank. Due to my luck we get a Pakistian taxi driver who doesnt know where the hell he is going. He throws the road map at me and tells me to look it up. By this stage I'm ready to rip his arm off and throw it out the window.

The plan was to go to Roxburgh Park in VIC where my parents are staying, pick them up and then go to the hospital with them. So here I am in the front seat of this cab flicking through a Melbourne road map trying to find how to get to Roxburgh Park. Now the worst part - thoses that know me, would know I cant read in cars, trains or buses. I get motion sickness easily. So here I am trying very hard to direct the guy and avoiding throwing up.

I called my mum who informed me that Roxburgh Park is only 15 minutes from the airport.

35 minutes later we arrive at Roxburgh Park after doing happy laps around Melbourne. We pull into the driveway when my parents jump into the car practically having a panic attack because were late.

My dad screams random directions at the cab driver to take us to Alfred hospital. By this time I'm dead exhausted after having less than 2 hours sleep and all the drama I had to put up with along the way.

We finally arrive at the hospital and I think its close to 1pm by this stage. We storm upstairs to intensive care to find out what's happening. They had operated on him the night before and were basically waiting for him to wake up.

I started speaking to the nurses and doctors when I actually found out the real story behind the accident. It wasn't a car accident but an incident at Moomba Festival. Refer to below:


Men hurt in Moomba ride fall
March 13, 2007 - 6:39AM

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/two-hurt-in-moomba-ride-fall/2007/03/13/1173722409291.html

Two men were injured when an 800kg carriage from a carnival ride toppled onto them while they were dismantling it after Moomba festivities in Melbourne.

The accident happened about 1.30am today on the north bank of the Yarra River near the city centre as the men were helping to pack up the Gondolier ride, police said.

"Whilst dismantling an 800kg carriage of the ride, it toppled over and struck the men, trapping one underneath for a short time, and injuring the other," a police spokeswoman said.

"After being rescued by workmates, the men were treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to The Alfred hospital with non-life threatening injuries," she said.

Both men are from NSW. WorkSafe inspectors are investigating the incident.

FIRST FLIGHT OUT

I had just returned from a business trip from Brisbane (which I will blog later) when I found out about the below. I arrived back home on the sunday night and the following Tuesday was when all hell broke loose.

I came home and parked my car inside the garage and walked in to see my grandmother lying on the couch practically past out looking really sick. I asked her where my parents were. She told me they went to Woolworths to buy groceries. I told her I just saw their car in the garage and questioned how they went? She practically broke into tears and mumbled something about a friend picking them up. I found this quite odd but decided not to question further as she didnt look well.

I sat down and had dinner and then a shower. It was almost 9:30pm by this time when I wandered back to the living room to watch TV while my grandmother was lying on the couch. She kept looking at me weirdly and finally broke into tears. I couldnt understand what she was trying to explain but I knew it wasnt good when she started with "Dont panic".

She told me my brother had a car accident and was in hospital in Melbourne and my parents had taken the first flight to Melbourne. While she was explaining my phone rang and it was my mum who told me that they just landed in Melbourne and were on their way to the hospital. In all that panic they stormed out of the house and didnt call me.

So as soon as my mother hangs up, I log onto the internet to book myself a ticket. The last flight I could find was at 10:30pm. By this time it was already 10pm. I figured there was no way I could make it to the airport in this time. So I booked the first flight the next morning. I asked my grandmother if she wanted to come to and she agreed.

Tickets were purchased and we madly started throwing in some gear into a suitcase. I barely took anything which was quite suprising. I think between my grandmother and me we only had 8kgs in total. 4kgs were her pills.

The next morning we wake up really early and storm out of the house after dumping everything we had in the fridge in the backyard for the dogs. In that rush we didnt think about who was going to look after them.

I jump onto the M5 and its already jam packed. I turn on the radio to hear there has been an accident near the tunnel and traffic has built up. I take the first exit I can and drive through the back roads to get to the airport as quick as possible.

We finally get to the airport when I start looking for the airport parking place to dump my car. The night before I had paid for the parking online. I stop on the side of the road to get the reference number for the parking which was in the hand luggage bag in the boot. For some reason my grandmother decides to get out of the car thinking were at the airport. Mind you we were quite far from the airport terminals. In fact there was nothing around us but land.

I tell her to get back in and as soon as she does we drive to the carpark to dump the car there. We catch a shuttle bus to the airport terminal and rush to the queue. This is when I'm ready to crack. I rush madly to the self check in computers when the chick tells me that the system isn't working. Apparently Virgin's IT system has gone down and they can't check anyone in. This is when I'm about to grab anyone by the throat to get me on a flight.

We stand in this massive queue with people whinging left right and center about not getting checked in. Annoucements keep coming over the PA indicating that Virgin's IT staff are trying to resolve the issue. For fucks sake cant they do it faster? I swear when your in a mad rush anything that can possible go wrong does go wrong.

We stand there for a long time until Virgin finally realises that half the people are about to cause a riot in the queue. So they decided to do manual check ins. This process was worst. The queue kept growing and growing.

People managed to miss flights and werent happy. Finally another annoucement came indicating that the IT system is back up. We finally manage to check in and jump onto the flight to Melbourne.

Due to the system being down we finally arrive in Melbourne at 11:30am.

BAVARIAN BIER CAFE

In an attempt to live it up for the moment and actually enjoy going out on a week night Oishii and I decided to head back to the Bavarian Bier Cafe on O'connell St in the city. Yes I know I really should be saving but hey we are only young once and we might as well wine and dine while we can.

So I made a booking and this was my first time going to the O'connell Bier cafe. Even though we just had Marco's birthday bash at the York St one we were still craving for the food.

We arrived at the Bavarian Bier Cafe and entered to discover the bar straight on. Random tables were scatterred around the bar with people sucking on their ciggerates and food. It seemed pretty crowed for a week night.

Luckily when I called the girl asked me if I wanted to dine at the bar or the restaurant. I picked the restaurant option. The restaurant was located downstairs. We walked downstairs and waited like lost lunatics for a good 5 minutes while all the staff snobbed us off. Who the hell snobs us? Inconsiderate people!

Finally one of the waitress approached us and sat us down to an entire booth. It's the least she can do. Stupid bitch@! Yes I know its harsh but I dont like being waited when I'm hungry.

We ordered our drinks when the waitress came back 2 minutes later to ask what we drinks we ordered. God it was so obvious she wasnt paying any attention to us. The time came for us to order an entree and we decided to order the Wild Mushrooms but instead coped this in front of us:

Instead the waitress slam down this rocket, ricotta & sun dried tomato salad looking thing in front of us. After complaining she quickly removed the dish but not before I shoved abit of ricotta cheese into my mouth and replaced it with the mushrooms.

Wild Mushrooms

Once the entree arrived I thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of this night. Camera's came out and hola we said "Cheese"!

Oishii & NV

For all those that know me, know that I love mushrooms and this entree was just amazing. I would strongly recommend the dish to anyone who visits the Bavarian Bier Cafe.

It wasn't long after that our main meals arrived. Oishii decided to order some type of platter that had Chicken Schnitzel, Roast Pork belly & sausages.

Oishii's platter

I on the other hand decided to go with the Chicken Schnitzel with mash potatoes and some greeny. This was similar to what I ordered at Marco's birthday but the serving seemed twice as much. I could barely finish the meal but let me say the Chicken Schnitzel melted in my mouth.

NV's Meal

For some stupid reason after leaving some of our main meal on our plates we decided we needed dessert. Since were young and healthy why not? Tossing the main meal aside we decided to order tea and dessert. Oishii went with some Japanese lime green tea where I choose the peppermint option. To add to this party was apple strudel.

Apple Strudel

Peppermint Tea

Feeling extremely satisfied after that meal we decided we need to treat ourselves more often to wining and dining as we dont get to do quite often. Watch this space for more updates on our wining and dining experience.

CRAZY QLD STATE MANAGER

10 months later we finally meet!

Most of you all know I moved over to the Optus Prepaid Services program 10 months ago. It was a huge move for me as it was a National role. Which meant I had to be the middle man basically. I have a National Program Manager to look after, 5 State Managers, 3 Clients, 80 Reps & our warehouse to deal with on a daily basis.

I already knew the NSW State Manager and got on like a house on fire with her but the others were all new to me. It wasn't long before I realised that my QLD State Manager was one of my favourites.

Cassar and I clicked the minute we spoke and some how knew it must be a wog thing that we connected so well. Cassar coming from a Maltese background was originally a Sydney boy from Earlwood before getting married and moving to Brisbane with his wife.

Even though his been down to Sydney in the last 10 months we didn't get a chance to catch up. It was the same situation when I was in the Gold Coast last October.

Finally the day came when he arrived in Sydney to train with us in the office. Previously we made a deal on the phone, I was going to have a coffee and Krispy Kremes ready for him and well lets us not state what I get back in return.

So monday morning arrived and I rocked up to work with Krispy Kremes and finally got to meet Cassar. Now I never thought some one can be more screwed up them me but hey Cassar comes pretty close to it.

We ended up getting on like we were brothers or cousins. We were both crazy and lunatic in our own sense.

To prove Cassar being a totally lunatic, you will see below pictures of him suffering the outcomes of a bet. Last year Cassar made a bet with some of the guys at work in regards to footy. Cassar lost the bet and had to shave his legs in the office lunchroom.

Wearing gray shorts and sticking out his hairy wog legs the staff all got ready to have a go.






The wax was applied gently...







A nervous Cassar waited for the team to start the parade...

It wasn't long before Cassar's scream were heard but he was enjoying it I think abit too much?

One leg was out of the way...

Finally just to rub it all in...

Just for the record the nutcase made the same bet again this year. I told him if he loses the bet again I'm going up to Brisbane to join in on th yearly parade... Fingers crossed!

MARCO's BIRTHDAY BASH

Following the Jetboat ride we decided to head to Marco's birthday bash @ the Bavarian Bier Cafe on York St. Marco is our new Analyst for Sony Playstation. I have only known him for a few weeks but instantly clicked as we seem to be on the same wavelength.

Feeling exhausted after the Jetboat ride we decided to head over to wish Marco a very happy birthday and grab dinner with him before heading home for an early night. Little did we know what was yet to come. The evening turned out to be a total ball.

I ended up meeting some really nice people and hitting it off with them instantly. They were down to earth and full of fun. You couldn't help but get caught up in the moment.

So we walk into the Bavarian Bier Cafe after Marco gave us incorrect details over email the previous day. We stroll in to spot a sober Marco sitting at a huge table with some of his friends. We get introduced to them and begin swapping life stories.

At some point two Asian chicks walk in to kiss Marco a happy birthday. This is when I turn to Oishii and state one of them has "I want to be in HI" look on her face and yes my friends this was the turning point of the night. That chick turned out to be the highlight of the evening after getting totally smashed on 2 drinks.

The photo's do speak for themselves...

Linda, C & Ronny



Linda, C, NV & Marco

The next shot has a thousand words behind it. I will leave it up to your imagination as to what is happening...

Hence "The ASS CHICK"

Some will argue this is a bad shot and others will argue Marco's a lucky man!

Flo goes in for the kill

It wasn't long before new meat from Arabia arrived for Florence...

Flo gets in on the chest hair on Ali

However it wasn't long before she remember her half Greek shish kebab.

One hungry Flo

I suppose she soon figured she might as well take both into her own hands & tongue.

Flo licks Marco

While the entire Florence drama was happening, on the other end of the table our friend Linda got a bit too happy or drunk!

Linda xcited!

It wasn't long before Linda cracked and planted one across her boyfriends face. Ok Ok it was all preplanned but she was more than willing to slap him across the face. In fact he was more than happy to take it across the face.

Linda slaps C

While Florence was gropping, Linda was slapping, Marco decided he needed more drinks.

2 shots @ once

While Marco stacked up the drinks, florence decided she needed to feel his chest and nipples.

Nipple gropping by Flo

On that note the entire table got shots. It was all down hill from here...

Shots for all
\

More shots followed for Marco...

Another shot

More shots for Marco......

Keep the shots coming

It wasn't long before the gang hit rock bottom and the tongues all came out...

We need more shots!

All the shots started hitting people and Florence found a pillow for herself.

Flo sleeps it off

Marco decides to do the same on his bench...

Feeling totally refreshed by the time Marco's birthday party came to an end we decided to drive to Oxford St to my friend Steve's farewell. Steve's moving to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.

We managed to find parking on Oxford St and started walking around searching for the venue "Fringe Bar". We soon realised it was actually on the other end of Oxford St. So we rushed back to the car and drove down until we managed to find parking in some dodgy back alley.

We walked into Fringe Bar and practically got losted in the crowd. It was jam packed almost like Skandaovian Bar in Mykonos. It was a real effort to push people out of the way searching for Steve. We finally stood in a corner when I noticed Anita behind me. It's been years since I last saw Anita. I think It's been 3 years. Even though we kept in contact over email, with her travelling to Las Vegas for work on a regualar basis and my travels we never had the chance to catch up.

We finally spotted Steve heading over. Thank god the thought of storming through the crowd again looking for Steve seemed like a great challenge. Besides the smoke in this joint was starting to kill me.

We didn't stay long as the music was loud and the smoke was hitting you smack bang in the face. We said our farwell to Steve, wished him all the best and hope he succeeds in what he does.

NV, Steve & Anita

JETBOAT RIDE

We were supposed to do this 3 months ago but the jet boat broke down on the day we had our booking. Oishii organised a Jet Boat ride for my 26th Birthday thinking this would be a great recap of our ferry trip to Mykonos. However like usual it was all cursed from the start. Apparently the boat broke down the day before and some how It was all my fault. I didnt even know we were going for a jet boat ride as Oishii kept everything pretty hush hush.

Last November I met up with Oishii and we caught a ferry across to Manly where she broke the news to me with a piece of paper before screaming at me that I broke the boat. Fuckin I didnt even know about the boat to begin with!

Luckily the boat was broken as Oishii had a suprise birthday dinner planned for me that night and it wasn't until we actually did the jet boat ride that we realised you get drenched head to toe. Knowing me if I was soaked from head to toe I would have refused to go to dinner and hence this would have been Suprise his not coming party! haha

So we decide to re-book this jet boat thing and rock up on a saturday afternoon to Manly. We decided to drive to Manly this time to avoid any mishaps. We park the car near the wharf and immediately rush to Max Brenner for a sugar rush. We needed a coffee badly. I thought I'll get some strawberries with chocolate dip to add to this.

The moment came where we had to head to the wharf to Epic Surf Adventures. We rocked up 10 minutes early and got told to read a terms and condition board to agree to the fact we cant sue if anything goes wrong. God this was comforting.

Next thing you know we have to wear a life jacket. I should have realised it was down hill from here. The other guys that were joining our jet boat did the smart thing and took their T-shirts off while Oishii and I argued about it. I told Oishii I would take mine off if she took hers off. We both kept them on while we had the instructor put a life jacket on us. Oh my god this was it. We were finally doing the jet boat ride.

We were escorted to the jet boat that look like a roller coaster with no bars to strap yourself into. You basically had to swing a leg over each side while gripping onto the bar in front of you so that you dont fly out of the boat. There was some wax on the bars to help you hold on stronger. My heart was started to skip beats. It was thrill you get when you know that the roller coaster is about to travel down a slope at full speed. You know whats coming but you dont want to know what lies ahead.

So here we were situated in the third row. Apparently the first row is where you cope it twice as hard. We had two massive well built pommie guys sitting in the front seat. The second row was empty. We were situated in the third row and the last row had this 21 year old chick with her boyfriend. It was apparently her 21st birthday.

The boat took off and the guy informed us that we had to keep to a certain speed in the habour area but once we were out all bets were off. My heart skipped beats as the boat started speeding off. We were speeding like no tomorrow. The wind blowing in your face was great while admiring the Manly view however it soon turned nasty. I could barely breath. For a minute I thought I might be having an asthma attack or something.

We started hitting waves and no one told me my balls would be in this much pain. Oishii decided to inform me on the boat that I should jump up with the waves otherwise my balls would be squashed to death. Feeling the pain and the energy rush through me we continued at great speed in the water.

Thank god the guy stopped a few times to show us random spots, waterfalls and blowholes. Not that I really gave a fuck about what he was showing us but I just needed the time to come to myself and catch my breath. I was too scared I was going to vomit. The worst part was everytime he stopped the boat swung left and right making you feel like vomitting.

Once he was done the guy informed us that we were going to speed up more and it was just about to get rough. FUCK!!!!! Next thing you know we are hitting wave after wave and before you know it I'm soak head to toe. There wasnt a dry spot on me. It was like riding an out of control horse or donkey.

Eventually we returned to the shore after 30 minutes of the ride. We struggled off the jet boat as we were dripping wet. We managed to hand in our life jackets before strolling through Manly looking for a shower to get the salt water off. Oishii manages to spot one on the other side of the beach. Before I could get a word in she ran like a lunatic and dumped her stuff at me. I watched her as she ran under the shower and washed herself with her clothes on. Not that it made a difference she was soaking wet as it is. Once she was done it was my turn.

We decided to stand in a spot to try and dry off but soon realised it was going to take hours to get the water off us. So it was time for plan b. Luckily we brang spare clothes to change into. So we decided to head back to the car park in bare foot. Once we got to the top of the stairs to go down to the carpark we decided to put our socks on as we refused to walk in that dirty car park barefoot.

Luckily we had planned to go out tonight. That's why we brang spare clothes. The plan was to head to Oishii's work to shower before hitting Marco's birthday. I had spare gym clothes in the car as well so we both grabbed clothes from my car and headed to the car park toilets to dry off and get changed.

Before we went to get changed we decided we needed to take a photo of us being soaked!

Oishii drentched head to toe

NV drentched head to toe

Once we were dry and changed we headed back up the stairs to grab lunch and make the most of Manly but not before we got a total stranger to take our photo of us dry in gym clothes.

Oishii & NV

OIshii satisfied from the jet boat

We stared walking around Manly Wharf when Oishii asked what should we eat. The first thing I saw was across the street called "Wood & Stone" Pizza so I blurted this out. Before I could finish Oishii was storming across the road to the restaurant.

We arrived at the restaurant and planted ourselves outside and immediately ordered food & drinks. The pizza's arrived prompt and we started stuffing ourselves like no tomorrow. Drinking all the sea water on the boat made us hungry.

Spinach, haloumi cheese pizza

Salami & mushrooms pizza

I can't believe how hungry we looked! haha We decided to get the waitress to take our photo for this as this was a delayed birthday celebration for me!

Oishii & NV after the jetboat ride

Once we were satisfied with our meals, we ordered coffees and relaxed. The next plan was to go back to the car, drive into the city to park at Oishii's work. We were to shower and head to Marco's birthday bash.

Thanks for the Jet Boat Ride Oishii. Even though I didnt vomit it was a great life threatening experience...

TROPFEST 2007

Tropfest 2007 arrived! I think this is the first Tropfest that I actually stayed at and enjoyed. Recapping previous years I ended up at a gay fair rather than Tropfest one year when Fred's cousin stepped in dog shit and refused to go any further. Instead we walked through Victoria Park next to Sydney Uni blending in with the gays before heading off to Newtown for some arty farty movie. I remember sitting in that movie ready to strangle Fred first then her cousin.

Following this drama, last year Oishii and I rocked up to Tropfest, found a spot to plant ourselves down in. We sat for less than 10 minutes when we realised the sky was turning on us. We quickly packed up our gear and speeded back to the car. Once we were in the car heading home we felt so much better when it started thunder storming.

Luckly this year we actually made it to Tropfest in the last minute and managed to have a ball. The night before we arranged minor details of what food to bring and of course a bottle of wine. Oishii managed to wip up some yummy food for us while I brang a bottle of wine from home.

Only while we were in the car driving to the domain we realised that a bottle of wine wouldnt be enough for us. So we decided to stop to get a second bottle of wine only when we pulled up outside the bottle shop we suddently decided we needed three bottles of wine. Oishii jumped out of the car and raced into the bottle shop.

20 minutes later there was still no sign of Oishii. I started to get worried thinking she has fallen over a stack of wine and cut herself to death or something while having a wine bath. I watched the store as people entered and left. Finally Oishii stormed out of the store like her ass was on fire. Within minutes she was in the car and I was stepping on the gas.


We parked our car at Oishii work and had enough bags on us to make people think we were catching a flight out of Sydney. Trying to hold a number of bags and baskets we started the long stroll towards the Domain.

Half way we discovered Lindt Cafe. Questioning whether we need to have coffee or not we found ourselves inside ordering. We walked out of Lindt cafe with coffees and biscults to add to our 15 bags.

We finally arrived at the Domain to plant ourselves down at a really nice spot. The spot was preplanned by Oishii who had the entire Domain sussed out before hand. This spot was perfect for a quick getaway need be as well as the toilets. I think if I ever go back to the Domain this is the spot I want to be in again.

We scull our coffees so we can start drinking our wine while we lay out the food. As seen below:

Yummy Firads or whatever they are called

Magic Mushrooms

Pasta with tomatoes & mushrooms

Cheese Pide

Once we were settled with our wine in our hand we admired the view:

Tropfest View 2007

I remember checking my watch to notice that we finished the first bottle of wine within 20 minutes of arriving between us. The second bottle was popped open. It was time to relax...

NV Chilling out @ Tropfest

The second bottle of wine didnt last that long either. We popped open the third bottle of wine before 6:30pm. The movies were due to start around 7:40pm. At this stage we were going to be drunk as before they screened anything.

Meanwhile we called Matt & Laura to see where the hell they were. Matt said they were at Coles buying goodies. We screamed at him to buy wine as we were nearly out. We hang up the phone to lie back down to relax.

Somewhere in between my work mate Marco arrived and we were on a wild goose chase to locate him. After 15 minutes of running around the Domain like a lunatic we found Marco in some sober corner. He followed us back to our spot where we offered him some wine. He grabbed the wine off us and stormed off.

Meanwhile the other two freaks arrived:

Matt & Laura Drinking away

This was the perfect time to snap up a photo of Oishii when she saw Matt & Laura.

OMG

The screening was about to begin when Khan stormed into the picture. We were out of wine so we had nothing but firads to offer him. Oishii and I had ate everything we brang. I couldnt believe we ate all of that between us.

Meanwhile Matt & Laura were eating a piece of bread they brang with Freddo frogs and home brand chips. Their low budget $7.50 meal didnt seem to satisfy anyone compared to our $30 meal.

Khan & NV

I think Oishii and I were tipsy before the screening began. I took random shots of people and some how ended up with some random chicks ass. I dont remember taking the photo or the chick!

Random ASS

However I do remember Miss Red Riding Hood below:

Red Riding Hood

It wasn't long before the Domain was packed to the bone. I thought since this was my first proper Tropfest I would capture some photo's as below:

Tropfest View 2007

The Screen

Tropfest View 2007

The movies started and I remember Oishii turning around to me and saying did you get that one? I was like What the fuck was that about? Some of the movies were too arty for me I think. I'm not sure if anyone else agrees but I cant believe some of those short flicks actually made it to the finals. Some of them were really crap. Maybe it's just my taste but seriously if I was judging those movies I would of only allowed "Road Rage" to be in the finals. It was the only one that I really enjoyed.

There was a really stupid one with a chick near a swimming pool. The entire movie was screwed in the head. Mind you it's probably something Oishii and I would make Christine do.

The night was coming to an end so I thought I'll snap up a pic of the drunkin freaks below.

Matt passed out

Before the last movie was screened Oishii and I had packed up. The minute the last movie ended we stormed off as quick as possible screaming bye at Matt & Laura. We didnt bother to stick around for the whole Judging.


However it wasn't long before that we found out that an animation had won Tropfest this year.