Catchup with Alex

Its becoming a habit of mines. Wake up early on a Saturday morning, get to Manly and spend 1.5hrs playing beach volleyball. Get home, shower, eat and then pass out in bed. Maybe its the early start, or the sun, or the workout, or the hangover I usually have from the Friday night, but I am absolutely knackered by the time I get home.

Last Saturday me and Moishii had Tickets to Alex Dimitriade's new play "The Nightwatchman". The play was at the Stable Theatre in Kings Cross. We've been there once before, and knew that there was no where decent near there for coffee. So we met up early and stopped by Infernos at Broadway for a coffee to keep us awake.

Well.....more than one coffee.....

We were also peckish, so we ordered a bruschetta to share.

This is easily one of the best bruschetta's I've ever had! It was sooooooo tasty! It was.....meaty. I don't know how to explain it. Eating it made you think you were eating meat of some sort. It wasn't vegetarian at all!

Anyway, back to the play. We loved it! The performance was brilliant and I loved the storyline. If only it was in a bigger theatre. But then maybe thats the charm. I'm not going to spoil the story, plus its hard to explain without doing injustice to it. The only thing I can say is the play made me thirsty. During the play, the characters drink bottle after bottle of wine! By the intermission, I was dying for a drink! We shoved people out of the way, stormed down the stairs (Almost tripping and killing ourselves) and quickly ordered a few glasses of wine:

Me gobbling the wine down

We've taken photos with Alex before, but they turned out really horrible. It looked like we were going to a funeral or something. So we decided we needed new photos:

Much better.

Latest addition to the family

Tehehehehehe! I finally got my DSLR! I even managed to score the much coveted Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens! This lens is completely sold out all around the world and has been back ordered by almost every single shop in the world. (I know because I was trying to buy the damn thing from overseas!). Some shops even have a 12month waiting list for people who want this lens. *Giggles like an excited schoolgirl*

I can't wait to take this baby for a test spin! Especially after the hell I went through to get this damn thing! I probably had more fights with the suppliers than I have in total in 2006! But at long last, I got my baby! Lets just hope all the accessories I bought also arrive soon!

I'm also putting a ban on myself on buying anything camera related. With the exception of extra memory cards, and maybe a lens cleaning kit, I'm not allowed to buy anything! ESPECIALLY the tripod that I want. Or that remote triggered external flash, or the remote trigger! And no more camera bags! I haven't even received my first camera bag and I'm looking at other camera bags. And definately no new lenses. Unless my workmate sells me his wide angle one. Actually, no lenses full stop! Even my workmate, who is a complete photography nut is putting a ban on my purchases! He's terrified for my budget! Apparently I'm not allowed to buy any new equipment until I take ATLEAST 5000 photos and have used almost all the functionality the camera provides at least once.

This is a bottomless pit I'm about to fall into.....Its bad. Very VERY bad...

Bonanza!!

Friday was our end of financial year party for our group within the company. This has got to be the best party of the year. Ask anyone about the party, and all they can do is rave about it. One of my workmates even told me that if I ever have leave the clashes with the party, CANCEL YOUR LEAVE. And considering the success of last years Bollywood party, I would agree with him.

This year's theme was Wild wild west. Since I still had my cowboy hat from our conference, I thought I'd go with the easy option of plaits, jeans and a gun. So I went to my local bargain store and picked up a $2 gun/handcuff/badge set. All dressed up and ready to go, we left work around 5:30 and arrived at the party in about 15mins. Security is very strict and would not let people in even if it was one minute before 6. So we decided to stop by the local pub for a quick drink before the party started. We walk in only to see other people had the same idea as us. Excellent, at least I don't look like a freak all dressed up. Within seconds of arriving, the security guard runs up to me and demands that I hand over my gun. Wha? The guy wants to confiscate my gun. I offered to put it in my handbag, but no, the gun must be confiscated, but I can get it back when I leave. Like WTF? Ok......fine. I hand my gun over and grab a drink. I REALLY needed a drink. From where we were sitting, we could see people getting let into the party, so I decided to head over to the bar and collect my gun back.

The bar tender comes up to me and goes "What can I get you?"
Me: "I want my gun back"
Him: "O...kay...I'll be back..." *backs off slowly*

He comes back a minute later with the manager of the bar. I screamed at him "YOUR SECURITY GUARD CONFISCATED MY GUN!! I WANT MY GUN BACK!!!"

So with a screaming woman demanding that she gets her gun back, he quickly jumps into action and starts looking for my gun. After a few minutes of digging around, he still couldn't find it. This is when he stands up, pulls out a MASSIVE chain of keys and goes "I'll be back".

He comes back a few minutes later, with the security guard to give me my gun back. I then get escorted by the security guard out the door. Like WTF? I wasn't the only one there with a gun anyway! And hello? Have you SEEN my $2 gun??

Its the very threatening orange tip

Anyway, after that whole incident, it was time to PARTAYYYYYYY!

Bonanza time!!

As we walk through the gates, you can tell how much effort they've put into this party:







The party was held at Wharf 8, same place as last time. The minute you walk in, there is a massive bathtub filled with alcohol:

Of course, I don't drink beer, unless there is mango in it of course. So I hit the Margheritas! Arrriba!

Cheers!

Not only is this an end of financial year party, its also a farewell party for our Big Boss. So we knew it was going to be massive. And what party would be complete without Moishii?

Cheers again!

Wasn't I just drinking a Margherita just then? Yes I was, but then I spotted the trays of unlimited Moet.......

...that kept getting topped up!! With the alcohol coming hard and fast, it was time to get some food into me quick smart!

Curry corn fritters

These were easily our favourite of the night! Or maybe both of us was very hungry, but we ended up chasing people down for these little delightful morsels!

Some pastry thing with salsa

As I was shoving the fritters in between mouthfuls of prawns and other canapes, I heard a calling for the dancers. Which was me! That's right! They held boot-scootin lessons for the few weeks leading up to the party. Basically you learn a routine, and you perform on the night. The best dancer gets a nights accommodation for 2 at the Westin Hotel whilst the runnerups get a bottle of Moet. So I dragged Moishii into the next room with me (Theres 4 rooms in the party that slowly open up through the night) for a quick rehearsal before they let everyone else into the room.

Announcing the party

After our rehearsal, the doors open and the 1500+ people started streaming into the room. This is when they get the other dancers and singers to come out for a bit of an intro, including our MC for the night (Who looked REALLY familiar). I was actually facing the audience, and wasn't really looking at the stage, besides, I was a bit tipsy nervous at this stage and wasn't seeing straight. I heard them announce the MC, I asked who it was and all I heard was the word "Comedian" before I lost interest. Which is a good thing considering the music started playing and I almost lost my cue!

On stage with the MC

I remember somewhere along the line, I looked at Moishii and he was making faces at me. He was trying to tell me something, but nothing was sinking in. Whatever it was, it could wait til after my performance. So when it ended, I ran up to him and grabbed a seat whilst the other speeches were going on. This is when he kept screaming "PAM!! PAM!!!". Pam what? What the hell are you on about mate?? "PAM!!!!"

Apparently, our MC was Jean Kittson. And Jean Kittson, was Pam Sandwich in "Let the blood run free". LIKE OMG!!! Both of us absolutely love LTBRF!! Not only was it hilariously funny, but everything that happed on that show, would have been an idea I would've come up with! I could've been their script writer!! We HAD to get a photo with her! After food that is.....

Specially bottled water

Food bar!

Nachoes, sausages for hot dogs, burritoes

EAT!!

Mini burgers

Outdoor BBQ bar

After scoffing down food and more alcohol, we decided to roam around to try and track down Pam Sandwich. We walked to the outside tent that had been converted into some big carnival like thing.

Poker table (With fake chips)

There was also a bucking bull, that I just HAD to try out. If I could even get on the damn thing!

HAAAAALP!!!

Me flying off

After flying off the bucking bull and skinning my arm and bruising my elbow (Now I know why they made me sign my right to sue away), we decided to head back inside to hunt down Pam Sandwich.

We walk around the stage and grab a few drinks where I spotted Pam Sandwich heading back to the stage for round 2. I run up to her and ask if I could grab a photo with her. "Of course!" she said. So I stood next to her, posing, ready for the photo when I suddenly turned to her and screamed "PAM SANDWICH!!!!". She looked like I had just slapped her but managed to recover in time for the photo:

Pam: "Who is this freak? Who remembers THAT character???"

Anyway, after getting the photo out of our system, we found a spot ready for the best dressed contest

We decided to roam around a bit and grab a few quick photos:

Some band

Confetti!!

Grabbing a coffee to recover from all the Moet and Margheritas

We called it a night around 10:30pm since I had to get up really early the next day for beach volleyball. But danggggggg it was a good party!! WE MET PAM SANDWICH!!