Update-a-thon! ('A-thon'?? What is that?)

Ok, I'm gonna post some stuff about stuff, so get ready.

A few Saturdays ago, we had Matt's Bucks Day. It was fantastic! We began the day with a trip to the local waterskiing club, where Matt's then-future-father-in-law and family friend drove us up and down the river for hours and hours. Personally, I got up on my first attempt, but just couldn't manage to hold it for more than about 5 seconds. It was surprisingly hard to keep your balance I found, not sideways, but forwards and backwards. The rope would get slack and you would fall either forwards (and get a face full of water) or backwards, either way ending your joyous skid-fest in a barrage of water, filling your every orifice.

Matt was a pro, and this is what he would've looked like if he had a moustache.

After waterskiing, we went into Lygon Street for dinner (a place synonymous with Italian dining, for those who live outside Melbourne), and had some very authentic pizzas at a place called La Spaghetteria.


From there we went further into the city to an Irish pub called The Irish Times for a stout or two (suggested by Alex Marriot). It was an awesome little bar with a really nice atmosphere, and we found a booth and drank to Matt's marriage.

Then we moved on to a place called the European Bier Cafe, where I was able to order my favourite beer in the world (a Belgian beer called Hoegaarden White). Here we partied the night away, dancing like nutters to the tunes of a cover band (man, they played some great songs) and fully going mental. Matt really got into it, dancing and singing along with the rest of us :)


Skip a couple of weeks along (to March 4th), and then we have Matt and Kathryn's wedding. What a special day. I was honoured to be the best man, and apart from almost getting the groom run over by a train, I think I did ok. The above photo is all I have of the wedding so far (c/o Guru's site - he's editing the wedding), because the camera is at my in-laws' at the moment, but it was such an amazing time).
Memorable moments:
- standing at the altar next to Matt (the same altar where I was married two years ago) and watching his beautiful bride walk down the aisle.
- listening to Andrea sing incredibly during the signing of the register (what an incredible voice - you could have recorded it and sold millions).
- delivering as many sandwiches/drinks/cakes into the hands of my charge (ie. the groom) in the afternoon tea as he mingled with congratulators.
- posing for an awesome photo where we mimicked a car breakdown (Kathryn was told to look annoyed and we all watched on as Matt had his sleeves rolled up, trying to fiddle with the engine of a beautiful antique car).
- going crazy on the dancefloor with a quality crowd.

All in all, an absolutely wonderful time.

A few days ago, me and my family went to the final dress rehearsal of the Commonwealth Games (yep, they're being held in Melbourne for those who've never heard). It was, in a word, BORING. If we didn't get free tickets, we wouldn't have gone, and if we knew it was going to be so tedious, we probably wouldn't have gone either. It was kind of a poor man's Olympics really: a situation where the budget really wasn't that big (and you could tell), and you probably wouldn't have wanted the budget to be bigger because there's better things for a nation to spend their money on. The highlight, other than having some lovely together time with my family, was a bunch of people skating around with oversized sparklers on. Otherwise it was cold.

We had a LAN last Wednesday! It was awesome, running from 9am to 11pm the same night. The venue was perfect, the crowd were enthusiastic, the computers ran without a hitch (as usual).
On the left here we have Marcus (rear - Mr. Sven) and Will (front - loves his sniper). On the right we have Caitlin (rear - that's right, a girl! very quick to pick everything up, you should be proud, Revhead) and Josh (middle - also Revhead's offspring, also very quick to pick everything up), and then Neale (front - my brother in law :)).
This is a pic of almost everyone. The total other attendees were: Mic (my bro), Brent (other brother in law), Michael, Guru, Carl, James and Sam popped in for a bit too.

In other news:

- I had a job offer, which was then retracted, and it makes me a bit sad to think about it.
- I took my youngest bro-in-law out for a Tim-Tam iced chocolate the other day (mmmmm....) and we spent about an hour walking around the toy section of Target pressing every button we could find (he's so funny).
- I played the World of Warcraft boardgame with Guru, King Kohl, Josh, Casey and another guy the other day - best board game ever.
- can't wait for the school term to start back again so I can start working! I'm doing CRT (Casual Relief Teaching) for a few of the schools around my area, which I really enjoy doing.

Over and out.