Happy Birthday Ali!

Yesterday was Alistair's birthday. We drove down to Geelong for the day because he had a family lunch and had a couple of his friends over as well. It was pretty cool to just sit out on the deck and hang out with people, it reminded me of his birthday last year when I met all his friends. His grandparents are always so nice to me, I found out today that his grandmother used to work on Bay Street in Port Melbourne, which is just around the corner from my work. We were talking about the Commonwealth Games, which finished today.

So, what did I buy him?

• Freitag wallet
• FCUK bag
• Commonwealth Games tickets
• shirt from y.d

I gave it to him all before his birthday, because he used a lot of it for Uni, and we went to the Games earlier on in the week. I was going to get him an iPod, but I had been texting his mum and she was going to get him one as well. We decided that she could get it because I would have a better idea of other things he wanted, so that worked out quite well. He was very surprised when he opened it.

We drove back to Melbourne later in the afternoon and went out clubbing that night, at Next Blue at Crown. It was pretty good, the music was great and it wasn't actually that busy. There were a couple of us and it was fun. Lisa and Sam had a fight, so we all walked back to the apartment, which is only a couple of blocks away. Then off to bed. It was a bit awkward, but good all the same.

Melbourne 2006

This evening Alistair and I went to see the Gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games. It was at the Rod Laver Arena. I had bought the tickets a while ago because I wanted to go to at least ONE event and I thought that the gymnastics or the netball would have been the best. We saw the men's finals tonight of the rings and the pommel horse and the floor. There were also some other events too.

The arena was just packed and it was a bit odd just watching because everything was silent. We would watch the floor routine and it was silent through the whole arena, and if someone slipped up everyone would gasp. It's different because when you watch it on TV, at least you can hear the commentary. Someone is actually describing to you what is happening. I think I would prefer watching it on TV, but yeah. It was good to actually go to an event.

Everyone is in Commonwealth Games mode at the moment. Southern Cross Station across the road from where we live, has just been packed lately. The other night I caught a train to the supermarket and the platforms at the station were the busiest I have ever seen them - it's only a newish train station as well in a way, they've revamped it, but it hadn't really been used much by people. But you can definitely tell how much the economy is going to get out of this. It's a bit freaky though when you are going through the train station and you see the clear rubbish bins - it's something that they started doing in London after bombings on the trains and that bus. It's strange to think of the actual terror threat that the Games have here in Melbourne.

I remember before I moved over here, everyone was telling me to be careful because of the games, and told me to wait until after March to move. I can't believe it's already March! We had a good time at the event tonight, and we are both still alive. So that's good :)

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Yesterday Ali and I went down to Geelong for Lisa's 18th birthday. She had a lunch at her parents and she had a couple of friends over and her family. It was pretty cool because I had never been to her place before. And best of all - she had a bouncy castle there!! Well, it wasn't a castle as such, it was actually a giant giraffe. It was so much fun.

We dropped Sam off at the school because he was getting picked up by his girlfriend. While we were there, they showed me all their animals at the school - the school's owner is Japanese and he has llamas and kangaroos among others just roaming around on the grounds, how cool is that? It was the first time I had seen a kangaroo since I moved to Melbourne. I was pretty excited about everything and Sam and Ali didn't really understand, because they had seen these every day at school. Well, at least I thought it was cool.

We went back to Alistair's parents place for dinner and then headed back to Lisa's for more bouncing and some drinking games. I had spent all night trying to get up on the side wall of the castle and finally managed it, it was a feat. I was so excited. We then caught a cab into the city and went clubbing, it was OK. Lisa got lost and we didn't know where she had gone for about an hour, but she turned up right at the end when Ali and I were leaving. We walked back to his parents place, it was about 3am.

It was weird because we slept in his bedroom, except for the fact that it wasn't his bedroom anymore. His parents have changed it to a guest bedroom, painted the walls and changed the layout of the room, put in a new bed and things like that. So that was pretty cool. We had a good time, it was a good weekend.