2008-02-03 - 10:46 p.m.

In reality I did actually got a fair bit done this weekend, but it still felt like a nothing weekend. I just got back from my parents' house, where I went for dinner like the good son I am (and also plundered their camping equipment in preparation for the camping trip I'm going on next weekend). Earlier this afternoon I did some grocery shopping for at least 3 days worth of dinners (and I know I'll need to go shopping again on Thursday night for previously mentioned camping trip). I did bail on Yum Cha with my Uni Friends this morning, but it was bucketing down with rain when I woke up, and I'd had Yum Cha the day before as well as a ridiculous amount of Brazilian BBQ Meat last night so it felt like the right thing to do. Plus it was nice to have a real sleep in. We're talking 11.30am or something ridiculous like that, which I don't think I've done since at least before Costa Rica.

So on Friday night I decided to stay at home, make myself some dinner and watch "Scrubs". Saturday was going to be one of those domestic/catchup days where I did things like write in here, start planning for camping etc but it didn't quite turn out that way. I got a call from Nathan asking if I wanted to go to Yum Cha at 11am, which I figured I may as well, even though at that stage I was going the next day as well. Between getting back from Yum Cha and 1pm I was downloading songs on Limewire, and then I went and had a look at an apartment with Nathan, had a couple of beers with him at the Exchange and by the time we went separate ways I was ready for an afternoon nap. Before long it was time to go to dinner (said Brazilian BBQ place which was fantastically overindulgent) in Leichhardt with Kellee, Claire, Nathan, Nathan's Colombian workmate Leena and her Brazilian partner, and Nathan's friends Cam, Bec and Emily.

Saturday night after dinner was one of those times when I just found myself wishing that Jo was back already dammit. I went to The Different Drummer (a pub/bar in Glebe) with Nathan, Cam, Bec and Emily, and just felt a bit like the odd one out. I knew that if Jo had been at dinner with me we would have gone home afterwards, or at least the dynamic at the pub would have been such that I didn't feel left out, and I was going to the pub already thinking I should have just gone home, but figuring I may as well go out.

I think I was home by about 1am, which wasn't too bad, but I woke up feeling I was wasting my weekend away. I was going to write in here about more days in Costa Rica, but my keyboard wouldn't work (I've since borrowed a good old fashioned plug in one from my parents' place). And that's pretty much my weekend. I feel better about it now that I feel a bit organised for camping next weekend, and having done a few things, and writing in here like I was going to.

I'm not going to get to writing more about Costa Rica tonight, so I may as well at least fill you in on the last week. I was up-to-date as of Friday 25/1, and apart from a wanky entry about the Hottest 100 itself I haven't really written about the BBQ. I think the best part of it was that the core group of people who turned up and went the distance had never been to any of my parties before- it was the trivia gang of Rowan (with Blanche), Nick, Ken, Davina (with her boyfriend Pete), Chris and Clair (plus a random friend of Chris'). Lucy was obviously there, as were Birch, Frantz, Cristan, Meaghan and Tara of the Uni gang (it turns out that Davina's boyfriend used to work with Tara), Nathan, Mark (very briefly, as he'd had a big night the night before), Re (who I'd previously met through Rowan but we've pretty much become friends in our own right) and Kim and Marty. Oh, and Margaret (ie Meaghan's twin sister) and her daughter Jade. I think that was it. After more than 2 years I finally ran out of gas, thankfully before we started the BBQ proceedings, and Lucy was nice enough to accompany Nathan on a swap-and-go run, allowing me to continue being a social butterfly.

We had a shambolic sweep (in that about 7 songs we'd put in the hat came on before anyone turned up, and we had to keep replacing them, and then some of the replacement songs didn't even make it in), but Ken won the grand prize of $45. By about 8pm Rowan, Chris, his friend Craig and I were playing 500, Lucy had crashed, Meaghan had been convinced to come to Rowan's friend's party in Darlington with us and was having a preemptive nap, and the Sangria punch was all gone. At about 10pm we headed to this other party (once again, if Jo had been there I would have had no need to stay out until 3am, and could have had a nice early night), which certainly had it's moments (why was I singing "You're The Voice" among other tacky songs with some very camp guys??), and then it was finally home to bed.

Sunday after not a great deal of sleep, I was up and catching a bus to Centennial Park for a picnic for Julie's 30th. And it was a baby bonanza! I swear, it certainly looked like there had been some serious coordination going on among that group of friends. It was a nice afternoon, even if I was badly in need of sleep.

Oh yeah, on Saturday I realised the brakes weren't working in my car- that's always good. So I had to get Lube Mobile out to fix them (which they couldn't do on Monday, they had to come back on Wednesday and I had to leave the keys in the letterbox and get a lift to work on Tuesday and Wednesday), and I'm not even going to tell you how much that set me back. But now I've got another reason *not* to get a new car- I've got to get my money's worth out of the most recent repairs. Stupid car. What zany misadventure will it have next?

Anyway, on public holiday Monday I had Yum Cha with Steve, who had been in Adelaide and Perth for the week, and spent the rest of the day either downloading songs from the Hottest 100, organising to get my car fixed, or watching "Scrubs". Tuesday after work I went for a run with Nathan, then had Vietnamese for dinner because I didn't have time to go grocery shopping or cook. Wednesday after work I went to trivia, where we came a close 2nd (after they won it without me the week before), Thursday night I did some shopping and made some dinner (a very yummy invention of rocket and mango salad with Brie, Smoked Chicken and a citrus and mustard viniagrette). And Friday I think I've already covered.

So I might go to bed and prepare myself for another week at work.

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