Room 8: Acoustic

Its been an interesting evening it has. K's cousin Neil invited us to watch him string a few tunes together with his band. Having an appreciation for the guitar, we jumped at the opportunity. Took us a while to find the place, as it was not the type of place that we were expecting, but it was actually really well done. We thought we'd be looking for a place with a bit of a stage, couple of couches and a pub. What we found, was a room, two floors up from the Mugg and Bean in Melville. Its an "expression" room - pretty small and snug - nicely decorated in an arty/student kind of way. Essentially, the guy who runs the place has got a bit of funding together and he runs different theme evenings - so for example, Monday nights are 'Philosophy' evenings, Wednesdays are 'Poetry/Story' evenings, Thursday is 'Open Mic', Friday is 'Acoustic', Sat is 'Discussion' and Sunday afternoon is 'Film'. There's no charge - although you can donate if you find the content/evening inspiring - the idea is to get a group of people together to enjoy the arts. And what a great evening it was. Neil, and his mate Graeme are really talented, and we felt quite priviledged to have watched them playing. It was also refreshing to see a group of people getting together and having a great time, whilst appreciating art and talent.
So yeah, if you're interested, pop in a check it out: Room 8, The Court, 4th Ave Melville.

Summer League...

Hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that I was leaving Pirates squash club, and joining Chamber Exiles. Anyway, we started the Summer League this week. Basically, its a club tournament - there are 11 teams of six players, and each Tuesday evening for the next 10 weeks, we play each team in various formats (including doubles) to determine which team reigns. Had my first game last night, and am happy to report that I won 3-0. In fact, our team is leading the log at the moment. Lets hope we can keep it that way.

Golfing history is made...

Well, for me anyway. Yup its been a good day - shot my best round ever, and whilst the score is not that fantastic in golfing terms, its my best score in the 17 odd years that I have been playing the game. I can remember heading down to the Klipriver golf club on a Sunday afternoon with my dad and brothers, when I was about 13 years old, and hacking around for 9 holes, trying my best to break 50. The 9 holes quickly became 18 holes and the skill got progressively better. In fact, I recall scoring my first birdie on that course - something that Neil reminded me about the other day (he was there to witness it, which is hugely important when you are 16 years old - as nobody would have believed it otherwise). Anyway, today I shot a decent 86 - with 2 birdies (both on the par 3's - pitched within a metre of the cup) and four pars. Needless to say Neil and I cleaned up...and all Stuart and Dave could do, was ask "So, how much do we owe you guys".

30th Birthday memories...

So here we sit...its Sunday evening and K and I are sitting on our balcony, enjoying the sights and sounds of the early evening. Its been a pretty relaxing day - and to be honest, we're both very grateful for the public holiday tomorrow.
As for "the gathering" - turned out to be a fantastic evening. We decided about 5 weeks ago, that if we were going to have a 30th birthday bash at our place, there was no way we would be able to cater for 30 people without losing our sense of humour somewhere along the way. Enter "By Word of Mouth" catering. These people were fantastic - they send all the food with two very competant chef's - setup their production line in your kitchen, and then serve delicious snacks all night long. Along with the chef's come two waiters and a barman - so its pretty much a case of sit back, relax, mingle with your friends and family whilst all the food and drinks are taken care of...in the comfort of you own home. Money well spent.
I think that people had a good time - our fears of where everyone would fit were unfounded, as everyone managed to space themselves out quite nicely on the balcony. Ok, it probably was a little cramped at times - we like to think that it had a warm, intimate atmosphere about it.
Anyway - what follows are a couple of pics that were taken during the course of the evening...

Kitchen that looks like a bomb has hit it.

Rich, Frank and Grant

Friends: Jo, Trevor, Gail, Mandy, Neil, Richard and Simona

Gillian, K, Chris and G

Leigh, Dave, Brett and Grant

Battle of the baldies

The oldies...

And their wives...

Brett, Neil, Stuart, Mr A, Pat, G.

G and K