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Monthly Archives for June 2006

good with the bad

Last night was the most important football game in the history of Australia. Australia vs Italy in the round of 16 of the World Cup, a knockout game.

I went to the Crows Nest Hotel to watch the game, along with Sonia, and Sonia’s hot and very cool friend Lisa. When we arrived it was a “one in, one out” policy, necessary because the place was absolutely chockers. We got lucky and didn’t have to wait too long in the cold.

It was my shout first, and I joined the throng at the bar. Next to me was a young guy with an Italian flag headband. In the Australian spirit of friendly rivalry I told him that he disgusts me, to which he responded that he is disgusted by both me and my mother. He later told me, in an Australian accent, that he could never respect me. I guess he was sick of the ribbing, being a traitor within a frenzy of Aussie spirit.

Sonia and Lisa found us a spot with a view of a TV, sitting on the ground. At this time both teams were already on the field so we were lucky to have made it. Most of my readers aren’t Aussies so don’t know what happened. It was a great game, the Socceroos did us proud and gave as good as they got, with a score of 0–0 for the whole game. The whole game, that is, until the last 8 seconds where the Italians scored a goal off of a typically World Cup bullshit penalty. Not a happy time, but not too sad either as we were all proud of the historical achievement that our boys, um, achieved. I will be going to the tickertape parade when they return.

Lisa and I went outside to the 7–11 to get some drinks and missed one of the highlights of the evening. Sonia, high on caffeine and foolishness, almost got into a brawl with the aforementioned Italian headband man, who was standing in the middle of the road taunting us.

Faced with the prospect of a taxi drought and a long walk home, I summoned all of my rockstar powers and made a cab appear. It was almost time to turn off to our street when our caffeinated friend informed the driver that we were going to Minsky’s. Not an early night then. Afterwards we walked home (it is 8 minutes down the hill). I took Lisa on a detour to the kiwifruit tree that I discovered on the weekend. We have a lot of kiwifruit now.

Back home and we were tired but not sleepy. Sonia disappeared and Lisa and I chatted and watched Matrix on the MCE until she succumbed to sleep. So I went to bed at 5AM on a school night.

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Written on 27 June 2006 by darryn under Uncategorized with No Comments
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YYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

We've got guusbumps

For my non-Australian readers, Australia just qualified for the next round of the FIFA World Cup, for the first time ever. Australia has never been a footballing (soccering?) nation but the Socceroos are now our national obsession and heroes. Every conversation includes at least an element of World Cup speculation and workplace absenteeism is at an all-time high (most games are on between midnight and 6am).

So last night (Thursday) and I stayed up to watch the Australia vs Croatia game, the match that would decide who made it into the next round. All Australia needed was a draw. Since we were staying up anyway we decided to watch the two preceding games, Czech vs Italy and Ghana vs USA. We enjoyed both games (although we both hate Merk) but had to leave before the end of the Ghana game as we were meeting Lisa at the Crows Nest Hotel at 4AM.

We get to the Crowie at about 4:10 and it was closed. Our hearts sank. The cab had another booking and had to leave so we were stuck there with nowhere else on the North Shore opening for the game (that we knew of). We checked all the doors anyway and found a side entrance being guarded by bouncers although it was empty inside. We managed to get in but had to hide away from the street so no-one knew we had been let in. We were drinking water as the bar was not allowed to open until 4:30. We were one of only two groups there.

By 4:45 the place was packed but there was no sign of Lisa so we gave up her seat. Due to our early arrival we had awesome rockstar seating with screens right in front. There was green and gold as far as the eye could see and a great atmosphere.

The game was, of course, very exciting. We cheered every favourable turn of play (Aussie throw in? YYAAAAAYYY!!!) and booed every dodgy refereeing decision. When the final whistle blew, and we got the required draw, the place went absolutely mental. We were all hugging strangers, Sonia was dancing on the table. I think it was a better atmosphere than when we won the bid for the 2000 Olympics.

We had a few more, and it was daytime. We bussed it to Cremorne and had a tasty breakfast at Maisys, cheering with every gold-wearing person we saw. A great night.

*Guus is the Dutch coach of the Australian team and is largely credited with our success. He is as much a national hero as the players.

[Update] Sonia just told me that after the game I was having a lengthy and animated conversation with some girl, entirely in Dutch. I do not have any recollection of this. I remember talking to her but not the lengthy and Dutch part. It is true that I am at my most fluent when drunk but I think she might be pulling my leg. I do remember SMSing all my Dutch contacts so I guess I was thinking about them.

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Written on 23 June 2006 by darryn under Uncategorized with No Comments
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Firefly ftw

To be converted:

If I have left you out of the list, or if I converted you and you converted others, please comment on this post so I can update the chart.

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Written on 16 June 2006 by darryn under personal with 1 Comment
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geweldig

Breigh knows what she’s talking about

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Written on 01 June 2006 by darryn under personal with 1 Comment
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New Europe photos up

Last night I uploaded some photos from last month’s Europe trip. Some might seem familiar as Mel and Jem STOLE some of my IP and put them on their own blog. I mentioned this to Adam and his theory is that since their website is hosted on my server, technically it is me that is stealing my own IP.

Photos here.

Below is an example photo from the night of Koninginnedag. At the time, fuelled by Dutch beer and chocolate, we thought it was the Ultimate Party Photo. In the cruel light of day, however, the photo seemed slightly less ultimate.

ultimate party photo

John is modelling my patriotic orange beads, which I bought from a lady’s neck on Koninginnedag last year. I like Koninginnedag in Amsterdam, although Amsterdammers typically leave the city for that weekend. I think I will have to make it an annual pilgrimage.

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Written on 01 June 2006 by darryn under personal with No Comments
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