If you haven't already read accounts of last night from Benji or Amy, I'm about to fill you in on my Friday, the long and eventful Friday. My day started at work at 8am. It was a standard shift until 4, but eventually it got pushed back further and further and I ended up coming home at 5.30 to absolutely crash. I showered and had some pants on and just feel back onto my bed and relaxed to a pump Led Zeppelin. I passed out spread on my bed and then Amy and Nani woke me up charging into the room and jumping on me.

I got my shit together, and we picked up Benji and headed to Yank's, where Kyle, Yank, Yeatsie and Matt were drinking and had been since 12 whilst watching the ashes. Everyone was already trashed as at yank's so I had to play catch up with my new drink, McK. It's not too bad, pretty smooth, 1.8 std drinks to a can so it packs a bit of a punch too. I managed to down the six pack leaving only one in my pocket for later by the time we caught the 130 in. My notoriously small bladder wrecked havoc on me on the bus ride and despite me being the only one bitching, whining and complaining, when we rocked up to Griffith Bus Station all the boys piss bolted from the bus to the garden to drain the snakes. Ha.

We got off at Queen Street and stumbled towards the Victory. It was pretty average night, so after talking to the barmaid about getting a job there and shouting a round, me and Yank found a few blokes to play 2 on 2 pool with. I sucked, so I was interchanged by his 2IC which is either Rob or Chaz or something like that. It was an intense match, with lots of cheering, slow clapping and attempted mexican waves by Kyle. I'm surprised Yeatsie's 'aussie, aussie, aussie' chants didn't get us kicked out!

We left the Victory and headed to the Valley. The boys linked arms and charged down the street in full song, singing along to Waltzing Matilda, national anthem and 'my baby takes the morning train', aka. Sheena Easton - Morning Train (9 to 5). It's also interesting to note that looking at the lyrics, it is a women singing about a man... not a woman. Oh well. Nani and Amy spent this trip hanging behind us trying to look like they were on their own, this failed as me and Benji slowed up and walked with them, gradually hearing the singing fading off into the distance. We caught up with Yank and Rob/Chaz/2IC who were urinating on a church/driveway. Me and Benji tagged them and they took over the reins of looking after the girls.

We went to Birdies firstly, in which Benji was denied access because he apparently hit/kicked a pole. Interesting. I was told to take him and get some water. Fucking that off, me and Benji went to the Mustang Bar and sink a few drinks up top. We also sunk my last can of McK that was hiding in my pocket. The kids left the Birdies we screamed at them from the top of the Mustang to come in. We all hung around the Mustang for awhile, more pool games ensued, I met up with some random chicks who gave me a glow stick to play around with. I then talked to some older women about something or other.

The night dragged on, eventually we all split up, and me and Yeatsie headed to Birdies which fucking sucked. We left and come back to the Mustang to find Benji and Nani, the others had gone home (well, they had more adventures, see amy's blog). Me and Yeatsie rocked out hard to AC/DC and other bands of which a Benji has a few photos that should arrive on the internet soon.

We went home, catching the 130. Yeastie and Nani passed out immediately and me and Benji started singing everything and anything on the way home to keep us awake. The bus eventually dropped us off near where I used to live in which I then lost my pants and ran down the street to lose my license and $5 to the road. Benji took Yeatsie and Nani home and then came back on his black bullet to help me look for my licence. We didn't find it and went home a sad man.

I passed out in Benji's bed and then woke up in the morning and rang the bus depot and the Mustang looking for my licence. There was no luck. I was pissed off and kinda dissapointed because it meant that I wouldn't be able to go out clubbing tonight. I rang Adam to pick me and Nani up to take us and home. On the way I asked him to drive down the street and fucking, just my luck, I found it sitting ontop of the gutter! Rock on! Adam took me and Nani home in which she passed out on my bed for hours and hours and I just wandered around downstairs.

I showered, got dressed and headed into the city to meet Dani, Mel and Micheal to shop for dani's birthday present. After wandering around we eventually got her an outfit and they left to get ready for tonight's clubbing adventures. I left them too it and hit up JB and Rocking Horse and bought Led Zeppelin II and IV and Snow Patrol - When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up and Dani's present.

Anyway, it's now 9pm, me, benji and nani were meant to be at dani's half hour ago and I'm still sitting here semi naked!

OaO

It's been awhile since I blogged and surprisingly it's not that I haven't done anything in the past one and a bit weeks, I've just to been too drunk/emo/lazy to blog about it. So here you go, the last one and half weeks:

• Sunday 3.12.06
• During the day I went to the coast to recon Dani from the ex. Plans went astray and I never actually saw Dani at the coast but instead, I met two chicks, Laura and Sam who gave me a lift to Surfers Paradise from Main Beach in their rather sexy looking Lancer. I had some Maccas and what not then walked back to Main Beach (about 30minutes) and drove home.
• Picked up Dani from home and went to Cam's pool party (read benji's take on it). It was fun, sorta over by the time I rocked up but nevertheless, the water was good and um, the cold pizza?
• Went home, was emo and wrote my Merry Go Rounds entry.
• Went and saw Borat, which blew. I'm not a fan of the 'put on a dickhead accent and I am funny ya?' sorta movies, had some moments though.
• Monday 4.12.06
• I don't remember. According to my bank statement, nothing. I'm guessing I just worked and bludged all day.
• Tuesday 5.12.06
• I went to Loganholme with Cam and probably made him spend a good $100 or so while I got Strapping Young Lad - Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing and Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape ($29 for the lot?).
• At night I went to the gym with Benji and we met up with Mel, Shane, Adam and Dani there. I did a personal best on the treadmill running for the full ten minutes at 12km/h. Go me. Yes I am unfit.
• Went back to mine to watch OC to find that I taped the wrong channel so we hauled ass over to Mel's to watch it using Dani's tape whilst making banana, choc chip, milo and nutmeg milkshakes.
• Proceeded to get Benji hooked on the OC (more later).
• Wednesday 6.12.06
• Don't remember, bank statement not helpful either.
• But I think this is the day where Mum bought a exercise bike so I rode on it for an hour and half whilst watching Rock Star (the movie, not the lame TV show).
• Thursday 7.12.06
• I picked Mel up and went to Loganholme on a mission to shop for Dani's birthday present. We failed, but along the way got Mel's retainers from her dentist because she got her braces off
• I bought INXS - The Years 1979-1997 for $24.99 from JB.
• I worked the night.
• I woke up at 3am and picked up Amy, Mel and Claire from South Bank after their girly night out (photos).
• Friday 8.12.06
• I went to Dani's for the day
• We watched the OC, Rock Star and Almost Famous, chatted and got slushies and then went through her Dad's CD collection.
• Worked the night, but didn't get home until 12.30 as I ran into some old mates who used to work at Brodies just as I was leaving (at like 10? was a shit night).
• Went home and had a few drinks to ease myself into the weekend.
• Saturday 9.12.06
• Went to the coast with Yeatsie, Benji and Cam and mucked around at Main Beach, got some milkshakes then headed off to Robina Town Center.
• Yeatsie spent $160 at JB, Cameron stuck with his budget ($20 I think?), Benji got nothing and I got Led Zeppelin III which is fucking awesome!
• Dropped the kids off and went to the bottle shop, got myself a six pack of Woodstock then headed home to clean the car, drink and get ready for the night.
• Yeatsie picked us up, I was a little intoxicated and we headed to Sizzler for Dani's pre birthday dinner. I ate, I was drunk, then sobered up towards the end of Sizzler for bowling. Corey Parker (from the Broncos) was apparently eating near us too.
• I sucked at bowling, I got a few strikes but nothing amazing, I think my scores were like 90 something and 113. It was fun though. Night turned a bit emo towards the end of bowling, combination of tired/feelings and sms's that I probably shouldn't of read.
• Did I mention I sobered up hard? Original plan was to head back to The Shack and keep drinking but Yeatsie, Benji and Cam and I were just too rooted to even think about it so we headed home.
• I got home drunk a bit more eventually passed out.
• Sunday 10.12.06
• Brendo's day of sulking and doing nothing but listening to Snow Patrol and other easy sorta going bands and drinking more Woodstock.
• Towards the night Cam played shits and giggles on me and told me I slept with some random from clubbing. Confused and a little worried but still pretty fucking sure I didn't due to a number of reasons I smsed her to find out the deal. Turns it she gave me a dodgy number but in return I now know Natalie, who's 19, lives in Sydney and hopefully is going to show me, Benji, Dani and Mel around when we head down in January.
• Monday 11.12.06
• Me and Mel attempted to find Dani's present yet again but failed.
• Me and Mel went to Naughty but Nice, which was fun, interesting and a bit weird when the lady (who was wearing a shirt, Vodka - Connecting People) asked that if wanted to try any of the costumes on that we just had to ask and she'd organise it. In the end it just made me and Mel mopey that we didn't have a significant other to play sex games with, so we left and I went work.
• Came home, drunk again, this time vodka on the rocks.
• Tuesday 12.12.06
• Still a bit emo, just bummed around home exercising and watching That 70's Show (hmm forgot to mention that I spent most of the other days watching this in my free time too). Played guitar a bit but nothing too crazy.
• Felt like shit from the vodka, it gets to you, trust me, so I bailed on gym and OC and watched it by myself (first time in ages!).
• Had a bit more vodka, mixed with juice this time so flavour and a less of a, 'get fucked' factor.
• Thought about patching things up with a certain someone but passed out before I could even start messaging.
• Wednesday 13.12.06
• Awesome day.
• Lots of confusion the night before, unreliable shitty phones and communication breakdowns led to Amy, Dani and Mel having to stay at home, but Nani, Kyle, Josh, Yeatsie, Cam, Benji and me continued our trip to the coast (originally Springbrook Falls to play in the rock pools, jump of waterfalls and what not).
• Met at Maccas and then headed out. Benji and Kyle exchanging hi fives at 110km/h between cars was the main highlight of the trip down.
• Went to Robina JB (the best, by far) first and spent some dollars. Benji headed across to Kmart and got all the OC Seasons, can you say hooked? Cam stuck to budget again and got some Maiden, Dream Theater and Killswitch. Yeatsie stayed down and got a few Pink Floyd cd's. I got Jeff Buckley - Grace, Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin, ACDC - High Voltage and Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance which marks the most I've spent at JB in a while
• After our shopping binge, paying nani out about being a midget and explaining to her that she was the honorary 'cool guy with long hair' for the day (a role normally assumed by the lovable Amy), we headed back up the Motorway to Main Beach.
• The beach was awesome, and after spotting a topless sunbather, we swam for an hour or so. Josh lost his thongs to the sand demons a few times and nani made the mistake of letting her top fly open giving Kyle a nice shot of nipples.
• The waves were great, caught a few of them, highlight was when we all caught the same wave and rode it into shore then the usual hi five swapping afterwards. I also managed to catch a massive dumper and steer between Yeatsie and Cam only to fly over the top of Cam and poleaxe him.
• Eventually the lifeguards ruined our fun (probably in exchange for our safety) and told us to get out of the surf cause conditions were changing. We scoffed, then headed to Cavil for some food, and then hit up Surfers Paradise beach (oh after blaring ACDC down the main strip).
• The beach was again awesome, more thongs were lost, dignity was fought for in the sumo ring and then we tackled the waves again. This time the sea claimed Nani's sunglasses and poleaxed every single of us countless times. We left the beach when the lifeguards packed up and ushered everyone out of the water and headed home.
• The day wasn't over. Nani got lost after dropping Kyle and Benji off so crashed at mine for awhile. Yeastie then brought of my new ping pong table (sickkkkkkkk) so we played that for awhile then we headed up the 'vale for some drinks.
• We picked up Kyle, Benji and Yeatsie and eventually met up with Yank.
• Canadian Club and Dry tastes like ass, infact, even ass would have more flavour. Steer clear! After a game of pool in which Yeatsie won we headed home aka, the 'vale closed.
• The night still wasn't over. We set up in my garage, much to my parents disguist, and played ping pong and drunk for awhile whilst listening to INXS and Yank's random cd. Everyone got pretty drunk/tipsy so my Dad kicked us out (fair enough he had work at 6am).
• Not wanting to end the day yet, Nani, Kyle, Benji and Me headed to The Shack to exorcise a few demons and just to continue our drinking. Yeatsie and Yank were keen to call it a night, so they went home (tsk tsk Yank driving under the influence).
• Halfway to The Shack, we get a call saying Yank has stacked his car. Being friends, we ditched our coke, bundy and glasses and started running to the 'crash scene' only to have Kyle pass out halfway and Yank come hooning up the street laughing his ass off. We saw the funny side, kinda, I did after I urinated on his car. He deserved it!
• We recon'd our supplies from the bushes and piled into Yank's car for The Shack. Yank then went home, so we went down there and had a few more drinks. Nani was surprised at our fully sick architecture skillz and then we all semi passed out until Amy and Loren said they were here. Benji recon'd them and then it was one big family in The Shack
• The night finally ended after me and Benji's game of ping pong with swords as bats and Nani copping a kick to the jaw or something similar.
• Benji and Kyle walked home. Me and Nani walked home and Loren and Amy drove home. What's wrong with that picture? THERE WERE STILL SEATS IN THE CAR! *tears*
• Me and Nani chatted then eventually passed out.
• Thursday 13.12.06
• Nani apparently left at like 8am this morning, I was still out of it so didn't notice her leave and woke up at 9am going, where the fuck did Nani go? Meh, I now could spread out, so I went back to sleep

And that's my roundup. Yeatsie got out of work today so now Kyle, Yeatsie and me are about to hit up the coast again, who can say no to the fucking awesome waves and the even better weather I like the coast, I love the beach and I love just floating on the water. It really clears your head, makes it seem like everything is ok! Stupid reality and city life.

OaO

Everyone eventually reaches a point in their life where they fall away from reality, even for a few minutes, to reflect on their own life. It may not come by choice, maybe you’re stuck in traffic with nothing but your thoughts to distract you or a lyric from a song paints a memory of another time or maybe just observing a group of people triggers emotions and feelings of your own. Regardless, how often do we actually listen? These moments, where we detach ourselves from our life and view it as an outsider, emotionless and cynical, are trying to speak to us, they’re telling us to make a choice. Do you keep going round your merry go round, familiar with the scenery, knowing all the bumps and quirks of the ride, or do you jump ship, upgrade your merry go round and take a chance and seize the opportunity to expand your horizons?

These merry go rounds get bigger and bigger, they grow as we grow, each rotation taking longer to complete, giving us more time to learn the ride and take in the surrounds. These detached moments, they are our ticket to the next merry go round, but do we ever take it? Or do we keep going around, knowing where this ride takes us, knowing the bumps and seeing the scenery for the hundredth time. Why don't we jump rides? Fear? Procrastination? Ignorant? We may think we’re doing the right thing by staying on the same ride, not wanting to shift the balance, not wanting to disturb the ride for everyone else who is sharing our merry go round, but in the end, who are we staying on this ride for?

You may be doing the right thing by them staying on the ride, they don't have to be disturbed, and they don’t have to adjust to new surrounds when your familiar face leaves the scenery. It's something new, and new things mean adjusting and conditioning yourself to the new challenges, ready or not. Ever stop to think about you though? If you’re always doing the right thing by them, are you ever doing the right thing by you?

It's easy to forget about you, you’re used to it, you wake up and breathe you every day; you wake up and hear your thoughts churn hour after hour. You hear your head and heart fight with other, rarely agreeing and when they do only for a moment. It's the moments where you detach that you’re finally thinking about you. The thoughts are said, they are voiced, your head lets the heart speak of its own accord and your heart stops for a second to let your head have its say. Sometimes we have to rock the boat and jump ship. We need to dismount our merry go round and jump to the next one, seizing the opportunity. The thing is, sometimes we do, but our heads never let us forget of that warm feeling that guards you from reality, comfort.

The new merry go round shows you something new that you don't like, or the ride is just too bumpy, the faces blank and unapproachable, you can't do it, you’re scared, comfort steps in. You fall back to patterns, your eyes dart around the ride, looking for that familiar merry go round to jump to. Familiarity takes a difference face for everyone. Familiar because of the happy memories, familiar because of the faces, familiar because it's easy, familiar because you like the hope the ride gives, familiar because of the smiles it brings or the tears it makes you cry. It's tough, what if you liked both rides for different reasons? You can't have both, you think you can, you to lie yourself. You try though, you wrap one leg around a horse from each merry go round and just for that split second where the rotations meet you can do it, then as time continues, your leg slips, which horse do you grasp for? Mr Familiar or Mr Opportunity?

Mr Familiar wins nearly every time, no matter how much you know you should have jumped to Mr Opportunity. Mr Familiar is always there though, ready to hold you, support you. Even if the ride is bumpy and is the worse thing for you, for whatever reason, it doesn't matter, because you know how it feels, you know the pain it brings, after all you've been on this ride before, you know what happens next, you know that the ride keeps spinning and the only ticket off it is when you detach, listen and take control. You may have the knowledge, you may know it's time to take your ticket, farewell the ride and learn something new, but comfort blinds you, it argues with your head, 'you can do this, you've done it before, you made it through' and suddenly you sit back in your saddle and let the ticket fall away.

When do we get off? Why do we fall so heavily for comfort? How do you defeat it? Even then, why defeat it? It's so warm, so familiar…