Mayhem Madness: May 2010

Since my cancer diagnosis, I have been posting little bits of information at various places, (thanks Catty and Madam M for allowing me to hijack your places), but haven't blogged here yet. I'm a bit reluctant, as I don't want this cancer to define me, I still want my blog to be about my life, my friends, family and experiences, and I don't want the cancer to take over. On the other hand I DO want to be able to keep you informed, and maybe vent a little. Solution: TWO blogs.

This is where I will report in: tests, doctors, laughter, tears, frustrations and triumphs. Most posts will be short updates on daily occurrences and just generally how I'm travelling. Hopefully it won't just turn into a dirge, but frankly if that happens so be it. The rest of my life will continue to be chronicled here.

Drop in to http://mayhem-oflaughterandtears.blogspot.com/ if you want to, or don't. Your call! If you go there you will know what to expect, and I won't be upset or offended if you choose not to. This is mainly for me anyway. An opportunity to express my myself.

It pretty much started with the tweets announcing the revered God's arrival, followed by some frantic searching for same and Jugger author John Birmingham, on behalf of Monster Yuppy who would like to join them for lunch. Epic FAIL as both gents had turned their phones off... clever boys!

Arrived at Claret House around 6:30 or so to find most attendees assembled and well away. We were awaiting the arrival only of the Boss and the magic Bedes. I think Beeso, Abe and SpyNat were intent on sampling every beer on the menu. At some point in the evening I handed my camera to SpyNat, who played with it for a while and then handed it on to Havock, and made myself scarce. If you've seen my one and only vaguely recognisable photo from the Tassie Babes post, you know why I did that, though in my defense Havock did take some that were similarly apalling on Friday night.

Beeso and Monster Yuppy

I have met both of these gents before, but it was good to catch up with them and this time I actually managed to have a conversation with the Monster.

JB and Abe Frellman

The first time I have had the pleasure of meeting "The Sausage King from Queanbeyan" and appropriately The Boss ordered a sausage salad which went down very well! (Okay it was Chorizo salad and it was very nice). This photo should also allay the fears of non-attendees that we Brisbane Burgers have turned into a bunch of wussses who have forsaken alcomohol! Abe it was a pleasure! I will echo other commentators who are very impressed with JB's svelte suave look.

The lovely SpyNat, with Bedes and The Boss.

(Sorry Bedes, Havock seems to have saved all the front on shots of you for his phone)

Nat it was a pleasure, if you're ever at a loose end around lunch time, pop in to the office and we'll have lunch.

And of course the ratbag who needs no introduction....

The God himself...

HAVOCK

Now I met Havock briefly in Melbourne in March, and he seemed a nice guy! He is!

So Saturday night was fun, good conversation and food, and plenty of booze, except for me, I was driving. At the end of the night I bravely offered to drop Havock and Abe at their respective lodgings, and SpyNat home. I say bravely, because I have absolutely no illusions about my sense of direction. Frankly, it SUX. Still, I lined up the lovely Nat to navigate, and our little expedition set off (after a quick tidy up of the car - sorry about that folks). And an expedition it certainly was. All went swimmingly to the point where we dropped Abe in Roma Street. And that's when we came unstuck. Disregard anything you may read elsewhere, we did NOT circle the CBD eight times, it was four at the most. And with each circuit it was funnier, and we got sillier. We ended up dropping the great one on a corner, with SpyNat yelling at him out the window "That's Wickham Terrace, I'm sure it is", and then "Look, there's a street sign, I told you it was Wickham Terrace" Luckily, that particular corner was in fact close to Hav's accoms, and he made it home safe and sound. As did Nat and I, eventually! We cooked up a story that the whole situation was deliberate, we just couldn't bear to let Havock go, we couldn't get enough of his scintillating company.. yada yada.

I don't think he bought it.

I think I redeemed myself on Saturday though. Having finished my errands earlier than expected, I phoned Havock and arranged to collect him from the city for our lunch at Fiasco Steakhouse. Didn't get lost even once, and the ONLY reason we ended up doing yet ANOTHER blocky, was because there was no way to enter the restaurant carpark from the direction in which we were travelling. We were joined in due course by Quokka and her Bloke, then Bedes. Don't know about the others, but I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken. Bedes, I meant to ask you how your steak was? I assume it was okay, because it was well and truly gone. I think Havock learned a valuable lesson during that little gathering. Do NOT let Simon Bedak play with you smart phone EVER. Havsy's probably still trying to work out who all these vaguely suss new Twitter mates are! Another enjoyable couple of hours, after which I headed home, having woken up with a nasty headache, and being seriously not in the mood to stay out all afternoon before fronting up to Tassie Babes.

A couple of hours sleep, headache minimised, and off to Tassie Babes. I arrived quite early, as The Brat dropped me in then headed back to watch the football with his Nanna. I had a quick look at twitter, and discovered that a bunch of Burgers was having dinner right next door to the BAT. (Is bunch the correct collective noun for the Burgers? It seems a bit tame somehow.. any suggestions gratefully received). So I gatecrashed their dinner for a little while, before heading back to the play.

Tassie Babes, again what can I say? An absolute riot, had a ball once again. All involved are to be congratulated. GirlClumsy, love your work. Your cast, your crew, and of course the Author and Playwright! And Saturday night was chance to catch up with NBob, GirlClumsy, Medway and Albion Love Den. Also met Albion's lovely wife Satomi, Ysambart, Mick H, JanetELeach and assorted others. God I hope I haven't missed anyone! The one sour note was learning that Moko and his wife had run into major traffic problems on their way in, and weren't going to make it. You were missed mate! The Urinal presentation was another burst of hilarity, then chatting and catching up for a little while longer. After the show The Brat showed up to convey me homeward, and I let him know that we would be taking a couple of passengers, The Brat was cool with that, with one proviso. Nat was NOT allowed to navigate! I assured him that Nat had arranged other transportation, and we had Abe and Havock reasonably close to their respective quarters in short order.

Sunday, I had hoped to round off the weekend with a trip up to Redcliffe to meet Big Bad Al. Sadly the headache which had lurked all Saturday, returned with a vengeance. Decided to stay home and sleep it off. I will tell you all now though, if I can go out, have one glass of wine and end up with a monster hangover, from here on in I'm going to make sure I bloody well deserve it!

All in all a fabulous weekend. Great company, great food, and lots and lots of laughs. I doesn't get better than that!

Now, just because I can, and to counter that revolting photo Havock has of me on his blog, I'm going to post a couple more photos of past meetings with other burgers . Now I'm definitely not the most inspiring photography subject, but I think these ones are a LITTLE bit better!