As I come off the tail of a big weekend (for me anyway) I’m falling in to a “crawl in to a ball” mode. Saturday started at 6.30am when I awoke to hear the sound of a measuring tape clattering back and forth. Went downstairs to greet Mr Carports who is building my deck for me. It was the big day when the footings for the deck to go in – the actual first physical signs of years of preparation. I left them to it and headed off to my photography class to learn about flashes. On my return there were some tree lopping guys getting rid of some foliage that would have been a hinderance to the deck. For an extra $20 they vacuumed up all the leaves in the gutter which resulted in a bit of a mess on the verandah which they sort of cleaned up as well. I had to leave again partway through it to head off to my cousin Nathan’s birthday. Pauline was staying home with a huge headache that wasn’t helped by all the work going on around the house.

I scootered off to New Farm to meet Nathan and the rellies for drinks at the Merthyr Bowls Club. I thought it was a bizarre choice of venue but when I turned up and saw the incredible view of the river from our tables I understood it’s appeal. Apparently the bowling greens are booked out until next year and they even allow barefoot bowling. We had a table reserved to eat and drink and it was cool to meet some of his friends and workmates. I left when there were threatening clouds on the horizon that petered out in to nothing. Auntie Sue convinced me that I should head off to the airport to check out the new Airbus 380 that was hanging out in Brisbane Airport to be decked out in Qantas signage before it headed off to Sydney and Melbourne. Unfortunately my ride out there was a waste as it had been put in to a hangar about 4 hours before I decided to turn up. 🙂

Sunday morning involved an early rise at 6am to watch Australia vs Uruguay. I was pleased that it started at that time as Danielle and I had been having an sms argument the night before over what time it started. I was the winner which I gleefully shoved in her face when I saw her! I watched the first half of the match at my house then headed over to Matt and Rach’s in time for the second half and breakfast. Unfortunately we didn’t win the game but at the moment it isn’t too bad a result as we still have the second match at home in Australia to get us in to the World Cup. The bloody Uruguayans did nothing for promoting the game in this country. All anyone saw was them rolling all over the field whenever an Australian blew on them like they were playing in the 1980s or something. The only goal came from a dodgy free kick decision. Mark Schwarzer (our keeper) played a brilliant match – especially in the final 10 minutes when they kept bombarding his goal. Viduka also had a wicked free kick turned away by their keeper which would have made an excellent goal.

Hanging out after the game was a bit of an eye opener as I got to learn a little bit more about Lorenna and saw Rachel’s really cool picture of a Llama smiling with Machu Picchu in the background. Rachel had actually won a photo contest in a magazine with the picture, I couldn’t believe how well it was composed. It was really cool to go through their South American photo album with Lorenna the equadorian filling in the gaps for us. Lorenna discussed how being a tourist is completely different to staying with locals and experiencing their normal way of life.

Later in the day I headed off to my first ever internet meetup. Pauline called it my first ever eyeball and it was with the Brisbane contingent of Flickr users. I was a little nervous about attending as the anticipation of meeting strange people but it was made easier by the fact that it was Pedro who organised it. I spent the first hour with Steve, Rachel and Rae which comprised of enlightening information about archives, google maps and Brisbane. We then discovered the table reserved for the flickrites and couldn’t believe that we’d missed it! Pedro had decked it out in the blue and pink flickr colours and was running around with a flickr shirt and stickers. I had a really great time that was enhanced by the half price cocktails. Camera techniques were discussed along with lenses while the whole event was being documented by the 12 cameras that were being shoved in everyone’s face. I had to leave though as I was going to meet Pauline and Danielle at the West End Festival. Without realising it I’d spent two hours with the group while Pauline had estimated I’d be 10 minutes.

Danielle decided to ditch the festival idea and when I scoped out the festival riding past I decided that it would be a good idea if Pauline and I skipped it too. Not that it looked too lame or anything, it was just that it didn’t seem like it was worth the $5 admission. Instead we went to Sushi Train, bought some Baskins on the way home and watched the Saving Face movie.

If this is the kind of weekend I’m having in November I’m scared of December!

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