Following Up/Big Bash

Upon Reflection.....

  

So reflecting back on what I wrote on a grumpy downhearted Monday evening about something which really bothered me big time, on a breezy Friday arvo (with only a fortnight till the xmas break, yay) was definitely interesting. But I sure as hell stand by what I said. and it sure as hell needed to be said. Some people just really need a good, hard look at themselves sometimes. That night was something that meant a lot to me, & getting it out there off my chest was a good way of properly moving on from it. If it causes a few frowns out there, so be it. I'm not going to sugarcoat everything I say on here - this is simply me speaking from the heart. And theres plenty, PLENTY of bad stuff in there as well as good.
I have had one or two persons reach out & communicate this week re my last post, & to them I do thank you. Particularly the one person who knew me the best during my time at Dimmeys, at least she has kept in touch & was kind enough to get back to me & say sorry. I  knew she would struggle to make it - becoming a Mum a short time before this would be a daunting task!
 It doesn't dilute how crap & worthless I felt that night, but we are just 3 weeks off 2013, that was in 2011. The past is in the past. We gotta keep looking forward, right? I'm certainly no Saint myself, I'm guilty too of not keeping in touch with some old friends.
 So lets move on....

Big Bash

 To quote of bit of Billy Birmingham (aka the 12th Man) when its summer, in Australia, if you don't like Cricket that's a real bummer that cause cricket is the number 1 game in town! Yo!! :)  And while to me the footy it still streets ahead, Cricket has its rightful place in my sports calendar at this time of the year. Its as traditional as a beer & a BBQ over the summer months!
While I'm a traditionalist at heart, & therefore enjoy Test Cricket, the rise of 20-20 can't be denied, & it certainly has its place. I challenge anyone to recall a memorial 20-20 game a month or 2 on, where as most cricket fans could quote a good dozen quality or spectacular Test matches off the top of their head going back decades! Even the good old one dayers (50 overs) a good few stick in  the mind from days & eras gone by.
But for a hit & giggle, & for 3 hours of entertainment, I don't mind me some 20-20. Could do without the fireworks & cheerleaders - just makes the game feel even more artificial, but then I know Cricket needs to cater to a younger audience this old stiffs & traditionalists like me.
Going from a State based local comp to a city based one has certainly taken a lot of real passion in who really wins out of it for me. Being a proud Victorian through & through, it very easy to get behind them in the longer forms of the domestic game, & in the earlier 20-20 days - you generally just barrack for your state. So now its the Melbourne Stars, & the Melbourne Renegades. Doesn't inspire a lot of passion for me, either team. Its a pity the Geelong bid for a fanchise didn't get up -that would have made picking ateam very easy. Alas, mainly becasue our stadium didn't have lights, we got turned down. pity cooky, we were just a few years too late with lights for K.Park!! Ahh well, if they ever expand the Big Bash Comp, you reckon Geelong would be favourite to gain a berth.
 Last year I generally followed the Renegades - seeing as they were a little less high profile, sorta seen as the underdogs. Also, I'm a big fan of Brad Hodge - its absolutely criminal he didn't play more cricket for Australia! So the Renegades it was.They had a fairly average season, finished 7th I think.
It was a fairly entertaining season, & I attended the vast majority of the games both the Renegades & the Stars played at home. but thinking back to last year, nothing really jumps out at me as a really amazing match. Only remember the Melb derby sadly being rained out.
This year, Hodge has jumped across town, & is playing for the Stars (based at the MCG, where the Renegades are based at Etihad Stadium). and so I've jumped ship too to the Stars, mainly cause of Hodge, & the MCG home ground effect - it is the best stadium in the world - where else would you rather watch cricket? Anyway, I thought what the hell & bought a Stars membership the other day - based more upon better value for money, better seating & saving the ques to buy a ticket on game evening rather than real loyalty. I know, changing team loyalties is something I detest, but them this really doesn't count, does it? Especially as this is just the 2nd years of these teams' existence! :)
So the first game is tonight, the first Melbourne derby (they have scheduled 2 derbies this season I think) but its at Etiahd, so the Renegades home match. Another reason I got a membership this time is that you get entry to this game as well. So for what works out to be around $20, a Level 1 prime seat to see the likes of Warnie, Murrili, Hodge, Hussey, Samuels, & Finch to name a few in action is pretty good value I think!! Lets hope for a good game, looks like it will be a nice evening weather wise for it.
While it sure as hell doesn't beat the footy, or an exciting Day 1 of the Boxing Day or New Years Test match, it certainly entices a good, entertaining evening. So long they don't overdo the ground announcing, or fireworks, or other side attractions - let the entertaining cricket be the forefront, says I!! :)

Go Stars!!

 

Real Friends v Work Colleagues

Alright, time to get a bit snarky tonight. Wanted to do this on the weekend, but the only night I felt really ranty was on Friday night, when I was out at a concert. Yes I admit to going to see Rick Astley Fri night, so sue me! ;) You should have an understanding of my love of 80's music by now! Actually, I was planning to go to a gig Sat night too, Monsters Of Rock - featuring Bon Jovi, KISS, Guns n Roses & AC/DC tribute bands. But seeing I didn't home till 1.30 Sat morning, rather shaken after a VERY scary drive home in those storms (but spectacular with all that lightning too - ahh Mother Nature) then felt productive when i got up, & organised some Xmas stuff, including getting a present for the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal - something I remember to do every year - so come early arvo, I was beat! Add in it was totally 80's on Music Max all weekend, including the option to choose from 4 different styles of 80's on Party Max that night, I ended up vegging on the couch for the rest of the day. Sunday was fairly similar after going out for a breakfast & a walk - I guess after a busy few weekends where I wasn't home much, it was good to have a relative quiet one.
Anyway, I've been distracted, onto my main point tonight.....

Making A Differentiation Between Friends/Work Colleagues

What really defines a real friend, as supposed to, say people we work with on a regular basis & get to know pretty well? 

I  guess I've always held proper true friends as very important people, maybe that's part of my problem. Its the way I've always been - unlike my father, I work to live. Along with my family, my friends mean the world to me. My best mate has been my best mate for all of 31+ years - we've been best mates since shortly after I moved to Geelong when I was 5, & have been through pretty much everything together. If I had to ring him at 3.30am on a Tuesday morning, I'd know he'd understand. 

So needless to say I put a lot of trust in friendships. Trust is a key word here I think. I've also always been a quiet, private, non-talkative person. I guess for a lot of my life I've lacked self-confidence & that's affected my social skills. So, in stark contrast to my best mate, who is the kind of guy who could walk up to a female stranger he fancied in the street, & 10 minutes later he'd have her phone number, (just through sheer charisma, not through being sleazy or anything), I only had a few circles of friends. Mainly through primary/high school, & a few sports I played in my latter years in high school & post education.  Around people i don't know I've never been much chop alas. And if the situation involves females, especially good-looking ladies I'm even worse. Seriously, the brain just goes blank & I have no idea what to say or how to act.

So when I entered the workforce, this obviously presented the chance to interact with a whole new group of people, including girls. Now I'm not one to pump my own tyres up or anything, but I do like to pride myself on being a friendly, considerate & easy to get along with person. So once I settled in at the company I worked for, I found i got along with everyone really well. In particular, the guys I worked directly with I would consider my friends. Back in those days, on a Friday night we'd head down to the pub & have a few beers, egos were left at the door, & whether you were a manager, director, causal worker & a cleaner, we'd have a laugh or get along great over a frothy. 

Alas, times were a changing, & the company was going through some.. unfortunate..... changes. It resulted in a large staff turnover, & re-location of others.  In days pre Facebook/twitter, & in the early days of email & mobiles (both of which I was slow on the uptake of) it was easy to lose touch with co-workers. Sadly, bar 1 or 2, I have lost touch with the majority of people I worked with in those early days.

I should take to take this to the point of my issue here. I worked my way up in the company to an accounts role at Head Office, after spending a few years in our distribution centre, located in the same building. So I now was familiar & got along with a whole new group of people. It was in this stretch of time I made what I thought was a lot of friends. Especially with a number of girls, who worked in our buying office., which was/still is rare territory for someone like me. When we're exchanging email/mobile numbers, & of course adding on facebook & myspace (this was 2007-2008) I honestly felt like I'd really made a good group of friends. Which was good, cause as happens over the years, you gradually lose touch with old friends from high school days. Particularly as I was one of increasingly small group where were still single. Many of my old friends were now married/engaged/in a long term relationship, often with kids. They had their own families now. 

We still had a fair turnover of staff - I might as well name the company, they've been in the news - Dimmeys. Stay tuned for a major, & i mean MAJOR post on them sometime down the track. And no matter who it was, if I knew them, I always made an appearance at his/her farewell. Being based at Head Office, you talked to plenty of people on the phone, & there still a few in the system from when I first started, so I knew plenty of people. 

Also, often I'd go out for lunch with said (so-called) friends. If someone had a birthday, we'd occasionally go out for a drink or 2. Normal things that friends would do?  Eventually, a couple of the girls tied the know with their partners. I went along to a couple of weddings, was really wrapt for them. And after several left Dimmeys to move on with their careers, they'd still keep in touch via email& Facebook. 

I guess there was no real definite point where I noticed that things were changing. People left, others came in, & I made friends with a few of these guys too. 

But things in the place were pretty glum. It really wasn't a nice place to work for the last few years I was there. After my long service in 2008, I was going to think about looking elsewhere myself. But for one reason or another, it wasn't really until after my 2nd o/s trip in early 2011 where I finally resolved to move on. By now there were only a few people who i really close with left. Most had moved on. OK, we didn't get to catch up very often any more. They were leading their own lives, I realised that. New work friends, new challenges, etc.

But when the time finally arrived for me to move on, I was sure I could count on my old friends from work to turn up for a send off for me. I attended every single one of theirs. I even gave up movies I'd booked to go & see to make it one farewell. I was just planning on going for drinks & maybe a bite to eat a the Pub at Crown for my send off - a friendly, down to earth place centrally located, a place we'd had several farewells before. I put the word out through Facebook several times, to give my old friends(?) plenty of notice. Was hoping for a good turnout from current colleagues too. Although I wasn't hugely close to many that were still there, I had worked with many for years & years, & got along well with them. There were still a few people down n the distro centre who were probably more saddened to see me leave than some in the office, who said they'd try & come along. Thought I could count of some of them popping down, even if it was just for a quick drink. It was Friday night, I know people may have had other stuff to move onto, even if I gave 2 or 3 weeks notice. For me, it was an occasion to look back on good times/bad times & share a good night with people who had meant a lot to me over the years. Maybe even 1 or 2 of the bosses might stick their head in, it had been customary in the past, though not in more recent times.

All in all, I had been with the company for just over 14 years. I'd worked with maybe hundreds of people over the course of those 14 years?

Three people turned up.

Three.

Yes, I said 3 people could bother to come down & say goodbye. In the off chance you're reading this Darren, Justin & Brendan, thanks - appreciated it. Also thanks Rob who contacted me the following week apologising for not being able to make it.  

The rest of you - well, thanks goes to you guys too I guess. Thanks for waking me up to the fact that people you work with really aren't there for you when it counts. Thanks for clarifying the line between proper friends & people who you work with. Maybe that was my fault for blurring that line. Thanks to those people who have never bothered to even see how I'm going in the new job or how I'm going in general. 

To say that night was the biggest kick in the guts just about ever would be an understatement. I still have a couple of people from the Dimmeys era I still call friends - my closest female friend, for instance, had moved back to Turkey a few years prior. (She just arrived back in the country last Thursday - can't wait to catch up with her!) & maybe 1 or 2 others, but essentially I've learned my lesson. When push comes to shove, when shit gets you down, when you really need someone to call on - make it a true friend you know inside out, not a person you work with who many seem like someone you can trust on the surface.

It was a tough lesson to learn, & its sadly had some affect in my new job I have to say. I'm a lot more reluctant to open up to others I work with, despite the new workplace being a lot better than Dimmeys was., & the people I work with being very nice people in general. Only the 3 or 4 guys I work alongside in accounts at the new job have I really opened to. Even then, its hard at times, & I often keep quiet even if its something like footy being discussed round the water cooler. 

I don't know, maybe I'm being harsh & unreasonable. Maybe I'm overplaying the effect of one single evening. But on a night which meant a lot me, a lot of so-called "friends" let me down, & have never really explained themselves or bothered to reach out in the year thats since gone by. One or two have, & we've maintained some sort of contact I suppose.  Largely I've moved on from this, though that doesn't mean it still doesn't hurt like hell.

Just to end this post on a positive note - any girls reading this, never fear! Those days of my best mate chatting up the chicks on the street are long gone - he is a happily married man with 2 beautiful daughters nowadays! :)

Viva Las Vegas!

VEGAS!!

So continuing on from talking about Barbados yesterday. Onto Sin City, if only for a 3 day side tour on the way home. I was certainly looking forward to this. And I wasn't disappointed. All the reading up on what the strip in Vegas would be like, all the TV shows, just plain don't do it justice. Wow, it was just jaw dropping! I'm obviously no travel expert, but in my narrow list of places I've been, walking the strip would be on my list of things you simply must do, along with a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. It was just amazing seeing all the huge casinos, ostensibly in the middle of the desert! 

I stayed at the MGM Grand, one of the biggest hotels on the strip. Was just so damn HUGE! I seriously got lost just finding my way through the place so many times it wasn't funny! You had a food court, heaps of restaurants, a huge lion enclosure, heaps of gaming tables & poker machines of course. Was a battle to remember the way to the lifts & the actual rooms themselves! And they were pretty darn cool themselves! Big TV, big windows boasting a great view - from my room only the outlying desert alas, but still an awesome view with the sun going down. Luxury Queen Beds & towels etc.Even a large 24-7 room-service menu for those who may have overdone it! And then there was Wet Republic - a massive pool area for guests only. It was like Wet & Wild for adults!! cocktails, waterfalls, dance beats pumping out over the complex, even a VIP area for big names & rich guests who really wanted to party! Only in Vegas would you walk through the gaming area of a hotel & see people sipping from huge cocktails of Eiffel Tower replicas, wearing a bathing costume!

Now, while in Barbados, i was lucky enough to have had a room to myself. But for this section of the trip, I was happy for the Fanatics to pair me up with another single person doing this side tour of Vegas & share a room. It was only for 3 nights right, & despite my glowing report of said room, its Vegas - not a place you spend a lot of time in your room unless you are too hungover for anything else!! :) Pity was none of the group of friends I'd made in Barbados were doing this section of the holiday - a couple were staying on in the Caribbean for the 1 day cricket games, a couple were heading straight home, & a few were visiting other places in the USA on the way back. So I was paired up with a guy I didn't see much of in the earlier part of the trip, bloke named Todd. Seemed fine, if a bit of a larrikan. But then, we'd just had had 2 1/2 weeks in the paradise of Barbados, so who wouldn't be in a joyous mood? Seemed quite friendly too. Essentially, he had his plans for the few days, & I had mine, so I didn't anticipate it being an issue in any case. I did check in first & put my credit card on the account, but didn't give it much thought  -our pre-paid voucher clearly stated we were 2 singles just sharing a room, & thought they'd set up a separate account for him. That assumption was to cause many issues, & many headaches down the road, which we'll come to.

Anyway, I had am awesome few days. Both day & night, the strip is just amazing, & that's before I even set foot into any of the other casinos! You could easily spend the whole of your stay without  leaving the hotel you're staying at! Of the others I explored, New York-New York & Caesar's Palace we both spectacular! And without a doubt the best buffet meal I've ever eaten in my entire life was at the spice Market buffet at Planet Hollywood - be sure to check that one out if you're heading to Vegas! The neon lights make walking the strip at night just incredible - & much easier weather wise! The view from the top of the Effiel Tower casino was just unbelievable!
The only real drawbacks, were a) the weather- to be expected of course when you are located in the middle of the desert in late June, but still wasn't quite prepared for a dead heat 41-42 degrees for most of the day. You felt it even if you were travelling just a few blocks up the strip. This was tempered a lot by bikini clad ladies selling $1 can of bud on street corners,. Ahh Vegas! :) Also, b) creepy dudes also on street corners, trying to shove girly cards into your hand. They were just relentless, & it got very annoying after a few times. Yes, I was a single guy in Vegas, but I'd done my research, & stayed away from that seedier side of Vegas! Settled for seeing a few of the famous Vegas shows at night, including Mamma Mia for the 2nd time. As a big ABBA fan, it was great to see again! Gambled only a bit cause there was that much to see & do, so didn't lose too much $$.
So all in all, a wonderful few days in Sin City, even despite the idiot taxi driver dropping me off at the wrong terminal at the airport when I was heading home! Alls well that ended well, & a few days later I was safely back home in Melbourne, only it was a damn site cooler than Vegas! :)

Was It an Accident or Not??

The real drama began a couple of days after getting home ironically. I logged on to check out my bank account or pay a bill. Only to find a charge of $1700 on my credit card from the MGM Grand! WTF?? Our accommodation had been pre-paid, & seeing I hadn't made any purchases or charged anything back to my room while in Vegas, I assumed there had just been a mix up. After a few emails back & forth from the MGM, I finally got a copy of the related bill.  Only to find my roommate had decided to stay on an extra 5 nights, make international phone calls, dine out at the top line restaurants in the hotel, & consume a heap of top shelf drinks... & charge it all back to the room.... which ended up on my credit card. Because i hadn't made any purchases, & owed nothing, I used an express check out form,, which just involved filling out a small form left in your room, & you depositing this with your electronic room key in a box near the lifts. All done, & you're on your way. But the hotel only had the 1 credit card registered to the room, despite my earlier assumptions. So even after I'd checked out, my credit card had still been registered to the room due to my roommate staying on an extra few days.And it was during this period, after I'd already checked out, that all the charges started racking up on the account. Very suspicious.
So started a very frustrating period which I was calling & emailing first the MGM Grand hotel to explain the situation to them. All they could do was give me a form  to give my roommate to fill in so they could charge him instead. But of course, I didn't exchange any contact info with him! We only talked a few times, it tuned out like I said - he did his stuff, I did mine. So then I tuned to the travel company to try & sort this out with. As expected, they couldn't give me any of his details due to privacy laws, so they attempted to send it on to him, with little success from what I gathered. Meanwhile, the bank were stacking on interest for that $1700 which I sure as hell wasn't paying!! Nightmare stuff!
I finally ended up having to ring my bank, go through recorded messages & lower down people till I finally got put through to a manager, & was able to explain the situation. The amount was put on hold & my card cancelled, a new one issued, while they "investigated" the matter. I was pretty confident I wouldn't have to pay it - if it came to it, surely it wouldn't be hard to prove exactly when I flew out of Vegas & back home to Melbourne!! And at long last, just before Xmas time, the situation was indeed found in my favour, & I didn't have to pay the $1700.Phew!!
 But boy was that a frustrating 4 or 5 months :( I guess the question of whether this dude deliberately set out to take a ride on the high life knowing his credit card wasn't on file & wouldn't be paying, or whether it was just an honest mistake, I'll never know for sure. I often think one way, then look back & think surely it couldn't have been a mistake - too many coincidences  Yes, it was also at least partially my own fault too for making assumptions, & being a little niave about that whole process.
Ah well, one of those things I'll always wonder about I guess. In the end, it didn't detract from amazing first up overseas holiday, & warned me to be more vigilant in the future when sharing rooms with people I didn't know! The next time I visited Vegas (another post in the making) I sure as hell insisted on checking out in person!! :)

Barbados

BARBADOS

I'd never really had the opportunity to travel overseas when i was younger. In hindsight, I wish I had. You really realise what a big wise world there is out there. Still, our great county - our island home, Australia has plenty to see & do. And after finally getting over to Perth in Western Australia in August 2007 for a weeks holiday, & getting to see the mighty Cats give Freo a thrashing at Subiaco (first footy reference - score!) I could now say I'd been to every state & territory in our great land! Not too bad! Just Darwin to conquer in terms of capital cities too - only been as far as Alice Springs on my 2 trips to the great north!

But as the end of 2007 approached, an opportunity properly presented itself for the 1st time. I had Long Service Leave available after clocking up 10 years at the company I worked for. And seeing what I'd put up with through some of those years (that's another post - would be a length & ranty one too), I wanted to do something special with my time off. I had a bit money in the bank, too. So i hankered at getting away & seeing a bit of the world. As none of my friends were really in a position for a trip of that sort, I guess I was from early on looking at guided holiday of some sort, so i wouldn't totally be on my own & get horribly lost or anything!

I looked quite closely at a number of Contiki tours through the USA. Though i was close to the edge of the age limit that they did tours for. And I just couldn't quite find one that fit into my tastes & budget. Then some adds appeared over the summer during the TV cricket coverage , advertising trips to the West Indies where Australia would be touring in June-July 2008. It suddenly occurred to me - what about a cricket tour to the Caribbean?? Wouldn't that for a way to do your first overseas holiday? In a place well known for their love of beer, rum, relaxed lifestyle, and of course, cricket!
It certainly wasn't cheap, but sometimes you just have to say, What The Hell! Your 1st overseas trip is generally a pretty momentous occasion, & who knew when the next opportunity would present itself? So a few months later, it was all booked, & my long service leave was lodged. Had a bit of drama before I left when the tour company I booked through didn't get minimum numbers, so I was teamed up with another group - The Fanatics! Interesting!
To say I was nervous on the date of my flight was an understatement! Had never left the country before, now here I was flying halfway across the world by myself! After going over things like safety, security, local currency, overseas phone use, etc it was finally happening!

Without going through every facet of my trip, & writing a novel, I'll just sum up my trip. If you really  want it simply - BEST HOLIDAY EVER :)
The flights were fine, despite me panicking about US customs. Its certainly a long way, hey! I went via the US, so my 1st stopover was LA. Only an hour or 2 before off to Miami. That was all a bit of blur, though it was nice to see Dr Pepper on the menu! Love that stuff! So a slight delay on the way to Miami, & a got mini lost at the airport, but finally it sorted itself out, & i had a great 2 day stopover there. Amazing beaches - was like something out of a Baywatch movie. Just minus the people, seeing it was a Monday!!
Then it was onto Barbados. You knew there were plenty of fellow Aussies on the flight over, cause they quickly ran out of cans of beer on the flight. David Boon look out? :)  Barbados was both impressive & a little sad, a really interesting place. Theres not much in-between there. Either its a well designed airport, lovely beaches/parks/ovals, nice city, or a poor countryside. But then, as we quickly learned, that's the way the locals like it.
I met up fine with our tour host & fellow cricket fans, & before we knew it, we were bused out to the Barbados Beach Club. Now my greatest worry about an overseas trip by myself was feeling out of place, & not fitting in. This is where the Caribbean trip won itself over though - having a group of fellow Aussie cricket fans made it pretty easy to slot in, & make friends - which is not my strongest suit. But by 2 weeks later, I'd made a great group of friends!

From night 1, which was a welcome party at an outdoor bar/pub on the edge of the main city, Bridgewater, where we all enjoyed free drinks (ahh rum punch, good memories) & a local BBQ & got to meet up with none other than the big bird himself - Joel Garner - through a good, entertaining Test Match which the Aussies won on Day 5, though a 20-20 game marred by rain, a boat & bus tour through Barbados & plenty of extra-curricular activities in the evening, i knew this was the best damn holiday ever. I mean, how many people can say they've hung out with Desy Haynes at his own rum-shack, downing rum & cokes while discussing the state of West Indies cricket?? :)
It is such a relaxed lifestyle over there. You really have to experience it yourself to get a proper feel for it! We were also made to fit in really well - all the locals were really friendly on learning we were Aussies. Just be careful on the road - basically when it comes to driving, there are no rules! Literally, our hotel was only a normal 15 min drive to the cricket ground, but on the weekdays, it was nearly an hour to get there. Barbados has peak hour traffic nightmares, who've thunk?
Kenningston Oval was the venue for the Test & the 20-20 match between Australia & the West Indies. Was a nice looking ground. We were in the party Stand - which was basically a beach area with deck chairs & umbrellas - like a scene outa a fancy beach, expect the ocean was the cricket oval, obviously. Best thing was free drinks all day!! We had a voucher for morning tea, lunch & afternoon tea, but open bar all day!! Whoo-hoo!!  To day some of the guys on the trip were totally wasted by the end of the days play was an understatement!
In the evening, we had optional nights out at local bars/clubs. I stayed in a few nights, but went out a few as well - I was there to enjoy myself, plus plenty of the other guys in the Fanatics group were heading out, so it was good to go in a group. Also, that was the other great thing about Barbados - everything was so cheap! Highlight was on the Saturday night after the Test had concluded if I'm remembering right. lace was called McBrides, I think. Sort of a pub that turned into a big part indoor part outdoor club later on in the evening. They had a drink special for us Fanatics - 2 for 1 drinks all night. And seriously, a rum & coke would work out to round $A3. And their beer - Banks beer, which sadly isn't available anywhere here in Australia, was bloody beautiful & cheap! But on this night, they had a theme... 80s music. Now you might have worked out by now, I'm an 80's music nut. and buoyed by cheap & free drinks, I (apparently) danced like crazy & put the rest of the tour group to shame! The rest of the guys I went with couldn't drag my off the main stage, & i was there till closing. :) That also sealed my nickname for the rest of the tour, especially as there was already 2 other Matthews in the group of friends I made. Yep, I was "Disco" for the rest of the tour, hehehe.
I could go on & on. Meeting a legend in D.Haynes & kicking back at his own little rum shack (very popular over there) was a surreal experience. But then, the whole trip was in hindsight. Just an amazing experience. Was rather sad that i had to have an early one the following Saturday at McBrides as my flight out was early the next morning.

The trip wasn't over - I included a day 3 side tour of the world famous Las Vegas as well! That was amazing & quite eventful in the end so I'll save that for another post. But for my 1st overseas holiday, it was damn amazing! It will be hard to top, & made some good friends out of it too. . Alas they all live in NSW & QLD, but thanks to facebook we've kept in touch! A few stayed on in the Caribbean to go to some of the 1 day games, lucky buggers. Also a shout out to our host, Phil VB, as we soon came to know him - a funny guy who often drank more & got into more trouble in the small hours of the morning than his tour group did!

So in summary, this was one occasion where the holiday was worth every cent, plus some. So glad i went with my heart on this one -Barbados was an amazing place, & had such an incredible time. Even a few of the females who did the tour & weren't big cricket fans had a great time. It would have been hard to have a bad time!! :)

Trivia & related

Ooh here we go, post no. 2, and just 2 days after the first - things are looking promising, haha.Starting this post with a random fact that just came to me after looking through some photos on facebook of a friend who is a teacher. It suddenly came to me that today marks exactly 20 years since our year levels Valedictory Dinner, & last official day as a Year 12 student!  Holy Crap!! Just insane how quickly time flies, hard to fathom where the last 20 years have gone.

TRIVIA

So going back to a point I touched on in post 1 - the trivia night. Now I'm just an average Joe in most respects, & trivia well & truly falls into this class. OK, if the topic is pro-wrestling, AFL Footy or 80's music related, I'm a good shot, otherwise my general knowledge isn't that super. My brother is the brains of the family - he is seriously good. I firmly believe that he is TV Quiz Show capable if any still existed today. He also has quite a few very intelligent friends, as was demonstrated Tuesday night.
But going back a step, to tell the tale from the beginning. A few friends of mine first invited me along to a regular trivia night they had started attending a few months earlier back in August 2006. Irish Murphy's just on the Geelong CBD fringe was the venue.Now for me, it was always about enjoying the night & having a bit of fun while still racking the brain for all its worth. But not trying to take everything ultra serious - its a pub trivia night out with mates, not a carryover Sale Of The Century champ gunning for the entire showcase! A couple of my friends, who were the unofficial leaders (maybe captains is a better word?) were also quite smart guys & did take things a bit on the serious side for my liking. But then they were mates, & it was a good chance to catch up on footy & music goss, plus whatever was happening in the world in general. Being a Wednesday night, it was a good way to break up the week, & Murphy's ran pretty cheap pub meals, so all in all, a good night out. Especially when you added in the fact that largely due to the 2 or 3 real brains on our table, we won plenty of times! 1st Prize was a $50 Irish Murphy's voucher, & 2nd Prize was a $25 voucher. So that meant once every now & then, our meals & drinks were covered by the vouchers we won. 
As time went on, our team changed a bit - people came & went. It was always a good release for me, so even if I felt I wasn't contributing that much (though I did get good on quickly identifying song titles - similar to SongPop which everyone plays on their phones now) I regularly stuck with going along. also, it was a good chance to meet others - there were a few other regular teams, plus new members of our group - friends of friends who were invited along if we were running short on numbers.
So round mid 2008, a few of our regulars & captains had started losing a bit of interest, & we started not going that often, concluding with finishing up entirely round end of May. Around this time, I was taking Long Service Leave from work & heading on my first ever overseas holiday (now THERES an excellent idea for post 3 - my big trip) to Barbados. I tried to rally the troops for 1 last trivia night before I headed off, as sort of a farewell, but it wasn't to be. Everyone was busy, etc. So i thought that was that.
As can happen, I've now become really good mates with the friends of friends who started coming along to trivia in the latter stages, & lost touch to some extent with my initial friends who I started out doing trivia with. So it was round start of 2009 when at a friends birthday party, I caught up up with said new mates & at a surprise birthday for a mutual friend, & we decided what the hell - we'll give Irish Murphy's another crack. But this time, minus our initial unofficial captains & brains of the original group. I really rated this 5 month period as my favourite time doing trivia. Sure, we went from winning quite regularly to finishing mid-table - towards the bottom, as the rest of my new(er) friends were around my level of knowledge. But it was just great to have a few laughs, discover who knew what about what subject, & catch up on some goss with our position in the trivia ranks for the evening not that particularly important - something that certainly wasn't the case only a year or 2 earlier.
Then came D-Day - or D-night in this case. Mark Wednesday, May 27th 2009 down in your memories folks. Was the night the shit hit the fan. A new trivia host named Elvis (insert pun here) had taken over 4 or 5 weeks ago. He was rather loud & abnoxious, but pretty harmless. Or so we thought. On this night, one of our friends was showing us her brand new fancy I-Phone (remember this is mid 2009) & all its features. So Elvis on the hint of a bit of a snide remark from one team sitting near us, decides to call us out as cheating! Right in front of everyone! Without even speaking to us or checking anything out first!  If he'd bothered to consult the score, he'd found we were currently sitting second-last at the time!! Yeah, we were so cheating!! 
That was the final straw for him in most of my teammates eyes. We walked out at the end of that round, & didn't bother going back, we were THAT insulted. Apologies came quickly upon a phone call or two to the venue in the following days, with promises to speak to Elvis & tell him to pull his head in, but in my teammates eyes, the damage had been done. Maybe we would go back someday, but for now, we were done. I did look for other trivia nights in Geelong, but the thing was several of my friends were very early to-bed, early risers in the morning people. It was impossible to find anywhere that finished their evening before 10pm, which was just getting too late.
I'm glad to say I have kept in touch with this group of friends. Instead of trivia, we caught up for dinner at a pub/cafe/restaurant in Geelong. Initially every week, but then fortnightly, & now we're back to monthly/semi-monthly as other matters in life present themselves - a couple of my friends now live in Bannockburn, & another couple in Inverleigh (for those not familar with the Geelong area, they are both a good 20-25 min drive out of Geelong CBD).
Yes, we did eventually return to Irish Murphys at the start of last year for 3 or 4 weeks. Elvis was still there, & was OK. If he recognised us, he didn't say it, & we didn't venture anything. We enjoyed it reasonably, but I guess those trivia nights had just passed us by. As I mentioned before, it was hard to for everyone to commit every week now with everyone living all across the place, & other life matters!
We still catch up for dinner as a group of friends - in fact we're off to Pizzaland on Malop St next Wednesday. And seeing that Irish Murphy's has just recently been given a big face lift, & has been re-branded a bit, it might be worth going along on a Wednesday if they still do a trivia night. Who knows? I doubt we'd ever go back to an every week regular night, but maybe once a month or something is do-able. We'll see what 2013 brings in that regard I guess.

Just to finish, I have done the occasional trivia night with my brother & his friends - many who i know quite well & get along well with. They live out in Thomastown, & do trivia nights at pubs that are a fair bit of my way, plus I get the feeling I may be just a touch in the way - don't quite fit into their group sorta thing. But I stumbled across a new trivia night launch at the Mail Exchange this past Tuesday,& I headed in to meet up with my bro & a few others to try it out. Again, I felt a bit like a 5th wheel - the only questions I knew they had already locked in, but whatever. for one night, it was OK.Plus I hadn't caught up with several of my brothers friends, & his partner, for quite some time.
QuizzaMe has potential actually - instead of pens& papers, it uses a buzzer system, a bit like a Nintendo/Playstation control pad, with letters A-E on it, & you just press the relevant button, & with questions displayed on several TVs in the area used for the session. Our gripe was (& maybe we just weren't in the spirit of the night) having to do things like karaoke & clown around a fair bit to earn bonus points. Our team we about the only not really doing this, instead just focusing on the questions - but not being openly rude or ignorant - at least I think we weren't! So we were pretty unpopular by the conclusion of the night, but as I mentioned at the top - my bro & friends are seriously smart, so we won a $150 bar tab! So there could be a session or 2 at the Mail Exchange very soon! :)

Wow, I have written a hell of a lot. sorry on the off-chance anyone reads right through this post. Hope to keep my future blog posts shorter! I'm off to Warrnambool for the weekend, should be fun & relaxing. Especially with 32 degrees forecast. Will be a bit cooler than that down the coast, but still should be good swimming weather. Have a great weekend all!  Matt out!

Intro & 1st Post!

Allright, here we go! Dunno how this will turn out, & how often I'll write, but time (& you guys) will tell! I've been told I can write allright at times - looking back at some of the stuff I posted on myspace (god that seems so much longer than just 5 years ago since myspace was really something) some of it seemed to flow OK, so lets see how this goes:

A little about me in case you stumble across this randomly, & aren't a twitter pal or facebook friend. My name is Matt, I'm a 30-something Aussie single guy from good old Geelong, 2nd biggest city in the state of Victoria. I'm a big sports nut, especially a fan of the best game in the world, FOOTY (Aussie Rules). Born & bred Cats (Geelong) fan, & if i make it that far on here to the start of next season, expect plenty of footy posts! :) I'm also an 80's music junkie (got awesome radio 80's playing in the background while I write this) & a keen book reader. Fav TV shows are Red Dwarf, The Amazing Race... and past that, I genuinely struggle (outside of sport shows of course). I hate most reality/lifestyle & crime shows. Thank god for DVD's!  Though I live in Lara, an outer suburb of Geelong, I've worked in Melbourne for many, many years, & often spend just as much time up in the big smoke as I do in G-town! While I'm largely happily single (hoping someone will come along one day), & enjoy the freedom on the weekends of not having kids, I am a very proud uncle. My niece is 9 (going on 14) & my nephew is 6. Amazing how quickly they grow up!!

Anyway, enough background for now. Onto this proper: I don't have any real direction for this to go - just as my title says, my musings on whatever is in my mind at the time. Hopefully plenty of news/current affairs & whats going on in my life as well as sport will make it on here!

                                                         WWE

OK, ok lets put this on the table early: I'm a big pro-wrestling fan... or was at least. (It's not that watchable right now). Yes, I know how it works, & yes it is a silly thing to watch in a lot of people's eyes. But I've been following ever since the Hulk Hogan/Rock 'n Wrestling era when it was a big deal even here in Australia in the mid 80's, & its always held me somehow. My brother & a childhood friend of his were initally big fans, & drew me in somehow. As it turned out, they grew out of it, & I stuck with it, to sum it up in a nutshell. There's been times where I've nearly given it away altogether, & times where I must watch it every week. We're much more in the former category right now.
So 2012 has been a pretty darn ordinary year for WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment, the clear No. 1 wrestling company in the USA/world). I really have barely watched it at all since early September, when footy finals meant the start of a very busy month or 2, & haven't been inspired to tune back in. Finally caught most of Raw tonight. Have to say theres really little there to inspire me apart from CM Punk right now. Like the big deal they are making of his title reign right now. 1 full calendar year without a WWE title change is as rare as hens teeth in the modern age!
  At least they are putting some effort back into the Tag Team Division, but the mid-lower card is just covered with guys going no-where. Its just hard to see where the next star is going to come from.  On the bright side, we have an Aussie girl going well in the WWE! She is currently working for NXT, which is the WWE's developmental division (like the VFL here in footy terms I guess). but at the rate of firings in the "divas" division on the main roster, its not unlikely we'll see her on national TV soon! Good luck, Tenille Tayla! They've given her the ring name of "Emma" to work under at WWE, not that inspiring, but anyway.
I haven't bought a PPV (Pay-per-view) for yonks, but with the great one (The Rock) returning in January for the Royal Rumble, if they book Punk-Rock for the WWE title, I'm sold! Being on the Australia Day long weekend in 2013, I'll be able to catch it live, very helpful - especially in the modern world where you can easily find out results accidentally through twitter/facebook, etc.

                                                     CLICK FRENZY

So anyway, onto something topical before I drive away any potential readers before I even get going! So all the talk has been about this new online shopping spectacular, click frenzy, offering for 24 hours 7pm Tuesday Nov 20th to Wednesday Nov 21st online big bargains from major retailers. (Fun Fact: company I work for was one them). I admit I was certainly planning to check it out - while not a huge online shopper, I'm slowly beginning to see what its so big, & why so many of my twitter friends are always carrying on about these online sites. And really the only reason I don't shop online more often is I'm not the most organised guy - I tend to leave things like gifts to the last minute - which doesn't allow time for shipping. Plus I'm not a big fan of brands - always price over a fancy name for me. I'll duck into K-Mart & buy a $30 pair of Jeans no problem over some fancy brand, even if they are 50% off, they're still way too much!
But by coincidence last night, on the same night as the launch of Click Frenzy, I had my first trivia night in ages when along with my brother & friends, we tried out the new trivia night at the Mail Exchange Hotel in the Melb CBD - QuizzaMe trivia. I could easily do a whole post on my history of trivia nights & incorporating last night - in fact that may make a good 2nd blog post - remind me will you? :)
So I was just flicking through twitter during the breaks between rounds & laughing at all the posts about how click frenzy was more like a click fail. Maybe it was a good thing we had this trivia thing on instead? But then it always struck me the online sale was for a whole 24 hours. What was the huge rush to jump on at 7pm when it launched anyway?
So i got home round 10.30pm last night, & it was nearly 11 by the time I logged onto my Mac to check a few things, & to see if maybe Click Frenzy had got its act together. Nope, server busy. So i checked my emails/facebook etc, & then thought I'd try C.F one more time. Whoa! Straight in, no problems!! We're up & running! i proceeded to find quite a lot of good value bargains, & though it was well & truly the wrong side of midnight by the time I climbed into bed, by then I'd knocked over probably 60% of my Xmas shopping in one (online) hit! So, for me at least, Click Frenzy was (eventually) a big success! Considering how I'm usually very dis-organised, to know I've only got a couple of more presents to buy for & I'm done, is very satisfying. Didn't break the bank, either! Sure, there were a few dodgy deals, where you really weren't saving much at all, & sites that sneakily stated in small print down the bottom you had to spend $100 to get the big allure of free shipping, but all-in-all, I'm very satisfied. Sure, I'm dead tired now, as was up at 7am & off to work as normal, so will likely hit the hay soon as I finish this, but its worth it when i think of the ques at the shopping centres, & at the carparks
that I'll avoid in the coming weeks. Don't get me wrong, I love Xmas, but it can drive you round the twist if you're not organised!! And yes, I may have spent a bit on a few cheap DVD's for myself. So sue me!! :)