August 2007

It's a wonder I'm not getting fat. This month seemed to be full of dinners.

The first one was with Grant and Kelly in their home in St Peters. It was just the four of us which made for a lovely quiet evening with beautiful food. It just occurred to me how many of our friends are excellent cooks.

"Steamboating"

Then there was the brilliant "steamboat" meal at Paul and Rishi's. Lots and lots of wonderful food that you got to cook yourself at the table. Rishi is actually a vegetarian and it took me a while to realize that for this dinner we were being served with all sorts of yummy meat and seafood treats. It turns out that Rishi had his own little steamboat going on the side so that he could stick to his beliefs while also allowing his guests to indulge in their more carnivorous pleasures.

We also had the opportunity to help celebrate Colin's 70th birthday at a very swish soiree in Strathfield. I wonder if I should be worried if my friends are starting to turn 70?

It was a very lavish affair where everyone hobbed their knobs with all sorts of important sounding people from the University community as well as representatives from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

That was just a flashy way of saying that theer were Uni people ther as well as people who work for the ABC.

We also had a dinner out to celebrate yet another of Ma's 37th birthdays. We think we've celebrated his 37th birthday about 14 times now, but no-one is quite sure. Unfortunately, the evening was overshadowed slightly by the death of Ma's father the previous day. He soldiered on none the less, and assisted by copious quantities of alcohol was able to have a great evening.

Greig and I traveled to Wollongong the following week to show our support at the funeral. It's the least we can do and we always do the least.

My dad being mauled by the gayest breed of dog in the world.
Is this what I have to look forward to?

On the subject of "fathers not in the best of health", my own fathers health seems to be on a bit of a slide. Over the past 12 months all sorts of bits of him seem to be either failing or falling off. Usually it's possible to keep repairing him, but there is no doubting that he is on the decline. To be honest I'd be surprised if he lasts the year.

Because of his failing health, my mother has decided to move the wedding of her adopted daughter, Kim, forward to the October weekend. I have been roped into helping with the arrangements. This mainly means finding a caterer, so it's no biggie.

You'll notice I said, my "mothers adopted daughter", not "my adopted sister". This is because she turned up as a friend of my sisters long after I moved out of home. Apparently she comes from a somewhat dysfunctional family. My mother decided to take her under her wing presumably on the basis that our family was less dysfunctional than hers.

On the entertainment front this month, we went out and saw the Bangarra Dance Company at the Sydney Opera House. Bailey is actually in a production in the Opera Theatre at the moment, so we took the opportunity to catch up with him in the Opera House Green Room before both of our shows started. We also caught up after they finished and polished of a number of bottles of bubbly alcohol.

A small group of us (Pete, Will, Greig and Me) also got along to the ABC Television Studios once again to watch the taping of Sideshow. Always a cheap source of entertainment.