What I done did on my birthday.

1. Woke up. Drank coffee.

2. Schlepped a heapin' helpin' of parcels (like two huge bags full) to the post office to send off to eBay folks.

3. Sat on the sidewalk outside a cafe stealing their free Wifi and twittering.

4. Meeting not one but TWO people from my team on the street, one of which tried to ask me a "quick question" about work. LALALALALA it's my day off! Ask me Monday!

5. Went off to Harris Farm at Broadway to get supplies for Sunday dinner. Contemplated getting fancy rum at Vintage Cellars.

6. Realised that despite a huge revamp and renovation, Broadway Harris Farm is still (despite wider aisles) full of choke points where people pile up and have to wait.

7. Realised that Swiss Brown mushroomns are expensive. Like 3.99 for 200 grams. Tanja's list said 600 grams, but I thought she must not have meant THOSE mushrooms and got regular ones instead (hint: she did want THOSE mushrooms).

8. Stopped in a Vintage cellars on the way back to get my fancy rum (after having, like a wuss, discussed it with Tanja, who said it was okay). Then noticed that the Monty Python's Holy GrAil (tempered over the fires of burning witches), which usually costs between 7 and 10 dollars per 500 mL bottle, was on sale for $2.50 per bottle. So I grab 6 of those and bring them to the counter, along with a $50 Origine Caribbean rum (I told Tanja how much that was later and she went "Oh, I thought you were going to get on of those 80 or 90 dollar ones." Argh!). The guy behind the counter looks at them and says "Listen, mate. I'll tell you what: if you take the lot, I'll give them to you for $1 per bottle." Me: "How many are there?" Him: "Well, two more in that cooler, and then another 9 over there." "So 17." "Yeah. Do you want them?"

9. I make a rash decision.

10. I struggle out of the shop, holding a box with 8.5 litres of beer, plus the two shopping bags. After 5 steps try to flag a cab. No good, all full. I spot one empty, who makes an incredibly expressive gesture that I should go further down the block. I struggle down, take too long, and he leaves. So I call a taxi. And wait. And wait. It's stinking hot. I have no hat, no sunglasses, and dairy products in the bags. It's stressful. I eventually grab a bus that gets me closer to home, and struggle to the house, having to stop twice to rest.

11. Once inside, a realisation occurs: the beer was in the fridge at the shop. I was only able to fit 9 in the fridge. Short-term solution? I drink one. Longer-term solution? I call Craig and Adrian. Adrian can't make it, but Craig's conversation went like so:
"Hi Craig. Due to a confluence of circumstances, I've ended up with 17 bottles of Monty Python's Holy GrAil for $1 per bottle and I can only fit 9 in my fridge."
Craig: "I'm on my way." *click*

Gotta love friends that'll take booze off your hands.

12. Cleaned up.

13. Once Tanja got home, headed to Bentley Bar for tasting degustation menu with matched wines. Wonders. Delights. Almond gazpacho with caviar, something-something berries and an oyster. Squid-ink kingfish with seared scallop and coconut custard. Sesame dumplings (which tasted like peanut butter made from vegetables. but in a good way) with mint, sweet pea and other things. Smoked, deboned, then rolled quail with perfumed fruit. Roast duck breast with... okay, I don't remember, because of all the wine, but it was rich and lovely. Their version of lemon-lime-and-bitters (butterscotch toffee, whipped lemonade froth, and lime gelato, which all together, looked shockingly like a fried egg). More things. And stuff.

14. Got up to leave an realised, whoops, all that wine had gone to both our heads. Stumbled into a cab and home. Nearly fell asleep on the couch.

And now I'm 27.

It's been a funny sort of day.

And it's only 11:37.

Woke up, was ready and prepared nice and early, then got a call from my dad, who was trying to burn a CD on his laptop. After ten minutes of me going through it with him, we realised his CDs were defective. We then spent a further 20 minutes gonig through how to remove and add files to his flashdrive. So I went from way early to leaving just barely on time.

The reason I wanted to leave early was that a parcel had arrived at the post office. I had ordered this from eBay:

Dad paid for it. I bought it on the 14th, and they had shipped it from Japan by yesterday. Those Japanese are industrious. At least their postal workers are. So I picked it up. Then I stopped by Better Read Than Dead to look for the third His Dark materials book. See, I bought the first one isn a cool format, then had to buy the second one in a different format. But this time they had the second and third in the good format. So I got those, then took a bus into work.

I was expecting to be on the phones today, so got there nice and early. Turns out I'm on back-of-house instead. Woo hoo! For those out of the loop, that means data entry and order fixing, without having to be on the phone. It's much better.

So then I set up my Prime. It's glorious. It's awesome. It's attracting the attention of every nerd in the room. And it's got a different plug.

FUCK.

It's ok, though, I have an AC/DC adapter at home.

So then I go to buy coffee for me and Adrian from the stand by Central. I order, I wait. Two strong flat whites, two sugars and a caramel shot each. Comes to $7.20. I give him a ten, say "Just make it eight." He look startled. "Are you sure?" I say "Well, yeah." He then goes. "Oh, here. have this too, for the wait." and gives me a piece of raspberry bread. Huh. Goes to show. Always tip your barista.

Even Steven's back, baby.

Optimus Prime Truck is going for 50K on eBay!

You'd be the coolest dad picking up kids from school in this thing.

"The Optimus Prime replica is being auctioned for $50k on eBay's Canada store. The seller has converted a 1994 Peterbilt into Hollywood's version of Prime, complete with blue and red flame paint job, dozens of chrome switches, and a 17-inch entertainment system floating above the bunk in the back. The only thing it lacks is its abilit[...]"

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Busy week continued again...

... And I've discovered eBay, and all the joys and sorrows that come with it.

I started out bidding on Drum kits. And I've managed to get myself outbid on all of them, the three most promising within the last 30 minutes of the auction. I was extremely unimpressed with that. I ranted. I raved. I called them Biblical curse-words. Then I calmed down and bought myself a DVD and a snazzy belt-buckle.
Still want that 7-piece drum set I had nearly gotten for $200. Bastards.

I've been making a bunch of shirts I've been procrastinating on for one of my TAFE guys (although he doesn't have grounds to complain, I'm doing the blasted things for free, and one of them was the hardest bit of cutting I've had to do yet) and one for myself too.

I'm dreading going back to TAFE next week. The real run-up to big assignments starts. Very stressful.