Legend of the TMonkey

Camp, Christmas, Boxing Day, Yesterday and Today (and those random days in between) and Tomorrow

Sorry, this post's kinda long... and hence the procrastination in writing it...


Camp: Best described as... random fun chillout to be done more often. It was pretty sweet cos there were only two caravans and one other tent at the camp as it was just before Xmas, so it was as good as having the place to ourselves. The following past-times were thoroughly enjoyed;

• Bonfire by the River - At a short (haha) 45 minute walk from the camp site, in the middle of the night, we found the 20m wide river. The following night we missioned down again and lit a killer bonfire which we accompanied with marshmallows.
• Bullrush - One of my all time favourites, a good game of tackle bullrush! However, in the midst of spinning out of a tackle (which was done successfully) I thought I pulled a muscle on the lower left side of my ribs, front and back. A week and a half on and my father suspects I in fact have torn the cartilidge between my ribs, it fricken hurts... AND the person tackling me was Morgan, the same 'friend' who black-eyed me with a golf ball, maybe I should review this relationship.
• Camp Games - Were we stoned? No, we were just playing 'The Ha Ha Game,' 'This is a ... A what? A ...,' 'Chicken Feet,' and spinning in circles with brooms, falling over, doing 'flexibility illusions' and hitting hands and tables in the middle of the night... (Some things are just funnier without an explanation).
• Cards - P&A; Snap, a game which came down to an intense adrenalin battle between myself and a friend, of which I came out on top; Speed, of which I'm currently unbeatble; and Torture, which resulted in the usual bruised and mildly injured hands.
• Cricket - Under the Summer sun (which visited us occasionally, on and off) we had a match of each man (or woman) for themselves. I don't think we kept a solid run count, but it was fun to hit the ball around.
• Hide & Seek - A bizarely amusing game of Hide & Seek which we had in the middle of the night (three in the morning) in the 4 x 6m camp kitchen. This involved much kiwi innovation, manouvering tables and fridges and climbing on benches in pitch darkness. We quickly ran out of places to hide.
• Petanque - Me 13: Morgan 2 (or 5 or 7, I can't remember, sorry)
• Soccer - New Year's resolution, get fit! I played striker during the soccer season this year (til I tore a ligament in my ankle), so givin' the ole' ball a boot was fun. The game was casual but competitive and alot of fun.
• Swimming - There was a pool beside the camp, so we went for a dip, it was regretfully freezing and we didn't stay long.
• Tennis - Needing to jump the 3m(?) fence to avoid the insane $10/per hr fee (for a poorly kept facility with pot holes), I decided to give this one a miss, bbut a couple of others were keen and had a few hits.

Christmas: Ham, ham, ham, ham and...umm... ham

Prezzies in the morning, ham and all the complimentary dishes for lunch with my family and my grandparents, quiet day, ham and all the complimentary dishes for dinner with my family and our neighbours/friends/family of my brothers girlfriend. Lot's of pavalova too...

I must've been naughty this year cos' Santa didn't visit me *sniff* it took all I had to hold back the tears. Maybe it was because I didn't leave him milk and cookies, or hay and carrots for his reindeer. I won't forget next year!

My Prezzies... Clothing, jewellery, candy cane, soap, book of over 300 visual illusions, daily Mensa calender for '06, perfume, bags, cell phone thingee, a note paper/envelope/address book set

My Wishlist... Microsoft Creative Zen, Crash cymbal, Splash cymbal, cymbal stands, stick bag.

Maybe I should actually consider cost in next years wishlist...


Boxing Day: Day trip to Wanganui with my dad for the annual Boxing Day Battle of the Streets round the cemetry (motorbike races for those of you who don't know). It was a quality day of sun and I managed to get away with very little sunburn. The sidecars were great, I love 'em, especially the crowd favourite of the day which was an old Triumph sidecar.

Amazement of the day was a rider in the Formula Three category, who only had one arm! Well, he had two, but one just rested on his lap, he had clutch and throttle both on the right hand side and despite his handicap he was just as good as the rest riding in the upper half of the pack in all his races. Dunno who he actually is, but he did a bloody good job.

Highlight of the day... Andrew Stroud


Random Days: Saw King Kong, my favourite scene, which I thought was hilarious, was during the battle of the ape vs. three t-rex's, when Kong wrenched the upper and lower jaw of one of the t-rex's open, ripped the tongue out of it's mouth, then proceeded to dislocate the jaw (eliminating all muscle and tendon joins) and rammed the lower jaw into the back of the dinosaurs head. I thought it was a great movie, a couple of scenes may have lingered a little too long, stifling the momentum, but PJ made up for it by the films overall quality.

I discovered that I can tie knots in cherry stalks with my tongue and also noted that cherries, which I previously disliked, actually taste like plums and so have been steadily consuming them since.

Went to the North City with the olds for a browse at the post-xmas sales, bought a wallet and a couple of CD's - Detention by Grinspoon and Power Ballads: The double CD set by various artists. I also had a shirt which I got for xmas which I wasn't too keen on and thanks to the sales I exchanged it for two shirts and a bag.


Yesterday: I played my drums and piano alternating for hours on end then went to Morgan's in the evening as she moved to Auckland this morning
:-( sure she seems to have a tendency to injure me, but she really is a good mate. So a couple of other mates and myself watched some movies (Napolean Dynamite, House and Straight Hike for the Butch Dyke, a short film made by a Wgtn film student which is a spoof of TV's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) and crashed at Morgan's.


Today: This morning we couldn't keep back a few of our tears as we farewelled our token dreaded friend (and token band member) on the bus. Then I came home and had energy to burn so went on a nuts fitness frenzy, which was quite bizzare since I'm lazy and just don't do fitness stuff, I was pleasantly surprised...

• An hour or two on the piano (great for toning the finger muscles)
• 90 minutes on a bike (which has killed my legs now cos I've only ridden once in the last five years)
• 20 minutes on the drums (good for the arms)
• 15 press ups
• 30 crunches

Don't think I did too bad for a lazy unfit muse. My dad's now asked me if I want to go mountain biking with him, I might stick to my previously stated new year's resolution and take up the offer.

And now, physically exhausted with a throbbing rib (which aches like it's broken, but I can't feel a crack or concave collapse - maybe I should've skipped the crunches, they were pretty killer), I'm writing this insanely long post which is really just me sounding like I'm talking to myself and rambling on reminiscingly (if that's a word) and watching Long Way Round with my mum, which was actually a xmas present for my dad.

Tomorrow: New Year's Eve! And I'm working... I'll meet up with freinds after and do something...

Have a happy new year!

And if you'd like something to make you think over the weekend, have a crack at this one...

'David and his wife went to a dinner party with four other couples. At the beginning of the party some people shook hands. (Obviously, no one shook his or her own hand or spouse's hand, and no one shook hands with the same person twice.) During the party David surveyed all the other people as to how many hands each one shook. He got different answers from everyone. What did his wife say?'

Who Has Time For This?

Check this out for the analysis.

Warning: This blog not recommended for readers with an IQ below 120.

And sorry again for the lengthy blog, I'll make the next few short...

posted by TMonkey @ 12/30/2005 03:26:00 PM