It's Pokie Time

Firstly, I would just like to note that I was very disappointed to discover that the pokie machines at the Papanui clubrooms were removed while I was away in America :(

After Catherine and James' wedding last Saturday, Lisa and I headed out to the Christchurch Casino. Seeing as we were already dressed appropriately, we thought it was the perfect time to play some pokies. I was surprised at how busy the pokie area was at 1 am. Based on how serious some of the people looked they obviously don't regard pokies as a form of entertainment like I do.

I look for three things when choosing a pokie machine:

1. 1c or 2c machine - anything else is too expensive for my cheap ass
2. Free spins - if it doesn't have free spins it is no fun
3. Cool pictures and noises
   

There must be something smart about my thinking because even The Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand recommends a gambling strategy that looks pretty similar:

"If you want to play for a while, then stick to the 1¢
machines. Play as low bets as you can and make sure
you understand the rules. If possible play a machine with
free spins to extend your playing time. Your chances of
winning are the same if you only bet 1 credit as if you had
played 100."

Based on this (and of course the fact that I actually won free spins on this machine), my favourite machine at Christchurch Casino is Red Baron.

Some lady sitting beside me at one of the machines won $1300 - yay for her. Lisa won $30 - bitch! I lost the massive sum of $25 - oh well. We probably stayed there for about an hour and a half so I guess it was basically the same as paying to watch a movie, except I got to push buttons and walk about as well. It was fun and pokies rock. I hope they never get banned.

Catherine and James' Wedding

Saturday was wedding day. I was very organised and bought a dress and shoes and few weeks ago. I even volunteered to be the sober driver (If you don't drink then drive, you are bloody good mate!) and checked the route to everyone's houses and the church using Google Maps. I left about 1:30 pm to pick up Lisa, Dalin, Adele and Jane.

The wedding was at Cashmere Presbyterian Church on Dyers Pass Road. It was a scorching hot day so it must have been hard for all the guys in black suits. The highlights from the ceremony were hearing Catherine and Amy (maid of honour) laugh loudly as they arrived at the church, the priest having a sense of humour, and the fact that Catherine and James' dogs were allowed in the church. The ceremony was lovely and the bride and groom looked great.

After the wedding we had to hang around for a bit while the (ruthlessly efficient) photographer took group photos outside the church. We were part of the Burnside High School people. My feet started hurting after only a few minutes of standing... I hate heels! The Otago Medical School group was massive. I have never seen so many doctors, dentists, physios and pharmacists my age in the same place at once. I would have been well looked after if I had fallen over or anything.

By the time we left the church we had a list of things to do before going to the reception: get deodorant and hollywood tape for Amy (her dress was having difficulty staying up), get jandals for Jane (her shoes were awesome but very inappropriate for prolonged standing or walking), and get new batteries for Adele's camera. We also took a detour to Ancestral get bubble tea. Taro bubble tea is much yummier than it sounds.

The reception was at Mudhouse Winery, which was a great choice. It was going to be somewhere else but the other place went into receivership a couple of months ago... that must have been stressful! We started in an outside garden area with drinks and horsdeourves before heading inside for a sit down meal. After the meal, there was a band and dance floor in the courtyard area. Everything was totally awesome and it was a lovely evening.

No one usually remembers the food at weddings, but in case you were wondering, it was delicious. I had pumpkin ravioli with parmesan cream sauce for entree, baked salmon and vegetables for main, and lemon tart for dessert. The wedding cake was chocolate mud cake and carrot cake. I only tried the mud cake and it was to die for.

CONGRATULATIONS CATHERINE AND JAMES :)

Blue

The colour of the week is... BLUE. Not blue as in "I'm feeling blue" but blue as in "Yay National won." It's taken 9 years of Labour Government but I'm hoping it was worth the wait. John Key is the new Prime Minister and he is going to govern with the help of his friends, ACT and United Future (aka Peter Dunne). Helen Clarke has gone bye-bye along with Michael Cullen, and Winston Peters has disappeared into the political ether. Change has finally arrived. I stole the awesome picture below from James Christmas.

I told Mum that she should make cupcakes for morning tea with the correct proportions of blue and red cupcakes. Apparently that would not be appropriate. It probably also wouldn't be appropriate for her to paint her office blue to reflect the official results. The nice little bar graph below shows the official results.

Our new leader isn't the only thing with balls... the MX5 has finally made it through puberty. Mum is so proud. Check out the photos.

Crap Weather

When I woke up this morning it was freezing cold. So much for summer weather. And then to make things worse, it started raining right before I left for work. Last time this happened I caught the bus and then the rain stopped almost as soon as I boarded the bus. This time I thought I would be smart and walk with the umbrella. It didn't stop raining and I was too cheap to get on the bus halfway to work; that would have been a waste of $2!!!

My problem is that the little dark clouds on the weather map are not ominous enough to warn me that I shouldn't walk to work. I propose a proper "Crap Weather Warning Icon" such as this...

Don't Drink and Vote

Did you know that there is an official political party called The Bill and Ben Party? I didn't until they showed up in the official election correspondence I recieved in the mail a few days ago. The party consists of Jamie “Bill” Linehan and Ben “Ben” Boyce, the two guys on Pulp Sport. They have a shit show in hell of getting into Parliament but they did produce this hilarious poster.

I know that it is impossible to read the text but Blogger was being retarded and wouldn't let me upload a bigger better picture. You can check out the original on their Facebook page. Me and my friends played a drinking game last election and it was a complete disaster... maybe it was a bad idea to choose either National or Labour and then drink every time they win an electorate. All I can say is "Don't drink and vote: be a sober voter" and "If you vote then drink, you're a bloody good mate."

Speaking of funny election stuff, this really cracked me up.

GO NATIONAL!!!! GO JOHN KEY!!!

The Culverden Fete

Last week I only worked 3 days... woohoo. On Monday it was Labour Day and on Thursday me and Mum went to the Culverden Fete. We were very organised and booked a bus ride, tickets and a picnic lunch in advance. It took a while to drive all the way out to the the middle of nowhere (aka a farm near Culverden) but it was well worth it.

The first thing we did was browse some of the stalls. There were so many people there that the ones close to the entrance were jam-packed. It was great because alot of the products were very high quality but would be very difficult to find in shops (not like the crap people sell out of their boots at the Market). Our first purchase was a couple of "Wash Me, Wear Me" bags; they are lined two-compartment bags with one side for dirty undies and one side for clean undies... great for travellers. I also found my Christmas present. I wont giveaway exactly what it is, but as a clue, it comes from a cow. Most of the other things we bought were food products (mustards, chocolates etc.). The top two things we wanted to buy but didn't were metal framed mirrors with paua decorations and bright corrugated indoor/outdoor artworks... maybe next year.

For lunch we had vegetarian picnic platters from Jo Seagar. Each box was filled with an assortment of goodies including feta-stuffed peppers, quiche, sandwiches, salad, slices, fudge, a cupcake and fruit. Everything was yummy although our butts did get kinda wet from sitting on the grass.

We also watched a cooking demonstration by Jo Seagar. She was an absolute hoot and prepared some interesting Christmas treats. We even got to try a couple of samples. She spent quite a bit of time describing some of the useful kitchen gadgets she sells at her kitchen shop. Luckily Mum owns most of them already.

We had a lovely, relaxing day and hopefully I will be able to return again next year.