I had a topsy-turvy week personally, but now sadly (probably for the best) that appears to be put to bed, so it’s chin-up and full steam ahead to Sundown on Saturday at Stonyridge, watching Superbowl XLII Monday morning, and finally the highlight, Groove in the Park on Wednesday.

Put out your multi-texts, group emails and S.O.S smoke signals now. Groove in the Park at Western Springs Stadium is a mere 1 week away and will sneak up on you. We all get the day off, thanks to that national treaty of ours, so plan ahead and subsequently prosper at what’s set to be Auckland’s greatest day party of the year.

A diamond amongst the rough last week was the basketball on Thursday. It was one of those evenings where one vodka leads to another, and you end up crooning to old songs you think you know the words to, at 3am in a place with mirrored walls. We didn’t see a heck of a lot of the game due to Russian distractions. The Breakers had a solid win, slicing through the Razorbacks defence with relative ease. This week they play the Wildcats, meow! If you can, get out, support and aid our team into the playoffs for the first time in their history.

So, not at all dressed for it, we rocked on up to El Paradiso, aka The Pony Club, after the victory. Thankfully we were allowed in, probably attributed to the fact that the place was empty. After selecting our booth we snaked it to the dancefloor. My Russian accomplices stole the show with some of the sexiest dancing I’ve ever seen IRL. Not even my Travolta (remixed with a bit of Timberlake) moves could compete, but I guess you have to compare apples with apples. Great to see Pony back to it’s old tricks and I can only assume I’ll end up there again this week.

Long weekends normally religiously imply getting out of town. The offers were there but a couple of events held me back. Aquatica at The Viaduct ran over 4 days. There was a carnival atmosphere, with buskers, parades, stalls, rides, dancing, shows, aerobatics and a jumbo gig Saturday night, “The Legends Of Rock”, featuring Op Shop, The Exponents and Th’ Dudes. All 3 bands were at their all time best (although, like many others, it was the first time I’d seen Th’ Dudes perform), playing their classics that will never go out of flavour and ultimately made them national legends.

All the biggest super-luxury yachts were docked around the stage, displaying a kaleidoscope of people, some looking totally out of their depth on board, but liking the attention. Getting on board proved impossible, my neck lassoed credentials and gift of the gab didn’t cut it. Even my ice trick, that had served me so well at BDO failed to come up with the goods; these well-travelled deck-hands had obviously come across the likes of me before.

Not making it to The Legends after party at Jordan’s in Pt Chev proved a good call. Rising at 7am I began preparations on my own wee garden party, in anticipation of Lindauer’s much larger one at Ellerslie Racecourse afterwards. Long-time friends, down to those I’d never met before, popped in and got primed for the evening ahead. Pulling the pin on a good thing is difficult, but I always say, go while the going’s good, so we did. At 5.30pm 30 of us made the short stroll to the racecourse.

We’d left one good thing and walked straight into another. The Curve Lounge, where the main gathering was, was heaving (as were the various other rooms and marquees around the course that featured guests of differing levels of importance). Most had gone to some effort (some to considerable lengths) and dressed for the occasion, but all were in great spirits and soaking in the stunning atmosphere.

The 3 things that I enjoyed the most were meeting dozens more guide-getters, witnessing people meeting for the first time, have a ball, then sneak off home together, and keeping to my self-made pact of only doing imaginary betting (this saved me $80 overall). The band was good, but it’s definitely time to get some new blood up on that stage (no offence at all to Jordan and his band), but I feel a well schooled DJ may do a better job of keeping the party going.

Living so close to the racecourse meant that I hosted the after party. So at 11 we hoarded back to Canterbury Park Lane and found a bunch waiting on the patio. Unfortunately my flatmate and I had moved the spare key that week and couldn’t find it, so had to seek alternative entry. That achieved we set to work getting into mischief.

What possessed me to suggest I give a round of haircuts I have no idea, but Shane accepted. My hair cutting skills are rather limited, but I did my best. Let’s just say Shane opted to wear a cowboy hat for the remainder of the night. DJing has always been a passion of mine, so when the crowd swelled it was on. Time flew, and the volume obviously increased beyond someone’s bearable threshold, because as at 4.49am I was cut down to size by enforcement officer 3392 from the Auckland Council. He was firm but friendly explaining the next steps if I didn’t comply. I did, and we bopped around the TV to Ministry of Sound DVD’s from then on.