29 sleeps till Xmas day, start that shopping, send those greeting cards and jolly well sort out your NYE celebration agenda. There’s only 1 NYE party for me this year and it’s in Matakana. Join me there for one of the best parties you’ve ever seen in NZ.

Nothing more than praise from me this week, I won’t bore you with stories about how I got drunk with a bevy of babes on a moonlit beach, or did backstage agavero shots with the world’s #1 DJ. I’ll keep it as brief as a porccupine’s hiccup and simply say well done to Nathan King for his storming gig last Wednesday, Kiwi rock Weta for blowing the top off Galatos, my man Shaveer for bring over Booka Shade who played a performance worthy of a knighthood last Friday. And lastly to The Grey Lynn Festival Committee who gathered together tens of thousands of people to revel and soak in the surroundings, before freshening up and moving on to dance the night away to the beats of the international techno junkies The Bodyrockers, and Vandalism, at Deep, Hard & Funky.

2 other things made me stop and ponder last week, a quote and a joke.

The quote was spoken by Leonardo DiCaprio, from the movie “The Beach”.

“Keep your mind open and suck in the experience. If it hurts it’s probably worth it!”

Secondly, this clean funny, sent to me from guide-getter Alexander Brown made me chuckle.

Scenario: You are driving in a car at a constant speed. On your left side is a grass verge, and on your right side is a fire engine traveling at the same speed as you. In front of you is a galloping pig, which is the same size as your car, and you cannot overtake it. Behind you is a helicopter flying at ground level. Both the giant pig and the helicopter are also traveling at the same speed as you.
What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation?

Answer: Get off the children’s Merry Go Round, you’re pissed.

In a nut-shell my 7 day stretch consisted of mild sunstroke, a homebrand visit to A&E (cheers for the TLC Nurse Mum), a plethora of gee-gees, Princess Anne verse tractors, a seahorse wedding and roast chicken with Yorkshire pudding. But I can’t fool myself here, Christchurch is not always this much fun.

Cup week in The Garden City is the highlight for all Cantabrians, I’m one, always will be, but I choose to live in Jaffaland, due to the expanded amount of options, especially socially.

It’s a week that evolves around horses, tractors and traditionally stinking hot weather. 2008s display showed me all this, and some. The second Tuesday in November’s the biggest horse racing carnival day in the country, this year nearly 30,000 came along to eat, drink, bet, flirt and get merry at Addington Racecourse. I had my first alcoholic beverage at 9am, and my last some 22 hours later. I only stopped as I fell from a table, cut my leg and found walking incredibly painful, and the squirting blood nauseating.

The day began with Lindauer Brut and finished with Moet. Everywhere I went people had made an effort to dress-up. Some stayed in the carpark and partied, others went trackside for a punt. It was the sold-out Lindauer Lawn zone (most of which was tar seal and concrete) where everyone wanted to be, it was OK, but I preferred mingling ,and making friends, on the inner track. People had gone to elaborate lengths to want for nothing, they had it all. One set up consisted of a rave room (with vibrating floor), plasma screen to see the races and a paid barman.

From there 11 of us piled into a Nissan Terrano and went to an after party (this was at 6pm). The owner had it all, arcade games, fully stocked bar, DJ room and most gadgets a guy could want. I got the call I’d been waiting for, filled my pockets with roadies (after asking permission), and moved on into the CBD. Liquidity was the place, it was alive. Dance anthems rang from all corners, I must have got a bit carried away on the dancefloor, because a bouncer pulled my aside and threatened to throw me out unless I calmed down.
 
People and places turn things up a notch during Cup Week, every day I found excitement; Even if it was during the afternoon watching sheep getting rounded up in Cashel Mall, there was something horsey, or agriculturally, related around every corner. Another major part of Cup Week is The Royal A&P Show held out at Wigram (Hornby way). Where the country, and all it stands for, comes to town. 120,000 went along this year, most on the Friday (Canterbury’s anniversary day, thus a holiday), Princess Anne was one of them. She came to represent, smile and present some of the major awards, not bad looking really, for someone who’s 2 shy of 60.

I’ve never been to a wedding where both parties are good friends of mine, so after flipping a coin and picking a side to sit and saw Hard House DJ/producer legend Jon “Captain Tinrib” Bell marry Sarah “Horsey” Terras, at the Christchurch Cathedral on Saturday. The reception was at Pegasus Bay Winery, just north of Amberley, a glorious fitting spot to celebrate the unity.

Many of the guests were visiting international technoheads, so when the after party kicked in just after midnight I was in heaven. 200 metres from the restaurant, down the hill, through the pine trees and over the creek, a rave zone had been constructed, with lasers, roboscans, overflowing bar, an oversized sound rig, the whole shabang. It became riotously wicked and most got extremely messy, and they carried on well into Sunday in the searing heat.

My last supper was a classic favourite of mine, roast chicken with all the trimmings. I never get tired of staying with the olds; what with washing that has a turn around time of less than 12 hours, and meals that can be at any time you choose, I felt like privileged royalty.

Seeing this was my last night I chose to not have an early one, and took the offer of “watching a movie” at Monie and Yves’s place in Sumner. What a good call I made. It turned out to be one of the best leaving parties I could ever wish for. My camera was banished to the car, and I was pressured into following the crowd and letting my hair entirely down.

So I’m back in AKL now, and planning my next 4 parties, that all fall before the clock strikes 2009. I hope to party with you all real soon, somehow. Remember, if you hear of a fun/wild or party/event going on drop me a line, I don’t hear about everything.

In some ways my week was as exciting as ever, Rihanna, Chris Brown and Stevie Wonder were there, so were the NZ Breakers basketball team. Halloween swept the city offering me invites to 16 themed parties. An old school buddy got married, 1 good party friend left the country bound for a new life in Dubai. There were birthdays, bbqs, big launches and of course the AB’s had a good win. But it was me fully falling for a former flame, again, that has me muddled to the max.

I’ve been sitting here since 8.15 this morning attempting to get my usual flow on, but I just can’t see it happening. I’m thinking about how I’ll handle my upcoming holiday in Christchurch, what I’ll wear to the races tomorrow, if I should join the army, will the cat pee in my bedroom again, how I don’t like growing facial hair even when it’s for a great cause, and of course my painful love-life issues.

Now it’s 1.28pm, I’ve not procrastinated this long since Haley’s Comet was last in town. I’ve been for a 12k run, baked some cheese scones, waxed the car and fixed the hinge on the pantry door. So what actually did I do last week? Largely it was like most others, but with the afluent summer buzz about the intensity almost doubled.

There were some big concerts early in the week, both were quite different and quite sensational. The Halloween theme was big in Auckland this year, most bars had something happening on Friday. Due to my off the cuff ginormously large Thursday night I let the team down, and couldn’t be bothered dressing up (so the costume stays pristine in the box for it’s 3rd year). Pasha took the cake for their party, with Crow Bar second. There were multiple dance parties to, Floorplay’s antics at Space narrowly edged out Lady Waks at Code.

When I got to the after party on Saturday morning, and was asked what I’d been up to I drew a blank, then noticed the markings on the underbelly of my arms, so rattled of the names inked on from the pretty stamps and bracelets that I’d been given. There was a great gathering of 25 people, half which I knew well, who didn’t want the night to end. Dress-up hats were dished out, as were refreshing drinks and a warm handshakes/hugs. People came and went all day, annoyed neighbours and noise control included. My highlight was finding a long section of blue clothes line and playing jump rope with Karn.

The commencement of the evenings schedule was drawing near, we bid our goodbyes and readied ourselves. We were too efficient, and were all set half an hour before departure, so put our feet up to dwell on what had happened recently. 7 hours later I stirred again, it was now 1.30am. I’d missed out on a Saturday night. I sincerely pondered jumping in the car and making up for lost time, I didn’t, instead re-awoke at 9am, went to the bakery (as it’d been a long time between snacks), then cuddled up and watched “Bring It On – All Or Nothing” (like all follow-on sequels it wasn’t a scratch on the original).

At noon we caught up with a troop that had lasted the distance, done Auckland’s Saturday haunts then found a home that would have them. The trick for them that morning had been to see who could successfully swallow a tablespoon full of cinnamon, they all attempted, and the failed results sounded priceless, I could still see Dougal’s watery attempt splattered on the deck.

Slightly sunburnt we all moved on to Rob’s very well catered 25th birthday BBQ. He was in fine form, as were the people who skipped bed the previous night. I almost cried when Evan put his D&G’s back on his face, but he used the hand that had his glass of champagne in it, the wet patch on his party clothes was rather large; He took it on the chin, laughed with us, and I got him a refill.

Not at all hungry, my group went over to Takapuna to test Chow’s latest addition to it’s fresh asian restaurant chain. It was a test run for the staff in all areas, so we could order whatever we liked, I’ve eaten at their other spots a number of times, so ordered two plates of the best for all. The atmosphere and food was so good we surprised ourselves and ate excessively before we waddled out shortly before 10pm.

That brings us up to today. It’s now 4.05pm and I have guests arriving any minute so have to go scrub up. TTFN.