Happy New Year!

Out With The Old, In With The New

New Year's Eve. I'm starting to think that the evening is always somewhat of a let down. In essence it's just another night of the year. When you wake up, you write a '7' instead of a '6' when you're writing the date. It's not particularly exciting, nor is it different. Really, it's just all set to make a big deal of what is really nothing new. It's destined to be over-rated.

This year didn't really make much of an exception. A bunch of us were headed up the river to party Walford style - in other words, a group of Walford/Saints/PAC boys would meet up, party hard and enjoy each others company. The night called for a road trip and i was the Designated Dave. Running ever so slightly late, we headed up the freeway, creeping slowly along at 60kmph while my car got accustomed to the speed i was asking of it. Eventually we were able to join the rest of the grown up cars at a much more respectable 110kmph. A few hours later, we'd eaten the chips and such that my mum had packed me to give Hiller (oops!) and arrived at her shack. My car made it!

The afternoon consisted of some quality river time, a yummy tea and then the evening began. Company wise, things were rather... interesting. There were about 15 of us girl and 5 dudes... all of whom were attached to one of the other girls. Not that that was bad, they're all realllllly nice and everything. For the most part, it's chilled. We all just hang out. However, at times, the eternal suck-fest that occasionally arises is somewhat uncomfortable for the less paired bunch of us. It was like being in a modern-day Noah's Ark. Not that i don't like boats but... they're less fun to watch from the shore than they are to be on :P

'Remier occupied us for quite some time. Little Lukie had some trouble... uh... focusing so he bailed. Roz got the Jackie so she started off well :P Later, we were hanging on the Pontoon and SportingBuddy lost her favourite sunnies over the side so a rake and a painting bucket were the tools of choice as we attempted retrieval and failed. Poor SB! With the astounding lack of single males, the single chickies headed two doors down to hang with the 20-yr-old males who were staying there. That kept them occupied for the rest of the evening!

Sound like fun? Well, i apparently wasn't destined to have fun this evening. In a shocker of a mood after a shocker of a week, my mood meant that i squirreled myself away in a bedroom to be alone in my misery, in a vain attempt to keep myself from welling up and spilling over ih the company of others. However, the combination of a disheartening text i found, my dad's problems, a larger-than-usual slew of arguments with my parents, the unfaltering worry about a friend or two, grumpiness about those blasted T.E.Rs, general unhappiness about the state of my life and other factors in a similar vein wouldn't let that happen. Unfortunately - maybe fortunately - Rudolph found me and became my second 'counsellor' of the evening (the first being the Chief, but he wasn't quite in a condition to help much). A little later, the girls returned. SB found me in all my misery and i had my little breakdown, reducing half my mates to a similar condition in no time. Sorry girls. After comfort from SB, George, Rudolph and Lukie provided great comfort i returned to the world of the sane. In my pathetic state i provided a distraction so we just caught midnight and then i went to bed. Poor Rudolph - after dealing with me all evening, i stole his bed, his sleeping bag and his pillow. Oops.

Come morning, 2007 brought forth a fresh morning. Thank goodness. After a few moments of blind panic where i couldn't figure out whether or not i'd lost my contacts in my sleep (i tell you, it's terrifying not to know if you'll be able to see of not, once the sun rises - thankfully i could), i had a yummy breakie and we all went out on the river. Roz and i survived a ride on the 'discuit' (donut/biscuit) ride and a nice big swim in the river.

Later that afternoon we were ready to leave. After a lunch-stop in Murray Bridge we were happily headed down the freeway... until the Beetle overheated. We'd picked up and extra passenger, plus her luggage and the added heat meant that my poor little car couldn't cope. So, we pulled over on the freeway and sat there, blinkers flashing, bonnet up, five teenage girls standing around the engine and watching the coolant bubble. Surprisingly, not one of the young, male 'P' platers was kind enough to stop and help the poor, pathetic girls on the road side! Eventually a policeman showed up! He asked if we were ok and gave us a little chat about staying on the pavement and watching out for cars. Thanks for that. Eventually the car cooled down enough for me to give it another shot. Lol, we continued down the freeway at about 60kmps, to avoid any further over-heating, plus we turned off the air-con. Damn, we were five hot little girlies. But we made it eventually, all home safe and sound!

The first evening of 2007 spent in the comfort of Noodle's home, with Loz K, her and myself watching Chad Michael Murray's hotness grace the screen in One Tree Hill. Phew, that boy is gorgeous :P Recounts of our NYEs, which we all spent apart, ended the evening on a note of hilarity as we caught each other up on the goss before stumbling home to beddie-byes.

I've got to say, i much preferred the beginning of 2007 than i did the end of 2006. I'm definately going to work on keeping things going as they have been so far this year, it's slightly better so far. Fingers crossed that i can keep it up.

Happy New Year!

Annie