Well, good evening class. My apologies for being late and I won't bore you with excuses, however I will say that I haven't been able to access the god damn site for quite a while now - in fact when I last updated the site, which was 2 days ago you may have noticed that my last blog was all of 1 sentence!!! This was because the monkeys (and I don't use that term lightly!) at sta internet obviously have not been fed enough peanuts, as I had sat in the internet cafe for 3 hours updating the site and writing my new blog, however after I had saved it I thought I'd just have a quick look to see that everything was in order.........and it clearly wasn't! Only a sentence of my 70 page essay was showing on the site!!! Now obviously after this very frustrating and traumatising time I decided to cut short my session at the internet and go and have a beer to calm myself down. I'm thinking of sending a pack of monkey nuts to sta so maybe they can sort out their technical issues!!! RIGHT, RANT OVER......I PROMISE

 Actually, I say rant over, but there's a few more to come, so prepare yourselves for them.......

 So, since class was last ajourned there has been a very special time that should be the high point in anyones diary and on everyones calender in the Universe. It's a very special day for all and should be remembered.......that's right......you guessed it.......it was MY BIRTHDAY!!!! In the next section you're gonna hear all about and the highs, lows, ups and downs that have occured in the last 2 weeks.

 Before this though, I'd just like to say a huge thankyou for all the gifts/pressies/cards/emails/messages/texts I got from you all......It was very strange having a Birthday away from home and the people you know and love, but it was a blast and I had an awesome time (which I will get to soon), but it was so nice to hear from so many people, so thank you so much to everyone - Muchos Lovos to you all!!!!

 So, now lets start with the actual Birthday - This little beauty deserves a blog all by itself, so I'll write this one and then update you on the events around the Birthday Weekend tomorrow....promise.....

Right, so let me take you back to the eve of June 9th, it was a cold dark night.....(really bloody cold and really bloody dark actually come to think of it because I don'd know whether any of you have seen the storms that Oz has recently taken on, but apparently they are the worst storms/cyclones/hurricanes/tidal waves/earthquakes that Australia has seen for 6 years, so I really brought the weather with me huh!)......anyway, words were spoken amongst the group and we had decided to have a realtively early and quiet one on the Friday night, because Saturday was going to be a BIG one! So we decided to have a few beers at the flat and then all of a sudden Drunken Ryan came out to play......(I call him Drunken Ryan because he seems to come out when I've had a few beers and he takes over normal Ryan's life by telling him to go and have a few more beers!!!)......so drunken Ryan came out to play and he decided that we should go out to a few bars for a bit of a boogie and a few more drinks. Anyway, Drunken Ryan took over and turned Normal Ryan into a slightly over the limit dancing queen and he also made a fool of Normal Ryan by making him dance like a grandad at a wedding!!!! Anyway, the moral of this story is that we all have these alter egos after a few drinks and we should not let them take over our minds if we have a big day lined up for the next morning!!!! (just a bit of advice for you)

So, after this little debarkle we managed to wake up at around 8.00am and the weather was....well......pretty bloody awful to put it lightly! But Loz had hired us a car for the day and had planned that we go up into the Blue Mountains for a day trip to see the most beautiful picturesque sights we've ever seen. It was touch and go as to whether we were actually going to go, but we thought we may as well as I hadn't driven in a while and was missing it slightly!! (sounds odd considering I drove 4 hrs a day to work for nearly 2 years!). So we hopped on the bus and set out on our journey. When we arrive at Budget car rental we were greeted by a lovely little aussie fella that sorted out all the T's & C's for us while I was on the phone to Laurens mum wishing me a Happy Birthday......when I returned we were just finishing up and soon to be off.......the conversation took a turn for the worst.......it went a bit like this......

 "Well, I'm afraid we haven't got any manual cars in the type that you ordered"

"Ok then, that's fine, as long as we don't get a downgrade......?"

"No, no, no not at all........luckily we've got the same car, but in a manual......at least you don't have to be changing gears all the time!"

(LONG PAUSE)

"WHAT!!! DO I LOOK LIKE  AN 80 YEAR OLD MAN????? AN AUTOMATIC!!! LUCKY???? I THINK NOT!!!!"

Ok, it didn't really go like that, but it should have because for those of you that have the luxury of a manual car, when presented with an automatic, remember that when you are going to stop the car, LEAVE YOUR LEFT FOOT WHERE IT IS!!! As we all know, usually in a manual car you'd put your foot on the clutch when you come to a stop......unfortunately if you do that in an automatic, you stamp your foot on the brake......so me and Loz had quite a few emergency stops throughout the day that really didn't help either of our hangovers......or Loz's head and the windscreen for that matter!!!

So we were off!!! In our little Hyundai Getz 1.5 litre (a very economical car for those of you that are looking...just don't get the automatic!) and the next event was rather a testing one. Now obviously we all have/have had/haven't had and never will have a partner, and we all know that with a hangover we're a little grotty with each other......however........twin that with having to drive in a foreign country while your partner map reads and it seems that world war III starts after about 5 minutes of setting off!!! (only joking, but I seriously wouldn't recommend it). We managed to worm our way out of Sydney after about an hour and a half of wrong left and right turns and a few grunts of annoyance with each other! We got to the Blue Mountains after a 2.5 hour trip and the views at the bottom of the mountain as we were driving up were unbelievable (even though the weather wasn't). I've never seen such luscious greens on a mountain before and twinned with the blue mist (hence the Blue Mountain) settling over the mid-top sections of the mountains it was absolutely stunning!

We slowly drove on the road that goes through the mountains, passing all of the little villages on our way through.....it was a bit like being in a wild west film because the towns seemed to be the kind of ones where the population was one entire family and if you didn't marry your sister you were considered "abnormal"! But it fitted perfectly with the feel of the mountains and really made for a better experience. Anyway, we stopped off in one village to pick up a map - we got out of the car for about 1 minute, walked 20 metres and decided we'd just go off our own maps as we were soaked through just in that small space of time! So it was a case of heaters on and drive to the top.......when we got there we parked up and suited up with jackets, umbrella, wetsuits, anti-flooding devices and stepped out of the car.......just a few metres away from us was the lookout point where you could see miles and miles of mountainous landscape covered with beautiful greens and luscious plants and wildlife that really would be a breathtaking and once in a lifetime view........

one problem though..........

 because it was raining and the weather was so bad we couldn't see a thing!!!! We stood on the lookout point (see pictures on the Birthday album) and couldn't see more than 1 metre in front of our noses for the fog!!! It was a nightmare........we moved onto the next lookout point.......the fog was there too........next point......fog......next point....same again.....cable cars......fog......train ride to the summit.....fog. Needless to say there was pretty much fog EVERYWHERE!!! So we drove around for a bit and found a car park (don't worry, this part is safe for the kids to read too) and walked down a little path that ended up as what woudl have been a trickle of a waterfall in a beautiful setting, but twinned with the amount of rainfall that was coming down it had turned into the most ferocious waterfall I had ever seen! It was like being at Niagra falls!!! But it was that one thing that made the trip so worthwile - we were both gutted that the weather was so bad, but seeing that had just made the trip so worthwile! It was absolutely amazing......I'm trying to put a video on the site of the waterfall in action, but it might take a few days, so bear with me.

After the whole trip we decided to head back and as we reached the bottom of the mountain the rain stopped and the fog decided to clear......JUST OUR LUCK!!! But seeing that one waterfall made it all really worthwhile. We stopped at the way back at a Factory Outlet and spent some of the money I got for my Birthday - a bit of much needed retail therapy always does the trick huh!

 When I got back home the rest of the guys had spent all day making me party food and a cake and I was greeted with balloons, party food, a cake, birthday hats and a chorus of Happy Birthdayu sung in a not so beautiful fashion......it was awesome and really kind of them to do it.....I sat down and opened my pressies and then we went out on the town for a few drinks in the local bars......

All in all I had an amazing Birthday and it was because of my lovely girlfriend, the guys I was staying with and all of you for your messages and presents you sent me (apart from you Lawrence and Val.....I will presume that yours are still in the post or yet to be sent, but delayed pressies are always welcome nonetheless)! So a big thankyou to everyone for what they did and i'll update you on what else has happened in the last 2 weeks tomorrow as it's taken me 3 hour to do this!!!

 Class over for today and your homework for tonight is to find out where Lawrence and Val live and egg their house until they send me out a Birthday present!!! Thanks again and again in the words of Jerry Springer.....

"Take care of yourselves....and each other"

 Class Dismissed - Peace out x x x