I finished up at work on Friday before Christmas, and enjoyed a scrumptious feast with pretty much every ETSA employee there is, at ETSA Park, the netball stadium. That afternoon I watched my friend David To play and easily win a tennis tournament (both singles and doubles) where he won $2k prize money, a trip to America, and a wildcard entry into an ATP tournament.
I went home that night to our new kitchen which had pretty much just been finished with the renovations we’ve had done throughout December. We spent all night putting furniture back to normal. The Madsen’s came from Melbourne to stay for Christmas which was awesome as always. Carl helped me achieve a new high score playing Time Crisis 3 arcade game. We played soccer, and with his very last shot at goals to me he sprained his ankle badly. It was a shame as we were just about to go for a motorbike ride. Christie came with me for a motorbike ride instead. It was her first time, and I think she is hooked! I went to Morv’s family for Christmas Eve dinner and breakfast the next day, and then we came to my house for Christmas lunch. There were 18 of us in total at Christmas lunch.
That night, we went up to Lobethal to see the lights. It was cool to see them for about five minutes, but it gets a little repetitive and so we went home not long after getting there! It was also a bit far to drive I thought. Apparently there are photos on the internet anyway, we should have just looked at them!
On Boxing Day the Madsens left really early in the morning. I cleaned Aunt Cherilie’s car for her and finished drying it literally as they were driving off at 7am. Only a couple minutes after they had left, Dad spotted a koala in the gum tree above our driveway.
It was ironic how Christie had said the night before how on the motorbike ride was the first time she’d ever seen a koala in the wild, and it was a pity that she couldn’t yell loud enough for me to hear through my helmet so we could have stopped to look at it.
After seeing the koala, my family and myself went to Nanna’s to open some more presents. That afternoon, I went for a hike with Morven, her sister, and Archer-Bald (aka Archie). Archie was a little fella that Morv got from Myers. Every Myers employee got a little bear on a lanyard for Christmas.
Since Boxing Day, I’ve got back into running a little bit, started going to the gym again, and discovered the REAL source of my back pain I’ve had since I hurt myself skiing in Austria last year. Regardless of whether or not the pain is a result from the skiing incident, I have (allegedly, according to the Physio) no lower abdominal muscles, and I have really strong hamstrings from long distance running. This is bad bio-mechanics, because it results in my back doing all the support work when sitting down and standing up, or whenever. Basically, my abs are so weak they can’t take the load away from my back to give it a rest. So, I’m not providing my back with the proper environment for it to heal. So, every day, I’ve been doing heaps of sit-up crunches. Who knows, maybe in a few weeks I might even have a decent six-pack!
For New Years Eve, Morven and I went to the Perry’s house for a vegetarian barbeque. It was delicious! Rachel (Ben’s sister) actually did most of the work, including the invites of her brothers friends. After dinner, we went to Mick and Sarah’s house party in Norwood. I had taken an esky full of pre-mixed drinks and nibbles for the two of us, and we were set to have a really awesome night. I had driven us there, and we were going to leave the car there overnight and catch a bus home. The next day I was going to run back and pick the car up. When we got there, I immediately joined in on a game of throwing some random glow in the dark thing. Unfortunately after a couple minutes, my hand connected with a bee in mid-flight and I got stung. 
So, I had to get my old man to pick me up because I’m allergic to bees. It was my right hand, and it swelled up like a balloon that night. I was asleep in bed before midnight too, how demeaning! This is the second new years eve that I’ve gone home early due to bee stings! The other time was a party at Tom Roders house, where I had got stung during the day and was dancing that night. It wasn’t until I had been dancing that my foot swelled up so bad I couldn’t get my shoe off!
So anyway, I was due to go back to work today but the doctor yesterday advised not to, because of the antihistamines I’m on. I keep randomly falling asleep! I’m also on antibiotics because it is apparently infected. What I don’t really understand though, is what does it mean that I am infected. Does this mean you can get stung by a bee and NOT be infected? I’m not sure. What does infected even really mean? I think there’s a very grey line going on here. Either way, I should stop typing soon because my hand is getting sore again.
Lately I’ve been watching Torchwood, a spin-off TV Series from Doctor Who. Also, a great documentary I watched with Morv yesterday (except I fell asleep) is March of the Penguins. I highly recommend it if you have any interest in penguins at all. Very fascinating!
