Birthday *what* Party

So I've been back at my beach home for a couple of days now and I've spent most of my time downloading new tv shows/episodes and cleaning/sorting out my house while watching the stuff I download. My sleep patterns have become a little bit screwed due to my obsessions with achieving all the Plants vs Zombies Achievements on my iPod and watching everything before I go back to work. Today I forced myself to wake up by 9.30am. Luckily my mother called 10 minutes later to tell me that they were on their way to the airport. Had to lie about going for a walk earlier that morning but she saw through my lies. Mum's are just too good at knowing when they're kids are lying..

I had good intentions to get some work done but the cleaning and sorting out my stuff felt more important since my desk was still covered in piles of books. By the time I had my desk ready it was time to head out. My neighbour/teacher friend sent me a text the day before inviting me for Lizzie and Grahame's birthday party. There was going to cake and lizard races. I was completely confused as to who "Lizzie and Grahame" were as I was sure their parents and friend's names weren't Lizzie and Grahame. It was also puzzling to me why there was going to be lizard races. Anyway, I changed my clothes and headed up the street.

When I got there, there were a few kids and my friend sitting on chairs in a circle in the garage. On the ground in the middle of their circle was a circle drawn in chalk. My friend's son says, "Lizzie and Grahame are just warming up. They'll be ready to race soon." Still slightly confused, I was handed a glass of vodka and lemonade by my friend's husband and managed to spill it on myself (which continued to happen with every consecutive sip after that.. argh..). Soon enough Lizzie and Grahame came out.. Lizzie and Grahame are Shingle-Back Lizards! Geez... who in the world goes all out to celebrate a lizard's birthday? Anyway.. we were handed cups/bowls with snakes and jelly babies that would form our money to use to bet on the races. The lizards were held on two parallel lines drawn in the center of the circle and when the race was a go, the lizards were let go. It was hilarious to yell at a creature that I thought would be slow moving reptiles. At times they would move really quickly while other times they'd just sit there and wouldn't move. In one round, they both moved about 10 cm ahead then both stopped for nearly a while minute before one of them decided to start moving. We had about 7 rounds before it was decided that they have their "cake".

Lizzie and Grahame eating cake

The kids grabbed 2 patty cakes with a orange, yellow and green mixture, unwrapped the paper and placed it on the floor. It was fascinating to watch the lizards eat the diced carrot, corn and pea omelette. While they ate their "cake", we had cup cakes with green icing on top. Yum! When the lizards finished eating, we had another few rounds. The kids felt that the lizards were getting tired after eating so much and decided it was time to end the races.

I ended up staying for dinner, as usual, and was glad not to have to eat the rest of my mi goreng. ugh... can't wait to go food shopping tomorrow and get some better food to eat. We had a middle eastern meat and veg combo with risotto and greek yogurt. I'm not much of a fan of greek yogurt but it tasted pretty good with the meat. I was so full that I didn't finish my meal (for the first time!). I crashed myself onto the couch for a while and watched TMNT with the kids. I realised it was going to be the Federer vs Nadal tennis game soon so I checked the channel during the movie commercial. The players were just warming up so I took my leave and headed home. I was still so full so I sat on my chair for a while then got up and moved around. So glad I ended up moving around otherwise I would've felt incredibly bloated.

This tennis game is crazy.. the scores are so close and its incredibly difficult to judge where the game is going. Federer keeps hitting the net while Nadal runs from one side of the court all the way to the far side of the other, nearly running into the lines-men. Awesome game to watch. I never really liked watching the tennis but there matches between the top 5 players are incredible. Really makes me jump up and down and yell at the TV for the players. Hope Federer picks up his game and wins this match.. purely going for Federer because he doesn't look like an insane cricket on steroids. Seriously.. Nadal's bright green shirt and his epileptic movements makes me dizzy. Oh and Nadal needs to get new underwear or better shorts. Before he serves or gets ready to receive a serve, he pulls out his wedgie then rubs his nose. I don't know if this is a ritual or something, but its disturbing.

...

Damn.. Nadal just won. Federer, you better improve your game for next year.