Well. Cooked for 16 people last night and thats the most i've cooked for. (I think it was 17 - i might be out by 1). Got asked to cook for them the night before as i've got two friends going overseas (Dave is off to Aspen and Dave is off to Brazil).

It went quite well, a tasty 3 course meal (lots of flavour) was accompanied by Dom Pedros and a few cheeky tequilas (thats dave's doing). The theme was that everyone had to dress in all white clothing (which a few people adhered to... not everyone has white trousers). I'll definately cook for dinner parties more often - its lots of fun.

Well. Once again, I know what its like to have a stake driven through your heart. You see it in vampire movies but this is no movie. Even worse is when you're to blame. Gotta kick yourself.

On a completely different topic - I forgot my sisters birthday. Argh! So I'm having a bad couple of months. She's back from holiday sometime today so tomorrow I'll have to make some long distance gift buying, etc. I do think its too late tho - few things are worse than having your close family forget your birthday. Especially if you're also going through tired times. Argh!

I was going to buy a car (i dont trust my current car) but I'm going to hang back and find a bit of direction first. There are more important things.

Two great friends of mine had their birthday in the last 2 weeks. I'm the guy with the horizontal stripe on his shirt. To my left is Wayne, it was his birthday last week wednesday. To my right is Brad. His birthday this last saturday. I sadly missed their birthday dinner. (being in jhb).

Well... ended up buying another 6 tickets for RW. I only managed to get field standing. It sold out at 5 and I know that there are friends who are going to want tickets. I've already given 2 away (for the price i bought them).

I went to Mexicasa on friday. Its a great mexican resturant in village walk in sandton. Lots of tequilla was flowing (too much actually) and even a tabasco shooter.

Otherwise, at work on a sunday night pondering over a messaging system. Happiness.

I've just finished reading the Assassins Trilogy by Robbin Hob. Along with this I've been listening to Coldplay X&Y, James Blunt, and Now 41 (assorted pop artists).

Its easy reading and quite personal as it closely follows a single character, FizChivalry, the bastard son of a prince who abdicates and gets killed. A whole lot of intrigue by his "uncle" leads to various political issues in which he gets thrust into as a catalyst for others. Fortunately, there are bigger issues (it all makes sense in the end). Hobb takes us on a tour of the entire fantasy genre without overdoing any one particular aspect. I particularly enjoyed how the "magic" aspect was integrated into the story without overpowering the story.

There is a good love story or two that run through the three books and this seemed to coincide well with the James Blunt and Coldplay CDs I recently bought. I do feel that this got dragged out in quite a bit more detail in book 2 than was necessary but there is alot of significance to it when it comes to closing the trilogy.

I enjoyed the "encyclopedia" extracts that were at the start of each of the chapters that give you background to the world as the story progresses. At points I was reading chapters to get to the next extract.

As a whole, the trilogy is quite good and I recommend it to fantasy readers and those who enjoy fantasy once in a while. The trilogy is definately larger than the sum of its books. Book 3 brings alot of closure to some very large open ended questions from book 1.

F1 Madness

Tomorrow from 12h00 to 13h00 there will be a few F1 cars racing around Sandton (which is closed off for a few hours). Fortunately my offices are "on the track" so they'll be going past my window.

Robbie Williams

I just bought 4 tickets for robbie williams @ loftus. Sometime in April.

In the last week I've had 2 of the best burgers. (1) A normal beef cheese bacon and pineapple (i think) burger from Chuckleberrys, and (2) a single mild chicken burger, no mayo, with extra cottage cheese from Steam.

I tried a Quarter Pounder Delux with an extra "100% beef" patty. It makes a good burger and almost as good as a king steer. The only reason that the king steer doesnt come out on top is that i think its too juicy and its classified as fast food. The other two burgers are slightly more wholesome.

The extra cottage cheese makes a huge difference. A burger is all about the flavour. If there is too much bun or if its too dry, or the sauce is too synthetic such that you cannot taste the burger, then its not worth eating. You mightaswell have bread or a bottle of sauce.

There is this little german burger maker in the far corner of the Rosebank Flea Market that also makes good burgers. Its a great burger but it seems to be missing something. They put mayo on the burger to transport the taste but you end up tasting mayo instead of the combined burger flavour. It is definately a high quality burger.

An interesting burger possibility is to have a burger that changes its taste as you eat it. You could possibly have a beef pattie made up of two different mixtures and then somehow get them to bind together. Not sure how strong a bind you could make.

Kuro5hin - The French Scape Goat

I feel quite strongly about this. Unnecessary and orchestrated. A true friend will take advice and criticism from a friend, without retalliation. Providing friends with gifts doesnt mean that they must agree with your viewpoint.

This is where the misguided few with influence do the most damage to society in the long run. To follow a pattern, family feuds in italy last/lasted ages. I imagine that sentiment built up in the last few years last just as long.

Sad.

Just had my hair coloured silver for CANSA. I'll see if i can get a photo posted. I'm going to start using Flickr to post photos.

Robbie Williams is coming to RSA in April 2006. Good times. Tickets go on sale on the 16th of November.

Well... I think the storm lastnight has blown my telephone AGAIN. This is getting ridiculous. I need a phone with an optical link so it doesnt get continually damaged.