Sarah's honorary bachelor status confirmed!

After many years and plenty of burnt out bunsens, Sarah has completed her degree in Science, with honours. She handed up her thesis on Friday, right next door to where I was convalescing from my savage episode of gamekeeper's thumb.



We went out for dinner to celebrate her re-release into the world, along with some of her friends and family - as you can see, I was doped up to the eyeballs on painkillers. It's a wonder I didn't fall from the gritty stairwell we congregated on.



We utilised the camera's self-timer function for this shot!

Me thumb

While Martin was over, I fell and tweaked my thumb whilst attempting the ever-unpredictable backside tailslide. It was a decent slam, which confined me shivering to the bench, but being accustomed to the constant cycle of skate-related pain, I paid it little mind. Only upon returning to work did I realise it was not getting better and I could not in fact sign my name effectively(this is very important in the fashion game). Turns out I tore a tendon (the official name of my injury is amusing: gamekeeper's thumb) and had surgery on Friday.

I'm slowly getting the hang of this lefthanded typing lark, and the mouse control is improving with time. However, everything else is the stuff of fevered dreams. My new, apelike state is obviously an opportunity masquerading as a shit thing, but I am yet to fully identify it's potential for good. Any hints and ideas are most welcome.

A museum moment

Encounters with Ra and Z-man

This is Z-man. Tom regaled me with tales of him during our drive to and from Sydney, so I felt like I knew him already - at least, I was pre-disposed to liking him. Upon our first meeting, we established that we were born on the same day one year apart, that our fathers are of eastern European origin and our mothers are from England. We have similar eyebrows. I think we freaked each other out a bit.

Martin visit part 2 - Nike premiere

Nike don't do things by halves.



Alotta crew



There was unheard of complications on the door, with pins you were supposed to wear and typed invites. Crazy Eddie was worried that the invite Ben had got him wouldn't match up to his ID. Gaywon Chong indeed! On an even lighter note, Eddie is now an Australian resident!



Inside hobnobbing with skate glitterati, I happened across longtime shredder and ADL cohort Shorty! He is living the dream in Torquay, complete with backyard mini and crazy housemates that appear surfing nude on the cover of the local newspaper.



Tom and Callum freaked Shorty out a bit by fanning out on him because of his part in Telescape (old ADL skate vid made by Bryan Mason vid)



I took a seat near Canadian Pete. We were in for a treat.



Thank god they flew Chet Childress over so he could peddle his pseudo hick schtick on stage. Oh, the hilarity!



More impressive were the quiches handed out by waitresses, gold class style.



The vid was pretty crazy, especially Lewis, Todd Jordan, BA and Gino, Wieger and the Aussie section at the start which will be in the DVD extras. Morgan was shredding as always.



The mascot for this trip was the guy on the left - we call him 'Alotta crew' because of what we heard him say one day at the shop he works in. We just love his whole thing, the crazy voice, the weird vibe, the lot. We tried to get him to repeat his signature phrase, but the closest we got was 'A really long queue'. This set off a series of jokes that rhymed with 'crew'. You possibly had to be there.



Reserved: Alotta Crew



Free drinks + Joey = amazing









Martin with Dean Finch and Ben Cox!



Later, we walked home and my battery went flat. Bummer, because Joey jumped in the fountain and lost his shoes and phone. Anyway, here is Martins visit in movie form. Enjoy!

Martin visit part 1!

Hot on the heels of the Sydney trip, I picked up Martin from the airport the next morning. He stayed for a week, and we basically just skated, drank, looked at bikes, and laughed. It was great! What follows is a pictorial representation, interjected with the odd observation.









Keegan! Good vibes shredder.







Ghost dog



Ra: unflappable. Ra loves asparagus.





In an impromptu comedy performance piece, Harriet drove around the roundabout repeatedly, playing Bruce Springsteen's 'Dancing in the dark' at high volume.















Rare photo of Brophy doing a small ollie!



More typical form







Chris taking a breather from his courier duties







Keegan: what a guy!



Heavy move. Look out for this and more in the upcoming feature 'Vintage', coming straight outta Brisbane!



dead bird ollie gone bad!









Sometimes I wish I had film in my camera, not megabytes.





Had a few ales at the Tramway where Tom works. We may be holding a Melbourne premiere of 'Vintage' there!