Courtesy

I was working at home today in my workshop (winter is finally kicking in here) when i noticed a car that i didn't recognise parked in my driveway. I stepped outside thinking someone was stopping by for a visit, no one was there. Then i saw my neighbours driveway packed with cars and clicked - "Ah yeah it's wednesday..." Wednesday is when they have their church group over for their weekly meeting on all things holy and jeebus.

Now dont get me wrong their harmless folks, semi retarded uhh i mean retired, a little irritating with the religious fliers in the letterbox about what jeebus supposedly did for me etc etc and the passing chit chat over the fence that quickly becomes 20 questions about my personal life....sure whatever, they're 60 something yr old neighbours.

But the fact they felt they could use my driveway as a public carpark without asking, wasn't sitting well with me.
I tried to forget it and keep working - "Whatever, im not working out there, there's plenty of room..."
Then i thought - "Nah Fuck that! they know i'm home, they just expect i'd say yeah sweet as (which i would if asked) so they have helped themselves to the use of my property.

Now i know the mature thing to do if it's really bothering me - and to be honest i'm still a little surprised at myself that this really is bothering me - is to go over and calmly and politely say that yes it is ok you park there but next time please extend me the courtesy of asking if it's ok first. Fair to say, if i needed somewhere to store a packet of timber i wouldn't dump it on their front lawn and expect it was all good..?

But the thought of going over there and carrying on like some anal parent at their kid, when these people should know better, wasn't really appealing to me either.
So just as quickly an alternative came to mind that put an eager smile on my face! Now if this was a few years prior, the alternative would have been in the form of a brick penetrating a windshield and then thinking about it. (I'd like to think i have matured some what these past few years:whatever

So i cranked up the volume on my Makita radio and bought up "Lamb of God"'s Wrath on my ipod. Yeah yeah i know - childish. But i was equally surprised how good this made me feel instantly! And it was fucking loud i had my earmuffs on!

I carried on working, smiling, thinking about the impending verbal conflict, checking if the car was still there every couple of songs, - nothing yet. "What the fuck?" Then i realised my error, even though they were only sitting about 10-12m away from my radio in their lounge next door, i didn't have any windows or doors open and my workshop's pretty well insulated and lined with ply.
With the uninvited car still in the driveway, the window now open and the radio shifted over right beside it, i decided to increase the aggression with some "Gallows" - Grey Brittan.
As the O'rrible' Mr Carter and his band belted out lines like "YOUR HAIL MARYS WONT SAVE YOU NOW!! BURNING ALL YOUR CHURCHES DOWN!!! and YOUR ALL LEECHES!!!"
I was working away sniggering at the thought of their tea cups rattling in their saucers when "OSH BY GOSH GOSH!" after three songs of the Gallows sounding like their playing Live in my workshop, the cars off my driveway and parked on the street!!
Seeing that the other cars were still on their driveway I figured they got the message and may want to come warn me of the dangers of the devil and other assorted sin, so I let Mr Frank Carter sing em one more little ditty before i returned the volume to a more subdued tone.

Again don't get me wrong, if religion's your thing that's fine, it's never the defining reason that causes me to like or dislike a person. No, no, IT'S ABOUT WHAT YOU DO, and to a lesser extent what you say. I dont give a fuck what you wear, what you drive or how "Phat" your bank is.

Remember folks, respect is earned and a little courtesy and some basic manners go a long way!
Get what you give - give what you get

Life is good.
Finishing up a job that has come up really good, clients are wrapt!
Get to spend some time at home now working on the landscaping and hanging with the hounds! Happy days
Also, beware drunk girls that ask you to check out their arse and give feedback - SERIOUSLY LOADED QUESTION!

King's latest set is SOOOOO AWESOME! Shes a mega fox.
I cant believe GoGo's latest hasn't gone live yet either!!?
Those two make my heart race - no lies

Look after each other out there

It was a magnitude 4.5 and 40km deep that i just felt, centered 20km north of Wellington on 1st March 2011 just after 10pm.
Found a pretty good website that records and regularly updates this freaky earthquake shit
www.geonet.org.nz

Also came across a website called www.predictweather.com
I don't fully understand it but it kind of makes some sense, - it doesn't reek of bullshit lets put it that way!
According to the geezer on the site this 19-21 March could be a really bad event.
Hopefully he only means that Nickelback's playing or something

Just got back from a long weekend (bender) in Oz. Was such a wicked time catching up with mates from across Ozzie' N.Z. and the U.K., It consisted of a lot of sunbathing, swimming, laughing, talking shit and basically just getting wrecked for old times sake!

Actually now i think about it that's kind of been my life since Christmas!! Its tough man....so tough.

By now most people are probably aware our biggest city in the south island of New Zealand had a really bad shake leaving an estimated couple of hundred dead and thousands without working infrastructure and facilities to even go about their daily lives.....HOLY SHIT - just had a shake here! Man that's pretty fucked I'm writing about it and one goes off!!!

Maybe i should stop?!
Man i hope that wasn't Christchurch copping it again

If anyone in Christchurch reads this that needs to get out for a while and needs a place, i have a large room off the back of my garage available for 1or2. Its near new with a good shower and loo, warm and carpeted.
Its a 10min walk from Waterloo train station in Lower Hutt with a nice park 2min walk away. Dog friendly too.
No charge just chip in for food if you can.

Man fuck having to live with the ground shaking under you regularly.

If you are reading this do me a favor, spare a thought for people around the world who have lost the ones they love. Pat your pets, reflect on what you DO have, make love to your special one like its the last time, and give life everything you got everyday,because there's no dress rehearsal for life and you never know when it could all be taken away.

Right I'm going to go check the news and I've got everything crossed what i just felt wasn't Christchurch getting done in again.

Did not expect that, what a cool movie!
"Men who stare at goats" - watch it!

Scrub that!
Way too many subliminal messages

For a minute i thought i had nothing good to do tonight....
Until...
I had the idea to get stoned have a few beers and watch Madagascar!!!!

"I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT, YOU LIKE TO ____ __?

Dunno who my favourite character is, The penguins? ninja granny? or Maurice? Actually its probably - NO scrub that. IT IS the Lemur that sounds like that Sean paul dude!!!

The pipe calls

I started a renovation / extension of a friends house on monday. We pulled down some of the existing structure this week and today started prepping for the new concrete slab with a digger kindly lent to us by a mate.
I was removing some of the old house piles from the ground when i spotted a little square metal tin badly rusted in amongst the debris. Inside it was a King George One Penny, the date on it was 1919. I think the builders back then used to place a penny in the foundations or sometimes the roof to bring the house good luck.
I thought it was pretty cool to have found this penny after all these years, someone once carried it in their pocket way back then and made a point of putting it into a small tin and under the foundation of a house they built - that i was now working on!
If im not mistaken the date on the penny was not too far from the time of the first world war?

To the credit of the original builders of this house, it still stands strong and is in really good shape today.
And im not just saying that, i couldnt believe how straight the walls are and even the floor is nearly dead level across the 5metres where we will be joining into it.
As a carpenter ive found their simple act of goodwill towards the house and obvious care and expertise at their craft pretty inspiring.
I wish there was a way they could know i will be giving it the same degree of dedication and pride to add another chapter to its life.

(And yeah im going to put the penny back into the foundations, hopefully for the next builder to find!)

Today i was up the ladder putting spouting up on the garage n' sleepout when i got some free entertainment at the hands of my neighbours piss pour driving ability.
I heard the screech of tyres and an engine rev out to redline, i looked up to see a car flying out of the driveway 2 doors down, - in reverse! He swipes the side of the brick house demo'ing the corner of it in the process, turns abruptly to the left (i think his "driving instructor"/mate grabbed the wheel in panic) which sends them spinning all the way across the grass of the front lawn and thru the fucking fence coming to a stop in the other neighbours yard!!
I honestly thought someone was stealing the car or trying to get away from a bad situation quickly. I bolted over and saw it was the young guy who lived there (early 20 something from an immigrant Ugandan family) he had a look of shocked terror on his face while his mate just staired into space in disbelief like "WTF!!", i started to laugh pretty hard and inappropriately as i asked if they were ok. I dunno i know it could have been worse if someone was walking past out front but when i realised this was supposed to be a driving lesson!!? Fuck me it was a pretty hillarious fail of epic proportions. A couple other neighbours came out with slightly different reactions, but the best reaction was the neighbour whose fence got totalled - they just casually looked out the window and didnt bat an eyelid just appeared to carry on chatting about something like "oh its just that fucking dude again parked in our yard with the fence wrapped around his car, so anyway..."
Poor bastard sux to be him.

I