For Mike Coyle's birthday last month, we headed up his way near Gosford for the weekend to celebrate.
Along the way, we had to pick up a mutual friend, Jon (this was my first time meeting him, though he joined us at Norita for games as discussed in my last post). We'd planned on getting lunch near his place at Atarmon, which as a sort of miniature Japantown near its train station. The ramen shop came highly recommended by John, so we stopped there for lunch.
Other people must have overheard how good their food is, because the restaurant and its outdoor cafe were packed solid with customers. We waited about a half hour before we were able to sit down at eat! In the end, we were able to nab a table near the walkway and there awaited our food. We all three got the basic "Genki" set ramen, which came with a huge bowl of noodles and beef with a side of three pork gyoza (pan-fried dumplings...mmmmmmn). The two boys burned through their lunches while we talked, but I had a really hard time finishing off even half of my meal, unfortunately. It was incredibly tasty, but very, very filling.
After we'd gotten in lunch, we walked back towards where Wes and I had parked the car to pick up drinks for the party. We grabbed a couple of mixed vodka boxes (like wine in a box, Smirnoff-style), Rekorderlig ciders in Pear and Kiwi-strawberry and basic beer. Now full of ramen and carrying armloads of liquor, we climbed back into the car for the trip to the Coyles' residence.
The ride up was really fairly uneventful. We talked a lot (mostly to keep me from getting carsick) and the time passed pretty quickly. Jon and Wes related many a tale to me of the various and sundry parties and get togethers that they've had with friends. Mostly, I sat in awe of the massive cliffs that had been cut through to build the highway we were driving, while Wes chattered about how awful driving said highway at two AM in the rain is.
Believe me. I won't be joining in on those drives any time soon. There are no street lights to speak of.
In any case, not too after we left North Sydney, we arrived.
By the time we got to the house, Mike, Ben, Pete One (Not Wes' Friend Pete) and Neil were all playing cards. Wes joined in while I cooed over Elle's new baby Charlie (Short for Charlene, I believe). Helena, Mike's wife, Elle and I talked for quite a while before Jon jumped in to demonstrate all the Wonderful New Things I could do with my tablet. He and I fussed with our Android do-dads for a while and everyone got into the Rekorderlig and beer before dinner.
Wes gave Mike his birthday gift (a new expansion for the Arkham Asylum board games), so the boys at the table dove right into that before dinner.
At five, we all piled into the cars to head to the club were Mike's birthday dinner was to be held. Jon, Wes and I rode with Helena and Mike in their new car. Wes was very envious of this smooth new ride and joked that maybe we should get one to stave off my tendency to get sick while he's driving.
Dinner overall was a pretty quiet affair for a buffet. We all piled up our plates. Everyone had a nice chat. But there was a distinct lack of raucousness involved (for which I am infinitely glad). All the same, poor Jon had a horrible headache for much of the meal. We met Kate and Kelly at dinner, who are two of Helena's best friends.
Kate rescued Jon from his headache with a stash of painkillers she had buried in her handbag. She and her husband Rod had just gotten back from a trip to the US, where they'd traveled through something like twenty states in three weeks (Jesus!), so she was still a bit full-up from playing the traveling pharmacy routine. Kelly's boyfriend Andre was also present at the table, having just moved to Sydney for work ("Finally!" Helena had said, as she liked hanging out with Kelly and having them both in town made such possible more often). After dinner, Ben and Elle departed with Charlie, Neil and Pete One in tow. The rest of us changed rooms for the bar, where we sat around talking for just a bit longer.
Eventually, we migrated one more time to the car park, where we said very prolonged good-byes (and were nearly run down by old people on motorized scooters that go WAY too fast for sidewalks).
When we got home, Mike and Helena let their puppy, Ruby, in from the back yard. She proceeded to go absolutely batty on everyone, trying to jump, kiss faces and get pettings all at the same time. Eventually, with a bit of manhandling from Mike and stern glowers from me, she calmed down enough that we were able to play a few games of Apples to Apples undisturbed.
To this day, we aren't sure if it was the cider he was drinking or the atmosphere, but Jon won several games in a row. In face, everyone did very well and won quite a few cards each game. It was difficult to say who would win each time around, really. Several rounds in, Helena gave into her headache (which had been brewing since the drive home) and the rest of us gave into exhaustion.
Mike and Helena were kind enough to give Jon the spare bedroom and let Wes and me have the master bedroom, as Ruby is an early riser and would have mauled everyone within licking range otherwise. We went to bed to the sound of freight trains and a loud fan. Wes claims that I woke up around four in the morning, stared at him and said "what IS that?" in reference to one of the freight trains.
... I really can't remember it, personally.
The next morning, we got up not too bright and early, and I made breakfast for everyone. As soon as I offered to cook French toast, Helena shot out the door to the car and the local grocery store. She came back with donuts, bread, eggs and milk and I produced a nice stack of food for the non-donut-eaters. Poor Jon missed out on most of it, I'm afraid. He didn't move until we woke him up at eleven.
We then spent the rest of the day in varied pursuits: the boys played the new Arkham Jr. game Wes had bought (it's really not a "junior" game; it's just shockingly easy compared to the full-scale version) while Helena and I watched about five hours of Game of Thrones. Soon, five o'clock came around again, and we had to pile out the door so that the Coyles' could go to dinner with Helena's parents.
On the way home, we stopped to pick up the exact same fan that they had had in their bedroom (Wes said he liked the white noise it generated and the massive breeze) and then to have dinner with Jon at the Sushi-ya next to the ramen place.
All in all, it was a very eventful, very fulfilling weekend!
