Gas

The other night I discovered finally and for sure that I must stop drinking as much (or as often) as I have been. After only two beers, I lay down and felt rather nauseous. Clearly no good, given the miniscule amount of alcohol that I had consumed. So, this is Absolutely It. I am going to give my poor, innocent little liver a break, at least until my birthday next month. Or, until the engagement party for Andy's sister the week before (may need some dutch courage methinks... other people's extended families are always so hard out.) I went out with Dad tonight, and I actually had a really good time. I think he's planning to drop out of society... quit Ministry of Defense and live in a van. His words were almost exactly "I haven't really seen much of the country." Still, all that matters to me is that he's happy, doing something that he feels is his own. He needs to find things to do that are outside of the family, he was always so reliant on Mum, my brothers and I to be his source of identity. I think that Dad is much more than this, but I guess its just him finding this out himself. At any rate, I'm not so sure that he is entirely hunky-dory (he never is), but at least he seems happier than he was before Christmas, and THAT can only be an improvement. We ran into Paul who is trying to convince him to speed date in "his age range"... Dad unimpressed that Paul would assume that he knew his age range, and found the whole concept of speed dating to be completely hideous. Can't wait to tell Josh, he will piss his pants laughing. I saw Mel today, she's back up to Auckland tomorrow and then away camping on Waiheke Island with Merryn next weekend. I am sooo jealous, I want to go away camping (I want a weekend). Lovely girl brought around a bottle of Manuka Honey flavoured 42 Below Vodka, which is delicious with Ginger Ale. Always found it hard to find a suitable mixture for that flavour. I always wish that Mel lived in town, she's fantastic. I wish that I could just do the things that she does, nothing seems to stand in her way, she just decides that she's going to do something and DOES IT. Like the exchange to Hungary, such a bizarre thing to decide to do. And the research scholarship. I should stop being jealous and just do things.