Harry Potter

I have decided to call this year, Harry Potter Year. Not only does movie number 5 get released, but the final book is released as well. I am sure there is a lot of speculation going on in Oz as it is here about if Harry Potter will die. My prediction is that Harry Potter will die. I believe he is a Horcrux and in order for Voldermort to be killed, all the horcrux's must be destroyed. I also predict that Neville Longbottom will be the one to kill Harry and then kill Voldermort. I can't remember which book it was, I think the end of book 5. Dumbledore tells Harry about the prophecy regarding a boy born on July 7th and his being the down fall of Voldermort. Voldermort assumed it would be Harry Potter and that is why he went after him. But Dumbledore tells Harry that another child was born on that day, that child was Neville Longbottom. There is a reason that we know this and I believe that Neville will kill Harry. I don't think Voldermort will kill Harry because he knows that if Harry dies, he will die too. I am assuming that Voldermort will realise what Harry is (I mean they do have some sort of wierd connection now). I know what you are all thinking, naive not so bright Neville Longbottom, but that is the point, no one could suspect. I don't believe that Neville will be malicious about it. I think it will be more they both know it needs to be done and Harry is prepared for it.

In the UK you can actually place bets on who will kill Harry. I am quite tempted to put a bet on. Just in case I am right.

Anyway, that is my prediction, I can't wait to find out what does happen.

The Usual Suspects

Last night we watched the Usual Suspects. I have never seen this movie before and when I originally heard about it I didn't think much of it.


I have to say that I thought it was a great movie. It was succicnt and very well written. There are a lot of killings, but the storyline gets you hooked and you can look past all that. The best part was so little swearing. If a movie like this was made now, they would be swearing the whole way through it. The twist at the end is well played. You don't entirely see it coming but it slowly dawns on you in the final interaction with the coppers.

I thought Kevin Spacey's performance was brillance. I have never been a huge fan of his, but after this I have to say that I am a lot more impressed by him.

If you haven't seen this movie I highly recommend it. I feel that movies these days seem to lack something. They are either remakes, sequels or childrens movies. If something is "original" it is still taking from other movies. It is a little disappointing to see movies go this way with only a hope that movies can get better without all the dribble.

Daytona Christmas

For everyone at Daytona Christmas is the busiest time for us becasue everyone else is having their Christmas parties. So we celebrate in the New Year.
Our Christmas party was held on the 5th, a couple of days ago. It was going to be held at the Milton Keynes site, but something happened so we ended up having it at Manchester. We were all looking forward to going somewhere else, but things happen.
All the staff raced and we added everyone's points together to determine which venue was the best. Turns out it is the Sandown Park venue, but Manchester kicked butt in the Pitstop challenge, so it wasn't all bad. The actual race was one by one of the Manchester marshalls so that waspretty good. There are a lot of funny stories and incidents that have come out of the day but there isn't much point in me telling you because you pretty much had to be there.
After the racing we all went back to the hotel to get ready to go out for dinner. We went to a place called Opus which is in the centre of town. It was a Christmas party so we did get crackers. There was Banrock Station wine on the table which I thought was fantastic, I got to continue my Banrock theme which was great.
To eat I had salmon to start, then lemon chicken and finished with apple and pear crumble. The food was amazing and I keep thinking about the salmon.
Once the feasting had finished we moved into a private room for dancing and singing. Thats right, there was karaoke. I managed to get up and sing Down Under. I had to rub it in about the cricket, though not so many cricket fans at Daytona. It was a great evening with lots of dancing and drinking. Everyone was pretty well behaved and there were no fights or embarrasing moments.
We got back to the hotel about 3 in the morning, some continued to party while the rest of us went to bed. Unfortunately for some of the Manchester staff, we had to work the next day, bummer.
Overall it was a great Christmas do. I look forward to the next one.

Christmas and New Year

We had a really nice Christmas. It was only the two of us so it was pretty quiet. We did have a full on Christmas meal though. We went all out. It started with prwan cocktails. For main we had a roast turkey and vegetables. We had a Banrock Station theme with our wines which was very nice, I highly recommed them for everyone. Dessert was Christmas pudding with cream.
Presents included perfume, aftershave, an Australian Rugby League Jersey (will come in very handy for Australia Day), jewellery, books, calendar and clothes. It was great to speak to my family and also hear my nephew for the first time. I got a little emotional when I heard him, but managed to keep it together. I haven't felt too homesick which has been good. I have been getting a dose of Home and Away as well as Neighbours.
Andrew found out he passed his uni subject for this semester as well so that was some extra great news for us.
New Years Eve was a quiet one for us as well. We started early but drank one bottle of beer an hour so we didn't really get very drunk. We did drink a bottle of Champagne at 12 though. At 12 fireworks started going off all over the place so we went outside to have a look and there were people all over the place yelling happy New Year. As people were driving passed they were beeping their horns and waving out the window. It was a nice way of celebrating. We are thinking that next New Year we might spend it in New York. We haven't completely decided but it would be pretty cool to do that.