So, it is Christmas tomorrow because I will be looking forward to it so I will be doing a blog about part 5 of my year in review & I have been staying at 15A Kells Avenue for like 12 days so yesterday Aunty Tania Manu Ngapo had just arrived here along with her French Canadian partner Rejean/Giuseppe Pedersen to spend Christmas, New Year & the 1 year anniversary of Nan's passing so we saw them yesterday at the airport because I missed Aunty Tania so much because I have not seen her for like 10 months so the last time I saw her was in February this year & I have been doing well working as a nightwatchman for the light up your home competition until tonight because we had about 164 people last night so I worked so hard for that (Well I had a sandwich for lunch yesterday but dinner was chicken with fried potatoes, carrots & red onions & peas).
And now onto the year in review so here is some best bits in the month of September & October 2016 so let's see how it unfolds.
From Dark Necessities/Where Do We Go From Here/In The Dark: The 2016 Rugby Championship Round 2 report (+ 2016 Mitre 10 Heartland Championship Round 1 report):
And after the game Pops took me home before we had a pre-match dinner there & after we had dinner we tuned in for round 2 of the Rugby Championship between the All Blacks & Wallabies in the 2nd Bledisloe Cup test at Westpac Stadium in Wellington so here's a recap of the match that also went down to the wire for the full 80 minutes:
Welcome to Westpac Stadium in Wellington for the 2nd Bledisloe Cup match of 2016 between New Zealand and Australia
New Zealand enter this test match as raging favourites after completely outclassing Australia in most areas of the game last week in Sydney.
The starting XV for New Zealand: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown (Test debut), 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.
A surprise during the week with the Wallabies welcoming back Quade Cooper in the number 10 jersey. The starting line up for Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Dane Haylett-Petty, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio.
And from Kryptonite/Loser/Still Alive/When I'm Gone: Chasing Great review:
And after the match against Argentina (The day after Japan knocked over the Springboks in the biggest boil over in Rugby World Cup history (And man, South Africa are having their worst nightmares after their loss against the Japanese by 2 points in one of the greatest upsets & famous victories of all time in the history of the World Cup as the headline will probably say: JAPANESE TRIUMPH, NIGHTMARE FOR THE BOKS) as well as hosts England failed to advance on their home ground advantage after losing to both opponents the Wallabies & Wales (And the headline will also probably say: ENGLAND ARE GONERS ON THEIR HOME TURF), the All Blacks notched up wins against their pool opponents such as Namibia, Georgia & Tonga before advancing to the quarterfinals but can you believe it! We are taking on France again in a rematch of the ill fated 2007 Rugby World Cup Quarterfinal showdown in Cardiff (And was it a forward pass by Damian Traille on Frederic Michalak which led to the try being scored by Yannick Jauzion? I would say yes my friend/oui mon ami because the referee from England, Wayne Barnes missed it that cost us a place in the semifinal against England who had just beaten Australia)
And so, onto the Rugby World Cup final of 2015 where 2 traditional Trans Tasman rivals the All Blacks took on the Wallabies in the battle of Twickenham to decide who will lift the William Webb Ellis trophy:
New Zealand withstood a rousing Australian fightback to secure a 34-17 victory in the Rugby World Cup final and claim a historic third Webb Ellis Cup.
A magical individual try from second five-eighth Ma’a Nonu and the composed boot of veteran first five-eighth Dan Carter helped steer the All Blacks to their 2nd successive title.
Nonu scored one of the finest individual tries of RWC 2015 with a weaving run from 40 metres out at the start of the 2nd half, as New Zealand ran in 3 tries in the most entertaining final in the 28-year history of the tournament.
Just as the Wallabies were threatening to complete an astonishing comeback in the second half after battling back from 21-3 behind to 21-17 with two quick tries in succession, Carter put over a crucial drop goal from 40 metres. The first five-eighth then slotted over a huge penalty kick from the half-way line as the All Blacks became the first team to defend the Webb Ellis Cup successfully.
Both players were playing their last game for New Zealand, as was Richie McCaw, who became the first All Blacks captain to lift the World Cup on foreign soil after their victories at home in 1987 and 2011.
Carter, who missed out of New Zealand's 2011 final triumph because of a serious groin injury, kicked a total of 19 points while winger Nehe Milner-Skudder and replacement Beauden Barrett added the other tries for the All Blacks.
And from Bang Bang/Love Bites (So Do I)/Mind Your Manners: Rugby Championship round 3 review:
It was yesterday as Pops took me to Nan's grave on her birthday on the 10th of September (Well she would have been 70 if she remained alive) and after that he took me to 15A Kells Avenue to clean up the mess before we went to Caroline's for lunch where I had a burger while Pops had that steak and I was so full so we went to the Heartland Rugby Championship game at Cooks Gardens for the top of the table clash between Wanganui & South Canterbury in a rematch of the final last year with a news report according to Stuff News:
Defending Heartland champions Wanganui edged out South Canterbury 32-30 in a close encounter in Whanganui on Saturday.
In what was a replay of last year's Meads Cup final, South Canterbury showed plenty of spirit against the championship favourites, leading 14-8 at the break.
Irish first five Steve Crosbie ran things well for Wanganui, while second five Kameli Kuruyabaki and fullback Ace Malo also impressed.
For South Canterbury, big prop Viliame Logavatu was outstanding around the paddock with a magnificent 50m run and a try-saving tackle.
Loose forwards John Dyer and Nick Strachan also had strong games, in a pack that had a slight edge.
The win leaves Wanganui as the only unbeaten side after three rounds of the Mitre 10 Heartland Championship, with the maximum 15 points.
Despite the loss South Canterbury remain second on 12 but have four other sides breathing down their neck, within two competition points.
Wanganui 32 (Malakai Volau 2, Samu Kubunavanua, Gavin Thornbury tries; Steve Crosbie 3 con, pen) South Canterbury 30 (Nick Strachan, Nick Annear, Tiaone Ratu, Conor McCormack tries; Zac Southen 3 con, pen). HT: 8-14
And after that we went back to 15A Kells Avenue to do some jobs at Nan's Memorial Garden by putting out the screws for the plastic pots and after that we had to cook a light dinner which is omelette because we had lunch & I did enjoy it because I always have a low alcohol beer with it & so, we went to my flat to tune in to watch the All Blacks play Argentina (Well I have worn Lionel Messi's (I almost forgot that Messi must have come out of retirement to help his country qualify in Russia 2018) jersey so Pops thinks that i'm a traitor, we will see about that) in round 3 of the Rugby Championship (Which took a 1 week break) sponsored by Investec at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton that went down to the line of fire for the full 80 minutes by claiming another...big scalp:
After a week off, the Rugby Championship resumes at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton where New Zealand play host to Argentina.
The All Blacks were as close to unbeatable as possible against the Wallabies and will provide a stern test for the Pumas this evening: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.
Argentina were outstanding in their last match and their victory over South Africa will give them plenty of confidence coming up against the best team in world rugby: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
And from Cat's In The Cradle/Mr Jones/One Headlight: Rugby Championship round 4 review:
Well, the All Blacks have done it meaning that they have clinched the 2016 Rugby Championship in style with only 2 rounds remaining beating Allister Coetzee & Adriaan Strauss's Springboks (Our old foe & rivals) 41 - 13 (And hey guess what, it is the same scoreline as New Zealand beat the Wallabies at Eden Park in Auckland last year way back in 2015 (The same year that the AB's for the 1st time won back to back Rugby World Cups as well as becoming the 1st team to win 3 Rugby World Cups because they have never done that before & ensured it that they finally achieved it or should I say deserved it by earning our right) at AMI Stadium (In Addington since the one at Lancaster Park was badly damaged by the earthquake on February 22nd, 2011 (The same year that the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup after 24 years of agony & pain or should I say get rich & die tryin'), but however it has since been closed for good) in Christchurch so here's the full match commentary that went down in the full 80 minutes:
This weekend sees more Rugby Championship action. It all starts in New Zealand at AMI Stadium in Christchurch with the match between the All Blacks and the Springboks (The last meeting between the 2 sides was indeed a Rugby World Cup semifinal last year in which New Zealand won a whisker against South Africa by 2 points).
The Kiwi hosts have seemed unbeatable to date and the team from South Africa has not performed at its best in the Championship so far, but each game is a contest in itself and the Boks will be looking to cause an upset.
Conditions look perfect with a clear night and just a light breeze at the stadium.
Teams are making their way onto the field lead by the captains Kieran Read and Adriaan Strauss - lining up for the national anthems of each nation ahead of the kickoff.
That's the haka done to a great reception by the crowd - kickoff next!
Angus Gardner is the referee for tonight's match.
And from Around The World/Breaking The Girl: The lunch with John & Lim & Wanganui rugby report:
It was on Thursday that Pops took me to 15A Kells Avenue to do the garden job & after that, we went to mint & guess who I saw, Craig Cleveland the funeral director said hi to me to tell how is everything going then we had lunch because I had Nachos while Pops had Caesar salad and for dessert I had a pineapple lump cheesecake & a moccachino but I can't remember now that Pops had a dessert & then headed straight home & played that brand new F1 2016 game moments before having Pizza for dinner to end that incredible day it was.
And today which is 2 days later (Dad told me last night that I'm going with Poppa to have lunch with John & Lim today), Pops took me to New World to get the white vinegar, red onion, tomatoes & milk & then all of a sudden, it was closed due to the owner having to attend the funeral but we went to countdown instead but there was a power cut last night so we were unable to but the milk but we did get the white vinegar, red onion & tomatoes only before heading of to 15A Kells Avenue but Pops told me that we are having a salad so i cut 52 lettuce leaves & we were making it by chopping the red onions & tomatoes as well as making the vinegarette, getting both cold meats out & chopping them & cooking the croutons before John & Lim arrived so we showed them Nan's Memorial Garden because that was the 1st time that they've been there before we start the formalities of having lunch which is a salad with crutons (And yeah, Pops was sticking to Plan B because we were originally going to have a soup then because the soup was filling so we had ended up having a salad only) & I did enjoy it (Well I had a low alcohol beer with that one because it is my favourite drink now) & after having that meal, I felt like I was going to have another one but I didn't then I changed my mind by having another one and then I was so full & after that, John & Lim took me to show Nan's grave (Well I had a chat with John about they last time I saw him was the morning after the 2nd test between the All Blacks Vs Wales before we saw Cathey & Paige & I also chatted to Lim that what was New Zealand like when he 1st came here by 1st meeting John at Marton back in 2001 (The same year that I 1st met Lim) as well as he had been to a funeral before in both Malaysia & here before we went back home to 28 Koromiko Road (Well the interesting part was talking to John about the Olympics that we had our successful Olympic campaign in Rio with 4 gold medals, 9 silvers & 5 bronzes & even though that Lim is so proud that his country Malaysia only got both the silver & bronze medals but no golds) to show my flat that I have been living for 2 & a half years then I had said goodbyes to John & Lim as well as my Dad & Raewyn because Pops & I headed straight off to the rugby at Cooks Gardens so I had to get my Wanganui rugby flag that I forgot as well as taking the yellow & red cards with me so here's the full news report about Steelform Wanganui took on the Swamp Foxes of Thames Valley (And I saw 2 Olympians such as Bronze medalist in London & Silver medalist in Rio, Rebecca Scown & Christopher Harris (Not the cricketer) featuring assistant coach & dual international who played for Samoa & of course, the All Blacks, Frank Bunce (His son Chance was playing):
Wanganui remained on top of the table after thumping Thames Valley 60-14 at Cooks Gardens.
The Swamp Foxes showed much better mettle in the second half but had leaked 52 points before the break as the defending champions ran rampant.
Wanganui remain unbeaten in 2016 and are the favourites to secure their fifth Meads Cup title.
Fullback Te Rangatira Waitokia added his 10th try of the season to remain on top of the individual Heartland try-scoring list.
Wanganui 60 (Jamie Hughes 2, Kameli Kuruyabaki 2, Te Rangatira Waitokia, Tremaine Gilbert, Gavin Thornbury, Michael Nabuliwaqe tries; Dane Whale 5 con; Te Tau Kemp con) Thames Valley 14 (Hayden Wishnewski, Haere Renata tries; Beau Hamilton con). HT: 52-8.
Well I had a moccachino & 2 sausage dogs dipped in tomato & barbecue sauce and after the last try scored and successful conversion, the referee had no choice but to end the game early with only 3 minutes left on the clock but this is more like the All Blacks clash with our traditional Trans-Tasman rivals the Wallabies 20 years ago at Athletic Park in Wellington.
And after the game, Pops took me home to end an incredible day it was so I played a bit of F1 2016 (Not only because I had just bought the game itself on Monday & I quite liked it compared to F1 2015 because the game had a better reception than the previous one so the next game that I am buying is Dirt Rally for Christmas now) then I had spaghetti bolognese (Or spag bol for short because I had Italian week meaning that I had an Italian meal for a week compared to pasta week that I had 4 years ago) for dinner because Pops told me that I must have a light meal for dinner & right now I am now doing my 65th blog overall (25th of the year MMXVI) as well as listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers (One of Irish born rugby players playing for Wanganui Gavin Thornbury who is a self proclaimed fan of the band) on YouTube because I am still into alternative rock & heavy metal music but I will update to you tomorrow about the clash between Argentina & New Zealand in the 2nd to last or should I say the penultimate round of the Rugby Championship in Buenos Aires.
And from Californication/Give It Away: Rugby Championship Round 5 report:
Well, it was today that I was up & ready to watch the game between Argentina & the All Blacks so Pops came here along with Dad & Jansen to my flat to watch the rugby & during the game, I was having Pizza for lunch (Well I had a Clausthaler low alcohol beer with it).
But 1st, it was the Springboks who have home ground advantage against the Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria (The site of the All Blacks capturing their 1st test series win in South Africa 20 years ago) so here's the full news report:
South Africa returned to the victory trail when they secured a deserved 18-10 triumph over Australia in their Rugby Championship clash in Pretoria in Round 5.
An accomplished kicking display from Morne Steyn, who scored all his team's points, guided the home side to victory although the Wallabies scored the game's only try early in the first half when Scott Sio went over the whitewash.
The result means the Boks ended a 3-match losing streak and they move above the Wallabies into second place in the standings.
Despite their win, there are still question marks about the Boks though as the Wallabies dominated the territorial stakes and spent large parts of the game in the home side's half.
Springbok head coach Allister Coetzee's decision to go with a 6/2, forwards/backs split backfired on him as the Boks lost the services of Jesse Kriel in the first half as well as Bryan Habana and Rudy Paige early in the second half.
This meant that the Boks were forced to play with Jaco Kriel on the left wing during the game's final quarter. But to their credit, the Boks showed great character and a solid defensive effort in the second half secured them this result.
The home side's captain Adriaan Strauss deserves special praise as he led from the front in what was by far his best Test of the season. He was named the official man of the match.
The Boks made a bright start and after taking the ball through several phases with their forwards, Steyn opened the scoring with a well-taken drop goal in the fifth minute.
The Wallabies were soon level, however, when Bernard Foley landed a penalty after Eben Etzebeth was penalised for taking Sean McMahon out off the ball midway between the halfway line and South Africa's 22.
Five minutes later, Habana failed to find touch and Israel Folau launched a counter-attack from inside his 22. The ball went through several pairs of hands and the Wallabies were soon close to the home side's try-line.
Will Genia then threw a long pass to Sekope Kepu who did well to offload to his front row partner Sio,who went over under the posts for his first Test try.
Australia had a chance to increase their lead in the 23rd minute, when Vincent Koch was blown up for a scrum infringement midway between the halfway line and the visitors' 22, but Reece Hodge's monster effort landed just short of the cross-bar.
3 minutes later, Steyn narrowed the gap to four points with a penalty, after several Wallabies went off their feet at a ruck. South Africa were then handed a lifeline in the 35th minute when Folau was yellow carded for taking Habana out off the ball after the Bok flyer had chipped ahead, close to the Wallabies' 22.
Steyn made no mistake with the subsequent place-kick which meant the game was evenly poised with score at 10-9 to the visitors. South Africa upped the ante on attack but couldn't round off their attacking chances but they regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Steyn added his third penalty after Australia strayed offside on defence.
There wasn't much to report during the early exchanges in the second half although the Wallabies had two golden opportunities to take lead but Hodge missed two shots at goal in quick succession.
Steyn also had an opportunity to extend his side's lead on the hour mark but his penalty attempt, from 55 metres out, was also off target.
The rest of the half was a war of attrition as both sides tried to gain the ascendancy but although the Wallabies spent large parts of the half camped inside the Boks' half, they committed a plethora of handling handling errors which proved costly in the end.
Steyn scored the first points of the half in the 76th minute when he landed a penalty from close quarters after the Wallabies were penalised for a ruck infringement and the pivot sealed the result when he slotted his second drop goal in the game's closing stages.
And from American Idiot/Hitchin' A Ride/Longview/Welcome To Paradise: 2016 Rugby Championship round 6 review:
Well, it's over, triumph for the All Blacks as they demolished the Springboks 57 - 15 (And well in all of a sudden, that was New Zealand's biggest winning margin over South Africa at home, surpassing the previous 36 point-margin set in 2003 & of course, last but not least, the 57 points scored were the most conceded by South Africa ever.) in a rousing 2nd half performance (Well I only watched the 1st half but I did not watch the 2nd half because I might fear that they are gonna lose that game but Dad told me that we have won the game because we're not livid at all) at Growthpoint Kings Park (Home of the Sharks Super Rugby & Currie Cup sides) in Durban during the final round of the 2016 Rugby Championship because the Rugby Championship is over for another year as the AB's for the 1st time in 2013, 6 out of 6 victories so far (Well I labelled the current New Zealand side in 1 word: dominating because they are closing in for most straight wins by a tier 1 nation & they have claimed another big scalp as South Africa had fallen victim again in the so called #Blackout of 2016 along with Argentina, Australia (Let's hope that the Wallabies join the Welsh 3 times just like they did) & Wales because the All Blacks were on fire during the 2016 Rugby Championship campaign since we regained our honours from Australia because they won it last year) but hey...we are just friends for so here's the full match commentary straight outta Durban (Not Compton in Los Angeles, California)
And from 1000hp/Break Stuff/Falling Away From Me/Nookie: The Thursday round-up:
Today was Thursday so Pops was here whilst I was in the shower so I was ready to get dressed to go to Mitre 10 but 1st I had to finish the moccachino then brush my teeth so I could be with Poppa & we went & after that, we went to New World to get the meal deal as well as some stuff to take but we went to Bark & Boulders Landscape Supplies in Wanganui to get the ponga was well as the bark before we went to 15A Kells Avenue & guess who was there, it was Diana Kent (Who lives in Palatine which is a suburb of Chicago, Illinois) & I did meet her (And I also haven't seen her since last year but I told her that when Nan died from cancer, she was on a holiday so she went back home & got a email to inform that Nan passed away) but before that we had to do some garden jobs but I cannot vaguely remember now that we did some work on the garden (Although Pops & I showed Diana Nan's Memorial Garden which I labelled as The Shire which is taken from the movie, The Lord Of The Rings (Which featured the likes of Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Sir Ian McKellen (As Gandalf who played the villainous Magneto in X-Men), Viggo Mortensen (As Aragorn who is armed with a sword who appears in films such as Hidalgo & the 2006 flick, A History Of Violence), Orlando Bloom (As Legolas who is also armed with a bow), Sean Bean (Ned Stark from Game of Thrones who plays Boromir), John Rhys-Davies (As the axe-wielding Gimli who is with Lisa Manning), the late Christopher Lee (As Saruman who portrayed Dracula as well as Count Dooku & Willy Wonka's father Wilbur), Liv Tyler (As Arwen Undolmiel who is the daughter of Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler), Cate Blanchett (As Galadriel), Sean Astin (Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee), Dominic Monaghan (Meriadoc ''Merry'' Brandybuck), Billy Boyd (Peregrin ''Pippin'' Took), Andy Serkis (As Gollum who always says: MY PRECIOUS!!!), Hugo Weaving (As Elrond who also played Agent Smith from The Matrix that I have mentioned before in my Euro 2016 final blog) & Ian Holm (As Frodo's dad, Bilbo Baggins who appeared in the 1997 movie starring Bruce Willis (AKA John McLane from Die Hard), Milla Jovovich (That's Alice from the Resident Evil movies), Gary Oldman (Ivan Korshunov/Commissioner James Gordon/Sirius Black) & Chris Tucker (And also, Rush Hour's Detective James Carter) directed by Frenchman Luc Besson (Who was with Milla Jovovich before she is now with the director of Mortal Kombat & the Resident Evil film series, Paul W. S. Anderson), The Fifth Element, portraying the role of Father Vito Cornelius) & after that, I had a chat to Diana to tell everything what is going on such as Donald Trump because I thought Trump was ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the poll for the US election but now that Clinton is ahead of Trump & Diana said that it was a really good question because she was impressed about it although she told me that she's going to Soldier Field (Home of the Chicago Bears) to watch the All Blacks play again to take on Ireland because she has been to that ground before when the All Blacks took on the USA Eagles (The AB's won 74 - 6 convincingly) 2 years ago but I told her about she does not have children like me, John Coburn & Aunty Tania & I thought she was coming with her niece Emily Shrout but she did not come, opting to stay in Chicago because she has nephews such as Alex & Casey (I told her that she has sons but she doesn't because Alex & Casey are her nephews but I did not know that Emily has 2 brothers) & she has cousins as well as telling her that I don't have a cousin (Because Aunty Tania doesn't have any children) but I do now because I have 3 cousins such as Paige Williams (Who I know is the daughter of Cathey Middelplaats because I once told Diana that Nan had a baby named Cathey because Nan doesn't know how to take care of her but the Middelplaats family adopted her instead), Luca & Nico Mitchell (I almost forgot to tell that Cathey had 2 sons with her current partner John Mitchell but family matters anyway) & I also told her about going to the South Island in January 2017 (Which is next year) so me & my whole family are going in a once in a life-time trip because Aunty Tania's French Canadian partner Raejean had never ever been to the South Island & after having a relatively good chat, we went to Caroline's for a lunch which is my dinner by the way because I was always having a rare steak with blue cheese sauce, fries & salad which felt great as well as having a carrot cake (Which is my favourite cake of all time) & mocchachino & I also chatted to Diana lots about she had been to New York City, New York as well as Los Angeles, California & Houston, Texas as well as her favourite food which is cheese (Although mines gotta be pasta by the way for 16 years (Well I've tried it at an italian restaurant in Petone & I quite liked it ever since) since 2000 (The same year that Sydney hosted the Olympic games as well as the Russell Crowe movie Gladiator came out, France beating Italy with a golden goal to win Euro 2000 & Michael Schumacher winning his 3rd of his 7 illustrious Formula 1 World Championship titles) because I had pasta last night (Well I do like pizza, stir fries & sushi at the moment but pasta is always my option) & her greatest moment of her life was having a retirement party because now she is officially retired from school teaching (My greatest moment of my life was the All Blacks winning the Rugby World Cups of 2011 & 2015 because we mastered the art of rugby) as well as that I'm officially friends with her so she gave me a card about her name & email address (She is 56 now because she was born in 1960 & she 1st came to New Zealand in 1988 (She was 28 at the time & that same year that Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal in the 100m at Seoul in South Korea due to steroid use after being tested positive to stanozolol, handing the gold to American Carl Lewis & I told her that we had a successful campaign in Rio with 4 gold medals, 9 silvers & 5 bronzes but didn't Diana's country of birth do well at the Olympics as the USA (Which stands for United States of America) topped the medal table ahead of Great Britain with 46 golds, 37 silvers & 38 bronze medals but Pops told Diana that Fiji won it's very 1st ever gold medal at the games by winning rugby sevens (And who did they take on in the gold medal match? It was Great Britain) but I do not believe my eyes that their country, is now officially a rugby sevens mad nation) whenever I want to & after that, we went back to 15A Kells Avenue but I told Diana a question (I told Poppa at Caroline's that I talked about All Black Anton Lienert-Brown (Who is a self proclaimed fan of British reggae band UB40) because his name Anton is Russian for Anthony because he's an All Black with a Russian name (Although there's another Anton who played in the All Blacks was Anton Oliver, who is the son of Frank Oliver) just like Leon Benbaruk told me that Pawel is Polish for Paul & Pierre is French for Peter but that is according to him who is my friend & mentor along with Hanne & Sophie because Diana had never met Leon who was born in Morocco because he was raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to do some university work there because he was graduated way back then because he was a Rhodes scholar & he lived here in New Zealand 36 years ago compared to Hanne who has been living here for 43 years) about she has seen the Liam Neeson movie Taken or not because she said no & I did a famous line of the movie which is ''I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want but what I do have is a very particular set of skills'' but Pops told me that Arnold Schwarzenegger was my favourite actor but I was blown away when I said ''Hasta la vista, baby'' & ''I'll be back'' which is kinda hard case or should I say hilarious. And after we got back to 15A Kells Avenue, Pops & I went back to work to focus on the stuff & after that, I read all of the Richie McCaw books such as Richie McCaw - The Open Side (Which is about his autobiography leading up the events to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in which he became the 1st All Black captain since David Kirk in 1987 to lift the William Webb Ellis Trophy (Although Kirk became the 1st & last All Black captain to lift the World Cup trophy, I had absolutely no idea that Richie McCaw was the next All Black captain to do that (Some tried & failed such as Gary Whetton, Sean Fitzpatrick, Taine Randell & Reuben Thorne) & Richie McCaw 148 (Which is about his 148 test caps for the All Blacks including his debut against Ireland featuring Brian O'Driscoll in 2001 & 2 Rugby World Cup triumphs in 2011 & last year) but guess Poppa saw? It was Anne (Who gave me a sample of ginger slice) who was with her daughter Lauren who showed Nan's memorial garden as well as having afternoon tea (I drank sparkling water (Well I changed my mind after I turned down the offer to drink) & ate some slice) & having a chat to them (Well I told Diana that Caroline's does not hold 30,000 people because I saw on youtube about the Red Hot Chili Peppers told Moe Szylak that they told their agent that Moe's Tavern holds more than 30,000 people on an episode on The Simpsons & I ended up saying that famous line that Homer Simpson always says: D'OH!!! which is sure as hell as funny although Anne told us that somebody got the right answer on a gameshow called The Chase about a trip to Canada which is Ha ha, ho ho or he he because one of the contestants is a fan of Family Guy not The Simpsons because I used to tune in to The Simpsons because the last time I watched the show was last year in 2015 during our trip in the Coromandel with the late Nan & Pops) & before they go, Pops had an amazing concert singing one of their amazing songs before it was Lauren's turn to have a performance because she was an opera singer because her singing voice was like one of the best in the world because she sang like hell like a primadonna because I'm so impressed on her performance (Well, I smiled about it because it was a miracle but Lauren told us that she would be heading to Chicago on her university work) & guess who was here?! It was Leslee who arrived late because she was coming to have afternoon tea when Anne & Lauren left. But a few minutes later, I was going with Lesley to take her home because I said goodbye to both Diana & Pops & during out drive home, I told her that she would be going to the South Island for 3 weeks & when I arrived back after saying thanks for the ride & goodbye to Leslee, Dad was here (After spending several days in Te Wananga in Otaki) so I put the meal deal & groceries away as possible & I told Dad that Duke Nukem 3D came out 20 years ago (It was in 1996, the same year that England hosted Euro 96 which was won by Germany as well as Atlanta hosted the summer Olympics, Bill Clinton re-elected as President of the United States, a Mad Cow Disease that rocked across the UK which resulted export of British Beef being banned as a result, Sri Lanka winning the Cricket World Cup (New Zealand was out of it after losing to Australia (Who lost to Sri Lanka in the final) which featured the likes of Mark Waugh who scored 110 not out for his 3rd century of the World Cup in the quarterfinal (Although Chris Harris had a century of 130 runs) by 7 wickets with a Aravinda da Silva century of 107 not out, John Howard elected Prime Minister of Australia, Will Smith's movie Independence Day came out along with Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor, rapper Tupac Shakur getting shot mutiple times in a drive-by shooting & killed 6 days later, Damon Hill winning his 1st & only Formula 1 World Championship by 19 points, horror classic Scream starring Neve Campbell & Courtney Cox of Friends, also came out along with the Jerry Maguire movie starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr & Renee Zellweger & the All Blacks (Featuring the likes of coach John Hart, captain Sean ''Fitzy'' Fitzpatrick, Craig Dowd, Olo Brown, Ian ''Kamo'' Jones, the Brooke brothers of Robin & Zinzan (AKA Zinny), Michael ''Iceman'' Jones, Josh ''Crusher'' Kronfeld, Justin ''Marshie'' Marshall, Simon Culhane, Glen ''Oz'' Osborne, Walter Little (Father of North Harbour player Michael), Frank Bunce (Current Thames Valley Swamp Foxes assistant coach), Jeff ''Goldie'' Wilson (Who is married to Silver Fern Adine), Christian ''The Paekakariki Express'' Cullen & Jon ''JP'' Preston) finally winning a test series against South Africa for the 1st time after many years of failed attempts) & the Tom Cruise flick Mission Impossible came out) so I said to him ''Hail to the King baby'' anything as possible but Dad heard that line because I did not know that one of my Dad's friends who lives on Otaki, Clayton Cook played Duke Nukem 3D before because it was a relatively good game because Dad loved Duke Nukem 3D so much but I prefer Doom which is such another very excellent game & after that kerfuffle, I had sausage rolls for dinner after having that big lunch today & so here I am, doing a blog about today but I have a gimmick which is listening to alternative rock & heavy metal music (With bands such as 3 Doors Down, Green Day, Godsmack, Halestorm, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Live, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers (Which is one of my favourite rock bands (Although one of the Wanganui rugby players named Gavin Thornbury is a self proclaimed fan of the band that I have mentioned before in my blog about the lunch with John & Lim & Wanganui rugby report & well, I've got a Red Hot Chili Peppers T-Shirt that I've got) along with Foo Fighters & Incubus), Soundgarden & Ugly Kid Joe) on YouTube while I am writing a blog for today.
And from Mudshovel/So Far Away: Laying the Smackdown on the Aussies at Eden Park:
And what do I think about the game from the All Black perspective point of view? It was so great, absolutely amazing that the record is broken with 18 straight wins on the trot but shame for the Aussies (Even though highly controversial coach Michael Cheika is a clown meaning that they have copped some criticism about it meaning that he's a bit upset, a bit upset at the moment unlike Richetty Grub & Stuart Fraud by the Aussie media department, that is selfish but how foolish by the way, it's an outrage...A SCANDAL!!! (Not a car crash that killed Harry Potter's parents, James & Lily Potter) because they were livid about the try scored by Fijian born Henry Speight being rubbed out by the TMO (It looked like 'DHP' of Dane Haylett-Petty took out 'The Bus' of Julian Savea in a clear & obvious obstruction or should I say shepherding, well it certainly was) but that's all according to former Wallaby who works for Fox Sports, Rod Kafer said that Welsh referee Nigel Owens should never referee a test match again, that is disgraceful just like Craig Joubert about his poor decision (Just like Alain Rolland did by sending Sam Warburton off the field instead of going to the sin bin for a dangerous spear/tip tackle on Vincent Clerc during the Rugby World Cup semifinal in 2011 at Eden Park (The night before the All Blacks finally beating the Wallabies in the other semifinal after 2 consecutive World Cup losses against them in 1991 (Including David Campese scoring a try & setting up another for Tim Horan) & 2003 (Also including Stirling Mortlock's intercept try ending New Zealand's hopes of reaching the final as well as Wallaby halfback George Gregan yelling at Byron Kelleher's ear ''4 more years boys, 4 more years'') including Israel Dagg's show & go move which set up the opening try scored by Ma'a Nonu (He also scored a brilliant try from a signature/trademark Sonny Bill Williams offload during the World Cup final last year) & Cory Jane's man of the match efforts for bomb defusing by securing high balls) between Wales & France & one of the commentators for ITV Nick Mullins said the sending off of Sam Warburton (Well he's been one of the cleanest players of the tournament so far) was one of the most controversial decisions in the history of the World Cup) of awarding the penalty instead of a scrum to Australia against Scotland during the Rugby World Cup Quarterfinal last year (Well that game should've & could've been gone to the Scottish, they were livid), but hey we are just friends for but the All Blacks winning streak continues in a world record fashion of 18 & 0 since the pre Rugby World Cup test where the winning streak began last year but next we take on the luck of the Irish (Well the last meeting between the 2 sides was 3 years ago when Ireland came so close of achieving their 1st win against the All Blacks but the AB's proved them too strong because they were on the comeback trail to end 2013, undefeated) at Soldier Field (Home of the NFL franchise, the Chicago Bears & my American colleague Diana Kent is going to that game because she's got tickets but she told me last year that she went to a game to see the All Blacks play the USA way back 2 years ago) in Chicago, Illnois, United States of America then Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome then Ireland again at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin before ending 2016 in style against France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France in a rematch of the 2015 Rugby World Cup Quarterfinal in which they thrashed them 62 to 13 & then, the All Blacks begin 2017 in 3 test matches (Including twice at Eden Park & once at Westpac Stadium) against the British & Irish Lions side who has come here to conquer & invade our country as well as chewing bubblegums...and they are all out of gums because they would be swallowing our souls, so come get some...BRING IT! In a dish best served cold. But now my friends, this is WAR! But finding this task was an impossible mission that's all according to movie star Tom Cruise whose impersonator who appeared in a Sara Lee cheesecake ad/commercial (Containing movie stars, pop stars, comedians, presidents & of course rock stars) along with fellow celebrities who are claiming to be impersonators such as Taylor Swift, Ricky Gervais, Victoria 'Posh Spice' Beckham (David Beckham's wife is now ex-wife because the relationship seems to be far from over as we all know it), the President of the United States of America Barack Obama (Although he says that not for him, it's a White House) & Bono from U2 (He tells them that they must try one of these new Sara Lee cheesecakes but the President said it's yummy but Ricky Gervais says that Bono forgot to put his sunglasses on but he managed to put them on instead so that people may have impressed him so much).
And finally from 3 Libras/Judith/The Outsider: Wanganui Meads Cup victory title report:
It was on Sunday, the day after the Wanganui-Wairarapa Bush semifinal of the Meads Cup as well as the All Blacks-Wallabies test match at Eden Park that I went to Pops for dinner so we made the fruit salad for dessert by chopping up the fruit for the fruit salad as well as cutting the lettuce for the salad & chopping up the vegetables such as the carrots (Although Pops chopped the tomatoes up & made the vinegarette & put the chicken in the microwave before putting in the oven along with the potatoes) before I read all pages of both the Richie McCaw books such as The Open Side (My favourite part of the book was Richie McCaw (Who was a cult figure in world rugby because he shares the same role as a movie star (Just like rugby coaches share the same role of a rock star according to my blog 4 years ago) by the Robin Thicke of it) saw a sign out in one of the car park yards at a fan trail which is: I HOPE YOU ARE READY QUADE, RICHIE IS (Although McCaw had a feud with Wallaby Quade Cooper because Cooper kneed McCaw to the head during the test in Brisbane 5 years ago but why does the people of New Zealand dislike him so much? Because they boo him a lot whenever he picks up with the ball when he plays rugby here in New Zealand) & the referee Stu Dickinson saying at McCaw: ''Hands off, it's a ruck'' but the referee awarded a penalty because McCaw used his hands in the ruck) & Richie McCaw 148 but Bryan & Viv arrived so Poppa showed both of them Nan's Memorial Garden before we had our starter which is murukku, cheese, salami & red pepper then the main course was chicken, roast potatoes & salad with lettuce, tomatoes & carrots with vinegarette to serve & I did enjoy it but I told Bryan & Viv about my cousin Paige & her mother Cathey & Cathey's husband John who hyad been together for 10 years & my 2 little cousins Nico & Luca as well as Poppa's sister Kathryn & her children such as Ben, Gemma & Huia & partner from between Bristol & Portsmouth, Ken & after then it was dessert which is fruit salad with hokey pokey ice-cream then it was time to go home with Bryan & Viv after they went to see the memorial garden again this time it was during the dark & I talked about during my ride back home that both Bryan & Viv have been together for 42 years since 1974 (Although they 1st met at Spriggens Park but Bryan was 18 when he went to Australia on an under 19's rugby trip 50 years ago because this was way back in 1966 & he was probably working at Placemakers 20 years ago way back in 1996) & only have 1 children which is Ashley who is 35 years old & works for Total automotive & has been doing lots of running as part of their excercise & training & taking part in triathlons although I 1st met Ashley's partner Charlotte 12 years ago & they still together at the moment.
And it was on Thursday that Pops took me to his home at 15A Kells Avenue after we went to Mitre 10 as well as New World for the meal deal to do some stuff like building the houses for the gnomes & had a great lunch at the Red Lion near the city bridge where I had a burger & fries before going back to Poppa's to focus on some more work like building the houses for the gnomes & then we had fruit salad with hokey pokey ice-cream for dessert then finished the Richie McCaw books that I read before I went back home to end a wonderful day it was.
And today was a bit of a cliffhanger as Pops arrived to pick me up to go to the rugby & I did not know that Kathryn's partner Ken (AKA Kenshi) was with Poppa & I did not know that Ken has a son named Will (AKA Takeda) but Will is from Auckland because he has tattoos (And he has been to a rugby game before because he used to play rugby as a kid) & here we are at Cooks Gardens but I will tell you an incredible story about the Meads Cup final between Wanganui & Buller with several news reports coming in.
So that's it, see you next time because that is my 39th (XXXIXth) blog of the year 2016 (MMXVI) & my 79th overall so have a good Christmas (Remember, the real thing is tomorrow so don't you forget it so relax, do not do it because it must be simply the best, better than all the rest) & a safe new year...& remember, we are Code 4 here, repeat after me, CODE 4 PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE! And of course I will be doing my final part of my year in review blog for 2016 on New Year's Eve which is about thanking my family & friends for my support & the rock bands that I listen over the course of the year.
P.S. The world is a vampire
set to drain
secret destroyers
hold you up to the flames
and what do I get
for my pain
betrayed desires
and a piece of the game
And my cousin Paige Williams has finally sent me an email wishing me a merry Christmas (Did you know it's Christmas today so finally) just because I have never emailed Paige for like 4 months so here's her message in it's entirety:
Hi Whetu,
So lovely to hear from you. Merry Christmas!
Have you got a lovely day planned for tomorrow?
Jarrod and I are meant to be going up North in January so we will definitely be in touch and come and see you.
Yes we definitely felt the earthquake it was pretty scary, did you feel it at your house?
Tell your dad and Henry I say Merry Christmas also.
Lots of love,
Paige xx
And I have found a new favourite part of the Richie McCaw: The Openside book which is DC's wrecked along with Hands off, it's a ruck, I HOPE YOU'RE READY QUADE, RICHIE IS & Hand's off! Get out of there! So here's the full rundown of my new favourite part of the book:
''It's only when I'm wandering back towards the changing rooms that I notice he's no longer out there. One of the management team is standing outside the changing room, ashen faced.
'DC's wrecked,' he says.
When I get inside Dan's with Deb, in agony. Ted's hovering, stricken. I can see he's having in one of those This can't be happening moments.''
And finally I have been having a great Christmas because I had to stick my tradition of opening the presents & my favourite Christmas present was the money (Although I had to spend $200 at The Warehouse when I bought a cricket game which is Don Bradman Cricket 17 (Although I decided not to play that game now because I don't want that game) & a PS4 controller which I can use a a back-up or spare but Pops & Dad bought the TV for the PS4 & I wrote down the objectives & rules of playing Don Bradman Cricket 17 & today we are seeing Rogue One: A Star Wars story today but the movie includes stars such as Felicity Jones (Who plays Jyn Erso & appeared in the Jimmy Fallon show by demoing her Star Wars fight moves by giving him a fight sequence or should I say masterclass that she learned from her Kung Fu training background as well as also appearing in the movie Inferno with Tom Hanks who appeared in great movies such as Forrest Gump & The Green Mile with the late Michael Clarke Duncan), Chinese martial arts movie superstar Donnie Yen as well as the guy who played the evil Le Chiffre in Casino Royale which is Denmark's finest, Mads Mikkelsen (As Jyn Erso's father Galen), Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Jiang Wen & Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma & I even saw it yesterday because I was mindblown (Although Pops was waiting for Rejean so he could leave the Cemetery Circuit as far as they can) but my favourite part of the movie was the ending such as Darth Vader mowing down the troops of the Rebel Alliance as well as Princess Leia Organa (The Star Wars galaxy's favourite princess) appearing in a cameo role which is CGI enhanced because the original actor Carrie Fisher (Although she passed away due to a heart attack on the long haul flight from London to Los Angeles, California along with her mother Debbie Reynolds due to a stroke & George Michael due to heart problems where he died peacefully as well as a few celebrated icons who passed away in 2016 are pop singer David Bowie (AKA Major Tom), actor Gene 'Willy Wonka' Wilder, world famous boxer Muhammad Ali (Born as Cassius Clay), Lemmy Klimster from Motorhead, another actor Alan Rickman (AKA Hans Gruber from Die Hard & Professor Severus Snape from the Harry Potter movies) & of course, the Purple Rain man himself, Prince) might have been too old to play that instant classic character) as well as the mat saying loyal All Black supporters live here as well as the rugby calendar & the cricket photo album but we had a great traditional Christmas lunch there then I listened 16 rock songs on Youtube this Christmas, went to Nan's grave for the festive season, having a leftover chicken sandwich for dinner & spending time with Aunty Tania in the closing moments of Christmas on that occasion (And I won't tell you the drunken post Christmas incident last night straight away).
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