Losing money on the ponies and scary people
In preparation of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, the swankiest holiday in existence, we went to the races leading up to it at Moonee Valley Racecourse on October 29, 2010. Keeping with the spirit of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, we decided to dress up and spend loads of money on the ponies.
With some initial confusion about the exact proceedings of the whole event, we stumbled to the TAB in our fancy dress and tried to make sense of the numbers. After realising the sheer simplicity of the system, we started making $2 bets on some horses. To place of course... much safer. As people started winning marginally, with me being the gleaming exception, bets started to get higher and the money was lost much faster.
The evening turned into a combination of being surprised, amazed, confused and disappointed. Having bet on a couple races myself, both won and lost, I was down by the time we got to one of the last races. I decided to give it one more go and managed to win enough money back to buy myself a prize. This prize consisted of a sausage in a bun. .... ha...ha... very funny.
Pre-Halloween
Halloween in 2010 occurred on a Sunday, which posed many challenges, as most people have jobs to go to on Monday. A plan was conceived; we were going to dress up and go out on the town on Saturday. Brilliant.
P.J. O'Brien's held a Halloween party on the Sunday, so we assumed they were cool with it if we rocked up in costume on Saturday. We were sadly mistaken. Most of us would be fine but, unfortunately Tony, being covered in blood and carrying around a severed hand and foot, was somehow deemed inappropriate for the venue. We were welcome to come back the next day though.
With the plan being ruined and no backup, we did what we normally do in such a scenario: celebrate at the Greenhouse. With some drinks and people in silly costumes we managed to salvage the night. The remainder of the evening we enjoyed the humour of each other's costumes and I spent some time riding up and down the lift, trying to scare other guests.
Not bad.
