Hit 'em up!

This is just a quick note to finally explain the mystery that is 2-Up (which apparently is also a nice Australian wine according to Jess). So, the game. Think of the stock market with everyone running around waving pieces of paper, someone yelling 'Sell! Sell! Sell!' and someone else yelling 'Buy! Buy! Buy!' and when they find that they find each other they trade. Well, this is similar, except everyone has been drinking, and instead of yelling 'buy' and 'sell' people are yelling 'heads' and 'tails' along with how much money they want to bet. If someone is yelling '$20 on head' they will find in the crowd someone else who is yelling '$20 on tails'. At this point the person who is betting tails will hold on to the money until the results are in.

This yelling goes on in one room, there are three tables set up to form a square that is open on one side, this is where the officials are and where the coins will be thrown. Once most of the bets have been made people start yelling 'Hit 'em up' (refering to the coins). A person enters the middle of the square with a flat stick that has 3 coins on it, this person then uses the stick to throw the 3 coins up in the air above their head. Since there are 3 coins there will always be a definitive winner, either heads or tails, and then the winner gets the money....and that's it.

It's such a simple game but people get right into and get very excited. You're only allowed to play on ANZAC Day so people take full advantage, I've even bet a bit myself. I came out even so I feel I did pretty well, Kate won about $100 so we started to just bet with her since she seemed to be on a streak. I don't think it's something you can really understand until you've done it because I know I was quite skeptical before I tried but it was a blast.

Besides ANZAC Day we haven't had anything exciting going on. We're moving out of our townhouse this weekend to live with Andrew's parents for a week before we can move into our house. Last night we had our first work social event that I organised with the help of Sam, one of the guys at work. We all met at a local bowling alley and played a few games while eating burgers and having some beer. Afterwords some of us went to this great ice cream shop for dessert, it was a lot of fun and I think everyone had a really good time.....and that is all for now so I'm off to do more work, oh, except for...we got a puppy :)

We haven't picked him up yet but we get him tomorrow afternoon. He's so cute and tiny. His name is Coopa (that's how Andrew spells it and pronounces it although I say Cooper and it sounds the same). He is almost 8 weeks old, a mix better kelpie, bull arab, pit bull and white pointer, two from his mom and two from his dad I just don't know which two go to which parent. I'll be sure to post pictures of him as soon as we pick him up because I want everyone to see how absolutely adorable my puppy is.

Oh, and, I have a photograph on this magazine's website, they are an academic art magazine that I'm actually trying to get an article published in. Here's the link: Afterimage
Mine is on the first page, bottom row, second from the right. Enjoy!