By far my most favourite photo.....

Yea, so Christmas was awesome - got thoroughly spoiled with such awesome things as a belt buckle that spells my name, mark ryden book, tattoo vouchers, ipod dock clock (hehehe, it rhymes!), too much chocolate, a big mirror, johnny depp (pirates, but i prefer to say that i got johnny for xmas)....the list goes on!

Ended up going to Tauranga for the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with my family which was cool - went and saw mum and dad's new house (very nice!) and just chilled with them for a couple of days - pretty much exactly what I needed really - that combined with mum's awesome cooking pretty much had me set!!

Spent xmas day with Chris' mum and dad - it was such a nice, quiet, relaxing xmas - usually xmas day for me (and for most people I'm guessing)is a huge rush of people, cooking, mess, stress etc... but this year it was great - had such a good time just hanging out with them, it was really cool.

On to new years - haven't had one quite like this in some time - by far the best new years ever I think!! Didn't start off too good - had to work during the day (yes...."work"....haha, didn't really do much though!) then went home, got all prettied up and then Simon and Sabrina came over with another Simon and Carl and we proceeded to get quite drunk, then Chris got home from work and played catch up, got drunk and then we all walked up to Oblivion (metal bar)- got in, got a drink and watched the band play for a bit then went outside to watch the fireworks coming off the skytower at midnight - it was really cool cos we were right underneath, although, looking straight up into the sky whilst really drunk is harder than it looks!

Spent the rest of the night at Oblivion dancing to awesome music, drinking wwwaaaayyyyyyyy to much and other things....good times! Details of the rest of the night are rather hazy, but I know we got in around 5.30am and as sleep wasn't an option - we continued the party at home - only now, on Friday morning am I fully recovered!

Anyway, gotta start work

xx ciao

Ok, I could be slightly addicted to peppermint tea - i think i'm on my 3rd cup for the day and it's only 11.30am.

It's just so good!

Could be worse I suppose, I could be drinking copious amounts of chocolate milk.

Gross.

Current Music: NIN - We're in this together

Rock guitarist among 4 killed at Ohio club
Police officer shoots suspected gunman to death
Thursday, December 9, 2004 Posted: 1955 GMT (0355 HKT)



Witnesses recount a deadly shooting spree at a nightclub.


COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) -- A 25-year-old man stormed the stage at a heavy-metal rock concert Wednesday night, shooting and killing Damageplan guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott and three others before a police officer shot and killed him, Columbus police said.

On Thursday, police identified the suspect as Nathan Gale of nearby Marysville. A spokesman said police had no information about a motive or possible link to the band.

"Right now we don't see any connection at all, but that could change," Columbus police Sgt. Brent Mull said. "Unless he left a note or there's something else, we may never know the motive."

At least two people also were wounded in the attack, which occurred shortly after Damageplan began its performance at the Alrosa Villa nightclub on Columbus' north side.

James Niggemeyer of the Columbus police was nearby and responded to a call about the shooting. He slipped in a back door, and someone directed him to the stage, Mull said.

"We got the call about 10:18, and by 10:20 he was in there," Mull said, adding that "it was probably less than a minute before he engaged" the suspect, who was holding a hostage.

"The officer was able to strategically gun this guy down before he was able to kill his hostage," Mull said. "It appeared he was about to kill his hostage before this officer put an end to it."

Mull said the hostage was unharmed and that Niggemeyer's action saved lives.

"The officer ran in without any backup ... obviously put himself at risk," he said. "The community has a real hero here."

Abbott, 38, and his brother, Vinnie Paul Abbott, 40, formed Damageplan after the breakup of Pantera -- a group they formed in the 1980s. Their father is Jerry Abbott, a country and western songwriter and producer.

Pantera's third release, "Far Beyond Driven," debuted at No. 1 in 1994. The band was nominated for Grammys in 1995 and 2001.

The band dissolved at the end of a tour last year -- amid much speculation on fan Web sites that the split was not amicable. The two brothers, however, played down any bitterness during an April 1 interview with CNN.

"It just kind of got narrow-minded, and we just wanted to bust it open a little bit more and just broaden it up, go for the Baskin-Robbins 31 flavors instead of the one, you know what I mean?" Darrell Abbott said.

Vinnie Paul Abbott said: "We had 13 years of really, really good success. And basically the singer wanted to move on, do some other things and really lost his focus."

At least 1 audience member among deaths
At least one of those killed Wednesday night -- Nathan Bray, 23 -- was a member of the audience. Mull identified another deceased victim as Erin Halk, 29, although it was unclear if he was a concertgoer or an employee.

Mull did not identify the remaining fatality. Abbott was the only band member confirmed dead "at this point," he said.

One of the wounded is in critical condition, the other hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Two others were hurt and treated at the scene, although the nature of their injuries was unclear.

Mull said homicide detectives are checking possible amateur video shot inside the club during the shooting but said they weren't sure if the footage would be useful.

Police roped off a huge area of the nightclub's parking lot as 60 detectives questioned hundreds of witnesses. Police brought in buses to keep the witnesses warm as they waited.

Witnesses described the gunman as a heavyset man, wearing a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey jersey.

Calvin Bota said he saw the shooting from the mosh pit in front of the stage shortly after the band began playing.

"Somebody came -- I don't know where they came from, out of the audience or whatnot -- but they come onto [the] stage and ... he shot the guitarist at first, fired a couple of other shots and then he hid behind the stage a little bit," Bota told CNN affiliate WSYX.

"Everybody started scattering, you know, there's mayhem everywhere. And then a police officer came into the building, you know, came in professional with his gun raised, and then he proceeded to shoot the guy."

Mull said Columbus police have responded to previous incidents at the club, including several he characterized as minor as well as a shooting in the parking lot. He said he was unaware of the club's security practices, except that it had no surveillance camera or metal detector.

"They are in charge of their own security inside," he said. "There are times they hire off-duty Columbus police for parking lot security -- we are prohibited by law from working inside a liquor establishment -- but last night there were none."

CNN's Steve Brusk contributed to this report.

Dimebag.






I can't believe it.




I got the greatest news and the worst news within 20 minutes of eachother.


I can't believe he's gone.






rip

things have been going suprisingly well over the past couple of weeks. I fully expected some tension at home with Thomas now that me and Chris are together, but nope, everything's really cool. I mean, sure, we've been broken up for a wee while now, but not that much, and sure, it's hard still living together, but he really has no problem about me and chris. which is good, because seriously, what i feel for him is more than i've ever felt for anyone. EVER.

Christ, I'm starting to sound like a dick. again. but i don't care. i'm so in love. it's great.

<333333333333333

How to make a zerogirl

Ingredients: 3 parts success 5 parts brilliance 1 part energy

Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Top it off with a sprinkle of emotion and enjoy!

i just got $60.00 worth of shopping centre vouchers from the computer toner company!

Just had lunch with Tori - vege lasange. it rocked.
made a slight purchase on the way back to work....... a new wallet and bag. both lipstick red. i'm in love with them.

Went for drinks at bex's house on friday night. got way to drunk, and vaugely remember chris and simon dressing up in girls underwear and going swimming. and then later on simon in a pair of girls fluro boxer shorts diving into the pool to get a knife from the bottom of the pool. that was pretty funny. took some cool polaroids aswell.

Vaughan's funeral was on Saturday. they reckon there was about 400+ people there. it was pouring with rain and there were people everywhere, upstairs,downstairs, on the floor in the asiles, all up around the coffin, and outside in the rain. so many people spoke. we cried so much our heads hurt. we all signed the coffin and his surfboards. it may have been the saddest i've ever been in my life. no lies.

Me and tom stayed home on sat night. he hired out some movies (cabin fever & virgin suicides) and brought home burger wisconsin for dinner (yum chicken cream cheese and cranberry).

Kendall called from Canada on sunday, i was so happy to hear from her, i miss her so much. so much gossip and such was passed over the lines.

i love this song.

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Shine on you crazy diamond- Pink Floyd

Went and saw 50 1st dates with tom last night, it was pretty funny, we had a good time, it was good to get my mind off things for a couple of hours. The funeral's on saturday. anyway, i'm off to lunch now.

hmmmm, i think i have the flu.

went to mt manganui with tom mark & tori over the weekend. had a wicked time. stayed in toms parents "bach" did a bit of surfing, mighty cold though.
more later.