Those who know me well, know that I rarely, if ever, call anyone by their real name. I always come up with my own nicknames, and in most cases, multiple nicknames for one person.
Finally, I have a true Aussie nickname. Thanks to the efforts of Brenton “Courtsy” “Couta” Courts, Nick “Bob” “Wheels” Whelan, Sammy “Radus” “Smuel” Notaro, and Adam “Adsy” “Shelsy” Shelley, I have a nickname. Some might say that nicknames are meant to shorten your name, but not in this case.
Sitting outside at Portsea Hotel in (you guessed it) Portsea this past week – the day of New Years Eve, actually – Adam pulled out his iPhone and Googled “Wolfgang Peterson” – a name Courtsy had been using for some time. Wheels thought Wolfgang Peterson was “a director or an author” – turns out, he was right. He had some big hits, actually. Anyway, during the Google process, Adam came up with many other famous Wolfgangs, and so my nickname was born. Wolfgang Daniel Eric Van Halen Mozart Pucky Pistol Peterson. Let me explain:
- Wolfgang (obvious)
- Daniel (ditto)
- Eric (my middle name)
- Van Halen (a guitarist from Van Halen was named Wolfgang)
- Mozart (Wolfgang was his first name)
- Pucky (Wolfgang Puck)
- Pistol (Radus started calling me Pistol Pete earlier that day, because of Peterson from Wolfgang Peterson)
- Peterson (the original Couta name)
In other news… A couple weeks ago we celebrated Dennis’ birthday, where I learned how to tell the difference between a female and a male duck, and we all got a little worried that Dennis was going to choke on his food when discussing it.
The past week is all a bit of a blur. I celebrated my first Christmas with the Tankards. We went to a family friend’s Christmas Eve, then had Xmas lunch at the Tankard’s in Gladstone Park. There was a delicious seafood spread, great company, awesome gifts, and plenty of booze. The next morning, Timmy and I headed to Highpoint to get on the Boxing Day deals. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones with that idea… It was a mad house. I had to circle around in his car (and go get gas – or petrol) while he went in and shopped with his multiple Highpoint vouchers.
From Highpoint we went to pick up Ben “Albs” “Albsy” Albani and Ben “Fitzy” Fitzsimmons and were on our way to Sorrento, where about 20 of us had rented a house for the week. Thanks to Adam for that! The week at the beach was amazing. In the group, some coming and going, were:
- Timmy
- Fitzy
- Albs
- Courtsy
- Chez
- Adam
- Sommer
- Tayls
- Ness
- Jules
- Wheels
- Daniel “Can’t Write His Nickname Online” Notaro
- Vetty
- Radus
- Sarah
- Plugger
- Jesse
- Bernie
- Beck
- Jess
- Yours Truly
The house was great – tons of sleeping space, our own pool, and a reasonably short walk from the beach, where we spent most of most days. Some highlights from the house included watching 5 days of cricket (Australia beat Pakistan), learning the rules of cricket, playing cricket (or trying to) on the beach, playing frisbee games, darts, pool, snooker, 180 eggs, tons of steak, chicken, and some beverages…
New Years Eve we went to another house in the area (this area was similar to The Hamptons in New York) which was rented out by a younger group that included two of Radus’ brothers, Patty and Sonny. That’s where most of the debauchery started. I’m going to leave it at that. But this house had an awesome faux-grass tennis court, guest house, spa, the works. Most of our party happened out on the tennis court – and included a game of volleyball with a basketball over the tennis net. I know, smart.
After Sorrento Timmy and I took the ferry over to St. Leonards for some detox with his parents. We spent two nights there, then returned home. Although the previous 8-9 days were amazing, I was very glad to be home – in my own room, own shower, etc.
2009 ended with a bang, and 2010 began with a bigger one. Happy New Year to all – here’s to a GREAT 2010!!