Do you believe in fate? Personally, I don't. My mind has always been very literal and precise, and the idea that all things happen for a reason pre-ordained just doesn't sit well with me. Now, I'll be the first to admit that odd things do happen in the world...random things that can make you think twice...but is it fate?

Such a thing happened to me recently. My sister is visiting us currently, accompanied by her boyfriend Liam. Liam and I were at a lose end the other day, both of us being attached to better halves that were themselves otherwise occupied...and missing us as much as we were missing them I'm sure, so we decided to go to the dogs (thats greyhound racing for those of you who are wondering). I'm not a gambling man, but Liam does have an interest in such things, so I agreed and we went...just the two of us...neither of us 'experts' in gambling or in dogs for that matter (and me completely clueless about the whole affair), and boy, did we prove that! Our luck, if one could call it that, was terrible. In five races, we succeeded in throwing a good chunk of our money down the tube, backing dogs that couldn't outrun a comatose snail with a good tailwind, but then...

I turned the page in the program, annoyed and somewhat bemused with the whole gambling lark, and scanned the list of runners in the next race. This is what I saw:

Trap 5: BANNER VIERI - trainer: Robert Bennett

That, and a whole lot of nonesense about the dog and the odds it was running under. Seeing that name, I made my mind up and, much to Liams uncertainty - drawn from the baffling sequence of numbers next to the dog's name that apparenly meant it hadn't been performing well lately - I insisted that we both back it, and...IT WON!!!! Tore out of the trap (I think thats what they call the starting gate thing) and left the other dogs standing.

Now, I'm sure that there are those of you out there that are saying a big 'SO WHAT?' right now, for I haven't really made myself clear. You see, I did indeed have a very good reason to back that particular dog. Those of you that know my girl Raffy, may be aware that her real name is Raphaela VIERI, and those of you that know me, know that RoBoC is a contraction of ROBERT O Connor...do you get it now? A dog that I'd never seen before, that just happened to be named after the love of my life, trained by a man I never met, yet who shared my first name, and I backed it on...well pure faith is the only way I can describe it to you. Was that fate? Was it a sign from above that Raffy and I are meant for one another? I don't know, but if it is, I am NOT complaining :D

Well, thats about all from me for now, thanks for listening.

RoBoC

(PS: Yes, we did go back to losing afterward so yes, we do suck at gambling...but we kept our shirts, thanks to my baby and thanks also, perhaps, to fate)

Well folks, that time of year has returned once more, the day that a certain young RoBoC was first let loose on an unsuspecting world!!!

So now I'm 24! What does that mean? Actually, it means bother all as far as im concerned, birthdays to me mean one thing....presents!!! Good haul this year too, the usual mix of DVDs, clothes and cash, but most special to me by far were the ones from my girl, raffyv. Inspired by our relationship, she commisioned some really cool graphics to celebrate us, which were then designed and realised by her very talented friends.










Banners by clannoire...cheers!






A really cool one from the uber-skilled malena_sama






And last but not least, this wicked one from Wicked...go on the pun!!! JK, thanks.




The icons below were also done by Cappy, inspired by the Roffy phenomenon...very nice!

Righto - its here - i bought it - i read it - any of you who know me knew that i would, so here we are.

I've got some comments that I wanted to share - read if you like...


( HBP Theory....SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

Hey guys,

Well its me again. I just did up some pics for future use by my gal, raffyv. Hope she likes em...






A Banner for her LJ






Ambigramic Banner (yes i did read Dan Brown, and YES - this is an ambigram, pic and all :)






The same as above, only sideways...






An icon that she can use with her LJ (cough cough..:P)



Well thats the lot from me, now back to whatever I was doing.

Bye

Hi guys,

This is a little off topic from the earlier discussion, but since some people now seem to actually be reading this journal, i just thought i could now use it as a platform to spread some good word. A friend of mine from college is currently trying to break and enter into the music world and, unlike some other people who claim that is their goal, this guy actually has talent :P His name is Conor Ebbs and hes one of the coolest, and funniest people i know, a great singer and one holy hell of a songwriter, so check him out...http://www.conorebbs.com - seriously, he rocks, you just gotta love the track Flight, and Arise and...well all of them really :P

Bubye for now - GO LISTEN!!!!

RoBoC

Hey guys,

Look, this is going to sound a bit on the weird side, but i have to ask you all something. Have you ever met someone who, despite making you so angry sometimes that you want to tear your own hair out just to make yourself feel better, still makes you feel like you are the most special person in the world? Have you ever felt such a powerful emotional connection with somebody that you honestly dont know if a word, any word, can be used to describe it? Have you ever been doing something, some random thing, and a single thought about this person pops into your head and completely derails you?

This is whats happening to me. I dont know how it happened, i really dont, but it has. Now im not going to say anything more here, but maybe, just maybe, she will see this message and reply to it. She should already know how i feel. At least i hope she does.

Well im home - yippee, and man am i tired :(
ttyl
RoBoC

Well folks, im off to the big cheese...i mean the big apple for a lil holliday. Wont be back or anywhere near a comp for the next week - so take care and ill see you on the flipside!!!

Well here we are, the day that all us wars fans have been waiting for - tonight at midnight, starwars ep 3, the revenge of the sith, hits our screens. I personally will be there at 12 midnight on the dot, all done up in my non SW costume (im not that big a nerd folks - honestly! :P)
Im looking forward to it - personally i dont get how Lucas is gonna pull off the fall of Anakin to Darth Vader in two hours - he has a long way to go from lose cannon to psycho killer...but well see

May the Farce be With you!

Goddamn it but yankee doodle money is odd. Its green and off yellow, has some dude on the front (of the 20 dollar bill) that looks like he belongs on a wanted poster for giving out Kinder surprises, and to top it off - it stinks, i mean really smells bad - and these are new notes i got.

I dunno, this stack better buy me a lot of beer.

Well folks - its officially two weeks till i ship out to the US of A for a liddle holiday

YayaY!

Hey, just saying hi for the sake of saying low