[With Me – Sum 41]
Congratulations Ula! Beautiful beautiful girl.
Some readers may remember that around this time last year I posted “A Beautiful Dream Come True“. Well, on Sunday the 24th of January, 2010, my awesome friend Ula wedded her husband (wow) Vlad.
Congratulations Mr and Mrs Protassow, may your lives together be as blessed and beautiful as your story of meeting and proposal!
Alex.
P.S. Thank you Whitty for the photo.
[Never Knew – The Rocket Summer]
Yesterday I had my first job interview, and then I went to Lois’ place.
Before I went into the city I had some time to kill, so I quickly met up with Jenny at the Glen, and she walked me to the station. It was very very much appreciated!
It wasn’t really an one-on-one interview anyway, it was more of a group thing. I went to Advance Fitness on Bridge Rd. After filling out some forms and all, Zoe (the HR girl) came in and we all introduced ourselves and why we were interested in the role (I was the only one who said, “Because I don’t know how to do anything else”). Then we read through a very simple sample script. I felt like I sounded like a hoarse transvestite (that’s what I get for yelling at Spanna’s), but as I got on the tram to leave later on I got a call from them, and now I have a 2nd round interview next Thursday.
I got to Lois’ house (which is, in one simple word, huge) and they were making cake. Jenny greeted me with a hug (which I have to make a big deal out of, despite everything else haha) and then put cream on my face from the cake she was making. Nashi, Kev and Steph were already there, and Andrew was getting a haircut. Steph played some fail pool (when I say fail pool, I meant she disregarded all rules and regulations, but still failed), and then Pom arrived. Basically sat around for a bit and watched the girls play DDR (I don’t think Pom understood the fact that standing on the down button meant the menu will keep scrolling down), then we started watching Scary Movie 3 which skipped, so we moved onto Scary Movie 4. I tried and was half successful in falling asleep until in one “scary” scene Jenny screamed and woke me up. Apparently Scary Movie is scary…
“Tempura sushi sashimiiiiiiiii”
You’ll understand if you’ve seen it.
After the movie we went back out and they started making dumplings. They chopped up all the ingredients, and I was put in charge of cooking the eels – which Pom has never eaten. I don’t know if she enjoyed it – which was weird, because apparently you cook them with the packet on. Anyway.
Steph started chugging down the Aloe “frog sperm” that she became addicted to (she’s never had that either. What a surprise!) and so we (Pom, Steph and I) sat at the kitchen bench watching Lois, Jenny and Andrew make the dumplings.
Andrew failed.
I laughed at his failure.
When Lois went to cook the dumplings, she complained that there were loose meat just floating around the water. I laughed and pointed at Andrew. Well, he did try to make dumplings without dabbing some water onto the skin. HOW ELSE DOES IT STICK?!
There was flour on the dumpling skins, so it prompted Jenny to mark everyone with flour. Love, I know you’re reading this, if you’re going to mark your territory…
Pom had to leave before we ate dinner (we were cooking dinner at 8:30) but otherwise everyone else stayed to eat at the table like a family. We made jokes about the dumplings, and then it was discovered that Kev wasn’t very skilled in drinking. Sorry I had to mention it! But at least, now, Kev, you know.
Jenny wanted to change the music upstairs, but was scared to go up by herself as it was dark and she was paranoid that a “green baby” (like the ones from The Grudge) would climb down the walls and eat her. So she took Lois upstairs with her. Unanimously, we all stood up and hid behind the walls near the stairs, waiting for those two to come down. In the end, when Jenny came down, I shouted “RAH!” and she started screaming while walking calmly towards the sofa, where she buried her face.
Then she tried to squeeze the living heck out of me as punishment. It really. Really. Hurt.
I left after that, and it was a really great night filled with laughter, funny shit, and lovely hugs.
(Jenny just said, “What the hell?” because I am on the phone with her. Apparently we didn’t do lovely hugs. Well. Eh.)
Alex.
[That 70’s Song – The Cab]
(Alright I started writing this before I left on the 29th. Who knows when I’ll finish it).
Yesterday was Spanna’s birthday party deal at her place. She lives quite near Jenny so I got the two sets of instructions mixed up, and got off at the bus stop that would have been for Jenny’s place. Well, it was an extra 100 meters walk, so I managed.
Spanna as one of those kids’ playgrounds just behind her house, and we were all mighty envious of that.
Met Spanna’s cousin May, who despite appearing to be 15-17, was actually 25. She became the source of entertainment as everyone arrived, they had to guess May’s age. The closest was 20.
When I arrived, Tiff, Sonam and Vania were there already. We nibbled on some snacks and generally talked. I realized Tiff is going to QLD, where Cathy’s going (same course). (Speaking of which, Dani’s going to ACT, it seems, which is depressing.)
I sat with May for a while just chatting and “watching” tennis (I don’t really follow it) and after a while Susan, Shar-, Bel and Julia arrived. So the party got moved to the living room, and we continued eating and watching tennis (the scene was very reminiscent of Sorrento, where we sat around eating. Indeed, Sonam held the same slouched pose).
Jen arrived, and then we basically started on all the food and drinks. Spanna had her “Oppa” Ray there, and being the only guy he retreated into Spanna’s fort-like bedroom and listened to the Backstreet Boys (we could hear him when it was quiet).
After downing enough food to drown a small hippo, Jen left.
Oh wait my wording made it sound like Jen ate shitloads and left. I meant, we all ate shitloads, and then Jen left. Ah forget it.
Viv and Eve arrived later on, and we cut the insanely huge Black Forest Cake. And then when everyone started leaving, We opened presents, and Spanna received her first pair of pants (I kid you not, she has not worn pants for the better part of the last decade). Then when everyone started to leave, Lily arrived.
We ate more food, had ice cream on mini cones, and then got all high. I left at around quarter to six, stuffed to my eyeballs and tired as hell.
Memorable quotes of the day, since Tiff was around:
Tiff: “I know you’ll miss me but get your hand out from other there!”
And:
Spanna: [looking at the mini cones] “Oh my God they’re so small!”
Me: “You’ll be saying that a lot more from now on.”
And:
Jen: “Look how drunk my text sounds!” [Text read: Hey jen has no more basterrym whsrtt time and place?]
Happy birthday, Spanna, and I wish you the best of luck learning how to make 2 minute noodles.
Alex.
I came across this “Ice cream theory” on Mai’s Tumblr just then, and I read it. I found it very very interesting.
This I suppose in a very self centered sort of way runs tangent with my Life Is A Meal theory (as Katherine had posted for me a while back).
Enjoy.
Alex.
P.S. I will write about Spanna’s birthday maybe tomorrow. And write about today…tomorrow. I’m so behind.
[Fall For You – Secondhand Serenade]
(I’m pretty sure I’ve used this song already.) Yesterday was the Melb Uni AAD and my audience participation in TAYG! So it was a long and very tiring day.
I got up at 7 so I could be at the Glen by 8:30 (it takes a while for Mom to get ready even though she seems to be okay to go back to work now). Why would I want to be at the Glen at this ungodly hour, you ask? Yes because Jenny said she’ll meet me there at that time. In the end she was 40 minutes late.
Took the train up to Melb Central with Jenny and walked around Borders while she tried to find the book that she wanted for her birthday. Couldn’t find it (I think if Borders didn’t have it…then…I mean…seriously…).
Waited under the clock for Pris who was 10 minutes late and made me worry a lot because I didn’t want to be late to our Info Session. Saw MacRob girls already, which was a prelude to how many we’d see throughout the day. Said bye to Jenny, as she was going to RMIT [insert giggle here…just kidding!] so Pris and I went up.
Saw some Brentwood people upon arrival, such as Huey, Swin and Jonga. Looks like the 2 parts of my life is going to join at Melbourne!
Then went on to Redmond Barry hall, and said morning to Mai and Jen. Went into our lecture theatre and there was greeted by the surprise of the month.
Spanna yelled out my name as I walked in. I had not known (despite apparently everyone else being clued in) that she was going to be in course, so you can imagine the speed with which I bounded up the steps to hug her.
The Info Sesh itself was pretty boring, and the lady and the guy more or less told us what we already knew. It was strange to see Esther from the previous year in our Info Sesh though. Asking around later I found out she’d deferred a year which is why she is now in our “year level”. It’s quite weird to think about that!
After the Info Sesh Spanna stayed in the Redmond Barry hall place, and Jen and I went to Union House with Pris. Pris left when we got to Union House and I met up with Mai and Jen again, and sat with them. Failing to remind me that there was a free BBQ, I bought lunch.
Oh, this is the point where I gloat that I managed to make one friend! (Yes, one.) There are probably around 6 Asians in our course, two of whom are males. So it was easy to notice the other Asians in the room. I saw a girl who was sitting by herself two rows ahead, and later on at Union House when I saw Sab- and Esther (different to the one doing my course) I saw that girl tagging along too. Her name is Anna, and turns out we have mutual friends! So there. I made a friend.
We saw many many MacRob girls there (and I saw Clare there too. I’d forgotten she was doing BA as well). So many, in fact, that we took up two picnic tables with our awesomeness (there were numerous MHS guys as well).
After lunch Jen went to a Diploma of Languages lecture and Spanna and I went to this lecture for Chinese. Saw Pam-, Andy, Theresa and many many other Chinese folks (duh). The guy who was in charge of the lecture was, as he reminded us many times, “only an ACTING consultant” as the real guy was on some “China Trip”. So in all senses he had no idea what any of the details were.
For example, when asked a question regarding which sort of classes to be in: “I really am not the person to ask that question. If you ask me I would probably say go to the website.” Pause. “Did that answer your question?”
No.
After that I found Jen again and we went to Brunetti’s near Lygon St and met up with her friend Martin. We had a drink, and talked about university, and then I had to leave to meet up with Swin so we could go to TAYG.
It was stressful to make sure that Mani and Michelle were at Southern Cross properly because, when I asked Michelle where she was, as I saw her train pull up a few moments ago, she replied, “the station.” Well d-fucking-uh.
Took the tram up to Docklands and went to the Channel 10 Studios. We waited outside for a bit, then got ushered into the audience foyer. Everyone was dressed very colorfully as the invitation suggests.
As we were going into the actual recording studio, we had to pair up, and since we were a group of 5, Wilson didn’t have anyone. So one of the security guards grabbed Wilson and shouted out to the rest of the audience: “THIS GUY DOESN’T HAVE A FRIEND! HE’S ALL ALONE IN THIS WORLD!” (Or something hilarious along those lines.)
The filming itself took over 3 hours. There was a guy called Michael who warmed up the crowd with some jokes and stuff. Then all the cast came out and greeted us. We cheered, applauded, whooped and pretended that we heard some jokes for the first time. I won’t give away what happened; you’d just have to watch it (it’s the 3rd episode of the new season). They threw lollies at us (and missed) and tried to get our cheer maintained so we were an awesome audience.
The show ended filming at around 8:30, and we stayed outside until Michelle got picked up by her family friend. Then we took the tram and trains back to Glenny. On the way back, Swin kept on making fun of me because I couldn’t hear her through my music. I COULD STILL TELL SHE WAS LAUGHING AT ME!
Today I went to Spanna’s house for her birthday, but that would be a different post which I am too tired to write right now. Tomorrow I have an interview at a Telemarketing company for a job (yes I know the irony is many layered), and going to one of Jenny’s friend’s house to hang out and have dinner. It will be a hectic day tomorrow as well.
Wish me luck!
Alex.
[If I Never See Your Face Again – Maroon 5]
At the moment I’m working out of this ASUS Gateway thing which gives me access to internet however limiting me to no access to my Hard Drive.
So I’m using this thing called “Splashtop Browser” which looks like IE and works like IE…slowly.
Still better than nothing.
I’ll keep you guys posted on how my computer fares from now on.
It seems I have managed (with about 99.99999% help from Mani and Tarquin) to kill the virus, however when I am working in normal mode my computer screen still restarts me back to the blue screen of death, and when I work in safe mode with networking I can’t get an internet connecting (clearly I have one…).
So I am waiting on my family IT friend who is in Sydney right now to come back.
Tomorrow is the AAD for Melb Uni and also I got a spot to be an audience member of Talkin’ About Your Generation! Very excited.
Alex.
I got a call from this number which I’ve been missing for a while now. Picked it up, and it was a telemarketer of sorts from Optus.
My house gets bad reception so I was sort of running around trying to get reception while she talked to me. I missed about half a sentence so I said, “I’m sorry I have bad reception I can’t hear you.” She replied back, “I can hear you perfectly.”
I suppose all those hang ups have made her cynical and straightforward. I should give her that point.
However, since we’ve been getting Chinese telemarketers, the next time I get one and I accidentally respond in Chinese, I’ll say, “Sorry I don’t speak Japanese.” And hang up. Sure, I’m being racist toward my own people, but I’m allowed to be.
Alex
Poster note: What highlighted ? title ? OH WAIT. I SEE IT. I get it. That’s gunna be a pain to type manually. Psh. Totes got it. TO THE BLOG !
“There are many components and ingredients that make up a delicious meal of Life. You need of course your main staples (health) meats (people close in your life), veggies (Mother Nature), a good cold drink (a will to keep living) and salt and pepper on the side to taste (people whose acquaintance come and go).
But apart from that everything else is variable. You can choose for a better or worse Life depending on what kind of meat and veggies you want, and how much salt and pepper to taste.
Some people are vegetarians, some people tend to expose themselves to fatty and unhealthy meat.
Some people choke their food with seasoning until they can’t even distinguish the taste of the meat and veggies it decorates.
Then, there are those who are more creative, more gifted in their enjoyment of Life.
Some are given a good entree, a solid happy childhood.
Some saved enough room for a satisfyingly sweet retirement.
Some choose to have a few differing courses in between, savoring the different flavors that different dishes offer:
A rich smoked career salmon, a warm and soft friendship mashed potatoes coupled with smooth vacation gravy.
Perhaps some chewy but rewarding family steak marinated in sour-sweet red wine sauce that screams with children’s laughter.
Some might even try a refreshing mixed salad, containing a fast car, a big TV and a spacious house in a beautiful view.
In the end, an enjoyable Life is as variable and as attainable as the enjoyer wants it to be.
But it must be enjoyed as soon as it is ready. The cold air of Loneliness will steal from Life its warmth, its aroma, its taste and its worth. Drinking only watery tears of Sadness, your appetite will be washed away, leaving a perfectly prepared Life going to waste.
So now, you sit at you table, your Life Menu in front of you. Take a good look, you can have anything you want. Look around, you can enjoy your Life with whomever you wish.
What would you like to order?”
– Alex ft. k
[Breathe – Anberlin]
I’m writing this from my iTouch because this stupid virus called IS2010 managed to completely fuck up my computer. I can’t even log on anymore.
If you want to comment with a suggestion that would be really appreciated but overall I’ve had heaps of help from Mani and Whitty and we’re calling a family friend over on Friday.
Friday!! I’m barely managing.
Haha well, while true I’m also grateful that I have another computer on which I can watch the movies on my portable HD. I’m grateful that my iTouch and phone both have Internet connections to keep me sane. Now fingers crossed that I don’t lose all my pictures, music and files again.
Speaking of crossed fingers, uni offers came out yesterday! Ling story short, I got my media and communication at Melbourne uni after all. Quite relieved! Now waiting to get my computer back (computer with Internet) so I can do all my online enrolling stuff, or else expect me knocking on a few friends’ doors for their computer.
So now I’m watching a whole bunch of tv. Did you know that Full House (not the Korean one) is on either GO! or channel Seven Two at six thirty? It’s such a cute cliche show.
So to the people on my Tumblr; sorry I will be MIA for a while. Thank God Tumblarity is gone!
Take care, and I hope everyone is happy with their offers.
Alex
[Falling Inside The Black – Skillet]
Something interesting I found on Tumblr, about dreams:
1. You forget 90% of your dreams. Within 5 minutes of waking, half of your dream is forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone.
2. Blind people also dream. People who became blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion.
3. Everybody dreams. Every human being dreams (except in cases of extreme psychological disorder). If you think, you are not dreaming, you just forget your dreams.
4. In our dreams, we only see faces that we already know. Our mind is not inventing faces – in our dreams we see real faces of real people that we have seen during our life but may not know or remember. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces throughout our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.
5. Not everybody dreams in color. A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color. Studies from 1915 through to the 1950s maintained that the majority of dreams were in black and white, but these results began to change in the 1960s. Today, only 4.4% of the dreams of under-25 year-olds are in black and white. Recent research has suggested that those changing results may be linked to the switch from black-and-white film and TV to color media.
6. Dreams are symbolic. If you dream about some particular subject it is not often that the dream is about that. Dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. Whatever symbol your dream picks on it is most unlikely to be a symbol for itself.
7. Emotions; The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety. Negative emotions are more common than positive ones.
8. You can have four to seven dreams in one night. On average, you can dream anywhere from one or two hours every night.
9. Animals dream too. Studies have been done on many different animals, and they all show the same brain waves during dreaming sleep as humans. Watch a dog sleeping sometime. The paws move like they are running and they make yipping sounds as if they are chasing something in a dream.
10. Body Paralysis.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a normal stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eyes. REM sleep in adult humans typically occupies 20-25% of total sleep, about 90-120 minutes of a night’s sleep.
During REM sleep the body is paralyzed by a mechanism in the brain in order to prevent the movements which occur in the dream from causing the physical body to move. However, it is possible for this mechanism to be triggered before, during, or after normal sleep while the brain awakens.
11. Dream Incorporation. Our mind interprets the external stimuli that our senses are bombarded with when we are asleep and make them a part of our dreams. This means that sometimes, in our dreams, we hear a sound from reality and incorporate it in a way. For example you may be dreaming that you are in a concert, while your brother is playing a guitar during your sleep.
12. Men and women dream differently. Men tend to dream more about other men. Around 70% of the characters in a man’s dream are other men. On the other hand, a woman’s dream contains almost an equal number of men and women. Aside from that, men generally have more aggressive emotions in their dreams than the female lot.
13. Precognitive Dreams. Results of several surveys across large population sets indicate that between 18% and 38% of people have experienced at least one precognitive dream and 70% have experienced déjà vu. The percentage of persons that believe precognitive dreaming is possible is even higher, ranging from 63% to 98%.
14. If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.
15. You can experience an orgasm in your dreams. You can not only have sex as pleasurable as in your real life while dreaming, but also experience an orgasm as strong as a real one, without any wet results. The sensations felt while lucid dreaming (touch, pleasure and etc..) can be as pleasurable and strong (or I believe even stronger) as the sensations experienced in the real world.
The part about how men dream more about other men made me laugh for a good five minutes, and the bit about the orgasm made me raise my eyebrows in amusement.
This also means that my dad never dreams, very loudly, every night.
Alex.
the life and laughs of me 
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