With quiet words I’ll lead you in

[Unwinding Cable Car – Anberlin]

So last night was An Evening With Anberlin. I didn’t bring a camera so right now, I don’t have photos to share.

Went to Monash in the morning to pick Amelia up, and ran into Sonam again – starting to think the myths of her being a myth are myths, because she seems to be there all the time.

After Cindy gave me the Totoro beanie – and tried to also sneak in the Ash Ketchum cap I saw and made the mistake of saying “what, you didn’t tell me they had those!” which I promptly returned to her because, hey, she got me the damn beanie what more can I ask for? – and we sort of hung out for a bit, Amelia and I went to go to the city.

On the trip there, Amelia was doing some last minute Anberlin cramming, trying to get all the songs in her head for the concert – fair effort, considering she was introduced to the band only a fortnight prior. On the way, Amelia helped me discard an item which I kept on my person that I should have thrown out long ago. Amelia threw it over the escalator at Flinders station, and now it should be a piece of crushed plastic underneath some Epping train. I was hungry, so I went to my store to pick up some noms.

Met up with Annie at uni, and she was in the midst of pulling her hair out researching for an essay which I myself hadn’t started so, in an attempt to calm her, and to make myself feel less guilty, I moved us to South Lawn to sit in the setting sun for a while. (In case you’re wondering, yes I got burnt a little bit.)

Annie wanted to paint her nails, but demanded that I fix one of her nails for her. Now. You must know I have never held a nail-paint-brush-object in my life, and her continued mockery of my ineptness made me laugh uncontrollably, and you know when you’re trying to accurately do something on a small surface with a small tool, laughing simply does not mix.

Amelia took the brush off me with all the weary impatience of a female, and applied a coating. I gagged on the ammonia.

When Pearl arrived albeit half an hour late, we bid goodbye to Annie to pick up a quick takeaway dinner, and head to Palace Theater. Yes. Yes we had Maccas again. I managed to get the two new Snivy toys and, Clare, if you read this – I got you Munna.

There was a fire at Steve Madden on Bourke St, meaning the trams weren’t really running. We walked (ascending incline, I was horrified) to Palace Theatre, and lined up behind a dozen people – so not as far front as last time – and found Susan. We ate our cold dinner. Amelia downed enough Red Bull to make a bull go red.

Memorable quote of the night goes to Susan: “I can’t sit on the cold concrete, or I’ll get diarrhea!”

Slowly everyone arrived in line, and at around 7:30, we started going in. We all stripped outside the venue – ha – so that we could cloak immediately and get barrier. Julia froze in her tank top. I had to put that in because so many people said she was mental.

We did get barrier, but we were off to a corner, so missed the main mosh. It turned out that Anberlin was filming their Australian DVD last night, so it was rather disappointing that we weren’t in the midst of the main action, but it was still pretty damn good off to the side. Comment on the design of Palace Theatre, I guess, that even being off to the side you get a pretty good slice of the action.

Louis introduced us to another Brendan, who was enjoying his first time gig at his favorite band, so we were sure he was going to have the time of his life. It was to his advantage that he chose to stand behind a bunch of short Asian girls too, so he never missed anything. That guy was probably 6 foot tall.

Also got good mosh buddies – no one drunk. The girl’s boyfriend disliked crowds so left to go to the bar, and she was left with us. I felt kind of bad for her, but she seemed to have really enjoyed herself.

ANYWAY the set list! I can’t remember off the top of my head which songs were played, but they opened with Dismantle.Repair which got the mood going. The difference from March, I think, was that they sort of cooled down for a few songs for the acoustic ones. They didn’t do Inevitable, which probably killed Pearl.

They did A Day Late, however, which had me going so crazy – it being my favorite song by them – Amelia had to pull me to calm down. Then again, when they covered Unwinding Cable Car, Amelia went nuts, so, I mean, even Stevens. They also covered Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House with the lead singer of the support band Tonight Only and…would you believe…Travis Clark from We The Kings! He just casually strolled onto stage and everyone squealed in surprise. Except for this one girl who said “oh…I don’t really like We The Kings anyway.” I gave her a good (friendly) pinch on the cheek.

They did a short Q&A from questions they received on Twitter, which was pretty funny and gave a great insight on the friendliness between the band members.

Finally, they encored with *fin (and I didn’t expect them to do the final part) which was the BEST way to cap off the night.

After the show, Amelia’s brother drove us home. I wasn’t sure how to tell them they missed my turn off, and they seemed to have forgotten I was in the car, so I waited until the brother said “oh shit, Amelia weren’t we meant to drop off your friend?” and Amelia, who’d dozed off, laughed at me for not speaking up when it became obvious they forgot me.

All in all, though, I think we were both glad that I nagged her to go so much, because it was an unforgettable night.

Alex.

We could do more than just dream

[We Owe This To Ourselves – Anberlin]

Going to see Anberlin again on Monday! So hopefully huge blog post about that again!

Last night stayed up until 4:30 talking to Amelia on the phone. I have no idea how we spent that much time, but I think giggling hysterically while quoting from Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged Series helped pass some time.

That girl knows everything.

Cindy is at Manifest, and she’s getting me this really cool Totoro beanie which are also gloves.

(That’s Cindy, by the way.)

She called me up at 11, and I was still sleeping, and she was high on energy drink, so it was one of those trying to keep up with her craziness conversations where she asked me a bunch of questions and I grunted.

So, at the moment, trying to stir myself into working mode to do a research paper due in 8 days.

It is NOT coming along.

Let’s hope Stressed Alex can kick in soon so I can get stuff done and feel good.

Lazy Alex.

You make me feel like a symphony

[Hummingbird Heartbeat – Katy Perry]

I’m in one of those…okay I really should stop my musing posts like that. “I’m in one of those…”

Right now, I don’t know how I feel. I mean I know how I feel, obviously, but I’m not sure if I should feel such ways, or even think it, or if I should think that I shouldn’t think it.

And people are keeping secrets from me. I know why at least, but I don’t know what, and I’m dead curious.

I should look at this as my friends’ way of teaching me patience, a virtue I never had to lack in the first place.

I was sleep-deprived today, and took a double-shot on an empty stomach, and so spend the rest of the day on the fine line you tread when the caffeine inside you is drawing out of an already overdrawn bank. I suppose it was a good thing that I tread this line with some of my lunch group, who know me/tolerate me enough to let it slide and humor me. Otherwise that line would very soon turn angry. I would be walking the angry line. You don’t want to see me walking the angry line.

Yung Han, who may or may not mind my nicknaming him Monkey-Boy for his amazing climbing skills (and, you’ll soon learn, other fun reasons), decided today was the day he climbed a tree. Annie noticed a bunch of bananas hanging off the branch of a very un-banana tree, and Yung Han, being the smart-minded Asian that he is, decided those bananas would be wasted, and are expensive, and so he climbed the tree from which they hung, and brought it down with him – not before spending a good 20 seconds looking a bit like a stranded cat.

The bananas were the short, fat kind, dark green, smelled like fresh cucumbers, and had seeds in them.

He carried his bananas proudly to his next class.

I skipped my first tute today of the semester.

Like I said, I’m in a mood where I don’t know what my mood is, so I felt like not knowing the topic for this week seemed like a fitting companion.

Alex.

Do I get a golden chariot, or float through the ceiling?

[Jesus Christ – Brand New]

Today was a pretty long day, I suppose, made longer mostly by fatigue.

It’s strange, I was actually rather energetic this morning when I woke up – in the sense that I remembered my entire bus ride.

I came up with a cliche but sound plot outline as a writing exercise in my Screenwriting workshop. It had something to do with Hell being the good guys.

And then, after my workshop, some time between finishing lunch with Pu- and seeing Clare, I lost all my energy.

But I tried to muster up some effort to get excited about seeing Brendan, Cindy and Amelia later on, so I stirred both Clare and I into a sort of…well not frenzy, but we definitely got our energy on.

It sort of surprised us both when around 5 people greeted us at Melbourne Central, and I didn’t know a few of them, and well, Clare didn’t know any of them. I felt a bit guilty that I dragged her to meet a bunch of new people on a day when she was feeling emotionally shonky, but…well I got the feeling that it went over alright, because I was there after all – and that sounded very humble, I know.

After tagging along to Moe-mall, the place where the others had to get their costumes for Manifest the coming…soon, (and after Clare and I, feeling immensely out of place, simply sang along to another store which was playing Jason Mraz and Bruno Mars,) we went to Red Silks for to eat dinner. I was surprised that Clare hasn’t been there many times, but I suppose I do go there too often.

In the end, Clare and Brendan finished off all the unwanted food – Brendan pretty much got a free meal out of the left-overs. We strolled to Passionflower where I had my first ice-cream from their place, and I may have chosen the wrong flavor to voyage into their store, because I ordered Lime Sorbet, and it was rather bitter, but hey I enjoyed it.

We sat at Fed Square for a while – I really need to find a new place to hang out after meals but before trains, because it’s not the best place to hang out weather wise, even though the atmosphere is quite nice, and there’s a very large TV screen. After that, Amelia and I took the train home.

She told me why she was late today. Apparently, without revealing too much, a series of events saw her get on her bus without a Myki, so when she walked past the scanner, she said, in a high pitched tone, “beep!” and then shuffled into her seat. I found that HIGHLY amusing.

Had to take the Rowville bus with her because I didn’t want her to be alone at the bus stop at night. Basically let 3 of my buses drive right past. Well, the first one arrived and, seeing that it had 10 minutes to go, I asked the driver “oh are you staying here for the next 10 minutes?” Bitch smiled and nodded, and then drove off.

Alex.

All the good souls stand unafraid

[Soft Skeletons – Anberlin]

Had a pretty rushy-busy time at work today – it wasn’t that we were understaffed, but somehow I found myself doing both drinks and running for about 15ish minutes, and that…was…well…I became that annoying co-worker who bosses around other people. To the point where I got sarcastically called “manager”.

I don’t know, for some reason but having the best day, and I say this knowing well that I was tired today. I don’t know, man. Just.

But it kind of felt like they suddenly gave me a workload that was just above my skill level. JUST above. So I CAN do it, but it wouldn’t be good.

About to do an overhaul of my blogroll links to the side. Don’t feel bad if I took you off, it’s nothing personal. It honestly isn’t. Some of those blogs, I don’t think, are updated anymore.

Alex.

All that I feel is what I hear

[Dear Angel – April Sixth]

Short post, just a report of what happened.

Went to the Glen to give Amelia (friend of Cindy and Brendan’s) emotional support while she dyed her hair, with the names mentioned in the brackets. She went in thinking red, she came out with the best purple-red color.

It wasn’t easy, though. We had to hold up different swatches to her face, eyes, cheeks and neck to make sure the color looks good on all different areas of skin tones. It took an extraordinary amount of time for Brendan and I to find the one color that made her eyes pop. And pop her eyes do now!

You could tell as the hairdresser rinsed away the color that Amelia was a bit disappointed, though, because I think she wanted a more vibrant color, but we assured her that the moment she steps into the sun, the purple will be REALLY noticeable. And, of course, it was. She spent the walk to the bus stop checking herself off any reflective surface.

I walked home from the Glen. It was warm.

Alex.

/edit OH WOW I TOTALLY FORGOT! Brendan gave me a stress ball in the shape of a Friend Ball for my birthday!

Hands do now what eyes no longer defend

[Dance Inside – All American Rejects]

Well, originally I had nothing to blog about, but it seems that fate has handed me a topic after all…and a task of hyperlink editing for the rest of the night!

In Yr 11, I made defluffe my URL as an in joke. It was then to my friend’s great amusement to tell me what de-fluffers were.

At the time, WordPress didn’t allow username and URL changes, and I had invested too much blood and tears into this blog to abandon it.

But now, given the choice, I have changed it to ileapforyou.

Please change all your bookmarks and blogrolls and whatnot accordingly. No please seriously do it and stuff. I don’t change URLs often, so yeah.

Alex.

What the hell is call ID?

[What’s My Age Again? – Blink 182]

Today was a long day for me. I woke up at 6:30 to make it to a 9 am lecture, which was apparently rather good, because it was the topic for which I have an assessed presentation.

Coffee’d this bitch up, and added fuel to the fire with Dr Pepper. So, by the time that Annie, Jen and I went around the city for me to buy a sweater, I was pretty much at a point of utterly testing their patience with me.

In the end, I couldn’t find the sweater I had in mind, so I shivered through the afternoon breeze. Jen took us to get frozen yogurt at QV, and OH MY GOD I DISCOVERED THE MAGIC OF REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS! AND FROZEN YOGURT! 11 dollars REALLY well spent. Not that eating frozen yogurt helped with how cold I felt at all. So, with sugar, caffeine and a good amount of pre-hypothermia running through my body, I jittered my way through Big W while the other two looked at cook-books and shoes.

Unfortunately, Jen had to leave just before Annie and I met up with April. April was wearing her brother’s shirt – it was good to see that despite all the changes that April has gone through, some things stay the same, like her stealing her (gay) brother’s wardrobe. I don’t know how to comment on that.

Had a big of a laugh over drunken antics by both Annie and myself over the past month or two (both stories I have neglected to write here, nor will I write in the future, for one is of extreme embarrassment to Annie, and the other to me). We promised to one day soon go drinking together so that April can see Drunk Alex. I don’t know, I still don’t feel like drinking all that much.

Went to the Seoul House for Henry’s birthday dinner (Henry, to catch y’all up, is a friend of Brendan and Min-‘s (Min- being Brendan’s most recent ex. Yes tres awkward) who took turns taking care of me with Brendan when Drunk Alex came out to play). Apart from Brendan and Jun (his current girlfriend), I knew no one there, so it was interesting to make conversation with very outgoing loud people who I may never see again.

We were very rowdy and loud and, well, the waiters and managers got VERY annoyed at us in the polite, passive Korean way. One of them we called Bitch Fayth – having similar appearance to a friend called Fayth, but looking like a total bitch. Ah the maturity.

Also realized that while alcohol may help ease social gatherings of strangers, it really matters if the personalities get along. You may take that however you wish.

Called/messaged Cindy on the way home. It was a packed train from people coming home from the footy. Utilized my phone’s battery up to the last 10%. I was rather touched when Cindy told me to conserve my battery but say something once in a while so she knows I was still alive.

That’s it for today, I think, even though it was a really long day, it was one of those not-that-many-new-experiences-just-the-same-stuff-with-different-faces kind of deal.

I will endeavor to catch y’all up with some new people I met recently in parenthesis in my immediate future posts.

Alex.

Where did all your love go?

[Is Anybody Out There? – Maroon 5]

So starts my bid to write in here everyday, or as frequently as I possibly can.

Today, I noticed how passive-aggressive is a lot more hurtful and spiteful than massive-aggressive. In my Asian PR tute today, for some reason people seemed to want talk over me all the time. It was one of those I wait for a pause in conversation, and try to cut in, but the moment I do so someone else talks over me, so I look at them and I do that semi-wave thing like, “oh do go on” but they keep talking instead of the usual “I’m sorry you started talking first” BECAUSE I DID.

Anyway, it got to the point where Annie had to say out loud, “wow you’ll never get to speak today will you” and the teacher actually had to point at me before I could get a word in edgewise.

In other news, today was the first day in almost 3 weeks where I woke up during single digits, and didn’t have coffee, as per an agreement with Cindy (a name which I know is new here, but a friendship whose genesis I am way too embarrassed to write about. Let’s say I met her at a party, and, incidentally, I was drunk). She broke the agreement, I didn’t. So, at lunch, the caffeine deprived Alex ended up having a shouting match with a good-food deprived Clare, but then I accidentally groped her and then she pinched my face, and everything was smoothed over.

Here’s to my best efforts at writing here everyday. Thankfully tomorrow should be eventful enough to fill out a good 700 words or so.

Alex.

So I’m sailing through the sea

[Lucky – Jason Mraz ft Colbie Callait]

Day 17: Post your favorite gif.