Hippo with a hernia

Today Mela and I went to see the Lion King 3D, and to our delight, we were the only ones in the theater.

Mela ran up to the front and danced around.

Then we watched the movie, and sang along loudly to every song – especially The Circle Of Life, the starting part. We also recited all the bits we knew, and hugged each other for comfort when (spoiler!) Mufasa died.

The 3D effects were good in the sense that mostly they were not intrusive, and if anything some of the majestic scenery were made even more breathtaking by its realness.

I’m really glad we were the only ones in the theater because it was great to be able to enjoy the movie at the top of our lungs. It felt like we were watching the movie at home, but with a huge screen.

Alex.

Ooh I Really Hate Yo Ass Right Now

[F*ck You! – Cee Lo]

I don’t know why I was fishing for a blog topic yesterday; I went out on Sunday and everything.

Gracing Melbourne with a visit, Cathy invited us out for Karaoke before she has to jet off to Europe. So, meeting up at 11 on a Sunday (meaning I had to leave the house extra early and sit through the damn clock singing again. I turned up my Maroon 5 and tried to tune it out), it was my first time seeing Cathy since July, and boy has she grown even prettier!

Okay this really isn’t a blog post about how beautiful Cathy is – she already knows it.

Apparently, Cathy has never been to Max Brenner. We – Pearl, Sheina, Carey and I – were so excited to be the one to take her “Max Brenner virginity”.

The girl who worked the counter, however, shared no enthusiasm. When Sheina brought up that “this is her first time here!” the girl sort of looked blankly at Cathy, as if to say, “great, what do you want to drink, order already!” Cathy was introduced to all sorts of wonderous things, like their hug-mugs and the kangaroo cup.

I had a cappuccino in the kangaroo cup, which is basically a normal cup with a small part to put a bit of chocolate in. It actually made it kind of hard to drink from the cup.

After Max Brenner, where I had my first souffle (those things are good. I’m sure I’m failing my aspirations as a writer when I say “good” but sometimes one word is enough. Those things are GOOD!), we sat on the fake grass at QV waiting for Alex, who comes in a twin-set with Jack (thus Jalex), and it will be confusing cos I’m Alex too but yeah…

There were these two kids running around – you know the toddlers who you can tell just learned how to run – and they were clearly friends since birth (all of 3 years), so they had their own little language and chasing each other, in utter bliss because it was sunny and Christmas was around the corner. Sort of realized that there are days where I should just enjoy the fact that I’m young and I can still get away with some stuff, and stop trying to grow up so much. In 7 months I’ll officially not be a teenager anymore, so I need to milk the “teen” thing for all it’s worth.

We went to Melb Central because K-Box wasn’t open yet, so we were going to Partyworld. Partyworld decided not to open for 20 more minutes, so Cathy sort of grabbed a few wrists and dragged them to Valleygirl for shopping. In actuality, it was just Sheina, Cathy and Pearl grabbing clothes, and the two Alexs (Alexi? Alexa…anyway) and Carey standing around giving thumbs up to most things. Not that we didn’t mean them, they all looked VERY good in what they tried on.

After we had to leave because the store people were giving us odd looks because Carey was taking pictures of Cathy in the clothes, we decided that we won’t go to Partyworld after all, that we would just wait to go to KBox. So we had some sushi and sat and chatted, and the topic of conversation went onto who was stronger. At this point, Alex and Sheina decided to have an arm-wrestling match. Having exhausted the “Oh my god Chandler’s making his orgasm face” jokes (remember, Pearl was the girl who knew FRIENDS inside out), it became a bit embarrassing because Alex just couldn’t beat Sheina – and Sheina was straining so hard that some tendons in her arms were actually popping out.

(In case you were wondering, the match never ended. They were so evenly matched that it was wasting time.)

Cathy then went on to suggest that Pearl and I “wrestle as well”. We all gave Cathy some very highly raised eyebrows at her apparent Freudian slip, and Carey wondered where we could get some jelly/chocolate sauce cheap.

KBox, having been renovated since I was last there (2 years ago), turned out to offer some sort of 4-hour deal, so we all went in and sang songs for 4 hours. I’d almost forgotten how funny it was to watch Jalex sing (Jack joined us later bearing KFC) and dance – at one point Alex was trying to grind against the wall (don’t ask) and the guy who came in with our drinks opened the door and sort of did a double-take.

We belted out F*ck You! among other songs, and just let me say, belting out the bridge and acting all hardcore gangster is even more fun in Karaoke than at home.

My voice is hoarse, still, but every time I think back to Carey singing Mary Had A Little Lamb I would smile, so it was all worth it.

I went home that night pretty happy, and to make things better, Catherine was online! I haven’t talked to that girl in weeks, and it was really good to just catch up and make some small banter. I really want to see her in person soon, I still owe her birthday lunch.

Alex.

I Can See Your Halo, And Don’t It Feel Good?

[Halo/Walking On Sunshine – Glee Cast cover, originals by Beyonce/Katrina And The Waves]

Day 23 — The last person you kissed

Dear Doggie,

Doggie is the original name I gave to the plushie dog I used to sleep with when I was little. It got me through some tough puberty years, as well as some not so tough primary school years.

I think it’s okay not to mention what sort of emotional ties I have with the plushie that used to guard me at night; I think most people reading this will remember the special relationship they had with their favorite childhood teddy. It’s not just something to hug at night, but rather it’s the symbol of safety and protection. Just the familiar touch and smell of your favorite old teddy will remind you of those days when you felt safe, and when your biggest worry were pimples.

Anyway, I do love Doggie (its new name is Jackie for a number of hilarious reasons but I felt that if I wrote ‘Dear Jackie’, it might be confusing) and I ask of you to, if you can still find it, give your old teddy a hug too. Remember Toy Story 3? Just saying.

Alex.

Retrace Every Wrong Move

[Easier To Run – Linkin Park]

Day 17 — Someone from your childhood

Dear Zhao Hui,

Isn’t it amazing I still remember your name! I even remember the fact that “Zhao” is actually written as “Chao” but is read as “Zhao” in your name and, oh, I’ve just proven how Asian I am.

Anyway, whether it’s from my childish wishful thinking or real memories, I remember that we were good friends when we were little. And when I say little, I meant we were good friends since Kindergarten. I didn’t actually have friends my age before Kindy, so in some sense you were my first friend ever (actually, to be honest, I vaguely remember there being another short girl being my friend before you but I don’t remember anything about her except that she’s short).

It’s strange writing to someone in a language that they don’t speak, in a letter they’ll never read.

I think when I was little, I worshiped you, because you were taller, smarter, and prettier. I think you’re also older than me – here in Australia I’m older among all my friends but in China I was the youngest, having just gotten into my year level. I remember that you actually had another friend with whom you were closer, either because you’re just better friends or because you’d known her for longer, that I can’t remember. That other friend went on to be the class captain in Grade 1, while I went on to be the kid that the teacher hated for no good reason other than the fact that I was smarter than she gave me credit for, and that I was lazy. So yeah, that made me look better.

My memories are only giving me negative thoughts at the moment, like I remember trying so hard to be your friend after we started primary school, but you’d already found the other cool big girls to play with and I was left with this really creepy guy who drooled a lot, and this other weird guy who bragged a lot about himself. I remember that once I was running back to class while grabbing the hand of that class captain I mentioned, but then I tripped and fell flat on my face, getting a huge cut on my nose.

I remember, near the end of my stay in China – I left in Grade 2 – that you’d once accidentally cut your eyebrow on a hair pin, and it bled a lot. And then after that you were trying to hide that cut, so you grew your hair long.

Actually, I think that part was just false memory. I think that happened to my cousin instead. I have no idea.

Anyway, that was a fun trip down memory lane.  I called you once in Yr 7 when I went back to China but we didn’t hit it off because of the language barrier – my Chinese was sucking at that point. But I don’t know, maybe I’ll try calling again the next time I go to China, granted you still live at home.

Take care,

徐如一

Dude, what happened to you?

Here are some baby pictures of me. Since I have nothing to blog about and apparently no self-dignity in any form.

Oh crap how do you upload pictures on this new WordPress? Let’s see…

I was 2 and a bit, according to the date that was penciled in at the back of that photo.

I was 3 there

It was in 1995, and winter, so either I was 4 and a half years old, or 5 and a half. I looked 4. Don’t you think that’s 4? Anyway.

That was fun.

De Fluffe, Out.

P.S. Whoever comments “aww cute” gets their comment deleted. Har. I have the power to do that.