I am human and I need to be loved

[How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths]

I am running a bad habit of writing things once a week and recapping.

Last Friday, we caught up with Cathy, Jalex and Sheina for karaoke, and I brought along Mela to showcase. They were all very accepting of her, and when Mela went to the bathroom, they said to me very seriously “you better hold onto her!” Afterwards we went to hotpot with Mela’s friends in Box Hill, and the guys ensured that we ate our $25 dollars worth.

On Sunday I had my dreadful 9 am shift, which meant that I had to get up at 6 to catch the first train into the city. I pumped myself full of sugar and caffeine, and faced my morning shift – which was VERY relaxing, just very early – with the charisma and energy of a squirrel on speed. Went back to the Glen to hang out at EB Games with Mela in the last hour of her shift, then had lunch before heading off home.

On Monday, I went to Knox, as I always do, before Mela’s shift. SHE BROUGHT MY N3DS! She was originally going to make me wait until Christmas to have it but, what a nice girl! We walked around, ate food, then sort of just hung out in the library and I read my instruction manual cover to cover.

On Tuesday, we went to Chadstone to hang out with Jen (not mine, hers), and saw New Year’s Eve. It wasn’t BAD, but comparing it to Love Actually, it had its pretty fall-through moments. The storylines weren’t really explored enough, that it felt rushed, and there wasn’t this nice sweet ending. I did like that Zac Efron didn’t get the hot girl, but this sweet cute middle aged woman, and I did enjoy that some of the big names were just side characters – with the exception of Abigail I-forgot-her-last-name-the-girl-from-Little-Miss-Sunshine, whose awesome acting skills were stifled by her rigidly stupid role as an impressionable teenager, caked in makeup so she’d look like her “mom”, SJP – who, course, had years shaved off her character, being paired up with Josh Duhamel.

And, today, I went to Mela’s house to watch Love Actually and cuddle, before going back to Glen for her work. I got Mario Kart 7 3DS and my hand started cramping from playing it so hardcore.

Tomorrow is a rare day off – because it’s so hot and I’m starting to become short on cash – and the 2 days after that I have work, then it’s Christmas! This year I totally forgot to watch Lovely Complex. I should dig out the disks that I burned it onto and watch it ASAP!

Can’t wait til our own NYE.

Alex.

A dotty recap

I’ve been slacking off in the documentation of my activities…so I will dot point what has happened since last week (a feat I don’t often attempt, lest it decreases my writing skills)…

Starting from last Saturday:

Saturday:

• Went to the dentist to get my teeth checked up and cleaned.
• Went to the Glen to hang out with Mela a bit.
• Ended up buying the Hunger Games trilogy box set.
• Had lunch while standing up from the lack of seats – it was a weirdly busy day at the Glen.
• Went home and read the Hunger Games (1st book) in one sitting.

Sunday:

• Rushed out of the house because parents left later than expected, leaving me the tiniest window to catch up to my bus.
• Did manage to catch the bus, and went to have lunch with Mela before her shift.
• Went home but didn’t really feel like reading the second book.
• Downloaded a lot of eBooks – for free!

Monday:

• Stayed home all day because I promised my parents I would.
• Mela was having a terrible day, and I couldn’t go out to make her feel better.
• She ended up going to work as a last minute notice.

Tuesday:

• Went to Chadstone to hang out with Mela, Cindy and Brendan.
• Shopped! Got a new pair of Vans, a new YD waistcoat and Mela surprised/snuck past me by buying me a shirt I liked before I could stop her.
• Pestered Ser- at work. She had her eyes on a “cute” guy who was working at Gloria Jeans opposite her. He wasn’t cute.
• Took the bus home with Ser-, Brendan and Mela – Cindy went to work.
• Cindy bought a shirt, which is something she doesn’t usually do. Mela bought a pretty dress. Brendan bought a strawberry milkshake.

Wednesday:

• Went to Knox with Mela so that she wouldn’t be bored at home before her late shift.
• Hung out and I checked in everywhere with Foursquare.
• Were disgusting everywhere we went holding hands and such.
• Looked at a ring at Michael Hill but I ended up chickening out because it was just a bit above my price-range.
• Both of us got freaked out when the lady brought up lifetime warranties.
• Got some chocolate caramel popcorn from the new popcorn place.
• Had a massive chicken club sandwich for lunch.
• GOT SLAM DUNK FROM MELA!
• Big hugs and kisses goodbye because the day ended way too soon.

Thursday:

• Late start, went to meet up with Annie, Vania, Marvin, Julia and Tiff at MC with Mela.
• Mela surprised me again by showing up on my bus.
• Had lunch with the group, then they went to see the mummy exhibition while Mela and I stayed in State Library games room so she could play Pokemon while I watched Despicable Me on her lap.
• Head scratchies!
• Caught back up with the group and went to Giraffe for dinner. They were all so hungry they all finished their risottos.
• Played Big 2 for a bit – Annie remains unskillful.
• Went home – head scratchies on the train back! Mela says she pampers me too much.
• Went to bed early because I felt tired and sick – Mela stayed up and played Pokemon until 2 am.
• Slept 11 hours and got up today to laze around before going to Dani’s dinner later!

More to blog about tomorrow! Why, it’s Brendan’s annual birthday party! How the time flies.

Alex.

Lazy Dayze

Yesterday was a long day…of NOTHING! Well, not really nothing…I did go to Mela’s house to give her some new episodes of shows and a bunch of movies she wanted, and we watched some of those episodes together. Then in the afternoon we went into the city to meet her cousin’s friends (who she in turn befriended) who have heard about me but haven’t met me.

It was quite nice – Mela really wanted to try the risotto I harped on about at Giraffe, so for the second time (did I write about shopping with Jen and Annie on Tuesday? I don’t think I did. It wasn’t THAT eventful, just a nice catchup with good friends) in as many days we went to Giraffe. Mela’s friends really liked the cafe, which I think helped them to like me a bit because it was all “wow good taste” and stuff.

We played Bullshit after eating – Mela barely managed to finish half of her risotto because she said it was too filling…which I guess it was but still – and I was winning until Mela took me down and gave me all the cards…and so knew what I had, therefore she knew when to call me out, causing me to lose more. On the other hand, I really didn’t want to call my girlfriend a liar, so I never called her – or anyone – out. We left in a hurry when we realized it was getting late.

And in fact, it was getting quite late, or at least it seemed that way to my parents. They had to give Mela a lift to the bus stop lest she wait alone for too long, and on the trip back told me it was very troubling for them to go to these lengths – as in, to go an extra 5 minutes out of their way in an area they knew well. Sigh. Sometimes I wonder how they even manage to call me selfish with a straight face.

Today I spent a good half a day sleeping, then waking up and watching the weekly shows, then marathoning Charmed while snacking and drinking beer and eating ice cream and hugging Mela bear. It as unproductive and I feel like I should accomplish something, but at the same time it’s nice knowing nothing is due and I’m not doing anything wrong.

I missed her while she was at work, though, which confirms the whole attachment/abandonment issue. We also confirmed today that I have a control-problem when I checked up her bus times for her. I suppose there’s something for everyone to work on everyday, and seeing as my day was uber unproductive, at least it’s nice to have personality shortcomings to work on.

Speaking of projects…I’m not saying that my Writing Project is coming to an end prematurely, but I haven’t really been working on it – nor getting the inspiration to do so – for a while, so it’s on a bit of an extended hiatus until I get my mojo back.

Alex.

L-O-V-E’s not what this was

[Starstrukk – 3OH!3 ft Katy Perry]

Should I go meta and explain why I haven’t been writing? Nah, the truth is I have just been plain lazy.

I finished my assessments for Semester 1…last week, and despite the fact that it became a last minute rush, I finished to some degree of satisfaction. And now I am living in that blissful constant, where whenever I feel like I should be doing something, I don’t really have to do it.

Except, of course, I really need to get my exchange process going. Yikes.

So yesterday I watched The King’s Speech finally (obviously not in the cinemas), and I know I probably missed all sorts of auteur references and all that stuff, but the one thing that really struck me about that movie was how Helena Bonham Carter played her character’s love and support of Bertie. Without overusing physical affection, she managed to convey how much pain she was in to watch her husband stutter through his first speech, and how his victory is as much hers as Lionel’s. I think it’s a very succinct way to depict how, when it comes to monarchy, the Queen is usually pushed to the sidelines, when most of the time it’s her love and support that makes the King who he is – Helena Bonham Carter played her Queen with a quiet and determined dignity, never questioning her husband’s decisions, but always supporting him when he starts to waver.

And that’s my rant on that movie.

In other news, my friend Clem helped me get the game Portal, and I’m learning how to play it properly – kind of stink at solving the puzzle, but I think it’s a good game to get me used to FPS games.

Got my midnight tickets to HP7.2 already, and very excited to be going! I should probably start deciding if I will dress up, and if I do, how.

Alex.

If I Close My Eyes, It’s All The Same

[All The Same – Sick Puppies]

Christmas Eve! I’m in better spirits than I was for the previous two years, which is a refreshing change.

So, for the past two years I have been watching Lovely Complex (an anime) at around this time of the year, and I decided to continue what is now becoming a tradition.

I’d like to have more Christmastime/New Years traditions, though. And, like the extrovert that I am, most of those traditions include spending time with another. They may or may not be significant.

I don’t exactly know what the traditions may be – I’m not an overly Christmassy person – but I wouldn’t mind doing some Christmassy things, like going shopping in the hectic last minute sales, spending Christmas morning just chilling and drinking something. Hopefully I can do this in New York (haha, still a dream but I aim to make it reality somehow), so it’s hot coffee.

And Christmas movies! Call me a sap, but I love Christmas movies. Love Actually, Home Alone, Eloise at Christmastime…

It’s weird, I’m not a Christmas person but I like doing all the Christmas things – does it make me a Christmas person? I’m just proud of myself for wanting to do relaxing and sweet activities instead of going out and getting shitfaced.

Alex.

You’ll Never Know I’m After You

[Hold My Hand – New Found Glory]

Screw it, I’m starting song titles 5 days early. In case you’re a new reader/stalker of mine: I put portions of song lyrics in my title, so it really doesn’t have a thing to do with the rest of the blog. I was going to do it for summer, starting December, but I decided to start early.

So, today marked the last exam, and thus the end of the my first year at university. It was a really silly and anticlimactic end: my 9 am exam meant that I had to wake up at quarter past 6, and after getting my adrenaline going so I am awake and walking to uni to be healthy and all that crap, the exam turned out to be more of a test or quiz than anything. When the lecturer/examiner first told us that the first exit-time is 15 minutes past the start, we all giggled at the thought of walking out of an exam 15 minutes in.

15 minutes later, at the first exit-time, half the lecture theater where we did our exams stood up. 30 multiple choice questions, and quite a few of them were really easy. I won’t say that I did them all right, but it was pretty easy.

Pris and I left the exam disbelieving that we woke up early for this. We each called our respective friends to tell them we were done – and were both greeted with half-asleep “uhhhh-huhhhh”  because it was quarter to 10 in the morning, and everyone was still in holiday-sleeping time schedule.

I walked around Melbourne Central for about an hour looking for a present for Lily but…well I failed to find a good present (within my budget). So pretty much I’m a fail friend.

After sitting through the freaking clock singing AGAIN, Steven met up with me and we went and trawled Borders for another hour looking for a present for his friend. There were some pretty funny books – we looked in the self-help section – especially the “Statistics Taught in Manga” and they have this little TB manga girl being taught stats.

Anyway, now I’m home and ready to embrace the holidays. Anyone want to help with my social life? Anyone? Friends? No?

Alex.

Burn Another Bridge, Break Another Heart

Lost this song and finally got it back yesterday. Missed this song a lot!

Heading into the annoying period of exams. I think I’ll be fine but I do have to get my ass into gear to start studying a little. Also, one essay.

I did enrollment stuff for 2011 yesterday, and the subjects I picked meant that Semester 1 will once again be full of writing, and Semester 2 research. I kinda hate that. But near as I can tell, I won’t have a single exam next year. Just. LOTS OF WORDS.

I have beaten the Elite Four.

I simply cannot wait til I am done with my exams. Then it is 15 posts a month on this blog, right? I have been neglectful.

Alex.

What has been happening of late?

I suppose this is possibly the worst month of effort I have made ever. I guess it was a mixture of me not particularly having anything to blog about, and sort of just feeling everything is mundane. Don’t worry though, I haven’t written in my uni blog either. I think tomorrow I will blog there, then maybe start reading for my assignments.

I will do a quick catchup, though. I have finished Chapter 8 but I actually want to post Chapter 8 and 9 together (if not 10 as well) so, sorry, but you do have to wait.

In my actual life, not much has happened. We started on our mid-sem break, and I have put off work. I suppose I’ll work for the 2nd half of this week, and first half of next week. I also should organize all my notes, start doing reading in my leisure time (force myself to enjoy it) and prepare for my exams at the end of the year. I don’t have my schedule, so I don’t even know how early my liberation is.

I may or may not go to badminton on Friday at Monash, but most likely not. My body was very sore this weekend from its lack of exercise. But apart from my last venture to the other university, I really haven’t had much of a social life – and I want to keep it that way these holidays. Call me a shut-in, but sometimes I prefer some quiet time (alone, with internet, so not alone. Basically I can talk to people without having to be all presentable. At the moment I am in my PJs). In fact, I rented (and it costed me more than I like, so I will probably refrain for a while) the first two seasons of True Blood, and I suppose you can say I got hooked, but it really does try your patience for gore at some point. I don’t look forward for more hungrily (but then again, after marathoning 2 seasons in 4 days you do get turned off) as I do for NCIS, Glee, House, HIMYM, TBBT, The Vampire Diaries etc…

Speaking of which, NCIS and Glee comes back tomorrow, but Glee will air on TV pretty much straightaway (wow Ch 10 is REALLY fast-tracking. Then again, they’ll probably take a 1 week break randomly so that they’ll be a week behind, AGAIN). The Vampire Diaries is only a few days behind, and since I don’ t follow many blogs on Tumblr for TVD, I’m not too fussed about spoilers that I might come across. I watched HIMYM today, and it was a rather exciting preview to what we’ll learn in this season. My biggest beef is Dexter, which I don’t really have the bandwidth to watch but I know the blogs I follow will spoil them for me. I guess I will soon have to decide what to do.

Anyway, as per usual, an update about my life has turned into a rant about TV. Splitting hairs aren’t we?

Everything else is still the same. I’m nearly halfway through my Project 365, and literally nothing has changed about my life. I think I already emo’d about this, so I won’t today.

Mom has been home, obviously, and I think she’s getting a bit bored so she’s cooking a lot (which Dad appreciates, I think, except he still cooks most of dinner and on weekends). I know I’m meant to cook, but I really don’t like learning from my mom because she’s not a great teacher, but a great yeller. Dad usually just wants to cook and get it over and done with so he can rest and watch TV (they bought a crap load of new Chinese drama, but thankfully the DVDs play on the other DVD player which is a bit temperamental, so I don’t have to move from my position), so he doesn’t really want to teach me either.

Anyway, because she’s cooking so much, I’ve also gained weight that I didn’t actually want to gain. That, on top of my lack of motivation to exercise lately, means this summer will be spent indoors. I will start collecting as many TV series as I can from friends. And maybe get my paws on FRIENDS, too. Again, yes, shut-in.

Anyway, that’s enough of a catchup for now.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Alex.

Please Don’t Look At Me With Those Eyes

[First Date – Blink 182]

So today on Tumblr, the Daily Wh.at linked to this discussion: If you’re about to enter into a Groundhog Day loop, what would you do to prepare?

Instead of writing a lot (I did write some, but not a lot) I started thinking about it.

Granted you read around half a page of the discussion, then you’d know what I’m about to suggest is largely based from what I read – hey, they had good ideas! But, in a nutshell, this is what I’d do.

Firstly, I am going to go with the same assumption as the movie does, and say that the reset time is at 6 am. And, for the purposes of making this discussion actually interesting, I’m going to give myself a decent amount of money, and at least 2 days’ of notice because…well you’ll see why. So, let’s say that the day I will relive for the next 3652 days (roughly 10 years) is from a Friday 6am to Saturday 6am. It just so happens that Christmas Eve this year is on a Friday. I do believe I will project my repeating day for the Christmas Eve Friday (you may wonder why I don’t make it next Friday. Well, see, that’s because it will be summer in New York and I hate summer).

Alright, so on Wednesday I’ll fly from here (Melbourne) to New York. The flight takes roughly 21 hours and 30 minutes, so I’ll say 22 for the sake of delays. If I take off at a cushiony 10 am here in Melbourne, I’ll arrive at New York 4pm on Wednesday (I’ve just taken a few minutes to factor in our respective Daylight Savings). I’ll force myself to get as used to the local time as possible (not to complicate my life, I will say that the 6am-6am works via New York’s time), and so on Thursday I will go to bed at a nice 9:30-10pm. This way, when I wake up at 6am on Friday, I will be thoroughly refreshed – ensuring that I will be thoroughly refreshed for each time that I wake up for the next 10 years.

But, wait, there’s more!

Upon arriving at New York on Wednesday afternoon, I will sort out my affairs. I will rent out a relatively cheap motel room for a night, but at the same time make bookings at the best hotel in New York for their best suite. The booking time? Thursday 6pm – Saturday 10am. I will therefore get that room for the duration of the loop, without having to waste time on check-in and check-out. Also, I’ll hire a personal chauffeur for the day.

I’ll make dinner reservations at all the good restaurants in New York, and depending on which one I feel like, I go to whichever one for Friday. I’ll load my phone with plenty of credit, have my credit cards ready to use (again, I assume I have credit cards), charge up my iPod with all the best songs (unfortunately I’ll probably get sick of these songs, but that’s okay because I’ll have my laptop ready to download new music each morning if I have to), and make sure my wallet and bag is all well packed.

Next, I will find a way to have a drum-set, electric guitar and, if possible, a piano delivered to my room. I will probably get sick of trawling the city after a while, so I must set myself some hobbies and goals I can do despite being reset. Like Murray, I can learn instruments – get the number of a teacher and see if they can’t come teach me on Christmas Eve each time when I call up. Who knows, I might even try to learn to swim!

And this was a point that was fantastically suggested on the site: Find a book series with over 3652 pages (the Harry Potter series should do nicely) and mark the page that would the 3652nd. Make yourself read a page and one page only every morning without fail. You will retain the memory of what you read the previous day. Once you’ve gotten to the 3652nd page, you will know that you will wake up tomorrow and Saturday will go on.

With all these things sorted, of course there will be downsides.

First of all, that’s 10 years of waking up completely alone. And even if you go to bed with someone, you’ll wake up completely alone. I know that I WILL get sick of doing it. I’ll get sick of the songs on my iPod, the songs on the radio, the sound of my alarm, the hotel staff, the food for breakfast, the weather, the restaurants, the fact that I have to read Harry Potter a page at a time…and most likely I will come to detest Christmas. Even if I travel elsewhere (another reason for choosing New York is that it takes around 8 hours to fly to London, and just a bit more for other parts of Europe. If anything I can get up at 6, go to the airport and go somewhere else) I’ll get sick of the routine.

I will run out of movies to see at the theater, I will get sick of making new friends each day, I will be tired of drinking til I throw up but still be fine the next day…it WOULD be nice if I had a partner or someone to spend the days with for sure, but then I’d come to be sick of them too.

Maybe Christmas Eve was not the best choice. All that bustle would be wonderful for the first week but…it will be hell traffic later on.

Hmm…

Well, what do YOU think?

Alex.

Our Concentration It Contains A Deadly Flaw

[Maintain Consciousness – Relient K]

I finished the Glee season finale today! It was so emotional – without spoiling, it tied up everything pretty nicely…with plenty of hand-covering-mouth moments.

Which means I finished Vampire Diaries, NCIS, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, FlashForward and now Glee.

Yes, Lie to Me is still on the TV, I decided to watch House along with the TV even though I know it’s ending as well, and Dexter comes back in…SEPTEMBER!

So I don’t know what to do now, in terms of shows. I suppose I can keep working through my Conan.

I am still slowly getting used to the feeling of “I have nothing to do and it’s okay”.

Alex.