The Place I Came To Love Is Missing Too

[When You’re Gone – Avril Lavigne]

Today I learned that my manager at the cafe is transferring to another store, and I just wanted to write something about her, even though I highly doubt she knows about this blog.

I’m not posting this until Sunday night, since that’s the last time I’ll see her (unless I can visit her at her store some time), and since that’s when she’ll be announcing it officially. This way I don’t get into trouble.

Anyway, Jess has been an amazing manager, and I say this with no exaggeration nor condition. She’s a fun, understanding, but disciplined boss, who takes the time to understand how each of her underlings work and learn, and to craft tasks which would ensure everyone plays to their strength. She always believed in me, even when I was starting out and feeling like I was letting the team down on busy days, and never ever showed annoyance when I asked my many, many questions. She was patient when we made silly mistakes, and she couldn’t find fault in anyone – what else could you ask in a manager! I think the only way I could ever have a nicer manager is if they gave me free money.

I think it’s a real remark on her, when the entire store’s ambiance and morale revolves around her. And I mean that also when she’s not in the store, and we’re being run by supervisors, because the supervisors also seemed to give off her vibe. We all get along with each other because she’s created such a friendly work environment (or, at least, she was a part of a friendly work environment when she began working there, and then carried it over when she began managing), where no one feels like they’re not allowed to say what they want. She genuinely cared about the wellbeing of each and every one of her staff members, not on an official level, but at a personal level. I suppose those more skilled may see it as a weak point, because management requires certain ambivalence towards the personal lives of their subordinates, but on our level, it made working a joy.

And, as a person, I think she’s charming too. It’s easy to talk to her because she’s always smiling, and she’s always willing to hear about new things. Because of that, she’s on good terms with many of our regulars – I wonder what they’ll feel when they learn that she’s left!

So, Jess, in case you happen to read this: THANK YOU! Thank you for being one of the best managers I’ve ever had and probably ever will have, and thank you for being my friend at work. I hope I have been equally good company, and I wish you the best at the new store and with all your future plans with Cody (I actually know his name now, and just say it wrong to annoy you). Don’t work too hard, but I know you would anyway.

Alex.

P.S. I’m mostly writing the same things in your card so. Double up.

P.P.S. I AM NOT EMOTIONALLY STUNTED

If You Jump I Will Jump Too

[Skyway Avenue – We The Kings]

This is again posted by Jenny, because my computer isn’t back yet.

I have to smush both Tuesday and Wednesday together because I’ve left it too long and some memories have faded! See, old age is getting to me.

On Tuesday, I went into the city for Nat’s farewell lunch. Pris took the train up with us; she didn’t get her 2nd round offer with RMIT so she’s gonna be stuck in my course.

Met up under the clock, as always, and waited ’til everyone got there. Nat wanted to go up to Lygon St, so we went up to Papa Gino’s and had pizza. The only funny thing I can remember was Raj’s story about how Q.H. once brought her own tupperware to a restaurant and put all the food in at the end to “save money”. Ahh Asians.

After lunch we went to get Gelati, and sat down in a park to eat them. I had to leave early to meet up with Jenny so I got directions to the tram stop. Unfortunately I walked the wrong way and had to go back. It was hot!! Finally got back onto a train. Got off at Mt Waverley and met up with Jenny at the library. Giggled at all the school kids and then went to Glenny and just sat around at the food court. I sneezed so loudly it echoed all around the foodcourt.

I walked home, in the heat. By the time I reached my front door I was literally dripping with sweat. Disgusting huh?

That night was the return of NCIS. Finally got Jenny interested in it.

On Wednesday it was Cathy’s farewell (it’s a bit sad that so many people are going). We had a picnic at Alexander’s Gardens. Met a lot of new people, friends of Cathy’s (Ming aka Dimitri, Pe-, Shie- Jackie, Theresa, Amy etc), and also caught up with the Jalex twins. There was so much food! But as the good Asians we were we ate and ate and ate. Then the cameras got whipped out and Jack took charge as the weird creepy photographer. Some pretty disturbing pics were taken, but thank God some good memories were captured too.

After Angie left for her lecture, we went to Photoplus and I got forced to take pictures! It took them about half an hour for them to just decorate it. Before Photoplus, I just remembered, they tried to walk into Club X. I waited outside, because you know, I don’t want to go in there. After that we went to Chaplin on Little Bourke, a Korean karaoke joint. It looked great! Got stuck into the singing (and some dirty dancing on their behalf. I felt that who needs Club X? Ok yeah that’s creepy.

Sam picked “When You’re Gone” by Avril Lavigne which nearly brought Cathy to tears. Oh Cathy I will miss you so much!!

Went home after Chaplin. I have yet to find a way to go to the airport on Tuesday when Cathy takes off. Cue tears!

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks Jenny for posting!

Alex.

Little Pieces

I just got around to reading the messages that people wrote on my pieces of paper.

On the day of dress signing, I couldn’t find my dress so I got paper and asked people to sign those. They were truly a great read and I teared and laughed and cursed at my cousin for her words. Here are some of the best (they’re all good and lovely, but here are some of the best ones)

And, breaking tradition, I’m writing their full names in as they have signed it

Dear Ruyi Alex. I’m sorry for tickling you and making u squirm with suffering. I’m sorry for nuzzling my face against you and making you scared. I am sorry for ACCIDENTALLY raping you and…wait, you don’t know about that. Well…uh…anyways, I’ll miss you. -Cathy

Ruyi! You are absolutely indescribable! No words can say how awesome you are – I’ve learnt so much from you. ❤ always. -Eunice

Did your mum help you make your dress? Best of luck for the coming year Ruyi. Lupp choo long tymez -Lisa T

(Because it wasn’t a dress, it was paper)

RUYI ❤ hey ruyi, you told me not to take up the whole page…BUT NO, you can’t make me. noob. WELL, I’d like to wish you the BEST of luck, stay unique~ ❤ julia (possibly your favouritist year 11) (haha)

(Julia L)

RUYI BROHEME! You’re ace + awesome + hell YES I’m sucking up to you so you’ll write me a part in your script.  🙂 Good luck + live it up! ❤ Raj

Dear Ruyi, I’m allergic to you., Thanks for awesome frees. May all your dreams come true. Love Cami

(I once lied and said I was allergic to everything to her.)

Hey Boy! ^^ I’m gonna miss seeing another person ‘like me’ walking around in the school 😛 Good luck for the future. Always be who you are :] ❤ Stoner the ‘other’ boy ;P

(There’s also Dani signing off with ‘Martinie beasts’)

Alex! YES. YOU! Haha I will miss sitting next to you & poking you! I didn’t move cos you smelt. It was HAYFEVER I promise! ❤ Dee xo

(Vania and Sonam both wrote)

Hey Ruyi/Alex, Good luck for the future! Don’t forget about me and keep in touch.

(This is where Sonam wrote)

I’ll miss all our English/Englang classes. ❤ Sonam 😀

(And Vania wrote)

But you’re always online so no worries there. 🙂 ❤ Vania

(Word for word, they were identical at first. Wow.)

Ruyi! My dearest cousin =] cannot believe you are graduating and we have no more methods together D= will miss you and your tiny miniscule hands next year BAHAHA. ❤ you! ❤ Christina aka Blondie, soon to be brunette LOL

(She laughs a lot)

I will miss our VET classes. I own your blog. ❤ Nayomi

(No.)

even though i’m really mean + such a bully to you all the time, I do love you lots! You have such a heartwarming hug and you never fail to make me smile. Love you and miss you ❤ Annie.

(Nikita’s funny awesome sweet lovely amazing message)

Dear Alex Ruyi

Nawww! You are going! Legal! OMG! Now you won’t be here anymore to give me all those hugs =(. Im so glad I met you this year, you awesome person. Now look, I AM NOT RACIST! I LOVE ASIANS [therefore] I LOVE YOU!! xxox, sweet lovin’ Nikita Muchado (about nothing) p.s. Asians Rule Wooo! (and in a little box) Asians FTW

(I adore her, I do. What a funny message.)

(And this one was the one I dedicated my title to, as well as making me cry.)

I’ll never admit it but I love you to little pieces 🙂 Best wishes and will always see you ❤ APRIL

There were lots more messages which I didn’t write because they were so personal and close to my heart, I didn’t wish to share it. I think one of them, you know who you are.

I thank you all for your lovely messages. They’re “a candle in the window on a cold dark winter’s night”.

Alex.

Somebody To Lean On

Ah, thus my 3rd installment of one of the most awesomest weeks of my life.

Now, as you may remember I went to sleep at 1 am on the Wednesday night (Thursday morning, whatever) and I had a 5 am wake up on Thursday morning in order to catch a 6:25 train so we could be at school by 7:30. Saw Eunice at Glen Waverley which I didn’t expect because she’d previously said she wouldn’t. But meh.

She was in brown overalls and later bandaged up her head, because as Jack from Jack and Jill, she fell down and broke her crown.

More MacRob people arrived, and then some MHS guys in UNIFORM as well. Annie came on at Mount Waverley with a huge spoon. I thought it was a dirty metaphor until she said that Jen T is a fork, and they’re the famous (if not stuffed up) “dish and spoon” (you can see the stuff up because Jen T was a fork).

I was in this huge cape as Phantom Of The Opera (Yeah, I gave up on Mojo Jojo or the whole Powerpuff Girls thing, for that matter). The mask stuck out weirdly so I didn’t wear it. People thought I was Dracula. I was okay with that.

Eunice, Fel and I got off at Melb Central to go to Coles, and I thought it would be a good idea to buy a small box of tissues. Met up with Carmaine who was the train after us, and we took the tram up to school, getting off at Bowen (I’m just using these terms because I won’t really use them  much after this….sad) and going over the overpass. There were no bras on there, much to Eunice’s disappointment (there was a prank or something planned where we all tied a bra to the overpass…I don’t know). We went around to the Lakeside Courtyard where we were celebrating, and there were teachers standing around making sure we didn’t have fun.

Had some pancakes and fairy floss for breakfast, and then went on to start camwhoring. THERE WAS A JUMPING CASTLE! Went onto it 2 times, once with Sonam who landed butt first on my face, and the 2nd time with Julia and co., with the former deciding to test the side safety nets by pushing me repeatedly onto it.

Took photos for the first 20 minutes until woe woe woe my batteries ran out. I relied on other people for photos. And, of course, I became the camera mule, taking pictures for other people.

There were many amazing costumed groups, some of the memorable ones were:

The Powerpuff Girls (of course) and the Rowdy Rough Boys

The Soft Drinks Cans (they made these huge cans that they wore, and Huey especially wobbled in them)

The 2 Rubiks Cubes (I tried solving them. The girls inside asked what I was doing. I said solving them. They laughed.)

Bridezillas (it was freaking scary)

Snow White and the 7 Dwarves (Nug was a dwarf. I got to laugh) and of course the entourage of Evil Witches and whatnots

Bumblebee arm on Optimus Prime from Transformers (here’s looking at Bel)

Madeline and the French Nun Woman Whose Name I Forgot! Someone remind me.

Firemen.

The French Revolution people (I have no idea who they were meant to be, but they had good facial hair)

And of course, the Oompa Loompas and Willy Wonka, which scared the crap out of me. I meant the orange people though.

There were many others unnamed, and all of them were good and you could tell everyone put a lot of effort into it.

After much excitement and photos, it was time to go to the hall for the assembly. We yelled, we cheered, and of course we…but back up…background first.

For the previous week, it has been known that the clocks have been disappearing from every single classroom in school. While most of the year level knew that was happening, we didn’t actually know WHY. This wasn’t revealed until at assembly, Saf stood up there onstage and said, “Okay girls, on the count of 3 sing with me.” No one knew what song, and Saf said, “Just go with it ladies.”

“1…2…3…”

“I want one moment in…time!” And at that exact moment every clock that we had (which was every clock the school had) were raised to face the rest of the school behind us, and we all joined in a heartfelt, off-key, screeched out and by all means AWESOME rendition of One Moment In Time (the high-high-highlight being “when I’m racing with destiny” when everyone forgot EB’s advice to let the note envelope us and instead tried to shoot it from the top of our heads…it was nasty).

Then, the first act came on, and it was a lovely little dance number. I can’t recall all of the songs, but I just remember 2 scenes. 1, the first scene, when Mishie and Rach Tan (the former being a MacRob girl the latter being an “ENTER score” sought each other out through the crowd to Swift’s Love Story (“we were both young when I first saw you”). And then the 2nd scene was when Mishie was left by herself when ENTER abandoned her, and she sobbed out “ALL BY MYSELF!”

Then it was time for the video! Except there was a technical difficulty, so Amee went ahead with her piano improvisation. It brought tears for many of the girls, and started the mood for the video off.

The video was great, even if I do say so myself (and on behalf of my fellow committee-ers). It brought laughter where it was wanted, gasps where it was planned, and tears where it should be. Mr Rus- as Superman was amazing (and it was the first time I saw that skit, so I laughed so hard I teared), and all the other videos were of top-notch standard. People said afterwards that not a single video in it was boring, every one of them was great. That was the best compliment we could have gotten.

After the video, the tissues I bought came in handy, as those around me started bawling (I got the aloe vera kind, so it was good on their noses).

Then Pru- and Mari- went onstage and sang “Lean On Me”, during which Pru- cracked up which cause most of everyone else to cry (I still didn’t cry…which was weird).

Later on, when the rest of the school had left (we all did a standing ovation for the Yr 11s and others who were with us. I NEARLY felt like tearing at the thought of leaving Catherine, Fa and Julia L)  we started on the awards of “Most Likely”. And, true enough, Bel and Julia got “Most likely to be each others bridesmaids”. Mari- got “Friend Whore” because she was the most frequently mentioned person in the 3 categories “Most Compatible Pair” “Most Unlikely Pair” and something else.

After everything, after farewells to everyone, we headed out to leave. The Yr 9s gave us a human tunnel for us to leave by, each of them saying “we’ll miss you! Good luck!” and we all agreed, perhaps this bunch has some hope left yet.

Had a final Form get together at the picnic tables, where Jen and Nay handed out these little envelopes and in it they’ve described each person as an element. I was Sodium. It was a salty (not sweet) description, and it was lovely.

Left with BRuCE, Fel, Dani and Zara to Dani’s place for an impromptu BBQ. I felt sleepy by that point. Called Julia L to wish her a happy birthday and turned out she cried!! What a darl.

And thus ended my career as a high school student. In less than 1 month I will be free. Free from exams. Yet at the same time free of the protective and familiar environment that I’ve grown accustomed to over the last 4 years, and free of the faces that I’ve come taken for granted to see. And I don’t feel like it’s a good thing at all.

Alex.