That’s so intense! 42!

Yesterday I went to Jacky’s birthday party, which is where the first part of my title comes from (explanation later) and, of course, today is 10/10/10, which is 42 in binary.

Jacky’s birthday was a last minute decision on my behalf, and it was a great decision actually! Mandy gave me a ride to Jacky’s place, and we had finger food at his really awesome house. Played pool for a bit, and then watched Annie and Anna make Jacky a last minute card. They drew Jacky is a balding man with blue eyelashes and full red lips. I gave him sleazy eyebrows.

Clare got a Blackberry! I was really excited because when she gets internet on her Blackberry I can communicate with her with the BBM.

After a while, Clare and I played on Guitar Hero, and sort of did that until Jacky came back bearing lots of pizzas. Had the pizza, then had cake! Jacky took 5 or 6 tries before he managed to blow all the candles out – especially since one re-ignited itself.

Annie and Viv C tried to smother me. Elaine did nothing to help.

Then came the tried-and-true tradition of watching Mandy be a part of Super Mario Bros. Hungy, as Luigi, felt compelled to pick up Mandy’s yellow Toad and throw it into the lava repeatedly.

Then, of course, Mandy played MarioKart. Okay, to be honest, everyone played but Mandy was the loudest and the most INTENSE player. Ad- and I probably came close to bursting a kidney laughing at her intensity. “Move over fatass!”

At a very late point in the night, when a lot of people had gone home, I left with Dorothy and Mandy. I had sore throat from laughing non-stop at Mandy’s intense MarioKart playing.

Alright, so I went to bed at 1 am, ready to pry my eyes open at 8 to meet up with Gil. (Pearl)

I got to the city at around 10:30, having stayed awake on the train with my fantastic Pokemon Yellow. I felt rather cool playing it (on the way home, an Asian guy gave me a smile of approval after seeing my Gameboy). I got to Flinders Street, to find that the crossing to Fed Square was blocked for the marathon. While waiting for Gil to come, I kept an eye out for Steven. It was really…well inspiring is an overused word but, still, you know, inspiring to see all the runners. I saw this really old grandma keep her head down and soldiering on near the end of the run. There were these two girls who dressed in angel wings (sorry I forgot to take a photo) and holding a sign that read “never ever give up”.

Of course, there are douchebags who cut across the path of the runners because they’re too lazy to go down the steps next to the station and come up from under the bridge. Two of them cut across this guy who had pulled a hamstring, and one of them said to the other one (holding a cigarette) “this is just stupid!”

When Gil arrived in her adorable gray beanie (which didn’t give her hat-hair) we went to line up for the tickets to Tim Burton. That itself took over half an hour. Still, it was really great to just chat with her about her cougar-ness. Oh yes. My friends, Gil is a cougar (she can deny it, but it’s true).

The Tim Burton exhibition made me want to just draw again. I used to draw when I’m trying to listen in class – people say I’m distracted but I pay better attention when I’m drawing – but I hardly do that anymore. I guess, though, I actually have to take notes in Uni. I dunno, maybe one day soon I’ll sit myself down away from the laptop and have a bit of a draw. Nothing as fantastically quirky as Burton’s, of course, but I can try.

The Burton version of Hansel and Gretel made Gil and me crack up – because for some reason, the witch was a man, and Hansel and Gretel were Asians in German clothing. That, and the low budget made the overall show hilariously…scary. The talking clown/gingerbread man is sure to give Gil nightmares.

After staying on our feet for nearly 90 minutes, Gil and I decided to have lunch at…Maccas. It was a good thing we went to Maccas to sit down and eat actually, because we ended up talking for about 2-3 hours about Code Geass (because that’s her obsession), Ouran Host, then somehow FRIENDS, and then Simpsons. The table next to us saw 3 different diners come and go, and we still sat there.

When, finally, at around 4, we thought we should go. Still, it was a fantastic way to spend 10/10/10, which by the way is 42, which by the way is the answer to life, universe and everything.

This is…probably not the best photo but yeah, that was the one on my phone. The ones on Pearl’s camera…is on her camera. She’s not online at the moment.

She doesn’t look 20 huh? Old ass.

Alex.

Like a marathon

I’m a pretty huge fan of talking and writing in metaphors and analogies and whatnot. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it. A lot of the times when friends come to me for help, I’ve tried to put their situation into an analogy so they can sort of see how to get out of it. I guess in a way I’m like a nicer and…slightly less intimidating version of S- Sensei.

What had happened was, and I hope it’s okay for me to share this story, Sensei would give us analogies of what was happening with our schoolwork. So once when I wrote an essay too long, and wrote a criteria out of range, he told me that by doing that I’ve basically received 2 black eyes. A double knockout. Because not only did I get marks taken off for going over the limit, I’ve also not filled in the criteria because they don’t mark what is out of range. Anyway, there was the one memorable one. A student was struggling a little in class, and went to Sensei to ask whether she should continue Japanese for Yr 12. His response (my closest recollection to her paraphrasing of what he said) was this:

“Imagine that we are all playing a game of basketball, but you are really fat. So even if you run around a lot, and you shout ‘pass me the ball!’ and you do this and you do that, you’re still fat, and you’re going to be very tired after the first quarter. Everyone else is skinny and healthy, so they can keep running but you’re fat so you’re going to die by halftime. This is you in Japanese. You are the fat basketball player.”

So, basically, I think he wasn’t so hot on her continuing Japanese. I thought he could’ve said, “Look I know you’re trying your best but the workload in Yr 12 is even harder so many this isn’t the best choice for you.” or something along those nice lines that teachers are made to say. Kudos to him though, for voicing it in a humorous way.

I think there was a time when a friend of mine was having relationship problems – or rather, problems with getting over it – and I said something like, “Ultimately, this is a bridge that you have to build alone, to get over. I mean, we your friends have given you the materials and the support and all that, but you’re gonna have to build the thing. It’s tempting to just stay on the side you are now, but I think to move on, you’d have to build that bridge.” I think she’s really on her way to doing it.

Okay, but the metaphor/analogy (I’d say metaphor) that made me smile today was this:

(I had to edit out bits that would make it personal)

“Think of your relationship as a marathon. You start off a little jerkily then you settle into a rhythm once you get into it. Sooner or later though you’ll hit a curve or an obstacle and you have to deal with it, If you don’t your [sic] stuck there not going anywhere. But once you get past it you’ve gained that much more and it means something, even if it’s small. Then you keep going. “

And the more I thought about that the more right she was (whoever the hell you are, you crazy thing). At the start of a friendship, you’re so energized, you feel you can sprint the whole way. Then you slow down, maybe tire out. It’s once you settle into that rhythm, and time gets its claws into you, that you can really test out your endurance. So many runners fall out, they give up. But if you last the distance, that feeling that you get when you cross the finish line, it’s like you’re “on top of the world” as I was told recently. And yeah, on the way you’ll meet potholes, snakes, hobos, whatever, but they’re mere distractions. They’re not world-ending.

I’m interested in making a VCE metaphor that includes piranhas and Tasmania Jones (OH NO I DIDN’T!)

Keep Cool (and runnin’)

D.F.

P.S. Yeah I actually just thought about signing off with “Keep Cool” and then something to do with the blog I just wrote. Let’s see how long I can last doing that.