Sometimes I want to disappear

[Houdini – Foster the People]

I know I am almost a week late on these posts but it sort of just occurred to me I hadn’t written anything.

So, last Monday I went to see Foster the People at the Palace Theater with Amelia, who else… It just so happened that I somehow capped my incredibly large allowance of Internet because my entire family was streaming and downloading lots, so I didn’t have a way to do my timetable registering. I ended up going to Mela’s house super early to use her Internet, while getting the chance to cuddle her dog which is starting to like me quite a bit.

As usual, Portal crashed spectacularly, so in the end I got Annie to do it for me anyway, but at least I got the chance to cuddle with her a bit and play with the puppy before we realized that we were late. We were trying to move some Doctor Who episodes onto an SD card because the hotel room has a TV that can read SD cards, but in the end it took so long that we brought Mela’s laptop along anyway.

We took the train up from Ferntree Gully station, which was a, oh, 1 hour ride…and we managed to get to the city when it was getting kinda hot. We took the tram up to the Palace Theater, where around the corner our hotel stood, and we passed a girl sitting outside the doors with a book and a water bottle. “Surely,” I said, “surely she’s not waiting already? There’s still 5 hours left!” But Mela said, “why else would someone sit outside a venue?”

We went to our room, which was smaller and less luxurious than the NYE one, but came with a kitchenette and cutlery. We watched Ready Steady Cook for a bit, then went out to a late lunch. It took us a while to decide, but we ultimately decided on the new Taiwan restaurant on Swanston, which turned out quite nice. We missed out on an ice-cream parlor because we were running late on relaxing, so we’ve tucked it away in our mental to-do list. We got some cup noodles and cheeseballs which I was craving, and went back to our room with the leftover fried noodles from lunch to relax. We laid about a bit, then started watching Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood on Mela’s laptop, which I promptly became engrossed with. We started watching an episode of Doctor Who, and I didn’t realize my phone was on silent, because we missed a text from Julia saying she was lining up already. We hurried downstairs and met up with her.

To cut a long story short, I drank a lot of liquid which made me need to pee early, but I was way up front and if I left I wouldn’t be able to make it back. So we stood waiting for the opening act Last Dinosaurs for 90 minutes, and my feet were well sore before the first note was played.

During the open, this girl came up and stood behind us and started having a conversation with another girl in the middle of a song. So loudly. That I still remember that she works at the Art Center and earns 25 an hour. I ended up turning around to tell her to tone it down, at least while the song was going.

Foster was another hour away, and my bladder was really screaming. I didn’t want to leave Mela by herself up front, so I tried to stay with her as long as possible but 4 songs in I had to leave. It was so hard to get out, some people tried to push me back up front. I tried to get back again later, but the crowd was packed from the merchandise table, there was no chance 3 rows in.

Still, even from the back, I could feel the buzz of the crowd. If anything, Foster the People were good performers. Their big finale, obviously, Pumped Up Kicks, shook the place, and even at the back we were jumping.

After the gig, I was drained and unfortunately had no energy to go with Mela and Rebecca from the Wombats to Maccas, so Mela and I went back to our room. We heated up the leftover noodles and watched more FMA, then Mela ate some of the instant noodles, then felt really sick. We ended up just lying there while I rubbed her tummy, then we tentatively ate some cheeseballs and got ready for bed.

Accidentally left the air con on, so we froze if we didn’t pull up the blanket, and boiled if we did. Got up super early the next day to pack up and check out. Mela was tired and not a morning person, so I made toast and washed up. We got out just in time, and went to State Library to drop off our super heavy bags then went to Degraves for breakfast, as Mela’s never been.

We ate a full breakfast and ran into Dani who saw my check-in and called me to say she was next door. Then we walked around a bit and shopped for presents, then watched some more FMA at State before taking a train home.

So yeah, big day. Some else happened in Thursday which I will write about very soon.

Alex

To balance out your looks

Today I went to hang out with Julia and hand in my script. The weather had said it would be a mad storm. It was raining when we met up, but not so heavily.

We went to QV (bumping into Mai on the tram) for me to run my errands. I took a while to decide between what socks to buy, and then Julia got her chocolate. We went to Melbourne Central to grab a quick lunch – she wanted pizza, but lo and behold, my influence saw her queue up for Maccas along my side.

We sat and talked for ages – fighting over who would eat the last McNugget – and it was nice to be around her for a while because we haven’t really talked properly for a long time.

To cut a long and repetitive – and in many ways personal – story short, Julia and I sat around in many different places and talked for a long time in each of these places. We covered topics that I don’t think I would have dared to start with her any other time, but for some reason today it seemed fine.

I talked to her about Mela a lot – I told her about how happy I am now. It’s nice to have someone tell you that you’re in a good and healthy relationship, confirming what you’ve come to accept.

We decided it was time to go home at around 6, and terrifyingly enough when I was on the train, the storm clouds rolled in low on the skyline. Just 10 minutes later, my train was in the midst of the storm.

Luckily, as I kept heading towards home, the rain eased – but the clouds did not. I nervously waited for my bus to arrive, and then impatiently waited for my mom to arrive to pick me up from the bus stop. The hurry, it seemed, was necessary, because not 5 minutes after I closed the front door behind me, rain started pounding down.

I’ve had a strange evening. I’m not sure what it was but it was strange, and I didn’t like it.

Anyway. Going to Mela’s house tomorrow.

Alex.

Who takes a train at 11:54 at night to Seymour?

Yesterday I went to see The Wombats at Festival Hall with Mela. I don’t actually like them that much, but they are close to Mela’s favorite band, and what with it being our 1 month, and her coming to Anberlin with me at the start, I felt it would be simply wrong to not go with her. Besides, the smile on her face when she heard I would go with her was worth everything.

We went to her friend Rebecca’s house, where we would be spending the night, to drop off our bags. They live right near MacRob, I am BLOODY JEALOUS OF HOW CLOSE THEY LIVE! So then, Rebecca, her friend Phoebe, Mela and I went into the city to eat Maccas (I had Maccas earlier that day so I felt all fat and stuff but hey) for dinner before heading to Festival Hall.

Everyone lining up were sort of the hipster wannabe tweens, something I was expecting. We went to our seats in the balcony, and I started buying a few drinks so I wouldn’t be bored for the evening. The drinks were pretty expensive, but I felt generous. Mela and I each had one bourbon and coke, then I discovered and started on the Smirnoff Limes.

The bands that played were pretty decent live, I do admit, they could carry their energy well – especially Owl Eyes, considering she’s only well known in certain Australian circles. Faker were pretty good but I never liked his voice.

The mosh was huge – and quite fluid. So when The Wombats came on, I was quite glad we didn’t get standing tickets. Mela was beside herself in excitement, and danced along to all the songs – and knowing all the lyrics. It was quite heartwarming to see her so consumed and happy.

By the end of the night, I was a spot beyond tipsy. Rebecca and Phoebe put up with me quite well – but they had nothing on Mela whose love for me was really put to the test when I continuously complained and hated on everything. At some point, at Southern Cross, I yelled at the announcement claiming that the 11:54 train to Seymour was departing, because who the hell takes it that late?

We went back to the house and went to sleep pretty much immediately. Mela snored a little, which was very cute, except when she grunted when I poked her to roll over.

We got up a bit later than intended the next day (today), and left the house as the rest of Rebecca’s family were coming back from church. Her parents are SO incredibly casual and friendly – I wish my parents are like that!

Mela and I were going to have a quick breakfast of congee, and then go home, but after downing yum cha (or, as I called it, brum cha) and walking around the city to walk it off, we realized we didn’t want to go home and part ways, so we hung around for even longer. We saw Mai for a bit, and then had lunch at a cafe on Hardware Lane. Finally, stuffed full and promising to mutually start eating healthier and exercising more – both of us having developed relationship guts – we went home.

We realized that we’d spent over 24 hours literally in each other’s company the entire time (bar the small moments we went to the bathroom), and yet still weren’t sick of each other.

Alex.

Death by hot chick

So today was my venture to go eat Crazy Wing and go to IKEA for funsies, with Clare, Charles and Mela.

I got to Melb Central a bit earlier, and Annie (who was going to eat lunch with us), Clare and Mela all realized they were going to be a bit late, and, knowing my hatred for waiting and tardiness, they all texted me more or less at the same time “will be around 10 minutes late SORRY!!!!”

We went to Big W where Clare wanted to look for this specific pair of flats, and I was no contribution, and it led to Mela just telling me to stop talking when I passed comment. Then we went to Crazy Wing, but it wasn’t open yet, so we sort of went to this Asian video store nearby, and went through the DVDs with Annie telling me which ones I should “actually see cos it’s actually amazing”. Then we came across the entire collection of Kindaichi and Slam Dunk, and Annie and I both respectively really wanted those, but Mela convinced us out of buying them, adding that being a member of an anime club, chances are she’ll know someone who has all of them. Well, I am relying on her to. But if she doesn’t, the series is only $65!

Then we went to Crazy Wing, and we ordered between us the Honey Spicy Chicken, the Garlic Spicy Chicken, Mela and I each had one Crazy Wing, some mushrooms, and a 2L bottle of Coke. The wing was VERY hot but enjoyably so – even though my lips got kind of inflamed. Surprisingly, Min-, Larry and their friends came into the store as well, and it was a bit of a “hey what are you doing here!” moment.

After Crazy Wing, we went to QV to have frozen yogurt at Tutti Frutti, and ran into Mai and Julia. Mela and I shared a chocolate one, topped with LOADS of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and crushed Oreos, and then argued over who would eat the strawberry pieces and who would eat the dollop of strawberry fro-yo that Mela put in there. We did the shouting over each other arguing, and everyone on the table were feeling pretty awkward until we started laughing at us arguing.

After frozen yogurt, during which all the sugar and chicken was getting to me and I was feeling quite hyper-active, we left Julia and Annie to their own devices, and Charles, Clare, Mela and I started going to IKEA in Victoria Gardens. Got distracted halfway when we went to EB Games on Swanston to play the Wii upstairs, and we did a mass Mario-Kart battle, except I am very inept at the game on Wii, so I came last in every race (that is, I never finished a race), while Mela went nuts trying to beat Charles.

Finally, we took the tram up to Victoria Gardens, and the tram was very crowded and warm. Mela and I tried to do the word scramble on the tram, but realized to do the big one we needed a pen. So I asked Charles if he had a pen, but this gentleman right next to me handed me his pen, and I was kind of pleased at how friendly he was.

IKEA was pretty good – it always is – but it was made better by the fact that the four of us were pretty much in there as a double-date. We went through the bedroom displays, looking at the different room designs. I think, though, the ones that really caught our interest were the children’s bedrooms, especially the one with the canopy bed and the crawl through cubby. Clare came across this little boy in the cubby, and started making her weird noises at him, and didn’t realize that all that time the kid’s parents were standing right behind her.

Mela saw this bunk bed which was pretty much a double bed up top, and a couch-area/relax/study area down the bottom, and more or less fell in love with it.

Then we went to have the Swedish meatballs and mash, and for $4.25, it was REALLY worth it. Except it smells quite strong. I can still smell it on my breath now. Woof. We sort of sat there for a bit talking, and then weaved through the rest of IKEA to make it to the $1 hotdogs. Again, I think Mela fell in love with the hotdogs, because they were rather tasty and filling for one freaking dollar. I think she wants to go to the newly opened Springvale one JUST to eat the hotdogs again.

Then we went to K-Mart to look for jewelry for Clare, because she needs a new necklace, but I suppose that was a silly place to go for that kind of stuff. We looked at the toys a bit, of course, and then left Victoria Gardens in a rush when we realized it was half past 5, and Mela needed to get home by 7. It wasn’t going to happen, but we could try.

On the train home, Mela and I looked through the many MANY photos she took throughout the day, laughing at the ones where the phone blurred the faces, and saying aww whenever there was a cute photo of Clare and Charles. Then we listened to her music a bit, and said bye at the bus-stop. I am getting very comfortable with this dating thing, yep.

It was a really long day; although we got home earlier than we usually would, we did more and went to more places. I asked Mela if she liked the kind of dates where we did a lot of things, or the ones where we had a meal and just sat around and talked. She said she liked a bit of both, but the fact that she’s gone to take a nap now kind of makes me think that the doing stuff dates are really tiring.

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.

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.

I wonder if it even makes a difference to try?

[Makes Me Wonder – Maroon 5]

I went to see the final Harry Potter installment yesterday/day before, but I will write about the entire 2 day thing here before giving my judgement on the movie.

I got up at 7 am to meet up with Vinchi to go see X-Men First Class (we’d put it off for ages). She’d never been to Jam Factory, so it was one hell of a tram ride of her asking we were there yet. It was also REALLY windy and cold, and the girl was wearing a flannel shirt with a light jacket.

We were a bit late to the movie, and the theater was pretty much empty save for one other guy. The movie was pretty good, despite my having seen half of it through GIFs on Tumblr. It was a fun moment when Xavier reached out with his mind for the first time and we saw Little Storm on screen.

After the movie we went back into the CBD to have lunch, and Vinchi took me to a really small Chinese-run Japanese restaurant (which is pretty much every other Japanese restaurant in the city), and I had super salty Katsu-Don. That wasn’t really a highlight, but I just had to remember that the place sucked. I forgot the name of the restaurant but it’s on Russel St close to Crazy Wings.

We walked back to Gloria Jeans on Elizabeth for her to quench her Ice Chocolate thirst, and I soundly beat her Fruit Ninja Arcade best score. Before we knew it, it was time to meet Dani, so I picked up my things from Vinchi’s convenient city-based apartment (10 minutes’ walk to Uni, 2 minutes to work, 30 seconds to a 7/11), and headed off to an awesome night of not sleeping.

We went to Dani’s mom’s apartment to help babysit Lyshana. This, by the way, is little precious and very intelligent and great at dancing (even at such a young age) Lyshana:

We played around with Lysh’s Legos, which basically consisted of Dani and I making cars or ships, and Lyshana ripping it apart and us pretending that our fleet of warships have been destroyed. The kid finds amusement out of our cries of terror.

We also filmed our questions video deal, which was funny to start with but Lysh kept on interrupting. Halfway through my video you can hear “I need to go toilet”. After the videos are done, we realized that it was pretty late and dinner time, so we took Lyshana to Bel’s apartment where I was going to spend the rest of my night (bar the movie, of course).

When we were at Bel’s apartment, her older sister Anita was still there. We got out some paper for Lyshana to draw on, and she was of course talking loudly, and Anita emerged from her room saying “I hear a baby, who does she belong to?”

Sonam, Tiff and Julia were at the apartment already, and Bel had gone to get pizza. I told Lysh to show Sonam her drawings, so she went up to the jetlagged girl (having just touched down from Canada earlier that day) with her masterpiece, to be greeted with “Oh wow, that’s beautiful! …What is it?”

We spent most of dinner discussing how creepy kids’ cartoons are these days, as well as reminiscing the awesome ones we had as children. Bel put on X-Box Kinect, and Lyshana soundly beat 3 19-year-olds in rounds of Rally Ball. After Dani and Lysh left, Julia, Tiff and I played a few more rounds on Kinect, with Tiff providing, as usual, the most number of laughs. Bel brought this huge container of Red Vines.

We then put on Deathly Hallows Part 1 to get ready for the movie later that night, but the mood was somewhat tainted by all of us (mostly me) making comments about the movie, and Sonam falling asleep and dreaming that we were the 3 Brothers. Bel sat by and made her tiny ships in light bulbs. When Dobby died, everyone sort of went quiet and there was a lot of blinking.

A bit before we left, we got out all the trundle beds, and having failed to bring a sleeping bag, I was told I’d sleep on 2 sofa cushions on the floor, wedged between two trundles. I’ll just say now, without meaning to, I ended up getting the largest sleeping area on the couch.

At around quarter past eleven, Annie and I had to leave for Hoyts, because we thought it would take us a long time. We got there perhaps 20 minutes early, and stood around feeling out of place, being the only ones in normal clothes. We saw a few what we thought were owls, a lot of slutty female Harrys, the treats trolley on the Hogwarts Express, a few Death Eaters, and a lot of just really random scars drawn on.

The movie itself disappointed me slightly. I suppose on its own it would have been pretty well done, but after the hype and the first part which I still deemed to be better, it felt rushed like the 5th and the 6th ones were. The Snape parts were good, but not as emotionally hitting as I wanted it to be, and the whole story of young Dumbledore and Grindelwald were COMPLETELY omitted. The movie aimed for many jokes, some of which were great, some of which kind of felt lame. It was definitely good to see it with an enthusiastic crowd, though, because everyone applauded and whooped when Ron and Hermione finally kissed – which, even after the eye-popping Hermione/Harry kiss, still managed to be an amazing moment.

After the movie, Annie and I walked the long walk back to Bel’s. We did our film-students analysis, and kept warm by practically jogging. When we got back, the others, of course, had already been back, and we did our washing up and Sonam and Tiff somehow had an argument over brushing their teeth. We sat around for a while because we found out Bel actually had to get up in 2 hours to take a friend to the airport, so we all stayed up talking and listening to Annie play Kpop on her iPod.

At around 4 or 5, everyone simultaneously decided to all just go to sleep. It was initially very hard because Tiffany was still wide awake and laughing, to the point where Julia told her to just close her mouth, and forget about closing her eyes. I myself prepared to try to sleep in the city apartment – having gotten used to the suburbia quiet – when Annie’s blocked sinus started announcing its existence in funny but very distinct little snores. When Bel’s friend called to be let in, it was nearly 6, and I had given up on sleep, instead opting to lie on my back and watch the light filter through the blinds like a weird zebra trip.

At around 6:30, 7, Sonam rolled over and pushed Annie off the trundle, making her fall on top of Tiff who took my little sofa-cushion bed, and so Tiff and Annie both became awake. Tiff was feeling sick from lack of sleep and how hot it was under the blanket, so after some rather noisy packing, she slipped out to go home for a quick nap.

Annie went back to exercising her sinus, and I sat awake, playing with my ring. I suppose my sleep deprived brain shut down temporarily, and I found myself waking up at around 8, then at around 8:30. At around 9, everyone got up, and Annie, Sonam and I got ready to meet Dani and April for breakfast at 10. We said goodbye to Julia who was waiting for Bel to come back to take her home, and left the apartment to…

Rain. Somehow we forgot which city we lived in, and were even slightly surprised that it was raining. We met up with Dani and April, the latter of which seemed to have stolen Timberlake’s sexy. We had breakfast at The Quarter on DeGraves, and I dropped my bacon. It was not shaping up to be a good day. To cheer me up, Dani took pictures of me on Instagram. Unfortunately, I was so tired that I came out looking super Asian – tiny small eyes.

After breakfast, April, Dani and I met up with Maggie at Flinders Station. We went to Chapel Street to shop – or rather, they shopped while I tagged along and dozed infrequently on husband chairs. I think at some point I just turned off all smart retorts and just told Dani her face was [insert adjective here]. Carmaine joined us a small while later, and they went to a lot of stores and got a lot of discount goodies at Op shops.

We went to Dani’s South Melb apartment in the afternoon (my God I missed being there. It felt so familiar climbing those deadly flights again), and I took a quick nap in Dani’s new makeshift mattress bed – it was strange to be in her room without her walls being covered by posters.

Went home, and had a lot of Tumblr catching up to do, so despite being at nearly 30 hours with no proper sleep, I stayed up. I slept at 11, and ended up gaining consciousness at 5 pm the next day. Oops.

It was a darn good day/night/day.

Alex.

P.S. Sorry for the very late posting. The original date of writing was 14th of July, which was timely. I forgot I’d saved a draft, so I posted it on the 26th.

So to add another post count

I feel like I mustn’t let the month pass with only 3 posts, so here’s a story of what happened on Saturday…

After work, I was waiting to have dinner with a friend, who was late, and I arranged to meet her at Flinders station and I was at Melbourne Central.

Seeing as it was Easter Saturday and the trams, when they do come, would be crowded, I decided just to walk to Flinders, seeing as I had over an hour to wait, and it wasn’t bad weather.

As I was passing the Subway right outside of Melbourne Central, I passed a guy who started saying something to me. I had my music in, so I took it out to see if maybe he was asking for directions.

“You know I’d straight up go out with you, yeah do you like me?”

And then I realized that I’d made a mistake.

“See ya later, mate,” I said, trying to dismiss him, and walked a bit faster. Unfortunately, he kept following me.

“Come on why not?”

I kept on walking, and at the next light, I crossed the road and walked into QV. I gave myself until the end of one song before I turned around to check…and saw that he was still following me. Losing patience, and somewhat getting a bit creeped out, I barked, “Stop following me, man!” He did a weird smile, so I just turned around and walked faster, hoping that the people around me can both mask me, and act as a deterrent to him.

After weaving through downstairs QV, back up, around the back of QV and out onto Russel Street, then back onto Swanston (thank God I knew the place), I crossed my fingers and hoped he wasn’t still following me.

He wasn’t.

That was the first time I’d gotten a semi stalker.

I didn’t like it.

Alex.

Was This Over Before It Ever Began?

[Feel Good Drag – Anberlin]

One last song title post, even though Autumn has hit. So, on March 1st, I went to see my first ever gig – Anberlin, supported by Bayside and The Starting Line.

I warn you now, very long post.

After my classes ended at quarter to five, I went to the tram stop to meet up with Julia, who had my ticket. At the same time, I was due to meet up with a friend of a friend’s, who up to that day I hadn’t met before. His name is Louis.

So we grabbed a quick bite before we headed to Bel’s apartment where Julia and I dropped off our stuff. We went back up to Billboard, where Susan had started lining up already. She had with her a whole bunch of food that she probably thought she could finish but then realized she had a limit to her appetite, so she tried to offload the food onto us.

Pearl arrived at around 7, just in time to get to know the people we were lining up with (friends of Julia’s). We went into Billboard as one of the first ones, got our stuff cloaked (and, I’ll say now with hindsight, I should not have kept my Metcard in my jeans pocket. Also, Metcards are damn durable.)

We’d gotten that amazing spot at the barriers, right near the center. At this point, standing around while more and more people crowded in behind us, Louis decided to tell me that 1) the waiting part takes ages (which it did, nearly 40 minutes), and 2) there is a chance I’d die (Julia also said she hoped I wouldn’t die). Now, seeing as this was my first gig ever, I had to take their warnings with a certain note of fear. Still, the atmosphere of the waiting crowd pretty much soon made me put aside those words.

At this point, two people began chatting to Louis, who was standing behind me. I didn’t catch the guy’s name, but the girl’s nickname was Ish, and they were both well lubricated with beer. There were general high-fives of excitement, and then the guy decided to pat my head, saying he liked my hair.

Bayside kicked the show off, and even though I didn’t really know any of their songs, their energy, and a guy standing two people behind me who knew every word, got me into the mood of the concert. There were some rocking of bodies, but in general the amount of violence was tolerable. Oh except for Pearl, who was being battered by Ish.

After they finished, the buzzing grew a bit louder, not only because I think more people liked TSL, but it was also one band closer to Anberlin.

At this point, Ish had managed to move her way to being right behind me, and so when TSL started, it became my turn to be battered by her. I supposed it was better to be battered by a drunk girl than to be beaten by an enthusiastic drunk guy. Anyway, TSL started playing Island, and Ish had been screaming for them to play it for two songs already, so you can imagine her enthusiasm and volume when they did start playing it. There were many amused glanced that Pearl and I shared at her excitement, but I rather enjoyed it (ignoring the bruises), because she made the whole event even more exciting, even when there wasn’t a song playing.

When The Best Of Me (admittedly, the only TSL song I knew that they played) began, so began my scream-along for the night.

The one thing I noticed about moshing (and, pressed against the barrier –  actually, pressed against Julia but that’s a later story – I could only assume that what I experienced was moshing) was that everyone around you, stranger or not, suddenly share the same emotional flow. Everyone screamed the same line, everyone threw their arms up in the same beat, and, to some extent, everyone jumped in unison.

After TSL went offstage, the amount of time as Anberlin was being set up no longer became the placid waiting as it was for TSL – everyone began pushing forwards for the best view of the band they’d all come for. It was through some elbowing that I managed to keep my position behind Julia and next to Pearl.

Remember what I said about there being a later story? Well, having not experienced it before, it soon became clear to me that all rules about personal space and touching get trampled, as complete strangers pressed up against my back, and because of my limited upper body strength, I was subsequently pushed so far into Julia that we REALLY tested the boundaries of our friendship.

This is a photo of the setlist that Anberlin played yesterday (“King” was “We Owe It To Ourselves”). Standing right next to the speakers, it was a comment on the enthusiasm of the crowd that our collective screaming matched Stephen’s amplified vocals. It was so loud and so full of energy that he was momentarily taken aback at the microphone.

Bouncers threw water into the crowd, wetting the already sweat-soaked faces. Stephen passed by us many times, as did Deon. When the first few bars of Dismantle.Repair. began playing, I put aside the breathlessness I was feeling, and I fought off the tingling dizziness, and completely lost myself in the beat. It’s strange thinking back now of my conduct, but in that moment, with at least six other bodies occupying my personal bubble, and Julia’s hair in my mouth (yeah…), my crazed arm flailing and very-likely offkey screaming to lyrics that barely need any thinking to recall seemed like just the right thing to do. The crush of bodies turned from an unrelenting enemy into the friend that kept me upright.

At the end, they came back on for two more songs, Readyfuels and Never Take Friendship Personal. In a flash, the show was over. We retrieved our jackets, and sculled down blissfully cold water. I was tingling all over, half from exhaustion, half from the lack of oxygen, and half (my maths have taken a hit lately) from the overspill of excitement. I also noticed that my right side was completely soaked (as was my back, despite wearing two layers), and since I didn’t feel that sweaty, I realized that the wetness was due to the fat guy who’d fought his way to my right towards the end.

Louis and Pearl had to leave to take the train home – can’t express the gratitude I have for Bel for letting me crash at her place, because I was able to stay behind with Julia. We waited around for a while, and saw the band come out at the back. Through Julia’s persistence, we managed to get photos with three members of the band:

This is the one photo of the both of us with Deon, who, by that time, had become my favorite.

Deon actually stood with us and had a bit of a chat, and for a moment he managed to make me forget that he’s the guy who stood onstage in front of us, playing amazing bass. Stephen and Joey had gotten into the van already, so Julia only managed to get a quick signature.

This is sort of where the concert part of the blog post ends, the rest is just for my remembering pleasure.

After we left Billboard and made our way back to Swanston, we realized that we’d just missed all the trams for the night that go to Bel’s apartment. Ignoring the pain in my feet (Julia is a tank, she wasn’t in pain at all), we started on our leisurely stroll to Bel’s apartment (except at Julia’s walking speed which, in case you don’t know her, would make her future children speed walking champions). I tried to keep warm by singing the whole time, and Julia’s complete nonchalance to my musical attempts meant that I had to be the backup vocals too.

We got back to the apartment and, it being half past 1 in the morning, we cat-footed our way around the dark apartment, opting to shower the next day as to not wake Bel’s family. Julia took the mattress on the floor and I took the couch, which was leather. Here, I must recount the moment when, after I’d fallen asleep, the sweat on the back of my hand stuck to the leather and when I changed position, the ripping of my hand off the couch was possibly one of the more painful experiences in my life. How can something so little hurt so much? (That…is what she said.)

Bel left for uni early, so I was half awake at around the time the sun rose. Julia woke once or twice, each time rolling over to sleep more, but finally at around 8:30 we both gave up trying to continue sleeping and simply started the sluggish morning rituals.

After waiting a while for her phone to charge, and talking in semi-whispers in fear of waking Bel’s sister who might not have even been in, we went to DeGraves for brunch (oh, by the way, my sweat soaked Metcard – yes, ew – works, if not after a hesitant click from the turnstile). Dropping her off at Flinders Station so she could go to Uni, I made my way back to my own Uni, bumping into a newly made friend on the tram.

The rest of the day was spent in a sort of sore, tired stupor, and finishing class at 6:15 did not help.

So here’s the predictable I LOVE MUSIC CONCERTS conclusion. I’m not quite sure if I want my next time to have two drunks right next to me, and I have yet to experience a concert where I wasn’t fighting for breath every three seconds, but the thrill of having a stranger next to you hold you up while you’re both leaping to the music is something I want to experience again.

Also, massive thanks to Julia who stuck with me the whole time, Pearl for exchanging amused looks with me the whole time, and Louis who tried his utmost to shield me from the worst of the moshing.

Alex.

You’re Gonna Listen To Me

[Faint – Linkin Park]

Preeetty sure I won’t hit 15 this month. I noticed I haven’t done a song post in ages so I might knock that over tonight as well.

So yesterday was Australia Day, and true to tradition (actually, it was my first recall-able time in the near 11 years since I’ve been here) I went to an Aussie Day BBQ.

I haven’t done a long and almost pointless documentation post in ages, so I might do it full on properly now.

Everything was going pretty peachy in the morning, despite being nearly late for my bus. But as I got on the train, with my hair sitting perfectly (pfft, who am I kidding), it started to drizzle. By the time I’d reached the 3rd station, it was a downright animal zoo out there.

Thankfully, Melbourne weather decided to mood swing towards niceness, and the skies let up the tears – albeit still rather dark and moody. I decided to be adventurous, and take a different tram to the one I would have normally taken.

Yeah, that was a bad idea. I got utterly lost, missed my stop, and had to wait an extra 10 minutes to take the tram one stop back. Then came the confused tourist walk to find the group. There was an awkward moment when I started walking towards a bunch of people near a BBQ purposefully, only to realize I didn’t recognize anyone there. Finally, I spotted a familiar face – the only one who’d arrived.

James, Jen’s friend who joined Juggling with us but then he actually went, had brought a football (the American kind) and, I know how ironic it sounds, but we started throwing that around. He tried to teach me how to throw it properly, but I suppose my hand-eye-ear-brain coordination simply went into hibernation this summer, because I don’t think I have the knack of it, still.

After a while, the MacRob girls arrived, meaning I had actually found people to talk to who don’t insult my lack of sporting abilities. So passed a good hour of sitting around chatting and catching up, followed by what seems to be a time-honored tradition of playing Big-Two and having at least one person not understand the rules and/or tactics. I am ashamed to say, however, that I lost a game.

When Jen T noted that there was another MacRob group who was also at Albert Park Lake (probably forgot to mention where we were), a few of us decided to take the walk to their area to say hi. We started the trek with enthusiasm, having been promised friends “just behind those trees”. The mood soon turned sour as “just behind those trees” turned out to be “halfway across the lake”. Annie, Julia and I watched in high mirth as Tiff weaved her way through the carpark, completely sober, but drunk on being herself, and Annie laughed so hard that she choked on her 20 years of existence.

We met up with the other MacRob group, which was essentially the other Japanese class plus some of our own. Huey had come back from her year in England, tanned as a Jersey Shore kid (oh, did I just make that reference), which was illogical to start with because she spent a year in ENGLAND.

Having stolen one of their drinks and made some great conversation about where people had been in 2010, we decided it was around time we started heading back. We went back in time to realize that while we were gone, the ice at the party had broken and everyone was getting along. So, in true MacRob style, we all sat in a circle and consumed food. Jen went on to consume half a chicken. Not kidding. I wish I was.

Er at some point I drank beer on an empty stomach and got a bit blurry but obviously nothing bad happened, because I’m not like that. So people started putting ice cubes down other people’s backs, and it may or may not have been at my instigation.

Anyway, at one point people started leaving, and as I saw two girls leave, I shouted, “BYE! NICE MEETING YOU!” only to realize I hadn’t actually spoken a single word to her. To correct myself of this mistake, I decided to introduce myself to the next new face I saw. The next new face I saw happened to be a name that I’ve heard many, many times previously, and with whom I share many mutual friends – Linh. So, you can imagine how creepy I was when I said, “LINH! Oh I know you! I know who your friends are! I FINALLY MET YOU!”

Lesson, children, don’t do that. Ever. Play it cool. Thankfully, she’s heard of me before too, but that didn’t stop her from noting that the awkward scale just went from 4 (random introduction) to 10 (admission to online stalking).

Lily showed up at, I don’t know, 4, and I finally managed to give her a birthday present, 2 months late. It was a toothbrush that played music for 2 minutes, in attempts to cut down her nightly bathroom ritual time. Also, it freaking played music into her mouth, man.

A bit after that, the BBQ drew to an end, and everyone dispersed. A large group decided to go to Fitzroy for milkshakes, and even though Julia, Annie and Tiff all left me, I had Jen, Steven, Brendan and James, and my newly made friend Linh (she kept on noting how awkward I was. I had to have Julia vouch that I was tired and usually I was rather sociable. Julia sort of nodded slowly and sarcastically).

The Milkshake place, whose actual name I forgot, is actually a pool arcade, so we all got our delicious milkshakes, and played some pool. I think I met more people at pool than I did at the BBQ, purely from making fun of one guy, Victor, who missed shots that first-timers would have managed.

When the games have been played and lost, and the milkshakes drank, we all headed back to Parliament. For some reason, the guys thought it would be a show of dexterity if we walked instead of caught the tram, so we had a nice cool dusk stroll back to the station, and I took the train home with Linh and Donuts (his last name is Duncan, so Dunkin’ Donuts. Get it?).

When I was at Glenny station I got stopped by this tall white guy who wanted to talk to me. He asked why Asians seemed to “only want to assimilate with their own kind, and not talk to others.” At that moment, I heard my mom honk to let me know she’s waiting, so I said “sorry, my parents are waiting.” He scoffed, and said, “I knew there was a get-out clause”, and walked off like I offended him. I thought, “How about ‘there was a my-parents-are-holding-up-traffic-at-a-busy-carpark?”

Some people need to calm down. He’s reading racism where there aren’t even text written.

At any rate, I had a busy night on Facebook last night, what with all the new adds and hellos (I made friends with the girl I forgot to make friends with as she left, and it turned out we had a LOT of mutual friends. Small, small world). I also got sunburned in the duration of an overcast day.

Alex.