Tried My Best To Leave This All On Your Machine

[Such Great Heights – The Postal Service]

Slightly late but here’s the documentation of my first NYE in the city, and first night in a hotel room.

Walking out to the bus stop in the morning of the 31st was hard, because the weather had already gotten to around 35-36. But after getting on the bus, it was pretty smooth sailing bar the 40 seconds’ walk from bus to train (oh nu).

Anyway, met up with Annie at Melb Central, and decided that we should spend the 3 odd hours we had to waste sitting and eating. We went to Melb Central’s upstairs foodcourt and, after some considerable hesitation, got Maccas for the first time in months, and sat down to watch Nickelodeon which was playing on the TV screens.

Nick shows are…scarily bad. And predictable. There is a formula: You have the main guy who’s cute but not hot, with a mop-top haircut. You have the socially awkward girl who’s actually really pretty, but no one realizes it. You have the guy who’s actually hot, and he’s either the love interest, or the “best friend” with sexual tension. You also have a funny witty little sibling. Then the rest of the cast is ugly and 2D. Or 1D, seeing as the main cast is 2D already.

Met up with a bunch of younger MacRob girls because I had to give one of them a disk, but the rest just followed naturally. They sat with us for a moment or two before going off to have lunch at better places than a food court.

After we finished eating, Annie and I decided to find somewhere to hang out where we won’t be told off for hogging a table. We were in Borders when, out of complete coincidence, I turned around to find Dani standing behind me.

So Annie, Dani and I sat around for a while waiting for Joshanna to call us to tell us when they’ve checked in, but they never did. In the end, it turned out they’ve already checked in and were waiting for us to call.

Walking from Parliament station to Park Hyatt in the near 40 degree weather literally was hell. It made our suite just that much more amazing – because it had aircon.

Not wanting to go outside to Hell again, we stayed in the hotel room for a few hours playing Big 2 and talking. Now, I don’t say that I’m good at Big 2, but in all the 4 games we played, I won each and every one of them. I really don’t think I’m good at Big 2, so either my hand was fantastic, or the others just sucked something awful.

Big 2 was played with stakes – loser has to do a Truth or Dare from the winner. I suck at thinking up dares or even truths (well, mostly I can think up truths but I knew these people pretty well) so I had others think up things for me. Annie lost twice, and without going into too much detail, I found out things about her that I’d only known half of for over 4 years.

Anna lost once, and her dare was to go into the bathroom (or what we called the Cone of Silence from Get Smart) and shout out a dirty word (she’s the kind to never do that). After a few minutes of silence with her just standing in the bathroom without knowing what to say, Josh prompted, “What do I say when I’m having a bad day?” “OH!” exclaimed Anna. “I KNOW! FUCK MY LIFE!”

At around 6, we deemed it timely for us to go eat dinner, to beat any rush later on. It was the hottest of the day at 6, and we had to walk from Collins to Bourke for Red Silks. Josh was, for some reason, in a longsleeve black shirt, and he was starting to feel too hot. So he went into the Cotton On right by Red Silks and snagged a singlet. Being the manly man that he is, he decided to change right outside the store. So he pulled his shirt off and tried to change into the singlet really fast to act all cool, except in his bravado, he managed to get his head and arms into the wrong holes, and spent a good 20 seconds standing outside Cotton On with his arms haywire and his chin tucked into his chest. Now, why would the rest of us help him? We stood there and laughed.

Red Silks was not air-conditioned, much to our dismay, but it was too late and too hot to change our minds and go to Crown. We ordered up our iced drinks, and I had the less-than-ingenious insight to order wonton in noodle soup. Drinking hot soup definitely was too hot, but on the other hand, the sweating made me cooler. And smellier.

We ordered up a round of beers (not too much because Josh was feeling really sick and figured he shouldn’t drink), and in between using it as a cooling device, we each proposed our toasts to each other.

Having sufficiently sweated through dinner, we decided to split up. Josh was feeling too dizzy (and he was really pale) so him and Anna went back to the hotel, while Annie and I went to Crown to meet up with the Melb Uni lunch group. Crown was blissfully chilled, and the boys all decided to go to Galactic Circus and do what we did last time with the hour-long-pass.

Annie demanded that we play the zombie game I played last time with Lily, but remembering how much my arms ached afterwards, I passed the gun off to Elaine, who apparently stuck around long enough to die, and then left Annie to fend the zombies off herself.

An hour later, and all the girls had grown tired of watching the guys drive and shoot (gender roles, yes, but to be fair we did try to encourage the non-active girls to get into it). Swang was bitter after being defeated by me in a game of table-hockey where the table never registered her goals but registered mine. Fi decided that it was the perfect time to get Slurpees, so we all trekked down Clarendon (Annie was regretting wearing heels at this point) to go to a 7/11.

There was still a good 2 hours until midnight at that point, so it became a matter of where people wanted to spend that time. We couldn’t go to Hungy’s apartment because there were 18 of us, however for some reason it was okay for us to hang out in the lobby of the building. We spent an hour there playing Mafia (wherein I stuffed up the role of the narrator and revealed the Mafia’s gender), and got so many death glares from people going in and out of the building.

At 10:45, according to Asian time, it was time to go to Southbank and start waiting for midnight. Luckily we left early, because in the end we walked up so far up Southbank that by the time we found a spot that we agreed on (which wasn’t Alexandria Gardens, I don’t know why anyone thought that the Gardens would have space at that time), it was well past 11.

Then came the harder-than-it-should-have-been process of finding Mandy and her CGS friends. Communication problems aside, I was pretty sure she just didn’t know how to receive instructions. If I said to you (assuming you know Southbank) “walk on the side of Flinders Station towards Crown, we’re on the bridge that right opposite the big red steps”, you’d probably at least understand the general direction to walk, if you don’t know what I mean by the big red steps. (P.S. these are the big red steps, LEARN IT.) Yeah, no, Mandy just kept saying “we’re on a bridge” and there are 5 bridges along the Yarra in that area.

Finally agreeing to meet them under the “big angel with the swirly square head“, and talking to two other guys who were with her, we met up with Mandy and her friends, with 15 minutes to spare until midnight.

At 5 minutes to midnight (cue song), I couldn’t find Josh and Anna, who said they’d come back out to meet up (by the way, the weather had cooled down significantly and was actually really pleasant). For some reason, Josh’s number was hidden, and I couldn’t call him back, so I couldn’t find him anywhere. While I was walking around at the end of a bridge, I felt someone tackle me from behind.

Lo and behold, second time that day, Dani managed to find me under the biggest of coincidences. Granted, I’d texted her whereabouts we were (she knows what the big red steps are, WHY DON’T YOU), but still, crowd, NYE, 11:55 pm, she found me.

Brought Dani back to where we all were, and while we were sitting on the pier/dock waiting for the countdown to happen, the fireworks began. Midnight and passed and we’d all been just sitting there talking. So instead of getting a massive countdown, we all just went around hugging everyone and watching the fireworks (which weren’t ASTOUNDING but they were pretty damn good looking). We kept on yelling “refund refund!” whenever the fireworks seemed to have ended. I guess it wasn’t a bad effort considering they were just coming out of the Eureka Tower, and plus it was a total fire ban that day.

At around 12:15, 12:20, Annie and I decided we’d go back to the hotel. We went to look for Joshanna but since we couldn’t call them, we couldn’t find them. It was a long and painful walk/trudge back to Flinders St Station (trust me, it hurt me heaps, so it would have killed Annie’s feet), whereupon we bid goodnight to Dani who was taking the tram back, and we started walking towards Flinders Station trying to get our way back to Parliament.

The road to the station was, unsurprisingly, packed. As in, I had time to shoot off a few text messages while walking without danger, packed. Some guy in front of us threw up beer, and Annie and I had to walk around him since she was barefoot. Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream started playing over the loudspeakers (over some signs that read “NO STOPPING ON BRIDGE”) and I suppose the smallest consolation to throbbing feet and exhausted eyes was that a girl behind me did a sort of impromptu duet  of the song with me.

Finally breaking free of the station crowd stranglehold, Annie and I gritted our teeth and hurried our way up to Collins St for the tram. Miraculously, Josh and Anna were right behind us and we held the door for them to get on the tram with us (they’d fallen behind us to go to 7/11 for instant noodles and lollies. Man 7/11 is a lifesaver sometimes).

We made the final painful journey back up to our room, and collapsed onto the bed and chairs, caring not that we hadn’t showered, or that it was nearing 1 am. Josh cooked up the instant noodles which were PRETTY DAMN spicy, and since the noodles didn’t come with plastic forks, Josh and I ate ours with coffee spoons, and Anna and Annie shared one using two coffee stirrers as chopsticks.

After consuming a fiery midnight snack that had Josh swearing metaphors I really shouldn’t repeat here, Annie and I took (turns taking) a shower and changed into our PJs.

Anna was, for some reason, uber energetic. She demanded that we play I Never Never. We cut some Red Bull with vodka – but only allowed Anna Red Bull, considering it the lesser of two evils – and started the game. It wasn’t as energetic as Anna probably wanted it to be, but, once again, I found out things about my friends that I sort of didn’t want to know. Let’s just say that from now when I call a friend who’s not single, and they say they’re busy, I will be a lot more suss.

Finally at 3, when Josh and Anna were getting a bit too cuddly in the bed, we decided to call it a night. Annie was adamant to stay in the bed, because it was a King and there was really no where else for her to sleep, me having called the couch (I can’t really sleep in beds with other people save Jen, apparently, and it was too hot anyway). So, an hour after we turned off the lights and I was in the next room on the couch with a little jacket as a blanket (which probably contributed to me getting sick after sharing Josh’s drink by accident), their giggling in the bed finally died down.

I couldn’t completely sleep for most of the time, because one shoulder was sort of hitched sideways and the couch was, amazingly, too small even for me. I was more than aware of the fact that Annie started wheezing-snoring halfway through the night, and then either Annie or Anna started phonetically sneezing “atchu atchu”.

At 9, I decided it was too bright and I was too cold to sleep, so I got up, put on my jacket blanket, and put on Josh’s really awesome Dr Dre headphones to play Monster Dash with. Man those headphones were something. The Pacifier had the most satisfying WHOMP.

At 10, I saw in my peripherals Anna crawling around in her morning ritual to wake up. The others got up, which made it okay for me to be a bit noisy and brush my teeth and pack my bags. While Anna and Annie were loafing around, Josh and I watched some TV (I’m well aware I keep lumping myself with the guys), and That 70s Show came on. Collectively, we all got ready in 2 episodes’ time, and at 11 am on the dot, we left the hotel room for check-out.

The weather was a LOT colder on the 1st compared to the previous day. We went to Melbourne Central to meet up with Julia for brunch. At first we were all mmm-ing over the prospect of pancakes, but the moment Josh uttered the words “congee”, our Chinese heritage came crashing back, and we managed to persuade Anna and Julia to go to congee instead. There was a momentary lapse in decision when we were given coupons to Pancake Parlor, but a flip of the coin saw us sitting down to some Century Egg and Salty Pork Congee.

Since I’m coming in at 2400 words now, I will cut my story short and just say that we stuffed our faces full, then I went home. Got home at around 1 pm and hopped onto the computer, because I missed internet so much.

Now I’m sick, and I’ve been sick for a few days. It had to happen, though, because I haven’t been proper sick for almost 10 months.

Alex.

P.S. I actually started writing this post on the 2nd but I went to shower, saved the draft, and promptly forgot about it til now. OOPS!

P.P.S. I also made a new friend in the last few days. Oh my god 2500 words okay I’m stopping.

I Can Count On You Like 4-3-2

[Count On Me – Bruno Mars]

I think I can hit 15 posts a month this month! WOW! It shouldn’t have been so hard but oh boy…

Yesterday I caught up with Cathy and what I’ve come to associate as “Cathy’s Group” for a joint birthday picnic. I went into the city early because my parents offered to drop me off at the station. I took the opportunity to stroll from Flinders to Melb Central – though, with the number of people in the city yesterday, it was a slow walk – and bumped into Mo- and Bon along the way. There was a moment of slight stalkerism when I did a double take to get Mo-‘s attention, but because they responded to my call, I think I was redeemed.

Spent quite a lot of time trying to buy a present. I think, from now on, if I decide to buy feminine jewelery, I’m going to try to dress more appropriately for the store, because I walked into Diva and it felt like I had neon arrows pointing at me with the label “DOES NOT BELONG HERE”.

I did manage to find presents for both Cathy and Anna – a rather cute bracelet for Anna, and a rape whistle for Cathy (it looked really cool and had real leather for the strap and I felt like it could see Cathy through her Europe Trip) – and then walked around Borders trying to find one more overdue birthday gift, only to realize I had no more money on me for such purposes, so I started wandering back to the clock where everyone was meant to meet.

Almost had to use the rape whistle when Pearl tried to hug me from behind to surprise me. Her and Sheina had gotten to the city early, and they’d just arrived at the clock as well. There was a Diet Coke retail therapy sort of area near the clock, with couches, so the three of us did some “free advertising” for them by sitting there and drinking their free hand-outs and looking like we were having a good time. It turned out to be a blessed rest, because Cathy and Carey took over half an hour to finally arrive.

After they’ve arrived, followed shortly by Jalex, it was nearly 4 pm. Cathy mentioned that she wanted to go to the Fitzroy Gardens, and that she “had a general idea” where it was. Unfortunately, her general idea included walking around the entire Parliament house instead of cutting through Parliament Square. It wasn’t that hot yesterday, but the walk was long enough for complaints to be warranted.

So we finally found the park, and a lovely shaded spot to have our picnic (which wouldn’t have been complete without an exploding bottle of coke). Halfway through, Jack mentioned that he needed the bathroom, and completely missed the fact that when we pointed vaguely into the park saying “there, there, there”, we were actually pointing at various trees he could go behind. After a few minutes of him looking aimlessly past the trees, he wandered off in the opposite direction to find an actual toilet building.

Perhaps 5 or 10 minutes later, he came wandering back, and the first words that escaped from his mouth were, “Okay, don’t go to the boys’ bathroom. There was a beat going on in there.”

His twin, Alex, responded immediately, “Oh my god, really? What happened?”

It turned out that there is actually a word for when males solicit sex in the toilets: BEAT, and poor Jack had walked in on one such male waiting for a client. His harrowing experience thus led to a full explanation of glory-holes – I learned something yesterday, and I’m not sure if I wanted to learn it. (Especially certain things about MHS.)

With the time nearing 6pm, and the winds picking up strong enough for us to be cold, we packed up our little picnic and decided to head back for Melb Central to meet up with Angie. On the way back to Parliament station, we passed the Hyatt (which was convenient because I actually was worrying about finding it on Friday but now I know where it is), and Alex said he wanted to use the bathroom (and none of us wanted to use the park bathroom after what we were told). We were worried that we couldn’t just waltz into the freaking Hyatt and use the bathroom, but Alex did anyway, and he came out full of praises about how extravagant the place was. At his words, the girls (Cathy, Sheina, Pearl and I) and Jack decided that we’d go as well – if anything just to see what it’s like inside. (Needless to say, it was obviously very glamorous and high-class, but that’s not my story yet.)

When we were done and about to leave the bathroom, Sheina mentioned that we should do the obligatory bathroom shot, especially since we were in a bathroom in the Hyatt, where there were vases. I was holding the door open, saying that we should just leave, when Jack showed up and saw that we were trying to take photos. I don’t know what he was thinking, or if he was thinking at all, but he stepped into the girls’ bathroom, grabbed the camera, and while just on the threshold of the bathroom, started taking photos of the other girls while I hid behind a door, disbelieving.

In that exact moment, a complete stranger walked into the bathroom, and I could only imagine what she was thinking as she saw Jack standing there with a camera, pointing into the bathroom. Cathy and I hauled ass as fast as we could – I just really didn’t want to get blacklisted before Friday – and managed to hold our laughs in until outside the hotel.

When we made it back to Melb Central, the Diet Coke retail therapy had been cordoned off, but because all the seats around the clock were taken, they decided to sit in there anyway. We caught up with Jackie O (oh I like writing it like that), who I haven’t seen since the first time I met her, and waited there for Angie to show up. When she finally did, she did so in the most fashionable way (late, and incredibly well dressed in her Forever New outfit because she worked there and had to leave her job at Myer and ergh what a successful girl) with Richard (i.e. Exclamation Mark guy from Pearl’s Flare performance). I was surprised to hear that they all knew and wanted to go to Giraffe cafe, and after having Jalex yell at her about how adorable the place is, Angie and Cathy thought they would check it out.

Since the last time I was at Giraffe wasn’t exactly the happiest of times, I was determined to have some fun this time around. It turned out to be pretty damn easy to do it – we started off with a game of Jenga, and my GOD that game is intense! Everyone starts breathing in sync and I’m pretty sure I was telepathically linked to my fellow game-mates Jackie and Pearl for a while there. In the end, it was Jackie’s gusto that led to her demise, as the tower came crashing down on her otherwise fluid extractions.

After Jackie left, the drinks and foods started arriving. When they’ve been adequately consumed (but not wholly), one of the waitresses brought out the birthday brownies for Cathy. Poor girl didn’t light the candles up when she brought it in, instigating some sighs from Alex. And when she tried to light it at the table, her lighter failed on her.

Another round of Jenga ensued, but this time we noticed that a table behind us were creating architecturally radical designs, and that prompted Carey to do the same. Things became ridiculous when pieces were stacked vertically on top, or on a slant. When the tower fell, a piece fell into Cathy’s ice cream. This prompted Jack to say, “Are you still going to eat that now that woody’s been in it?”

The day was finished off with a more than jovial ticket barrier lady at Melb Central. Cathy’s ticket got eaten by the machine, and so the lady stood there and had a chat with us about what we could possibly do to get the ticket back out. When the ticket finally came out, the lady took a look at it and tsked, “well, here’s your problem it’s expired.” Off Cathy’s startled shriek, she broke into a grin, “Just kidding! Have a happy new year!”

I think all staff should be like that. Enjoying their job and not putting other people down.

WELL, over 1500 words! It was a long, eventful and HILARIOUS day! There were many stories I didn’t put down for the sake of Sheina’s privacy (oops?), but maybe that sentence will at least jog my own memory.

Happy New Year, everyone, I won’t be writing in here until after we hit 2011. (I will queue up a post for midnight, though!) Have a safe few days, and may 2011 be better than 2010 if you had a shit 2010, or be better than 2010 even if you had a good 2010.

Alex.

Bonjour, 2009

I went to sleep at around 1 yesterda…no this morning (force of habit. Before Sleep is “Yesterday” After Sleep” is “Today”) after watching the fireworks by myself in my dark living room, with the volume turned down to 7 because my parents went to sleep. I silently mouthed “happy new year” to myself as Channel 7 counted down the New Year for me.

So, what did I do NYE night after I blogged?

After finishing dinner and watching What A Year on Ch 9, I played The World Ends With You for a long time, and then came downstairs to watch Lovely Complex (an anime). I laughed a lot watching it so it wasn’t too bad. I watched it until 11:50, and went upstairs quietly to turn on the TV for the countdown. I knew that Carmaine was at a party (which she told me about today, and it sounded and looked really awesome from the photos) and I knew that Bianca was probably dancing her time away and Eunice…who knows. When midnight came I sent off the batch of texts I had pre-done. Vania replied that I got it on the dot again, so I’m very happy. Jen replied “so everyone knows it’s my birthday?”. Got a few more, then I went to sleep.

Woke up at 9 today, had breakfast, checked emails (net uncapped, hoorah) and went upstairs to start chopping stuff because mom planned on making dumplings. Then, just as I finished chopping, the phone rang. I thought it would be Bianca, it usually is these days, but a soft and familiar voice said, “he-llooooo”. I couldn’t hear it properly because it was soft and I had music in, so I made the voice say it a couple more times before “Oh hey Carmaine! Happy New Year!” She told me about the party yesterday and then she said that she was really bored at home. So I invited her over (first impromptu invite ever) and she arrived in time to eat some fresh dumplings. I looked through her photos of her cruise – backwards chronologically – and it was really awesome, everything that she took, the beach,the sea, the ship, and of course a backwards trip through her various stages of sun burn. Which has now progressed to a very rich dark tan. I mean, her socks and shoes were almost fluro against her legs, and her white short shorts gleamed. Her teeth, when she smiled, was a bit like Ross’s on that episode of FRIENDS when he whitened his teeth too much. I think that the tan will fade after a while, but Carmaine is now indubitably worthy of dark-tan jokes. Which I took full advantage of today. It got to the point where Carmaine called me mean for making all those jokes. But you know that I love you and wouldn’t make those jokes if I didn’t.

We played a few games of pool, she soundly beat me in all games but one. Then we went upstairs and watched some afternoon kid shows (Malcolm In The Middle was good but everything after that got Carmaine to make a face like she’d swallowed a lemon covered in acid) and we did a couple of sudoku’s (she’s so cool, she’s got a sudoku book).

Went back downstairs, watched an episode of Lovely Complex (I thought Carmaine would like it since it’s about a freakishly tall girl) and then she played one last game of pool before leaving about 20 minutes ago. Of course I hopped right on and blogged about it. Ha..ha..sigh.

Not a bad way to spend the first day of the year though. Since I made her laugh a lot, I am about to send off an email to make Eunice and Bianca laugh, thus starting my year long campaign to make them laugh at least once a day.

De Fluffe, Out.

P.S. Happy birthday, my baby Jen.

Sayonara, 2008

As we approach the final hours of this wonderful and eventful year, I sit in front of my computer, knowing that my celebration for the night, and thus year, has already happened and is now over.

I am just back from Bianca’s place. For the holidays, she has had some cousin’s family over. A few nights ago I had talked to her 8 year old little cousin on the phone. Anyway, I showed up a bit late today (after Carmaine…) and it was really awesome to see Carmaine again. Hey, Carmaine, you’re looking really good! No signs of peeling. Haha..sorry. Oh and I have to add Carmaine wore a really cool coat, from Nique.

We, that is, Bianca, Greg, Carmaine, Nicole the cousin and I went to a playground near Bee’s house, and we watched as Nicole played on the swings and so did Carmaine (haha they had a competition to see who swung higher. We figured that, body ratio wise, Nicole actually kicked a lot higher). Then Nicole and Bianca threw some tan-bark around and Carmaine still had some in her hair when she left and I have a feeling so do I.

I managed to convince Nicole to call Carmaine “Shark” whereas Bianca succeeded with “Car-minnie”. Nicole called me weird but funny (so, good, right?) and tried to sit on our (Carmaine and my) laps near the monkey bars. Then, Carmaine wanted a picture where she was holding onto the monkey bars while her feet are on the ground, and Nicole swinging from it. Well, I wasn’t tall enough to hoist Nicole onto the bars, so Carmaine had to do it, and then go hold the bars herself, and then Bee took the picture. But Nicole kept on letting go and falling, and then on the 3rd try Carmaine couldn’t aim Nicole to hold onto the bars. So Bee took a picture of them struggling (I think on the 5th try Carmaine said to Nicole “You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you?”).

On the walk back from the playground, Nicole kept on picking daisies (which are not dandelions, Bee) and gave them to us. We stuck a few in Bee’s hair (when I say “we” I usually mean Carmaine and me) and then I tried to stab Greg with some. Nicole took my hand and Greg’s and tried to swing (“WEE!”…”COOKIES!”) and then she took Carmaine’s hand, and Carmaine said “What are you going to do? It’s a bit scary!” which prompted me to swing Nicole, making Carmaine swing. When we got back to Bee’s house, we had to climb the small slope that’s her driveway, and Carmaine pulled us back and pretended to be dead tired and not be able to be dragged up. You know, Carmaine, you’re pretty funny with kids.

We settled down and were going to watch Meet The Robinsons but Bianca taped it badly (therefore confirming the stereotype that chicks can’t program things) so we watched Happy N’Ever After instead. I swear, that movie had some rather sexual jokes behind it, but I kept on trying to say “are you hearing this?” to Bee and Carmaine but they didn’t get it, and Nicole persisted to ask “hear what? WHAT?” so I had to drop it. Then, when the evil stepmother turn witch used her magic, Greg wondered how she managed to learn to use it so well, and I said “she’s good with a stick.” I could hear Bee and Carmaine sigh, and Greg said “that sounds dirty.” which made Adam, Nicole’s brother, ask “what did she say?” Greg said, “nothing” but Nicole piped up “she said, ‘she’s good with a stick’.” Adam said, “I don’t get it” and Nicole “What stick?” So I think I was in the clear there.

I left at around 4, and Nicole was surprisingly sad to see me go. I was hugging her and she just attached herself onto me. So I mimed carrying her out, and said to her dad “I’m taking her with me!”

So, actually, it was a rather fun day. It’s been a while since I’ve hung out with little kids, and Nicole is incredibly smart. She said I was boisterous. I didn’t even know what that meant.

Tonight, I think mom’s going to make dumplings again, I’m so sick of them. I guess we’ll just watch the fireworks and go to sleep, like we always do. Carmaine and Bee are all going to seperate parties, and Eunice is somewhere on the road, I think. I want to go online but I doubt there will be anyone loserish enough to still be on tonight, of all nights. The only reason I want to stay up until 12 is to do my customary text. Otherwise, I’d probably sleep away our step into 2009.

So, I salute 2008, a hell of a year. Hopefully you had fun reading about my life for the past…when did I start to blog this frequently? August? Late August. So I hope you had fun reading this for the past 4 months. It’s actually been a hell of a pleasure writing it, and even though sometimes I got stuck on what to write, it’s gotten easier. I was quite pleased that so many people read it, and also quite pleased I don’t have to recount things too many times, and definitely happy that I made a friend in Sneakerologist.  I am happy that I influenced a few more people to blog, and happy that I got to know Vania more through her blog. I will probably post something up tomorrow just for the sake of it, but I don’t see myself doing anything fun tomorrow.

Stay safe tonight, everyone. And tomorrow too if you’re partying tomorrow. God I want to party…ehhh…I’ll wait for another year. Next year, maybe. Try to go into 2009 with a huge smile on your face, and if you’re lucky or just in the right place, a hot boy/girl on your lips.

De Fluffe, Out.

P.S. Next year I might do a new signout. I don’t have a good repertoire of inspirational quotes, so I might do something along the lines of “De Fluffe, De Activate.” Or I could keep my current one. Someone suggest a good one.

P.P.S. I finished Claymore.

P.P.P.S. Welcome back Carmaine! I should’ve written that yesterday but I didn’t get around to it.

New Year’s Resolution

Alright since it’s been mentioned thrice in just as many days, I think I should talk about it.

My resolution last year – or this year, whatever, 2008 – was, if I recall properly because I remember telling Carmaine and Eunice about it at Knox when we went to see P.S. I Love You, to be a better friend and open up channels of communication.

Personally, as in on a personal solitary level, I think I actually achieved both of them really well. I’ve had good talks with people, and I’ve found more about myself and so knew what I can offer as a friend.

I mean, I can think of one instance later in the year when communication wasn’t so great, not on a personal level but as in making sure outside communications are good. But. Again, it all worked out.

The strange thing is, I don’t know what this year’s resolution is going to be. I want to say “do so well in school that I weed out all unforced B’s and B+’s”, but I think that that’s a pretty bad resolution to have, seeing as it shouldn’t take a NYR to make me want to do well in Yr 12. I want to say, “finally kiss someone” but I’ve received such a response to the “flower” post that again, it’s not in my best interest to. But I honestly don’t see a resolution, unless I want to do the “get my weight back down to 45-46 kilos”. Or “give some sort of ending to the vampire story” or the usual love crap like “make sure I make every member of BRuCE laugh really hard at least once a day”. But 356×3 laughs are a large number of laughs.

Ahh, someone help me.

De Fluffe, Out.

P.S. Maybe “quit smoking”? I need to take it up first.

On This Momentous Day

…nothing happened. I just thought I should tap in something on the first of a month. Especially such an important month as December.

December to me means:

Carmaine’s birthday, Christmas, New Year’s Eve (which WILL get better when I get older, I hope) and not January, so no need to hurry to do school-set holiday work yet.

Finally, we should all remember that today is International AIDS day. (Where’s Andrew? He always yells out “AIDS!” and then Dani always yells out, “I HAVE AIDS!” and then on some invisible agreement we’d all point our fingers around like fire hoses and pretend we’re spraying everyone with AIDS…)

Wednesday is Carmaine’s 17th.

Holy shit, I can’t believe she’s 17. I still remember the day she turned 15. Apart from the Friday when Stoner brought in a blue cake because that was the only food dye color she had, on the Sunday I left Chinese school in a rush and went with her and a bunch of people to the city to go to the Southern Cross DFO. We walked along Southbank but it took us so long to get there, for we took pictures every 3 steps, that in the end we didn’t go to DFO at all. Well, I guess back then, we were Yr 9’s and 15 years old, and the time for us to get back home was a lot earlier – plus my parents had a wedding to go to.

I also remember her 16th. BRuCE and Cruzik went in late November to Mecca Bah (I’ve got a video made from that day too. Go check out my YouTube and it’s the one called “At Mecca Bah” I think.) and I remember it was REALLY hot (and I had a shit haircut). On her actual birthday I don’t think we did anything (if we did it wasn’t momentous) and I overslept my alarm at midnight to text her so I actually woke myself up at 3 am and texted her. I won’t make the same mistake twice.

Speaking of which, I might as well recount the others’ birthdays.

I didn’t really know Bianca well when she turned 15, so obviously I don’t have a very clear memory of that, but her 16th was celebrated on the 7th of July (I remember so clearly because the 07/07/07 concert for Make Poverty History was that night) and actually, in my old blog Jalix (with WordPress as well) I blogged about that day. For her 17th she took BRuCE to Bar Bosh at Knox O-Zone and I remember that day was cold and I’d just spent the whole day at Knox watching Get Smart and Kung Fu Panda with YL. I’d just got my hair cut really short so it was cold, and I wore a beanie. When I took off the beanie to show Eunice – Bee and Carmaine were with me when I got my hair cut – her response was “Oh…my…”.

Eunice’s 15th I remember Carmaine and I went early to school to prepare for her pressie, but we didn’t tell her. Eunice texted me asking me if I knew where Carmaine was, I think I replied, “no idea” as I stood next to the wanted one. For Eunice’s 16th it was a school day, and I remember being the first to hug her when she got onto the old-ass train at Syndal. She took us to Tao’s a few days later and that day was stinking hot. It was just after I got a short haircut (are we seeing a pattern here?) and I really hated it because it makes me look like a stunned chicken. On her 17th, we didn’t see her, she was with her church friends, or WCC friends (they’re the same bunch of “Eunice’s-Others” in my head) but Carmaine, Bee and I were at Mocha Jo’s and I called her.

For my 15th, I’d gotten on the train with the then Yr 10’s and they didn’t know it was my birthday until Tiff got on and said happy birthday. April and Dani gave me their present; April gave me my first hardcore music album, System Of A Down’s Mesmerize, and Dani wrote a shitlong message in a card for a 2 year old. My 16th I did a big thing, and invited about 13 people to go watch HP5 on Friday the 13th, and then went to La Porchetta’s. I remember so clearly Nug being late late late! And also how my hand shook when I tried to put the candle in the cake, and then how loudly everyone sang happy birthday and made all the other La P’s patrons stare. The pressies I got on that day is still piled in my bedroom! I never stowed them away. On my 17th, I took Dani to ACMI’s Game On exhibition, BRuCE to Fedele’s (‘cos idiot Shira Nui was closed) and then had a joint party with Bel and SonJ at April’s place, where we played Singstar and Guitar Hero and watched Zoolander and I’m pretty Damn Sure I blogged about that somewhere.

I can’t wait until Bee and I turn 18, sorry Princess, but you’ll have to wait 15 days until you have someone to party with you, unless of course you go with Fel. [insert a really really big smile here] But after mid-years we are DEFINITELY going to celebrate at a bar. I can’t wait until Carmaine turns 18 either, because that marks the moment when all of us are adults and we’ll ALL go drinking and doing adult things. Unfortunately for Eunice her 18th is marred by the looming End Of Year’s. She’ll survive.

I should probably change the title of my blog to “Birthdays” buuuuuut I think birthdays are momentous days, as well.

De Fluffe, Out.

Last Christmas

Last Christmas (and if you read my previous blog Jalix I wrote on that day) I was not happy. All through that night, I kept on hearing the song “Last Christmas”. The lyrics:

Last Christmas,

I gave you my heart,

But the very next day,

You gave it away.

This year,

To save me from tears,

I’ll give it to someone special.

Circled through my head.

I was thinking, would those words apply to me next Christmas? At that time, already, I had an inkling it would. And well a few days later (or weeks, I can’t remember the exact date I told him but I’m sure it was before the summer holidays finished) it seemed like at least the first part of that chorus would come true (sort of).

Then, I started wondering, would the second part come true? Would I be able to save myself from tears, and give my heart to someone special?

No.

So far, no one really wants it.

I really don’t want to have to spend another bummy Christmas with my parents and having them invite over their loud fake family friends and HIM and having to sit through another Christmas like that. Of course chances are I will. I’ll just pretend that that day isn’t the real Christmas, and the day that I’ll spend with people who are actually fun is the real Christmas.

I wonder what New Year will be like this year. Last year I spent it at HIS place, wishing he’d damn make a move when the counter struck zero but, of course, nothing happened and I decided to kill the part of me that had hoped. I hope at least this year I’ll be excited and happy when the counter strikes zero, even if it means not being kissed. Actually, I think it’s rather awkward to kiss when the counter strikes zero unless of course everyone around you is doing it.

Thank you to Vania for inspiring me to write about Christmas.

De Fluffe, Out.

So I says to him I says…

I am sitting in my Eng Lang class, and And- did’t show up, so we’re just sitting here with a sub who won’t let us leave. Yet.

Carmaine and Eunice are in the next classroom, in English. It’s such a lazy and bright day.

I hate that summer is creeping up. I hate the warm weather. Mostly I hate sweating. And I do a LOT of that.

Yesterday on the train we started discussing New Year’s. Carmaine will be on a cruise from 18th of Dec to just before New Year’s, so she’ll be away for Christmas (unfortunately) but she’ll be back for 2009. I really don’t want to have to spend another NYE with my parents pushing me to go to bed, and then finally sitting there in the most unenthusiastic countdown you can imagine, and then going to bed after a few minutes of the fireworks.

I want to be in the city, or at a party, or somewhere where everyone else is excited! And then we count down from 10, and it feels like we’ve achieved something when New Year’s comes.

While it goes without saying that my parents most likely wouldn’t let me sleep over at anyone’s place NYE (original rule PLUS the whole “spend time with your family” crap they spine every year) I stll think it would be pretty dandy to count down to the new year with BRuCE. While Bee and I were pretty interested in booking a hotel room for that one night, and then going to the city for the big countdown, Carmaine was a bit more iffy, saying that the city is full of drunks and idiots on that night. Fair enough, but it’s the spirit. But anyway, it would be really expensive so for now we’re just dreamin’.

Speaking of the family crap I was talking about…

Sometimes I wish I can just shut myself up, or go back a few seconds and literally CLAMP MY MOUTH SHUT because sometimes I say the most insensitive things. I was just saying how I can’t stand another NY with my parents, Bee said quietly, “well I don’t think I will do anything with you guys on NYE because I want to spend it with my dad.” And that moment I wish I can just cut my own tongue out because I was just idiotic. Or when I complain about my mom to April, I think aboutit afterwards and honestly I am an ASSHOLE.

Happier topic…

Today I had a double free and I forgot to bring my DS so while in the first period I did Japanese homework (read: copied it off April) I didn’t have ANYTHING to do 2nd period. It was quite sad. Without my DS, who am I?

April was quite gleeful at my downfall.

Carmaine gave me a really really really tight hug today; I think I have bruising on my ribs. But but, of course as always it was well worth it.

Carmaine and I asked Bee what the Cold War was. For ages Bee thought we were joking, but, honestly, neither of us knew what the Cold War is. Apparently, it was Russia v USA in nuclear or something war, and it was “cold” because neither party were near each other.

I might write a bit more later when I get home. School blocks funnyjunk.com so I will post up some funny pictures when I can get to them. Besides, there’s a whole train ride during which something can happen that’ll make me wanna write about.

As a final note: Today I didn’t see Dani at all. Thursdays she has a double free at the end of the day so usually she goes home, and in the morning I didn’t see her. It doesn’t mean she’s not here but the possibilty of that is quite likely as well.

On the formal night (for everyone else. Haha rumor has it that we are the formal-boycott group) Sonam, April, Ti-, Vania and apparently 2 others are NOT going, and we’re seeing Persepolis or Tropical Thunder, and then eating at Achelya’s. I might find their restaurant site, but the point is April works at Achelya’s (unfortunately, that very night, so only other of us are eating) and we want to meet Kitchen Boy (read her blog).

De Fluffe, Out.

P.S. I love You, from “Ley” apparently. I wrote “Lex” in a note for Carmaine but didn’t cross the “x” properly and it read Ley.