My baby don’t mess around

[Hey Ya! – Outkast]

Today we went to escape the heat by going to Chadstone for the whole day. Mela arrive late and sad because she accidentally slept in, and then had to leave her new puppy Meg (which I met yesterday, and whose love I will slowly but surely earn).

We had some coffee and then curry for lunch, then she felt sleepy so she lied on my lap to nap. I felt bored so I took out my phone, opened up the eReader, and popped my amazingly light phone on her amazingly flat forehead and read Sherlock Holmes.

When the people started to congregate around the foodcourt, and it became apparent that the seats needed to be vacated, I woke Mela up with my tactful and accidental voice-command program which, on loudspeaker, screamed right into her left eyeball: WHAT WOULD  YOU LIKE TO DO?

We walked around for ages shopping, as I always do when I’m with her. She ended up buying a very nice tank top and a dress which we both nicknames Woodland Creature because it looks like what they would wear. When she was trying on the tank top, she was a bit iffy because she was worried how her arms looked in them, so I said through the changing door “if you say that one more time I will come in there and punch you.” I didn’t know a store assistant was right behind me and she laughed.

We got tickets to see Tintin in 2D, and had to switch seats three times cos our original seats sucked. I also managed to whinge some popcorn out of Mela, but it was so salty that we ended up eating only half and then cuddling in the over-aircon’d theater. The movie, dare I say, is astounding, and somewhat pioneering in terms of animation. The sheer detail that they paid attention to, like the way the hair blows in the wind, the expressions in the character’s eyes, the physics, and yet the limits they managed to stretch the suspension of belief with the action and the drama…all at the same time staying as true as they could to a 1940s cartoon series as they could.

After Tintin we visited Cindy at work, and I laughed when I saw she kept the sticker on her cap. Then we had dinner at the sushi train near JB, then went to say bye to Cindy before going home. Now, she’s playing guitar and singing while on mute, refusing to let me hear, and I wonder how her dog is…

Alex.

All I ever needed was to eat popcorn with you

[Everything Sucks (When You’re Gone) – MxPx]

And so today marks the 4th month of which I have been dating the truly lovely Amelia. For an awful moment this morning we forgot what  we did to celebrate our 2 months, but a quick flick through my blog – ah trusty friend – reminded us that I nearly died eating at Crazy Wing at Glenny.

But, alas, today we decided to go to Doncaster Westfield Shopping Center. Now, before I write any more, I should note that Mela doesn’t really like going to places she’s not been before for long periods of time, but due to either mis-communication or grievous fault on my behalf, I didn’t know this, so I planned for us to take a 40 minute bus ride to Shoppo, a place I kind of know, and a place she’s never been to. It was a cold day, and she was feeling slightly sick, but determined to make the best of today.

She read stuff on my phone on the bus ride there while I cradled her head, and then when we got there, we immediately headed to eat, being so hungry. We went to the foodcourt, known as The Drum, and she wasn’t feeling hungry so she only got a small salad (which turned out to be massive anyway) while I decided to pig out at Spudbar…which turned out to be a bowl of potatoes at the bottom…and then heaped with loads of Bolognese sauce, sour cream, japalenos, chilli flakes, cos lettuce and something else I forgot. But when I mixed it, it became a bowl of not that appetizing looking goo…that tasted amazing. Albeit I got bad breath. Originally decided to give the tummy a rest and be able to get the $2 Double Cheeseburgers but Mela felt sick, so we just went window shopping instead. Spent a good few hours doing that, until she felt so sick we had to sit down and rest.

Had coffee/mocha at a chocolate lounge, where the girl serving us complimented me on my hair (yey). Stayed there for a bit just chatting about how sweet the chocolate was, though it was great chocolate, then we walked around a bit more. We ended up walking around for hours because we wanted to eat at the sushi train at the food court which opened at 6pm, so we wandered around until my feet got really sore, and she got upset because, like I mentioned before, strange place with nothing to do. We sat in front of the TV display at Myer for a bit watching this HD 3D TV. At 6, the sushi train slowly opened, but it wasn’t really producing anything. We ate 2 plates, and realized they were 5 bucks each for altogether 4 pieces of food. Paid for it (got weird looks from the waiters) and decided to bus back to Glen to eat at a familiar place – Mela was getting really sadface and that made me sadface too, it’s an anniversary after all.

We ended up eating at Star East Cafe, sharing a plate and an entree. She started feeling better halfway through the bus ride back after loads of cuddling, and finally told me what she thought I already knew. We then went to the library where she picked out a picture book for me to read to her to cheer her up, and I put on funny voices until a librarian walked past us.

But yes, 4 months! 5 months will come and go before we realize it, it being around Valentines and…her hating Valentines Day. Then Uni will start, testing us on our bond and ability to not be around each other all the time, seeing as she goes to a different uni, us having different amount of contact hours, and her starting a new course as a 1st year and me in my final. But I have confidence we will hit 1/2 year no worries!

And I like that there are still things to learn about her, like that she hates new places…

Happy 4 months darling!

Alex.

Sealed The Exits With Caution Tape

[Dear Vienna – Owl City]

Clearly I’m playing Owl City today haha. Okay, today I caught up with some primary school friends.

Sorry, I guess I’ll be dropping a lot of new names here.

I got on the train this morning at 10:26 (which is earlier than I’ve been waking lately) and saw Ula when she walked on. Got excited ‘cos it’s about 19 days ’til her wedding! Nice.

Ka- called me freaking because she apparently doesn’t take trains often, so she ran onto a carriage and thought, “Okay I’ll stay here and they’ll figure out how to find me.” I told her to go up the train, and when she was running up, she heard the announcement that the train was on Platform 2, so she freaked and ran into the wrong carriage again.

Okay, okay sorry I had to say it! Noob…

Cas got on at Mount Waverley, and it was really great to see those two again, because I haven’t seen Cas since Yr 10 (or thereabouts) and I haven’t seen Ka- since Gr 6.

Talk talk talk on train. Ka- had an awful cold. Then got off at Richmond, and waited for Yas. I made a bit more fun of Ka- regarding trains, and Cas said, “Oh come on, don’t call her a noob, especially when she doesn’t know what it means.”

We high fived.

Yas appeared (hadn’t seen her since Gr 6 pretty much, either) and we took the train to South Yarra. I didn’t get lost to Jam Factory this time! Got our tickets and sat down at Gloria Jean’s outside for some drinks. Some guy in there had PMS or something and demanded a refund for a drink they messed up, so we got 2 free drinks.

Chatted, caught up, laughed a lot (Yas laughs like an old bed-spring) and then went to see Sherlock Holmes.

Yas and Ka- were pretty noisy but it was funny because…well when you haven’t seen friends in a long time everything they do is weird but funny. I felt sleepy halfway through, and didn’t enjoy the movie as much as reviews would’ve suggested I do. Still pretty cool the way he fought, and deducted from observations.

Went back to Flinders and then went to Melb Central. Unfortunately we passed Photoplus where Ka- (a while girl, no less) insisted we get sticker photos. Of the 4 that were printed, I wasn’t in one of them because Cas stabbed my ribs and I jerked out of the shot. Lovely.

Cas had to leave at that point, so after getting some quick sushi she left. I took Yas and Ka- to Big W and got these babies:

Many thanks to Katherine for telling me they were on sale! Big W for 30 bucks. Not bad bass for it, too!

At that point we went back to Melb Central and decided to go home. Said bye to Yas and took the old ass train with Ka-. It was really hot! Just our luck to ride that bloody train too. Discussed TV shows on the way back (NCIS being a clear favorite. Go NCIS.) and then bid her farewell while I took the bus home.

Nina was meant to come but she…couldn’t. So I think another reunion is in sight! Very much looking forward to it.

Alex.

P.S. It was endearing that they tried so hard to call me Alex (I forgot and called myself by my other name), and apparently I never showed affection to them, so me hugging them was new. Huh.

“Fatty”

Those were the reassuring first words that Mandy said to me upon our proper meeting last night. I was eating, and I hadn’t eaten since recess.

No, actually she said “hi” first, but social conventions aside, she called me fat.

Allow me to put it into context.

Last night was Eunice’s youth group Reverb’s night. I don’t know how to refer to them properly. Moving on.

Carmaine dropped us (Bianca and I) off at the place, and we went in, and were greeted firstly by the sound of Eunice’s laughter, and secondly by Arnold saying, “Hey it’s the famous BRuCE!” (Our reputation precedes us, so to speak.)

Shook hands with Arnold, sought out Pris who was very delighted to see us (and to finally see who “Bianca” is), saw Mandy, who said “hi” (but again I’m excluding that) and a few other people.

They were still cutting up the ingredients so I went over to the far table to start making inari bags (by the by, this was “Sushi night”). Saw Auntie there, and was rather glad to see her.

So, a few minutes in Mandy called for attention, and everyone introduced themselves around the room, saying their name and their favorite piece of clothing. Carmaine and Bee did very sweet things, and mentioned each other (aww). I accidentally implied I’m a nudist, and Eunice likes her school hoodie, which got dragged through the mud at Youth camp a few weeks back, and everyone knew about it.

So we moved on to start making the sushi since the ingredients were ready, and I managed to get away with standing by the table watching people make it and then eat it. Auntie, B.T. and myself did “wasabi shots” (not really) where we tried as much wasabi on a sushi roll as we dared and went for it. Eunice ate half an inari with wasabi in it, and started tearing, so she gave the other half to Pooki. Pooki dared not, and sort of half spat back up the food. Finally she ate a mouthful, and shuddered (hilariously) through the wasabi.

Speaking of spitting back up food, there was also a guide-dog-in-training, Zippy. Zippy was cute. Zippy was calmer than Eater anyway (not that Eater was there. I was making a comparison).

Pris got drawn on 3 times. I feel like I should mention it.

After everyone ate and was happy, we cleaned up and started the games. Started a game of Cranium (strange random but fun game) and got teamed up with a few strangers, which was a pity, as we really wanted BRuCE plus Pooki (or Pris). Either way, as the game progressed it became apparent that my team was winning, and would win. Then by some strange twist of “whoever wins this round wins” rule, we didn’t win. Still. Technically we were the victors.

There was a part of the game where we had to hum a famous tune to our team, and the first team to get it wins. The tune was Greensleeves and Pris and I were both going, “oh hell yeah we got this.” Then at the same time we realized we were both humming the Harry Potter theme in our heads.

Unfortunately, the night had to draw to a close. Carmaine took us back home again, then Bee dropped me off. I was stoked to have met Mandy in person, and to see Pris again, and everyone else were super awesome as well. Very fond memories were made. Including Carmaine humming “that’s the way uh huh uh huh I like it uh huh uh huh”.

Alex.