My late nights have thrown my sleep cycles out of whack, somehow. I only got to sleep at 6am in the morning and got rudely awakened at sometime past 10 to help tidy the house in preparation for my parents' lunch with friends. After quickly polishing off my popiah lunch in the presence of too many people over the age of 50, I tried to coax myself back to sleep. I showed up at Salman's house on time for his mahjong party(that is, too early). Only Augustus and Juliet came, but we got along as they ate mince pie and I downed an interesting assortment of milky indian sweets. We played mahjong for a bit, or I made an unglamourous attempt to play it, anyhow. We told inappropriate stories, was interrupted by some horrible news, to which some people had inappropriate responses. Shocking news is always very surreal to me. Even though the mind attempts to convey to you the reality of the situation, the body still takes a long time to register the gravity of the situation.
After cooing at Naazli's pink suede pumps and parting ways, Juliet and I hustled over to Clara's birthday party (always a highlight in the table gang's itinerary, the one perennial birthday party we always look forward to). We didn't finish the salad(I think) and had wine, chicken, garlicky pasta, mushroom soup and lovely garlic bread to top it off. I took some bad photos with my Lomo LC-A and listened to Juliet express her concern over my inability to adapt to quiet boring country life in college towns. We took turns on the swing, worried that the branch on Clara's ginormous tree might threaten to break at any moment, dodging the errant soccer ball Clara's brother and his friend were kicking around. I've always wanted a swing in my garden, but have never quite had the space for it. I suppose I should look into getting one. As a child my brother and I used to have swinging contests, and we often wondered about the possibility of the swing being able to travel 360 degrees. I still wonder about that, to this day. After I had a mini slapfight with Juliet, we greeted a fashionably late Eelin (although this time, armed with a good excuse) and started playing mahjong again, listening to pop music on the radio and randomly saying "I like that! Who sang it?"
After everyone filtered off quite early in the night, Clara, Eelin and I had girl talk, shuffling the mahjong ... cards? blocks? um ... well, shuffling the pieces and discussing friends and boyfriends. I marvelled once more at Clara's bravery and sighed about my own complete lack of courage, quietly resigning myself to a life, I suppose, lived in fear (sounds very melodramatic). We randomly decided to head off to Wala Wala to listen to The Unexpected play. All proceeds from drinks this night were in aid of the tsunami relief, and as a result the prices doubled. I was, once more, reminded of my inability to hold my liquor (even a wee magarita, sigh) and took videos of Eelin doing funny dancing and bopped around to the band's lovely cover of Fake Plastic Trees. We sniggered at a group of dance-challenged (all the english mistakes I'm making, sigh) and a creepy weirdo that ended up following us all the way out where we waited for Eelin's dad to pick us up. Whatever it was, the music was quite lovely and we've made tentative plans to go see them play again later in the week. Creepy weirdo aside, it was a nice ending to another lovely evening spent with my favourite people in the whole world.
And tomorrow's the Columbia interview? DRAT. I don't even know what to wear. For now, I'll leave you with the day's quotable quotes :
Augustus (mid-mahjong, completely random) : "I wonder what Catherine Lim would look like ... CRUCIFIED!!!"
Augustus (discussing someone who passed away a while back, complete deadpan) : "She died from .. ACNE MEDICATION."
Clara : "Its illegal to sell porn in India. But there are like a billion people in India!"
Bev : "Oh my god, its an untapped market."
Juliet : "What is wrong with butt cracks?"
Bev (after Christine asks to have a go on the swing) : "What, you mean we have to have TURNS???"
Eelin (playing mahjong) : "Why do you keep throwing out the CIRCLES and the DOTS?"
Clara : "They're ... the SAME THING."
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Lovely. Also, there's a small possibility I might be able to watch Rufus Wainwright in Melbourne in February. I think I might get a brain aneurysm from all the excitement. Singapore is not good for someone like me with all my band/singer-watching needs. I really need to live in the ficitonal Newport Beach and have a Bait Shop of my own to frequent where good bands always play without fail. I'm stranded in this musical desert. Blondie's coming, though. I mostly like the songs of theirs that I've heard, but I'm not completely familiar with that catalogue. I'll have to see if anyone is free to come watch with me.
I wish Deborah Harry was my grandmother. She's still beautiful and fabulous and she's pushing 60! I love her.
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