I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life

Just recently Bun's little sister Mini-Bun posted her Prom pictures and gosh did that make me feel really, really old! Mini-Bun was 9, maybe 10, when we graduated from high school so it's surprising how fast the end of her own Senior year has snuck up on us. Mini-Bun looked stunning and like a true California surfer girl on her big day. She looked stylish and effortless and that's due to the fact that I believe she did her own hair and makeup and reused a dress from a previous dance. Who does that?! Who is that cool at 17-18 to say, "Hey Mom, it's cool, I don't need a new dress to the big dance because I've got one that I've already used that will work great again"? Mini-Bun=Awesome!

Seeing her Prom pictures and coupled with the fact that I just saw a friend's Facebook page that is still covered with pics of her and her old high school crew got me thinking about my own Prom night and what a blast it was. I had been to 3 other dances over the 4 years of high school and all of them were awkward/awful. As a freshman I went to the Homecoming dance with a boy I had gone to grade school with. He didn't go to my same high school and I didn't know anyone there and we hadn't seen each other in 6 months so we didn't have a lot to talk about and I can't remember if we danced or not. As a junior I thought I was asking a cute guy I had met once to the dance and my friends were going to ask his friends so we could all go in a group. They never got around to actually asking the friends so there I was again with a guy I didn't really know, but luckily he was friends with my sisters boyfriend at the time so we kindof hung with them for the night. We left as soon as we were allowed to and went back to Bun's house. At this point I kind of liked the guy, but he didn't seem to be paying enough attention for my liking. So I decided to get drunk for the first time in my life off some blue koolaid and vodka concoction that Bun and her cousin had whipped up. I ended up drinking way too much and acting like a complete tool, even saying I was going to jump off the balcony on to Bun's Mom's Navigator (3 feet) below! (What did I think I was going to accomplish, a sprained ankle?? Haha, so dramatic! I still can not talk to Bun's cousin without her bringing up "I'm going to jump on the Navi" without fail, soooooo not fun introducing her to new people, especially new boyfriends who always got to hear the story, too!) (P.S. Sorry Mom for getting drunk at 16 and you not knowing until now. I guess there is a reason for the legal drinking age not to be 16!) So the dance date took off and we never spoke again because he didn't want to deal with that kind of bullshit, rightly so. The next dance I went to was Homecoming my senior year. I thought I was going in a small group of the cool kids, but turns out it was more like the top 100 coolest kids, and me and my date didn't get an invite to their after party...ouch! I also hated my shoes, wasn't a huge fan of my dress, none of my real friends were at the dance, and my date was the Loser ExBoyfriend who didn't go to the school.

Finally, finally, for senior Prom everything came together. We partied with the football boys every weekend and I sat next to one of the team captains in Math that year and we really hit it off. We had made out one weekend (sorry, again, Mom, and it was just making out), but really only because Bun had left us alone downstairs at her house and I was too young and dumb to say "No" to a popular boy. I mean, he didn't force me or anything, that's not what I'm saying, but I would've been happy not to make out with him that night, too. Anyway, so all of us decide we should go as a group and hire a limo, do pictures together, then have an after party at someone's house. The Team Captain asked me by bringing me two different bouquets at lunch one day and I was excited to be going with him because we were really good friends by then and the Loser ExBF was out of the picture for the moment.

The night of Prom I was running late because Nae wanted to follow us over to where we were going to be taking pictures beforehand to have her pictures done there, too, but her friend was running late and I finally just had to go. I got there and the Team Captain was pretty pissed because picture time was over and we had to leave and he and I only got a snap or two before jumping in the limo, but as we were taking those few quick snaps he said something really nice- "that I looked so beautiful, I was worth the wait"...awwww!

On the ride over to the Long Beach Convention Center, we laughed and talked and had a good time and then one of the boy's pulled out a bong, nicknamed Snoop Bong, and started taking huge rips off of it. Me, Bun, and Candie (another old friend whom I've only briefly wrote about to chronicle the demise of our friendship) just thought it was hilarious, but the other girls in the group who we weren't really close to were spazzing out and saying we were all going to get contact highs or wreak of pot smoke and not be allowed in to the dance (and they were the types of girls who had those huge, poofy princess dresses so smoke probably could've hid up under one of their layers or something) so the guy put the bong away. As we walked in to the dance, we took our couples photo and group photo. The picture of me and the Team Captain is a great one- I am standing with my back to his chest and just as they were taking the picture the Team Captain whispered something really naughty in to my ear that made me laugh and that is our picture- him with a big smile and me mid-laugh. I also got a great picture with Nae- we are both in our fancy black dresses and I had her jump up in to my arms like I was a groom carrying her across the threshold.

The rest of the dance I had a great time running around and chatting with people and taking pictures with friends I was only going to see for two more weeks of school. The Team Captain was in fine form, having mixed some Shrooms in with his Mac n Cheese when we got to the dance and he was super funny to hang with. We had one dance that night and not being a dancer that was enough for me and the Team Captain being the charmer he is danced with tons of girls the whole night and it was nice to not be with a boyfriend where I'd have to care or be jealous if he spent the night dancing with other girls.

Prior to the dance, the Team Captain and I told people if they couldn't think of anyone to write for Prom King and Queen, vote us. I thought it was a bit of a joke because I was pretty anti school spirit. A lot of people in my homeroom thought it was funny so they put us down. Well, a friend of my sister's was on the dance committee or student council had come up to her a few days before the dance and told her that we had enough votes to make it on to the court, but I guess with school politics we somehow didn't make it on the ballot. Didn't matter in the end, the two nicest kids from our class won it and I thought that was pretty great.

At the end of the night we piled back in to the limo and headed out to a ritzy community in the hills above Newport Beach to spend the night at the Co-Captain's (and Bun's date) house. I must have been pretty tired because I don't remember much from the night. I got upstairs early to claim a couch because Princess D doesn't really do well sleeping on floors. After I had gotten in my pajamas, the Team Captain came upstairs and asked me if we were going to hook up that night. I said "No" and he, ever the gentleman, asked if it was okay if he went and hooked up with someone else! I said "Sure, go for it, good luck!" or something to that effect and then the Team Captain proceeded to whip out his guitar and serenade me with this reggae song that I loved how he sung before going off to fulfill all of his stereotypical Prom night fantasies. It was really, really nice and honestly, I thought it was a perfect night and a perfect Prom. I had fun, I looked good, there was no stress, and I got to spend it with all the people who meant the most to me at that point in my life.

So, did reading this bring back any fun or funny dance memories for any of you? Did anyone lose their virginity in the back of a limo or the back of a Ford Fiesta that night? Did you love what you wore? Hate what you wore? Go with someone your regretted or your future spouse? What was the highlight or lowlight for you that night?

Runaway Train

What do you do when someone you care about is making really awful decisions for themselves? Do you step in? When? I am a firm believer in letting people do what they want because they are going to do it anyway. That's not to say that I won't offer an opinion or advice when asked, but I have found it to be true that people are going to do what they want and aren't going to change until they are ready.

This is true for me with my weight. This is true for other people in bad relationships. And now this is true for my Grandpa and his drinking.

But what do you do when the person's awful decisions are putting them on a quick path toward death? That's where we are at with my Grandpa right now. We decided to step in because while it's crappy he's doing this to himself, it is also really affecting my Grandma and Uncle and my Mom. Plus, he is endangering other people because he boozes all day long then gets in the car to go out for drives! It's sad that he is killing himself, but it will be really unforgiveable if he kills someone when he is out on the road drunk. As unbelieveable as it may sound and as much as my Grandma hates my Grandpa's drinking, she defends his driving and says he is a really good driver. On the other hand, she can't explain how one of their afternoon drives turned in to them getting lost in L.A. for over 4 hours last week.

So anyway, that was the main point of our trip down to Orange County over the past 3 days. Grandpa knows the consequences of his drinking and doesn't want to change so we can't do anything about it, but my Grandma really appreciated our visit and that my Mom was there to help with things she thought needed to be done for their household. Mom was even able to get a home nurse in to assess their situation and hopefully get them the help they need to make life easier around the house. Mom also spoke to the nurse about the drinking and driving issue and she said she would speak to his main doctor who would contact the DMV to get his license revoked.

Although my Grandpa was a bit angry that we were there and didn't really want to talk to us the first two days we dropped in to visit, yesterday he seemed back to his old self. It was nice to sit and chat with him for awhile and I'm glad he came around to us being there as it is a much nicer memory to have of him than one of him ignoring us.

It's a really hard situation to be in. I feel bad for him, I feel bad for my Grandma, and I feel bad for my Mom and Uncle. There is no good end to this and I realize and accept that. I wish things could be different, but you can't change things and you certainly can't change people. Rather than think about my Grandpa as he is today, I am going to choose to think of him and what he was like when we were younger-the man who taught us how to fish and who used to take me and Nae down to this really cool beach in San Diego to look for moonstones.

Red, Red Wine

Am I really a grown up? Now Mom, Boyfriend, Nae, before you start in with the 100 other reasons I'm probably not really a grown up yet, here is the reason I'm asking this question today: because I can't get in to wine. Growing up, this was always what I saw adults drinking. Sure they might have a margarita or a GnT every now and again or Dad might have a beer if it better matched what we were having for dinner, but 9 times out of 10 at dinner or at parties, the grown ups were drinking a nice bottle of wine.

So now that I'm 25, I figure this wine drinking thing should've kicked in for me by now, but I really don't like it and I'm not sure that I ever will. That bums me out because I know Boyfriend would love to share a bottle with me at night during dinner or as we sit out around the fire, but he doesn't buy any because he knows he'll be the only one drinking it. It also bums me out because it's not a shared experience/love I have with my parents. It'd be nice to enjoy a bottle together when I'm home and be able to join in on their critiques of their wine choice each night.

The reasons I don't like wine are that a good drink to me is something that is either sweet (like tea, juice, diet soda, and even milk to some extent) or neutral (like water) and wine is either heavy, spicy or dry tasting. Also, I like my drinks super cold with like 5 ice cubes in my glass or hot and white wines never seem cold enough and the room temperature that red wine is served at makes me want to gag.

I know they say wine is an acquired taste but it's just so gross to acquire. Cigarettes are gross at first, too, but you acquire that taste...should I go out and start trying to make myself take up smoking, too? I'm sure if I chose to start eating deodorant I could acquire a taste for it, but who would want to? I just can't imagine people having their first glass of wine and being like "This stuff is awesome!" (at least about the taste and not about the buzz they are getting from it).

And can people really "detect a slight hint of honey" or "rose" or "chocolate" or "coffee" or "raspberry" or "etc, etc" in the wine or is that just b.s. and something people say when drinking wine to sound snobby and like they know what they are talking about?

I know it's not the end of the world that I don't like wine and I, obviously, have plenty of other shared experiences/things I enjoy doing with Boyfriend and my parents, but it would be nice to be let in on the secret about why everyone else seems to think wine is so awesome.

I fell in love with her, my little Surfer Girl

I lived a very privileged life growing up...I went to a private school, had a couple of cars passed on to me by my parents (including a Jag that I trashed only a few weeks after receiving my license...that's kind of a fun story to tell, I might post about it some time), and I didn't have to work through high school. I was free to hang out on weekends and surf and after school was also spent at the beach or doing homework and just hanging out. It was a very rude awakening then for little princess me when the summer I graduated high school my Dad told me it was time to find myself a job. I figured I would just continue to hang out, collect allowance, and attend college for 12 or whatever hours a week. I bitched and cried and didn't want to get one. The truth is, I hate change. I was overwhelmed at the thought of starting college and getting a job for the first time all at once. So I searched and searched and got an interview at Target and got the job, but then decided I didn't want to work there at all. I spread my search out further and decided since I was planning on moving to Huntington Beach, I might as well look for a job there. I ended up getting called in for interviews at both the Jack's Newport location and the Jack's Huntington location. I was skinnier then and thought I looked cute in a surf brand tank, some jeans, and some Reef sandals, but when I was offered the job at the Huntington location the manager was like "We wear mostly t-shirts and jeans here, nothing too revealing" so I took it to mean I wasn't allowed to wear my tank top anymore. It blew my mind to then see what the girls from the girls' store would get away with wearing and I laughed later when my friend Crystal told me she had basically been told the only thing that we weren't allowed to show up in was just our bathing suits.

Anyway, so I started work the day before I started my first day of college and I was nervous. I didn't know the protocals. I didn't know if I had to ask permission to use the bathroom quickly or anything and I wanted to do a good job (because while I am lazy off the job, I like to do a really good job when I am working). The first month and a half were pretty boring; I either guarded the dressing rooms to make sure people weren't stealing stuff/hooking up in them or worked one of the sections of the store folding shirts and helping customers find stuff. I was stoked when I got asked to work on the registers and that's when I started loving the job. The girls I worked with: Jen, Crystal, and K-10 were so much fun and it was so cute to see who in the store had a crush on which girl (one of the couples that developed then is still together now, 5 years later!). There was also one boy, Hung, who worked the registers and he was in with all the owners and friends with all their sons/nephews. Once I started working the registers, I also got to know the boys who sold the boards and wetsuits better. One by one my girls started leaving to start school somewhere else or to get married or whatever. Hung went to work in the main office and develop the Jack's website ( http://www.jackssurfboards.com/) and I was left to take over as the head cashier. At this point, I got to know all the owners really well and stopped being afraid of them. I still miss getting harassed by Bob, Ron, Little Mike, Sean, and Jamal (all co-owners) and Moe (the security guard) at least once a shift. I also got to start ordering some of the merchandise for the front counters, along with Bob's permission.

A year had passed and I thought I'd leave Jack's and do surf lessons instead as the pay was better and it meant never having to work until 10:00pm (we were open from 8am-10pm, every day of the year except Christmas). I worked my last day and then went away to chaperone a surf trip to Fiji with my old surf team. Over there I realized I wanted to come back and work at Jack's so I came back with my tail between my legs and asked for my job back. I think I got punished and put back on the floor for a little bit, but then the big yearly comp, the U.S. Open of Surfing, came to town and they needed all hands on deck and I got thrown back on a register.

Time passed and I was kindof goofing off at school and doing the bare minimum. I was still passing and still getting good grades, but I was doing school around work rather than working around school. It got to be that I had worked at Jack's for about a year and a half, only half the people or less that I had originally started with were still there and those were mostly managers or guys who had been working the surfboard section for a few years.

I remember one day these two giggly girls came strolling in to the store with their arms linked together. One had wavy, red hair and the other had long, super straight, dark brown hair. I rolled my eyes and was like "who hired the high school chicks again?" I think I even asked my friend Heidi about them...like who they were, what their deal was and all that. Turns out, they'd soon become my best friends at the shop. On my 20th birthday I trained Bri on the registers and really liked her personality. From there I looked forward to seeing her on shift and hanging out with her and then once she had warmed up to me, her friend Katie did, as well.

A few months later, Nae was back from her first year away at college and I had probably the best summer of my life. Nae came to work at the shop and we had so much fun working together along with Heidi, Bri, and Katie. The time seemed to fly by and we were the cool kids at work so we got away with plenty. We were friends with the managers, like Cheyne, Kenny, and Peter, as well as with nephew's/sons of the owners like Hemzeh and Akram and they'd all hang out near the counter and joke and gossip with us all day, too. At night, I'd head to Bun's apartment and drink a lot and I found out as I stumbled around her pool area one night that Bri and Katie lived just about 5 doors down from her in the same apartment building! Other nights we would pick up Heidi and her and Nae and I would go to parties at Kenny and Geoff's place to hang with everyone from work. I was single at this point and it was just fun to hang out with all my friends and not worry about my stupid exboyfriend. I really can't explain it now or make it seem as fun as it was, I guess, in this post, but it was a great time in my life.

Halfway through the summer the owners me to help out and help manage the girls' store for some shifts. There was a newly hired manager in the girls' store that didn't fit in to the Jack's mode of things, in my opinion. Not looks wise because I'm not the stereotypical blonde surfer girl that you'd think would be working at a surf shop either, but just she'd make the girls do dumb stuff like write about their shift after it was done, like "I liked this about today's shift....I didn't like this about today's shift..." and I thought it was dumb, corny, and unnecessary. So being immature and 20, I wrote her a note saying I thought these end of shift notes were dumb and wasting our girls' time, I mean they were working 8 hours for minimum wage and then they were supposed to write a mini diary entry each day when they were done? Lame! So I think I was promptly sent back to my head cashier position at the main store. I don't think I really got in trouble, the summer season was just over so they were slowing down at their store and didn't need my help. Not two weeks later this newly hire manager got fired for taking in dodgey checks from her friends for a significant amount of merchandise...dumbass!

That was another thing that blew my mind: how many people got fired for stealing or doing dumb stuff like that. I think retail jobs are like that in general. I never took anything, not even a bar of wax or stickers or anything without permission. I got good discounts on all the things I wanted so stealing just never seemed worth it to me, but to lots of people the appeal of all that cool stuff sitting around was too tempting.

Anyway, so summer ended and Nae had gone back to school and by this time I had been accepted to the University out here so I knew my time at Jack's was coming to an end. Those last four months were still a lot of fun. I looked forward to coming in and seeing all my friends and sad that it was going to end. Katie, Bri, and I started calling our crew the "Jack's Elite Crew" and on my last shift with them I brought in cookies and shirts that I had made for them with their names and Jack's Elite Crew on them. They also threw me a party at their place with everyone from the shop pretty much coming. I got sloppy drunk, I think I asked Cheyne to make out a few times, and then drove him and Hung home with my friend Patty and as we were walking to our car I decided I would do a sneak run and jump on to Hung's back and instead jumped on him and knocked him over...I was so embarassed when I remembered the next day and again when I saw him a few days later. But in general I thought it was so cool that the girls had thrown me a party and everyone had turned out (whether it was for me or just for a party didn't matter, they were there). Leaving was really sad, but I thought I'd be back that summer to start working again and told everyone as much. I ended up not coming back to the U.S. until that Thanksgiving when I went back to Jack's and asked if I could work the season for them. The boys were all still there, but by that time Bri and Katie had found other jobs and Heidi had had a baby!

I still look back on my time at Jack's as one of the best times in general in my life. I was part of the family and it was a big, crazy, fun family to be a part of. I'm still friends with Bri and Katie and try and see them whenever I go home. Bri and I talk a lot over email and she had even asked me to be in her wedding (but I couldn't because I didn't have enough money to go home this past May)! I haven't talked to Heidi since right after she had her baby, but I'd love to get in contact with her again and I know Katie still talks to her so maybe there is some hope there. Just recently Cheyne added me on Facebook and through him I found Hung, and my other friend Peter just popped up in my "People You May Know" feature. I don't talk to any of them on there, but it's nice to just have that link to them still and know that I could talk to them if I wanted to. I'd also love to pop in and see the owners at some point because they were all really good guys and I miss them and their advice.

Like I said, this post doesn't do it justice because I don't have any really crazy stories to tell (well, except for this time this guy K-Rod "borrowed" my phone and took it in to the bathroom and took 5 pictures of himself posing in his underwear on my phone for me, or the time Nick and Aaron Carter came to the store, or the time I rang up one of the lesser known Jackass guys, or the time when we made fun of someone's girlfriend for wearing Barbie pink blush really heavily, or every week when the handicapped group would come in and their care taker would hit on one of the other cashier's and tell her how he'd like her to check out his studio and how he'd like to paint her) but overall it was just the whole experience of working there that was great and I will always look back on that time very, very fondly.

I am the Fire Starter

Last night we went over to Croc's parent's property for a big bonfire. I never realized how far back their land stretches. When we arrived, Croc and the Teacher loaded us in to an open topped trailer and pulled us behind their quad down to the back of the property where the bonfire was. It was huge! There was a10 foot tree that was still standing in the ground, but was dead as termites had built a huge nest inside that we could see, and that was the centerpiece of the bonfire. All around it were other huge chunks of wood that were alight, too. Beside Croc and the Teacher, it was all of Croc's family-his parents (who are super nice and super funny people) and his brother and sister (who are great as well) and their boyfriends and girlfriends, and then the Soccer Player and the Hairdresser.

Croc and Boyfriend were little fire bugs. Boyfriend had brought over some old fireworks and firecrackers he had lying around in his closet and he and Croc lit them off and shot them at Croc's brother. Croc surprised his brother and chased him so far across the backyard and even hit him with one shot from the firework! The other amusing thing the boys got their hands on last night was a cattle prod. The Soccer Player jolted Boyfriend twice with it and Croc's brother snuck up on him and gave him the biggest shock with it in retaliation for the fireworks. Boyfriend luckily had layers on so he said it didn't hurt super bad but Croc got prodded on his arm and it burnt him! The Teacher had a big night and had to head to bed early with Croc's help. After she went to bed Croc brought out the "goon sack" which is the bladder inside a box of wine. This boxed wine was port and we all took sips off the pouch. It was pretty white trash but was a lot of fun and even Croc's Mom had a few gulps off of it (but only after she had seen me do it)! Then as we were getting ready to leave, all the quads were being used up at the house so Croc had us hop in to his 4 wheel drive and gave us a tour of the back part of the property. We slammed through little trees and it was just like off roading. His brother came up on a quad with his girlfriend on his back and two friends in the open trailer and they ran in to the back of the car we were in. Then Croc put his foot to the floor and we were doing burn outs and racing through the backyard and seemed like we would crash in to one of the old dirt bike jumps or old dead cars they had back there, but we made it safe and sound to the house. It was just like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland and I was squealing and screaming and laughing the whole time!

Wastin' Away Again in Margaritaville

Saturday afternoon Boyfriend and I got ready and headed down to meet Stylez and Turk for a fun night of Mexican and booze, or as we call it: a Mexibooze night, and karaoke. We were running late and so was Stylez so once we got there we started our walk to find a cab into Glebe and to the restaurant- The Flying Fajita Sistas. Once there, we met up with another friend whom Stylez, Turk, and Boyfriend had all worked with waaaaay back in the day and his girlfriend. Stylez and I immediately ordered margaritas and the boys ordered Dos Equis (XX) in honor of my Dad because that is what he always gets when he has Mexican food. The drinks came and they were fantastic. I feel like I probably gulped mine down but it was the best margarita I have had in a long time. We ordered an appetizer for the table and I really liked the cheese dip (top right yellow), smokey salsa (top left red), and the bean dip (bottom right white and brown) which was just like beans you'd get as a side dish at a CA Mexican place. Of course the lighting was awful in both places we went so I've had to borrow other people's pictures

that I found online.

After that we ordered our dinners and Boyfriend and I shared a fajita platter for two. He chose snapper and I chose shrimp for my meat. We also decided to order a litre of white sangria for the table. The snapper and the shrimp were so delicious, like "WHOA" they were so good! The tortillas were just "Meh" that came with it, Guzmen y Gomez has better ones, and I wasn't a fan of the black beans or rice that came as part of the meal. I really wished they would have served more of the "bean dip" instead. The waitresses were really, really dumb and would come to ask if we needed water or anything and then when we asked for more booze were told someone else would have to come and get our drinks (this wasn't a bus person or a person under 18 so I dunno why she couldn't have) and they didn't know basic stuff like they threw in a bunch of tortillas in to two warmers instead of 4 for the 4 of us who got fajitas but didn't tell us that and handed them to the people with two single orders rather than one for me and Boyfriend and one for them to split and then couldn't tell us how many tortillas we were each supposed to get with our meal when we were then trying to divy the tortillas out. I thought the sangria was just "Meh", as well. I had wanted to try sangria and now I have, but I wish I would've gotten another margarita instead. If you go on a warm night, I'd suggest asking to sit out back; they've got the cutest little patio area to sit out in. Tuesday is Taco Tuesday and they do $3 tacos and I'm pretty sure $3 shots of tequila. All in all I can't wait to go back for margaritas, the snapper, the shrimp, and the bean dip. Check them out at http://www.flyingfajitasistas.com.au/ or they are located at 66 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe.

After dinner, we hopped in to another cab that took us in to the heart of the city to the karaoke place- Echo Point. It's run by Japanese people and has lots of Japanese snacks and drinks to buy from the front desk. It isn't like normal karaoke because you order private rooms to sing in, rather than do it in a room full of strangers. We had about 10 people hanging out in ours. There is just a tv, a karaoke machine, coffee table, a black light, and some comfy seats built into the walls in the room and you punch in the songs you want to do and go for it. I had fun watching everyone sing. I did not take a turn on the mic. Some of the girls sang love songs, the boys sang a bunch of random stuff from Prince to Metallica to the Prodigy, and Stylez, Turk and Boyfriend normally sang as a threesome and chose cool punk/alternative songs like GreenDay, Weezer, and Blink. I even got Boyfriend and Stylez to sing me a duet of "I'm the One Who Wants to Be with You" by Mr. Big! It was $16-$17 for each of us for a 3 hour session, I think. It's a fun way to spend a night every once in awhile. If you are a karaoke fanatic then you should take a group of friends to Echo Point. They've got all their songs listed on their website (I think they've got over 1,000 to choose from) (http://www.echopoint.com.au/), too, so you can have your set list picked out for the night before you arrive like Boyfriend's one friend did!

I don't normally keep track of Boyfriend's drinking because I'm not his parole officer (before you ask, no, he doesn't really have a parole officer) and I figure he can handle himself and he knows his limit, but I maybe should've been a little vigilant on Saturday night because he was drinking sake, which he's only had a couple of times before and always during a meal. He ended up getting drunker than I realized on that and beer and when we headed back to Turk and Stylez's place and went to bed, he immediately had to get up and be sick. All in all he was probably up about 6 times puking through out the night, but at least he was really neat about it and didn't get it all over their super cute house!

In the morning he was still feeling crappy, but felt a little better because Turk and Stylez hadn't heard him being sick or been kept up by it like I thought they might have because it seemed to echo all across the downstairs of their house, where their spare bathroom and guest bedroom is. We decided to go to a local place for breakfast and they thought maybe it was best to just bring us breakfast back or to at least drive over, but I thought the walk in the fresh air might do Boyfriend some good. Right before we left, he had to make a quick dash to the bathroom to be sick again and then he said he felt lots better. The walk through their neighborhood was really nice. No one was out, it was a quiet Sunday morning and the view if you turned and looked was of the Sydney skyline, CentrePoint Tower, and the tops of the Harbour Bridge. We sat inside because all the outside seats were taken and Boyfriend made it through breakfast feeling just ok. We walked back to Turk and Stylez's place, chatted a bit longer, then hit the road.

Boyfriend's Dad's birthday is this week, so is Nae's, and Bob just moved in to his new place so we figured while we were close, we might as well hit up Ikea...the only one in NSW, I think. I was in heaven once we got inside! Boyfriend seemed to pick up a bit, too, and we had fun looking at all the neatly designed furniture and bedding and stuff they had. Boyfriend especially liked all the kitchen designs they had displayed. We came away with some office and home stuff for Boyfriend, a funny little present for Nae, lots of new kitchen stuff for Bob, struck out on stuff for his Dad, and got me a vase for $4 and a couch cover that I had wanted when I bought my couch 3 years ago since the couch is white and was the cheapest one they had, but didn't think I could afford it then (in the last year my couch has suddenly looked thrashed so it was awesome that we could buy a black cover for it that would better hide stains). We also had to have a look at all the good Swedish food they had at the food shop past the registers and bought some yummy cookies, blueberry concentrate drink, a non-alcoholic pear cider, a Daime chocolate bar that Stylez recommended, and some salted black licorice (yuck!) that Turk recommended, as well as the meatballs, at the last minute, because everyone else in line had at least one bag of them and Turk had said they were delicious, too.

We got back on the road and Boyfriend was not feeling so great. He asked if he got us out of the City could I manage the drive on the freeway home? I have never driven more than about 10 miles maybe and never on the freeway so I was a bit nervous, but said if he just rested and didn't fall asleep on me, I'd do it. Once I got going, it was as easy as driving on the regular side of the road, and soon, I was passing slow pokes. The drive took about an hour and we got home just as it was getting dark. We basically had time to unload the car, go to the bathroom, and then we were back on the road to Nan and Pop's for Sunday dinner...this week a bbq for Boyfriend's Dad's birthday. Lots of the cousins were there and they brought their babies with them and it was good to catch up with the girls and have a cuddle and a play with the babies. The one little girl is about 1 and a half years old and is so smart- she remembered my name after the first time I played with her and still remembers me months later and always calls out "Little D, Little D" to get my attention and get me to come play with her. For some reason she was afraid of Boyfriend last night and would run away or hide her face in my shoulder anytime he came near! Don't they say that kids and dogs can sense when someone is evil? Haha, just kidding Babe!

It turned out to be one of those weekends that are so jam packed you don't feel as if you've had a real weekend, but I love those and had a great time! Today I put my tutoring ad in two of the local papers and one will run on Wednesday and Friday in the one paper and the other will be delivered in to people's mailboxes in the area later in the month. I'm so excited and can't wait to see how many calls I get! Fingers crossed for me guys because I really could use the income.

Oh yeah, and check out Stylez's stuff at reJENerate (link up the top) she's got a blog, a website, and stuff on Etsy. I saw some of her bags lying around at her house and their are some cute ones right now. She also has been doing custom bridal and bridal party clutches that are cool and fun and match without being too matchy, if you know what I mean. She will have an order from me if I ever take a stroll down the aisle!

Hold On For Your Dearest Life

We got the call from S that he was outside of the hotel parking. I was pretty buzzed by then. I remember going downstairs and being so F*ing nervous. He remembers me seeming pretty bitchy, but then I months later told him I was drunk, and he just laughed. I think he also remembers not liking what I was wearing, though I could be making that up? I totally remember what he was wearing….A black and red surf/skate shirt that looked like an Iron Maiden Band shirt and jeans. His car was about the shittiest car I had ever seen and certainly one of the shittiest I had ever ridden in (sorry Babe! You gotta remember I’m an Orange Country Bitch, though) and Bun and I were just like “Oh My God!” We then went to a liquor store, attached to a grocery store, because here they don’t sell alcohol in the actual store for some reason and I bought my first bit of alcohol legally (I was about 3 weeks off my 21st birthday at this point). We went back to his friends’ house and hung out til like 2am, or on our body clocks, 7am California time. S and his friend, the Redhead, drove us back to our hotel, but first they took us down for our first look at the beach. It was beautiful, like Hawaii. The sand was so fine that it made a squishing noise as you walked over it, it still makes me laugh to this day when it does it. I think S held my hand in the car and he gave me a quick peck after we left the beach. The meeting had gone well and we seemed to be getting along in real life, just as we had online. It seemed like Bun and I were going to have a very fun time for the 4 months we were going to be in Australia!

The Beginning Continued

S right away recommended the school he was at. He thought it would be fairly easy for me to get in to and found all the info I needed right away. He was so open and friendly and so stoked to help me. I couldn’t believe how quickly we got the process started. I think that was like the end of July or the beginning of August and I thought maybe I could be there for the start of the fall semester, but duh it would really be like the spring semester there and school only started in July or February so I had missed out. S and I started talking every day, either on the phone, by email, or by text. He was pretty stressed out as it was his last semester at school, but he made the time for me and we quickly became close again. We liked each other but once again, we were still living our real lives as well, and it was weird cause I really really liked him, was hopeful for when we met, but didn’t really have expectations that it would be some huge love story and happily ever after and all that, and we still told each other about people we wanted to kiss or who we were dating at the time and stuff, which was kind of torture, but kind of good, too. Was that like the longest run on sentence in history? My parents would see me talking to S every night that we could online and S would webcam. It came to be a running joke in my family that a) Is that guy naked on that thing? And b) Lil D, you are talking to a 40 year old pervert on there!
My friend from high school, we’ll call her Bun, decided she needed a change of pace, too, so she decided to come along and at first, stupidly, I was a little bummed because I wanted to prove to the world how independent I was, but ultimately, Thank God Bun came because she made the adjustment of living in a new country that much easier and we had so much fun together while she was living here.
So fast forward to February….I had taken one last trip to see my sister Nae at her school, Dad had dropped me and Mom at the airport since she had to fly out for a work thing, Mom and I had a very tearful goodbye in John Wayne airport (yes, our airport is named after a tv cowboy and I knew his grandson, who was a very good bodyboarder and who got the worst sunburn on his butt in costa rica that I have ever seen!) and everyone must have thought we were crazy for all the crying we were doing, as flights from John Wayne don’t go international, thinking that we were crying this hard for me moving to Arizona or something. I got on the plane to San Francisco and cried, before meeting Bun up there. We got on, took waaaaay too many xanax and passed out for about 10 of the 14 hours of the trip. We were still so high from the stuff that when we hit really bad turbulence coming in to Sydney we were both hysterically laughing, whereas normally we would’ve been crying since we both hate flying!
It was hot when we got off the plane and we had to try and figure out the train system and how we were going to get up the coast to where our school was. In hindsight, we totally should’ve taken a few days in Sydney before going to our little hole of a town. So we figure out the trains, it was a hassle with all of our luggage, as I am not a light packer. I couldn’t figure out the payphones so I couldn’t call S when we landed. I just prayed that he didn’t decide to get on our train, as he had earlier suggested, as we passed through his town because I looked like crap and that was not the first impression I wanted to make. I was surprised when I didn’t see a boat load (or any to be exact) of koalas in the trees or kangaroos hopping along next to the train.
We got to the town we would be living in and it looked like a dump. We got to our hotel and it also was a dump. I remember I called my Mom crying, letting her know I was safe but wanted to come home. Bun and I went out trying to find food and also the beach, we ended up with expensive Pizza Hut and walking the opposite way from the ocean. S called and wanted to come over. I said “No”. He said, “let’s hang out tonight” and I said, “I dunno”. Later, Bun said “let’s get you drunk and let’s meet this guy”. So we called S and hopeful guy that he is, he had come up to wait for our call. He was on his way over and I started taking shots of vodka, good first impression I was going to make, right?