Week 60 - Morning Teaing & ARIAing

Thursday #61 – I set my alarm just that little bit early today to ensure I’d have time to shower, eat and choose an appropriate outfit before heading off to work.  With the shower out of the way I made myself a smoothie (there’s a first time for everything) and decided on an ensemble that would easily take me from work and out to the city later.  My smoothie was surprisingly good and I headed off to work excited for my early mark and DTM’s “surprise” that afternoon.

The Former Non-Drinker just so happened to be turning the big two five this Thursday, so my work day was interrupted with some sausage rolls (and a similar spinach and cheese version of sausage rolls) and a super rich chocolate cake.  A very welcome morning tea indeed.  When lunch time rolled around half an hour later I wasn’t remotely hungry but knew that a night out with DTM rarely involved dinner so forced myself to eat half a beef wrap and saved the rest for later.

Just before 4 I raced out the door to try and make my bus to the city to meet DTM.  Having finally got my official uni results, he’d planned to take me out to celebrate.  I’m told we weren’t just celebrating my new title but also Easter, Christmas, my birthday, Hanukkah, our anniversary and any other possible event that could warrant him taking me out – we certainly wouldn’t want to have to go out twice.  He’d attempted to make his plans a surprise but after casually asking what I was doing on Thursday night while he was reading an article on the ARIA awards in the paper, I was able to put two and two together and told him I was going to the ARIAs.  He was amazed by my psychic abilities and I gave him permission to still buy me a ticket and pretend like it was a huge surprise.

When we met up at the entertainment centre we were surrounded by teenage girls dressed in stupidly high heels, ridiculous amounts of make-up and outfits that were both worthy of a school formal and at the same time super inappropriate – I’m not sure there’s ever an appropriate time for sequinned shorts so short half your butt cheek is hanging out.  We wondered if they realised they weren’t actually up for any awards and that the location of their seats pretty much guaranteed they wouldn’t be on TV, I kinda felt sad that they’d dressed like it was their big night…and they were just gonna be sitting in the back of a huge arena eating popcorn and drinking overpriced Bacardi Breezers.  That said I was more than happy to take my seat at the back, in my jeans, with the $9 Smirnoff DTM had bought me, and watch all the action unfold down below.

Aside from some technical difficulties it was a good night, which if nothing else brought home the fact that I am not very familiar with Australian music.  The first sign came when I referred to 360 as a band and later found it was apparently just one man.  I am still unsure about his win for breakthrough artist as the bio they read out as part of his nomination for album of the year, clearly stated his debut album was released in 2008 and then bla bla bla he almost died and now he’s back.  That’s not really a breakthrough; more of a comeback methinks…I guess they weren’t counting on having a doctor in the crowd of musos who would actually pay attention to these things.  Russell Brand kept us amused and I finally maybe sorta caught a glimpse of what Katy Perry had seen in him…I can’t say I find him remotely attractive but he does make me chuckle.

My ears are still ringing a day later after Taylor Swift took to the stage in front of the crowd of screaming teenage girls.  I’m still not quite sure if they screamed louder for Taylor’s performance or for One Direction’s win of the “International Award” (whatever the hell that may be) which they accepted in a pre-recorded video…all I know is they certainly didn’t scream that loud for any of the local talent – which is perhaps a little ironic given we were meant to be there celebrating Australian music.  Oops.

After the awards (which sadly I didn’t win), we snuck into Cold Rock ahead of the crowds and emptied our wallets out to just afford an ice cream each.  I opted for white chocolate and Ferraro ice cream with Tim Tams mashed in…DTM got some strange mixture of things that sound like they should be cooked not served frozen in a cup – cake batter, cookie dough and a couple of other oddities.  We then made our way to the bus stop and hopped on the 10.30 bus with a rather drunken New Zealander who had remembered his hard hat but somehow forgotten to wear a shirt or zip up his fly.  His attempts to hit on the poor Japanese girl on the bus were kinda inspirational but I think most of the passengers were relieved when he finally fell asleep.  Well, all except for the girl next to him who seemed legitimately terrified at the prospect of him falling asleep on her.

Back at DTM’s we watched some of The Unbelievable Truth before heading off to bed.  It was a very nice Thursday and as much as I appreciated DTM taking me out to the ARIAs – it did not go unnoticed that he had once again gotten himself out of a promise to take me out to dinner.  I’m starting to think he’s never going to feed me!  Next Thursday certainly has a lot to live up to!

Week 59 - Bingoing & Bronzing

Thursday #60 – this Thursday kicked off with breakfast of some sort (possibly eggs, it’s hard to say) before we headed off to the RSL for some 11am Bingo.  Yes, bingo.  We sat ourselves down amongst the crowd of retirees as DTM explained to me some of the different games we would be playing.  I got lost in the complex terminology of postage stamps, sandwiches and race tracks and got excited when DTM bought me my very own ink splodgy thing.

Just as I was trying to keep a low profile (and maintain some street cred in the process) The Trophy Winner walked in and joined us.  With her two games of Bingo and giant ink splodgy thing it was obvious she was a pro at this.  I watched in awe as she seemed to have dabbed out the number twice before I’d even found it once.  It was intense (much like camping…) and DTM and The Trophy Winner started to get suspicious that I may in fact have gotten bingo and just been unwilling to yell it out.  Their fears were not completely unfounded…my heart skipped a few beats every time I was a number off and I hoped someone else would beat me to it so that I wouldn’t have to yell out in front of the whole room.  Stupid I know (especially since the room consisted of people who were probably quite hard on hearing and unlikely ever see me again or recognise me if they did) but I’m not really one for publicly yelling.  The one exception to this rule is of course at a premiere in which case I will quite happily scream my heart out if it means a photo with a celeb.

After bingo we continued our exciting morning with a trip to Woolies to get some groceries.  And just when I thought 2 twenty somethings couldn’t possibly fit any more fun into one morning, we headed off for an impromptu visit to My Birthday Buddy to sew a button onto a cardie.  I swear I am only 25.  With all that frivolity out of the way I dropped DTM home and headed back to Maroubra where I caught up with M-Dizzle.

It wasn’t too long before I headed off to the city for my spray tan ahead of the next night’s graduation dinner.  After a couple of recent stuff ups (due to my own laziness and resulting in a white outline of my fingers on my thigh) I spent a little extra time studying the positions in the booth before getting proceedings underway.  When I was done I wandered back out to reception to find the receptionist napping.  I tried to make noise by rustling things in my bag (to wake her without looking like I’d noticed) but had no luck so had to resort to plan B – walking back to the tanning booth and then loudly walking back out to reception.  Mission accomplished – my thongs smacking against the floor woke her and she remained oblivious to my previous attempts to wake her.

Having missed lunch (I’d snacked on some of The Trophy Winner’s wedges after the pokies break in bingo) I was absolutely starving as I made my way home and stopped off for some Thai at 5pm.  I ate my dinner up in my room and went to bed shortly after.  A different Thursday to say the least!

Week 58 - Tipping & Burgering

Thursday #59 – after the day from hell on Wednesday I woke up on Thursday morning and was able to convince DTM to make me another delightful smoothie for breakfast as I knew he would still be feeling sorry for me.  The smoothie was delicious and helped to take away some of the pain of the previous day which in summary had involved 4.5 hours sleep, a house stinking of someone else’s vomit, no time for breakfast, a 40 minute late bus, a 2 hour trip to work, a lecture on my lack of enthusiasm at work, no money so no lunch, an email suggesting I start smiling or don’t come back, a call from my mechanic and a $1600 bill for my breakdown on Sunday, another late bus, a bus with a disgruntled-would-be-passenger who kicked the door and smashed it pieces leaving us stranded on the side of the road in the rain waiting for the next bus, and arriving at The Mechanic 10 minutes after closing time after The Scientist lost track of time and didn’t make it there to pick it up.  Needless to say I was happy it was a new day.

After my breakfast and just when I thought our relationship could not get any more exciting with frequent trips to Bunnings and K-mart, DTM surprised me with a trip to Kimbriki Tip.  I agreed to chauffeur him and his old TVs and stereos there on the condition that if anything happened to my car (flat tyre stories were coming in thick and fast once news of our tip expedition got out) he was paying for it.  We set off to dump DTM’s 4 VCRs, multiple heaters, fans, stereos and big arse TVs and managed to squeeze in a trip to Bunnings on the way back home.  He sure does know how to spoil a girl!  With some new light fittings, shelves, powerpoints and doorbells we headed off to Chatswood for some printer cartridges and a camera case.

My chauffeur service does not come free and we swung by Grill’d for some lunch.  After the morning spent at the tip and Bunnings, DTM had offered to buy me lunch in Chatswood so I’d opted for burgers and chips I couldn’t possibly afford myself.  When we got back to his house I somehow busied myself for the afternoon and honestly can’t remember if I was watching TV, facebooking or napping – it’s possible it was a combination of the 3.

We settled in for the night and watched Total Recall on DTM’s stupidly large TV which unfortunately comes with constant commentary of “how good is my 64 inch TV and recliner” and “it’s just like Gold Class” which I’m yet to work out how to turn off.  Sadly the previous day’s drama and a few ciders meant even Colin Farrell couldn’t keep me awake and I ended up dozing off in the last 20 or so minutes.  I’ve since re-watched the end and am not convinced I missed a great deal.

With visits to Bunnings and the tip it was far from an ideal Thursday but free lunch and ciders certainly helped make up for it.  It was certainly a step up from the day before it!

Week 57 - Licencing & Not-Popcorning

Thursday #58 – another memorable Thursday morning which I assume kicked off at DTM’s but really can’t be sure.  I know I had work this Thursday so I’m gonna guess I woke up and drove myself to work for an 8 o’clock start.  At some stage in the past week DTM made me a smoothie for breakfast – I haven’t a clue if this happened on Thursday or one of the six other days but it was damn good and well worth a mention anyway.  Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, sorbet and guava juice all came together in a blended berry delight.

If I’m not mistaken, I finished work at 2 this Thursday and headed back to DTM’s via a quick trip to the shops for some chicken and chips.  I tried to quickly cram in some driving stats before heading to the RTA to sit my DQT.  After a nervous wait I was told I had passed and would now be leaving behind my green P’s and welcoming my grown up licence.  I swung by The BH&G Fan’s house on my way back to DTM’s as I was curious to check out The Scientist’s new cropped and darker do.  She wasn’t home but The BH&G Fan and I managed to chat for about an hour with car key in hand as I repeatedly announced my intentions to leave and we got caught up in another topic.  Eventually we got a call saying The Scientist would be home in 15 minutes so I hung around to see the hair. 

After approving the new look I headed back to DTM’s where we checked out movie times and tried to work out a plan for the night.  We headed off to Chatswood, parked stupidly far out from the kerb, hoped no one would crash into my car and got our tickets for End Of Watch.  DTM also splurged on some popcorn and stupid flavour burst crap which has something so unnatural in it it makes my noise tingle.  Having learnt this the week before I declined his offers of popcorn and watched the movie in hunger having not had time for dinner.  A celebratory/congratulatory trip to Ben & Jerry’s was made with DTM offering to buy me ice cream in light of my new licence news.  Some clusterfluff and cookies and cream later we headed home, relieved to find my car unscratched.

The rest of the night isn’t particularly memorable so I’ll assume we watched The Unbelievable Truth before eventually heading to bed.  Free movies, free ice cream and the ability to drive after a beverage – by all accounts a good Thursday!

Week 56 - Back-to-working & Bunningsing

Thursday #57 – after negotiating an extra hour of sleep when The Gentle Giant had texted me about my exam on Wednesday, I actually had time to eat some eggs and toast before heading off to work this Thursday.  When I got there it was congratulations all round as The Gym Junkie and The Gentle Giant asked how I had gone in my final exam and expressed some disbelief that my 5 years of uni was actually all over.  There still seems be a significant amount of denial in that place about the fact that I am actually leaving and will not be there teaching them Excel and dealing with their stationery woes as a fully qualified optometrist.  Shame.

Work itself was fairly unmemorable and a lack of funds at lunch time meant a 7 minute walk to the ATM and the discovery that Greek salads aren’t actually meant to have lettuce in them…who knew?! (Well The Greek Jesus and DTM apparently).  My day of just dealing with back to school and spending all my time with The Gentle Giant kicked in at about 2.30 as we sat down and went through the glue sticks, pens, scissors and other exciting products every primary school kid needs.  I was not impressed to be doing this again for another year but relieved to know it would be my last.

After work I headed back to DTM’s and at some stage probably ate dinner…I legitimately don’t remember but I think it would’ve happened.  I know for sure I didn’t get taken out for my continuously postponed finishing uni dinner.  I’m sceptical about that ever happening.  Instead, we spent our night at Bunnings looking at fans, gym mats, screws and hammocks.  I think we started watching Seeking a Friend for the End of the World but since it stopped 19 minutes in I can’t really recall.  We then watched The Unbelievable Truth and may or may not have fallen asleep before it finished.

After the biggest exam of my life on the Wednesday before, this Thursday was fairly chilled out as I tried to catch up on sleep and catch up on money since studying had severely impacted my earning potential.  Not an overly exciting one to read about but nice to know I didn’t have to worry about any exams (until supp exams come out in a few weeks).