The One About Batman

Coldplay - The Scientist

Come up to meet you
Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart

Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on a silence apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start

I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart

Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh, and I rush to the start

Running in circles
Chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy
Oh, it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start

Okay...right?

Anyways, later days.

- marty..

P.S.

Marge: Homer, there's a man here who thinks he can help you.
Homer: Batman?
Marge: No, he's a scientist.
Homer: Batman's a scientist.
Marge: It's not Batman!

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Skyrockets in Flight, the 4AM Delight

Okay, so it's 3:40AM and I'm bored, right? I shouldn't be bored. In fact, I should be listening to a Psych iLecture and taking notes to catch up. Wait, if that's the case then I should be bored. My bad, I shouldn't be procrastinating. Yes, that was it.

Anyways, there went the second semester, just like that. I swear, those fourteen weeks just went by faster than The Flash on crack. I'm not sure if crack actually makes you go faster, but lame metaphors aside, I could've sworn that it just started yesterday, with me groaning and bitching about how I don't want to be back struggling to stay awake in some cramped lecture seat again. But lo and behold, here I am, plonked comfortably in my chair, hammering away on my laptop. Since last Wednesday (I was actually supposed to rock up on both Thursday and Friday, but I couldn't be bothered going since I only had one lecture on each day; spend an hour-and-a-half to get to the city for one 50 minute lecture? No thanks.), I've had too much time on my hands and not too much to care about.

Oh, almost forgot. I have exams. Must've slipped my mind. I've got Psych up first on the 14th, and so far I'm completely and utterly unprepared. Hooray! I've been free (pretty much) since Thursday, and I've done not a lick of work. That can happen when your brother buys an Xbox 360 and doesn't really want to play it yet because he doesn't like the game you bought. As such, it's all yours, for the time being.

Final score: NBA 2K7 - 23476896; studying for exams - 0.

Anywho, so I was in quite a pickle today, right? I realised that I needed to get a move on with my studying. Hell, I probably needed to get about three or four moves on at the rate my exam revision was going. So what did I do to remedy the situation?

I watched Anchorman. Oh yeah.

Anchorman rocks. Me and the guys were cracking up about it over the weekend, and seeing as I hadn't watched it in an age or three, I decided to put it on. It's also the reason why I've been listening to Afternoon Delight for the last 40 minutes or so.



Brian Fantana: Don't get me wrong, I love the ladies. I mean they rev my engines, but they don't belong in the newsroom.

Champ Kind: It is anchor*man*, not anchor*lady*. And that is a scientific fact.

Brick Tamland: I don't know what we're yelling about!

Brian Fantana: You're with us, Ron, what do you think?

Ron Burgundy: [shouting] She... Sh... It's terrible! She has beautiful eyes, and her hair smells like cinnamon!

Brick Tamland: [shouts] Loud noises!



Brick Tamland: Yeah, I stabbed a man in the heart.

Ron Burgundy: I saw that. Brick killed a guy. Did you throw a trident?

Brick Tamland: Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.



Brian Fantana: They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time.
[cheesy grin]

Ron Burgundy: That doesn't make sense.

Brian Fantana: Well... Let's go see if we can make this little kitty purr.
[snarls]



Brick Tamland: [while coughing] Cough. Look over here.

Brick Tamland: [spoken] Excuse me, Veronica?

Veronica Corningstone: Yes? What is it, Brick?

Brick Tamland: I would like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party.

Veronica Corningstone: Excuse me?

Brick Tamland: [struggling] The... party. With the... with the pants. Party with pants?

Veronica Corningstone: Brick, are you saying that there's a party in your pants and that I'm invited?

Brick Tamland: That's it.



Brick Tamland: I love... carpet.
[pause]
Brick Tamland: I love... desk.

Ron Burgundy: Brick, are you just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them?

Brick Tamland: I love lamp.

Ron Burgundy: Do you really love the lamp, or are you just saying it because you saw it?

Brick Tamland: I love lamp. I love lamp.



Thursday's shaping up to be a doozy, mainly because Jackass: Number Two's coming out. Hooray for all! I've been watching the box set, as well as The Dudesons movie, as a way of whetting my appetite. Still, I need something else, so TJ and I are hoping to film some stunts on Thursday before actually watching the movie. Awesome.

Final note: I need a haircut. I've currently got a love-hate relationship going with my 'do. On my good days, when I actually wash it, I quite like it. It's long like it used to be three years ago, but looks a lot less vomit-inducing, in my opinion. But, other days it just seems oily and annoying. I think seven months is a long enough time to go without a haircut, plus the process of growing it and getting frustrated trying to make it look presentable was actually kind of fun. As such, the cycle begins again, with me having short hair and living in constant paranoia (if you've seen how thin my hair gets when I keep it short, you'd understand why).

Hmm, 4:16AM. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

P.S. Pulling the puzzles apart. Or not. You know, whatever. Just gotta roll with the punches, I guess. *shrugs*

END COMMUNICATION.

...I love lamp.

The One Dedicated to the Princess

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find that you and I collide...

-- Howie Day - Collide

Your skin and bones turn into something beautiful
And you know, for you I'd bleed myself dry
For you I'd bleed myself dry...

-- Petra Haden and Bill Frisell - Yellow

And if you'd 'a took to me like
A gull takes to the wind
Well, I'd 'a jumped from my tree
And I'd 'a danced like the king of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well...

-- The Shins - New Slang

And I do believe it's true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
And if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too

So brown eyes, I'll hold you near
'Cause you're the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Where soul meets body...

-- Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body

And I tried to choke my stare
At the perfection that others would kill for...

...finally, there is clarity: this tiny life is making sense...

-- Death Cab for Cutie - Debate Exposes Doubt

I'll be the waterwings that save if you start drowning
in an open tab, when your judgement's on the brink
I'll be your winter coat, buttoned and zipped straight to the
throat with the collar up, so you won't catch a cold

I want to take you far from the cynics in this town
And kiss you on the mouth
We'll cut our bodies from the tethers of this scene
Start a brand new colony...

-- The Postal Service - Brand New Colony

You're staring at my soul
My sanity you stole
But then I knew all along
That anything could go wrong

Though I can't see you
I can feel you
I'm so glad you opened my door
And when I get near
All my fears disappear
And I won't be alone anymore...

-- The Eraserheads - Fill Her

I wanted life to be this way
Just a little bit of love could mean so much
Oh please, don't take it all away
But with you, heaven is still close enough to touch
'Cause your love is still the only thing
That matters in this world
The only thing I can believe...

-- The Eraserheads - Hard to Believe

If you weren't real, I would make you up now...

...you're the honey and the moon that lights up my night...

-- Joseph Arthur - Honey and the Moon

I am smiling, I think of you
Where your gardens have no walls
Breathe in the air, if you care, you compare
Don't say farewell

Nothing can compare to when you roll the dice
And swear your love's for me...

-- Finlay Quaye - Dice

Come up to meet you
Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart...

...nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start...

-- Coldplay - The Scientist

Where are you? And I'm so sorry
I cannot sleep, I cannot dream tonight
I need somebody and always...

...don't waste your time on me
You're already the voice inside my head

I miss you...

-- blink-182 - I Miss You

Well you never would've found in the end
How amazing it feels just to live again
It's a feeling that you cannot miss
And it burns a hole through everyone that feels it
Well you're never gonna find it
If you're looking for it
Won't come your way...

...should've done something but I've done it enough
By the way, your hands were shaking
I'd rather waste my time with you
Should've said something but I've said it enough
By the way, my words were faded
I'd rather waste my time with you...

-- The Used - Blue and Yellow

Silent words from
My heart to you
My empty filled
Filled up with you

I slip another smile into your pocket
My heart is racing to you like a rocket...

-- Yellowcard - Rocket

Lately I've lost my tongue
Today you found my song
Unknown our love has grown
I thank God you came along

You are the one I've been waiting for, today
And here comes the sun, it's been baiting 'morn today

You looked right through me, there was no one else
Sat beside you and became myself...

-- Joshua Radin - Today

It hasn't felt like this before
It hasn't felt like home, for you
I know it's easy to say
But it's harder to feel this way
I miss you more than I should
Than I thought I could
Can't get my mind off of you...

-- Joshua Radin - The Fear You Won't Fall

Dreams are for those who sleep
Life is for us to keep
And if I chose the one I'd like to help me through
I'd like to make it with you

I really think that we can make it...

-- Bread - Make it With You

To lead a better life
I need my love to be here

Here, making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can deny that there's something there...

...I want her everywhere
And if she's beside me, I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere...

-- The Beatles - Here, There and Everywhere

And when at last I find you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
Make it easy to be near you
For the things you do endear you to me...

-- The Beatles - I Will

There's someone out there for me
I know she's waiting so patiently
Can you tell me her name?

...where is she? Where is she?
Where is this beautiful girl?
Who is she? Who is she?
Who's gonna complete my world?

-- Natalie & Justin Roman - Where Are You?

Come and sit with me
Don't be so quick to leave
I really like you girl
Let's trade thoughts and words
Explore the universe
Just don't leave me girl

I really like you girl
From the moment we met...

-- Pharrell - I Really Like You Girl


---------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Almighty Gorgeous and Amazing Princess/Queen/Dictatress,

Happy birthday! Here are the reasons why each specific song is in the playlist - the lines that remind me of you. This is the actual order the playlist's supposed to be in, by the way.

Anywho, I was debating whether or not to go through with this, but I decided to just go for it anyways, for two reasons. One, you deserve at least SOMETHING from me for your birthday; and two, well, you're awesome and I adore you.

This entry and the playlist are yours and yours alone; here's hoping you like them. Anyways, happy birthday, again. Take care and God bless!

- your faithful slave, the Golden Boy..

P.S. With Brand New Colony, I was seriously tempted to put the lyrics to the whole song in, because it's seriously awesome. I settled for those, but I recommend it as a separate download. It pretty much says everything I want to say.

END COMMUNICATION.

The One About the Shoes and the Album

Okay, so today was a pretty good day, right? Copped new shoes, a new album, and got to bum around with Karlo for the first time in a while, which was cool.

The auspiciousness started out last night, when I found out that I didn't have a Physics lab today, which meant I didn't have to do any Physics work that night. Sweet. So I chillaxed for a bit, and got some work done on my essay, which I'm slowly chipping away at. Here's hoping to me finishing it by 4AM this morning.

Anywho, concocted my walk-around-the-City plan to take advantage of my early finish. In light of my gambling victory over the father, the mother gave me permission to look around for a new pair of kicks. Awesome.

Anyways, rocked up to Physics in the morning, and fuck it's boring. I seriously can't stay awake in it. I don't know if it's just because of the early morning lectures, but remaining focused is a bitch and a half. Right afterwards was my Psych experiment, which was fun. I got to watch a clip from Bruce Almighty (the part where Bruce makes Evan stuff up over and over again...I lika...do...da cha cha.) as part of the experiment, and got $20 at the end of it as well. Seeing as labs were off, I was finished by 12:45PM, so I had a lot of extra time on my hands. Perfect for a long-winded walk around the CBD.

Inauspicious start; bus ended up skipping the stop closest to Espionage, meaning I had to walk for an extra 5-10 minutes up Oxford St. Worth it though, seeing as I found sick shit at both Espionage and Footage. Highlights:

• Jordan Dunks at Espionage
• Team Editions at 99 Degrees
• BAPE jacket at Espionage (same pattern as in pic, but as a hoodie; sigh..$600..then again, I told Ma it can just be my Christmas present )
• New shirts at Footage and Espionage
• Black and Purple SBs, but nothing in my size

After that, walked all the way down to George St. to look for shoes around World Tower. Nothing at Hype, but SP3 had the Barcelonas. Sadly, no size. I was considering the Grey and Purple Team Editions at the other store as well, but decided against it. As such, it was off to Nitrogen. Now, I didn't really have high hopes about this store, but they'd been getting better shit in recent weeks. Couldn't find a good pair of SBs, but I did find the Ice Cream Board Flips. Fonz copped the pink/red pair, which were cool, but not as hot fire as the blue colourway. I tried the 8.5s on, and loved em, and was thisclose to copping them (as in, they were boxed, ready to be paid for), when I turned around and saw these beasts. Yeah, baby. As such, I went home with a new pair of Air Jordan IVs. I would've copped the Grape AJVs instead, but no size for those either. Sigh. Ahh well.

New shoes found, it was off to JB HiFi to look for DVDs. Wildboyz seasons 1 and 2 were still close to $30 each, so I skimped on those. Just before I walked out, I turned around and looked for Lupe's album, which I'd been scouring record shops for for the last week or so. Again, low expectations. Luckily, it was actually there. Sweet. Probably the sickest album cover I've seen in a while, as well.

Anywho, after all that, I made my way home. Just as I got to my stop, I gave Karl a buzz and suggested an impromptu hangout at his house, and he obliged. Pretty cool, seeing as I hadn't been to his house in about four months or so. Afterwards, he drove me home. I uploaded Food and Liquor, re-laced my new kicks (as always) and went to sleep. It's almost 2AM now; perfect essay-writing time. I'm seriously at my best around this time of the day. I don't know why, but it works for me, so I guess I've got a date with Microsoft Word. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Distraction Induction

Okay, so it's 4:20AM, right? I just sent my messy-as-can-be debate presentation to my Life Science debate manager, in the hopes that out of the Martshit I pulled out of my rectal cavity (seeing as it's from my ass, it's not bullshit, it's Martshit ), she can form some sort of coherent argument. Sigh, Life Science. Wait, not sigh. Fuck you.

Earlier today, I also finished off my Psych research report. Weird: even though this report was about 500 words longer than the half-research report from last semester, I actually felt more comfortable with it, and working on it was less of a bitch than I expected.

In other news, seeing as it's early morning already, it's officially the last day of my Mid-Session recess. There are two things wrong with the phrase "Mid-Session Recess." One, the break came after Week 10 of a 14 Week semester. Two, the word 'recess' implies a break from doing uni work; instead, I was stuck with a Psych report, a debate presentation for Life Science, and a 2000 word History essay.

Oh, hooray! Wow, UNSW! You're making TOO MUCH sense! Tone the sense-making down a bit, please! (That sound you heard was your sarcasm detector shattering into pieces.)

Anywho, seeing as there's still one day left, I think I actually did pretty well in the working department. The Psych Report and research for the debate are taken care of; all that's left is the History essay. Two thousand words, 40%. Damnit, there's no gulp emoticon. But hey, I handled last semester's essay well enough to be thisclose to a High Distinction, right? So here's hoping I can at least pass this one. I don't need the distinction, all I'm aiming for is that 50. Anything beyond that is a blessing.

Come to think of it, this week or so has actually been pretty eventful. I got to go clubbing, for the first time in about five weeks or so, for Fonz's 22nd; I got to watch Nacho Libre and Talladega Nights on the 21st and the 26th, respectively; people got to hang out at my house last Monday, which was awesome 'cause we had everything to ourselves for most of the day; I got a new ball for the backyard, meaning I can actually play backyard basketball again; I got to see the rest of the family for a random gathering at Tita Rose's last Friday night, so I'm pretty happy about that ; and finally, I got a fair bit of driving done throughout the week. Me being me, I balanced all this out with copious amounts of procrastination and voluntary distraction.

Speaking of distraction, the title's thanks to my Psych report, which showed that inducing rumination in people leads to higher levels of depression and anxiety, whilst distraction has the opposite effect. (Psych nerd in the hizzouse! OH, pass express!) In saying this, the shoes above are my distraction induction; I feel better focusing on them rather than on my work. (Thanks, Hypebeast and Niketalk!) Fingers crossed, I'm looking to cop the two Dunks soon. The Bapesta's a longshot, though.

Come to think of it, the only thing missing from this week may have been a spending spree. This might be in order sometime soon. I need new jeans seeing as I tend to make holes and tears in my current pairs (thank you, drunken stupor and uneven surfaces), Fonz is going to New York soon (and seeing as my brother tends to spoil me, I'm looking forward to my ride on the pasalubong express ) and, because I won a bet with my dad, he now owes me shoes. As all great gambling victories go, I won without having a lick of knowledge about what we were betting on: the NRL grand final. Thanks, Brisbane! The moral of the story is that shoes are good. Well, it's not actually a moral. Shoes are just good.

It's almost 5:20AM (fuck, that took me close to an hour?!), so I best be getting some shuteye. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

P.S. A crown? Fit for a princess/queen/dictatress. Wherever she might be.

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Adventure

Angels and Airwaves - The Adventure

I wanna have the same last dream again
The one where I wake up and I'm alive
Just as the four walls close me within
My eyes are opened up with pure sunlight
I'm the first to know, my dearest friends
Even if your hope has burned with time
Anything that's dead shall be re-grown
And your vicious pain, your warning sign
You will be fine

Hey oh, here I am
And here we go
Life’s waiting to begin

Any type of love, it will be shown
Like every single tree, reach for the sky
If you're gonna fall, I'll let you know
That I will pick you up, like you for I
I felt this thing I can't replace
When everyone was working for this goal
Where all the children left without a trace
Only to come back as pure as gold
To recite this all

Hey oh, here I am
And here we go
Life’s waiting to begin
Tonight
Hey oh, here I am
And here we go
Life’s waiting to begin
Tonight
Hey oh, here I am
And here we go
Life’s waiting to begin

I cannot live
I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me
I cannot live
I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me
I cannot live
I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me
I cannot live
I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me
I cannot live
I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me
I cannot live
I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me

Hey oh, here I am (do this with me)
Here we go
Life's waiting to begin (do this with me)
Hey oh, here I am (do this with me)
Here we go
Life's waiting to begin
Life's waiting to begin

Okay, so this song's my new obsession for now, right? I've listened to it probably a billion times over the last couple of days. It's stuck in my head, and with good reason: it's fucking awesome.

Anywho, History beckons, so I best be gone. Hooray! Two more weeks until mid-session break! Wait, two more days until History presentation, and six more until Physics mid-session exam. Gulp. Ahh well, time to build up that trademark crunch time swagger. All I need is my can of Coke, and my notes, and I should be fizzine. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One Late at Night/Very Early in the Morning

Sum*41 - Pieces

I tried to be perfect but nothing was worth it
I don't believe it makes me real
I thought it'd be easy but no one believes me
I meant all the things I said

If you believe it's in my soul
I'd say all the words that I know
just to see if it would show
that I'm trying to let you know
that I'm better off on my own

This place is so empty
my thoughts are so tempting
I don't know how it got so bad
sometimes it's so crazy that nothing can save me
but it's the only thing I have

If you believe it's in my soul
I'd say all the words that I know
just to see if it would show
that I'm trying to let you know
that I'm better off on my own

I tried to be perfect but nothing was worth it
nothing could ever be so wrong
it's hard to believe me
it never gets easy
I guess I knew it all along

If you believe it's in my soul
I'd say all the words that I know
just to see if it would show
that I'm trying to let you know
that I'm better off on my own

Okay, so I haven't been here in a while, right? Just figured I'd actually pay some attention to this site so it doesn't go to waste.

Anywho, the colour change: in all honesty, had a little bit to do with my current obsession with Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. I bought Interview With the Vampire early last month and finished it after the first week of semester. It hooked me in so badly that I needed to get at least the next book in the series. As it turned out, I found both The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned; I finished reading both books last Tuesday. The books are crazy, in a spectacular, spine-tingling, hypnotic and mesmerising kind of way. If I can actually be bothered, I'll start looking for the next seven books. Gulp.

I hunted down the DVDs after reading the novels. I loved every minute of Interview With the Vampire; I was especially blownaparte (hooray for made up words, or in my case, words stolen from popular TV shows) by Kirsten Dunst's performance as Claudia, the cherubic child vampire who stole my heart in both the novel and the movie, and whose death was the only event to ever affect me to the point of making me contemplate whether or not the rest of the novel was worth trudging through. I could barely watch her death on film. Sigh. Terrific performances all around though.

I was definitely less than impressed with the movie adaptation of The Queen of the Damned. I loved the movie the first time I watched it back in December, but I realised it was only because I hadn't read the novel yet. The story was butchered so badly in the movie that at times I felt like the producers had a grudge against Anne Rice and wanted to damage the series' credibility. Not that it was a particularly bad movie, it just strayed WAY too far from the script in my opinion, so far that it tarnished the viewing experience. Now I understand why Juls and Ian hated X3 so much: you stray too far from canon, the cannon's gonna end up firing on you. Stick to the script, kids!

Also, felt like posting my unofficial Vampire Chronicles Soundtrack. The songs I put there just added something extra to the novels, and for me, personally, made the novels utterly unputdownable (I like that word, so here's hoping it actually exists).

Finally, added the photogs from the DCfC concert last month. I don't feel like posting much else; unless something important comes up sometime soon, I'm betting I won't be back here for another month or so. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

P.S. The song: was watching the clip on the way to Uni today, and it's been stuck in my head. Plus, it's almost 3:30AM, and I haven't done any work, so I need a way to procrastinate. As such, voila. Remember, kids: being perfect isn't worth it, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try anyway.

END COMMUNICATION.

The One After Death Cab

Okay, so I've let myself properly digest the awesomeness of last night, right? I've come to the conclusion that after that concert, I'm officially allowed to die now. Okay, maybe that's taking it a step too far, but in all honesty, last night was fucking awesome on so many levels. It's not everyday that you get to see your favourite band play live, proving song after song just exactly why they pwn your iTunes.

The tracklist:

1. Passenger Seat: Unexpected opener, but my guess is 'cause Ben was the only one doing any work on this song, it gave everyone else an extra couple of minutes to set everything up.
2. Different Names for the Same Thing: First of many Plans entries, which seemed to be the ones everyone else cheered for the most. Crowd went nuts when the song reached its presto-change-tempo part, which was pretty cool.
3. The New Year: Awesome song to see live. Nick looked cool playing this, his thin hair flailing about and everything.
4. Why You'd Want to Live Here: Was kinda partial towards this song, as much as it disses LA. Hooray for The Photo Album.
5. Title and Registration: As much as I loved all the other songs from the set, this song (along with We Looked Like Giants) took the cake for me. It just doesn't get much better than having your favourite song played right in front of your face. Ridonculous, really.
6. Soul Meets Body: The most cheered song yet. Crowd loves them some Plans, don't they? Still one of the coolest songs of the night though, ESPECIALLY after the first chorus. Crowd ate that right up, and with good reason.
7. Crooked Teeth: Nice follow-up, kept the energy from Soul Meets Body flowing.
8. Photobooth: Surprise, very pleasant surprise. Liezl's favourite Death Cab song, and expectedly, she pretty much wet herself when it started.
9. For What Reason: First of three 'older' songs for the night, and since I've been listening to this album a fair bit recently, I kinda ever so slightly imploded when this came on. Happened over and over again throughout the night.
10. Company Calls: Again, 'cause of Facts' quiet domination of my recently played list, I ate this song up.
11. What Sarah Said: Change of pace, what with the set now being over halfway done. Really dug the ending.
12. Your Heart is an Empty Room: More Plans, more crowd enjoyment, less complaining from me.
13. Pictures in an Exhibition: Finished off the 'older' songs trifecta. Personally, this was another song I was kinda partial towards.
14. We Looked Like Giants: Hands down (okay, tied with Title and Registration), performance of the night. When we were lining up, I was telling Di about the DVD performance for this song. They set up a second drum set right in front of Jason, then he and Ben simultaneously played the drums for the latter part of the song. Sure enough, I saw the crew people getting the second drum set out, and I braced myself for the pending awesomeness. One of the few segments I actually took footage of, and for good reason.
15. The Sound of Settling: A song they skipped for the DVD, so one song I really loved seeing. This was supposed to be the finale for the night. They'd even thanked us and made their way off the stage. The night was apparently over, until...
16. I Will Follow You Into the Dark: "I suppose we could squeeze in a couple more songs for tonight." And squeeze they did. Atmosphere for this song was amazing; Ben by himself, on acoustic, and everyone (NOT including me..ahh crap, where's the whistling emoticon on this thing? ) singing along with him. Subject of my infamous "musical masterpiece" footage. Damnit.
17. A Movie Script Ending: Since Ben walked back onstage by himself, we figured we were in for an acoustic set to end the night. Au contraire, mon frère; everyone else followed him back onstage, and we were treated to another song missing from the DVD, one I'd been eagerly anticipating. Ian and I were discussing earlier what it'd be like if they actually played this, but by this time we'd forgotten about it. Way to bring us back into reality, guys.
18. Transatlanticism: The (real) finale for the night, which meant the encore was a whole lot more than what we'd bargained for. Moved the crowd to just where they needed to be in order to finish off the night at such a transcendent level.

Random ramblings from the night:

• Fucking brilliant show. Have I mentioned that yet?
• Not complaining, but songs I would've loved to hear: Title Track (!!!!!!!!), Your Bruise, Amputations, I Was a Kaleidoscope, We Laugh Indoors, Company Calls Epilogue, Hindsight, Brothers on a Hotel Bed. Would keep going, but I have Uni next Monday, so I can't spend too much time on this.
• Oh, and not like it would ever have happened, but Ian and I were hoping against hope that they would have Dntel as their support act, so that we could somehow get some Postal Service songs as well. We were even screaming 'PLAY DISTRICT!!' in the hopes that Ben would hear us and actually play it, but to no avail. Oh well, can't win 'em all, I guess.
• I think we ruined a number of people's enjoyment of the show with our constant random screaming (i.e. "Say 'fuck' again!" and "Follow me!"). And for once, I was greedy enough not to give a shit, 'cause I was having too good of a time to care.
• Funny shit: right after The Sound of Settling ended, Ian was laughing and mentioned how it'd be funny if after they walked off the stage, Ben walked back out with an acoustic guitar and they sang more songs. Then, Ben walked back out with an acoustic guitar and they sang more songs. Funny, yah?
• The icing on the cherry on top of the cake (which ironically, happened before the event even started) was the gift stall thingy selling the Directions DVD for $25. Sweet.

Anywhose, it's dinner time, or it should be anyways. I'm probably gonna end up watching Directions beforehand. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One After the First Semester

Okay, so I was walking out of Randwick Racecourse after my Psych exam today with Goodnight and Go blasting in my earphones, right? Then it hit me: I'm finally done with the first semester of Uni! Well, it officially ended two weeks ago, but I wanted to wait until after exams before actually celebrating.

Anywho, I'm pretty stoked about having four weeks to chillax. The coolest thing is probably how sleeping late is now voluntary rather than compulsory. Now, 4AM bedtimes happen 'cause I'm chatting or watching TV, instead of cramming or frantically trying to conclude an essay.

Anyways, my exams weren't nearly as bad as I'd imagined. Funnily enough, even though Psych's my major, it was the exam I worried the least about, and with good reason: it was a three-hour multiple choice exam that I finished in 90 minutes. Hope I didn't underestimate it though, and hopefully I end up with at least a credit average. If the deities of fate would look kindly upon me, I'd end up with a distinction average, but that might be asking a bit too much.

Anywho, the other two exams were pretty okay as well. Maths was fun; three-hour exam, right? Took two hours to finish the first section, leaving me with a generous hour to finish the last part. After finishing the first half of section two, I had twenty minutes left on the clock. Me being me, I accidentally thought I had an HOUR and twenty minutes. Brilliant. Go Mart! The biggest surprise was Micro; it was definitely easier than I had imagined. The 'essay' questions weren't really essays, but more like short answer questions, which definitely took a load off. So here's hoping I passed both those courses as well. Anywho, it's 1:47AM, and I've got a DVD-searching appointment tomorrow with the guys, so I guess I'm off to bed. Oh, and the wonders of being spoiled: the parents are buying me a 60Gb Video iPod tomorrow. Awesome. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

P.S. Added some pics from my party that Fonz took with his cam. Funny how there's always typical Filo photos during parties, i.e. the 'under-the-birthday-marquee' photo, the 'stand-next-to-the-party-food' pic, etc.

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Status Report

Name: Marty

Age: 18 (Finally.)

Currently listening to: Rammstein - Du Hast

Next 5 songs on playlist: Breaking Benjamin - Blow Me Away; In Flames - The Quiet Place; Metallica - Enter Sandman; The Dillinger Escape Plan - Unretrofied; Rammstein - Keine Lust (Realised I lost my "Heavy, Sorta" playlist CD, so I had to make an updated one.)

Current addiction(s): Hot Hot Heat (It's winter, so it's only natural that I need some heat. Seriously, I think this might be the first time that I've ever described a band as addictive, but dangnammit, they are.); the word "flossin' " (Or as the whole phrase goes, "IIIIII stay flossin' in tha candeh paynte, blowin' dank, suppin' drank, tearin' up them laynes! MIKE JONES, MIKE JONES!" Multiply needs a ROFL emoticon.); the NBA Playoffs (I know basketball's been a lifelong addiction, but this is one of those years when I can't help but check the scores whenever there's a game on, even when I'm in the middle of a lecture. Actually, ESPECIALLY when I'm in the middle of a lecture.); downloading music videos (If I ever get an iPod video, then these should come in handy.)

Currently salivating in anticipation of: Uni holidays (YAYYYY!! I've almost made it through a semester of Uni! My last exam's on June 22; next semester starts July 24. Which means, it's almost PARTY TIME! Well, after study time anyways.); Death Cab concert; The NBA Finals (the Heat are in!)

Productivity level over last two days: Minimal (Okay, minimal's generous. Let's try, "highlighted-seven-pages-for-Psych-then-procrastinated-for-24-hours." There, that should do it.)

Work that should've been done yesterday: Prepared History responses for class tests next week (No biggie though; I tallied up my marks, and I've already passed the course. Damn, if only it were my major.)

Important things for today: 3rd of the month; Mich takes her SAT (GOOD LUCK!!!)

Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One Between the Birthday and the Party

Okay, so I'm officially 18 now, right? Hmm, just took a look at the Multiply emoticons hoping to find a cool birthday emoticon, then realised that Multiply emoticons suck balls. Ooh, just did it again. Damn, it doesn't even have the "straight-face" emoticon. Sigh. Anywho...

Officially turned eighteen last Friday. So far on the "things-to-do-when-you-turn-eighteen" list, I've covered 'legally gamble' and 'buy first legal drink of alcohol...and second...and third...and fourth...' Oh, and 'first ever experience inside a strip club'. Actually, fuck that story. Sigh. Fucking hustler took our assets! Assets we could've spent at Star City! Sigh. Oh well, at least one of the girls looked like Charlize Theron. Granted, it was Charlize Theron from Monster, but hey, better than no celebrity lookalike at all, right? Right? ...No? Yeah, didn't think so either. Sigh.

Anywho, got my party brewin' for Saturday night, which is beautiful 'cause I've finished my History essay and Psych half-research report, thus I'm relatively work-easy this weekend. =D BITCHIN'!! Hopefully the party doesn't end up as a total sausagefest, and hopefully people actually start dancing so that the DJ doesn't end up as a total waste. Also, I hope I find a place to put the drunks once they've passed out, 'cause just leaving them on the floor wouldn't be too nice. Then again, it'd be cool having human carpets. Hmm, human carpets...interesting. Oh, and I have to settle for an R-rated stripper, because apparently it's now illegal for girls to watch X-rated strippers. OMFGWTF? But hey, I'm happy just to be getting a stripper in the first place, and now at least everyone can enjoy the show.

After the party (...it's the hotel lobby...sorry...couldn't help it...), it's most likely back to reality. Gulp; bad feeling I'm gonna be needing some sort of safety net to catch me when I plummet from my party high. But hey, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

P.S. Death Cab for Cutie. July 15. Me. Possess. Tickets. "" probably doesn't explain how excited I am. Come hell or high water, even if I have to walk to the venue, I am going to that concert.

END COMMUNICATION.

The One About Marty Getting Pwned by Procrastination

Okay, so my battle against my own procrastination was pretty (okay, REALLY) lopsided, right? I had my mid-session recess last week, and at the start of the break, I was optimistic about my study prospects.

"Oh, I have ten days off Uni? Sweet! Now I can finally hit the books and get some annoying assessments out of the way! Awesome!"

And the survey says..."DUMBASS!"

*ahem* OMFG, j00 gtz Pwn3dz0rZ!!!11eleven

Well, it wasn't a TOTAL obliteration; I still managed to get my Microeco study done. But as far as my Psych report and History essay go, my friend Brian (who, by the way, has gone AWOL and left me lonerated for Maths) summed it up best with, "Does reading the assessment sheet count as starting?" Well, since I'm in the same boat, I'm gonna have to say, hells yeah, it counts!

Who says that just because you've made it to University, the procrastination has to stop? If anything, I've actually gotten LAZIER over the last couple of months. I think my consistent inconsistency's kicked in again; I'm guessing it's 'cause I just have to pass/maintain a credit average this time around as compared to trying to achieve the highest marks possible in high school. Awesome. Let the good (and lazy) times roll! Because, in Uni, that's how we roll!

Hmm, I feel pretty thirsty. I could really go for some * c h e r r y m i l k s o d a * right now. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Important Things to Remember

Okay, so I've got about ten days off Uni at the moment right? Had my last day on Thursday, when I was peer pressured by IanMan into skipping my 11AM Psych lecture. Thank God for online lecture notes to catch me up on whatever I miss. Anywho, we bummed for a couple of hours, seeing as I counter-pressured him into skipping his Bio lecture as well. It was the first time we'd properly hung out at Uni since the first week, seeing as our timetables don't match at all.

Anyways, realised that I've a shitload of work to do during the break. Psych half-research report + History research essay + study for my Microeconomics mid-session exam = way too much work for a week that I'm supposed to be using for relaxation. Oh well, price to pay I guess. Just happy that the semester's halfway done, which means by the end of June, I'm gonna have about three to four weeks of freedom.

Anywho, just dropped the Mother off at the airport. Weird, I've been at the airport for three out of the last four Sundays. Not as sad this time around though; I think it's 'cause she goes to the Phils every year, so you eventually get used to it. Oh, and Iya Villania was at the airport as well. Would be a lot more star struck if I actually watched Filo TV. Ho-hum.

In other news, I've been watching a helluva lot of Viva La Bam. Twenty-four episodes to be exact. Sigh. If only I crapped out money and had so much of it that I could have my own show, and all I'd do in it would be, well, whatever the fuck I wanted, pretty much. Watching Viva La Bam's given me hope in the dream that someday, somehow, I'll end up as a member of the Jackass crew and become filthy rich through doing stupid shit. If only.

And now, before I leave, some important things to remember in life.

-- (you get me eVerytime.) why'd you haVe to be so cute? it's impossible to ignore you. must you make me laugh so much? it's bad enough we get along so well. say goodnight and go.

-- your skin and bones turn into something beautiful. and you know, for you i'd bleed myself dry.

-- i must admit, i was charmed by your adVances; your adVantage left me helplessly into you.

-- now, it's all turned sour. come sweeten my eVery afternoon.

-- you don't know what you do; eVerytime you walk into the room, i'm afraid to moVe.

-- eVe is the apple of my eye.

Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

...

Important things to remember in life:

-- (you get me eVerytime.) why'd you haVe to be so cute? it's impossible to ignore you. must you make me laugh so much? it's bad enough we get along so well. say goodnight and go.

-- your skin and bones turn into something beautiful. and you know, for you i'd bleed myself dry.

-- i must admit, i was charmed by your adVances; your adVantage left me helplessly into you.

-- now, it's all turned sour. come sweeten my eVery afternoon.

-- you don't know what you do; eVerytime you walk into the room, i'm afraid to moVe.

-- eVe is the apple of my eye.

Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One About the Best Weekend Ever

Okay, so I had the most awesome weekend ever, right? It was hectic as, but hey, it was a helluva lot of fun.

Started Saturday morning (read: woke up at noon...). It was Kate's party that night, so I had to get my History journal done as early as possible before I had to get ready. So I figured I'd get a move on as soon as I woke up, right? But, me being me, I decided to surf the net for a little bit. The little bit turned out to be close to three hours. The guys were due to meet at my house at 4:30PM, and by about 3PM, I hadn't even started. But, I eventually got going, and was somehow able to get it done, despite TJ and JB being around to distract me. Anywho, eventually everyone else made it to my house, and after a bit of planning, we made our way to Kate's. The party was pretty cool; in keeping with the new trend for parties this year, plenty of jumping castle fun was had. We did a shitload of wrestling; I took pleasure in being the Insane Bump Machine for the night. Despite all the head dropping fun, I didn't get hurt, so it was a pretty successful night in that respect. Also, some little kid kept annoying us for the whole night. He was giving everyone the shits, but since he was a kid, no one could hit him. Oh well, he disappeared sometime throughout the night. Anywho, party was awesome.

Next day was even MORE awesome. Got a good four hours of sleep after the party (stayed up until 4AM to upload pics and vids and such), then went to pick up Mich from the airport. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet. Anywho, stopped off at my house for lunch, then went to see the greatest concert in the history of man-fucking-kind: The Kanye West Touch The Sky Tour. FUCKING A!!!! It was fucking crazy; he went through all his hits and such, plus he even got into some of the lesser-known but still awesome songs that he produced for other people. Only complaint about the show is now everyone knows about the Roc-A-Fella Diamond. Sigh. Being a Jay-Z fan (okay, obsessee rather than fan) for more than four years now, the Diamond was a symbol of my being a Roc-A-Fella follower. Me and Fonz used to be the only two people who threw up diamonds, but alas, now every person at that concert is gonna be claiming loyalty to The Roc, even though they've probably never listened to a Jay-Z album. Sigh. But, that's insignificant when compared to the L337-ness that was the concert. Kanye rolled his ankle performing 'Addiction' and thus admitted feeling guilty over the fact that he wouldn't be able to run around as much as he used to. So, he compensated by playing a couple extra songs. Anywho, awesome fucking concert. But hey, you wait two years to see the next coming of your favourite rapper, you'd have thought it was awesome, too.

Sigh. One thing about the weekend though. As awesome as all that stuff was, would've been a lot more awesome if it meant I didn't miss out on talking to a certain someone. =P (Stupid ugly Multiply emoticons.) Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One About the Yellowcard Concert

Okay, so I went to my first proper concert tonight, right? Like, I've seen live music before, but that was different; not the cool, 'sitting around, having dinner while the band plays' kind of concert. No, tonight was different. Hillsong doesn't count either. So yeah, tonight was my first actual rock concert experience. It was pretty fucking awesome! Even though Yellowcard have been one of my favourite bands for a while now, I hadn't listened to them properly in quite some time. Still, you know a band rules when you can sing along to them for a good hour or so. Hmm, easy way to do this would be through my beloved bullet points:

• The night started off rather inauspiciously. Avalon Drive opened up the night; they weren't too much to my liking. Plus, about five minutes into their set, the crowd near the front actually broke the barricades. Which meant, we had to wait two and a half fucking hours for them to replace it. Sigh. The good thing was, we missed the opening bands and went straight to YC.
• The BETTER thing about the 150 minute break was seeing LP walking around amongst the crowd, most likely in attempt to appease an increasingly restless audience. The BEST thing about the wait was getting a chance to take a photo with LP. I tried my hardest to avoid groupie-ness, but it was kinda hard seeing as it was pretty fucking awesome to be that close to a pretty fucking awesome drummer.
• We were a fair bit away from the stage at the start of the concert. However, once it started, I found myself (and none of the people I went with followed me, the bastards) drifting closer and closer to the stage; to the point where I had a pretty sweet view of the band. I even got to take some pretty clear pics of them performing. Awesome.
• Moshing out, even though I'd experienced it a couple of times before, is approximately a billion times better when, a) the band is as cool as YC; and b) the band is live. It was awesome coming out of the mosh pit drenched in sweat. It was slightly less awesome knowing that most of the sweat wasn't mine. Okay, so it was pretty fucking gross, but it was worth it.
• My ears felt weird immediately afterwards. They didn't hurt, but everything sounded a bit muffled. They're fine now, thankfully.
• ADDENDUM: Sigh. Fucking little teenyboppers populating the SCENEry. Oh well, part of the deal when you're talking about an all ages gig.

To top this all off, I get to do it all over again next Sunday, seeing as Kanye West is coming to town. Fucking A. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One About the First Week of Uni

Okay, so I've been in Uni for a week now, right? So far, it's been fun, but I'm guessing it's only 'cause we haven't done much yet. We've mostly just had introduction lectures, but I know things are fixing to pick up in the coming weeks. So, sigh, moan, bitch and complain, it's back to pointless busy work for me. After the initial excitement faded, I admit that I was actually a bit bummed; I don't think I'm ready to start studying again. But, I'm hoping that once my mindset shifts a little bit to adapt to everything, I'll eventually get used to it. And so, without further ado, here's a brief recap of my first week of Uni.

Monday: Damn body clock; it woke me up at 1:30AM, and I couldn't fall back asleep for another two-and-a-half hours. Fuck. Anyways, after getting only four hours of sleep, I woke up and met up with Ian at the station. I was pretty excited to get into the thick of things early on; I had a Psych lecture first up. Also, we found out that tutorials don't start until week 2, meaning I had a two-hour break in between Psych lectures. I spent my break with Jason. He showed me the McDonald's which was right across the street. Awesome. Also, we checked out the gym; I originally intended to play ball for an hour or so, but once we found out it was $20 an hour for the court, plus an extra $5 for the ball, my attitude went from "I can't wait to play," to "Fuck that!" The first lecture was cool, but I drifted off quite a bit in the second one. To end the day, I had two hours of Maths, which isn't as bad as it sounds, seeing as it was pretty much basic revision from Year 11 and 12. Some observations:

• From what I can deduce, there are quite a few people doing Psych. My initial estimate's around the area of 5427810856 people, but I might be a bit off.
• Of these 5427810856, approximately 95% seem to be chicks.
• The Psych auditorium is BLINGIN'. Well, compared to some of the other lecture theatres anywho.
• Stupid expensive UNSW courts. Damn lucky UTS students getting to play for free on their stupid free basketball courts. Bastards.
• Maths is FUN.

Tuesday: Tuesday is the second-best day of the week (more on this later) for two basic reasons. Firstly, I don't start until 2PM, and secondly, since I only have one lecture and one tutorial, I finish at 4PM. But, since there were no tutorials in the first week, I only had to stay for the lecture. Awesome. Afterwards, I met up with the other Ian and Christian and we hung out at the City for a while. Sweet.

Wednesday: Weirdly enough, I saw Pat at the station. Since he had time to burn before Uni, he bummed with me for a litte bit as I waited for my bus. Also, we ran into Ian at the bus stop; it was the first time I'd seen him since Monday. Sigh, sucks that our timetables don't line up at all. I was looking forward to having a close friend that I could hang out with, but because of the timetable clashes, it looks as if I'm gonna have to make new friends. Or, I could do what I've been doing so far, and enjoy my alone time. Which, surprisingly enough, is actually happening. Being in such a huge Uni means I could give two shits about what other people think, and thus, being by myself doesn't bug me at all. Anyways, neither of us had classes until 3PM, but we were both there about three hours early. Only difference was he was early on purpose 'cause he had to drop off Ria to her orientation and he needed to buy some supplies and such, whereas I was there 'cause I misread my timetable and thought I had a lecture instead of a tutorial at noon. Awesome. Anyways, the Psych lecturer was pretty cool and funny, and Maths was cool as usual. Some predictions:

• With the school covering an area approximately the same size as say, China, I predict that I will be at least 10 minutes late for anytime I have two consecutive classes.
• Also, with the amount of walking I have to do, I also predict that I will have the strongest calf muscles in the history of all mankind.
• For the first time, I'm not regularly using a backpack for school. Thus, I foresee a shoulder injury in the next few months.
• Finally, with Macca's being across the street, I predict to be busted for jaywalking at least once within the next four years.

Thursday: Had my first Maths tutorial, which was pretty fun. On a side note, online quizzes and independent learning and such are gonna be a bitch to get used to. Sigh. Anyways, tutorial was cool. Met this dude named Brian; he did Extension Maths for the HSC like me, but also like me, he picked General Maths after seeing the topics for the more advanced classes. Anyway, I was late for History again, thanks to having a Maths tutorial right before. Luckily, these two girls in the back were nice enough to show me an empty seat next to them. History's actually pretty cool; I have a FUNNY Filo lecturer. Sweet. Also, had my first Microeconomics lecture, which, just like Maths, was awesome 'cause it basically consisted of revision. Oh, and my Micro lecture room is pretty much a movie theatre. Awesome.

Friday: Okay, Tuesday's the second-best day of the week because I don't have any classes whatsoever on Fridays. SWEET. I spent Friday answering some online quizzes and stuff, then just had a dentist appointment. The Uni work bug hit me on Friday; I remember being pretty bummed that day. Plus, I listened to Death Cab's 'Your Bruise' one too many times. Seeing as this was my Airplane music on the way home form the Phils, I distinctly remember being homesick. Sigh. Eventually got over it though, and for some weird reason, I was back to a much happier mood.

Hmm, I think I best get some study done for my Maths quiz tomorrow. Plus, I need to check whether I've got some more online stuff to do. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Unburdening

Okay, so I watched a couple of episodes of Scrubs today, right? Well, maybe a little bit more than a couple. Like say, twenty-four? Hmm, sounds about right. Sigh, after bagging the entire 4-disc first season set for only $16, I now pride myself in being an awesome bargain hunter (although this was the first time I ever found a bargain deal by myself; I'm not really that good with monetary decisions ).

Anywho! Today was the very definition of how a good portion of the holidays should be spent: waking up at half past noon (and not on my own either; Ian and Pat had to drop by before I could be woken out of my slumber), then spending the day watching Scrubs, with a little bit of a break to watch wrestling thrown in for good measure. Then again, I said 'good portion' for a reason; today, I came to the conclusion that the best bumming-to-going out ratio for any given holiday week is 3:4. Ideal holiday week, starting with Monday (really, who follows the whole 'week starts with Sunday' convention?): bum on Monday and Tuesday, go shopping/malling/movies on Wednesday, go beach/movies/shopping at the City on Thursday, bum on Friday, spend half of Saturday bumming then go to Church at night, then spend Sunday either out with the family or out with peoples. Fun, yah?

In other news, quite a bit's happened since my last entry. The day after Australia Day was Celina's birthday party, which was interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, everyone LOVED the jumping castle. Okay, so the idea of a jumping castle at an 18th birthday party sounds kinda lame, but when you think about it, it's actually pretty smart. It gives people a place to hang out, and it's PERFECT for keeping guys occupied for the whole duration of the party. Brilliant for girls 'cause it gives them time to hang out with their chick friends; brilliant for guys 'cause guys can really do a lot of stupid crap on a jumping castle. Like, doing wrestling moves on each other. And trying to master back/front flips. And generally causing havoc amongst the party-goers. Sigh, 'twas quite awesome. Wish my backyard was big enough to fit a jumping castle. Oh yeah, I managed to leave Celina's with my sobriety intact. This is in contrast to the way I left Grace's party the weekend before; this time I wasn't being mocked by paramedics for being an idiot.

Also, finally had a successful beach outing. We had another "we-didn't-go-to-the-beach-'cause-it-looked-like-it-was-gonna-rain-only-for-that-day-to-be-PERFECT" moment last week, but we made up for it by immediately re-scheduling for the the next day. Whew. The beach was fun, although I didn't get to swim as much as I wanted to. Oh, and there was a constant feeling of paranoia, thanks to the abundance of bluebottle jellyfish. After the beach, we decided to stay in the City and bum for a while, despite us being oh so tired from the beaching fun. It was worth it though, seeing as none of us who stayed behind really felt like going home yet; we had to leave the beach 'cause some people had curfews and such. So we bummed for a little while longer. Oh, and I got a new pair of Dunks. DEFINITELY worth it.

Oh, and I finally got an incredibly annoying burden off my back: I finally sorted out my University timetable! Hurrah! (Wow, it's like a smiley fell off the ugly tree and landed in fertile soil, where further ugly smiley-bearing trees sprouted. These ugly smileys then combined into one giant FUGLY smiley, not unlike the one that preceeded this sentence.) But anyways, the timetable thing was pretty huge for me; I was under the impression that I was done with everything. This was despite only being enrolled for 15 out of the 48 necessary Units of Credit. Awesome. GO MART! Summarily corrected by a couple of my mates at the beach, and after utterly SUCKING at trying to properly do the timetable, I dragged Ian with me (seeing as he was as lost as I was) all the way to the University itself. The weird thing about this was that, a couple of days after the beach, I was freaking out over this timetable situation. Then, for some reason, I woke up with something deep in the back of my head telling me that the solution I was looking for was somewhere on the site; there was something I'd failed to notice, and that something was the key to sorting it all out. I couldn't explain it, so I chose to ignore it. Funnily enough, my little weird premonition experience was pretty much right; the people at the University showed us how to do it in a few simple steps. There was one link that neither Ian or I had thought of clicking; it was the one link we needed to click on. Brilliant. One more time: GO MART!

Seriously though, getting that burden off my back got me gave me such exhiliration that it actually got me excited about going to Uni. There was this weird/awesome moment, standing in the Uni Library, waiting while a student was unburdening Ian by teaching him how to fix his timetable after someone had done the same thing for me a couple of mintues earlier, when I realised that all it took for me to be enthused about Uni was to get my timetable sorted out. I took in my surroundings, and remembered thinking, "Shit, I can't wait for Uni to start." At this moment, I still can't. Orientation week (Feb. 20th - 24th) looks like it's gonna be OFF THE CHAINS, what with the live concerts and free food and such, so I'm REALLY excited about that. Soon enough though, probably a couple of days before Uni itself starts (Feb. 27th), I expect any combination of the following factors to hit me and summarily destroy my confidence in starting Uni: not knowing anyone and having to make new friends; how INCREDIBLY hard Uni work's gonna be; everything's gonna be moving too fast for me; did I choose the right courses/oh SHIT, why the crap didn't I choose [insert easier/harder course here]; and some random fifth factor that'll probably pop up sometime between now and the 27th. However, for the moment, I'm still pretty ecstatic about everything.

Hmm, 3:27AM. Classic, typical early-in-the-morning Marty dilemma: sleep or videgames? Well, guess I'll find out once I stop typing in this arthritically long entry, right? On that note, I'm off. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

P.S. You suck. Yes, you do. =D =P (Sigh, Multiply blog emoticons blow.)

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Australia Day Celebrations

Okay, so yesterday was Australia Day, right? So all around our great nation, people everywhere, white and non-white alike were out and about. Some were out to show off their national pride, others were out because they just felt like going out. Us? The latter.

So anyway, this was pretty much a last-second plan; things materialised late Wednesday night. We tried to call up other people, but seeing as it was Australia Day, they all either had family obligations, prior obligations, or 'other' obligations. (*sigh*)

Anyways! It was a pretty cool day, kinda typical when I'm out with the guys; heaps fun, but kinda tiring. We went to watch Underworld: Evolution, which spun my head out. The movie was serviceable, but a tad confusing. Then again, I haven't seen the first one yet, so I have a feeling it's because of that as well. The action scenes were pretty cool; they made the first three quarters of the movie pretty entertaining. Then, the last quarter of the movie delved deeper into the storyline. The slower pace helped people in wrapping their head around the details, but it was still a tad confusing. All in all, it was still a decent movie though. I'll watch the first Underworld to see if I can piece things together.

Anyways, after the movie, we spent AGES just walking around the city. Mostly, we were looking for Ian's Initial D toys and my Scarface figure. but we did quite a bit of clothes shopping as well. I was about to buy a new pair of Dunks, but I decided to wait it out a little bit longer. I think I'm just delaying the inevitable though; something tells me I'll eventually end up buying the same pair anyway.

Anywho, we ended up staying for the fireworks ceremony. We were told they'd start at 8:40PM, but we didn't know there was some Australia Day special video presentations beforehand. As such, we were stuck standing around for around a half hour, watching something that for the life of me, I just couldn't keep myself interested in. Eventually, the fireworks kicked in. They were pretty cool, but I reckon because there were fireworks three days a week for the Christmas season back in the old country, these fireworks didn't really seem extraordinary. They were still cool in their own right, though.

Anyways, after the fireworks was just hanging around the Pier. We cracked up about a LOT of things for the whole night, with each guy getting a turn at being the butt of the other three guys' jokes. Pretty awesome. Eventually, we made our way to JB's house. We hung out, watching Ian's Initial D DVD's for nearly two hours. Pat dropped me off at around 3AM, but surprisingly I still wasn't sleepy, so I stayed up on the net for a while.

So that was my day. Pretty awesome; was out of the house from 11AM until 3AM the next morning. Awesome. Tonight, I'm going to Cels' 18th birthday party. Let's hope this turns out better than the last time I went to a birthday party, for everyone's sake. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Quick Recap

Okay, so I haven't blogged in a while, right? I blame Multiply for stuffing up on me TWICE. Well, the first time was my fault, but hey, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Anyways, a quick recap of what I've been up to since last Thursday...

Thursday - Me and the guys watched the 50 Cent movie. It was GANGSTA! G-G-G-G-UNIT! It was hi-larious 'cause of Fiddy's gangsterism. He can't act, but man, he can be gangsta! And when Fiddy gets gangsta, it's always a crackup. Afterwards, we (crazily) drove around (side note: going 120 in an 80 zone = L337) the highway, then played some Aquagolf. After that was a late-night feed at Mickey D's, then chilling out in my driveway listening to Fiddy Cent (by this time, we were all deeply affected by his gangsta-ness). They left at around 2:30AM; I went to sleep at around 4AM. (By the way, this was why I couldn't text you that night, bub. Sorrryyyy...)

Friday - Had a two-hour driving lesson, my first since April last year. I thought I was gonna suck, but funnily enough I was still okay. Hopefully, I can get my P's soon, and seeing as my parents promised me a car when I get my P's, I'll finally be able to drive! Anywho, after driving was an impromptu basketball session at Karl's. Afterwards, they chilled at my house, and Karl's cousin fixed my wireless DSL. YAY! Oh, and Pat gave me the most gangsta nickname of all time: Thug-danganan. P-P-P-P-UNIT! Because, I be tearin' shit up! (That was for YOUR benefit, by the way, seeing as you hate my other phrase so much.)

Saturday - Hmmm. A day I'd rather forget, but for the sake of the recap, I'll breeze through it. Saturday night was Grace's 18th birthday party, right? Just a small gathering of her close friends. Now, I can usually hold my liquor, right? Unfortunately, not on this night. Long story short, I drank too much, too fast. I vomited. I passed out. Apparently when I woke up, I wasn't breathing right. Never happened before. Anyway, they called the paramedics, and they took me to the hospital. People weren't too pleased at me that night. (And if by any chance any of those people are reading this, I'm VERY sorry.) Hmm, good enough recap.

Sunday - Woke up to a killer headache, as expected. Drank a lot of water to try and get myself right. Took a while for the hangover to pass; needed a LOT of R&R. Also, had to make apologies to quite a few people (ESPECIALLY to Grace...*sigh*). Anywho, aside from resting, I visited my Tita, who just got back from the Phils; that was fun. Oh, and did some more driving, which gets me a tiny bit closer to my P's and my car! Yay!

Monday - HECTIC day. Firstly, met up with IanMan so we could attend the Advanced Science lecture at UNSW. Also, saw Richard along the way; he decided to tag along. Anyways, we missed 25 minutes of the 30 minute lecture; damn huge UNSW campus! So, THAT was a waste of time. Sucked 'cause if we didn't do that, we could've just gone ahead with the rest of the guys who went to the beach! Thus, we had to catch up to everyone; since they were ahead of us, we had to spend 30 minutes walking up and down the beach under the scorching Australian sun looking for our mates. We couldn't find them, so we just decided to go for a dip amongst ourselves. Eventually they called and we were able to meet up. After the beach, we were supposed to have a basketball game at 6:45PM. Keywords: supposed; to. End result: Ian and Pat got to the game at halftime; I missed it entirely. Awesome. Anyways, after the game was hanging out at Ian's and then my house, and then finally Karl's house. Eventually, they drove me home, I stayed online for a while (as I usually do) and then fell asleep.

Tuesday - Can be summed up in five words: eat, sleep, chat, TV, Xbox.

Hmm, I still haven't taken the time to accept the offer to UNSW. Crap. I'll do it today, when I can be bothered. Can't believe it; after I complete that online application crap, I'll officially be a Uni student! How crazy's that? And how OLD does that make me feel? *sigh* Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Mexical (Read: Emotional) Song

Staind - Right Here

I know I've been mistaken
but just give me a break and
see the changes that I've made.
I've got some imperfections
but how can you collect them all
and throw them in my face?

But you always find a way
to keep me right here waiting.
You always find the words to say
to keep me right here waiting.
And if you chose to walk away
I'd still be right here waiting.
Searching for the things to say
to keep you right here waiting.

I hope you're not intending
to be so condescending; it's as much as I can take.
And you're so independent; you just refuse to bend
so I keep bending 'til I break.

But you always find a way
to keep me right here waiting.
You always find the words to say
to keep me right here waiting.
And if you chose to walk away
I'd still be right here waiting.
Searching for the things to say
to keep you right here waiting.

I've made a commitment;
I'm willing to bleed for you.
I needed fulfillment;
I found what I need in you.

Why can't you just forgive me?
I don't want to relive all the mistakes
I've made along the way.

But I always find a way
to keep you right here waiting.
I always find the words to say
to keep you right here waiting.

But you always find a way
to keep me right here waiting.
You always find the words to say
to keep me right here waiting.
And if you chose to walk away
I'd still be right here waiting.
Searching for the things to say
to keep you right here waiting.

Okay, so this song seems pretty emotional, right? But to be honest, it has nothing to do with my mood; I'm a pretty happy person at the moment. Why? Because SOMEONE thinks I suck. (You suck too, by the way.) Okay, enough inside stuff. Anywho, the song. I recently started re-liking this song; I've had it since May last year. I loved it then, but I saw the clip while I was back in the old country, and also they used it in a recent wrestling highlight clip which just made it seem so awesome. Plus, I almost forgot that sometimes this band can be pretty damn awesome. I've had my moments with Staind, but for the most part, they still manage to churn out some good tunes.

Grr, my wireless is messed up. Some shit about the IP address. *shrugs* Oh well, I'll just ask Karl for help; lucky for my computer illiterate ass, my tech-headiest friend lives about 10 minutes away, 2 if by car. Anywho, until my wireless gets de-messed, I'm gonna have to make do with regular DSL. Sucks 'cause all my files and such are on my laptop. Grr. Grr grr grr. But anyways, enough bitching.

Yay! Gonna watch Get Rich or Die Tryin' on Thursday! Or, if I were to call it by its full name, "Get Rich or Die Tryin' MUTHAFUCKA G-G-G-G-G-G-UNIT!" Not that I'm a huge 50 Cent fan, but watching this movie's gonna be so funny. Why? Because ANYTHING G-G-G-G-G-G-UNIT is fucking hi-larious! ESPECIALLY 90 minutes or so of 50's gangsta-ness. Plus, having the rest of the fellaz around me to mock the movie? GANGSTA! Can't wizzait! G-G-G-G-G-UNIT, MUTHAFUCKA!

Hmm, gangsta-ness over, for now. Better get some sleep; it's currently 3:20AM. But then again, my PS2's still set-up in my room. In the immortal words of OK Go, "What to doooooo?" Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One Where Ass Met Floor

Okay, so I had a pretty embarassing moment today (well to be pedantic, or to a certain someone, "gumwad", it was actually yesterday, seeing as it's 2:30AM Thursday morning right now), right?

My brother had a day off work, so he decided to take me shopping. Now, an awesome thing about having an older brother is that eventually, you guys get to the point where you stop bickering with each other, and he starts looking out for you. In my brother's case, since he got his job, he's been really cool when it comes to buying me clothes and such. If not buying, then advising on which sneakers I should buy next.

Anyways! We decided to go out to Parramatta for lunch and shopping. Now when we left the house, it was really freakin', lotion-meltingly hot. But, almost as soon as we got out of the car, it bloody starts pouring. OMGWTF? Gotta love Australian weather. Oh, I love it as much as I love Shakespeare. Anyways! Freak weather aside...

Onto the embarassing moment. Fonz and I were walking to the restaurant, right? In the middle of a torrential downpour, this isn't the most practical thing in the world. As we cross the road, I spot an ominous looking puddle on the other side. Yeesh. Estimating the puddle to be too deep for me to cross normally, I decided to hop over it. Now, in the middle of a torrential downpour, this isn't the most practical thing in the world, neither. By the time I realised this, it was too little, too late. End result: ass, meet floor. Floor, meet ass. But me being me, I just laughed it off and shrugged. Hey, it's what I do. Because that's how I roll! (Yes, you. That was for YOUR benefit.)

Anywho, shopping was cool, except for PSC not having my size for both the Blue/Black & Blue/Yellow Nike Pro Dunk SB. Dangnammit! I seriously need a new pair of Dunks; I haven't bought a new pair of shoes since the HSC! *inhale, exhale* Okay, sneaker addict has officially left the building.

Seeing as it's now 2:40 in the AM, and I need to be at Blacktown by 10:30AM, I best be gone to catch some zzzz's. Hopefully I can use Friday as a pure chill-out day; I so need one. Speaking of needs, I need to start my driving lessons again! Four hours worth of driving does not a P-plater make. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Guys' Day In

Okay, so the day started out way too early, right? I went to sleep at around 5AM; I played PS2 for the first time since I'd gotten back. It was actually amazing that it took me that long to fire up the little black box and spend some quality time with my controller. Anywho! I figured this would give me enough sleeping time before the start of the pay-per-view I had ordered for 12PM that day.

Something I didn't count on was the father ringin' me at 7:45AM, telling me to wake up and look for the $70 he had apparently dropped somewhere around the house. Bloody hell! Father tells me to look for it outside; in the pouring rain, by the way. This + not enough sleep = 'I'm gonna lie and say I actually put some effort into finding your money.'

Anyways, putting that behind me, I went back to sleep. At around 9:20AM, the doorbell starts ringing, telling me to get my four-hours-of-sleep-havin' ass up out of bed to open the door for TJ. I entertained him with the PS2 (it's awesome how you give us guys a game controller and we're set), whilst I ate. Later on, Pat came along as well. We played more PS2 until the pay-per-view started.

Speaking of, it was quite the shite event. We were all pretty much just waiting for the main event. The surprise finish was awesome, though. That kinda redeemed the rest of the show.

Anywho! It was a pretty cool day. Just your average "guys' day in;" sports, videogames, gross-out comedies and fast food aplenty. All we were missing were the beer and the BBQ, but it was still a good way to spend the day, if you ask me. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

P.S. Hmm, wonder why I keep sleeping so late? Kidding, bub! I can sleep in the afternoon to make up for it anyways.

END COMMUNICATION.

The One with the Super Mega Blog Entry

Okay, so here it finally is. Feel free to skip parts of/the entire entry, seeing as it does go for over 8000 words. This was one of the things that kept me occupied over the last five weeks. And so, without further ado...

Well, I’m currently around 40000 feet in the air as I write this. I don’t know exactly where I am, but I know I’m in Philippine airspace. I’m gonna try and keep a regular blog whilst I’m overseas, so I can remember exactly what I did. I usually remember every single day and event that happens when I go on a trip, or when people from the old country visit Sydney. In recent times, though, I think I’ve lost my touch, so I’m using this blog as a means of playing it safe.

I’ll recap all the pre-flight happenings first up, then get into the nitty gritty a bit later on.

November 27-28: The One With The Planning

So the beach was originally organised for Monday, the 28th. But, after seeing the weather over the weekend, Lette had second thoughts and we contemplated a change of date to Thursday, the 1st of December. But, this would’ve meant that I’d miss out, seeing as my flight was on Wednesday. Also, my parents got back from the Phils today, and they recommended that I delay my flight for a week or so, seeing as my cousins still had school, which would leave me bored and with nothing to do. So, this would work out perfectly: I delay my flight, meaning I make it to the beach, as well as Jay’s party on Wednesday night, and I don‘t spend too much time being bored in the Phils. Awesome, right? I went to work calling the fellaz and telling them that Monday was off, and that the new plan was set for Thursday. After a phone call or fifteen, everything was all set. I felt bad for Matt though, who was gonna miss out ‘cause Clare’s graduation and formal was set for Thursday. Other than that, things were great. I went to sleep Sunday night satisfied; I got the new Smackdown! game earlier that day as well, and I played it for about 7-8 hours, no joke.

Monday morning was a different story, though. Ma told me that they couldn’t get the flight delayed; December was fully booked. If I wanted, I could just leave in January instead. Seeing as that meant missing out on my cousin’s 17th birthday, I politely refused. So, this meant that I would miss out on the beach, the one thing I looked forward to before I left. Awesome. I think this put me in a really bad mood, ‘cause I remember being extremely abrasive and agitated for the rest of the day, until me and Karl went to watch Pat’s team at KB. I think that, and the basketball we played in the rain, put me in a much better mood. I tried to watch the NBA DVD’s that the folks brought back from the old country, but I was just too tired to stay awake. With the DVD running, I fell asleep.

November 29: The One With The Spoils Of The Spoiled

For the last couple of years, I’ve resented the idea of being labelled a spoiled brat. Admittedly, I am spoiled, but by no means was I going to accept the tag of a brat. But, I think after today, I’m ready to have a huge ‘spoiled brat’ vinyl sticker with big block letters adherent to my chest (thank you for that line, Ben Gibbard =D). Anywho, this is because of the way I casually schmoozed my way to a brand-spankin’ new PSP. Sweeeeeeet. It started out with my brother refusing to let me take my slim PS2 overseas, ‘cause for some reason he enjoys the lagging on the PS2 version of NBA Live 06. So, before we left for Westpoint, I casually slipped the PSP idea in the middle of a conversation with my mum. I did my whole ‘please, please, please’ routine, which I’ve mastered in my years as the golden child, and I got the answer I was looking for: ‘We’ll see.’ In my case, seeing as I’m the younger child, that usually means, we’ll get it later today. It’s the same ‘we’ll see’ that she says when I ask for games, or a new console. Anywho, more schmoozing, this time with Dad, led to an even better response: ‘Look around for a cheap price and we’ll see.’ I found a pretty good deal at Games Wizards, so I ended up with a PSP, a bunch of accessories, and Burnout Legends. Seeing as Burnout Revenge pwns on Xbox, this mini version should be a doozy as well.

Anyways, later that night, I talked to people on the phone, then went on MSN to waste some time. I expressed my paranoid fears to a certain people, but I’ve been assured that I won’t be ending up as the next Schappelle Corby. A bunch of people said their goodbyes and wished me well, which was cool. I slunk back to my room early (11:30PM) to try and get a good night’s sleep, but I got distracted by my new gadget and decided to stay up another hour getting used to Burnout. Awesome. =D By 12:30AM, I was in a deep, deep sleep.

November 30: The One Where Marty Flies Alone

Woke up at around 5:30AM to get ready for the flight. I had been told that we were taking the train to the airport, which would’ve been a bitch. Luckily, my dad found his heart, and agreed to the long-winded drive. Arriving at the airport, I displayed my paranoia by frantically checking my bag every 20 seconds to make sure everything was still there. But with all the stuff I brought along for the flight (iPod, laptop, PSP and digicam), I don’t think I was overreacting. Also, it was to make sure I hadn’t lost my passport or boarding pass, seeing as I’d had my fill of passport issues over the last couple of weeks. With everything set, my parents and I said our tearless goodbyes at the gate. I went in pretty early to avoid the annoying lines at immigration, which was a blessing. The last couple of times I’d flown, immigration was more packed than a Chinese classroom. I boarded at around 11AM; by 11:55AM, I was on my way up.

In-flight: The One With The Stale Taste Of Recycled Air

I’ve been on a plane eight times, but this is the first time I’ve ever flown by myself. This is in accordance with my newfound sense of self-dependence. It was pretty freaky at first, but so far I’m handling it okay. I was hyperkinetic as soon as I got on the plane; all my friends know that I’m a very fidgety person, so I can’t sit still, ever. I passed the time early on by playing Burnout; time flew by pretty quickly until the in-flight meal. In-flight meals still SUCK. The chicken was pretty decent, but the pasta wasn’t something to remember. I left most of it in the little foil box thingy, and moved on to the bread and butter. After the meal, I decided to listen to my iPod. Me being me, I forgot that I usually set my iPod to turn on around 7:45AM so it can wake me up. So, when I checked my iPod, around half the battery had been used up ‘cause it had been playing for the last 4 hours or so. Great. Appropriately enough, I had an enjoyable listening experience with The Postal Service. I think that album becomes a better listen when I’m on a plane. Don’t know why, exactly. Somehow, it still managed to last a good 3-4 hours of play, so that kept me occupied for a while. I kept slipping into little three minute pockets of sleep. I think I’ve gotten used to functioning on five hours of sleep. Anyways, as the iPod was about to die on me, I switched back to the PSP. Luckily, playing around with the brightness settings extended the life of the PSP battery, so it looks like that’ll be taking up most of my flight time from now on. I played Burnout for a good 2-3 hours, before stopping to rest my eyes. And now, I’m writing this entry. The stewardess just skipped me for the second in-flight meal, which was cool seeing as I didn’t really want to deal with more in-flight food. Oh wait, she just interrupted my blogging to bring me some nice-looking ham. Now it’s a bitch to type ‘cause I have no space. So I guess I’ll end this here.

Post-flight: The One With The Lame Baggage Claim

We touched down at around 5PM, Philippine time, which is a bit later than expected. I turned on my phone to find out my Auntie had called about six times because the flight was a bit late. After more paranoid baggage checking, I, along with the rest of the passengers, made my way out of the plane in an orderly fashion. Anywho, first thing I noticed was the immediate weather change. Hot and crazy HUMID. Making my way through the airport, I kept getting calls from my Auntie. I learned later on that this was thanks to my parents, who had been texting her every five minutes to check up on me. Thanks, paranoid parents. Anyways, baggage claim = LAME! This is the only thing I hate about flying. Waiting around for your baggage requires patience, which sometimes I lack. This was one of those times; waiting around for two little bags in hot and humid weather pretty much wore out my patience. Anywho, after twenty minutes or so of waiting, I got my bags and left the airport. My Auntie picked me up, we went back to her house, ate dinner, and I watched basketball until I fell asleep.

December 2: The One With The Love/Hate List

I just woke up; it’s 8:22AM local time. I’ve been here for around a day and a half now, and already I can make a list of things to love, and things to hate about the old country. Look for this this list to grow in the future.

Hate -

• Baggage claim = lame.
• Traffic is a fucking BITCH! Talk about eating up your time.
• No ADSL connection in the house, only 56k. And damnit, I seriously can’t be bothered struggling with that again.
• Needing an adaptor for all my gadgets other than my mobile.
• The inability to charge all my gadgets at the same time, as I do back home.
• Despite being a million miles from home, the issues I tried to leave behind sometimes still really affect me.

Love -

• Michelle’s here! =D
• My other cousins are here as well! =D
• And all my other relatives, including new niece, Adelaide Sophia, born on July 27, 2005. I saw her for the first time, and she’s really, really, ridiculously cute.
• The food! Not necessarily Filo food, but the Filo-style of cooking. There’s something about it that makes the food taste ever so slightly better than it does back home.
• How I can turn to three different sports channels and still be watching basketball. AWESOME.
• The obscene amount of channels; although some are just toasted, the others are worthwhile. Crime channel, anyone?
• My cousin’s overwhelming Zoids collection. OMG! I think I pissed myself when I saw his entire table covered in Zoids. I’m currently devising a plan to somehow smuggle them into my luggage. =D
• Being able to buy PSP games here and have them work on my PSP. All hail region-free UMD discs HURRAH!
• How the malls don’t close until around 10PM or so. Allows me to test the merits of the phrase “shop ‘til you drop.”
• How blogging (i.e. like this entry) helps to keep me occupied, and altogether sane.

I think that should about do it for this entry. Tomorrow, my cousin’s invited me to some rock concert thingy happening with bands from her school and such, so it should be a fun experience. Apparently, she’s trying to set me up with one of her friends, which should be a painful experience for all. If not all, then just me. Oh well, gotta roll with the punches, right?

December 4: The One With The Fellow Friends Addict

Well, apparently yesterday wasn’t a set-up; my cousin’s friend just needed someone else to go with, which was a relief. There’s too much unwanted pressure associated with a set-up, and I was just happy to be out of the house having fun. Anywho, the girl found her cousin as soon as she got in, but I still wasn’t left third-wheeling with my cousin and her boyfriend, ’cause her other friend kept me company as the fourth wheel. Sweet. =D Anywho, we kept each other company for the night, and she was actually a lot of fun to hang out with. We spent the night cynically mocking every band that came up on stage, which made the five hours go faster than usual. Anywho, turns out she’s also a Friends addict, so we spent the last hour or so quoting various lines and phrases. Freaky: she also has all ten seasons on DVD (except hers are pirated), and we have the same favourite character (Chandler Bing) and episode (“The One With the Embryos”). We also had a debate on the benefits of sharing, with both of us agreeing ‘it’s good to share,’ even though neither of us shared what we had with the other. I still have to bug my cousin for embarrassing stuff about her. Also, she discovered just how bad I can get when I mock/annoy people, especially after they stuff up a couple of times. Awesome.

Later today, I’m supposed to go meet up with the kiddies and watch a movie, although I have a sinking feeling they’ll want to watch Harry-freakin’-Potter for the umpteenth time. God, please give them the courage to watch a scary movie, so I can be entertained as well? Think they’re gonna be here soon, so this is goodbye for now.

P.S. Happy 36th birthday, Shawn Carter!

December 5: The One With All The Realisations

Today was the day that it officially hit me: I’m finished High School! I know, I know, welcome to four weeks ago, but those close to me are already fully aware of my sloth-like reflexes, and so should be used to it. I think it was earlier today when I was watching TV at around 3:30PM local time when I realised that it was 6:30PM back home. Then I started trying to remember what I would’ve been doing around this time if I still had school to worry about. Plus, as I type this, my cousin’s in the middle of her Filipino homework. Watching and listening to her trying to memorise phrases and absorb information, it just suddenly struck me how lucky I am that I don’t have to deal with anything like that for the next couple of months. I don’t think I was able to appreciate this luxury right after the end of the HSC ‘cause I had to adapt to having responsibility over the house and Bron, but now, being a million miles away from home with virtually no responsibilities, it’s all hitting me smack dab in the face. And don’t it feel good.

On a different issue, I find it very weird to have everything being done for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful to all the housekeepers who are willing to do all the work around me, but after getting some responsibility around the house, I think I got a bit used to it. Now, I feel a tad uncomfortable that people are doing things for me again, and I don’t think I’m used to it yet. I still try and do some things for myself; I think the obsessive-compulsive control freak within me refuses to be waited on, hand and foot. Like today; I wasn’t hungry early on, so I politely refused lunch. However, even as the grumbling started, I still didn’t eat. I think it was because I wanted to eat on my own accord, not when people tell me to; I might have foolish pride issues to attend to.

New things to add to the hate/love list - I hate not having my DVD’s with me. Felt dick-ish after realising I could’ve brought them along and used them to pass the time. Even other DVD’s that I barely watched (i.e. my Death Cab “Drive Well, Sleep Carefully“ DVD), I still miss (which is the reason I have the Title and Registration screen-cap as my wallpaper right now). However, I love how being so far away from home helps the mending process, ‘cause, with my glove compartment being a million miles away, there aren’t nearly as many souvenirs from better times. And that concludes this one.

December 12: The One With A Week Crammed Into One Entry

So far, the trip’s been a lot different to how I thought it was gonna be. With my cousins still in school, I figured I’d be spending everyday bored out of my brain. However, so far it’s been anything but. Sure, there have been a couple of instances when I’ve had nothing to do. But for the most part, it’s been a whole lot of fun. So much so, that I’ve considered the possibility of extending my stay, if only for a couple of days. Might end up spending New Year’s here. This also means my surprise plan, which by now probably isn’t a surprise to a lot of people, isn’t gonna be happening. And that’s one decision I’m happy to make.

Anyways, I’ve got a lot to cover; it’s been a week. Tuesday was spent browsing the cheap ‘tiangge’ stalls of Greenhills for bargains. I actually got quite a bit of Christmas shopping done while I was there; Karl, Mike and Ian are covered as far as Christmas requests. Only stuff left are the stuff that Cels and Lette asked for, and Grace’s birthday present. Also, I got my eyes checked, and turned out my eyes were worse than I originally assumed. My auntie ordered a new pair of glasses to replace the pair I lost back home, and apparently I’m supposed to use this pair a lot more than I used my other one. *shrugs*

Wednesday was a lot of fun. =D My cousin finished school early, around noon. So, I went to lunch with her and her two friends Shana and Val (the fellow Friends addict). Shana’s boyfriend Gerrick joined us later. He was pretty cool; we had a common interest in dorky stuff, although he was a whole lot more knowledgeable than I was. He knew all the comics and graphics novels and stuff; I just freaked out over Spider-Man and Scarface. Also, spent a lot of the day going back and forth with Val in our usual witty banter. Turns out I found out quite a bit of embarrassing information about her (thank you, Mich), so I let my obnoxious quasi-alter ego take over. I guess it was fair though; she had embarrassing stuff about me as well, so it all evened out. Also, I let her win in a game of air hockey. (Yup, let her win. Didn’t lose. Not at all. Psshh. Me? Lose? Psshh.) Anyways, the three of them left soon after. Mich and I went off to our scheduled dermatologist appointment, and then made our way back home. We spent the night playing retro educational games on my laptop, and taking turns talking to good old Parasol (Jokes, Val! I told you, I‘m nice! =D) on the phone. Also, Mich got her new iPod video. After all that fun, we both fell asleep.

Thursday was Mich’s free day, seeing as it was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We showed how lazy a family we can be. The night before, we planned to be out of the house before lunch, so that we could make full use of her day off school. Us being us, and her wanting to install her new iPod right away, we took our sweet time and left the house at around 4PM. Awesome. We malled it for a while, with me looking to buy Famous shirts for myself and for TJ. Sadly, no stock. The time went by too quickly though; but I blame Mich for taking so long! Jokes, buddy; it was a family effort. Anywho, I found a SWEET Vote For Pedro shirt, and proceeded to make Pat jealous with it when I got home.

Friday and Saturday were my days with the father’s side of the family. After picking up my SWEET new Silhouette glasses, it was off to meet up with my Uncle and Auntie. Spent quite some time chatting about life in general, then slept over at their house. The father requested a crapload of photogs, so I snapped some shots of their Christmas decorations. Speaking of photogs, found the best Christmas tree ever: black with silver decorations! It was for some art exhibition at the Hotel where I met up with my Uncle, and I took the opportunity to photog it. Anywho, fell asleep listening to my iPod. My Uncle woke me up the next morning, and it was off to my Grandma’s old house. It was a solemn experience walking into her house, especially her room. Aside from some of my other Uncle’s stuff being there as well, the room was still pretty much the way it was before she passed. My Auntie showed me her diary for this year; two things about it amazed me. One, despite her age and health, she still found the time to write an entry every single night of this year. Two, as a testament to just how caring and loving a Grandmother she was, she remembered every single one of her children and grandchildren’s birthdays. After meeting some of the other relatives (including another cute new nephew, Keanan), it was time to head back to the mother’s side. I met up with Mich at Glorietta, where we did a lot more shopping. I took advantage of the CD’s being AU$10 here. Purchased: ‘Dogs Die in Hot Cars - Please Describe Yourself’ and ‘Hot Hot Heat - Elevator.’

Sunday was the laziest day, so far. After Sunday morning mass, me and Mich spent the whole day trying to work her iPod video converter thingy. Too much hassle with this iPod; every video has to be converted before it can actually work. But if you can be bothered, then it’s a pretty cool payoff. Mich kept getting stressed out ‘cause the computer was lagging HARD. I was getting pretty bored at this point, but then Val called Mich and I decided to butt in. Further witty banter ensued. Anywho, after that, I tried my luck struggling through her 40kb/s Internet, but me being me, impatience took over and I just decided to sleep. Well, after one last D&M with Mich. After that, it was sleep time.

Now it’s Monday, and I’m sitting here writing this long-ass entry. Outtie!

December 20: The One With The Decent Days And Nights

This has gone pretty unnoticed for a while, but it’s for a good reason. Over the past eight days, the idea of updating the blog has come up more than once, but then I get distracted by something else, and the idea never gets followed up. It’s actually been quite a busy week and one day. Important events worth noting:

Went to the Philippine Airlines Office last Wednesday to try and get my trip extended for the maximum duration of the ticket. I was put on the waiting list; my extension was confirmed yesterday. =D So now, my return flight’s on January 3 rather than December 30. Sweeeeeet. Filo New Year celebrations >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Aussie New Year Celebrations. Fireworks shenanigans for all!

Had the 40th day Mass for the passing of my Lola. It was a nice ceremony, but marred by the priest constantly referring to my Lola as ‘him,’ as well as sometimes getting her name wrong. I guess his English isn’t the best, so it’s not unforgivable. Still kinda off-putting, though. Anyways, after the Mass, all 14 people from the Mass went out to celebrate my Auntie’s birthday. Filo buffets = L337. =D Then, me and four of my cousins hung out around Greenbelt. The fun thing about the Phils is that they never, ever ask for ID. My cousins just told me to lie and say I was eighteen if people ever asked about my age. They wouldn’t go as far as actually requesting to see the ID. Was fun to hang out with the father’s side of the family; stories, jokes and memories aplenty.

Went to my first ever Misa de Gallo. I’m not sure of the English translation, but it’s the early, early morning Mass celebrated for the nine days before Christmas. So far, me and Mich, along with the housekeepers, have made it to the first five masses. However, seeing as we’re going on a mini-pre-Christmas holiday on some resort, we’re probably gonna end up missing the last 2 or 3 masses.

Got my HSC results last Friday. I seriously couldn’t sleep on Thursday night; I was SO FREAKIN’ NERVOUS! But, they were better than I expected. I’m pretty happy with them. They are as follows:


Subject Exam Mark Asst. Mark HSC Mark Band
Business Studies 87/100 87/100 87/100 5
Economics 84/100 90/100 87/100 5
English (Advanced) 81/100 76/100 79/100 4
Mathematics 88/100 92/100 90/100 6
Mathematics Ext. 1 41/50 43/50 42/50 E3
Physics 84/100 78/100 81/100 5
Studies of Religion II 80/100 83/100 82/100 5


All of that amounted to a UAI of 91.30! Yay! I’m rejoicing ‘cause I got over 90! I always told myself that I’d be happy with anything over 90. As such, I’m all smiles. Of course, it’s not perfect. But damnit, it’s good enough for me! =D

So far, I’ve done more CD shopping in a week than I have over the last 2 months. Six CD’s, eight days. Instead of spending AU$180, I’ve only had to spend roughly a third of that amount. Awesome.

This is in contrast to my lack of shopping for other items. Damn! My credit card gets activated and I don’t go out and abuse it right away? I think I’m growing up. =D

Actually, I take that back. When my cousin invited Val over to watch DVD’s, we spent the day knocking things over and having pillow fights. Gosh, three immature people in the one room? Aggregate age: 49 years. Aggregate maturity level: 27 years. Funny thing is, we watched not one DVD. But, we did discover the magic of muvee software. =D I didn’t even know I had this program. You can make movies using your existing videos and photogs, with accompanying music in the background. Sleepless nights are sure to ensue in the future thanks to this newfound pastime. First thing I’m lookin’ to do is make a movie with all of my Clean Rodriguez photogs, with ‘In This Diary’ as the background music. =D

Went out to a bar with my cousins. It was a fun night; just hanging out, listening to a live band. One of the bands has a lead singer who pretends to be gay (hmm…that characteristic sounds familiar). He does this REALLY well if he’s actually straight. Anyways, during the audience interaction, it’s brought to his attention that I’m foreign exchange. So, he decides to joke around with me. Actually, ‘joke’ is the wrong word to use. How about traumatise? There. Much better. Long story short, I end up on stage, having to give him a kiss on the cheek…..sorry, just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Anywho, me being me, I decided to just try a cheek-to-cheek to play it safe. Luckily, he was bluffing and was planning to kiss me on the lips, so my paranoia served me well. Traumatic, but also heaps entertaining.

Finally, went to watch King Kong with my cousin and her mates (who are awesome, by the way). Fell asleep twice in the first 90 minutes of the movie, then had a great time watching King Kong pwn dinosaur and homo sapien ass in the next 90 minutes. Lasting image: King Kong snapping the T-Rex jaw in about a jillion different places, then playing with the dead dino’s skull. He tops it all off by standing over the T-Rex’s limp body and beating his chest, all the while thinking “OMG! U jst gtt PwN3D!!!!!11shift+1”

Anyways, gotta go watch Queen of the Damned. Later!

December 21: The One With All The Shopping

I read an article today that described this year’s Christmas as being bleak, economy-wise. This is due to consumers choosing to save their money rather than fuel the annual Christmas season earnings boost. Hmm, after today, I think I’ve done my part to try and help out the struggling economy. I’m such a humanitarian! =D

Note: * - denotes Christmas gift

• The Small World Children’s Club - My First CD: 45 Educational Songs* - P160
• The Eraserheads - Cutterpillow - P280
• Sum*41 - Chuck - P450
• The Cribs - The Cribs - P400
• NBA Street Series: Ankle Breakers, Vol. 1 - P350
• Yellow/Green Havaianas - P795
• White Havaianas Sandals*- P895
• Perpetual Travel Undated Calendar*- P879
• Black Lacoste Shirt*- P3450
• Green Lacoste Shirt*- P3450
• Grey/Yellow Diesel Shirt - P2450
• Light Green Diesel Shirt - P3850
• Red Diesel Shirt - P2850
• Blue Striped Springfield Shirt - P1650
• Red/Orange Springfield Shirt - P1450
• Pink/Green Vanity Kit* - P295
• White Floral Vanity Kit* - P275
• Slam Presents: Streetball Vol. 2 (Back Issue) - P286
• Haircut at Bruno’s - P180
• Mentholated Scalp Treatment at Bruno’s - P475

Grand spending total for today - P24870 = AU$621.75

Took us about nine hours of shopping to rack up that list. That list only includes stuff I’ve bought; Mich bought some stuff herself as well. Anyways, tomorrow it’s off to Punta Fuego. We’re spending the next three days there; it’s a huge family gathering (members and associates of the Cabral Mafia arrived last night to a welcome dinner at Ninong Paul’s) at a reportedly idyllic and beautiful resort. Sweeeeet. =D

December 22-24: The One With The Awesome Resort

Punta Fuego = L337 OMGWTF s0o0o0o AwEs0mE!!!!!!!111shift+1! God, I love leetspeak. But in all seriousness, the vacation, amazing; the location, gorgeous; the relaxation, necessary. I snapped a crapload of photogs. I spent nearly an entire day swimming in all sorts of waterholes. I swam in an ocean by myself! Me! I don’t even know how to float, let alone swim (relatively) unassisted in an ocean! Fine, fine. I was wearing a lifejacket, and my cousins eased me into the ocean. But still! Being in the water without touching the bottom was such a freaky experience for me. It was definitely an experience worth remembering. Well, for me anyway. Apart from the beach (by the way, downside: sand was too coarse; I was picking shells out of my shorts for two days), I also took my time in the infinity pool. Viewing the sunset from the infinity pool = L337. Photogs from the infinity pool = L337. Also, I sent about a billion text messages back and forth over the three days. SMS worth P1 = L337. We got back from Punta Fuego at around 2PM on Saturday afternoon, and me and Mich promptly rushed to the DVD player to watch Scary Movie 2. I. Love. That. Movie.

After Punta Fuego was the traditional Noche Buena Cabral Christmas Eve Dinner. For some reason, it wasn’t as fun as I used to remember it. It wasn’t as lively this year for some reason. Not that it wasn’t fun; it just wasn’t AS fun. It was still great to hang out with the cousinhood.

Things to add to the hate/love list - I hate constantly having headaches while I‘m here. A million miles away from home, they still plague me! But, I do love how Panadol works its magic and doesn’t discriminate based on the country it’s being used in. =D Also, I love having a whole channel dedicated to Japanese Anime dubbed in Tagalog! I mean, the shows are abso-fuckin’-lutely annoying, but at the same time, they’re abso-fuckin’-lutely HI-LARIOUS. I’d hate them, but they’re just too funny to hate. They’re pretty borderline.

My mind is elsewhere tonight, and my head is hurting a fair bit. This ends now. [Written on December 31, 2005]

December 25: The One Where Marty Returns To Cavite

Christmas Day marked my return to Cavite. Celebrations were spent with the father’s side of the family. This day marked the last time I’d see some of my cousins on this trip. We planned to go out again on the 29th, this time getting everyone involved instead of just having three of us drinking at Malate, but that trip didn’t eventuate because Keanan needed a babysitter. As such, the Cavitenos weren’t allowed out. Boo. Anywho, Christmas Day itself was pretty cool. Even though the father’s side of the family isn’t as extravagant as the mother’s side, it was still pretty cool to be able to find joy in the simple things in life. Got back to the Valle around 5PM to find Ate Shiels and Kuya Glenn lounging there. We planned to go out that night as well; Ate Shiels had a family dinner with the other side of the family, so we were hoping to catch a late movie session. Alas, the only English movie out was King Kong, and I’d already seen that. It was either King Kong, or nonsensical and altogether unwatchable Filo films. Stuff that, right? After some Yahoo Messenger chatting with Her Highness the Princess/Queen/Dictatress Valerie (see? I’m nice! I addressed you by your full title), I went back to the room to have some late-night D&M with the cousins. Topic of the night: what to do about Mich’s relationship issues. After getting that sorted out, it was time for bed. [Written on January 3, 2006]

December 26: The One With Michelle’s Birthday Party

Today was Michelle’s roller-coaster day. After handling her relationship business in the morning (leaving her emotionally exhausted) it was decided that a nice day out would suffice to help her forget about things. However, a nice day out turned into an annoying back-and-forth scramble to fix up the cakes and such for her birthday party later that night, followed by half-decent shopping. I found an awesome Six Faces of Madness set at the Virra Mall. I was debating on whether or not I should buy it. If I had a place to put it for the flight home, I’d snap it up in a heartbeat. Anywho, we made our way back home at around 3PM ‘cause Mich had to get dressed for her celebrations. Ate Shiels did her hair whilst me and Kuya Glenn jostled over the shower. (Forgot to mention that since 8PM the previous night, I’d been on a voluntary hunger strike. I ate way too much for dinner, so I didn’t feel like eating for around 24 hours. I had my first meal at 8PM, December 26.) In other news, the party was excellent! Val, Shana and Pepi had planned a surprise entrance; earlier that night, they told Mich that they couldn’t make it. They snuck in, said hi to Tita Cel, then hid upstairs in Mich’s room. Anywho, I saw them walk in, and didn’t know that they were planning to surprise Mich. So, I blabbed. Whoops. I apologised as they made their way down the stairs. Anywho, hung out with Mich’s friends as well as Cabral Mafia associates (we formed our own Australian table, comprised of the Sydney-based members and associates of the Mafia). There was liquor present, and with neither of my parents around, I took my liberties. Val gave me her pressie (sweet design; yes, I do do my own stunts), whilst I stalled on hers. Shana tried to teach me how to play Poker, but I was slightly, umm, pissed.

Shana: The first thing you need to know about Poker is…

Marty: *ERROR* Does not compute. *ERROR*

Anywho, the Poker lesson went out the window, so we stuck to a less boggling game of Bullshit. Johnny was starting to wear off by this time, so I had a slightly more successful and enjoyable time playing Bullshit as compared to my attempts at Poker. In other news, there were NUMEROUS candid photogs taken that night. Unfortunately, not all of them were taken from my camera. They eventually had to leave; Mich’s half-brother dropped them off. Kuya Glenn and Ate Shiels stayed back, unexpectedly but fortunately. I thought we’d have another D&M before sleeping, but my Johnny-infested bloodstream decided to put me to sleep. [Written on January 3, 2006]

December 27: The One Where Everyone Was Late

First and foremost, I’d like to welcome to the Christian world, my first ever God-daughter, Adelaide Sophia Cabral. Today was her Christening, and for the first time, I was picked as a Godfather. Awesome. Me, Ate Shiels and Mich were all chosen as Godparents, so we were all looking forward to her celebration. Unfortunately, with our family’s constant refusal to abide by any sort of schedule, all three of us missed out on the actual Baptism. Our collective bads. We were seriously on the way and we really wanted to be there, but we irresponsibly took too long. We got all dressed up for nothing, aside for the reception at a Christian meeting hall. I was taken by surprise; they were playing songs from Hillsong at the venue. I was like, whoa! Anywho, seeing as it would officially be Mich’s 17th birthday by the stroke of midnight, December 28th, we all decided to head out to Greenbelt to celebrate. RD sent me an SMS early telling me that he was staying across the road from Greenbelt for the next couple of days, so I invited him to celebrate with us. The bastard got big! No clue if it’s fat or muscle, but either way, RD has increased in mass. The place we went to was, (how do I say this nicely), fornicated. With an iron stick. The place itself wasn’t bad; the food and drink was great. But, the music they played? And the group that sang? And the idiots who danced to the music? OMG! WTF! Needless to say, everyone was bored and uninterested, until around Midnight when we wished Mich her Happy Birthday. Me, Mich and RD amused ourselves by making fun of the singer (who RD had a ginormous crush on; he just couldn’t admit it) and of the rhythm-less white guys who thought they were cool. Oh well. RD went back home as soon as we did, and as soon as we got back to the Valle, Mich and I caught some shut-eye. [Written on January 3, 2006]

December 28: The One With The Crankiness

This day was a tad disappointing. For one thing, I woke up a bit early so that me and Mich would be ready for our planned lunch with Glenn and Shiels. I eventually got Mich out of bed, and we were prepared early. BUT, apparently, there were plans to pick up Mich’s cake. Unfortunately, these plans went down the crapper. As such, it was up to us to save the cake. Mich and I had to wait for the driver, which took ages, and then we had to run errands, which, too, took ages. Oh and for those who don’t know, if I haven’t eaten for an extended period of time, and I’m not occupied by either a gaming console or Basketball, I get my boxers tied up in several different bunches. This was one of those days. I was cranky, but I knew my cousins weren’t the problem, so I tried my best not to let it out on them. Anywho, we made it to Glorietta but we totally missed lunch, so we just had a light meal at Cibo that was kinda in between lunch and dinner (lunner?). Cibo kinda settled my crank. I got Mich her birthday pressie (a bunch of clothes from Bayo) and got myself a couple more shirts. Along the way, Mich and I saw this Armani Exchange (ARMANI EXCHANGE SERPENTS! HSSSSSSSSS!!!!!) display thingy that looked exactly like Shana. We were so amazed at the Shana Doppelganger that we had to take a picture. (We quizzed her later on if Armani Exhange was one of the places that she’d modelled at. She was as shocked about the uncanniness as we were, but she denied that it was actually her.) In other news, we made our way back home to greet the youngest of the Mafia Sistserhood, my Tita Rose. She’s one of the four people that I consider to be my mother (aside from my actual Mother), so I was heaps excited to see her. It was great! She was welcomed with (in keeping with Mafia tradition) a rather generous feast. As always, the inner circle was present. Anywho, after the pigging out, it was back to bed. [Written on January 3, 2006]

December 29: The One With The Failed Outing

Today, I awaited a message from my cousins on the father’s side to inform me of the planned outgoings for the night. Apparently, it was supposed to be a sweet get-together. I made plans for the morning and early arvo to be spent tiangge-browsing with Shiels and Mich. As tedious as that was for us, it did let us catch up on some presents that we forgot to buy earlier. Oh, and it also gave us a chance to eat at Tropical Hut. Oh, the Hut. It was a trip down memory lane for me; Mother used to work at a Mario’s restaurant, which had a Hut nearby. The Hut filled my stomach linings many a time. And today for the first time in about nine years or so, I had lunch at the Hut. Awesome. Anywho, I received a message later on that the gathering was cancelled; Keanan had no sitter. As such, I made alternative arrangements for dinner at Gerry’s Grill with Mich and Shiels. It was pretty great; awesome food (we had way too much) accompanied by awesome storytelling (again, way too much) and topped off by awesome Starbucks (coffee conversations at Starbucks = L337). [Written on January 3, 2006]

December 30: The One With All The Wrapping

For the life of me, I can’t remember exactly what happened today. I can’t form a coherent paragraph description, so I guess I’ll stick to my trusted bullet points.

• The early morning consisted of me and Mich remembering to wrap Val’s Christmas pressie. Mich made a righteous mess, but she came up with a clever and imaginative design for the wrapping. Plus, the decoy present needed to be elaborately manufactured as well. We made a hell of a team: I took care of the tape, and Mich handled everything else. All hail imbalanced work loads HURRAH!
• Speaking of the PQD, she came back from Malaysia today. As such, we planned one last hangout session before I had to leave. Figuring I’d be busy from tomorrow until the 3rd, we organised some sort of dessert at Greenhills. After sorting through Val’s driver issues, we set things up; seeing as I ‘owed’ her peach mango pie from Jollibee, we decided to eat out at the Jollibee at Greenhills. Since Shana was coming along, me and Mich had to scramble to wrap her pressie as well.
• The day was hectic; having to sort out presents and wrapping, then trying to organise the desert plans. In the middle of everything, we had to make it to the dinner Ninong Paul organised for us at Sugi.
• Me and Mich went walking around the Promenade after dinner but before dessert. Val, Shana and Gerrick got there after we did, but we didn’t complain: Gerrick needed knee surgery (ouch). And so, the presents were presented. The decoy present trick worked. =D Since we didn’t get to buy Gerrick a present, we treated him to two orders of Jolly Cheezy Fries.
• Sounds like a fun night, right? Wrong-ish. We had to get picked up way too early; driver scheduling issues. As such, we only got to hang out for about a good twenty minutes; way too short when you’ve got an emotional speech planned. I rain checked myself on the speech, we said our final (or what we thought would be final…see January 2, 2006) goodbyes, and I swallowed my disappointment at the shortened hangout session.
• Now I remember something fun about the day! Val called Mich when we got home. I would butt in every once in a while, until Mich had to get some shuteye and passed the phone on to me. It was a pretty cool way to end the night.

[Written on January 3, 2006]

December 31: The One With The Lights And Sounds

Woke up early, despite the phone taking up some of my needed sleep time from the night before. Had to wake up early anyways; there was a planned lunch at my Ninong Pito’s house in Cavite. It was awesome seeing everyone again. I spent the afternoon playing with Zoe; if it’s possible, she gets cuter and cuter everyday. Around the afternoon, we made our way back home to the Valle to prepare for the night’s big New Year’s Eve celebrations. Along the way, my Grandmother was bitten by the nostalgia bug; we took a detour to the place where all ten of her children (my mother included) grew up. Memories sufficiently resurrected, we made our way back home. After a patented 15 minute power nap, I got ready for New Year’s. Oh, had another Philippines-to-Australia shouting match with a parent, this time with the mother. This one involved them looking out for me a tad too much. Night sufficiently dampened, I went downstairs to let my frustrations loose through the loud bangs and beautiful booms of the Filo New Year’s Celebrations. Frustrations sufficiently expelled, I made my way over to the post-firework pork feast. All that food put me to sleep right away. [Written on January 3, 2006]

January 1: The One With All The Basketball

I woke up to two text messages from the mother; apologising over SMS isn’t as lame as some people might imagine. For my situation, it was actually quite appropriate. Anyways, I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast today, thanks to a 10AM awakening. Thus, it was summarily skipped. Today, I got to do something I had been craving for month; play some basketball. It was a bad situation though; no food (lunch was also skipped) + no exercise for a month + three hours or so of basketball = MA ERROR. Surprisingly though, it was as if I had been playing all this time. I didn’t dominate (like I ever do, in the first place) but I surprised myself with what I was actually able to do. Also, it was one of those times when you just feel like jelly after playing. I’ve missed the sensation of not having the energy to walk off the court. But, physically I paid the price. My head throbbed so bad afterwards; I was barely myself for dinner. Speaking of, the plan was to eat dinner at 6:30PM. Seeing as by 6PM we were still on the basketball court, those plans were thrown down the crapper. We were about 90 minutes late for dinner (this family + scheduled plans = SYNTAX ERROR). Dinner was awesome though; having my first meal at 8PM was not. After dinner, I fell asleep at Ninong Paul‘s. *shrugs* I woke up, said goodbye to the homebound-contingent of the Mafia, then went back home for some much-needed sleep. [Written on January 3, 2006]

January 2: The One With The Japanese Dinner

Well, this was my last full day in the Phils. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as melodramatic about the day as I thought I was gonna be. Seeing as I ran out of credit last night, today didn’t involve my usual 30 text messages per day. Anywho, we went to Megamall, where Tita Cel bought a 12” LeBron James figure (awesome, by the way) for my brother. Then, Mich and I made dinner plans for my last night. After buying the Six Faces of Madness set at Virra Mall, we had dinner with Val, Shana and Gerrick at Nirai. We didn’t think we’d get another chance to hang out, but Tita Cel said we could hang out one last time seeing as I was leaving the next day. It was the perfect way to spend my last night: just hanging out with my cousin and her friends, great conversation, great food and a bunch of photogs. After dinner, we were about to have Starbucks, but turns out we got picked up a tad too early again. So, after a couple more photogs and some final goodbyes, I headed off. As soon as we got home, Mich organised the CD’s containing all the stuff she wanted to scab off my laptop: music and photogs and such. Sometime in the middle of all this, Val called ‘cause she was bored; we talked while Mich handled her CD business (all the while busy with texting a certain someone as well =P). At around 3:30AM, Val and I bid each other farewell, and Mich and I proceeded to fall asleep. [Written on January 7, 2006]

January 3: The One With The Packing

I was amazed at my ability to actually organise and pack all my stuff. Usually, organisation’s not my strong point; I may be clinical when it comes to obsessive-compulsiveness, but ‘Marty’ and ‘Organisation’ just do not compute. Anywho, I had my last Phils-based meal to keep me going throughout the flight, then I went to visit Ninong Paul to say thanks for everything. After that, it was off to the airport. I don’t feel like recounting my experience here: pisses me off way too much. Plus, I’ve already covered it on Multiply anyways. [Written on January 7, 2006]

This was seriously the best trip I’ve ever been on. It was definitely an awesome experience. Hopefully, I can do it again for this Christmas. Besides, I promised Mich I’d be there for her 18th Birthday. I’m still sorta in Phase One of my Phils-recovery; it’s never easy for me to leave the Phils behind, or to be left behind for the Phils. It takes time, but it’ll happen, eventually. Just might take longer this time seeing as I don’t have High School anymore to keep me busy. Being in school usually took my mind off things, and without it, I’m left without a way to manage. Oh well, just gotta keep going, right? Plus, March will be here soon enough, bringing with it Mich and University. That’s definitely a month to look forward to. Anyways, later days!

- marty..

P.S. Dang, my beloved bullet points didn't work. Oh well. *shrugs*

END COMMUNICATION.