The one with lots of animals

The friendly cat with a blue eye and a green one at green cafe in Brunswick.

The place was packed. The furniture and seating were completely random and vintage and the food was awesome.

1,000 steps at Dandenong Ranges. Took us 20 minutes to go up, largely due to my lacking fitness. I is a slob.

We had lunch at Pie in the Sky in Olinda, then headed to the faux-antique shop. I want these lamps ($328 each)! Though they probably wouldn't go too well with the minimalistic theme I plan to have.

Sooky and I were headed out when we noticed this little myna caught in a nylon net. We trespassed, she ran back for scissors, I got clawed and pecked thoroughly, and we set it free. It couldn't seem to fly though; the right wing might have been dislocated/ broken. I went back today to check and caught no sight of it.

What I did today

I've been asked many times, what I spend all day doing in Melbourne. It's understandable, after all, I'm car-less, job-less, income-less and my housemates work/ study all day. And I have less than 5 friends here.

So today, I...

... walked to the Glen Iris post office to collect my parcel from the States, which is this gorgeous ring from Etsy. God bless X for giving me the nicest break up present ever. Though it'll cost me another $40 to resize it (message me if you know a decent and reasonable jeweller around!).



... walked down Toorak Rd, hoping to see the famed Toorak suburb. Sadly got tired halfway, wandered into a Mobil to get Coke and ask for directions and wound up being driven to Camberwell by a "not rich" 58 year old Russian man with a beautiful 2 year old son.

... strolled towards Kew for my appointment. Wound up there an hour early and had fish and chips under a tree.

... got my bits IPL-ed (first of 6-8 sessions). They really need to emphasise a little more on the pain factor. I only sensed danger when handed a squishy ball. It's akin to snapping an elastic band to your most sensitive areas, followed by a spark. I suppose it beats waxing for the next n years. "At least you know you're working towards something," my friendly therapist comforted me as I leaped into the air.

I suppose they dispense coffins from a very large vending machine.

... bought an evening dress and shiny green work top because I have insufficient work clothes and my second interview is due next week. I have no excuse for the evening dress. It was just too gorgeous.

Go lightly

I ♥ Breakfast At Tiffany's. Speaking of which, Sooky and I fell in love with a diamond and platinum ribbon necklace there. Suffice to say, I might have to sell off my firstborn twins to fund that.

Between 2000km

Kudos to Sooky for spotting this one. The tackily decorated Chinese restaurant (there are SO many in Melbourne) also had a number restrictive signs, including no EFTPOS facilities, no splitting of bills, minimum charge per head etc etc.

And I thought X was anal.

Mark corrupted my innocent mind with his growing vocabulary of disgusting sexual practices, which includes a Hot Carl. I refuse to elaborate but let's just say it's easily linked with this yummy snack. The chocolate version.

Lilies for Valentines. I ♥ lilies. Especially tiger lilies.

Garlic prawns and nachos (I forget the Mexican name) at Montezumas. X and I reminisced about the time I'd first flown over to meet him in 2006. He'd picked me up at BNE and brought me home for a supper of... nachos. Back then, I'd never actually had any Mexican food before and found it mildly insulting he'd make me chips and cheese after I'd flown a whole 8 hours to see him (I'd expected a banquet/ candlelit 4 courses etc). And now as we part, I'd chosen a similar dish. Voluntarily.

Work experience in Burleigh Waters. I helped the partner with some accounting work. Whilst 2 days don't offer you much time, I managed to pick up a fair bit of knowledge from her. And everyone there was just SO nice. I was sorry to go.

Melbourne ahoy

So I arrived in Melbourne yesterday. SUNNY Melbourne, which displeased me, because I actually kind of fancy dreary weather. I might change my tune in time.

I teared up waving goodbye to X at OOL, much to the alarm of several nice ladies in the loo. The flight was punctual. I got no sleep, having sat beside The Most Talkative Lady Ever. Spent the next 1.5 hours or so listening about her wonderful life, her husband of 50.5 years, her perfect family, her perfect life, her travels to Europe. Per my calculations, she would be about 100 years old, give or take, but the woman still qualified as MILF, with long fluttering lashes and a slim figure honed by 40 mile runs every Sunday. Took the SkyBus to Southern Cross Station where AL got me. Dragged half my weight in luggage+laptop to her apartment on Franklin St. Wandered about the city. Mused out loud how much cheaper food is here. Sooky came by after work; we had Chinese for dinner before heading to her new place in Glen Iris, where I'm staying now. Spent the night talking and catching up (we haven't seen each other in 3 years). I'm forgotten how fun it is doing girly things, discussing upcoming shopping trips, trying on each other's stuff. Haven't had a decent girlfriend in ages; most of my Queensland friends are male.

I miss the beaches, the boys, the comfort of knowing exactly where every most things are, my car and being held to sleep. But I think I'll survive this.

Sunshine Coast

Our last full day together, alone. X fulfilled my wish of doing a daytrip to the Sunshine Coast. We drove a full 400km that day, if not more. Having only ever experienced Maleny (cute, on the mountains but too remote for my liking) and Caloundra (felt fake), we spent most of the day at Mooloolaba.

One of the nicest things about being with X, is how we can spend so much time in silence. Companionable silence. I think that was what struck me when we did the first roadtrip to Cairns in the winter of 2006. Having always played the bridging person, feeling the need to fill up pauses with awkward, meaningless babbling... it was with X I learnt to stop talking unnecessarily.

Mooloolaba is coastal and touristy, fairly classy for a Queensland town. Perhaps due to its excellent public transport system, Gold Coast attracts an awful lot of backpackers and other transient residents. Everything is very in-your-face, neon and garish, with a large dash of MSG. Mooloolaba on the other hand, was packed with tasteful cafes, with little quirky boutiques. Much of our time was spent around the esplanade.

We also drove up the Maroochydore to escape from the heat. TD'd raved about the huge mall there, which was surprisingly adequate (the local population is about 300,000).

We had lunch at the Mooloolaba Surf Club, which was very beautifully decorated, with classic simple lines and fibreglass life-sized sculptures of surfers hanging from the ceilings. I had the beer-battered seafood set, which was excellent. I found X's pizza a little hard to chew, but he loved it. And the Iced Coffee was nothing short of amazing. And I don't even like coffee.

X and I took to the easy waves, warm but "Malaysian"-coloured water. I usually never go more than waist-deep at home, with Palm Beach's crazy currents.

Haha.

This car was speeding, with a long trail of torn plastic stuck on the wheel. Kind of like how you get toilet roll stuck on your shoe and you wonder why everyone keeps sniggering.

The drive up north is so much nicer than south. The trees look happier. These remind me of those Salem cigarette ads in the 90s.

Fragmented

How strange, this matter of timing and chance. The meeting of two beings in reciprocal circumstances. Fingers linking. Jigsaw puzzles fitting. Peg in a hole. Think about it - how often do you see the wrong people together at the right time? How many right people at the wrong time fight to remain together? And if you choose to fight, how long is it before you realise that perhaps, you are wrong for each other? If compromises are made, will you always resent your love for opportunities lost? And if it comes easy, do you appreciate it any less? With every love I leave a little part of myself behind.

Picture from PostSecret

And in turn, I gain a little bit of them. Then I am whole, but no longer the same.

That day, that evening

Whizzing down the roads with your hand on mine, resting on my lap. Sigur Ros playing in the background, strange Hopelandic falsetto. The glorious, ombre sky in shades of pale yellow rising into a bluey grey. Silences intertwined with words, words, so many words that don't convey enough. Amazing how this language, with all these colourful adjectives and verbs can't express how full my heart is, so silence will have to do. And this day whilst not our last together forever, will be the last like this. When we do meet next, we will be polite and politically correct, our replies carefully sculpted and not completely true, our enthusiasm falsely elevated.

I want to remember this moment forever.

Ships are launching from my chest

YM and I spent part of Australia Day conversing under the mini-lighthouse on the breakwater at The Spit.

X has been nagging me forever about what to get me for my birthday. When I chose the shiny lobster, he retracted his word.

Sake tastes weird. My nostrils burnt at the smell. QX, X and I observed the pattern resembles the Target symbol at my birthday gathering in Itoshin (which unexpectedly, has the most amazing desserts ever), Mermaid Beach.

EQ and I were leaving Southbank to head to the CBD by bus (it was really hot). Some aggressive young punk without a ticket exchanged four letter words with the driver and ended up smashing the bus door with his skateboard. It was pretty freaky. We were fine, though nearest to the altercation. A girl by the door sustained some scratches.

KG and I had lunch at the Palazzo Versace. This Garlic Prawn with Lemon Risotto was lovely, as was his Braised Beef Cheek (melt-in-your-mouth). I am terribly consistent with food - my favourite Asian food is fried rice and almost always have seafood risotto (not fond of paella though) when I'm out at Aussie restaurants.

X is no longer twice my age, woohoo!

I can scarcely believe I'm a quarter of a century old. Every birthday comes as such a shock. I still feel 18, only with better style, noless parental supervision and a car.

I didn't do anything particularly exciting. But it was a happy birthday anyway involving 6 hours of driving/ gelati at Lennox Heads/ suffocation by cushions, candlestands and random bric brac during the birthday song/ brunch with the Aussies I've known the longest (since 06!)/ a long, long walk along the breakwater at Yamba/ wandering along the elevated grassy plateau at Maclean (I know. They actually named a toothpaste after it. No kidding)/ random eclair trail from pillow to my birthday card and gift in the fridge (X: The only place I know you'll notice your present)/ meet ups with several sets of friends in the days leading to and after the actual day/ skidmarks on the newspaper by Chico/ dinner at Fishmongers in Byron/ being wished by an observant bouncer at The Beach Hotel/ spending the entire day with X/ messages and phone calls by loved ones.

We are so mature

X is often perceived to be a rather serious man. Even as a child, he frowned in photographs, expression grim. In addition to the fact he's 24 years older than me, his colleagues are always curious about the dynamics of our relationship.

"What do you guys talk about?"

Sometime in the wee twilight hours...

Jan: *crawls into bed, returning from the loo*

X: (to tune of Ghostbusters) Who to call? Bunny molesters!

Jan: WTF

X: I have a huge rod.

Jan: Your ass is happy.

The four right chords can make me cry, but I stopped by the seventh day

The evening was spent taking a long, long rambling walk. I normally tend to stick to the beachside - since 2006 X has been instilling a fear of walking along the highway/ main roads in me. Apparently if you're relatively young and female you get mistaken as a lady of the night. I highly doubt my baggy top, iPod and Teva sandals qualify me as hooker-worthy.

I stopped by the Elizabeth Sloper Park, found a deserted little playground and proceeded to build a momentum on the swing.

Swings remind me of myself, a decade younger, naive and giggly, watching my then-boyfriend NL (who most recently wished me Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag!!!) swing higher and higher at the park near high school, fearing he would fall off and break his pretty nose.

The tarpauline was not rainproof but I welcomed the drizzly respite from the muggy heat. There was a strange poetry to the moment, lent by the melancholic soundtrack choice of this week.

Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies

The Frames - Seven Day Mile

Annie Stela - It's You (excellent for traffic jam karaoke/ lung clearing exercises)

Nelly Furtado - All Good Things Come to an End

The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home

Blu Sanders - Hands

Novi Split - Leaving It

Radical Face - Welcome Home

Tori Amos - Sleeps with Butterflies

Rosi Golan - Come Around