23!
Your eyes do not deceive you! I'm a little rusty (it took me a few minutes to find the update journal link) but entries are on the cards again. If the next two weeks go to plan, I'll be around a lot more too. Now that I've well and truly made a name for myself as the most frustratingly sporadic LJer known to LJ-kind this year, I must thank you all for keeping me on your f-lists ... in spite of my part-time posting and general inability to keep up to speed with happenings both here and on FF.
Those on FF will know that my absence has been due to completing my thesis. Which, scarily enough, is due for submission within the next fortnight. As hard as I've been working these past few months, I don't think any of it will equate the hard yards I must put in over the next fourteen days if I'm to bind and submit a complete 30,000 word document and graduate, once again, in March. So yes, you can count on it; journal spammage will almost certainly be on the cards. On October 31 I say goodbye to thesis hell and hello to holiday heaven! :D I'll be bidding farewell to uni forever, more to the point! This time last year, I dreaded the thought of finishing for good. It seemed incomprehensible and utterly terrifying. Not to say, it doesn't still freak me out. But now I can safely say that after years of all-nighters, the cramming, and mad rushes to meet assignment deadlines, I'm ready for a change of scenery. And possibly a chance to redeem the lifestyle of a warm blooded human being; one who wakes in the mornings after a respectable seven to nine hour's bed rest and only sees the light of dawn after a Saturday night. 'Cause this whole vampiric lifestyle is starting to take its toll on my health and sanity. I'm just about ready to go forth and *gulp* grow up, it would seem. :/
On that rather depressing note, I had the unfortunate pleasure of turning 23 on Friday. 21 is cool, 22 is acceptable. But you hit 23 and you know you're well into your twenties now. My parents think that's a great thing. But I'm still not convinced. Nevertheless, I did have an enjoyable round of birthday celebrations. I took a few hours away from study on Thursday and Friday night. Thursday, for a family dinner with my best mate, Nat, at TGI Friday's. After a chargrilled chicken sandwich fix and a few cocktails, I felt very much in the birthday spirit (and who wouldn't?)! I spent midnight through 7am working through as much of my third re-draft as possible. That was a tad unpleasant. I wasn't planning on not working all night and sleeping half the day away, but I found myself gathering momentum on the work front and didn't want to kill my train of thought. I'd pre-warned Mum and Dad that I may be up all night again, so they were careful not to wake me the next morning. Incidentally, Dad left for the Gold Coast on week long business trip quarter of an hour before I woke up, so I didn't get to say goodbye. It was weird not having him around on my birthday for the first time ever. His business trips are often at this time of year, so he's been away for Schmo's and his own (on the 20th), but never mine. I guess I got lucky (and spoilt) all these years! ;P
Mum helped me organise pre-dinner drinks and nibblies for Friday evening. I hadn't really had time to plan anything spectacular - just a girl's night out at a newish bar/lounge on Flinder's Street and see what developed from there. I'm not much of a drinker, but I decided to let loose, taxi in and out of the city, and sample all the cocktails I'd been meaning to for the past year. Word on the street is jam doughnut shots are the new peach schnapps, so we decided to give them a shot (pardon the pun!). They definitely lived up to their reputation. The edge of the glass is laced with sugar and a creamy layer precedes the jam doughnutty liqeuer. If drinks didn't burn a hole in our wallets, I'd only ever order these as my drink of choice, I think! I'm sucker for any alcoholic beverage that doesn't taste alcoholic. ;) As the night wore on, my friends surprised me with a wide selection of mixed beverages and by the end of the night we'd all had a fair bit to drink. More than I've ever consumed in the space of two hours, anyway! It probably explains why the idea to move on to The Elephant and Wheelbarrow seemed like a good idea at the time. The place was packed, as it always is. So we ordered a drink each and kind of floated around till we spotted a free table. No sooner had we plonked ourselves down, three guys plonk themselves down next to us. We were obviously giggly, but I felt myself thinking ugh, here we go... and looking for a quick escape route. :/ But we ended up chatting to them for a few hours. They were surprisingly entertaining...and quite a bit younger...like 21. They were happy enough to pass their IDs around the table - not cause we asked for license and registration, it was their idea, funnily enough! Equally surprising was Nat's growing interest in one of them. Though I think it was largely on account of what she'd guzzled (Nat's no more of a drinker than I am). But she was having fun (harmless fun) and Shari and I were keeping an eye on things, so we just went with the flow; talked Ben Stiller/Will Ferrel/Owen Wilson movies among other things. Nat decided that Lee, a Law student at Vic uni (we were able to verify this on his student ID card) looked a whole lot like Ken (as in Barbie and Ken), particularly on account of his hairdo. I think he may have taken that as a compliment 'cause he was most enthused in doing a whole variety of impersonations from that point on. We decided to go for a coffee before heading home. Unbeknown to us, Nat had invited the guys along! We ended up at McDonalds, seeing as it was pretty much the only place still open. Nat gave her number out for the first time ever. Muahahaha! I don't think she'll take it quite as seriously the next day, but who knows! We caught a cab home and got a few hours sleep. I felt rather queasy by 6am, but slept it off and woke up with a splitting headache. I hate to think what could happen if I drank any more than I did. I don't think I will for a while if I can help it. But on the whole, it turned out to be a rather fun and eventful night out.
The Natsta and I on our way out for TGIs with the family on Thursday night. The prettiful beaded necklace that the impossibly sweet neonpolkadots sent was perfect with this outfit and actually matches a pair of my favourite earrings. They're my new fave jewellery ensemble. :D You have fabulous taste, Grace! Thanks so much again for the lovely surprise. <333
A snapshot of my gifts; a Ralph Lauren Romance perfume pack, jewellery, PotO on DVD, chocolates and pink champagne. The pink theme was completely unintentional, really!
The gorgeous (and outrageously expensive) Tilkah earrings from Shari. The store at Chadstone is heaven! I could spend all day there (and nearly have) just ogling the jewellery. I'm very much looking forward to blowing a full-time pay packet on pretty shiny Tilkah designs in the not too distant future.
My main gift from Mum and Dad. The idea was to find something similar to the heart charm bracelet bought for my 21st. I ended up selecting this one. It's a pretty close match and just what I was looking for, albeit pricier. I don't know whether it's a good or a bad thing that my parents spoil me so severely. :P
A close up. If you squint hard enough you'll spot the teeny tiny diamond in the top right of the heart. <3
With Natsta.
With Sharius.
Bottoms up! Jam doughnut shots are jamtastic. ;P
Posing unsexily in the non-smoking area of the lounge = nerdism.
We were talking Zoolander (as you do). I'm not entirely certain whether Lee (aka. Ken) was going for Blue Steel or Magnum here, but this too = nerdism
Aaand this would be the amazing birthday banner made especially for me by my beloved spazzy second, purplesplinter:
If that isn't spesh, I don't know what is! Thanks so much again, Eves. <333
Thus concludes this picture presentation. Stay tuned for more (as promised from my Cairns and Sydney trips). I've still yet to write accounts of those, but am determined to once I return from thesis-ville. Plus I have far too many photos and fond memories that simply must be accounted for, despite having happened months ago. Think of it as historic ... I certainly do! Now that I'm making very little sense and very un-amusing jokes, I should probably hobble off to bed. Yes, I really should. Need sleep!
Oh, and since it's the 16th now, Happy Birthday to John Mayer <3 (and his royal Schmo-ness too, unfortunately)! In case I don't get to wish you guys well with your respective assignments, presentations, exams, and various other forms of school/uni assessment, I wish you the very best of luck with it now! Hang in there and before we know it, we'll all be enjoying the summer holidays. ;D Hold that thought...
ETA: The gorgeous laracroft01 surprised me with another year's paid LJ and user pics. :D You are far too generous, sweets! I hope you don't feel obliged to keep renewing my LJ perks like this. *pokes* I can't thank you enough! <333