Chronicling My Week

Well, all the effort we put into the barbecue paid off.

In spite of the cancellations, the downsizing of plans, the budgeting, the endless calling, the planning.. when we finally set foot on that little man-made island and unloaded our stuff, with the green waters of the lake stretching around, and the absolute stillness of the air broken by our voices and the laptop's blasting music, it all seemed to come together.

Familiar faces streaming out from the little boat that brought everyone else there, initial awkwardness melting into easy conversation. Everyone wanting to know what everyone else was doing. Splitting into smaller groups, everyone gravitating to familiar groups. Just like high school again.

The kayaking was the highlight of the day! I forget how much I love those little boats. I've always had good experiences kayaking. Pudtz and I are competitive.. I forget that much.. We fuel each other's competitive streaks. It's a good thing we were in the same kayak! It was fun racing around the lake, and totally trashing Chris and Joshua's sorry asses. LOL. The very people who challenged us to the race didn't even have the good sportsmanship to finish the race. Granted, we had a huge lead. And relative experience in kayaks.

I'm glad Azreen suggested we do it. I enjoyed myself.

The next three days, we ended up seeing each other's faces again and again. Day and night. Due to circumstances. I have never hung out so much with Azreen, Azril and Hafriz over such a short time course. We were trying to make Ezarat a birthday movie. That;s the beauty of technology for you. A digital camera and some movie editing software do wonders, all from the comfort of your own home. I crack up everytime I watch it. The irony, we put so much effort into editing the video that we forgot one vital issue: We forgot to burn it onto a CD.

That's how we ended up, 10 minutes after we were scheduled to leave, desperately burning the video unto a CD while time ticked by. And then rushing through Christmas Eve traffic while Nat wrapped the CD in the car. We ended up horribly late. Embarassingly so. Especially when we finally reached the restaurant.

It was posh. It was classy. And we were the only teenagers in a whole room of adults, obviously his family, who had to wait to start dinner because of us. I felt like sinking into the floor. Dying of embarassment. Although after the countless apologies to Ezarat, I decided it was in the past and shouldn't spoil the rest of the night.

The food kept coming and coming and coming. It was like an eight course Japanese dinner. I've never had so much Japanese food in my life at one sitting. I think the sushi birthday cake might have been overkill.

Yes. Sushi birthday cake.

20 candles on a cake made entirely out of seaweed, wasabi and raw fish. I was so ready for something sweet and savoury after that. The night was still young, but everyone else seemed ready for bed, and the crowds were out for the Christmas countdown, so we turned back.

I went back to my grandmother's house for the weekend. I finally met my new aunt. My uncle got married while I was in Melbourne, and I had yet to meet the woman who had become my aunt in the context of being part of the family. She is incredibly sweet. She's so cute! I love her! It seems like a good match. My uncle's happy and grinning, and she's wonderful. They're still in the new married couple phase, where everything is hearts and flowers and they can't stop touching each other. And it's already been six months or so. I pray that the union lasts. Especially with that psychotic stalker trying to break up the marriage.

It's not my family if drama isn't involved. Heh.