I’d like to write a bit more about my day yesterday.

I heard an interesting conversation on the train to the city. A Taiwanese girl and a Korean girl were talking about a South-American lecturer they have. They felt uncomfortable with how close he stood to them and when he touched them. From what I could gather, he wasn’t being rude. The girls understood it was because Latinos and Asians have a different sense of personal space. Europeans, such as the French, are similarly familiar. Asians are distinctly more stand-offish. On the train, the two girls decided that they would speak to the lecturer to let him know how they felt.

I went to the Arts Centre to see ‘Daphnis and Chloe‘ performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Romantic era music is my favourite so I had a good time. During the second movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no. 2, I was struck by a bolt of recognition. One of the themes was exactly the tune for the verses of ‘All by myself‘, sung by Celine Dion. I loved that song! It’s the song that was playing as Cher/Alicia Silverstone in Clueless dramatically realised that she was in love with Josh, her ex-step-brother!

After the concert, Leonie T and I accosted James and convinced him that he wanted to go to Joel H’s party that night. James is an extremely accommodating fellow so all it took was a deliberate nudge from us and he agreed.

To kill time, I accompanied James on some errands at his university then we took the train back to my car. Before we got into my car to drive to Damjan’s house, I was taken by the urge to visit my old high school. So we wandered over to my school and I gave James a lightning-quick tour in the dark (it was night time by then). One of the caretakers approached, gave us an odd look, then went away.

At Damo’s house, we had yummy moussaka for dinner, then we went to Joel’s house for a 22nd birthday party. I had 6.5 hours of the most random fun. We

– Separated out two packets of M&M’s into colours… Supposedly, there’s no aphrodisiac like green M&M’s

– Ate Joel’s famous home-made crab dip

– Drank a bit

– Sang karaoke

I talked so much! I wouldn’t be surprised if Leonie, James and Damo were sick of my voice by the end of the night. James and I were yak, yak, yak from 4 PM to midnight straight. We get along really well. I think it’s because I like asking questions and he likes answering them.

I wish Leonie had been able to stay for karaoke and Vera could have come. She loves bad pop music! We got Damo to sing ‘YMCA‘ and ‘Don’t Stop Moving‘ by S Club 7. James sung ‘Murder on the Dancefloor‘. I love karaoke and can carry a tune. My tonal quality is not so great, not smooth, untrained but I do well enough at karaoke that it’s no fun for others when I’m on the microphone. There’s no point singing at a party if you’re going to sing well.

At 1 AM, Damo got a call from my dad. Dad and mum were frantically worried about me. They thought something had happened to me because the last train back from the city was over an hour ago. They didn’t know that I was travelling around by car. It was all the more worse because I didn’t pick up my phone, which I had typically left somewhere because girls’ pants have no functional pockets. At the time of dad’s call, I was annoyed, guilty, frustrated that my parents were so worried about me. After they explained it to me, I understand why they were especially worried this time. I guess that’s acceptable.

Damo dropped Simon and James home. I drove home from his place then crawled into bed about 3 AM.

All in all, a good day.