Month: October 2005

Cheese!

At the dance social on Friday night, we were standing with partners in a huge (30 m diameter) circle, listening to the teacher Tim. I was giddy. Everything seemed fascinating. Without realising it, I was repeating the key word of each sentence that came out of the Tim’s mouth.

“Change partners, everyone!” Tim would say.

“New partners!” I’d say.

“That was fantastic! You guys are great!” said Tim.

“Great!”

“The music’s very fast. It’s a challenge for you all,” enthused Tim.

“Challenge!”

“And now we’re going to add something so we can make it more cheesy!” Tim announced.

“Cheese!” I cried. At that moment, the room had been silent. Everyone had heard my excited “Cheese!” They started laughing at me.

“Joan loves cheese,” they were all informed. “She’s from the rival uni.” (“What a freak!”)

Cheese!

Lecture debut

A friend told me that she has just made her lecture debut. She muttered a comment and when the lecturer asked her to repeat it louder, she obliged — and was surprised when everyone laughed. This is unusual behaviour for her. Despite the success of her lecture debut, she reckons she’ll go back to being quiet now.

My first ever lecture at uni was a 10 AM maths lecture. Being first years on our first day, the lecture theatre was full by 9:55 AM. Students sat quietly in their seats, staring straight ahead at the empty blackboard, avoiding eye contact at all costs.

By 10:20 AM, the lecturer still hadn’t shown up. A rumour started circulating: If a lecturer hadn’t come 15 minutes after the scheduled starting time, you could leave. But, you know, it’s scary being a first year on your first day. It was almost 10:30 AM when, after looking around uncertainly, we decided that the lecturer probably wasn’t going to come.

I got up with my bag, walked to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and carefully drew a dinosaur.


I call him Dippy (for diplodocus). I’ve been drawing him since Grade 2 (now I’ve drawn him for my 300th blog post!).

I put the chalk down, dusted off my hands and skipped out of the door.

Big weekend

The big weekend has begun.

This evening, I went to a swing dance social. I managed to get six work colleagues to come with me. One of them, Laura, is an engineer on secondment in Melbourne from our Dubai office (and she’s originally from Scotland). Another, Katsuki, is an exchange engineer from Japan.

(Aside: There is a myriad of cultures in our office. David was telling me about one of the Dutch engineers. “The Dutch,” he said, “they’re always mixing English and their own language. Have you met Franz? A really great guy. I was talking to him about getting some plans revised and he said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll do this arse up.’ He did a double take and, with a stricken look on his face, he said, ‘I’m sorry! That was in Dutch!’ Apparently, he meant ‘ASAP’!”)

Tomorrow night, I’m going to the Amnesty International Stand Up For Your Rights Comedy Gala to support a good cause, a good friend or two and to have a good laugh.

On Sunday, I will spend ten hours at a high school theatre because my dance studio is having its annual concert. I’m in six items and have at least that many sets of costumes to bring (including an afro). I have volunteered to shepherd the performers into order as each item is to be performed because I have a loud voice and I’m not afraid to use it. Besides, the disorganisation of last year nearly drove me nuts.

My cold is still lingering. The evolution of a cold seems to be:

  1. Itchy throat
  2. Sore throat
  3. Runny nose
  4. Coughing

I’m at the coughing stage. My dad is probably about to enter stage 4 and my mum has just finished stage 2.

How to keep a boyfriend — slow version

Now that you have got a boyfriend, you need to figure out how to keep him (and whether or not you should keep him).

The start of a relationship is a special time. You bound towards the door when the doorbell rings. His text messages make you sigh happily. He does crazy hedonistic things like take you to the airport.

Harry: You take someone to the airport, it’s clearly the beginning of a relationship. That’s why I have never taken anyone to the airport at the beginning of a relationship.

Sally: Why?

Harry: Because eventually things move on and you don’t take someone to the airport, and I never wanted anyone to say to me, how come you never take me to the airport anymore?

Sally: It’s amazing, you look like a normal person but actually you’re the angel of death.

— When Harry Met Sally

Well, I have some advice that is at least as useful as Mr Harry Burns’s.

Firstly, if he hasn’t made it clear already, ask, “Will you do me the honour of being my boyfriend?” That way, you have a definite date for future anniversaries.

Talk about your previous relationships. Come on, we all know we’re interested. You can either leave him hanging in curiosity or you can both act like adults and agree to spill all.

Tell each other the one thing that you need for this relationship to work. Good ones include:

  • “I want us to be a social couple. I don’t like those couples who shut themselves off from friends. At dance socials, I’ll dance with lots of people. At a party, I want us to be able to talk to other people.”

or

  • “I think it’s important for us to communicate. I’d like to know what you are thinking and when you feel unhappy — and when you are happy too. No topic should be off limits.”

Promise to honour these commitments.

Do not be performing monkeys for each other. Don’t force yourself to entertain him, be witty, be talented, pretend you’re interested in his boring hobbies. Don’t smile when you feel like crying. It will wear you out eventually. Being a performing monkey will wear you out.

Take it easy on the physical side of things. Let each step happen naturally. Be surprised and delighted as you go from hug, to hand-holding to kissing. Have twenty bases.

Don’t be scared of his parents.

Finally, don’t judge your relationship against society’s expectations of a “normal” relationship. Don’t worry if you don’t see him as often as other couples see each other. Don’t let your friends convince you to be angry that he doesn’t drive you everywhere. If he comes back from overseas/interstate/camp and doesn’t call you straight away, don’t let your family wear you down into a suspicious second-guessing mess.

The only yardstick by which you should measure your relationship is your own. If you are content, then you don’t need to listen to anyone else.

The next instalment will discuss how you can grow your relationship past the romance stage. See you then!