:: in a daze, in a tizzy, in a bowl ::

oh. my. gawd.

surprise after surprise after surprise after surprise this weekend..!! ahahaha, most memorable birthday EVER - this most definitely even trumps the time i was 5 and secretly (without breathing a word to my mother) wished for a My Little Pony on my birthday cake, and then went completely STUPID with joy when i actually got one..

Thursday 18th September
arranged to have lunch with Kaz. skipped out of the office at 12:30 and did a little dance down the corridor out to the front, where Kaz was staring down at a plaque in the ground.

trotted over to have a look at what had her so fascinated, and next thing i know, there's someone else there - and OMG it's CHEDTER!!!!!!!!!!!

..who is MEANT to be in sydney.

where sydney persons are usually to be found, rather than in melbourne where they are welcome but, you know, rather unexpected.

ahahaha, was so astonished, all that came out for the next minute or so were squeaks and squawks. and maybe some speechless flapping movements. while he stood there looking very pleased with himself. XD

totally didn't expect him to be in melbourne - just the day before, an express package had arrived from him with lots and lots of exciting things in it - a box of chocolate fish, a NICI tiger, a blue beanie kittycat, a totally awesome blue quill pen..

i am so spoiled ^-^

and as if that weren't enough, Chedter had decided to fly down in person with another surprise - a BLACK YOSHI..! the very one i'd been wistfully thinking about when i was at the claw machine world with Kaz in sydney.

happiness abounds. i have the most awesomest friends in the entire world :D

lunch was had across the road at TGI Friday (where we took Carms last time, since Sydney appears to not have TGIFs...), and, as usual, we forgot just how much food TGI actually serves.

couldn't even finish a salad =_=

i wish i could remember what the three of us blathered on about for an hour, but i have no idea. though there was a phone call with Aaron where Ches, Kaz and i tried to persuade him to fly down to melbourne to join us the next morning ^^ but he was, i think, half asleep at the time after finishing a night shift, and really just making unintelligible whimpering noises of general wussy distress..

then we trotted back to the office so Chedter could see where i worked, and i got another surprise - Carms had gotten flowers delivered to my desk..!!! O_O ahahaha, i got a bucket of flowees...! it was pretttty darn cool. and it was unusual.. irises wrapped up in giant leaves i would normally expect to be wrapped up containing glutinous chicken rice (lor mae kae?)

i has never received a bucket of flowers before.

so, of course, had to call Carms and make spluttering squealing happy bewildered noises at her over the phone ^^

not being used to receiving flowers, i'm not entirely sure how the etiquette is supposed to go when one calls the sender afterwards.. and i'm awful at winging things so it was really just "eeeee! you sent me flowees! thank youuuuuu!" which, looking back now, must have sounded really, REALLY doofus to the rest of the office..

louise popped in to admire the flowees, and asked if i was taking the next day off for my bday. hmm.. what a good idea..

one of the great things about working for a small company is that the directors are such nice people. i am so, so bloody lucky to have always worked for people who are so good to me.

"hey tim, can i have the day off tomorrow?"
"hmm, that shouldn't be a problem, there's nothing urgent due this week. go ahead."
"yey! thanks tim, you're the best :)"
"have a good birthday!"

yep. so i stayed back till 6:30 to finish up stuff for the week, and happily trotted home ^-^

my 6th uncle & auntie were over for dinner before dad drove them to the airport - they're flying out to HK to help with preparations with their son's wedding.. my cousin getting married in november..yey. dad hustled them off to the airport sometime after 8..

..and somewhere around 8:30 Kaz & Chedter showed up, so we showed Ches the stacks of books & toys that is my room - since he didn't join Carms & Nutley for the tour last time everyone was in melbourne. nobody ever seems to really believe i could have so many books until they stand in the doorway and see that, yes, most of my room is made up of paper products.

i really do have my own library. and i sleep in it.

maybe an hour later, Kaz and Ches had explored all they needed to of my room, and off we went.

next stop: southbank by night. we took Caboose for a spin, parking across from the Arts Centre and electing to walk all the way down to Crown. along the way, Kaz pointed out particular Karen Past Event Hotspots ^^

fluffed around at Galactic Circus. Ches entertained himself playing Street Fighter and Time Crisis, Kaz exhausted herself on the DDR playing Toxic.. twice. (as a result.. Britney Spears looped mercilessly in our heads..)

we walked under the bridge on our way back to the car, Kaz frightened herself with roosting pigeons. (if you walk under the bridge between the Arts Centre & Federation Square.. take my advice and DON'T LOOK UP. it is verrrry disconcerting to see nothing but fluffy pigeon butts pointed in your direction.)

Ches mentioned that his mama expected him to see a melbourne penguin while he was here, so we went to find some penguins. philip island was a mite too far away at midnight, so we went searching the rockery off st kilda pier in the darkness (without a torch) instead.

at first, on the boardwalk, all we saw was rocks and bushes. we talked a little too loud at one point, and the resident penguins voiced their displeasure at our interrupting their sleep with a scolding chorus of penguin-babble, but they soon settled down again.

this intrigued us. now that we knew penguins were there, we squinted into every possible nook and cranny amongst the rocks..

but it was a bunch of young'uns (teenagers, uni students, who can tell these days, i'm getting too old to know anymore) who actually found a penguin. we dashed up the steps to the main path, and lo and behold..

..we saw a PENGUIN!!! it was so cute and fat and lost.

it waddled across the path to the other side.. and Karen promptly waddled after it (Ches reckoned she was trying to be a penguin, too.)

the three of us were fascinated by the penguin. it sat there, amongst the pebbles, and squinted up at us. whether it too was fascinated or whether it was just going "WTF are you three looking at, you giant punks" i'm not too sure.

the penguin found a nice little break in the rocks to scuttle into, and it wriggled in.. turned around, and sat itself there, staring at us again. Kaz took lots of flashless photos. (after trying one flash which probably blinded us as much as it did the penguin, it was smarter to use the option that allowed EVERYONE to retain their night-vision since the pier rockery is so damn pitch dark at night.)

so that was thursday night's excitement :) took Kaz & Ches back to Eltham, got myself home somewhere around 2:30, and dived into bed.

a most unexpectedly satisfying day ^-^

Friday 19th September
Kaz's Jazzabella had to go get a checkup, so Caboose and I made our way to Heidelberg to pick up the temporarily carless Kaz & Ches.

except me being the unco doofus who didn't check her road maps before leaving the house, i went in the wrong direction..

..ended up halfway to Karen's house before i realised the reason i couldn't find the road i was looking for was because i was heading the wrong bloody way in the first place =_=

fifteen minutes later, got to where i was supposed to be.

but fifteen minutes late.

..would have been early if i'd actually made sure i knew where i was going before i left home.. -_-"

went to the Jade Hong Kong Cafe for brunch in Box Hill, and to kill time while Jazzabella was being fixed up.

the same drama that Kaz watched at the Cafe de Macau when we were in Sydney came on tv while we were there. the other two were engrossed.. so i people-watched. as much as one can in a not-very busy asian cafe.

after awhile Ches people-watched too, and the three of us pondered the quite-possibly-albino asian lady in one corner booth, the androgynous asian sitting behind us (later discovered to be a woman due to her voice being strongly reminiscent of my childhood friend Josephine's mum)
and then the tv again.

wandered around Box Hill Central for awhile, checking out little gift stores and Sanity (where Kaz succumbed to a Rihanna CD) and then the Reject Shop (where i stocked up on mentos again.. 2 bags for work & 1 for Ches to take back for the syddies) before going back to pick up Jazzabella from her doctor's appointment.

after that, it was back to my place, where we bummed around for quite awhile thinking what else we could possibly do. my own dad was no help whatsoever =_= suggesting things we couldn't possibly get done in an afternoon (like driving out to wineries) or just things that were altogether useless (like going to golf.. which was not even remotely interesting to a single one of us.)

in the end, we packed it in and went to Kaz's to play WoW before we had to go to Chadstone at 6pm ^-^

Tony was online too, so we made him play with us.

Lithey quickly became experienced in the art of resurrecting dead people - Lokeung is showing late but worrying signs of turning into another Immapriiest.. in sheer determination to die quickly and frequently -_-"

it was not uncommon to suddenly notice.. "WTF why is tony dead again"..

but we managed to get through it, so all was good.

at 6pm we headed off to Chadstone, to meet Shanny & Myandii for dinner, & Andge later for the 9:30 session of Wall-E at Hoyts (which Kaz & Shan & i have been wanting to see ever since we sat through the frickin' adorable trailer for it at Kung Fu Panda...)

waiting for Shanny, we bummed around at Borders (i think Kaz is getting used to bookstores by now), before it was decided that we would take the Sydneysider to Pancake Parlour for dinner because.. well, because there is no Pancake Parlour in Sydney. O_O

we all went for savoury pancakes, but Kaz's was a most interesting chicken fillet on top of a very thick and brown-looking pancake (buckwheat..?) topped with what appeared to be a slightly-gross-looking scoop of butter which was, in fact, solid hollandaise sauce (Nutley would have approved).

Shanny & Myandii joined us, and i got another unexpected present ^_^

Ches ran off with the bill and paid for dinner (...thanks Ches, but.. it really wasn't necessary to pay for us... -_-") and then we found Andge in front of the arcade, so we had a look inside at all the games. Kaz & Ches played Point Blank and entertained the rest of us.. i have never heard such shrieking in the whole history of anyone playing Point Blank, ahaha.. Karen has since learned that it might be a good idea not to play with boys if you want to be the one who wins..

when 9:30 rolled around, we abandoned Point Blank and set off to watch Wall-E.

it was cute. it was clever. it was sweet. it was pretty. it was adorable. it was hilarious.

i am so planning to get the multi-language dvd of it in Hong Kong. Wall-E is most definitely one to buy & keep..! i cracked up so much ^-^

after the movie, before we could head home, Karen got a phone call, and spent the next fifteen minutes or so frustrating Shan & i by wandering away whenever it sounded like the conversation was getting interesting (she had us curious.. we wanted to know what was going on, and she kept walking away T-T) eventually she finished up and we all headed home.

it wasn't till later that i realised i'd left my laptop in Kaz's car :( so i was without my beloved Keshi for the night..

Saturday 20th September
Kaz & Ches had planned to go on a roadtrip, so I wasn't expecting them to be back in the melbourne area until dinnertime.

made my own way in to work on the bus. i was so proud of myself for being on time to catch the right bus for once, but when i walked in, Bruce asked, "where are the other two?"

..and it turned out i didn't have to catch the bus at all, Pam had been expecting that she would give me a lift in to work that morning =_= ..oops.

but no harm done. Pam and her cousin had breakfast at one of the Lygon St cafes while Bruce and i plodded around, reorganising stock and sorting Christmas baubles and stuff and stuff.

..it was a really quiet day at the newsagency.

in the end, it was so dead that Bruce said i could leave at 3:30pm, so i messaged Kaz to let her know that i was off work and was going to hang around the city till she & Chedter could come around for dinner in the city before Ches caught a plane home.

Kaz immediately called back - they'd abandoned the roadtrip idea & were in the city already, so they'd come fetch me anyway. didn't bother me, so i stuck around a bit longer tidying stuff. if i didn't have to kill time on my own before dinner, so much the better.

then Kaz & Ches arrived - yey! Chedter asked for a tour, but there really wasn't anything to tour. one side - cards & gifts. other side - newsagenty stuff. i turned back to say something else, but it completely left my head when Aaron suddenly appeared, grinning, in front of me.

i had another completely WTF moment, which he took advantage of and snapped a photo.

Kaz & Ches looked VERY very pleased with themselves.

while i was trying to let it sink in that Aaron had been persuaded to join us after all, Carms popped out from behind a shelf to say hello...

O_O

i think my brain was breaking. there were no words for what felt like ten minutes in my head.

then the emergency power supply must have kicked in, because next thing i knew, i was shrieking and hugging Carmen (who was really very awfully warm for a Carmen) and laughing and going ever so slightly mental with happiness.

then Nutley poked his head out from behind Ches and i came SO CLOSE to just sitting down on the tiled floor and laughing myself SILLY.

XD they'd ALL come down to melbourne...

...and i'm not entirely sure if i was capable of stringing together coherent sentences at that point but i was SO FRICKIN' HAPPY to see them all :D

Kaz wanted to check out the Swarovski store, so we trekked over and had a look at the Fizz Ring she was after. turned out they had her size in stock, so.. ring was boughted, and Kaz was a Happy Pixie.

then onwards, across the road to my favouritest of stores - Minotaur!

plenty to keep everyone busy. back issues of comics were browsed through (Ches picked up quite a few). WoWshirts were admired and giggled at.. and some were tempting to buy ^-^ though we resisted. for now. transformers were admired by Aaron (they were kind of pretty). Pen-Pen the penguin plush was bought (yey Evangelion penguin!). Dr Slump books were carted away by Kaz (she couldn't wait a month to buy in malaysia, haha!).

having thoroughly entertained ourselves in Minotaur, we moved on to the next logical destination - Crown.

we wandered around, then the boys wanted to play Blackjack, so in we went to the gambling section. i was facinated by a table where the dealer was explaining everything as the game went on. Nutley decided it was a good table, and sat himself down to play. Ches and Aaron joined him as soon as other people left the table. Carms had a go, too. Kaz was sorely tempted, since everyone else was playing ^-^. I wandered off to watch Roulette for awhile, and be hypnotised by the little spinner and white ball. Got bored, though, so i went back as Ches gave Carms a $25 chip, which she slipped into her pocket. our "Dinner fund", apparently, ahaha.

after whiling away away some time with recreational gambling, we headed to Galactic Circus to play arcade games. Aaron went off to sleep, so we play without him.

Street Fighter IV. Ches & Nutley seemed be excited by it, and played against each other. Screams abound.

Carms became fascinated by some finger-maze game. Nobody can finish it, but is strangely addicting. More screams.

Moving Castle toy clawing machine. Pet Shop gecko for me - first try, yey. Mr Bump for Carms.. 2nd try, yey. Kaz wants a CareBear...

..we must have looked like idiots, 3 girls chasing the CareBears around the machine..

but finally a CareBear is clawed out for Kaz. Maybe 15 minutes later :D

And then.. the Syddies met our beloved Guitar Freaks & Drum Mania. Nutley goes insane over drums, and can't sit in the chair..

Some punchy machine game. Nut and Ches seemed determined to outdo each other.

Azza naps, clutching giant Cars plush. I am SO tempted to take a photo, it looks so funny. But I don't have a camera, and my phone frankly sucks at photo-taking.

Nutley and Ches wake him up anyway.

Dinner at... NOBU O_O

Confusing menu, so we let Nutley & Ches order. End up with some interesting dinner items..

kelp salad. softshell crab. tempura. something tacos.. raw fish with spicy salsa in a mini-taco shell. miso chips (which turns out to be raw fish on crispy lotus root slices..?).

beef with wasabi salsa. fish in a citrus sauce which was BEAUTIFUL. beef & chicken skewers..

apparently beef was tandoori-ish, while the chicken.. tasted like burritos. salmon skewers. scallop & zucchini skewers.

assorted sushies.. some of which were wrapped in fine-sliced radish O_O one was scallop & smelt egg. i'm not sure if any of us knew what smelt egg was, but it sounded intriguing.

wine was also ordered but i have no idea what it was, except that it was white..? (i'm clueless when it comes to alcohol. i've never liked any wine my mother has given me in her quest to make me Cultured.)

seemed a bit iffy compared to the Brown Brothers we'd had at karaoke in sydney, but i thought i'd attempt to drink it anyway. tried the things tyrone taught me to do, wondering if that would make it taste better. felt like an ass but it did seem to help, the whole "close your eyes, hold it on your tongue for awhile, then put your tongue through it and let it fizzle before you swallow". seems all rather complicated, and far too much effort to consider doing every night like my mother does.

but it was alright.

[note: this blog post is not finished yet..!]