This was by far my most tiring, busiest, and most fun weekend in a while. Here’s how it panned out:

On Saturday, my amazing driving instructor picked me up from HHRay’s house for our 8:30 am driving lesson. We limited the lesson to an hour because he knew I had to be in Fremantle that morning and practiced parking. I actually did quite well and am starting to feel like maybe I won’t become a safety hazard when and if I ever get my actual license. I’m still doubtful that they’ll want to unleash me onto the roads of Perth, but we’ll see.

I then quickly got ready in 20 minutes or so and HHRay’s dad’s girlfriend was kind enough to drop me off at the Cockburn train station. I caught up on much needed sleep on the bus and when I finally reached Fremantle the weather was just getting seriously hot (well, seriously hot until real summer actually kicks in).

Wayne flew in from the U.S. that Friday and we were meeting in Fremantle before our trip to Rottnest on Sunday. I knew Wayne to be a great hummus lover, so decided to feed the addiction by bringing him some hummus as a Perth welcome gift. Now, by this time the hummus wasn’t exactly cool. In fact, I wasn’t sure if it was even still edible due to me carrying it around for 2 hours in the heat. Wayne tasted the hummus with a suspicious look on his face, sniffed, and declared that it was “OK”. By this time anything better than “It’s gone off. I’m going to die.” was great in my book.

We spent the day semi-exploring Fremantle, pretending to be related, honing our Ninja skills, eating ice cream, comparing iPhone apps (my collection was, of course, superior), wearing zombie masks, and drinking some sort of blueberry tea. I think the biggest surprise of the day was that Wayne had no idea what a Snuggie was. What kind of a fashionista is he? Every reputable girl knows what a Snuggie is, even if she doesn’t have one. Wayne, for your convenience I made this so that you would be able to picture how great you’d look in a Snuggie:

Wayne in a Snuggie with Hummus

Anyway, when I got back to HHRay’s house the weather was still nice and warm. I suffered through a soaking wet bear hug as he got out of the pool, we had dinner, and I caught the bus back to my house as HHRay went out clubbing with some friends. I hadn’t eaten except for ice cream all day, so the dinner didn’t exactly fill me up and I ordered something delicious and nutritious from Eagle Boys pizza.

I tried going to sleep early, I really did. But the Rottnest 5km Fun Run which I’d be running tomorrow (the same day as the Rottnest marathon) was keeping me up. I made sure to prepare everything for the day: triple check the dates and times, make sure I had our tickets, grab a sufficient number of pins for the race numbers, make sure the race numbers were in their envelopes, make sure my running clothes didn’t suddenly shrink or stretch overnight, and all of that other good stuff. I even went for a 2km run just to make sure everything was in working order.  Finally, after an episode of Stargate Universe and a movie, I managed to fall asleep at about 2am.

Fast forward to 10:30am – start of the race. By this time Wayne has successfully managed to convince a lady that he’s my father and we have picked out our two “targets” for the race – the people we’d be striving to beat. His was a fast and fit-looking young man. Mine was a 10-year-old looking girl.

So the race started and I took off – or rather shuffled off – on the course. At first I was thinking “Hey, this isn’t as hilly or windy as I was expecting!” The wind never ended up bothering me, but I was so wrong about the hills. Slowly I felt myself starting to climb. I ran up the first “big” (in my book) hill, but had to actually jog/walk up the second. Thankfully, the ascent in the first half of the race could only mean one thing on the way back – a downhill run. At one point I saw Wayne pass me, not looking tired at all. I thought about being jealous, but then remembered that I could never be jealous of someone who’s never seen a Snuggie and continued on my way. I looked something like this (reenactment):

Rottnest Fun Run 5km Reenactment

By the end of the race I was sweating profusely, my legs felt like lead, and I struggled to keep up my breathing pattern. All of a sudden I see this flash of vampire-like skin approaching in the distance and realize that wow, this must be Wayne coming back. It was. He ran with me the rest of the way, which wasn’t as long as I expected, and I got a good sprint in toward the end.

Wayne finished something like either 6th or 11th, we won’t know until the results are posted on the WAMC website (which they have been for the Marathon, but not for the Fun Runs as of yet). We ate, had a rest, and then decided to hire out some bikes and explore the island. I learned that Wayne takes great pictures of himself. I can never get the angle just right when I’m camera-whoring, but his form and lighting was excellent:

Wayne's Photography Skills

We tried to get a photo of us feeding a quokka  a leaf, but by the time we got my phone out and turned on the camera the quokka was no longer interested. So Wayne took a photo of me accepting a leaf instead, so you can see what the quokka would look like if it wasn’t being so snobby and rejecting our offering:

Quokka Feeding

Other than that we also climbed a sand dune:

Wayne Blending in with the Sand

I make fun of him, but we’re both pretty much just as pale as each other:

Wayne's Photography Skills

Anyway, it was a fun weekend and I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I got home. I had it easy, though. Wayne had to do a 2-hour talk straight after we got back from Rottnest.

That night I was very happy to see and make up with HHRay, but there’s a whole another story there so I’ll leave it for another post. We still have some things to resolve, but it was great to see him and get my dosage of cuddles.

Also that night, I realized that I forgot to put sunscreen on my back, so my shoulders are pretty burnt (though thankfully not peeling…my skin isn’t the peeling kind I think, it just goes red). I’m so happy that I have tomorrow off. I need a sleep-in. Not to mention my laser eye surgery consultation appointment is tomorrow, so it’s going to be very exciting!

Overall, I had an excellent weekend.

Rottnest Island

HHRay and I didn’t end up going away as we hoped. Instead he planned to catch up with a couple of friends we hadn’t seen in a while. We went to next generation, though I couldn’t do much at all because of my knee, and then to South Perth for a cup of coffee at Gelaré. The Vienna I got was a bit bitter for my taste, compared to the same coffee at other places. Their regular waffles, however, were absolutely heavenly – so much so that KiKi and I split another one for seconds.

Pandaman and I went for a long, long walk last night. He was sick from eating too much popcorn and I convinced him that fresh air would do him good. That’s an accomplishment as Pandaman can rarely be forced to go on walks. He’s just too lazy. We left at about 10-10:30pm and I got home at 1am. And we didn’t even go that far! Just the nearby parts of the neighborhood.

Highlights were:

- The display home we were sitting near started shrieking out an intolerable alarm when I mentioned ‘Ukraine’ in conversation. We tried to look casual and strolled off all the while whispering: “What the ****. What the ****!” under our breaths.

- Pandaman ‘discovering’ the totally awesome water fountain that has been at the park near our street for months now. 
“Yeah, I bet you don’t have these in America.” he said.
“Water fountains?”

- He explained his theory about air conditioning drying out your hair to me. We both got into the practice of ‘ponytailing it’.

- Going to explore the sand dunes behind the neighborhood. My shoes have openings in them and sand got in. We were afraid to go too far because of the big cats and snakes, but I later suggested that we should try to convince our other friend Hsoj to get us some steel-cap boots and flashlights from work, help us find a tent, and camp out in the middle of the dunes.

Pandaman turned around with the craziest look on his face and said: “What, and get eaten by foxes?”

Panda Man came over yesterday and we had a nice chat + lounge until about 11-12 at night (not sure exactly). We had a talk about good looks vs attraction and about how a girl classifying somebody as “hot” does not equate to her classifying him as conventionally handsome. 

Anyway, I am now copying over some files from his 1TB hard drive to Producer Man’s 1TB hard drive. 

Hoepfully going to a restaurant with HHRay, his mom, and his mom’s friend tonight. Does anyone know anything about the Bellhouse Cafe? I don’t. Some reviews I’ve read say the food and service are really good, but others say the food is dencent and the service is absolute crap. Anyway, should be fun!

Yesterday was officially one of the best days of my life – well, since my arrival in Australia.

For the first time in about 3 years now I got to see not one but several friends from Alabama! I went to the Cockburn Rotary Spring Fair just for the occasion – when I was moving to Cockburn I never knew its ’sister city’ was actually Mobile, Alabama – where I lived for 6 years and the BEST place in the world! The theme of the fair was America and there were American flags everywhere as well as Alabama’s state flag on the main stage. The band from Murphy High School (w00t I almost went there when I lived back home!) came all the way to Perth to play with Hamilton Hill High School (Murphy was way better). They even hard a Mardi Gras parade – Mobile style.

I looked for them for hours without any success (the fair was held at Manning Park in Cockburn, beautiful place). I enjoyed walking around the fair, watching the car show, the toy car rally racing, the sumo wrestling, the laser tag, and so much other stuff! Finally I had some lunch and sat to watch a magic show by the stage. Then we saw each other – Henry was right by the stage, waving at me! I rushed over, excited, gave him a hug, and stared talking about something that I can’t even remember right now. Then we went behind the stage where all these Murphy band people were – I thought that I would only know Henry from here but it turns out I was in for a big (and awesome) surprise: Lucy, Knowles, Erica, and more people were there, too! I also got to meet great new people. We spoke for a while, then I got to listen to them play Jazz on stage (it was great, I can’t believe how good they are, they made up solos on the spot and everything).

Then came more talking, looking through the box of awesome gifts Olga passed on to me through Henry and the giving of my box to Olga. We tried calling her, but were unable to get through (suspected mobile phone credit issues to blame). Some funny quotes of the day included (some of these aren’t exact):

“Welcome to Bootcamp. FLIP THE SWITCH!”
“Did she go to Murphy?” – “No, she went to Baker” – “We’re not dedicating a song to her”
“What’s a STAAAFF room?” – “You know, for teachers, staff” – “Oh, a STAFF room!”
“We thought ‘Brekkie’ was some kind of a brand until we went past McDonald’s and saw the “Brekkie served until 12pm sign.”
“Here – I won this for Olga. Tell her I shot four little people for it.”

I had to leave before being able to see the fireworks that came at the end and another performance by Murphy Band. It was very sad :( I had to try not to cry. I also won a plushie for Olga and almost forgot to give it to Henry to put in the gift box! I had to run back and get all sad all over again.

HHRay picked me up and that was that. I feel like I’m never going to see them again :( I’ve decided as soon as I move out (which I will officially get onto again after my car unless something comes along before I get a car) I’m paying for half of Olga’s trip to Australia.

When I worked for Jim Beam and had to pose for an infinite string of photos per shift, I learned one valuable thing – how to give “the look”. The Look can be used for many things – it can be used to attract attention and give off that flirtatious vibe, but I found that you can also use it to be more photogenic!

Before JB, my ‘look’ was very underdeveloped, to be honest. Sure, it was OK, but just OK. Sure, I could get a guy’s attention from across the room, but it was less about my ‘look’ skills and more about my looks…yes…that does make sense.

After starting to work for JB, I found myself picking up on little things that make me look better in photos and found one thing that always worked – what I now call ‘The Look‘. Basically, all you do is look at the camera as if it was a hot guy you’re interested in walking into the room. Not only does your smile become less gawky and more relaxed, but your eyes open up without looking frozen and fake. ‘The Look’, for me, is never identical to all of the previous Looks, but it’s always, always a smile.

Even though my mastery of ‘the Look’ didn’t come from flirting as opposed to picture-taking, that is what it would definitely be good for. It’s not just the look itself, it’s the attitude that ‘the look’ projects. It’s a way of flirting without words. Some other methods of this including body language and tone of voice. Most of our communication is nonverbal, so mastering all of these including The Look is certainly beneficial.

And for those who are already masters of flirtatiousness, flex your flirt muscles against other flirts by participating in Extreme Style by VO5’s Ultimate Flirting Championship.

My friend Panda and I went to Harbour Town today to do some shopping. Well, I was going to window shop, but I ended up buying WAY too much stuff :(:(. List:

1) Thigh high socks
2) Leg warmers
3) Jump rope
4) Yoga/Exercise mat
5) Awesome going out dress
6) Casual summer dress
7) Book
8) Bookmark
9) Sweater

We tried to find pointy dress shoes for Panda and found some that were really nice, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted those particular ones so we left them. He also got other cool stuff, but I don’t think he wants me to report on his purchases :P

This is awesome. This woman saved the lion in the video many years ago when he was on the brink of death. When his health improved, she found the lion a new home at a zoo. This is what happened six years after the re homing of the lion, when the woman went to visit her friend:

I’m watching So You Think You Can Dance and this is so making me want to take hip hop dance classes. I feel like dancing in the streets. In fact, when my mom and sister leave in a few minutes I think I’ll go and dance around the house :D

On another note, it’s strange how different everything is when one is in a relationship as opposed to being single. When HHRay was in Bali I met several new people and was always on the go, with barely a minute to myself. Now that he’s back, I seem to be more closed off to the outside world. After being around HHRay, I’m too spent to focus on seeing anyone else or to bother catching public transport to catch up with people. I don’t think of it as a bad thing, really. It lets me know that was I to find myself on my own again, I’d be just fine. I know that I have options, the 10 days on my own definitely proved that to me, and just knowing this is good enough.