2001-10-28 - 11:10 p.m.
#96: No Need for a Regressive Streak (oh my)
Note to self: There are some days (even a series of days) that should be spent in bed, the covers draped over your head and body in a clam-like configuration and you in the middle of it all going "Pushuu pushuu". So I think I'm going to take the hint the weather's been giving me lately and do just-- It suddenly got sunny again. Why am I not surprised? Damn you, Auckland weather! I despise your harsh regime! @_@ Looks like I'm going to have to delay my little nap, then....
(several hours later... No, I didn't delay it afterall. ^^;;;)
Well, well, well.... No entries from me for 2 days, eh? I must be slipping! Yes, that must be what you are thinking to yourself right now. But fear not! I forgive you for doubting me. *I* happen to have a good excuse for not writing in this journal on Friday (and a lesser one for Saturday). And that excuse is.... I was busy. Yes, I was expecting Friday to be a rather uneventful day but, seized on a whim, I decided to text message Zeb on her mobile and invited her for the evening, fully expecting her to say that she had other plans. Turned out that she didn't, and foom! we set out on an adventure that spanned several hours (from 7PM in the evening to 3:30AM in the morning to be precise) and roped in Kunfei into the proceedings. That was quite fun, being all spontaneous and inviting people to my house like that, but I seriously doubt I can do something like that ever again.... At least while my parents are still around, anyway. ^^;;;
In any case, it was lots of fun for something that was basically constructed on the spot. I rang Zeb up around midday, she came around sometime in the evening and we went off to a nearby Japanese cafe (MoMos) in the Meadowlands shopping area for dinner. Great little place with a quietly done Japanese motif and from what I've sampled on the menu, pretty good food too.... But I think I've been in there a few too many times in recent times, considering the fact that one of the three people who ran the place actually recognised me and asked me how my parents were. How embarassing. ^^;;; Talking one on one with Zeb over the dinner was quite an unusual experience for me. And no, I don't mean unusual as in "weird topics" (though we could have strayed there.... And one has no particular inclination to confirm or deny that. ^_^). I mean, usually when I'm talking to the members of the AAC, it's often in large, robust groups: so that usually means that conversations are carried out in a "pass the parcel" sort of manner. Meaning that one person says something, then another says something in reply, then a third makes a reply to the second person and it goes all the way around until it becomes a mutated version of the original subject. It's kinda like "television roulette" in a way: you start off a sentence on a news channel, turn to another before they finish to a nature documentary, turn the channel again to get to an action film and so forth and so forth.
While that sort of conversation is entertaining, bizarre and only requires the attention span of a gnat; it also detrimentally impacts on conversations you have with just the one person and no else to "pass the topic" too. So Friday night was a bit of a RElearning experience for me as I tried to maintain a conversation (with varying shades of success) with just the one person without any interruptions whatsoever and with as few "noncommital grunts" as possible (though Zeb can testify I made quite a few of those anyway. ^_^). It's odd really.... I mean, I can't talk to anyone any more without expecting someone to interrupt me in the middle: throwing down their oratory gauntlet as a challenge to me to keep my thread of conversation going while they're off talking about something else entirely. And then after that another person interrupts, and then another. It's almost like a shootout, only with words: with characters dancing in and out of auditory range as they reload and rethink on their various topics of interest.... And then leaping out sideways, gums (ha ha) blazing when they sense a momentary weakness in their opponents dialogue options. I swear, every AAC Tuesday meet is like going in to see a John Woo film with a lexicon as weapons. O.o
Anyway, Zeb and I talked about a few things, subjects ranging from stuff about the AAC (both the past and the present, mixed in with the future) to the sacrilegious nature of making instant cury and using ham pieces and boiled veggies as its active chewable ingredients. I don't really feel like typing up all that was said here, but some of it made me think, some of it made me laugh and most of all it made me feel good to talk to someone like this in a small private chat that no one was listening in on. But then we tired of idle conversation and retired to my bedroom.... Where we watched episodes of Fruits Basket and Earth Girl Arujuna that I had recently gotten off a friend (the one who called in on the favour I mentioned in a previous entry)! That's one way to pass time when you realised you've just exhausted all your available dialogue branches (ah! Thinking like I'm stuck in an adventure game! Must resist urge to combine various nonsensical items together to perform the simplests of tasks!). ^_^;;;;
Around midnight, just as we were about to settle down to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Kunfei came online on ICQ (after repeatedly failed previous attempts to get a hold of him) and after a brief exchange on that instant messaging service, we decided to pick him up to include him on our little adventure of the day (seeing that he still didn't have his car due to that little ten thousand dollar accident). It was about 12:30AM on Saturday the next morning by the time we left the house to pick him up, by the way. Yes, that's quite a wild thing to do at that hour of the morning, but Zeb had the car and Kunfei was (relatively) nearby: so it was off unto the motorway following his directions to his place, then coming back to my place for a post midnight showing of Hero From the Boundary of Time. A Chinese movie that I couldn't show on previous "Hong Kong Cinema" weekends because it was a little bit too "risque" to view while my mother was around. Actually, it's hardly erotic at all, considering the fact that the actors are just basically bouncing on top of one another in a rigorously farcical representation of sex; but I still have to be careful around my mother about that sort of thing. ^^;;; It's a shame too.... It's about the only movie I know that can make male rape look hillarious in the right light. Ahem.
After that it was 3:30AM, and everyone was on the verge of falling over from exhaustion. So after the goodbyes, Zeb drove Kunfei home and I collapsed into my bed to wake up at 1PM the next morning: completely missing the anime shindig at Chris' place, and suffering from a massive headache and dehydration from drinking an energy drink so close to sleepy times. Sorry about that, Chris; you can take the headache as an atonement for my lack of attendance. The rest of Saturday was spent hobbling about the house waiting for the rain to die down so I could go out for a walk and fresh air as part of my new regimen to be healthy and fit. It didn't, so I stayed in glued to the TV set watching old episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and munching on fattening snacks. Oh well. I also wrote up the list I'd promised myself I would two days earlier.... But I won't put them up, as I also promised. Which could mean that I may or may not have done it. But let's just say I have and be happy with that. ^_^ For the process, I basically subscribed to the art of "brainstorming" (as learned with quotation marks from the school of engineering. Wowee, I guess I did learn something afterall.) and just jotted down whatever desires I had about my future unto a pad.
Upon reading my list after it's intial completion (I'm still adding stuff to it as it ambles through my synapses), I noted several things: some desires were long term(be well off. duh), some of them short term (almost embarassingly so.... "Take a shower! You smell!". I guess my subconscious is more sensitive about such things then I am), some of them on the abstract side (how do I change my "feelings" about certain things, anyhow? O.o) and some of them from the lunatic fringe (no commentary). Needless to say the list is full of a few crazy ideas, but most of it is depressingly pragmatic. I mean, "be well off"? I was hoping that unlocking a clear path between my psyche and my writing hand would help reveal my deeper, darker side, but all that's there are cobwebs and an old rocking chair. What a gyp. Still, even with just the rudimentary, practical wants I have: I have no real idea on how to acheive some of them. A few are obvious (though they require drastic changes in lifestyle.... What will I do without my daily suppluy of gel??? Oh, the heartache!) but some are obviously missing steps "B" up to "X", with a side route to "Y" for good measure. *sigh* If only life came with a roadmap. Or at least a pause function while the one building my life is taking a break (cause it's obvious that he's set it to autonomous AI mode and is just waiting to see how my life crashes and burns).
As for the practical wants I *think* I can go for without being too confused.... Well.... Aw, heck I can't keep my thoughts straight right now for some reason. I'll finish this tomorrow. Or maybe I won't and start on some new subject while I work on "The List" (ohhhh... scary sounding!) in the background and out of sight. Besides, I think it's about time I talked about something new to keep the kindly viewers at home interested. ^_^ Well, that's all from me for now....
