Recent activities

So..what's been happening in my life recently? A lot, but I'll just go over the last few days before I bore you to tears. I mean, you must be bored already if you're here, so you don't really need more, eh?

Anyhoo, went to the Monash Multicultural Night (MMN) on Friday night. This year it was at the Park Hyatt, which is actually a pretty small hotel for a Hyatt. Had a pretty good time there. Although wasn't as oh-my-god brilliantly pulled off as last year's ball (which I'm sure will go down in history as the best MMN ever, thanks to the amazing job pulled off by the logistics exec. Fine, and the events exec. Oh alright, the whole committee. :P) it was a fun ball nevertheless.

They managed to sell 33 tables, which is 10 more than last year. That's quite an amazing feat. Although 10 tables were VIP tables. We (last comm) are pretty sure it must be because last year's ball was such a hit that tons of people wanted to go for this years. I mean, what other explanation can there be? ;]

So anyway, props to this year's MMN comm for a good job. The atmosphere was certainly lively, many lucky draw prizes (only I didn't win. Again. :[ ), good performances (mostly dances) and most importantly, free flow of alcohol! The "special" performance was a brilliant touch. Seriously, who would've thought two of the most senior uni staff could play the guitar and sing so well? And the harmonica, holy crap!

I wasn't too impressed by a couple of points, though. These in no way made the ball anything less than great, but are just pointers to bear in mind.

1. No games. You really need games or some other way of encouraging audience participation.
2. The two-tiered ballroom. Ok on its own, but arranging the tables in two rows on the higher level means that those in the row farthest from the stage had a hard time watching the performances. I only noticed this because that's where I was sitting.
3. Staff tickets shouldn't be entered in the lucky draw. The ball is, after all, meant for students. I'm not sure many people were too happy that a staff member won the Xbox. I was okay with it, but some people were talking.
4. Danny won the Grand Prize. What the hell?! Kelong!!!! :P

Okay, guess that was more than a couple. Anyway...after ball we went to Next Blue for the after-party. That was alright. Typical clubbing and stuff. Spent close to $150 buying people drinks, which explains my current brokeness. :'(

Just a note if the current committee reads this: Get Trent to give you more! Last year we managed to get 30 VIP passes for the committee, free ladies' passes, CDs, free drink cards and so on. Although that might have been because we knew him...

Speaking of Trent, it was nice to see him again. I apologised for not turning up at his gigs for the last many months, but he was cool and invited me to Stereo's last bash in two weeks. Apparently KampNokturnal is planning to move from Next Blue down to Platform 1 at Flinder's Street Station and start something different there. I guess it makes sense. The life of a weekly clubbing event is generally between 1.5 to 2 years before the crowd starts getting bored and looks for something new, so the fact that Stereo's lasted for nearly 2.5 years is pretty impressive.

So, after getting off the high from the many drinks I wasted my money on, I went with my sis and Keith et. al. to Crown to try and win some money back (yeah, right). Keith and Sarah introduced me to three-card poker, which was quite interesting. I only didn't like the fact you have to pay just to see your cards. Think I'll stick to Hold'em, Roulette and good old Black Jack.

Y'know how I said I went to try win my money back? I won all of 4 bucks. What kinda lousy luck is that?!

So anyway, hitched a ride home in Keith's car. One of their friends, whom I can't remember the name of right now, was pretty sick and we had to stop the car a few times. Hope she's ok.

So..reached home at around 5 and bummed around in my room for a while before going to bed at around 7. I set the alarm for 1300, but it was so nice and pleasingly cool in bed that I only forced myself to climb out at 1800. So..yeah. Pretty much wasted my Saturday. Also missed out on post-ball Yum Cha. Dangit.

Dinner was not bad. Retard cooked his "whatever chicken" and a new dish, "whatever fishballs with eggs". Gave Vv and Kee a call to check if they wanted to play mahjong, but they were out in Glen Waverly having dinner after post-ball yum cha and said they'd call later. Then Keith called up after dinner and asked us out for coffee.

Paul went and did whatever-it-is-he-normally-does-in-his-room and I went back to the Xbox while we waited for Keith. A punctured tyre later, and we were AirStream Cafe in Glen. The three guys got banana shakes, while Sarahmama got something hot (forgot what), and we had a good time chatting. Oh yeah! Nearly forgot that we saw two people at Century City who had just watched Wedding Crashers and looked suspiciously like they were on a date... Hmmmmmm...

So anyway, Vv and Kee came over at around midnight and we stayed up playing mahjong the whole night, pausing at around 3 for a Maccas break. As usual, their ice cream machine was being washed. :( We swapped to 3-player mahjong when we got back and things moved a lot faster. I don't know how many of you play 3-player mahjong like Paul and I do, but if you don't, you should!

That pretty much kept us awake till 0950, when we all piled into NED and went off to the city to pick up Janz, who was just getting back from Sydney (lucky girl). The five of us then proceeded to VicMart for lunch and some shopping. I got a new pair of shades to replace the pair I broke while boarding at Falls Creek, and a new belt to replace the one Clive gave me, which is frayed. I've been wearing that belt for years, though, and I mean, Clive gave it to me, so I turned it into a wrist strap thingie instead.

So anyway, we got back from the city mid-afternoon, and Retard headed off to St. Kilda to meet Abby while Janz and I went back to our rooms. I played more Xbox till dinner time. I was too lazy to cook (hahaha) so I settled for leftovers of whatever chicken and whatever fishballs-with-eggs over a DVD with Janz. The movie was pretty entertaining, and I'm guessing would've been even better to watch on the big screen.

After dinner-cum-movie, I played some Hold'em with Luke, Penny, Shaun and their friend Katsuya. No money involved, though. We stopped when the Grand Prix came on, and I was about to head back to my room when who should call me but Sarah asking if I'd like to join them for Hold'em!

Keith and Sarah came to pick me up, together with Si Tien and Rae, and we headed over to their place for Hold'em with Sam (Tan), James and Mags. Did pretty well and came in third and tops in the two tourneys we played.

Unfortunately, I think the two days of no sleep did me in and I came down with a fever that made me stay in bed till 2100 Monday. Yes, I know; I'm getting soft. Grabbed Maccas take-away for dinner and ate at home. Pris, Roger and Tristain came over and we played a few games of Dai Dee before I decided they really needed to learn how to play Hold'em. Unfortunately for them, I was the only one remaining after the just four hands. :D

We decided that was enough of cards for the night and proceeded to Paul's room to watch a DVD, which was still pretty funny the second time. We finished up at about 2+ and I walked Pris back to Rusden (Paul was lazy as usual :P). It's actually not that far. Probably equidistant to Maccas. By the way, if Jams ever gets to read this, stop playing games so much and spend more time down in Clayton, dammit! ;)

So anyway, got back home and checked my email, read my newsfeeds and so on, then got the stupid idea in my head that maybe I should give this blogging thing another go.

Which, I guess, brings us here.

Seeya tonight, if we're lucky.