remember when…

I’m going to miss these people more than anyone has any possible idea. In no particular order, I remember when…

• Jack Black cut in front of me in the queue as I was boarding a plane on the way here.
• The way here.
• Going to the mall with Americans (the last time I did that) the first day and dinner with the flatmates the first night.
• Twilight Zone, Roswell, Futurama, and all of the other shows and movies we grew addicted to.
• Shining Force.
• Protesting VSU.
• Meeting dozens of people the first week, finding only one that was awesome, and having her remain my greatest friend all semester.
• Showing up to Philosophy 131 all semester, and– while never once lying– keeping the fact that I wasn’t enrolled in that class from everyone who was.
• Sean Kelleher punching through a glass window and having to be restrained.
• Getting a job at the Round Up despite not actually attending that Uni.
• Going out for Mexican food with Debra and Angela.
• Almost losing my diary.
• Almost ruining a wonderful friendship.
• Meeting Lucien, Doug, Calvin, and Scott at the SAM Bar.
• After the break when I realized I had more mates than I could spend time with and finally feeling like I belonged.
• Having my roommates spend about a week not talking to me and not caring.
• Sitting in cars, talking for hours.
• The Hunter Valley tour where I made four good friends, went out with them that night, alienated two of them, and the next few weeks where I gradually lost touch with the other ones.
• Going out with Ex_Cal and his mates for the first time and ending up with him and Ben, talking about women.
• Going out with Calvin, Ex_Cal, and his mates in my second-to-last week and drinking Absinthe.
• Going out with L, Steve, Ex_Cal, Lucien, Stuart, Trumpet Rob, Jess, and to a certain extent John and seeing the Contemporary Art Gallery (“I am a house, but I am also art. Can a house also be art?”), eating Chinese (or Thai) food afterwards, going to a fantastic bookstore, and going back to Bar Ace.
• Trying time and time again to say ‘tomato sauce’ and failing.
• Learning to whistle: much to the chagrin of my roommates.
• Thinking up my own video game, developing my own alphabet and soon language (partially inspired by Alacaeriel), and all of the other assorted misadventures I would think up and get completely drawn into when I should have been working.
• Meeting twins and being overjoyed by the concept… then being overjoyed by how fantastic they were.
• Nicolette Lucia Suttor. *suspiro*
• The last official Pyromaniacs meeting of the semester where I was tickle-attacked by three gorgeous women and could only keep them from tickling me by holding them close.
• Waking up the next morning at four thirty after having been awake for 48 hours and realizing I’d missed a call– and a chance to see– Alacaeriel.
• The Saturday after that when Alacaeriel and I went to eat then to Borders and beyond.
• The Sunday after that when I realized I wasn’t dreaming.
• Walking around beautiful Eden Gardens, having a decent meal, and being with a beautiful and captivating girl.
• Having Julian keep trying to convince me I was dreaming.
• Turning Julian on to PETA and vegetarianism.
• Riding the Courtesy Bus for hours on end, talking to Angela and assorted guest stars.
• The beautiful, beautiful singing.
• The time we went to the beach, Adriano and I stayed alone for several hours, then Ange, Suzi, Stephan, and Andy showed up almost simultaneously. Eating at a vegetarian eatery, and going back with Suzi and Ange to rent a movie we could not watch and sit on the grass, looking at the stars, and singing.
• The second time we cooked, went to go see a movie, but came back instead and simply sat talking.
• Going to Lucas’ housewarming party, coming back, and sitting around the table talking about religion, much to some people’s chagrin. Then afterwards, when everything was finally okay. For good.
• That time Liam walked right into a comeback.
• Trumpet Rob and Steve falling for my set-ups every single time.
• Steve teaching me to spin a staff.
• Getting Steve to wear a poncho and a sombrero for my party and having him be the only one who did.
• A burned copy of Cat Empire.
• A burned copy of Dresden Dolls.
• A motorcycle riding lesson.
• An australian phrasebook.
• A Sudoku book.
• A sombrero with Aussie-style corks to keep those buggered flies away.
• The flies, my god, the flies.
• Talking about religion with Karl and Grace and realizing they were quite intelligent.
• Jacki coming to visit Jess and the Sudoku rampage.
• Needing someone to talk to about my problems and finding Jess. And being glad I did.
• Walking, soaked, to my 20.5 birthday party and having to cross a river to get there, not realizing that there was a walkway across just twenty meters away.
• The party itself where almost all of the people that I really cared about showed up, despite the rain, and despite everything else. Then going back to Suzi’s and hanging out there.
• Taleen, Angela, and Alacaeriel giving me coats to wear because I was soaking wet and shivering.
• Alacaeriel trying to warm me up despite my best intentions to get hypothermia.
• Being soaking wet and hugging a dry girl that was wearing white.
• Julian interrogating all of the MUSC candidates… with hilarious results.
• Food, wine, and games with Beau, Angela, Justin, Kyrill, Pablo, and Ivan… and the rhythm.
• Lunch with L, Zoe, and a girl I soon realized was Satan… then asking her point blank if she really was the Lord of Darkness.
• Spending an inordinate amount of time with Adriano in the library during Finals.
• My computer breaking.
• Going to eat at a vegetarian place, corset shopping, and book shopping… 🙂
• Feeding a one-legged cockatoo on the first morning.
• Trying to kill my roommate and having her try to kill me.
• Shaving my head outside of the SAM.
• My stupid online fights with Tremblay and some stupid kid on Facebook.
• My roommate Trumpet Rob’s online fights with Creationists.
• Getting songs stuck in Trumpet Rob and Yelizaveta Bachko‘s heads.
• Guessing good movies that came out in 1989 that weren’t sequels (Honey, I Shrunk the Kid).
• Going to the Southern Highlands, meeting English chicks, and realizing I wasn’t as fond of the English as I thought I was.
• Spending hours with Adriano on a Sunday, trying to think of what– if anything– to do.
• Bruscetta with Adriano, Angela, and Stephan… including the two hour shopping and cooking, the five minute swim, and the disturbing German movie.
• Pyro Sock.
• Plat Sock.
• Getting Steve voted in as President of Platonic Society on a whim.
• Crashing the halloween party with Julian, Trumpet Rob, and Yelizaveta Bachko on a whim.
• Watching Honey, I Blew Up the Kid with Stephan, Oli, and Angela.
• Looking at the stars.
  “We like to be proud that Orion’s belt is directly overhead in our hemisphere.”
  “Yeah, but that just means you get a perfect view of his crotch.”
• Conception Day.
• Conception Day.
• Conception Day.
• Conception Night.
• Dancing like a maniac to Paul Green, running from person to person I knew and trying to hang out with everybody at once… and succeeding.
• Helping Phil the Phunky chicken carry a cooler and ending up at an afterparty with most of the people that would take over my life the next two months.
• My first Pyro’s meeting during the break, spinning fire, and the BBQ afterwards where Adriano, Stephan, Julian, and I spent hours talking and philosophizing.
• Going to the beach with Adriano, Stephan, and Angela for the first time, playing soccer and volleyball, and trying to capture the moment in my head: not realizing everyone else was doing the same.
• Catching up with Ange after months of not really speaking and realizing just how great of a person she was… again.
• Getting a mobile given to me (yeah, I know).
• Oli’s blasted diamond analogy and how ridiculously often it’s come up in conversation and in thought.
• That damned Gorillaz song, “Scar” by Missy Higgins, “Hello” by Cat Empire, Paul Green, Jack Johnson, “Firestarter” by Prodigy, the White Stripes’ new CD, and all of the other music that will forever remind me of Australia.
• El Colombiano, Julian Hernando Baez Avellaneda and coffee or simply chatting.
• Finding five (5) USB drives and a PDA and giving them back to a Dr. Reverend.
• Getting terrible marks on essays… then realizing I didn’t care.
• Stressing over 7500 words of essays… then realizing I didn’t care… then getting talked back into caring by Suzi and Alacaeriel.
• Lunch with Brendan, Karl, Grace, and a regularly rotating cast of characters.
• Nude, 1970s playing cards with Brendan, Karl, and Grace.
• Saying goodbye to the Germans and thinking of how sad it really was.
• Drinking coffee with Brendan, Karl, and Grace for the last time, then seeing a movie with them and saying goodbye.
• Talking with Rob late into the night and realizing he and I, who had lived in the same room all semester, had finally come to the same place.
• Cooking for Ange and Suzi, then going for a walk in the park with them.
• Watching Before Sunset with Adriano over our final meal.
• Going to a strip club with Jess, Jacki, Lucien, and Jess’ two Turkish friends whose names I won’t dare try to spell… then leaving feeling dirty and unimpressed.
• Having Lester the signing bear be signed by everybody at my party.
• The Friday night that has yet to happen but in my mind
• and the departure that I wish never would.

If you know me from Australia, post what you remember. I love you all and tolerate the rest. I’m going to miss the hell out of all of you.

Seriously now.

I’m going to miss these people more than anyone has any possible idea. In no particular order, I remember when… Jack Black cut in front of me in the queue as I was boarding a plane on the way here. The way here. Going to the mall with Americans (the last time I did that)…