Ah, election is in the air and I just received my absentee ballot! The Age today even said that the race for President could rely on overseas votes. Sure, I’m not registered as a resident of any swing states, but who’d want to live in Ohio?
UPDATE: Whoops, turns out New Hampshire is a swing state. Cool.
At last! A themed birthday party I already have a costume for!
The Nintendo Nerd in its natual (Zelda-themed) habitat
Complete with Wii Console and Paper Mario Earrings!!
I think my Mum said it best when she found out I was taking the tram to the birthday venue rather than riding in the safe and obscuring confines of a car: “that’s courageous”.
And so as V was struck down with indigestion reminiscent of but distinct from 'Alien', Dr Linden used her best benchside manner to console her. Meanwhile, the cardigan-clad and strangely oblivious historian in their midst enjoyed pointing out all the historical accuracies in 'Regeneration' (which, considering their imminent SAC on said book, was probably the reason for V's untimely demise in the first place)
And in even better news, Camille 2009 is half complete as of yesterday! Hurrah!
As my 18th birthday nears I have inevitably started to compile a mental list of all the things I will soon be “allowed” to do, with the help of friends and family. I had actually forgotten that some of these things, like drinking and smoking, were legally restricted, which just goes to show how futile said restrictions are in real society. Anyway, this is what I’ve got so far:
1. Getting my driver’s license
2. Drinking alcohol, pub crawling and other related booze-fuelled activities
3. Going to overage clubs and concerts
4. Smoking
5. Getting a tattoo (or five)
6. Voting in federal elections
7. Joining the army
8. Administering my own finances
9. Signing my own excursion forms and other legal documents
10. Generally countering all overprotective advice with “As a legal adult I can make my own decisions now, and if I were living in Ancient Rome I would’ve already been that for two whole years, so [insert arrogant parting comment here]“.
Now, those are the possibilities, but what will be the actualities? Well, as horrified as my parents would be if I turned up to my November exams sloshed (therefore making it an appealing prospect) and at the danger of sounding wowserish, I don’t plan to drink any alcohol at my birthday, or before my exams, or, like, ever. Don’t like the stuff. It smells bad, it wrecks your insides, and from experience I get high enough off orange juice without having to consume stronger poison. Case closed.
As for driving: with a tram, bus and train stop all within easy waking distance of my front door, I really don’t see the need to learn to drive or get a car. This may change in future, but I hope not. Nothing against being chauffeured around to interesting places, though ;)
Smoking is also a no-go. I’m already addicted to cheese, so let’s take one self-destructive habit at a time, shall we? The same goes for tattoos at the moment. Why use ink when there’s henna? (something to do with permanency, I know).
And then there’s the thoroughly unlikely prospect of me enlisting myself for the armed forces. The truth is I can’t even walk up Westbourne Grove without keeling over and gasping for breath, so marching around and learning a lot of shouty, repetitive phrases and getting deployed in the middle of artillery fire is a not a high priority on my to do list.
As for numbers 3, 6, 8, 9 and 10 — I’m looking forward to it. And as half of the US isn’t going to bother voting in their Presidential election this year, we US citizenship-holding Australians might as well pick up some of the slack. I’ve already downloaded my election ballot, and on November 4 this year, I will finally have an excuse to wear those US flag earrings I bought in Taiwan. Go figure.
There are few things in the world, as far as I’m concerned, that equal the bliss attained from automatically waking up at a certain time, only to find you’re on holiday and obliged to immediately fall back asleep again (that and going overseas — not for the tourist attractions, climate, people, culture or food, but for the incredibly long showers you can have without worrying about Water Restrictions Level 3a and drought-stricken farmers and their drought-stricken cows and goats who are required for lots of superlative cheeses to magically appear on my dinner plate).
That being said, this set of school holidays I have tried to keep my sleeping pattern relatively even and have so far resisted the urge to stay up to 4am watching incomprehensible late night TV, reading (laughing at) 1990s Mills & Boon romances, and generally filling my brain with useless information about Taiwanese celebrities that will no doubt evict all the painstaking National Politics memorisation I have done since February. I can see my November Final Year Exam now:
Q: Discuss two factors that can limit the federal government’s power to make domestic policy.
A: I was actually in Taipei when Barbie Hsu and Zaizai broke up; I remember seeing it on the LCD screens at this weird little foodcourt called New York New York, eating bad chips with some kind of sauce on them. But yeah, was really upset because I though Barbie and Zaizai were a really cute couple, and I loved their acting in ‘Mars’, especially when Zaizai had his shirt off, though all the psychotic episodes his character kept having were kind of creepy. And that stalker guy, I mean, they would SO not have just let him out of that mental institution just because he said he was sorry for trying to kill all those people. How dumb can you be!?
Marks awarded: 0
So yes, not good. Instead, to maintain my admirable bed time of 10.30 and fall asleep within the next half hour, I shall:
1. Go for long walks into the city which may or may not end up in shopping sprees
2. Take a valerian tablet
3. Read a chapter of Sense & Sensibility
Works every time.
