Shells & Snowflakes

Y'all probably hate me for saying this but seven weeks is definitely not enough for me to do everything I want to do in the holidays. I came back from Port Macquarie last week, only finished unpacking a few days ago and next Saturday, I'm heading off to the Gold Coast for The Big Lift. (Maybe I should've just left all my shit in the suitcase.) I'd planned to take it slow this week but life happened and all the catch-up promises I made during semester caught up with me and slapped me upside the head. I'm not complaining though. There are worse ways to live.

And I do appreciate the fact that I am able to spend so much time with different people. It makes every adventure that much more interesting; every conversation teaches you something new and gives you something else to think about. I used to spend so much time with the same old people, having the same old conversations and being stuck in the same old world and environment. It was comfortable but it wasn't healthy. And growing up in the area I did and going to the school I went to made complacency such an easy trap to fall into. You think you can just cruise through life with minimal effort - relying on a couple of select people to take you places and show you new things but the fact is that opportunities don't just fall out of the sky and it takes initiative and effort to grab these with both hands. I have a long way to go and so much more to learn before I even reach this point but every person I meet, every memory I make takes me that one step closer.

But enough philosophical preaching, y'all probably just here for the photos and I would hate to disappoint.

Monday

Partners in Crime: Sharon, Sienna and Milo Milkshake (aka Magical Milo)

Location: La Perouse / World Square / Darling Harbour 

The Orange Family were had been hankering for some good ol' fashioned adventuring times in the whatsapp convo over the last few weeks so it's good that we finally got around to doing it. They brought their fancy schmancy big-ass cameras and I took my shitty old Samsung phone and we headed down to La Perouse for some photography fun. It was colder than Winterfell down there. Pretty sure I caught like hyporthermia or something. Totally worth it though because I found that pretty purple shell above. 

After La Perouse, we hopped on a bus back to Town Hall to meet Renee and Angry Alice for dinner. Sienna took a short detour to her apartment to fetch something (how cool is it that she gets to live in the city??) and we walked to Grill'd for much-needed sustenance. Burgers were great, company was even better and afterwards, we headed down to Darling Harbour to look at shiny things and giant floating turd shapes. Yay!

Tuesday

Partners in Crime: The Vibewire Crew

Location: Ultimo

Okay, to be honest, Tuesday was a bit of an uneventful day because I was mostly at my internship working on a couple of things. I did get to meet some new interns though and for once, the whole Social Media team was in so we got to do a bit of strategy planning and brainstorming together. Pretty sure I went somewhere afterwards but for the life of me, I can't remember what.

Wednesday

Partners in Crime: Harry, Ron and Hermione (+ Tian and CGay)

Location: Hogwarts

This was the one day I actually stayed at home within the whole week. I'd made half-hearted plans with Othilia but we decided to go shopping the day after instead. So I ended up having a Harry Potter marathon in the daytime. This is how I amuse myself okay? Don't judge. This culminated in an emotional rewatch of the last film with Tian and CK that night. It was da bomb diggity. 

(Source)

Thursday

Partners in Crime: Othilia in the daytime and the Chinese Class gang at night

Location: Sydney Westfields, Ramen Kan, Karaoke at K1

Hi Othilia. I'm sorry for dragging you around town in a futile effort to find the perfect trench coat. We visited every single potential coat store in the St James / Westfields area and didn't even find anything. Actually no that's a life. After you left, I blew about $110 on a coat from Portmans. It wasn't perfect but it'll do the job. I also bought another jumper, a hoodie, primer and some dry shampoo for The Big Lift. I am now a little bit broke :(

After my nine hour shopping spree, I walked over to Ramen Kan in Chinatown to meet up with the Chinese class gang before our awesome karaoke sesh. Great to see everyone again and to get to know the others outside of class (there's only so much bonding you can do over pinyin). Celine and Kay killed it at K1. They should be on like talent shows or something. Afterwards, Kev gave us a lift home (since some of us were from the West) and holy bejeezus but his car is Siiiiick. Upholstery was new and shiny, the interior smelt nice, engine was super powerful and responsive, exterior was badass - it was such a nice car that it almost made me overlook the fact that he ran like four red lights on the way back... 

Next up: Fastbreak Frenzy, Yum Cha with the VW crew, stalking George Calombaris at the Good Food and Wine Show, Saturday night fireworks and modeling playground equipment at an abandoned park at 10pm on a Sunday night.