~A Big Sleep-In
2004-01-06 - 3:17 p.m.

I have not slept in, like (*winks at Viv*), properly stayed in bed for hours in aages. All year. (Incidentally, I just crack me up: I just replied to an SMS with "Sounds fab babe." Seriously, what kind of moron talks like that not being funny?? I should've said "girlfriend!" like Marcia Heines kept doing on Australian Idol: "I'm telling you, girlfriend..." "You just rocked the house, boyfriend..." My gawd how annoyingly sickening and pretentious was that, for all that she was nice and well-meaning? I'd be all...EXCUSE ME, I am not your girlfriend, I've known you five minutes and you've been judging me the whole time. Don't pretend to be chummy by taking the liberty of calling me your girlfirend! Ah, ok, I'll end these perenthises now...) Where was I? Oh yes, staying in bed. But maybe I should backtrack.

So Emma came over on Saturday afternoon and left her car here while I drove us to Alysha's wedding on the other side of town. It's kinda freaky, having someone only a month older than me getting married. She and Nick really looked too much like children to get married! However, I know that's more of a subjective perception than the truth. They're a lovely, very stable couple and the only thing that scares me about them getting married young is that Dianne's friends from work Kelly and Warren got married young and he ended up having an affair. However, he was 22 and she was 18 when they got married, Alysha's 22 goodness, 23 now and Nick is the same age or a year older. Besides...they just don't seem the type not to stay together. They're so lovely and normal.

The wedding was very nice, very tasteful and quick - ooh and the priest (hehe a good ol' Irish Catholic priest, whose accent had me tickled the whole time) read "Desiderata" at the end and I was like "that is soo my life philosophy, I soo own that, that is soo cool" and then I hopped on my surf board and caught some waves yelling "cowabunga". Er, yes. Back to speaking properly. Brendan went home about five minutes into the whole thing because he wasn't well, but he came back for the reception a few hours later. Emma, Maree, EmmaH, Lacchie and other Brendan (whom Emma has dubbed "Hot Brendan", although I'd more say "Brendan Who's A Darn Sight More Attractive Than Maree's Brendan But There's No Accounting For Taste") oh, and I was there too, hehe, went to TGI Fridays (Friday's?) across the road. I had The Most Delicious Chocolate Milkshake Ever, for which I had the privelidge of paying $4.50 for a glass less than half the size of a normal milkshake that costs $2 less. I also had the yummiest seasoned hcips, which was just as well because my tummy had been quietly (thank goodness!) rumbling throughout the whole wedding ceremony! EmmaH had some yummy looking mudslice cocktail thing but Emma had some oreo-packed chocolate milky cocktail thing, which she said tasted not of alcahol, and which I definitely would've tried if I hadn't have been driving. It's the alcahol taste I have a real problem with. If alcohol tasted like fanta or milkshakes or something I'd probably be drunk as a...very wastedly drunk person...far too often! (Actually, I probably wouldn't be, because I'm too sensible for that, but I might actually get a little drunk occasionally, I'm just not gonna skull down foul tasting things with the sole purpose of getting myself drunk, ew how dumb.

The reception was also lovely. It was at a lovely, classy reception place in the hills, with a very good DJ and everyone was very chatty and you could tell it had the makings of a good night. Being at a table with Uni friends (even though I had Alana's boyfriend Shane on the non-Emma side, which killed conversation that-a-way), where they don't know a million people at other tables and are therefore stuck with me, was certainly a more pleasant way to spend the evening than I normally experience at these kinds of functions. The very sad thing about the whole night (apart from my liking nothing except a bit of very-grisly steak and the bread rolls, of which I consumed three buttery ones), was that not long into it Alysha left to the little private bridal room because she wasn't well. And that was pretty much her done for the rest of the night. She managed to stagger in on a chair by the door and listen to the speeches, by then changed out of her wedding dress, but she was barely well enough to even smile at the jokes and nice comments. Apparently she'd had hardly anything but champagne all day, even since the previous night, and had been standing out in the sun for a few hours having photos taken. Combined, I assume, with stress, excitement and probably lack of sleep, it turned out that she got seriously dehydrated, so they decided to get her to a hospital.

Poor girl, she had been so excited about the wedding. I remember driving with her on our holiday with the uni girls at the end of 2002 and she made me listen to the songs she wanted to have at her wedding. Well, she had them playing, but didn't get to do a bridal waltz. Instead, she requested that everyone else dance and she'd watch just as she left. So there she was, sitting droopily in a chair, watching everyone dance to her bridal waltz songs, and having to deal with everyone looking at her every few seconds, too. Then everyone went on the balcony and waved her off. It was lovely how concerned everyone was for her and how much affection and understanding there was in the room. I'm sure that, more than not being able to participate in her own wedding, Alysha felt at the time that she was letting everyone else down, everyone who had come for her and Nick and expected her to be there and would be feeling all sad for her. Well, I don't think anyone minded about that, we were just anxious for her health and very sad for her that she pretty much missed out on her wedding party.

So Emma and I got home and Emma stayed the night. She slept on top of my bed while I slept on top of Dianne's, coz that girl was over at Tim's (for a change hehe). The next day we were both pretty tired. Mum was lovely and made us pancakes for late breakfast, then later we got ourselves McDonald's for lunch. We played Scrabble Little Letters (which I think Emma must've noticed for the first time as it was on top from when I played it with Viv a month or so ago) and then started writing a musical version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. By the time I'd got bored with that, the afternoon had disappeared and Emma went home. That night I dreamt that we were being attacked by a ferocious bull (the dream-kind that rips you apart with lion-like teeth) and I was so terrified in my dream that I woke up with an immense sense of danger and fear. After that, I couldn't go back to sleep. I braved going to the toilet (despite hearing some strange house-creaks from down the other end of the house) and then spent an hour and a half finishing Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett. By then it was around 6:30am and I was more settled, so I went to sleep. I managed to sleep and doze until around 10am, and then closed my eyes and daydreamed cozily for hours longer, not getting up til around 2pm.

It was nice and I really needed the sleep-in and lie-in, but I was glad this morning that I woke up around 10am instead. I haven't been sleeping solidly through the night in recent weeks, and I think that's improving. I don't mind no longer waking up at 6am (or, at least, waking up at 6am and my brain feeling like it's time to get up, instead of time to roll over and sleep for another three hours), but I like going to sleep at 11 or 11:30pm and getting up around 8:30 or 9:00am. It means I've got time to do stuff with my day. I can get to the big shopping centres or into the city before the parking goes or it gets too hot. It also means I can come home early afternoon and still be in time to catch my friends online for a bit and then have the evening free! Although, today Mum and Dad were rushing around getting ready for a short driving holiday, so I stayed in bed reading and finishing The Wee Free Men until around 2pm, when they'd finally left and I could get up without having them rushing around in my way. Mum commented rather astutely that I was "keeping out of their way", but I think it was really the other way around - I didn't want them in my way! Hehe. It's so nice to be washed and clean and scented body-wash/lotiony-smelling now, after lying in bed for hours!