January: Chapter 1 of 12

It’s a little scary isn’t it, the build up to a ‘new year’? Not to get all 2008 on you, but we’re all in this together.

The aim of this game is to write about my life every single day. I can hear you already, “But Elle, that’s so vain! Why don’t you do what you did last leap year and do a 366 Grateful thing”. Don’t fret, my petals, I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed it won’t turn into a daily documentation of my dreadfully daft day. Besides, it is your choice whether or not you decide to read along with me. I was going to do this anyway, so why not make it public? Because who doesn’t love daily access to a stranger's life?

I’ve spent the past year doing nothing but academic writing. Therefore I am unforgiving in my choice of casual stylistics. If you notice a typo, be a pal and point it out. You’re not rude or pedantic; it’s like telling someone if they have food in their teeth. It can be uncomfortable, but ultimately you’re doing the right thing.

Not to congest Facebook/Instagram/email/blog feeds, I’m going to be posting my days on here weekly. Still 7 photos, just one post a week. It also gives me a grace period for when I don’t have access to Photoshop/the internet or free time to edit – which happens quite frequently.

Alrighty – well that’s all the housekeeping. Lets see how this goes!

01/01/16

I was taking Susan’s photograph when this woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. She was frightfully frail, wearing what appeared to be a suffragette hat. I am so grateful I took this photo! Seconds after the shutter clicked, she turned around, and came back. Naturally, I just assumed she was going to say hello on her way and continue her stroll.

“You two look so sophisticated, not like the tattooed trollops one sees walking about today”, she stated matter-of-factly, in a thick H.R.P (Heightened Received Pronunciation – think Dowager Countess of Grantham or the Queen of England) accent. As quickly as she appeared, she was gone again. It was as if she walked into our world for only a moment.

02/01/16

I’m a shameless BBC Sherlock fan. When Susan and I first started dating, we would watch it together. But because she kept pretty normal hours (in comparison to a third year university student!), she would always fall asleep and miss the endings. Being the cruel mistress I am, I would refuse the conclusion as punishment for her crimes.

Anyhow – today we went to the cinema and saw the Christmas special and it was outrageously good. It was lovely to hear other people laugh just has hard at the beautifully written innuendoes.

03/01/16

If you’re able to wake up at 6am and not feel like vomiting, you, my friend, have a beautiful gift.

While it may feel like torture each Sunday morning when my alarm goes off, as soon as we get to the markets I immediately feel 110% better. I think it’s the fresh organic produce, delicious coffee, and a completely judgment-free environment. Yes, I do look like I got 4 hours of sleep because I did. But here I am, buying English spinach and loving it.

04/01/16

Talk about trying something different. We invited our new friends to join us in a guided meditation class. I personally find it very hard to switch off, so it’s definitely a challenge for me to lie still for 45 minutes breathing. Especially when the guy three rows over is moaning very audibly. I did find my zen before my back started hurting and the manly moaning restarted.

After the class, we came back to ours for our first dinner party of the year. I love this photo because of how candid this moment was. It was straight after I had taken some photos on my polaroid for the fridge (if you make the fridge, you’ve made it in life). Sarah and Todd were picking which one they’d like to keep. It’s so lovely to find myself surrounded by people who also enjoy talking about different types of education systems and property prices.

05/01/16

Tomorrow is my birthday. “A very important milestone”, as I’ve been told repetitively. With a surprising amount of “are you throwing a massive party?!” Ha-ha you don’t know me at all, do you?

Susan gave me my card. We have a lot planned for tomorrow, and we mightn’t get a moment together. Our suitcases are packed and alarms set for 2:30AM. Commence final hours of being 20.

06/01/16

Happy birthday, me.

I was rudely awoken at an absurd hour due to the sound of Susan’s alarm. Serenity now, serenity now! She gently reminded me that my dad would be arriving in an hour, so it would be best if I got up now to get ready.

“Considering the time, I feel relatively well rested,” I said, rolling out of bed.

Susan quirked her eyebrow, “honey, you’ve had maybe 2 hours of sleep. Max”. Pre-birthday jitters had kept me up, and consequently had kept Susan up. “We’ll have a nap before our flight”. I hummed in agreement.

Dad arrived at 3.15am, with Maddy on his tail at 3.30am. We drove for just over an hour into the sleepy town of Canungra. The previous day I had spent a good 30 minutes on the phone to dad fretting about the current weather conditions.

“Is it an option to reschedule?” Dad’s voice was soft, already knowing my answer. I didn’t want to. It was tradition that something bad happens on my birthday, and it seemed that this year it would be the weather playing my enemy. It had been raining for two days. Under any other circumstance, I would have welcomed the rain, marveled in it. I prayed and prayed and prayed that it would stop, if only for a few hours in the morning. And it did. There was not a single drop fell on our entire morning.

The launch site was surrounded in fog. The dewy grass in the field saturated my feet. The only noises were that of the burners, pumping air intermediately into the mammoth balloons. It felt like we were the only people left on earth.

I was the first person into the basket. I never even think about the hassle it is being tall, until I see Susan attempting the same maneuvers as me. Her long legs struggled to fit as she climbed in. The woes of being 178cm, I suppose. I am still adamant that there are certainly more pros than cons in that department.

It wasn’t anything like I imagined. Instead of the cold and rough climate I had dreamt up, I was met with beautiful temperatures and surreal calm. It did not make my stomach feel any less queasy watching my dad put his phone over the side to take photos. Uh, no thank you. Putting aside my fathers risk-taking attitude, it was wonderful. Similar to Christmas, I implemented a strict ‘no presents’ rule. I wanted experiences and memories with the people that I love, not tangible and replaceable gifts. And being surrounded by my family, sharing that moment, was priceless.

Naturally, we had a champagne breakfast on a vineyard after we landed. A massive thank you to Susan for organising everything and not letting out a single peep whilst we were flying (she has a massive fear of heights — as we established in New Zealand, Dreamworld, the Brisbane Story Bridge Walk, and about a million other things). So thank you, my darling, for making my day so splendid.

 As for the rest of my day, well I’m currently typing all of this up on a plane to Melbourne. Another gift orchestrated by Susan. We hadn’t had the opportunity to go in the past year and half, so she thought it appropriate to take me to my favourite place in Australia for a few days. Bless.

07/01/16

After a leisurely sleep-in, first thing we did was catch a tram to Fitzroy to have breakfast at Madame SouSou.
Me oh my, I love everything about Melbourne. It happens to house my favourite bookstore — Hares and Hyenas. Which is subsequently where we spent a good portion of our day, slowly browsing their beautiful collection of books.

Once completely satisfied with my bundle of books, we headed to the gardens to read. I started and finished The First Bad Man: A Novel by Miranda July. Would recommend. Especially if you’re after something a little ironic, a little questionable, and with melancholy themes. Also if you like hate to love/realistic ending tropes — which I do.

P.S. The hotel manager wrote me a 'Happy Birthday' card.

08/01/16

I keep writing “15” instead of “16” — how did 2016 manage to sneak out of nowhere, and yet was hiding in plain sight? It’s not like we had an entire year to plan for this transition… oh wait…

We went to Richmond because Susan wanted to go to the Pana Cafe. And by “Susan wanted to go”, I mean I wanted to go. We caught two trams, walked a ton, and got oogled by slightly dubious characters — but we arrived! And it was closed! Ah-haha! How painfully appropriate after reading July’s novel. What’s that saying? It’s about the journey, not the destination. Does that apply when you’re specially wanting vegan, sugar free, and organic chocolate desserts?

09/01/16

Susan wanted to go to St. Kilda and I wanted to go to the State Library. There had been a massive stuff up with our airport transfers and we were going to be cutting it very close to get our flight. We are both incredibly punctual people, I however put more stock into it than Susan. Which gives me anxiety at the thought of lateness. So much so that today was difficult to enjoy knowing that the evening would be spent stressing about whether or not we’d make our 7pm flight back to Brisbane.

The trams weren’t running to service due to some major construction, so we ended up catching a bus half way to St. Kilda, then swapped back to a tram. It was overcrowded and smelt like fear from all the tourists having their travel itineraries displaced. To top it off, a homeless woman threw a suitcase at me. Followed by three plastic bags full of her belongings. I looked at Susan, who was in as much shock as I was. Clearly her idea for a relaxing day at the overcast beach wasn’t exactly going to plan.

We ate at this amazing cafe called Sisters of Soul, went for a walk on the pier, watched my handbag break, and got on a tram back to the city.

We made it to the library, can you tell?

Susan wanted an acai bowl for lunch, so we Googled the closest place that sold one and took our marching orders. We had already discussed that tomorrow we’d go to Carindale to try and find some winter coats and boots for Norway, so when we passed one on our way to the next cafe we decided to pop in.

I was eyeing the hideous hiking shoes, when a shop a assistant stalked up behind me.

Clearly startled I said, “oh God”.

He said, “no, not God. Ron. Similar, we both have three letters, but it’s Ron”. He was bald and didn’t smile. I’ve changed ‘Ron’s’ name for safety purposes.

I laughed, awkwardly and said hello. We told him our dilemma and he told us to pick any shoe we liked the look of and he’d tell us whether or not it would suit our purpose.

They were all horrible. I wanted plain black, or something that at least wasn’t covered in fluorescent colour and screamed “I’M ACTIVE. LOOK OUR ACTIVE I AM IN MY ACTIVE SHOES”.

He made a slightly off comment about “being married to an African American” and “how they control you”. He could tell he’d made us uncomfortable, and quickly made it better by saying “don’t worry, I’ve lived in the Middle East for 6 years — want to hear me speak Arabic? No? How about Ethiopian?” Feeeew, crisis averted, you’re definitely not racists if you’ve lived in the Middle East and can say a few words in a different language. Much impressed very wow. Then continued to tell me how he dated an identical twin who shared her sisters clothes which was “very creepy”, and how I “looked like his roller derby friends”, and while I was trying on a pair of shoes and posing for Susan that this wasn’t a “Dangerfield photoshoot”. Ron was in his mid 40s. Ah-ha please stop talking.

They didn’t have any bags left, so we got our slightly disgusting boots and left.

Three blocks of complete silence, trying to process Ron and his hatred for the world, or his job, or both.

“One more block, and we’re there”. I panted. Susan smiled. Not a real smile, but a ‘I don’t know what just happened but I’m glad it’s over’ smile.

Thank goodness for Melbourne’s generously cool weather in summer, otherwise we would have been dripping by the time we arrived.

It was closed. My eye twitched.

10/01/16

Our newest friends Todd and Sarah joined us at the Northey St. markets for coffee and grocery shopping, how very adult. I think the older you get, the more you value finding people that you actually like. It’s enriching and completely underrated.

Also quick note about shopping for winter clothes in Australia during the summer: Having found our boots in Melbourne, we decided it would be much more practical to get our coats at home in Brisbane. A massive thank you to the shop assistant who told us the only coat she had that was suitable was $600 – ON SALE. Ah, yes, no, see, we’re not that interested in being warm, thank you, bye.

This photo was taken inside QPAC. We were invited along to see Cirque Adrenaline, which was definitely funnier than what it was supposed to be. I think it is ill-advised to sit Hannah and myself next to one another. We spent half the time making incredibly inappropriate jokes.

11/01/16

Kimchi, my love, my dove, my everything, except my actual cat.

You came home today. Well rather, your ‘real’ owners did (my neighbours). And there you were, running up my stairs ready to resume our pattern of snuggles and biscuits. It had been a month without your love and I was feeling your loss. Thanks for clearly loving me more than your family.

12/01/16

Four years of my life were spent here. Well, not in that exact building, but on this campus. I returned my final textbook (yes I understand that it’s January and I finished in October 2015) today.

Thank you for housing my creativity and ambition -- and not fining me $164 for returning my library books late.

13/01/16

It’s easy to forget how self-conscious everyone is. A sushi bar is perhaps the best example of a room full of people feeling a little uneasy. We went out to dinner with one of our lovely friends Josh. While Suzie and him were engrossed in a conversation about people they once knew (they grew up together), I had the opportunity to people watch.

Ah, it’s lovely to realise that people are actually so unaware that you haven’t shaved your legs, or your nail polish is chipped, or your hair is pushing its greasy levels.

For the record, if anyone comments on anything mentioned above to you, you have my express permission to laugh in their face and sashay away.

14/01/16

Talk about a day of emotions! From a wonderful homemade breakfast with friends, to a minor car accident, to great client meetings, to being late to the first work meeting of the year, to watching groundbreaking cinema. I was ready for today to end.

I'm going to just take a moment here and strongly suggest you go and see Carol. After spending 2015 reading nothing but 'The Tragic Lesbian', this movie means the world to me. I refuse to ruin the ending, but I died -- in the best way.