MTV World Stage 2010 & Amanda's Birthday

Nothing much happened on Friday. I went to my Bahasa Kebangsaan class, I found out that only one other member of my group had finished their bit of the assignment, I took a quiz and I think that I did quite well on the second half, and I finally managed to get another kitten to trust me.

Saturday is where the real fun was at. I woke up at around noontime, did my daily Bible reading, took a shower, put on some jeans and the MTV World Stage 2010 t-shirt that I had won, and packed some extra clothes into my bag. A little later I was ready to go. I woke Hannah up from a nap to tell her to get ready to go, and also to tell her to bring her iPod so we'd have something to do while waiting, but she said she didn't want to carry it around with her, so I told her that she could just borrow Jan's speakers and just use the iPod in the car, but she told me that the speakers were broken or something so I said fine, whatever, let's go. I made sure to remember to bring Amanda's presents to the car, but I almost forgot our concert tickets. The tickets said the doors would open for MTV World Stage at 4pm, but Hannah and I left at 1:30 so we could eat at McDonald's before the lunch discount was over.

We took Aunty Rosie's Kancil to Sunway Pyramid. Along the way Hannah got annoyed at my singing so she slapped me in the face. I got upset with her because she hit me in my sunglasses and she might have damaged them. I don't mind pain, but I spent a long time looking for mirrored sunglasses, and I would hate to pay RM20 to replace them. Also it's stupid to hit someone in the face just for singing. I tried to hit her back in her sunglasses, but I only ended up smacking her forehead, but she told me later that they were Ebony's sunglasses so maybe it was a good thing that I missed.

Anyway, when we arrived, the usual parking area was closed, so we had to park in some alternative lot. It looked completely full, but fortunately we were in a small car so we found a spot to squeeze into. Hannah got out to guide the car into an inch-perfect place. We left the sunglasses, presents, and bag in the car.

Along the way into the mall we saw the line, and it was very long. People were sitting down in groups all along the road. I figured that we'd just look for someone we know and slip in with them later.

Hannah and I made a lot of small, useless decisions along the way to McDonald's that didn't change anything. I had originally wanted to enter from a higher level, but Hannah insisted on a lower level, but after that we went up an escalator, but then we found out that McDonald's was on a lower floor and Hannah had been right all along, but whatever, we only wasted a minute or so. We also argued over whether to walk on the left or right side of the shops, but it didn't matter because either way we'd go to the same place. At least we had something to talk about, though.

The line at McDonald's was quite long, but I still managed to place my order around ten minutes before the lunch discount was over. I had a large McNuggets meal and I got Hannah a small coke. Our plan was to exploit McDonald's unlimited refills to ensure we did not get thirsty during the concert. I had originally wanted to drink around three cups of coke, but I only managed to refill once before I started to feel sick. Hannah only refilled once, too, and she suffered for it later.

Before we left the mall, we stopped off at a toilet. We both felt that that stop probably wasn't enough and that we were going to have to pee again once we got into the concert grounds.

When we got outside, the line had devolved into a massive crowd right outside the gates. Hannah and I managed to squeeze in quite close to the front. After a while I got bored of our spot, so I made a fake call to a fake friend who was further in front, and we politely squeezed through to get to him. We hit a point where we could no longer progress, so we hung up.

Somewhere around this time, I sent Amanda's sister, Geraldine, a text. I asked her where in the line she was, and she told me that she hadn't even left the house yet. I told her to hurry over soon since the doors were supposed to open at four.

After a while, the crowd got bored and started chanting "Buka pintu". Surprisingly, this worked, and only a few moments later the gates were opened. There was a lot of pushing, and a girl near us freaked out and started crying. Hannah held my hand, so I thought she might have been scared or something. I told her to stay close, to move forward whenever the rest of the crowd moved forward, and to protect her neck and chest if she fell and started getting trampled on. There was no trampling, though, and we were ushered down into a proper waiting area with fences and stuff to keep people in line.

We found a nice spot in a corner. There was a lot of space in the corner, so we could lean against the fence or sit if we wanted to. I met a Russian couple who were visiting Malaysia, and I had a nice chat with them. They were staying for three days, and tomorrow was their last day. They had planned to visit the Twin Towers, but I told them that the view from the Skybridge was pretty lame and that they would have a much better time at the Menara KL. They said that they'd consider it.

Hannah and I also saw a really hairy guy and a guy with freaky contact lenses. At one point I saw a girl in a Spongebob cap who looked like Geraldine, so I sent her a text asking if she was wearing a Spongebob cap. She replied that she had just arrived, and she wanted to know where the line was. I sent a few texts trying to guide her over, but after a while I decided to find her in person, so I told Hannah to stay put while I slipped out through a hole in the fence to go find Geraldine and her friends. This was already around 4:15, so the doors could have opened at any time, but the risk made it more exciting.

It didn't take me very long. I walked into the mall, stood around for a bit, received a text from Hannah asking if I had found Geraldine yet, started typing my reply, saw someone who looked like Amanda except smaller, said "Geraldine?", and just like that I had found her. I changed my reply to Hannah's text from "Nope" to "Yeah", then I showed Geraldine to the hole in the fence. I slipped through, Geraldine slipped through, but Geraldine's friend stood around for a while, so someone inside the line opened up the fence, which caught a guard's attention, so nobody else was allowed to slip into the fence. Geraldine's friends went around to the back of the line, I think.

Amanda's uncle had managed to get a pair of VIP tickets, but Geraldine had swapped them for X-Zone Passes, since they were closer to the front. The friends that she had arrived with had normal passes, though, so I offered to swap our normal passes with her so that she could be with her friends, but she was already meeting some friends in the X-Zone. Still, it was worth a shot.

Somehow another hole had opened up in the fence in front of me because a bar had come loose. I told a guard about it, but he told me not to worry. His boss came by to try and fix it, but he left without doing much. When they finally started letting people in, Hannah wanted to slip through to cut line. I let her and Geraldine go through first, then I followed them. Because of this, we were the first few in.

Hannah and I were let in before Geraldine, but since we were in different sections anyway so it didn't matter if we split up. Our tickets were processed, we got our arms stamped, we were given ponchos in case it rained and fans in case it didn't, and we were told that there was no re-entry, so once we were in we couldn't leave until it was over. Hannah was in a big rush to get to the line, but I knew that we were way ahead, so I wanted to take my time. I stopped to look at the tigers that they have at Sunway Lagoon. They were huge and awesome. I called Hannah over to look at them, but she only stopped for five seconds or something. I don't know why she was so bored by the tigers. They were so huge and awesome.

Anyway, we went down some escalators into the wet park. There were loads of security and event coordinator people telling us not to run, but Hannah ran anyway. I let her get ahead of me. Along our way to the surf beach I heard Self-Inflicted playing from some speakers that were set up presumably to promote the concert. I had hoped to hear that and Mannequin at the concert, so I was relieved that even I could say I heard at least one of them even if they didn't end up on the set list. I also got handed a stick of free gum by some promoters of the new Five gum. It was really good. Oh yeah, there was also a water fountain along the way, so I had a drink from there as well.

Hannah was standing in line to get into the surf beach. I told her that I'd hold the spot while she went to the toilet, and then when she got back I could hold the spot when she went to the toilet. She told me that she didn't need to pee, so I told her that I'd head off first and meet her inside. She yelled "I hate you" to me as I was walking away. Such a nice girl.

I passed Geraldine going the opposite way. I asked her if she had seen the tigers and she said she had. That was all I saw of her until the end of the concert. Nothing really notable happened at the toilet. Well, all the urinals were empty, so that was nice. Also there was barely any water from the taps, so I just lathered up my hands with the soap and walked over a water fountain to rinse off.

When I got to the surf beach I noticed that the stage was on the opposite side of where it was last year. Hannah had sent me a text saying she managed to get to the very front of the normal zone, and indeed she had. I met up with her and she was right up against the railing. We established a meeting by the port-a-potties, and then I felt a stomach ache and realized that I might have to use the toilet again, and this time not to pee. I told Hannah to keep a spot for me, and that I was going to look for a toilet. Hannah told me to use the port-a-potties, but I was sure I could find a normal loo with a sink and toilet paper and stuff if I looked hard enough.

I did managed to find some real toilets, but they were only for those with VIP passes. Fortunately, right nearby was a deluxe port-a-potty, which had a sink and soap and even toilet rolls. Unfortunately, the toilet paper was depleted. I found a snack counter and they let me have some tissues, but when I returned, the toilet was occupied. I had to use a lesser one next door. It had everything the other one had, but it was a bit more cramped and there was no soap dispenser by the sink. It did have plenty of toilet paper, though, so that was nice.

I was hoping for a false alarm, but alas, that was not the case. I was in there for what felt like an hour. I texted Hannah and said that I wouldn't be joining her for a while and that she should go make some friends or something. I was never really sure when I was done, I just waited to see if anything else was going to happen. After fifteen minutes of inactivity and a much more settled stomach, I assumed I was safe and cleaned up. Port-a-potties flush in different ways. It was interesting to watch.

When I finally exited, I was absolutely drenched in sweat. I was so soaked that my stamp was just an ink smear along my arm. The temperature in the toilet wasn't my concern any more, though. I had washed my hands, but there was only water there and I felt that it would have been terribly inconsiderate to enter a crowd after an experience like that without the assurance of soap-and-water levels of hygiene. I asked around to see if any of the staff knew where I could find a sink with soap, but they told me that there were none of those at the surf beach. One of the security guys said I could leave the surf beach to wash my hands because they would let me back in as long as I produced my tickets.

I left the surf beach, washed my hands twice in the toilet at the wet park, lathered up for a third time, realized there wasn't enough water, walked over to a water fountain to finish up, got offered two more sticks of free gum, accepted two more sticks of free gum, rinsed off in the fountain, and drank a little more. After that I ate the gum, and it was good. The fruity flavour is probably the best gum flavour that I have ever tasted. I wish I hadn't chewed it and the mint one at the same time. Oh well.

I got back to the concert grounds and met up with Hannah. I hadn't missed anything. Ads and music videos were playing on the two big screens that had been set up on either side of the stage. We watched those for a long while. The concert only started at seven or seven thirty, and it was only a little after five.

We stood around doing not much. For a while it was hot, so Hannah took the plastic cover off her fan to keep cool. I wanted mine pristine, so I left cover on. It wasn't really affecting its ability to cool me down, anyway. After a while, it started to rain. Hannah put on her poncho pretty early, but I decided to tough it out like I did last year. The only difference was that I was in the middle of the crowd last year, so the rain mostly fell on my head and I was kept warm by all the people around me. This year I was up against the railing, so my whole front was open and cold. Also the person behind me was being selfish and not snuggling close, so my back got wet and cold, too.

Before long I was wishing that I had worn the poncho, but by then the rain had picked up and was absolutely pouring down, so it was too late to turn back. The pool actually started filling up, but the water didn't reach much higher than most people's shoes. There was a metal step in front of the railing which we were standing on, so we were out of the water. That didn't stop my socks and shoes from becoming soaked through, though.

Eventually the rain died down to a drizzle, and guys in the X-Zone started taking off their shirts. I took off mine to give it a wring, which helped a lot more than I thought it was going to. There was a lot of water in that shirt. Anyway, the drizzle kept up for the next few hours. It stopped a little before the final set, I think.

The VJs came out to entertain people with freebies and stuff. They were dressed quite snazzily. VJ Utt (The guy who gave me my tickets after I danced at the road show) had a top hat. VJ Sean from Korea (the guy who interviewed me last year) was wearing a bowler hat. There were two other VJs, but they weren't as charismatic Shaun and Utt.

Finally, after a long while of waiting, the show began. There was a thirty second countdown, and by the time it hit twenty, everyone was counting down alongside it. The crowd was a second fast, though. That kind of impatience would become something of a theme for the night.

When the counting was over, Bunkface performed their set. It was energetic, it was loud, it was awesome. I did a lot of jumping and fist banging. There was one brilliant part where the video of animated rock fists on the LED screens behind the stage was moving in perfect sync with the rock fists of everyone in the crowd, mine included. During their set I noticed that Prom Queen borrows quite heavily from Fallout Boy's Dance Dance, especially the bass and drums. I sang along really loudly to Through My Window, and after the song Hannah asked me who it was originally by. She thought it was a cover because I knew all the lyrics. The truth is a bit more embarrassing; it's actually from a TM advertisement. I liked the commercial so much that I downloaded the song because of it. In my defence, it's a pretty awesome song.

After the set there was a long wait, there were more ads and music videos, more freebies from the VJs, then the next set was announced. It was Wonder Girls. I was a bit upset. I thought I had been waiting for Katy Perry all that while. Anyway, after I heard what the next set was, I managed to find room to sit. It was nice to sit. Earlier on we had laid some discarded ponchos on the ground so that we could stand on them which was a lot less painful for our feet than standing on the hard metal, and now we were sitting on them and it was even softer and nicer. I stood up when the screens started playing Waking Up in Vegas, but the video cut off halfway through.

I thought the next set was going to start right then, but instead we got a bunch more ads before the curtains finally opened on the Wonder Girls. They were all in cages, and they held poses for a while. When the lights fell on them, they danced for a bit, then stopped. After a while they all broke out of their cages and started dancing. Their dancing was pretty good, and they were pretty hot. There wasn't much in terms of audience participation, though. There wasn't anybody jumping about or throwing their arms in the air or anything. They didn't have a band or anything, either, and I think they might have been lip-syncing. When the time came to dance to Nobody (or the song before it), they picked up some prop guitars to dance with. At one point they shot fireworks out of the guitars. That was pretty cool. The went off stage halfway through the song, then returned in different costumes to finish.

There was a lot of waiting after that. Apparently some new VJ was chosen as part of the end of some reality TV show or web search or something, but I don't think anyone was really paying attention to that. People started getting bored. Some people started booing, but those people were idiots. Eventually it was announced that there were some technical difficulties, but Tokio Hotel would be on stage in fifteen minutes even if the difficulties weren't resolved. That was cool.

Tokio Hotel were pretty great. The lead singer was ridiculously gay, though. I'm not sure whether he actually dates dudes, but he sure looked like he did. He looked like a woman. He looked like an old lesbian. His hair was madness. His outfit was worse, but amazing in its own way. It was a spectacle, that's for sure. The songs were pretty great. I had a lot more fun during Automatic than I thought I would. I was jumping and singing along and stuff. There was one song where a huge motorcycle emerged from under the stage with him on it. Hannah said it looked like he was humping it. I don't blame him, it was an awesome-looking chopper. In between songs he talked to the crowd. His sounded as gay as he looked. It was hilarious. He had a lisp and a German accent and he talked about all the "special moments" that they had had "on zis stage, with zis crowd, on zis tour". Hannah and I mocked him for the rest of the set, but he's still an awesome performer. He's cool in his own crazy way, like Lady Gaga. Anyway, we spent a long time waiting for them to play World Behind My Walls, since we felt that would be the last song. They played something like five songs before getting to it. It was only when I saw the video on the LED screens behind the stage that I realized the song was about the Berlin Wall, and I felt a bit stupid. I sang along and had a good time, and then I got ready for them to leave and Katy Perry to come on. We had no such luck, though, because there were a few more songs left. There was one with a piano that had emerged from under the stage and replaced the chopper, and then, after another speech about special moments, one final song which ended in a shower of fireworks from the front of the stage that lasted way longer than I thought it would. It was awesome. Oh yeah, there were also loads of pyrotechnics during Dark Side of the Sun, and I thought I could feel the heat from where we were. That was cool, too.

After that there was more waiting. Everyone had gotten bored of the ads and music videos. I thought I had, too, but then I realized what Bunkface's Prom Queen video was about (Time goes in reverse for everyone that the girl touches), and that was nice. The VJs came out to say something, but their microphones stopped working halfway through so we never found out what it was that they were going to say. Oh yeah, some time during one of the previous freebie giveaways, a couple of lanyards made it to our part of the crowd. One was caught by the people directly behind us. Another landed just in front of the railing, where one of the staff picked it up and handed it into the crowd. It was caught by me and this other guy. I thought we could settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissors, but he didn't agree, so I just let him have it. While we're on the subject of semi-interesting things that happened in between sets, Hannah sent a tweet that ended up onscreen. It was a shout out to Katy Perry's cat, Kitty Purry. Hannah was pretty thrilled, so we high-fived. Also, earlier, I had tried to start a chant of "Ka-ty, Ka-ty, Ka-ty", but after three Katys, no-one else had joined in, so I stopped and hung my head in shame. I think it could've caught on if Hannah had backed me up.

While we were waiting for Katy Perry, some guy to the left of Hannah had elbowed his way to the railing. He was pushing everyone to the right to try and make more space for himself. Hannah kept complaining to me about him, so I finally agreed to swap places with her. Everyone on the right was annoyed with him, but he wouldn't move. I pushed back, and they helped me. Eventually the girl to his left stepped back from the railing, and there was more space for everyone. He probably ended up being the most hated dude at the concert, though.

Katy Perry's set finally arrived, and it was awesome. Her band was dressed in white tuxedos, and her back-up singers were wearing red and white striped dresses. Katy Perry herself was dressed in a glittery ballerina-type outfit, complete with a tutu/skirt type thing. She opened with California Gurls, during which she threw a huge prop cherry into the crowd. Hannah and I were really jealous of the X-Zone people at that point. After California Gurls she talked for a bit and dedicated the next song to "All the girls in the crowd who don't want to be one of the boys". Hannah and I were surprised to find that we seemed to be the only people who knew the lyrics to One of the Boys, but that just made us sing even louder. After that, I can't really remember the order of the rest of the songs. I'm going to assume Waking Up in Vegas came first. She dedicated it to her favourite place in the USA to party. When that was over, she sang her new single, Teenage Dream. Hannah seemed to be the only person in the audience who knew they lyrics, which made her feel quite happy. After performing Teenage Dream, Katy Perry talked about how three years ago she could never have imagined performing in front of 15,000 people, and then she said she was going to sing a song from her past. That song was Thinking of You, and it was awesome. It also gave us a chance to rest since that is not exactly a song to be jumping and fist-pumping to. The next song was, though. She left the stage for a while and when the music started again she was talking about rumours that had been going around about her kissing someone. "I kissed a WHAT?" she asked (I later learned this was a reference to the censored version of the song that we've all probably heard on Malaysian radio: "I kissed a ****". Probably the dumbest thing they've censored since "beer" and "glock") as she and a pair of oversized gingerbread lady props rose from the stage. We answered, and she told us to sing along. I Kissed a Girl was a really, really energetic song. I loved it. When it was over, she asked us if we were ready for a new song, and everyone said yes. She said it was about a bird, and a second later I realized which song she was going to sing so I yelled out "Peacock!", and I was proven right a few moments later. That made me feel pretty superior for a while. It was a fun song about dongs. Dong songs are great (The Meaning of Life has plenty of proof to support this point), so I was enjoyed it.

After Peacock was over, Katy Perry said that "they" had told her she had to leave, and that she had to take all the colour with her. She walked up to the screens behind the stage and put her hand on it, and all the colour of this beach scene that was up there got sucked into her hand, which was awesome. Then she started singing Hot N Cold, which was even more awesome. She started the first verse on a different key than normal, so the crowd couldn't sing along at first, so we got to pay even more attention. She tried to through a prop cupcake into the crowd, but she only ended up breaking off the tip. Her second attempt, with both hands, ended up a lot better. Hannah and I were once again jealous of all the people in the X-Zone. She also threw her skirt into the crowd, but it almost didn't make it to the railing. She climbed off the stage and leaned off the railing into the crowd, which was so awesome. Later on I found out that Geraldine got to touch her when she did that. Lucky girl. After that, Katy Perry climbed the scaffolding on the side of the stage like Tyson Ritter and Martin Johnson had done last year, which was also awesome. The whole song was non-stop awesomeness. Halfway through, these huge black-and-white balls that had been hanging from the side of the surf beach were cut free, and they were bouncing all over the crowd. It looked like so much fun. Unfortunately, they never made it to our section. The X-Zone got to handle six of the eight balls, though, so once again Hannah and I were super jealous of everyone there. When the song ended, a whole lot of fireworks were launched above the crowd as Katy Perry left the stage. Usually people would have left at that point, but the balls were still bouncing and people wanted a chance to touch the balls, so they stayed.

Someone came out and announced that the Wonder Girls would be performing a final song, so there was still something worth staying for. I thought that was pretty great, because then all those people who left after the Wonder Girls were done would be missing out. Did I mention that there were people who left once Wonder Girls and Tokio Hotel were done? Well there were, and all those people were fools.

The X-Zone was opened up to everyone so that it would look full for the cameras. I went with Hannah so we could touch the giant balls. Along the way we tried to find some fans in good condition, since mine had fallen behind the railing. Luck was on our side that day, and we found two fans identical to ours, still in their plastic. I tried to give Geraldine a call or send her a text to find out where she was, but the rain had messed up my phone and the screen was all white. It still is. By tilting it at an angle I managed to get enough colour to render it usable. I sent Amanda a text wishing her a happy birthday, and then I got a text from Geraldine saying that she had left already, so I told Hannah that we were going, and we left.

The was a huge crowd at the escalators. They were letting people go up in groups to keep things organized. Hannah and I slowly made our way forward. Along the way I noticed a huge snake in the reptile cages. That was cool. Also cool was the fact that they had gotten the down escalator to go up.

After the escalators, I went to go see the tigers again, but they weren't in their enclosure. They probably were sleeping in a separate indoor area. They also might have escaped. That would have been pretty cool, too.

Anyway, we left Sunway Lagoon and went into the mall to find Geraldine. Hannah was really thirsty and wanted a drink, but there was no place with cheap drinks. I found Geraldine the same way as I did last time: I went up to the most Amanda-like girl that I could see and said "Geraldine?" and it worked. Her friend was coming home with us, too.

As we walked to the car, we talked about last year's World Stage and how Geraldine had been there, too. She was in the back while I was in the Mosh Pit, so there had been a reversal of roles between 2009 and 2010. We also talked about other concerts that she had been to, and what her favourite set of the night was.

We got in the car and I told the girls in the back to buckle up, but they thought it was a silly idea. I don't understand why Amanda's family (and most of my friends) are so reluctant to buckle up. It's such a small thing and can save lives, plus it'll keep you from falling about during tight corners and from getting fined when the police are about. Anyway, when we left Sunway I pondered aloud whether I should take the u-turn and go back to KL via the way with a bunch of tolls, or go through the roundabout and back via the Federal Highway, which has no tolls. Geraldine told me to take a completely different route up the flyover that she said her mother always takes, so I did. We ended up taking a fifteen minute detour that ended up leading us right to where the u-turn would have. It could have been worse, though. We could have ended up in Shah Alam.

During the drive Geraldine talked to her friend, and Hannah talked to me. We talked about Katy Perry, and how her boobs weren't as big as they seemed her music videos. Her butt was awesome, though, and impossible not to notice every time she turned around in that outfit.

There was a police checkpoint on the way back that lead to a lot of congestion. I started giving the girls grief about getting me fined for the one time my passengers aren't wearing their seatbelts, so they reluctantly buckled up. They police waved us through, and the rest of the drive was smooth and clear.

At some point Hannah called me a creep, so I started singing the song. Geraldine recognized it and asked me who it was by, so I said Radiohead. Hannah dared me not to sing Push after, but I did not have the willpower. I only sang the chorus, though.

I dropped Geraldine and her friend at Amanda's house. There were still people there for the party. I drove back home to drop Hannah off and to take a shower. After my shower I went back to the car and drove over to the party.

Geraldine's friend had already left in the twenty minutes between when I dropped them off and when I came back. Geraldine was still awake, though. I said happy birthday to Amanda and gave her presents to her. She asked me if I had accidentally bought two books, and said no, I had bought two books on purpose. She turned to ask Marc to help her open the book. It was only then that I noticed that Marc was there, so I said hi. I also noticed that Amanda was pretty drunk.

Someone brought some whiskey and some of the guys took shots from World Cup glasses. I asked if they had a Netherlands glass, but they only had four. Oh well, I was driving back anyway.

While Marc was reading the book to Amanda, I went inside to go have some leftovers. Amanda's mum gave me a list of the options, but in the end I settled on cake. I went back outside and Amanda thought it was so great that I had chocolate on my face. I asked if she got my text, and she said she couldn't remember. I told her that I wanted to send one at exactly 12am, but I was a bit busy at the concert. She said it was so sweet that I was going to send a text at 12, and that it was so sweet that I came to her party. I reminded her that I told her I would have missed Katy Perry to go to her party if I had to, and I think I got an "Awww" for that.

A little later I went to sit next to Geraldine to finish my cake. She was texting someone. I asked her whether it was a guy or girl, and she asked me if I could tell her why she would be texting a girl at four in the morning. I told her it sounded like the kind of thing Hannah would do. After that I asked her if it was a guy friend or a boyfriend, and she said it was just someone who had been to World Stage, too, so they were talking about that. While I was sitting with Geraldine (this may have been later on in the night, I only remember where I was, not when I was), Amanda went outside to throw up. As she was walking inside I noticed that her shirt was wet, and I told Geraldine. "She puked on MY shirt?" she asked. "Well, I guess it's her shirt now," was my response. I should have said something witty about a birthday present, but I was pretty tired. At least I now know I'm not the only one among my friends who has thrown up on their birthday.

Afterwards we played Taboo. At first it was just me, Geraldine, and one of Amanda's relatives named Jose (I think it was Jose who was playing with us, it might have been someone else). Amanda also has a relative named Pedro. Neither Jose nor Pedro is a Mexican, as far as I know. Cool names, though.

After a while we decided that taking turns and keeping score was too complicated, so I was just handed a stack of cards while everyone else tried to guess. As the night went on a few more people arrived, and more people started playing Taboo either because they ran out of things to say to each other or because Taboo is fun.

Eventually the second most drunk person (Amanda was the first) at the party insisted we play something else instead, so we did. He just asked questions to which he didn't know the answer to, and whoever gave the most correct-sounding answer won. After a few questions, I went indoors to go see what Amanda was doing.

When Amanda saw me she told me how she couldn't believe that I had written that she had called Elo stupid in her blog. I said I hadn't, I had said that she said Elo might have been stupid, and that was different. She said that it was fine because she was used to being honest about people and having them not talk to her for the rest of the day or something. Girls, eh? She told us about this one time Joanna had ignored her for a whole week. Now Joanna knows her better, though, so whenever she says something that Joanna doesn't like Joanna will just tell her to shut the fuck up instead of giving her the silent treatment. Friendship is like that. Anyway, I told Amanda that I had posted what I had on my blog because I'm always upfront on it, like how I had posted about Ian's appreciation of her boobs when he was drunk on his birthday. She had not read that post yet, and she told me that that information was "disturbing". Maybe I should be a little less upfront.

Later on a guitar was taken outside, and Marc played Wonderwall and Hotel California. I had When You Say Nothing at All stuck in my head, but nobody could play it. Still, guitars are cool. Sometime during the party, Amanda had wanted to ride my motorcycle. I told her that that was probably not a good idea, and anyway I had driven over in a car. Also people kept talking about the cake and how good it was. Amanda's mum had baked it, but Amanda and Geraldine know the recipe.

After a while a lot of people started going home, and soon it was just Marc, Amanda, and me outside. Amanda wanted to go for a walk, but Geraldine came up to tell her that her omelette was ready, so Marc said she should eat first and walk later. He handed me the guitar to take downstairs, so I did.

When I got downstairs, Jose was eating the omelette, Geraldine was Facebooking and another of Amanda's relatives whose name I forget was playing the guitar. He didn't know how to play When You Say Nothing at All either. Jose was going to eat half of the omelette and save the other half for Amanda, but when I went back upstairs Marc and she weren't there, so he finished it. After that he played the guitar for a while.I asked about who had been at the party earlier, and apparently there had been loads of people. Joanna, Davinia, and Kaminie had been there. Marc had been there since it started at seven.

Marc and Amanda came back after a while, but they weren't interested in omelettes. Amanda went straight to bed. The other relative with the guitar went home, so Jose, Marc, and I were the only guests left. We talked for a bit while Geraldine was napping on the table. I found out that Mark Ker Kang from our building went to the same school as Geraldine, and that they have a very different opinion of his mum than we do. Apparently she doesn't scare them.

Marc went down to say goodnight to Amanda, and I followed. We went into Amanda's room to see if she was there. Marc thought he saw her on her bed, so he went over to give her a hug and say goodbye. It was only after his "Goodnight Amanda" was met with a "Amanda's not here" when he realised that we were looking at her mum.

Amanda was in another room. After Marc gave her his hug and goodbye, I gave her mine. I also wished her a happy birthday again. We went upstairs and left with Jose while Geraldine locked up. After telling each other to drive safe and have a good night, we all drove back to our respective homes.

I was really tired when I got back, so after taking out my contact lenses, brushing my teeth, and changing into my pyjamas, I went right to bed. I figured that I didn't need to do my exercises because of all the jumping about and fist-pumping in the concert. I also didn't feel as if I had gotten dirty enough at Amanda's party to warrant another shower.

The next day I had trouble waking up because I was right in the middle of the deepest stage of sleep or something. Eventually I got up, and then later on I had a chicken chop, which was delicious, and then later on I stayed awake through the whole church service, and then later on I took a six-hour nap, and then later on I spent way too long writing this blog post. Hannah only spent 20 minutes on hers. Lucky girl.

I have a meeting in college on Monday. Also I used up the last of my money on potato chips and a drink that I owed Hannah. I hope August's allowance is in my bank when I need it for lunch tomorrow. I also hope that my phone gets better.