I'd Go for the Slightest Reason

So the past two days I've gone to HELP. Yesterday I went for a meeting, and today I went to help Elo with some homework. The meeting ended up lasting less than five minutes, and I knew less about Elo's homework than she did, so I wasn't much help. Still, I had fun.

Yesterday started with me waking up at six, putting my alarm on snooze for ten minutes, waking up again, turning off the alarm for good, falling asleep on the couch, falling asleep during my Bible reading, falling asleep after my Bible reading, then finally waking up at around eleven to actually start the day.

I think I started with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The peanut butter was crunchy because smooth is boring, and the jelly was actually jam because nobody calls it jelly. Actually, the sandwich might have happened on another day, but I've made mistakes due to memory before on this blog and I'm hardly going to go back and correct them. Anyway, after the sandwich I climbed the stairs, then I took a shower, then I got dressed, then I grabbed my bag and left. Jared had given me a couple of Adrian Mole books to read because he said that my blog reminded him of them, so I had those in my bag along with The World is Flat, which was a book by Thomas L. Friedman that I've been slowly re-reading over the past few months.

When I got to college, I had a very brief chat with Elo and a bunch of other people. They were watching a gay black guy answer questions and dis Airplanes. I like Airplanes. Anyway after my very brief conversation I went to my meeting, since it was scheduled for twelve thirty and it was already twelve twenty-something. While I was walking to the meeting I wondered why the gayest gays always seemed to be black. I don't have anything against either of those groups, I was just wondering why the gayness got so much more potent when you combined them. Oh well, I guess it's just one of those things.

None of the people I was supposed to be meeting were at the DSA, so I made a few calls and tried texting them for a second time (I had texted them once before I left). I could only reach Mun Lee, and she that said she was on the way. In the meantime I decided to sit down and read Jared's books.

I found a place next to Roshaan and Deborah. They were working on Roshaan's reflective writing assignment for his Psychology, which was due that day. A bit last minute, but it turned out okay in the end. I offered my comments every once in a while. I'd like to think I helped.

The book was quite good. It was like The Princess Diaries, but more masculine, and more 80s, and more British. Actually the only element it had in common was that it was also a diary. Whatever, it was good.

Lee Kening told me that she was on her way home already since she hadn't known about the meeting, so I told her not to worry and that things would be fine so long as I got Roy's and her parts of the assignment before Wednesday. Mun Lee showed up and gave me her bit of the assignment. After the files were on my thumb drive, there wasn't much left to do, so she left.

I spent a bit more time reading, and I left when Roshaan left. As I was walking back, Carmeni spotted me, and we walked and talked for a short while. I told her that I had been waiting for her when I arrived, and she said that she had been free from 12:30 to 2:00, which was unfortunate since two o'clock had just arrived. Before she went to class I tried to make plans to see Inception after finals. She said that as long as I notified her three days beforehand she should be free to watch.

I rode home and didn't do much. I watched Man on Wire, which is highest rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes after Toy Story 2. It was indeed quite good. I also listened to a bunch of podcasts and played some RuneScape. Oh yeah, also I drove Hannah out to get some Five gum because she said that my blog post had made them sound so good. She got the fruity flavour and let me have two pieces for RM1. It was delicious.

I stayed up late and watched So You Think You Can Dance. I did my exercises during the commercial breaks. I started watching just after Jeanine's couple performance, and the rain killed the signal right before her trio performance. Her solo was quite nice, though. After TV I took a shower, then I went to bed. It was a really nice rest.

Earlier on the night I had been chatting with Elo online. She said that she was having trouble writing her Physics report, so I suggested she take a nap to help clear her head and get her more relaxed and focused. She did, and it kinda worked. I told her that I'd come by the next morning to see how I could help her out.

The next morning I was up at nine. I read my Bible and took a nap while Aunty Rosie fried up some pork sausages. I had been really hungry the whole of yesterday, so I asked my dad if we could have the imported sausages for breakfast today, and he said yes. Unfortunately this meant that I had to turn down Elo's offer of breakfast before homework, but I guess that just means I saved some money. The sausages weren't the kind I was expecting. They weren't the sweet, super-tasty sizzlers; they were just better-than-normal pork sausages. We should have saved them for a barbecue.

After breakfast I took a shower. Sometimes the morning showers are shockingly cold, sometimes they are tolerable. I wish they would stay consistent. Morning showers are the second good habit I've picked up from my college friends. I do my 100 push-ups and sit-ups every night because a while ago Amanda told me how she had done push-ups every day for months and ended up with a rock-hard stomach, which I was envious. I think my stomach's gotten harder, but I can hardly go back for reference, so I guess we'll never know.

Anyway, once I got to HELP I found Elo and the rest (Nirai and Li Ying and Kaminie, if I remember correctly, which I probably don't) at their usual spot. I squeezed in through some wires and sat next to Elo. She tried to explain her report to me, but it was about circuits and I sucked at circuits, so I just sat dumbly and offered vague advice. I'd like to think that my presence was a morale boost, but I think my ignorance of the subject just worried Elo even more.

After a while, Kaminie and Elo decided to go to McDonald's, so I followed. Along the way I talked about MTV World Stage. I found out that even Li Ying had read my blog, but Elo hadn't. I'm surprised at the amount of people who do read this. Everything is so long.

Elo and I didn't order anything at McDonald's. It was the worst time for McDonald's, anyway; that dreadful period between eleven o'clock and twelve o'clock where you can't order breakfast any more but there's still no discount from the lunch menu. Kaminie got a meal, and after a while she decided to share her fries with us, so that was nice.

We stopped off at the post office on the way back. Elo wanted to ask a question about mailing some stuff back home instead of taking it with her on the plane, but there was a line and stuff and she felt she didn't have enough time, so we left. If it wasn't for the line I might have also seen about getting my license renewed.

I found out that the girls both had classes at the KPD, so they were going to take the bus. I asked why they didn't just bring their bags with them to McDonald's, since it would have saved them half a trip, and the answer was that they hadn't thought of it. Oh well, it was a short walk anyway. We got our stuff and went to the bus stop. The bus was already there, so our conversation was cut short. Even though it was only twelve hours ago, I've already forgotten what it was about.

Anyway, I said goodbye and got on my motorcycle. Kaminie waved to me from the bus window, so I acknowledged her. The rest of the ride was like hundreds (have I ridden back from HELP more than a hundred times? Probably. Wow) before it, so there's nothing much to say there.

When I got back, Ferris Bueller's Day Off had finished downloading, so I watched that. When I was half an hour in, I saw a bit in a scene that allowed me to get a reference that I had read a long while ago. I like it when that kind of thing happens. Shortly afterwards, Hannah came inside to get me to drive her to pick up Audrey so they could go watch Salt. I told her to wait a moment, so she did, and then after a moment was over we got our stuff and we left.

Aunty Rosie told us her car was out of fuel, so I called my dad to confirm that Ian was with him on the way to Ipoh. When I found out that he was, I took Ian's keys so we could use his Spectra instead. When we got to the car, we found that it was also empty. Oh well, at least it was a nicer car than a Kancil.

Our first stop was an Esso. Since Hannah was the one who wanted to go out, she was the one who paid for the petrol. We only got RM10 worth. The needle barely moved. When I was walking back to the pump after paying, I noticed that the car had a nasty scratch on its side. I hope Ian was the one who was using the car when that happened. I don't remember scraping against anything on the way to the petrol station anyway.

From the station we took what would have been a short cut, except that an ill-placed sign led us into a cul-de-sac, so we were delayed a bit. We got to Audrey's house eventually, though, and it wasn't hard to get to 1 Utama from there.

As I was driving back after dropping the girls off, I noticed that it was almost two o'clock, so the Kaminie and Elo's classes would just be finishing. I was right near the KPD, so I called them to see if they wanted a ride back. Kaminie was still working on an assignment, but Elo was up for it. The flow of traffic had changed a few months ago for the area, so I struggled for a bit to figure out how to get to where I needed to be, but I got there eventually. I pulled up outside the bus stop right as Teenage Dream finished playing on the radio. I was hoping I would arrive in time for Elo to hear it since it tied in with the World Stage conversation from earlier, but it was not to be. Oh well. We talked about her report during the very short drive to the main block. Elo said that Mr Naj had clarified some things, so she would be able to finish it in time to hand it in tomorrow, so that was nice.

After dropping Elo off, I drove back home. It felt like my first time driving into and out of HELP's parking lot in a car, but I've just remembered New Year's Eve so it was actually the second time. First time on a school day, though.

When I got back home I finished Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It was a good movie. I started watching the second episode of Sherlock (A new BBC series about Sherlock Holmes in the modern day. It's awesome), but I felt like a nap halfway through. When I woke up again it was six o'clock. I watched a bit more Sherlock, but I got a call from Hannah. I told her to buy some fries for me because I'd be there soon to pick her up.

Traffic is terrible in the city at six o'clock, so it took me longer than I thought it would. I figured Hannah and Audrey would have started snacking on my fries, and was mentally preparing myself for a half-empty fry packet when I arrived. I pulled up the mall right as Teenage Dream finished playing on the radio. I was hoping I would arrive in time for Hannah to hear it since it would be her first time ever hearing it on the radio, but it was not to be.

I wanted to head straight home to have dinner before dropping Audrey off later in the night when traffic got better, but Audrey said that she had to be home at seven for dinner. We were stuck in traffic for a long time. Audrey told me we could have avoided it all if I had taken a left instead of a right, so I asked her why she didn't tell me so earlier when I was merging into the right lane in preparation for a right turn. She said she thought I knew of a shorter way to her house. Silly girl. Anyway, while in the jam she showed me a video of Hannah eating a burger. She hyped it up a lot, but in the end it was just Hannah eating a burger (and some fries). I still thought it was funny, though.

After a lot of traffic we finally ended up at Audrey's house. We dropped her off and drove home. We were using my mum's car since it actually had fuel in it, but she needed it back. Along the way home I told Hannah a secret the same way she told me secrets: I made her promise not to tell anyone with threats of unequal retribution of she did, then told her I was going to tell her, then I changed my mind at the last moment, and right when she decided that she didn't want to hear it anyway because the consequences of letting it slip were too grave, I told her. The only difference is that when Hannah tells me a secret it's always something minor that I already know, but Hannah was surprised by mine. Whatever, it's nothing major.

When we got home I went down to the restaurant to give my mum her keys. She had some leftover carbonara on the table, so I ate that. It was still warm and really delicious. As we were walking upstairs my mum told me that the restaurant where the carbonara came from would be closing soon. I decided to visit it sometime soon for one last bowl of carbonara. I love carbonara.

Back at home Hannah showed me all the new underwear that she had bought. I also noticed that she hadn't been wearing a bra the whole day because there was no way to hide the straps with the new shirt that she had been wearing. Jan joined the conversation, which soon became about how Hannah was growing up too fast and how she was too young for everything. It was funny.

After dinner I finished watching Sherlock, then I compiled a bunch of Bahasa Kebangsaan stuff which I'll be printing on Wednesday, then I pasted some movies on what I had previously thought was a broken thumb drive, then I wrote this post and it didn't take half as long as I thought it would, so that was nice.