Emotions and Dinners and Boys and Stuff

I really need to work on my titling skills.

I don’t like using anything obvious, like “Mary’s Ball” or “Olivia Did This Thing That Really Bugged Me” or “What Happened in the Days since I Last Posted”. Those are boring and straightforward. But then I also think using the word “stuff” in a title is quite amateur and juvenile.

Ahem, anyway, back to the point.

Lots more things happening in my life here in cloudy ol’ Melbourne!

I went to Mary’s Ball last night, which is a dinner and dance thing thrown by St. Mary’s College. Every college has one, but it’s only yearly and Queens had theirs last semester. So I thought, well, this is the only time I’ll get to go to an Australian ball, so I went ahead and went!

It was very fun. Super fun, I’d say. Not like a ball like with ball gowns and princesses and a large staircase where people are announced at the top and they walk down with an escort on their arm, but more like… a wedding. Minus the speeches and toasts, plus a huge crowd of college age kids plus an open bar. Which means a wedding minus the old people and toddler cousins running around and boring stuff! Hooray!

Everyone got dresses up, which was fun. It’s black tie, so all the guys had to wear suits. Not necessarily tuxedos, but suits. They looked pretty snazzy. Men look so good in suits. Siggghhhh. And the ladies all looked fine, of course. Kind of homecoming dance style dresses. Not prom, with long dresses, but short ones. And lots of makeup and high heels. Even I wore heels, and I don’t wear heels! Well, to be honest, they were boots with heels, so not the full nine yards, but the closest you’re gonna get for me! Haha.

So I went with Third North, my favorite corridor, of course. I just love those guys. Before we left, I was texting Olivia, and she said “you should come up! All the girls want you to come up so we can all get ready together!” and I felt like I was back in high school meeting up at a friend’s house before a big dance, putting on way too much makeup and hairspray again! Ah, the good old days.

We went together, we took cabs and split the price because it wasn’t far and the cabs here are cheap, and we all sat together at the same table. It was Olivia, Riyana, Kat, Aly, Sarah J, Hong, Dan, Matt, Akhila, Ray, and I. The table was really funny actually, because at first it was segregated boys and girls, then Olivia and I were like “let’s break it up while the guys are gone!” because they were all getting drinks and so we sat in their seats, forcing them to switch seats, but then later in the night everyone was getting up and moving around, so no one was in their original seat. Haha it was funny. The “three course meal” turned out to be soup, dinner a half hour later, and then a dessert tray full of like 8 little bite-size desserts an hour later. It took forever, and the desserts were tiny! Such a let down. but I guess it was alright because it turned out to be so informal and everyone was walking around and mingling and talking the whole time, so the dinner part wasn’t really a focus.

I danced a lot, got my foot got my foot stamped on by some extremely pointy high heel at one point. I swear they broke my toenail, but then I didn’t get to inspect it until I got back to Queens and nothing was wrong. But it hurt like CRAZY. Yee-owch. I guess one of the good things about Australian dancing is you always have room, because people have their own little bubble of space where they dance. In the US, there’s always this thing about wanting to be in the middle of the dance floor for some reason, which means everyone squishes together to get to the middle and it is impossible to dance. Australians don’t have that inclination.

So there was an afterparty, supposedly, but then it turned out St. Mary’s didn’t book a venue, they just told everyone to go to the same bar, which meant it was packed and the line was extremely long. Which meant I walked down to a bar just to wait in line for a couple minutes and then give up because I am really impatient. I also lost half the Third North group, I was just with Ray and Riyana and Aly, so we searched around for the other guys, couldn’t find them, and decided to go back. We actually found some along the way then. Aly and I ended up taking a cab back, because it was only six bucks (soooo cheap!) and our feet were killing us.

We got back, and everyone else trickled in. I just hung out in the hallway in Third North because I knew that’s where everyone would be.

This thing happened that really bothered me, though.

I had told Olivia either earlier in the day or maybe the day before that I felt like I was really getting a crush on Matt. And that night, in her drunken state (everyone was drunk, even Ray, which is saying something) she walked out into the hallway where Ray and Matt and I were sitting eating Tim Tams. And she said, “two out of the three people sitting out here should be hooking up! Hahaha!” and ran off. Ray, having a girlfriend, got up and said awkwardly, “well, I’m outta here!” leaving me and Matt sitting there.

…

I was like, no way, Olivia did not just say that. Now I feel soooooooo completely awkward after having felt actually pretty not awkward around Matt the whole night.

At least she didn’t really imply that I liked Matt or anything, just that she thought we should hook up, but I mean come on. When I am always super aware of someone’s presence and self-conscious about anything I say to them, you don’t just throw that golden nugget of an opinion out there. Especially about me, who doesn’t hook up with guys and does not approach them in the same way you do at all.

I felt so awkward. I ran off to Sarah J’s room and leapt onto her bed, my subconscious telling me to get as far away as physically possible without actually running away.
Everyone was in there, and Matt came in soon after, it wasn’t, like, weird that I ran into Sarah’s room. (Sarah J, as it turns out, is becoming a really great friend, by the way. We had this moment last night while we were taking silly pictures together of WHY ARE WE NOT BEST FRIENDS YET type of a thing. She’s awesome. I feel like I could talk to her about this stuff.)

Everything’s gone back to normal since then, I am quite sure Matt doesn’t feel awkward around me at all. It just totally threw me off, and hinted at me liking Matt, which I told Olivia in confidence and expected her to not bring up any sense of it one drunken night. I was only mad at Olivia for a little while and was very upfront about how upset it made me. I think I might just want to be careful in what I tell her, just in case she decides to spill the beans to someone while she’s drunk.

It’s just that now I feel awkward. Because I am aware of it. Errrrggghhh. I wish I could just ignore these things.

Olivia actually told me later that people were asking that night if there was something going on with Matt and I, which is kind of cool. Maybe people see a connection…? I think they are also interested because Matt doesn’t usually get attention from the ladies. He’s kind of an oddball. I JUST THINK HE’S SO CUTE. GAH. Has no one else seen it??? Sheesh. And he’s really interesting and unique. Maybe I just like weirdos, I don’t know.

Anywhoo, I will post some pictures now! I took a lot last night, and I let Kat take over my camera for a while and she took a lot. Don’t worry, I’ll point out Matt!

Oh, and if you click them, the pictures get big, just a reminder! I know they look small on here. Enjoy!

Here's all the ladies! Lookin' snazzy! Left to right, it's Kat, Sarah J, Aly, Olivia, Riyana, and little ol' me!


Here are more third-north-ers! Left to right, it's Matt, Dan, Hong, and Sarah J. Matt's in the funny suit and blue shirt. GAH HE'S SUCH A DORK AND IT'S SOOOO CUTE!!!


Here's the whole table! We actually got everyone in! Clockwise, starting with me, it's me, Olivia, Ray, Akhila, Matt, Dan, Hong, Sarah J, Aly, Kat, and Riyana. :)


I went and sat with Matt for a while, since we were switchin' up the seats. Hee hee...


Sarah J and I!!! Love this girl. :)


Here is a series of photos taken by Sarah J of me and Sarah J. You know I would only make these faces if I really liked the person I was taking the picture with. It's true!




Oh, and Ray, because he rocks. :)








And Kat's pretty skilled at hammin' it up for the camera.




And, for your viewing pleasure, and to end this post, these faces. :D Hahahaha Goodnight!