Happy 20th Birthday to Me!

So this weekend was AMAZING. My birthday celebration basically began on Thursday, when the SAM Bar held a toga party. I had one of the classiest togas there, made from my blue bedsheet and a blue and yellow belt I have. We stole ivy from the walkway near the science buildings to add to the look. Almost everyone there was really into the theme.

Friday night I went to dinner and clubbing with people from the Queerspace. We went to Oxford St., the gay district. We were supposed to meet at Betty's Soup Kitchen for dinner. I walked in and asked one of the waiters (I think he was an owner as well) if there was a group of people there. He responded, "You're the second person to ask that; there's no big group here. Did they call ahead?"

"No, we were just supposed to meet here," I responded.

"Well, if you're going to have a big group, you need to call ahead. That way, we can be prepared for you," he said very snottily. I shrugged and decided to wait outside.

As soon as I got outside, a woman walked up and asked, "Are you for the Macquarie Uni thing?" I responded yes, and she introduced herself as Anna, a 30-year-old working at the university. She was looking to meet more queer people at the school; we stood talking to each other until Ash and Ashley (girl and guy, respectively) walked up. We got a table ("Is this your group?" the man sneered) and waited for more people...and boy did they show up. As each new person joined, the man got angrier and angrier. He lectured us at about eight people, informing us that we "have to call ahead." By the time we had about twenty kids, we had started turning away our friends ("Just sit at another table!" or "We'll text you when we get out of here, this guy's about to kill us"). The funny thing was, we were the only people there. If anything, he should have been happy that he was making so much money that night.

After that, we headed to a club called Arq. It's also known as Moist (guess which gender goes there the most?). We got there pretty early, so the club was pretty empty. For some reason, a large portion of the girls there were dressed as though they were going to a straight club. Ash said very succinctly, "Is femme in fashion or are there just a lot of hets here tonight?"

Moist was holding a contest for its next poster girl, and my friend Kat had entered. Most of the girls who had entered were really straight looking, so Kat stood out as being adorable but not so...heterosexual. She had a great interview and ended up jointly winning with a girl who did a split onstage. Our group screamed so loudly for her. It was fun getting to hang out with a bunch of the Queerspace kids outside of uni and to finally check out Oxford St. Next I need to check out Newtown, the lesbian district.

Saturday was my big party. All of my flatmates were so excited, and my friends were abuzz. I spent the day getting ready, going to the shopping centre to get snacks and drinks for the party, cleaning, etc. The only problem that we had was the lighting--at home I would have put up Christmas lights, but I couldn't find any cheap lighting for the place. My friend Diana had brought Christmas lights from home (the US), but they didn't work. Finally, Christian realized that we could place colored fabric bags over the lights (they're florescent lightbulbs, so we weren't in danger of burning the house down). We used a pink bag for the living room and a red one for the dining room. It gave such a chill vibe; Christian joked, "Now we can charge a cover at the door!" because it looked so much like a club.

I got dressed up in a nice pink shirt and black shorts with a tiara and costume jewelry that I had gotten at The Reject Store (very similar to Big Lots at home). The set included ridiculous cat-eyed glasses that didn't even go over my ears, seeing as they were meant for a four-year-old. Four, twenty, close enough, right?

While it started at 10 PM, people had started coming to our apartment by 8:30. Ben, Elisabeth's friend, and Mark, Ben's friend, started playing music (Ben's in a band). Ben played guitar while Mark started playing "drums" on a bookcase he dragged over. Somehow it became a primal drumming session, with the bookcase flipped over and four or five guys drumming on it. Matt from next door sang while Ben played "Brick in the Wall" and "Never Never Land."

By 11 the party was in full swing. A few of my Aussie friends from the Queerspace and the Womyn's Collective came out, which was probably the most gratifying thing. It's harder for them to come than anyone who lives on campus because they all had to take the bus or drive to campus for my party. The place was packed; everyone was having a great time. I had stolen a bunch of hip-hop, techno, and dance music from my friends' music libraries, so I had a great party mix on my iTunes going (though everyone kept going through my computer's music anyway and changing the music). I also left two disposable cameras around so that people would take pictures. I knew that there was no way I'd get everyone on my camera, so I wanted to see what sorts of crazy photos people would take. (I already had them developed at the Big W, and I have to say, they are the highest quality group of film-developed pictures I've seen in awhile. Usually with film, I end up with a pile of pictures that are blurry, repetitive, or just strange. While there's a few repetitive shots, they're all very fun.)

The Resident Tutors (RAs) came by once to ask us to make sure everyone stayed inside the apartment. I was definitely scared that we'd get shut down, since we're not supposed to throw big parties like that. However, they were very understanding and let us continue. Everyone had a great time; people are still talking about what a great party we threw! My flatmates and I are all so pleased that everyone had a great time. We pride ourselves on being good hosts.

My actual birthday was spent recovering from the party for most of the day and cleaning the house, then heading to dinner with my friends at night. I had wanted the whole of my apartment and apartment 6 to come out, but most people were either absent or too tired/lazy/busy to come. Christian and his girlfriend, Sarah (she's visiting for the next few weeks from Germany), couldn't come because Sarah is allergic to just about everything, so she can't really eat out without putting her life at risk. It ended up being Sarah, Elisabeth, Derek, Koji (one of the Japanese flatmates--side note, they are amazing and totally fit in with the four of us who have been here since February; it's great), and I went to Sumac, a North-African-Middle-Eastern influenced resturant in Darling Harbour. It was delicious and so much fun, though somewhat expensive. Sydney doesn't have the same range of resturants that the US seems to have. For example, at home I divide resturants into three tiers: fast food (cheapy-cheap), nicer resturants (Applebee's, TGI Friday's), and then the expensive resturants like Can-Can in Carytown that I've only gone to on dates. Sydney is missing the Applebee's tier, so it's either really cheap or expensive food. We each spent about $50 on dinner, but it was my birthday and we were all prepared for it to cost a lot. Plus, I got to dress up for dinner!

Most of my friends gave me small presents. It was so sweet. I got stuff like a giant chocolate easter egg, a photo album, a bracelet, and a Japanese fan with a stand (I wonder who the last present was from...). I feel like this year I've been the most appreciative of gifts I've been in my life because I didn't expect a thing. My favorite thing was the card that accompanied the gift from Keisoke (Kes-kay) and Koji (Koh-gee). It was so cute because it's clearly from non-native English speakers.

I'd say that this has been the best birthday I've ever had. Being in Australia, surrounded by such amazing people, it doesn't get much better than this. Of course, having friends and family (not to mention the sweetest boyfriend in the whole world) from home would have just made it better!

Wow, I have written probably too much. I think that, because I haven't been good about keeping up my own journal, this has basically been my only record of how Australia is going. That's why every entry is packed with little details. I love you all and I hope you're all doing well!

Before I forget...to announce the name of my wombat! I had some amazing entries; thanks to all of the awesome suggestions.

2nd runner up: not Dagmar

1st runner up: Lloyd

PRESENTING, MY WOMBAT...

ALEX THE ANDROGYNOUS!

The phrase "gender unsure of itself" was just too good to pass up. Now I could totally start a TV show: Alex the Androgynous and Grumpy the Angry Wombats. What an adorable show...