A year in review (Started writing this on the 14/11/23 and only just finishing this now)
It's yet another year where I forget to post something here. Time is just something that goes faster and faster and I don't know how I feel about that. From what I can remember since the last post it's shockingly little. I'll try to piece together events but I don't think it'll be all that detailed as things just aren't as noteworthy as they once were and my standard of note worthy has drastically increased, gone are the days where I comment on the smallest conversations that gave me a spike of endorphins.
Honestly for the life of me the only things worth noting were that I see friends, have adventures, chill, play games or party. Don't get me wrong, I love all those things and cherish every moment but it's just something that doesn't really need describing for the record.
New years going into 2022 was spent at Fudge's place and as usual it was pretty lively and a hoot and a half. New years into 2023 however was spent at a friends place playing a few board games. Probably the tamest new years I've ever attended. This years will hopefully be much different.
Going through my Facebook events is beginning to bring up lost memories, going down the list I can start with a birthday party and then a graduation celebration/birthday which was one hell of a weekend!
It was a group of us in a penthouse suite near the beach. Amazingly my favourite Ramen chain was next to the hotel which I took great advantage of. We went clubbing, shopping, chilling and beaching. Notable experiences included a fire alarm being pulled and four buildings being evacuated while we were clubbing. We met up with two people from Melbourne and to this day keep in relative contact with. When outside I saw someone jacking off on a public bench and a girl peeing in the street. Gold Coast really is classy. After the club we hit up a karaoke bar. Last we were there we hired out a room however they removed the room and only have the public stage. Something surprising was that I recognised a few patrons from the last time (Which was over four years ago). During our time there we learnt more about our peers from Melbourne, they were two friends one guy one gal and the guy has had or has feelings for the girl but is a bit weird about it and the girl is unsure on her feelings with the guy. They've also dated in the past so it was a weird situation that has since been expanded on later funnily enough. The weekend overall was one that I would love to repeat again.
Next event off the rank would be a going away gathering for someone I know from University. Once I was there it turns out I hadn't seen her in around four to five years. I didn't even realise it and it baffles me to this day.
Skipping over to April there was a bucks day for one of my mates where we went axe throwing and pub crawling. Was an eventful experience though axe throwing was fun I definitely am not that great with it.
In May I organised a trip to bowling and karaoke which for the most part was lively though there was this one girl who brought along a problematic uninvited boyfriend. This guy was walking red flags to the point where he was trying to gain our favour by buying drinks all night and asking when to propose to her with a ring he recently bought (They had only been dating for less than two month). Conflict arose when he claimed that one of the people who came pushed him when it was just an accidental bump which resulted in conflict. Despite apologising and attempting to clear the air about the situation the guy just wouldn't have it and kept trying to fight him. Safe to say that was the last time I ever saw him and it turns out they broke up not long after though I wished I had learnt about that earlier as I had her blacklisted from events under concerns that I would have to interact with him again.
A few games nights and party dot the calendar up until my school reunion. An event I was dreading since the year began as I had volunteered to host it. Something I learnt was that Facebook events is a piece of dogshit and wouldn't notify people when I posted so getting payment was an ordeal. A stroke of good luck happened though when the venue called about numbers and upon hearing my low numbers they offered a different lounge at 75% off the price which was great as I was able to bring in more food on the night which was much appreciated by everyone. Overall the night was a success and I don't regret how it went down. Unfortunately it didn't go so well for one of the guests as his parked car had been run into as some how someone put their car into drive, went over the curb and did a lot of damage to the vehicle. Thankfully they left details but it was something one wouldn't expect on a night out.
Thailand. What. a. Trip.
I decided to go in earlier than my brother so I could spent the week relaxing before he came in to party hard. I don't overly regret that decision, I guess a week was a bit much as I ran out of activities pretty fast and I didn't want to solo any tours. I tried premium economy and it definitely made the difference in terms of space. The greatest thing too was that the seat next to me was empty so I was able to play games with ease. The transition in Singapore was nice as I tried their automated tram system and visited the butterfly sanctuary but it was damn hot outside so I took my pictures and rushed straight back inside. Reaching Bangkok was pretty easy and despite getting a little lost looking for the currency exchange I eventually got everything sorted. There was a bit of a language discrepancy in the taxi as it turns out the guy was asking for a price rather than just using the meter was was annoying. The first hotel was very nice and friendly. The next day getting to the airport was nice and easy though as a foreign looking guy it was easy for me to get ripped off but I wasn't much in the mood to take the train that day. Flying to Phuket and then going from the airport to my room worked out pretty well with no hassles. The week was mainly spent the time getting as many cheap massages as possible though a lesson I learnt was that I definitely should go to the back alley places instead of the main road ones. With Phuket being a tourist trap the language barrier wasn't too hard to navigate but the prices were pretty high in comparison to the rest of the country.
A week on and my brother came to join me and we went out clubbing. Safe to say getting drunk was impeccably easy as they are very generous with the portions of alcohol per drink. We went to one bar and it was a favourable experience other than having to buy the staff drinks for whatever reason. Granted playing games with them was fun and all but once we realised they were fleecing as much money as they could from us we left pretty promptly to go to the place I was longing to experience. The Ping Pong show. Entering the strip club we were immediately seated and next thing I know there's three strippers already flocked around me and I'm being fed shots. We were then ushered to the stage side seats for the main event. It was a lot more than what I was expecting. A lot. More.
It first started with multiple sewing needles on a long string about three meters long. Then it was razor blades. Then in the intermission a guy carrying buckets of water by his balls. The girl comes back with a bucket of water she places below her and then plop, a live eel, then two, three, four, five, I'm a little fuzzy on the final number but it was around 6 to 8 eels swimming around in the bucket. I was shook. A stripper kept trying to feed me shots and I spill one on accident. I managed to get the attention of some patrons across from me as I licked up the spilt drink like a True Blue Aussie. Later the stage girls asked for a volunteer and my brother throws me straight under the bus so up I went. They took my shirt off, seated me down and proceeded to beat me with rubber sticks. I couldn't feel anything oddly enough and kept trying to incite the crowd. Once I leave the stage I notice my brother has a chair in in front of him trying to deflect ping pong balls being shot from the performer on stage.
Afterwards we leave to try another club. This one was absolutely huge and from here we took the time to empty our stomachs through our mouths in their bathrooms. They have bathroom valets for some reason which was interesting. My brother some how managed to get us into the VIP section which provided a great view on the club below.
We then left and managed to run into the people who sat across the stage from us in the ping pong show. Turns out they were fellow Aussies too so we hung out with them at the beach and ran into two of the strippers at the club also. Small town.
The next day involved some nice boat tours, one of the islands was inhabited by a lot of cats we got to feed and pet which was nice. Snorkeling around the reefs was very refreshing and makes me motivated to get a snorkeling kit of my own. We got along with a Norwegian brick of a guy who hung out with us for a good portion of the tour and there were these two Americans putting their stereotype to the test by being loud and complaining a lot. After the tour they were screaming with their travel agent asking for their money back as they paid a lot more than what we did. Very amusing, bolsters my distain for US Americans.
As my mother had come over with my brother we visited one of her friends and went on a tour around the rest of the islands from the lookouts, monkeys, cheaper food places and marketplaces. All of which were the peak Thailand experience. Our flight to the hometown was interesting as it was the first time I'd ever been on a propeller powered plane. Upon landing we met up with my father and we headed to the homestead. Due to space limitations I had to stay solo at my Grandmas place which surprisingly hadn't changed too much. The rest of the time spent there was doing passport and ID paperwork whilst also avoiding national service which was a mine field in on itself. Thankfully at my age it seemed like I was out of the woods though my brother after a great deal of dissuasion managed to get out of it. Apparently we would not be looked at favourably if we were to commit a crime and had not done military service. After a few road trips and scenic tours our trip unfortunately took a turn for the worse as my uncles health was rapidly deteriorating. I managed to see him once before he died two days later. The funeral service proceeded very quickly afterwards and it managed to bring a lot of the family back that I hadn't seen in well over a decade. The most interesting experience had to be what they called the "Water Ceremony" which consisted of the corpse being laid on a table covered except for the head and arm which is positioned over a flower arrangement and we would have to dip water on his hand. That was a very hard thing to stomach and my dad was very very perplexed by that. Whilst my mother was focusing her time at the funeral proceedings my father took us out on a few road trips exploring the countryside. He wasn't savvy with google maps so it helped that I would direct him places his paper maps hadn't catalogued. Eventually my parents decided we should spend the last two days doing something worthwhile and we were off to Bangkok again to party it up while we could.
We spent the days going to markets and shopping around and the night we spent clubbing with our fresh new IDs. Something to note was that a month prior weed had been legalised so upon our arrival to the clubs there were street sold weed and every drinks package came with a balloon filled with nitrous oxide. I couldn't for the life of me do the nitrous well so I stuck to cool old alcohol and weed. Only problem was I was high as a kite and my brother was drunk which created an interesting dynamic as I was sitting and staring at the ceiling a lot while he was energetic and dancing like crazy.
The flight back went smoothly but a stroke of bad luck occurred when we landed in which I dropped my phone beside my seat and my Thai ID fell out in the home stretch so now I need to get another one on the next trip.
Rounding out the year was something I found quite interesting in which I became closer with my co-workers at my first job. A few gatherings and a party with them solidified a good bond with them and them being a great deal younger than me was refreshing to relive the years of senseless drinking.
Overall a good year was had. Hopefully I'll post something about 2023 so far as there have been a few notable events.
Until then.
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