Friday 27 June 2008
Today in history: the first atomic power station opens in Russia in 1954, the Stonewall pub is raided in 1969, and France win Euro `84. Also, in a historic event not from actual history, I see from the news that Bill Gates has just this week left Microsoft to work for his charity full-time, which is going to be funding a metric ton of scientific research across the globe with his many billions. I will say this is an absolutely wonderful idea that the world desperately needs, because we hear it non-stop in my classes how little money is available for this stuff and all the research groups are squabbling over the few pennies which are set aside. I've always thought he was a reasonable guy, so great job Bill!
Varsity Trevor's bash was good. Good food, great people. I need to give credit where it's due -- I've realised over the last two months he's not such a bad guy after all, really. He can rub people up the wrong way, and he does occasionally think the sun shines out of his arse, but on the whole he's a sweet guy and I think his heart is in the right place. Physics pracs were (and sometimes still are) a bit frustrating when he's slow and not on-the-ball, not a great way to spend a Friday afternoon at any stretch of the imagination, but we're at a point of having a pretty handy understanding of each other, and we work well enough as a pair. Also the other guys round our table in the lab make for some good banter, so it's not all bad as a way to end off the week. Bur yeah, the party was good and I'm not just saying that because it turns out the night was sponsored, either -- he wouldn't let anyone pay for anything, and that's a rarity; certainly not the way we do things in my neck of the woods. It must've cost a fortune, regardless of how much money you have, because for a place which is as much of a cheap'n'cheerful-looking dive as Pancho's is, their menu is priced on the high side with many more rand needed than expected to enjoy the sort of food they offer. Kim, as only Kim can, reckons he can afford it and so should have paid for all of us anyway. We'll agree to disagree on that; typical Kim thinking, though.
But it was a great night -- dinner to start with, and then as the night went on and the crowds thinned -- like they always do; I hate it when people make plans to start at one party and then bail and move on to another, if you're going to attend something I reckon you should stay to the end, personally -- the stragglers amongst us decided to head up to Stones down the road from Pancho's and play pool for a couple of hours with Trevor to finish off the night.
I think Trevor appreciated that, too, that some of us weren't looking for a gap to make an exit and really wanted to spend the night with him. I've just got home -- technically it's Saturday -- but I'm wide awake, so I thought I'd write a bit here on the family computer in the lounge. I don't normally, since my nosy mother would be hovering wanting to know what I was writing and nagging and nagging until I told her. Then she'd want to read it. What could possibly go wrong? She's sweet but she has no belief in boundaries, my mom. This is also why my diary is on a USB stick and not saved anywhere anyone else can find it. They presumably think I'm playing video games, which is fine for them to think, or watching internet porn, which is less fine for them to think but probably better than them reading my diary.
I'm only wide awake still, though, because I had a narrow miss on the highway on the way home, with some nutcase deciding that running across it in the dead of night instead of using one the footbridges is a good way to be the proverbial chicken from the joke. So I'm loaded on adrenaline. At least twice a month someone gets splattered all over the highway -- crazy. Sure, it takes longer to use the bridge, sometimes a lot longer, but if the other option is almost certain death... Anyway, fortunately, I didn't hit him. I'm not entirely sure how close it was, though; hopefully not very! I was still shaking like a leaf from the adrenaline dump when I got in. They're slowly putting in lights all the way to the very edge of the metro -- it's been pitch black on this major artery since I was a kid, and now they're upgrading all three of our freeways in time for the Fifa World Cup we are hosting in 2010. But they are still a couple of miles away from the section closest to home for me, so it's still a bit of a gauntlet there at night.
Got a text from Colin this afternoon, he's enjoying the time with the family while on vac, and he's keen to get together for a drink sometime as soon as he gets back to res from up north. He's a really nice guy too. I like all the guys on the football team -- a really decent crowd, I reckon, and I hope to become good mates with all of them over the next few months -- but I have gelled best with Paolo, who is my Chem prac partner and who of course got the football team together, and Colin, who knows so much about everything and who seems to properly get me. Still not 100% sure of my gaydar, mind, but I reckon Colin bats for my team.
Also still not entirely sure how to broach the subject with him. I could try the next-door Trevor route and ask if he ever had a girlfriend, I suppose, but I don't think I want to put him on the spot. I am curious, though. I'm also not sure if it's just Colin and I meeting up or if any of the others who are still in town would be coming through. Paolo and Siya have gone home for vac, and I think Russ is also an out-of-towner. Embarrassingly, I've never asked the rest of them -- this is something I should rectify. If there are others coming, I do hope it's the Gay Porn Twins. Oh my days, the things I would let them do to me...
-C
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