I went and bought Cookies by 1990s and I'm so happy with the choice, such a good band. Okay it's only Track 02 so it's an early call, but I'm loving it immediately! Actually I bought a lot, a LOT of stuff today. I don't want to look at my bank account. Anyway. Christ I'm so tired I have no idea what I did today Well, for one thing, Lydia came in after her exam and I finally tasted the Flinders churros. SO SO GOOD. And I got a phone call after the shift which really stressed me out: Liv was hysterically calling everyone telling them that folios for drawing had to be picked up today or they would be chucked out. WHAT THE FUCK! Nobody knew this of course, so seven hundred frantic phone calls later Liv and her mate Kate [hah that rhymes] picked up 5 folios for the printing girls. I was so grateful, Liv's a legend. Oh, and the Chaser tickets arrived today!! But Lawra wasn't in a very good mood because Andy [her shit ex] deleted her MySpace again. I think it had something to do with what Matt did while drunk at Bang on Saturday night. But isn't that always the way? So I had waited around long enough to be invited to lunch with Jussy, Ramez and Lydia [muahahaha: my master plan all along] which was fun. We had Chinese down some alleyway [which turned out to be just next to one of the scenes on Not Quite Art! I got excited and pointed it out, which prompted Rami to whine about wanting to see all the art. Haha]. We were all falling asleep, and Lydia was complaining that she hadn't done anything for two weeks so she needed to DO. SOMETHING. She had lost some of her English words after spending two weeks talking to only her mother, which was funny. Speaking of words, I now have a vast Arabic vocabulary. [I can't spell, this is just how they are said] Deek roomy = Turkey Yallah = Hurry Miyah = Water So if I ever I need water in a hurry from a turkey, I am set. As it was I was yelling "Yallah yallah miyah!" at every opportunity and showing off my brilliant Egyptian accent with "Deek roomy... Ramez is a deek roomy" Heh heh hehhh. So I suggested Koko Black and off we went. I had the Chilli Hot Chocolate [full cream as they didn't have soy for that drink, bastards!] and it actually had chilli in it. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was impressed. We moved to the comfortable chairs and I paid for my $5.75 drink entirely with silver coins that I made Lydia count. I called Adel from Jussy's phone to get my hours - I'M WORKING MONDAY MORNING!! YESSSSS! "See how I look after you?" "THANKYOU ADEL!" To explain - Monday morning marks the start of Christmas at Gloria Jean's. And, granted, it's a little early. But I LOVE Christmas with every fibre of my being and so the idea of not being one of the first to don the new red full body aprons, or try out the new Christmas lollipops, or being the first to explain the new Christmas drinks to the regulars and try to upsell, made me want to cry. Fortunately Adel understood, and I'll be there at 6:45am Monday morning all fresh eyed and excited, camera in hand no doubt. Every time a new Christmas item was delivered I squealed excitedly, and I even got to sign for one of them on the electronic signature thing the delivery guy had! I fucked it up, of course. But he laughed. Yes, I'm a child, but I love it. I always get excited about promotions, but only when I'm the first to know about them [wasn't happy with the Mercy Ministries being handed over to Tasia!] Everybody was laughing at me. Yayyyy Christmas! Jussy, Lydia and Ramez went off to catch the train and I headed back to QV. Sophie told me I sounded funny, then we realised it was because I had spent the last three and a half hours with the Egyptians and thus had slightly developed their accent. Hahahaha. Sophie told me they were going out for dinner [she was annoyed earlier because it wasn't a family affair for lunch anymore now that I had been invited] but she wouldn't tell me where. I don't know why, I had to go home anyway. I mean, I was still in the city shopping until 8 O'Clock [grand total of 13 and a half hours in the CBD... not my best effort though] but I wasn't about to crash their dinner! Whateverrrr. So I headed off to Melbourne Central. Where I ran into Anna, one of our regular customers! We had a long chat in Borders, about both looking for photo albums and not being able to find any that were any good... and that she went to Monash Caulfield + Faculty of Art and Design too! It was really weird and yet at the same time great to run into her. But it was a reminder that in the city, there is no longer anonymity. And that saddens me a little. Not much, though, because I love to be surrounded by people. It makes me feel warm and happy. And the title? Milton, one of our regular customers, returned today from 2 months on holiday. "Oh! Did you take many photos?" "Two thousand," he announced, rather proudly. [The new mom bit is just something my uncle said back when we were in Ireland, circa 2003. "It's Milton, your new mom!" Yes, Brendan.] 8 months at Gloria Jean's