Tonight I caught up with two couples whom I see for dinner 3 to 4 times a year. The women are good friends from uni and over the years I’ve gotten to know their partners very well too. When I was running my restaurant, they would even make the effort to come have dinner there so that they can catch up with me as well as have a meal together. They are good to me like that.
Every time that we’d catch up it’s like time never passed and we’d carry on our conversations from before. I’m very blessed to have plenty of friends like that. One of the guys travel for his work quite extensively and he’d always have great stories to tell. And the girls will have gossip about people whom I don’t know at all, but is extremely entertaining nonetheless. Maybe it’s the way they tell it. We always have a good laugh.
Besides other conversational fillers like our jobs and money, the topics of sex and relationships come in from time to time too. The ladies are kinkay. Oh yes they are.
At the end of the dinner as we said our goodbyes and well-wishes for Christmas and the New Year, I wonder how fortunate I am to have friends like these not just in Perth but in other places as well. Tomorrow I’ll be travelling up to Singapore where I will meet up with more friends who are as excited to see me (I hope!) as I am to see them.
Back in December 2005 I read a post about the passing of a blogger and remember feeling how surreal it was for her photos and words to still live online. In that post, I had summarised what I would like to see happen with my blog and that I would give the passwords for all my online accounts to my parents sealed in an envelope along with instructions on what to do and who to contact in the event of my untimely death.
And as I’ve later realised, doing up a will is a very comforting feeling. Because even though we won’t be able to control how and when we’d die, at least we can control what happens after and how we would be remembered. With my funeral in particular, I want my smiling face plastered everywhere. Even better if the photos show me drinking and partying with friends because that is how I had live my life and how I would like to be remembered.
Going through my list of friends to contact also gave me a very warm feeling. I feel blessed that I would actually have so many friends whom I want to be contacted in that unfortunate event.
Plus until you actually sit down and do it, the number of online accounts which you have may surprise you. Besides the obvious stuff like your email and blog, there are bank and superannuation accounts, medical insurance, and share holdings. In an emotionally taxing time, I would prefer my love ones to have access to all that information to better deal with the situation.
So for two years now, I’ve been updating my “to-do” list every time before I go on a holiday. In fact I think it’s good to have it updated at all times anyway. Not only is it piece of mind for everyone concerned, I also think that it’s being considerate. Unless you don’t really care what happens to your stuff, virtual or otherwise.
Taken on Sunday at Daft Punk’s gig on the Perth Esplanade – my most unintentionally hilarious photo of excited punters. These two guys were running towards the entrance when they saw me with my camera and posed on reflex. Then this other dude runs by and I thought, “Fuck! He ruined the shot!”
Then I looked closer. The shot had turned out perfectly.
The French spacemen descended onto Perth Esplanade on a gloomy Sunday. Forecast for the day were rain and thunder and we all brought our raincoats just in case. Except for a little drizzle, it turned out that we didn’t need them at all. The skies smiled and cleared up for us. Sweet!
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people turned up for this very special gig.
The cops were there too.
When we got in around 3:30pm, we proceeded to get some drinks and soak in the atmosphere. It was electric – you could feel the buzz in the air. Everyone was quite excited to be here.
Some punters dressed accordingly for the occasion.
Around 5:30pm we got hungry.
After a few more drinks …
We got our silly faces on.
As we got closer to the scheduled starting time of 8:30 pm …
The crowd started to thicken towards the stage.
The supporting acts warmed up the crowd quite well. When Daft Punk came on, the crowd went berserk.
More photos including the usual gallery of perfect strangers can be found in my Daft Punk Flickr set.
Daft Punk put on a fantastic show – the lighting special effects that are part of their act were phenomenal. The 1.5 hour show felt short but that was probably because time really flies when you are having fun! The three of us had an awesome time.
I’ll let the highlight clip (11:27) complete the story.
Oh man. This is totally awesome. On a very rare Saturday night that I stayed home I caught this clip on V and it put a big smile on my face. The lyrics, the funky tune and the wacky video, I love it all!
I’ve got love for you, if you were born in the 80s. The 80s.
I’ve got hugs for you, if you were born in the 80s. The 80s.
I’d do things for you, if you were born in the 80s. The 80s.
I’ve got hugs for you, if you were born in the 80s. Yeah.
…
It was acceptable in the 80s.
It was acceptable at the time.
I want to hear this play out loud at a club now. It’d go off.
It took 5 hours but I’ve passed my certification exam. I’m now a certified something-something. w00t! (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary word of the year btw)
To let off some steam I’ma catching 4Strings at The Rise tonight. They are the makers of some fine cheesy trance like the song in the clip above, “Diving”. I like me some cheese. So happy happy joy joy.
And I’m catching Daft Punk this Sunday. w00t! Ok sorry, I couldn’t help it. Partay!
For as long as I’ve known Simon, that has been our usual text messages to each other on our nights out. The venues may have changed over the years, but the implied meaning hasn’t. We’d meet at the usual time and at the usual spot of the clubs. In what I’d consider my core group are also Lydia and her boyfriend Gary. Individually we all have other friends but if any of of us messages to go out, we’d show up without fail.
As clubbing friends, we are pretty tight.
The people in the extended group which we’d hang out together with, age between the early 20s and the early 30s (I’ve got two more years to say that, woohoo!). We are all into dance music and the nightclub scene. During the week, we work or study and on the weekends, we let loose together.
We don’t talk to each other that much during the week but that’s only because we are all very stable characters. You can even call us sedate. We don’t depend on each other emotionally, and we are not each other’s crutches. I believe that we are all very strong and independent individuals. A few emails or Facebook pokes are enough to sustain the sense of connection. It’s pretty amazing like that.
Our health, bodies and minds are still up for a good time listening and dancing to hyper tunes in dark indoor interiors or at outdoor raves surrounded by hundreds, sometimes thousands of other like-minded individuals. I wonder how long will this all last. Sometimes when I think ahead to that inevitable time when we all would stop doing this and I’d feel sad. I don’t feel good that it will end some day.
Though, Ricardo Urgell, the owner of the Ibiza superclub Pacha is nearly in his 70s and Hugh Hefner is 81 this year. They are both still up for a good time. Maybe my group can manage to last till we are about that age?
If they can live a young person’s life, why not us? But I guess the one BIG difference is that they are so rich that they don’t have to worry about working to survive anymore. Maybe the absence of worrying about money gives a person an extended lease on life?
So who knows how it will pan out for us. But no matter how long this will last, I’m looking forward to clubbing into my old age and making the young’uns cringe in disgust. :rocking:
