금요일, 3월 05, 2004
"i'm still quite offended that you didn't ask me to be your date."

so said jason, which was pretty much more than enough to make my day, or evening, whichever you will. last night we travelled down to lumley castle in *ahem* newcastle (no pun intended) in a bid to enjoy ourselves at the annual isa ball. ok, so actually i don't know how 'annual' the 'annual' is, but, you get my drift.

first, preparation. 10 minutes prior to catching the cab that gloria had hired for our convenience, i was still drying my already dry (but incredibly flat) hair in an upside down fashion, showing the state of dis-tress (quite literally. ha ha) i was in. i hate rushing against the clock, mainly because i know that i will never, not in a million years, ever be able to beat it, and also because it's just annoying looking at your mobile every 2 seconds to see how much time you have. not to mention the fact that i stepped out of the house and walked all the way to reception in the wrong shoes. yes, the right shoes were nestled cosily in the bottom drawer in my room, while on my feet were my other pair of dressy shoes, that i had, quite blur-ly, put on. that meant i had to walk back to the house and get my shoes changed at the speed of light. if you see my interpretation of 'speed of light', you'll understand why people get so irritated with me sometimes. (just kidding, guys)

we got there safe and sound. the place reminded me of a scene out of hamlet, or some other shakespearean play, complete with the full moon in the background and flood lights that bathed the stony walls of the castle with a soft orange light. that was when we were told that we had to walk, walk around the corner, aka the equivalent of 10,000 miles to all the ladies in heels, in order to get to the entrance, where the cool bagpiper dude was playing.

but i digress. what was important were the shenanigans (i like that word, say it again: shenanigans) that various people got up to.

everyone (well, mostly everyone) looked absolutely stunning, some in ethnic dress, others in black tie. it's amazing how some people can look so nice when they dress up. and no, it's not the alcohol speaking. special mention had to go to faz, who looked beautiful in her nora jones hair and white suit, which actually made me want curls desperately after i saw her, gen, who was just stunning, and renu, who had on a punjabi suit, complete with bindi and all. the guys all looked sharp in their suits, which was lovely, save for arvin and nirav who were dressed in their ethnic indian costumes (nirav had a ridgy-like costume that was really nice). well, we got there and decided to check our names on the list. we were the only all-girl table, bringing back nice memories of the law ball last year, and, horror of horrors, i found out that my name had been spelt wrongly. *peeved look* i.e. the 't' in my surname was replaced with a 'p'. very annoyed. i did get over that though, and went on to dinner and all that.

got introduced to some people who i had once, maybe in a semi-awake state, said that i wanted to meet, and whom everyone but me remembered. there was even this guy who said that he had wanted to come to my birthday party (effectively one month ago now), when i (effectively as well) just met him yesterday. nice, but a bit random all the same.

the real drama started when people hit the dance floor. people whom i'd never seen even come remotely close to dancing were letting their hair down and swaying those hips to the pulsating rhythms on the floor. what really bugged me was this:

faz: "he was looking at you! i mean, he was properly looking!"

main thought after that was something unprintable here (general audiences remember), an exclamation to be exact. but, that was something that made my night a bit brighter than it already been before (if it could be any brighter). he, or more specifically he had been observing. as faz would say: aha! but i shan't go into that any longer. the persistant wave at the end of the night was endearing as well. *girly giggle* oh help me, i'm inheriting faz's traits! :)

oh, and phrase of the night? definitely: i have herpes... (no, not me or anyone i know silly, it was a random nugget of conversation that hit us from the next table just as we were tucking into the main course of dinner. of course, the expected reaction was forks stopping mid-air and shocked looks all round. we still don't know who said that.)