times i've met susie: part 2

The next time I saw Susie was when I visited her in Melbourne in November 2010. I got the airbus into the city where I met Susie. Melbourne was very humid and I remember trying to stealthily take off my stockings on the bus ride there. She had to go back to work so I ended up napping on her bed with her flatmate's ("housemate's") cat Heidi tucked into the nook of my tummy. It felt nice. It felt like this was going to be a good trip. I was in a better place in my life. I felt unattached.























On the first night we went to go meet Susie's family in the city. We went to Vegie Bar for dinner and drank sangria and the food was really yum. I felt really at ease with Susie's family. In subsequent days we would hang out with them more, going to art galleries and shopping and the like. One night we went to Laura and Jordan's art exhibition at RMIT. We drank a lot of free beer and sat in fake grass. Afterwards we went to go get dumplings and then wandered around the city looking for churros.

I really liked Susie's neighbourhood, Hawthorn. I felt like I could live in such a place. One morning we went out for coffee and smoked cigarettes. The Melbourne Stacey smokes cigarettes but the Auckland Stacey doesn't. Okay. Hehe. Seems cheeky. That night we went to Beardo exhibition where our friend Zoe had some work. She was wearing a knitted beard on her face. I got to know Susie's friends more and they are all very wonderful. We made collaborative beard art outside with bits of paper and old cigarette butts. Then we all went back to Susie's and drank gin and tonics.
























Susie had to work a couple of the days that I was there. The first day she worked I slept in very late and then went out to get lunch and bought some books. I bought "Loneliness As a Way of Life" and "Shoplifting From American Apparel". Then I got the train into the city to meet Susie and we went to see Harry Potter. Afterwards we got eggplant curry. I felt like Melbourne was just nailing it.
























The other day that Susie worked I went to go meet Shu Shu in the city and we had lunch and looked around Sydney Rd. Hanging out with Shu Shu felt natural and I enjoyed her company very much. Also can't believe I ate an entire "big breakfast" thing, a muffin and several baklavas. I'm a lil piggy in Melbourne. Then I went to go meet Susie and we went to Cho Gao and met up with Ziggy, Erin, Jake and other various bros. Refering back to the food diary I kept of my trip, I drank 3 glasses of wine, 3 beers and 1 cider. Followed by a round of chicken mcnuggets. Another night we went to go see Rat vs. Possum at Workers. We danced a lot and it was really fun. We got home to Susie's and started getting into all this sweet r&b and dancing around her room. Seemed like Susie and I lived in our own little world.

Probably my favourite thing was when we went to Zoe's day party thing. We jumped on the trampoline and had sweet jams in the living room and danced to Beastie Boys. I thought "I could get used to this". Afterwards we went to this Malaysian place and I shared a "tofu stack" and "sweet and sour chicken". On my last day we went on a day trip to Geelong to see Susie's friend Amy. We drove to the beach and sang Best Coast loudly in the car. We ate icecream. I felt contemplative on the train ride. I felt happy. I felt many things that a human being feels.



I will move to Melbourne one day. It is a very special place.