Darren Hayes, sparkling white wine, I'm happy....

Hats off. Here's to one of the weirdest couple of days of my life.
I think I updated during Friday, but not a lot happened during the daytime. It all actually started happening at three forty-five, because we finished fifteen minutes early because of the open morning on Saturday. At four, after we'd pushed back the tables, we went out, we being me, Becca and Kat, as Meg was going home for her clothes.
Becca's dad picked us up around the corner, and the moment the door opened, Katrina and I burst out laughing, and Becca looked like she was trying not to. The car CD player was playing: "Tra-la-la-la-la-la, happy birthday sweet sixteen..."
We later discovered Becca's dad had burnt an entire birthday CD, with a birthday quote from Friends, as well as Happy Birthday sung by Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Ringo Starr, Michael Jackson guest starring on the Simpsons, and even Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday Mr President to JFK.
Meg was on time - Katrina's dad wasn't. We were leaving at five and he dropped off her stuff at five to five, and didn't realise why she was so angry with him!
So she got changed in two minutes flat, and we left. We had a picnic on the way, and got stuck in traffic on the motorway and saw an accident - it was fun.
We reached the Apollo half an hour early - the doors opened at seven, and Darren Hayes didn't come on until half eight. We just talked until about a quarter past, when the support band came on. They were called Specificus and they were awful. Words cannot express how godawfully crap they were. They just made lots of synthesised noise and gave us all needless headaches.
And then Darren Hayes came on. Words cannot express what I thought about him either. I didn't quite get it into it until about the third song, which was Strange Relationship, and then I just suddenly started jumping up and down and waving my arms and screaming even though I'd lost my voice the day before. After that I just lost myself in it. I couldn't believe how close he was, and just how good he was. He's not one of those artists who are cool to listen to at home, but suck live - he was sublimely good. And his voice and his eyes are so smouldering and intense - me and several thousand others were instantly in love. He said, "In order to look forward, you have to look back," in that Australian accent, and started to sing To the Moon and Back, followed by the Lover after me - at that point Becca and I lost any self control we had left (I'd lost my voice, but she contemplated screaming, "Darren! I'm legal!"). Katrina had never heard any of his songs before, but even she got into it in the end, swaying and screaming with the best of them. Affirmation was one of the best songs - everyone in the place was jumping up and down and singing "I believe in karma, what you give is what you get returned..." with the possible exception of Katrina who had never heard it before.
And when he sang Truly Madly Deeply - it was a perfect moment. He was holding a single rose some girl had given him, and everyone was singing and it was just perfect...
When we went out, after it was over, I went to the loo, and when I got back, the other three were at the merchandise stall - they'd got posters. I didn't get one, because I don't know where I would put it, but they got them, and it's a good picture of him, all smouldering again, in sunglasses leaning against a door.
Posters in hand, we went out to meet Becca's parents, and found we were just by the safety barriers. People were waiting for him to come out, and when he did, he was swamped. We crushed ourselves against the barriers and tried to touch him, but only got to within arm's reach of him.
(Karen said that she heard a security guard tell some of the girls, "I had a drink with him before the show, and let me tell you, I've got more chance of a kiss from him than you." It's true he does have a certain femininity about him, and then there's that line from Affirmation: "I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality..." But as Becca said, "If he's straight, then our chances are somuch higher!" I don't care either way, it's just interesting to think about.)
We didn't get his autograph, but he waved at Peter, who was sitting on his dad's shoulders, so we had some sort of result...
And then we left. It was so dark on the way back, with music playing so softly we couldn't hear it over the ringing in our ears, that all of us, Becca, Meg, Kat, Peter and me fell asleep.

We woke up when we got back, and having said hello to Thomas, who was ill, we went up and watched What Women Want, because Becca got it as a birthday present from Thomas. Meg was all for it because of Mel Gibson, and she remembered how we went to see it in the cinema and according to Becca, I wouldn't shut up about how Mel Gibson has one blue eye and one green one. Anyway... while idly reading the DVD case, I noticed Alan Alda was in it. I wouldn't have recognised him if I hadn't known he was in it. I know it's now twenty years and more, but he looked nothing like Hawkeye. It was his voice that was so weird to hear - Hawkeye's voice belongs to a constantly wisecracking young doctor, not an old and boring advertising executive guy. While I was watching this and thinking along these lines, I remembered someone in mashfanatic once asked what colour Radar's eyes are and couldn't receive a definite answer. I don't really know, myself - I've never looked, but I thought that statistically, he should have brown eyes, because Hawkeye, Trapper, Frank, Margaret and Henry all have blue eyes.
Anyway, I digress. We fell asleep during the film, and woke up at seven when Meg's alarm went off. She had what is commonly known as a "horse thing" today, and she disappeared at some unearthly hour of the morning in jodhpurs and boots with spurs. We didn't get up again until about ten, and we watched the What Women Want special features and also Bridget Jones's Diary.
Anyway, the morning was a little boring. I was hungry and cranky and starting to go down into being depressed, but Lucinda arrived at half one, and Karen unveiled the buffet. It was unbelievable, the amount of food, and her buffets are always my favourite part of the footie awards night(!) So I ate, drank a glass of sparkling white wine, and felt so much better it was quite astonishing.
Beverly arrived an hour late, not too bad (Emily never turned up - Becca thought it was because Bev was there, but I wasn't so sure). She came bearing gifts, a big box of Celebrations. So we talked, and drank, and ate, and talked some more, and laughed, and I really enjoyed myself. I got a little tipsy, but so did everyone else, and it was really unexpectedly good. Becca's auntie Jackie was there, and so was Crazy Dave, who gave Becca £50 in cash and the words "You're only sixteen once," and she immediately overflowed and had to go out and find a tissue to cry into. There were also her cousins Paul and Edward, plus Thomas and Peter, and it all merged into one big party. We were playing Grand Theft Auto on the Playstation, and as no-one was exactly sober, we kept on running over lots of people and smashing up cars.
I tried to call my parents, but the phone was constantly engaged. But I wasn't too worried, because my parents really do love Becca's family, and they're always happy for me to stay as long as I want, which is a real blessing.
And the best part - in the middle of the afternoon, some girl called Becca's mobile, to say she'd found a small silver mobile phone in her PE bag, and this was the first number listed on it. Someone's found my phone!
I'm going to give that girl some chocolates, if I can find some. My mother thinks it's because of that time I found that man's phone and gave it back to him - that's why the same thing has happened to me. And as that man gave me Cadbury's Roses, I think whoever's found my phone deserves chocolate.
Karen even made pina coladas. I love them, and so does Megan, who reappeared around five. She and Bev had a contest to see who could drink hers down in one. It went straight to Meg's head, and when I left, Becca made me promise to take Meg home as far as the station, because she was seriously pissed. Much more than me, and I'd had twice as much as her.
So we left, I got Meg to the station, and saw she'd started sobering up a little, and promptly met Emma (sprog). She told me Stalker had got a tattoo, and commisserated with me on my ever-so-slight inebriation.
I got the train, and then walked home from the station in the wind and the dark, to find the phone had been engaged all day simply because my parents had accidentally left the phone of the hook.
So I've washed my hair and spent half an hour typing this.
And here I am.

Where I used to sit all alone in the dark....

A couple more things.
I'm about to read that drabble - haven't yet - and then do Kajol, because I said I would finish it, and all I have done so far is update journal, read ten emails and read skip=45 friends entries!
A word to purplerainbow - you might want to look at your LJ profile!

I think I'm still drunk. Kinda. Maybe not. Whatever.

Em has gone to watch the Shawshank Redemption, only my favourite film in the universe, so I can't help but wish she lived right here, rather than thirty miles away, so we could watch it together, and I could make "Awww" noises, and everyone could shush me for being so bloody annoying when other people are trying to watch a film, and crying in the middle and hissing at the evil gay rapist guy and crying more at the end and saying "I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams."
And arguing over how to spell Zhewatanejo.
It's so sad, having your best friends so far away.

I have nothing to say.

Suicide is painless.

I am a demented fangirlie.

loneraven and I are sometimes different people. I find that hard to explain.

If I try to sing the words, "If you could be my punk rock princess" I'll cry. I know I will.