Protege-moi, protege moi...

So, Hannah, Clare and Colleen appeared last night bearing Innocent smoothies and four CDs for me. My speakers, however, have decided to boom continuously, so the odds of my listening to them any time soon are slim.

Colleen also had an issue of Time Out from New York (the cover is "What is gay?" which we were all reading with some amusement) and there were birthday presents for me! Hannah gave me the Buffy DVD with the Giles episodes (hee! I have the Dark Age!) and Colleen gave me an Eeyore notebook and pen, which are too cute to use. Hee. Clare doesn't have to get me anything, considering she got me two Christmas presents last year and can't even remember doing so.

So we sat on the floor and chatted and exchanged notes on the last couple of weeks and generally did the resident lunatic thing. Colleen is taking pictures of us for her media coursework. I'm not posting any of mine, because they all came out blurry. Hannah has the good ones. In the end we went out to the cinema to see Closer, and took some of the CDs. The birthday CD they made expanded onto two discs, which amused me. There are a total of thirty-six songs.

They have picked songs that have really clear, distinct associations for me. Particularly Keane's Somewhere Only We Know - I first downloaded that in the summer, when my parents were in San Francisco and I was supposed to be studying for my AS-levels. Those ten days are ones I will never forget - I was as close to being completely isolated as I've ever been, entirely by myself, not a soul within half a mile, my family thousands of miles away, my friends embroiled in their own revision, and the days were getting longer and longer and the sea was getting closer and I used to look out the trees and feel more hyper-aware of every movement than ever before. The essence of that feeling eventually became Love Is Not Love, which has exactly the same themes.

One song we didn't get to listening to last night is Anna Begins by the Counting Crows. It's there because the first time Hannah and I ever met, I had two lines from that song - "I am not worried, I am not overly concerned" - stuck firmly in my head, and she thought I was exceedingly strange. A lot has happened since then.

We went to the cinema to see Closer last night. A stylish, grown-up film, and incredibly depressing. Afterwards we ended up in my room, talking till one in the morning, until they had to leave because Clare was falling asleep. I didn't sleep, did the insomnia thing, paced up and down, and went into work today like a zombie, as promised.

It wasn't bad. There were next to no customers, and I sat on the counter and drank coffee for most of it. I went out at two and bought boots. They are teh sex.

Okay, that's me done for a while. I'm now going to go all out with the memes. Two of them:

Ask me one question - any one - about my writing, then post this in your LJ so I can satisfy my curiosity about yours...

(I think that last part is optional)

And this one:

There's been an accident, and my memory's been wiped. I have no recollection of who I am. Tell me about myself. What do you know about me? What kind of person am I? What are my likes and dislikes? How did we meet and how long have we known each other? Is there one thing in particular that stands out about me? Tell me who I am.

Sigh. I want new speakersa smoothie. And someone remind me to watch Letters From Pegasus.