Happy 118th Eliot!

If TS Eliot were alive today (besides being really pissed off that we buried him alive), he'd be celebrating his 118th birthday. Anyway, today was a good a day as any to celebrate my own birthday which was three days ago. Thanks heaps to Stephen, Jasmine, Tracy, Libby, Ansel and James (in the order in which I met them) for coming out to the city and making today so much fun.

Of course, as with any outing that I 'organise', people turn up late. Note to self: make a list of tardy friends and tell them to arrive an hour earlier than everyone else. That way, everybody arrives at the same time and everybody is happy. Anyway, while waiting for Ansel and James to show up, the rest of us browsed Market City. I was eventually forced by Jasmine and Libby into trying on polos from Cotton On which they then bought me as a birthday present. *hugs* Thanks so much! (I love the pink bag too but don't tell anyone).

Ansel rocked up an hour later and James arrived soon after with a cake. Not just any cake either. Blackforest cake with funky chocolate decorations. I'd hug you if you weren't a guy so maybe I'll take it easy on you the next time we play tennis =P. Yum cha was surprisingly painless. No crazy waiters who confuse forks with chilli sauce. Actually, our waiter was quite nice and even asked whose birthday it was when he saw the cake so he could say 'happy birthday'. =D. Naturally, seven people and one cake don't quite add up and we ended up having about a third of a cake leftover. Libby, being the totally prepared person that she was, whipped out her notepad and wrote a note addressed to the waiters about the leftover cake.

"We don't have any cash, please accept 1/3 of a cake and our collective love.

Just kidding! We couldn't finish it, feel free to do the honours. Thanks for lunch!"

The plan was to go to a karaoke bar after lunch but seeing as how we only had seven people (six after Libby left) and that most of them weren't particularly keen on the idea, we ended up going to Star City. Jasmine, Ansel, Tracy and I signed up for the star rewards card thingos. $10 of free credit to waste on poker machines! Hooray! Over all, a pretty successful venture with all of us walking out with some money in our pockets. And Tracy, who I shall refer to from this point forth as Lucky Tracy, won $100 without even knowing it until James said "Holy shit! You won a hundred bucks!". She ended up sharing the luck and shouting us all ice cream from Passion Flower. Love you heaps, Tracy! *hugs*

All in all, a lovely day! Thanks again to everybody for making it a great day!

"Poetry...

...may make us from time to time a little more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves"
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965)

"You'll go to Hell"

Not everyday you hear that spoken in a serious tone is it? I copped that today from a charming evangelist woman today. Anyway, this is roughly how this empty threat came about:

Evangelist: If you were to be hit by a car later and died do you think you'll go to Heaven or to Hell?
Me: Neither. If I die, I die and that'll be the end of it.
Eva: You're wrong!
Me: *stifles laughter and offers confused expression instead*
Eva: If you pray to God everyday and go to church, all your sins will be forgiven and you will go to Heaven, otherwise you will go to Hell.
Me: Right... and how do you know all this?
Eva: It's in here *points to Bible*
Me: So if I were to write in a book that everything was created by a purple hippo would that automatically make that true?
Eva: No, because it's not in the Bible.
Me: I don't see how it's any more or less correct than the Bible.
Eva: *obviously frustrated* If you do not repent and pray you will go to Hell.

Well, it was a charming conversation. Usually when I run into evangelists, we have a pleasant conversation about the Bible and what it means to be Christian. And when I say that I'm an atheist, they ask if I've ever been to church before. Those are the sort of Christians who believe in God but don't really care if other people believe in the same idol they do so long as they believe in the same ideals (not to lie, not to kill, no envious feelings and all that jazz). I respect them because they respect my right to believe what I choose. Now, when somebody tells you that you'll go to Hell if you don't believe in God and worship his almighty mightiness it's hardly the sort of thing that makes you want to make friends. In fact, it's the sort of thing that makes you want to kill people. And assuming that there is a Hell, I'd much rather be there than have to deal with evangelistic idiots like this.

Fortunately, my friends were there (all three of them Christians) to end the stoush by saying that we had a train to catch. When we were out of audible range, one of them said, "I feel sorry for her..." to which I replied
"If I didn't have a train to catch I would have kept arguing"
"I know. I would have grabbed chairs and some popcorn"