5th of April, 2006 is my birthday

birthday 2006

I celebrated my birthday yesterday (5th of April, 2006) by sleeping the whole day. I wasn’t on anything…I was just depressed in general. I’m 25 this year. I think my birthdays are not meant to be celebrated, as is the trend as of late, if last year’s birthday [sixthseal.com] is of any indication.

birthday box 2006

Louisa sent me a huge box filled with stuff from Sibu and a card (sent separately) which says “Our lives have taken different paths, but I still remember the days gone by…I think of you often and reminisce over the special times we shared. I will treasure those memories, but time goes on and things do change, the one thing that will never change is the warm feelings I have for you.”

birthday box blanket 2006

There is a blanket inside for me to use when I’m cold from opiate withdrawals…

birthday box toy 2006

There is a soft toy that sings “Happy Birthday” coz she’s not here to sing it for me…

birthday box others 2006

There is a box of apple juice (for my nutritional use, or for acidifying my stomach so oral opioids do not work so well, I would never know ;)), socks (You can never run out of socks. Ever.), a couple of DVD’s to watch when insomnia hits me and large, black thrash bags (it’s a bit of an inside joke, I can count the people who gets this with one hand).

Thanks Louisa! Much love, always and forever…

Thanks to my coworkers Penny and Siaw Chin for buying me a tub of Sunny Hill ice cream for my birthday on the 4th.

Thanks to the multitude of people who sent me SMS birthday wishes! My apologies for not being able to reply, my cell phone service has been barred due to a lack of prompt payment.

…and finally, thanks to my parents for never failing to send me a birthday card every year, for bailing me out of jail and the first thing that comes out of your mouth is “Did you have access to your medication during your time in jail?” with a look of pure concern, for never admonishing me or condescending me with a “I told you so” look after I was arrested after many years of using drugs, blogging about drugs, and fucking up in general, and for loving me for who I am.

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It’s my birthday today, but don’t wish me a happy birthday

It’s my birthday today. 5th of April, 1981 was the time I came into
this world. Birthdays can be time for celebration and it can be time
for contemplation as well. I’m going to go for the latter this year.

I’m going to be brutally honest and address one particular issue that needs to be resolved immediately:

bday meth iv 1

Download: Methamphetamine IV video [sixthseal.com]

I had become the typical meth fiend. The Mr. Hyde to the Dr. Jekyll.
You want to dig up dirt on me? Don’t bother, I’ll save you the time –
it’s all here for all to see. I have a methamphetamine problem – and
it’s not a small one. I always reach for the needle compulsively. I’m
an IDU (Intravenous Drug User) and I’m going to admit it. I hear it’s
the first step to quitting.

The audio and video has been compressed from the original 180 MB and
224 MB file respectively so there are some quality compromises. It
still gets the message through though…

bday meth iv 2

Download: Methamphetamine compulsive use [sixthseal.com]

This is the second time in 5 minutes that I shot up (three times, to
be exact). I had become so scattered, so fucked up and spun the fuck
out that I didn’t even notice I was shooting up the “wrong way” during
the second time (should be pointing towards me for a faster onset). I
probably wouldn’t have cared even if I knew.

I was just rolling on the high, looking for the next high, wanting the next shot, wanting to be high, high, high again.

I know the videos are going to be disgusting and off-putting. I have
received photos of tweakers doing their thing and it puts me off. I
realize that these videos are going to disgust and horrify some of you
too…but I’m putting it up anyway, coz it’s a realistic look into a
life of an IV meth user.

There were only two birthday cards for me this year – one from my
sister and one from my parents. I’ve neglected a lot of my friends and
also my gf. I realized that a long time ago but never took steps to
take care of it. I’ve put methamphetamine as #1 in my life and that has
cost me a lot. It’s a wake up call for me.

I’m quitting methamphetamine. I know I’ve said that many times
before but hopefully this year will be a new start. I’m 24 now for
fucks sake; it’s time to get with the program…

Karen’s Birthday @ Dion

dionex1.jpg

Happy birthday Karen! It was Karen’s birthday today so we got her a
cake and decided to go for some Greek food. We actually planned to go
to Antipodes but Dion
[dionrestaurant.com.au] was just two doors down and we haven’t eaten
there before. The Dion PR guy standing outside saw us standing in
between and contemplating which one to go to and immediately approached
us and invited us inside. He said Dion is an award winning restaurant
and we won’t be disappointed. Heh. Alright, dude.

dionex2.jpg

Going off on a different tangent it seems that a lot of restaurants
here have PR people (promoters?) standing outside trying to pull
customers in but I don’t see that a lot back home in Malaysia.
Interesting. Oh, I bumped into one of my old college friend while in
the city today. It was good to see him again, haven’t seen him around
for a while.

dionint.jpg

Anyway Dion has a really nice ambience, the lighting was great and
it’s a very popular place to eat. It was empty when we went there early
but it soon filled up to capacity. There were only two waiters and two
waitresses and but the service was still good.

karenuh.jpg
Karen (the birthday girl) with Ung Hing her bf

Oh, guess what I had today? Ouzo! [greekproducts.com] πŸ™‚

I had wanted to try that ever since I saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
They were drinking shooters of it during one scene and it looked so
tempting. I didn’t actually know what it was called, so I asked our
waitress whether she has watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Haha! Well,
she smiled and said yes so I asked her what that shooter they were
drinking is called.

ouzo.jpg
God’s gift to mankind

It wasn’t on the menu, but they had it (it was a Greek restaurant
and even the waiters and waitresses are Greek). Anyway, I ordered two
of those and downed them. It’s really, really amazingly tasty! There is
a strong smell and taste of liquorish and it’s very sweet and has a
very satisfying aftertaste. Very, very nice, if you ever see it around,
do yourself a favor and have one of these things. It’s so tasty it
ought to be illegal! πŸ™‚

meuozo.jpg

I could drink these things all day, but they cost A$6 each, which
wouldn’t be expensive normally, but I’m running short this month due to
having to replace most of my computer about a week ago. Delicious,
delicious stuff. Devine! I reckon you can get it at Greek bottle shops
too, there’s one in Clayton so I’ll pop in and check someday.

annabrd.jpg
Thien Na showing us how to properly butter a bread. Apparently, just slathering it on top is not considered appropriate

Anyway, I’m digressing so much. Just don’t miss out on having this
if you get the chance. It’s absolutely amazing stuff. Well, four of us
had the dinner banquet and the others had the main meals. The dinner
banquet was really too much for four people, but it sure was
interesting.

dionmenu.jpg

If you can’t read the menu from the picture, I’ve cut and pasted it from the Dion website. The banquet we had was:

MIXED DIPS – Various Dips
DOLMADES – Vine leaves filled with rice and herbs
SAGANAKI – Pan fried graviera cheese, lemon and oregano dressing
LOUKANIKA – Char-grilled Greek sausages
KEFTEDES – Char-grilled Greek style meat rissoles
MIXED SOUVLAKI – Char-grilled lamb and chicken on skewers
OCTAPOTH1 XITHATO – Marinated octopus
FILLETS OF FISH – Fillets of fresh fish
PATATES – Oven baked potatoes
ELLENIKI SALATA – Greek Salad
DESSERTS – Exclusively from Medallion Cakes

dip.jpg

The dips were the most interesting thing. There was a purple dip, a
pink deep, a bizarre green dip, an orange one and a yellow one. At one
point, I was just eating the dip with a fork just for fun. They look so
interesting.

kareneat.jpg
Karen eating…

I’ve had heaps of dolmas before so I’m familiar with it. I used to
get it in cans, my lecturer in college is such a big promoter of dolmas
and got us into eating it. It’s good stuff, but the Dion ones beats the
ones of out the cans anyday.

main.jpg

Saganaki was too cheesy, I didn’t really enjoy it, and I think no
one else did too. Loukanika is pretty spicy and that’s good but I was
so full at that time I only ate half. Keftedes wasn’t really anything
special…tasted like meat patties filled with herbs. The grilled lamb
and chicken was my favorite!

myside.jpg
One side of the table: (from left) Chuck Fong, Thien Na, Huai Bin (me), Christopher

oppside.jpg
The other side of the table: (from left) Chuck Fong, Adrian, Chuck Yong, Karen

This is so bizarre. Ung Hing is missing and I don’t remember the seating was this way before.

The marinated octopus was great as well, but I didn’t eat much of
the fish and potatos. I’m more of a meat eater although I like fish,
just not in fillets. The Greek Salad was good as well, but the goat
cheese was a bit too hard. Eh, so I’m a food reviewer now, it seems. πŸ™‚

dessert.jpg

Okay, now the best thing is the desserts. It comes from Medallion
Cakes, a place three doors down, which serves the best cakes and
desserts in Melbourne. In my opinion anyway! They’re elaborate works of
art that looks almost too good to eat!

annakeb.jpg

Well, Thien Na had to leave after the main course to fetch her bf to
go to Moomba and we got her to carry a lamb kebab with her. We left
soon after to go to Moomba as well, and that’ll be the next post. I
feel sleepy now but I’ll write it if I feel more awake later. It’s
probably going to be tomorrow though. Yeah, it’ll definately have to be
tomorrow. *yawn* Anyway, Dion is a great place, I’ll go again, if only
just for the Ouzo. Heh. It’s at Lonsdale St, I’m sure everyone in
Melbourne knows where it is, since it’s on such a prominent street. Oh,
funny thing was, we forgot to bring the cake out! We left it at Karen’s
house while waiting for her to change. Heh. Happy 22nd Karen!

everyone.jpg

Did you know? That everyone is this picture was from Methodist High School, Sibu in 1998 πŸ™‚ They’re all my high school friends.

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