so yesterday, while i was pouring my cereal and milk into a bowl for breakfast, my housemate, Y, told me there was going to be a Skyshow in the city. my first reaction was, "like, aeroplanes?" i wasnt particularly interested. to which, he answered, "no, fireworks." which still didnt move me. till he added, "public transport is free from 3pm to midnight." the cheap side of me melted immediately.
i just realized, i havent really written about any of my housemates. well, there are mais and shumaila–we have the same classes so we are practically and inevitably around one another all the time. then there are 5 others, V,W,X,Y and Z. i know their names and where they’re from and what they’re studying. i just dont trust the internet.
i dont see much of V, W and X because they’re sort of on the other side of the house and they use the other kitchen and bathrooms. although, if i may say so, X, is a little of a curiousity. he looks guilty each time he crosses your path, like he doesnt want to be found. and then he waves a hint of a wave and rides off on his motorbike. but i guess he’s just sweet and shy. has startling blue eyes, that one. it was the first thing i noticed about him.
most of the time, i meet Y and Z. in fact, i share my kitchen and bathroom with them. they’re friendly and neat. but both prevent me from sleeping in later than 9 because Z sings emo songs in a foreign language while Y makes strange gutteral noises in the bathroom. both of these sounds are capable of waking me up from the sweetest of dreams. i repeat, they are neat (thank god) but at least one of them leaves a lot of pubic hair in the shower, which, of course, is like, so gross.
i shed, you shed, we all shed. well, i shed the hair on my head in particular but i always use the shower head to drain it all into the waterhole before i step out of the shower. but i also find myself having to do the same thing to Y/Z’s pubic hair before stepping in. it’s curly and long so i know it’s not the hair on their heads. i’m thinking the culprit is Z, The Gutteral One, because i once saw one strand of hair of the same length and curl stuck to the side of his shampoo bottle. but one should not point fingers at others…
in any case, i rented this room with every intention of spending the next couple of months looking around for an awesome place. insya Allah! this is comfy for now, but come june, i want a HOME.
anyway, Z told me about the Skyshow at Bonython Park. i decided to go.
in the morning, i went to the Central Market in the city with Mais. i came back, had a late lunch/early dinner and went out again at 5:30 with Shumaila. ohmygodthecrowdwasunbelievable! there were so many people! there were a couple of local bands but shumaila and i werent into any of them so we went off in search of food. she got chips and i got a Mexican Spud. i love my food (my landlord curses me each morning when he sees me eat breakfast by saying, "elia! you should be fat!" well, i am chubby as it is.) my spud was soooo goooood– a huge hot baked potato topped with beans in spicy salsa, cheese, butter and sour cream.
suddenly! all the lights went off followed by 20 minutes of carefully chereographed fireworks. saya ada video tapi malas nak upload kat castpost. the sky was ablaze with colour and specks of glitter that look like falling stars. so pretty! so pretty! so pretty! i don’t know why, but i felt like a little kid! i think what i liked most about it was that it was "simulcast to a mind-blowing soundtrack".
it was all merry (yet a tad annoying) when the teenagers in the crowd were singing along to the pop, dance and rock songs at the start. at one point, they were absolutely hollering along to BEP’s Where is the Love? but the fireworks were making such cute red heart shapes (yes, heart shapes!) in the sky, i forgave them.
then, the songs began to get mellow. the crowd, though not absolutely quiet, became more settled. i could hear the teenagers quieten down unless they were whispering, "woooww…" to each other. (finally!) (sometimes, i forget i was really young once. not very long ago.) couples of all ages were holding each other. those that came with families were huddled on a single blanket. the expression on the faces of little kiddies was priceless.
they had picked bright, white fireworks for Missy Higgin’s Sound of White. ok, maybe it’s the other way round. in any case, it was beautiful. my favourite was the very end… when the show had been built up to a climax and the sky looked absolutely stunning, all sparkly and illuminated. my whole view was filled with fireworks. then, with the last lines of Coldplay’s Fix You in the background, everything faded away like shooting starts falling in slow motion.
