Australia Day Party 2013

Well, last month, around the end of January, I went and attended an Australia Day party!

Obviously, it was a very different one to the one I attended back at the end of January in 2007 (if you want to read about that, please go check out http://taleofepic.blogspot.com.au/2007/01/toad-races.html), because the cruel and unfaithful God hadn’t so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour yet, but I still had heaps of fun!

It was Claire (she does the admin work for CODA South, the agency that provides me with carers/life coaches/support workers/whatever they’re called nows XD to supervise my showers and take me out once a week, I think) who rang me one morning and invited me along; mother wandered downstairs and told me to ask Claire was there anyone available to drive me along to the party and back home afterwards, but if there wasn’t, that she was happy to drive me to the CODA office (where the party was being held) herself. However, Alice (she’s kinda like the boss, I think) rang back soon afterwards to tell us that Amanda Wilson would pick me up to the party and drive me back home once it was over. Awesome!

The only thing, though, was finding something suitable to wear! This problem was solved by mother, who was doing some marketing research (aka reading the junk mail XD) one Wednesday. “Aha!” she says, waving some brightly coloured page at me, “the Reject Shop is selling Australia Day tees for nine bucks; you can buy one when Annette (one of my carers/life coaches/support workers/whatever they’re called nows XD) takes you to Garden City Shopping Centre on Thursday!”

So that Thursday, after having dinner, Annette and I go down to the Reject Shop, where I manage to grab and buy the second-last dark blue available Australian tee for nine bucks. Cool, I’m all set to go~

On the day of the party, Amanda arrives bright and early to drive me to the CODA office (it’s somewhere in Greenslopes), where the party’s being held. It’s great to catch up with her; I haven’t seen her for several months!

As she drives us to the CODA office, I wonder aloud if there will be another lucky door prize (remember, I won the lucky door prize, a Christmas hamper, at the CODA Christmas party last year!) available this time around. Cheekily, I ask Amanda, “If you win it, will you share half with me? I am your client, after all.” XD she just laughs, then replies, “Nup. If I win it, it’s all mine.” Damn. XD

Once we arrive, Amanda and I walk up the ramp to the entrance, when a man suddenly appears behind us and says, “Oh cool, you guys are the first ones here!”  It’s a good omen, and I laugh to Amanda, “I can already see myself walking away with that lucky door prize.” XD

Inside, I take a seat, and Amanda goes and brings us back each a cup of orange-coloured cordial. Suddenly, another voice greets me. “Hello!” I don’t recognise the face, but I do the voice. “Claire?” I wonder. Claire grins and nods. We shake hands and I ask her, “You look a lot younger than me! Are you even twenty yet?” Claire laughs and replies, “Oh, I just turned twenty-one.”

“Humph, that means I’m older than you,” I mock-grouch. “Care to guess how old I am? I promise I won’t be offended no matter what number you guess.” Claire laughs again, and then decides, “If I’m twenty-one, you’re probably only twenty-two.” Lol, she’s already made my day, and I don’t think it’s even 10am yet! “I love you,” I reply with a grin, “his year, I’m turning twenty-six!” Claire laughs, stocks up the table with bikkies and continues along her way. Amanda comes over and passes me two Arnotts bikkies as more people start to arrive. Alas, Karen doesn’t come today; she’s one of my former carers who I saw last year at the CODA Christmas party!

When there’s about twenty people inside, the man who’d first greeted Amanda and I when we’d arrived (his name’s Russell) calls everyone to order and says it’s time for a sing-along! So lyric books are handed out, the CD player’s set to full blast and we all warble along to some Australian classics like Waltzing Matilda, etc. Russell wanders around with a giant inflatable microphone, which he sticks into random people’s faces, and we all bawl out the current song louder obediently. XD

After that, there’s a short break for some morning tea. Amanda helps me once to the loo, then back seated outside, gets me a plate filled with lotsa fruit, which I chomp down happily.

After everyone’s eaten their fair share, Russell says it’s time for more games. I sit out for the first one, which requires standing, but had a go in the second, which was throwing a giant inflatable thong as far as you could! It was originally Alice who’d asked me “Would you like a go, Emily?” I told her yes, but could she please stand behind me while I walked up to where Russell and his giant inflatable thong were? Alice said she would, and so I made my way to where Russell was standing with his giant inflatable thong, just as I heard him boast, “I’ve got size 525 feet, you know.” Staring at that giant inflatable thong, I don’t doubt it! Laughing, I tell him, “Mate, my feet are 520 sizes smaller than yours; your poor wife must have to run a new load in the washing machine every time your socks need washing!” XD

Era throws the giant inflatable thong, the distance gets measured, and then Alice kindly walks behind me back to my seat where Amanda is waiting.

After this game, a net is erected and we all head over and play volleyball! Phew, the balls we play with are just giant balloons; you could easily cop a ‘ball biscuit’ (in Canto, that means getting a ball socked at your head XD) without losing too many brain cells~

And that more or less ends our Australia day party! Oh, wait, I almost forgot to talk about the lucky-door prize; unfortunately but unsurprisingly, neither Amanda nor I won it; ‘twas an esky! “Too bad,” I sighed to Amanda after a ticket was drawn and someone had run excitedly over to claim the prize, “my dad could’ve done with a new esky. “If you’d won, you would’ve let me keep the lid while you kept the container, right?” XD

One funny thing I forgot to mention about the thong-throwing game was that originally, Russell said that he’d asked Alice for permission to throw cowpats, but that Alice wouldn’t let him! When I groused at Alice why she wouldn’t let Russell allow us to throw cowpats instead of the giant inflatable thong (because let’s face it, throwing cowpats would’ve been much more fun! XD), she’d laughed and replied, “Personally, I didn’t mind, but Louise said we couldn’t!” so I’d turned to Louise, the manager for CODA South, and groused at her, “Is that true, then? Are you to blame for us not getting to throw cowpats at the Australia day party today? If you are, I’m calling you a big mean party-pooper!” Louise laughed too, then defended herself with, “We couldn’t let you guys throw cowpats today because that’d be against health and safety regulations!” Lol, fair enough. XD

And with that, the CODA Australia Day party drew to a close and people began leaving. Amanda left me sitting while she went outside to direct all the leaving cars. Seeing me sitting by myself waiting for Amanda to get back, Alice came over with an offer: “Would you like a tour of the CODA office, Emily? I can give you one, if you’d like.” Well, of course I liked! So, holding Alice’s hand gently, she took me inside for a quick tour, pointing out where each of the ladies (her, Amee, Claire and Louise) sits. Back out, I made a beeline for some comfy-looking leather sofas I’d seen when I’d first walked in with Alice. “Ooh, may I please have a sit on your comfy plush leather sofa?’ Alice just laughed, replying, “Go ahead.” And once I’d plonked my butt down, she even brought me over one little plastic cup of water from their water cooler! “You guys work in a really comfy place,” I said enviously. “I mean, you’ve got leather sofas, water coolers, air conditioning and everything!” Alice laughed, as did Claire, who was seated at her computer just beside the sofa I’d plonked my butt down into!

After checking that Amanda had seen all the cars out, Alice came back for me and kindly gave me a hand back out down the ramp to where Amanda had parked. I thanked her sincerely for inviting me to the Australia Day party, said my thanks and byes, then Amanda tootled me back home. ‘Twas about 11:15am then.

Anyways, ‘twas a very fun Australia Day party I attended! Fingers crossed that if there’s one planned for next year, that mother will let me attend again!

Next post here … oh, I’ve got to tell you all about the weeklong family holiday my parents and I took down to Sydney and back near the end of January! ! The most memorable thing for me on that trip was that I RODE A CAMEL!!! :D Righteo, until then!

Cheers,

Em. ^^