Here's to 40 in Adventures in paradise

The birthday dinner went pretty well. I had a decent time. There were only 8 of us there, so I was right that about half the amount I invited would show.
It woud have been 10, but Ben announced that he has Covid, so he wasn’t coming. Moe ‘umm’ed’ and ‘ahh’ed about attending, but in the end he decided to play it safe, just in case.

I got there about 15 minutes early, as I figured I should be the first to arrive haha. I’d started having a look at the drinks menu when Sheldon arrived! It was such a nice surprise to see him, as I literally haven’t seen the guy in years. He’s got permed hair now and it looks so hot on him. Then Steve arrived (always on time), then Luke and Rhys arrived shortly after he did, then Brande’, so it was the six of us chatting away whilst we waited for Vish and James to arrive.
Apparently James and his best friend Jay had been drinking the entire day and night before, so I’m amazed James even showed up, and Vish had said Jay was coming as well, but it was just those two. Vish said Jay probably didn’t want to be stuck with eight gay guys haha.

So yeah, it was good. I initially decided to risk it by ordering a cocktail. It was a ginger-beer tequila-mix of some sort, and I managed to have two sips of it before I noticed things started spinning. Ergh. I had to give the rest of it to Brande’, whom polished it off for me lol.

It was a shame I couldn’t keep up with two lots of conversations, despite being in the middle. The group on my left were loud and laughing and getting along. I was proud of Brande’, as I figured he would be nervous, and he only knew Steve from my friendship group, having met him at the picnic that time. So he got to know Rhys and Luke finally, but obviously still hasn’t met Moe and Ben, even after all this time. He knew Vish and James well too, but they were seated on my side, so I chatted with them and Sheldon mostly. There were only a few times the conversation was across the whole table, but oh well. The food was good and I just had to stick to coke zero’s after my attempt at the booze, but yeah that’s a definite no-no still, unfortunately. So much for my (tentative) plans of getting smashed on my 40th.

Vish annoyed me at one point by announcing to the entire table that I have trouble swallowing tablets. Like, why? Why would you tell people that, even if they are my friends? Of course no-one responded to that, like, umm okay? So other than that, things were good. James actually told me that Jay is the exact same and has to crush every tablet, so that was nice to hear I’m not the only one. I then told Vish and James about my trick to get them down, which had James laughing, and Vish intrigued (I fantasize about going down on a guy lol, which usually works.
)
I kept sneaking looks at Sheldon, in his cute white muscle-shirt. I wondered if he’d been working out. I should’ve flirted and asked him haha. It’s strange because I’ve actualy hooked up with Sheldon a few times in the past, but it was so many years ago and it feels like a different life now. He’s doing well, owns his own place now and has a cute cat. Single as far as I know. I was so happy he came, as he’s the one friend not really in one of my groups, although the others know him (except Brande, it was their first time meeting.)
I figured Josh wasn’t coming after he checked in at some bar beforehand. Which meant Jamie didn’t come either. Which meant I could have invited Chris, whom used to date Jamie and they no longer talk to each other lol. Vish said I should have just messaged him, but I joked that I didn’t need a ‘Real Housewives Of Sydney’ episode at my birthday dinner. Anyway, can’t predict these things.

I got some pressies, which I wasn’t expecting. Rhys and Luke bought me a Christmas nutcracker, which counts down the days to Christmas haha, Steve got me some sort of astronaut light thing, which looks pretty cool! He told me he spent eight hours driving around looking for it. Jesus. But of course Steve would do something like that for his friends. I have to set it up and take a photo/video for him. And Brande’ got me a few things, since he is leaving the country soon and will be away for Christmas, so I got a set of wine and normal mugs, a lunch bag and a Lululemon shirt. So nice of him.
Apparently Vish and James are getting me a set of plates that I want, so that’s nice.

Speaking of, they kindly dropped me back to my place and I noticed the new housemate is using my plates and utensils lol. It’s not a big deal, but something I’ll have to adjust to I guess. I’m so used to past housemates just using their own stuff, and I guess it confused me because he said he has a lot of kitchen stuff, but I haven’t seen any of it yet since he’s moved in. Anyway, Brande’ came upstairs and briefly met him. It was nice to chat to Brande’ one-on-one on the outside balcony. I only had my Midori Illusion to offer him. I figured I may as well since I can’t fucking drink it anyway - not without spiralling.
Having said that, I’ve had a few good days. I’m noticing it’s the triggers that are setting it off for me - ie. Caffeine and alcohol. I can only see that as a good sign, and I hope this means the triggers will fuck off too eventually.
I was trying to explain to the guys at dinner what this fucking thing has been like, but I think it was hard for them to understand and for me to try and even explain, but they knew it was horrible for me to go through.

I think my new housemate is straight. I’m unsure. I thought I heard a girl moaning when he moved in (lol), but then wondered if I imagined it, since my head’s been all over the place. He’d gone out to the brewery with the girl-friend and I wondered if she was actually a girlfriend without the hyphen. I do know he seems to drink a lot of beer, which to me, seems like a very straight thing to do. At least in my circles… which are gay haha. Anyway, I haven’t lived with a straight guy since that house in Kedron like 15 years ago, when I definitely heard my stoner housemate at the time fucking some girl, because she was a screamer lol.
I also thought I smelled weed yesterday, but again, wasn’t sure, and thought, ‘Oh great.’ There’s also new people who have moved into the building across so it could also have easily come from there. Guess that’ll all come out over the next few months or so.

I managed to do my warm-up rows (1km) at gym yesterday with no dizzy issues, so that’s another great sign! Any sense of normality is very welcome.

I still don’t know if I want to extend my trip on the GC another two days, simply to save the trip back here. I know it’s only an hour+ each way on the train, and the train shouldn’t be too bad with my dizziness as a it’s a much smoother ride than a bus or car. But yeah effort+dizzy-accom cost, it might be leaning more in the convenient direction. 5-6 days straight on the GC might also do my head in lol. Especially if the Schoolies are still there. Anyway, I’ll think about it today.

Brande’ is bringing over prawns this afternoon after work, so I guess that’ll be my actual birthday treat.

Crazy to think I’ve made it to 40. I woke up this morning thinking, “Wow, I’m 40.”
I haven’t cried yet haha. Apparenly my older brother cried when he turned 40. Not really feeling it just yet, unless I get depressed about it later.