'Blue Valentine' under the stars

1OO311 - My Linh's 18th Birthday.

Yesterday, Derek invited us to eat pizza and watch a movie together =). It was the first outing, of the year, where I get to see most of my friends again =). Thank you Derek for inviting me =).

But before that, I had a great time exploring the university and taking photos with MG =). We didn't have to go to the main campus yesterday, but we went to get our NURS5081 books. We went taking photos of the university; went to get our books from the copy centre; and talked to 'The Wilderness Society'  and the struggles of the Western Australian Kimberley ecosystem against the government plans for a gas station. I wanted to join and donate every month, but their donations only received debit cards, not cash, so I couldn't join. I have a debit card, but I've never used it before; mum always look after it. We met up with Wendy and caught up a bit before she left for her tutorial and we left to go to the park. The Victoria Park was near the university; I think it's now one of MG and mine favourite places in the university =D. We had heaps of fun playing on all those strange looking playground equipments. There was the miniature flying fox; this circular spinning thing; this miniature cone looking swing where it's big enough to even cross your legs on it; there was this S-shaped balance beam which I tried so hard to walk along it (I accomplished it, but I ended up falling right at the end =.='); and then there was also this big soccer ball looking rope thing which MG and I have reached the top of. I had quite a few injuries but it was fun =D.

The doggy helpers of 'The Wilderness Society' =).

Victoria Park, the park that MG and I now like =).

After and hour or so, MG went to the library while I went to meet up with Wendy. I was supposed to study as well, but I didn't have the time too =( I brought my heavy NURS5002 book to uni for no reason T_T. Wendy and I took the train to Bondi Junction and met Edim. Since everyone else was late, we decided to meet them at the restaurant instead. We went to Svens, a pizza restaurant, for dinner; it was Derek's recommendation. The place was designed to look like the Viking era; even the menu and toilets were in some kind of Viking/Swedish language LOL =D. The pizza was great; I especially like 'The World Tree' because it had prawns in it =D. Maybe because the glasses looked intriguing, we drank more water than usual =P. Sarah and I ate the most salad; I don't even know what it was. A Viking styled coleslaw? I thought the vinegar (balsamic vinegar?) was extra strong, but it was still delicious =). It was also funny to see Sarah and I both taking photos of the food hahaha. I couldn't help it; it's been a year since I last had a camera =P and I really like my latest camera too =D.

Svens, the pizza restaurant.

'The World Tree,' my favourite pizza =).

After dinner, we went to Centennial Park where the Moonlight Cinema was. When we got there, half of the group decided to go buy some ice cream. After a while, we bought the tickets and Edim, Thanh and Derek went in to rent the bean bags while Sarah, Vicky, Eric and I stayed back to give the others their tickets. We were so bored that we started irritating one another; Eric was mostly the victim =). It was about an hour later when they came back with bags and bags of junk food. They even bought juice O_O but we end up not having any. 

Blue Valentine is a realistic, melancholy movie about a couple on the road to divorce. Directed by Derek Cianfrance; the movie compares the past and present of a couple, played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, the changes in their romance, their expectations, their lifestyles and their goals. By the end of the movie, I think the most upsetting thing about the movie was how realistic it was; it's true that the rates of divorce is increasing every year. I pitied the male protagonist more, but I believe they're both at fault. It seemed that the female audience was more likely to pity the male protagonist, while the male audience was more likely to pity the female protagonist. In the end, I think the child was the most innocent and most pitied person in this broken family. The female protagonist made me think that love and romance didn't exist anymore. I'll never want to have a family like that. I do admit that their acting was really good though. I think I would rate this movie a 7/10; the plot and ending lost the points. The plot was good and all, but I just don't like sad movies/stories in general, especially this movie because it reminded me a lot of things I didn't want to remember.

After the movie, it took us a while to leave because we were enjoyed relaxing on the bean bags too much; we almost wanted to take them home with us. When we did, conversations about the plot continued on. Everyone had strong opinions about various things; I think Shirley had one of the strongest ones - she strongly thought the female protagonist was weak even though she did empathise with her. Anyways, Shirley's dad drove Vicky, Mimi and i home. Thanks Shirley's dad =). I got home by ~ 12:30 AM *sigh* it's been a while since I went home this late.

PS. The weather was kind of hot during the day but by evening, the weather felt nice and cool =).It felt like Autumn.