Ball in Numbers Game On

Dear Violet & Olivia,

You've caught me in a moment where I have actually remembered to write you immediately after an event in my seemingly boring life. So rare, isn't it? Well, here I am, sitting in the common room writing to you on a Sunday evening. But not just any Sunday evening; the Sunday evening subsequent to our residence hall ball. 

This weekend there's a pod decoration contest where the prize is $100 for the floor, so my podmates decided to participate and we began our morning yesterday by going to town and buying decorations. Our theme was a golf course where the mission was to save an alien appropriately named 'X Æ A-12' and get them back to their motherland. We're planning to keep all the decorations up until the end of semester, but according to our residential advisor (RA) some parts are a fire hazard, including placing a decent chunk of confetti in front of a certain podmate's door. Other main attractions include the inflatable alien hanging upside down diagonally on said podmate's door, and the 'Welcome to the Sergeant Peppers' Golf Course' sign covering the paint we unintentionally stripped on the pod door (courtesy of Daiso tape and the thin coat of paint. Fun times!). 

As a little aside, I'm sorry that I'm giving such little context into these letters and upping the banter more than making sense. I also doubt that my future self will remember the content of these letters since I sometimes can't remember the memories I tell C, in both instances involving her or not. Hopefully these letters are specific enough to motorize the engine of my memories(?). To add on to the aside part of this letter, I am listening to music while writing this which tends to hinder my train of thought, so if things aren't making sense, I hope you're more intelligent to connect the dots than I would be at the moment.

Okay. I think it's about time to return to the time leading up to the ball. I began getting ready at 1pm, which I spent having one of my podmates do my eyeliner, then struggling to choose what my eyeshadow would look like. I initially went with a pink gradient, realized it looked bad after a couple of hours and that I also didn't suit coloured eyeshadow, then I changed to a more natural looking palette where you could barely see it in bright light. I wonder if my future self would be able to have  a stronger grip on this whole makeup thing. Even at eighteen almost nineteen years of age, I remain absolutely clueless. My lack of an artistic sense carries onto my attitude to makeup, as you could probably see. I then went on to curl a couple of my floormates' hair and then mine, which turned out better than expected. My time doing my hair during west side seemed to have incorporated in my muscle memory; a trait I wouldn't think of having at first, but a handy trait to have in the end. Time moved a little slowly, but at an appropriate pace and eventually we reached pre-ball where we took a couple of photos in the floor common room and revealed who our secret admirers were. 

I also forgot to mention we did secret admirers week beforehand, where I got to spoil a fellow podmate whom I already know quite well, so I had a little advantage in nailing some gifts. It also gave me a great excuse to pull out my underrated talent for puns which hasn't really had a time to shine during quarantine. It was also a tricky process to nail whenever I delivered the gifts. At one point I delivered their gift right after talking to them while in the bathroom, but then realized it was easy to pinpoint, then I hastily removed it. I hadn't experienced such a strong adrenaline rush in the four months I had been gone. On the other hand, I suspected the one secretly admiring me to be two floormates, which I narrowed down to one by the fourth night when I was asked if I was into musical theater, then received a note with musical puns on it once I returned to my room. But alas, I was wrong! It turned out to be the floormate that was sitting right next to me on the night we revealed our suspicions, and I had a little oopsies moment. Another adrenaline rush -- this time right before the ball. I wouldn't start it any other way.

The ball ended up being a little more on the 'meh' side than expected. It felt like a club rather than a ball. My image of a ball involves a sit down dinner, electing royalty, and listening to a couple of speeches, but it ended up being one massive party with finger food and couples making out every. Time. You. Lift. Your. Head. To. Scope. The. View. It ruined the vibe of the scene for me, on top of quarantine already damaging the integrity of my social battery, so I went back to the hall a little early with some other floormates who felt the same way, and passed out on my bed. I think it's necessary, as it primed me for future outings with others. Hopefully from here on in, I can enjoy the party scene for longer. 

Today I barely did any kind of uni work and ended up taking several naps. For my last nap at around 3pm to 4pm I completely thought I slept until the morning, so I was a little alarmed when I woke up and felt the tension ease when I realized I didn't miss out on dinner. Another random aside, this time involving the both of you: do you rely on naps to get through the day, or are you one of those lucky people who already feels energized with a good night's sleep and a couple ounces of caffeine? Would be intriguing if you were the latter. My genes must not be strong enough.

Here's to more nights out -- perfectly balanced with study, of course.

Love,

Maui