With hands spread above my head, legs apart, I get ready for the tumble.
It's always a bit exciting, because like spring board jumping, it's an activity I don't do very often.
'Now' I yell, and the camera clicks and there's a few seconds of pause as we gather round the camera and look into the view finder.
'Hmm, in tandem?' - Lyn could do a hand stand at the same time.
Then we were distracted by the sound of fireworks in the very distant distance. Everyone is craning their necks to catch some glimpse of something - but it really is very distant, that and my backyard really only has 2 views - the one that looks into the trees, and the one that looks back at my house from where the trees are.
At yum cha with the family this morning, Jason tells me about how he'd taken his family down to see the fireworks, the night before. 'There were all these people with their mobile phones out, taking pictures of the fireworks - I really don't understand why' - I gather his non-understanding has something to do with the poor picture taking and reproduction qualities that come with mobile phone cameras.
I think I've tried to shoot more ambitions things on mobile phone cameras.
Watching last night's footage again is funny.
the music playing in the background is very tinny and the warm film grain add to the nostalgia of something that only happened about 10 hours ago. "Haai, mah name's Chubby (inaudible lisp) mah dah's chubby, mah maaah's chubby, evunh mah dawg's chubby... (Roy laughs)" In a nother sequence I'm roving around the living room with the camera. Cheryl turns to the camera momentarily blinking like a deer in headlights and then diving to the ground, squealing and hiding her face from the lens. Pointing fingers direct the camera to Lyn, who's sunk into a sun-bleached couch next to Sam, who's grinning back in the semi-dark darkness.
I remember grinning back, before walking through the room to Lyn's side and perching the camera on her shoulder for a short while as she comes to. I'm zooming into her eye as the camera fades to black.
The air outside is damp and the smoke from our cigarettes thickens the mist, creating a bit of a haze. With each blend I finish, there's a plume of fruity mist that rises from the froth. I reach for the garden hose to hose down another jug.
Earlier that afternoon, when it was just Stephanie, Taddy, Ho and me, we sat on the patio listening to Jens Lekman's new album wondering if anyone would actually come to my party. It's a nice day for the album, the rain had just let out and everything is yellow (my parents just installed these yellow onnings into the backyard)... I saw a story once on TV about this little kid, who was saving money for a pet, but his mum had once been attacked by a dog, so a pig was the closest thing he could get, this has of course nothing to do with anything, I just get so nervous when I'm talking to you.
'It's nice' says Taddy grinning with one of my lemon/sherbet/peach-vodka/grapefruit infusions in hand. This is good because I kind of had a hunch he'd like it, and it's always nice when a hunch works out.
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