Speed dating

Bit of a funny start to yesterday. Before court began, the client called me over and said there was a lady sitting in the public gallery wearing sunglasses, who he saw come out of the judge's room and then talk to the police. I went back to DC and typed up the message on my laptop to show him, prefaced with the words "don't look now...", so a few moments later he turned around to pretend to get some documents and then turns back to me and says "that's his wife you fucking idiot!" LOL!

Wonder why the judge asked his wife to come along. Seems like this is such a big case everyone is bringing their family in to see.

I didn't see the hot para at all yesterday. Wonder what she's doing. I would've thought that since their case had finished there wouldn't be much left to do.

We only had a half day, but when we finished DC suggested we (him, me and GS) go out to lunch. Even though I had brought my own lunch, I said yes because I thought they wanted to talk about the case. Whilst we were getting ready, GS pulled out saying he just wanted to go back to his office in the city. Made me a little concerned, because I thought he was still too worried about that ethical dilemma. I know he's sorta like me in that he probably prefers to be by himself, but I also feared that he may suffer from depression, because I remember DC found a book in his trolley called "The Black Dog" or something. Also, it's a statistical fact that lawyers rank pretty high in terms of depression.

Anyway, I stayed back by myself the rest of the day working on transcriptions. I had to go see GS at his office afterwards because he wanted me to type up a letter, which was another small flag for me. I got there a bit late so by the time I arrived he was ready to leave and had already typed up and emailed me the letter. But we stayed there for a bit as I suggested amendments to the letter.

Shuing had called me earlier to see if I wanted to meet up, so I called him back and organised to meet him near the Apple store. On my way there I called up Malay, who said he was headed into the city and might meet up with us for KFC. I found Shuing in the Apple store and we walked down the main street in the city to Star Bucks to wait for Malay.

I ended up telling him the reason I was staying away from the group, because he pressed for it. He thought I was trying to avoid Michelle, lol. He said Bobby he's asked Bobby before and Bobby just said he didn't know, which was what I knew he'd do.

We had a pretty good chat, talking about racism in Australia, A's wedding, the girl I met there, how I saw Rodney the day before. As we sat there talking, I felt that the blonde girl sitting at the table in front of me was looking at me, but everytime I looked she was just talking to the guy she was with, so I dismissed it as my imagination.

Then later, the guy turned around and waved at me, and it was Heath from uni. He came over and we started talking, and I thought this was going to be a bit awkward because I never knew him that well and his girlfriend was there and everything. Oh, and I had also forgotten his name, so I couldn't introduce him to Shuing.

Luckily, Shuing introduced himself and I caught his name, and to my surprise, Shuing started talking to his girlfriend which felt like a big load was taken off my shoulders because I only had Heath to talk to. We just talked a bit about where we were working, and I told him a bit about my case and asked for his views on a particular issue. One small thing I noticed during our conversation was that he placed his finished cup of coffee on our table. But I mean, it wasn't a big deal or anything, he had finished it, so he put it down.

The other thing that struck me as a little odd was when it was like five to seven, I said "oh, you gotta get to your movie eh?" which was at seven, and he was like "nah, it's ok, they usually just have previews first anyway". I don't know man, but I like to get in there five to ten minutes before the start time.

After they left, I told Shuing that he was a really nice guy and had the misfortune of having been sexually abused as a child. Shuing said that he thought the guy was a little odd, bringing up the coffee cup thing which he noticed too. So it wasn't just me.

Malay finally turned up, and we went to get KFC. He had a dinner to go to so he could only get something small. We went up to what might be our usual spot now, upstairs at the back. We talked about G and how he chickened out of asking that waitress for her number, haha. Even though I hadn't been with them as a group for a while, it was like we didn't miss a beat, and it felt good to be together again.

We walked Malay to his dinner venue, and on the way I asked Shuing why they didn't have their usual group thing on a Friday night. He said because Bobby returns late on Friday nights, and that he (Shuing) now hangs out more with his work mates. For some reason it gave me a bit of pleasure in knowing that the group thing could not be sustained without me. I wonder if Bobby regrets what he did.

When we got to Malay's dinner venue, we parted ways with him but it started raining, so we decided to sit down for ice cream. Shuing told me he went on a speed dating thing recently, after his friend invited him along. I was really surprised that he'd go, because I never saw him as the type. But moreover, I never saw him as desperate, and still didn't see him that way even after he told me, contrary to my previous views that people who went to those things were usually desperate.

The main point that came across which he was quite proud of (and rightfully so) was that after talking to 18 (EIGHTEEN!) girls in a row, he no longer had a fear of talking to girls, no matter how how they were, and he brought up Heath's girlfriend earlier in the night as an example. I mean, wow, like, I know that's what happens after practice, but I just couldn't believe I was hearing it in practice, and it was coming from one of my closest friends! So there you go, another little thing I noticed (Shuing talking to Heath's girlfriend) that tied in with something else (Shuing's speed dating).

He told me how his friend had earlier invited another guy, and when that guy didn't get any matches he stopped talking to his friend, and I was like "wtf? It's not the friend's fault he didn't get any matches!" and Shuing was like "yeah, that's the point, you're confident, so you know it's not your friend, but this guy wasn't". I was surprised he said I was confident with girls, seeing at how I'm such a failure with even the hot para.

Shuing got a few matches himself, but when he texted one of the girls for a further date, she texted back a friendly rejection, and I just said that maybe another guy got to her first.

I told him I was interested to go if he went again, and he sounded like he would. I don't know, at that moment I didn't see it as a desperate thing, I saw it more as a dare/social experiment thing, but I know if I told the younger guys like Fat Pat and Dunnycan, then they would say I was being desperate. When I said that to Shuing I had the secret confidence within me, but I knew that if I had actually booked and everything, I'd be pissing my pants and scared shitless. So I really give him kudos for going through with it.

Shuing said he started off being nervous, but it got easier as he went along. God I know everyone says that, but it's just something I'm too scared to do. Like I told Shuing, it was like walking across hot coal. He had now gotten to the other side, but I was still here, too scared to walk on the coal.

He did say though, that you had to keep up the practice. Like, the dayr or two after the confidence would still be there, but after that you sort of go back to your 'normal' self I guess.

I walked him to the train station afterwards, and when I got to the bus stop, I saw Frank! When he first approached, I was like "whoa, this guy wants money", lol, because he had a beanie on and stuff. But yeah, I didn't find too much to talk to him about, maybe because I felt a little exhausted after seeing so many people on one night, and was quite relieved when his bus came. He texted me later in the night wanting to see a movie or go out for drinks or dinner and I just said I'd organise something soon.

I texted Shuing about seeing Frank and he called me up. I think he actually really misses me being part of the group. One noteworthy thing for me though: I didn't mention my knee problems at all.