Thursday comp: 3-11-3

Far out, haven't had much time to blog.

On Tuesday at work we played that terrorism board game. It was PL, Kate, me, Twish, Rom Rom and the French girl (who I have incorrectly called the German girl before). I think it was Kate's idea.

It was a pretty hard game to understand, and even the instructions conceded as much. So we all just decided to take it one step at a time, reading the instructions, playing, then reading more instructions.

Twish annoyed me a bit because she would only come to the table when it was her turn, and then go back to her office to make phone calls. The French girl surprised me a bit because she was really good in reading the instructions and teaching us how to play, even though her English was probably the worst out of all of us (but still pretty good).

In the game, there is this wheel you spin, and which ever colour it lands on determines who is the terrorist. When the wheel was spun, it landed on Kate's colour, so she was it. As the terrorist, you don't make any money, but I am sure there were other benefits to offset it which we didn't know about.

After a few turns, I had to spin, and already by then Kate was getting a little frustrated at being the terrorist. I spun once but stuffed it up because the thing wasn't exactly glued to the board so it came off. I spun again and it landed on Kate. She refused and said I should spin again, but everyone said not to. Then there was this bit of argument and Kate ended up walking away from the game. It was pretty sad, but there wasn't much we could do about it.

At lunch I went to the gym with DC, we did five types of exercises and then left. We also bumped into that really good looking lawyer (who is married). He actually spotted her and suggested we go do the bike for five minutes, which was what she was doing. He introduced me to her, even though Kate had done the same a while back. She is actually pretty good looking even without make up. I didn't, however, like the fact that DC went out of his way to talk to her even though both were married. When we were on the bikes, I wondered about having a good looking wife which every man would crack on to.

DC and I went to get lunch together, and he brought up the board game thing earlier. He was sitting away working, but he said he was keeping an eye out and said there were some other things going on which contributed to Kate leaving. He didn't exactly say what, but he did say something about PL and the French girl being there.

Hmmm.

On Wednesday I was woken up by my phone ringing. I walked over to it and put it on silent, only to realise moments later that it was my ringtone that had been ringing, not the alarm, so someone was calling me. I sleepily got up and checked, and saw that it was Malay. Gee, it must've been urgent for him to call me at 6am.

He told me to look out the window. I opened the door and saw that the entire sky was a dark red. Wow. Apparently it was the worst dust storm in NSW's history.

Thursday night's game was pretty exciting. Sunz had pretty much bailed earlier in the day, which kinda sucked because I don't want his stinking shoes in my car. I had a feeling this would happen.

Fat Pat surprisingly turned up with Mike. As we were sitting and waiting for the earlier game to finish, Antoine came over and asked if we needed any players. I said yes, and he introduced us to this tall, skinny Indian dude called Harry. Because it was the last game of the season, Antoine decided to let him play for us.

Carter also came, Fab couldn't make it, and Abi had said he was coming but was nowhere to be seen. We played the Thundercats, a bunch of bulky wogs. I started the game alright, when this guy was driving I managed to strip the ball from him and come up with a steal. Although I was a bit lazy on defense, as this number three guy hit a few threes around me. I swear it was the biggest fluke, he didn't even have a proper shot, he was just flipping it up but managed to swish it all the time.

I thought having a tall guy would solve all our problems, but it didn't. It solved some. With Harry, he was a presence in the middle, but he also seemed to like playing guard, staying on the perimetre on offense, and over-dribbling on fast breaks. He was a bit unco on rebounds, but I gave all of this to maybe a bit of rust. He was a bit arrogant as well. When we were warming up, I asked if he could dunk, and he said yes and made an attempt. He missed it because he didn't jump high enough. And then after a Fat Pat lay up, he grabbed the rim and nearly received a tech.

We were down by around four points from halftime till the close of the game, which really annoyed me because it seemed like no matter what we did, we couldn't close that small gap. At one stage we had to foul and send them to the line, so I pushed and grabbed this big guy, and nothing was called! It was right in front of the referee, and I just held onto his arm until Fat Pat came over and started fouling as well. Even the other team was complaining about it.

The guy hit one free throw to put them up by three, and we called a timeout. We decided to kick it into Harry for an easy two and hope that they fouled him. He was asking if he could take a three, and we all steered him away from that idea.

I inbounded it from the halfway, and we tried to kick it into Harry. He missed a shot, but Fat Pat got the rebound and drove it for a lay up and was fouled. We all watched as the ball hit the back rim softly, and then the front rim. Right at that moment, the ball could've bounced out. But it didn't. It softly dropped through the net. I punched the air and went to give him a high five.

He hit the free throw with about 11 seconds to go. When they were taking the ball up, I started yelling "five, four, three, two, one" but the guy wasn't falling for it. I saw Harry bump him and thought a foul was going to be called.

No don't bump him you fucking idiot!

He started to drive, and just as he was about to pick up his dribble, I got a hand in there and stripped it. It was the exact same thing that happened at the beginning of the game. I heard some guys on the sideline gasping. I chased down the ball and knew I still had a bit of time to get a shot off. By the time I got both hands on it the buzzer sounded and I chucked a three quarter court shot which missed.

Game drew.

We were all pretty happy, even though we drew, probably because we played so well towards the end. I felt good because I had done a heroic act, and also because it was a team effort. Without Fat Pat's free throw and shot my steal would've meant nothing. And without my steal, well, they may have gotten off a shot.

On the bench, I asked Fat Pat what he was thinking when he was taking the free throw, and asked "did you think it was too much pressure and you wanted to go home and play PS3?"

I actually meant it as a joke, because I was going to say that's what I was thinking once during clutch free throws, but after I said it I realised that it may have been interpreted as a shot at him for giving up during the season.

Mike, Fat Pat and I sat around talking a bit. Abi turned up, only to have us tell him the game was over.

As I was driving back, I thought that I had really contributed, even though I didn't score. Maybe...I was good to play? At that moment, I was down for next season.

On Friday GS wasn't at the office because he had another matter elsewhere. We all did more chucking away of the brief, because the bins had been emptied the day before.

While I was doing that, the cofficer came in and told me that my client wanted to see me. I wanted to do everything I could to avoid any trouble or perception of trouble, so I asked DC to come with me. So we went downstairs to see the client and just basically talked crap. By the time we finished it was around morning tea, and I noticed it was kinda quiet. DC was talking to RB and IN, and I was wondering where Kate and Rom Rom were.

So I went out to the cafe across the road and saw them there with Twish. I ordered a fruit salad and joined them. I noticed that hot waitress paused a bit and looked at me as she brought over the fruit salad. I am really starting to wonder if I am paranoid...or correct.

It was only a half day, so shortly after heading back it was time to go. DC offered me a lift, and Rom Rom found out, and it was pretty hard for me to reconcile why I refused a lift from her but accepted one from him. Twish and the French girl also came along, and apart from Twish's constant rambling and whinging about CW, it was a pretty boring ride.

He dropped us off outside Twish's office, where we parted, although I walked a bit with the French girl towards the traffic lights because she was going to lunch. If I didn't know she had a boyfriend, I may have asked her to lunch.

Anyway, I went to the bus stop to catch a bus home, but then felt my tummy grumbling. After a bit more of a wait I decided it was better to be safe than sorry, so went into the court building across the road to use the bathroom.

When I went home, I washed my car because the dust had managed to get into my garage and cover my car. Sheesh. It was some pretty tough dust as well. It was only a thin layer but it stuck pretty hard to the paint. I pity those who had their cars outdoors and copped more of it.

I bummed around at home until about 7:30 when I drove out to get some KFC so I could watch the Eels-Bulldogs game on tv. It was a pretty good game, and I kinda wish I had spent my money going to that game instead of the other one.

This morning I went to the gym. I did some abs, weights and the bike. I hadn't been doing the bike all week, so I was a bit wary playing on Thursday night because I could feel my knee wasn't as strong as normal.

After gym I went to the fruit market to get some drinks for library guy's birthday party at the beach. I was thinking of getting those canned drinks which seem to have been cut off from the shelves, like Dr Pepper and Cherry Coke, but they were like $2.50 per can so screw that. Instead I just got a pack of six bottles of some lemony drink.

I went home, had a shower and then headed out. I was like two hours late, even though I only meant to be one hour late. I had never been to that beach before, so I didn't know how to get there, and the bus route I took was from the start to the end.

I was somewhat relieved to see Etan and Spawn there, because I was afraid I wouldn't know anyone there. A lot of his Vietnamese friends were cooking at the barbeque, and I was quickly introduced to them and given some food. I went to sit with Spawn and Etan and tried to eat the meat I was given, but it was a bit too chewy and ummm...raw.

I spent the time mainly with them two, plus some guy called Sasha who also went to our uni. He has really nice eyes, it's like they're always smiling. I couldn't take my eyes off his girlfriend. In one way, she looked old because her skin seemed a bit wrinkly, yet she had this sexy aura about her.

Spawn asked me how many people I knew there, and I knew where this was heading. He said "why don't you go introduce yourself to everyone else?" I knew that that was actually what he wanted to do, but he had to somehow express it as something that I should've been doing.

Yoj also came along and we had a bit of a chat near the barbeque. She told me that a client had actually trashed Nom's office because she wouldn't refund him his money. Damn, you kinda saw that coming from a mile away when you looked at how she treated her clients. It was only a matter of time.

Ha was also there with her boyfriend. He really surprised me. If you look at Ha, you'd think her boyfriend was someone equally as nerdy, and equally as small. But this dude was quite a hunk! Far out. Anyway, I spent some time playing badminton with him, although it was a bit hard because it was so windy.

I ended up in a conversation with Etan and Sasha, and listened to Sasha talk about how all of his non-law friends were making more money than lawyers. I tend to agree with him.

Spawn dropped his sunglasses at one stage, and Etan said something about his own being $20, and Spawn says "oh, mine are $300". Ummm..yeah, well done.

At another point, while talking to me and Etan, he actually pointed at my receding hairline and said "so what are you going to do about that?"

Hey at least I don't look like a 12 year old!

Fam also showed up late, because he had come from a wedding. He showed up with a different girl. I thought she looked like one of those Korean girls from the brothels I used to go to, but later figured out she probably wasn't, because her English was too good. I wonder what happened to his 'girlfriend'.

We talked a bit about shit, and then he started telling me about this self-discovery class that he and library guy were doing. Sounds weird. I was trying to think of how this was some way of making money for himself.

At around 4:30pm Etan and I decided to jet, so we said our goodbyes and I, at least, felt relieved to get the hell out of there. I checked my phone and saw that I had a missed call from Ele at 1:12pm. I would've missed it because I had my phone in my bag all day and had chucked my bag to a corner in the shelter we were sitting in. She also sent me a message at 1:21pm:

Do u want to join us for board games at [location] ard 7pm tonite?

Hmmm.

I caught the bus with Etan, half talking shit with him, careful not to say anything of substance because he was the type to talk behind your back about it, and half my mind deciding whether I should go or not, and how I should handle it.

I was thinking about not going, because I wanted to be a bit of a challenge and didn't want to be seen as being too available all the time. But then on the other hand, I kinda thought that maybe the best way of progressing things with her would be to try to see her on these types of occasions, and also showing the importance of accepting her invitations. I mean, what if I rejected, then she thought I'd reject in the future and never asked me again?

Once I parted with Etan I boarded a bus and called her back. The call was cut off, and a recorded message said I couldn't leave a message.

Hmmm.

At 5:09pm I sent the following:

Mmm...ok but I can only get there around 8, is that ok madam?

The only reason I suggested I'd be late was because of what I saw in Hitch, how the fat guy re-scheduled deliberatelt to be seen as being busy.

From then on it was a mental disaster. I kept checking my phone for calls and messages. I must've checked a million times. Each time I saw nothing hurt a little.

I got home and kept checking. My mind wandered between "call her to clarify" and "screw it, I feel like staying at home to watch the footy anyway". I thought that the reason the phone got cut off was maybe she was in the cinema was whatever group she was with. I also presumed that that was the group that she had invited me to. I didn't think it would be Shuing.

By the time my mom had made dinner and the football had started, I still hadn't received a reply, so I just settled in for the night watching the football. I went for the Broncos and they got smashed.

I was still pondering as to whether I should call her. On one hand I felt angry that she had just left it hanging like this, but on the other hand I felt more than grateful that she had given thought to me and had made the effort to invite me.

At 7:36pm Ele sent me a message saying "It's cancelled..."

I thought that maybe the group she was with decided to do something else, which she deemed inappropriate for me. Oh well. I considered replying but didn't think it would achieve anything so I left it.

To my surprise, at 9:17pm she called me. I went into the kitchen and backyard to call her back.

Me: Hello Ms Grumpy.

[laughs]

Her: I am no longer Ms Grumpy, I am in a happy mood.

Me: Ok Ms Happy.

She told me that it was cancelled because Shuing and G wanted to watch the football.

So she had organised it with Shuing and G.

I figured she must've asked me first and then them, because I couldn't see them agreeing at 1pm and then cancelling later on. I must've created a havoc for her by replying four hours later. Assuming I am right.

She said then it would've just been me and her. I jokingly asked "is that bad?" and she said "yeah" and then said something about Tracy being busy.

I asked her what she was doing and she said she was eating fried chicken, lol. I asked her if she was at home and she said she was. I asked her if she had watched the movies I lent her, and she said she didn't like them. She said she didn't like Sliding Doors because it was a tragedy, and she didn't like the other movies because there were no pretty girls in it. She said she preferred a movie with a pretty girl over a story, like Confessions of a Shopoholic.

I wondered if she was trying to tell me she was a lesbian.

I said I would try to ask for a movie next time with a pretty girl in it. She laughed.

I told her that my cousin was coming from HK soon and asked her to come to dinner with us, and she agreed, but said that her boss was going on a holiday soon so she would have to work overtime and might not have time to meet up on a weeknight.

Hmmm...so she wasn't lying.

I must admit, I had a bit of problem understanding her on the phone, because she cut me off at times, and her English was a little hard to understand. In person I seem to understand her much better. But overall, I got the impression that either she was a bit nervous, or she was really eager to talk, because she was talking a bit faster than normal and throwing a lot of information at me.

Earlier I drove to the uni near her place to see if the basketball courts were accessible. I have this fantasy of taking her by surprise to a basketball court and shooting some hoops with her. The courts were closed.

Anyway, I guess the paranoia is over. She called me even after I didn't reply to her message, just to let me know of the situation. But now I'm wondering if she is into girls.