The Croupier & Chaos Theory

Today I woke up and went for a jog. Mainly because for the past couple of weeks I have been feeling fat. I put my hand on my tummy sometimes and don't feel the abs. So I finally decided to have a go today. Nothing major, nothing like making a return to basketball or anything, but just something to get me off my butt.

I jogged for about five minutes. I know it's not much, I didn't really sweat, and although I felt a slight shortness of breath, I can't say I exactly worked my heart much. But to my credit, I was going up hill.

I told myself to stop when I reached the peak of the hill, and then walked around the block back home. On my journey I passed two old people, both of whom smiled and said good morning, which I reciprocated.

I chucked some clothes into the washing machine, had a shower, then tried to watch About Schmidt, but the DVD was playing up again, so I watched The Croupier with Clive Owen. I have heard of that name before, but don't think I have ever seen him in anything. I mainly stayed in my bed watching it, and it was a pretty good movie.

The bit that made it really good, yet at the same time preventing it from being great, was when he reckons he had all the odds calculated, and then finds out his girlfriend dies. That really hit things home for me. As a gambler, you think you've got it all figured out. You tell yourself the worst case scenario, like how much money you'd have left if you lose this session, but there are always things, human things, you cannot factor into the calculation.

Now the reason why I say this prevented it from being great was because Clive just moves on to the next girl, which kinda deflated the effect of the whole thing.

After that I decided to go return the movies, but realised I had only brought one shirt from home with me, and that it was on the clothesline, and when I opened my door to see Pandy's car and her watering the grass, I went back into my room and closed the door. I didn't feel like seeing her, just in case I was right about her having a thing for me.

I spent my time ironing three business shirts, and by the time I finished the room had gotten pretty hot. I did three sets of push ups before openeing my door to check the surroundings. Her car was gone. It looked like she had left.

I drove out, returned the three videos, and rented Quantum of Solace and Chaos Theory. I then went to Aldi to get a pack of gummi bears for work, and then drove to the square to do some shopping. I am preparing myself to have home made lunches this entire week, so bought bread, meat and poppers. Also stocked up on orange juice, chips, canned soup and instant noodles because I am starting to get sick of take away food.

I then drove to get some fish and chips, and because my car was parked right outside the store, I got to watch it in all its glory as I was waiting. It really is a beautiful thing. You could definitely see how washing it as frequently as I do has its benefits. It was just shining, beaming, so smoothly in the sun, even though every second hurt me because I knew the heat wasn't good for the paint. I am totally in love with this car.

I got home and ate the fish and chips as I watched Chaos Theory. It was actually a lot more insightful than I thought. I was expecting a comedy, but upon reflection, I don't think it was very funny. It presents you with the situation of what you'd do if you found out you weren't the biological parent of your child. I kept thinking about how I would react, and at first instance I'd probably do what Renolds did - drive out to nowhere, away from everyone and everything. But in the end he accepts his wife again, something which I am not sure if I would be able to do.

During the movie Malay called me, just to catch up a bit. He told me that they (him and Shuing) thought G was a little depressed, but didn't know why. My guess is it has to do with girls. Like I've always said, guys only think about two things - money and women, and G has stable employment now.

I told him that I was coming down next week, and proposed yum cha. My initial plan was to have it with a small group, mainly Ele, but then if you invite one you gotta invite another and so on. I was thinking of shouting, hence one of the reasons why I want to keep it small.

We talked a bit on the phone, mainly about cars. After that I called Ele. No answer.

When I finished the movie I started watching Quantum of Solace, but around the middle the DVD had problems again, so I gave Ele another try. This time she picked up. I asked her if she had had dinner yet and she said yes, that she was cooking when I called earlier. I asked her what she cooked and she said chinese food. I said I didn't know she could cook and asked her to teach me, and she gave an interested "yeah", lol.

I asked her if she wanted to do yum cha, and she asked where. I said Lismore, that she could just fly up here on Saturday night. She asked who else was going and I said just her. She said she wanted to fly with someone else, lol.

We talked a bit about Brisbane and Surfers Paradise, told me she lived in Brisbane for four years and said there was this laser thing you could do in Gold Coast. I might check that out some time.

We returned to the topic of yum cha and I said Lismore again, and she asked "are you serious?". I said the flights were cheap, and she said it wasn't about the money, but about not wanting to fly alone. I said next time I'm down I would take her with me. I think she might actually consider it.

But on a more serious note, I suggested the restaurant in Market City, and said I'd send an email. So with that, my brief return next week has been organised. My plan is to arrive on Saturday morning, spend time with my family and cats, go to DY's get together, then yum cha on Sunday and fly back on Sunday night.