Day 9 post surgery

On Friday night, I headed out with one crutch and my car and drove to Chinksford. While I was looking for a parking space, I saw Michael L already standing outside the pizza place by himself. I tried to wave to him but he then checked his phone. He looked like a total dork and I just wondered even more what Eva saw in him.

I found a parking spot and crutched my way to the restaurant in the sprinkling rain. I was hoping that by the time I got there everyone else would've arrived, but as I passed the window I saw Michael L had taken a seat at the table by himself.

I went in and gave him the 'gangster nod' only to cause a bit of pain in my knee. Seating would be strategic as I wanted to sit next to May. Michael L had sat at one end of the table and I sat opposite him. Besides, it gave me leg room to stick my leg out.

We made general chit chat but at times I found the menu being more interesting. Sometimes it's just hard to talk to people who don't provide much response or initiate questions. I wonder if I'm like that.

I was pretty glad when I saw the rest of the group walk by outside, as I knew this would end my solo crusade to keep things interesting. Ele's husband sat down a seat away from me, and Ele and May were deciding where to sit. I was hoping May would sit next to me, but then Ele sat on Michael L's side and May followed. The guy housemate (I still don't know his name!) sat down next to me. When I found out Jessica had also been invited, I was glad she would be seated as far away from me as possible (although I was intrigued as to whether there'd be any effect on May).

Ele asked me where I had been earlier since I told her I wasn't at home and couldn't reply to her email, and I showed her the Jenga. She laughed and asked if I could return it, because they already had it. Ha, there goes the fun. She wanted Monopoly instead.

Ele's husband ordered a milkshake and spilled a bit onto the table. I might be wrong, but I thought I saw Ele give him one of those looks that mothers give to their kids when they're naughty. Ele also said she had been at V Club, and I told her that was expensive. She said it was $27 per week and I said FF was $20 per week. She then said not to talk about money when her husband was around.

THAT did it for me. I had suspected that she didn't marry rich (which I admire) but Shuing shot down my theory last time. But the following things have made me belief the dude has no money:

1. This is the third time I've seen him and all three times he was wearing the same white Adidas jacket. I know because the first time I saw it I thought it looked like my white Adidas training jersey on the front, so I kept it in mind.

2. She said he was so confident in his driving that he didn't buy insurance. Even the average Joe would buy car insurance.

3. The "don't talk about money" thing.

As much as I admired her for marrying the guy she liked instead of the guy with the biggest wallet (probably Bob?) I wondered if it would last. And if it didn't, would I be there for the interception?

I told Ele that this wasn't the restaurant I had in mind, as I meant the one near my place, since I couldn't go very far.

We ordered the entrees first and I chose the ones that Bush, HHH and Carry usually like, but I don't think they went down too well with them. Different tastes I suppose.

Then when we found out that Jessica wasn't coming (yes!) we ordered the pizzas.

Throughout the dinner, I noticed that Ele's husband and the guy housemate were playing Chinese chess on his iPhone. I put that down to him not being interested in whatever we were talking about (and maybe the language barrier) but I also started wondering if he didn't like me. Maybe he knew I had a thing for Ele in the past? But also, in hindsight, I recognised this as a demonstration of his social skills. Instead of talking, he preferred to play games on his phone.

It was good to have Michael L at the table in this way: he was an additional person who understood English so that shifted the balance slightly, which meant I was able to get involved more. It did trouble me, however, that he took the phone from Ele and spoke to Jessica and mentioned a rendezvous on Sunday. Not my problem I suppose.

I told them a bit about my surgery and stay at the hospital, and they seemed pretty interested. May also asked me a bit about my work when Ele told her what I did. I think May is an accountant, but she is definitely working because she mentioned something about a receptionist at her place.

I also kept an eye out to see if there'd be any eye contact with May during the dinner. My conclusion? I made more non-verbal eye contact with Ele than May. Things don't seem to have changed much. She still looks at me in the same way as before, which led me to mis-thinking things.

Also, the thing that started growing on me about May was that she seemed eerily similar to my sister. The way she laughed, the way she talked, and I swear at one point she sort of talked to herself the same way that my sister does. I'm not sure if I can go for a girl who reminds me of my sister.

After dinner I was surprised we didn't leave a tip. I asked Ele and she confirmed it. Oh well, as bad as I felt leaving without a tip, maybe they shouldn't have given us water with dandruff in it.

I drove Michael L back to their place and they went in their own car. Ele and her husband waited for us to park while the other two had headed home. As we walked to their apartment, I joked that we could play Monopoly by downloading it. Ele turned around and smiled, and I just had a feeling that these were the type of jokes she liked.

When we got to their place we played many rounds of Jenga. I think everyone lost at least once. Michael L was a bit of a prick because: 1) he kept telling people what to do and predicting when it was going to fall; and 2) he never placed the blocks on top properly which really gave me the shits because I was after him.

There was one round where it was my turn and the whole thing was pretty unstable (thanks to Michael L and Ele's husband taking the blocks form the bottom at the beginning) and everytime I tried to move one Michael L was saying "it's going to fall". By now we had switched directions so he was after me, and I knew if I could pass my turn, then he would lose for sure.

As I carefully pulled out the blocks, I kept telling myself "careful, if you can do it, he'll lose".

I finally did it, and placed it on top like icing on the cake.

YES! YES! EAT IT!! SUCK SHIT!!!

And as it turned out, Michael L made it fall on his turn.

We also played one game of poker after Jenga. I got out somewhere around the middle, and watched on as there was only Ele, Michael L and her husband left. On one round everyone went all in, and I said "someone's got nothing" which I felt was really cool, and I was right, because Michael L was bluffing. Ele later repeated that remark, and I knew it had stuck in her mind.

Ele was pretty playful with her husband throughout the night, scruffing his hair and pushing him playfully. Again, I wondered: would he drop the ball? And if he did, would I catch it?

When we were going, Ele and May were standing at the door. I made eye contact with May a few times as we said bye to eachother and waved.

To my surprise, Michael L was not too annoying in the car, even though he was giving me directions to his place. Maybe he had learned?

I dropped him off and then returned home. The acrobats I have to do to get out of my car in the garage is tough and can be painful, but I think I'm getting better at it.

Yesterday I went into work on one crutch. I got there at about 10am. I was expecting to see a pile of files on my desk, but to my surprise there were only two. I also saw that Alanna had finished two for me, so now I had six on the system. Wow, she just gained a point in my book. But still, I wondered, would she throw me under a bus like Nom?

I mainly checked my 50 or so emails, and printed some stuff out for files. I also fixed the photocopier - couldn't believe no one could fix it without me.

It felt good to be back. Maybe I did need a break. I felt refreshed already. The constant walking between my room and Alanna's was a bit tough because it took so long to hobble. Hopefully that will get better when I get back next week.

As I was working and listening to Recovery on full blast, I heard a female voice say "you're kidding". It startled me, and my first reaction was that it was Wendy, but when I turned around I saw that it was Gonaz. She went on a bit about how unbelievable it was that I came into work, and joked that I could get SLO. I didn't know what to say.

I worked until noon and then left. I was deciding whether I should watch Inception or call up the guys to meet up for lunch. I called Malay and he said he was at the shopping centre near us, and I said I was going there to return something (Jenga) and he said he was going to a computer place later so he'd call me.

So I drove to the shopping centre near us and went to return Jenga. It was the same guy who was at the checkout when I bought it. I wonder if he recognised me. To my surprise it was no problem at all. He didn't even check the thing, just gave me a voucher since I told him I wanted to buy something else.

Also to my surprise was that all the normal Monopolies were gone! There were like full shelves of them the day before and now there was only one Disney version left along with some City versions. The City version looked pretty cool (and there was no way I was going to buy Disney) so I bought that.

As I neared home, Malay gave me a call and I said I was near his place so I'd go pick him up. I waited a few moments at his place before he appeared. We talked for a bit before Thai came. I thought we were going to a computer shop in Ultimo, but when we picked Brain up, he said he wanted to go to Auburn. So typical, if there are any chanes to plans, he doesn't bother to tell us. It's pretty inconsiderate.

Anyway, I didn't like the thought of wasting petrol to go all that way, but I was in the mood for a road trip, so I agreed. We were all there anyway.

During the drive, I felt a bit left out whenever they talked about some video game, but it was cool cause I went in and out of conversations as we talked about cars and computers. At one point, which I thought was funny, Malay was talking to Thai about something and Brain and I were talking about reverse sensors, and it was so hard to isolate the conversations, lol.

We got to the suburb and Brain said he would recognise the place if he saw it. He said he recognised it and so we drove into the car park of a small shopping centre. It was just all furniture and stuff, and I got a bit annoyed walking around because it was so much trouble on one crutch, and then we realised that the shop he was looking for was across the road. Grrr.

I had to drive to that car park because it would be too much work to cross the road and come back, and luckily it wasn't as busy so there were lots of parking spots. We went upstairs and Brain and Thai lined up in the shop, while Malay and I stood outside. I told him about how Shuing was freaking me out a bit because of the stuff I had been reading about depression in my book (Science of Happiness) and how Shuing seemed similar to one description given, and also about how I might cop some flack from Shuing for not hanging out with him while I was on leave. Malay seemed to agree with my sentiments, especially the bit about not reminiscing on the past too much.

Turned out that the stuff Brain wanted weren't in stock, so we had driven here all for nothing. We tried another place nearby but it was closed. I was pretty hungry by now since I hadn't had lunch, and I suggested lunch but Malay had to be home by 5pm.

We got caught in a bit of traffic, so that ruined any chance of even getting a quick bite.

I dropped Brain off, and waited to see if he thanked me since Malay said he had never been thanked, and he did, lol. I then dropped Malay and Thai off and went home.

I noticed yesterday that the bruising on my foot has gone away quite susbtantially, so that looks like a good sign.

The exercises seem to be getting a bit easier, but I find that I like to have the towel big and hard under my knee. If it's soft there's nothing to push against. I also find that the one where I have to push my knee against the towel makes my knee feel really good, like it's stretching it.