Some preliminary financial plans for future

Last night after my post, I went for a drive. Mainly to have a think, but also to make sure the car was ok. It was.

I drove to the seaside, stopped to get a bee out of my car, then drove out to the city for petrol and went to that waterside area past the casino. I parked my car and sat inside, thinking. Part of me wanted to nap, but another part, the part that can't stay still, took out my phone and started calculating.

Winning back $300 seemed to have made my situation a whole lot better. Now in the new year, I will only owe  $2,800 overall on my credit card. I figured I could either pay it off in two months, or make the most of the four months left on the interest free period and save some/pay back my dad.

In any case, when I eventually pay it all back, I came to the conclusion that I could save about $18,000 a year. Give or take a bit for spending, let's say that's $15,000 a year. I had some preliminary thoughts about how to use that - I could put $5,000 into the FHSA, $5,000 into shares and the last $5,000 into an online savings account for use if need be.

But in any case, that'd only be $15,000 a year. If I ever want a deposit for a house, that's not going to be enough. Let's say a property I want is about $600,000 - I'm gonna need $60,000 deposit, so it'd take four years to get that, and I don't wanna move out when I'm 33. I wanna do it much, much earlier than that.

Final gamble for 2011 / Limitless

In the morning I had this idea of renting a PS3 for Ele's NYE party tomorrow, so I was googling around for a place but it didn't seem available. I went to the Video Ezy in the Wick and they didn't have gaming consoles for hire, so I checked EB to consider whether it was worth buying (it wasn't). I bought a fruit salad with museli yoghurt for $7, which was a bit dear, but as I sat there and ate it, I figured you could never put a price on your health (I came to the conclusion that lack of fruit may have been a contributing factor towards my constipation).

I then caught a bus to the shopping centre near me, checked out the gaming consoles there, and came sorta close to buying a PS3 package from JB, but in the end still figured it was over priced. Not only that, I doubt I'd even have much time to play it once I went back to work, so that $400 or so could sure be used in some shares I reckon.

After browsing the shops, I went to pick up my pants from the alteration shop. I caught the bus back home, picked up my suit and caught the bus out to the office. I texted Ele to ask whether she had that DJ's discount card so I could get ready for some shopping, and she said she had it. When I got to the office I tried on my suit, and although it looks good, I think it might be a bit too big, and maybe not as slim as I would've liked. Maybe I'm just getting too used to the whole slim thing.

Ele texted me saying she left the card at home. I felt a little disappointed. Yesterday when we parted she seemed so genuine about getting that card for me, so how could she forget? Maybe everything was just a lie...

That led me to my next decision. Now that I wouldn't be going shopping, I had some free time on my hands. I could either go whoring or gambling. I couldn't really go whoring because I needed to find out my blood test results first, so that'd have to wait. So I decided to gamble. I didn't have a negative feeling this time. I felt confident. I had a target in mind: I'd be happy to win $300 and leave, thus reducing my last loss to $500. I can live with that.

As I walked up the main street, I was still second guessing myself: was I really going to gamble? It was almost like an automatic process to walk to that same Citibank ATM. I withdrew $800 and away I went. I went into the casino and walked around a bit before finding a suitable table (a table with at least one player, not too many players to prevent sitting room, a good spot around the middle, and a friendly looking dealer).

There was an Asian guy to my right betting pretty much my sector. To his right was an old lady who he was helping with placing the chips on the table as she couldn't reach. I bought $400 worth of chips and bet red and middle column on the first spin and lost. As bad as that may have seemed, I still felt confident.

I bet my sector later on and won on 22, which netted me 69 chips. Damn, 22 sure has been a lucky number for me lately. I didn't bet the next few spins which landed in my sector, and two more 22's came up. Hmmm.

What was more important was me missing the losing sectors. The guy next to me was losing on those. Very painful. I won inklings betting colour/columns and dozens/half at times, and then won another sector. I was about $250 up and just inched my way towards $300. The time was 3:40pm. I could keep playing and hope to win (or lose) or leave now and try to make it to the bank to deposit my winnings and pay back my credit card before they closed. I sat there for another spin to think. Then I cashed in.

The dealer, who had a friendlier face than I initially thought (or maybe it just looks friendlier because I won) gave me a look as he exchanged cash chips for me, as if thinking I was smart to leave while up. Although I felt like I could've continued my winning ways, I kept telling myself that making $300 from an initial $400 outlay was pretty damn good. That's like a 75% profit - I'd take that margin in the share market any day.

I exchanged my cash chips for cash at the cashier and left quickly. My dad had called earlier to ask about the car. I told him I picked it up and parked it in the garage and the dude said nothing was wrong with it. I told him the coolant leaked when I filled it up and he said sometimes it will leak if I over flow it. Oh well. He actually seems a lot nicer than I thought.

Anyway, I speed walked to the bank, making it there by 3:55pm, although judging by everything going on in there, it didn't seem like closing time. When I got to the teller, I asked her if they were closing at 4pm and she said 5pm. I was like "oh and I ran here" and she said everyone thinks they close at 4pm but they actually close at 5pm every Friday, so it's always quiet for the last hour.

I made the deposit, jumped onto a computer and made the payment into my credit card. I went back to the office to use the bathroom and on my way out I saw Heath and Avisa downstairs talking. Heath was in his suit. Apparently he was working this week. 

I bought some snacks from a Korean grocery store before going home. At home, I watched Limitless. What a cool movie. I didn't have much expectation. I was actually going to watch Pirahnas, but came across Limitless first so thought I'd check it out. I actually think I may have even confused it with the Lincoln Lawyer.

Anyway, it was a cool movie. It inspired me to work harder and smarter once I get back to work. However, I was a little disappointed when after the movie I googled it and read on Wikipedia that what they said in the movie about only 20% of our brain being used was false - we actually use most of it all the time. Damn.

Re the gambling, I've always, always wanted to end things on a winning note. Perhaps this will be it for me?

Gambling, Amy, sick, lunch with Ele

Man, feels like the last few days have just been a huge blob of blur. I will try to say what I can remember, however, the times at which they occurred may not be wholly accurate.

On Sunday (25th) I was supposed to go to a beach barbeque organised by Ele. I wasn't too fond of going, because there weren't many people there that I knew, and the people I did know weren't very appealing, like that Samuel guy. Also, her mom would be there so I wasn't sure how that'd work out.

Anyway, in the early hours of the day my dad woke me up to tell me he was going to drive mom to the hospital despite the leaking coolant in the car, so I messaged Ele saying I couldn't go because my mom was in hospital. Turns out it was food poisoning, and she seemed back to normal when she came back at around 9am.

On Boxing Day (26th) I went out to get my suit. I went to that Ron Bennett store and the guy recognised me. Although they seemed to have the black slim suit in my size now, I still went with the blue one. I tried on the pants and the suit, and while I was looking in the mirror the guy tells me that another guy is buying the exact same one, causing an awkward moment where the two of us are standing there looking at eachother. I only didn't know what to say because I wasn't sure if he meant that the guy was buying my suit - the one I was going to buy. Then he breaks the silence by explaining that he just thought it meant it was popular.

I had also bought a white shirt from Myer earlier for $40, and then I went to put them in my office. I did a bit of work before taking my stuff home. To be honest, I had a gambling urge. I had the urge to either go gambling or whoring. I was so close, in fact, that I actually started heading towards the ATM to withdrawn some cash, but then I looked up at the sky and realised it might start raining so I decided not to.

I went home, but later that night, the gambling buy eventually got to me. I made the same mistake as before - I thought I could make a small win and leave. Moreover, the mistake was going out of my way to gamble when I could've just had a safe, peaceful night at home. Why, oh why? That is the question I am still asking.

I went out, withdrew $800 and sat down at a table with two Asian ladies, one playing and the other watching. I saw that according to the history/results, it had only began spinning a few spins ago, and the first four spins landed in my sector. So for once, I thought I'd try to bet on a streak, but immediately I lost. I bet on my sector again and made back a bit but was still down.

I waited until it didn't land in my sector for two spins before I started betting. It then went eight consecutive spins without landing in my sector. For fuck's sakes. That cleaned me out, emptied me out and I left feeling like shit. Even the lady next to me was losing, and I watched as she took $200 out of her purse to continue playing.

I walked back to the main part of the city. I had bought my dad the really easy to use Gillette shaver earlier, and my mom had expected I would've bought her something for Christmas as well. To be honest, I didn't buy it as a Christmas present, I just bought it because the other day I used one of dad's razors and it was rusted and it cut me, so I thought I would get this for him. I figured we could definitely afford to live better, so I did something about it.

Anyway, I began feeling bad about not getting my mom something for Christmas (I thought about my sister too, but then remembered her yelling at my dad earlier so I dismissed the thought). I went to Myer and bought her a nice jewellery box, and then I bought myself two slim ties.

My mom liked the jewellery box, but she would've rather had some toy set she has been going on about outside the DJ's store. I felt like total shit that night.

On Tuesday, I went to the courts in the morning and did some light exercises. At about 6pm, I met up with Bo at Central and we decided to go to the courts near me, so did. I had some running in mind, and he was reluctant at first, but eventually gave in to the painful idea of doing suicides while dribbling. We did some dribbling drills, and finished off with shooting and free throw drills. We also worked on a few individual moves which we thought would help eachother, like him changing direction while driving, and me driving on a fast break.

It was pretty windy, but I didn't think much of it.

On Wednesday, I woke up feeling pretty sick. My body, especially my quads, was sore all over. I had a headache, and I was constipated. Despite that, I still went into work (after thinking long and hard). But it was ineffective - I made a few phone calls about Holden taking out $40 more than they should have, and to CBA revoking my authorisation for Holden to take money from my account.

Then I felt so bad, that I just laid on the floor for a while. If someone walked in, I wouldn't have cared. Despite that, I still went to see Amy. I knew I probably shouldn't have, and questioned the dangers of sex when my immune system was down, but I guess these things are hard to control.

I called up and asked when she started, and was told 2pm so I booked for then. I left work and went looking for a gift, couldn't find anything, was totally exhausted by all the walking, went back to the office to try to relieve my constipation but was unsuccessful, and then caught a bus to Newtown.

I took a walk along the shops and saw this cute little handmade penguin toy which I bought for $15. I then went to the shop, about 25 minutes early. I sat in the first waiting room straight down the corridor. It was the usual guy, and I could hear him playing video games. I also heard some girls coming in, and a few customers and girls walking down the stairs at the end of their session.

I leaned back on the couch and rested my eyes, and later on the guy came and said she was ready. I paid for an hour and went out to see her. She wasn't the best looking girl, but her smile made her the best looking girl. She seemed genuinely happy and surprised to see me.

I walked up the stairs first and she said "upstairs" meaning the highest level. Halfway through I stopped and gave her the package. When we went into the room I asked her to open it, and when she did, she said it was cute, although she had it upside down, lol. I told her it was a penguin and said she looked like a penguin, and she said it was me. I noticed she was wearing jeans shorts, like the ones Naby wore once or twice.

She went out to get the towels and I began undressing. When she came back we talked a bit, just chit chat about how we were and that before I got into the shower. She asked me when I go back to work and I said the 3rd. The shower was quite small, so she had to shower me standing outside. I like water to be on the hot side, so didn't really like it when she cooled it down a lot.

After the shower, I was hoping we'd break the routine, so I was standing around pretending to dry myself and handed her a towel when she finished, but I sensed nothing was coming so I laid on my tummy on the bed. She started by kissing my back and up to my shoulders, then I turned around and she went down on me. She then put the condom on, and just like last time, asked "are you ready?" before getting on top of me.

She was only on top briefly before I got on top. I started kissing her breasts, and moved downwards, but when I licked once between her legs, she said "it's ok baby" which meant I had to come back up. I asked her if she didn't like it and she said nothing. I kissed her breasts a bit more before I entered her, and we went at it like that for a while, getting pretty hot and she was holding me tightly before I finished.

She asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I said lemonade. She laughed and said this is not a cafe and asked again. I said I wanted lemonade, and she listed all the drinks they had, and I chose the first one, which I thought was the lemonade. She came back with the drinks and we started talking about coffee. She said she likes long black and I said me too. She said it was much sweeter here than in Korea.

I drank most of the drink and placed it back on the stand and laid back down. She lit up a cigarette and started smoking. I asked how much she smoked, and she said a pack every two days, and said some girls go through a pack or two a day. She started talking about the cafe next door, and how she really liked the tomato, ham and cheese sandwich from there, but didn't like it when they used the hamburger bread. I asked her if she was still working on NYE, and she said yes. I asked her why and she said not many girls will be working and her boss will not be happy. I asked her to come watch the fireworks with me, and I swear, she paused, looked into space and thought about it. She said she couldn't. I said this was her first year in Australia, and she said I was right. I asked her several more times, and she seemed to seriously think about it. I finally decided not to push too hard and let it go. She asked me what I was doing on NYE and I said fireworks. She asked if NYE was a Saturday or Sunday and I said Saturday. She didn't seem convinced so I grabbed my phone and showed her the calendar.

We got talking about how there will be customers coming to the shop on NYE, and she seemed surprised that people would come at that time. I was thinking, she had no idea what some guys think. I said to her I noticed the sign saying that Thursdays has two girls and I would like to try. She didn't say anything and pretended not to know, but I think it affected her a little, in that it made her think maybe I didn't like her as much as she thought. She said another customer told her he had been to two other shops on the same day before coming to this one, and then told me something about how a customer called sex "jiggy jiggy". She said sex in Korean was "poonga poonga" but it was a cute way of saying it.

She said my face looked small (she meant young). I said she was old, and she made a playful angry gesture.

She was sitting up all this time, with a towel wrapped around her. She then laid down next to me, resting her head on my left arm. She said something about make up and how this time she didn't put that much on. I propped myself up and looked at her face closely. One thing I noticed was she didn't seem to do what Naby did, which was kinda like 'refresh' her eyes to prepare for my look. Instead, she just naturally looked back at me. I said I preferred no make up but she said she liked it.

She asked me what I was doing after and I said I was going to another shop. Then I said I was joking and she said I wasn't. I said "only Amy" and she said something in Korean. I asked what it meant and she said "liar liar". I held her closely and we stayed like that silently until my phone rang. It was Mike. I turned the phone over, but I guess it was time anyway. She got up and the phone buzzed again. I said "message" and she said "voice mail". As I was getting up, she dropped my phone on the floor and kept saying sorry.

I went to the shower and then got changed. I was so tired I just had to sit down on the bed. She laughed and said I was tired. I was. She thanked me again for the penguin as we walked out the door. This time when we approached the bottom of the stairs, she called out to me which made me turn and say goodbye and she waved. I felt tired and sick again as I made my way to the bus stop. I called Mike back. Apparently Jet was organising a NYE dinner and invited me, and Mike was going to ask Lin for me but she is working. I appreciated his efforts. I went back to the office to pick up my stuff, and went back home to sleep.

Today, I woke up feeling a little bit better, although still with a light headache and constipated. I decided it might be better to fully re-charge before going back to work, which may mean no work at all before the official opening day. I also decided I may as well make the most of my time by getting a blood test since it seems like ages when I had my last one.

I got onto a train to Parra when Ele texted me at the station, asking if I wanted to go to her house party for NYE. I replied yes, still feeling somewhat bad for bailing on her Christmas barbeque. She asked if I got her email and I said no cause I wasn't at work. She asked if I wanted to have lunch today, I said I am going to Parra but should be back by 1pm. She said she couldn't wait that long but that she'd grab a table first.

I got to the medical centre at 11:30am, and there weren't that many people so it was a good sign. I waited a while before I was called. The doctor was an old Asian man, and I wondered if he was the one I saw last time who asked me questions when I said I wanted a blood test.

When we sat down, I confirmed it was him.

Me: G'day doc, I just want a blood test done today for STDs.
Him: Why?
Me: It's just something I do every year.
Him: [looking on the system] You did one in May 2010, so that's not even a year. Wait, its more than a year.
Me: Yeah.
Him: But why?
Me: I've had a few girlfriends, and you never know what they get up to.
Him: Well don't have sex.

Well that ended all conversation.

He gave me a bottle for a urine sample and to the toilet I went. Then I went to the other room for the blood taking. This guy had a normal attitude, but was much fucking nicer compared to the attitude I had just received moments ago. I felt so grateful I even complimented him by saying he was good cause other people made the needle hurt (it really didn't hurt at all, don't know why I was afraid).

So with the urine and blood done, I walked out of there, wondering if they'd tell me anything about my constipation if it showed up.

I went to the bank in the shopping centre to bank my GDO cheque. The guy asked if it was a bond cheque, and I was just like "uhhh...it's just a normal cheque".

When I got to the station, the train was coming in three minutes. Perfect timing - except one thing. My ticket was bought from Central, so technically I could only get out at Central, whereas the perfect spot would've been Town Hall. The train got to Central at 12:58pm so there was no way I was going to get out and walk. I didn't want to make Ele late for work.

I stayed on the train and got off at Town Hall. I turned off my music but kept my earphones in. I felt like James Bond - my mission was to get through the barriers without being caught. I calmly walked up the stairs and took a look at the barriers closest to me. I watched as one lady walked through without hassle, so I aimed for that one. Then another lady approached the guy guarding that gate, which provided the perfect distraction, as I smoothly walked out and threw my ticket in the bin. Mission accomplished.

I went up the stairs and called Ele, and she picked up immediately, saying she was already in the restaurant. I went in and found her seated along the sushi train. She said she had just gotten there and I said it was good timing. She ordered a lot from the menu, and I was thinking "goddamn, I only have $40".

She told me she came to this place a few days ago with her mother and she didn't eat much. I asked her how the Christmas barbeque was and she said it was ok, and she asked about my mother. I asked her who was going to her NYE party and she said Vivian. She said Chan wants to go watch the fireworks with his girlfriend so they're not coming. I was like "who's Chan?" and she said the guy with the glasses, and I suddenly remembered - the nerdy guy with the hot girlfriend who I'd like to steal.

She told me about trouble in China's economy, I told her about Myer's SP going down, she asked if I was going to buy and I said no. I told her about changing her super to the safest strategy, and she said she didn't have much, but thanked me for reminding her. She also said she was angry at her mother for not selling her property when she advised her to, resulting in a bit of a loss.

Towards the end I let off a bit of steam about how frugal G was, and how he didn't spend any money on himself at all, looking like someone from the 1980's. Then I said Malay was the opposite, willing to spend money as long as it was for friends. I said I wished they could both find the balance. She then surprised me by saying something very wise: people will not change until they encounter problems. She also said something about my little brain working.

I walked her back to work and she brought up the DJ's discount card Yang has. She said earlier that he's gone back to China now, and all I could think of was Shuing raising one eyebrow at the prospect of me going to her place without Yang there. Anyway, she said if I bought anything it could be 20% off, and if it was $300 or more, then it'd be a further 10% off. It sounded good, but to be honest, I really had nothing else to buy.

She seemed fairly interested in helping me, so I asked if her card was at home, and she said Samuel has it because he is using it. I laughed because he seemed just like that type of person to grab anything with a benefit. She said she will get it off him tomorrow. I was trying to say to her not to worry too much about it but she insisted.

She asked me where I was going after and I said I didn't know. I knew I was semi-close to the casino but I had no urge to go there at all. I took a walk through some video games stores and then went home.

The (financial) results are in...

Yesterday was the last day of work for the year. I caught a bus out because I woke up late and got there at 9am. It was kinda quiet. In my team, only Ogre and Clare were around. Clare was wearing just a white shirt with red shorts. I wondered if she was going for a christmas look, or if she was just lazy. Either way, it looked kinda sexy.

Ogre was about to lead us out for a coffee break but DS was in Clare's room with the door closed, talking. They talked a while, so I just spent my time chucking stuff out. Finally DS left but he then came into my room and closed the door. Whenever he does this, I feel like it can be either one of two things: I'm about to receive some good news, or I'm about to receive some very bad news.

Luckily it was the former. He said I was good in that I didn't make a fuss, and that he always tells Jim that he wishes there were six of me around (wow!). He said Moira got the last temporary promotion to SLO and so he wants to give it to me this time when Mary acts up, so that he acts everyone else up. I was surprised and was completely not expecting it - see how good it feels when you're not expecting the good news? He also mentioned the SLO recruitment coming up. At first I thought he was strongly hinting that I'd get something from that, but all he said was the experience I'd get acting up would be something useful to say in that interview (if I got one). And here I was, thinking I wasn't even going to go for it next time round, because I probably hadn't been a LO2 for long enough. He told me not to tell anyone though.

A few moments after he left, Ogre gathered us out for a coffee. She wanted a long sit down coffee, but Clare wanted a quick one. Ogre persisted, and I sided with Clare and just said we'll walk back slowly. I didn't feel too good about going out either, I mean, DS just told me not to say anything, and then next thing he'll see is the three of us gone - talk much?

So in the lifts, I wanted to know what he had said to Clare, so I volunteered a bit of info about what DS said to me about the six people thing, but didn't mention anything about the SLO. But Clare didn't say anything. Oh well. We walked around to a few cafeterias before finding one in World Square where Ogre shouted us our drinks, and then we went back to the office.

Clare was actually doing work, whereas I was cleaning up. God knows what Ogre was doing.

DS later came round again just to tell me what time we could knock off, which was 2pm, but he added that I might go for lunch at 12:30pm and not come back.

I had my credit card with me. I took it because I wanted to have a gamble to relax at year end. Either that or I wanted to go whoring. I knew both were wrong, but I just felt like I had to do something. I didn't want to just do my everyday routine of going to the gym then going home. I felt like I had to do something to wind down. I even thought about buying shares, but none of the stocks I was keeping an eye on came in at the right price.

In the end I decided to have a really big gamble - I withdrew $1,000 on my credit card and headed to the casino. I told myself the minimum I'd walk off with is a $200 gain, and I'd be happy if I won $400. If I lost it all, well, then, just cover it with your savings and put it down as a 'one off' loss.

I walked in and found an 'ideal' table rather quickly, where there was just an old lady playing. The dealer was a short, stubby Asian woman, who seemed bored out of her mind and was just doing the routine - exactly what I was after.

I exchanged $500 for colour chips and checked out the numbers. There had been a streak of five spins that didn't land in my sector. I waited until she spun a few times before betting. I bet my sector, but in hindsight I forgot to place a bet on 4/7. Otherwise I spread them out as planned and put some extras randomly on 22.

Winning number - 22.

I was up $400 instantly. I couldn't believe it. I knew I should've pulled out but it seemed too easy, too quick. Kinda like it wasn't satisfying. Over the next few spins I would place safe bets using columns and colours and won some change. I waited for a few spins to not land in my sector, but turns out my sector was getting hot. In fact, it landed on 29 twice within a few spins which would've netted me a nice gain. If I had continued betting on my sector during that run I would've made a bit of money. I guess that is one of the flaws of my 'system' - it doesn't take advantage of runs. In fact, it assumes there won't be runs in my sector.

I did place one more bet on my sector which won me a bit of money, and I decided to cash out with a $500 gain.

I walked around a bit and saw this really pretty Asian dealer. She made no eye contact with me at all, but for some reason I hung around. The numbers she was spinning seemed ok with my black/third column bet, so I placed a $100 chip on each. As soon as I did that, I had a very very bad feeling about it. Inside my head, I was like "no! Take it back! I don't want to lose it!"

Winning number - 1. Lost $200. Right next to 33 which would've netted me $300.

I was devastated. I had gone from $500 gain to $300. I wanted it back. The gain was now too small. I walked around to another table and placed the same bet. It landed on black and third column. I won $300, so my total gain now was $600.

As soon as I took hold of those chips, I thought "fuck it, I'm out of here, fuck y'all". That was enough of a scare for me.

I went to the cashier and cashed in. I was hungry since I hadn't had lunch yet. I walked around to the food area and looked for something to eat, but the stuff there was pretty expensive, so I left. As I walked back to the main part of the city, perhaps for the first time ever after a win, I told myself that that might be the last time I gambled in a long time. Maybe I'm making a liar out of myself by saying that.

I went to the bank and deposited $1,600. I then used their computer to transfer it to my credit card immediately.

Remember how earlier in the year, after doing the balance transfer, my plan was to pay off my credit card debt year end? Well, it's year end now, and I have managed to halve my debt. I have $6000 in a balance transfer not incurring any interest, about $3000 in savings, and now owing only $130 on my other credit card.

It is not too bad of a situation, but not my planned one either. That relapse I had after the Naby thing in August cost me about $2000-$3000. This most recent 'lapse' from the Nunjo rejection almost cost me a bit too.

I think it's become clear that I will be ok as long as I am emotionally stable. But when I go into a depression, I will turn to gambling, and eventually a spiral of bad shit. That's why it's so important that I always remain emotionally ok.

Anyway, I went to get something to eat in the food court underneath Myer, and then went to check out some clothes. Still, nothing had been reduced. I then went around to different shops checking out suits, because I plan on getting a second nice one to rotate with my current one.

I went to a store at Wynyard because it had closing down sale signs. The guy in there was serving another guy but gave me a friendly nod as I walked in. I had a look and found nothing of interest so walked out. I went to another store that had been set up as some sort of clearance house, but everything in there was way too expensive.

I then went to a store I have been keeping an eye on for the last few weeks. I guess I just felt too intimidated to go in, but this time I just casually walked in. It helped that someone else walked in right before me, so I didn't feel like I was the centre of attention.

I walked in and a guy gave me a friendly hello and left it at that, instead of bugging me about suits, so that was cool. I was browsing and went deeper into the shop where there seemed to be a few staff talking and laughing loudly. I found a nice slin suit and inspected it before one of them asked me if I needed any help. I tried one on and it looked and felt great. He said it was too small and gave me a bigger one, but that felt too big. I said I liked the first one and I tried it again, and realised that although it was a near perfect fit, I couldn't close the button. Hmmm. Apparently that was a size 44, and the other one was a 48, so I needed a 46.

He couldn't find one but found a 46 in another colour. I tried it on and really couldn't tell the difference in colours, but this had a uniqe pattern which wasn't really discernable unless you looked really close. I kinda liked it, maybe more than the first one. It was $324, which was within my range, but I wanted to see if they would reduce the price after boxing day, so I said thank you and left, even though part of me wanted to buy it there and then.

I went back to the office and changed. I then went to drop off my suit at a dry cleaner's, and then went to the gym. I did my usual stuff, but there was one recurring thought going through my head - I had this attitude of wanting to show Nunjo what she missed out on, and picturing myself wearing the brand new suit, and using LC as motivation.

I then bought some Gatorade and chips from Woolies and went home. Malay and Thai invited me to Thai's place for a night of video games, so after dinner I went over.

Brain was there, playing Street Fighter. Malay arrived later and we played Street Fighter for a while before playing Gears of War, which was ok but I didn't see the fuss. Brain left at about midnight and then we played this Scott Pilgrim game, which was more fun than we thought lol.

I asked her out to lunch...

I walked to work with the phone strap in my bag. I had semi-decided not to ask her out to lunch. It was very proximite now, very real, and it didn't seem like a very realistic thing to do. Maybe I was just fantasising after all.

When I got to work, I got changed as usual. She arrived later, and somehow between earlier and now, I had decided to ask her out to lunch. But I wanted to ask when nobody would hear. Right now, Clare and Mary were a little too available and would probably hear me asking.

I busied myself with some work, and later on saw that Mary was talking in Moira's room with Cameron, and Clare had her door closed.

Perfect.

I was rushing a bit, but told myself that Mary and Moira don't have short conversations, so that made me feel a bit better. I opened the phone strap package and held it in my left hand, walking into her room. At first she didn't see it, but I noticed her looking at it as I sat down. I saw a package on her desk and asked if Mary had given it to her as a present, since Mary also gave me a house of chocolates today with X-Men ear phones (way cool). I actually felt a little guilty I didn't get her anything individually, and that is despite me having chipped in for the flowers for her. Imagine how guilty I'd be if we hadn't gotten the flowers.

Anyway, she said yes and joked that she was beginning to think that she smelled. I asked her if she was free for lunch today, and her face just...stopped. It froze. She looked at me in silence for a few moments, and by the look on her face, I could tell she knew I was asking her out. She looked like she knew she had to tread carefully. She looked like she was trying to pick her words carefully. She said she had already made plans to have lunch with Ruler and Alex.

Damn! Dammmmnnn them to hell!!!


She said I could come along. The thought of having lunch with the other two didn't really appeal to me, so I said no. I wanted to have lunch with her one on one. I just felt like if I tagged along, it would kinda seem like I was 'one of the girls', hence being a type of friendzone. No thanks.

She asked again and I said no. I then asked for her phone and she gave it to me. I pulled out the strap and said this was what I had got her originally but it hadn't arrived in time. She asked if I got it on the internet and I said yes. I was looking for a hole in her iphone case for the strap to go through but it didn't have one. She took a look at it and started laughing. She said she didn't know if she should be offended. I said she said it took a lot for her to get offended and she laughed more. She examined it and said it was cute.

I got it back and tried to string it through another hole in her case. As I fidgeted with it, my inside slowly crumbled. I told myself I had to hold myself together and get this done. Finally I did, and she had a look at it as it hung from her phone. I joked that now she can prove the phone is hers, and then walked out.

Over the course of the day, I gradually got more and more down. At first I thought it was kinda funny, but then that died down and I felt rejected. Then I felt like I should ignore her. Then I told myself I should just act normal. Then I told myself this is why you don't mix work with pleasure, because it was obviously affecting me now. Then I just got sadder and sadder.

I got called away to court at around noon, so I went over to see the uni student Nikki and the cop Beth. I noticed her hair seemed lighter. We mainly just sat there and watched, until it was decided it'd be heard at 2pm. I said I was going back to the office and Beth followed. We walked back together, talking about the case, and towards the end she asked what I was doing over the break. I said just hanging around and I asked her, and she said she was going down to the South Coast.

I went back to the office and saw Nunjo walking out of the building. I dropped off my file and went to the supermarket to get my chicken, and then had it back in the office. I ate that, got some work done and then headed back to court. Down in the lobby, I saw Nunjo and Ruler. I asked her how the phone strap was going, and she seemed to have trouble articulating herself as we walked further and further apart before saying she was hanging it off her computer. Hmmm.

I went back to court, and this time sat in between Beth and Nikki, which was much better since I was the common link between them. I also got to talk to Beth a bit more. I watched as Kay did the bail, and seriously, she didn't even really oppose it - you saying I couldn't have done that??

We walked back and I was kinda torn between going with Beth and going with Kay. Beth said she'd come with us and so we walked and talked before parting at the escalators. I noticed she has wrinkles as well, even though she's my age. I wonder if she smokes.

Back at the office, I managed to sneak back to my room without anyone asking me how it went. I got onto doing other stuff, and one time when I was walking back from the photocopiers, Mary, Moira and Nunjo were around Nunjo's room talking. Nunjo said out aloud "I wonder how [insert name here]'s bail application went", which made Mary ask me, and I went over and talked a bit about it, before walking off again. I kinda didn't feel like talking to Nunjo.

Later in the day, I went to the photocopying room and she was there, but I just quickly grabbed my thing and walked back out. However, I did at times have an urge to talk to her. I excused it as acting 'normal'.

I didn't want to be around when she left, because I didn't want to do anything remotely emotional. I was in the toilet, and when I returned, Mary was leaving. That farewell was ok enough. Later on, I heard Ogre talking in Nunjo's room and I asked her if she had seen the secret santa give Nunjo another present, and Nunjo showed her. She again said it was cute. This time she had strapped it to a shelf. Is it a good sign that she wants it in sight, or is it a bad thing that she's not taking it home?

Eventually Clare came around and joined in the talk. Nunjo was already getting ready to leave. Then Moira came around, kissed everyone on the cheeks and left. Ogre was like "that was quick". So that set the tone. Nunjo then kissed Ogre on the cheek, then me. God that was awkward. I don't know if it was because I didn't know how, or if it was because it was something else, but she half giggled/laughed as she kissed me. I found I had my left hand on her shoulder. She kissed Clare and then left.

Not the way I wanted it to end. I would've wanted to be completely absent and see if she'd leave a note on my desk. I know Karina would. I doubt Nunjo would have.

I was pretty depressed. I had my credit card with me because if she did agree to lunch, I would've needed extra money. So I went to the casino instead, to play away my sorrows. I withdrew $800.

I was never up. I lost the first two spins which really really hurt me. For the next hour or so, I swung between $400-$600, and a few times managed to get back to $800, but I could just never get above that. Fuck, it was so frustrating.

When I went down to $300, I thought "fuck it, it's not my night, I might as well blow this at a brothel". So I went to Naby's shop.

I caught the bus there, went in and saw the guy who I used to see every Saturday. I think he recognised me. I saw the line up. I didn't recognise anyone, but there was this girl who kept making eye contact with me. I went with her - Amy, #90. She looked kinda cute, and I thought the old Amy must've left. I asked the guy if Bibi was still working, and he said he thinks she's on holiday.

When we went upstairs, I thought this girl actually looked a bit familiar. She sounded familiar. I asked her if I had seen her before and she said yes. I asked if she recognised me and she said yes. It was the old Amy! I said she looked different and she said she had re-done her hair. That was it. Her eyes and voice were exactly the same.

We showered, and I again asked if she recognised me. She said yes and I was a special customer. She also remembered I was a lawyer. She said she had been in Korea for a holiday and only came back three weeks ago.

After the shower, I laid on my tummy and she turned down the lights and started kissing my back. Then I turned around and she kissed me some more, before getting on top of me. She rode me for a while before asking if I wanted to be on top, so we switched. I licked her breasts for a while, and then entered her. I went slow at first, and then faster, causing her to moan. I don't think she was faking it because it seemed to be in rhythm and we really started to get hot. After a while I finished, and she asked if I wanted a drink. I said yes, and she said she was tired and laid next to me first as I held her and played with her fingers. She studied mine and said I had feminine fingers.

Then she got up and went out to get canned coffees for us both. She had earlier said she had coffee and bread for lunch. She asked me what I was going to do in the holidays and I joked I'd come here everyday. She said I should get a girlfriend and I said when I like them they didn't like me and vice versa. She agreed. We drank our drinks and 'cheers'd' each other, then laid back down and she snuggled up next to me as I held her. Her head rested on my chest as we laid there, sometimes talking, sometimes in silence. I asked her if she had a boyfriend and she said no, that she would need to stop this job if she did. She said she planned to have one after she finishes. She said something about 4 years due to her study, which commences next September. I asked her if other girls in the shop had boyfriends and she said some. I wondered if that was why Naby hadn't been working. She said some girls just think differently.

She also said she planned to stay in Australia, and when I acted surprised, she said something like she had told me before and now I'd forgotten.

We then laid there in silence. After a while, her clock rang, she turned it off and went back to sleep on my chest. Finally after more time, she got up. I went to shower. I said I'd come back on Christmas if she would get me a present and she asked what I wanted and I said I don't know. I told her she shouldn't work on Christmas and New Years' and should have a holiday. She said something like "with who?" and I was about to say me, but thought it was a bit early to suggest meeting.

She later asked if I was coming on Christmas but I didn't really understand her until after a while. I got dressed and left.

I also met up with Ele tonight as she wanted me to sign something. Yang had driven to my place, and there was also Evonne and Ele's mother in the car.

She found out I was her secret santa

I walked as usual to the office, got there just before 8am, got changed and had toast. Surprisingly Mary and Clare were already in. Mary gave me my probationary form to look over and sign. There were so many positive remarks made by her, I felt kinda embarassed, almost as if she lied for me...almost. I was reading and reading and kept waiting for a negative comment in there somewhere, but nothing came.

I was going to just sign it and return it, but then figured that might offend her, so I wrote that I was grateful for the guidance and opportunities she had given me.

I then left for Parra. By now Nunjo had gotten into the office. As I was about to walk out, Mary said I should take the santa bag, and Nunjo and Clare both agreed. I was about to, but then realised the folder I was taking may have damaged the bag, so decided not to.

I caught the train out and prepared some things to say in case I needed to add to my written subs. I met Joy and we sat in court talking while some other matters were being done. There is this LA lawyer called Carolina who is sooooo sexy. Damn I wished she'd come work for our office.

Anyway, we mentioned our matter, handed up the papers and got stood down to 2pm. So now I had nothing to do. I went to another court to watch until 11:30am, then went to a conference room to look over the matter. At noon I left and went to the shopping centre for lunch. I had Macca's, which was finally at a price I thought was reasonable - $5.95 for a medium Big Mac meal. But this was only available during lunch time.

I went back and sat outside the court building for about half an hour. I thought about things.

I went back in and then we got on at 2pm. We got the sentence done ok. I thought the mag had made an error and questioned it, and she referred me to the right provision - yikes, hehe. I felt so embarassed, I felt like busting my head against a wall.

I caught the train back and basically slept the whole way back because I was so tired.

When I got back to the office, Nunjo was standing at Clare's door talking to her. I walked past and wanted to pass Mary's room as well but she caught me and asked me how I went. I told her, which semi-started a group conversation between all of us, but it was kinda hard cause I couldn't hear what Clare was asking me. Eventually it turned into a conversation with Mary only and then I returned to my room.

I was feeling restless so started going around to everyone's room talking. I went to Clare first and talked about the new LO2's that were recruited (Heath finally got it) and Judith's retirement in March next year.

Later I decided to go to Nunjo's room even though I couldn't think of anything to talk about. All I started with was asking her whether she had tried one of the chocolates from the box that we originally got for Sarah for yesterday's lunch as I ate one from my hand. She said she had one, smiling. Then she thanked me for the christmas present. I said it wasn't me, and she said it was. I said it wasn't me and asked what made her think it was me. She said through her powers of deduction, and that the Korean language gave it away because I usually get Asian candies. I gave up and asked if she liked it and she said yes. I asked if she had tried it and she said no but it smelled nice. She really seemed like she liked it.

I was about to tell her that I had originally gotten another gift which hadn't arrived yet but Caroline walked in, which led to a semi-awkward conversation with Ogre making inappropriate remarks. So that was the end of that. I decided to figure out who my secret santa was, so I went to ask Clare. I had accused Nunjo earlier, but she insisted it wasn't her. Clare couldn't help much except say that Mary was her secret santa.

I went to accuse Moira and she seemed pretty genuine in saying it wasn't her. She said she wouldn't know what to get boys. I believed her. I actually drew up a diagram to match the links I already had. I guessed that Ogre had gotten Moira's present because Ogre seemed to understand her well and the present suited her very well, so I went to Ogre's room and told her I knew she was Moira's secret santa as someone had tipped me off. She conceded, hehe.

So, that meant either Moira or Nunjo were my secret santa. My bet was Nunjo. How appropriate that we both get eachother?

I kinda wanted to hang around until everyone left to go accuse Nunjo. Everyone had left except Mary. I hung around on the internet computer and heard someone packing up. I thought it was Nunjo so I got up, but it was Mary. I ended up walking with her up the main street talking. I then went to check out some stores, nothing in particular really, but I was keeping an eye out for a nice suit. Nothing really seemed cheap for christmas.

I went back to the office to change and then went to the gym. I thought about asking Nunjo to lunch tomorrow. It will be her last day of work for the year. I wonder if she has anything planned. What if she says no? What if she has plans?

Also, G let me know that the present has arrived. I will go collect it later tonight, but now will have to think of a way to give it to her.

The team xmas lunch

I half ran to work today. I ran a bit, then walked, then ran, then walked, and then ran the last stretch. At the end, I felt like I probably could've ran the whole thing. The only thing was, I probably wasn't used to running 'off the bat', and so my breathing wasn't terribly good at the start, but once I got warmed up, it seemed ok.

I went to get some bread before going into the office. I grabbed my clothes and was on my way to the change room when Clare called me into her office. She asked if I was planning to buy the paras anything, and because they were nearby, I closed the door and said I'd thought about it, but I buy them lollies during the year so I figured that was enough. Anyway, Mary walked past and probably thought I was trying to show off, with my arms exposed and door closed.

I was kinda busy working up until lunch, as I had to get instructions for several matters off. When we were ready to go, they had me carry the santa bag, and it was kinda cool, cause I felt like a barista carrying the big blue bag that they have.

Nunjo was to meet us downstairs as she had to get some cash out. I think I am beginning to get a better sense of her finance. Earlier in the day I had gone around asking if anyone was interested in chipping in to get flowers for Mary. Moira and Clare were no, because they had already gotten her a present separately. Ogre gave me $10, and when I went to Nunjo, she mentioned she wasn't accustomed to giving presents to people more senior than her, and also said something about having spent a lot of money buying presents for people. I figure, she earns at least $85,000 - what could she be spending her money on? Rent can't be that expensive. Even on my salary I could afford rent and still save a lot.

I walked with Clare at first, and then Nunjo trailed behind to join us. I somehow kept talking to Clare, and finally asked her if she'd heard of Robert Kiyosaki. She said no and I began to tell her about the book. Not sure if I sold it to her, but I did at least manage to explain how he defines an asset and a liability, and she seemed to understand. Still wondering if I should buy her that book for christmas.

We went to the same bus stop as last time to wait for the free bus, but we waited a while and nothing came. Finally they decided to buy bus tickets. I wasn't too keen to use mine, but oh well. We hopped onto the next bus and sat at the back. Jody, Mary and Clare sat at the back row. I sat to their left in front, and Ogre and Moira sat to their right in front.

When we got off the bus it was raining. I ended up walking next to Nunjo and she had an umbrella so she provided me some cover. I offered to hold it, which I did, and she said I was holding the bag and the umbrella, I said I was multi-talented and she laughed. I don't know how, but she managed to take back the umbrella. All I can remember was there was some 'incidental' touching of our hands as we exchanged the umbrella. Hmmm.

I kinda enjoyed walking with her under the umbrella. Even though my left side was getting wet, I just wanted to make sure she had enough cover for herself. I asked her about her weekend, she said she went christmas shopping and bought some toys from Target. She asked about my weekend and I told her I had bball practice and went into the office yesterday, and she asked if I had that much work, and I said no but all the lunches were taking up my time. Sometimes as we talked, I would gaze into her big brown eyes. I would observe her lips - they were kinda thin. I would analyse her wrinkles.

We kept walking together until we got to the restaurant. I was the last one to sit. Mary was picking between two seats, and if she sat in the rigth one I would've sat across from Nunjo, but alas, she sat in the wrong one. It was all good though.

While we were waiting for our food, we decided to exchange secret santa gifts. I got a Trivia calendar, which I thought was pretty thoughtful. Someone must've thought I liked random facts so they gave this to me. Hmmm. I watched Nunjo as she opened up my present. At first I said it was a bottle of wine due to the shape of the bag, and when she pulled it out she seemed to like it a lot. She wondered who gave it to her. I thought, damn, if the Japanese words don't give it away, what would? Who else at the table would buy something Japanese???

We had some good conversations during lunch. Somehow we got talking about chickens and I told them about how we had a chicken before and it started attacking us so we had to let it go at Centennial Park, and when I added that it tried to follow us, everyone was like "awwwww" and Nunjo said "don't tell that part of the story".

It turns out that she used to live on a farm and had a small motorbike. There was also a bit on her parents' divorce. Clare asked if she still had the farm, and she said it was sold due to the dispute, and said something about it being ugly.

I couldn't help but take in her face as she talked. She has a nice laugh, and is somewhat friendly and open in small groups.

We also had dessert/coffee. My $35 meal was more than enough since I only had $45 in my wallet, so I just opted for a mocha. Mary offered me one of her desserts, then a while later, Nunjo offered me two halves of her dessert. I wasn't sure if she had bitten through them or broken them with her hands. Also, I noticed that she had quite rough hands, maybe due to growing up in a farm (she did say she was made to pick peas).

I was sooooo happy inside that she offered me her dessert I couldn't help but have a stupid grin on my face. Moira offered me her dessert as well but I declined, and then Nunjo took up the offer. I was still grinning. It felt soooo special. Food just tastes so much better when someone you like gives it to you.

After lunch, we were walking to a bus stop. I was walking with Moira, and she had her umbrella covering me, which I kinda didn't like. Mary and Nunjo were walking behind, and Mary said something about us looking colourful, what with me holding the bag and Moira's bright orange dress, so she asked for a photo, and Nunjo took one of us from behind.

On the bus, I sat next to Clare facing Nunjo and Mary. Mary said Clare and I looked cute, so she asked Nunjo to take a photo, which she did. To be honest, if Clare wasn't attached, I probably would go for her, and that would've been a special moment. But I somehow feel like my attachment now is to Nunjo. I wish I had a photo with Nunjo.

Old legs?

I think ever since the 7th of December, when we played our last Shohoku game, the back of my ankles has felt really tired, and that was why I skipped training that Saturday. It has recovered a bit since Sunday's last Kainan game, but yesterday I went to the usual Saturday practice and now they're pretty sore again.

Bo was supposed to come. He texted me on Friday asking me when I wanted to meet, so that showed a bit of dedication. Then I called him when I got to the train station on Saturday morning and there was no pick up. I called again, and there was no answer. I knew it. He was hungover from the previous night. So I got on the train by myself and walked to the courts from the station. As I neared the courts, Carter stopped by and asked if I needed a lift. I politely declined since I was a few steps away from it anyway.

I have been thinking about this guy recently. Ummm...not in a gay way. But I remember when he played on Enjoy, and I was young and fit, with my alpha mentality. Even though he was good, I sorta looked down on him. Now here we are, a few years on, I've got a knee surgery under my belt and am walking like an old man, he's one of the most well known players and he's kind enough to play for my team and offer me a lift. Talk about being humbled.

Anyway, only Gus and Jim showed up from 'my group', but that was good enough. I didn't even get to warm up before the first game, so was just content running up and down. We didn't do too bad, although one time I was supposed to catch an inbound pass after the other team scored. Maybe the guy threw it at my head, or maybe I took my eyes off the ball for a split second, thinking way ahead of myself, but the ball hit my head, and for some reason I just couldn't recover the ball before it went out of bounds. The guy gave me an exasperated look. I thought it was funny.

After that I started finding my shot, despite having had a total of seven days lay off after our last game. I thought my first one was a fluke, but I kept hitting them. We extended for an hour, although Gus left at noon. I still had some energy left when everyone walked off afterwards. Alex was kinda shooting around on one end of the court, and I walked over to try to touch the backboard. I did - twice. I told him I used to be able to touch the ring, and he couldn't believe it. He had a go and couldn't touch the backboard.

It is still my intentions, at this stage, to touch the ring sooner or later. I am really looking forward to the christmas break when I can work on myself and my game.

Afterwards, Jim and I went to Flemington to eat. We talked about other stuff outside of basketball, like money and girls. He told me about the camp he went to, and how this young girl approached him. He reckons she was about 22. Then her friend came along and asked how old he was, and when he said 30, she said "that's old", which he felt ruined any chances he had. He seemed pretty upset. It made me think, we really are heading over to the other side of life. I told him he should've just said "at least I have more money than you".

I caught the train back out to the city and had to look for a present for Nunjo for the secret santa on Monday, because the thing G ordered for me still hasn't arrived. I came close to buying that other figurine, which allows you to change hair and arms and weapons, and I thought I could pitch it as being made after she bravely fought for Christine's money. But having a closer look at it, I realised it wouldn't be possible to paint glasses on. Besides, I still intended to give the key ring to her, even if it does arrive late, and I figured giving her two items which are supposed to look like her will be a little creepy.

So I ended up buying some sort of body soap from the same store. It had a nice package, and it was berry berry, which sounded nice. It seemed like a nice, neutral gift, perfect for the lead up to the key ring.

Today, I drove to the office in the morning to exchange my clothes and return my grey suit home. I went back home and had breakfast before catching the bus back to the office to get some work done. I finished reading a brief, then went out to get some lunch and have the body soap wrapped. Instead of wrapping, I found a nice presentation bag from the newsagency which was perfect, so I bought that. I ended up getting KFC for lunch, even though I wasn't 100% feeling it, and felt quite disgusted when I started eating the chicken.

I worked on some subs for Tuesday and got a lot of it done before leaving at 3pm. I finished off the present preparation and placed it in Mary's santa bag before leaving. I went home in just my gym gear, ready to jog to work tomorrow. I really hope my legs will recover by then.

Thursday
After work I met up with Mike, Bo and Nick for Mike's birthday, which was on Wednesday. We went to watch a film about snowboarding, funded by Red Bull (which Nick works for). There's always fun when Mike and Bo get together. For instance, just outside the cinema room, there were two absolutely hot chicks from Red Bull handing out free SIMs (I took one). Later on, Mike asked Nick "do they work for Red Bull?" and Nick said yes, then Mike was like "damn..." haha.

The film was ok, maybe it was a bit loud, and sometimes it was boring, but if I was a snowboarding fan, then I would've loved it.

After that we went to dinner in Chinksford. We had Indonesian food at the suggestion of Bo. We had a generally good time, and it was a lot different to the later stages of the Shuing era where he'd always be negative with everything. So this group was refreshing.

Casino Escape

I had wanted to get to work extra early today because I knew it was full of non-productive activities, like the pinyata and the drinks with the cops, but I only got there at about 8:30am. Even then, before I got changed, Imad asked me to appear in court for Steve, so that was the end of my hope to get some paper work done.

I bumped into Steve in the corridor and he gave me the most concise summary ever of what needed to be done, lol. Despite that, I realised the facts sheet needed to be changed. I wanted to confer with Mary about it but she wasn't around, so I asked Nunjo about it. But I started off with what came off as a bit of a flirt. I told her I had a dream about her. She smiled, almost as if to show she was interested to hear what was coming next, whereas for some reason I half expected her to turn her back to me. I told her I dreamed I had said something offensive to her and she wouldn't speak to me (which was true, I did have that dream). She said that would be pretty hard to do. Then I asked her the question about work, and I spent the time I had left fixing it up before leaving for court.

Had that mag who is a bit cranky all the time, but today he seemed to be in a good mood. It was a relatively easy matter to do, but the defence needed time to speak to their client so I waited around for close to an hour. During that time I checked facebook 563 times, checked the news, and sat around observing. Maybe for the first time ever, as I watched everyone moving around, I realised what it may have been like for a defendant waiting at court. You hardly give this perspective any consideration because most of the time you're in your own zone, just thinking about what you need to do. But I could see how this environment could be intimidating, and I could see how I'd envy those whose careers revolved around this place - yes, I am one of those.

I eventually got the matter done and was surprised to see Genie waiting for me. I knew she was in another court, but didn't expect her to come find me. We walked back to the office together, even though I had semi-promised Mis I'd have coffee with him.

I worked until about 12:30pm when I went out for a walk. I wanted to check out a suit, but seriously, the guy who works there is so snobbish, I didn't even go in. I've bought a suit there before, but decided to look them up on the net, and even someone else said that guy was a douche. Today, someone else was looking through a rack and this guy gave a look of disdain at the guy looking through the rack. I thought "stuff it, you're not the only shop that sells suits" and I walked off.

I walked through JB Hi-Fi (PS3 still same price) and then went back to the office to eat my lunch I had brought from home. Then I just hung around until 2pm when it was pinyata time. I saw that Mary and Clare were at the para-bay ready for it, but Nunjo was still in her room. I thought about going to get her, but thought "stuff it" as I didn't always want to be the one to get her, and I felt it was a bit snobbish of her to always wait until someone comes to get her.

She eventually came around, and we started the pinyata. People wanted me to go first, but I think Mary ended up being the first one. I did get a few "whoa" when I had my turn, even though I felt like I could've hit it harder. I had a second crack at it, which was the first to break the lollies out, hehe.

It was funny when DS had a go, he's a funny guy. I watched Nunjo have a go, and she had an ok hit. Briony took some photos and videos, I hope I get to see them. I did see them quickly afterwards, and I swear, I'm still not used to seeing myself with a shaved head.

I did a bit of work until 3pm when Mary came around to collect us for the xmas drinks with the cops. In the lift down, I realised I was the only guy amongst the seven of us. Genie was standing at the back, and I was standing to the right of the doors, opposite Mary. I think it was Moira who talked about Genie getting a highlighter on her dress, so Genie pulled her dress forward to look at it and show her, and I just looked at it out of curiousity. I couldn't see any markings, but when I looked back up Mary was looking at me. It was that "trying to figure me out" type of look, as if she was thinking I had a secret thing for Genie. Fark.

We headed off, and I walked with Genie on the way to the bus stop. On the bus, we sat on those three seaters which can fold up for wheelchairs. Mary and Nunjo sat on one side, and Genie and Clare sat on the other. Ogre and Moira had gone to the back. I sat next to Nunjo.

Mary asked Nunjo what she was doing over the break, and she said she was going to see her grandparents. Mary then asked me, and I said I was hanging around, but that I was looking to buy a PS3 to play with over the break. Then Mary asked about GTA, lol, and I said I have the old version of it.

Getting off the bus, I walked with Genie as we made our way up the hill and towards the pub. It brough back memories of last year. We walked all the way around before finding the cops, in the exact same room as last year. This time, however, I felt a little more comfortable as I have now worked with some of them. I thought they'd be pretty welcoming, but I found that they all sat together, leaving us to sit in our own group. I mean, there was some interaction, but the cops on the other end didn't make any effort at all to talk to us.

I sat next to Nunjo, and for a few moments I had to squeeze in right next to her because we thought we didn't have enough seats. Mary, Ogre, Moira and I went to get the drinks. Moira asked me to carry Nunjo's drink, and for a very brief moment I wondered if she did that because she suspected something. Nah, she couldn't have.

I held a beer and my lemon squash in my hands as I headed back to the table. I joked to them that anyone seeing this would think the beer was for me and the lemon squash was for Nunjo, lol.

After a while, I realised that Nunjo and I were similar in that we both seemed to prefer to be quiet and observe others. I found myself leaning on a handle at the end of her chair. A cop was reading Clare's palm, and I said I had my palm read before. They were asking me what was said about me, and I said he wanted me to change the direction my bed was facing, and he said I should go with an older woman.

Ogre then said something about giving noodles. I was like "what?" and she laughed. Then I realised - she was referring to Nunjo giving me noodles on Wednesday. I looked at Nunjo and she was laughing shyly, covering her face with both her palms. Hmmm.

For a few moments after that as I watched others talk, I fantasised about holding Nunjo's hand as if we were a couple. Then I shook out of it.

At about 4:30pm, I noticed Nunjo look at her watch. I looked at her, and she said she wanted to make a move. Mary took the cue and said we should go, and then we spent an obligatory 5-10 more minutes talking before actually leaving. I walked with Nunjo a bit and told her she wanted to leave on the dot, and she said she wanted a cigarette break as she lit one up. I asked her if she ever plans to slow down, and she said no. She then said she wanted to drop back behind the group. I took that to mean that she didn't want me to talk to her, or she didn't want the group watching us, so I walked with Genie.

We stopped near the train station where we split. Genie and I decided to go back to the office, and the rest went another way. While we had stopped, I noticed Nunjo take off her cardigan. I checked her out quickly, and realised her boobs were kinda saggy - yet another reminder of what I may be in for if I go into this. I noticed she put her cardigan back on. Did she read my mind? Or did she think I was a pervert? I doubt it was the latter, because she gave me a friendly look, smile and wave as we parted.

Shortly after getting back to the office, Genie left. I stayed a bit before deciding to go to the casino. My original plan was to go to the gym first, but I didn't want to make an extra trip into the office to change.

So I walked to the casino after withdrawing $800 on my credit card. I didn't have a very good feeling about this. I was feeling cautious, and I told myself that was a good thing because it meant I wouldn't make reckless bets. At the same time, I felt like my luck was about to run out. I knew how important this was - I was at the pivotal point where if I win, it could really help in erasing the debt for next week. If I lost, then it would be a huge setback.

I lost on my first bet, despite using the safe strategy of covering 30/37 numbers. That really hurt. A few spins later I went up $100 and wanted to win $100 more. But I soon found myself down. I struggled, jumping from table to table, and at one stage, I held only two chips in my hand as I watched the wheel spin. I could feel it - this wasn't my night.

I hung around the $400-$600 mark for a long time. At times I thought "fuck it, I'll just bet recklessly" but then told myself to keep following my plan. The column/colour strategy really kept me in the game, especially when it hit both on one spin. I was up $100 again and then soon found myself down a substantial amount. I was ready to walk out a loser. It was not a good feeling. Inside, I pleaded to get back up by $100 so I could leave. I had seen the dark side, I told myself.

It really was a hard fight. The look on the face of the pitbosses, the fight for space on a table, the feeling like shit after a losing spin, really made me just want to leave as quickly as possible.

Finally, I managed to crawl back to break even, and then won $100 on the 30/37 strategy. I went to cash out $900. That was enough for me. I really felt stressed. It was pretty unbelievable. That was enough challenge for the time being. I needed to get to the gym. All I wanted to do was to be lying down in the gym, knowing that I managed to get out of the casino up $100. No, more importantly, it was getting out of the casino not losing $800.

I went back to the office to change, and then went to the gym. My legs were sore from the walking and standing around. My sneakers felt so good. I went to the gym and did my usual stuff. Despite coming so close to losing all my $800 and barely escaping the casino, I somehow felt that the $100 win wasn't enough. Everytime I thougth like that, I mentally slapped myself and told myself that I didn't lose $800 which was a feat in itself. Not only that, but I made a net gain of about $80.

So stop complaining.

P3 christmas lunch

So we had our branch christmas lunch today. I wanted to walk with Nunjo, so when we were about to leave, I went to her office to wait for her. But by the time we got out of the building, I had somehow ended up walking with Moira and Rat. Then they decided to catch the monorail, so I walked with Mario and Alex, while Nunjo walked with the new girl Fiona.

I was making chit chat, but I knew deep down that the seating would be oh so crucial. Luckily, there was a spot right across from Nunjo and next to Fiona. Bingo!

I sat down and everything was good. Anne sat next to Nunjo so there was plenty of talk. I was however, surprised by her snapping at the waiter. I always thought she was an extremely nice person until that moment. Now my perception of her has changed.

Nothing special was really talked about between me and Nunjo, just normal stuff. I actually talked to Mario quite a bit, who was sitting to my right. Found out he's actually 34, wow, and I always thought he was around my age or even younger.

Towards the end, I noticed Nunjo was slowing down with her noodles. I wondered if she didn't like it or if she was just full. I asked her and she asked me if I wanted some. I said no twice and she insisted. So then I gave her my bowl and she used her fork to give me some. I was soooooo happy inside!

As I ate the noodles, I felt like I was swooning. I was melting inside. I felt like my crush on her had re-ignited.

After we ate, we had the secret santa thing. I was looking forward to my present, and also wanted to see Jacqueline's reaction to mine. She didn't seem like she knew what it was, as she kept giving it to DS to have a look, lol. I was a bit disappointed with mine - someone gave me a box of chocolates. It was disappointing for two reasons: 1) a lot of other people received chocolates and; 2) it felt like there wasn't much thought put into it. It seemed kinda like "I don't know what he likes, so I'll just get him chocolate".

After we paid, some of us hung around a bit. I kept eating those nice biscuit thingys made by Briony as I listened and watched Nunjo talk. Rat talked about me a bit, about how many briefs I did in P2, and I felt a little embarassed as I could see Nunjo looking at me. In hindsight, I should've turned it back on Rat by saying it was her fault since she was the one who taught me how to do them.

I noticed Nunjo's lips were beginning to 'droop' down, as age does to old people. But I still thought she looked kinda cute. Women definitely start going downhill from about 32 onwards.

There was a moment where, I can't really remember what led to it, but Ogre teased me by saying "stop sucking up to Nunjo". I had nothing to say because I was embarassed. I wasn't sucking up to her; I liked her. I wonder if Ogre was off the spot, or if that was her teasing me about liking Nunjo.

Afterwards they wanted to go for drinks, but I wanted to go back to the office. Rat said she was going home, and I thought we'd be walking in the same direction so I asked her if she wanted to share my chocolate, and then Briony said that sounded like a date. Hmmm.

Anyway, I went back to the office and turns out Rat came back as well. I had a bit of a chat with Mary about the lunch, and then got into a three way with Rat, and found out some neat info, like:

- Chris was probably Moira's secret santa;
- Mary was Rat's secret santa;
- Rat was Ogre's secret santa;
- Mario was Nunjo's secret santa;
- Rat said Katie and Yoshi were older than her! Like 30 something!!!

Fuck me.

I went to the gym afterwards. The girl I was going to meet on Friday for a date cancelled, so I now have a bit more money for myself, and I spent the gym session wondering what I should do with it.

I went to David Jones after that to see what I could buy, since Ele said she has a 10% discount card, but they weren't really having a sale, and everything was fucking expensive. I went to Myer and nothing had changed from last time. No Christmas sales, nothing!

DCLC virgin busted!

So I had my first DCLC list today. Clare was assisting me. On the one hand, I was glad she volunteered because I felt closer to her than any of the other potential suitors, yet on the other hand, I was afraid I'd stuff up and she'd report back to someone on my floor.

I was a bit stressed, although not as stressed as yesterday when I was preparing for the list, and Kay decided to interrogate me over the phone for 20 minutes over the bail she is doing for me, and then asking me to fix it up. Fark.

But then I think the walk to work and listening to music kinda loosened me up. I also had the work experience student Nicola coming to watch, so that was a bit of a double whammy times two. She was slightly attractive, and going with two girls watching, I knew there was a chance I'd get cocky and try to do something funny which would come off as unprofessional, so I reminded myself to always keep my professionalism cap on.

I got to the office at about 8:15am, made some toast and got changed. I sent something off to Kay and then started packing for my list. As I was doing my tie, Nicola arrived, she then went to see Anne and then Clare and I were ready to leave. Mary caught us in a conversation and then Nicola arrived, and Mary said it was like a 'groupie'. I didn't really know what she meant. I thought it meant group sex, so I just wanted to go, although I did like the fact that it may have made Nunjo feel a bit of envy.

So we headed off to court. I was getting ready to get smashed by the mag. It was that semi-crazy one too, although my experience thus far with her has been non-negative. When it came to my matter, it ended up being me unintentionally using reverse psychology, because she gave us what we wanted even though I asked for the opposite.

The rest of the matters went rather swimmingly. Clare would sometimes point things out to me, lol. She is very helpful. At morning tea we went to the coffee shop and sat down to talk, then went back to court. We ended up finishing just a bit after 1pm.

I couldn't believe it. I had done my first DCLC list!!!

I was pretty tired. Too tired to go out for lunch actually, but I went out anyway to look for a present for Jacqueline for tomorrow's christmas kringle, and I also bought a quarter chicken for lunch.

Then in the late afternoon, as I was writing up the files, Kay comes to my office with this diagram she drew up on four pieces of paper stapled together of my case. Fucking hell. I mean, I was impressed, yet I also thought she was getting way too into a matter that's not even hers. She sat down and started asking me questions about the matter. Clare and Nunjo walked past making faces.

At one point I went to photocopy something for Kay and Nunjo was in the room. I gave her a rather loud and sarcastic "hello Jody!" and she was like "learning much?" and I said I was having the time of my life.

So that took a while, and after Kay left I went into Clare's room to have a whinge to her and Nunjo, then had a whinge to Moira and Cameron. Fark. Then later when I bumped into Heath I had a whinge to him as well.

I didn't go to the gym after work. Instead, I walked home and listened to my music. I really felt like it to unwind after the day. It felt good, even though my legs were kinda tired.

Ah, I hope it'll be easy from here till the end of the year.

Kainan 3-6-1

Man, seems like I haven't blogged for so long, so I'll try to say what I can remember.

1. I just came back from the last game of our Kainan season. The memories of my last game in this comp hurting my knee still somewhat haunted me - I had to remind myself not to go 100% in the last game of the season which didn't matter. We had an unofficial full team - missing Gary and Jim, replaced by Mike and Carter. We did pretty good in the first half, limiting them to like 8 points, and then I told everyone to do the 1-3-1 in the second half which pressured them more, which led to a 41-18 victory. Wow.

I took only one shot, a fast break lay up which I missed after a steal from the 1-3-1 defence. After the game, Bo, Nick, Mike, Alex and I went to dinner in Flemington. I could tell Alex was trying to fit into our group, and kudos to him for doing that. I just wished some of the other guys would come to make it more of a 'team' feel.

2. I went into work earlier today to do my bail subs. I was there from 9am to noon and got it done. I did think about getting changed into my work clothes to go to the casino (as I was wearing my bball shorts) but instead made the good decision to just walk home. I told myself that last time we played this team, I was in the midst of my gambling relapse, and the little bump to my knee was a reminder not to gamble, and so I didn't want another, possibly more serious, reminder.

3. Yesterday morning I went to the park with Malay and Thai for our abs exercises. I was disappointed G didn't respond at all, but oh well. We found some keys which I took home, my plan is to put up a sign next week and leaving my number.

After that we went to the shopping centre near me for breakfast and to buy a mat. We then went home and then met up at Thai's place, initially so I could get more movies off him, but we ended up playing Capcom vs Marvel for the whole day instead of me going to work.

4. On Friday we had the work christmas party. I noticed Nunjo was out at court with LC, but did pretty well putting that out of my mind; until they returned around noon. LC is a great guy (as far as I can see) so I don't know why I feel like I have this beef with him. As I walked past her room, he said hi to me, and we just exchanged the usual "how are you going?" stuff.

I feel like I'm jealous of him because of her, yet at the same time I know I can't compete against him. How the hell do I compete against someone more senior than me and earns more money??

At the party, I was in a group with Mary, Briony, Moira and Rat, and as we moved from the outside to in, we walked past LC and I felt like he wanted a nod of acknowledgement but I just looked down as I passed. See, this is all because of her. I wouldn't be feeling this way about him if it wasn't for her. He has done nothing wrong. I guess I am just paranoid.

Also, I walked to the party with Genie, Gonaz and Nunjo. Somehow she brought up that she and Mary have joked about running a brothel, and I was like "you don't see any moral issues with that?" (I know, of all people, I'm the one to ask) and she said no, which sorta surprised me. Maybe she really wasn't a good person underneath.

5. On Wednesday we lost (surprise surprise) and I had a few fast break opportunities in the first half but missed them all. On the last of them, I tried running into the guy and stepped onto his foot, tweaking my right knee just a little bit, but that was enough to tell myself not to go too hard and to remind myself just how close I was to ending my career.

Waiting on Lin...

Man, I added her on fb this morning, still no response :(

Mike's 'teens' Christmas party

Yesterday I thought would be a nice peaceful, slow day in the office. I wasn't in Court, so I figured I'd use it to catch up on small things and finally start on a large brief.

I somehow got talking to Nunjo in her room, cause I wanted to suss out whether she'd like a present of her name consisting of big letters (she said she doesn't have any personal belongings because she's changed offices too many times). She seemed to open up to me a lot more than usual, telling me about Christina's illness and how she was hospitalised a few years ago, and also how some lady stole some money from Christina's purse when they went to the movies on Tuesday night to watch Twilight. Apparently Nunjo confronted the lady and got the money back. She also told me about how when the removalists were slow to get her stuff down from Darwin, she told them to "fuck off" or "go fuck yourself". Wow, that I could never imagine.

I guess whether she was interested in me enough was answered by what happened next. LC was walking in with Clare to Clare's room and Nunjo quickly said "Hi Lincoln!", almost sounding desperate for his attention. Hmmm.

Anyway, DS came into the room asking to see me, so we went into my room. He gave me a matter that had just been faxed to us, asking me to make sure the PP would mention it for us. So that was panick number one, since I had to do it before the PP went to court. I got that done by a stroke of luck as the PP had walked back into his office when I called.

I went to tell DS everything was ok then he asked me to do another thing for him. Melissa's matter was in court at 2pm but defence wanted to do it now, so he wanted me to go over. It was a simple thing by consent, but the fact that I was rushed into a matter without knowing anything about it put some pressure on me.

Of course, I said yes. However, I do wonder if he asked me to do those things because I was trustworthy, or if he thought I had nothing else to do since I was talking to Nunjo.

As I walked out of my room to court, I saw Nunjo and gave her an eyebrow flash. I went to court and did the mention, which was relatively easy, then went back to the office. I think this is the second time ever Nunjo has come to my room (the first was when she came in with Clare to ask a question) and she didn't even really step inside. She asked me where I rushed off to and I told her about Melissa's matter and that was it.

In the afternoon I went out with Genie to get a drink from Macca's, and unfortunately walked in right at the moment that DS was walking by. Damn. Then at 4:20pm, I ended up in a group conversation with Moira, Clare and Ogre in the corridor. DS half jokingly said it was a stop work meeting. I couldn't tell if he was really joking, or if it was a hint for us to get back to work. But he went home five minutes later and I figured it would've been pretty poor form of him to tell us to get back to work when he leaves early.

I left work at about 5:30pm and went to the gym. I did my usual stuff, and then went home.

Today, I met up with Malay, Thai and G for exercises at the park. We did abs exercises mainly. Maybe it's because I've been doing some in the gym, but this time it didn't hurt as much. Malay said he'd find a sport I wasn't good at, which I suppose was a compliment.

Afterwards we went to the Wick for breakfast at Subway, checked out EB Games and then went home. Malay and I checked out Auto One but they wouldn't fit his windscreen wipers for him so we left.

I was pretty tired and kinda wanted to sleep, but instead played a game of NBA Live. I don't know why, but afterwards I was flipping through the stats and saw a photo of Kobe Bryant, and that motivated me to get my ass out to the courts despite wanting to sleep.

So I went to the courts with the intention of shooting around and working on my shot. I decided to just do set shots, and made 55 from the left side of the court. I have a nice set shot, but too bad I don't use it in games.

I went home, had a shower and then got ready to meet with Mike and Jim for the christmas party. My bus for some reason took the wrong turn in the city, which delayed me a bit, but ended up meeting them with no other problems.

We met at my office because apparently that was where the party was. Mike was with a girl, who he introduced as Lin. Jim looked like he didn't know what to do. Mike said they were headed to Central to pick up another girl, and said we could either go with him or stay and wait. I decided to go, and Jim seemed surprised, complaining about the long walk to Central.

I talked to Jim at first as we walked, then Mike joined in. Finally, at the lights, I spoke to Lin, just asking her how she knew Mike (through church) and how long she'd known him (a year and a half). Then as we made our way through hobo park, I noticed she had trailed behind while the three of us talked. I wonder why.

We picked up the other girl from Central called Maika, then headed back to my office. We went into the conference room on the ground level, then further into a hall which I'd never been to. Mike the idiot didn't tell us it was a formal event, so Jim and I looked casual while most at least had a shirt with a collar, fark.

We sat down and I sat between Jim and Lin. At first I just spoke to Jim, but then started talking to Lin as well. She said she was studying business and working part time as a waitress. I kept trying to think of things to talk about, but it was hard given 1) my lack of imagination 2) her bad English and 3) the loud music playing. I got my ticket out and asked which of the educational institutions listed were hers, and she pointed Macquarie out to me, touching my hand. I said "oh ok" and then proceeded to put the ticket away, then she asked for it back and I nearly dropped it, and our hands touched again.

We'd talk occasionally on and off, she would ask me what I was studying, I said I worked, and she asked what and I said lawyer in the building. She asked if it was hard and I said a bit.

We watched some dancing and some speeches, before we all went out to eat. Lin had said she plays badminton, and I quickly thought about organising something with Jim since he plays on Wednesday nights. I thought too much, and then realised the moment had gone. It was awkward to bring it back up now. I should've jumped on the opportunity when she said it. Fark.

Anyway, I wanted to get my food really quick so I could talk to her, but lost her in the crowd. Jim joined me in the queue as we got our food. We walked around eating it. I was searching for Lin under the pretense of looking for more food. I eventually found the group lining up, and Lin gave me a surprised look as she saw I already had the food.

So Jim and I waited for them to get their food and then lost them for a bit before finding the two guys Jet and someone else. They were really friendly, especially Jet, who kept making some stupid jokes. I thought he was funny, but then realised he must've been young. Lin was standing away a bit, sometimes talking to Mike and another guy, and sometimes by herself. I wanted to make a move over, but Jet wouldn't shut up, lol.

Finally I went over and asked her if she was full so we talked a bit there before the group moved over and had a group discussion. We then all went back in, couldn't find enough seats so decided to go upstairs. It was good cause we got a much better view. The entertainment was better too, cause there were break dancing performances, which was really cool.

I saw Lin recording them on her phone, and I later regreteed not doing the same as one of them was really cool. One song they played was that Korean song "nobody nobody but you" which made me think about all the times I had with Naby...

I swear Jet just wouldn't shut up. He was sitting to my right and kept tapping my arm to make jokes, sometimes inappropriate jokes. Lin was sitting in front of us and I wondered if she understood. Jet reminded me of William, which annoyed me, but I told myself they were two different people.

Finally after the performances were over, Jet left me and I went to sit slightly behind Lin to her right, asking her if she recorded the second performance because I liked it, and asking if she could upload it onto fb is she had it and asking if I could add her. She said yes, but seemed a bit perplexed. Hmmm. Later on she just handed me her mask.

When we went downstairs I asked her if she wanted it and she said no, so I left it on a table. Mike went into the dance area, and I went in too, but hid away within the darkness so he couldn't find me to pull me onto the dance floor.

They were planning karaoke afterwards and I knew I wasn't up for it, especially since I had already established some 'post contact' with Lin. I went out to the lobby and saw Lin and Jet, and Jet started talking to me about karaoke. I swear that guy is a funny cunt.

Mike came out and tried to get us to dance, but I said I was going, and then he and jet started trying to convince me to dance and/or go to karaoke, yet Jet himself wouldn't dance, saying his pants were too tight lol.

Finally managed to be persistent and said goodbyes. When I said goodbye to Lin, she was like "are you going? I want to go too"

I waved goodbye and then left. I knew I shouldn't have, but I withdrew $800 and went to the casino, first telling myself that winning $100 was good enough, and then later telling myself I'd aim for $200.

I walked to the casino and found it alive and kicking since it was a Saturday night. I exchanged my cash for $100 chips, then went to another table to bet $100 on the third dozen and $100 on 1-18. It landed in the third dozen and so I won $100.

I went to another table and bet $100 on black and $100 on third column and it landed on 33. Great, total profit $400. That was enough for me. 33 is next to 1 by the way, so I was THIS close to losing. I told myself that as I walked to the cashier.

I then hung around and watched a bit, looking for tables with big players. Finally I found a guy on a $10 table betting huge stacks of chips. In addition to his stacks, he also had a couple of $1,000 chips. I watched as he lost it all. He was down like $2800 and then bought $1400 more chips. I thought, how the hell are you going to use $1400 to win back $2800? Sure enough, he ended up losing it all and walked away. Fark.

I then left the casino and Jim called, to see if I was stiff with them as he wanted to come back. I said I wasn't, and we left it at that.

So, Lin eh?

Lunch with Ele

Decided to wear my grey G2000 shirt I got from HK today, just felt like a change.

I walked to work with it, and pretty much as soon as I put it on, I got some feedback. DS said I looked "distinguished", and then Ogre made fun of me just as I bumped into her in the corridor and made fun of her, because Mary and Moira had said she had her hair done for a date tonight.

I felt more relaxed at work today, since my last major matter for the year finished yesterday. That really closed a dog of a file. Now I just have a list on the 13th. Grrr.

I met up with Ele for lunch. She asked me to go to Sportsgirl with her as she needed to get a headband for her work christmas party tomorrow. I met her at the bottom of Woolies, and then we went to Sportsgirl. I told her about how I was looking for a secret santa present, and she started looking for suggestions around the store, before I decided this wasn't the place I wanted to get a present from, and directed her back to her headband shopping.

I stood around as she tried various headbands on. She looked cute trying them on in front of the mirror. I think anyone would've thought we were a couple. I noticed a chick who worked there look at me a few times. Either it was my shirt, or she thought I was a chump for waiting around for a girl.

I spotted a heart shaped bicycle reflector which I thought would be suitable for Jody, but it seemed too 'small' by itself.

I took Ele to the TGV foodcourt for lunch. At first I went the wrong way, so that wasted a bit of time. She said she had never been to that foodcourt so I thought I'd show her.

To my surprise, it had been renovated, and it looked pretty awesome and classy. She kept saying how much she liked it, and I felt like it was just out of pure luck that they had renovated it. I still thought it was the 'old' look.

We got a card off some chick handing them out, which was like get a free meal after visiting five different restaurants within the food court, so we decided to split to get two stamps instead of one.

She bought pho, then I bought ramen from another shop. We sat down at a table sharing it with another guy at first, but he finished quickly and left. I told her about my matter yesterday and she believed the guy's version. I also told her about my counterfeit case.

She told me about how she was on the train to work today, and she saw a couple who were obviously drug affected, with a kid who seemed ill. She suggested how it was unfortunate how a kid could be born into such a bad situation through no fault of its own. I agreed, and compared it to James Packer's son. Fate can sometimes really suck.

I also told her about how I watched Benjamin Button and asked her where we'd be in 60 years time, asking if we'd be in a nursing home. She said we should put our money together and live in a place together.

I had my mind on the time as I knew I'd been out of the office for a bit now (had been to the bank to deposit money before meeting Ele) but she seemed to be taking her time, despite not finishing her pho cause she didn't like it. She wanted to walk around to browse all the restaurants, so we did. She said a few times that we should come back.

We walked back up to street level and chatted about working in the public sector before parting.

In the afternoon, something funny/awkward happened. Apparently Turk had been kicked out of work because Judith somehow found out she had a medical certificate, and even though she wasn't using it, she wouldn't let her work. So they went to do paperwork, and Moira and Ogre were waiting to take her to lunch.

Moira was like "if she takes any longer, then she's going to give birth" and then Judith had walked up behind her. Then as she was telling us this, she told us about how Judith had "frog marched" Turk out, and right at that very moment, Judith walked through our door!

I laughed and disappeared, Rat tried to change the subject, lol. Farking awkward.

I went to Nunjo after, closed the door and told her, which made her laugh. I opened the door again and she told me something funny she was reading in a case.

I left work at about 5:30pm, and went looking for the secret santa present for Nunjo. I ended up at the Westfields in the city. I swear, that place is a bit too much. Everything is dazzling, it's like they try to confuse you so you can't get out.

I found this neat shop which sold big alphabet letters, so I thought it might be a good idea to buy her name, and she can maybe put it on her desk. I also found a nice unique candy store upstairs.

After that I went to the gym nearby, and then bought a box of chocolates for my mom/sister. I just love it when I buy things for my mom and she says she doesn't like it.

F...