Me vs The World

Let the mind games begin!

2008-07-24T12:13:00.003+10:00

I'm at work, we don't have court today, so just working on my laptop and emailing the guys about shit. In the midst of it Ele replies to an email (at 11:30am) sent a few days ago about a trip, saying she'd be interested (with many exclamation marks).

I check her facebook and at 11:00am she had changed some of her info, namely that she is now single (she previously had nothing), she added her mobile number and some other details.

Now, Bob must be thinking "she's doing all this because she knows I'm interested, and it's her way of reciprocating". Fair enough I suppose.

But what does this mean from my perspective?

She hasn't responded to my message yet, although she probably would've seen it since she had checked her facebook at 11am and her email at 11:30am. Is she thinking how she should respond? Or maybe she's just ignoring it altogether, having chosen Bob over you?

But why would she put her mobile number there? Bob already has it, I don't.

Ah let's just stop thinking about it.

The fucking door!!!

2008-07-23T23:22:00.006+10:00

23/7/08 @ 8:20am
I bumped into DC yesterday morning when walking from the train station to court. I guess it's inevitable that we bump into each other often since we both live in the same area and this is a pretty popular suburb.

We had court for nearly the whole day yesterday, which was a new thing. That means that I don't have much time to do the preparation since they always close at about 5ish.

That tall girl Twish introduced herself to me yesterday, but only because she needed something. She's quite pretty, and I heard on the grapevine that my client has a crush on her. But I get the feeling that she's a little bit obverworked, causing stress, because I heard her going off at a TLP student and she seems to be a little bit disorganised.

GS left early, so I left at 4ish to go back to my old office where I could finish off HK client's stuff. Only Yoj was there, although I was hoping Shadi and Liddia would be there too. Liddia's apparently leaving this Friday, obviously upset that Nom had forced her to work for free this month even after she completed her training period. Good for her.

Yoj has pretty much taken my position- staying back late to do work while everyone else leaves early. You can't blame the TLP students since they're students and they're just working for free, but where's George? How long until Nom cracks the whip onto George? Boy would I like to see that. I wonder where that firm is headed. Looking at the mess and all the files, I can honestly chuck a Michael Jordan and say there is a 99.9% chance I would not return.

As I started working, Yoj started talking to me.

Ummm...do you really want to stay here until midnight? Maybe you should just let me finish it and then we can talk.

She drove me back to a closer train station afterwards, and she was pretty much whinging about the job like everyone else before her who had incurred the wrath of Nom. She reckons she's the first to be treated like that, but if only she knew her predecessors. Unbelievably, Nom used to be worse than this.

I went out to the city and got some Macca's while I read up on more stuff relating to HK client's case. I think he'll get at least 10 years.

Ele added me as a friend on facebook yesterday. I haven't confirmed yet, I want to let it hang for a while. I have been secretly hoping she'd add me for the past few days. From my perspective, it was kinda like a 'who can hold out longest' thing, but that's just me. So in my own little world, I'm glad she added me first instead of having me add her.

Bob's on an all-time high now. But judging by some emails I think Linda is showing some interest in him, whereas I don't sense anything from Ele, or even Tracy for that matter. He told me on MSN last night he had decided on going for Ele, but then said he still liked Tracy.

Putting aside that I kinda like Ele, I think Linda is a better match for him. They just look more compatible.

@ 11:10am
I've been thinking about my team. Although more inclined now to stay and battle it out, I've come to the realisation that we, as a team, have 'forced' many players out. First there was Jimmy, who we pretty much abandoned when he decided that karaoke and drinking were more important than basketbball. Then there was A, who everyone (except me) yelled at after he made a mistake in crunch time. After that was Phil2, who no one wanted on the team after he destroyed our playoffs hopes by launching twenty three pointers in the first round of the playoffs. Then there was J, who I never really got along with and an exit by one of us was inevitable. And then there was Nick, who everyone wanted off the team (except me) because he made some terrible decisions.

Most of those players would've stayed had it not been for guys on the team hating on the stuff they did. I mean, when you're low on players, you can't really afford to kick guys out. I don't even think it was the fault of these guys that they left the team. Perhaps surprisingly, we're fairly hostile to people who play bad? But for the record, I wanted A, Nick, and Phil2 on the team. Or maybe it was a race thing? I mean, many of those guys were 'white'.

After work I felt so sleepy that I wanted a place to sleep, and so I decided to catch a train to the city and then come back just so I could sleep on it. I didn't end up doing much sleeping (I hate when that happens), but when I got to the train station I checked my facebook properly since I had confirmed Ele only hours ago.

Her profile picture is just her wearing glasses, but there's a poster of a woman in the background, so I sent a message saying "wow, who is that good looking girl in your profile picture?" and then replying with whatever she says with "I was talking about the girl in the poster" or something along those lines.

I caught the train back to meet Bob for gym. I sat across the aisle from Harry, who I pretended I didn't see because I don't really like him and he was in the company of two girls anyway.

I was a bit late meeting Bob, but we had a pretty good session. My arms are so tired. I benched 12.5 today, and Bob was surprised. Wait till he sees me do 20. I told him that Ele added me on facebook and he was like "oh, so you didn't add her?"

I don't know why, but it'll always seem like the guy added the girl.

I know that he also boasts about things, so I decided to do a little investigation. His message "I spent 9 hours with her" was too optimistic. Turns out that when they went to the movies, Tracy sat in between them- not a good sign.

After gym we went for dinner just like last week. We mainly talked about Ele. He wanted to send a text message to Tracy asking if Ele had a boyfriend, thinking that that would be enough to show his interest. We both discussed this strategy at length, about the ups and downs and stuff. I was telling him that there were basically two ways- he could find out now and move on if rejected, or he could hang in there and risk landing in the friend zone. Upon thinking that I did the former with nurse lady, I encouraged him to do it.

So he sent it.

The reply?

It was something like "as far as I know she doesn't"

Then Bob replied with something like "the wolf would like to catch the sheep" or some shit like that, because apparently he once said she was wolf in sheep's clothing, but you know what I mean.

And the reply?

"I dunno. The door is open but I am not sure if you are fit enough to get in".

Having been in this situation before, I'm sure Bob will lament and think about this for yonks to come. But using all of my interpretation skills obtained in law school and developed in practice, I reckon it means "she's looking, but I don't think you're what she's looking for".

Fair?

Sunday comp: 0-3

2008-07-20T19:55:00.004+10:00

Ah, so yesterday's trip to the Hunta Vally went well.

I was late meeting up with Bob cause I had to drive my dad to the train station, and that was a challenge in itself because of all these pilgrims. I don't have anything against them individually, but I find them annoying in their groups and very disruptive to our transport system.

I picked up Bob about 20 minutes late, then we went to a petrol station to meet up with Michael L who picked up Tracy, and we also had to wait for Ele and her friend Jamey since we couldn't pick them up due to all the road closures.

After we filled our cars up, Michael L discovered he had left his wallet at home, so he and Tracy drove back to get it, and we drove to a side street waiting and we chatted in the car. I swear Ele has a really cute accent. And the fact that she had a bit of bleeding on her face because she must've scratched a pimple or something was funny to me, lol.

Apparently Jamey was a black belt and Ele was trained in Tae Kwon Do! Far out, I never would've guessed.

We eventually got on our way, and the drive went better than I thought. Like I thought we'd have to stop and change drivers, but I was ok throughout the three hour drive. Ele spent most of the time sleeping, although she was obviously listening in on our conversation, like this bit:

Bob: Have clients ever offered you money?

Me: Yeah.

Ele [after we had all assumed she had been sleeping for an hour]: Did you take it?

Me: I thought you were asleep?!

[everyone starts to laugh]

Note how I didn't end up answering that quesiton.

Once we were there we went to the information centre first. It felt so good to be able to get out of the car and stretch my legs. I was taking photos of everyone and everything. We had a group photo in the centre which was good.

After checking out that place we went next door to the cafeteria to eat. I was keeping my eye on Bob and mentally urging him to make a move on Ele, but it really didn't happen. I thought he would've been smart enough to try and sit next to her, but he didn't, and she ended up sitting next to me.

Michael L looked terrible throughout the whole day. Not only did he not bother grooming and trimming his nose hair, but he just had this depressed/tired aura about him. It kinda put a downer on the whole day, and made me realise how I should act in social situations.

After eating we went to the first shops. As we walked from our cars, I took the opportunity to take a photo with Ele, and I must admit, it looks pretty good.

After the shops we went to our first winery. I saw how on a high window they had a picture of a big dog and it had "1990-1997" under it. Then I read on the wall an article saying that the dog used to be more famous than its owner, and that after it died they got a replica of it.

So there was a dog lying down behind the glass counter which wasn't moving at all, and I told Michael L that it was dead and I had to show him the article before he believed me. Then I told Tracy to check out the dog, and winked at Michael L. After a short time I let her in on the secret. Later, Tracy and Ele were checking out the dog and Michael L was saying how I said it was dead, and then the dog MOVED!

Fucking hell, lol.

We walked across to a nearby winery which was only about 100 metres away, and Michael L wanted to drive there, sheesh. Funnily enough I inadvertently got some alone time with Ele when we were signing the guestbook. I took a photo of her signing it and then she did the same for me, but she took a few, and got closer to me each time.

This place wasn't as nice, and the wines were a bit more expensive as well.

We went to some cheese and chocolate shops afterwards, and checked out the stuff there. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but all cheese tastes the same.

We sat down and rested for a while at the tables outside the chocolate shop. I bought a jar of 'sweet and sour' lollies and felt I got jipped because they weren't sour at all. I didn't taste any wine the entire day mainly because I don't drink, but also because I was the driver. I did however buy a bottle for my parents, mainly because it was such a cool bottle.

We checked out another winery after that and took a group photo at this really nice water fountain out at the front. I liked this place because it kinda seemed like a night club.

After that we went back to one of the shops we were at before to get ice cream. I bought a mango one, and it was good until I think my tongue got so cold that it couldn't taste anything anymore. As I sat there, I thought about what my team was doing, and whether I should've skipped this and gone to training instead. I honestly felt that they had the same level of priority, and I just couldn't decide which one I should've gone to. It's like asking if you want your right hand chopped off or your left hand.

We were discussing where to have dinner, and decided on a nearby town, but when we got there everything was closed anyway so we decided to head back to Sydney to eat. The drive back to Sydney was a little bit more harder as it was really dark at times, so I was driving slow and this car behind me kept flashing their lights at me. I just kept thinking about how I had so many lives in my hands, and for some reason I kept thinking about how if there was an accident Jamy's father would cry and yell at me about taking his daughter's life. Weird scenario.

We went to a restaurant in Chatty. As we were walking there, the topic of brothels came up and Tracy mentioned the name of one in Chinksford. Ele, who was ahead of us, turned back and gave Tracy this 'look', as if to stop her from talking about it. Hmmm.

Again I was surprised that Bob didn't take a smarter position in trying to get closer to Ele. Instead he was separated by Jamy and on the same side, so he was like totally out of her sight.

I find she's pretty cute, and she can be pretty funny too.

After dinner we were walking on the streets back to the carpark and we stopped at the lights. No one pressed the button so I got pissed off and just crossed the road, only to be told off by a couple of police officers. Everyone followed and the cop was like "see, now do you expect us to fine every one of them?"

I just apologised hoping to get out of there asap, not wanting anyting close to Nom's reaction when the cops pulled her over, like "do you know I'm a lawyer? I'm a crim lawyer!" which only provoked them more. Luckily I was dressed like some punk ass teenager, lol.

We drove back to the uni near me where we played poker. I tried to introduce them to a game of murder but they didn't like it. I think everyone was tired by that time, so we just played one game, which Michael L won.

I drove Ele and Jamy home, and because of road closures, we stopped opposite their house, and as they were getting out ot the car, I realised I was blocking an ambulance, and the police around me had this "WTF is this guy doing" look on their faces. Fark, not a good night with me and the police.

I slept in a bit today, went out to get breakfast and ate it over some episodes of Senfield. After that I started working on HK client's case for sentencing. I'm still a bit angry about the jury's decision, especially since I found out that they wee playing crosswords during the case. I wonder what life would be like for me now if things had been different.

I messaged everyone that we had to wear our yellow jerseys today because Mike's two friends were coming, and I didn't have enough spares of the white jerseys. Dunnycan messaged me back saying he hadn't washed his yellow jersey, so if we were going to wear that then he wouldn't come.

I thought that was very weird. He's usually not like that, and there was an obvious 'pissed off' tone to his message.

Mike finally called up and said his friends actually weren't coming after all, so I sent another message saying we could wear our white jerseys.

As I was walking towards the stadium, Fat Pat stopped by and picked me up, but I could tell there was something wrong with him, as he wasn't very talkative, but I just thought he was depressed because of his girlfriend being in HK.

We met the new guy Daniel, and we played the team that we beat last season which surprised everyone. Before the game started I asked Fat Pat if he brought his portion of the game fees, and he said he might not play since we don't have enough players. I didn't see what the problem was since Abi would be playing next week, and it wasn't my fault that Marco couldn't make it today because he got so drunk that he couldn't even walk.

I decided to play a box with me following their main scorer around, and I managed to limit him to only two points in the first 10 minutes until I got three fouls, and then I switched Dunnycan onto him. Immediately, the guy drained a three. Fark.

Daniel is absolutely mad! He played so friggin' good, and he hit so many threes it wasn't funny.

We were within ten for most of the game until they pulled away after their whole team started bombing threes. I don't know what we can do about that.

I was a little bit more motivated than usual in shutting my guy down. Everytime I looked at him I asked "is he scared of you yet?" and if the answer was no, it meant I hadn't done my job. When late in the game I had switched back onto him and he just passed it off without even looking to shoot, I thought I had done my job, although I would've liked to rough him up a bit as well.

I scored two points and had a terrible shooting game, going like 0-5 from three point range. Late in the game I was running down the court and stopped to pop a three, and Fat Pat patted me on the back and told me not to take those shots. It didn't feel good but I knew what he meant, because it was stupid.

We ended up losing by ten, but I was just eager to keep Daniel on the team.

As Dunnycan and I walked to his car, I told him that I was thinking about letting Fat Pat go, because I didn't want someone on the team who didn't want to be there. Then as we got into his car, he said he'd tell me something if I promised not to tell them he said it. He said Fat Pat was just pissed because he thought I had been taking stupid shots. Like, he said they thought I shouldn't shoot if after my first few shots it became obvious that I wasn't 'hot'.

I really appreciated Dunnycan's honesty, and I thanked him for it, genuinely. But I felt confused. I mean, I know I've been shooting bad lately. Shooters have shooting slumps. But like, if Ray Allen has a shooting slump, you don't tell him to stop shooting do you? I mean, at least the Celtics didn't give up on him when he was in a slump.

And I really don't want to make excuses, but the past few games have been played when I was still getting back into gym shape and lifting weights. There was a reason why back in my younger days I would only go to the gym in the offseason because I knew lifting weights heavy enough to put on muscle would affect my shot.

But ok, forget about that, just take it that you've been shooting bad lately. I'm just so confused as to what I should do. I guess there are several options:

A) Chuck a Kobe Bryant and don't shoot at all in the next few games, as if to say "there, is this how you want me to play?"

B) Fake an injury and just take leave from the team for a while, maybe until they feel like Im needed again.

C) Do nothing, just keep on shooting, you'll have to get out of the slump some day.

I'm kinda leaning towards B, but we'll see.

Funny thing is, I've been shooting the shots I've always been taking. Like I've said before, it's a good shot and everybody's happy when it goes in. But when you take the exact same shot and it doesn't go in, then that's when shit starts to happen.

I don't know, I guess what really hurts is that Fat Pat has sort of decided to stop talking to me just because of this. Add this to Dunnycan's messages today, I get the feeling that the whole team is trying to overturn me. It's not a good feeling.

Like, I mean, to sort of feel the way he does to the extent that he wants to quit the team? That's kinda taking it too far isn't it?

I don't know. I guess NBA players have to cope with stuff even worse than this. Like, it kinda gives you an insight into how they feel when their teammate calls them out in the media. How do they face eachother in the locker room? Should I just handle it like a pro?

Am I being too sensitive? Is this just a thing where people are pointing fingers because we're losing and it just so happens that this time I'm the scape goat? I mean, I accept that fingers get pointed all the time when losing occurs. Even today, I was mentally pointing my finger at Mike when the big guy on the other team kept burning him under the basket.

Or maybe I'm right, and maybe I should just leave the team that I created.

Thursday comp: 1-9

2008-07-17T14:12:00.003+10:00

Yesterday morning I had a chat with Yoj because she was in my court for a mention. Seeing her do a matter which she was given the night before and looking at the mess of the file, I can safely say that I have no regrets about leaving. That is definitely something I do not miss.

I showed her around my office, and we sat and talked for a bit, but to be honest, I kinda wanted her out before GS came in cause I didn't want him to think I was bludging. Luckily the sheriff guy came in and asked to take a photo of me for my ID card which gave Yoj an opportunity to leave.

After work I went home, got changed and then left for bball. The night started off with a barrel of laughs, all because of Geoff's jersey. You see, back when I was ordering the jerseys, I asked Mike what Geoff wanted on the back of his jersey, and Mike told me he wanted 'fine', so I put that down for Geoff and proceeded with the order.

Geoff comes storming in last night, and says something along the lines of:

"Mike you fucking idiot! I told you 'my last name is fine', not I want 'fine' on the back of my jersey!"

Me: What happened?

Geoff: Mike texted me asking me what I wanted on the back of the jersey, so I texted him back saying "my last name is fine", and he puts 'fine' down as what I wanted!

AHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I swear to god I couldn't stop laughing about that. Ah Mike is hilarious.

Anyway, we didn't have Rono or Abi last night, so we just had seven. Both teams started off cold and it was a very low scoring game in the first half with us down by four.

We trailed the entire game and were making a comeback, mainly with Paul's drives which he always got fouled on and made the basket. But here's the problem: he was missing A LOT of free throws.

So the question is, did he help us or hurt us? I mean, if a player drives and makes a basket multiple times but fails to convert the three point play, is that helpful or harmful?

I guess helpful.

I only scored two points on a jumper. I really didn't take that many shots, and I didn't even run on that many fast breaks. I get the feeling I'm playing like how Ray Allen played before the last few games of the finals. Everything just seems off, and everyone's waiting for you to switch on.

After the game everyone except Fab went to Macca's. I restrained myself by not having a burger and a coke, although I did have a wrap and some chips because I didn't have dinner.

We all agreed on training for Saturday, but the thing was this Hunta Vally thing was for Saturday as well. I kept asking Fat Pat and everyone if they really wanted training, secretly hoping someone would say no in order to avoid a clash, but I didn't get it.

Finally when I was in the car with Dunnycan going to Macca's, I told him and he said I should definitely go to the Hunta Vally thing since I rarely leave Sydney.

Up to that point I had intended to choose bball over Hunta Vally, but maybe Dunnycan had a point.

I just didn't want to stop training because I feel that Fat Pat is really low on team morale given our recent losing streak and the last thing I wanted was to keep everyone isolated from eachother.

So last night I spoke to Bob, and he confirmed that it was on for Saturday, but we needed my dad's car to drive up there.

I asked my dad last night, and he said he would think something up. I swear he's the best. If I want something he'll try his best to do it for me. This morning he told me I could have the car for Saturday.

This all makes me feel even more ashamed of my gambling problem. I mean, your parents really trust you to the point where you don't even have to tell them what you're doing or where you're going and they'll still let you go out, and now you've taken advantage of and abused that trust.

17/07/08 @ 14:12
Just came back from lunch. I went to the shopping centre looking for the pasta shop I ate from yesterday, but went to the wrong one and bumped into Nav.

For me at least, it was a bit awkward because everytime I see either him or his girlfriend, I think about the time when I said, in front of both of them, that the Natalie Portman girl was his girlfriend.

We ended up having lunch together. Call it the "food always looks better on someone else's plate" syndrome, but I reckon he's doing alright. I mean, third year as a tax lawyer? You've got to be reaping it in.

He was telling me about how when he first started working in a small firm he realised that the money was so little he knew he'd never get a cut, or at least a big cut, hence why he went commercial.

As we talked, I kept trying to remember how he was such a cool guy before my stupid comment made everything awkward.

After lunch I went to get some corn. The corn girl was there. She wasn't there yesterday. I didn't intend to, but we ended up having a bit of a talk.

Her: How much chilli do you want on it?

Me: Err...I don't know, how spicy is it?

Her [in a hushed voice]: To be honest I really don't know because I have never tried it. I don't like spicy.

Me: Oh ok, maybe just a little then. It's a good idea, to sell corn.

Her: Yeah, it's healthy.

Me: I used to work at Wankstown and there was a place that sold corn, but they sold it on a...

Her: Stick. Yeah, these are hand plucked.

Me: Really? How long does that take?

Her: Oh I don't know, but you know, it's easier to eat, and these days, [in a sarcastic tone] everybody wants something new.

She looks older than I thought. But she has a very young voice. And the best thing?

Her accent. Sounds Russian to me.

The end of gambling?

2008-07-17T08:28:00.002+10:00

Finished work yesterday and went straight to the casino, as I had discovered their cloak room which lets you leave your bag there.

I'm very much ashamed of my gambling problem, but in perspective, I don't think I'm that bad. I heard another guy the other night say he was "down three grand". Damn, I wonder how that feels.

Also last night, I saw a very decent, conservative looking gentlemen who one might guess was an accountant, betting with $100 chips. There was just this look about him which showed he was addicted. It's hard to describe, but it's in the eyes. It wasn't your regular who had gotten used to the drug, he looked like he had only discovered the drug recently and was still experiencing the freshness of the feeling.

One might look at him and think, "well you seem well off and fairly intelligent, so why would you waste away your money here?" and then I looked at myself and asked myself that same question.

So for the second time, I am proclaiming my quitting of gambling. Besides, I'm beginning to see too many people I know there. Although it's not as bad as being seen in a brothel (or is it?) it's still very damaging to one's reputation. I mean, people are just going to trust you less with money, and if any money ever goes missing, the finger will be pointed at you first."

In other news, Bob messaged me on Tuesday saying Ele has invited us for a one day trip out to the Hunta Vally. I loved the way he phrased it "Ele has invited me to a trip with Tracy and Michael L and asked me to invite you".

Well she obviously organised it with Tracy first and then invited Michael L first.

Playing out here is a classic example of each guy's ego thinking that the girl likes him.

Denny Crane and Alan Shore?

2008-07-16T08:23:00.002+10:00

After typing up that last entry at 5:18pm, I met up with Bob for gym. Because I was already in the suburb, I decided to go up first. I did a few things, but nothing too heavy, before he arrived. We were supposed to meet at the lounge area but I saw him walk into the workout area and I called out to him from upstairs.

He's a lot more agile than I thought. He's been training pretty hard, so I don't know how he remains as a chubby kinda guy. One thing that really stood out was his white-ness, dude needs a tan.

We were doing the benchpress and we were both doing 10 and he said "cool, you can do the same as me".

Ummmm...I'm only doing this because it's my second time back. I can actually do double this.

I failed to do 3 x 10 sets because, well, like I said, it's my second time back. I usually get into my rhythm after the third visit.

He showed me a lot of exercises to do with free weights which his personal trainer taught him, so that was good. I asked him why he still kept the trainer now that he had learnt everything and he said it was to keep his motivation. Geez, I dunno, I can't imagine needing someone there for motivation. I just use everything bad that happens to me as motivation.

As we walked out, I had to hand back my locker key to the receptionist because I was still using the free pass, and as we walked down the stairs we commented on her.

Bob: She's the one who wouldn't give me the bag.

Me: She's kinda hot.

Bob: Really? She just has nice hair.

Me: Nah, she's pretty hot. Just rude though.

Bob: Yeah.

Me: I mean, she could at least smile when I hand the key back.

We went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and talked mainly about Ele and Michael L. He regretted inviting both Linda and Ele to the Phantom thing- I don't know what he was thinking. Anyway, I swear the following conversation about Michael L was straight out of a Seinfeld episode. I mean, I could just picture us sitting there and having the audience laugh.

Bob: I told him about the fingernails.

Me: Really? What did you say?

Bob: I said to cut his fingernails. You gotta be blunt.

Me: Did you tell him about the nose hair?

Bob: Nope.

Me: Why not?

Bob: Because that's your turn.

After dinner we caught the train back to the city together. I remember during a MSN conversation he likened our friendship to that of Denny Crane and Alan Shore when they smoke their cigars out on the balcony. As we talked about gold diggers, I could see where he was coming from.

I told him how I thought Ele only really started talking to me after finding out I was a lawyer, and he said maybe it was because it just gave her something to talk about.

Maybe. But then again, he does have a biased opinion since he likes her.

150708 @ 5:18pm

Got to court at 9:30 yesterday. I didn't even know we were sitting until GS told me. Sheesh, maybe if I had known I would've tried harder to get there earlier.

After work I dropped my bag off at home and then went to the casino. I had a really off night, losing $400. I actually wrestled my way to a gain of $100 at one stage, but got greedy. I saw DK there with his girlfriend. It was a bit funny, cause Bec had always said he was gay since he never accepted her advances. I had suspicions he was gay, because he has a very, very soft voice- even softer than mine.

I inadvertently walked to his table just as he was leaving and we looked at eachother but didn't say anything. Later on, I inadvertently walked to his table again (I was table hopping) and this time I said hello, and we started chatting a bit. I wonder if this will start all the talk about me being a gambler and stuff.

I got to court at about 9ish today. I had planned to go for a jog in the morning but couldn't be bothered getting out of bed as it was so cold. GS made some pretty good arguments today. Like he says, it would've been totally ok for a Christian to say "if you don't believe in God, then you're going to hell" whereas if my client said what he said then all of a sudden he's a [redacted].

I spent the latter part of the afternoon watching the video of his arrest. I could sooo empathise with his temper there. I mean, relatively speaking, he was actually pretty calm. I'd be pretty pissed too if the police woke me up at 3am and decided to arrest me in my own home in front of my family. After watching the video, I have this newfound hate for the police. On the video they were saying stuff like "we respect your privacy". What a load of bullshit! Of all hours they could've chosen to arrest him, they chose to do it at 3am. I mean, he wasn't going anywhere, he was clearly just sleeping at the time, but they wanted to be bastards and do it at that time.

I spoke to Yoj after work and she said that the barista in the annoying Lebanese client's case has pulled out, lol. Ah how did I see this coming. Like I said before, someone's going to be either struck off or disbarred by the time it finishes. Apparently, against the old barista's advice (CM) Nom asked Shadi to get the witness into the office for a statement. Shadi did it unsupervised because Nom had to rush off to see (or steal) a client, and afterwards the witness went to the police station saying that Shadi had put in all this false stuff into her statement.

Ah I am so glad I got out of that place.

Sunday comp: 0-2

2008-07-15T08:44:00.003+10:00

13/07/08 @ 20:48

On Friday after work, I met up with Michael L, Bob, G, Malay and some other people for poker. G brought his colleage, who seemed to fit in a little too well. I quite like the guy, but I just felt that he acted like he had known us for the last 20 years or something. Like, when you meet new people, there's always this invisible line you can never cross with them no matter how chummy you may appear to be. This guy started bagging us like we do to eachother, but it's ok when we do it to eachother cause we've all known eachother since high school.

Bob brought two other girls who Malay knew as well. As Bob and I went back to his place to get the poker set, he told me that one of them liked Malay. That was soooooooo obvious during poker. At first she would kinda only talk to him exclusively, but then later on she was clinging to him and leaning on him. I don't know if Malay likes her back, but I'd feel sorry for her cause it looked like she was trying so hard.

The first game went for ages, and when it finished I was happy because I thought it was the end, but Bob and Michael L wanted to continue. The second game went quickly, and Malay, the two girls, G and his work mate left.

We waited around for Ele and Tracy because they called and said they were coming after having been to a friend's farewell. They arrived in about half an hour, and Michael L was so tired that he went elsewhere to sleep, so the game was just Bob, Ele, Tracy and me.

Call me paranoid but I think Ele was looking at me a lot. For most of the night, she had her head resting in one hand, elbow leaning onto the table, and kept looking at me. But then again, she was a bit tipsy, so maybe that explains it.

I got a lot of attention from them, mainly stemming from them wanting to know my star sign and me not wanting to tell them. For the rest of the night they kept asking me and bugging me about it, but I just wanted to create a little mystery so I didn't tell them.

After the game Bob drove all of us home. Ele apparently lives pretty close to me, like a walking distance away.

After dropping them off, Bob told me he fancied Ele. It posed a little bit of a conundrum for me- I just got the feeling that she was a little bit more interested in me than him (or at least, not interested in him) and throughout the night I thought she was ok looking (she has nice eyes) so there was at least some potential there, but here was my good friend telling me he liked her.

I tried to help by asking if he saw any signals that she may have given off to indicate an interest in him, and he said he did (maybe all guys just think like that, including me).

I suppose if it came down to it, I'd step aside, since I don't want to ruin my friendship with Bob, and I know he can be a very evil and cunning person when he wants to be.

But the other issue is, what if she rejects him? Is it ok for me to go after her? I guess I'm thinking too far down the line.

On Saturday I woke up with a huge headache, because of how late I got home from poker the night before. I had planned to do some training but the headache was just too much. I ended up spending most of the day at the casino where I won back most of the money I lost the previous Friday. I think I won $500 and I lost $700 the Friday before.

I then went to shop a little bit, buying a blue shirt because the one I have now has totally faded. I also bought The Eye, as well as three volumes of Seinfeld. They were selling it for $33 per volume and it was buy two get one free! I remember how it used to be like $60 per volume so I didn't want to miss out on this opportunity.

I went home and watched The Eye. It was an alright movie, I don't know why people are saying it was crap. I think Jessica Alba should do more movies like this instead of stupid movies like Good Luck Chuck and The Love Guru (see below). I think it was the first ghost movie I've seen with a happy ending.

I had a little nap which got rid of the headache, and then I met up with Bob and Malay to watch The Love Guru. I bought a medium popcorn and coke, which was up-sized to large at the suggestion of the guy serving me, and then he had the audacity to suggest a Choc-a-top as well! I mean, as if this didn't have enough fat already, he wanted to kill me with ice-cream!

I know this movie got a lot of bad reviews, but I thought it was ok. It was cheap laughs- not a movie you'd buy or watch twice, but it was good to just sit with friends and watch. Jessica Alba is so hot, no matter what she wears.

Although I liked her corporate look a lot.

After the movie Bob dropped Malay off first, and as he was driving me home we talked about Ele. He said he was planning to ask her out, but wanted me to sort of chase Tracy so it would look like some sort of match. I told him I wasn't going to do it. He said that after that night when we dropped her off, we should've asked to go inside her place. I told him it was a bit sleazy, and he agreed.

As he was slowing down his car near my place, there was a chick standing on the road, not getting out of the way

despite Bob's car slowly approaching. Bob joked "is this your chick?" and I laughed as I got out. The girl saw me smiling and asked "what are you so happy about?"

Weird people roam the streets late at night.

I went to the casino and won about $300 I think.

Today, I went to the casino where I won $500. I went to look for some bball jerseys to train in at the store where library guy and V gave me the gift card, but they didn't have it. I went to buy a tie, and bought three more volumes of Seinfield.

I went home, got changed and then headed out to bball.

Rono had to help us out because we didn't have enough since Dunnycan had to do some other stuff. We got smashed, mainly because one guy on the other team hit like eight threes or something. I didn't score in the first half, but managed nine points in the second, although I was like 1/6 from three point range.

I like Marco so much I can't even put it into words. He plays so unselfishly yet still manages to get his own points. There was a point where he drove, and got pummelled to the ground. Don't forget, he's only 17 and he's playing in a men's division.

There was a point where I faked a guy up into the air (btw, why do people bother blocking my threes? Obviously I wasn't hitting them that day), dribbled to my left and hit a jumper. Another guy said "nice move".

WTF? You can't say that! You can't be nice! I have to hate you! I can't hate you if you're nice!

After the game Fat Pat told me he might not continue playing if it was just going to be like this (not having enough players). I was a little disappointed that Fat Pat has decided to give up. I need to do everything possible to keep this team going.

11/07/08 @ 16:00

After work yesterday I went to the city for a YL meeting. As I was walking there, Wruth called out to me from across the street and we started talking. We later met Dan at the entrance of the club and we all walked upstairs where we chatted for a while before Kate arrived. It turned out to be just the four of us with everyone else cancelling at the last minute. We talked about updating the guide, but there was a lot of gossip as well. Like Dan said to "watch out" for that little brunette girl from LA who I see sometimes around court. I could tell she was the killer smiling assassin type who smiles cunningly as she climbed up the corporate ladder. Wruth asked why and Dan just said "I've seen things you haven't seen".

Later on Dan was talking about resiging as the chair, and then they talked about who would be the next chair, or rather, who would want to be the next chair. This lead to a conversation about what position everyone was trying to get to within the committee, and I remained silent throughout until Dan posed a very blunt question to me: "What about you? You must be after something".

I 'must' be after something?

Ummm...no, not really, I'm just here because I wanna update the guide so I can have my name in it, and I wanna have some friends who are in my line of work.

I told him I didn't want the responsibility that a position would entail.

I left before the meeting finished as I had to go home to change for bball. On the bus, I spoke to Yoj and continued doing so until I was at the bottom of my house where I stood for about 20 minutes talking to her until my battery died. She was just whinging about Nom. I seriously don't think she could ever expect Nom to be like that. In Yoj's world, everyone is happy go lucky. Now she's seen the devil and she's horrified.

Last week Paul called our loss "the worst loss ever". I strongly disagreed.

Last night was our worst loss ever.

We were playing that team with the old man, who I was pointed out was their obvious weakness. Easy win right?

Everyone started off cold, mainly because of the temperature and no one had enough time to warm up. We only had five, because Geoff was sick, Paul was injured and Fab...well he just didn't show up.

I took advatnage of Geoff's absence and kicked it into Rono many times early on, but he failed to convert on a lot of occasions. I later decided it wasn't working so I started to pass it to Fat Pat more but he's obviously still very injured so his shot was off.

I missed a fastbreak lay-up early on after a steal, and then later hit a jump shot, but that was my only basket of the game. I actually haven't done that for a while- most of my points lately have been spot up jumpers, I just don't have the athleticism anymore to dribble everywhere and launch. But I feel like I'm getting some mobility back.

I was being a bit of a smart ass when taking the ball up- I would get by the defender and then just dribble and dance in front of him whilst keeping the ball just out of his reach, and then I would take off and leave him in the dust after I had my fun.

Or so I thought. He snuck up on me many times and stole the ball that bastard. Ah it was my fault for trying shit. I even admitted it during halftime: "sorry guys, I'll stop fucking around now".

We were down ten at halftime.

But it didn't work. It just seemed like they had so much more energy than us. We couldn't do the simple things- Mike missed a wide open lay up, got his own rebound, then missed again. Then there was the time when I was taking the ball up, looked at him for a few long moments, passed it to him as ordinarily as I could, only to watch him fumble with it and let it go out of bounds.

I gave him one of those Kobe "you've let me down again son" looks as we trotted back on D.

We ended up losing by 20.

I didn't realise this until after the game, but query whether my earlier gym session had affected my shot. I didn't think it would, since I thought it would be enough time for the fatigue to wear off (unlike that time A and I went to shoot straight away after gym when our arms were so tired we looked like high school girls trying to shoot hoops). But then I remembered that ALL my shots fell short. Like, if you miss, you normally miss a variety of ways- too short, too long, off to the right, off to the left, too hard, too soft etc. But my shots were all falling short. It usually means your legs are tired or your arms are tired (or both).

Fat Pat, Mike and I stayed to watch the next game and chatted away. It's funny how Mike has an excuse for everything, from missing shots to not catching the ball.

Man this is our worst season ever. If this was the NBA someone would either get fired or traded. It'd probably be me, cause it'd be like "you've had x years to lead the team and you haven't taken them anywhere".

Because of the lateness of last night's game, I woke up late today and arrived at court at 9:30. It didn't really matter since we didn't have court anyway. I just spent the day helping out GS and sorting out material on CDs.

At lunchtime I went to buy a cup of corn (I know, corn! How cool is that?) from a store I've noticed lately with a really hot chick working there. Of course, she was the main reason I wanted to check the place out. Apparently it's just corn and you can get different flavours, like chicken salt, chilli and stuff. Not a bad idea, but I wonder how long they're gonna last.

I really need to eat healthy now. Eating junk food would pretty much mean it's wasting my gym money. I am so sore right now, but I know it's only going to be worse tomorrow.

10/7/08 @ 8:14am

Yesterday I went for a one mile jog. I attended the court of crim appeal again as it didn't finish the other day. It didn't go for long. I sat next to DC. He's the type who just can't sit still, be quiet and listen. I can't believe what he did.

[Brunette secret agent walks in]

DC: 99.

Me: What?

DC: 99. You know, Agent 99 and Agent 86.

LOL!

And the thing was he half said it to me and half said it to her. At first I thought he knew her but she just kinda stared back blankly at him.

After court I went back to Parra where I spent the rest of the day working with GS.

After work I went to sign up with the gym. I haggled until I reduced the joining fee and got a free week. The reason I did that was because I know sometimes they have promotions where they waive the joining fee, so it's obviously something they're willing to dispense with. What the hell is that anyway? It's just some label they give as an excuse to get more money out of you.

I headed out to the city and went to the library to do some work before going home.

I left home at about 6:20am today and went to the gym. As I was lifting weights in front of the mirror, I realised my body looked like that of an old Michael Jordan- someone who used to be very fit but general office work had meant a steady diet of fatty foods. I'm gonna be so sore for the next few days. The thing I loved about my old gym was that they had this sit-up equipment I really liked, which I haven't seen anywhere else. Nowadays it's all this machinery trying to make it easier for lazy people.

8/07/08 @ 21:53

I saw Michael L on the bus today. He looked really, really bad. He said he was tired from the ski trip on the weekend, but I mean, you can at least trim your nose hair sticking two centimetres out from your nose. I actually don't think he's the ugly duckling that people see him as. I think he just needs to tidy up a bit, and be a bit less boring. I swear I had to keep the conversation going throughout the whole trip. If you didn't know it, you wouldn't think we played poker together every week.

I was at the court of crim appeal today for our case. It was really just one barista arguing for the rest of us, but I thought it'd be interesting to see it. Must be intimidating to argue in front of three judges. Although one of them looked bored and never said a word. I wonder how much he gets paid to do that.

I looked over at DC and AD chatting together. I swear you could make money by having them commentate on court cases, no matter how boring it is. They're the type who can make fun out of anything. Sometimes I wish I could have their type of attitude.

During a break I had to go buy a pair of pants due to a little accident I had in the toilets. I just needed a pair of black pants. That's the good thing about wearing black I suppose- it's easy to replace. Whereas if I was wearing a striped one, people would've been like 'did you just change your pants during the break?'

It turned out to be a lot cheaper than I thought. Maybe Myers isn't such a bad place to shop after all.

I finished watching at 1pm. On the way out I bumped into Jeanie, we chatted a bit and exchanged numbers. Turns out she works at Parra as well, so we might do lunch some time. I had Macca's for lunch before going back to Parra, only to find out that GS had left about an hour ago. So I stayed and did a bit of work before going home

7/7/08 @ 10:30pm

Got to court at 9:15 today. I got my access card, so woooooooooooooooo! Now I can enter and exit the office without knocking on the bloody door all the time, which I'm sure annoys GS. Now I just need my security check approved so I can get my photo on it to allow me to take my laptop and phone into court.

I went to the bank during lunch to cancel any further payments to my old internet provider. I was meant to do it ages ago when my dad got me broadband, but I never got around to it, and as a result I have been paying $20 per month for nothing, as I don't use that internet service anymore. The chick who helped me was quite nice, only to realise her motive was so she could see if I needed a loan or not. But one question she asked expose me as a person: what are your goals?

I ummmm...don't really have any.

When I bought my new tie yesterday I saw the little tag attached to it which said 'stain resistant'.

Pffff...what the hell is that supposed to mean?

Well I found out how genuine that claim was today when I spilled some sauce onto my tie. I thought it was going to be completely ruined but all I had to do was wipe it off with a tissue and it looked as good as new. You couldn't see any sort of a stain on it AT ALL. Wow. Now that's stain resistant.

I finished work at about 4:10pm, then went to watch Kung Fu Panda. You know I was about to get this Panda as our logo on our jersey? But Dunnycan opposed so I thought that was the end of that, until Fat Pat and Fab both showed their support for my idea AFTER the jerseys were ordered. Fark.

Anyway, it was a pretty good movie. Because it was a kids' movie, I didn't have too much expectations but it was quite funny. I kept trying to picture how hot Angelina Jolie would be each time I heard her voice. My preference would've been to see all six of them fight the bad guy at once, but it was good nonetheless.

I bumped into Gurang on the bus again on the way home. I was on my way to meet Malay to get some paperwork off him about his court matter. When I got off the bus I deliberately slowed down so Gurang wouldn't see me meeting Malay.

To be honest, I felt that last night, Ele only really started talking to me after Tracy told her I was a lawyer. The whole night kinda felt like a comparison match where she would see what everyone worked as and then she'd label them accordingly. I don't know why, but I just don't like people like that.

Do you remember that Kevin Johnson ad ageeeeees ago about the 24 second shot clock where he says stuff like "you think I'm going to dunk" or "you think I'm going right" or "you think I'm going to pass" and then he finishes it off with "you think too much".

Well I think I think too much. I look way too far ahead. I mean, you met Taalitha ONCE and you're beginning to have a crush on her, how can that be? Just manage your expectations damnit. Maybe that's what is so unappealing about you. I know MJ is the same and I find it a turnoff.

Sunday comp: 0-1

2008-07-06T23:57:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I met up with Fat Pat and Dunnycan in the morning for training. It was supposed to be a team thing but only the three of us decided to turn up. I tried to make the best of it by teaching them how to shoot and running them through a lighter version of my 110 shots system. I think this would benefit Dunnycan the most.

I was a bit surprised when I got a compliment from Dunnycan- he said he was "impressed with my form on Thursday night given that I had been having some time off" but that I probably had some training before the game. I too was surprised at how agile I was.

We played one pick-up game with a guy who came along later, and then we drove in Fat Pat's car all the way out west to pick up the jerseys. Petrol was expensive so Dunnycan and I offered to buy him lunch afterwards.

I got the feeling during the trip that Fat Pat really missed his girlfriend, since she went to HK for a while to work.

We arrived at the shop, and the guy had forgotten to put our names on the back! So we waited around while he did that. I quite like our new jerseys, although I think the 'new' factor was a lot higher with our current ones. This new one is, inadvertently, very much similar to the Lakers jersey. I mean, because I'm number eight, if you cover my name on the back, it looks like Kobe Bryant's jersey (I still don't see 24 as 'his' number).

So after we picked them up, we drove back trying to come up with a place for lunch. Dunnycan suggested Parra, but we were still mainly undecided. We approached the exit, and Fat Pat was like "quick!" and I went "ah lalalalalalalallalalaalla!!!" and then they both started yelling out the same thing, lol.

It was one of those great moments during a car trip.

So we ended up at a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant in Parra. I swear that was the biggest ripoff ever. When we were looking at the menu, I praised them by saying that it was good they used 'real' photos for their menu, but when the food came out it looked nothing like it! One dish was like just meat splattered onto a plate with no efforts to decorate it whatsoever.

The taste wasn't great either, and the bill came to a total of nearly $80. Dunnycan said he had blacklisted the place on his books, lol.

When I got home I had my laptop with me on my bed and I was gonna blog, but I was too tired and I fell asleep.

Today I woke up and went to the courts and did three sets of suicides with push ups. My groin area felt kinda tired for some reason, but I went ahead and did it anyway.

I then caught the bus to get some breakfast and a fruit salad at that great fruit salad place I used to go to every week. I think they've gone way overboard. I used to like it because they put a lot of different fruits in it, but now it's like too much. I mean, if you put 100 different types of fruits into it, it's not really a salad anymore is it? It's kinda like a rubbish bin for fruits. There were some stuff in there I had never seen before, and not all of it tasted good.

I went home, had a shower, then headed out to the city. I went to get the Koran and I bought another black tie but with different patterns. I think I've got four black ties now that are slightly different from eachother. I wonder if anyone pays enough attention to notice or if they just think it's the same tie.

Going out was a little bit of a mistake, as it made me late for duty. I got there in the middle of the first half and did duty with Dunnycan. Hmmm...the division we're in now has a shot clock.

It wasn't our most glamorous start to the season. Fat Pat (who was driving Mike and Marco) was running late. So Dunnycan and I started the game with the help of three guys from a lower division, and I was the only one who had the proper jersey, but not the matching shorts (Dunnycan thought he would just pick it up from Fat Pat's car today, and the shorts I took yesterday were Fab's and Rono's, which were XXXXXXXXXL- seriously).

They arrived very late in the first half. Seeing them in our new jerseys was a bit odd. It's very bright I must say. Very Laker-ish.

I had a terrible game, going like 0-5 from three point range. I hated this team (Thawks). They were so friggin' arrogant. One guy would leave his hand up for about five seconds after shooting a free throw.

I wanted to smash them badly. Their point guard lobbed up a runner in the middle of the lane, and I just managed to nick it. I swear, if I had gotten more of the ball, I would've chucked a Kevin Garnett and yelled "get that shit outta here".

Then there was their psycho number two, who was so psychotic on defence that the referee had to tell him to calm down and suggest that maybe he should sit down for a while. He was always bumping the person with the ball, and one time when I was running down the side he kept fouling me, so I bumped him back, and when I got closer to the basket I just deliberately ran into him but the ref called a charge, which I thought was wrong cause he was still moving.

I also didn't like the other ref, who called a foul on me when I stripped a guy on a fastbreak. The thing I didn't like was the fact that he was on the other end of the court when he called it, and the referee closest to the action didn't call anything. I told him that and he was like "well she couldn't see it". Well who the fuck are you to say what another person did or didn't see??

God I just wished the guys weren't late so we would've had a better chance to beat them. It would've been so sweet to shut their arrogant mouths.

They're probably the best team in the division (they lost in the Finals last season due to injuries) so at least we've gotten them out of the way.

At one point I chased down a rebound and snatched it in the middle of the pack and just dashed off to the other end for a two on one lay-up. It was only after the game that I realised I had just out-run everyone on the court. Why don't I practice more running in training?

After the game I went home to have a shower and change. As I was heading out to bball Shuing had called me asking me to go out to dinner. I thought it was a bit sudden, but I said yes anyway.

When I got there I realised why he had invited me- there were a lot of unfamiliar faces so he obviously just wanted someone he knew to be there. He introduced me to this girl (Ele) who apparently was at poker the night I didn't go.

I got the feeling that the majority of people there were FOBs.

Bob arrived soon after, and when everyone sat down Ele came up with this 'great' idea to change everyone's seat so that we could all meet new people.

In the beginning Shuing was to my right and Bob sat opposite me. Ele came up with this thing where everyone had to put in their keys, and when the guy to my left did it, I made a joke and tried to start a conversation with him a few times, but he acted like he didn't really want to talk to me. I think the girl sitting opposite him was his girlfriend.

After the seat change, Tracy came to sit opposite me (we know eachother from poker) and Ele sat on my left.

I got the feeling that Ele kinda snubbed me at first, but then she started warming up to me. I still think she's a bit posh though. I was reluctant to talk to the girl diagonally to my left because her boyfriend (the one who didn't want to talk to me) looked like the unreasonable and easily jealous type, but then I didn't want to come off as rude, and surprisingly she was quite open to conversation as well.

The guy who didn't want to talk to me had ended up on Shuing's right.

I told the girls my story about library guy and me doing Yum Cha in HK and the old man thinking I was Indian, and they all laughed out really loud- loud enough for Shuing to ask me later what I had said to them. It's not that funny is it?

There was a bit of a mess when the bill came- somehow we were short. Shuing put in more because he felt bad after having ordered more than necessary (a LOT more) and I put in some extra because obviously no one else was going to and we would've been there the whole F night.

As Bob, Shuing and I were walking back to Bob's car, Shuing told us how he hated the guy to his right (the one who didn't want to talk to me). He relayed this conversation to us:

Tracy: So Shuing, what time do you have to wake up tomorrow?

Shuing: About 7:00.

Guy who didn't want to talk to me: Well I have to get up at 6:30.

Tracy: Well you're not a trader.

Guy who didn't want to talk to me: Oh yeah, I'm nothing (he was unemployed).

Shuing said there was a long silence after that.

All three of us started bitching about this guy in the car, lol, it was so funny. Shuing said he wanted his full name so he could look him up, and I said I wanted his email so I could subsrcibe him to gay porn and beastiality porn, lol. All types of swear words came out when we bitched about him, it was so funny.

Me: What does his picture look like on facebook?

Bob: It's just his face.

Me: Yeah but what's he doing?

Bob: He's just smiling.

Me: Is he smiling like a ****?

We started joking about how we should invite him to poker and then just beat the crap out of him, haha.

Like Bob remarked, it's funny how doing just one wrong thing can trigger a reaction like this.

Closure?

2008-07-05T09:47:00.003+10:00

Court finished at like 11am yesterday, GS left at aboout 3pm, and I was the last one to leave at 4pm- WOW! I was planning to stay longer but the security guard came around to check and joked that it was a Friday so we shouldn't work too hard- I got the hint, he wanted us to leave so he could leave earlier. I suppose that's the downside of a government job (and this is eerily similar to a government job).

So anyway, I went home, dropped off my bag, then headed back out to the city to a bar to meet up with the YL people. I got there at the scheduled time, couldn't find anyone, messaged Dan, got no reply, so I decided to leave and come back if called upon.

As I was going down the escalator I saw Dan, and he said there was a last minute change to the time because of the rain. So we went back up, had a small chat before Wruth arrived. I swear she is the ENGINE of all parties and social events. Nothing is ever boring if she's around. She's totally uninhibited and doesn't give a F what others think.

She was telling me that she had quit her job (one of the top law firms in crim) and decided to join the SLA. She said she wasn't getting paid enough, which surprised me, and she said they were tightasses as well. I think she would be a great SLA lawyer. I've seen her in court and she really fights for the client.

Later on Dan's two friends joined, and then one more guy from the YL group arrived. At one stage, Dan said something to me but I couldn't hear him due to the loud music. I said "what?" and he repeated it, but I still couldn't hear it. I asked again and this time I heard him.

Dan: And Taalitha said thanks!

This was in reference to my email to Dan, asking him to pass on my message to her about where to look for the jobs she wanted. I was hoping he'd just forward my email so she would see mine, but I'm not sure how he did it. Oh well.

As we were talking, a group of four sat at a table in front of me. It looked like two couples. I looked at the blonde and thought she looked like Darth Vader, so I put my glasses on just to check.

It was.

Of all the places to go in Sydney, what were the fucking odds of seeing her here???

She had cut her hair short. I didn't want to believe it was her as first, dismissing it as someone else, but I couldn't deny it. The little bumps below her eyes proved it.

It was a bit weird. I wasn't overcome with the same feeling I used to have back at uni- that combination of fear and lust. She looked just like a normal person. If we didn't have a past, I probably would've just taken one look at her and walked past. She was just so...normal, I almost forgot what I even liked about her. Maybe I'm still in love with the memories, and not her.

It was funny, because I had always put her on a pedestal - my pedestal - I always thought that whatever boyfriend she would have would be some super duper uber handsome guy. But he wasn't. In fact, looking at him made me feel more confident about myself.

I suddenly remembered the line "the best revenge is to live healthy". And all of a sudden I didn't long to look and stare at her anymore. All of a sudden I became happy, I laughed with the group, I felt good about myself- mianly for three reasons.

1. Really, how many guys are there who are smart, athletic and good looking? Not many, but you're one of them.

2. If she was going to see me at any stage, this would be it, since I was in my suit with the tie I purchased on Thursday. You don't often look any better than that.

3. Wruth the blonde was sitting next to me. She's not super attractive, but most girls would envy her, so at least I had the image that I was with a girl.

At one stage Darth Vader walked away and she stood to my 2 o'clock and looked at me. I ignored her and continued talking with the group.

Soon after, we all decided to go downstairs to the Chinese restaurant to have dinner. I also felt good about the fact that I was leaving first. I didn't want that feeling of seeing her leave and the remote possibility that I would have this urge for her to stay.

The dinner was so much fun! Wruth and Feras entertained us with their constant jabs at eachother, and it was interesting to hear stories about judges having affairs with their assistants. There goes my respect for a lot of them. The dinner was pretty expensive, but it was good to hang out with this group. Come to think of it, I have quite an expansive group of friends, no?

It was really only after dinner that what had happened earlier started to sink in. I don't know how to describe my feelings. I'm confused to say the least. But I knew at least this much: I wanted to see Taalitha more than I wanted to see her.

Thursday comp: 1-8

2008-07-04T08:18:00.001+10:00

Left court at 5pm yesterday (closing time) while GS had earlier departed cause he was tired. It was just me and this barista SB in the office.

Hmmm...so this must be what it's like to be a barista and work in chambers.

She's moderately attractive for her age, and I couldn't help but start fantasising about what would happen if we both worked late every night till 9pm. Must be the new-ness of working with people who are attractive (unlike at my old firm where there were NO potential suitors).

Our junior barista DC is, I swear, the funniest guy ever. He's the quick talking, quick thinking type of person who just loves to talk and is very sociable. The other day we were having lunch, and because it was windy, some sort of dry leaf had gotten into GS's hair. DC says "you've got something in your hair" and proceeds to get it out for him and then adds "unless it's your new style or something", lol.

Then yesterday in court, the other side were saying that they were never aware of something, and then DC shows GS a document proving that they were at a particular place so that they were definitely aware, and he manages to chirp in, as if to tell GS to say it too, "there he is, sitting in the front row" pointing to the other side sitting in the front, like a school kid dobbing someone in, haha.

I also had to borrow his security tag because I haven't got mine yet, and he says "you just have to try and pull this face", pointing to a photo of him on the tag where he looks like he's striking a pose.

I went home pretty much straight away. My dad was home which meant the car was home. I thought about going to the casino but instead opted to go buy a tie after dropping my parents off at a club. I had been wanting a black tie with a single red line down the middle- something I saw a while ago but the appeal only recently came. So I went and bought it. The price tag was $50 but I paid $35. Why do they keep discounting things and not put discount labels? I also got a Myer One card, but it's a bit of a ripoff, cause you only get a $20 voucher after spending $2,000.

I had a fruit salad at the shopping centre then went home to bum around a bit before heading off to bball.

Everyone was there except Abi (in Melbourne) and Fab. The 7-1 team were playing the 1-7 team, what a game.

They were missing their superstar point guard. When I first realised who they were I was looking forward to the challenge of stopping him. When I realised he wasn't there I was a little disappointed, but realised our chances of winning had just been vastly improved.

I scored six quick points at the start of the game, but we only managed 10 as a team by halftime.

We did a bit better in the second half, scoring 18 but I only managed two more points. Their big guys dominated us, so that was the reason we lost, although it was very much there for our taking.

Geoff was his usual self, although not to the extent I had expected, since his girlfriend was there. He would just dribble, dribble, dribble until he got into a double team and lost it.

At one point I passed it to him and said "kick it in the post". He did something else.

Maybe he doesn't know what 'kick it in the post' means?

On another possession, I said to him "get it to Rono" before passing it to him, and he passed it back to me, but it was intercepted, and I chased the guy down. He wasn't very fast, so I was almost like jogging to pace with him on his left. I knew I couldn't jump, so I thought "if he brings the ball to his left AT ALL, I'm stripping it".

Sure enough, the stupid idiot who had a wide open lay-up decided to bring the ball just a little bit to the left and I stripped it off him, making it go out of bounds. Maybe I should've done what Rondo did to Lamar and just rip it out from him with two hands.

Anyway, I retrieved the ball, held it with one hand and walked towards Geoff sternly. I said, almost covertly but in a strict voice "give it to Rono!". I suddenly remembered my rule of not humiliating teammates on the court so I let it go.

Fat Pat had a terrible game. He shot two airballs and didn't hit any of his jump shots, obviously affected by his strapped finger. He was, however, still his usual self in terms of rebounding.

My knee didn't hurt at all, although it's aching a lot right now- feels very tired.

3 July 2008
We didn't have court yesterday but GS and I still went to do some work. Man this is a bit like working in a government job because we pretty much get unlimited paper, photocopying and printing facilities, how cool is that? For a year at least, gone are Nom's rigidly strict rules about such things. It's good to be able to do these things without having someone keeping an eye on you as if you were just there to waste their money.

At around 2pm we headed out to the jails where I met the client 'in the flesh' for the first time. He's an incredibly nice guy, but he's also pretty clever, knowing straight away what to say and what not to say.

GS gave me a ride back into the city, which I felt a bit guilty about since I think it was out of his way. I think I might drive next time.

Because it was only like 5pm or something, I thought about catching a movie. Instead, I went home, dropped off my bag and then went for a casino trip. I forked out $200 on the first table, made a gain of $200 then lost it all. I forked out another $200 on the second table, where I spent most of my time, and made a gain of $450, so I got my $200 back plus a profit of $250.

There's this guy I see there sometimes who has this round piece of picture with a roulette wheel on it, and pinned to the top of that is another roulette wheel which spins, matching its numbers to any of the numbers on the bottom piece of paper. So depending on whatever number lands, he'll make his adjustments and then do his thing. Kinda like those square compass thingys those Chinese fung shui people have. Anyway, I was just laughing inside my head, since it seemed like he had a formula for coming up with the next winning number, when it was really all just chance. I was even being evil and hoping that he would lose. I've seen him play before and as far as I can remember, he's lost everytime I've seen him.

To my surprise, after a couple of rounds, he won on a number on which he had put a pile of chips on. I still don't believe in his method.

We have a game tonight. I spoke to Mike last night and he said Fat Pat was going to play. I had considered playing (in case the recent overt exercise wasn't a big enough hint) but now that I know he's playing I might be tempted to make it a certainty to play myself. I mean, what the hell is everyone going to think if he rushes back from a dislocated finger and you're still sitting there with a knee that at is only painful 'sometimes'?

1 July 2008
I went for a one mile jog in the morning today. I really think that the cold morning weather makes it a lot harder for me. My legs were a bit sore for the rest of the day.

I arrived at court 10 minutes late, but GS didn't seem to care. Of course, if I keep doing this then it'll become a problem. But I suppose it's good, because I remember a while back (I may have even blogged about it) I told myself that at my next job I would start off as a bit of a slacker so people don't hate me straight away. I always got the feeling that Mis and Yaf somehow despised me because I was eager to work so hard. Kinda like when you fill in for workers on strike.

Not much happened today, although it was interesting to watch a subtle and polite but stern argument between one of the baristas and the judge. I didn't see that girl there today. I think she works for that top firm which I applied for a while ago. They must rotate depending on availability.

I met the client for the first time today. I must say, we couldn't have chosen a better client. If I saw them in the dock and you gave me the choice of who to represent, I would choose this guy. The first thing you notice about him is his smile. He's always smiling in the dock! He's happily chatting away and never seems to shut up (but not in an annoying way). Then when we spoke he was like "you do whatever you have to do, I got no problems at all". Don't you just love it when they trust you? This is in STARK contrast to that annoying Lebanese client who called our office every single day. God am I lucky to get rid of him.

GS left court early today, and I stayed back till closing time. I discovered that one of the hot girls has a boyfriend and he works there too, so that's one opportunity gone, but she didn't look like my type anyway.

After leaving court I headed back out to the city and went to the library to do some work. On the bus home, I saw in the reflection a girl who had walked onto the bus.

Is that Lar?

Nah, doesn't really look like her. This girl's pretty ugly.

I rested my eyes for a moment and then got off at my stop.

Lo and behold when I got home, I received a text message from Lar saying she just saw me get off the bus and that we should do coffee some time.

First day on new job

2008-06-30T22:28:00.001+10:00

I was told that court started at 11am today so I got to sleep in a bit. I decided to walk a few bus stops down and bumped into Malay who was headed off to court. Since I had a bit of time, I went to court with him to show him how it worked and then left him to himself. On the way to court I saw George but I don't think he saw me, and at court I saw Ha. For a split second I thought "omg they can't find out I'm here with my friend because then I'll get into trouble with Nom!" and then I realised "hey wait a minute, you don't work with them anymore, so what do you care?"

Upon just arriving at the court, Michael D called and said he was running late, and asked me to just go meet GS. I went up to his level and gave him a call, and he quickly came out with a smile, greeting me. I was pretty glad to see him, since I hadn't seen him in such a long time.

He was sooooo nice! You know what he did? He actually took the time to show me around and introduce me to everyone!

God I can't remember all the F names of the people I was introduced to. He even took the time out to help me connect my laptop to the printer, which we couldn't do and gave up after about 20 minutes.

I also met the junior barista in the matter, DC. Seems like quite a talkative, funny guy. He lives near me, so might not be surprised if I see him on the bus.

GS and I went for a coffee and I shouted, since he was the one who lead me to this job, as well as praising me in front of Michael D. We had a nice chat over coffee, and he told me that he found a newspaper article that said the jurors in HK client's case had been playing crossword puzzles! I told you they were wrong! I told you they were wrong!

I must say, there are quite a number of good looking girls involved in this case for the other clients. At least two smiled at me without any introductions. And I don't mean like the polite smile you get when you just walk past eachother- I'm talking about the 'on the other side of the room where you normally pretend they don't exist' type of smile.

And you know what? That girl that was at court when I did the sentence for the gambling client was also there! From what I can remember, I thought she was a bit boastful, but her looks are really captivating. She looks like a version 2 of the girl across from my (old) office. This was what I said when I saw her at court on 4 February 2008:

There was also this other girl who was quite attractive and a newbie. I sat next to her at the bar, and she stared at my file in front of me for a very long time. Normally I'd take it as a sign of interest, but my client was sitting right behind me and I took offence to it because I'm sure my client didn't want a stranger to be looking at his file.

So I chucked an Alan Shore, put my chin up and sternly said "do you have a plea?" She said no, she just had an adj, and she turned back around. Nicely done.

I spent the day typing things up for GS, and then we finished at about 4:30pm. I went to the shopping centre to

read some stuff, but before I started, I went to the bathroom. And you know what I realised?

MY FLY WAS OPEN- IT HAD BEEN OPEN THE ENTIRE DAY!!!

Mother F...

Get Smart

2008-06-29T23:07:00.002+10:00

Around lunch time today I went out to the courts for a shoot around. I was going to do half of my 110 shots. But when I was doing my first 10 shots, I felt like I had underestimated the fitness required to do it. I was already out of breath! Geez I must've been quite fit back then to do it.

I did 20 shots with some discomfort in my knee and then decided to leave. I went home and then went out to the shopping centre near my place to look for a pair of jeans. I bought a black pair, which apparently had a 25% discount which wasn't displayed. It was past closing time and they were still doing sales- unlike that other bloody shop I went to.

I went home to put it on and then headed out to the city to meet up with library guy and V for my birthday. I kinda liked how it was just the three of us. I don't think I would've liked being the centre of attention in a big group.

They got me a gift voucher and we had the all you can eat dinner at Pizza Hut which I really enjoyed. It's sad how they don't have that white pasta sauce anymore.

We then went to watch Get Smart, which was bloody hilarious. I sat in between the two of them, and I could sense that during the movie V kept looking over at library guy to see if he was laughing or not, as if sharing my sense that he didn't find the movie too funny. After the movie ended library guy admitted that he didn't like it that much.

I liked the part where Max kisses The Rock, lol. Brilliant. And I never knew Anne Hathaway was that hot!

After that we went for a drink at Gloria Jeans and just talked about stuff. I was thankful that they had taken their time out to spend with me for my birthday. I think Bob wanted to do something but because library guy suggested a movie first I went with them.

I can't believe I'm 26. I don't think I'm considered 'young' anymore.

I think I have, in terms of basketball, entered the category of 'getting old'.

Things I forgot to blog about
Forgot to mention that during ball yesterday I blocked two jump shots. I dunno why, but I kept thinking about that thing I saw during the Finals when they would freeze a Kobe Bryant shot and put a square around the area where the ball was indicating how close Ray Allen was to getting in his face. I kept trying to do something similar and it paid off.

I can't get Taaletha out of my head. I wonder if I was rude to her when she came back from the bathroom and she joined a groug conversation, and I tried to joke and say "so have we scared you away from crim law yet?" and she replied with a smile "no, are you trying to?"

Nah, you're just being insecure.

I hope she comes to our next meeting. I kinda thought about leaving at the same time as her so we could at least have a short walk together, but I worried that everyone else would think I was only hitting on her because of her massive salary.

You care too much about what other people think.

When Dan initially joined in our conversation back in the meeting room, she made a gesture with her hand and brushed it against my thigh. Then when she returned from the bathroom she sat next to me and as she sat she leaned down and her chest brushed against my hand.

I wonder if these were hints.

No, you're reading too much into things.

Ah well, at least it's good to know there are girls out there better than nurse lady.

The final volunteer thing

2008-06-29T12:09:00.002+10:00

I went out to the courts yesterday afternoon, craving for some pick up games. I don't know why, but even Friday evening, or yesterday morning, I hadn't felt any different despite having quit my job and taking an enormous load off my shoulders.

However, as soon as I started walking down my stairs wearing my backpack with my ball inside, and dressed in a hoodie and bball shorts, I suddenly felt relieved...emancipated.

I had considered going to the casino, but the temptations of seeing how effective I could be in a pick up game were too overwhelming.

Upon arrival, I saw a whole sea of people all over the courts. I slowly walked around looking for some familiar faces when a guy ran up to me and asked if I could join another game with him, pointing to a court full of Asians. I said yes, as I welcomed the timing, and we proceeded to join the guys in a 4 on 4 game.

I was very rusty at the start, airballing a few shots. I didn't even feel comfortable dribbling the ball. The guy defending me must've sensed it, as he was being real physical with me- I could tell I had a pesky defender on my hands.

My team lost the first game, but that was enough to warm me up. I started hitting my shots in the next few games. There was really only one other guy on my team who could shoot, and we scored a lot of points together. We had one center who was really lanky, so that helped.

In the last game, at one stage I hit like four shots in a row, chucking a Reggie Miller by running around screens and doing the catch and shoot. By this time I had already showed my defender what I was capable of and he was no longer a pesky defender, seemingly having mentally given up.

We were one point away from winning when the following sequence happened:

- Offensive rebound me!
- Put-back me!
- Game!

I felt my left knee aching, and I decided to call it a day, despite their calls for me to play one more game. The doctor had said to stop if I started feeling pain, and I could feel it now. It was a little disappointing, as I had somehow thought that it would've disappeared by now.

Anyway, I went to the volunteer thing last night. We all got a free t-shirt =)

The blonde girl didn't turn up so that was a little disappointing.

It was the grand finals, and the team I was coaching had made it. The other coaches were a guy and a girl. The girl didn't do much- she seemed content looking after a little girl on our team.

The other guy played the role of the head coach, doing the subs and all that. I was glad he did it, because all the kids were on his back about the substitution patterns, although I thought he did a pretty good job (though I would've put our main girl on a lot earlier in the second half when the other team caught up and took the lead).

I acted like an assistant coach, sitting there, jotting down the fouls, and chirping in a comment here and there.

It was a pretty close game. Like I said, the other team had taken the lead and we were down by four. Our main girl hit one free throw, and then another one of the girls on our team suddenly crashed the boards, leading to two reverse lay-ups by a fat kid I never really liked until that point.

We ended up winning by three points, and it was just so good to see the kids celebrate amongst themselves. I hope sports has taught them a lot of things. I hope it has changed their future.

My last day at work

2008-06-28T14:15:00.000+10:00

28 June 2008 @ 13:30
Gosh this is a posh park. I'm at that garden where Taaletha said she goes jogging- just thought it would be a peaceful place to blog about the eventful last day at work yesterday (and yes, for that minute chance that I would bump into her). I feel like my sneeze, or the yellow plastic bag containing the laptop bag I just bought contaminates this place. I can see why she would come here though, it's quite exquisite. For the last two days I seem to keep replaying in my mind her smile. It just reminds me so much of Darth Vader's smile. Instinct tells me it was a sign; logic tells me she's practiced and used it millions of times in social situations.

Looking her up on the website of lawyers, I think she's from the same firm as the girl who started talking to me in the library at the uni near my place back when I was studying. Looking her up on facebook, she has 300-something friends! I think she might be like a Bush type of girl- the type who befriends everyone who crosses their path. I wonder what they really think of the people around them.

Anyway I drove to the office yesterday, arriving about 40 minutes earlier than my usual time, just to chuck out some rubbish and keep some other things. I didn't do much work. I really couldn't believe that it was my last day; that this was it. I mean, I've been here for so long. I felt like I grew up here. I walked in here as a naive little boy and I'm walking out as a more mature and experienced young man.

In the morning I left briefly to go to the shopping centre to have Nom's pen engraved. I bumped into Yoj, who was running late, in the carpark. She told me how she had a bad day yesterday with the new client who made the papers and how Nom asked her to tell her word for word what she was going to say in trying to get him bael. I said that if Nom didn't trust us with files, then she shouldn't give it to us; and if she gives it to us, then she should just let us do it our way. Whether she intends to or not, she always ends up belittling us.

I felt a tad bit of envy that Yoj got sent for this case, since it got media attention and all that. But then I thought "what the hell? Why are you jealous of that? You're going into the biggest case in Australia's history!"

Everyone was in the office except Nom, and at around 1pm Nom called to tell us to meet her at the restaurant. Once we got to the restaurant, George chose the table for us. He chose a table in about the middle of the restaurant and he decided to sit facing the door. His reasoning? Facing the door allows him to see who is coming into the restaurant, and sitting away from the door gives him time to run if people come in with guns.

You learn something new everyday.

Nom arrived soon afterwards, and it went quite well. I didn't want to be the focus of attention, and I was so for only a little while when they talked about my new job and whether I had any girlfriends. I was glad that the spotlight was then shifted away from me. The food was pretty good, and everyone got along pretty well. Liddia showed us the picture of his fiancee- someone who looks like a smaller version of Shane Battier. George said he looked like a criminal. Liddia reckons he's a virgin. Geez, girls really will believe anything won't they? She already admitted that a lot of girls were going after him, and given that he's overseas and away from her, the temptations are just that much more for a guy. One might suspect he was using her to get to Australia.

Nom joked that I was always stoic whenever Yoj talked to me. She pretended to be Yoj- all happy and joyful, and then she pretended to be me reacting to Yoj- with just a blank face, haha.

At the end of the day, Nom gave me a present- a bottle of wine (why do people keep giving me alcohol when they know I don't drink?!?), a box of chocolates and a card signed by everyone. I gave her my presents, and realised I had forgot to address it to Trev as well. Oh well.

I told her we'd see eachother around court anyway, and she joked that I might ignore them since I was involved in such a big case now. With a wave of goodbye, I walked out of the office for the final time.

Everyone, including Rod and Lai, and except Nom, met up for drinks afterwards. I drove George and we picked up Lai nearby. In the car ride, George was telling me about his former clients. They would pay for a day, but because sometimes (out of the control of the lawyer) the matter might go for two days, he would have to ask the client to pay for another day, and the client would be like "nah, I'm coming to kill you now", lol. Could you imagine if that was the life I got into by accepting the triad guy's offer?

We were actually supposed to have dinner, but Yoj gave us the wrong address. The address she gave us was a residential property. Jesus christ. We found the correct address and it was too packed, so we went to a nearby pub for drinks.

George bumped into his friend, who joined us for a while, and in the meantime, Shadi and I played pool while we waited for Yoj's car to arrive.

We didn't end up eating anything substantial- we just sat around and drank and Liddia and I would order some wedges or calamari from time to time. What I don't like about Lai is that he's always so serious and tries to lecture me about my life and career. I mean, I reckon I'm doing pretty well as a person aren't I? I don't need any lecturing. He pulled me aside and wanted to have a serious conversation about my departure and all. I briefly explained to him my new job and then I pulled him back into the pack.

I had a game of pool with Rod as well. We played teams- he sided with Yoj's friend and I was with Yoj. I found out that Yoj was actually pretty decent at pool. So there you go, if you make the effort to spend time with people, you may find out things you never would've expected.

Ha told me that she needed to go, and because it was kinda late and she was catching a train, I offered to drive her home with Lai. Everyone wanted me to stay, and George even went as far as to tell me that Ha had a boyfriend.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? That I was trying to make a move on Ha? Sometimes his mind can be so dirty.

Everyone asked me to just drop them off at the train station (because Ha lived really far away) and then come back, and the most I could say was "I might". I knew I wouldn't. I was pretty tired anyway.

So I deliberately drove Ha home first, so that Lai would be in the car with us the entire time. I then dropped Lai off, and gave Bob a call. He said they were still playing poker, so I decided to go see them.

I saw them at about 12:30am and managed to sneak in one game of poker. I lost after a fair amount of time and we all stayed there till about 2:30am waiting for a winner to eventuate.

I didn't go home straight away- instead, I went to the casino. I won $150. I won $100 with my ABAB method, and then I used $10 on sic bo and won, then took that money to play two dozens on roulette tables progressively until I got to the $150 mark and decided to leave.

I woke up at about 10:30am today, finding a message on my phone from Yoj that said something like "you missed drama last night, George was so rude to me and Shadi".

I took a shower, got dressed and headed out to the city with my laptop. I called Yoj, and she said that after I left, George got drunk and didn't like it when she and her friend went to check out the pokies. She said George yelled at her to "fuck off" and yelled a lot of other things at her in front of everybody. Later he asked Shadi if he could be invited for a barbeque and when Shadi said "maybe" George said he was just testing him and that he should've said yes, and then started yeslling at him too and told him to ride a donkey instead of a horse.

I called Shadi up afterwards trying to talk him into staying at the firm after what happened. One of my motives was so Nom wouldn't find out that we all met up last night without her.

Geez, can't believe that something like this happens as soon as I leave the firm. It's full of drama isn't it?

Anyway, I went to buy the mobile internet thing so I could use the net on my laptop, and then I went to buy a laptop carry bag, which was more expensive than I thought.

I think I'm gonna go play some bball today before going to the volunteer thing tonight.

2nd last day

2008-06-26T22:07:00.003+10:00

26 June 2008 @ 16:50
I woke up late today- the sound of receiving two text messages bringing me from my sleep. I was pretty sure it was Nom giving me some last minute instructions, but to my surprise it was Malay, saying he wanted to see me urgently, and that he was downstairs.

Now, you know that when you're a lawyer and your friends want to see you urgently, that shit is brewing.

I got changed and went downstairs to see him waiting for me. Just as I had expected, he had been busted for drugs. He asked me for advice and I said I needed to see the facts sheet, so I organised to see him after work.

I got to the office at about 9:15am. I started to prepare file notes about my current files, when we got a new client who needed bael and I had to help Yoj and Liddia prepare. Watching Yoj prepare, I don't know how this place is gonna go without me. I know that sounds boastful, and Mis and Yaf felt the exact same way when they left, but hey, it wasn't Yoj who was leftover from their departure.

I left the office at about 11:30am to meet George for a jail visit. I went to the bank first to deposit my accumulation of coins. I lined up only for the teller to tell me to go to a different teller as he didn't have the coin counting machine. So I went to the other queue and waited for a long time as the guy before me was exchanging notes for a lot of coins. As he was neaarly finished, an old lady went to line up at a closed teller. When the guy was finished, the teller then served the old lady!

I got that humiliating feeling and the other teller, who had obviously noticed me waiting in line all this time, told the other teller that I had been waiting. She apologised and I had to wait about five more minutes. What could I do? Argue with the old lady and tell her to get to the back of the line? Real gentlemen-ish.

After that I caught the train to Parra, met up with George and we went to see my gambling client. I didn't tell him I was leaving. At the end, he said something like "ok, so I'll leave it up to you now ok?" I looked at him and nodded, feeling sorry that he didn't know what was going to happen. The thing is I've gained his trust, demonstrated by his lack of phone calls, as he used to call me lots to ask me this and that.

George and I walked back to the train station, and he said he wasn't going back to the office even though it was only 3pm. I truly wondered what his true intentions in working here were. He obviously isn't dedicated to this firm, so why is he here? Mis suspects it's a strategic move for his divorce- working for someone else instead of being your own boss means you have less assets.

I caught the train with George back out to the city, where we parted. I met up with Malay and had a look at the facts sheet. I told him to ditch the lawyer he saw, who was going to charge him $3,500- even we don't charge that much!

I told him I'd try to get him a barista direct to save him money. I'm thinking CN.

After that I went home to get the car and I went to the casino and used $200 to win $200. You know how 21 teaches us that tables can 'get hot'? Well I'm beginning to think roulette wheels can get hot too. The one I walked up to pretty much gave me my best numbers when I wanted them. I had to go to the office, but I wonder how much I could've won had I stayed.

So yeah, I drove to the office to pack up some things, like my certificates, stapler (it's a really cool and strong one) and other stationary that I bought. I was a little pissed that someone opened my huge pack of post-it notes and spread it around the office (I think it was Nom) but I just told myself to let it go since it was a small thing.

I had a lot more rubbish than I expected, so I left some to chuck out tomorrow. I went to the shopping centre nearby intending to buy a suit I've had my eye on for the last few days. It's grey with white pinstripes- the one the guy wore in 21 when he was winning lots of money and they went on a shopping blitz.

I suddenly got the idea to buy something for Nom just to thank her for these past two years. Let's face it, if it weren't for her, you wouldn't be where you are today. She took a chance on you when no one else would. Besides, I felt it would be kinda rude if I just left without giving her anything.

So I bought a scarf, a pen and a card for her. I then went to look for my suit.

I walked into the store and looked at a few suits, and then the guy came over and said "sorry we're closing". I said "really?" and he just said "thank you". I started to say something but he just cut me off by repeatedly saying "thank you".

How fucking rude was that?!

What kinda shop kicks out a customer who's about to buy something just because it's closing time? Besides, there was 10 more minutes till closing time.

Can't believe I had two negative customer service experience in one day.

I've been thinking about Taaletha. Just for fun I suppose- if I had to pick one, I'd choose her over the blonde in my volunteer thing. I guess a lotta guys would rather pick the 21 year old over the 27 (she's at least two years older than me) year old, but there's something about Taaletha that's really sexy. I don't know if it's her smile, her wrinkles around her eyes, her quiet confidence, or the way she talks- I just can't put my finger on it.

But geez, why on earth would a girl like that ever be interested in me?