Week 75 - Cake Eating & Office Tidying

Thursday #76 - woke up ridiculously tired this Thursday as DTM's insomnia had meant I was woken up 2 or 3 times throughout the night when he decided to get up.  I was very unimpressed but after turning the big two eight on Wednesday he was still playing the “it's my birthday” card so I had to let it slide.

I had my weetbix and headed off to work.  My day initially seemed somewhat busy until a decent chunk of my patients decided to cancel or just not show up at all.  I was relieved by one particular cancellation as my patient from 2 weeks ago was due to come back and I was not keen to deal with her.  Looks like I have another 10 or 11 days up my sleeve before we'll be reunited.  Lunch was Maccas as I was feeling particularly healthy and it was the second time in a row I've been disappointed and found my meal a little too greasy.  After swearing off KFC earlier in the year after a bad experience, could it be that I will soon be ditching McDonalds from my repertoire too?

Back at work I saw 2 patients (one was a 5 year old who along with her younger sister managed to stink out my room with their KFC) before sitting around for 135 minutes waiting for my next patient.  After a brief attempt at straightening up my office last week, I decided to once again have a crack at throwing out some of the crap left here by The Saturday Room Stealer.  As the only optometrist working here 5 days a week, it seems reasonable (to everyone but The Saturday Room Stealer) that I should get to stay in the 1 room.  The 2 ladies who work 2 and 3 days each cover the other room Monday to Friday, The Contact Lens Hater has my room on Tuesdays when I have my day off and then on Saturdays I'm kicked out to the other room to make way for The Saturday Room Stealer who seems to take priority on my office despite only working there 1 day a week.  He's been asked to clean it up for me but judging by the unopened McDonalds glass from the 2010 FIFA world cup and the rubbish under the sink from a packet of rock cakes bought in 2011, I'm guessing he hasn't taken that on board.  I was tempted to throw out the optometrically irrelevant applications for chiropractic scholarships from 2009 but decided I probably shouldn't.  Why he stores an old computer mouse in a Gucci glasses case I am also unsure.

I tidied up as best I could and managed to throw out a few things that I'm fairly confident he won't miss.  If I had my way there would be a lot less New Yorker magazines and the drawers would be usable rather than filled with old printouts from the autorefractor.  On top of that he wants me to think about what he can say/do in the hour lecture he has to give at my old uni on Medicare.  I'm less concerned about his lecturing duties than I am his crap in my office.

At 4:00 I saw my last patient and was then given the all important job of ensuring The Kiwi Early Leaver didn't go home without cutting her birthday cake and having her photo taken.  She'd picked a chocolate and caramel mudcake and seemed to cut me an absolutely huge slice.  As the only other person in the room eating it, I could hardly say no so scoffed down some very rich cake before heading home to prepare for DTM's family coming over.

I'm told he and his family aren't really into birthdays (which I'd believe since most of them didn't know it was his birthday and even those that did didn't get him a present) but for some reason he was still keen to invite a bunch of people over for dinner and a screening of some home videos from the late 80s.  The Cabbie had decided on take away from the Turkish place up the road so after tidying up the bedroom, DTM and I headed up to order 7 meals.  The lady taking our order was less than impressed by The Cabbie's request to swap rice and cabbage for taboulli but eventually obliged.  We popped into Coles while we waited and stocked up on soft drink.  I think DTM was trying to use his birthday as an excuse to make me buy 5 bottles of soft drink which he had no intention of sharing.

After dinner we sat down to watch a LOT of home movies.  I didn't mind seeing the cute 1 year old DTM at The Drunk Bro's 4^th birthday, or DTM on his 5^th birthday but it was a lot of old footage of a lot of people I barely know if I even know them at all.  A few more relatives came over after dinner and we had some cake for DTM.  I'd bought one at lunch on the basis that you can't have a birthday without a cake, but then felt a bit awkward when it seemed no one really knew or cared about his birthday.  We eventually managed to get a candle lit and sing a terrible happy birthday before tucking into my second big piece of chocolate cake for the day.  I was really starting to regret my lunch choice by this stage.

When everyone finally left I was shattered (given my poor sleep for several nights in a row – thanks DTM) and headed to bed leaving DTM to clean up after his own birthday dinner.  I felt a little bad but not overly bad since he kept insisting he didn't care about his birthday and I had already been super generous in my gifts.  Besides, I have always maintained I do care about my birthday and I'm not sure DTM was prepared enough for my big day 2 weeks ago so this was really just evening things out.

A big and tiring Thursday which ended in my first full night of sleep without waking in a long time.  Here's to more sleep and less cake on future Thursdays!

Week 74 - Painful Shopping & Painful Free Movieing

Thursday #75 – kicked off this Thursday in an unremarkable fashion and headed into work.  Work was not overly exciting and the only standout patients were The Twins.  Twin #1 had come in for headaches and Twin #2 has come in presumably only because Twin #1 had headaches.  Neither of them had anything remarkable going on and I sent Twin #1 to his GP coz frankly I have nothing of any use to contribute when it comes to the cause of his headaches that occur behind one eye after exercise for the past week.  I know I use the phrase “I'm a doctor” like it's going out of fashion sometimes, but really, why come to me with these problems when there are actual medical doctors out there?!

After work I met up with DTM who had been having a health and fitness day and after his visit to the chiro and the naturopath was keen to hit up Workout World.  As the annoying jingle played on repeat in my head, we browsed Workout World for an exercise mat.  Unhappy with the lime green one that was meant to be the best, DTM opted instead for a second hand treadmill mat, used in The Biggest Loser house.  Wow.  Now I too can stretch on a mat that's been used by the big boomalardas on TV.  It's like a dream come true.

We then headed to the mall where I got some Thai for dinner and DTM sat and watched me eat.  Just as I was about to finish my meal, he decided he was hungry after all so I then got to sit and watch him eat Thai.  Eating together is so overrated.  We then headed to Big W as DTM was in need of a new belt and had seen some sim cards on special there.  We detoured via Lowes where DTM found a reversible and adjustable belt (I swear shopping is a whole lot easier if you're a guy) and we overheard a man returning a singlet after he had “been a bit ambitious with the size”.  We giggled.  We eventually got a sim card from Big W for my iPad – but it was a massive effort.  First we went into Big W, couldn't work out where they were so went down to Woolworths.  Checked out the catalogue for Woolworths to discover the special was only at Big W.  Made our way down to the entertainment department and chose the sim.  Then spent about 10 minutes waiting for the guy to work out how to charge us $10.  It was painful.

Sim and belt in hand (treadmill mat in boot) we headed to Hoyts to see a movie (it was a Thursday night after all).  With DTM still using his staff card (shhh), each trip to the movies is an adventure as we wait and see if the card will work and whether or not we'll get caught.  The card worked but for some reason the movie we wanted to see was the only one it wouldn't work for.  This took about 5 different people before they finally worked out how to put it through and we were off to see Side Effects.

Movie over we headed back home.  With a free movie it was just like old times, but with the added bonus of shopping for used treadmill mats!  How I can possibly top this next week is a mystery!

Week 73 - Caking & Seminaring

Thursday #74 – I started off this Thursday a year older than last week and unenthusiastic about the end of summer.  I was however, enthusiastic about my early finish at work.

I'm led to believe these optometry seminars occur once a month and attendance is compulsary – sure hanging around for a 2 hour talk from ophthalmologists isn't the ideal way to spend a Thursday night but with the appointment book blocked out from 3:45 to allow travel time to the city, I can't complain too much.

I was powering through my morning after an admin error had seen me booked up with patients every half hour instead of every 45 minutes.  I was getting through them without a drama until patient number 4 had me stumped.  It didn't seem to matter what lenses I gave her, nothing would improve her vision.  She would tell me it was much better and yet not read any further down the chart.  She suggested that when she's tired her vision isn't as good.  I was sceptical but willing to go with it since I had no other suggestion of what could be wrong.  Unhappy with my end prescription, I decided to ask her to come back another day to see if we could get further down the chart.  In the meantime I rang her ophthalmologist to find out if her vision was decreased at her last appointment there.  I was relieved (for my sake not hers) to find it was, though not to the extent it was this day so stay tuned for 2 week's time when she makes her return to my office.

In the afternoon I was sent off with $30 to go and choose myself a birthday cake.  Chocolate Sponge was looking good and I headed back to work in the rain to eat cake.  At 3:45 I made my way to the bus stop to head into the city for my seminar.

The seminar itself was rather boring and I felt like I'd never left uni.  Multiple choice answer sheets and people encouraging you to ask questions was not my ideal way to spend a Thursday night in the city.  To make up for this, I did my best to make the most of the free dinner at King St Wharf.  Bruschetta, pasta, chicken saltimbocca, crème brulee and a bottle of Sav Blanc all helped make this possible.  Just after 10 I made my way back to Town Hall in the rain to get the 10:30 bus home.  I contemplated getting a taxi but figured that was a lazy waste of money.  Instead I used my notes from the seminar to shelter me from rain, occasionally stopping to hold my dress from blowing up.

On my way home from the bus stop I spotted a wallet outside the bottle shop.  With no money in it I was unsure if the teenager in question would even care if I picked it up and returned it but being the good Samaritan I am, I took the wallet home with me and got up early on Friday to drop it on his doorstep before work.  With cake and Free dinner, I can almost overlook the poor weather and annoying patients this Thursday had to offer.

Week 72 - Optometristing & Visiting

Thursday #73 – most of this Thursday is difficult to remember – not due to any exciting shenanigans and subsequent black-outs, but instead due to my laziness and the fact I am only jotting it down now, 12 days later.  It's safe to assume I woke up just before 7, showered, dressed, weetbixed and headed off to work.

A quick check of the appointment book confirms my day at work was fairly unremarkable.  The highlight was probably The Lazy-Eyed 7 Year Old who was so excited by her retinal photos she got them emailed to her so she could take them to school for show and tell.  I guess since the kids at school ask her to “do the lazy eye thing” in which she can (not without pain) get her left eye to roll completely up and out so it almost isn't visible; any other eye thing to distract them is a good thing.  There was also The German Patient who didn't like multifocals, liked bifocals but without the line separating distance and near, didn't want separate pairs for distance and near and was anti-contact lenses.  I left that gem in the capable hands of the dispensers as it would seem she wants a solution that doesn't exist.  Perhaps I should've suggested laser eye surgery...

After work I swung by The Scientist's house to help her out with her new contacts.  Apparently my job as an optometrist means she thinks I'm an expert at putting contact lenses in. Pfft.  I sorted her out and declined a dinner invite as an impatient DTM was wanting me to come home so we could eat and then head to Coles via The Armenian Grandmother's.

We ate our chicken and salad outside – this I remember because I am still waiting for the ugly red bite marks to disappear from my legs.  Their colour and persistence leads me to believe I may have been attacked by ants rather than mosquitoes.  After dinner we headed off to visit The Armenian Grandmother.  At 88 and with English as her second language, I'm not sure she understands a word I say, not a huge problem as I tend to leave the talking to DTM.  She has commented though that she doesn't really understand him either.  It always makes for an interesting hour or so.

After helping DTM be a good grandson, we headed to Coles to do a much-needed grocery shop.  I'm fairly certain I don't like this “being a grown-up” rubbish and grocery shopping with DTM may very well be the death of me.  Another unexciting Thursday down but to be fair, it was always going to be hard to following a Wednesday which had culminated in An Evening With The Hoff!