Week 93 - Working Solo & Living Solo (Kinda)

Thursday #94 – kicked off this Thursday with my usual weetbix after arriving back home by myself on Tuesday. It felt a bit strange as this week had been the first time all year that DTM hadn't been sleeping next to me. When I got out of the shower I had a text asking me to head to Brookvale instead of Chatswood and was most excited as I was not remotely keen to work in Chatty; Brookie is my number 1. I was also a little apprehensive as I figured this meant that The Kiwi Early Leaver was sick and I would be by myself as the only optometrist– which has happened only a couple of times before and is still a little scary.

My day was full of interesting and kinda sad patients as I saw a 56 year old with dementia who was quite confused and struggled with the eye test, a lady with an inoperable ocular tumour making her legally blind in one eye and a 5 year old with dry eyes. To top it off there was a mix up with the appointment book and somehow I had patients with overlapping bookings resulting in me running late for my last two patients. It didn't help that we had gotten a new computer system just before I went on holidays and I was still feeling rather slow and incompetent using it.  The last patient was The Thinks-He's-So-Smooth Dispenser's Father.  The whole consult I was tripping out from how freakishly similar he and his son are. 

After work I headed to The BH&G Fan's house to see if I could locate my missing video camera. I had lent it to The Weather Girl over a year ago for a wedding and had not seen it since. When I asked her if she had it she suddenly thought maybe she had left it at The BH&G Fan's house after using their computer to transfer the footage to DVD. Sure enough, despite none of the people who live there being aware of it, my video camera was tucked away in their cupboard. I stayed for a little while chatting to The BH&G Fan and The Dean before heading home to have some pasta and catch up on The Mole.

The Weather Girl called on her way home from work and ended up talking to me for her entire drive home. After 45 minutes I was keen to get back to The Mole and The Weather Girl was finally home. I filled her in on the video camera and wished her luck for her 1^st (and only I imagine) marathon on Sunday. After that phone call and the stories of her recurring calf injury it was looking more and more like she would need that luck come Sunday.

After some messages from DTM in Singapore – largely involving his consumption of curry shaker fries at McDonalds and memes about the State of Origin streaker, I headed to bed. Obviously a step down from last Thursday but at least work kept me busy and was nice catching up with THE BH&G Fan and The Weather Girl.

Week 92 - Swimming To Bars & Eating Hot Chips

Thursday #93 – woke up this Thursday in Penang after flying in on Tuesday night. After showering and donning the bikini and some sunscreen, headed off to our buffet breakfast with DTM. After some hash brown, omelette, toast and mini croissant we were ready for action. I was still not used to the fact that most of the non-European guests at the Hard Rock Hotel were choosing noodles and curries and suspiciously dinner-like food for breakfast.

After a rather big first day of drinking on Wednesday, when the pool bar opened at 11am we swam up and got strawberry smoothies – a few too many cocktails on my part had seen me a little worse for wear the night before. Who knew my dream of a swim up bar would have a downside? After our morning swim and relax in the pool we headed out to find some lunch which was easier said than done during Ramadan. After about 15-20 minutes in the crazy heat and humidity we made it to maccas and decided that we couldn't really beat free wifi and aircon so this not-so-traditional-Malaysian cuisine would be our lunch. I got a big and tasty burger – justifying our restaurant choice by picking something not on the Australian menu.

After lunch it was back to the hotel and back to the pool. I decided to get back on the drinking wagon and returned to my mojitos of the day before in the pool. It was good but I decided one was probably enough if I didn't want to get sick again. Having bought a couple of litres of duty free vodka as we left the Gold Coast, we decided we needed to start drinking it as we didn't plan to take it home with us. Given our room had a deck which led straight into the pool, we were able to keep drinking our own cocktails in the pool for a much cheaper price than the pool bar. I had some vodka diet coke and DTM enjoyed his voddies with OJ.

For dinner we headed out to Ferringhi Garden as recommended by The Rich Queenslanders we had met at the pool bar on Wednesday. After having grilled chicken on Tuesday night, Hard Rock Cafe burger on Wednesday night and Maccas for lunch on Thursday I tried my best to order something vaguely oriental that wouldn't come with a side of chips. Scared by the stories of spicy Malaysian food I opted for the Mongolian beef which arrived on a very exciting sizzling plate. When the lid was lifted I was surprised, disappointed and also a little excited to see a side of chips next to my beef. Despite my best intentions this holiday was turning into fried potato at every meal.

After dinner we wandered around trying to avoid eye contact with the people selling their “genuine copies” at the night markets and looking for a bar/pub. Eventually we headed into The Wooden Pub which looked as much like a fire hazard as the name suggests. I had some less than enjoyable white wine while DTM enjoyed a couple of beers. After this we headed back to the hotel and switched on Hard Rock TV, too lazy to actually head into the Hard Rock Cafe and see the live band in person.

A definite step up from last Thursday as I finally got to experience my dream of a swim up bar. Thankfully also a step up from the day before as I learnt that mixing 4 different cocktails without lunch isn't the best idea.

Week 91 - Salading & Pideing

Thursday #92 – once again I am writing about this Thursday a few weeks after the event and despite it being more recent than Thursday #91, given its lack of ballet it is much less memorable.  I feel a short post coming on.

What I do remember is what I had for lunch – chicken salad (the fact I took a photo may have helped).  May not sound exciting but I’m always pretty proud of myself when I take a salad to work for lunch; not only because I’ve actually made a salad and am eating healthily but also because I am saving money. Win win.  The salads I’ve been making sporadically for quite a while now – the chicken is a new addition.  I found myself not satisfied by just vegies and a bit of cheese and was often needing some carbs to fill me up.  Psychologically at least.  I decided protein would be a better solution and so, with much trepidation, I tried the chicken in a can that The Weather Girl had recommended.  I was not keen on the idea and I still struggle psychologically as it looks so much like my much-hated tuna but it actually doesn’t taste so bad.  I’m not sure it tastes like chicken but it helps make my salads more filling.

After work I headed home via the new medical centre at Forestville as I realised I needed a prescription before heading on holidays on the weekend and wouldn’t have time to see my regular doc.  With that excitement out of the way I headed home to DTM who was exhausted after his 2^nd day of work in about 9 months.

The Drunk Bro and The Fiancée came over for a visit and brought some spinach and feta pide with them.  I was watching TV until DTM messaged me about the pide (incorrectly described as gozleme) and I came out of hiding to say hi.  I can’t really say no to anything that starts with spinach and feta these days.  They filled us in on their recent holiday and theories about their psychotic neighbour leaving broken stone statues at their front door.  The Fiancée explained she was telling us her theories in case anything should happen to them – that piece of intrigue was about the highlight of my salad and doctor filled day.

Not a particularly memorable or exciting Thursday but a win for canned chicken.  Writing this from the future I already know that next Thursday will be a huge improvement – though that is hardly a big call.

Week 90 - Setting Off Alarms & Being Sophisticated

Thursday #91 – having waited a record 22 days before sitting down to write about this Thursday, it’s safe to assume the small details such as what I ate for breakfast/lunch/dinner (which I’m sure usually enthral readers) are well and truly forgotten.  I shall have to stick to the bare facts which I do remember about this Thursday.

The Vegetarian was booked in for an eye test to try out contact lenses.  I squeezed her in as the last appointment of the day so that she didn’t have to leave her animal saving related work too early.  She phoned to say she was running late but we decided to go ahead with the appointment anyway – figuring it may take more than one appointment to teach her about contacts I thought we might as well get started.  She wanted me to treat her like any other patient but I struggled to maintain my professionalism and argued that she had rocked up in ugg boots carrying an ironing board cover so it was hardly my fault I couldn’t take her seriously.

We spent quite a while practising putting the lenses in and taking them out and before we knew it it was after 5 o’clock.  At about 10 past we decided to call it a day but The Vegetarian decided to wait for me as she was scared she would walk out to some angry looks from my colleagues for being kept back.  I assured her it was probably only one person who had waited for us and it really wouldn’t be a problem.  By the time I packed my things and got ready to leave, The Vegetarian had opened the door and wandered out into darkness.  We started to wonder if maybe we had been left behind.

I once again assured her there would be someone waiting for us and as I walked around looking for one of the 3 people I thought might be there, the alarm started going off.  We soon realised we had been locked in, with no key and no knowledge of the code to turn the alarm off.  I looked up the phone number on the computer of The Girl With The Tiger Tattoo and called to try and find out how to switch the alarm off.  No answer.  So I looked up the number of The Not-So-Sure-Of-My-Name Dispenser and called him.  It was a bit of a When A Stranger Calls moment for him, as he wondered who could possibly be calling from inside the workplace he had just locked up.  When he answered and I told him that they had all locked me in with a patient, his initial reaction was just to laugh at me.  Eventually he gave me the code to the alarm and assured me I didn’t need a key to get out or lock it again.  The Vegetarian I assume was most impressed by our professionalism as we lock patients inside after 5.

We said our goodbyes with a follow up appointment booked for the following Wednesday and I hopped on a bus to the city to meet DTM for dinner and a show.  I found him drinking beers in Darling Harbour and we popped into a nearby Thai restaurant for some Pad See Ew.  DTM’s came with a complimentary piece of plastic/glass in it but as we were pressed for time he just put it to the side and we let it slide.  I doubt he would’ve noticed if he’d ingested it anyway given the amount of chilli flakes covering his meal.

After dinner we headed to The State Theatre to watch Ballet Revolucion – a Cuban ballet show that was in Sydney for just 5 nights.  DTM loves telling people he was at the ballet as I think he believes it makes him sound like a good selfless boyfriend but truth be told it was his choice and at times I had to stop him from wooing so loudly as it didn’t really seem appropriate.  It started off as regular ballet and somehow ended with a live band on stage playing Beyonce, Ricky Martin and Shakira while a bunch of Cubans danced their hearts out.  Good choice DTM.

After the show we headed to Gloria Jeans for a hot chocolate while we waited for the bus and DTM once again got to pat himself on the back for being so sophisticated and going to a coffee shop instead of a bar.  A pretty good Thursday by all accounts – even if I was locked in at work.