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Archived
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6 April 1999 - 1:12am
This has to be the longest time I've gone without writing an entry. For those of
you out there who count the days waiting for another entry (I know you're out
there), I do apologise. But hey, how many times am I going to apologise for late
entries...? Never again. Well, maybe never...
Last week I was in Sydney for a couple of days to catch up with an old friend and
to see a few others. I've already written down the story in an email to a friend, so
I'm just going to cut and paste that into here. Here goes....
Sydney was great, although parts of it were a little disappointing. But I'm glad
that I went. Let me give you a rundown on my journey.
9am, Tuesday. Tricia rang me to tell me she couldn't meet me (as planned) when the bus came into Sydney, and I wouldn't be able to see her until the next day
(Wednesday). I was annoyed, but accepted it. She promised that we'd spend
most of Wednesday together, so I was happy.
12pm, Tuesday. Rang Peter to ask him to pick me up from the bus station in Sydney, as Tricia wouldn't be able to do it. No problem.
1pm, Tuesday. Boarded the bus and left for Sydney. I had hoped that someone interesting would sit next to me and I'd have some interesting conversation to
take my mind off the boredom. No-one sat next to me. However, an old man of
about 128 sat across from me. He made lots of strange and disgusting noises. A
German couple sat behind me. They loudly argued in German for most of the trip.
A baby down the back loudly screamed for most of the trip. After about 2 hours
of this torture, I felt like going up to the bus driver and asking if he could let me
off... I'll hitch-hike the rest of the way. But I decided against that. Finally we got
into Sydney, and I quickly jumped out, thankful to be away from the inside of that
bus. I called it the Nightmare Bus Trip from Hell.
Peter picked me up and we went home and had dinner. Afterwards we played Baldur's Gate. I also phoned Antoinette, someone whom I've been speaking to via
ICQ (and occasionally by phone) for the past couple of years. She knew I was
coming to Sydney and I was supposed to call her to arrange a time to get
together. I called her, but she didn't want to meet that night, and so she said that
we'd get together the next night, after I'd finished dinner with "Liz" (name changed
to protect the innocent) (see below).
Went to bed around 3am.
8:30am Wednesday. Tricia phoned me, suggesting we meet at Darling Harbour at 10am. I got up and did everything I needed to and went into the city by bus.
Peter was still asleep - he never gets up before midday. I walked from central
station to Darling Harbour, it was a nice walk. However, at one point I thought I
went through a dimensional warp and ended up in China! I turned a corner and
walked down a street - I was the only white man there! Wherever I looked there
were Asians, and I couldn't read ANY of the signs! It was either a dimensional
warp or I'd died and gone to heaven (I'm really attracted to Asian
women)!! But then it hit me - I'd wandered into some kind of Chinatown. So I continued walking
and enjoyed the scenery. I got to Darling Harbour at 10:15am.
Tricia didn't get there until 11:30, and she came with her sister and her sister's 1
yo baby. It was great to see Tricia, but the company was unexpected and
unappreciated by me. The baby caused all kinds of crises, and Tricia's attention
was always on it. We had lunch and caught up a little bit on past events. Then
we all went for a walk around Darling Harbour. Tricia asked me what I'd like to do,
so I suggested all these different activities, but she didn't want to do any of them.
We walked a bit more. Then her sister said she should go home and get the
baby back in the house... Tricia said she should go with her. I walked them to
the train station and we said goodbye.
1:30pm - I called Peter and asked him what he was doing. He was surprised I was calling him, and asked what happened to Tricia. I told him I didn't want to
talk about it, as I was too pissed off. I went back to his place and we went out
searching for some mobile phone accessories for me. I got everything I wanted,
for only $175. This was good, as I was looking at close to $300 here in Canberra
for what I wanted. I now have a new desktop charger, a new battery, and a new
hands-free kit. Woohoo!
We spoke a bit about Tricia, and he asked me if I still liked her. I told him that I
didn't. When her and I met at Darling Harbour, after a 3-year break from seeing
each other, I searched internally for any feelings, but all I could find was only
feelings of friendship. Nothing like what I used to feel for her. When her and I
parted, even those feelings of friendship had decreased in a big way. She asks
me to come up and see her. I do. She cancels her initial meeting with me. I
accept that. She promises a whole day together and I get only 2 hours. Fuck
me, was I pissed off!!! If Tricia contacts me in the future, I'll respond, but I have no
intention of initiating the 'maintenance' of a friendship that she has no respect for.
I guess I lost a lot of respect myself for her, and I don't know if she'll ever get it
back.
7:30pm. Met my friend Dan's girlfriend, "Liz", for dinner. Dan is my best mate,
ever since 1978. We've been best mates for 21 years now, having met in grade 6
in primary school. His new girlfriend (as of 8 months ago) has become a friend of
mine as well, so we met up for dinner. Dan's in Brisbane at the moment, having
been transferred there by the army back in January (he used to live here in
Canberra). "Liz" lives in Sydney, so their relationship has been hard to continue.
However, I thought they were doing it ok.
The dinner was great. We had a good time, and a good chat. However, she didn't raise the 'subject of Dan'. I felt this was a little strange, so I fished a little bit over
the 3 hours that we were together. I ended up finding out that Dan had distanced
himself, not replying to her emails or phone calls. She believed he'd obviously
decided that their relationship wasn't maintainable, which was a decision I had to
agree with, seeing as how well I know him. This was something he would do. He
sabotages all his relationships, one way or another.
I thanked her for seeing me, as I'm obviously a 'reminder' of Dan, and I knew that
must've been hard for her to deal with. She told me that she respects me a lot,
and regardless of what happens with Dan, she's glad to have met me and feels a
friendship between us is very important to her. I was glad to hear that, and told
her so. Overall, dinner with her was great - we enjoyed each other's company and
I was happy to have caught up with her. However, naturally I was sorry that Dan
had dealt with her that way, but there was nothing I could do except sympathise
and empathise with her.
Antoinette rang just before "Liz" and I parted, and she said she couldn't come to
see me because she was in bed. I got a little pissed off (again) and, while "Liz"
tactfully went to the toilet, I had a few (polite) words with Antoinette. What the
hell was she doing in bed when she was supposed to be seeing me? She was
too tired. So what was she going to do after speaking to me? Read a book. She
lives 10 minutes away and she's too tired to see me, but she's not too tired to
stay up for another hour or two reading a book. Needless to say, she knew that I
was angry... but polite. She promised to come down to Canberra sometime to
see me, and I said I'll believe that when it happens, because she's already shown
that she can't come 10 minutes to see me, why should I believe she'll come 3
hours?? When "Liz" returned, I told Antoinette that I'd talk to her later... maybe...
on ICQ. She said that sounded negatively ominous. I said, "What do you expect?
You tell me one thing and then do another. Saying you're too tired is just like
saying, 'Not tonight dear, I have a headache.' Excuses, excuses. For the entire
time I've known you, you're the one who's wanted to see me, but when it comes
down to it you've always got some excuse why you can't. I'm not interested in
playing these games." So she promised she'd come to Canberra real soon, and I
said I'll talk to you later, goodbye. "Liz" looked at me inquisitively, so I explained
about Tricia, then about Antoinette, and how Antoinette gave me the last straw in
relation to meeting people and so she got the brunt of my frustration. "Liz"
laughed, and said she was glad she didn't cancel. I had to laugh too... then we
discussed all the bad things that I might have done to her because of my anger...
all just joking, of course.
So I had a good night, nevertheless.
I walked "Liz" back to her car at 10:45pm, and she drove me to Peter's place and
we said goodbye. Peter and I played some more Baldur's Gate. I got to bed
around midnight, as I wanted to go to bed early for an early rise in the morning. I
wanted to walk along the beach during the daylight before I returned to Canberra.
Woke up at 12pm. My bus was to leave at 1:15pm. I slept for almost 12 hours!!! I
didn't get that walk along the beach... Peter drove me in to the city, and along
the way, Tricia rang to ask me where I was. I asked her where she was, and she
said at your bus stop waiting to see you off! Nice surprise... So I got to spend
another 10 minutes with her. I didn't tell her how annoyed I was at her yesterday,
as there was no need. No need to part badly. So I enjoyed her company and we
hugged each other goodbye, not knowing when we'd see each other again .
Nightmare Bus Trip from Hell Part 2.
I just can't win.
The bus was crowded, as I expected it would be. I was thinking about sitting next
to a attractive woman, sitting by herself, but as there was a empty section
behind her, I sat there instead, thinking that I'd be a little too forward if I sat next
to her. I spent the next 4 hours regretting that decision. The bus quickly filled up
at Strathfield, and an Indian (India) man sat next to me. He reeked of spices and
Indian foods, and his wife sat opposite. They spoke to each other in Indian for
most of the trip, and I couldn't get to sleep and hide from them. I could only look
at the head of the attractive young woman sitting in front of me and imagine how
things might have been different. I also wondered how she was feeling too,
because an old woman (must've been around 120) sat next to her.
Not that I have anything against old people or Indians, mind you. It's just that
when I'm on a bus trip, I like to sit next to someone with whom I might enjoy a
nice conversation. In my case, that's usually a good woman. *grin*
I'm going to have to seriously consider never taking a bus trip again.
And so endeth the story of my trip to Sydney.
Easter has been quite good. I've gone out a few times with friends, and the remainder of the time has been either sleeping, playing computer games or
roleplaying games. It's been a fun weekend.
Tomorrow I'm working at ORAC again. Scot's receptionist has bailed on him, so
I'm helping him out indefinitely. However, this arrangement we've come to agree
upon is fine for me, so I'm happy to do it. I enjoy sleeping in. I enjoy my
freedom to do what I need to or want to do during the day and the evening. So
I'm working for him from 3pm to 7pm each weekday. As I said, those hours are
fine by me. I can still do everything I need to do for myself and my own
business, while still being able to help him out at the same time.
Like attracts like.
Whatever the conscious mind
thinks and believes,
the subconscious
identically creates.
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