Relief

One sleep 'til Waverton... I wanted to go back and edit all my entries removing work people's names because I have a strange paranoia that things are going to blow up in my face, but I've decided to be brave and leave them there, to hell with the consequences. I'm like the magic sitar in Moulin Rouge "I only speak the truth" and if people "can't handle the truth" then they should stop reading. Besides, this blog doesn't carry my name and has been designed such that it doesn't get picked up by search engines. I've learnt, see.

I forgot to mention Kevin, who is one of my co-workers. He's a gorgeous guy, a bit on the quiet side. He has a wife and kids, which is why he rarely comes out to the pub. Anyway, I got to know him a bit better as we were walking to the soccer field - he reminds me so much of Phil, one of my ex-workmates from POL. He looks a little like Phil, he plays in a band in his spare time and he used to be the tutor for Home & Away actors (Phil used to be an extra for such shows).

Today went quite well. I finished a topic in the morning (commerce being ten times easier than chemistry!) and then went to yum cha with my fellow writers. There were 14 of us and they had to split us up so I ended up on a table with Vanessa, Colin, Heidi, Na and Lauren. Chatted to Lauren for the most part but there were a couple of group discussions.

The afternoon was a bit of a write-off. Nick and Lizzie had taken the rest of the day off and I finally received confirmation of my suspicions - yes, they are together. So Paul was Captain Grumpy (cricket joke) for the afternoon. Having finished a topic, I started a new one (on 'ethics') so had a discussion with Paul (former legal eagle) about what to write. You're probably thinking I'm manufacturing these meetings but I assure you that there was a genuine need to speak to him and I took much from the discussion. Remember that I am the magic sitar.

Scratched the surface of my new topic but felt listless, like everyone else. As soon as it hit five we went to the pub. Just had one cocktail and played pool with Naomi (she beat me by one ball). Chatted a bit with a few animators from multimedia (Jess, Rod and Funda) and Na (from primary) but had to go early-ish because I knew I had to pack (uh huh, that's why I'm blogging). Found out that Vanessa2 (another Vanessa, from the primary division) lived in Castle Hill so I offered her a lift home along with the usual ride with Colin.

Colin had told me earlier that he may need to go into the city to meet his family, so I thought that idea had been quashed when he hopped on the train with us. Then we got to Lindfeld and he said he forgot he had to go to Wynyard so jumped off. Vanessa2 immediately turns to me and says "he's a bit weird, isn't he?" so we started comparing him to Rachel, who is the 'black sheep' of the primary division.

Vanessa2 and I really hit it off after that. Turns out we had a fair bit in common - she used to do journalism at uni and obviously grew up in the Hills so knows about the 'Hills' mentality and has had the same problems with her parents as I have. She also pieced a bunch of stuff together for me in terms of office politics and also dislikes our new librarian Pauline. Such a relief that I didn't have to spend my Friday night ticking off excruciating minutes with Colin.

All right. I'm going to vent. It's my blog and I'll bitch if I want to. I apologise if I come across as cruel and unforgiving so I hope that you will not judge me on what I am about to type. This is what's wrong with Colin: he's an intellectual snob, closed-minded (but thinks he's open-minded), doesn't look anyone in the eye, wants to be 'a writer' but doesn't actually write, has never shown gratitude for the lifts I've given him (and, towards the end, started imposing himself on me) and, significantly, has never made an effort to contribute socially. Seriously, everyone has extended themselves towards him and given him ample opportunity to join in, but if he is content to hang back in self-imposed social exile that's his decision. Good luck to him, I say. But he shouldn't expect anything from me if he's not prepared to make the effort - I only help people who are willing to help themselves.

That's it. Fini. I'll go pack now. I'll reopen this debate when I start my monologue about who to invite to the housewarming.