Catching Up

Sorry I disappeared for a few days. This week has been busy and I've been tired. Last weekend we sweated our butts off downtown watching the lion dance in Chinatown and then went out for Tropfest (the world's largest short film festival) Sunday night which was a lot of fun. I didn't take a camera but wish I had because there were tons of people in the park, the sky was beautifully clear and millions of bats came out in the evening to scour the city for food! We only stayed for the first half but saw plenty of good films including The Last Roll of the Dice which is about an ungly, nerdy woman who makes a video for an internet dating site. At the end, she informs he audience that her father owns a brewery (you know, just incase that tips the scale in her favor). The guest judges were also interesting as they included Elijiah Wood and Toni Collette (though of course they wouldn't let me get close enough to see them). If you don't know anything about Tropfest, the rules are to make a movie under 7 minutes that includes the year's themed item (this year it was dice, next year it is a key). I was quite impressed and am seriously putting some thought into doing it (Sarah--you should encourage Paul to do this!!).

As for the rest of the week, I got the Swine Flu vaccination which pretty much made me immortal for a day but I have since succumbed to the swelling and pain and am now a whining baby. I hate shots. My darling nephew had his fourth birthday yesterday which was pretty exciting too and we got to talk on the phone for the first time in a long time! He's adorable. I loved hearing him repeat everything I said to his mom because he was so excited! Kids are wonderful. :)

Jeremy is doing better and hasn't felt any pain in several days now which is good news! He hopes to be back on his bike in a week from now.

This weekend, we are having a friend from Brisbane stay over which should be fun as Jeremy and I intend to make him pay for his room and board by playing Catan with us! We're also going to dinner at a friend's house in North Sydney tomorrow night after her and I go do some sheet shopping in the afternoon (Sheridan sheets at 80% off!! *sound of jaw hitting the floor*).

And today is my last day at Wesley Private Hospital as a secretary in their out-patient Psychiatric Office. It's been interesting and sometimes tiring as the medical billing can be rather confusing (each doctor does it differently) but I find myself actually a bit sad to go. It took a little while to get the doctors to warm up to me but it's been good the last couple weeks and today a the doctor's wife called to say thanks for being so flexible and helping them with the billing. It made me feel pretty special. I've also found a real soft spot in my heart for some of the patients. Most of them are war veterans who love talking with me about fighting alongside the Americans and how wonderful their last trip to the US was. I also get the occassional depressed 30-something guy who likes to talk or like one guy today, likes to hit on me (calling me sweetie, love or beautiful). Even though he stared at my boobs almost the whole time, it was good to see him smile and seeing that made me not mind so much. I also had a Korean woman come in who had just been released from the hospital and was pretty doped up on meds. Speaking to her in Korean and making her smile made me feel like I had done my good deed for the day. So maybe counseling is in my future? I love that in this office, people leave smiling and I know they get good care. It's an amazing thing to change someone's life for the better.

So that's all! I'll try to keep things going this next week. And stay tuned--I'm sure I'll have another wild adventure at the grocery store this weekend!