I found out on Friday that mum has been diagnosed with breat cancer. The doctors say it should be fine as it was caught early, and that treatment these days is nowhere as drastic as in the past. Still, it's very unnerving. After all these years I finally understand the sleepness nights, worry and anxiety that mum and dad have endured with me and jus. Worrying about our parents isn't something that we've had to deal with before - certainly nothing like this. We've been incredibly lucky that they've been so healthy. It's a sobering realization that they really
are subject to the laws of nature. Well
of course they are, but somehow you don't think about it until something like this happens. You know, they were always there for us, through all the crap that we've been through, always strong through their own parent's deaths and illnesses. How naive, at 35, to still think of your parents as infallible and invincible (ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration...). I'm
so glad that I'm not too far from them - I've booked a flight home so that I can be there post-op and through till her birthday.
So now for the other part of the "mixed" news, though it seems so self-centred talking about it now. Ah, what the hell. Last night I had a fantastic first date with Claire. I'd met her at Bruno's birthday barbie a couple of weeks back, and then only twice in passing since then. She's fiesty, cute, and through no design or conscious targetting, at 27, she's 8 years younger than me. I can hear a couple of chuckles out there, but I'm telling you, I had no idea. And the other thing is, she's recently single! Apparently her last bf was immature and not experienced in the ways of the world - my crappy recollection of what was really said - but anyway, I obviously take it as a very, very good sign. Oh, AND she's got GREAT teeth and nice hands. What more could I ask for?
I waited for her at our corner table in PS Cafe, by floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the garden and ordered a vodka Martini, stirred, not shaken (haha HAHAHA - yes really). When she arrived a respectable 15 minutes late, I got up and bent to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head the wrong way and we ended up kissing on the lips. Not
too a bad mistake to make on a first date, if you were going to make one, I suppose. We had a fantastic meal: we shared a sticky prawn salad (though they weren't sticky), then a mousaka and a beef/mushroom ragout and a crumble of some description. Then we had a bottle of wine 'round the corner at another bar. Nice place - a little chichi, but pretty chill. It was non-stop talk and banter through the whole night; good laughs through it all, and as we walked down a long, dark road to find a cab I held her hand, using the excuse, of course, that it was a long, dark road. I dropped her off at her house, kissed her, and got a commitment to see her this afternoon and tonight.
I can hear a couple of people out there (notably Dora, if she actually has time to read rubbish like this now) asking "SO, we want to know more about Claire!" So, this is what I know so that you will stop hassling me for at least a little while:
- she works downstairs from me, at Y&R for the Singapore Tourism Board account as an account exec.
- she studied photography and film studies in Toronto...
- she was in Toronto for 6 years
- her house is a REALLY long way from mine!
- she's about 5 foot nothing
- she had a 5 hour long hair do and colour treatment before last night's date, which is why she was a bit late
- she's
sassy- she's the youngest of 3 kids and she has something like 30 1st cousins
- she lives at home with her mum
- she has a schnauzer-beagle cross (didn't ask for the name, not really that interested)
- um...
- she chills at home, doesn't really go out that much
- she cooks (finally, a gf that cooks - not that she's officially a gf...)
- she could give you a good synopsis and critique of The Departed with a comparison of the original HK movie Infernal Affairs (even though she did film studies, she's no art-house snob)
- she believes that I should have a phone purse so that it doesn't get scratched. I flatly rejected this idea. I think she was joking.
- she's into the idea of taking me around the city.
