Two months down

From May 24

This weekend marks two months since Ana and the kiddos moved back to Louisville, marking a good point to see how things are going.

Bachelor living is like riding a bike. The microwave and I have become good friends, and I have found that I spend more time doing the basics-- cooking, cleaning, laundry. No surprises there. At the same time, I have been spending more time working on hand surgery. So from a time management standpoint it has been good.

It is not worth the trade off, however. Again, no surprise. It is a rare opportunity to get to rewind the clock, go back to living in a manner similar to how it was before, erasing the bias that we all have telling us that the new way is better. I get more done this way, but it is a lonely time. I look forward to getting things back in order.

I have been doing some fun things around here though. For example, last night I found a good restaurant and movie theater down in the King's Cross area just east of the Central Business District (downtown to you and me). You can find it in the recent news as the place where the bloke was shot in the leg last weekend, big news for this land of limited guns. But the area is not as dangerous as the anecdote makes it seem. It is a lively area with clubs and bars and late night/ early morning night life. But tucked among these businesses, just a block off the central hubbub is the Govinda restaurant. Menu ordering on the ground level, buffet restaurant on the next floor up, movie theater on the next. But wait, there is more! The yoga classes and meditation rooms are on the ground floor, as well. Additionally it is a vegetarian restaurant, due to its hare krishna nature. I haven't frequented many, hare krishna or vegetarian, but since they had good movies showing right upstairs in a more quaint atmosphere, I was willing to give it a go. Consistent with my (few) past experiences, vegetarian restaurants do a great job of emphasizing spices. It was very good.

The movie and atmosphere were good, as well. The place probably only held about fifty people. It could have held more, but they would have to pull out all the cushions and pillows to put in chairs. It was much more comfortable, especially immediately after a meal, to lie back and watch the flick. They showed Easy Virtue-- again, good--likely due to it being an adaptation of a play. Much tidier weave to the plot than most movies.

Today I headed back down to the other side of the harbor, just a bit beyond King's Cross, to take in a game of Australian rules football. The only team in Sydney, the Swans (Go ahead, quake with fear at the mere name.) were hosting the Port Adelaide Power. You learn as you go with these things, and I found that I sat in the worst section of the stadium; the sun actually came out today-- for the first time in several days, as the front that caused flooding north of here lingered. I found that the sun sets directly opposite of section 11 this time of year. So for the glare in the photos, I apologize. Ana, I slopped the suncreen on a couple of times, as well as the SPF 30 lip balm. One for the skin cancer, two for the cold sore.

The game is actually admirable and interesting. It is easier to get your head around than the British sports of cricket and rugby. In short, it has the same ideas as most ball-and-goal sports, but instead of passing from hands to hands, like American football, or foot to foot, as in soccer, it is optionally bumping with your hand like you would serve underhand in volleyball, or to cover more ground quickly, punting to your teammate. As a result they are very accurate kickers. They also tend to be tall felows with a more lean build than in rugby, partly due to their height, partly due to all the running over this large field. The game moves around the field much quicker than other sports, and goals happen in a flash. So final scores tend to look more like basketball than soccer. Granted, they get six points for kicking through the central uprights.

This particular game was a rout. After just the first quarter, the mighty Swans (giggle) were leading 49-6! They went on to win by forty points.

So I have gotten out some, and there is plenty more to do. I have adjusted to the difference of the rest of the family being o'er yonder stateside, calling when the time change allows, making video calls. The trip home a month ago actually made a big difference. I thought it might actually be detrimental, but I guess seeing that I was still important to the kids but that they were getting on well without me made me feel better. I no longer subconsciously feel that this disruption causes any irreparable damage. It stings a bit, but there are some upsides. For example, I know that going home will be the best.

In the meanwhile, a few friends are coming over soon. Joao, a friend of mine from the hand surgery fellowship in Kentucky, originally from Brazil and currently in his second fellowship in Singapore, will be here for a week next month. Dita, a friend from animal science classes in college, whom I haven't seen since college, will be here and in New Zealand for a couple of weeks, as well. And Amenia and her son, Hudson, are going to be here in late July and August. Each will be really fun and will make for a good winter.

I have decided that, while supplies last, I will include the odd photo of the blog. This is from the children's hospital. Lord help the poor guy that can't recall what an egress is in the middle of the panic of an emergency.