Unmatched expectations are a cause of negativity. that's a candidate for this year's theme, but there are maybe 1-2 more in the running right now. anyway, this came to mind because of crochet guy. like i mentioned in a previous post, he wanted to come over on thursday night. considering that it was that late, i naturally thought he wanted to catch up and do some M18 activities. turns out that he finished work around 10pm and was meeting someone else at 2am (whether for M18 stuff or not, i don't know), so i guess his intention was more to stop over and rest up for a few hours. this was not communicated to me until on the day itself, which left me feeling a little disgruntled. see, i'm happy if i can make my friends' lives easier. but having incomplete information really annoys me. and the fact that i was looking forward to M18 activities with him didn't help either...although i recognize that it was an assumption on my part. a logical one, but an assumption nonetheless.

as a contrary example, i had lunch with gym guy yesterday, and he mentioned that he was going to the gay bar that night. he asked me to go too, and i told him i'd consider it. ended up deciding to go (my first time in a month or more), and met a friend of his there. the friend is (you know the drill) partnered in an open relationship, and we hit it off quite well! he's a doctor, which is nice as he gave me an idea of what the issue with my shoulder was. said there was a line of tension running across both my shoulders. going in with no expectations and getting a nice surprise is so much more preferable than the former situation!

my leave for the china trip was approved! i've also started casually browsing flights, and should get tickets soon. it'll only be my second time in china, so still a little apprehensive. adding on to that, the departing airport for the return flight is still uncertain. but i figure i should have it sorted in the next month or so.

closer to the present, i'm due to meet scary JC friend tomorrow to get mooncakes. thinking of getting one for the cleaning auntie too, but need to find a place that sells halal mooncakes. there's the alumni mid-autumn dinner this friday. before that, i'm thinking of seeing the TCM massage specialist that another old boy recommended me...although now that i've read the place's google reviews, i'm not that sure any more. i guess the only way to find out is to go down myself!

-random thought of the day: Grocery delivery tomorrow.-