Urgh.

I don't know what's going on, but I've been in a bit of a funk over the past few days. I could point to some obvious factors: the weather being rubbish, family stuff, not seeing anyone outside of family in weeks. But I can't say that any of them are responsible for the funk. Something feels off/missing, but I don't know what it is.

Oh? Ah.

I still haven't gotten around to doing the exercises for my back that I put together a few weeks back (probably more than that now tbh), but I have been making more of an effort to be on my feet more, doing stuff. And do you know what? That alone is starting to pay dividends.

Don't get me wrong - more, quicker, better recovery will require doing the exercises - but this feels like a good starting point and the slight easing of pain during the day does indicate that my own intuition about the root cause of the pain is actually correct.

LOL.

I was swapping messages with USHW and she said something that provoked a memory of CAB.

I was out at a pub with CAB and BW and a few others including BW's younger brother. We were having a discussion of some kind, a light-hearted "boys vs girls" kind of conversation when BW's little brother proudly pronounced that "blokes invented batteries" and sat there feeling quite smug.

We knew what the undercurrent was of that, but it was kinda surprising to hear that come from BW's little bro.

"Blokes didn't invent fingers though, did they?" retorted CAB.

BW's little bro was flabbergasted. We all laughed at him.

"Looks like you lost, go get some drinks in!" laughed BW.

So... yeah... an enjoyable semi-conversation with USHW today and an enjoyable memory of CAB. 

Sigh.

KfW2 called as I was getting on  the bus earlier. Was I free for lunch on Friday? Or if I wasn't was I free for an hour to go for a walk and some fresh air because she misses me and we've not seen each other since, what, March?

But she'd have to go and collect the kids from school.

So, a rushed affair. Not the lunch "date" I'd have liked - having a leisurely lunch, some drinks and then a couple of hours chilling in a bar, chatting.

It nearly always seems to turn out like this. KfW2 even  managed to mention that she'd just spent a lot of money on clothes for her kids - a school uniform for next year. She didn't say outright that she couldn't afford our usual afternoon out, but it felt like it was being implied.

I always feel bad complaining about this aspect of KfW2 because she did call me, she did offer to do something, and that's more than a lot of friends of mine would have done.

But I have been looking forward to going to a nice restaurant, hitting a nice bar and having some quality time with a friend.

Let's rock.

M was quite quick to reply earlier saying that he'd like to go to the gig at CB Pub in a few weeks time. I'll admit that I am surprised, but in a good way. I had half-expected him to say he had other commitments, but that wasn't the case. I'm looking forward to it already.

Groove on.

Quiet Girl's just sent a message about the music festival that's in town at the end of the month. We were talking about this a few weeks back at the last work's event. Her and her husband are taking in a few gigs that weekend, but they've also decided that they want to see my favourite local band who are playing that weekend as part of the same festival.

I've texted M to see if he wants to go. I'll happily go on my own - my ticket's been bought for a while, but I've not seen M in ages, so it'd be nice to have a pint and a catch-up. 

Grrr.

With the World Cup being on, I'm watching as much footy as I can. Sometimes I'll be doing stuff at the same time, like now for example. Germany vs Curacao is on ITV, and when I do, I watch online. This match is on ITV, so I'm viewing through the ITVX app/website.

It's horrible. I've seen worse user experiences, but not many and not recently.

Looking good.

I may have implied, or even stated outright, that I've lost quite a bit of weight over the past 18 months (actually about 20). While a few people have noticed, I've only gotten compliments off of two people that I can remember: a work colleague a few weeks back, and my cousin, today.

My sister and brother-in-law asked quite early into the weight loss journey about it. Nerdy Girl asked me if I was ill after asking if I'd lost weight. KfW2 didn't notice at all, then promptly forgot and then the next time she saw me a few weeks later, asked me if I'd lost weight.

Arguably, I'm still slightly overweight, maybe by as much as 8 lbs or 3.5 kg, but I've been hovering around my current weight for three or four months now. And I'm OK with that. I might be able to shift the last bit if I were more active, and I have been a little more active over the past few weeks, to start sorting out my back issues rather than from a weight perspective.

I'm at the stage where I feel comfortable buying new clothes. I've lost a lot of weight, but at 20 months into the journey, I'm kinda hoping that I'm settled and am not going to put it all back on again over the next few months. 

Oh no.

I had two separate dreams that involved KfW2 last night. I think they both followed the same kind of them. In the first, we were at a party. I might have been hosting it. And I was trying to chat to KfW2, but she was proving elusive. If I tried to make my way across the room, she'd be gone by the time I got there. If I tried to talk to her, she'd make an excuse to be somewhere else or talk to someone else. And a general feeling of us becoming more and more distant with each failed attempt to talk.

I woke early this morning, around 6 AM, and tried to get back to sleep. I did eventually, around 7:30 AM, and had a similar dream, though these details are much more vague. I think I was in a caravan that I owned, KfW2 and her family were there, but I couldn't get talking to her for a number of reasons.

I was planning on calling KfW2 today anyway because of the aforementioned family stuff, but I think those dreams will mean I do make more of an effort to find the time.

Sigh.

More family stuff happening, which is probably going to be the start of more serious issues in the upcoming months, and I will have to either phone or email someone over the next few days and shout at them.

Interesting.

According to a meeting that I was in earlier, it looks like the Tall Woman (who might have been hitting on me at a work Christmas party about ten years ago) is likely to become my boss within the next few months. Probably around the start of August.

As I've posted before, I don't think she remembers (she was horrendously drunk), so I don't see it being a problem. There are other aspects that are concerning about this, but Tall Woman being my boss is not one of them.