Plans.

It's started feeling autumn-y, Or, rather, it's been like that for the past few days. I'd hoped we might get some good weather into September, but the forecast for the next week or so is not great.

And the nights are getting darker, too. It was pretty dark last night by 8 PM. 

I've said it before, and I'll repeat it again, I hate the winter months. I like daylight and warm, I dislike darkness and cold.

Summer has been decent this year - a spell of great weather in June and July and it's been warm otherwise. I think I used the weather quite well - took some personal time at just the right time - but I also feel I could have done more. Hosted some people for drinks in the garden, for example.

Maybe next year if I get the work done that I want to do. 

Days gone.

Facebook threw up a memory of, you guessed it, a night out with KfW2. We were at one of my favourite city centre bars, and I ended up taking a photo of KfW2, at her request.

And I'm not gonna lie, it's an OK photo - slightly out of focus. But it's one of my favourites that I have of her, I think. She's wearing a black jumper and I think she had her hair dyed black at the time.

But it's not really about the photo and more about the memory, from 14 years ago, back when nights out with just KfW2 and I were a semi-regular thing. I still really miss those, from time to time. 

Pondering.

I had half expected to hear from KfW2 this weekend, if not to suggest doing something, then to at least call after her comments from last weekend. But nothing so far. I've been super-busy all day long with family stuff that I think might be mostly sorted, at least for now.

And I need to think about taking some time off work. I have a lot still to take between now and the end of the year.  I usually take a week off around now, but I'm due to move to a new team in work (to report to the tall drunk girl) and I don't want to do that the first week on the job, but I don't really have much choice. I'm also getting some work done to the house imminently that might require taking some time off, and it's entirely possible that it could be the first week of September, the same week I start the new job.

Party on!

I heard a rumour a few days ago that we might actually have a company-wide Christmas party this year. it's been a while since we had one, since before Covid, and even longer since I last turned up to one.

In fact, I think the last one I was at, I left early due to a funk. The one before that, I turned down the tall women (who will be my new boss in a few weeks time), mainly because she was too drunk.

And it's 13 years since the "who knows" incident with CH. A night where I also, if I recall correctly, danced briefly with Quiet Girl after dragging her onto the dance floor.

Our Christmas parties used to be fun. The core team that I used to work with, that included KfW2, started to break up around 2016 which coincides with the parties becoming less fun but before that, we were a close-knit group (thanks to me).

I posted this rumour into a group chat, which includes Quiet Girl and Stalky Guy. QG seemed quite interested in attending if this all turned out to be true. I can't remember the last time I saw QG in anything other than jeans. It could have been that Christmas party in 2013.

I might even go this time, too. Now that I can fit into my old suit, and I actually think I look good in that suit, it'd be nice to have a reason to wear it that wasn't a funeral. I know that KfW2 thinks I look good in it (but then again, she was with me when I bought it, so it had her seal of approval from the start). But I also know that CH loves me in it. She's told me so, but she's also eye fucked me when I was wearing it (and she was sober). And USHW has also shared her appreciation, too.

Zzzz (cont'd)

Yup, I caved and rainchecked again on Nerdy Girl. I can barely keep my eyes open. When I sent the message an hour or so ago, I was actually planning on going to my sisters to try and solve some of the family stuff (paperwork), but I don't think I'm capable even of that.

I'm due to finish work early tomorrow, so I'll go to my sis's then and get that sorted. I need to do more family stuff on Saturday morning and maybe, just maybe that might remove some of the blockers to being able to manage this from home, online. 

Hello there.

In my last post, I mentioned being out with work last night. It was a somewhat impromptu affair, kicked off by the sudden appearance of an American colleague. Well, I say "colleague" but she was a colleague's boss, so I don't really have any direct professional entanglement.

Still... free dinner and drinks is free dinner and drinks.

And it was fun. The American girl was quite nice, and despite the fact she was quite senior in the organisation, she was quite open with information and opinions, which was refreshing.

She also, physically, gave off big QC2 vibes. 

QC2 vibes aside, I liked her. I don't say that about all my foreign co-workers, especially those in senior management. I guess it was her somewhat unguarded conversations that felt honest rather than those who just trot out the company line all the time. That was refreshing in itself.

Zzzz.

I was meant to be meeting Nerdy Girl tonight, having rainchecked from Monday, but I'm tired: partly due to having a few drinks last night, being out for a work thing and waking this morning at 5:30 AM and not being able to get back to sleep.

So I'm not really feeling it for tonight, but I don't really want to postpone on her again.

FFS. (cont'd)

The family stuff continues to be problematic, this time for different reasons and it's frustrating me and angering me because I feel like I've been wasting my time running around, completing paperwork for no reason.

I'll make more effort to resolve this because if it stays the way it currently is, I'll have much more running round to do instead of being to manage some stuff online, saving me time, money and effort. 

FFS.

I took a few hours off work earlier to do some family stuff, with my sister. It was a meeting that we'd requested and it had already been cancelled. 

After an hour, my sister and I prepared to leave. before we left the building, I called the person we were meant to meet. She didn't answer. A co-worker picked up.

We swapped formalities. I stated that I was not happy that I've taken time off work, for that to be wasted, and for a meeting that had already been postponed at the last moment.

She apologised and said her boss would be in touch. 

A few hours later, her boss was in touch.

I re-iterated my points from earlier. 

"It says here that a message was left on Friday." 

"Not to my phone. It's on me pretty much all the time. It could have gone to my sister, though she would have checked her phone even if she didn't pick up the call. Do you know what number was used?" 

"I don't, but I can ask my boss to call you when she's next free? That might be a day or so, though."

"Yes, please." 

I gave my sister this information.

"No-one left me a message."

"Well, someone might phone me back and we'll find out what number they used.

A few hours later, my sister calls me.

"That thing we wanted to happen? Well, it's going to happen."

That's good news, but there's also context.

Something changed mid-May, and as a direct result of that, there was a medical issue. And now, three months later, the thing that had changed is now being put back in place. So we're back where we started, except the medical thing has happened and is having a daily impact. And to say that I am furious is an understatement. 

I know this is vague and might not make sense,  but I wanted to get it out there, to vent a little.

Ring, ring.

A surprise phone call from KfW2 earlier. Unsurprisingly, she was in the car on her way back from the shops, cramming some last-minute chores into time she didn't have because she's off on a family weekend away for her mother-in-law's birthday.

The conversation was cut short because her husband was calling her and she promised to call back.

She didn't, of course. And I wasn't expecting her to: she had to go home, pack, sort our her three manic kids and leave for a 60 mile trip to the Air BnB.

But I sent her a message - Facebook reminded me of a visit to my house from KfW2 about ten years ago with her eldest daughter in tow, and I got a couple of really cute pics. I sent them on to KfW2. she replied quickly.

"I totally forgot to call you back! When are you free next?" 

Free next for what? A phone call? Dinner and drinks? I was getting mixed vibes from the question.

"I'm free anytime"

That's true.  After a busy-ish July, my diary is empty.

How long will it take KfW2 to reply? 

Hey, sweet thing.

I've mentioned before that I've lost weight over the course of the last like 20 months or so. And it was tough, but I managed to overall stick to the plan: portion size, less bread, less cheese, less snacking.

I never quite hit my goal - at my best, I get to within a pound or two (1kg) of my initial target weight - but that can't take away from the overall loss. 

But in the past two weeks I've had a serious craving for something sweet - anything really. Chocolate, ice cream, sweets... and it's not just a little niggle at the back of my head, it's a full-blown "can't think of anything else" for hours at a time.

I can't crumble. The "food noise" in the back of my mind still hasn't gone away despite nearly two years of eating better. It's still more prominent when I'm bored, and it's easy to be bored when you live on your own with limited in-person contact with other people.

Let's hope this craving goes away soon.