Long time...

No-one's said anything in the group chat yet, though people are still being added. Due to a busy work week, I'm logging off for the week in about 20 mins and I'll treat myself to breakfast at the cafe just round the corner. I realised, when I made that decision, that I've not seen CC in ages. Months, in fact. And while I do complain about her being self-centred at times, recently she's been a lot better. So I fired her a quick message to see if she'd like to join me. She replied quite quickly. She's not available. Just me, then. I'm getting quite peckish.

Ooooooh.

I'm in the middle of a work call, so I can't really check my phone, but I've just had a notification from WhatsApp that I've been added to a group by AM's husband. It's only taken, what, two years since Am promised to "do something soon".

A two-fer.

For the past two nights, FA2 has featured in dreams. In Sunday night's dream, I was in the city where she lives and I was looking for her, but I never found her. In last night's dream, I was working in her city, but with my current workmates. On a work night out, she comes into the bar where we're drinking and I explain our history to my colleagues.

I've not thought about FA2 in a while, so featuring in two dreams in a row is interesting.

Working the core.

D prompted FBS for some dates where we could go out, but it transpires that she's not available until the start of July, with travel plans and family commitments.

I messaged D separately and suggested if he wanted to meet for drinks, seeing as he's in town, I'd be more than happy to meet up. He said that Friction Guy was going to the same day time thing that D was, so there's a real possibility that he could also tag along.

Out of all of us who worked in the same place all those years ago: me, D, FBS, Friction Guy, QC2 and Opinionated Guy, I'd say that me, D and Friction Guy would be the core group (from my perspective). It'd be nice to head out, just the three of us. It must be 20 years since that happened.

Back to back.

I did another few hours at my Dad's house today. It's good to see the work having a real impact and the back garden looks presentable again after years of neglect. However, the fact of the matter is that my back is in worse shape than I realised.

While I woke this morning in better shape than I had anticipated, it didn't take too long for the discomfort to kick in. Specifically, the walk to my Dad's house. It's not that far: just under a mile and a half and it's pretty level. So, not that taxing a walk. But my back was already starting to give me grief.

So three hours later with some mild physical labour and the return journey and I can barely move. I definitely need to call my GP and see about getting this fixed.

FFS?

OK, so I take it back. No sooner had I posted my last blog entry than my sister texted. She was already on her way to my house to pick me to head to Dad's.

We got a couple of hours work done, but there's much more to do. A lot more than I had realised. My back's also taken a beating. So while I can feel a slight burn of sunburn (it was a really nice day here), I can also feel my back start to stiffen and become sore. That's not going to be great tomorrow. 

FFS.

Today didn't get off to a great start. Remember that 4 AM call? Well, technical issues meant I couldn't get online. I gave up after two and a half hours. I went back to bed, tried to sleep (unsuccessfully) and got up at 9 AM. I was able to log on, but the call had long ended and all the tasks required of me had been done by other people.

I sent an email to my manager. I'm not expecting fallout to come my way, but it's always best to be transparent. The fact I couldn't log on or get any kind of tech support is worth reporting regardless.

I also had to phone my sister. She was meant to call and let me know if she was going to be at my Dad's house. She's the only one with a key. I was semi-surprised not to have heard from her by now, so I called. She wasn't feeling well, had yet to decide if she was going to go to Dad's and would let me know.

But now I kinda feel like I can't do anything myself. I could do some gardening or go shopping, but a call could come in at any time. That's frustrating. My sister is always like this: unreliable and uncommunicative. It doesn't help when you're relying on her to make a decision/plans and she can't communicate.

Quick Digest

I did call KfW2 at lunch and we spent 20 mins or so, chatting. I think that's the the first time we've spoken since I was at her house about 2 months ago. Our calls and texts are getting more infrequent, and she doesn't really interact on social media any more (not that I am massively active on Facebook). I should follow up over the weekend see about getting her out properly for food and drinks.

I also did get the gardening done. Well, about 80% of it. I have some tidying up to do, but the equipment I need to do it is at my Dad's house. I'm meant to be heading over there tomorrow, so I could get the work done by the end of the weekend.

FBS has already replied to D's text message saying she's unavailable on the day that D's suggested for drinks, but she's not offered up any alternatives.

And finally, thanks to some guy in work who's been a massive PITA over the past few weeks, I have a work call to attend tomorrow morning at 4AM. FFS. These use to be fairly regular when I was in the same team as Stalky Guy, but in my current team, these are almost unheard of. 

Let's go!

D's just sent a message. Do we want to meet for drinks at the end of next month? I've checked my diary and I've got nothing on, so I've replied that I'd be interested.

Blast from the past.

Years ago, when I was an active participant in online dating, I got a message from a woman on OK Cupid. That was unusual. Women, in my experience, never open a conversation or make the first move. It was a "proper" website, too. Not an app. So there was no "match" to indicate a message was incoming.

Anyway, she seemed pretty, had decent curves and great, colourful hair. When I shared her pictures with USHW, she admitted to some hair envy. We messaged for a bit. She seemed fun, had a decent sense of humour but there wasn't that level of attraction that wanted me to take it further. The conversation fizzled out after a couple of days, IIRC.

Another point worth mentioning that is pertinent is that pretty much every bar in my hometown these days has some kind of music act on: guitarists or DJs. And they're loud.

So when one of my favourite bars in Belfast (the one where I had my actual date with Recruitment Bird) posted on Facebook about a new all-female DJ collective, I nearly passed it by. The "music" scene in my hometown is a scourge if all you want to do is meet friends and chat. But one of those women looks familiar. It has been ten years, but is it?

Yes, it is! The girl from OK Cupid with the hair! 

Whoops.

Bugger. I told KfW2 that I'd call her last night and I completely forgot. We've played phone tennis over the past week. She texted me, for the first time in ages, last Friday around this time. So that started the phone tennis. I've got another half day off work today, so I'll give her a call at lunchtime before I start the gardening.