Bollocks.

I twinged my hamstring again today, playing footy. It's been a bit hit and miss ever since I started playing footy at work last September. I never had any of this trouble down at the gym, which is postponed yet again until the hamstring gets better. My guess is that the hamstring issue is a lack of warming up due to playing footy at lunchtime (i.e. turning up, getting changed and then getting the match started ASAP to maximise playing time).

I might go and see my GP about it, because sometimes it seems to go rather easily. I hope there's no real permanent damage.

Oh so cynical!

You may remember that a few months ago, I toyed with the idea of joining an online dating site. I'd kind of signed up for their free account months before and had been getting email notification every now and again of prospective matches. Very little jumped out at me either in picture form (I don't care what anyone says, looks are important if only for a first impression) or indeed, via their profiles.

Somehow I get the impression that women aren't really into the online dating scene because most profiles are very, very poor. I updated my own, with help from A (which I've still not posted), but even my initial attempt is better than most out there. [My content was fine, A said. I just had to use more positive words.]

All this is a roundabout way to getting on to what happened yesterday. The latest email dropped into my inbox and one of the site's recommendations is a 34 year old brunette, good looking, decent figure. Do I join up for a month and try to contact her? No. My initial thought is "how the hell can she not get a date and why does she have to rely on online dating?"

And before all you online daters come over to my inbox to give me a bit of verbal, I am well aware that there's nothing wrong with online dating. From my own personal viewpoint, if my own social life didn't suck harder than a Dyson and if I wasn't so crap at approaching women, I probably wouldn't consider online dating.

Great minds think alike, but...

I noticed, this morning, that USHW had also posted a somewhat retrospective post regarding the gathering in London of two years ago.

This time, exactly two years ago...

At this time, exactly two years ago (22:45), I was in a pub in London with a group of people from an online hobby of mine. Amongst the group were K, R and USHW. I don't believe that I ever posted in any detail about what happened that weekend.

My relationship with K has been weird. I met her through an online hobby and we started chatting on MSN. We met a few times, but one weekend she was in my home town, kind of against my wishes because I didn't have the time or money to spend with her (and others). They didn't take 'no' for an answer though and instead of passing through as I had asked, they all turned up for a night out. I went out with them for a few hours and had a good time. At the end of the night, as I left K and the crowd back to their hostel, K jumped on me for a snog, which must have been comical because she was around the 5-foot mark. Anyway, we ended up shagging and it was K who suggested it. Mental note to self: shagging short people in public is not that enjoyable.

A few days later, K is demanding a phone call. So, I acquiesce and I call. K's all talk of starting a proper, romantic relationship. Jeez. We'd had some frank conversations about life, but K had never, ever mentioned that she equated sex to relationships. I had to pad about, telling her about the distance involved, how I didn't like starting relationships from a distance and stuff. It wasn't a fib per se, but ultimately, I simply didn't want a relationship with K. I don't think it would have worked out; we're two completely different people and while I don't think you need to match your partner in a relationship, I think you have to complement each other, which K and I didn't do. I also think it was crap that K initiated the sex with her own point of view/beliefs and then later tried to force that upon me.

K effectively turned into a bunny boiler after that. She turned up uninvited at a later date, despite being told not to (a mutual friend was in town), and then she wondered why I was quiet for the few days she was here. Honestly. Eventually, it was all put to bed when I went to Scotland for a weekend to see my friend, F. Or so I thought. Rumours were floating around the hobby website about the same time as my original dalliance with K that F and I were having an affair. That was hilarious because, at that point, F and I had never even met. We were friends, though. That was enough for K to do some digging of her own and go off to befriend F. When F and I eventually met, we hit it off extremely well and are close friends to this day.

R, as I may have stated before, is simply gorgeous, but she's like my little sister (and about twelve years my junior, if that makes any difference). She turned up, not really knowing anyone apart from myself and SIW, a man that most women seemed to regard as a little bit weird. We had been in the pub for a few hours before R turned up, and I'd love to have known what people were thinking. The problem with these kinds of events is that you don't get to talk to as many people for as long as you'd like, and R was one of the people I wished I'd spent more time with, the other being LC, a woman whose presence was one of the main reasons I turned up.

Towards the end of the night, I walked R from the pub to the tube station. LC and her friend, who were also on their way home turned up just in time to see me hoisting R over my shoulder and laughing. I was a little drunk, but this was platonic mucking about. Again, nothing was ever said about the situation. LC can keep a secret, so the fact that no one else knows about that incident is no surprise. I am surprised that there wasn't a little teasing from LC, though. We may only have met once, but there was definitely enough there to know that we could (and probably would) be good friends if we saw more of each other.

Last, but not least, USHW. By this time, two years ago, we'd left the pub and were sitting in my/our hotel room sipping some kind of vodka drinky things with one of the other revellers. I've definitely mentioned before about USHW. Sharing a bed with a woman for an entire weekend is always a good idea, even if no shenanigans are going on. The sexual tension did bubble under the surface for the entire weekend, for both parties, I think. All it would have taken was for one person to have made any kind of first move and things might well have been very different, both at the time and during events since. I was happy doing nothing and letting USHW call the shots, though. The spark that we'd had chatting on MSN did translate to real life, which was brilliant. I'm not sure we'll ever meet again, but the weekend was thoroughly enjoyable for her presence.

There were tonnes of other people who turned up and who were good company, but R, LC and USHW were the three people whose presence made my mind up to attend. It was never clear-cut, though. R only turned up because I was there. USHW ran into many obstacles before she was able to confirm her presence, but if none of those three had turned up, I wouldn't have made any effort nor saved the cash that a weekend in London requires.

Goals for this week.

I still haven't been down to renew my membership at the gym. I must do that. It's not just the fitness aspect of the gym that's appealing right now, but also the stress relief of good exercise. I don't get stressed easily, but settling into this new position means that I will have to find some kind of outlet for it, even if it's not a lot. My fitness is OK, but there's a footy competition in work that I've entered and it would be nice to be a little fitter by the time that starts at the end of the month.

I've also sourced a few credit cards, so that I can swap balances and get rid of the ones I currently have and just have one. However, I just noticed that there are loads of 'late payment' charges on one of my cards going back about a year and a half, despite the fact I pay by direct debit. The bank have set this DD up for the 29th of the month, but I'm being charged late fees on the 27th. I'm not having that, the bastards. These charges never appear online, which is where I usually check my CC status. That's a lesson hard learned. However, I reckon I should be able to get them back because, under the Direct Debit guarantee, it states "If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid." and I think that's the case here.

I also want to get my bike serviced. The problem with living at home (sigh) is that my stuff gets lower priority than everything else, so my bike has been sitting outside all winter and needs a bit of work done to it if I'm going to use it this summer. I'm useless with gears and brakes and whatnot, so the small cost of an official service by the shop that sold me the bike should be more than worth the cash and effort.

There were a few other things I wanted done this week, but they've slipped my mind. Those three above are probably the most important things that I can do, plus I'm still waiting for a few other things to resolve, namely my complaint with O2 (they have until Thursday to reply), get my phone back from Sony Ericsson (I still begrudge the handling fee they charged and am waiting for them to cash my cheque) and I've bought a (legal) copy of Office 2007 for a bargain price of £20 and that should appear quite soon, too.

Meh.

Every now and again, I take stupid little flights of fancy. They're just little daydreams, but nothing that's ever going to be achievable.

This weekend, for example, I've watched "Lost in Translation". It kinda makes me wish I had the huge amounts of cash (lottery win amounts, not poxy savings) to go off travelling and meet people in hotels in foreign cities and have fun.

These kinds of events are like winning the lottery, though. It's something that you'd like to do, but that kind of luck is completely out of your hands. Having the kinds of nights that are depicted in 'Lost in Translation' or "Before Sunrise" are just things that happen, you can't plan for them. Just like my night with V that I posted about recently. Plus, I'm crap at travelling on my own. I am brilliant with at least one other person to tag along, because the experience is better because of it, but on my own, I am lazy and introverted and I fail to take advantage of the fact I am somewhere new and different and exciting.

My daydream today was that I'd love to have one of those nights.

Oh. My. Head.

Got a call from my brother-in-law last night who invited me out for a few drinks with a guy he used to share a house with a few years ago.

"Just a few pints", he said.

Boy, that was a mistake. We were completely hammered by the end of the night, but it was a good night. With the weather the way it's been recently, it's always good to get out to the pubs the first weekend after Tit Monday*. The weather can't last. Where are the so-called April Showers? We've had one spot of rain so far this month, and that lasted for 30 seconds this morning.

The pub we were at isn't renowned for its totty, so what was out there was great. I was getting some appreciative glances from a cute brunette girl with a bob haircut, but I ended up so toasted that I completely forgot about her. So much for moaning about the lack of any action if I forget about a cute girl because a couple of drinks have been put in front of me.

Anyway, last night was a heavy night. This is the roughest I've felt in a long time, mostly due to the alcohol, but also to do with the cigars and ciggies I had last night. They always make any potential hangover much worse.

Copied from elsewhere:

Tit Monday

It's not that far off now, that glorious day when, heading into work on the bus, or walking to the Tube, you find yourself suddenly chirpier than you have been in months. You find yourself smiling at strangers again. There is a mild involuntary tumescence in your trousers that comes and goes throughout the morning with the comforting regularity of a heartbeat. And then you get a text around lunchtime from a mate which says: "At last, Tit Monday!" And you instantly understand why you are so happy. 

For Tit Monday is that special day in the year when, for the first time, the temperature rises above that magical point which causes girls getting dressed in the morning to decide to show a bit of skin. After months of dull colours and chunky knit, the world's birds suddenly dive into last summer's wardrobe (they've not had chance to buy this season's stuff) and chuck it on without a thought. Your urban landscape is suddenly lightened with acres of naked arm and leg and, after many dark months of burrowing, breasts rising to the surface like moles at dusk. 

Big breasts in white work shirts straining at the buttons. Small breasts bra-less in vest tops, the nipples frotted by ribby fabrics. Breasts in summer dresses bouncing in the distance so that they catch your eye before you even notice there is someone wearing them. Breasts nudging out from the crowd at traffic islands, quivering to cross the road... and you know it is nearly summer. For previous generations, the arrival of spring was heralded by the sound of the first cuckoo. 

For us, it is Tit Monday. Not that it always falls on a Monday. Like Easter, Tit Monday is a moveable feast. Last year it fell on a Friday. Friday 29 April, to be precise, when temperatures maxed out at 22.1C after nothing much above 16C all year. It last fell on a Monday in 2004, when temperatures leapt to 22C on 24 April. And then, of course, there is Tit Monday Night. You see, in early summer, temperatures drop off very dramatically when night falls (Tit Friday 2005 dropped away to a parky 11.8C). 

But the dollies are not prepared. Slightly stunned by the morning heat, they drag out the summer clothes but forget to bring a cardie (a mistake they will not make again until next year),so that when they're all standing outside your local after work celebrating the arrival of spring, their barely covered nipples have no protection from the cold. It's like a Bring-and-Buy sale where everyone has brought hat pegs. It's like a prog-rock gig where, instead of lighters, everyone is holding up nipples. 

So when will Tit Monday fall this year? Will you be the first to text your mates with the announcement? Do not shoot your bolt too early. There will be false starts. You will smell fresh cut grass and see a couple of early starters and feel compelled to declare Tit Monday. But your more level-headed friends will tell you to hold your horses, keep your powder dry, don't fire until you see the whites of their bra straps.

As the poet said: one bold slapper in a bikini doth not a summer make.

Something for the weekend!

Update on the blonde from this post here. Youngest cousin finally got in contact with brunette. Hopefully something'll happen there. Apparently, I'm not the the blonde's type (i.e. I'm male), so that's pretty much scuppered.

Anyway, there are provisional plans to go out tomorrow night with Youngest Cousin for a few drinks, which should be a good laugh. I'm quite keen to head out at some point this weekend anyway because the weather here is fantastic and I hate sitting in on fabulous nights when I could be in the pub (having a sneaky perv at scantily clad ladies).

more life sorting

I realised today that I have five, yes five, credit cards.

Before you gasp in amazement at my financial naivety/stupidity, only one of them has any real debt on it and I'm slowly clearing that up. A couple have a small amount on them that I should be able to clear up with a couple of payments and the other two have small, but positive balances on them.

My goal for this week is to close down the two cards with positive balances on them and amalgamate the other three balances into the least amount of monthly payments possible. Off the top of my head, I'd say that would be two: continue with my "big" card and chip away at my main debt through 0% offers (as I'm currently doing) and then merge the smaller cards into one and pay that off over the next three to four months.

By the summer, I'd like to be holding only one active card, though not actually using it. Just chipping away at the balance.

It's off to Money Saving Expert and Motley Fool to see what's on offer!

Some stuff on E.

I was speaking to E last night on MSN. Poor thing has some kind of throat infection and is cooped up in bed over the Easter weekend. She was in good spirits despite that, though. I'd always assumed that people who were physically fit were less likely to become ill - fitness bolstering the immune system was my theory, but E seems to get sick quite a lot despite being very active. Back home, she did a lot of Thai boxing, played rugby and went to the gym. In NZ, she's going a lot of swimming and surfing and I think some gym work, too. She's seems to get sick fairly regularly though.

That's only an aside. She still seems happy and things seem to be going well for her. There's a possibility that she could be given a work permit that could prolong her stay out there and I think there could be a new bloke on the scene, though she said it was too early to tell. I'm not sure if that means they've already hooked up and she's looking to make it something more regular or if she's just met him once or twice and likes him, but hasn't yet made any moves. I think it might be the latter and she's still feeling out the situation.

Selfishly, I'm concerned about how that would have an effect on my (still in the planning stages) trip to NZ next year. Not so long ago, E suggested that we toured together when I went across. I'd love that. I'd certainly see a lot more by doing that than if I used E's place as a base and sorted myself out. So, my concern is that if this thing with E and the new bloke works out, that getting E away for a couple of weeks with just myself and her would probably not happen and I'm not a big fan of trailing around with a partner in tow. Not that I want it to be just E and myself, but it woould be good to get away, meet other people and have plenty of time to ourselves without worrying about a third party. We'll have to see what happens.

Saturday nights

I bumped into two cousins last night in the pub, which was interesting. We're not a close family, but we still see each other now and again. It was good to see them though it's still going to be another few years before we're in the pub again.

The youngest cousin was being set up by his sister's friend, which he was quite reticent about for some unknown reason. The other party, a 23 year old brunette, was stunning. I must find out if he's planning on doing anything about it. The matchmaker, a 28 year old blonde, wasn't exactly ugly either so I did little flirting before we left. Doubt anything will come of that, but we'll see.

Two years on...

So today is the second anniversary of 'Baby Needs'.

Wow.

I didn't think I'd get this far and thought for sure I'd have lost interest ages ago.

It's also kinda depressing too, cos it's now obvious how long my dry spell has been (you do the sums). The closest I got to a shag in the past two years is the weekend spent with USHW. Onwards and upwards though!

Angry head on!

With regards to this post, I sent a strongly worded letter to O2 on Thursday demanding they take action, after failing miserably before to analyse the damage to my mobile phone. They've got ten days to reply or else I get the consumer advice centre to go kick their ass!

Catchup

Work's been hectic over the last three weeks. I'm actually in and getting my hands dirty, so to speak, but it's really hard work.

I like hard work, but I'm not learning anything. My new job has a huge and very steep learning curve, but we're so busy, I'm not learning anything. I'm finding out how to do a task, getting it done, then moving on to the next one with no time to assimilate or document what I'm doing. If you asked me how to do the things I was supposed to have done yesterday, I couldn't tell you.

With it being Easter this weekend, I'm taking a few days which I probably can't afford to take, work-wise, but there's a little frustration creeping in so I think it's best to have a little rest. My parents are away for the week, returning Friday, so I have a few days to myself.

I'll see if I can't get out for a few beers before they come home and generally chill out.