Happy New Year (I'm kicking myself already).

My concerns about the New Year's Eve arrangements were well-founded. While GB and GM had always intended on having a party, I don't think they communicated this particularly well and as such, no one turned up to their party.

Every cloud has a silver lining though, and we stayed in the pub. While there were only five of us (myself, GB, GM, MF and her new fella) we still managed to have a good time.

GM and I had a long conversation about chatting to women in pubs, about how to approach someone completely out of the blue without an "in". I'd say that I spoke to about half a dozen women last night because there was an "in", an opportunity to say something and break the ice. However, there was a girl there who I really wanted to talk to, but couldn't find the "in" despite trying to come up with something with GM, and that was CB.

I pointed her out to GB and GM and told them that this was the future Mrs Ruuude. I just couldn't think of a way to get to talk to her, and it's been really bugging me this morning. And looking at my phone this morning, it appears that I was telling KfW2 about it as well, so she'll be demanding more details no doubt.

However, another highlight was talking to a really cute 23-year-old girl who ended up having a massive fight with her boyfriend. She kinda reminded me a little bit of Felicia Day, from "A Town Called Eureka". She was chatting away to me and was super tactile (and according to the others, was "all over me") and then, all of a sudden, was telling me all about how the "best boyfriend in the world" had never told her he loved her in the two and a half years that they'd been dating. 

She was virtually in tears at this stage while the boyfriend had taken himself off somewhere. I suggested that they need to chat about that as this was obviously a big deal to her. The last I heard (from MF's new bloke who had been outside for a smoke) was that the boyfriend had taken himself off in a taxi, leaving the cute girl standing in the road... all before midnight. Happy New Year, cute girl. It was suggested by the others around the table that I maybe take advantage of this situation, but I was too preoccupied with trying to figure out a way to talk to CB than to take advantage of an emotionally drained young woman.

I was also chatting away with an attractive brunette who was sitting at the bar with her friend and I engaged in some banter with them - again, it's all about the "in" - if it's there, then talking is easy. I'm just utterly useless if there's nothing to use.

GM ended the night by being pounced on by what initially appeared to be a very cute brunette (think Frankie out of the Saturdays), but a closer look showed that she wasn't as cute as we first thought and about 15 years older. Still... at least one of us got some last night.

And now it's 2013... potentially a big year, but that's a post of its own.