Bah (cont'd again).

While my back and calf muscle are noticeably better than they were a few days ago, my shoulder is worse. It actually seemed like it was getting better until last night when, as I was reaching across my desk to turn off a lamp, shooting pains emanated from the spot I'd been having trouble with.

It's not sore to the touch, nor does it show any signs of bruising, but there's definite pain when I move in a certain way. If it's still bad come Monday morning, I'll be making an appointment to see my GP.

Bah (cont'd).

Since my last post, I appear to have injured my shoulder - not the one previously mentioned, but it's almost the same injury. I can't remember doing anything to aggravate it, but it's sore. My back is still giving me some discomfort (though sitting in FP's sports car on Tuesday really didn't help I don't think). And lastly, I seem to have injured my right calf muscle. Again, I can't recall doing anything to cause the injury, but it's sore nonetheless. It could be related to the back stuff, but the reasons are unimportant.

Getting rid of these injuries is important.

I really want to be in better shape, to start the yoga and Freeletics and to have shed at least a little weight come holiday time in mid-September.

Bah.

Sadly, while I've been moving freely over the past two weeks, my back is still reminding me that it's not fully healed.

I've never been one to go out and exercise unless I feel 100% (see my recent, long-term shoulder injury for example) and back issues are even more scary to me.

So all my plans for exercise have been put on hold. I might even have to change them up slightly and start off with my yoga instead of getting into the more strenuous body weight programme that I discovered (Freeletics).

I'm hoping that a few weeks of the yoga could help me stretch out my body, making it more receptive to the more demanding Freeletics workouts.

Aha!

I've said before that I was a big fan of Community, the TV programme. There was a piece of incidental music that played from time to time and for the life of me, I couldn't work out what it was. I was convinced that it was composed purely for the programme, but it didn't seem to be included on any playlists or compilations related to the series.

But then I found it today, by chance, while surfing for other things on YouTube, so here you are...

Sound off.

Sports Girl was right on time. I was early, but only by ten minutes. Despite it being a Tuesday night the beer garden at the pub was full.

I didn't recognise her at first. She was a wearing a semi-backless, short sundress and had blonde hair. Not a brunette in jeans as I was expecting.

She offered up a hug, which I took. Like KfW2 and E3, she gives great hugs. I offered to get her a drink, but she declined and went to the bar herself. She returned with a glass of water. She was driving. Weird, because I definitely suggested we meet for drinks.

The next couple of hours flew by. First of all, her dress was really short. I know what colour of underwear she was wearing, and not because I was trying to steal a glance.

We covered quite a few topics, including her relationship with GM and its current state and her work/travel opportunities.

As I always (in my opinion) do, I offered up a different point of view than she might have been expecting that helped her rationalise some of her own feelings and assumptions.

We parted company a few hours later and she sent through a few text messages once she'd returned home thanking me for my company and for being a sounding board on some issues. It was nice to chat to her again - it reminded me of some of the conversations we used to have prior to her officially hooking up with GM.

If her travel plans actually come to pass, then we're going to lose touch again, and probably quite soon, but it was a nice reminder of what we used to have.

And speaking of sounding boards, KfW2 asked me to be a sounding board for her earlier today and swore me to secrecy, but she never got around to the conversation. I brought it up as I left the office, but she said it could wait. Now my interest is piqued. I want to know what she wanted to talk about.

Ooooh.

Out of the blue, Sports Girl sent me a message on Saturday, asking if I wanted to do something. I couldn't at the time - I was entertaining KfW2 and had tentative plans with FP that night. I suggested doing something this week.

At the time, I didn't know if I was going to follow up on that, or if she would, but sat in work today, I decided "what the hell?"

So I messaged SG. Within a few messages we had a tentative plan to meet tomorrow, directly after work, for a few drinks. It's a school night, so it won't be a mad session (I learned my lesson a few weeks ago with GM), but the weather's nice, so we'll spend a few hours sitting in the sun catching up.

Unless she gets flaky again within the next 24 hours, which is always a possibility.

I'm interested to see what she has to say about recent developments.

Getting side-tracked.

I was asked about some of my first crushes a little while ago. That's going to require some thought and research as my memory is not what it was.

My first quick look online took me to IMDB to see if I could remember celebrity crushes from my childhood, and from there I got side-tracked into some D23 news (it's a Disney fan convention).

Seeing pictures of Daisy Ridley made me realise that I had meant to post something ages ago, but never got round to it. E's sister reminds me of  a cross between Keira Knightley and Daisy Ridley. She's not a spitting image, but there's something in and around the face - the smile maybe - that brings those two actresses to mind.

A post not worthy of a title with any thought.

I was, well still am, a massive fan of the Alien films. I've watched them all, even the abysmal Aliens vs Predator and the sequel.

When Ridley Scott announced he was doing a prequel to Alien, I was hugely excited. Ultimately though, it was pointless. Buried in there was a brilliant movie that was ruined by having the characters unlikeable and illogical.

Rumours on the internet were that the original script, by a guy called Jon Spaihts, was different and better than the final story and that most of the issues could be directed towards a guy called in to make changes to the script - Damon Lindelof. Yes, the guy who never answered any questions in Lost.

So I went off looking for the changes that had been made, to see if they had ruined the film and during my research found another script that Spaihts had written - Passengers. Bear in mind that this was 2012.

It was a great script... well, story. I've no idea if it was a great script or not, but it was an interesting story with a few interesting aspects.

Eventually, as of last night, I managed to watch the film and I really liked it, despite minor misgivings about some plot points. I also, despite having seen her in loads of things before, became a fan of Jennifer Lawrence. I think the performances of both her and Chris Pratt complemented each other, to add to the story.

And, for no other reason than I can, here's a picture of Ms. Lawrence from the film.

Oh FFS (Update)

Following on from this post, it looks like a night's sleep has done the job. It wasn't a great night's sleep. Despite having a week off and being more physically active than usual with working around the house, I'm still finding it difficult to get to sleep and I am still waking two or three times a night.

There's still a little stiffness and pain in the lower back, but my movement is greatly improved and I'm expecting today to be the end of it. I've no further garden work/lifting planned, so pottering about the house should be enough movement to ease the back.

Oh FFS.

So after two full days of back-breaking work in my garden, muscles that have that nice ache from use without being sore and loading up the car to take the last batch of grass cutting to the dump... and I do something to my back.

Grrr...

It's annoying because my shoulder which still gives the odd bit of pain from time to time, has been brilliant.

Hopefully a night's sleep will sort it out, but my movement is a little restricted as of now.

Could be beer o'clock.

Hmm.

For some reason, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't hear from CH over the weekend. Not even a Facebook message. Despite her tone and promises when we do meet/chat, she rarely comes through when we part company. Not that she promised to do owt over the weekend, but if she were a friend, I'd have expected something.

If I had kids, she'd be all over my posts. It seems that I only see her pop up on my Facebook feed these days for baby or wedding posts (other people's), but it seems I barely get a "like" from her these days.

It's amazing what a little bit of criticism can do. I still can't believe we went from "You've no idea how much I trust you" to a complete freezing out over a couple of text messages.

I'm bothered that she never said anything, but I'm also bothered that I'm bothered.

Phew.

KfW2 arrived at my house earlier than expected. Well, to be honest, I wasn't expecting her to show up at mine at all, but she did. So by my reckoning, that made her about two hours early. That's unheard of with KfW2. She's, at best, on time. At worst, she can be hours late, though the only time I can remember her being overly late for me was her own birthday night out. That was about 45 minutes.

I cracked open the posh gin and the posh mixers that I'd been saving for a special occasion, rustled up some dinner and we spent a pleasant few hours sipping drinks and munching away. I ordered a cab and we made our way to the prearranged bar to meet S, GM, FC, Mrs FC and a friend of GM's - AH. They had beaten us there by a matter of minutes, but the bar was rammed. It was the good weather, so any bar with a decent outside area was going to be busy. Once FP arrived, we made the executive decision to go to a different bar.

And it was a good night. In fact, it was a great night. Barring KfW2 going home earlier than expected (she was really quite drunk, plus her and her husband had managed one of the most convoluted arrangements ever), it was everything that I had expected. To be honest, when this particular crowd of people get together, it's always a great night out. It was part of the reason why I insisted that KfW2 came out instead of waiting for another time (see this post).

I'm sure KfW2 and FP were surprised when AH managed to drag me up to dance and I didn't put up a lot of resistance. I was more than tipsy at this stage.

It was the first time that KfW2 and FP had met AH and she seemed to get favourable comments from both. I really like her - she's super easy to talk to, but she doesn't come out with GM as much as any of us would like.

GM and I spoke about it the next day. GM invites her out because she works long hours and is becoming more and more reclusive when she used to be very social. She seems to get along with us brilliantly, even if she's extremely picky about which bars we go to. GM also reckoned that she simply need to let her hair down and chill out... have an evening where she could switch off and enjoy herself. Funnily enough, that was part of the reason I wanted KfW2 out. I think she's burned out as well - lots going on at work, plus hectic personal life (with not a lot of help from family).

And I know that KfW2 had a really good time. In fact, everyone had a good time. And that made me happy.

Longest. Day. Ever.

I don't often go out drinking during the week. While I don't get hangovers, alcohol really knocks me on the head, sleep-wise. But I'd said to GM that I'd go down for moral support when he went speed dating, so down I went. While he was in the sectioned-off area of the bar, I sat with a few pints, messaged some people on social media and did a bit of people watching.

There were a couple of very pretty women at the speed dating event, but GM ultimately only wanted to date one person.

It seemed like a decent setup. I was actually very interested in going to the next one for my age range, but I already have a clash.

GM and I stayed on afterwards for a few drinks and gradually, some of the people who were at the event joined us. By the end of the night, the drinks and chat were flowing. The drinks were flowing maybe a little too well. When I called it quits at 1 AM, the party was still in full flow, but I had work the next day.

And boy did I suffer. Everything took more concentration and effort than usual... a LOT more. I don't do hangovers, but I felt like I didn't get a moment's sleep, even though I only woke up because KfW2 phoned me at 10 AM.

"You sound terrible" she laughed.

I admitted that I wasn't 100%, but it got me out of bed and I got the laptop running to begin my working day.

Longest. Day. Ever.

Further pondering.

KfW2 was trying to say something a few minutes ago. She started and stopped a few times. My gut told me that it was something to do with the night out on Saturday. Maybe that she wouldn't be able to attend? She, more than most, is aware of how much importance I place in nights like these, that I value the time with my friends. So I'd be extremely disappointed if that were the case.

Eventually, she came out with it. Her and her hubby were given the opportunity to go away on Saturday night. Did I want to have a second night out, with her, her hubby and their friend (let's call him OP). Or was it my preference that I had everyone out on the same night?

I chose the latter. Partly because that's my genuine preference, but partly because this thing with OP annoys and confuses me in equal measure. KfW2's already suggested a semi-regular night at hers with Mr KfW2 and OP. She's never said anything bad about OP, but I get the feeling I'm being used as a buffer or a trade off. It's not that I dislike OP - he seems fine, but I doubt we'd be friends ourselves.

Saying that, it looks like KfW2 is still coming out this weekend. Mr KfW2 might be tagging along too, which is great. I don't know if OP is coming out, but that's not a big issue in the grand scheme of things if he does.

Oooh!

I can't remember if I've posted this before, but Attractive Neighbour and E's sister (ES) were Facebook friends. I know that doesn't often mean a lot. GM has hundreds of Facebook friends, for example. Their paths have crossed - AN works in media and ES sometimes dabbles there.

It's entirely possible their paths nearly crossed years ago when ES was dating the previous occupants of a house I lived in, where AN was my neighbour. I've kinda wanted to ask ES about that.

But, a photo of the two of them cropped up on Facebook.

I don't know why I felt the need to share. But y'know, attractive women and all that.

Urgh.

For some inexplicable reason, I've been really preoccupied with CH over the past three or four days... in an adult way.

I've no idea what brought it on, just that as a result, I am extremely, extremely frustrated.

A digest of sorts.

Another good night with G. We may have made a mistake in having those few extra pints instead of calling it quits at 11 PM, but it was probably worth it. I've said before, I'm not a hangover sufferer, but I did feel very groggy all day. I suspect that's partly to do with lack of a good night's sleep over the past week or so.

I've said this before, but I really should get over to see him on his own turf soon. I might look into that before the end of the year.

S might have a new girlfriend. Well, he added someone as a friend on Facebook who looks very familiar. It's someone I've seen on the various dating sites/tools. He was very coy with the last girl he was dating, so this could be something similar.

Speaking of online dating... I've posted on here many times about not being excited about people who pop up on various feeds. Well, someone popped up recently. Stunning looking girl, in my opinion, but her profile was shown to me in the Tinder helper app. I'm not convinced that it registers "likes", so I'm waiting for her to pop up in proper Tinder so I can "like" her. The thing is, I've seen her before... probably on PoF, but she had a different photo that really didn't do anything for me.

More pondering.

One of the bigger work events of the year is now over and done. As usual, it was brilliant fun. Early on, the group of people that I was sat with were sitting beside a table that included the foreign girl that I had contemplated making some effort with. It also included a girl that Stalky Guy has shown an interest in, and another girl who's attractive, that I've never mentioned before.

Obviously, nothing happened. Stalky Guy is extremely weird about his private life and that includes anything that might happen on a night out, so he's never going to approach anyone with work colleagues about. I think this object of his affection is spoken for anyway (there are others).

Regardless to any of that, the one talking point as it were, was a conversation I had with one of Ideas Girl's friends and JB. There was yet another hint at IG being romantically interested in me. I don't know if JB picked up on it, but she did ask if we were friends. We are friends, but nothing more than that in my opinion.

Still, that's now over, but there's more to look forward to over the next week or so - a night out with G, doing a moral support role with GM at a speed dating event during the week, a big night out next weekend and a few days off work following that.