Aaaargh.

I went to pick my new glasses this evening. The nice people who took care of me weren't there, which is a shame for a few reasons. Firstly, they were nice. Secondly, they were more professional. I stood in the store for maybe 15 minutes before someone approached me to ask if they could be of assistance, while they chatted at their desks. And once I got my glasses, it felt like I was being rushed out the door.

I've only been wearing them for about an hour but they don't feel right. They're comfortable enough, but I think the focal length is all wrong - it's too short. I'll give it a day or so, but I reckon I'll be back by Wednesday evening to see if they can change the lenses.

Talk it out.

Both M and BR have given up alcohol, so when we get together these days, it's a much quieter affair. However, that doesn't stop the laughter from flowing and even though we were only out for a few hours at a local (and delicious) pizzeria, it was great to see the guys.

I know I have my frustrations with M's selfishness at times, but when you get him out, he's great company.

And the recharging I get from chatting to these guys is so much more than I get from, for example, the people from work.

One way.

Facebook reminds me that today is my 17th anniversary of being Facebook friends with AM. In reality, it's probably twice that. Except, for the series of pictures that Facebook has provided, it's not AM who's front and centre... it's QC1.

And that kinda takes me back to a point I've made before about not seeing AM as often as I would like, but also that I stopped making the effort because I was doing all the running.

It was this time last year that AM promised to arrange something, but I've not even heard from her, never mind gotten to a stage where she's organising something.

Pardon?

KfW2 called yesterday. Unsurprisingly, she was in the car, taking her kids somewhere. I could barely hear what she was saying as her kids were constantly chatting. It's starting to get me really down. 

I know that I've nearly always complained about the difficulty in getting some time with KfW2 in person, but this phone call thing is depressing, too. 

I love hearing from her, but it's not good quality communication - she's on speaker phone, it's rushed, she's distracted and the kids, if they are present, are often too loud to allow for a decent conversation. And, obviously, if the kids are present, we have to be aware of the topics of conversation.

At least if we're out for dinner and/or drinks, a lot of this stuff isn't a factor. But, despite sharing, once again, that I've found this year to be particularly tough, it still feels like it's not registering.

I don't want to force the issue. I'm still super-paranoid about burning bridges due to the CH incident (though I still maintain that I did nothing wrong there).

Coinkidink.

We had an impromptu work event yesterday. Well, a small gathering. There were four of us and we went out for lunch and drinks. I was back home quite early (around half past nine), and I'm feeling good this morning.

While I like my co-workers, I don't think that there'll ever be the same kind of bond that I had in my last team where I formed my friendship with KfW2, Stalky Guy and a few others who've probably been mentioned but have no blog labels.

However, one interesting titbit of information was that one of my co-workers might have worked with R2. I'm tempted to message her on Facebook to ask, even though it was 30 years ago.

Sigh.

I phoned KfW2 today, just a few minutes ago actually. She answered the phone for once, only to tell me that she couldn't talk as she was out for lunch with CC. Sigh. I wouldn't say that I'm jealous but it is frustrating to hear that CC managed to get KfW2 out for lunch while I seemingly have to move mountains to just prise a date out of her that she won't even confirm. And I guess a little bit angry, too.

I guess if I am being positive, this means that if I do get KfW2 out for dinner soon, CC won't be tagging along. Ever since she invited herself along a few years ago, I'm always paranoid that KfW2 will extend an invite or CC will simply invite herself along.

KfW2 promised to keep her phone handy over the weekend, so I'll try and get her on Sunday while I'm out doing some chores.

Argh.

People have always been surprised when I admit that I don't really like Indian food. That causes havoc when I go to my English friends to visit or stag weekends or whatever because of the culture of going out for beers and a curry. No-one ever asks about dietary requirements, they just assume. Now, I know that not liking something is not a dietary requirement, but it is one of the few things I simply refuse to eat.

So, I was slightly angry that M sent a message earlier off the back of BR's message from yesterday. He'd booked a restaurant. there was no conversation about times or dietary preferences. He just booked it. And it was an Indian. I considered just inventing a last-minute reason for not attending, but I really want to see BR.

I sent M a message, explaining the problem, and he eventually replied.

"No problem, I'll book something else."

OK. But he's still not engaging in conversation about what we might like. He's just doing it himself. I fucking hate that.

The eyes have it.

If I told you that I'd spent the past hour staring into attractive women's eyes, you'd think I was lucky or a pervert. But, sadly, it was all above board - I was getting my eyes tested. But, I have to say, they both had lovely eyes. I love a woman with dark eyes, and both women had dark brown eyes.

Hello again.

BR's just messaged to see if I am free at the weekend, specifically Sunday. I am. However, this won't mean a trip to the pub because BR no longer drinks. We will, though, go get some food somewhere. I've no idea where, mind you, but luckily BR hasn't asked me to suggest anything or book anything.

If we're lucky, M might join us, too.

Milestone

So, yeah, I've hit the milestone of 300 posts for the year. I still can't believe it to be honest, not just in terms of the number of posts this year, but the fact I'm still here 19 years later. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Coincidence.

While I've definitely posted in the past about the coincidences I come across semi-regularly, especially when it comes to social overlaps with friends knowing friends, this was a different kind. Three different friends all posted from the same coastal village on Facebook over the weekend: S, MMBF and a friend from school.

I think I've mentioned the coastal village before - it's where FA2's parents had their holiday home. It's a really nice spot, but it's 90 miles as the crow flies from my home town, so three people being in such a small village is unlikely.

Meat o'clock.

I'm having my first, and last, BBQ of the summer tonight. I was meant to invite my sis and brother-in-law down, but the weather isn't really conducive to sitting outside. Plus it's getting dark far too early. And isn't it the equinox today? Or yesterday? Sigh.

At least I've have enough meat cooked to see me through the next few days for lunches and dinners.

And when that's done, that'll be the end of this particular BBQ. it's had a good run, but charcoal BBQs are just too much effort and that partly explains why I've not had any BBQs this summer. It's too much time and effort, even for one person.

Well, well, well.

My boss sent me a message to let me know I'd be chosen for am intensive training course in October. That's a bit of an honour, but at the same time, I'm exactly the person to send because I can communicate well, so whatever I learn, I can write up and pass on to my colleagues.

I am worried that they might ask me to cancel some already-planned PTO days. At least one cannot be moved. I have a friend coming over from Wales. Well... more accurately, he's in town for another reason, but we've agreed to meet up one evening for drinks and I'm taking the next day off in case things get a bit lairy, which they're likely to be.

Let's see what pans out over the next few weeks.

Chillin'

I've taken some last-minute time of from work today, and another day off tomorrow. With the weather, I  plan on doing some gardening and then read a book in the back garden with some tunes playing.

I have a half-day of holiday next Friday, and some of us from work are meeting for lunch and a few drinks, and the week after that should be the work night out with Quiet Girl etc.

So a bit to be excited about over the next few weeks.

Numbers.

We're halfway through September and I'm only a few posts away from 300. It's already my busiest year on the blog and I'm set to blow the previous highest total away by a lot. I don't know why I am so post-y this year compared to the other years, especially given that I have been essentially a hermit this year, what with FP's passing last year, The Crowd growing apart and KfW2 being (deliberately) difficult to see in person.

There haven't even been too many "filler" posts where I'd post pictures of attractive women just because I was horny. There might be one soon though, cos this spell of good weather is really getting to me.

Still, even if my output drops to half of what it's been over the past few months, it's still looking like an end of year tally of around 360 posts. That's almost a post per day. And to think, when I first kicked this blog off back in 2005, that I thought I'd never have the attention span (or the will to share some of my inner thoughts) to make it last.

A rare mini digest

A bit of a digest today. Facebook has informed me that CH is moving house. I've not spoken to her in years, so I've no idea where she's going to. I assume she's up-sizing as she has three growing kids. 

I've been thinking about CH quite a bit over the past few weeks, though I couldn't explain why she's been on my mind so much. Subconsciously, it might be because it's around this time of year where it's her birthday, we had a night out where she was extremely tactile and also sent a series of sweet messages telling me how much she valued my friendship and another night where she sent a series of messages that gave off a vibe of something unknown. And there all would have been flagged as Facebook memories or notifications.

Additionally, it's CC's birthday today. I've messaged her about maybe going out for dinner. She's agreed, and I've left it up to her to decide on where she wants to go.

Also, work has dropped me a surprise Amazon voucher, so I'm just browsing Amazon to see if I can treat myself to something shiny and new.

Questioning.

Quiet Girl created a group chat in work and sent a message about the upcoming work event at the start of next month. There are five people in it - QG, me, Stalky guy and two others. However, one person that's not on the list is QG's friend that may has asked me to text her, from the last social event.

It may be because the next event is a quiz, it may be that she's a single parent and can't get a baby-sitter, it might even be that I was correct that she did ask me to text her and is embarrassed and doesn't want to see me. Who knows? The important thing is that she's (a little surprisingly) not in the chat.

However, it's a night out with QG, which are always good fun. She's good company, and I like her dry, sardonic sense of humour.

SUNday

I'm just back from the day out that my brother-in-law invited me to. It was a great day. It wasn't exactly the day he'd planned, but it was still fun. The weather was a great help. It was originally forecast to be overcast but warm and dry. However, there was bright sunshine all day long. I've even got sunburn, which isn't bad going for the middle of September. It's the first touch of sun I've had all summer, to be honest.

It was great to see that much sun and be out and about instead of being chained to the desk.

My legs are killing me. My foot is killing me. And I think I'll need to look at physiotherapy for it. When I start work tomorrow, I'll have top find out how I can start that conversation with my healthcare provider.

Urgh.

Over the past few weeks, I've been watching an awful lot of YouTube videos of people who have moved to Japan and are posting videos around their lives there. I think that fed into a dream I had last night. As did a recent rewatch, on Thursday night, of "Lost in Translation".

In the dream, I was watching a friend of mine (I think KfW2 or E, but it wasn't clear) in these videos with one of the Japan-based YouTubers (is that a real word?). However, at the end of the videos, the YouTuber announced that they'd bought a house for my friend. And I was sad because my friend hadn't told me that they were a) moving to Japan and b) had a house fully paid for, and gifted to them, by this "celebrity".

I woke up feeling pretty down with some wanderlust mixed in, too. It was a pretty weird combination, to be honest.

But in trivia news, and somewhat of a coincidence, Thursday was the 21st anniversary of the film's original release.

Swiping up.

 No doubt you'll recognise Chris Hemsworth from this picture. Thor himself.

But Thor is not the reason for posting the picture, it's his wife, Elsa Pataky. She's the spitting image of a woman I've seen this week on the online dating apps, like Tinder. The reason that she's stood out is because she's like our senior finance officer or something. Like, as close to the top of the free that you can get without being The Big Boss.

Well, she's cute too.

But I'm not swiping right.

Get out again.

My brother-in-law has just messaged to invite me on his corporate tickets on Sunday at a local sporting event. I'll be honest, I'm not interested in the sport itself, but I have recently tried to make more of an effort to get out of the house and be social and this kind of opportunity needs consideration.

Not a lot of consideration, mind you. It took me 5 mins to reply to say that I'd love to go. I hope there's not a lot of standing around as my foot is still sore, but it should still be good fun.

Beep!

I've managed to renew the contract on my phone AND buy a new phone AND I'm going to be saving about £30 per month. I'm feeling pretty fucking pleased with myself, if I am being honest, plus I get new shiny things that go 'beep' to satisfy my inner nerd.

Ideally speaking.

Somehow, last week with Nerdy Girl, our conversation turned to the topic of Ideas Girl. I can't remember what provoked the change in topic to IG, but it did happen. Nerdy Girl knew Ideas Girl as they used to work for the same company, and sat quite close to each other.

Oh! I know what it was. Nerdy Girl was talking about a guy who we both knew, and was sharing that she thought he was a dick. I agreed with her. I had my own interactions with him and it's not even a debate. He's a dick.

But the topic that brought us on to Ideas Girl was that at one of our works Christmas parties, Ideas Girl allegedly spent a long time turning down the advances of this guy. He was persistent to the point where she was genuinely concerned for her safety. It took her a month or so to tell me and swore me to secrecy. I never shared the details of the story, but simply mentioned that there was an interaction between the two.

Nerdy Girl then shared that she'd thought that Ideas Girl was a bit of a man eater. This kinda flies in the face of anything Ideas Girl ever said to me, in that I never heard her admit to me that she was pursuing someone and was adamant that she didn't do casual sex. Mind you, she did spend quite a long time seemingly having feelings for me, so it's kinda logical that she wasn't volunteering that information.

She was quick to tell me about the men chasing her, mind you. Well, three of them. One of whom was married and one was that moron above.

Nerdy Girl wasn't able to supply actual details, or maybe wasn't willing.

But, yeah, I completely forgot to share that from last week's walk with Nerdy Girl.

Those were the days.

Yesterday afternoon, from a work perspective, was a washout. Back-to-back pointless meetings for the entire afternoon, so I disengaged and went down a rabbit hole of old blog posts and emails with USHW. A few got me in particular, about QC2.

I had a fairly big crush on her, back in the day. While I never made any moves and I was generally pretty good at not showing it, I'm pretty sure she knew.

But that didn't stop us from being friends and I'm still kinda sad that we simply stopped seeing each other a few times a year for a few drinks.

But the memories, in particular, were of me, QC2 and Friction Guy at our favourite bar. For all her perceived standoffishness, she could be quite tactile with those she liked. And she was, in my opinion, very attractive. So it was always interesting watching the reaction of some of the guys near to us when QC2 would get a few vodkas in and start dishing out the hugs to FG and myself. If she brought out her friends, which she did often, they'd be exactly the same. And they weren't unattractive either.

I may have also mentioned that she wore 501s extremely well, and seemed to have a collection of black 501s. that, I'm sure, was also a factor in the admiring glances she got in the pub.

But, yeah, it's over ten years since we last saw each other and a much, much longer time since the three of us were in the pub together.

Get out.

We've just been sent an email in work for another social event at the start of October. I like our monthly events - they're good fun. I hope to attend this one. Stalky Guy seems unsure. Quiet Girl is off work this week, but when she comes back next Monday then I'll be asking her if she's going. I won't be asking about her friend who might have said something to me when we were last out, but I'll be interested to see a) if she comes out and b) what she says/does if she does come out.

I've no massive interest in following through with her, but it is flattering to have the attention, and as I think I've said before, she is good fun. A drinking buddy rather than anything else.

So that means that I have something to look forward to every two weeks between now and the start of November. That's not bad given my lack of socialising over the summer months.

Just one more thing.

Facebook reminds me that it's 11 years to the day that I got ambiguous texts from CH, where she was timidly asking me to meet up with her even though she was on a night out. In fact, it might have even been a hen night.

I recall discussing this with USHW at the time and she backed up my assumption that this wasn't an ordinary "come out for a drink", but something more. Something that might cross a line.

And then she went quiet, and that was it. When she subsequently told the tale a few weeks later, it was a heavily sanitised version.

As I type this, it's suddenly occurred to me that it was the same year that CH got very drunk at our work Christmas party and gave off other hints about meeting her in a friend's hotel room after she took a nap, where I got sidetracked by a co-worker for a chat and GB beat me to it.

I'd never put those two together before, but yeah, only a few months apart. Now I feel like Columbo putting clues together.

Hmmm...

I saw a photo of a UK-based celebrity and I thought "wow, she really looks like a girl I used to work with" and saved it off so I could show it off here. But then I can't remember if I've ever spoken about her before. I feel that I have, though she's not been referred to frequently enough to be tagged, but I'm pretty sure I'll have mentioned an attractive blonde woman who once showed her abs to co-workers on a night out. After all, I do love women with abs.

But here's Jenni Falconer who giving off serious ex-colleague vibes:

Let's dance.

As part of my plan to get out of the house more, I've bought tickets to a gig at the start of November. It's a band that I like, but I've kinda lost track of some of their newer stuff, so something to get back into.

More money

I had an interesting dream last night. I was talking to, I think, KfW2, about work stuff and someone overheard us chat. They approached me and offered me a job on the spot at double my salary, doing the same thing that I do currently. We chatted briefly, ironed out the details and I accepted the offer.

KfW2 was really supportive, until they returned and offered me a management position at twice the offered salary. I refused and he kept upping the salary offer until it was too good to turn down. KfW2 got really jealous and refused to speak to me and the rest of the dream was spent attempting to get her to talk to me again.

Smell ya later.

The neighbours have fired up their barbecue and it smells awesome. Buying a new BBQ was something I wanted to do this summer, but we've not had a spell of good weather where I felt I wanted to go out and spend the money on a good quality BBQ.

And have people over. I think a lot of the funk that I've semi been in is the lack of seeing people. And getting people to come to mine would be a big win for me. Cos it feels like if I'm not making the effort, then I'm not seeing anyone.

It's been years since I fired up the BBQ and had people over. At the start of the summer, I had visions of getting my sis and bro-in-law down, or maybe even KfW2 and her family etc. But that's not really turned out how I wanted, all due to the weather.

And it's far too nice a night to be sitting in the house. I wish I were going to the pub.

Chill out.

Unlike the rest of the UK, the weather over here is glorious today. I've already spent just over an hour running the lawn mower over my garden. It didn't really need it - the lawn hasn't really grown like it did last year. The weeds, however, have spread. When it's less sunny, I'll need to get out with some weed and moss killer and some lawn feed.

That could be a tomorrow job - it's meant to be dry, warm but not particularly sunny.

Time to get finished up here and spend a few hours enjoying a tidier garden.

Calling.

I phoned KfW2 this morning. I wanted to check in, plus I was interested in seeing if she was going to say anything about her radio silence of the past few weeks.

"Were your ears burning?" she asked when she answered the phone. I was momentarily surprised because I wasn't actually expecting her to pick up the phone.

"No. But I hope it was all good." I laughed.

"It always is!"

"Hmmmm...." I pondered out loud.

But the conversation moved on. We chatted, mostly about our respective work, and then she had to go as she was heading out with her husband. It was nice hearing her voice and she did sound genuinely glad to hear from me, but we didn't cover some stuff that I would have liked. That's not a huge deal though. It was the phone itself that was important.

Getting out.

I met Nerdy Girl again last night - that's twice in a week. It's something I want to do because I feel I'm really in a rut, so meeting Nerdy Girl ticks multiple boxes - getting out of the house, getting some fresh air and being sociable. When we parted, she mentioned doing it again next week, which would be great. We're still kinda stuck on our short walking route because the plantar fasciitis is still an issue, though it does appear to be easing. We're probably a good few weeks away from getting back to our original 6-mile route.

I also sent out a message to The Crowd to see if they were interested in meeting for drinks this weekend. S and GM aren't available. FC and Mrs FC are available, but I think the general feeling is that we hold off until everyone's available. Who knows when that will be?

Sigh.

My attention span this week has been appalling. I'm flitting from thing to thing every twenty or thirty minutes. It doesn't matter if it's doing chores, sitting in front of the TV or the PC... I start something then move on to something else a few minutes later. Play a game? Get bored. Watch a TV show? Get bored. Start a chore that's going to take an hour? Get bored.

I'm even having issues deciding what to do in the first place. Urgh.

I am, at least, slowly chipping away at small tasks, so it's not like I'm not accomplishing anything.

YESSS!

For the first time since I've been in this house, I've managed to call a trades person, explain the problem, arrange for them to visit and actually got my problem solved, all within a few hours. I wish I could get a glazier out that efficiently. Woohoo! It's only a little thing, but I feel like it's a big win for me.

Let's go.

Today marks the first day of a week off. I have some low-key goals, mainly around house chores, and nothing else really planned. The weather, which was originally mean to be good has seemingly been pushed out a few days, so it'll be Wednesday before I get anywhere near the garden.

Six degrees.

Over the years, I've posted about various women who make semi-regular appearances in my Tinder (and other dating apps) feed. There's a woman who pops up irregularly, but she looks pretty and, while I've no evidence to the contrary, tall.

Nothing, obviously, has ever come of my swiping, otherwise you'd know all about it, dear reader. I have also posted about how "small" it is where I live. The "6 degrees" effect. And so if you've read this far, it'll come as no surprise to find out that the attractive blonde woman is a friend of my cousin, as evidenced by a Facebook post that I saw last evening.

Now, it's been some time since I last had the blonde woman popped up on my online dating feeds, but interesting nonetheless.