Answer me this.

The pub quiz was a fund raiser for my niece’s school's PTA. Disappointingly, it seemed that only my sister brought along extra people. The only other representatives were the PTA itself. They weren't the only ones in the quiz - it was a public bar, so plenty of non-associated people were there, so the numbers were good.

One of the PTA members was this super cute, petite, blonde woman, who looked roughly my age and drew my attention for a good portion of the evening, until I saw the wedding ring. Shame.

The quiz was great fun. I always enjoy a pub quiz. I'm not bad at them, but it's a team effort and we managed to come second, losing out on first place on the penultimate question. Still... 

Doing the do.

I dreamed of K last night. I don't know what prompted it, but in the dream, we never drifted apart after sleeping together and instead formed a great FwB thing. We'd visit each other every few months and do what FwBs do, and it was all very chill and fun.

There didn't seem to be a point or a conclusion to the dream. I woke before anything like that happened, if it was even going to, but my sleep quality last night was awful.

Great success!

Well, the good news is that I am hangover-free this morning, despite drinking from 3 PM until midnight, and having several sambucas and tequilas, courtesy of my nephew.

I'm still muggy in the head and I am literally only awake about 30 minutes. I'll need a lot of coffee today, and despite my lack of hangover, I'm still glad I took today off work.

I was also a little apprehensive about the party. The last time my sister hosted a party, I spent the entire evening feeling out of sorts: lonely and a couple of other, vague, unidentified feelings. That didn't happen this time around, and the party was great, so all-in-all a great success.

Cheers!

Double birthday party today and it's going to be a very drunken affair. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow, though I do have the day off work, just in case. I can't remember the last time I was drunk, properly drunk, not just tipsy drunk. The last time I was tipsy drunk was probably out with KfW2 for lunch and drinks a few months back.

But otherwise, I've not drank that much alcohol this year nor have I been out a lot. 

Who dis?

I was lying in bed this morning, browsing Reddit when I came across this picture: 

It's someone called Ava Moore, but I know nothing more than that other than she looks very pretty and gives me vibes of someone I know, but can't put my finger on.

Let's go.

Despite work being an absolute clusterfuck at the moment, I've just signed off for a long weekend. None of it is my fault, I was just managing the solutions, and I've left those in other, capable, hands.

After my trip to see Superman yesterday, I had toyed with going to see Fantastic Four today, but apathy has kicked in. I have a double birthday party to attend on Sunday, which might get messy, hence the day off on Monday. But it should be fun. 

Is it a bird?

I'm just back from seeing the new Superman film. It's not bad. Rachel Brosnahan is lovely though.

Planning ahead.

I think the loneliness is really kicking in at the moment. There are some social things happening soon, though not all of them are going to be "meeting new people" events. There is a pub quiz and a work thing, though the work thing will probably be spent most just bantering with Quiet Girl. I've not seen anyone at work in a long time who has piqued genuine interest.

There is, of course, Quiet Girl's friend, though I don't know if she's going to be in attendance this year nor can I say for certain that her interest was real, or if it was a drunken dream that masqueraded as a memory. And I don't know if I'm intrigued because of the uncertainty or if I am genuinely interested. I don't think I am. At least not in dating. Maybe something physical/casual? I don't know.

August is looking very quiet. I have extremely tentative plans with KfW2, but that's it, and I can't arrange anything until she comes home from holidays at the end of the month.

Wanderlust.

More desire, of a sort. Wanderlust has returned, presumably as a result of watch the video below: 24hrs Flying First Class from Australia to England. Partly driven by a desire to see E again, and possibly London Girl (see, I'm already semi-planning the trip in my head). And I'd love to do it first class, but do you know how much that would cost? £15,000. Fifteen grand! 

I wish I had the money where I could spend £15k on flights alone and not have to worry about anything.

Desire.

For some reason I woke up this morning with this desire to have a reunion of sorts with some Primary School friends. Only six people, though, including myself. The others consist of two guys (G and OSF) and the three women would be three women that I've blogged about before: one who reminds me of Cristin Milioti, a elfin-faced brunette woman (who was probably my first crush) and an athletic blonde (that everyone else seemed to crush on).

I've not seen any of the women in at least 20 years beyond Facebook posts from the latter two, but I have a gut feeling that it'd be a fun night out.

And I can't underestimate how strong this feeling was for the reunion. And before USHW pesters me elsewhere, no, I won't be reaching out to the women. I don't have contact details for OSF. I might give G a call though. It's long overdue. 

Heh.

I was trawling through some old emails earlier. I was looking for something related to FA2, though I can't actually remember what it was now. But I came across an email conversation with USHW that involved me making animal noises, which brought a smile. I'll not share the context.

Plans.

The end of the month is shaping up to be busy. I have a double birthday party to attend, a pub quiz and my work's summer party, with Quiet Girl. And I am wondering if QG's friend will show up, after last year's potential approach. I'm looking forward to it.

Stringing along.

Ages ago, I can't remember when, I blogged about QC3 wearing a strappy/stringy top but I could never find any pictures to show what I was trying (badly) to explain.

But today, I found this picture of Sarah Michelle Gellar that triggered a memory of that post and, well, here we are. These are the tops that QC3 used to wear... and wear well.

Lovely day.

I got another invite from my sister for another BBQ last night. I was quick to accept. The weather was glorious and I get on well with my sister. I've drank more in the past few days than I have in months. I'm feeling it a little today, but the weather's still nice so a couple of hours in the garden, chilling with a book will do the trick.

Pondering.

There was an outside chance that The Crowd were going to get together last night. As part of some messaging that was going on on Wednesday, FC suggested an impromptu meeting at CB Pub.

That would have worked in my favour. I could have done the walk with Nerdy Girl then met up with The Crowd afterwards.

But S was quick to cry off. to be fair, travelling to Bristol was a good excuse. GM though was another matter.

"Busy" He used more words, but that's what it boiled down to.

"Maybe we can schedule something in a few weeks?" I countered.

"Dunno, I don't get a lot of free time and I've just gotten a new puppy."

I get that people are busy, but that's the whole point of arranging something in the future, isn't it? To avoid conflicts. 

It kinda feels that he's avoiding any socialising [with us], and it's felt that way for some time. 

Next time.

I cancelled my walk with Nerdy Girl on Tuesday as I was feeling unwell. I had been feeling really queasy all day long. But we rescheduled for today. The weather was fantastic, so we did our walk and ended up, predictably, at CB Pub for a bite to eat and a drink. The pub was rammed.

I think the next time, we can definitely make an attempt at our original long-distance route.

Oh?

I wasn't looking forward to today. Without going into details, I was not expecting to hear from my sister, and that would mean she was putting in no effort on a day where, in my opinion, she should. A lack of effort would feed into my loneliness, and I've mentioned before that any time I see my sister, I'm the one making the effort.

But, no. I got a text message early from my sister inviting me to dinner, and that was a great start.

I was disappointed by KfW2's message, sent into one of our group WhatsApp chats instead of being sent directly. I never heard from G either, which is more than a little strange. But I also got a message from V, surprisingly. 

Tick.

I've been productive over the past few days, chalking off some tasks, hitting some personal goals and I'm feeling quite chuffed with myself.

My sleep continues to be awful.

But I'm due to meet with Nerdy Girl tonight for a walk. I'm looking forward to it because I've not seen her in weeks and the weather's great. While my foot injury is healed and I should make an attempt at our longer route, I'm more tempted by the shorter route and finishing at CB Pub for a drink and chat.

I can offset that by walking to and from CB Pub, just over a mile in each direction. 

Yeah. I'll do that. 

20 years.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the London bombings. A day that I spent trying to get a hold of G who worked and lived in London at that time. Luckily he was OK, but as a coincidence, that was a day he'd forgotten his phone and left it in the house. He walked past the scene of one of the bombings only 15 minutes earlier.

I also received a snotty message on MSN from K who seemed miffed that I'd not been trying to contact her to find out how she was.

"Yes, Ruuude. I'm fine. Nice of you to ask," was what she had messaged. Or at least that's close to it. She was nowhere near any of the trouble. I knew that. She knew that I knew that. ho hum. Women, eh?

Hurrah!

In a dramatic turn of events, the weather this coming week is meant to be great. That's in stark contrast to the forecast on Friday where it was meant to rain for most of the week. The reason that the weather is important is the fact that I've taken a week off work, and the good weather means that I can spend some time in the garden, chilling with a book.

I have other stuff I want to do (or at least start) this week, but the weather being good should help a little. Plus, who doesn't like sunny weather? 

Blast from the past.

It's SBF's birthday today, according to Facebook. I've not thought of her in ages. Her social media presence is practically zero and MMBF hasn't mentioned her in ages either. Nothing else worth noting, but Happy Birthday SBF. Still stunning looking.

Well suited.

I'm currently rewatching Elementary, the reimagining of Sherlock Holmes featuring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. It's OK, but I just wanted to voice my appreciation for the range of trouser suits that Lucy Liu's Joan Watson wears. Regular readers to this blog will know that I love a woman in a good fitted trouser suit.

Do it.

The little time we spent chatting alone on Monday night has only really given me a taste for more. 

I should message KfW2 and suggest something, but it'd likely be August before we can even think about it because she's off to France with her family at the end of next week.

All I Really Want.

KfW2 was on time, but she arrived with friends. This wouldn't be an issue if we saw each other more frequently, but when we're only seeing each other a few times a year, our time is at a premium. However, they were nice, we had a couple of drinks then they went on their way to the gig. So minimal disruption to my plans, but disruption nonetheless.

KfW2 and I stayed on at CB Pub for another few drinks before we ambled down. The conversation was interesting once her friends left. She admitted something. Something that she was worried about, that was out of character for her, that she'd apparently not told her husband. My take was that it was concerning, but probably not as bad as she was making out. She seemed to take that on board.

She asked me if she'd lost weight. I replied "yes" instantly because I had noticed it and was wondering how to bring it up.

"I see it in your face a little, " I explained.

Not the whole truth. I think she was a little less... busty... than I remember, too.

The conversation carried on. KfW2 continues to surprise me by knowing what to say because she mentioned that she was glad I invited her to the gig, not just to see Alanis Morissette, but to spend time with me.

"I love the time we spend together," she shared.

 I reciprocated the sentiment. We both know, but it's always nice to hear (and share). I've been feeling quite lonely and isolated this year, so it's reassuring to have someone say that.

The gig was good, but could have been a little better. We got a decent view and the sound was amazing for an outdoor gig. But the set list was missing a good few of my favourite songs, sadly, and it felt a little impersonal due to there being no real interaction with the crowd.

By the end of the gig, we had to return to CB Pub to meet KfW2's friends so she could get a lift home. At this stage, my stomach was really starting to play up, so the final drink we got wasn't really sitting well with me.

But we parted ways as they went off to get food. I got a hug and another reminder that she loves my company.

And that was it... something I've been waiting over six months for.

And despite the fact I only had about 4 drinks last night, I feel like it was about 10. I should have taken today off and had a lie in. Oh... and it did rain a little, but not enough to put a dampener on the evening.