'Member?

It's an anniversary of sorts... a couple, actually. Firstly, it's ten years since I moved into this house. It's not the date anniversary, but it was the third Friday of December. I'd been at a work thing with KfW2 and spent the entire day massively hungover. The actual date was yesterday. 

It's a similar anniversary to meeting Chloe. Again, not the date which is actually the 15th, a few days ago, but yesterday being the third Thursday of the month was when I met Chloe on a night out with S, GM and FC. She was out on her own work event, being chatted up by some guy who didn't work with her, but was maybe related to someone she worked with? Those details are vague, but I was quite drunk that night.

And while I'm at it, I can't recall if I ever stated this, but Chloe reminds me of the blonde woman from the "threesome" dream post last week. Similar figure, smile etc.

*smug*

On my way back from doing some tasks yesterday, I got talking to my next door neighbour. The one who looks good in yoga pants, not her husband.

 We were chatting for quite some time and towards the end, I admitted my age. I didn't just blurt it out, it came up in conversation. Yoga Pants Neighbour was shocked.

"Really? I thought you were my age. You look easily ten years younger." 

I'm going to be honest, dear reader, my ego was well and truly stroked. It's not the first time someone has thought I'm younger. Chloe was equally surprised when I admitted how old I was. 

But it's always nice to hear.

And now I've typed that out, I'm getting deja vu. Have I had this conversation with YPN before? 

What?

Randomly, Chloe popped into my head this afternoon. Dunno why. It's now, what, nearly three years since our one and only meeting? I've never seen her out and about, since. She's never popped up on my social media feeds the way others have (SUF, for example). And yet, randomly, I thought of her this afternoon. Or rather, I remembered the evening where we met, then I thought of her.

Watching.

I am looking forward to Saturday night. If I am being honest, I'd say that I am as excited about being in the city on a Saturday night as I am about seeing The Crowd in... years? I can't even remember the last night I saw them. Was it the Chloe night? I'm struggling to recall if I've seen them since.

It looks like GM is going to drive, and might leave early, but I've already suggested meeting earlier than we used to and leaving town before it becomes impossible to get a taxi. 

But sitting in a bar, on a Saturday night people watching and having fun is something I've missed as much as the company itself. Is it the potential of meeting new people? Maybe. I've always had great success in chatting to new people with GM. It's definitely at the back of my mind.

Hmmm...

I don't think that picture in yesterday's post has done me any favours. It's not that I'm now pining after Recruitment Bird, but it has kicked off quite strong feelings of loneliness and a memory of meeting a couple of girls in the pub around the time of RB where I admitted I'd recently met someone and was hopefully going to see her again.

"Oh, I love that feeling!" exclaimed one of the girls. 

And that's kinda what I'm feeling right now. I want that feeling. I want to meet someone, to be attracted to them, to be excited by them. I've not felt that in years. I know Chloe and Quiet Girl's friend were reasonably recent, and that I've toyed with at least seeing if there was something physical but not really considered them dating material but I'm struggling to recall anyone who's properly excited me, probably since before Covid. And even then? CH? CB?

And that's depressing in itself.

Memberberries.

Facebook reminds me that it's the anniversary of one of CH's morality wobbles where it looked like she was seriously considering something. This one was at a work's event and she was incredibly drunk. It was in my mind anyway after KfW2's comments a few days ago about women in work being interested in me, plus Nerdy Girl's comments about Chloe and missing opportunities.

In fact, it might also have been the night I briefly (and drunkenly) danced with Quiet Girl.

D'oh.

I did a walk with Nerdy Girl last night. We did a slightly different route that was almost exactly the same distance as the shorter route we've been doing this year due to my injury.

As part of the conversation she was chastising me (very gently and not entirely seriously) about not contacting Chloe a few years back. I remember not really getting that vibe off her that she was looking anything romantic, but I also recall (though I was drunk) that she seemed quite earnest about getting in touch.

However, I got Covid that night and was floored for a week, then it was into Christmas and by the time the new Year rolled round, it was too late (in my opinion) to reach out, even if I thought there was reason to. Which I didn't.

And now I'm second guessing myself.

Get out.

Do you ever get a gut feeling that something specific is going to happen? Yesterday, for example, I was convinced that S was going to message and suggest we hit a local bar for a pub quiz. He's done it before a few times, but I've never been in a position to, plus at least once was just too last-minute for me. Last year, on a night out in December, I was convinced I was going to bump into Chloe, but never did.

He didn't get in touch, but my brother-in-law did, suggesting we go to a gig tomorrow night. Well, not suggesting. He had a spare ticket as his companion had dropped out.

It's not a band I'd normally be interested in seeing, but as I've said recently, I need to leave the house more, to be more social, and this is an opportunity to do just that.

Dance the night away.

I really enjoyed the gig last night with M. A lot of people turned up for doors opening time, so by the time we arrived (only 15 minutes after that) there wasn't a seat to be had. So we spent the night propping up the bar. We managed to have a chat, too. It appears that G has been home as he said he would, but he just wasn't in touch with me. And he mentioned that one of my old school crushes had split with her husband, which piqued my interest until M said that he thought she'd already found herself a new partner.

And I could shake the feeling all day that Chloe was going to be at the gig. I've no idea if the music was her type, but I do get these gut feelings sometimes which almost never happen.

I don't think that standing for 3 plus hours plus doing the odd bit of swaying/dancing has done my back any favours, so yoga might have to be cancelled today. I'll play it by ear this afternoon.

Count 'em.

Unsurprisingly, the number of Valentine's cards received this year is 0, dear reader. I can't remember if I've posted about this before, but I only ever recall getting two cards in my entire life. One was a joke from a godparent and the other was from QC2. I had the hugest crush on her at the time, too. I had kissed her at a party only a few weeks earlier, asked her out and was turned down, so this card coming through the post really threw me. It took a chat with AM to clarify that there was no intent behind it other than a bit of light-hearted fun.

The only person I've actively been dating at this time of year was FA2. She was giving off these "I don't buy into V-Day", though I still bought her flowers and took her to dinner. I don't recall getting a card from her, either. In fact, beyond birthday cards, she never really came up with the goods, though I've probably covered that before.

But even though I wasn't actively dating anyone on V-Day, the memory made me realise that this time of year is probably my most active or successful in terms of meeting women. And by this time of year, I mean roughly mid-December through to mid-March.

Of the women frequently mentioned on this blog, QC1, FA2, FBS, and CAB all happened/started within this period. The E3 incident happened. While nothing progressed, the Chloe night fell into this window too. There are a few others who have not been mentioned on the blog when the initial meeting happened at this time.

While regular readers of this blog might assume that, due to my perennial single status, I don't like V-day, I do have very fond memories of this time of year because of the women mentioned above.

D'oh.

I had another couple of weird dreams last night. The first I can barely remember, but I do recall waking in the early hours of the morning and thinking that the dream, and how I was visualising that in my head, would make a great video game.

The second involved USHW and I travelling or trying to, in the middle of a transport strike. Where we were going and why we were travelling was not apparent, or I can't remember.

And in the middle of that, when I was trying to get back to sleep after the first dream was the memory of Chloe asking me to make sure I saved her number. I think I've commented on that before.

But now I'm thinking that she really did want me to call her, didn't she?

Nice to see you...

It required more work than I would have liked, but I did get to meet with FC and Mrs FC for a few drinks. We started the night in their local before moving on to CB Pub.

S was out and about with his mates, but promised to pop in. However, that plan changed when one of his mates got uncontrollably drunk.

GM, despite reading all the messages in the group chat, never said a word, nor did he show up. That's really disappointing.

So, it was a fun night. Nothing newsworthy happened, but it was nice to finally catch up with the two of them. Bar a quick 5-minute conversation a few weeks back, that was the first I'd seen them in person in over a year. The Chloe night for FC and much longer for Mrs FC.

Update

So, the pub quiz was good fun. We had a few drinks and I was back home and tucked up in bed by about half past ten.

Chloe wasn't in the bar, which is not entirely unexpected and, sadly, neither was the attractive barmaid I mentioned in this post.

However, KfW2 was in touch to say she has been super busy but was still interested in meeting for drinks on Sunday, though we never nailed down any details. At this stage, I don't see us doing dinner as it's probably too late to think about booking a table somewhere, so it'll be grabbing something overpriced in the Christmas market between bars.

Daydreaming.

There's a somewhat impromptu work night out tonight. A pub quiz. I love pub quizzes. It's also in one of my favourite bars in town (I mention it in this post). Coincidentally, it's one year to the very day that I met Chloe.

I probably should have followed up with Chloe afterwards, though my stance that she was too young and had kids being deal-breakers for me still rings true. But she was fun, she was someone new and who knows?

I'm not gonna lie to you, dear reader, but I was daydreaming yesterday about bumping into her later this evening. What are the odds she's in the same pub on the same day, at the same time, exactly one year apart?

Totally random.

Years ago, when The Crowd socialised more frequently, one of my favourite bars was one of the places we'd go to. It's a cracking boozer I first visited while working with FBS, D etc. back in the day. Actually, it's the same bar that I met Chloe in, pretty much exactly 51 weeks ago.

Two barmaids looked similar and we thought they were sisters, though we never got a definitive answer on that. And it was rumoured that they were the owner's daughters. We did a lot of flirting, even though there was never any chance of anything coming of it. And there was the fact that the younger (though cuter) of the two sisters was far too young for me. 

Guess who popped up today as a Facebook friend of Sports Girl's daughter?

Decisions, decisions.

I think I have nailed KfW2 down for doing something social. The problem is that I've already tentatively agreed to see S that weekend. His friend is over from London, and nights out with her are usually great fun.

So I might have to make a decision on that one (no decision really, if they're on the same night, then I'm picking KfW2), but if I get lucky then they'll be on separate nights and I can do both.

I do hope it's the latter. I've not seen The Crowd in months... possibly since the Chloe night from December last year.

Or maybe there's a third option where I can combine the two? I'd much prefer to get KfW2 out on her own seeing as it's been months since I've last seen her, but she might be interested in seeing The Crowd. She got along with them well enough, I think.

Time off.

The joy of mismanaging my holiday time throughout the year is that I always have a glut of time to take at the end of the year. So, from now until the end of the year, I am on a four-day week. And I still have some days to take, so some of those weeks will be a three-day week.

Last year, a semi-impromptu night out with The Crowd last December resulted in meeting Chloe.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the time off, but I will enjoy not being at work.

Deja Vu.

I'm thinking about buying a new PC, so I am doing a tidy-up of my personal files. As part of this, I was going through some old photos, and I came across the ones I took in April 2005 when I met friends in London from my online hobby. I met USHW for the first time. R appeared as well, which I think surprised a lot of people. Actually, if I recall correctly, R turned up primarily to see me, which was a journey in itself for her. Thankfully, K had disappeared by that stage. I don't think seeing me getting along well with numerous women would have gone down well with her.

Anyway... I wasn't here to post about my reminiscing about a great weekend. It was to post that a blonde woman who was at the same event really reminded me of Chloe. 

Ooops.

While twenty years is a long time, the recent trawl through some old MSN logs continues to bemuse me with the revelations that I was more confident in my feelings towards E than I can remember. It wasn't just F. I've mentioned QC2, but I've also uncovered logs from other online friends where I admit both feelings for E and optimism that it might actually work out.

While I don't expect to remember everything from back in the day, the fact that I completely forgot about this is... concerning? I don't know if that's the correct word. This isn't some random girl that I met in the pub one night and never saw again, like Chloe or Near Miss. It's someone important to me, so being unable to remember feelings so unambiguous that I was telling QC2, F and others about it feels at least a little weird.

I am massively enjoying reading the logs again though, including F's updates about how much K really didn't know me as a person.

Random

I meant to post yesterday that I woke from a dream, that I can't really remember. But I spent the entire day absolutely convinced that I'd run into Chloe when I was out and about with BR and FP.

That never happened, but it took until about 5 PM, when we were sitting in a pub, for the feeling to go away.