Rage.

I get irrationally angry when I see people use the word "clearly" to describe something they consider to be fact rather than opinion. e.g. "I am clearly right". It's one of very few annoyances left over from my time involved in my online hobby where we'd frequent message boards and discuss various, related topics and people would use this all the time to put forward their opinion as fact, and it's something I've started noticing again an awful lot recently. Ooooh, I'm getting angry even now thinking about it (and all the fuckwits from back in the day, too).

2012 Goals.

Regular readers, if there are any, will not be surprised by my goals for this year. Another year rolls by and my goals remain pretty constant.

Last year, of all the goals I set, I managed to complete two of them. I had physio on my leg injury which has now fully healed and my housing is sorted... ish. The rest went unticked in the "completion" column.

So this year, I want to work on the fact my leg injury is healed by getting a little bit fitter, but more importantly, losing some weight. How much weight is another question. I'm scared to step on the scales. I'm guessing at around 2 to 2 and a half stone.  That's 28 - 35 pounds or 12.7 to 15.9 kg for anyone who doesn't operate in these archaic English measurements. It might even be more, but that'll wait until my first weigh in.

That's do-able over the course of a year. Aim for losing a pound per week, and potentially that's 52 pounds or almost 4 stone, if things went according to plan.

There is a slight complication. For reasons that I won't go into here, I'm not looking to lose to much weight or tone up too much. The figures mentioned above would still take me to the upper limits of weight for my height and frame type.

I want to lose my belly and to be able to fit into some old (but unworn) clothes,  but I'm not aiming to become super-toned like David Beckham. I don't look fat right now, despite being severely overweight - I carry it well - but a better diet and more exercise (I'm doing none currently) will lose the excess and distribute the rest better and I'm looking more for an improvement in my body shape than hitting actual weight goals.

That's something I always advocated to FA2 when she complained about her own body. The weight itself (as long as it's not health threatening) should be secondary to your own happiness with your body.

So, the first goal is fitness, weight loss and a small bit of toning up. My tentative plan on this (and I am still working out the details) is to create a good menu for my diet. Eat healthier, but not be too concerned about counting calories - reduce carbs, eat more fruit, cook from fresh, reduce fat where possible and this should all help. To encourage that, I'm trying to put together a healthy menu of quick and easy meals to make - I reckon I need about 15 or so, so I can still eat tasty, filling food without resorting to eating salads etc. which is where any potential diet would fall over within a day or so. Oh, and it goes without saying that I should probably cut the booze out for a while until I've got this new diet routine in place/

Once that diet is underway and my larder is stocked with ingredients so I can throw something together at short notice (I can't plan my eating, hence the need for two weeks worth of recipes), then I will consider upping my exercise levels. I can play football once a week with guys from work. I have some resistance bands I can use at home to do bits and pieces for a few weeks and once this is all underway, I will then think about going back to the gym once or twice a week on top of the football and resistance bands or get out on the bike once the better weather comes round.

All that together should, I think, see the weight drop off steadily. As I said, that's the rough overview... I still have to iron out the details, but I hope to be starting something within a week or ten days.

That's the main goal for this year. The rest are, like last year, secondary or in the list of things that fall outside of my control - travel (insofar as I want someone to travel with), meeting people (i.e. dating), trying new things, saving some money etc.

So, a belated Happy New Year from me and I hope 2012 is a good one for you (and me).

Oh for fuck sake.

Take a look at the timestamp for this post. It's twenty to eleven at night and UF has just put on a wash, in an apartment block when the walls are fairly thin and the neighbours beside/above and below will hear. He's already complained loads of times about the noise the neighbours make having parties during the week etc., but can't fathom that sticking on a full wash and spin cycle at half past ten doesn't piss them off.

Analyse this.

I had a dream last night - again, I can't remember all of it, but RB was in it, as was USHW. For some reason, unknown to myself, RB and USHW were best mates and we all worked for the same company doing who knows what, but apparently it was all fun and japes. I've no idea what prompted it either. I don't usually remember dreams, and I'm not even sure of the specific details of this one, just that it was all office-based.

Already tardy

Usually by this time of the year, I have my "Goals for..." post already written and posted (last year's was posted on New Year's Day, but this year I just haven't gotten around to it. I do have a few goals and plans in mind, but I want to plan them out a little first before making any announcement. While I'm still figuring out the details, I don't think there's too much that's going to surprise any regular readers or anyone that actually knows me.

Old Year's Night

Well, after hours of chasing people up, I managed to blag a night out. The end result wasn't a bad night out, but I've had many, many better New Year's Eves if I am being perfectly honest, but it was much better than staying in on my own. We did share a table with a trio of cute, brunette sisters, but they made a point of staying very much to themselves. We did try and tempt them back to my friends' apartment for an after party of sorts, but they declined, sadly.

The main talking point, from my point of view, was spotting a cute girl that I'd first seen on the online dating site, match.com though she never appeared to log in. I've seen her a couple of times in a few of my favourite pubs and when I saw her last night, I was determined to try and chat to her. However, I was on my way to the toilet at the time and when I returned, she was gone. I searched the bar high and low for her, but she had definitely left rather than just moved elsewhere in the bar area. To say I was disappointed was an understatement.

A late scramble...

Perhaps a few days late, I have tried to find something to do tomorrow night, as I blogged earlier. MF has just messaged to my Facebook message chain that she's in England. I was kinda hoping she'd be out at home this year cos I know RB is home and, well, New Year's Eve in a bar with RB (and others) was bound to be eventful, if nothing else.

However, still nothing from my enquiries... it seems everyone's made their own plans this year, so I'm kinda stuck unless a few people have a last minute change of heart or at least invite me along.

Bleh.

Right now, I should be having lunch either with DSC or AM and QC1. I know (and understand) why the DSC thing fell through, but I'm still waiting for AM to tell me where we're meant to be meeting this afternoon. Given that she originally only gave me about 36 hours notice during the usually busy Xmas period, it's understandable that I couldn't originally commit, but when I asked her to keep me informed so that I would turn up if I could, I had expected to have a message this morning.

QC1's and AM's contact is horrendous. I gave up long ago the idea that I should chase them up when they made half-assed arrangements like this. I used to consider them to be really close friends, people I could talk to, but I need people to be more reliable.

I'm also trying to figure out what to do tomorrow night. There were at least three potential parties in the planning and one of them has fallen through due to something that's happened with KfW2, but there were two others that I had high hopes for, but have heard nothing so far. I've already said that I really like NYE. It's always been the best night of the holiday season for me and I love spending it with family and friends, but that's looking unlikely this year so I have about 24 hours to see what's happening and scrounge myself an invite.

A blast from the past

While vegging out in front of the TV, I've managed to catch ten minutes of the old "The Lost World" programme. B-grade but enjoyable nonsense.

Jennifer O'Dell was stunning and sexy. In fact, having a look at Google, it appears she still is (more so, if possible).

Funkadelic Christmas

I'm in another funk. This isn't a surprise, as I tend to get a bit melancholic this time of year, especially when I'm single. I hate being single at Christmas as I've explained to USHW loads of times over the years, but it's worse this year than I remember it being recently. I've tried to get DSC out for a drink, but she's playing hard to get (she does have commitments such as family and a [useless] boyfriend), but it seems like ages since I last saw her and I know that she wasn't 100% happy on Christmas Day either, so perhaps a good whinging session over a drink might help us both out? At the very least, a few drinks in the pub having a good perv at the totty would help!

Just before Xmas, I was out with M and MM and it was mentioned (yet again) that I was single, but when MM mentioned potential dates, MMBF wasn't mentioned and others were. Am I reading too much into this? MMBF is still very cute and sexy, but I'd like to sit down and talk to her, rather than the drunken rambling that we normally indulge in. I might have to seriously start following up on this one rather than doing what I usually do and make a few slight hints and then leave everything to fall into place (which it invariable doesn't, obviously).

DSC continues to be vocal about why I'm not attached. She reckons I'm charismatic and funny and am able to generate chemistry. These things, without wanting to sound arrogant, can be true, if I'm in the mood. I have tonnes of chemistry with loads of people - F, KfW2, CH amongst others. And two of CH's friends have also been sucked in with may charm and cheek when on nights out.

Talking to women isn't the issue, it's finding one that I like. The last woman I was seriously attracted to was RB and that was too long ago - long enough that I am actually concerned that I haven't felt that spark with anyone else since.

Another part of the funk is that KfW2 was asking if I would host a party for New Year's Eve. Unlike a lot of people, I really do like NYE. I like the whole thing about drawing a line under one year and looking forward to the next and I like doing this with friends. This year, MfW has really fucked this up. His relationship with two mutual friends of ours has pretty much soured beyond reconciliation and with respect to at least one of the parties, this is all his fault. But as he is now a housemate, I can't simply have parties and invite whomever I want without at least considering him, and I know he's likely to either cause a scene or leave the flat (for the night). So, with this funk going on, I'm potentially looking at a NYE spent in the house on my own, and I hate that - I like socialising on NYE.

Socially speaking

Out with M on Friday night, but MM and MMBF weren't in attendance, sadly. They were off on their own girly night out. It was a good night out - it always is with M, but I want to see if there's anything going with MMBF. God knows that the past few times we've met, M's been bigging her up. I don't know if this is part of any match-making that might be going on, or if he's simply stating facts about MMBF.

After a few rain checks, I'm also meant to be seeing FP tonight for a few drinks. We've not had a proper chat in ages, so I do kinds hope we do meet up.

This week, I'm also going out on the lash with KfW2, one of her friends from work and her boyfriend. It should be good fun - she's good company. I've met her boyfriend a few times, albeit briefly, and he seems like a good lad.

And, just another little note I shall drop in here - I'm getting busy again at work, which is good. When I first started this new position, nearly 18 months ago, I was hoping that after two years, I could consider moving elsewhere and take the large pay rise that would go with it, but my own advancement has been a lot slower than I would have liked, so I still have a lot to learn.

Also, I've been procrastinating about getting a routine going at the gym. I really need to start losing weight. Fitness is a factor too, but in all honesty, the weight is an issue to me. I need to get up off my ass and start doing something.