The lighter stuff

Ok, so there is some stuff going on that's not so stressful as the work stuff and the G stuff.

I've been horse riding about once or twice a month with a couple of other girls - we've been doing this for months now, actually. Last weekend, I finally went and bought myself some proper riding gear - jodhpurs, chaps and boots. All black. I wear a black jacket, too. One of the girls said I look like darth vader on horse back. Amusing, and somewhat accurate that it is, it's not the look I was really going for, so I might have to invest in some coloured tops.

In my last house, I had a big courtyard where I could lie on sunny days and read for hours in the warmth. I no longer have a secluded courtyard, but I have a nice little balcony from my bedroom and the weather is starting to get warm enough that I can now lie out there in the sun. It directly faces the street, so it's not very private, but I'm going to put up some bamboo fencing, or something, so I can get out there and read without the world watching me. I'm looking forward to being able to just sit and 'be'.

It's football finals now and I'm starting to feel a little edgy. I broke up with T over the phone on grand final day. I really need to find something scary, challenging, happy, or exciting to do, to replace that memory.

My housemate. Well, I've mentioned him a little before. Let's just say I'm glad I'm pretty open minded and/or have been through enough 'unique' circumstances to be comfortable with some of the things he does in his private life. He's very open. Nothing is too much information. We've had some interesting conversations.

Last Wednesday, D, my new offsider at work rang to say he was going speed dating, but there were not enough girls, so he wanted me to go with him. It's not something I'd really considered before, and I was fairly apprehensive, but I said I'd go since I had nothing better to do on a Wed night. It was a nice night overall. I could debate the pros and cons of the results, but that would be a separate post in itself. I only met one out of the ten guys who I was remotely interested in chatting to again for longer than 6 minutes and hopefully we'll catch up in the next week or so.

But, at the end of the night, D and I were chatting to the girl who was hosting and she mentioned (although I'm sure she's not supposed to) another guy she thought I'd get on really well with. It happened that D had met this guy once before and said he agreed I should meet him. The girl gave him my number and he called on Thursday night. We organised to meet on Saturday. Lemme just say here that I've done a lot of things in my time, but I've never had a proper blind date before, where I didn't know what the person looked like, and knew little else. So it was sorta scary.

He sent me a text on Sat morning saying we could either go for coffee early or I could go along with him to a dating brunch - which, it turns out, is like speed dating, but there's more socialising and interacting with both sexes and the conversations are a little longer, before the guys change tables. I chose the brunch.

He looks very similar to the guy I met on Wed night, so that was odd, but in a good way. And he's a nice guy. We did the brunch thing, got talking to a lot of people and had a pretty decent time - separately, for the most part. I made friends with the two girls at my table and exchanged details with them, so if I make one or two female friends from it, that's a bonus as well.

Afterwards, we went for a walk down near the river in the city and had drinks and something to eat. It was nice. No pressure. No expectations. If we catch up again for coffee or food, that'll be nice, but since he hosts speed dating events (I've registered coz, if nothing more, it's a nice, relatively cheap night out meeting people) and relationships workshops, I'm sure I'll see him again. He does have 4 girls under 10 (9, 7 and twin 6yos!) who live with him f/t, so that's a rather large consideration!

The whole meeting boys thing has reiterated that I'm in no position to have something serious with anyone. I wasn't there 3 1/2 months ago when I met G and I'm certainly not there now. But, it's nice getting out and being social. Friends now might be something more later, so it's all good.

Yesterday, I did something totally different. I went to the human body expo at Docklands. I was expecting more gore than there was and I was expecting to feel slightly queazy about the whole thing. Instead, I was a little let down. It was an experience and it was fascinating in a 'these are real people they've chopped, sliced, and diced' kind of way, but the bodies were plasticised, so they didn't seem as real as I was anticipating. Although....it was interesting to see a smoker's lungs beside a non-smoker's lungs. I'm glad I don't smoke!

I went with the girls from my social group and it took us about an hour and a half to see everything. If you're into anatomy or you're nursing or a doctor, you'd have an awesome time.

Afterwards, we walked down to see the Robert Hunter, which is one of the Sea Shepherd's pirate ships. Not sure if you remember the black pirate ship, the Farley Mowat I went on last November? We did the tour of the Robert Hunter, watched their latest video of them stopping Japanese whaling vessels in Australian Antarctic waters, and I bought a very cool (rather expensive) beanie as my way to make a small contribution/donation. These are unpaid people putting themselves in dangerous circumstances in order to make a difference. I admire that.

I'm going back to work tomorrow at lunch time, so today's my last day of doing not much of anything. That's really all I have to report, so I'm going to go and read my book on my balcony, if it's not too windy, then go watch Dr Phil while I eat my lunch, just coz I can.