Back to Running

Now that it was the New Year and I was finally back from the US, it was time to go back for my first hash of the 2010.

I got a pleasant surprise when shortly after I arrived, I turned around to see Cute Non-Drinking Guy standing next to me! My delight was short-lived however, when he told me why he was there. "I'm actually here to say good-bye. I'm going to Australia for the next 8 months."

You know how sometimes you get these bits of news that totally blindside you, and so you paste a smile on your face and start chattering inanely, because you're just so stunned and are trying to just hold it together? Yeah, that was me. I kept smiling and asking him questions about what he would be doing (still programming work, but he'd quit his old job and had a new one that had him moving to Australia on an 8-month contract), but I have to admit I was reeling a bit. I won't begrudge anyone their quarter-life crisis, given how valuable mine was to me, and how it changed my life for the better. He seemed restless and unsure when I met him, so I hope that this grand adventure gives him the chance to "find himself" the way mine did for me.

Yet I will miss him. For all of his frustrations, he was an unexpected treat every time I saw him, a guaranteed smile in my day. I felt sometimes like a rat in a Skinner box on a variable reinforcement scheme, continually showing up in the hopes that today might be the day he'd be there. As I've said before, he makes me smile so much my cheeks hurt. Which I have to admit, even as he was saying good-bye to me, he still managed to do.

I figured it was our last chance to stay in touch (and who knows? I may end up in Australia in April), so I asked him for his e-mail address. He seemed a bit weird about putting it in the hash book, but when I suggested he add it to my "To Do" list at the back of the book, he complied. But really, what's so weird about giving me your e-mail? I continue to be confused by this guy, who would make a special trip out to the hash just to see me (he wasn't running, he just came to find me and say good-bye), yet has these weird hesitations about continued contact with me? I just don't get it. Don't get it at all.

The run itself was fair enough, although I kept up with the group well for the first 45 minutes, running along canals and down interesting streets, I eventually got lost and just grabbed a bus back to the pub. Admittedly, because I had already been so far into the run by the time I got lost, I was pretty late back to the pub.

When I made it to Euston station (the start point for the run, with the pub close by) I ran into one of the RAs for the run, who seemed as startled to run into me as I was to him. Alas, although I greeted him fondly, he was in a foul mood, apparently having been sick (and still somewhat sick) with glandular fever. I suppose it's asking a lot of sick people to be of cheerful disposition, but of course it was a bit off-putting nonetheless...

Once back at the pub, I set about collecting money from various people, but in a small pub, it was hard to make my way around. Particularly since the bar staff had insisted that we collect our bags right away, I was struggling to maneuver in the pub dragging my bags too. So you can imagine my shock and horror when I put my bags down at one point, to see that I had my coat, my gym bag....but where was my laptop bag? My laptop, my house keys, my wallet, everything had been in that bag. I will admit, I totally started to freak out. Told people near me, walked back to where I had been standing, what on earth had happened to it. Tried not to think about quite how dead I would be if I lost my work laptop.

Just as I was nearly about to cry, I ran outside. Of course, if I'd left my bag outside, what chance did I have? Undoubtedly someone walking along would have just picked it up, right? It was gone then, for sure.

As I stood in the doorway of the pub, wide-eyed with panic, one of the younger hashers saw me and asked, "Are you looking for this?" with a cheeky grin. Apparently, about a half-hour earlier I had simply stood up and walked away from my laptop bag, but clever boy that he is, he decided to keep an eye on it! I wasn't sure whether to hug him with relief, or yell at him for letting me walk away from it like that! In the end, I went for the hug, I was just so relieved... Although I think that certainly taught me a lesson about hanging onto my laptop bag!!

At least an upside of collecting money is that it gives me an excuse to go talk to everyone on the hash, which is how I ended up talking to Max, this MASSIVE rugby player. He was there because Archie and Chocolate Starfish were back from Australia, and he had lived in the British Virgin Islands at the same time that Chocolate Starfish had lived there, so he was grabbing the opportunity to visit. Normally on Tuesdays however, he had rugby practice, as he was apparently a semi-professional rugby player. Trust me, this guy was so huge, I had no problems believing his story, he easily looked like a professional rugby player.

And of course it goes without saying that this guy was very cute. Okay, so large as to be slightly intimidating, but of course that sent my brain off on a weird tangent, wondering, "What would it be like to sleep with a guy that big?" I mean, he was basically one giant solid muscle, and could probably crush me with his big toe. Hence, it would be kind of scary if he ever fell on top of you, but oh those muscles would be quite interesting to see without a shirt on...

Alas, when I joked about how he was drinking orange juice (I had assumed because he was in training), he assured me it was just is January detox, as he stated, "My liver is only 23 years old, I'm trying to stay friends with it so it will stick around for a few more years!" Oh no, why did you have to tell me that you were only 23? Okay, so there's no possibility there, but at least I did enjoy the pleasant experience of talking to a boy who is obviously capitvated by me. There is something about having a cute ginger-haired boy gazing down at you that will make you smile (and even stop thinking for a bit about other cute boys headed to Australia).

Although I really should have taken an opportunity to leave before 10 PM, it almost seemed to early to go home, so I stayed talking to people, rescuing a new girl, Kim, from a conversation with AC, a guy who has Aspergers and hence no idea when people are trying to politely end their conversation with him. So I jumped in, dragged her away, and luckily he realised that there was no way I was going to include him in the conversation, so he wandered off... (Perhaps I'm mean, but with truly socially clueless people, I'm not quite sure they even perceive the rudeness). I like Kim though, and I want to make sure she stays around instead of becoming scared off by people like AC!

Alas, my failure to make a timely departure meant that I didn't get out of there until after 11, but at least it was a good night out back at the hash. Lost a cute boy but met another, and was reassured that there are still possibilities out there...