The afternoon started when I met up with Princess, Ross, and a few others to watch rugby. Instead of our usual gathering point of the Grand Union in Camden, we ended up at the O'Neil's in Chinatown. Great Irish pub for watching the Irish vs. Scotland game. Except for some reason among our crowd we had a lot of Scottish people, and so we decided to be the only people in the pub cheering for Scotland. It was totally bizarre when Scotland would score, and the entire pub would be dead silent, all staring at our little corner cheering like mad. Boy, did it make me glad we were watching rugby (the sport where fans tend to be more gentlemanly) rather than football (where I'm sure some hooligans might really have gone after us!)
After the Ireland vs. Scotland game (which Scotland won, btw), we ended up going upstairs to watch the England vs. France game, where this time the tables were turned, as for some reason we found ourselves in the midst of a giant room filled with French people. Seriously, what was going on that we were always in the minority for every team we cheered for?
Finally, after that game was over, it took ages (like herding cats!) but I finally managed to move the crowds (now about 10 people) on from that pub to Zuzana's leaving do, which was being held at the same pub where Nat and I had our birthday's last year, hence open until 4 AM. We didn't arrive until 11 PM though, which I was honestly kind of embarrassed about... There's being fashionably late, but that's taking it to an extreme!
Now when I arrived, the most HIDEOUSLY embarrassing thing happened. Upon arriving, I was immediately greeted by Zuzana's ex-boyfriend. This guy used to come over ALL THE TIME while we were all living together, did minor repair work at our place, and who I went out for drinks with occasionally. He seemed totally thrilled that there was finally someone else there who knew him, and while I greeted him enthusiastically, I was mortified because I COULD NOT REMEMBER HIS NAME. Frank? Steve? Mike? Oh my gosh, my brain was working frantically, but it just couldn't come up with the right name. Holy crap, it's bad enough to forget someone's name when you've only met them once, but really, I should have known this. I actually KNEW this guy.
Things went from bad to worse, as while I happily engaged in conversation with him, Cookie and others came up to join our conversational group, and as it was obvious that I knew this guy, the waited patiently for an introduction. Except none was forthcoming, as I still could not remember this guy's name!!! I wonder if he was starting to catch on to my distress, because this was becoming ridiculous. He so obviously remembered mine, but my dear brain just refused to kick in. I eventually bought him a drink, just trying to assuage my mortification and hoping that if he got a bit drunker, he wouldn't notice the fact that I wasn't using his name!
I thought about quietly taking Zu aside to ask her, but I was sure she would just report back to him, and that would be mortifying. I just had to hang on and hope that it came up in conversation at some point.
Because you see, something even more bizarre happened as I was talking to Zu's ex. Almost as soon as I arrived, he started asking me about what I thought of this guy, DM. Nice Ozzie chap, really handsome guy, who I knew I was a bit surprised, and had to confess while I liked Dan well enough, I'd always thought of him as a bit of a player, a guy who was so good at picking up women he had you convinced he was shy and bashful while doing it. Well, that seemed to upset Zu's ex, who then let it be known that he thought Dan was a stellar guy, who apparently had a huge crush on me, and he was determined to make sure we exchanged numbers before the night was out.
I had to laugh at this, because I couldn't imagine anybody less likely to have a crush on me than Dan Marr. Sure, I've always enjoyed talking to him, but I'd never gotten the slightest indication that he was interested in me at all. So I just had to assume that Zu's ex was joking.
Still, it did make me realise I hadn't really properly said hello to Dan when I arrived, so when our conversational circles interacted a bit later, I apologised for not saying hello more properly and gave him a kiss on the cheek just as his had his mobile out, apparently checking it for something. Zu's ex then seemed to flip out, saying, "Don't have your phone out, then she'll see the message!!"
Okay, now this is getting weird. Dan chuckled and said, "No, I don't think she saw it", while I gave Zu's ex a questioning look, because indeed I hadn't seen whatever the message was. Zu's ex just then gave a wry grin and said, "Yeah, we're exchanging text messages about you while you're right here in the pub..." Once again joking, right? I mean, there's no way they were serious about that...
Yet I have to admit, this weirdness continued all evening, with Zu's ex continually pestering us to exchange numbers, and Dan....honestly behaving in the embarrassed and abashed way that any shy boy would if he'd just been outed by his best friend for having a crush. I had this dumbfounded moment where I started to wonder, "Could he possibly SERIOUSLY have a crush on me?" No way. Had to be a joke. This was too weird.
Still, at least I got him involved in conversation asking for thoughts and advice on my upcoming trip to Australia. I will admit, he did have a lot of good suggestions, and seemed to relax when talking about a subject he was obviously confident in. And then we started joking about how I was going to get his number, but then mess with his head by texting him from random numbers in Australia. He laughed out loud at that one and said, "I would LOVE that! Oh my gosh, I would so totally love that." And then kept telling me who would be good candidates of friends or relatives I could pretend to be.... "Oh yeah, you'll totally have to get my number from Alan for that."
ALAN!!!!
Thank you!!
Man, I was so excited by this, that I then almost wanted to immediately run over and say, "Hi Alan! See, I do know your name!!" Can't believe I forgot that...
Now, the thing to note is that in the midst of all of this, Matt and I were bonding. Always one of my favourite people, we'd started talking about the difficulties of discussing finances in relationships (his live-in girlfriend doesn't know how much he makes, but yet we started discussing all of the details of our own dollars and cents), and you could tell that he was just in the mood to talk to me. So as I'm talking to Dan, Matt grabs two cigars and says to me, "I think it's time for Matt and Adrian to head out back for some cigars and to talk about life."
Poor Dan. Matt invited him to join us, but it was pretty clear that I was going with Matt. Always my favourite person, the addition of cigars was just too much to resist. I LOVE cigars, particularly after quite a few beers.
So Matt and I went out back, and as is our usual pattern, discussed everything from the current political situation to the current gossip. We're always so perfectly in tune with our conversational patterns, I suppose it's why I always enjoy his company so much. I have a total mind-meld with that guy.
After we were done smoking (and I smelled like CRAP), we came back in, at which point Dan found me to say that he was going home. Great, now I get my good-bye hug when I smell horrible, and there's definitely no chance of a cheeky kiss. My own fault for indulging in cigars, I guess! Still, whatever, I'm not sure if Alan was pulling my leg or what. But if he was, he was AWFULLY determined about the fact that Dan and I need to go out with each other! If it was a joke, he really carried it pretty far...
Also, while out smoking, I actually ended up getting into a pretty deep conversation with Dom (Tara's boyfriend) about his smoking addiction and life in general. I have to admit, that guy has hidden depths. Perhaps I judged him too harshly last week, because I admit, he's growing on me. Perhaps I can see why Tara likes him...
Now for some reason at this point Princess starts challenging people to arm wrestles, and for reasons still unclear to me (perhaps so hyped on how much I've been going to Body Pump class recently), I decide to accept his challenge. Princess looks surprised (I don't think he expected a girl to have a go at him), but agrees to the challenge.
In the end, I'm still suspicious that Princess wasn't really trying. I mean, men just have so much more upper-body strength than women, there should have been NO WAY I could beat Princess in an arm wrestle. But as he went at me, while at first I couldn't quite take him down, I found it pretty easy to hold out against him as well. I accused him of not trying, he swore to me he was, and people later even said that you could see the veins popping out of his neck. Maybe he really WAS trying? So basically I just held him there as he tried and tried and tried but couldn't move my arm, until finally he was tired and I just worked him down to the ground. Couldn't believe it, the guy got beaten by a girl at arm wrestling....although maybe that Body Pump stuff IS helping!
So the evening continued, as people continued to get drunker, although of course since I don't do hangovers anymore, I was in pretty fine shape. Which made it kind of funny when Cookie really started to show her intoxication, slurring her words a bit, although confessing that she felt a bit awkward around Princess anymore, as she was never sure what was harmless fun flirting or what was more serious. Matt just seemed to fall into a pattern of declaring that I was his absolute favourite person in the world. No really. Seriously. It was hysterical, because the more he said it, the more he seemed worried that I was unconvinced, and so kept saying it even more. Not quite sure if Matt was undergoing a crisis of conscience, as throughout the evening he kept asking, "I'm a good boyfriend, aren't I?" to which I assured him yes, he spoke hypothetically about what would happen if he and his girlfriend broke up, and then kept saying, "You're my absolute favourite person in the world." But, I honestly don't think it was really a romantic thing, it was just a.....intense bonding thing. Kind of funny, in the midst of all the drunken madness!
I shared a slow dance with Zu, talking to her about how we'd first met, and how much I was going to miss her. Kind of crazy to look back on all that's happened in those years since we first met while looking at that crazy flat where we used to live! Also spent some time talking to John, and I have to admit that the more I get to know him, the more I like him and approve of him. Okay, while it might seem kind of crazy to follow a guy to Abu Dhabi, I think that John is one of those who might be worth following. Just a stellar, nice guy (who also seemed pretty okay with engaging Alan in conversation, which shows huge confidence to be friends with your girlfriend's ex!)
In the end, Cookie went home with Princess (Matt and I tut-tutted our disapproval, but I pointed out that after a certain point you have to leave people free to make their own mistakes), the others went home elsewhere, and I grabbed a cab home to mine (alone, thank goodness!) Flopped into bed at 6 AM, for two hours of sleep, before getting up at 8 AM to go run six miles for Sport Relief. But more on that another time!
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