Rotational Games Night

Bananagrams!

After making sure I had a relatively quiet night the night before, I managed to get myself up and out to the gym first thing in the morning.  I then also got quite a few errands done, including finally changing my mobile phone carrier so I can stop wasting so much money on it.

It was therefore nearly 2 PM when I finally got home from my morning's tasks, and so was a bit surprised when the Tall South African called me.  He was coming to London to go to a few parties, but wanted to see me.  Could we meet at the club in just over an hour?  Okay, time to hurry and get changed!

I met him at Green Park tube station where he teased me a bit about being late, and then we went to the club and got ourselves drinks.  At first, he just did his usual relationship moan, where things just aren't working out, as usual.

Pop-up Bingo

Apparently he got into an argument with another friend, who disapproves of The Blonde as she is dating the Tall South African while he still officially has a girlfriend.  Which, therefore implies The Blonde has no morals.  Kind of twisted logic, because as I pointed out to the Tall South African, "By that logic, since you're such a terrible character, ANY girl who dates you must have something wrong with her."  (Perhaps true, but besides the point!)

We also got into a conversation about sex which actually got so personal and detailed that I was almost blushing, which is kind of unusual with us.  And then he let it slip that he was actually cheating on The Blonde with a girl up near where he lives.  Admittedly, not like he's pursuing a relationship with this other girl, it's just a "friends with benefits" sort of thing, but nonetheless, there's a lot of cheating going around here.

And on the one hand, he refuses to feel badly about it, because as he puts it, he doesn't trust The Blonde and points out that she slept with The Chap in the short space of time between when he rejected her and got together with her.  (He brings it up so frequently it reminds me of the famous debate from the television show "Friends" about whether Ross and Rachael were "on a break").  Which I do admit does not reflect well on The Blonde.  In fact, when I pressed him on it, he revealed that she was also sleeping with the doctor guy she'd been seeing at the same time.  So seeing three guys at the same time might be okay, but sleeping with all of them?  Less so.

Jenga!

Admittedly, the irony of all of this is that the Tall South African has done the same and worst in the past, so it's really a case of him having met his match, or his equal.  Yet I realise now that while I originally thought that meant they were very well-suited, this also means that they will inflict their worst on each other.  She will of course always be confident in the knowledge that she can sleep with any other guy she wants, but he can too.  And so they both cheat on each other to prove some sort of weird point.

Her failing however is one that he's already discovered, that she's a bit naive about the way men are and the way the world works.  And the mistake she makes (not knowing him as well as I do), is to underestimate how much he can manipulate to get what he wants.  Even I was a bit surprised when he told me she'd told him that she loves him.  It seemed like a bit of a sudden declaration, until a bit more prompting revealed that he'd asked her if she loved him.  Now, if a guy asks you outright, you would take that as an invitation to tell him, now wouldn't you?  As it would seem he was suggesting he might feel the same?

No, in this instance it was because he wanted to see if he could get her to say it.  Which to me almost means it doesn't "count", but a bit scary almost that he would play that game, just seeing what he could get her to do.  He reminds me constantly, "You wouldn't have liked me if you'd met me a few years ago", and sometimes flashes of that horribly manipulative, arsehole guy come out.

So I tried using what little influence I have with him to try to convince him that this sort of behaviour wasn't really okay.  Things became a bit clearer when I learned that the girlfriend (who is in Italy), texted him while he was waiting for the train, the first he'd heard from her in weeks.  He was realising he needs to break up with her, but it's kind of hard to break up with someone when you never talk to them.

Snakes and Ladders table

At least all of that was more interesting than listening to him berate me for how much I've checked out lately at my job.  Which is true, but there's only so many times I can say, "You're right, I know", before it just becomes dull.

So when I tried to change the topic of conversation to Qatari Boy, he told me he had some insider information about him, but didn't share.  I suppose I could have pressed him harder on it, but all he would say was that he is glad that I don't take Qatari Boy seriously.  It does make me wonder, what is the big secret that explains why I can't date Qatari Boy?

Which then led to a discussion about how all of my male friends seem so insistent that no guy is good enough for me, but how bored I get waiting around for that elusive "right guy" to show up.  After all, according to the Tall South African's rules, I can't sleep with any of these guys (otherwise I'll end up like The Blonde and dinged for sleeping around too much, as it's not acceptable for girls to sleep around as much as guys), and yet, nearly every guy I come across is somehow not good enough for me, that I have to hold out because I can do better.  Which, quite frankly, just leaves me very bored and perhaps craving male attention more than I should.

Finally, it was time for me to go upstairs and set up this Rotational Games Night thing, and the Tall South African was already late for another party he was supposed to go to.  As he said to me, "I don't think you understand quite how much time I make for you that I don't for anybody else in my life."  And that's why he's always late to things when he's out with me.  Yet, I make time for him too.  Even as some of his more idiotic male tendencies irk me at times, he's still one of the guys I like most in life.

I went upstairs and set up all of the games in a mad panic (I had to laugh at my original plan, to arrive an hour early and help set up, now here it was right at the start of the event and I had over half a bottle of wine in me), but with the help of a few others, it all got laid out, and seemed to work.  No time for my original plan of tying ribbons to all the chairs, but otherwise it all came together.

Hard at play

We had a champagne reception (oh great, more alcohol, just what I need!), and with no gong or sound system, I just spoke loudly to explain the rules, and got everyone rotating around the games.  Luckily everyone seemed to figure things out, even on the tables where the numbers were slightly off, and just had a good time playing.

We broke play at 9 PM to have a buffet reception that was set out (that was really nice, actually), and then went back to playing for another hour, before at 10 PM I declared the evening over.  Everyone retired to the bar, I found myself chatting to a nice chap who spent his time telling me how pleasantly surprised he'd been at how much fun he had and how nice everyone was.  To be honest, I was a bit surprised at how well it all went myself, so I took his comments in the spirit meant.  Everyone kept asking when we were going to do another one, although I think it might take a bit before I'm up for that one!

Finally at midnight I headed home, even though the bar was still hopping with lots of people.  I have no idea when they were all planning to leave, but I for one wanted to catch the last Tube home...