Catch up to this...

I haven't been able to blog the last couple of days because I've been intensely busy and the one time I did get on, blogspot was down for maintenance. Now, I've got to recap:

After I turned in my work on Tuesday, I ended up getting a bit intoxicated. Shocker, right? Once again, I hung out with my neighbors. But I didn't attempt to keep up with them. That's just a recipe for disaster. Wednesday at work was boring as hell, but Thursday and Friday were exceedingly busy. I ended up staying almost until 2 on Friday to get some things done, even though I only billed until 1 (because I'm only allowed to work 20 hours). Speaking of visa restrictions, Real World has been working like 30 hours a week, in clear violation of her visa. When I informed her that there is a deportation and a 10 year ban on re-entry for violating the conditions, she shrugged it off. As the Brits would say, she's not the sensible type.

Last night, I met up with Real World at a pub with some of her work mates. Same bunch as last week. Mind you, I had only had 3 hours of sleep the night before because I was up reading this book that I just couldn't put down, so I was a bit strung out. One of her friends who took her home the week before jumped me and said quote, "you are an asshole" for not ensuring she got home safe. I was taken aback by it a bit because I'm not used to being called an asshole, especially from people I hardly know or hardly know me. Instead of telling her off (like I feel like I should have), I simply expressed that we had nothing to talk about and that we had a difference of opinion about the whole thing. That was clearly unsatisfactory by her - she wanted to have it out. But I refused. I don't know her, I don't like what I know, and I'm not interested in getting into a snit with a reactionary Aussie who annoyed the hell out of me when I first met her anyway.

I talked to Real World about it later and expressed that if she had issues with it, that's something I would be happy to discuss, but that it was none of her friends business - it was between Real World and me. She didn't have much of an opinion either way (how could she - she doesn't remember anything), but I did tell her that if she was in that situation again, I would make sure she got home safe. I'm trying to be a nice guy (as hard as that can be for someone who has cared only about himself for the last 18 months).

At any rate, we ended up going to a club/bar called Jaguar Shoes in Shoreditch. We actually thought it was a shoe store because it doesn't look like much from the outside. It was ok inside though. Hanging with Real World is like draping Kryptonite around your neck though. You never get to meet any girls, she'll start hitting on you the moment she passes a certain drunken threshold, and you'll spend most of the night trying to pawn her off on whoever is around. She's just a hanger on, so to speak. Like today, she texted me to see if I wanted to go to Oxford street and a movie. I told her last night that I wasn't going to do that. She's the type that can't be content to do things on her own - she always has to have someone with her.

Enough about Real World.

I tried the Starbucks Gingerbread latte. Highly overrated and overpriced. Don't get it.

Speaking of meeting girls, I'm spent on the clubbing scene. I still like to go dancing, but I don't think I'll ever meet the type of girl I'm interested in there. It's not because those types don't go - they do. It's that even if you were lucky enough to find a girl who is your type, you could never hear what she was saying, she would always think you just want one thing, and she would be extremely wary of you. It's impossible to establish any type of connection with anyone in that environment.

Which leaves school and work as the best place to meet nice girls. Only problem is, work has zero single girls (ok - one but she has a name that will never work) and school has been a dud mostly. I've met tons of younger women at school, but that's not what I'm looking for. The only woman I've met at school that is the right type and that i've established a connection with, is either only interested in friendship or is not willing to engage in anything because she might be leaving the country for good in a month. That's depressing. Timing has never been kind to me.

They say London is the easiest city in the world to hook up in, but what about the guy that isn't just looking to hook up? Where are all the Bridget Jones'? If there is truly a legion of attractive, late 20's, single women in this city (this world), then why is it so difficult to meet them? I have answers to all of these questions, but none of them are satisfying. As Morpheus said, "It's the question that drives us."

At any rate, I'm still pretty positive about things all round. I have plenty of fun here, I work pretty hard, and I'm moving toward goals that I think are right for me. Things do fall in place every now and then. Some things have a tendency to happen when you least expect them as well. Of course, when I see plenty of average blokes with nice looking girlfriends, I do wonder - what did they do that I'm not doing? Or is it all random? I mean, does it really have anything to do with who you are, how you approach women, etc? So many people have stories about how they met their significant other at work or at school and that it was just happenstance. I'd like to think there is more to it than that. If it's all so random, then I feel like I'm making an effort that is completely futile. And, i think I'll leave it at that for now.