The Results

So I received the speed dating results. And straight off i can say I got 3 Ys! Woohooo some people like me in 3 mins. lol. What's interesting was who they were from, and the other results compared to what I put.

So here are their results compared to mine.

	On my Scorecard	On their Scorecard
No 1	F	F
No 2	N	F
No 3	Y	N
No 4	F	F
No 5	N	N
No 6	F	F
No 7	F	Y
No 8	N	0
No 9	F	Y
No 10		0
No 11	F	F
No 12	F	F
No 13	F	0
No 14	F	0
No 15	F	Y
No 16	F	F
No 17	Y	F

No matches with Ys unfortunately. Still very interesting, if you compare to what my initial thoughts on each girl were. So the one that stands out is the girl I put Y and she gave me a N. First off, WTF?! LOL! How could we both think so differently. It's just amazing how different opinions on encounters with other people can be. I thought we had gotten along, she laughed, I laughed, I thought there was a connection of some sort. I obviously read the signs wrong. lol.

I should mention something that happened with girl 3, is that she did interrupt my chat with Girl 4 to confirm my number, as she had filled her form apparently incorrectly. To understand, the guys are moving to each girl in chronological order the girls are seeing guys in reverse number order. So at the start I suppose it can be quite confusing, it's already fast paced as it is.

Plus knowing the guy in front of me was pretty much hated by all the girls. So she may have put the wrong thing for me, however.....it could also mean she wanted to make sure she put a N for me. So take it how you want. I'm taking the N as a confirmation, as for me, it's just quite funny how much different an encounter two people can see it. There's a chance I may see her again, even though I don't have her contact details. It depends on whether my friend invites her out to our nights out. If so, I won't confront her directly, unless she mentions it.

I can easily joke about it, diffuse any awkwardness. So if I read it all wrong, I'm thinking it maybe because she is just not looking for my type of person. Maybe due to my looks, type of personality or what have you, which is absolutely fine. 

I honestly didn't think girl 7 would put a Y for me, especially as I mentioned I didn't listen to half of what she said at one point. lol. Still I suppose I did feel we got along, with me being my usual jokey self. 

I knew Girl 9 would give me a Y, as for one thing we did spend the most time together, and she was very easy to chat to.

I'm also a bit surprised by Girl 15, the doctor! Blimey! It really does show the contrasts with what I had with Girl 3. I didn't think anything of it, she must of fancied me or something, I only made a few jokes. Sometimes you just shouldn't try too hard I guess, which I think is maybe what I did with girl 3.

And finally Girl 17, who I gave a Y  and she gave me a F. which I don't know what it means. lol. Again may she didn't see me in that light. 

So I do have the contact details for girls that were matched with a least a Y & F. And now I'm undecided as to who to contact. I have resorted to blog about it to give myself some perspective. (Incidentally we were allowed to leave early for work today, it's Easter weekend!!)

In theory I should contact girl 17, but I'm not sure. Should I contact all the ones with Y&F's together, I'm not the type to be a player. So I'm a bit confused as to what to do. The favourites I have to say are girl 7 and 17. Sigh.... I will make a step at some point, which choice I make could be life defining.

Speed Dating

I've come back from Hong Kong, and have been quite busy. To quickly get to the main point, a quick update on things.

So in Hong Kong I collected my $6k, opened up a new bank account, renewed my 3 year mandatory visit and some much needed time off. My last real holiday was to Venice with my ex a good two years ago, so it's felt good to not work. But now back in the UK in this crazy cold weather. Can't believe there's snow in March, and from the sounds of it the freezing temperatures will continue into April. Boooo......

So what the bulk of this entry will be about is that I went Speed Dating on Monday. Normally I would shun these opportunities, because I never really liked the way you are in a forced environment to meet other single people. But the concept felt interesting enough to try it out. It's like the trendy thing to do, and I was curious to see how it works.

I did need a push though, but all that was required was for my housemate to ask me to go. I didn't really need any more persausion. Who incidentally has settled into my spare room now. The cats are amazing and soo cute, and funny. I have fallen in love with them. However they seemed scared of me after I came back from HK so hopefully they'll warm to me again. I will most likely blog about them at some point.

So lets get into the nitty gritty of what happened. Overall speed dating was quite exhausting, and difficult to remember exactly what I talked about during the 3 mins with each girl. But I will try and summarise everything from the top of my head.

I believe some speed dating events differ slightly depending on the organisers. So you spend 3 mins with each girl, the organiser will blow a whistle to signal the end of the 3 mins and the guys have to move to the next girl. You're given a form to fill in as you go, and you write N for No, F for Friend, Y for Yes you are interested, and a section for your own comments if need be. You then have to give the form back at the end.

I was given a tip to take a picture of the form before giving it back. So that's what I did, because how else are you going to remember names. The organisers will send an email out to confirm who you've matched with.

The setup was not how I anticipated though. As I've seen in movies and tv shows that there are desks laid out one by one as you take turns. This was located in a bar, with booths seperating the people, however the booths were shared between 2 girls, so you can see the other couple talking as well.

So here is my run down on what I thought of the girls. It was a bit of a blur for some of them , but i'll do my best.

Girl 1: NHS, older. No one else asked about age, she was the only girl to and when I told her how old I was she said she felt old. So obviously she's older than me, with me being 29. F

Girl 2: In finance, for some reason felt awkward. I think becuase it was the start and everyone was trying to get in the swing of things. I think she mentioned she has been before.  N

Girl 3: Bubbly, seemed fun 3 mins went quick, which was a good sign. She had this thing about putting smiley faces for her own form. Then got started talking about each other before it was all over. So would like to see if i can continue our rapport. Funnily enough because she sat next to my friend and they got along. I may see her again regardless of what we picked, in future night outs. Y

Girl 4: As mentioned the next girl I already knew, so had a quick catchup and made a few jokes. It was really only my second time I've met her. So I am sort of trying to get to know her still. She's easy to talk to, but I don't know, there's something missing I feel. I know I'll see her again, so I can play it relatively cool with her. She seems like she wants to talk to me, but I'm not giving anything away. She is attractive, but I there's just no spark. F

Girl 5: Next girl is from China, and was difficult to talk to. I didn't find her that attractive, and with Language issue, I'm afraid I put a N for her.

Girl 6: Tall PR girl, fun. She ended up talking alot about her PR job. so it was quite hard to guage exactly what she is like. I only gave her an F, as I was a bit unsure and she is quite tall.

Girl 7: I had a mini chat with her before the event started, so we sorta carried on where we left off, easy to talk to. I'm ashamed to admit that I drifted off when she was talking about her position in IT, because I can see the next guy in front struggling with the girl in front. So hopefully she didn't see that I wasn't paying attention, but I think I recovered. :p F

Girl 8: So yes after seeing what happeend, I was a bit weary of this girl. And straight off I can see why. She was mainland china, and although her english was good, her answers were short, and was difficult to make way for a good conversation, I did try tho. In hindsight now, i think I may have been overly harsh. I maybe should have put an F. As i think she was trying to engage with me. Also the guy in front of me isn't the best candidate in the world, which did me some favours I suppose. So an N

Girl 9: Essex girl, seemed fun, easy to chat to. We got a bit lucky, because she was the last one before the break, so I sat to chat abit longer. As well as going back to her after the break which unfortunately caused me to skip the next one. I gave her an F, I'm thinking she may have put Y for me, but unfortunately I do not find her attractive, I know I'm horrible and shallow....

Girl 10: Skipped accidently. went to see her and a quick chat in the end, but she looked tired and disappointed it seemed. Would have been a N if I could have filled in the form.

Girl 11: Was warned by my friend about this next girl that she may be tired, and won't engage with you. She did look it but it seemed like she tried. And we did chat F

Girl 12: My Housemate, just chatted about how our nights were going. This was when I knew the guy in front was a bit sleazy and the other guys were not so great either. Which gives me a bit of confidence, but also felt abit bad for the girls. F

Girl 13: Singapore girl, conversation wasn't really flowing, she looked tired too. We tried to engage again and just chatted generally. I'm abit unsure how it went, but she was quite pretty. Rather than a typical Y just because she is prety, I gave her an F cos I don't think there was a click.

Girl 14: Hong kong girl, didn't look interested, or very enthusiastic. I remember not filling the form in for quite some time and as I filled it near the end I wasn't sure so I gave her an F, which is safe, but in hindsight probably should have been a N.

Girl 15: Doctor, talked about Kent, chat was flowing I think. She was definitely engaging, when it was me that was struggling. I got to the point where I ran out of things to say differently and I didn't want to to repeat myself, so I may not have come across very well with her. She definitely seemed older. Gave her an F

Girl 16: The extra sheet lady. Seemed fun and chatty, but also she was old, unfortunately the least attractive person there. I reckon she may have gotten a few Ns, but I felt like being nice and gave her an F, because honestly she seemed like she has a good personality.

Girl 17: The artist, she was a lot of fun, attractive, chatty and we seemed to get along. Again we got lucky because it was the final round so we talked a bit more even though it was over. I actually regret leaving her to chat to the girl I skipped. And she was the one I didn't write a name for on my sheet, before I took the photo, so I've forgotten her name.... plus I'm now thinking she may be too young as she is still studying... I still gave her a Y

So overall two Ys and 3 Ns officially. The rest Fs.

In hindsight, maybe I should have given some more Ns, as well as turning some of the Ns into Fs. It was hard to make quick snap decision sometimes... maybe I'm too nice.. I'm assuming most people just put down Fs anyway. It's a bit of a scapegoat, but it's the safest choice. 3 mins is not long to make a good judgement, but I suppose that part of the fun I guess.

I feel a bit confident knowing the calibre of the guys that were with me were not so great. I mean I know I'm not unattractive, I can make a joke, I can talk to girls with out blowing my balls. So I feel like I'm in good stead. I do feel bad for some of the girls, hopefully they met someone they felt had a connection.

So that was my experience. I mean it was a good experience, and I did have fun, but there's something demoralising out of it as well. You need to have a bit of a thick skin and able to take rejection well, because you will be rejected no doubt about it. You will not get along with everyone, but I suppose if you find someone it's all worth.

So we shall see once I get the feedback, and if it doesn't work out with any of them, then it's no problem. I probably wouldn't do it again in a hurry, I'll give it half a year probably.

Year of the Snake

Well again lots have happened since my last entry. I've been so busy there hasn't been a time to reflect and write any entries. First off, happy chinese new year! Gung Hay Fat Choi! I wish everyone a great year of prosperity with good health, wealth and love.

Now to update, the biggest thing was that I was made redundant in November, but thankfully I found another job quite quickly and started in December. The job is so much more busier than my previous jobs. I’ve had many late evenings at work. It’s only now I have a bit of a breather, it’s a bit weird not having that much to do at work now. It’s been a constant ride of work where now having little to do feels weird now. It’s probably a combination of it being in a quiet period, and I’ve become more efficient at what I’m doing.

One thing I like about the job other than that it is busy, are my colleagues. They are far more talkative that my previous colleagues, and I can have a laugh and banter with them. The environment is so much better than my previous workplace, where no-one talked at all. Quite happy where I have ended up. I just hope this company last a lot longer in this difficult economic environment. We have a parent company that is very rich in resources, and the company has already gone through a purging of costs and redundancies. So I hope I’ve come at a good time of recovery for them.

My house is coming along too, I had my house warming evening, on New Year’s Eve which went down really well. I had someone take my spare room but has left already. He came at a good time when I was not working and had to get someone quick to help me with paying my mortgage. So the income was much needed and really it was not necessary in the end as I found work quickly, and the fact the redundancy money came through as well. So I’ve bought more furniture, bought a WiiU,( which I’m mainly using to watch youtube), paid for flights to Hong Kong for myself and my mum. So I’m doing ok.

The spare room is not going to be left empty long as I’ll have a friend take it at the end of the month. Which was a cause of controversy amongst my friends, because she is an ex of one of my friends. People saying it may be awkward. Well I never thought of it like that until other people mentioned it, but I did talk to my mate and asked if it was cool for her to take my spare room, and he said it was. So all is ok. I mean she did asked me about my spare room before when I had someone already, so when he left. I contacted her and asked her if she wanted the room now. So it wasn’t as though I seeked her out.

The addition is that she owns 2 cats. Even though they split up she could part with the cats so she had to take them both with her. Hopefully the 2 cats will be fine in my house. I have resigned the fact that the sofa will get destroyed, but luckily the sofa was given to me, so no expense lost. And I probably won’t replace the sofa any time soon. My bedroom will have to stay closed just in case, but she says they’re house trained and well looked after. She ultimately takes responsibility for them, but I’ll help out when I can. And it’ll be cool to have cats around the house to be honest. I’ve never had a proper pet in my life so it will be cool to be entertained by cats being cute and all.

So this is will be it for the mini update. I’ll be off home for the weekend to have my chinese new year meal with my family. Most people had theirs last weekend, and I really should have had it last weekend, but my sister was still in Malaysia so we had to time it for her return. Incidentally she is engaged now! My big sis is finally getting married. More things to talk about in future entries if I can find the time and effort to write.

Eternal Sunshine

Lack of entries in this blog again due to being busy. I did actually start many blog entries, but I've not finished them and by the time I get back to it, I feel like it's too old and I've progressed to something else.

One thing to announce is I've moved in. Horray! I've moved in for about a month now and i love it. It's not the largest of houses, but it's mine, mine, mine, mine! :D There are endless amounts of tasks to do on the place, which suits me fine. Painting is mostly done, still a few furniture to get. Just last weekend I built my tv stand, and I'm very proud of it, even though I didn't have the screw driver to fix a particular connection. So I'm quite settled in now, and will try to get someone in to rent the spare room. Although I like being on my own and having the whole place to myself, it's better to have the extra income.

I have Fibre Optic broadband! Hello 69mb! Full 1080p HD movies are downloaded in half an hour now. Love it! Therefore I've been testing out my new LED HDTV, just yesterday I watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is what the bulk of this entry will be about. Now I've not watched that film for quite some time, and I couldn't really relate to the protagonists the first time round. Rewatching it now it struck more of a chord.

I won't explain the whole movie, but it's about erasing your memory. Specifically memories of an ex. Imagine having the option to be able to erase parts of your memory. It's an interesting concept and allows to provide a poignant film. It was artistically shot, had a fantastic script and very well acted by Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet and the rest of the supporting cast. The main journey of the film was going through Joel's (Jim carrey) process in erasing all his memories of his ex Clementine (Kate Winslet).

He lives the memories one last time before they get erased, and we get to experience and learn how their relationship ended to how it started. We understand why they didn't work out, but we got glimpses of how it worked and why they loved each other. As he lives through each memory again, he realises it was the wrong decision in erasing his memories of her, because he still likes some of them, he wants to cherish the positive moments. So he tries to fight the process of his memories being erased.

The way they showed the memories of couple's arguing, experiencing their good and bad moments was very realistic and relate-able now.  Joel is a boring, nice, sensible type, Kate was the fun, impulsive, out going type. In a sense they are polar opposites yet seemingly fit very well with each other. So as I watched the film, all the good and bad moments in my past relationships came back. What made it more strange to me was how Clementine's character was similar to my last ex. They both have self esteem issues, maybe signs of a bipolar or a personality disorder. Either case it can be a difficult relationship to work with, which is what happened with both in their story and in mine.

****Spoilers**** for the next few paragraphs you have been warned

After both their memories have been erased they managed to meet each other again, and they rekindled their relationship again, knowing that it failed in the past. That's where the film ends. Whether it fails again or not we do not know. It's left to our interpretation. I like to think that they learnt from their mistakes and have a better relationship this time round, but something tells me they revisit all the bad stuff again and will continue the cycle of erasing their memories of each other and finding each other again. So in a sense they will be with each other forever but in a constant cycle. They do get to experience the best parts of the relationship which is discovering each other for the first time every time.

****Ends Spoilers****

It was a positive film for me though, because there is hope at the end. The message of cherishing your most positive memories of each other. Keeping your memories whether good or bad is what determines how you are today. Realise where you did right or gone wrong, is character building.

In terms of me in finding a new relationship. I am ready to move on, I just need to get myself out there. I went out for the first time in ages on Friday and met a girl, but even though she has a boyfriend, I teased and flirted, and got a bit of feedback. Obviously I didn't pursue, but it was nice to experience and get the attention I needed to know I still have value. The problem is getting myself out there, I'm in no rush.

Free Time!

It's been a while, but I am back. Still busy, but found a quiet time at work, with not much to do being Friday and all, I thought I'd update my blog.

First off I'll talk about my exam. I took a week off work and I went to a local library every day to study. This was much needed, because I can get distracted very easily if I stayed at home to study. Luckily for me a new library just opened up quite recently in my area. It've witness the building take shape in the months that it had taken to be built. So it was the first time to enter the building and experience a new library. To say the least it's a not a conventional looking building as you can see in the picture above. It's definitely style over substance.

The interior is overly extravagant, with a lot of empty space. There is a looping staircase that goes to the first floor, that takes up a large amount of space. I think it looks cool, but in doing so, there becomes a less space for potentially more important things. Because of this it means that there is a lower capacity for room to study.  Luckilly again I'm an early bird and I can find a seat easily around 9am/10am, but within the hour there will be no more seats left. Granted this is probably the peak time for people as there are exams for everyone coming up not just me. The library gets worse when school kids come in as well around 2pm. I had got up for one moment and my seat was stolen! I believe the staff told a lot of the kids off in doing so. Another chair was found for me anyway, but it was annoying.

Regardless it allowed me to study better and when it came to the exam, I believe it overall went well. I will find out the results in September, until then I am free!

In terms of the house situation. I'm now waiting on a set date to complete! As I've handied over signed contracts and pass over 10% of the deposit! I can not wait to move now! The process has been soo long, I'm thankful that the wait is nearly over. It's still touch and go, because my flatmate will be moving out too at the end of this month and I really need to move out before her, otherwise it could get a bit complicated. We are both using the same solicitor so he is aware of the siutation and is confident for me, which provides me some relief.

In my freetime, I've been playing tons of Diablo 3, watching the Euros and have actually done a bit of running for once. I swear I need to go for a run more often. I rarely do any exercise. Granted I'm not exactly fat, in fact most people will tell me to put on weight. I still want to be fitter. Being single and all again I feel need to shape up to be more attractive, and feel more confident about myself. I'll do more once I've moved, probably setup a mini gym in the garage for myself.