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.

Here we go again!

It's been awhile but I think it's time to hit my blog again. Mainly because I find it is very therapeutic to write about myself and just reflect. Also I have some time again now, that being I'm single again, and that work is a bit slow at the moment.
I can say that I've been very busy this past year and a half. So I think I'll slowly write and tell exactly what has happened in my life since then, as well as write about my current thoughts. I’m pretty much the happy go lucky type still, nothing that much has change, in fact, I feel like I’m back where I’ve started but with more experience and a more mature outlook in life. Yet I’m still immature when I can and want to be.

I’m not too sure where to start but maybe will talk a bit about everything for now and then go into more details later. For now I'll start with:

Girl troubles

It’s very hard to say, because I feel it’s like a very complicated issue in why we couldn’t work it out. I suppose I am still not sure exactly what went wrong with our relationship, but I can say that we tried. Even though in her eyes I probably didn’t try hard enough. I tend to agree with her to a degree, yet ultimately it felt that what I did was never truly enough to satisfy her needs, and she has many needs and deserves much better than I could give to her. She rode me hard (literally as well, ahem) which was unnecessary and arguably unreasonable. I was not able to reason with her and I feel that was the ultimate downfall. I was always the one to give in, but whenever I stood my ground we would have the worst possible fights. Should I have to be the one to be constantly be abused? Sigh, I‘ve not put her in a good light already, when in fact she can be the most lovely girl. She has problems and I can look past them, but she is not reasonable.

I suppose more later, details and more personal stories, hopefully a bit more positive.

More recently I went out on Friday night with a few friends because my mate just wanted to, and it was the first time I went out in quite a while for a proper drink session. Met a new girl and she seems quite nice, but I'm not interested. I swear players can easily pick up girls who are looking for a guy. I feel it can be quite easy sometimes, as all you have to do is show a lot of interest and treat them out and give them plenty of attention. Not saying all are like this, but there are plenty that are. I'm not the best looking guy, but when someone has a slight interest in you, you have to grab it by quickly or it'll slip away. I normally always let them slip away. The girl has to impress me as much as I have to impress her.

Of course she could just be very friendly and I’m being deluded, as per my blog, hehe. My friend says it’s all a numbers game, he’ll just print off a ton of business cards and just hand them out to random girls he sees on the street. Which is hilarious, I don't think he'll go through with it but I'd be interested in the results, purely for science. ;) 

First world problems at its finest. In this day and age living in a fast moving city in the age of the internet, it can be a strange time to try and find love. Internet dating seems to be the current trend, but I don't quite like the forced environment, I feel like nothing quite beats actually hooking up with people randomly. The trouble is meeting those specifics to create a random environment for a particular outcome to happen. No matter what, it’s really down to you controlling what you do, if you don’t get yourself out there, then you will not get anything. Go out there and make a fool of yourself in a bar/club, go to many social gatherings, join clubs, etc. It’s down to having fun though, regardless if it’s outside your comfort zone. I hear and see people moaning about being single, but normally it is themselves to blame. Make your own luck.

I’ve liken to a website called Reddit, which I will probably dedicate a blog entry all on its own. In particularly I’d like to point out a sub group, solely for sharing experiences in the art of seduction, or at least tips and experiences in trying to get with the other sex. They refer themselves as Seddit. It’s enlightening and very interesting.  It’s like they have create a new language for themselves when talking about how to woo the other side. The game is always being played, and it’s quite fascinating. Even if it's a bit crude and they're solely in it to get as many as they can. They do tell much truth.

In any case my point of view at the moment, is that I’m not going to make effort for now, I’m quite content with where I am with my life right now, amongst other things to sort out. Women can come later, or it can hit me in the face or not regardless how much older I'll be getting. Love as they say can come at any age.

Happy Go Lucky

So much for trying to keep a regular blog. I have a lot of crap in my mind, I should have multiple entries. Yet another one of my character flaws of not continuing what I started, also that fact that I'm freaking lazy.

I will probably write some more later, but for now a few things to update and ponder, mainly girls this time round.

I went to a friends birthday on Saturday, it was the usual gathering of people with some new faces. Now I have never really spoken to my friend's sister, we acknowledge each other like say hi but never sat down properly and have a chat.

There are reasons for this as I'll explain later. So it was the first time I spoke to her and we seemed to get along well, there was I thought a connection. At least I felt like she was giving me signals, however, I now believe I thought wrong.

Anyway yesterday I actually asked her out, but she said she wasn't looking for a relationship. I replied back that I'm very casual, not really looking just wanted to get to know her a bit better. So we are now exchanging emails and finding out how similar we actually are. For instance, we both very much go with the flow type of person. This in terms of finding relationships can be a problem with both of us. At least I never really go out of my way to look for relationships, if something comes along then so be it. She's much like that. However, I would never pass an opportunity if I didn't see one, if something could be developed, which is why I'd ask them out. I'm quite a tranditionalist, in the sense that the man has to take the 1st step, pay for the meal on the date etc. It helps though if the girl can gives us some hints tho.

In this case, it was playful mild flirting, but she does not actually want any of the attachments. In a sense she is more of a bloke than me. lol I totally get where she is coming from, being in a relationship, can hold you down, be a hassle, having to please the opposite partner and you can not do whatver you want. I can see us being friends, as I can tell she is a very independant woman. If we were together, I don't think it'd be called a relationship. I mean from what my impression is, we'll end up doing our own thing, then occasionally meet up and have sex... actually that sounds brilliantly maybe I'll jokingly suggest that. lol.

Another thing is she doesn't like chinese boys, simply becuase I believe her parents wants her to get with one. It's again being forced, so her reason is that she'll be single instead. Well good for her, I'm not the one to argue. I mean Chinese people are quite incestuous! We swap and change relationships in the same large circle like anything, if you see another chinese person, it's very likely they'd know someone you know, it's like only 2 or 3 degrees of seperation, which is really off putting. This was a case for another girl I got along with, but because she went out with one of my closer friends, even though it didn't go anywhere, I would not go there now.

Another girl who I'm sort of in contact with, which I suppose I see as a potential, but the problem there is she was having a hard time getting over her split from her now ex, when I actually asked her out. She recently tweeted that she is now over him, however I haven't really stayed in contact, so I'm not going to force a conversation again. I need her to make the move, if she has any interest. Maybe at some point I'll ask her how she is, but I'm not going to force anything. I'm funny like that.

Workwise, there has been talks of me moving to work in another department once my contract expires. Although this is not a permanent position, it still keeps me working till my holiday to HK in September. Then there is also a possible interview for a role at MWB Holdings on Monday. This is a permanent position and it covers all the experience I have done till now, so it is an easy fit, only problem would be progression. As I could be stuck doing that role for a good while, but it's permanent and it should be comfortable, I'll find out more if I get an interview.

That would mean leaving Rio Tinto, which I love and adore, through which I have met some great people. Plus I'd miss the free lunches, however I need a permanent position, so I can eventually get a mortgage and also develop my career more. As with everything I'll take each day as it comes.

I'm not sure if I should change my happy go lucky attitude, it sort of makes me what I am. Although I suppose I should take more control of my future and look further than just a day's ahead.