Of Sunburns and Phone Calls

I awoke this morning feeling both tired and refreshed. Possibly more refreshed then I've been on awakening for many a time.

This was probably due to the delightful phone call I had last night. Many of you may not know that I'm not really a fan of phone calls, in much the same way I'm not really a fan of online chats.

I find I speak best and enjoy speaking the most when I can read and use the other channels of human communication, body language, inflection, postioning, etc. And while you do get inflection and timing in a phone call, I feel blinded a little somehow. And lets not mention online chats. Sure emoticons help, but they'er just not the same.

Anyway, to really understand the delightful phone call last night, some background is in order.

Briefly. In November I went to three weddings, one accompanynig someone (hi ladythumper) and the other two "stag". In both cases I had mentioned my "singleness" to the primaries, lamented at the lack of single women in my social circles, and in both cases it had been pointed out to me that one of the bridesmaids was also "single".

So I armed with this knowledge I attended the weddings with possibilities in mind.

At the first wedding, my brothers, the possibility was not. Definitively. But at the second the possibility was. Nicely.

So I found a moment, was blown away by her eyes, and burbled at her (lets call her C). I mentioned that I was single, that I'd been told she was single, that I was intrigued, that I was hideously busy for the next couple of weeks and a little later asked for her number and reitereated that I wouldn't call for almost three weeks.

Which then proceeded to float by, with fun and not fun moments, lots of driving and a continued accumulation of entries in my pre-Xmas social calendar.

Which brings us up to Wednesday last week. Which I'll start up from very shortly as this entry has become a lot longer than I expected.

More to come soon, I promise.

Sunburn and Phone Call continued

So wednesday (actually a quick backtrack to the previous week. I sent a quick SMS to say to C I hadn't forgotten her and would be calling on Wednesday. She replied it was great to hear from me and was looking forward to it)

So Wednesday I deliver the loverly ladythumper off to the airport and send her winging home to CA, USA. And in the evening I call up C and we attempt to find some time in our busyish social calendar for some time together. My first thought of a movie on Friday is not possible due her having a friend over for dinner. So on Thursday evening we settle on Brunch on sunday, as I have a favourite Breakfast cafe in Posonby and a probable birthday party later in the day.
I also mention the birthday party Saturday night that I'm going to be at (as well some other people that C knows). "But," I warn, "I've already promised a friend (female), crash space at my place after the party". C says she'll talk to her friend that will be going at thus might see me there.

Friday drifts by with work and a lazy evening and then Saturday dawns with the arrival of some DVD's I'd been hanging out for, then a lunchtime BBQ and then on to the birthday party. Yay for pools on humid days. and the party goes well.

About 7 pm I'm wandering back through the house and notice that C and friends have arrived so I sit and begin to natter, and good talking happens, along with nice drinking, which also leasd to me being a bit bold and a couple of "stolen" kises. Which surprises C a bit, but not too much. Fun evening in the end.

Skip to Sunday. (other stuff happens in the middle which isn't really germane to this story)

Pick C up and we go to brunch. Good food and oncversation is had followed by a wandering to a loverly outdoor spot for more conversation and little unsuredness on my part as where I should place myself in C personal space. Meander down to have ice creams and more talking at another senic spot.

We then notice that the majority of the afternoon has slipped by and both of us do have things we had planned to do for the evening. Despite that, we decide to go to a movie. I drop C off at home so she can run some chores and I head home to discover the movie times.

Which proves to be in less than an hour and when I call C her flatmate isn't around for the errand she wanted to run anyway. So I head back, pick her up and we head off to see "Love Actually". A most excellent movie, funny, romantic, and bittersweet with a wonderful intertwining of 3 or 4 story threads. We laugh together, comment similarly and have noticed similar points when the movie finally ends.

We also notice that we've both caught a bit more sun than we'd thought during our wanderings during the day (ta, da, Sunburn). A simple takeaway dinner eatne in the local park (with encroaching insects) and the day and evening is over all too soon.

I remind C that I've busy Monday and Tuesday nights and say I'll call on Wednesday again to arrange some more time together in the weekend.

I get home and manage to do very little during the rest of the evening, but am happy.

Agin this post has turned out longer than I thought so shortly (or possibly after this work meeting I've got in 10 minutes) I'll get onto the actual Phone call.

And now the Phone Call after the sunburn

So then Monday happens. Wake up feeling good. Work just happens. Igo to a lunch meeting with little substance and am a bit nauseus so I beg off the other meeting I have to run on the grounds I'm not sure I could cope with being the center of it.
More work happens and then I head home.

As noted previously I am busy this evening, with roleplaying actually, and the session goes fine. some of the characaters are a little (well, okay, a lot) stupid and one of the characters is unlucky enough to get killed. Bummer. but was still enjoyable, especailly as the dead character wasn't mine. :-)

So that ende up around 11pm and I went home. I sat down at the computer for a little destressing (playing "Knights of the Old Republic", a really good Star Wars based CRPG). A few moments later the phone rings and it's C.

Colour me pleasantly surprised. And as I said before I'm not really one for long phone conversations, but this turned into a great one. Rambling, moving on and off topic, full of humour, feeling, joke and sincerity.

C said that after sunday she had felt like her senses had been assaulted / overloaded and after she recovered from that she had been thinking about me, or us, or sunday a largish portion of the day. And that had been distracting from work. And then she'd been thinking about what she was feeling while thinking about, ....

She'd almost sent me an SMS (which when she read it out to me, was one that would have made my day in many ways) and when she'd rung she'd prepared a message to leave on the answering machine, but instead I'd answered and so we had a conversation.

The gist of the conversation was it was a "TALK". But a good talk, a talk that clears the air, makes clear the thoughts, hopes, worries, insecurities, feelings, responses and memories of both parties. C had done some processnig of the events of Sunday (and Saturday night too) and some personal analysis of her own reactions through Monday. She asked me some pertinent and/or deep questions, listened to and commented on my answers and answered questions I had.

Information was imparted, understanding was improved, clarification was provided. Fears and insecurities were aired. Honesty and self-knowledge was attempted. Tolerance and support was given. Past restraint and excesses were acknowledged.

It was glorious.

Potentialities are possible, failure is unwanted but is acceptable. Fun will be sought and hurt avoided. There is interest and uncertaintly.

There is a willingness to see what happens with as few expectations and limitations as is possible.

Wheeeee..