Dear Diary

Happy New Year to you 🙂 Let’s catch up on everything that happened over New Years.

The day before New Year’s Eve, Karate Kid sent me a message:

“What time you finish work tomorrow? Actually are you free for a call now?“

I replied soon after with: “Yes xo”

When I answered his call he still sounded unwell with his head cold. We were meant to spend the weekend together but he needed to conserve his energy for the New Year’s dance party. During the phone call he asked me what I was doing prior to the dance party. Earlier that day I had already made plans with a girlfriend to meet at a restaurant close by just beforehand. Karate Kid sounded a little disappointed and I tried as best I could to keep sweet when I expressed to him that we could have done something nice if he had asked me sooner than the day before. The phone call was a short one and ended with me feeling frustrated.

Four hours later I realised that I had wanted to talk with him about dance classes in 2018. I wanted to get myself sorted for the new year so I sent him a message:

“Hello again cuddly raccoon
I just remembered that I was planning to talk to you this wknd about dance classes for next year. I don’t think we’ll get a chance to talk about it so I’ll text you instead.
I’m looking at doing classes with XXX. I think I’d have to do the Tues night intermediate class. I don’t think I’m at the level where I could do the upper intermediate on Thurs nights which is more at your level.
I’ve been keeping Tues nights free for you. Spending time with you is really important to me. If I could get to an upper intermediate level quickly then that’d make things better. But I’m not sure how long that’d take.
What are your thoughts?”

An hour later, he replied:

“Hello, snowflake…..I think you should be fine in upper intermediate….. we could talk to XX to find the class you should be in. Either way, you should do a class.

I’m still sorting out what i am doing next year in regards to dancing and martial arts. Spending time with you is important too. Which night are you the most free next year. Have you sorted out what you are doing tonight?”

The two things that I really liked about his message were that he called me snowflake again (instead of wabbit) and spending quality time with me was also important to him. Sometimes I think that we communicate better in writing than we do in person….

I replied:

“I was thinking that it’d be really nice to do the class together because you were thinking of going back to dancing, but I wouldn’t want to hold you back if we need to be in different levels. I think it’s a good idea to talk to XX to see what options there are.

Next year I am looking at doing [women’s style dance] with XX. It’s on Wednesday nights. The other schools do Tues nights only. So XX is a good match if you’re still doing wrestling on that night. I like how classy and tasteful they are when they dance so it’s a school that I’m happy to dance with.

Tonight I won’t go dancing so that I’ll be in as close to peak form for tomorrow night
Xo”

He didn’t reply which meant he was going out dancing or staying sleeping to rest up for New Years Eve. I decided to go for an evening walk by the water. I actually bumped into some dance friends whilst I was out and ended up having dinner with them. My housemate reported the next day that Karate Kid did go out dancing.

The next day Karate Kid sent a message:

“Morning snowflake! I’m thinking after dancing….rest up at your place then head to XX look out to see the sun rise for the new year :)”

I loved the sound of the idea so agreed.

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A couple of things happened on 31st that I should note….

On Facey, one of Karate Kid’s sisters liked two photos from my birthday party of us together! this is major! she obviously is either suspicious of who I am or knows that I am dating her brother. The same photos were also liked by one of his best friend’s wife a few days beforehand. I’ve never met her either but I know that she knows exactly who I am and is very interested in meeting me.

Whilst online, I made the decision to send Shy Guy a message to thank him for transferring the money for my birthday party (which he didn’t end up going to). I felt that that would be less awkward than thanking him in person:

“Hello Shy Guy 🙂 happy Christmas and happy almost New Year. I just wanted to let you know that I received your transfer. Thank you for sending it through, I do feel bad that you didn’t get to actually enjoy the event. Shall see you on the D-floor tonight 🙂“

I also received a random message from an old friend from years ago, the Radiologist. I mentioned him the last time he contacted me in August – Light Sabors and Zorb Balls – Entry 112. Back then he sent a message saying hi and letting me know that he was going on holiday to Asia with his partner. He’s the one that I went out on a few dinners with years ago before learning that he had a girlfriend in another city.

This time, The Radiologist was excited to tell me that he was in Argentina and had also been to Antarctica. He asked me which city I’d be based in for 2018 (like he usually does in his occasional message every few years). He then said that he wanted to learn Spanish and take up dancing again. I have a feeling that the ulterior motive for him contacting me is so that he can practice Spanish with me later…but we will see if he follows through with his New Year’s resolution.

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Let’s move on now to New Year’s Eve party. It was a bit weird in that Karate Kid didn’t know how to act around me. I was wearing one of my old performance outfits. It’s kind of similar to the picture below, but a different colour. Did it make him nervous?

Maybe he didn’t want to suffocate me and deter other men from asking me to dance? Either way, in my humble opinion, it wasn’t obvious to people that we were together.

There were two dance floors with different style on them. I found myself getting stuck on the second dance floor as people kept asking me to dance when I would go to find water. This meant that for most of the night I was on a different dance floor to Karate Kid.

Whilst dancing on the second dance floor a guy that I’ve known for ages asked me to dance. He was really excited to see me again. I think I may have mentioned him a very long time ago, like maybe early 2017. He’s The Photographer who seemed interested and then didn’t follow through. Well, on NYE I couldn’t tell if he was still interested or just being friendly. He asked me if I liked to travel with people and also said how he always travels with other people. Later in the night he made a point of telling me that I was ‘perfect height’ (for him). He is friends with Karate Kid. This made me irritated because Karate Kid should be declaring to the world that we are seeing each other.

Whilst I was talking to The Photographer, Karate Kid came to the second dance floor and two women who clearly knew him went over to say hello to him. They were too friendly for my liking. I tried to keep in the conversation with The Photographer without glancing over at these women leaning on Karate Kid. It was rather challenging and seeing them giving him attention was starting to make me jealous. One then grabbed Karate Kid for a dance (this was the style that he doesn’t like much). I watched in my peripheral vision whilst maintaining eye contact and looking interested in the conversation with The Photographer. After the first dance the other woman then asked Karate Kid to dance. Both women had their mid-drifts showing and mini skirts…..I decided that I didn’t like either of them. What made me feel more comfortable about the situation was that Karate Kid wasn’t lapping up the attention and I felt that in comparison to both of them I was by far the superior choice (as catty as it sounds, it was true and that’s what I needed to get through that difficult situation).

Eventually, Karate Kid left the second dance floor and went back to the main dance floor. He didn’t interrupt the conversation that I was having with The Photographer. The Photographer asked me for another dance and I said yes. As we danced I saw the back of Plain Jane Peasant Maiden walking to the main floor!! I had been thinking about her all night and hoping that she would have something else planned for the evening. Just seeing the back of her made me feel so threatened – she was going to dance with Karate Kid! I needed to get to the main dance floor so that I could observe e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!

I did try to get to the main floor but people kept asking me to dance as I made my way off the dance floor. Eventually, The Photographer asked me to dance again and understood my predicament. He said that if I gave him another dance that he would escort me to the main dance floor to stop men asking me to dance – deal.

When we made it to the main dance floor he insisted on dancing with me to the other style which was not his preferred style. After one dance I excused myself to the lady’s room.

At the main dance floor, Karate Kid was there (not dancing with Plain Jane Peasant Maiden…..but had I missed it?) and there was also Shy Guy.  Shy Guy asked me for a dance and said that he had the gift for me. I felt a little awkward because I didn’t know what it was exactly and didn’t want to seem too excited about it. He also didn’t make an attempt to retrieve it for me then and there which made me suspicious that he may have wanted to give it to me alone….I thanked him for the dance and moved on to the next person.

Whilst dancing, I saw Plain Jane Peasant Maiden make a bee-line for Karate Kid. She gave him a big hug to say happy new year. Karate Kid looked over to me dancing and saw me looking at them both (I’m sure the look on my face was frightening). He briefly had a chat and then they parted ways…..hmmmm, I don’t like being the neurotic/psychotic character of the story, but I don’t like the idea of them interacting so won’t be giving him my blessing to be friends with her again. Sorry Janey, but I still don’t trust you despite how plain and non-threatening your appearance may be.

There was another guy at the party who I’d met once before in February 2017 at a group lunch. Let’s call him the Snowboarder because that is one of his passions. He was really excited to see me again and asked me for a few dances. He was a bit too enthusiastic for my liking. It made me irritated again at Karate Kid for not being a bit more possessive and declaring to the world that we were an item.

Finally, the count down came. My newly single girl friend, Nice Guy, Karate Kid and I set off some party poppers and then joined everyone on the main dance floor for a conga line. Everyone wished everyone else a happy new year and eventually the dance music started again.

During one of the dances with Karate Kid he kissed me. I liked it because that is what he should be doing, but I also felt a bit awkward because that’s not how I wanted Shy Guy to discover that Karate Kid and I were seeing each other. The Photographer and The Snowboarder were chatting together so I don’t think that they noticed anything.

At about 1AM, I decided that it was my home time. Shy Guy hadn’t approached me with a gift and I felt it rude to leave without saying goodbye or giving him a chance to give it to me. But, I also wanted to make sure that he understood that he needed to give it to me in front of Karate Kid.

I told Karate Kid that I was going and so he said he would walk me to my car. I said that I wanted to say goodbye to friends and so he followed me. When I got to Shy Guy, Karate Kid was about a metre behind me. I gave him a hug goodbye and wished him happy new year. He looked a bit tense and didn’t mention anything about the gift so I let things be and kept saying goodbye to others.

Karate Kid walked me to my car and then went back to continue dancing. I felt a bit jealous that he may take the opportunity to dance with Plain Jane Peasant Maiden seeing as I wouldn’t be there. I tried to keep calm and positive – he was, after all, coming home to me that night.

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Karate Kid only stayed at the party for about 45 minutes. When he arrived at my place and got settled we only had about 2 hours before we needed to wake up to catch the sunrise at the look out….

Let me just say that just getting up at 4AM was an act of love on my part as it was a very uncomfortable experience for me (bordering on torture). I wanted to support Karate Kid and his thoughtful idea though, so I did it…….what I also did (keeping in mind that I only had 2 hours of sleep….) was give him the wrong back-seat-driver directions to the lookout…..this was not intentional, I legitimately thought that we needed to take a particular exit…..

We were already running behind because it took me a little while to get out of bed at 4AM! Karate Kid, having not had much sleep himself decided to call off the new year sunrise from the lookout as we weren’t going to make it on time. I felt really terrible because it was my fault. I would have been happy to still go to the look out to see the city as the sun came up. Karate Kid was very irritated though and drove us straight home….ooopsies. I apologised multiple times on the way home but he kept his eyes focused on the road and would reply ‘It’s fine’ which really meant that it wasn’t fine. His body language backed up this theory also.

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On the first of January 2018 there were some messages that I must share with you:

At 2:42AM, Shy Guy sent a message:

“I’m sorry that I didn’t give you your present, was a bit awkward since it wasn’t small and things. Probably should just chat sometime to explain. 🙂 “

Hhmmmm not ‘small and things’ – what exactly does that mean? and we need a ‘chat’ to ‘explain’? Maybe he needs for me to tell him in person that I am seeing Karate Kid? I could do that and he definitely deserves that honesty. I didn’t want to talk about it the next morning when I read the message (after returning from the failed look out sunrise trip) because I was with Karate Kid and didn’t want an awkward phone call.

I waited until about lunch time and sent:

“Good morning and happy new year Shy Guy
That’s alright. We can talk some time about it 🙂“

 

Do you remember Mr Lady’s Man? The one from Inaugural Anastasia Says ‘No’ Day – Entry 147 in October? Well, he was at the New Year’s Eve party but didn’t ask me to dance. He sent a message on Facey:

“Happy New Year! Apologies, I didn’t grab you for a dance at the party last night. Realised we not danced in a while & just wanted to say it entirely circumstances, so I’m really not avoiding you …honest  I’ve known some people who get funny about that kind of thing. Anyway, hopefully we’ll run into each other sometime in this new year “

I replied:

“Happy New Year Mr Lady’s Man! haha not a problem at all. I have hardly set foot on a dance floor in the past few months so that’s mostly why we haven’t danced. I will always say yes when asked to dance so nothing to worry about. I hope that you are enjoying the start of 2018 “

He definitely wants to start conversation again:

“I thought that …but it’s always good to hear  Enjoying the start of 2018? Naturally, how could you not enjoy something brand new & shinny! Are you a fan of making those yearly resolutions and goals?“

Hhmmm he seemed pretty harmless and I do enjoy dancing with him. I can just keep my messages concise with little to no new information:

“Haha it is very new and shiny! so far so good 🙂 I only have small resolutions. I generally do good things all year round. How about you?“

 

I’m sure that you also remember Mr Smooth I?

I’ve been ignoring his messages for about two weeks. On the 18th December I sent him a reply to his message from the 10th December. I wrote only in Spanish as he said that he was going to learn it in 2018.

His reply on Watsapp on 20th December was:

“Girl. That is a lot of Spanish too soon. Have you been dancing this holiday season?“

I didn’t reply. On 26th December he sent another message:

“Merry Christmas you 😉 I’m back in town, let’s dance 😉“

I also ignored this text, I was planning to reply eventually. On 1st Januar he sent a text message to my mobile:

“Happy new year 🎊🎆 you 🙂“

I didn’t feel like replying that day because I was extremely tired. On 2nd January he sent me a message on Facey:

“Happy new year “

By this point I was feeling a bit rude so did send him a happy new year message back.

 

The Spaniard also sent me a message wishing me a happy new year. I sent him one back as well pretty much saying the same thing.

 

I must also give you an update on Nice Guy. It seems like him and my newly single friend are really getting along well. I am so pleased for them both. They aren’t official yet, but they have been talking a lot on our group chat and have also met up a couple of times for casual things like shopping. We will both have to watch this space 😉

 

Anastasia

 

 

IMAGE: [JANA GOUTHOVA] 123RF.COM