I no longer require appointments with The Couch. A couple of days ago I had what was to be one of my last appointments with The Couch. Over my last several visits we have slowly been running out of things to talk about. I am happy with my life. The quirks that led me to first begin seeing the couch are now under control thanks to medication. Nothing more can really be done.
I have come to accept that the level of quirkiness/anxiety levels is at a very manageable level. Yes, I do sometimes lose it, but that's normal. Apparently my anxiety disorder isn't even defined as a disorder any more. The group of smarty pants people who decide such things apparently voted it out of 'crazy' and moved it down into just one 'one of those' personality quirks. It is no-longer considered something that can be 'fixed', but just a quirk that can be managed. I can deal with that.
On this same day I also had a coffee date. Several weeks earlier I has sent a guy (The Bartender) on a chat site a contact request and he had messaged me back asking for my number. Figuring 'what the hell' I gave it to him. Following several weeks of trying to arrange a day to meet (neither of us seemed to be in town at the same time) we finally settled on Tuesday the 26th at the same cafe where I had met Mr 1984.
I arrived first. Waiting outside I was very nervous, as I always am with meeting new people. The Bartender and I had never even chatted online or had any contact other than the texts arranging the date. I knew nothing. He knew nothing.
When he arrived we ordered coffee's and found a seat in one of the booths. I was amazed at how relaxed I was once I sat down. My self confidence has grown so much in the past year that it still manages to leave me absolutely amazed.
We drank out coffee's, The Bartender commenting on my shaking hands (a side effect of my anxiety medication) which I explained away as 'my thing' with a story about needing to have my all my speech cards during high school on a key ring, so that when I eventually dropped them due to my shaking hands at least they would be easy to put back in order.
The Bartender and I chatted for about an hour before he had to leave for work. He is 26 years old and doing a Bachelor (?) of Public Relations (?) at Uni whilst bartending. He moved down here from Melbourne to go to Uni.
I will mention a rather odd thing happened during our meeting. About halfway through, a fellow diner came and asked for The Bartenders autograph, which he gave. When the other diner had left, I said to The Bartender 'Well I think you're going to have to explain that one.' Apparently the bartender is something of a local boxer. Since I forgot to ask his last name however I couldn't do any googling and find out if there is some truth to this or not. Someone at work suggested that this was an attempt to impress me. I have to say, if that was the case, it didn't exactly work that way. It just made it another odd thing to happen at this particular Cafe. The last time I had met an internet random there the staff apparently took a photo of us. Perhaps the combination of Jess Carlson + Internet Random + This Cafe = Weirdness. Maybe I'm jinxed.
The Couch suggested that having the prospect of this coffee date is one of the reason that I had no trouble moving on from Mr Good-Company. I must admit that I was thinking this as well. I'm of the opinion that the meeting went well. At this stage I think I'll be seeing him again, though my hopes are certainly not as soaring as they were when I first met Mr Good-Company. I learn my lessons. I do however remain hopeful. The Bartender is away for the next week or so visiting his family in Melbourne. As too what happens when he returns, I shall just have to wait and see.
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