A Birthday Worth Having...

We went to Jamie's Italian and it was bloody good. I know I said that I was going to stop talking about it last time I spoke to you, but do you know how good Jamie's is? Expensive, the correct portions, and no one went away saying that was too much, and no one was too full, despite Red saying she was but the steak she was eating was just too good to stop eating...

We had about four bottles of Merlot between the four/five vino rosso drinkers. And much merriment was had, chatting, catching up, eating, and photos. Not many, but enough. Everything was lovely. I received no less than three more gifts. An engraved hobbit tankard from Wodge and Obombz, a pair of lounge trousers from Cherry, and a secret gift from Red, that's a secret (shhh...). Am I a rubbish secret keeper? 

Yesterday was a very nice lazy day. Pill and I played Skyrim while DarkHorse slept a lot. And when the couple left, as the couple tend to from time to time, I caught up on Masters of Sex (all up to speed now), and when that was done I did a couple of things I haven't done in a while (and don't take that the wrong way)...

After spamming instagram, I retired to my room and played the secret gift on repeat. I just lay on my bed staring up at the ceiling and listened to the whole thing through, and then listened to it all over again. I thought about life, and fun, and distant lands I'm not even sure exist. And it was quite relaxing. I then did something also rather out of character for me, I sat and read my book - which is called The Written at the moment. It's amazing what I get up to when left to my own devices.

It was also the best night's sleep I've had in a while, no bad dreams, nightmares, or biting tongues. Perhaps I should do that every night?

This morning, while perusing my YouTube feed I found a beauty of a song by Ed Sheeran, that I think is a little out of character for the Hobbit (I suppose they had Annie Lennox do a song in Lord of the Rings), however it's pretty good, and I think I've listened to it about six times now. It's a builder, which an epic finale, check it out...

Thank you to everyone who made this birthday worth having. You know what I'm like when it comes to birthdays, but you guys made it brilliant. Thank you!

Mae govannen, mellon nin. Carpe diem...

5 Influential Songs...

Its amazing how much animal magnetism I have for menopausal women. While their husbands and grandkids are watching my helicopters, they're watching me. Never before have I felt like the girl who stands next to the fancy car ('Do you come with the car?')...

The final day is here. I get a day off tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and they're gonna be epic. Tonight there's a Halloween gathering at mine and Pills apparently, tis a bit of a rush job, but I got some foodies for it. Tomorrow, I think I'm gonna go home for a Hallow's Eve Belated Gathering of the Big End Crew, and kip at home probs. Saturday, obvs what I'm doing I hope. Fireworks in the Park, getting smashed, and having a good time for Red's Berfday! Sunday, recover, with the chance possibility of a meal for Red's Berfday!

Easy. Now I thought about telling you about 5 songs that I think have influenced my life, or their meaning to me, memories etc. and I'm only doing it for the lolz. Apparently. I don't talk about anything coherent any more so this'll have to do for today...

Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol

Okay so it was late in my teenage years, and it was quite popular and beautiful for obvious reasons. But most people just hear it and picture the first dances at weddings and the charismatic sky when the meteors of the summer cascaded through it. Though, there's only one thing that I picture every time I hear it now, and that's a funeral. Sorry for the downer, but there was a friend I had in school, who was always around the TechLabs, building something or other. He was a couple of years younger than me, and he had an old soul. But that summer, he was the victim of a hit and run, and that summer I can only ever picture his funeral with this song. Just like when I try and say the word solemnity I picture my grandfather's.

Moving on...

All Star - Smash Mouth

A brilliant choice, and perhaps the first time I had learnt all of the lyrics to a song without them being hymns or Christmas Carols/Songs... It also appeared in Digimon Movie, Shrek, and Rat Race (though Rat Race has somewhat become over played nowadays) So what's wrong with taking the back streets?

Come With Us - Can't Stop Won't Stop

A great summery song, though it was summer 2012, and I spent it mostly inside, wondering why life was cruel, and receiving my first rejection letters from publishers, and hearing nothing back from job vacancies and the like. I spent most of that summer with Tag and Cherry watching the Lympics, so things weren't all bad.

The Way I Tend To Be - Frank Turner

Of course Frank had to be on here. He's sort of marked the beginning of a new year and lifestyle for me, moving out, big city life, long summer evenings, wine, cider, drinking, friends, brilliant fun, and a superb 2013. And his music reminds me of Red every time, just like Tarantino and Spaghetti Westerns remind me of Tag, Fairy Tales and Fantasy remind me of Cherry, Halo of Clarey, Purple of Wodgey, and I'm sure the list goes on and on...

How Long Will I Love You - Jon Boden, Sam Sweeney & Ben Coleman

I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like when we saw About Time, so I'll just leave this here, and hope you agree...

So that was my five. They weren't really overly special (just one or two), but I hope you like them nonetheless. What're yours?

And now for work time. 

See you later, Carpe diem...(same syllables)

Nothing Really...

Inevitably, quite simply nothing happened yesterday, and I was fine with it...

It feels a little odd to be going back to work again today, Pill made sure I got up well before my alarm by slamming the front door particularly hard this morning. So, I've had my breakfast, I'm having my coffee and I was just going through Frank Turner (we're going to see him!) videos - I didn't know there was a video for Wessex Boy.

With my Sunday, Pill and DarkHorse took us to the big Tesco to buy certain more supplies that we failed to get the other day at the market, and then we came back home and watched three or four movies followed by a couple of episodes of Black Butler (a weird anime. I don't think I'll watch much more). 

Have you guys seen House of Cards? I've been watching it since Spacey's speech about television, and I'm really enjoying it. It's dark, smart, and occasionally funny. I just don't like how predictable it is, but I think that's my only gripe. And then for some reason we started talking about Pokemon Series 1. Did you know it took place over a year an a half (81 episodes), and if we were to watch them all it would take us 27 hours. And that's just from Pallet Town to Indigo Plateau.

I've eaten a lot of crap in the past week. Pill likes to remind me. He's started telling me what I can and can't eat as well - and it's mostly for my own good, but when he says it because he wants something I was going to have, it annoys me.

I feel like I wasted my Sunday. I didn't need to do anything, but it felt like I should have done. And then this happened...

And continued to happen until I was long asleep. 

This post is really about nothing. And that's a bit weird, because I don't like writing about nothing. But sometimes you've just got to write, and write, and write. It's not all going to be good, but sometimes it might be. Damn I miss proper writing. Luckily, I've got Bute Wall to edit now - that'll give me something creative to do, and I've been thinking about the Badly Drawn Adventures and the Skyrim Escapades a lot recently too.

That's enough babbling for now I think.

Carpe diem...

You're A Pansy...

The other day I twatted something I'm not ashamed to twat, but yesterday I sort of broke-down, which was something I was planning on not doing. The twat read:

Alone for the next four nights, come on. No breakdowns this time!

And I only managed two nights. God damn it I'm rubbish (I'm sure it'd be different if Pill were here though). My main thought process occurred during daily commitments and then they built up one on top of the other until Point 1. didn't equal Point 2. it equaled Point 48. and then the whole tower came tumbling down and shit had to happen or else. 

I even learned about the etiquette of pouring boiling water onto tea or coffee, and even that wasn't a distraction enough for me to send out the WhatsApp: 'Drinks?' request. 

Gladly, they all obliged and we hungout in the pub as per usu (is it with an 'e'? It's pronounced like 'huge' but without the 'h'), and talked about the weekend, the future, Frank Turner in concert (I don't even think I care about the prices), Christmas, and ultimately had fun. Much more fun than time spent at mine on Friday. We also learned a lot more about each other's past, Tag's inappropriate questions, Cherry and I swapped Grandparent situations, I got Cherry to slap me a few times, and Red told us sizes, whens, and who's (you hear that guys, we know. For shame)...

Tag told the barmaid that he'd see her Stormtroopers (euphemism intended) and she got very concerned. I agreed, as she had shown us her Stormtooper tattoos on either shoulder on a previous occasion at the establishment. She didn't seem to appreciate the comment, and we did have a different barmaid for the rest of the night (I wonder if that had anything to do with it). 

Either way, I'm very glad drinks happened. I couldn't actually remember when I had last had a drink - but it would have been for a workmate's birthday last weekend or so ago. It looks like I've managed to cut down on the booze, and I got a little drunk after only two. Not very drunk, just enough to make me talk better and become unable to stand a lot. Which made cooking my Stir-fry, when I got in, fun. There's still plenty for lunch and dinner, and look I'm all better.

I know I shouldn't do what I did. And I know I don't actually have anything in the world to worry about, actually that last bit's a little bit of a lie. Jobs, Money, Bills, they're all things to worry about, the state of the damp, have we left it too long to do anything about it, do I care enough, blah blah blah, and they're just a snippet of the worries that occur daily in my head. But like I was saying, I know I shouldn't worry, and I know I've gone weeks without seeing anyone, but hey - I'm glad you guys are there for me. 

Now I feel like I should name all the women I've fancied in the past just to keep with the trends, but I feel like my list would be wonderfully insignificant and boring, so I might not do that. Who knows...

Today is a brighter day, and I'm not going to have any problems. Stir-fry for dinner...

Carpe diem...

Change The Record...

So, Tag got me some Mumford and Sons and Of Monsters and Men music, and I think they're both a great accompaniment to Frank (as much as I'm sure you'll hate to hear that).

My iPod has been playing the same playlist since Christmas, I think, and I know its time for a change. There are songs I know and wonder what the hell they're doing on the playlist, there are songs I skip instantly, and there's just no fusion between the melodies; I've got the fast passed Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet next to How To Save A Life by The Fray - it just doesn't work. 

I need multiple playlists, because I'm not satisfied with just listening to one artist all the time, and it gets tedious switching between different songs I'm in the mood for. It's weird. I'll probably just sit down and go through all my music again, and see what happens. And the same can be said for my playlist titled 'EPIC Writing' (the former one being called 'Goodness'), which is essentially a mixture of really epic soundtracks, video games, and just epic music. If I played it in my car as I drove I pictured myself going to slay dragons and having loads of adventures, though the screaming singing when you're alone in your car at times was awesome. And I mean that as in singing at the top of your voice and not the screamy music most gothic metal bands seem to enjoy.

There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back

Well tell her that I miss our little talks

Soon it will be over and buried with our past

We used to play outside when we were young

And full of life and full of love.

Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right

Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear.

But anyway, moving on. I just checked up something Red was saying (a few times, the geek) about Age of Empires. I managed to skip the Empires games through my childhood, I had Age of Mythology, which I'm told was quite bad, though I enjoyed it very much with Arkantos and Ajax and Cherion - they all kicked Osiris' ass, and I do mean that. But I just checked on steam and the Age of Empires 2 HD is £14.99, though the none HD more cartoony version Age of Empires Online is actually free (what, what?) so I'm sure this whole Player vs. Player thing could go down in the near future if peeps want it to. 

Oooo! Let's LAN-Party it up! (hahahahaha)

It's Double Date Night tonight, and of course it's a double date! Tag and I have finally expressed our love for one and other, the Tostesterone filled afternoon saw to that, and Cherry, you can have Red, or Red, you can have Cherry (we don't mind the order). I had hoped you'd forgotten about the wine, but of course I'll bring it. It was gathering dust in my wine rack. Double-bill of the Returned time! The last two episodes! What are we going to fill Date Night with now?!

I hear Tag's got that sorted...

Carpe diem...

The Smile That Stays With You...

It was Saturday, and all was well. The birds and bees were doing the rounds, the sun was much higher in the sky than most citizens could handle at that time in the morning, and our hero was preparing himself for the day ahead. 

He managed to miss the majority of the sun, though, donning his shades, he marched to and from town without so much of a good morning or a goodbye from anyone. He passed the usual sights of delivery men delivering, shoppers shopping, and pubs and clubs cleaning their doorsteps. Though there was one thing that caught his eye. A soldier in uniform, sat upon the hard stone, begging. Our hero, a swell guy, ignored the poor man, as was his inclination since moving to the big city, and continued on his way; ever with the thought that the soldier might be hunting him.

Later on in the evening, he had arranged with his flatmate, another person of great standing within the community, to have a small dinner with a few guests. Knowing that two of his associates were out of town, there were only two others they could call upon, one had had her phone eaten by a cat, the other was the ever delightful Red. 

The evening progressed well into the dark with just the four, and a marvelous time was had. Countless drinks were drunk, the embers of the coals shone darkly beneath the grate, and the stars were showing their faces by the time the foursome retreated inside. Many more discussions were had, and a bit more drink, though as with all good things, it soon came time to say goodbye. 

Morning quickly approached, and our willing hero ventured out into the night air with the ever delightful Red, and walked her all the way home. Along the way though, he crossed many lines, and said numerous misconstrued statements allowing him to become the fool. He thought a while after he had left Red at her door, and incorrectly gave directions to a drunk. Our hero seemed convinced that he always crossed the line, and no matter how he did it, he always did for good intentions and the laugh, no matter if one came or not.

Our hero was a simple soul with so many complexities, and upon looking up into the night sky to witness a phenomena that wasn't there, he plugged in his music and marched on home.

Carpe diem...