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...

History Of A Year...

250 Posts later and I can say that the shop has been open a whole year now, and I've been there a year and 10 days. It's strange how much has changed in that time. I've not even known Red that long yet. that would be 27th February, not that I'm counting or anything...

I've moved, I've aged, I've gotten slimmer, and richer, and overall I think I'd say I'm happier, though I'm not sure on whether or not I can measure that. Life is pretty sweet at the moment, though, and dare I say it, its starting to get on the ordinary and mundane side. The home, work, food, sleep, routine, is starting to get to me and I'm getting the urge to go sploring (#) soon. Though I'm not sure where.

Castell Coch perhaps. Just 6 miles up the cycle path, walk up there and back Sunday morning before lunch. It could be done, if the weather's okay. I don't mind the weather being rotten, but I think my camera might, or any companions who accompany me. Barry Island Fish and Chips? Penarth Pier with the finest Steakhouse in Wales with a cold pint in the Custom House on the way back?

Summer's not here anymore, but why should that stop us? I fancy checking out more of the Wye Valley too, though I'd need a car for that. I would say Gower, Cardigan, Pembroke Coast, Brecon Beacons, but my childhood was mainly spent rambling those places, I even fell off a small cliff in Gower into a field of Gorse Bushes. Not a nice end to the day I'll tell you. I've been swept out to sea, and delivered minutes later by the water to the sands, but that was Ogmore I think. I've broken a leg and walked home on it, but that was school.

Where was I? Ah yes, band photos. Let's face it guys, we can look sexy as fuck, and band photos are practically the only way we can capture that slow-mo strut without Tag's iPhone. Although, saying that, we do require to make a movie I think.

Reading trees are hard to come by in the winter, although a pub with a fireplace, and and afternoon tea menu could be fun - like a proper Sunday afternoon off, though we hardly get Sunday afternoons.

Everyone's coming to Jamie's Italian for my birthday this evening! I swear this is the last you'll hear of it. I'm not used to this choosing places and making plans for me malarkey. And that's an odd thought in itself I think. Shouldn't you be able to know what you want to do?

I want to visit a new place. I want to spend the day, week, or month there. I want to know its history, traditions, accent, and experience it was my friends. I want to sit and write something worth writing in my mind, it's got to be epic, fun, possibly dark, emotive, and fantastical. And I want to be happy, and I think I've got that mostly covered. Everyone has their off days...

Carpe diem guys!...

She Doesn't Like You Either...

Well, that was an experience. I've never witnessed so much genital pulling, blood, or mouths before, and that was just one short...

One sunny Saturday afternoon I was walking out into the brightness, when I was greeted by a Red at my door. It was a very pleasant surprise as she said we were going to Jamie's Italian for dinner. It was a very nice evening spent with friends. One of the few evenings we had spent as almost adults (except for me almost going 'cooy!' to the waitress to get her attention). I had pasta, and I loved it. It was one of the specials, and I probably wouldn't order it again without checking out the price. But oh well...

Then on Sunday, as I returned home I received a phone call from Cherry (although the first five or six didn't go through - bloody network problems!) inviting me to theirs for some live television and pizza hut. I remembered the days when I occasionally went to pizza hut two or three times a week. I don't know why, perhaps they are addictive, and since I had pizza hut on Friday as well when I entered the realms of Clareg's birthday, I felt a tad guilty.

I 'cooy!'ed at the waitress again, and we were on our way to an evening of soft drinks, and live television. Top Gear and The Returned (both wonderfully good, but only 8-parts?! WTF? That's the French for you - or something to that effect) and then we watched V/H/S.

Oh God. It's basically a movie of movies, with an on-going story throughout, however, some of the movies were better than others, and thus the movie did kinda get less scary as the evening went on. The first short involved a succubus and a bit of rape, mainly from the drunk men, and eventually the succubus herself. She full on rips off the male member and leaves it lying on the floor for us at one point. Tasty. So that set the mood, and then when the next short happened we were all expecting a continuation. The same room, the same misfortune, a girl looking for a ride. So when it turned out to be lesbian killers (and that's lesbians who kill - I had to clarify for Pill last night) I was a little disappointed, though it did have the shit-yourself-scary moment (Hi Tag!) when we didn't know about the lesbians.

Either way, watching scary movies with Red, Tag, and Cherry was fun. I'd do it again (and I mean proper scary movies - the sort of run bitch, run! type shit), because it got us all worked up, and really into the moment, unlike most other movies.

The next morning, Tag and I had our daily tasks to do, so we caught the earliest train. Red (a morning person, like myself) tagged along, and we went to town. Collected a coffee from my old haunt, Red seemed a mixture between scared and amazed when the coffee barista said my name and wrote it on my cup. It was nice to see them again, and I didn't want to tell them that I stopped going to save some money (£65 a month or something). Tag had to go to work, and I had a whole hour to wait. Red lingered with me and we walked all over the centre, avoiding Metro Men and Big Issues. I kept suggesting breakfasty places, and she kept suggesting clothes shops. Either way, nothing much was open, Pret A Manger was too fancy for my tastes, and we ended up in Tesco anyway. 

This morning I woke up at 7:30, to see if I could get back into my exercise regime, and good news is that I can, although with two weeks off it's quite difficult to do. Bring it on. Also, the end of next week will be the start of my second holiday week this year, and it's gonna be fun. And also, also, we might be going to the cinema tomorrow, eek! Fun, Fun, Fun!...

Carpe diem...