Last day of the year, and if I'm honest it doesn't feel any different from any other day in this month. Not sure what other people are feeling, or if it's something I should be feeling, but whatever it is I've never felt it.
I understand the concept of New Year's Eve, and I understand the idea of having an out-of-control party to see the old year off and welcome the new one in but I've just never felt as if the previous year was bad and the new one is going to be better, which in most cases seems to be the reasoning for a massive party.
Now, that doesn't mean that tonight I'm not going to make a concerted effort to have a wonderful time with my friends, I just don't have any hope that next year will be any better than this year past, or the previous year, or the one before that. Come to think of it, I don't actually know what constitutes a good year.
I guess that the idea of a New Year gives people hope, particularly if they haven't done everything they wanted to this year, or if something eventful has happened which made the year bad. The New Year provides the misconception that we can all start over again and do better, that we can forget our past mistakes and learn from them without bearing their consequences, but that never happens does it?
No one ever walks away from any of their mistakes without feeling the repercussions thereof. And just because it's a New Year, doesn't mean you get a free pass. And if we're all honest I don't think that anyone really believes that we can all just walk away from a year of mistakes and look forward with the 'light' in our eyes.
So maybe New Year's Eve isn't about feeling anything at all. Maybe it's not about feeling hopeful or even having a good time. Maybe it's a time to lie to ourselves and each other, and for a brief moment we can forget about our mistakes and lie in hope.
So allow me to be the first person to lie to you: Happy New Year, this one will be better.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The Policy Of Honesty
Honesty is an interesting thing, and in my life I have always encountered people who tell me that the best thing to do is to always be honest and I agree. But is it really what we should be doing? Is honesty really the best decision in all circumstances? Or is it something that varies depending on the situation?
Many people believe that honesty is a relative thing, and its importance is relative to what is happening in the particular situation, and as a result people are often comfortable lying to a friend, or anyone for that matter, when they deem the information to either be detrimental to themselves or the other person. But if not being honest at all times damages your integrity is it worth it at the end of the day if you can say you were a good friend?
Example, I have an old friend, and he and his girlfriend were having a rough time in their relationship [this happened about 2 years ago] and I found out that his girlfriend tried to kiss another friend of mine, and not only that but she was interested in pursuing an affair with this friend rather than cultivating a relationship. I spoke to the secondary friend and he decided to not pursue any sort of activity with this girl and we also chose not to tell my friend because he truly loved this girl and would have been destroyed if he had found out.
To this day neither of us have said anything to the friend even though he has broken up with this girl, and I'm fairly sure that she did cheat on him with another guy. Now at the time we thought it best not to tell him, and at this moment in time I don't regret that decision, but at the same time perhaps we should have told him, bearing in mind that this reflected her character and he really was putting himself out there for her. Maybe we could have saved him some pain by telling him. I don't know, but at this point in time it still feels like it was the correct decision to have made.
So if we haven't experienced any negative consequences, was it the right thing to do? Or are consequences even something we should worry about when it comes to telling the truth?
These days I value honesty even more than I ever have, and the truth is that if I were in that situation again I would have a really torrid time trying to decide what to do because I believe that honesty is a direct reflection of my love and loyalty to a person. If any of my friends ask me anything I would not ever consider telling a lie simply because I choose to trust them and I know the truth will only strengthen our relationship.
At the same time, I don't know if it is the right thing to do at all times. I mean, where do you draw the line between discretion and lying to a person? Or honesty and speculation? I would rather err on the side of caution that damage a relationship because of speculation, which may or may not be true.
And another question, where is the line between concern and gossip? Is discussing concerns about another friend within a group of friends an act of deception? Or is it just a group of friends confused as to how to express their love for another in an appropriate way?
I think that honest is something that is very easy to manipulate to suite your needs, but when it is raw and from people with integrity it is something that can, and truly does create turmoil for the beholder of this often dangerous knowledge.
At the end of the day there are just so many questions and an equal amount of ways to be misunderstood. I do believe that honesty is the best way to avoid problems. If you are transparent it's a lot more difficult to be accused of anything, and that's my current view. It may change, and it is likely to evolve, but from where I am now the best thing to do is respect and love those around me, and be totally honest in all instances until I trust myself to make decisions that could not only affect my own relationships but others too.
Many people believe that honesty is a relative thing, and its importance is relative to what is happening in the particular situation, and as a result people are often comfortable lying to a friend, or anyone for that matter, when they deem the information to either be detrimental to themselves or the other person. But if not being honest at all times damages your integrity is it worth it at the end of the day if you can say you were a good friend?
Example, I have an old friend, and he and his girlfriend were having a rough time in their relationship [this happened about 2 years ago] and I found out that his girlfriend tried to kiss another friend of mine, and not only that but she was interested in pursuing an affair with this friend rather than cultivating a relationship. I spoke to the secondary friend and he decided to not pursue any sort of activity with this girl and we also chose not to tell my friend because he truly loved this girl and would have been destroyed if he had found out.
To this day neither of us have said anything to the friend even though he has broken up with this girl, and I'm fairly sure that she did cheat on him with another guy. Now at the time we thought it best not to tell him, and at this moment in time I don't regret that decision, but at the same time perhaps we should have told him, bearing in mind that this reflected her character and he really was putting himself out there for her. Maybe we could have saved him some pain by telling him. I don't know, but at this point in time it still feels like it was the correct decision to have made.
So if we haven't experienced any negative consequences, was it the right thing to do? Or are consequences even something we should worry about when it comes to telling the truth?
These days I value honesty even more than I ever have, and the truth is that if I were in that situation again I would have a really torrid time trying to decide what to do because I believe that honesty is a direct reflection of my love and loyalty to a person. If any of my friends ask me anything I would not ever consider telling a lie simply because I choose to trust them and I know the truth will only strengthen our relationship.
At the same time, I don't know if it is the right thing to do at all times. I mean, where do you draw the line between discretion and lying to a person? Or honesty and speculation? I would rather err on the side of caution that damage a relationship because of speculation, which may or may not be true.
And another question, where is the line between concern and gossip? Is discussing concerns about another friend within a group of friends an act of deception? Or is it just a group of friends confused as to how to express their love for another in an appropriate way?
I think that honest is something that is very easy to manipulate to suite your needs, but when it is raw and from people with integrity it is something that can, and truly does create turmoil for the beholder of this often dangerous knowledge.
At the end of the day there are just so many questions and an equal amount of ways to be misunderstood. I do believe that honesty is the best way to avoid problems. If you are transparent it's a lot more difficult to be accused of anything, and that's my current view. It may change, and it is likely to evolve, but from where I am now the best thing to do is respect and love those around me, and be totally honest in all instances until I trust myself to make decisions that could not only affect my own relationships but others too.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Band Reviews: Oceansize
This should have come out on Saturday, but unfortunately for my readers I was busy giving moral support to my two friends Justin and Pierre, who were getting wonderful tattoos, which took most of the day, but at least it's here now so happy reading.
Oceansize are a wonderful Progressive Rock band from Manchester, England consisting of 5 members, namely Mike Vennart on guitar and lead vocals, Steve Durose playing lead guitar and backing vocals, Gambler on lead guitar and keyboards, Steven Hodson on bass and keyboards and Mark Heron on drums.
Being a prog band their songs are all quite long, with the average length being around 8 minutes of pure bliss, taking the listener on a scenic journey of melodic and smooth keyboard sounds, strong bass lines, unconventional time signatures punctuated with tight double kick and explosive cymbal fills, emotional lead lines and strong, driving rhythmic guitars.
This may sound rather overwhelming, but the beauty of their music is found in the fact that they have managed to put all of this in without bombarding the first time listener, and still rewarding the consumate fan who will listen to the songs over and over again, each time finding a new detail he or she had missed the first 30 times. Oceansize have succeeding with something Dream Theater have never been able to do, hiding their details.
You see with a band like Dream Theater, it is easy for a person to feel attacked by the amount of detail in every drum fill, or keyboard line, or guitar riff just because there is so much there. But with Oceansize it is completely the opposite, and in fact easy to misunderstand them as an above average rock band with long songs, which is certainatly not the case.
So other than hiding their brilliance really well, what else makes Oceansize worth listening to? Well, they have a wonderful way of blending melody with aggression by using vocal effects and distorted guitars, and while using this processing the sounds they choose are very natural, working well with every other modulator and effect in the song.
Another thing that sets Oceansize apart from many other band is how they are able to combine so many instruments together, and get them to work. The band has a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, a keyboardist, a bassist and a drummer. Sometimes they even have three guitar parts and a keyboard part, bass and drums, so that makes things quite interesting.
Usually with a band, when they do that type of thing you lost perspective in the mid range, and the song ends up sounding messy, lose and unfocused. But in Oceansize's case they have perfected the art of writing music for each part around each other, so that the emotion of the song is communicated rather than just being flashy or technically intricate.
There's just too much to this wonderful band, and I could never effectively communicate what they are about or how they do it so well, you can only appreciate them fully when you give them a good listen, but not only once, you need to listen to each song more than once in order to actually get a good perspective of what they are doing. And I think you'll be plesantly surprised to be able to add another wonderful band to your collection...
Oceansize are a wonderful Progressive Rock band from Manchester, England consisting of 5 members, namely Mike Vennart on guitar and lead vocals, Steve Durose playing lead guitar and backing vocals, Gambler on lead guitar and keyboards, Steven Hodson on bass and keyboards and Mark Heron on drums.
Being a prog band their songs are all quite long, with the average length being around 8 minutes of pure bliss, taking the listener on a scenic journey of melodic and smooth keyboard sounds, strong bass lines, unconventional time signatures punctuated with tight double kick and explosive cymbal fills, emotional lead lines and strong, driving rhythmic guitars.
This may sound rather overwhelming, but the beauty of their music is found in the fact that they have managed to put all of this in without bombarding the first time listener, and still rewarding the consumate fan who will listen to the songs over and over again, each time finding a new detail he or she had missed the first 30 times. Oceansize have succeeding with something Dream Theater have never been able to do, hiding their details.
You see with a band like Dream Theater, it is easy for a person to feel attacked by the amount of detail in every drum fill, or keyboard line, or guitar riff just because there is so much there. But with Oceansize it is completely the opposite, and in fact easy to misunderstand them as an above average rock band with long songs, which is certainatly not the case.
So other than hiding their brilliance really well, what else makes Oceansize worth listening to? Well, they have a wonderful way of blending melody with aggression by using vocal effects and distorted guitars, and while using this processing the sounds they choose are very natural, working well with every other modulator and effect in the song.
Another thing that sets Oceansize apart from many other band is how they are able to combine so many instruments together, and get them to work. The band has a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, a keyboardist, a bassist and a drummer. Sometimes they even have three guitar parts and a keyboard part, bass and drums, so that makes things quite interesting.
Usually with a band, when they do that type of thing you lost perspective in the mid range, and the song ends up sounding messy, lose and unfocused. But in Oceansize's case they have perfected the art of writing music for each part around each other, so that the emotion of the song is communicated rather than just being flashy or technically intricate.
There's just too much to this wonderful band, and I could never effectively communicate what they are about or how they do it so well, you can only appreciate them fully when you give them a good listen, but not only once, you need to listen to each song more than once in order to actually get a good perspective of what they are doing. And I think you'll be plesantly surprised to be able to add another wonderful band to your collection...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Rome Bound Part 3
This post isn't strictly about Champions League, but Chelsea's form does directly influence their CL hopes, and their form hasn't been great of late. Or is it really that bad?
Well, this season Chelsea have the highest goal difference, highest goal scorer, have conceded the least amount of goals and have set a record for the longest string of away wins as well as the longest string of away games undefeated. And they are second in the log, certainly not a bad set of results, even if their form has been a little bad of late.
Having said that I do feel sympathetic for them. Besides the fact that they have had a list of injuries the length of Petr Cech's leg, they have a new manager and management team, and new players. Their form has been good, and given a chance I can't see it getting too bad any time soon. For me the thing to remember is this, if a team gets a new player it takes time to adjust to the style of play and if a player comes back from an injury it is similar to getting a new player. In this case the team have a whole bunch of recently fit players [at one state they had 11 injured players in the team] as well as a new management team, so things can't be expected to be all rosey from the word go.
Now I know that Chelsea are in the top ten clubs in the world at the moment, but come on let's give the players and management a chance. There's no point in calling for anyone to be fired at this stage, we've only just passed the half way mark in the season AND Chelsea are still second in the league. So relax a little.
I still stand by my original predictions for winners of various Leagues:
Champions League: Barcelona [with Chelsea doing REALLY well]
UEFA Cup: AC Milan
Premier League: Chelsea [although I think it'll be tight with Liverpool and United]
FA Cup: Liverpool
Carling Cup: Manchester United
Well, this season Chelsea have the highest goal difference, highest goal scorer, have conceded the least amount of goals and have set a record for the longest string of away wins as well as the longest string of away games undefeated. And they are second in the log, certainly not a bad set of results, even if their form has been a little bad of late.
Having said that I do feel sympathetic for them. Besides the fact that they have had a list of injuries the length of Petr Cech's leg, they have a new manager and management team, and new players. Their form has been good, and given a chance I can't see it getting too bad any time soon. For me the thing to remember is this, if a team gets a new player it takes time to adjust to the style of play and if a player comes back from an injury it is similar to getting a new player. In this case the team have a whole bunch of recently fit players [at one state they had 11 injured players in the team] as well as a new management team, so things can't be expected to be all rosey from the word go.
Now I know that Chelsea are in the top ten clubs in the world at the moment, but come on let's give the players and management a chance. There's no point in calling for anyone to be fired at this stage, we've only just passed the half way mark in the season AND Chelsea are still second in the league. So relax a little.
I still stand by my original predictions for winners of various Leagues:
Champions League: Barcelona [with Chelsea doing REALLY well]
UEFA Cup: AC Milan
Premier League: Chelsea [although I think it'll be tight with Liverpool and United]
FA Cup: Liverpool
Carling Cup: Manchester United
Playing For The Reserves
Before I start this post I would like to apologise for not posting my band review yesterday. I went with some friends of mine to get their tattoos, and it was wonderful. But because I was out all day I didn't have any time to post. Sorry. Anyway, I'll post it tomorrow, for now I have something I want to write about, completely unrelated to any of the above events.
Last night I was chatting to some of my friends about my not having a girlfriend, and indeed never having one, and they are of the opinion that I should put myself as they say 'out there'. While I'm not sure if this is the right thing to be doing, I can say that my current approach is not working at all.
Here's my problem, because I think a lot I tend to eliminate girls from the 'radar' before they've actually even shown by finding things that aren't what I perceive to be compatible with my personality. And the truth is that in many cases not only am I wrong, but I'm jumping the gun and probably destroying something that could have been an awesome relationship. I need to give people a chance.
The only way to give people a chance is by actually putting yourself out there, and that's something I struggle to do because having faith in someone takes a risk, and growing that relationship is a lot of work, which isn't a problem if you're willing to invest in a person but I tend to write girls off before I can decide that they're worth the investment of my time, emotion, effort and all those other good things.
So it seems that the answer to this predicament is to take a few risks, and actually allow myself to potentially be hurt. This is not something I'm keen on doing, but something that I suspect is necessary. I do however have a few problems.
First is finding someone I'm willing to do that with. I have fairly high standards and expectations and I don't know if those expectations will ever be met. I also don't know if they are even reasonable expectations. For example, I am probably looking for a woman who is either my age or slightly older, but is willing to go one with a guy who has almost no idea of what a girlfriend expects or wants, and while I am eager to learn it will take time so she will probably have to be a little patient in that regard. Now where the hell am I going to find a woman who is willing to do that, let alone meet all of my other random requirements of being intellectually engaging, attractive, stylish, interested in philosophy, music, art and currents events etc?
Second is breaking out of the friendship stage. I know that I need to actually take a risk, but when do I do this? Do I wait until I'm fairly certain that it's a wise risk to take? Or is it something I should just do when it feels right? Is it something you do at will, or is something you do to last? I heard about a guy who is a respected Christian, and he had 'been with' more than 17 girls in one year. For me that's just reckless, and wrong. But is that what guys do? Is that what I should be doing?
And if I do leave it until we're friends, is that a problem? I know of guys who say you can't break out of that friendship stage but is that really true? Is that a problem? Or can that be worked around?
The other thing is finding a girl who isn't a 'church girl' but is also saved. The church girl vibe really doesn't work for me, and in fact I'm finding more and more that the church is filled with screwed up people who lie and try to project the image that all is well and they are perfect. I hate it, and would hate to end up dating a girl who is trapped in that type of thinking.
So do you think that I will ever get what I'm looking for? Or am I likely to spend too much time looking and end up being disappointed for the rest of my life? Maybe I should just make a move and wait to see what happens, after all I have almost no idea of what a relationship entails or how it will unfold...
What's your experience with relationships? Are they good? Or do they tend to disappoint? Have you ever found what you're looking for, and did you like it when you found it? Is it what you should have, or is it actually bad for you? What's your opinion?
Last night I was chatting to some of my friends about my not having a girlfriend, and indeed never having one, and they are of the opinion that I should put myself as they say 'out there'. While I'm not sure if this is the right thing to be doing, I can say that my current approach is not working at all.
Here's my problem, because I think a lot I tend to eliminate girls from the 'radar' before they've actually even shown by finding things that aren't what I perceive to be compatible with my personality. And the truth is that in many cases not only am I wrong, but I'm jumping the gun and probably destroying something that could have been an awesome relationship. I need to give people a chance.
The only way to give people a chance is by actually putting yourself out there, and that's something I struggle to do because having faith in someone takes a risk, and growing that relationship is a lot of work, which isn't a problem if you're willing to invest in a person but I tend to write girls off before I can decide that they're worth the investment of my time, emotion, effort and all those other good things.
So it seems that the answer to this predicament is to take a few risks, and actually allow myself to potentially be hurt. This is not something I'm keen on doing, but something that I suspect is necessary. I do however have a few problems.
First is finding someone I'm willing to do that with. I have fairly high standards and expectations and I don't know if those expectations will ever be met. I also don't know if they are even reasonable expectations. For example, I am probably looking for a woman who is either my age or slightly older, but is willing to go one with a guy who has almost no idea of what a girlfriend expects or wants, and while I am eager to learn it will take time so she will probably have to be a little patient in that regard. Now where the hell am I going to find a woman who is willing to do that, let alone meet all of my other random requirements of being intellectually engaging, attractive, stylish, interested in philosophy, music, art and currents events etc?
Second is breaking out of the friendship stage. I know that I need to actually take a risk, but when do I do this? Do I wait until I'm fairly certain that it's a wise risk to take? Or is it something I should just do when it feels right? Is it something you do at will, or is something you do to last? I heard about a guy who is a respected Christian, and he had 'been with' more than 17 girls in one year. For me that's just reckless, and wrong. But is that what guys do? Is that what I should be doing?
And if I do leave it until we're friends, is that a problem? I know of guys who say you can't break out of that friendship stage but is that really true? Is that a problem? Or can that be worked around?
The other thing is finding a girl who isn't a 'church girl' but is also saved. The church girl vibe really doesn't work for me, and in fact I'm finding more and more that the church is filled with screwed up people who lie and try to project the image that all is well and they are perfect. I hate it, and would hate to end up dating a girl who is trapped in that type of thinking.
So do you think that I will ever get what I'm looking for? Or am I likely to spend too much time looking and end up being disappointed for the rest of my life? Maybe I should just make a move and wait to see what happens, after all I have almost no idea of what a relationship entails or how it will unfold...
What's your experience with relationships? Are they good? Or do they tend to disappoint? Have you ever found what you're looking for, and did you like it when you found it? Is it what you should have, or is it actually bad for you? What's your opinion?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Competition
Competition is something that I've never enjoyed, in fact I've steered clear of sport in general simply because of the fact that people are so competitive about it. It just doesn't make sense to me to get upset with someone else over something as trivial as a board game, or a football match. In fact I don't really like being upset with other people at all.
And yet, in my circle of friends almost everyone is competitive and in Donovan's case, simply enjoys competition. To me, people tell themselves that competition is to give them something they can feel good about, but from what I've seen people just like to find a reason to lift themselves above other people. And that idea doesn't work for me.
You see, in competition a person is reduced to a moment in time. At that moment, everyone is equal and your past is disregarded and if you are unlucky enough to lose you are discarded and seen as a failure and outcast. But with anything in life, there is so much more than any moment in time, and trying to reduce someone to a single moment is absurd.
You see, being competitive isn't really a problem, and having a winner and a loser isn't a problem either, but people investing too much emotionally in the outcome of a game is a big problem. And in my experience, that is almost always the case. The other thing I hate about competition is a bad loser [yes Matthew, I'm talking about you]. For me, if you are going to play any game, there is a risk of losing, and if you lose don't take it out on everyone else. When people do that I just want to give them the finger, for me it's almost as bad as people who get into a bad mood and then take it out on everyone around them.
Perhaps I've only seen the bad side of competition, where people throw a tantrum when they don't get their way, and when they do win they put other people down. In my experience there is very little of the good type though.
So what is the good type then? Well being able to detach yourself emotionally is an important part, and being able to treat winning and losing the same way, is imperative however being able to walk away and say you had fun either way is what's most important for me. If you're not having fun why the hell are you competing?
Now the question is, does this side of competition actually exist? Have you ever seen it? Or is it just something that exists in my head? This is the way I treat my support of Chelsea, but is it the right way? What is your experience?
And yet, in my circle of friends almost everyone is competitive and in Donovan's case, simply enjoys competition. To me, people tell themselves that competition is to give them something they can feel good about, but from what I've seen people just like to find a reason to lift themselves above other people. And that idea doesn't work for me.
You see, in competition a person is reduced to a moment in time. At that moment, everyone is equal and your past is disregarded and if you are unlucky enough to lose you are discarded and seen as a failure and outcast. But with anything in life, there is so much more than any moment in time, and trying to reduce someone to a single moment is absurd.
You see, being competitive isn't really a problem, and having a winner and a loser isn't a problem either, but people investing too much emotionally in the outcome of a game is a big problem. And in my experience, that is almost always the case. The other thing I hate about competition is a bad loser [yes Matthew, I'm talking about you]. For me, if you are going to play any game, there is a risk of losing, and if you lose don't take it out on everyone else. When people do that I just want to give them the finger, for me it's almost as bad as people who get into a bad mood and then take it out on everyone around them.
Perhaps I've only seen the bad side of competition, where people throw a tantrum when they don't get their way, and when they do win they put other people down. In my experience there is very little of the good type though.
So what is the good type then? Well being able to detach yourself emotionally is an important part, and being able to treat winning and losing the same way, is imperative however being able to walk away and say you had fun either way is what's most important for me. If you're not having fun why the hell are you competing?
Now the question is, does this side of competition actually exist? Have you ever seen it? Or is it just something that exists in my head? This is the way I treat my support of Chelsea, but is it the right way? What is your experience?
Thursday, December 25, 2008
New Adventures 18th - 25th [The Real Version]
Thursday
Thursday was a bit of a bad day for me. I woke up early because I had to do some stuff for my Mom, only to find that my car had a flat tyre. Not a good start. I did a bit of scratching around and eventually pumped the tyre up, and then did a bunch of stuff for my mom before coming home rather tired. I had about two hours before I had to be at Andre, my psychologist, and thought I'd get an hour of sleep. That didn't work out, as I slept thorough 2 alarms and missed the appointment. Never fun.
I felt really crap, and so my mom and I went out to get some coffee at this great place, and while I was there I got some terrible news about one of my best friends breaking up with his girlfriend. I decided that I needed to go over to his house to make sure he was ok, and later organised to go over that evening.
I got there and met up with some other friends, and because when you break up with your girlfriend you go out and get drunk, we knew what to do. I asked one of the parties, and he/she wasn't keen on his/her name being in this blog so I've come up with some rather original names. Tom [broken up friend], Dick [rather hairy friend] and Harry [rather short friend]. There were a few other people there, but these are the main ones.
Right, so Tom pulled out a bottle of 'Apple Sours', which was triple strength, and Tom, Dick and Harry all did two shots each [I couldn't drink on account of the fact that I was driving home], and that's when things went pear shaped. You see, Tom is a fairly resilient drinker but both Dick and Harry get drunk very quickly and after these two shots they were both drunk.
Then we played a bit of FIFA, and then the three of them did another two shots each. At this stage, Tom was drunk, Dick was about as drunk as I've ever seen him, and Harry was shouting at me to "Make another hub now!". To be honest, I just sat with my SoCo and lime, turning the music up. If things had stopped there, it would have been fine, but Dick and Harry decided that it was time to up the drinking and they started trying to get each other to down beers.
Then things started getting ugly, with Dick starting to lose his balance I had to run around with a cloth wiping up beer off pretty much everything in sight, including the printer, Persian rug and the bed.
It must have been about 22h30 when the other friends arrived back from Canal Walk, and things were really funny at this stage. Dick couldn't really stand at this point, because he'd downed three ciders, and it turned out that the shot glasses were double shots, so they had had 8 shots of triple strength Apple Sours, and Dick was pushing for at least another three ciders before he passed out. Harry on the other hand was still drinking, and was very drunk, shouting at everyone, and told me he wanted to have a wank.
Unfortunately for Tom, he was just feeling more and more depressed, so getting drunk wasn't making anything better. He had also stopped drinking because his world was spinning more than normal. But this lesson was lost on Dick and Harry who were going at it like there was no tomorrow.
I'm not sure exactly what order the following things happened but Dick told me he loved me and Harry continued to shout at me, before running to the bathroom and throwing up. He must have been caught between two minds, because he threw up in between the toilet and the basin, meaning lots of cleaning up. Then he sat with his pants between his ankles, hanging over the bath. He threw up for about 2 hours after that.
Dick fell into Tom's room, pouring cider all over the bed before I picked him up and took him outside, where he continued to pour his drink over everyone in the vicinity. Now, I don't mind cleaning up, but vomit is not my deal, so I just continued to care for Dick while someone helped Harry out.
Dick got more and more out of hand, and again I'm not sure about the order, but he fell over and crawled along the floor toward the fridge before almost pulling the fridge out of the socket and onto himself. I kicked him very hard in the arm and he still wouldn't let go. Then I smashed his head on the floor so he would let go of the drink he was pouring on the floor next to the plugs. Not a good idea
Eventually he passed out, and Tom drew all over him with a permanent marker. Then Dick threw up, and one of our friends had to turn him on his side so he didn't die. The evening ended with Dick lying in a puddle of vomit, passed out, Harry, sitting and throwing up into a bucket I emptied three times, and Tom still drunk and very depressed.
All in all, a less great time was had by all.
Friday
Friday didn't start well for me, as I only got to bed at about 3am, and needed to be up at 5am to fetch my uncle and his partner from the airport. Fetching them wasn't the problem, but being up after 2 hours sleep was, and I was fairly tired. It's been about 4 years since I've seen Barry, and about 2 years since I've seen Keith, my uncle, so it was really nice to see them again. After breakfast and then a snack at my gran's house I drove home and got some sleep.
Because the previous evening had been rather eventful we decided to do something chilled, and so we went through to Val's house for a visit. She's really cool, and so is her brother, Stevie, so I had a good time. We ate semi raw cup cakes which were much nicer than the fully made ones and then we had a very interesting chat with Derek, Val's step dad, or something like that. I'm not sure actually exactly what he is, but he's a cool guy nevertheless. We spoke about his outlook on life, and the fact that he believes that if YHVH / God is omnipresent the he is in all of us and we should just surrender to that fact and rather than trying to find anything we should just look inside ourselves because that is where all the answers are. I agree to some extent, in that I do believe all the answers to life's questions are found inside us, but I do also believe that his outlook has been overly simplified, and that there is a necessity for salvation through Y'Shua / Jesus.
Anyway, fun was had by me, and probably Derek too, but I think the other guys weren't sure how to approach it so they were fairly quiet. Interesting for me though. I love hearing other people's opinions.
Saturday
I'm not sure how it happened but we ended up going through to Corner Bar after I played a few games of DOTA in the afternoon to see a few bands. One of the bands was named 'The Plastics'. They were fairly good live, but they sound exactly like 'The Arctic Monkeys' and to be honest I would have had more fun if they had played Arctic Monkeys songs, but whatever. After them a band named 'Autopilot' came on, and they were fairly good. Very pop rock with a female vocalist and very melodic lead runs and solos. Their drummer was pretty good though, but he lacked a double pedal. Would have been much better with one...
Sunday
I can't remember anything special happening on Sunday, other than Jon and I playing DOTA.
Monday
Monday I helped Jon pack for going to the farm with my mom. The two of them went to stay with my mom's friend, Elizabeth, on her farm. Elizabeth is a very nice lady, who is quite a head mental actually, and she and her husband decided to buy a farm as an investment a few years ago, where they have sheep and chickens and other random animals. Every weekend they go out to the farm to make sure everything is still running, and after they've done some [very intense] work they relax and hang out. Elizabeth spends most of her time trying to convince me that I must go out to the farm which really isn't my idea of fun.
Anyway Jon, that's my brother in case you don't know, and my mom went to the farm for a few days. He had an awesome time because he loves the outdoors and working with his hands and braais and that type of thing.
Monday evening Cate, my ex father, and I went to visit Keith and Barry who are staying at my gran's house for dinner. It was nice to hang out and chat, but the truth is that Cate is the worst person around people, being rather an introvert, so I spent most of the evening talking about films and theater, two things I really love, so while it was weird to do most of the talking it was ok.
After the dinner we went home and then Donovan called me and we went with some friends to Pete's Post to watch some football. Chelsea were playing Everton, and if they had won they would have made it to the top of the log. Unfortunately that didn't happen on account of the referee being a head mental and giving yellow and red cards to almost every Chelsea player for mostly no reason.
There was also a man who was wearing mostly no clothes, but that's a story I think Tessa, Matt's girlfriend, should tell you.
Tuesday
Other than visiting Andre, my psychologist, I just read and DOTA'd.
Wednesday
Very mellow day for me, my mom and Jon got back home and then we hung out and played some more DOTA, and I read more. That's about it.
Thursday was a bit of a bad day for me. I woke up early because I had to do some stuff for my Mom, only to find that my car had a flat tyre. Not a good start. I did a bit of scratching around and eventually pumped the tyre up, and then did a bunch of stuff for my mom before coming home rather tired. I had about two hours before I had to be at Andre, my psychologist, and thought I'd get an hour of sleep. That didn't work out, as I slept thorough 2 alarms and missed the appointment. Never fun.
I felt really crap, and so my mom and I went out to get some coffee at this great place, and while I was there I got some terrible news about one of my best friends breaking up with his girlfriend. I decided that I needed to go over to his house to make sure he was ok, and later organised to go over that evening.
I got there and met up with some other friends, and because when you break up with your girlfriend you go out and get drunk, we knew what to do. I asked one of the parties, and he/she wasn't keen on his/her name being in this blog so I've come up with some rather original names. Tom [broken up friend], Dick [rather hairy friend] and Harry [rather short friend]. There were a few other people there, but these are the main ones.
Right, so Tom pulled out a bottle of 'Apple Sours', which was triple strength, and Tom, Dick and Harry all did two shots each [I couldn't drink on account of the fact that I was driving home], and that's when things went pear shaped. You see, Tom is a fairly resilient drinker but both Dick and Harry get drunk very quickly and after these two shots they were both drunk.
Then we played a bit of FIFA, and then the three of them did another two shots each. At this stage, Tom was drunk, Dick was about as drunk as I've ever seen him, and Harry was shouting at me to "Make another hub now!". To be honest, I just sat with my SoCo and lime, turning the music up. If things had stopped there, it would have been fine, but Dick and Harry decided that it was time to up the drinking and they started trying to get each other to down beers.
Then things started getting ugly, with Dick starting to lose his balance I had to run around with a cloth wiping up beer off pretty much everything in sight, including the printer, Persian rug and the bed.
It must have been about 22h30 when the other friends arrived back from Canal Walk, and things were really funny at this stage. Dick couldn't really stand at this point, because he'd downed three ciders, and it turned out that the shot glasses were double shots, so they had had 8 shots of triple strength Apple Sours, and Dick was pushing for at least another three ciders before he passed out. Harry on the other hand was still drinking, and was very drunk, shouting at everyone, and told me he wanted to have a wank.
Unfortunately for Tom, he was just feeling more and more depressed, so getting drunk wasn't making anything better. He had also stopped drinking because his world was spinning more than normal. But this lesson was lost on Dick and Harry who were going at it like there was no tomorrow.
I'm not sure exactly what order the following things happened but Dick told me he loved me and Harry continued to shout at me, before running to the bathroom and throwing up. He must have been caught between two minds, because he threw up in between the toilet and the basin, meaning lots of cleaning up. Then he sat with his pants between his ankles, hanging over the bath. He threw up for about 2 hours after that.
Dick fell into Tom's room, pouring cider all over the bed before I picked him up and took him outside, where he continued to pour his drink over everyone in the vicinity. Now, I don't mind cleaning up, but vomit is not my deal, so I just continued to care for Dick while someone helped Harry out.
Dick got more and more out of hand, and again I'm not sure about the order, but he fell over and crawled along the floor toward the fridge before almost pulling the fridge out of the socket and onto himself. I kicked him very hard in the arm and he still wouldn't let go. Then I smashed his head on the floor so he would let go of the drink he was pouring on the floor next to the plugs. Not a good idea
Eventually he passed out, and Tom drew all over him with a permanent marker. Then Dick threw up, and one of our friends had to turn him on his side so he didn't die. The evening ended with Dick lying in a puddle of vomit, passed out, Harry, sitting and throwing up into a bucket I emptied three times, and Tom still drunk and very depressed.
All in all, a less great time was had by all.
Friday
Friday didn't start well for me, as I only got to bed at about 3am, and needed to be up at 5am to fetch my uncle and his partner from the airport. Fetching them wasn't the problem, but being up after 2 hours sleep was, and I was fairly tired. It's been about 4 years since I've seen Barry, and about 2 years since I've seen Keith, my uncle, so it was really nice to see them again. After breakfast and then a snack at my gran's house I drove home and got some sleep.
Because the previous evening had been rather eventful we decided to do something chilled, and so we went through to Val's house for a visit. She's really cool, and so is her brother, Stevie, so I had a good time. We ate semi raw cup cakes which were much nicer than the fully made ones and then we had a very interesting chat with Derek, Val's step dad, or something like that. I'm not sure actually exactly what he is, but he's a cool guy nevertheless. We spoke about his outlook on life, and the fact that he believes that if YHVH / God is omnipresent the he is in all of us and we should just surrender to that fact and rather than trying to find anything we should just look inside ourselves because that is where all the answers are. I agree to some extent, in that I do believe all the answers to life's questions are found inside us, but I do also believe that his outlook has been overly simplified, and that there is a necessity for salvation through Y'Shua / Jesus.
Anyway, fun was had by me, and probably Derek too, but I think the other guys weren't sure how to approach it so they were fairly quiet. Interesting for me though. I love hearing other people's opinions.
Saturday
I'm not sure how it happened but we ended up going through to Corner Bar after I played a few games of DOTA in the afternoon to see a few bands. One of the bands was named 'The Plastics'. They were fairly good live, but they sound exactly like 'The Arctic Monkeys' and to be honest I would have had more fun if they had played Arctic Monkeys songs, but whatever. After them a band named 'Autopilot' came on, and they were fairly good. Very pop rock with a female vocalist and very melodic lead runs and solos. Their drummer was pretty good though, but he lacked a double pedal. Would have been much better with one...
Sunday
I can't remember anything special happening on Sunday, other than Jon and I playing DOTA.
Monday
Monday I helped Jon pack for going to the farm with my mom. The two of them went to stay with my mom's friend, Elizabeth, on her farm. Elizabeth is a very nice lady, who is quite a head mental actually, and she and her husband decided to buy a farm as an investment a few years ago, where they have sheep and chickens and other random animals. Every weekend they go out to the farm to make sure everything is still running, and after they've done some [very intense] work they relax and hang out. Elizabeth spends most of her time trying to convince me that I must go out to the farm which really isn't my idea of fun.
Anyway Jon, that's my brother in case you don't know, and my mom went to the farm for a few days. He had an awesome time because he loves the outdoors and working with his hands and braais and that type of thing.
Monday evening Cate, my ex father, and I went to visit Keith and Barry who are staying at my gran's house for dinner. It was nice to hang out and chat, but the truth is that Cate is the worst person around people, being rather an introvert, so I spent most of the evening talking about films and theater, two things I really love, so while it was weird to do most of the talking it was ok.
After the dinner we went home and then Donovan called me and we went with some friends to Pete's Post to watch some football. Chelsea were playing Everton, and if they had won they would have made it to the top of the log. Unfortunately that didn't happen on account of the referee being a head mental and giving yellow and red cards to almost every Chelsea player for mostly no reason.
There was also a man who was wearing mostly no clothes, but that's a story I think Tessa, Matt's girlfriend, should tell you.
Tuesday
Other than visiting Andre, my psychologist, I just read and DOTA'd.
Wednesday
Very mellow day for me, my mom and Jon got back home and then we hung out and played some more DOTA, and I read more. That's about it.
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