After getting back from Nashville, I popped into Green's Package Store to pick up Lauren's birthday present - Belvedere Vodka and Chartreuse - and a contribution to the general party drinking supplies (a big bottle of Absolut).

I delivered the gifts at 8pm (giving me a chance to say hi to Bria as well) and sauntered across to the Local for a few beers. John joined me and I also caught up with Daniel, Tim, RaeAnne and Ben. At around 10:30ish, Tim and I wandered back over to Lauren's place, where festivities were under way.

Let me now just say that I drank rather a lot of vodka. And it was good.

I really don't feel like going into the details of the party; suffice it to say that a good time was had by everyone (although there was a moment or two of negativeness). There was drinking, there was music and there was Truth or Dare.

5 Feb

Lauren's Birthday

At some ungodly hour, I awoke lying crosswise at the end of Lauren's bed. Next to me was Jennifer, and Lauren was in bed. Out in the living room were Bria, Brad, and Kary. One by one we awoke (with the exception of Kary) and decided to make a Waffle House run. This proved to be a good idea. Almost as good as the one that Lauren had to feed us all painkillers before hangovers set in.

After Wafflizing, we came back and attmepted to sleep some more. Bria had to go to work, and Brad didn't stay for long either. By 3:30pm, there was just Lauren, Jennifer and myself. And Thurston, of course. Feeling generally lazy, we decided to play Uno, and watch Romeo and Juliet. This provided much entertainment.

Later we collected Doom Cookie Jenn and zipped around the place collecting supplies and eating food. Then we returned to Lauren's to play Uno with drinking rules. Yay.

Eventually, (around 5am) Doom Cookie Jenn decided to go home, and so Lauren, Jennifer and I all piled into Lauren's bed and got some sleep.

6 Feb

As usual, I awoke early. Rather than lay around with the sleeping beauties, I thought it prudent to go home and have a shower. I'll probably feel like falling asleep later this afternoon.

About 1pm I rang Lauren and then went over. The three of us then made a journey to the House of Waffles and then went to our respective homes.

Later, after playing CivII for several hours, I went to the movies with Jennifer, Doom Cookie Jen and Vance, Jennifer's friend. We saw Girl, Interrupted which was an entertaining flick.

7 Feb

I called in briefly to HexensNacht. Saw a few people. Went home. I'm on call this week, so hence I'm keeping a low profile. Well, that's not the only reason, but it's the only one you're going to get...

8 Feb

I caught up with Lauren and her workmate, Nicole, at the underground cafe Lauren and I went to a week or so back. It was fun. There was a DJ playing rave-type music, and the place had a lot of rave-kids hanging around.

The three of us played a couple of games of Clue and a game of Scrabble. This time, Lauren managed to beat me. Grrr!!! But it was a good night.

I bought CDs today. Lots of CDs. Ministry, Renegade Soundwave, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Carter USM, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Sisters of Mercy,Therapy?, PWEI, Curve, Severed Heads. Yay, I is happy.

9 Feb

My first Wednesday night in Atlanta for a few weeks, and I really didn't do a hell of a lot. I went up to the pub for dinner (half barbeque chicken, corn on cobb, coleslaw, hush puppies and a Hoegaarden). I headed home before the trivia game started, and spent the night working and IMing Bria.

Apparently it was a good night at Nomenclature as it was Chason's birthday, so it sucks that I missed out on that, but a decision is a decision.

Earlier in the day, I was taken to lunch by the people at Coca-Cola Enterprises who are currently performing an audit (they prefer the term 'review') of our IS procedures. Awfully pleasant group of people, and we tentatively arranged to get together soon on a more social basis. This should be good - there comes a time when one has to meet new people outside of the circles one normally spends time in.

10 Feb

Once again I was taken out for lunch, this time by The Coca-Cola Company. We went to Pappadeux, which is an excellent Cajun Seafood restaurant. Pricey, but I wasn't paying for it. Although, maybe I am, as I currently have a yucky tummy, which I attribute the oysters that were in my meal.

Tonight is again going to be a quiet one. I was going to meet Lauren for dinner, but as my stomach is not feeling good, I am having to skip that. This is not good.

But plans change (as they often seem to do in my life) and Jennifer, Lauren and I met up at Lauren's apartment and wandered over the underground cafe. I should really find out at some stage what the place is called. It's a very cool place, nice and relaxing.

Once again, we broke out the scrabble, and I got off to a good start. Doom Cookie Jen and Brooke also turned up partway through the game. In the end, I was left with the 'Q', but still managed to scrape in with a victory. But it was close - Jennifer had come charging back into the game, and was only a few points behind me.

11 Feb

A busy (but non-stressfull) day at work, and quick stop in at Kroger to pick up supplies. And then Jennifer came over and we played scrabble.

It was a really nice evening - heaps of good conversation, lots of good music (primarily synthpop and industrial), some excellent vodka, and a close game of scrabble. Unfortunately I was left with the 'Q' at the end of the game (again), and my final total was 3 short of Jennifer's. Damn. But next time things will be different.

12 Feb

A working Saturday - haven't done one for a while, but it was necessary. It was timed well with the fact that I was on call. I got quite a bit done, but just ran out of day.

Jennifer and Lauren checked out a place for rent and then we went for dinner (with Vance) at Waffle House. After dinner, Vance and Jennifer went to collect Jenn's wayward brother (long story), Lauren went home for a nap before the Vault (which she was trying to convince me to go along to), and I picked up a video.

The movie of the night was Go, which was thoroughly entertaining. As at 11:30pm, I still hadn't heard from Lauren, but considering how little sleep she got last night, she's probably well and truly asleep.

Well, I was wrong. I got a phone call from John, and then I rang Lauren, who had just tried to call me. And thus it was decided that a-Vaulting we should go. So we did. And it was a pleasant experience. John and I left at about a quarter to three, Durran having played VNV Nation, Honour, which is an awesome song.

13 Feb

Problems with the rebuilt file server meant that I had to go back in to work again today :-(

But after work I stopped by Media Play and bought Scrabble and Monopoly.

14 Feb

Valentine's Day

Well, I did send a couple of Valentine's emails. "To who?" you ask. Well, I'm not telling...

Again, the servers I rebuilt on the weekend crashed and I spent a long 5am to 9pm day at work, eventually going out and buying some new computer equipment. After work it was a race to the airport to catch a 10:10pm flight to Nashville.

16 Feb

I came back from Nashville, and went to Nomenclature for their open bar special. This was most enjoyable.

Jennifer had a little too much to drink (it wasn't my fault, honest; John and Kary bought her drinks as well), and so she crashed over at my place rather than driving all the way out to Kennesaw.

17 Feb

Tonight, Jennifer came over and we wandered across the road to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner, and then up to the Fox Theatre to see the Atlanta Ballet production of Dracula. This year I had seats in the balcony and this provided an awesome view of the stage. This was Jennifer's first ballet and she enjoyed it, which was very cool.

You know, it's really great when you can walk to the Ballet...

18 Feb

Happiness was the order of the evening at Lauren's place - involving Lauren, Brad, Jennifer, Vance, Heather, Nick, Chris, Desiree and Steven. Also popping by for festivities was Roy, Shane, and Scott.

19 Feb

I came home from Lauren's around 7am this morning. I managed to get about an hour's sleep but then I was awake. Damn damn damn. Maybe later I'll crash and burn...

When I left for Lauren's last night, I left my computer on downloading mp3s and music videos from alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.gothic-industrial and alt.binaries.mpeg.videos, and today I compiled all those messages into playable files. Rockin'. Not all of them came down, and the link appears to be slow downloading them today.

And while things were downloading I cleaned my apartment and did more updates to this web page.

Hmm, I should probably split to the next file soon. Oh well, let's see what happens first..

I went back To Lauren's and we (Jenn, Brad, Lauren & Vance) played Uno for several hours. After eating pizza, we advanced to vodka Uno. At about 4:30, we started passing out, which really was quite amazing as far as I was concerned, considering how little sleep I had had.

20 Feb

Ahh, Sunday, day of relaxation.

And Waffle House. So, yeah, we woke around 11:30ish (yeah, I admit it, I managed to get myself in the same bed as Lauren and Jenn, but that's because I'm just so lovable), played an hour or so of Uno, and then went to the House of Waffles.

After having a good, hearty, Waffle House feed (don't deny it until you try it - and don't even deny it then), we went back to Lauren's (oh, I had introduced everyone to Bad Jelly The Witch on this journey) and helped clean up the weekend's festivities. Then we all went home.

I continued to clean my apartment up - thowing out boxes, moving stuff around. I even vacuumed yesterday (but not today).

22 Feb

A satisfactory day at work was completed by a pleasant night at home.

I got home before 6 and started preparing dinner for myself and Jennifer. Steak, corn on the cobb, cauliflower and cheese, and mashed potatoes. And in spite of the fact Jennifer has her steak well done, I managed to get everything to come out pretty much right. My first well done steak (yes, I do consider anything more than medium-rare a sin, but hey, it's all about education, and that will take time...)

After dinner, I helped Jenn with her Visual Basic homework and then we played War for an hour or so. Hmm, on reflection, it was more like the 'or so' rather than just the hour.

Understandably, Jennifer didn't want to drive back to Kennesaw, so she stayed over.

23 Feb

I don't approve of Jennifer's start time.

Due to Jenn's classes starting at 7:30, we had to be awake at 6:30. This is rather difficult for me. But we got there, and Jenn got out the door not too much after 7am.

Work was pretty successful today. And then after work I met up with Joel, Jeff, Rob and Bryan from Coke for beers and wings at Hooters. Definitely an entertaining experience.

After Hooters, the plan was to head to the Decoded Feedback gig at the Masquerade. And now I'm waiting for Brad, who was supposed to pick me up to go to Lauren's before the gig for drinks. He's late. Oh well, I'll just have to have another vodka.

Brad eventually turned up and we zipped on up Lauren's for some Uno action with Jenn, John, Vance and (of course) Lauren. This was the drinking version of the game, which contributed to my nonsobriety.

After Uno we stumbled down the road to Masquerade and the Decoded Feedback show. It was a pretty good show - at least what I can remember of it. Vance had a little too much to drink and ended up emptying his stomach and being asked to leave. Not long after, Jenn and I left, found Vance and we all came back to my place for sleepage.

Sadness.

The Cure played last night at The Roxy - tickets were extremely limited and available only to select people. It was a promo gig in preparation for their upcoming full tour. The Cure will be back in Atlanta later in the year, and I shall see them then.

But that's not all. After their gig, they went to Nomenclature! The only Wednesday I'm in town and I don't go is the time I really wish I had been there. Fucky fucky fuck fuck!!!!

Oh well, such is life, I guess.

24 Feb

Aaarrrggghhh - overslept! Jenn's going to be late for her final! And I'm going to be late for work. And Vance is going to be late for Calculus.

Fortunately, Jenn still got an A, and I was able to reschedule the work that I had to do. As for Vance, well, it was only calculus.

I decided in the end to do a half day. So I had lunch with Jennifer at The Olive Garden and then did some shopping at Target. They didn't have the CD shelf I was looking for, but I did pick up a couple of chairs for my deck, and a clothes basket, and some tea towels. I was hoping to buy a pack of Uno cards, but I couldn't find a pack.

On my way home I stopped in at Blockbuster to sign up and to rent Friday, so I can be up to speed when we all go and see Next Friday on Friday.

25 Feb

A successful day at work; much was accomplished. After work, I relaxed for a bit until Jenn showed up. We quickly ate pizza and headed over to Lauren's.

Lauren and I headed over to Green's Package Store to pick up supplies for the evening - vodka, tequila, mixers. At the store we bumped into Jesse and Amanda who were on their way over. This was very cool and we bounded back to Lauren's.

Brad arrived and then Jenn arrived a few minutes later with Vance and we headed off to Morth Dekalb Mall to see Next Friday. This was highly entertaining.

After the movie we charged back to Lauren's for Hot Uno Action - the drinking version. The night went from there with drinking and festivising. Heather turned up and much more happiness ensued. Amanda lent me her nipple clamps (wow - those things are intense) and we all played with electrical tape (I'll let you decide how we used it...).

I fell asleep for a bit, and when I awoke again, Jesse and Amanda had gone and Vance was also asleep. We (Heather, Jenn, Lauren, Brad and I) played Uno and talked rubbish for a few more hours. Brad left, followed in due course by Heather, and the remainder of us crashed out: Vance in Lauren's bed, and Jenn and I on the couch. I think it was around 6am Saturday that sleep came.

26 Feb

And not much sleep was had. Jenn and I awoke around 9:30. She popped some Alleve and jumped into bed with Vance and Lauren. I was awake and not looking like falling asleep again, so I went home and after fluffing around for a bit I started watching Snake Eyes.

About halfway into the film, Jenn rang and summoned me to return with food - which I did, stopping in at Harry's In A Hurry. I bought heaps of food, and was met with much rejoicing when I arrived. After breaking our fast we retired to Lauren's bed for more Uno action.

After the game (it went on for excessive amounts of time), we made plans for the evening: Mexicans at my place. Woohoo!!

I came home and finished watching Snake Eyes and did some general clean-up.

Mexicans didn't quite work out, but Uno action did. Jenn, Lauren, John, Brad turned up and merriment ensued. Festivities included Uno, Uno with alcohol, and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Things were getting late, and tiredness was setting in, so Jenn and I bailed. But not for long, as Brad and Jen (of the Doom Cookie variety) arrived, so we rejoined the festivities. Well, for a little while.

27 Feb

Jenn got up about 11 to go do more moving out and cleaning. I got up around 1pm and spend some time chatting with John, who had stayed over.

Later in the afternoon, Lauren and I got together for some Hot Waffle House Action. Aww yeah!

28 Feb

Work and then off to Nashville in the evening.

29 Feb

Back from Nashville and off to Sotto Sotto for an evening of great Italian food and much general merriment.

Unfortunately, Jenn was feeling under the weather and didn't come out, but Lauren, John and I had much fun, eating great food (oooh, the mushrooms...), drinking good wine, and making fun of other people. Tee hee.

I got home about 11:30 and promptly crashed out.