|
Pierrot's Home PageThe thoughts, deeds, and story of a modern fool |
|
Menu |
Journal |
About The Boy |
Other Stuff |
November 2001
I woke up. The hangover threatened, but never actually materialised. Once again, we headed over to the Clover Grill for breakfast. Once again, I had pork chops and scrambled eggs and hash browns.
Then we wandered over the St Louis Cemetary #1, and strolled around that for an hour or so. I took a few photos, but couldn't translate much in the way of inspiration. Then we came back into the Quarter and, surprise surprise, Pirate's Alley. Russ had an iced coffee; I had a shiraz. Russ took a photo of me that I think should look pretty good.
After hanging out there I came back to the hotel for a nap. This was much needed. After my nap I had a shower and got dressed. In dressing I found a scrap of paper in my jeans with a name (Brandy) and phone number on it. I was in two minds about calling, and ended up not. Ah well.
I then sat outside in the courtyard drinking water and writing my journal. Around 6:15, Jason and Kelly came wandering in from their afternoon. The plan was for us to all meet up at 9pm, head over to Pirate's Alley and then get to Shim Sham before 11pm for free entry. We updated the plan slightly so we could go eat at Coot's.
I had spent much of the day in email correspndence with Amy. She is so cool and we are so silly. When she said that she was going to try to come down for my birthday and stay through the Monday (my actual birthday), I told her, "That would rock more than a barge in a hurricane." She liked that Amy's having a party on Saturday night. I'd like to go, but getting there could be difficult. Oh well.
Once again, we hung out inthe courtyard for a while before heading over to Pirate's Alley. At the cafe, I had the focaccia greca (spinach, feta, onions on focaccia bread) and a single glass of wine. And we were there for a good two hours. We wandered over to the square so Russ could get his palm read by Jerek, but he wasn't there, so instead we crossed over Decatur to the river. Then we came back across and watched the spray-can painter do his stuff. He's very fast and the paintings he creates are quite outstanding considering the method. In general, though, not really my thing.
We then headed up to Shim Sham. We got there about 10:40, so there was no cover. The mix of music was really good: lot's of alternative 80's tracks rather than the standard mix of new wave and new romantic. I stayed there until around midnight and then wandered home. At the club I had only one drink - a Shiner Bock. My body was demanding respite from the torture I had been putting it through over the past week or so, so I thought it prudent to give it a break.
Not long after I had arrived back, my cellphone rang: it was Amy. She had been out at a fashion show and had had a few drinks. She also told me thatr as a result of our excessive week together she had to go to the hospital on Monday night. She's okay, but she did have a bit of a scare. I do feel somewhat guilty and a large deal of responsibilty (I'm such a bad influence) so I shall have to make it up to Amy somehow. We finished up around 1am and I went to sleep.
I had some very strange dreams. The most vivid that I remember was that the basement of my ouse (although not my current apartment) had been converted into a laboratory where the company I work for was doing research into a vaccine for anthrax. At some point I was out somewhere and I ran into Lindsay Woodcock, who I haven't seen in at least 18 months, and took her back to show her the lab. We stopped somewhere for some fast food. Strange.
I awoke earlyish, but did not sleep too well after that. At one point I had a bit of a coughing fit, kinda bronchial in nature. Sleep came and went. I got up about 9:30 for a shower and then wandered into the courtyard to do my journal and await my companions.
Russ, Tori and I went up to Pirate's Alley at midday to meet Tigger, who wanted to go to the D-Day Museum with us. We sat down and ordered (I got water and a salmon croissant sandwhich which was very tasty and loaded with raw salmon) and just as Tigger arrived, so did an accordianist. I guess the latter did contribute to the ambience of the place. Tori popped to the ice-cream store for Haagen Dazs.
Tigger drove us over to the museum and we spent a couple of hours wandering around. I took a bunch of photos of the exhibits in the entrance and then we wandered through the background and events of D-Day.
After the D-Day museum, we went to a mall because Tigger wanted to buy some socks. I ended up buyiong some, too. Then e went to the casino, as Tori had never been to one. She was very excited. She wanted to see the showgirls. Heheh.
When we were finished with the museum we went to pick up the girl that Tigger was staying with and then we were dropped back at the hotel. We freshened ourselves up and then (finally) went to Coot's for rabbit and sausage jambalaya. Hmmm... so good. Once again it was back to Pirate's Alley, where I had wine and Tigger and Tori went off to get a hurricane. We hung out there for a while and then went strolling down Bourbon Street.
We checked out the various people and some of the clothing stores. We stopped in at one place to buy a hand grenade (don't worry, it's a drink), and shots of jagermeister (grenades for Tigger, Tori, and I; jager for Tigger and I). At one point, needing to relieve himself, Tigger used the hand grenade bottle while holding his jacket in front of him so no-one could see what he was doing.
Eventually we hit Crow Bar, where we continued to drink, we saw Gabby, I danced. I was little overly flirtatious with Gabby. We went for a walk and a chat at one point. She's not too happy with her current lot. But it will get better. I do know that she was looking very cute. Once again, after the club we went to Angeli.
Um, Russ, I need your help to remind me of what else we did.
We got up and drove home. That's essentially it for the day. When I got home I checked my email, watched the Diamondbacks kick the Yankees' butt, and then went to bed. Amy called to say she was upset with the loss, and it was only the 4th inning (Yankees were down 12-0 at that point, they ended 15-2). Then she went to do stuff for her party. And I was in bed by midnight.
Detox - day two.
Simple really. Got up, shaved my head, had a shower, updated my web journal with the notes I took while away. Had brunch with Lauren and John at Radial. Changed the plug on the drier at Sarah's new place. Came home and watched some football. Did more updates on the page. I guess I'll be watching the baseball tonight - final game of the World Series.
I called Amy just before the game started to let her know that the Diamondbacks were going to win. And they did. Sorry, Amy, but I told you so :-)
Detox - day three
First day back at work after, essentially, two weeks out. Ugly. But I caught up most things. I also ran a bunch of chores at lunch time - got new contacts, got fitted for new spectacles, got new boxers, dropped stuff off at the drycleaners. Tomorrow's chores include collecting specs, collecting drycleaning, dropping off film, dropping the car off for repairs, organising a doctor's appointment, rescheduling my periodontist appointment (they called to cancel). Craziness.
After work I got stuck in to updating my 2001 journal with links and cascading style sheet references. Yay, me so geeky. John came home and he was not very well at all. So I went over to Lauren's to pick him up some decongestant drugs. He's laying on the couch watching Monday Might Football. Poor John. I got a call from Amy and we talked for a fair bit, probably an hour or so. It was fun.
Detox - final day
I picked up my new spectacles today. I'm not sure yet if I like the style, but hey, I don't really wear them very much, so we'll see.
Took Joel Landers and Rob Szuba from Coke out for dinner. Luckily the company was able to pick up this tab. Remember, $4 martinis at Copeland's on Tuesdays.
After work did trivia. It was just John and me for the first half, and we did pretty good, only missing one 1-point question and we missed 2 points in the half-time question. Jenny joined us part-way through the second half. Unfortunately, the in second half we sucked badly, and ended up nowhere. We left pretty much straight after the game. I only had three beers. Behaving myself... :-)
Dad's birthday. Old man.
Crazy day, packing up the office, sorting stuff out for a big meeting with Coke. I also got roped into going to Philadelphia next week to train some people. This is going to be early morning stuff. I will have to do route rides. Yucky. But on Friday afternoon, I also get to fly, not to Atlanta, but instead to Chicago, to stay with Amy and go see VNV Nation. Rock the fuck on!
I picked up my photos from Wolf Camera and had a good laugh. I also stopped in at Microcenter to see if they had Civilization III since it has now been released. They don't. Bastards.
In the evening time, the office went out on the town to wish Chris good bye, as this is to be his last trip to the US. I got caught in bad traffic while in the process of dropping the car home, but I did get there, and got changed. I also found a letter from Amy in the mail. Yay Amy.
We certainly painted the town a good shade of red.
Awoke feeling kinda rough. Took Chris to get his stuff from his hotel, and then off to Waffle House for breakfast. Peter joined us. Food good. Then we went in to work and I completed packing up my office. Then I took all my stuff over to the new office in Norcross, where I am now assigned to a cube. This is going to suck, but hopefully not too much.
Because the network was not up yet at the Norcross office, I simply unloaded what boxes I could, set up what bits and pieces I could (my filing cabinet had not yet been delivered), and then called it a day. The ride home was suggestive of a hell commute to come. Moving to Norcross does not impress me at all. Ah well, I should really stop complaining, because there's nothing I can do about it. Anyway, I came home and uploaded my new photos onto the web site, and updated some of my journal a little. I was going to have a shower, but I got caught up inthe updates that I haven't yet got around to it. I will need to shower before I go out, though. Tonight I'm going out to celebrate Stacy and Dill's engagement. They've even put a deposit down on a house. Scary stuff.
Went up to the pub around 7:30 and found Dill and Stacy already there. I had a vodka and sprite and a cheeseburger with muchrooms and no bun. It was tasty but I was still hungry. Dill hadn't eaten, so we went off to Publix to pick up some steaks and some veges and then we went back to their place and hung out, drank some more, and cooked out. It was much fun. I left there around 1am.
I got a phone call from Amy at 4am. She was at a party and having a goodish time. Heheh, She was surprised when I told her what the time was. I like the night-time calls from Amy; she tells me the coolest things. I can't help but love that girl. :-)
Slept in late, which was very nice. It's a beautiful day outside, so I'll get out there eventually. I have to go and buy a washer and drier today. I paged Lauren to see if she wanted to come with me and she answered in the affirmative so I am now waiting on her. I updated my CD database with my most recent acquisitions. John has gone camping, so I think I'll spend the weekend relaxing and tidying up the apartment. I would like to get some washing done, so hopefully I'll be able to get my laundry stuff delivered today or tomorrow.
Lauren and I went up to the Sears outlet shop in Cobb County and I found a washer and drier for a little over $300 each. All up, including tax was $690. For an additional $97 they are going to deliver and install on Sunday. This rocks. I am, of course, now quite broke. Ah well, such is the life of a grown-up.
After the white-wear experience, we went to Lauren's old high school, Westminster. This is a big private school. Very flash. Then we went on a scenic drive, checking out lots of ridiculously large (and hideously expensive) houses in some of the finer parts of Atlanta. Then we went on a detour, go lost, and checked out some of the dingiest places in Atlanta. Interesting city, this. On our way back through downtown, Amy called and I chatted to her for a bit. Lauren and I went back to my place and we hung out on the deck drinking vodkas. Very civilised.
Lauren had vouchers for Outback Steakhouse, which were given to her by her work people, so we decided to go there for dinner. This was an excellent idea, as I had not had anything to eat all day (I guess last night's meal really did sort me out), and cow is always good. So we went, had a fruity martini, bloomin' onion, caesar salads, mushrooms, and I had a decent piece rib-eye (very rare) and Lauren had salmon. All very tasty. Afterwards, we went to Blockbuster to pick up a couple of movies. We ended up selecting Bridget Jones' Diary and ALmost Famous. Both movies were great. Glenn stopped by partway through Bridget Jones' and stayed for both.
After the movies, I excused myself and headed over to the Local to see who was around. I ended up hanging out there for a couple of hours, explain the rules of rugby and just hanging. And then I headed home. I gave Amy a call, but she didn't have her cellphone readily available, and she wasn't home, so I left her a message. She called me back later.
Got up and started doing chores aronud the place. I read a little more of the Tom Robbins book the John has loaned me. I went through all my mail, tidied up my CDs and DVDs, gave Amy a call and chatted to her for a a while, started to clean my bathroom. I got a call to say the laundry stuff would be delivered sometime between 1pm and 4pm. Yay, I shall be able to clean my clothes! This is a necessity, as I have just run out of underwear.
The washer and drier arrived! Yippee!! Because this place is old, we don't have any grounded power outlets in the laundry, so I had to run down to Home Depot to get an extension lead. It also appears that the water pipes were connected back to front. I'll fix that on the next load...
John came home from his camping trip and placed himself in front of the TV to watch football and promptly fell asleep. Later, Sarah and Alice came over to watch Sunday Night TV, and brought food with them. Earlier I had started moving books and my computer equipment into Sarah's old room. John will be moving his keyboards and music equipment in there, two. Things should be interesting...
Cube Life - Day One
Today is Veteran's Day. This is a holiday for government workers, the post office, and banks. But not for us. Fortunately it meant my first ride to work in Norcross was light in traffic. I got there in half an hour. And set about getting my bits and pieces sorted out. A bit of a disaster of a day in some respects, but successful in others. By the end of the day my cube was set up and fully functional. Now all that remains is to get used to cube life. I don't know if I can.
The drive home from work also took about halff an hour. I got off at the Peachtree St/Monroe Dr exit so I would avoid the I-400 traffic and the connector. I think I may try that in future. But not tomorrow, as tomorrow I'm going straight from work to the airport.
So tonight when I came home I did some tidying around my room and the "games room" and started packing for the trip. I wanted to travel light, but that's not really going to be an option, considering that both Philly and Chicago can get very cold when the wind starts blowing.
John moved his keyboards into the "games room" and played with them for a bit.
A new series of Absolutely Fabulous starts tonight. Sherrod and Michele were going to have an Ab Fab viewing party at Sherrod's, which I would have liked to have gone to, but due to my other chores owing, this was not going to happen. Oh well...
Work. Then airport. Got searched at security. My nipple ring set off the hand-held metal detector and I had to show the guard my nipples. How violated.
Two hour wait for flight, so went to the BA lounge with Dave. Drank lots of Jack Daniels.
Stayed up late working - emails, etc. Bed around midnight
Up at 5am to go in to Philly coke plant. Long day. Dinner at hotel restaurant. Goodish steak. And I ate some fries. Early to bed.
Up at 5am. The guy I was supposed to route ride with couldn't take me so I spent the day in the plant. Boring. Went to pub recommended by George and had a couple of poor Guinesses. Then we went to restaurant next door for another outstanding meal. Caesar salad, steak, Haagen Dasz icecream. Yum.
Up at 5am. Another route ride. Philly cheesesteak for lunch. Then off to the airport. Another long wait once through security. This time Dave was molested by the guards. Once again, off for a drink, this time at a regular airport bar, although the drinks were decently priced at $3 for draft beers. Spent much of this time ipaging Amy and Lauren, which was fun.
The flight to Chicago was acceptably boring. I slept a little bit (asleep before the wheels were off the ground).
Caught the 'L' from the airport to Amy's. That was fun. Had to stand for the duration of the Red Line ride. Ah well (I was carrying my big back-pack - fortunately Dave has taken my laptop with him). Got to Amy's around 6:30. Yay!
We hugged and Amy gave me a present. She had bought the book we had laughed at at the comic shop the last time I was up (What Is Mr Winkle") and had modified it somewhat, with new pictures and comments throughout. It was gorgeously funny. I loved it. I got changed and we had a drink and then Amy's friend Dan came over and we had another drink. Shawn came over with another friend and then we all headed up to The Vic to see Icon of Coil and VNV Nation. We got in the door and I bought two t-shirts. I will buy the sweatshirt at the Atlanta show. Then we got stuck into the gin and tonics while we waited for the bands. We also found Matt while waiting in line to get in.
The first band, whose name I can't recall, sucked. They were essentially a bad rip-off of Pop Will Eat Itself's last album, Dos Dodos Mis Amigos. Very disappointing. Icon of Coil were great. About this time we noticed that the quiality of our G+T's was going down, so I complained. That didn't resolve anything, but fortunately Amy got a glass of wine and we didn't have to wait long for VNV.
Two words: fucking amazing. They have never played a bad show the three times that I have seen them and this was no exception. I danced hard the entire gig and was very sore and tired at the end. And they kept coming back to play more stuff. The only song I really missed was Salvation. Early on in the performance, I gave Lauren a call on my mobile, so she could experience some of the gig remotely. I think she was impressed.
After the show, we found we had lost Shawn and company, so we went with some more of Amy's friends to get some food. The food wasn't particularly good, but was probably very helpful. Then Amy and I went across the road to get a bottle of wine (before the price went up at 2am) and then wandered back to her place to drink that. Unfortunately it turned out to be a bad example of a Pinot Noir, my favourite style of red wine. Ah well, it was obviously not from New Zealand or Australia :-)
NOTE: The 'L' is the train system that runs around Chicago. It's old, but it's reliable.
Stayed in bed latish (compared to the last time I was in Chicago) and listened to Bad Jelly The Witch. I'm pretty sure Amy enjoyed it. We then got up to get breakfast at La Creperie. I had a crepe florentine, which was essentially a spinach and egg crepe, topped with an egg. This was very yummy. It came with bacon and potatoes (although I didn't eat any of the latter) and was very filling. An excellent way to start the day.
After breakfast we caught the 'L' into Chicago and went to FAO Schwarz to (a) look for Christmas presents, (b) get a gift for a baby shower Amy was going to on Monday, and (c) play with toys. On the way there, though, we stopped in at Comp USA to see if they had Civ III yet. They didn't. We also went past a shop which was truly disturbing: parents could bring their children to get dolls whose fashion clothes could also be purchased in the size of the child. Yes, that's right, the child could dress in the same manner as their doll. Very disturbing. And there was a huge line of parents and children waiting to get in. And some of those children looked like they had been there before, judging by the dolls they were carrying...
We got to FAO Schwarz and ran around the store, playing and laughing at the various toys and stuffed animals and so on. It was very cool. We found a purple hippo that I suggested Amy get. But then I decided I wanted to get one and give to Lauren. Because Lauren likes hippos. But I didn't. But the hippos were so cool - irridescent purple - awesome. Oh well. I might have to get Amy to get me one anyway.
Then we went to the Hancock Building, because Amy thought that the Sears Tower observation deck was still closed, and besides, there's a cocktail bar on the 96th floor of Hancock. So we went there, and we drank cocktails. And took photos. And played The Simpsons trivia. It was a blast. I took a photo of Amy, and then Amy took a photo of meand then I took another of Amy, and another. I also got a shot of the view of Chicago. Then, five drinks (three for me, two for Amy) and $48 later we shot back down to ground level and caught the train back to Amy's for a nap.
On the way back we stopped at two of the second hand CD stores looking for Mel C's I Turn To You. We didn't find it, but I did pick up two CD's: Curve Doppleganger and a PJ Harvey four-track recordings compilation, and Amy bought Monaco, Music For Pleasure. After our nap, and then listening to the new music (including the VNV compilation I had made and brought up for Amy), we ordered in food (chicken caesar salad for me, four-cheese ravioli for Amy, and fried mushrooms for the pair of us). After dinner we wandered up to the liquor store to get some beer and then caught the bus to a party further up Belmont St. This was pretty fun, and we met some interesting people (a web designer named Velveeta...)
After the party we came back to watch Spice World. This is a cool film; I will have to get it on DVD.
We woke up, talked, and got more sleep. We got up early afternoon and wandered tdown to Clarke's for breakfast. We spent the afternoon just hanging out, listening to music and making each other laugh, just as we had the last Sunday I was in Chicago. Then I packed all my stuff up, and Amy and I went to the airport. Because there was nowhere for us to hang out and wait together, Amy went home and I wandered on through security.
From Chicago, to Pittsburgh, to Atlanta, and then a quick drive home, to catch the end of South Park and then it was time for bed.
Back at work for the morning, busy trying to catch up on loads of crap. Always happens when you're out of the office for several days. Then at midday, I headed off to pick my car up. All fixed and shiny like new. And then it was off to the periodontist to have my tooth removed and a titanium screw put in. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. But I did get drugs - Amoxillin and Vicodin.
The evening was Hot Bria Action. I picked Bria up from the airport and we zoomed on over to the Local, where we were met by Lauren, Jesse and Christian and Genevieve and John. Later we were joined by Jen. After much fun at the Local (including a photo of Lauren, Jen and Bria, we bounded over to the Clermont, where we were later joined by Scott, Phaedra and Rosalie. Awesome action! Including saucy Rosalie on Bria action. Finally, Scott, Phaedra, Rosalie, Bria and I went back to my place and we hung out on the deck until about 3am and then Scott took his charges home.
Bria had to get up early to meet some friends who were taking her to her parent's place in Vidalia. After she had left I went back to bed and read more of Jitterbug Perfume. I dozed off and was awoken an hour or so later by a page from Amy. I responded and then got up to do chores. Oh, yeah, I'm taking this day off work. Heheh.
I got quite a lot of stuff done: picked up photos from Wolf Camera, picked up some stuff from Microcenter, shaved my head, did laundry, uploaded pictures onto my website, caught my journal up to date, installed antivirus and personal firewall software, loaded up a new photo album, installed MSN Messenger and got to chat online with my brother and my mum. Very productive. Very happy.
I was going to be seeing Mullholland Drive with Lauren tonight, but her parents were coming in from Fiji on Wednesday morning and they wanted her to pick up their car for them, so instead we just went to the Local for dinner. I refrained from drinking, but the pills I had taken only a couple of hours earlier were seriously knocking me about, so I went home and went to sleep.
Back at work for a day, continuing the whole catch-up process. I had a very pleasant lunch with Rosalie and Wendy. It's good that they live close to where I work, because then I can see more of them. Yay.
People left work early. I was one of the last to leave, at 4:30pm Wow. So I came home.
Amy has confirmed that she will be coming down for my birthday. Yay! I'm so happy!
Heather sent me this cool link today. Check it out!
John and I went to the Local for dinner and, of course, Trivia. Glenn joined us part way throught the first half of the game. We fought long and we fought hard, and in the end, our fighting paid off and we came third. If we had bet more points on the final question we would have won, but third is good enough for me.
After trivia, we went off to Nomenclature. This was really fun, as so many people I hadn't seen in a long time were there, including (but not limited to) Gabby, Myra, Kary, Shawn (well, I saw Shawn in Chicago last weekend, but I hadn't seen him in Atlanta for a while), Stacie, Clair. I talked lots with Gabby and with Myra, both of which being very pleasant experiences :-).
From Nomenclature, Myra, Lauren, Shawn, Glenn, John and myself went over to MJQ, where we talked, flirted, danced, and, in everyone's case but mine, drank. I couldn't believe I was out until 3:30am and I never once had an alcoholic beverage. Amazing, no? Also at MJQ we ran into Billy, Shane, Tall Steven, and the Local crowd (Todd, Manny, Patrick, Colleen, others whose names I never remember...). Hehe, oh yeah, Jody was at the door when I arrived so I managed to get John and I in for free. I like that.
When John and I walked Lauren home, there was a rather one-sided fight going on in the carpark, so Lauren called the cops when she got in. As John and I were wandering back to the car, we saw a police car do some awesome driving, speeding down Ponce and into the parking lot and a cop jump out at take off into the running away combatants. Impressive looking, just like the movies... But we didn't stay to watch; we went home to bed.
Thanksgiving Day
Also known as Sleep in for Damon Day. I was awakened, not unpleasantly, by a page from Amy at 11. I responded and eleceted to stay in bed reading for a a couple of hours, continuing my fascinating read of Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume. This is a highly entertaining book that I thoroughly recommend. I can't believe I have not read any Tom Robbins before now.
Around 1pm I got up to have a shower, but the water pressure sucked, so it wasn't a particularly good shower. Nonetheless, I got clean and dressed, and proceeded to call Lauren to establish some plans for this evening: Mulholland Drive at the Plaza at 9:35 tonight. Rock on. Prior to that I think I will be going to the Local for their Orphan's Thanksgiving (must bring a plate of food - I'll have to check out the supplies in the kitchen) at 6pm. Between now and then, I need to get breakfast and then just relax for the day. Oh yeah...
So I ended up playing Civ for much of the afternoon, and I also had a long MSN Messenger conversation with Bianca, my old flatmate from Balmoral Road in Auckland. That was pretty cool. After all that, I watched the most recent Sunday's episodes of The Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle. Then it was time to head down to the Local for a bite to eat. Dan had smoked three turkeys, someone else had brought some vegetable type dishes, and I brought a plate of celery. It was all good eating. Once again I stuck to water as my beverage; I'm so good to me.
Nine o'clock came round and Lauren paged me. She came on over around 9:15 and we wandered up to the Plaza to see Mulholland Drive. We paid our oney, got some popcorn and some water and went on in. It appeared we had missed the start, for in typical David Lynch fashion, things were kind of bizarre. And then the credits rolled on. Hrm, we had only been in about 5 minutes. Everyone vacated the theatre. Hrm. Turns out we had the time wrong for the movie showing and were twenty minutes early. Ooops. So we sat and waited and ate popcorn.
Oh! What's that hard thing in my mouth that isn't popcorn. Oh dear, it appears to be a tooth. The tooth that was played with on Monday. Bother. I had better call my periodontist. So we went downstairs and the nice people gave us our money back for the tickets, since we were unable to see the film, and after dropping Lauren home I headed back to my place. While hunting for my periodontist's pager number, Amy paged me so I called her back. She was having problems with the phone at her mom's place so I paged the periodontist. She called back and we arranged for her to call me tomorrow at 9am to set up an appointment to get things sorted out that day. I then called Amy back and then Lauren, and then thought about what to do with the rest of my evening. It being around 11pm, bed doesn't seem too far off the cards.
I was up at nine awaiting a phone call from my periodontist. She called and said she would meet me at 11am to sort my tooth out. Cool. So I read for an hour and then showered and headed on up to Marietta. It was very pleasant to see Dr Jones in regular clothes as opposed to the blue smock she wears during regular working hours. Anyways, she fixed up my tooth and I went on my way.
Only to bump into her again at Target, where I had gone to do some shopping. We had a big old laugh and went our own ways. From Target I went to Cumberland Mall and then home. I spent much of the afternoon involved in making CDs and doing other fun computery stuff. I also ordered the collector's edition of Civilization III.
John and I went over to Lauren's parent's home for dinner. It was good - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, bread, stuffed mushrooms, two types of salad, vegetables. Hmmmm...so good. After dinner I allowed myself to have a wee tipple of Lauren's dad's 150 year old Grand Marnier (well, actually, it had been bottled 24 years previously after being barrelled for 150 years). It was very smooth, very sweet, and very tasty.
After dinner, John and I came home and then I went to pick up Lauren and we went to Cyberia. Lauren had been drinking more wine at home so she was already pretty drunk, and then when she started mixing hard liquor things did not go too well. No matter. I talked to bunches of people (Christian, Jolie, Grace, Russ, Kelly, Clair, Pete) and had a pretty good time, even though we left very early.
Despite getting home early, I did not get to bed or sleep early, as I was waiting for and received a phone call from Amy. Heheh, late night phone calls from Amy after she has been drinking are fun. It was about 4am when I shut down for the night.
Christian's 29th Birthday. Happy Birthday Christian!
I was awake at 10:45, just a little before my wake-up page. Heheh. All good fun. I continued to rip CDs so I can make compilations for friends and family. I also did some Christmassy stuff and had a shower. Like that showery thing.
Lauren and I finally got to see Mulholland Drive. It was good. I liked it. I will have to see it again though, to try and piece together more of the story. More leftovers for dinner. Clair did invite me over to his place for dinner, but I thought I was going to the Pigface show. Well it turns out that the Pigface show is much later than I thought, and now, as the evening wears on, I'm not so sure that I want to go anyway. I'm feeling kinda lethargic. Oh well. Christian is gong to be down at the Highlander, but with me not drinking at the moment, I'm not really that keen to go to a pub that I only tolerate.
Report from John - Pigface was a great show. Damn.
No Sunday night TV. Star Wars Episode I instead. Oh well.
I had brunch with Lauren at Flying Biscuit. It was tasty.
VNV Nation!!!!!
Fucking awesome. Me with Ronan and Lauren
Okay, now for the details of the day :-)
Let's see, work was reasonably successful I think. I dropped some clothes off at the drycleaners. Fairly average, menial day, I guess. After work I came home and did some more CD ripping.
Around 8pm I wandered down to the Local for dinner and to meet up with Lauren and others before the show. Who should I bump into while down there but Eric Deren. So I told him about the show and had several beers with him. He also mentioned that he was going free-flying in Orlando this weekend, leaving Friday. So I said I'd check out getting the day off and come along, too.
Around 10pm we went on up the Riviera. Lauren had a small issue in that her name wasn't on the guest list, although it shuld have been. We hunted down Jill and got everything sort out, however. Then it was off to the bar. Icon of Coil were performing at the time, and were very entertaining. We caught up with lots of people, including the lead singer for VNV Nation, Ronan Harris.
Finally, VNV Nation went on and I made my way up to the front. The show was awesome. I danced a whole lot, I sang a whole lot (heheh). These guys never fail to impress me with their shows; as I said at the Chicago show, it's hard to believe that there are only two people on stage, as their presence is just immense. During one of the encores (there were three? four?) Ronan called out "Hello to my friend from New Zeland" and reached out and shook my hand. How's that for awesome?
After they went off, Ronan came back out and hung out with us at the bar for a while, before mingling with other fans. One of the amazing things about this band is how enthusiastic people are about their shows and how much the band recognises and revels in that enthusiam.
Soon it was time to leave, for I and Lauren both had work. However, I really was in no state to drive home, so Lauren drove us both back to her place.
Woke up at Lauren's around 7:30 and, feeling more than a little light-headed, went on home to shower and get dressed for work. Ugh.
Went to work, feeling slightly under the weather but rather happy with last night. Peter gave me permission to take Friday off. Rock on! At 12:30 I went home, packed a bag, and was on my way to Montgomery, Alabama, to meet with a potential partner company.
For dinner went to a very nice restaurant. Opened with martinis, and a caesar salad. Dinner was a perfect blue (Philadelphia) filet, with mushrooms, vegetables and a nice drop of red wine. Desert was creme brulee followed by an 18 year old Glen Livet. Oh hell yeah. Gotta love business dinners...
Continued the meetings through the morning and then headed bacm to Atlanta mid afternoon.
You need to check out this retelling of Romeo and Juliet for the new millenium.
Went to the Local and joined the bar team as Power Puff Bar. Initially it was Tim, Ben and myself, and later on others wandered through. But we won. Hell yeah. This also happened the last time I was in the bar team. I'm good! :-) Also, I was in this week's Scene column of the Creative Loafing. I'm suck a rock star.
Met an Aussie bloke who had just moved into the neighbourhood with his fiance (an American). I talked with them and their friend (whose name I did not catch) for quite a while. Clair also came up, so I hung out with him and Stacie and Chris for a while. All in all a good night of socialising at the Local.
Didn't get a lot of sleep last night, even considering I came homearound 11:30pm. A phone call from Chicago kept me entertained for about an hour in the wee smalls. Heheh, it was good though.
Work was work, and then I came home. Tonight I am helping Lauren start moving stuff into her new loft - which she owns! All very exciting and grown up really. Oh, and I got another letter today from Amy; I gaining quite a collection.
We finished the moving process around 2am. There was still loads of stuff at Lauren's apartment, but it was mainly smnall stuff that could be transported by car. I spoke to Eric earlier and he had to cancel Friday's trip due to some deadlines that he hadn't quite beaten. No matter, next time.
George Harrison died today. RIP
I slept late, but not as late as I wanted. Oh well, so it goes. When I reached the required level of wakefulness I finished reading City of Truth by James Morrow, one of three books loaned to John and myself by Jesse. It was a very cool book; I interested to read the other two now.
I got the first package of Christmas presents for NZ in the mail today. The should arrive within two weeks (because I paid a premium to ensure that they do). I stopped in at Staples to pick up some blank CD-Rs.
After those chores I came home and did dishes, laundry, CD-ripping, email catchup, some tidying. I also had a chat with my mum over MSN Messenger. Apparently both her and my sister have some strange eye infection. Not good at all.
I checked on the Amazon web site for the status of my Civ III order, and it said that it was dispatched from the Atlanta depot this afternoon. Cool. So It should be delivered today. I can't wait, especially since I'm now not going away for the weekend. Instead I shall be sequestering myself...
Hrm, I am going to have to buy a new hard drive to hold all my mp3s. I have now exceeded 8.28GB of them and have only got 2.5GB free on my primary drive. I think I will pick up a 40GB or 60GB drive and dedicate it to multimedia (mp3s, mpgs, avis, etc).
For dinner I went to Virginia's with Lauren and her mum. It was very tasty. Then it was back to Lauren's to help finish moving. This time, Brad turned up to help, and I was allowed to go home at midnight. Yay. I got a couple of phone calls during the early hours of the morning, the funniest being Shawn singing Sweet Home Chicago. I think there was a hint there...