Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

The New Year’s Eve party having got a little bigger than the Facebook guest list would suggest, I suggested to Si and Kieran that we go for a bit more of a relaxed drink on Friday at our favourite local watering hole, the Deer Park.

It almost snowballed out of control again, having invited my housemates and then Kate having text me to see what was going on, though in the end it was just five of us which is a perfectly managable number. I also had somewhat of a challenge with the organisation given I was still at a wedding when it started and so was organisating from the other side of town.

Still it turned into quite a pleasant night with us staying till well after time had been called.

Oh. My. God.

Last night was a strange night. Luckily I wasn’t the only one not drinking and so I had Si, as well as Fonze and Sophie, to keep me company in the sober corner. I had some quite good few chats, particuarly while outside where Kieran was kindly sharing out some fine Cuban cigars.

Michelle probably had the wildest night, reaching new heights in appropriate text messages which I shall not discuss here. I will discuss however the events that followed, namely Michelle hooking up with Greg and the two spending the night together (despite Michelle’s attempt to hide him when Sarann and Liz arrived at the door). I have no idea what happened while they were in the bedroom together though given Michelle’s antics at last year’s new year’s celebrations, I think we can all imagine the general trend of activities!

Sarann was determind to prove that I am massively unhappy and that this emotional state could be altered in some way, explaining that she would “do anything” and adding that “I won’t tell Moz” so who knows what the offer entailed.

The night some what culminated in a semi-naked communal shower involving Norm, Michelle, Sarann, Greg, Nicola, Miriam and Anne which resulted in Michelle smashing up the bathroom and causing water to come pouring through the lounge ceiling. Suprisingly enough such trouble can be traced back to Miss Jackson who as well as smashing her way through the usual glasses also managed to smash up some plates too.

The morning after was the usual plan – down to the Deer Park for some Recovery Steak because it is always a good idea. Everyone was feeling a little worse for wear though luckily I have all day to recover before my next party!

The signs that I am getting older are coming thick and fast these days. If it wasn’t bad enough that I moved my alarm forward to 7:30am or went down to London tools up with a hat, scarf and gloves because I can no longer go out in the middle of Winter wearing nothing but a thin shirt, I’ve now gone another step further and bought a diary to plan my time.

Unfortunately the combination of the calendar on my phone and Facebook events just isn’t cutting it anymore. Plus I’m still very much a fan of the old pen and paper system, it almost certainly still has it’s place in modern day life. Plus with the AHS and Skeptics in the Pub kicking off and me generally having a life outside of A-Soc (even if they are directly A-Soc related) I felt it was time to take the plunge.

We dropped by Tesco on Boxing Day to pick up some bread. It was rather busy because while apparently the whole of Leeds was at Tesco on Christmas Eve, they can’t go a whole day with the supermarket closed and so need to get straight back in there the day after.

Turns out though that there isn’t much point visiting Tesco on Boxing Day because they don’t really stock food anymore…

I’ve been listening to quite a bit of Pet Shop Boys recently, if only so I know how to keep Rich happy on Wednesday. Anyways…

After a moderate days work and having done my technical wizardry to help my uncle sort his network problems out, I headed off to meet everyone for the usual Sunday jaunt. Tension aside it was the usual night of good fun though because it’s holiday periods Xscape was rather busy – it took us 30 minutes to get a lane, we could only get one between the nine of us and only get one game in. But I don’t care too much as I don’t really go for the bowling.

Afterwards things got a little crazy though. Becky went for KFC! Not McDonalds, but KFC! I mean, that’s just insane. That’s now how Sunday nights work. These are crazy times we’re living in, crazy times…

As you probably noticed, yesterday was Christmas Day.

I quite enjoyed it to be honest. For the first time in, well, possibly ever, I didn’t have to get up that early. When I did I headed round to my parents for Christmas dinner which was excellent as always. I spent a few hours with the family which is perfect in terms of a managable amount of time and then headed off back home in the evening for Christmas dinner at my house.

Norm wasn’t working after all so had very kindly agreed to cook the dinner which made things even easier as I pretty much just rolled up, did a bit of tidying and that’s about it. In the end there were six of us which is a good number in terms of being able to cater easily enough while still having a good group there. So all in all, a good day.

Having arrived at the pub quiz on Sunday after much nagging to get there asap, I was pleasantly suprised to find Zoe was dishing out Christmas presents (no wonder they get coined my real friends 😉 ). I can’t help feeling her mind is a little too devilish though… 😀

Having being partying for three nights in a row, I managed to pull myself out of bed in time for Christmas dinner which had been skillfully cooked by my housemates. It was a nice meal indeed and featured all the expected trimmings laid out with a set of plates and table dressings kindly proved by Norm’s mum.

Having spent three hours eating and a can of 24 later I headed upstairs to squeeze in the normal Sunday workload (which unfortunately is still going but I have some free time to catch up on Thursday lol) before heading out to my mum’s birthday shindig at 7:30.

It turns out my mum is rather popular. I thought I did well getting 19 people out to my birthday do on a Sunday but apparently, I was very much beaten by the 20-30 people that turned up to the pub to wish my mum a happy birthday.

Finally having spent a few hours catching up with friends and family there I dashed over to the Crusader to catch the end of the pub quiz and arrived just in time to find everyone leaving. But no worries as it just meant moving on to get food so all was not lost. In the end, I ended up getting to bed at a reasonable time too, not bad for such a packed day.

Having driven back up to Leeds on Saturday we set about preparing for a house party of our own to celebrate Liz and Sarann’s birthday (to which the latter is today, happy birthday Sarann!). As to be expected it was a night of drunk antics enjoyed by all who attended.

Importantly, the night included chicken. Kate mentioned that her Nando’s voucher, from when she found a brain in her chicken, expired in a few days so we headed over to Nando’s to get some take-out, which it turns out, they do indeed do.

It seems to be becoming somewhat of a tradition to go out and get chicken as our previous house party saw myself and Kieran disappear off to get KFC. I have to say, it’s a tradition I could certainly get used to.

Friday saw myself, Norm and Liz head down to sunny Tamworth just outside of Birmingham for Jenna’s AHS festive party. It turned out (as if we were expecting anything less!) to be a really good night talking to plenty of old faces and some new faces too.

The food was good though I think I got through more than my far share of pigs in blankets (you snooze you loose I guess) and there was much fun to be had with games of Extreme Jenga, which is like regular Jenga but the blocks have sloping slides (rhombi). It was also made more difficult by the fact myself and Norm insisted on taking two of the bottom three pieces out each time 😀 .

It also turns out that Jenna’s dad, Bob Catley is a massive rockstar. Not only does he have a Wikipedia page (as if that isn’t enough), his band Magnum have had 14 studio albums, a top 10 charting album, a Gold Certified album and have supported the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Whitesnake – what a legend!

Having had a good night we headed down to Weatherspoon’s for a recovery breakfast, after all, it’s never too early for a good steak! Big thanks to Jenna for hosting said party, it might have to find it’s way into the AHS annual calendar 😉 .