A Short Night Out

Last night I had an unexpected call from my friend Joe. Joe used to work in the same building as me, but last May he was moved to a different area and I've not seen him since then. Also, he's been busy with other stuff, so there hasn't really been much of a chance to hang out recently. So I went along to the Omni Centre and met up with Joe and another friend of his. We only had a couple of drinks and I was only out for about two and a half hours. It was still a nice change though.

Today has been quiet. I've only gone out once and that was to get my groceries for the coming week. Otherwise I've just been at home, reading.

Phobos

Last night I was listening to a Doctor Who radio play called "Phobos". In the story, the Doctor (played by Paul McGann) arrives on Phobos, one of the moons of Mars, in the future where the moon has now become popular for extreme sports enthusiasts (or "drennies" as they are known) due to it's bizarre natural phenomena. However there are rumours that the place is inhabited by a hidden race of vicious monsters, rumours that are given credence when the tourists start being gruesomely murdered. It was a pretty good one. Later on I went out to the Limelite bar because Rachel, from work, is leaving on a year's special leave. We were there until about eleven and then we went to a nightclub called The Citrus Club which played a lot of loud pop music fromt he 1980s. Everyone was up and dancing and it was fun. I got home at about half past three in the morning.

Today has been pretty quiet. I just went out to get some groceries for the week. For my lunch I got a pre-packaged chicken salad sandwich, a bottle of strawberry milk and a bowl of ice cold gazpacho soup. I also watched last night's episode of Peep Show, the first in the new series. It was really good. Peep Show is a British comedy TV series starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb as two losers who share a flat. The show's main conceit is that the whole thing is shot from the point of view of the characters in each scene and the two main characters narrate their own secret thoughts in voice over.

Another Night Out

Last night I went out to hang out with my friend Joe. We started off at a bar called The Tron where I had a pint of beer and we were given a free promotional pint each of pear cider, which was quite nice. Then we went on to a kind of rock bar and had another drink before heading to a third bar where we had our final drink. I walked home, which took about half an hour and got back at around ten past one in the morning. When I got back I started writing a horror story set in the 18th century about a would-be poet, who is extremely unsuccessful and just spends most of his time drinking, until one night he meets a powerful supernatural creature who offers him fame and fortune in exchange for writing a poem for him. However, the poet soon discovers, to his cost, that the deal is not as straightforward as he thought. It's not really part of the main story I've been writing over the past week or so, but it is set in the same fictional universe and some of the same characters appear.

Today has been pretty quiet. I was listening to a very interesting interview with Neil Gaiman on the radio this morning. Later on I went out to get my groceries for the week and that has been about it.

Unexpected Night Out

Yesterday I was listening to the latest episode of The Twilight Zone radio series. This one was called "Patterns of Doomsday", and was one which was written for the orignial series but never filmed for some reason. The story revolved around an asteroid that is about to destroy Earth, and a small group are rounded up by the US Government of which eight will be chosed to go on a spaceship to build a new life on an alien planet. However the decision is who goes on the ship and have a chance of survival and who stays behind to face certain death.

Yesterday evening I got a call from my friend Joe, asking if I wanted to go out for a quick drink. We met up at Tiles bar and had a drink there and then we went to some of the bars in the Omni Centre and had a few drink in a couple of the bars there, and we were going to go to another bar but it was only people over 21 and I couldn't get in because they didn't believe I was old enough and I didn't have any ID to prove I was 30!

This morning I was up really early to head off with my Dad to the Gyle Shopping Centre. I had a cheese scone and a cup of mocha coffee in the food area and then looked around the centre for about an hour. I bought the DVD set of season four of Red Dwarf. Then I went back to my parent's house for lunch. The weather was really good today which was amajor plus, and it was nice enough to sit outside for a bit.

Watching the Bags

Before I went out last night I managed to get to page thirteen of my Script Frenzy screenplay. I went out at about four and got home at around half past midnight. There were quite a few people out and it was mostly pretty good. One thing that did annoy me though, was that I was the only one there who didn't smoke, and so while they were out having a cigarette I was stuck looking after the bags and coats!

Today has been fairly quiet so far. I went out and got my groceries for the coming week. The supermarket had been completely renovated during the week and is looking a lot better now. While I was there I got the latest issue of Total Film magazine. It was advertising a free 3D preview screening of the film Coraline, but when I went to get a ticket it turned out the screening was already full.

Birthday Party

Last night I was watching an episode from the latest season of Peep Show. I've got every episode of Peep Show so far on DVD, and I've watched them all many times. It's a British sitcom that debuted in 2003 and deals with two flatmates Mark Corrigan (played by David Mitchell) an uptight loan manager whose main interests in life are women, work and history, and Jeremy Usborne (Robert Webb) an unemployed, would-be musician, whose main interests are drugs and women. The show revolves around them and their friends and relations, but pretty much everything in the show is filmed from the point of view of the characters in the scene, and the secret, innermost thoughts of the two main characters are revealed in voice-over. It's a really clever show and very funny.

Today was another quiet day at work. I don't know where I'll be working next week, whether I'll stay in the old section or be back in the regular section. No-one has said yet.

I got home and then I went out to the 50th birthday party for Maggi (who works at my table in my regular office) at the Limelite bar. I had about three pints of beer. It's been months since I last went out for a drink. It was that weird thing where there was no-one there that I really knew, but a lot of people who I vaguely knew by sight around the office. It wasn't really a good party, because there weren't many people there I could talk to, everyone was totally drunk, and I was feeling really tense, still it was good to get out for a bit. I got a taxi home.

I'm really getting back into using Twitter again. Of course, when I'm in Amsterdam, that will be pretty much how I'll be doing my blogging.

Night Out

The other evening was really quiet. I was watching a show called Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments which was a countdown of the forty best moments from the Blackadder series. The show is kind of a historical sit-com and is really funny. Each of the four seasons is set in a different time period.

Yesterday was another really quiet day at work. Apparently there are going to be some new people being put in the room from Monday, so it looks like the quiet days where I can listen to my iPod won't really last much longer, because it is going to be much more noisy.

After work I went out to meet my friend Joe for the party. One shock was that Alan came along. For the benefit of people who don't know, or who have forgotten, Alan used to be a friend of mine, until about six months ago when there was a problem with someone sending e-mails under my name (it wasn't me, I had absolutely nothing to do with it and didn't even know anything about it until it all blew up). The thing was all over another friend of mine, Michele, who I used to have feelings for, but she didn't return those feelings, and Alan started hanging out with her, and it was all ruined by whoever it was that was sending the e-mails. So we hadn't spoken for six months, but last night Alan apologised for suspecting me, we shook hands, bought each other a drink and we've agreed to let bygones be bygones. Naturally enough there's still some tension, but it's a major step in the right direction. Anyway we went to a place called Assembly Bar and had a few drinks. and then we went along to another place called the Citrus Club. I did have quite a bit to drink. I got home at around two in the morning. So it was a pretty late night. It's funny really, this was the first night out I've had in about two months, and it's still fun, but it's not quite what it used to be. I suppose I've lost something of the taste for going out partying all the time.

Today I went along to the shops and bought the season three DVD set of the US version of The Office, which I think is really funny.

Bill Paterson

Yesterday afternoon, I watched a couple of Doctor Who episodes that I had videotaped the previous night. They were all from the 1970s. I saw episode four of "The Invisible Enemy", in which the Doctor (Tom Baker) had to fight against an intelligent virus, and the first three episodes of "The Image of the Fendahl" in which a sinister cult tries to resurrect an ancient evil living within a prehistoric skull. They were both pretty fun stories, especially "The Image of the Fendahl" (which bore a more than passing resemblance to the Quatermass serials).

In the evening I went along to a rock bar called the Black Rose Tavern for Jen's birthday party. It was really nice. I got home at around midnight.

I was up quite early this morning because my mum was coming along to collect me, so we could do some grocery shopping. When I got back to my parent's house I had some sushi for lunch (I really like sushi). In the afternoon we went to the Modern Art Gallery to see a Tracey Emin exhibition. It was really interesting, although the subject matter was almost entirely autobiographical.

We went back to my parent's house for a coffee and then headed out to the Edinburgh Book Festival. We were there to see the actor Bill Paterson talk. He had done a series of radio talks about his experiences growing up in Glasgow and had published them as a book. The talk consisted of him reading extracts from the book and answering questions from the audience. He was very good and very amusing. However it was all held inside a tent and the rain outside got so heavy at times that the noise of the rain on the roof completely drowned out what people were saying. Bill Paterson is one of those actors who, even if you don't recognise the name, you would probably recognise by sight. He's done a lot of often small, but distinctive parts, in many films and TV shows.One fun thing, the Book Festival being as it is, we saw, in the course of randomly walking around, authors such as Tony Parsons, Iain Banks and Louis de Bernieres.

Busy Weekend

Yesterday morning I went out to buy some groceries and in the afternoon I went out for drinks with my friends Alan and Joe. I was out really late, actually and got home at about two in the morning.

Today I went to my parent's house as usual, the new issue of Sight and Sound magazine had arrived during the week. We went out to eat at Howie's, I had a bowl of cullen skink to start (it's a kind of thick fish soup made with haddock), salmon and crab cakes and a lemon sorbet. It was really nice.

I've entered some competitions from Sight and Sound, at the moment I am in the running to win a DVD box-set of Stanley Kubrick films, a DVD box-set of Coen Brothers films and a book called Orson Welles at Work.

Office Christmas Lunch

Last night I was watching another episode of The Twilight Zone. This episode was called "Dead Man's Shoes" which was about a homeless guy who steals the shoes from a dead gangster only to find himself possessed by the spirit of the dead man, who wants revenge.

I got up quite early today and I was only in work for about three and a half hours this morning. The reason was for our office Christmas lunch. We went to a place called Smokestack, which was a really nice restaurant. I had cream cheese wrapped in smoked salmon for the starter, a medium cooked steak with french fries for the main course, and a large slice of chocolate fudge cake with ice cream for dessert. I had a pint of Tennants beer to drink. Originally, I had been expecting to be picked up by the police to go to a video identification parade in connection with my robbery. However, I had a phone call on my mobile telephone to tell me that the ID parade had been cancelled due to some legal problem. Apparently, they'll phone me when there are further developments. It just seems never ending right now.

After the restaurant we went to a bar called The Basement, which was quite nice. I had about three pints of beer, but I couldn't help feeling very concerned about the whole police business and everything. After that we went to a place called Lloyds where I didn't drink anything and left soon after. I got back home okay.

Still no word from Michele.

Cancelled Night

This morning I went out and got my week's groceries as usual.

This afternoon the plan was to go up to Joe's house with Alan and Joe's friends Mark and Ryan for a "guy's night", and drink beer, play on Joe's X-Box and probably watch some DVDs. I arranged to meet Joe and Alan at The Crags at around four o'clock. However Joe and Alan were both so tired and hungover from last night they could barely stand. Unusually for them, the only drink they could manage was orange juice. I had one pint of beer, because I was feeling absolutely fine. I think Alan especially had been partying almost all week with hardly any sleep. So the guy's night was cancelled and after just one drink we all went home. It was probably the only night out ever to have begun at four and ended before five in the afternoon. It was a bit disappointing, really, but it can't be helped.

Edge of Destruction

It was another fairly quiet and dull day at work today, the same as usual really. Also, as is usual for a Friday, there was barely anyone in the office at all.

After work I went home to call the hotline for the jury selection. It turned out that I won't be needed after all on Monday. I had intended to take Monday off anyway, because I don't like the idea of people in my home when I'm not there, although my Dad is going to be there. I think I may stay home on Monday anyway to be on the safe side.

After a quick meal of a chicken-flavour Pot Noodle I went out to the New Yorker bar to meet Joe, Jackie and Alan. We had a couple of drinks there and then moved up to the bank Hotel for another couple fo drinks, because Alan wanted to meet one of his friends. Everyone was really drunk, but I drank very slowly and so managed to stay pretty sober.

When I got home I watched a Doctor Who story called "The Edge of Destruction".



It was the third Doctor Who story broadcast in 1964. The story opens with the TARDIS crew being knocked unconcious by a massive power surge. When they recover they notice that the craft is being plagued by malfunctions, the doors or opening and closing of their own accord, and the crew are suffering from hallucinations and increasing paranoia. It was the cheapest Doctor Who story ever broadcast, because it was written as a "filler" story to make up the episode count, and is the only Doctor Who story to be set entirely in the TARDIS with no additional cast, except the main characters. It was actually a very entertaining story, and quite suspenseful.

Doctor Who and the Daleks

Last night I more or less passed out on my bed while writing my diary. I woke up with the lights on and my book and pen on the pillow beside me. I was feeling slightly hungover and terrified of the thought of how I might have hideously embarrased myself last night.

I went out into Princes Street and renewed my bus pass for four weeks, and once again looked for the book for this month's book group (this month's book is Northern Light by Philip Pullman, published as The Golden Compass in the USA) but again I couldn't find it, as long as I manage to get a copy and read it by the 28th of this month.

I was feeling depressed and decided to treat myself a bit by getting some DVDs in the sales. I bought a set called Doctor Who: The Beginnings, which contains the first three Doctor Who stories from 1963 and 1964: An Unearthly Child, The Daleks and The Edge of Destruction. I also got a DVD of Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks from 1988. That was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw when I was nine years old. Although I remember watching bits and pieces of the show before then. It's still one of my personal favourite stories. I can still remember my brother and I doing Dalek impressions, basically putting a bucket over the head and shuffling around, with the arms stretched out and screeching "ex-ter-mi-nate!" I've always preferred the older series to the newer one, which is still very good. I liked that the older stories were longer, and invariably split into several episodes, the stories in the new series often seem kind of rushed.

An Eventful Couple of Days

It's been quite an eventful couple of days. Yesterday I went over and met up with Emily. We had some dinner and watched some TV and had a jolly good time.

Today was my Mum's birthday. She was very happy with the Stephen Fry book that I bought for her, and she's already started reading it.

I went to work today and it was an extremely dull day. One of the crucial computer systems froze up during the morning, but it was fixed by the afternoon. I left at around half past five, early for me even for a Friday. On my way home I bought the latest issue of Radio Times. There was a letter waiting for me that was a citation to appear for jury selction at the High Court on November 12th, the same day I'm getting double glazing fitted. I can't say that I'm really looking forward to that. I was only home for an hour or so before I headed off again to meet Alan and his friend John at The Crags. It took about an hour for me to get there, and we weren't at The Crags for long. We went to The Mitre for a drink and then to a bar called Olivers, which Alan's friend manages, and had a couple of drinks. I was feeling kind of depressed for some reason. I have to say, it is true that there has been barely a day of my life when i have not wished I was someone else, or, simply enough, dead. We went to the Subway for a while, before I headed off on the long walk home.

The Jazz Bar

Today I managed to get in to work quite sharp today and built up some flexitime. I left work at around half past five and went up to The Jazz Bar, which is a small, basement bar that features live jazz music every evening. I met Michele there and we chatted for a bit. We went up to a place called The City Restaurant, for some fish and chips. That was really nice, because aside form that I had barely eaten today. We went back to the Jazz Bar and listened to an elderly jazz quartet who were very good. Michele had to leave at around quarter past ten because she had had an argument with her boyfriend, due to her staying out late on Wednesday night and being out tonight as well, despite the fact that she asked if he wanted to come out as well. I walked home and got back at about eleven.

I have Monday and Tuesday off work next week, so that should be fun.

Unexpected Night Out

Yesterday took a turn for the unexpected. I had a very bad cold at work, and was feeling quite miserable. My friend Alan had just stumbled upon a picture of his ex-girlfriend and was feeling depressed, and so both of us decided to go to the New Yorker for a couple of drinks with Jackie. However, it turned out that it was Jackie's friend's birthday and so she was going for a night on the town. Alan and I decided to join her on impulse, so we had a couple of drinks at the New Yorker, and then went to the Limelite bar next door and I had a tequila sunrise. Jackie bought us three bottles of vodka, which weren't finished. I didn't have much of it. We went to Burger King and had a couple of burgers, and then went to a place called The Advocate, where we met Michele, because Jackie had sent her a text message asking her to join us. We intended to go to a place called The Tron, but they wouldn't let us in, because they thought Michele looked under 21 (she's actually 28). We went to a nightclub to meet Jackie's friends, but the place wasn't open so we went to the bar next door. Eventually we went in to the nightclub, but Jackie's friends couldn't get in. So we went to another nightclub, but it was shut. Finally we ended up at a place called Siglo, which was partially closed for a private party and so we had to pretend to be agriculture students.

I got up quite late today and it was lunchtime by the time I made it into work. Luckily we're on flexitime. I left at around quarter past seven to go to the bookgroup meeting at Victoria Bar. I only had one drink the whole night, because of last night, which is quite good for me. It was good, but I was kind of tired, and I had only eaten one sandwich and a chocolate bar since the burger last night. I'm out tomorrow as well, because I'm going to meet Michele at a jazz bar, which should be good. The book we were discussing was Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. Two people really liked the book but everyone else wasn't really keen on it. I got back at around eleven.

Last night was a lot of fun, but it's really just something I'd want to do once in a while. Especially during the week!

Another Night Out

Last night was quite busy. I went up to The Crags at around eight to meet my friend Alan. About an hour later we were joined by Jackie and Bea, my friend Joe's sister.We stayed att he Crags for maybe an hour before heading off to a place called Harry's Bar, where Jackie and Bea had hoped to meet some friends, but they didn't seem to be there. They had a good time still dancing around. Bea stayed there with some new friends she had made and Jackie, Alan and I headed off to a dance club called Faith, which we arrived at some time after midnight. Jackie wanted to go there to meet some friends of hers from university. Of course, as with all these places, it was really loud, and crowded and expensive. Although I was pleased to hear one of my favourite songs being played ("Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division). Jackie left us there, and Alan was trying and failing to impress a bunch of girls that were there. I left him to it, and started for home at around half past two in the morning.

I went out today, and bought some DVDs in the sales. The ones I got were The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, A Scanner Darkly and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, so they should be good.

Another Night Out

Last night I went out for my friend Joe's 21s birthday. We met up at a bar called The Crags, and there was me, Joe, Joe's girlfriend Jackie, Alan, Joe's two brothers, his eldest brother's fiance, his sister, his sister's boyfriend, his parents and a couple of other friends of his. After that we went on to a bar called Doctors, which was near a hospital. After that we more or less split up. Joe had only intended to have about three pints and he ended up having about eight and some shots. I got home at around two in the morning.

I went out to my parent's house today for lunch (it was chicken stuffed with brie, with peas and a baked potato). The new issues of Fortean Times and Sight and Sound had arrived, which was good!

Late Night

Last night after work I went out to a bar called The Phoenix to meet the members of a book group I was thinking of joining. It was a good evening, actually, and I stayed out fairly late, not gettinmg home until nearly three in the morning. The next proper meeting of the group is on October 4th and the book under discussion is Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. I didn't get home until nearly three in the morning and didn't wake up until nearly half past eleven.

I went out and got the book group book and a double pack of books called "Vintage Fear". The books contained in the pack were the complete, uncut translations of the Grimm stories (apparently in their unedited form the stories are quite violent and scary) and a book called The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (which was filmed as Company of Wolves).

I'll be going out shortly for Joe's birthday.

A Night Out

Yesterday was really busy. After work I went to my place with Joe, Jackie and Alan (stopping on the way for beer and pizzas). Joe and Jackie stayed for about an hour, because Joe had to go home and Jackie was due to meet some of her friends, but Alan was there until around nine, whereupon Alan and I went out. We went to a bar called Rush, that was supposed to be quite cheap and wasn't a bad place, although it certainly wasn't all that cheap. Then we went to a place called Siglo, which wasn't too bad and a club place called Espionage. We didn't stay long though, because Alan had a text message from Jackie asking us to meet her at a bar called Aspen, but it took ages to find the place. We left there with Jackie around one, and stopped off for a Subway. I had a six inch sandwich with ham, pastrami, salami, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Then we went our seperate ways, and I just walked home. We didn't really drink that much. Just a few bottles of beer at home and a couple of pints each at Rush. The reason for going to my place first was to save money. With the Alton Towers trip on Friday and Joe's 21st birthday the week after it's shaping up to be an expensive month.

My Mum came around today to take me for my lunch back home, because my Dad was playing golf, and their both off to Tunisia on holiday tomorrow. Mum and I got some grocery shopping for myself at Marks and Spencer. The DVD that I ordered a week and a half ago had arrived: