Way to go Armin 30/05/2006
Managed to maintain my swimming again, hooking up with an old friend for a good blasting. Could have done with a little longer session and less posing slow coaches that were pissing me off but in fairness providing the fuel for the fury that was pushing me further on. Went for a drink afterwards, you can't beat an orange J20 with ice after a good swim. We actually drank in the pub with the barmaid who received the card but she wasn't in there. I wouldn't have spoken to her or given any form of hassle if she had been but it would have been nice to have been reminded of her face.
Gym on Wednesday was made easier as my new Armin van Buuren CD turned up so I could listen to it on my nano to keep me occupied during the running and rowing. Managed to burn 900 calories, which seems to be my current benchmark. No change on the scale when I weighed myself though and guess if I'm serious I'll just have to cut down on my eating.
Thursday night was the 250th episode of State of Trance and I brought in my headphones in preparation. I had some emails to respond to as well. I find my weekly schedule seems to be journal entry on Tuesday and email response on Thursday. Had a small problem with the trance station on iTunes not wanting to play anything and had to scramble round the web to find a free airing on the digitally imported site. Armin wasn't on until 11.00 and had basically hired a nightclub in The Hague for him and other DJ's to play at from where they were broadcasting live. It started with a classic set and then another DJ. It was good hearing it live as you could hear people in the background of the club. Not load enough to ruin the music but enough to generate atmosphere.
I'd remembered the previous evening an actor that I used to work with and as I had a free two week trial of imdb.pro got his agents details and dropped him an email. It will be nice if he responds as he was a great guy and it would be nice to chew the cud. Fired off a few more emails, kept myself entertained and Armin came on at 11.00pm. I hadn't actually envisioned staying at the office this late but you could feel it was a special night and sometimes you've got to live for the now. OK being alone in the office was hardly the same as being in the club but the music was being played live and I felt there was a connection. The mix started slowly but that was fine. It was a two hour set and all good DJ's should take you on a clear journey. I kept myself supplied with tea and the occasional snack and didn't feel tired. One guy I was chatting with on the Tidy board asked why I just didn't download it and I explained about living for the moment. Life can be quite boring and I'm sure I'll remember for longer the act of staying late and enjoying the music rather than saving it for a more convenient time. As important as I am the world doesn't revolve around me so if you want to experience shared activities then there is a fair chance you will have to inconvenience yourself. Besides I wasn't needed anywhere or letting anyone down, so what the hell. It's very similar to watching a film on TV when you already have it on DVD there's just this feeling that you are sharing it with others.
The music began to get even better and I became more excited. He dropped one tune halfway through the set (his remix of Racoon - Love you more) which had the audience singing along and I was rocking in the chair and punching my finger in the air at the right moments. It was really great. His set finished to a cracking high with this wonderfully uplifting and empathetic track at 1.00am and I thought this might be a good time to head home, saying goodbye to this chap I'd shared the last 3/4 hour with from the Tidy board.
We were heading out on Friday night so had beans to the side of toast at lunch. I don't know but I'd been looking forward to them as I hadn't had them during the week and they were great, especially with the muller fruit corner that followed. My curiosity got the better of me in the afternoon and I sent a message to the guy on the Tidy board from the previous night about how it was possible to download the show as he'd suggested. He directed me to a site which had ripped it and then uploaded it. I simply downloaded onto my computer, from here moved to my Apple library and from this onto my nano. How sensationally cool. I couldn't believe it. Christ the power of the internet strikes again. There I was listening to the live show the night before and now I had it saved onto my nano to listen to at my leisure. I was stoked and couldn't stop saying to my work colleagues 'can you believe it' and 'god I love my nano'. I must confess that I hadn't been that impressed with it after having our PC's nicked and then having to reload my songs but now with this it's just fantastic.
Headed down to this 70's/80's disco, stopping for a quick drink in a local pub beforehand. What a hole that was with a large smattering of inbred pikeys, one who was a spitting image of Billy Ray Cyrus, replete with mullet hairstyle. Thankfully we headed to the venue which was like going to a works dinner and dance. Varied age group from 23-63, with tables and chairs round the dance floor and a cheap bar that even served the coke to you in the actual cans, classy. It was cheesy but delightfully so and we started having a laugh. I did put in a request for 'Maniac' from Flashdance to the DJ's assistant but he looked like a dumb muppet who despite nodding clearly had no idea what I was talking about. Some woman asked if I worked in a bar as she recognised me, great line I thought but to be honest she had seen me before as we both knew my hairdressers. There were other women there but the type that might look ok from behind until you saw the weathered and worn faces at the front.
Halfway through the night I got approached by a guy publicizing a firemans disco. He was in fact a fireman and along with his colleagues and brand new engine parked outside was working the crowd. I don't like firemen as you know and his first verbal salvo was "come along mate there will be 200 gagging birds". "I'm not a fireman" I responded "it doesn't matter, they'll all be crazy for men". Nice. This is why I dislike firemen as they trade on their heroic image when in reality they aren't heroes. I was tempted to ask whether he thought this was a mis-use of public property (ie the engine) being used to tout for trade like some cheesy promoter. With a firemens strike going on in Hertfordshire maybe he could have been offering his support to save the children or trapped kittens of that county. They were still there when we left, about five of them in their firemen t-shirts and fire engine. If they were off duty why did they have the fire engine, if they were on duty then I'm sure they shouldn't have been there and doesn't their actions bring discredit on their badge. Lazy bastards. Women love them, believing they can do nothing wrong but union regulations which they all subscribe to prevent them from doing anything remotely life threatening. Yes they might cut people out of mangled cars but a skilled mechanic could do that without the uniform and hero worship. Having seen the office burnt down to the ground last year and how when they turned up it wasn't on fire yet by the time they left and under their very noses was reduced to ash I don't have much time for them. They believe they are entitled to £30k a year yet only work part time and when at work only seem to drink tea, read The Mirror and play pool. Seeing them wolf whistling and leering at the drunken women who exited the venue at the end of the night made me look on them with even greater contempt.
Despite them we had a good time. No female interaction bar the friends we were with and a good old boogie for the last half an hour though the DJ turned into a rather annoying MC who seemed hell bent on interrupting every song to promote the next event. We left and while walking back to the car were accosted by some drunken cow by a phone box who wanted 40p for the phone. My friend being a little drunk offered to help and said he would fill up the phone for her. She did have a mobile but amazingly the battery didn't work and it was sat next to a large can of extra strength lager. With a handful of change he said "I don't do enough for charity and am happy to help". "I don't need your charity" she suddenly responded. Fine I said and dragged my friend off which naturally resorted in a torrent of language from the pissed up ho when she realised her gravy boat was leaving. I try to be a nice guy but sometimes you wish for a gun so you could double tap these mofo's in the head and do society a favour. Dropped mate off and raced home to listen to my downloaded show in bed. It was great again and really fired me back into dance and I vowed to really embrace the coming night.
The plan was to get up late on Saturday so as to program my body clock later so that I wouldn't tire in the early hours of that night. Lazed in bed until 12.00 ish and then with brother headed to Bluewater to get some laces for my trainers and a few other bits. It's amazing how it's virtually impossible to buy laces for trainers. I knew I could get them in footlocker but didn't like their range as they have this harder edge-ing which makes it feel like you are tieing barbed wire. Had to go for these though as no other shoe or sport shop seemed to stock any laces. Grabbed a Mac (well it was the Bank Holiday weekend) while my brother told me the story of X-Men 3 which he'd seen the previous night and how disappointed he thought it was. Headed home via Sainsburys and took our time to get ready. After the previous nights re-energizing of my dancing feet decided to slap some UV war paint on. I put on a 1 1/2 inch wide strip of green and pink either side of my nose and painted a pink inch wide strip of hair at the front. I know some people don't like cyber and it probably looked ridiculous but within this kind of environment no one minds and in a way makes you feel like you have made more an effort for the night. It is almost like war paint because you feel its a way of saying 'right I'm here to dance and have some fun'.
Picked up mate on route and along with bro headed to the Brixton Academy. Got settled, got some drinks in and moved to our normal place. Left hand side to the rear and waited for the tunes to pick up. They did and we had a little shake but it didn't seem to catch fire. The Tidy boys came on who we've seen at previous weekenders and I assumed could be relied on to deliver but they didn't. I've spoken to them since and they say it's because they only had a hour set but there wasn't any flow to the tunes and the vibe seemed to be missing from the crowd. They dropped a few Tony de Vit classics but it seemed desperate measures and a little bit too late. I was also finding it hard to find a dry part of the dance floor as there is nothing more annoying, and potentially damaging, than a wet slippery dance floor when you are pulling off the kind of moves I do. Lab 4 came on after and they normally deliver a mad, fast, energy burning performance but they dropped the ball even harder. They interrupted their set twice to play the drums and guitar and the crowd seemed to stutter and fall apart. They seemed more concerned with the multitude of photographers on stage than noticing that the main dance floor was emptying out as if it were about to shut. After two hours of this disappointment it got to a point where my body was feeling the aches of standing up for so long etc, whereas normally I wouldn't even notice it. We headed upstairs to take a seat and look down onto the main stage. Even up here was busier than normal indicating that more people were wanting to sit the next set out. We called it a night at about 4.00 ish and headed back to the Blackheath tea hut. No matter how bad the night the tea hut delivers and you can't beat (as I've said before) relaxing in the car with a double cheeseburger with fried egg and onions and a cup of tea. It's like a rites of passage and can encourage even the most imagination free mind to contemplate the deepest thoughts while enjoying the dawn light and the first swig of tea.
The Monaco F1 race was entertaining on Sunday. Unfortunately Alonso won again but it wasn't a certainity until Raikonnen's engine blew and Mark Webber's driving was better than both of them. Nice to see a good F1 race though boredom does set in when Alonso seems to win every race. Headed to Blackheath that evening with friends for some quiet drinks and ended up doing a mini pub crawl. No one was going mad and I was driving but it was good to see some other pubs than the O'Neills. Before we moved on we were certainly getting some looks in O'Neills but the next pub was in a practical time warp and couldn't be any deader than where we had come from. I felt good though and struck up conversation with a blonde who was wearing a J'Adore Marmite t-shirt. I was only interested to ascertain her thoughts on the squeezy marmite as I personally think its wrong. Marmite isn't syrup and what's wrong with the line of marmite running from the jar to the toast when you try and spread. It turns out she was American and married as her husband promptly appeared. No worries I hadn't been making a play. We stayed for one and then onto another which seemed quite cool. It was a Sunday so it wasn't hugely busy but showed promise. Finally we ended up going to Cave Austin. Wow our prayers have been answered. Nice atmosphere, a dance area downstairs and some fine, quality filly's on display. This night was turning out way better than expected and I felt good. I even briefly chatted to another girl that I passed on the stairs at one point. Sadly the girls that we were with wanted to head home and thus we had to leave as we couldn't really say 'Yeah we are going to stay here so see ya later'. Frustrating that we didn't stay as I felt like I was in the zone. Not that I would have chatted more girls up but just that I felt a lot more comfortable and confident. Well at least we now know of it's existence though I fear it will never live up to the promise of what that first night might have been.
It was another Bank Holiday Monday and another relaxing lay in was had. Plenty of washing was done and had an excellent over an hour long swimming session which really blew the cobwebs out. The pool was about half full and for the last twenty minutes I had the lane to myself without having to worry about catching slow movers or being over taken myself. Had a truly excellent Spag Bol. It had been a few weeks since my last and I hadn't lost the magic. Watched Crocodile Dundee again. What a great film this still is with some great moments and classic lines. Like Ride with the Devil the previous weekend it's near the end when Susan is in the subway station trying to communicate with Mick through the commuter crowd. She is speaking through a tall black guy and in turn an italian construction worker. I just love the bit when the black guy shouts down to the italian "tell him don't leave, she not gonna marry Richard". His pause and delivery of Richard is great and regularly quoted in the office. Then watched the beginning episode of Firefly again which like a fine wine (not that I drink wine) continues to improve with repeated viewings.
Yeah a good weekend in total. Ok I didn't meet the woman of my dreams but certainly felt like I did a lot and had some fun. Going out on the Friday night and having the Monday off made it seem even longer which is great. Talk soon
Gym on Wednesday was made easier as my new Armin van Buuren CD turned up so I could listen to it on my nano to keep me occupied during the running and rowing. Managed to burn 900 calories, which seems to be my current benchmark. No change on the scale when I weighed myself though and guess if I'm serious I'll just have to cut down on my eating.
Thursday night was the 250th episode of State of Trance and I brought in my headphones in preparation. I had some emails to respond to as well. I find my weekly schedule seems to be journal entry on Tuesday and email response on Thursday. Had a small problem with the trance station on iTunes not wanting to play anything and had to scramble round the web to find a free airing on the digitally imported site. Armin wasn't on until 11.00 and had basically hired a nightclub in The Hague for him and other DJ's to play at from where they were broadcasting live. It started with a classic set and then another DJ. It was good hearing it live as you could hear people in the background of the club. Not load enough to ruin the music but enough to generate atmosphere.
I'd remembered the previous evening an actor that I used to work with and as I had a free two week trial of imdb.pro got his agents details and dropped him an email. It will be nice if he responds as he was a great guy and it would be nice to chew the cud. Fired off a few more emails, kept myself entertained and Armin came on at 11.00pm. I hadn't actually envisioned staying at the office this late but you could feel it was a special night and sometimes you've got to live for the now. OK being alone in the office was hardly the same as being in the club but the music was being played live and I felt there was a connection. The mix started slowly but that was fine. It was a two hour set and all good DJ's should take you on a clear journey. I kept myself supplied with tea and the occasional snack and didn't feel tired. One guy I was chatting with on the Tidy board asked why I just didn't download it and I explained about living for the moment. Life can be quite boring and I'm sure I'll remember for longer the act of staying late and enjoying the music rather than saving it for a more convenient time. As important as I am the world doesn't revolve around me so if you want to experience shared activities then there is a fair chance you will have to inconvenience yourself. Besides I wasn't needed anywhere or letting anyone down, so what the hell. It's very similar to watching a film on TV when you already have it on DVD there's just this feeling that you are sharing it with others.
The music began to get even better and I became more excited. He dropped one tune halfway through the set (his remix of Racoon - Love you more) which had the audience singing along and I was rocking in the chair and punching my finger in the air at the right moments. It was really great. His set finished to a cracking high with this wonderfully uplifting and empathetic track at 1.00am and I thought this might be a good time to head home, saying goodbye to this chap I'd shared the last 3/4 hour with from the Tidy board.
We were heading out on Friday night so had beans to the side of toast at lunch. I don't know but I'd been looking forward to them as I hadn't had them during the week and they were great, especially with the muller fruit corner that followed. My curiosity got the better of me in the afternoon and I sent a message to the guy on the Tidy board from the previous night about how it was possible to download the show as he'd suggested. He directed me to a site which had ripped it and then uploaded it. I simply downloaded onto my computer, from here moved to my Apple library and from this onto my nano. How sensationally cool. I couldn't believe it. Christ the power of the internet strikes again. There I was listening to the live show the night before and now I had it saved onto my nano to listen to at my leisure. I was stoked and couldn't stop saying to my work colleagues 'can you believe it' and 'god I love my nano'. I must confess that I hadn't been that impressed with it after having our PC's nicked and then having to reload my songs but now with this it's just fantastic.
Headed down to this 70's/80's disco, stopping for a quick drink in a local pub beforehand. What a hole that was with a large smattering of inbred pikeys, one who was a spitting image of Billy Ray Cyrus, replete with mullet hairstyle. Thankfully we headed to the venue which was like going to a works dinner and dance. Varied age group from 23-63, with tables and chairs round the dance floor and a cheap bar that even served the coke to you in the actual cans, classy. It was cheesy but delightfully so and we started having a laugh. I did put in a request for 'Maniac' from Flashdance to the DJ's assistant but he looked like a dumb muppet who despite nodding clearly had no idea what I was talking about. Some woman asked if I worked in a bar as she recognised me, great line I thought but to be honest she had seen me before as we both knew my hairdressers. There were other women there but the type that might look ok from behind until you saw the weathered and worn faces at the front.
Halfway through the night I got approached by a guy publicizing a firemans disco. He was in fact a fireman and along with his colleagues and brand new engine parked outside was working the crowd. I don't like firemen as you know and his first verbal salvo was "come along mate there will be 200 gagging birds". "I'm not a fireman" I responded "it doesn't matter, they'll all be crazy for men". Nice. This is why I dislike firemen as they trade on their heroic image when in reality they aren't heroes. I was tempted to ask whether he thought this was a mis-use of public property (ie the engine) being used to tout for trade like some cheesy promoter. With a firemens strike going on in Hertfordshire maybe he could have been offering his support to save the children or trapped kittens of that county. They were still there when we left, about five of them in their firemen t-shirts and fire engine. If they were off duty why did they have the fire engine, if they were on duty then I'm sure they shouldn't have been there and doesn't their actions bring discredit on their badge. Lazy bastards. Women love them, believing they can do nothing wrong but union regulations which they all subscribe to prevent them from doing anything remotely life threatening. Yes they might cut people out of mangled cars but a skilled mechanic could do that without the uniform and hero worship. Having seen the office burnt down to the ground last year and how when they turned up it wasn't on fire yet by the time they left and under their very noses was reduced to ash I don't have much time for them. They believe they are entitled to £30k a year yet only work part time and when at work only seem to drink tea, read The Mirror and play pool. Seeing them wolf whistling and leering at the drunken women who exited the venue at the end of the night made me look on them with even greater contempt.
Despite them we had a good time. No female interaction bar the friends we were with and a good old boogie for the last half an hour though the DJ turned into a rather annoying MC who seemed hell bent on interrupting every song to promote the next event. We left and while walking back to the car were accosted by some drunken cow by a phone box who wanted 40p for the phone. My friend being a little drunk offered to help and said he would fill up the phone for her. She did have a mobile but amazingly the battery didn't work and it was sat next to a large can of extra strength lager. With a handful of change he said "I don't do enough for charity and am happy to help". "I don't need your charity" she suddenly responded. Fine I said and dragged my friend off which naturally resorted in a torrent of language from the pissed up ho when she realised her gravy boat was leaving. I try to be a nice guy but sometimes you wish for a gun so you could double tap these mofo's in the head and do society a favour. Dropped mate off and raced home to listen to my downloaded show in bed. It was great again and really fired me back into dance and I vowed to really embrace the coming night.
The plan was to get up late on Saturday so as to program my body clock later so that I wouldn't tire in the early hours of that night. Lazed in bed until 12.00 ish and then with brother headed to Bluewater to get some laces for my trainers and a few other bits. It's amazing how it's virtually impossible to buy laces for trainers. I knew I could get them in footlocker but didn't like their range as they have this harder edge-ing which makes it feel like you are tieing barbed wire. Had to go for these though as no other shoe or sport shop seemed to stock any laces. Grabbed a Mac (well it was the Bank Holiday weekend) while my brother told me the story of X-Men 3 which he'd seen the previous night and how disappointed he thought it was. Headed home via Sainsburys and took our time to get ready. After the previous nights re-energizing of my dancing feet decided to slap some UV war paint on. I put on a 1 1/2 inch wide strip of green and pink either side of my nose and painted a pink inch wide strip of hair at the front. I know some people don't like cyber and it probably looked ridiculous but within this kind of environment no one minds and in a way makes you feel like you have made more an effort for the night. It is almost like war paint because you feel its a way of saying 'right I'm here to dance and have some fun'.
Picked up mate on route and along with bro headed to the Brixton Academy. Got settled, got some drinks in and moved to our normal place. Left hand side to the rear and waited for the tunes to pick up. They did and we had a little shake but it didn't seem to catch fire. The Tidy boys came on who we've seen at previous weekenders and I assumed could be relied on to deliver but they didn't. I've spoken to them since and they say it's because they only had a hour set but there wasn't any flow to the tunes and the vibe seemed to be missing from the crowd. They dropped a few Tony de Vit classics but it seemed desperate measures and a little bit too late. I was also finding it hard to find a dry part of the dance floor as there is nothing more annoying, and potentially damaging, than a wet slippery dance floor when you are pulling off the kind of moves I do. Lab 4 came on after and they normally deliver a mad, fast, energy burning performance but they dropped the ball even harder. They interrupted their set twice to play the drums and guitar and the crowd seemed to stutter and fall apart. They seemed more concerned with the multitude of photographers on stage than noticing that the main dance floor was emptying out as if it were about to shut. After two hours of this disappointment it got to a point where my body was feeling the aches of standing up for so long etc, whereas normally I wouldn't even notice it. We headed upstairs to take a seat and look down onto the main stage. Even up here was busier than normal indicating that more people were wanting to sit the next set out. We called it a night at about 4.00 ish and headed back to the Blackheath tea hut. No matter how bad the night the tea hut delivers and you can't beat (as I've said before) relaxing in the car with a double cheeseburger with fried egg and onions and a cup of tea. It's like a rites of passage and can encourage even the most imagination free mind to contemplate the deepest thoughts while enjoying the dawn light and the first swig of tea.
The Monaco F1 race was entertaining on Sunday. Unfortunately Alonso won again but it wasn't a certainity until Raikonnen's engine blew and Mark Webber's driving was better than both of them. Nice to see a good F1 race though boredom does set in when Alonso seems to win every race. Headed to Blackheath that evening with friends for some quiet drinks and ended up doing a mini pub crawl. No one was going mad and I was driving but it was good to see some other pubs than the O'Neills. Before we moved on we were certainly getting some looks in O'Neills but the next pub was in a practical time warp and couldn't be any deader than where we had come from. I felt good though and struck up conversation with a blonde who was wearing a J'Adore Marmite t-shirt. I was only interested to ascertain her thoughts on the squeezy marmite as I personally think its wrong. Marmite isn't syrup and what's wrong with the line of marmite running from the jar to the toast when you try and spread. It turns out she was American and married as her husband promptly appeared. No worries I hadn't been making a play. We stayed for one and then onto another which seemed quite cool. It was a Sunday so it wasn't hugely busy but showed promise. Finally we ended up going to Cave Austin. Wow our prayers have been answered. Nice atmosphere, a dance area downstairs and some fine, quality filly's on display. This night was turning out way better than expected and I felt good. I even briefly chatted to another girl that I passed on the stairs at one point. Sadly the girls that we were with wanted to head home and thus we had to leave as we couldn't really say 'Yeah we are going to stay here so see ya later'. Frustrating that we didn't stay as I felt like I was in the zone. Not that I would have chatted more girls up but just that I felt a lot more comfortable and confident. Well at least we now know of it's existence though I fear it will never live up to the promise of what that first night might have been.
It was another Bank Holiday Monday and another relaxing lay in was had. Plenty of washing was done and had an excellent over an hour long swimming session which really blew the cobwebs out. The pool was about half full and for the last twenty minutes I had the lane to myself without having to worry about catching slow movers or being over taken myself. Had a truly excellent Spag Bol. It had been a few weeks since my last and I hadn't lost the magic. Watched Crocodile Dundee again. What a great film this still is with some great moments and classic lines. Like Ride with the Devil the previous weekend it's near the end when Susan is in the subway station trying to communicate with Mick through the commuter crowd. She is speaking through a tall black guy and in turn an italian construction worker. I just love the bit when the black guy shouts down to the italian "tell him don't leave, she not gonna marry Richard". His pause and delivery of Richard is great and regularly quoted in the office. Then watched the beginning episode of Firefly again which like a fine wine (not that I drink wine) continues to improve with repeated viewings.
Yeah a good weekend in total. Ok I didn't meet the woman of my dreams but certainly felt like I did a lot and had some fun. Going out on the Friday night and having the Monday off made it seem even longer which is great. Talk soon
posted by payne by name at 7:52 am
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