allmyfriendsarejpegs.

May
28th

Mon

It’s sunny, so what better to put online than pictures from the Cathouse from last week?

Nothing, that’s what.

Just look at this face…

Every night’s a good night when Roddy is out.

Although he did have me try his DIY ‘cocktail’ mix that had a stupid amount of mixed shots in. Downing a couple of these was equivalent to about 7 drinks in each pint, along with a ton of sugar and red bull. He took the whole thing quite seriously, which leads me to question his sensibilities.

Charming young lass.

I don’t remember this hug.

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May
26th

Sat

Visiting Barnsley - May 2012

A couple of years ago I was on tour with a band called Hold Your Horse Is, and through a last minute cancellation, we ended up rolling into Scarborough to play a gig with another band called Everyone An Army. I kept in touch with their bassist Lee, having collaborated on some musical stuff together, and decided to head down to Barnsley and visit for a few days.

Here he is with some of his ladies:

I managed to miss my first train out of sheer exhaustion, and had to buy an entirely new ticket (for three times the price) as a result. For a few un-fleeting moments it looked like I wasn’t going to make it at all, but I’m glad I did… arriving just in time to crash this young lady’s party:

Despite a heated drunken exchange over the flaws/merits of Al Capone (with me making such sweeping statements such as the claim that the Chicago gangster was well respected in Glasgow), she loved me really…

I’m sure.

I met a fair few people with some very un-conventional jobs and ways of thinking, and it initially surprised me just how much this didn’t phase me in the slightest, until I realised how much we had in common, and how obvious it should have been that we would have gotten on like a house on fire. Despite what is often drummed into the offspring of the quasi-middle class by their parents (not by mine, I hasten to add), morality isn’t something that is a simple black or white; it’s important to hack your own way through the undergrowth and see what’s really important to you.

Here’s me and Jess.

Obviously there was a fair amount of alcohol consumed, and my memory is fairly intact, although I’m not entirely sure I can remember this particular moment in time…

There was some definite insanity later on such as waking up in different positions to when I went to sleep, and witnessing a man sleep-walk, then sleep-pish in the corner of a room, before announcing that his girlfriend was ‘clearly uncomfortable’ despite not being anywhere to be seen, and then claiming Lee’s bed when he got up to search for her.

With all debauchery aside, it was a nicely laid back trip, which was well worth the extra ticket I ended up having to get. I found some folk that I felt genuinely relaxed around, who shared some of my slightly more unusual perceptions of relationships and the world.

There’s nothing quite like travelling on a whim to meet people that you barely know and feeling properly comfortable; every time I do something like this it helps to reaffirm some of my faith in humanity.

On the second night Jess absent mindedly remarked that the world would be a much more wonderful place to be if everybody would be a bit more affectionate with one another, and I can’t help but agree.

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May
22nd

Tue

Going away and out on a limb to meet new people and have adventures is one of the most exciting things you can do, but also comes with a whole raft of stresses.

There’s always the chance that those who you’re going to stay with will get sick of you, or simply not turn up at the airport.

Even with the best wills in the world, that doesn’t mean that everything else will go to plan.

Today I was meant to travel down to Sheffield for a few days, but after not having slept properly in days, managed to sleep in and miss the train. Fair enough, that’s entirely my own fault. I expected to have to buy a completely new ticket. When I went onto the East Coast website, it allowed me to transfer the booking to the next day for a cheap web fare. After going through the whole process, it informed me that there were ‘no delivery options available’.

Having called up customer services, it became clear that if you book an advance ticket via East Coast the day before, you need to do it in one of their approved train stations, as their system won’t allow them to update bookings directly to the collection machines that fast.

There was a few problems with this, namely that the only approved station in Scotland was in Edinburgh, and that they wouldn’t give me the price I’d already been quoted. I asked why their system even allowed me to go ahead and choose seats at that price if it wasn’t possible, and the girl explained that “computers aren’t that smart”.

There you go kids… better abandon hope now.

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May
20th

Sun

Old pals are the best.

I’ve known Gina about ten years, and just saying that makes me feel ridiculously old.

We met through a mutual early uptake of the internet back when you had to dial up on a 28k modem. Whilst normal kids were out riding bikes and drinking in the street, we were coding websites and spending Friday nights on IRC.

Sure, that may not have seemed like a great idea at the time, but now we get paid to do cool internet shit for a living. Hooyeah.

The sad part is that despite living just across the Central Belt from each other, the last time we actually spent any time together was over a year ago. I’ve seen people in America more often than that! This is something that will have to be rectified.

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May
13th

Sun

Cathouse 12-05-12

There’s an unspoken rule amongst the Cathouse staff that no matter what happened the night before, that every day is a new day. No matter how much of a wreckage someone might be, it could always be you next week… ‘One big fucked up family’.

It’s a good way to work, and something which has probably saved me on more than a few occasions.