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It seems like a lot longer that three weeks since last I blogged. It's easy to get out of the habit, I spose... but nevertheless, here I am, back again, ready to ply you with my inane ramblings 8).
So - what's happened over the last 3 weeks? I always seem to get to the point where I think "oh yeah! better write that down!", but I never seem to act upon it with any great regularity. Aside from going to the pub with some friends a couple of weeks ago, I can remember very little about the first two of those three weeks. However, this past week has been much more eventful. It all started when I went Back in Time (3!).
Last week, I was most excited to discover that there was a Commodore 64 music night in Birmingham scheduled for 16th May - I arranged tickets for me and the missus to go, and for the kids to be looked after by Mum & Dad. Unfortunately, the morning of the 16th saw Terri not feeling 100% and worried that the car would break down en route, and so she decided not to go. However, she didn't want that to stop me from going! And so, I quickly emailed a friend (the inimitable chrisr, like he needs the hits 8) ) who agreed that this might indeed turn out to be a worthy adventure, and so I quickly found and booked a hotel somewhere near (I hoped!) the venue. It was a bit hit and miss, and I talked to a very foreign sounding person who didn't imbibe me with the greatest of confidence. Nevertheless, it appeared that we were going.
Upon reaching Euston, I discovered that the train tickets we needed were going to cost us £80 each. Upon picking myself up off the floor, I discussed the cost with chrisr and we both agreed that we might as well go as we'd be £40 out of pocket regardless of whether we ended up going or not (due to the hotel booking), and it was still a worthy adventure anyway.
Arriving in Birmingham at about 2030, we looked for the hotel. Unfortunately, I was rather under the impression that we'd booked into a different hotel than the one we actually had, but as it turned out it was closer to both the station and the venue than that one anyway. This was pure fluke, but welcome after the events of Euston.
After being turned away from Burger King for looking like we'd cause trouble, we descended on McDonalds for some food and the amusing sub game of comparing what you see in the photo to what you get in the polystyrene box. Chrisr's hot dog won outright; the rankness of the actual product lovingly and accurately recreated for the photograph. My "Big Mac" could only scrape 3rd place.
After semi-finishing the most edible portions of our food, we made our way to DNA (the club), noted the ominous lack-of-queue and walked into (a) an incredibly huge club, and (b) an incredibly empty club. Being geeks, we were unfashionably early. Fortunately, as the night progressed, things began to get a lot busier - although there were never more than about 20 people occupying the dance floor (most people congregated somewhere around one of the many "rims" of the club).
Twas a night I'll never forget - shaking the hand of Jeff Minter, meeting Rob Hubbard, Tony Crowther, Ben Daglish and Fred Gray, as well as a number of other, less-"famous" guys. Much fun was to be had shouting out the names of games projected (in 20 second movie format) onto two large screens set at opposite ends of the club.
The highlight of the evening (for me, at least!) centred around the dancing girls. Yes, the organisers had hired two dancing girls, who appeared periodically through the night on what can only be described as "dancing podiums". Now it wasn't the girls per se - they did a fantastic job of bopping along to 80's synth-hits and remixed C64 classics. No. The moment of the evening came when they decided to play the "Green Beret" loading music, all the way through, over the club's massive PA. Basically, these poor lasses didn't really know what to make of it, obviously being rather more used to music with a beat. One of them tried some stretching exercises, the other looked bemused for a full two minutes before deciding she'd try to copy the other one - classic! I guess you had to be there 8)
All in all, a top night was had by all, and it was well worth the rather huge amount of money spent on (basically) a whim 8). Even made it back to the office on time for 9am the following morning - incredibly, as the tubes were stuffed (in more ways than one) as usual. As a footnote, the look on chrisr's face when I woke him up to catch the train we needed will haunt me forever - he's so not a morning person - likewise, he has to live with the image of me waking him up... uurrrgghh, not something you'd want to see before breakfast, I can assure you!
More fun was to be had later on in the week when we (that is I and the missus, on this occasion!) went to see The Wiz at the Hackney Empire. Twas a lot of fun, and we had a great time. Hopefully somebody will pick this up and transfer it to the West End - it really is that good (c'mon, it got 2 stars in the standard, a feat in itself!). So fingers crossed for that. Highly recommended since it's not anything like the Diana Ross/Michael Jackson fillum of the same name...
The evening ended upon an ultimately embarrassing note, with me ranting about new copyright laws, fair use rights and a number of other things (there's a previous entry where I mention some of my views on this) in the pub behind the Empire, whilst being a bit tipsy and not being able to string together a particularly coherent argument. Can't win'em all. 8)
To top off the week, had friends around for Sunday Roast, for which I did all the cooking. Unfortunately, almost straight after the meal I crashed out on the sofa for a number of hours. All that worrying about cooking times must have taken it out of me 8).
Anyway. I spose that's all my news for now and I should be getting to bed...
Until next time,
Chris
PS. Did anyone else catch that "Secret Masters of the Universe" conspiracy thing on C4 the other night? Fantastic TV - it's amazing what people believe without the benefit of context!