Busy, busy...

Last weekend was spent in the enjoyable company of friends in Southend-on-Sea, for a stag do celebration. I'd forgotten just how much paintballing hurt, ouch! I have less bruises this time than the one time before but I feel just as sore although fortunately the aches have eased. It was fun though, once I got over my initial almost paralyzing fear, lol! It's not fun when you're being hit from all angles by paintballs and are cowering behind the inadequate cover of a tree. It is fun though when you're running through the woods, letting loose with the paintball gun and getting your opponents. The games always seem to be over too quickly although it is surprisingly exhausting over the course of the day.

The evening was spent sampling the night life of Southend, which wasn't at all bad as it sounds. We ended in a nightclub - not really my thing if I am honest - but I made the most of it. Those sort of places always put me in mind of a butchers front windows, with a lot of meat and flesh on show, some of it well past its sell-by-date. Of course there were a few squabbles and the toilets were absolutely foul. But most people are there just to have a good time and for the most part end the evening either hopelessly drunk or sleeping with someone, who they'll not remember the name of in the morning. Hey ho, this is life, I guess.

I am not someone who has done either of those two things, btw. The drunk bit isn't me because I hate the after-effects. Yeah, there have been a couple of times when I've had too many and I've felt dreadful afterwards. In any case alcohol really does make me depressed especially when I've drunk a lot. Rather than being a disinhibitor, it can make me very withdrawn and bad company. Besides, I don't like the thought of not remembering what I did the night before in the cold light of the following dawn. As for the second, I like to think I have more dignity and respect for myself than that. Not to mention that the opportunity has never presented itself like that. Maybe I am old before I've been young and should be thinking, to hell with the consequences, live now and enjoy it while you can.

Nonetheless it was a good night and I'd forgotten just how good a kebab tastes after a night drinking. That used to be my thing when I was at college. Normally a Thursday night, sometimes a Friday and Saturday too or even more rarely a Sunday - down the pub for a few pints and then a kebab on the way home. I dread to think what they must taste like when sober! I was a hard drinker in those days, well I thought so at the time. Really I was nothing compared to the 'mates' I hung out with at the time. I use the word 'mates' advisedly because I neither like it nor were these young men really the sort I should of been associating with. They were a couple of sad losers. Not that I guess I was much different, I just felt better than that.

One of them was my 'best mate' for most of the time that we were at college. I can't understand why now. He was a loser in every respect - came from an unhappy home life, had a series of one-night stands with increasingly fat and unstable women and drunk excessively not to mention scoring some drugs here and there. Not forgetting that he was always borrowing money of me that was never repaid meaning that I was often broke when we went out, yet he was mean when it came to buying drinks. Yeah, what a great guy.

If nothing else I guess it was life experience. Not a good one admittedly but often the best experience, if I can say it that way, is neither pleasant nor enjoyable. This was for me a guide to people not to be friends with.

Anyhows back to the weekend in Southend. So, understandably the Sunday was a much quieter day. Didn't sleep in late because I am always up early on a weekend and besides the unfamiliarity of someone else's bed doesn't do wonders for restful sleep for me. It was a quiet day with people drifting off home at various points during the late morning and afternoon. Nice though to reflect on the fun of the weekend and for some to compare battle scars from the paintballing on the Saturday.

Then back to work on Monday and the last two nights working late as we're sinking with work at the moment.

It feels as if I have been really busy - there's been lots of irritating little jobs and chores to be done around the flat. Really must concentrate on getting prepared for my OU course, which starts this Saturday.