Since I last bothered with this, I've been working hard, making some incredible friends and building myself a quaint little life in Fallowfield, just outside of central Manchester. I've moved into a house with my good friend Gary and a Finnish girl Taru who has since had to return to Finland for personal reasons that are none of my business to discuss. Work's going well and despite some frustrations with company decisions, I'm still enjoying my time there and consider myself very lucky to have a job in an economy such as this. We've had a couple of theme nights for Rocky Horror and Star Wars, the first being a massive success, the second was not due to a lack of promotion and proper planning but we press on anyway. Once all the students return from their various countryside homes, we'll be the host to a night dedicated to the characters and stories of the DC and Marvel comic universes. I'm still up for suggestions regarding my costume for this night that's soon approaching. Another considerably more horrific night at work took place during the gay pride week held in Manchester called Manfest: Fetish night. I'm a very open minded individual and certainly not one to slag off another's culture or personal choices but this was a particularly scarring experience and one that will not leave me for quite sometime. It occurred on the same night as Fab's Star Wars meltdown but took place at another bar called Satan's Hollow. I was alerted that Satan's was in need of help and that I was chosen as the lucky candidate to lend a helping hand. I arrived to a club full of burly men who were considered over dressed in ass-less chaps and copious amounts of body hair. I was thrilled to discover that this night celebrating any and all fetish in the gay culture was also what was referred to as a 'free-for-all' night where anything was acceptable behavior as long as the staff weren't involved and as long as there wasn't a police raid. Suffice to say I bore witness to the ins and outs (pun intended) to a variety of gay sexual classics. I won't go into the gory details but I will say that clean up afterwards was not the most pleasant experience of my life.
Otherwise, things are sort of the same day in and day out, When not at work, I'm catching up on films (go see Inglorious Basterds now!) and spending time with my friends. A friend from work Brad has emerged as the guy I get along with best, have possibly the most fun with and share nearly all of the same interests with. He's a brutally funny little guy who has a penchant for music, films and telling everyone else that they don't know as much about music and films. Generally people either love him or hate him and I fall neatly into the first category. He's an absolute joker and a bit of a wild card to take to parties, which makes the experience that much better. People tend to associate one of us with the other and I get the feeling we're rubbing off on each other more than a little bit.
In regards to music, I've began to delve only slightly into the world of dubstep and drum and bass. Both styles are nearly all electronic and instrumental with big bass and great beats. It's an immense amount of fun to go out and hear these two styles of music in a club setting because no one can resist dancing to it. Also, I'll be dj-ing in November! At long last I won't be the one whining about the music being played and I'll be the one making people whine about the music being played. All in all I can't wait for this opportunity and it's a task that I'm attacking with a great ferocity. If you happen to be in Manchester November 4th, I suggest you pop on over to Tiger Lounge for what we're calling 'Tiger Lounge presents your new favorite songs.' I'm hoping it will go over well so I can make some money (I get to split the money made at the door) and so it can open some doors for other dj-ing opportunities.
I've been lucky to have a couple of visitors from North Carolina in the past couple of months, which has been a great taste of home. Jessica Ledoux came for a visit and while I didn't really know how to entertain someone who has flown across the ocean, I think she had an ok time regardless. Lauren Jeffries of the famous Jeffries family was my second friend to make it across the pond and I feel safe in saying that her visit was much better thought out and full of fun than the previous...the first visit was purely my fault of course. Lauren spent a day in Scotland with my friend Sam and her and I spent a couple of exhausting days walking around London, seeing St. Paul's Cathedral and climbing up and down over 500 stairs.
I don't think that there's much else to add except to thank my lovely parents, my Aunt Kate and of course my gran for sending me cards on my birthday. Thanks and lots of love to you since you are the primary audience.
To anyone else out there who's reading and isn't bored to death by my life, thanks and I love you too.
