Short one this week. Fairly uneventful until Saturday night when we went to a wedding reception. Yes, one of the social occasions, like Christmas, where you're expected to drink. Sickly-sweet diet Cola at the function-room bar it is, then. I was fully armed with my faux-excuse of "I'm on a three-month course of anti-biotics", because it's a shite-sight easier to offer that as an explanation all night than tell people why I'm really not drinking. I'm not ashamed, it's just not a 30-second tale.
As luck would have it, no-one* actually noticed (ie cared), or probably assumed there was some manner of spirit in my drink. *I say "no-one", and yet that's not true. My friend Bob did notice I was drinking coke, but that's because he's been reading my blogs. And because he knew exactly why I was drinking coke, I still didn't have to explain it!
I should take this opporunity to thank Bob for just accepting the situation, and not just looking at me and going "yeah, but why?" Like my brother-in-law. I explained (briefly) on Saturday afternoon about the 100 days, and he didn't seem to grasp the concept. Admittedly, part of my explanation was "because I'm an idiot", and he did grasp that part. It seems that, after the initial "it's an experiment and a challenge of self-will" part of the setup, if people aren't getting it; no further explanation is going to clarify matters. They look at you blankly like you're some kind of idiot. They're probably right.
To make matters worse, the wedding reception was also attended by a few of my old work colleagues (from the job I had up until Jan this year). While it was nice to see them and catch up briefly, extended memories of that place really make me want to drink. By 10pm, people were getting slurrier and it was time for us to head home. There's a more formal "reunion" coming up in October, by which time I'll be back to drinking and speaking my mind inappropriately.
I should also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Simon and Jenny on tying the knot. Simon seemed stressed/tired/pissed (in that order), and Jenny seemed de-stressing/tired (in that order), but for the most part, they both seemed happy, which is exactly what it's all about.
+++++
In other news, the new Europe album's a bit alright!
Which is probably as worrying as it sounds, yes. I'd put on Facebook a few months ago that I'd dug out Europe's 1988 album 'Out Of This World', and it wasn't as good as I remembered. Then, the same thing happened as did in 1988. I grew on me again. Sure, the production was a little 'light', the keyboards too loud, and Joey Tempest was in the room at the time of recording; but other than that, some sound riffs and melodies and nice songwriting. Next thing you know, it's permanently on my generic MP3 player.
The new album, Last Look At Eden, is a fast-grower. Sure, if you really don't like Europe, then it's probably best not to bother. But the production's a lot grungier this time round, which tones down the melodity to a more acceptable level. There's a lot of wah-wah pedal on here, and plenty of bass-driven riffs. It's undeniably Europe, but it's also quite mindful of Audioslave... with Joey Tempest singing.
You see, there's no way of toning down Joey Tempest, he just is. He's like the god-equation. You can remove him, but then you don't really solve the problem, you eliminate it all together. So if you can accept Tempest, give this one a go.
Click on here to watch the video. Normally I'd embed it, but that's been disabled on this vid, and quite frankly I can't be arsed to grab the video, re-upload it to my account, only to have YouTube pull it a couple of days later and quite possible suspend my account out of pure spite.
Click the link, 'tis good!
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organizations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
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