Laters 2007

Juicelog Sun 301207: It’s that time in the Juicelog where I think it would be only polite and gentlemanly of me to let you know how it went down this year.

In the space of the last 364 days I have celebrated twenty bidet celebrations, danced at five street parties, viewed nine plays and watched three Gina overdoses. Delving into a slightly different class of arts I enjoyed my first opera and my first ballet. It was also my first DIY success and first paintball experience.

The combination of going away with some of my closest and endearing friends to a hot island and an exciting city were definite highpoints. Like any equilibrium, a few millilitres of sunshine will always be counteracted by a suffocating measure of rain. And boy oh boy, it sure did pour down this year. Mind you, without the rain we wouldn’t have had a wet hot tub party, a drenched Londres pride and muddy outdoor festivals.

A couple of weeks ago, the unexpected death of a work colleague slightly shook me up. We weren’t the closest of friends but over the last five years I really warmed to her unconventional approach to relationship forming and amusing anecdotes. Irrespective of my spiritual belief in the concept of the afterlife, I hope that she remembers me (RIP Mo).

At the end of last year, I decided to take a more pro-active approach to maximising my social life which has really paid off and given me a real sense of fulfilment. I also opened up my mind to the possibility of doing that relationship thing again (should the opportunity have arisen). Not expecting anything to happen at all, I was somewhat tranquilised by the heavily toxic Pudz dart and am hobbling along in this superbly amorous state.

Winding up the last few remaining hours of my vibrant and lively 2007, I wanted to thank all of you who have tuned in over the past 12 months. And more importantly those who still continue to engage me and inspire me. Occasionally I check my visitor numbers and I am curious to the identity of my readers. If you’re feeling brave, please leave your name and message in the comments section below.

Here’s me dusting off a memorable 2007. Rock on 2008!

Xmas Day Festivities

Juicelog Tues 251207: An Asian hot pot at Uncle Jimmy’s place (in Bounds Green) was the first Xmas meal of today. My adorable and extremely sweet 22kg four year old cousin (nicknamed "one bag of rice") was there and provided me with some cutesy amusement. Shuffling along southwards I then gorged myself with a traditional roast turkey at Robbie’s place. After executing a divorce from the dinner we devoted ourselves to the party and got the absinthe out.

Londan has been a regular attendee at Xmas Trade and as he wasn’t able to be with us this year (as he's on some lightweight diet), we honoured his absence with popularising one of his flyboy caps.

Intoxicated

Juicelog Mon 241207: I have an extended family who I would like to introduce. A lot of you have met my friendly and popular uncle Charles. Billy, my cousin is more of an athletic type and never appears to sleep much (even in his old age). My little sisters Katherine, Erica and Mandy are the more sociable types who enjoy the odd party here and there. Gina is my unruly big sister who I choose not to bring out much as she can be a bit too much at times and who can blame her as she was raised by my scary and petrifying Aunt Tina. Aunt Tina is pregnant at the moment and is looking to give birth to her second daughter Melanie.

This month I have been spending quite a bit of time with a young man (Pudz) who has done extremely well with drawing attention to himself. Even though we are at that stage of getting to know each better, I have to admit that I have got a soft spot for him and my interest is still alive and buzzing. All that having strong affections for a human being nonsense is not something I tend to indulge in. And this is not because the juice-hub is detached or dispassionate but it tends to be that probability has not really presented me with anything significant to engage with. That is until now.

December is always a busy month for a lot of retailers and naturally I contributed with my fair share with my online orders of gifts and presents. I managed to get all of my orders on time, but norepinephrine.com did make a mistake and sent me an additional gift of a dandy beau which I clearly did not place an order for. As I am really fond of Pudz and his value marginally outweighs my books and LCD television, I think I'm going to hold onto him and take a risk with a family loan from Ocean Romance.

Daddy Dick’s Chrimbo Gathering

Juicelog Sat 221207: Paid my respects with my elders tonight by dropping down to Daddy Dick’s place for some pre Christmas drinks. Will post some pics later on when I get some sent to me….

The 7 Fingers

Juicelog Fri 211207: Got some raspberries in this afternoon and had a go at cooking duck this afternoon. After lunch with me Pudz, we trekked up to the Roundhouse theatre to watch The 7 Fingers. This show combines some loopy comedy with a few Cirque de Soleil styled performance pieces (trapeze, aerial acrobatics, body contortions).

We were led to their seats by going through a refrigerator door on the main stage. Entering the auditorium tonight felt like we were entering a rave with the pulsating dance beats thumping away. 7 Fingers appeals to a wide age range, engages the viewers with some audience interaction, contains witty video clips and has a dope soundtrack supplied by the all singing beat-boxing DJ Pocket (who could be technically counted as the eighth finger). The show’s technical skills outweighs the artistic merit, and I don’t think they were able to piece together each of the fingers performance pieces so that it flowed smoothly. If you go and see this try and get seats that aren’t dead on centre facing the stage.

Chicofahy’s Salon

Juicelog Mon 171207: Yesterday afternoon’s trip down to Chicofahy’s salon involved me being a bit more adventurous with my choice of hairstyling. Apart from having my hair permed 17 years ago, I’ve never strayed from my usual spiky look. Over the last couple of years, I have been considering about growing out my hair mid-length to deviate from my usual norm (and also before I started to go bald). Inspired by Dan E’s chop I thought I would be unoriginal and gave it a go myself. Here is a snapshot of Chicofahy’s handywork:

With the shorter hair I think it makes my cheeks stand out more. Something which I never noticed before is the actual shape of my head. Being able to clearly see the back of my head, I've observed a slightly peculiar shape and it’s something which I’m still getting used to. I like the fact that I have now tried something different, but can't decide on whether I should select a different appearance next time round or not. I wonder what you folks out there think……

Darren Squared Xmas Party

plJuicelog Sat 151207: Boiracer Darren and Salsa Darren held a pre-chrimbo party tonight. Packing out their swish and decorative SE11 flat were the usual suspects (from the Phu fighters posse) and a lot of new faces. Less emphasis was placed on celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus and more on pushing the sofa out.

Part of my evening was dedicated to re-tuning the mental state of mind and outlook of one of my mates who had recently been presented with a new life challenge. The Darrens had their own challenge of trying to keep their place free of crayon and pastel imprints from a very fervent artiste in attendance.

Not sure if it was the brewed hops or the white compounds but some rascal had temporarily mangled our gaydar. I tried asking Damion (an Ozzie tweeny) to give us a hand with fixing it but he said he didn't have the ability to do so and left scurrying to get down to Angel. Got berated for spending too much time texting Pudz and had to at one point hide in the toilet.

With a mass exodus of the Fire-ettes, the party started to slowly die down but we fruitfully catapulted Sunday into a new level of hardcore trashyness (which included my first ever gina colada). As we were not allowed to play on the Darrens sassy non-Ikea branded piece of furniture, our little gang creatively amused ourselves with playing Wii, dressing up in last season’s leatherwear, a little bachata dancing, developing the JP marketing strategy and a trip down Chicofahy’s hair salon.

Cards To Mark That Occasion

Juicelog Tues 111207: The month of December often leads to an excess of festive cards being sent back and forth. This is not something I condone as I think it’s a waste of paper for a seasonal gesture that can be done better in different kind of ways. Therefore I am asking for no cards to be given to me from now on.

In lieu of sending out cards I am planning on making a charity donation instead (to a homeless charidee). So I hope that when you don't receive cards from me this year, you will be pleased to know that a worthwhile cause has benefited instead. If anyone else would like to emulate my wonderful and brilliant idea, then I would be happy to accept your £80 registration and copycat fee.

If Carlsberg did weekends…

Juicelog Sat 081207: ….. then it just might come close to the weekend I just had. After lunching with Brangel, I met up with Pudz (AKA the seedy cook) with the aim of raising the curtain to our first date. The first act started off with a mini excursion down to Hyde Park for Winter Wonderland.

At the German market we picked up some Bratwurst to pump up the plump for Pudz’s belly. Viewing the lights against a pitch black Central London skyline (at 7pm in the evening) from inside the 50metre high observation wheel was fairly unremarkable and not as exciting as I had hoped for it to be. Hopped onto a couple of the over-priced funfair rides including a haunted house ride. The only thing that got scared were the teenage boys standing in the queue when they saw me and Pudz's kissing. Sipped on some mulled wine & winter Pimm’s before heading out Eastwards.

Pudz was a bit heavy on his feet tonight and missed our connecting northern line tube. After eventually catching up with me at Old Street, we proceeded with a Vietnamese dinner down Kingsland Road. During dinner, Pudz asked me a question which caught me slightly off guard and drove up my heartbeat. Located Pudz’s mates after din dins and joined them for a few drinks and a bop at the Joiner’s Arms.

Wii’ing it

Juicelog Fri 071207: Indulged myself with dinner, watching a bit of Justin T's concert DVD and playing Wii at Julien G’s London flat in Girls Court tonight. Really got into my first experience of playing on the Wii. Around the age of 16yo I had lost interest in computer games and was surprised with how sophisticated the Wii was. The detail in some of the animation sequences were pretty damn impressive. Went a bit mad on the tennis game and ended up paralyzing my right arm.

Jack and the Lampshade

Juicelog Wed 051207: Occupying a front row seat at the Battersea Barge, we (the larma, boobita, Christie, DB and DBB) laughed our whole evening away with Paul Martin’s fantastic and hilarious Jack and the Lampshade panto. Paul has deftly twisted jack’s dry beanstalk and shaped it into a colourful adults version thrown in with some clever jokes and popular references (Amy Winehouse, Coolen McLoughlin, Trinity from the Matrix, Wicked, etc). He somehow seemed to make the whole thing work even though he didn’t have the budget for all the props (which was also humorously referenced within the sketches). We all loved the way the cast had engaged and interacted with the audience. The songs were superbly sung along to a piano being played by the owner of the barge. Am delighted with being able to catch the last viewing of this. Absolutely juicetastic entertainment to keep the December blues away.

There you go, Winnebago.

Juicelog Sat 011207: A seedy cook from Leeds attempted to beat Juicepig (that’s my new nickname apparently) in a game of chess tonight. Taking out my queen at an early stage, I made a comeback making the most of my strong central positioning and eventually whooped the cook’s ass. Even though he didn’t excel with the chess, he made me chuckle a lot with some of his homemade northern expressions. In his trail of entertaining witticisms and gags, he left behind a white cloudy mess on my lovely red coffee table. Juicepig likes the way this one moves and grooves.