Was listening to Metallica's Black Album - okay, so the real name of it was Metallica, but Black Album, everyone who knows Metallica knows what it is - had that on my CD player on the train home last night. Before catching the train, had gone into the pub below the station for five minutes, just to catch the score in the Hurricanes Reds rugby match, and had a few sips of Stella, yum - and we (Hurricanes) were leading 13 to 8 at half time.
So the taste of beer on my tongue, Metallica belting out in my ears, probably at a higher level than I should have - but you have to have Metallica blaring, you can't have it at merely background humming level - and I was taken back to the mid-90s. Cue soft edged framing LOL.
Downing copious amounts of alcohol, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Chili Peppers or err Bob Marley blasting out. Sleeping over at the friends' places, waking up to the alcohol aftertaste - I wasn't getting hangovers at that stage - and various glasses, bottles and such half or a quarter full, some with cigarettes in. Looking at which CDs were ruined with scratches, smudges or liquid damage.
Or the quieter weekends, where we talked, drank, watched crap TV - or the rugby - oh, I remember the Ranfurly Shield Wellington Canterbury match where the pre match hype had Big Bill Cavubati, if that is how you spell the name, putting lamb chops on the barbie. Wellington got slaughtered about 66 points to 7 if I remember correctly.
Or just getting some energy out on the punching bag. Or the next morning putting on Sky and watching some American college football. Always plenty of food around, as one of the girls always had to feed up her men - sausages, meat patties, sometimes steaks, all wrapped up in a piece of bread, with copious amounts of tomato sauce.
Going around to the brother's place, endless playing of Whitesnake, the Willy Wonka drinking game, the Once Were Warriors drinking game. Oh, and Cypress Hill on the playlist as well. The paying extra for Sky pay per view when a big boxing match was on, everyone settling in to the couch, beers for the boys, vodka or bourbon for the girls - the sense of belonging I guess. With these guys I didn't have to pretend to be better than I was, they had seen me in both good times and bad, and accepted me for who I truly was.
In most of the rest of my life, in most of the rest of my social interactions, I have always been trying to make a good impression, even if I have know the people in question for years. Maybe it was the fact that this group took my side in the only semi-fight I have had for the last almost 25 years - one of the other people at this one particular party was calling me gay, faggot blah blah blah, and usually I just let them go, wear themselves out, I would like to think I have a pretty thick skin, but he just kept on and on and on. I was close to tears, if not teary eyed, as I finally threw a punch - a pretty weak one I would have to say, I'm not anyone for anyone else to be frightened of physically, and the boys backed me up completely.
After I threw the punch, without any sort of power behind it, but more as just a symbol of my frustration, I basically burst into tears - yeah, I was that pissed off, feeling powerless, and probably the beer had something to do with it as well. The boys told the guy teasing me to piss off, not to punch back, and apparently they never invited him back. You take that with a grain of salt of course, but I felt I belonged.
This group are not the type of people that I would ever have associated with at school, and my family and some other friends are unsure what I have ever seen in keeping the friendships going on the 'dark side' may be the best shorthand, but I just feel comfortable with them, they are straight up and down, you get what you see with them, and sometimes it is just good to blob out, have a few beers, watch the wrestling. They never expected more from me than me.
Of course, there were evenings that weren't so good. The water and oil dynamics of one set of my friends and another came to a head at a 21st (not mine), where friends of friends of friends threatened the other lot and some stuff got smashed or something. Have always had to walk a fine line with who to invite to which thing ever since.
The evenings where the girls have gotten mouthy to others, either when out or having a party with two or three flats together - girls can get so bitchy, you know, and the partners have had to break things up. One guy especially, who can handle himself if required, and sometimes I don't know, can give an impression of menace, always rolls his eyes when his girlfriend, partner (they have three kids now) starts raising her voice, and not in the laughing kind of way.
And yes, I realise this has turned into a love letter of sorts - if they could read this, the boys would probably give me a dead arm, and the girls would probably go aww and feed me up with another steak. Almost completely the opposite social grouping that you would expect me to be in with, but they accept me, and I have always seen the good in them, despite what my family and other friends think.
I could fill up an entry three times as long as I work my memory for more funny haha and funny strange stories about the guys, but I think you get the picture. All from one Metallica album listening.
I was going to add something about the U2 Best of the 90s album, that I was listening to earlier in the week, but I think this is enough for now :)
Pauly
So the taste of beer on my tongue, Metallica belting out in my ears, probably at a higher level than I should have - but you have to have Metallica blaring, you can't have it at merely background humming level - and I was taken back to the mid-90s. Cue soft edged framing LOL.
Downing copious amounts of alcohol, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Chili Peppers or err Bob Marley blasting out. Sleeping over at the friends' places, waking up to the alcohol aftertaste - I wasn't getting hangovers at that stage - and various glasses, bottles and such half or a quarter full, some with cigarettes in. Looking at which CDs were ruined with scratches, smudges or liquid damage.
Or the quieter weekends, where we talked, drank, watched crap TV - or the rugby - oh, I remember the Ranfurly Shield Wellington Canterbury match where the pre match hype had Big Bill Cavubati, if that is how you spell the name, putting lamb chops on the barbie. Wellington got slaughtered about 66 points to 7 if I remember correctly.
Or just getting some energy out on the punching bag. Or the next morning putting on Sky and watching some American college football. Always plenty of food around, as one of the girls always had to feed up her men - sausages, meat patties, sometimes steaks, all wrapped up in a piece of bread, with copious amounts of tomato sauce.
Going around to the brother's place, endless playing of Whitesnake, the Willy Wonka drinking game, the Once Were Warriors drinking game. Oh, and Cypress Hill on the playlist as well. The paying extra for Sky pay per view when a big boxing match was on, everyone settling in to the couch, beers for the boys, vodka or bourbon for the girls - the sense of belonging I guess. With these guys I didn't have to pretend to be better than I was, they had seen me in both good times and bad, and accepted me for who I truly was.
In most of the rest of my life, in most of the rest of my social interactions, I have always been trying to make a good impression, even if I have know the people in question for years. Maybe it was the fact that this group took my side in the only semi-fight I have had for the last almost 25 years - one of the other people at this one particular party was calling me gay, faggot blah blah blah, and usually I just let them go, wear themselves out, I would like to think I have a pretty thick skin, but he just kept on and on and on. I was close to tears, if not teary eyed, as I finally threw a punch - a pretty weak one I would have to say, I'm not anyone for anyone else to be frightened of physically, and the boys backed me up completely.
After I threw the punch, without any sort of power behind it, but more as just a symbol of my frustration, I basically burst into tears - yeah, I was that pissed off, feeling powerless, and probably the beer had something to do with it as well. The boys told the guy teasing me to piss off, not to punch back, and apparently they never invited him back. You take that with a grain of salt of course, but I felt I belonged.
This group are not the type of people that I would ever have associated with at school, and my family and some other friends are unsure what I have ever seen in keeping the friendships going on the 'dark side' may be the best shorthand, but I just feel comfortable with them, they are straight up and down, you get what you see with them, and sometimes it is just good to blob out, have a few beers, watch the wrestling. They never expected more from me than me.
Of course, there were evenings that weren't so good. The water and oil dynamics of one set of my friends and another came to a head at a 21st (not mine), where friends of friends of friends threatened the other lot and some stuff got smashed or something. Have always had to walk a fine line with who to invite to which thing ever since.
The evenings where the girls have gotten mouthy to others, either when out or having a party with two or three flats together - girls can get so bitchy, you know, and the partners have had to break things up. One guy especially, who can handle himself if required, and sometimes I don't know, can give an impression of menace, always rolls his eyes when his girlfriend, partner (they have three kids now) starts raising her voice, and not in the laughing kind of way.
And yes, I realise this has turned into a love letter of sorts - if they could read this, the boys would probably give me a dead arm, and the girls would probably go aww and feed me up with another steak. Almost completely the opposite social grouping that you would expect me to be in with, but they accept me, and I have always seen the good in them, despite what my family and other friends think.
I could fill up an entry three times as long as I work my memory for more funny haha and funny strange stories about the guys, but I think you get the picture. All from one Metallica album listening.
I was going to add something about the U2 Best of the 90s album, that I was listening to earlier in the week, but I think this is enough for now :)
Pauly
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