General update.
So, what's been going on in my life recently?

Well I've turned 27 a few weeks ago and suddenly realised that, holyshit, me turning 30 is closer to me in time than say, when I got together with Clare/when I went up to university/when I actually LEFT university. This is both scary and awesome.

I'm still single, and really getting rather bored of it. Unfortunately given the circles that I move in, I really don't have much chance to meet new girls and all that stuff. But meh. We'll have to see what the future holds.

My actual birthday was celebrated with immense excesses of intoxicants (like my 25th, we used what the Daily Mail would refer to as a 'cocktail' of substances) and the company of the Donutsh and my best mate from my schooldays, Will and his lovely girlfriend Helen. As Al Stewart (one of my new musical obsessions- he's like a trippier Don McClean) blasted on the stereo and I relaxed and ruminated amongst great company, the aforementioned cocktail sent me into some of the deepest, most positive introspection I've ever had. I have problems in my life and inside my head, but I realised that there are ways I could work through them and set to it with a vengeance. Since then, I've been feeling more mentally tough and centred than I have at any point before; it seems to have done the job of several months worth of expensive therapy. In short.. who says drugs are always bad for you? ;)

After my birthay I took some time off work for two weeks to both catch up on rest and fly out to see my little brother in New York. And my god, what a holiday. Suffice to say, it's the first time as an adult I've been to the states and not gotten laid.. and yet getting some booty would still not have made the trip even more awesome than it already was. I got to meet lots of really cool people, including some very old friends I'd not seen for years; hung out with Poe from Garoumush; ended up at a bizarre Slavic pagan ceremony on the banks of the east river with a 70 year old immigration lawyer, a New York Times bestselling novelist, a one legged vietnam vet and a few others; had the best sunday /ever/ (got picked up at 8am in a minivan crewed by two amazingly cool guys and drove 100 miles to the site while smoking the best weed I've had in my life and blasting old-school american metal at painful volume. Then spent a few hours using an M60 to butcher americans. One guy asked me 'Damn, what regiment did you serve with?' after I managed to bully a few folk into working with proper fire+manouver tactics using me as a base of fire. Frankly that's one of the best compliments I've ever received.) Oh, and we saw movies and shows and hit the gym a lot and I've discovered a love for turkish baths and god my little bro is so awesome and I wanna go back there NOW!

Ahem.

I've also changed up my workout pattern and bought a load of new clothes- I'm feeling really rather good looking for the first time in ages. In short, pretty much everything is on the 'up' right now. I had the literal day from hell at work yesterday, but somehow was still in a great mood at the end of it- I've discovered mental fortitude I didn't know I had.

So life is good, yes. Just need a girl. Grrr. ;)