I may have found the key to the universe...
...and all the wondrous energies it contains. More details at 10! :)

If 2009 continues in the vein of yesterday then I think it is going to be one farking amazing year! It all started over at Brick Lane for danny_e11's birthday meal. He'd taken to join up his group with a group who were also celebrating Yasmin's(??) birthday .Got there about 10 minutes before the off, look through windows and don't spot anyone so I gave erming a ring. Seemed he was already in there, sat down. So went in to join him. He'd already started a small grouping and was talking with Leanne and .... errr... *brain fade* (sorry!) Right on closer to the start people started rolling in. The combined group must've numbered well over 20 (I was not in bean counter mode so didn't verify numbers :) )

The last time I was at Preem and Prithi (the restaurant) ISTR having the chicken jalfrezi and while it was good I wasn't exactly "bowled over" by it. It seemed a bit light on the flavourings, which makes me think that maybe they' use a northern style of Indian cookery. So I went for what was likely to be the more strongly flavoured balthi chicken jalfrezi. I have to say that I was not disappointed. Wonderfully flavoured, nice consistency, reminded me of exactly why I used to love regular jaunts out to get indian food. Anyone interested in a monthly curry "club"? *grin* It was all done at a (proper) pace too, not having to wait too long for food but also without feeling like we were being rushed to finish up and vacate the tables. I (stupidly) thought of trying to get a picture of the assembled group but with so many people all arranged on a long row of tables it would probably be beyond the capabilities of my cameraphone. So, I ended up walking by taking a video clip. I'll see if I can get it off the phone and up somewhere. Please forgive any shakiness of the shots, I'm putting that down to the Kingfisher beer.. oh yes I am! *grin*

After a few hours (which seemed to pass too quickly) the groups split up and our collective headed off towards Dead and Buried. The trip went back via Liverpool Street and (unremarkably) a pub, Woddin's. We got there and colonised what little space was available. Unfortunately all but one of the real ales seemed to be off/finished.. Booo! :) Drink there, gather thoughts/senses and then off to the tube. Without incident, we got to DaB which was celebrating its sixth birthday. My lord, six years old already. Hasn't the time flown by? It was incredibly busy upstairs on the 80s floor, and downstairs where all the "real action" was happening. Chatted with a fair few people while there (nice to see you all). Got chatting with Sian (Nik's nearest and dearest) who introduced me to her sister (No! Not that one, another sister! :) ) Toyah. I think the photo I took of them is quite good (maybe a little too much space at the top of frame, a bit of shake and I must remember not to shoot into a light but fairly good anyway).

End of the night and faithais got us singing "Happy Birthday" to Dead and Buried (were we really that drunk? :) ), and also suggested an after-party. I bailed on the after-party. Oops.

So today I open my mailbox to find an invitation to "chat" from a woman on a dating site. Thing is I only signed up to it yesterday. Seems we have some incredibly high "compatibility ratio". It's one of the "more credible" sites. Could be interesting. I'm liking this idea of going "out of band/off piste". I don't think I could handle a(nother) girlfriend from the alternative "community" just yet. They all seem as mad as hatters! *grin*

Right, unless the heavy metallers get in touch in the next 15 minutes, I have the rest of the day to myself. I may go indulge in some "retail therapy". *grin*

Life is good. I really need to tidy up sometime soon (like now?).. oh and shower/breakfast might be a good idea too!

Have fun. Catch you on the flip side.