laying in bed at 130pm this morning, i attentively listened to jez tell me all about his travels… 1.5 years in australasia, 6 months in south america, his recent trip to egypt. completely envious, of course, but also realizing that [for once] i’m happy enough staying put. don’t get me wrong—as i say many times, travel is my only hobby—but i’ve really started to enjoy the routines of staying in one city for more than a year.

routines routines routines… last night i met canadian mark for dinner at balans [cuban mojitos, brazilian caiprinhas, italian wild mushroom gnocchi, chilean merlot tradition], drinks at friendly society [polish zubrowka vodka & tonics], and then we hit .popstarz like a wrecking ball, with english darian and ex-flatmate martiniquean felix. superfluous country labels? deal with it.

i’m not sure if i have a drinking problem or not, maybe i just am losing my mind. i’ve always had a bit of a memory problem, especially with names, dates, facts—nouns in general. the last few times i’ve gone out, i end up the next morning not remembering anything about the previous night. is that normal? is that a problem? i would love to hire a camera crew to follow me around and document what i actually get up to, 10pm-4am friday and saturday nights.

last night, i reckon there were lots of drinks, probably some rounds of tequila. i probably ran into various exes and other cute boys i’m avoiding, let’s just guess james the kurt cobain lookalike and tall spikey amer. probably ran into various scene friends, like tim, daniel and… oh… say some friends of stuart’s mates. i probably danced expertly to some .popstarz staples, say peaches, depeche mode and chemical brothers. bouncing around like a pinball, i probably shot upstairs to the rubbish room, to roll my eyes at the godawful music, and quickly seduced the cutest lad in the room.

last night i dragged mark, atif, .gregiño and tim to see the first theatrical screening of the remastered version of the award-winning depeche mode documentary, 101 in leicester square. 101 follows depeche mode across the usa on their 1988 music for the masses tour, monumentally performing electronic music to sold-out stadium and struggling with their first dose of fame. we see alan, martin, dave and fletch backstage, on stage, cruising across texas, rocking out new york, checking out nashville and triumphantly finishing in a massive sold-out concert at the rose bowl in pasadena.

depeche mode and this film in particular poignantly connects many segments of my life, and immersing myself in the film last night at the cinema [in 5.1 surround sound, with band members and the documentary producers there] really took me through an emotional rollercoaster. which is exactly why i love depeche mode.

in 1993, living in brandenburg with a [at the time quite foreign and mysterious] east german family, it was depeche mode that brought us together… lars and i dancing to photographic at the disco. the whole family phoenetically singing along to master & servant in the car. dressing in black leather for the first time.

in 1995, graduating high school and fleeing from indiana to, well, pasadena, depeche mode‘s version of route 66 became my theme song, very much as it was used throughout 101—well it winds from chicago, to la, over 2,000 miles all the way. the song, and particularly depeche mode‘s version, was about crossing a wasteland, not just to reach the golden state, but also to enjoy the journey.

the songs featured on that tour, and the 101st concert’s recording at the rose bowl, are depeche mode‘s finest. of course i know every word to every song, and in the case of the live recording, every ooh and yeah and come on! and good evening pasadena!, of course i can remember listening to depeche mode with each of my closest friends, of course i remember having sex to depeche mode the first time, of course i remember sitting in a dark room with my headphones on crying like a fool.

books
i just finished reading the spell by alan hollinghurst [swimming pool library]. an excellent depiction of london/dorset gay life, told in an [as is always the case in real-life] jumpy, interwoven fashion. friends and exes, father and son, tricks and drug dealers… it’s all quite romantic and respectible, and, for once, the author doesn’t really celebrate hedoism, but only acknowledges it.

teevee
you know all about bittorrent technology, right? it’s a new [amazing] distributed way to quickly download huge files [movies, teevee shows, pr0n]. rather than waiting until 2006 to see the latest american teevee, i’ve been on a downloading frenzy.

music
adam freeland [we want your soul]has taken electro and made it a bit harder, yet a bit dancier as well—amazing video!. i’m still rocking to richard x’s debut, and goldfrapp’s black cherry, and, of course peaches’ new one, fatherfucker. on the classic tip, been pogoing to the kinks [come dancing, you really got me, waterloo sunset].