Post by Gary on May 23, 2005 9:36:25 GMT -5
Well, it happened!
On Wednesday night I had the dubious pleasure(!) of being reunited with a bunch of the 'old gang'... and what a night it was!!!
As it happened, and purely by coincidence, the actual reunion bit was ruined by a chance meeting at a bar in E3 towards the end of the day. There I was, sipping my lager when I was disturbed by a familiar Scottish drawl. Mr James 'BJ' Higgins had arrived, together with John 'Johnny Amstrad' Brandwood and Mick 'Mick' West. Shouts of greetings and laughter filled the room as I laid eyes on these guys whom I hadn't seen for the most part of ...12-13 years... and the bastards had hardly changed a bit!!
In tow also was Paul Robinson, who was one of the original Painting By Numbers Team who relocated out to Ocean US and is now working as Lead Programmer for Neversoft.
Cutting a long story short, we headed out to the arranged venue, where we were to meet up with Mike Lamb. Beforehand though, everyone needed to relieve themselves of the few pints that had been imbibed, so I figured it was a good a photo opportunity as any:
The two on the left are James and John, and on the far right are Paul and Mick. The guy in the middle was a total stranger who just 'happened to be there' and didn't seem to mind having his photo taken while whazzing in the urinal.... he even turned around and posed with the rest of them!!
On to Red Rock, a great bar in LA on Sunset Boulevard. Mike Lamb joined us, again having hardly changed (grrr!) and we settled down to an evening of beer, food, reminiscences and story-swapping. A few familiar faces stopped by and said hello - one of them being our old mate Jon Hare from Sensible Software!
Personally, I really had a superb time. It was wonderful being reunited with the lads again and we shared many happy memories. They are all doing tremendously well, and I can't begin to express how proud I felt of what they have achieved.
During that week, I had enjoyed evenings in Las Vegas (and all that is associated with the place), dinners with some major Hollywood types and a Star Wars first night screening. I promise you, nothing came close - enjoyment-wise - to that Reunion Night! I look forward to repeating the experience every year... maybe with some new old(!) faces next time.
And how about one closer to home as well, eh?
Thanks, guys. Wednesday night was the highlight of my trip and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Oh, and James - if you can remember ANY of it, I'd be very surprised. Twelve Vodka+RedBulls can do funny things to your memory, I'd expect!!
On Wednesday night I had the dubious pleasure(!) of being reunited with a bunch of the 'old gang'... and what a night it was!!!
As it happened, and purely by coincidence, the actual reunion bit was ruined by a chance meeting at a bar in E3 towards the end of the day. There I was, sipping my lager when I was disturbed by a familiar Scottish drawl. Mr James 'BJ' Higgins had arrived, together with John 'Johnny Amstrad' Brandwood and Mick 'Mick' West. Shouts of greetings and laughter filled the room as I laid eyes on these guys whom I hadn't seen for the most part of ...12-13 years... and the bastards had hardly changed a bit!!
In tow also was Paul Robinson, who was one of the original Painting By Numbers Team who relocated out to Ocean US and is now working as Lead Programmer for Neversoft.
Cutting a long story short, we headed out to the arranged venue, where we were to meet up with Mike Lamb. Beforehand though, everyone needed to relieve themselves of the few pints that had been imbibed, so I figured it was a good a photo opportunity as any:
The two on the left are James and John, and on the far right are Paul and Mick. The guy in the middle was a total stranger who just 'happened to be there' and didn't seem to mind having his photo taken while whazzing in the urinal.... he even turned around and posed with the rest of them!!
On to Red Rock, a great bar in LA on Sunset Boulevard. Mike Lamb joined us, again having hardly changed (grrr!) and we settled down to an evening of beer, food, reminiscences and story-swapping. A few familiar faces stopped by and said hello - one of them being our old mate Jon Hare from Sensible Software!
Personally, I really had a superb time. It was wonderful being reunited with the lads again and we shared many happy memories. They are all doing tremendously well, and I can't begin to express how proud I felt of what they have achieved.
During that week, I had enjoyed evenings in Las Vegas (and all that is associated with the place), dinners with some major Hollywood types and a Star Wars first night screening. I promise you, nothing came close - enjoyment-wise - to that Reunion Night! I look forward to repeating the experience every year... maybe with some new old(!) faces next time.
And how about one closer to home as well, eh?
Thanks, guys. Wednesday night was the highlight of my trip and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Oh, and James - if you can remember ANY of it, I'd be very surprised. Twelve Vodka+RedBulls can do funny things to your memory, I'd expect!!
