Enter the Runway #122!

[Nielo]

If you're new to the contest, or simply want a reminder of the rules (or on how to enter), they can be found right here. If you want to send me a screenshot of your entry (instead of the image DTI provides) but don't know how, check out this guide.

Current theme: Friday Nights
Description: Dress up a Neopet to reflect what you* like to do on a Friday night. (Or what you would like to do, if the world wasn't a complete and utter mess right now.) *It doesn't have to be something you actually (like to) do, it's not like I can check up on that.
Entering period: Monday, April 19 - Sunday, April 25
Voting period: Monday, April 26 - Sunday, May 2

If you have any questions about this round, or the Runway in general, just post them here, or send me a message.  

[Secre]

And I remembered this time round! Although, I admit, my Friday night's aren't exactly a whirlwind of activity even without current events.

[jellysundae]

I'm hopeful for entering too if inspiration occurs. I may not get beyond the mindlessly-wandering-around-DTI stage though xD

15 minutes ago, Secre said:

Although, I admit, my Friday night's aren't exactly a whirlwind of activity even without current events.

If think once you're past your personal out-getting-drunk-every-weekend stage it becomes a quality over quantity thing, doesn't it. It also nice to feel secure enough in yourself to not feel the need to go out every weekend. It's a shame that we can't create a complete staying in look with our pets; feet up, TV on and take-away delivered. xD

I wonder what path my brain will take me down for this round... there's the entire range possible; from complete comfort to total glitz and glamour extravagance... we shall see!

[Secre]

48 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

I'm hopeful for entering too if inspiration occurs. I may not get beyond the mindlessly-wandering-around-DTI stage though xD

If think once you're past your personal out-getting-drunk-every-weekend stage it becomes a quality over quantity thing, doesn't it. It also nice to feel secure enough in yourself to not feel the need to go out every weekend. It's a shame that we can't create a complete staying in look with our pets; feet up, TV on and take-away delivered. xD

I wonder what path my brain will take me down for this round... there's the entire range possible; from complete comfort to total glitz and glamour extravagance... we shall see!

I'm happy as pie either sat curled up with a book, playing video games or currently doing diamond art. Simple things, simple things!! Even in my hey day, I used to take a book down the pub and growl at anyone who interrupted me!

 

[jellysundae]

5 minutes ago, Secre said:

Even in my hey day, I used to take a book down the pub and growl at anyone who interrupted me!

OMG, total BAMF over here guys! If you'd come into my pub on the reg I'd have made sure you had your own comfy chair and reading lamp.

Oh and I have been inspired for this round... yeah, my ability to go totally left field certainly hasn't deserted me.

[Secre]

1 minute ago, jellysundae said:

OMG, total BAMF over here guys! If you'd come into my pub on the reg I'd have made sure you had your own comfy chair and reading lamp.

Oh and I have been inspired for this round... yeah, my ability to go totally left field certainly hasn't deserted me.

The amount of people who saw me nose in a book and thought I was interested in conversation truly baffled me. But you're in a social setting! Yes. And I am sat in the corner on my own with my beer and that really should have been your first clue that I am perfectly happy with this status quo!

But yes, I did have a preferred spot and nearly always got it. The bartenders tended to know my order before I even opened my mouth and I was treated like a piece of the furniture. 

[jellysundae]

1 hour ago, Secre said:

The amount of people who saw me nose in a book and thought I was interested in conversation truly baffled me.

When you say people, do you really mean blokes? Particularly lads: in a pub, who hit on women and can't take a hint to get lost even when it's massive, and dropped on their heads from a height?

They see the book as an immediate thing to strike up a conversation about! Result! Don't need to wade in with cheesy chat-up lines straight off the bat, and they can try to appear intellectual too.

[Secre]

24 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

When you say people, do you really mean blokes? Particularly lads: in a pub, who hit on women and can't take a hint to get lost even when it's massive, and dropped on their heads from a height?

They see the book as an immediate thing to strike up a conversation about! Result! Don't need to wade in with cheesy chat-up lines straight off the bat, and they can try to appear intellectual too.

Hah, how did you guess!? It wasn't always the young lads mind; I had my fair share of blokes my father's age suddenly fascinated by the idea of a young woman reading a book in a pub!

Depending on the subject matter at hand, they sometimes bit off more than they could chew. I once talked for a good twenty minutes on the origins of dinosaurs to one particular gentleman before he finally managed to extract himself. Nobody else bothered me that evening!

[jellysundae]

5 minutes ago, Secre said:

I once talked for a good twenty minutes on the origins of dinosaurs to one particular gentleman before he finally managed to extract himself. Nobody else bothered me that evening!

Taste of their own medicine, love it! Now I dunno which is worse; guys around your own age who are highly likely to get offensive and/or aggressive when you shut them down, depending on how much beer they've had/how fragile their ego is; or potentially super-creepy older guys.

[Secre]

4 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

Taste of their own medicine, love it! Now I dunno which is worse; guys around your own age who are highly likely to get offensive and/or aggressive when you shut them down, depending on how much beer they've had/how fragile their ego is; or potentially super-creepy older guys.

The best thing about being a regular was that the bar staff would shut down any really obnoxious individuals. They knew who was bringing in the profit margins!

I also didn't get barred when I dumped a guy's beer over his shirt because he got distinctly 'handsy'. In fact.... we didn't get barred when my sixty year old father pinned one of the farmer lads to the bar either. 

I did get barred later. But that was after the pub changed hands. Strangely enough, I got barred because I insisted on petting their 'guard' dog. I later reported them for animal abuse and the poor thing was removed from the premises by animal welfare. They locked him up for nearly all of the day in a small shed like area without a roof, fed him on restaurant curry leftovers and had him marinating in his own filth because they didn't let him out to poo and didn't clean up after him - and doggy curry poops at that - and refused to let anyone show him affection because they wanted him to be vicious. They briefly installed an outdoors cage which was a little larger and more open and on a grassy area. But frequently left him without water in all and any weather imaginable. 

The 'final straw' that led to me being barred was when I bought a bottle of water from the nearby garage and was pouring it into the bowl in his cage. It was mid summer and had been baking all day. I doubt he'd had a drink since the morning and we were there at 8pm. We went to get another bottle when he finished the original one and the owners wouldn't let us back into the area.

[jellysundae]

@Secre wow, worst change of ownership ever I hope these people didn't stay there for long. I'd also like to hope they're not allowed to keep animals now; but a lot of cruel people aren't allowed to keep animals, but they still do, don't they. .__.

[Secre]

2 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

@Secre wow, worst change of ownership ever I hope these people didn't stay there for long. I'd also like to hope they're not allowed to keep animals now; but a lot of cruel people aren't allowed to keep animals, but they still do, don't they. .__.

They eventually went bump some seven-eight years later. After having run the place into the ground with shoddy beer and seriously poor Indian food. They got a food hygenie rating of 0 one year... which I didn't think was possible. I think the only reason the owner kept it alive so long was his side businesses - he had other restaurants and was obviously running a car sales thing from the pub car park for instance!

It didn't help that his entire staff team were terrified of this doggo. Now I admit, the doggo was a big beastie but as soft as anything you have ever met. But they wouldn't go near it. Only one bloke on the staff would even approach the dog and he was the one determined to make it 'vicious'. But there was an irony in the fact that prior to being barred, it was one of my nightly tasks to go and collect the dog from it's outdoor cage and take it to the frankly appalling shed like area. They didn't like me fussing or approaching the dog on my own. But they were perfectly happy for me to walk it across the car park when they needed me to!

I say 'walk' him. I mean, be dragged by him. As nobody had bothered to train him to walk on a lead. Nobody had trained him to abide by basic commands. I had him sitting and coming to heel before I was barred. But it was difficult to do anything else with such limited contact. 

There are new owners now, but COVID then hit and they struggled to regain the customer base - it's a small village and bad reputations take decades to clear! I don't know if they are still there. I did get confirmation from the new owners that I was no longer barred though! Unfortunately that was after I was married and my father also stopped going to the pub on the weekends we were down there!

[aleu1986]

This should bring up a nice variety of entries. I work in retail, so I only have one Saturday a month off, meaning that "weekend" isn`t really a thing, and I always work late on Fridays. But I can definitely make an entry showing what I do enjoy doing in an evening.

[aleu1986]

I am trying to submit my entry now, but getting an error message saying @Nielo cannot receive messages. Hope you see this in time, Nielo.

[Nielo]

@aleu1986 Oops, sorry! I really need to clean my inbox out more often. Should work now, but I'll make sure to wait with posting until I've received your entry, so there's a chance I won't post this round until Tuesday.

[aleu1986]

Entry sent in now, thanks for waiting for me!

[Nielo]

1 hour ago, aleu1986 said:

Entry sent in now, thanks for waiting for me!

No problem, thanks for sending it so quickly! (I think you and I are in the same time zone, so I didn't know if you'd still be awake/online. XD)

I was going to post the round right after I received your entry... and then there was a power cut in my neighbourhood, so I didn't have wifi. It's back on now, and since I'm still awake, I might as well finish/post it now. (Thankfully tomorrow's a national holiday over here, so I can sleep in. )