Brief post tonight as it’s late, I’m tired and a little drunk.

Went out to meet strangers tonight. This is weird, as it’s something I’m not good at.

Fortunately, said strangers and I had something in common: Twitter. Yes, this was a “tweetup”, a fine example of some Web 2.0 shit happening all ova yo’ face. Or something. Numerous Twitter types from all over Southampton came together in the pretentious purple basement of “Dock Gate 4” to exchange polite greetings, drink things and gradually divide into “the iPhone corner” and the “not-iPhone corner”.

I had a great time. I’d just recently started chatting to a couple of very fine and lovely ladies known as @neicey and @Amy_Walker thanks to our mutual love of pointless but super-addictive geocaching game/tourism thing Gowalla, and they convinced me to come along. Actually, for once, it didn’t take very much arm-twisting. I often have a spaz attack at the last minute when presented with social situations – particularly those involving strangers – and decide that no, I don’t really want to put myself in that uncomfortable position, thank you very much.

Tonight was a bit different though. I arrived and people were chatting. People chatted to me. I had things to say that people were interested in. (At least they seemed interested, anyway.) There were enough people there that there was a nice mix of different interests, but not so many that it turned into a Heavy Rain crowd scene with me having to hold down R1, X and batter the Triangle button to keep my cool. Which was nice. Apparently sometimes there are a lot more people there, but I feel that now I’ve gone to one and met some of these people (and now follow them on Twitter, naturally) I could face that same experience with a few more people there. Which is good!

Funny stories were told. Private jokes previously confined to the online realm were shared. And everyone was in agreement that the urinals in Dock Gate 4 are spectacular. They have a damn water feature behind them, for God’s sake. One shudders to think where the water to produce this effect is recycled from, however. Perhaps it’s best not to think about it too much.

Anyway. I feel it is time for my bed now, much as I would love to beat @neicey in another game of #stayingupthelatest. My eyes are closing of their own free will and the amount of Strongbow I drank is causing a pleasantly cloudy sensation in my brain. So on that note, good night to y’all.