Another of my little quarterly 'best of' selections.
Guided Tour - recommended posts from the 1st quarter of '09
1) The Formula? - 7th January 2009
My friend Dapper Dan identifies the ideal qualities for a 'girlfriend'.
2) Froog on abstinence - 18th January 2009
Half-way through my attempted month on the wagon, I pause to reflect on the pros & cons of teetotalism.
3) A favourite metaphor revisited - 18th January 2009
Is a bar like a girlfriend? I think for me it is. Except that I tend to have better relationships with bars....
4) The Three Pint Rule - 19th January 2009
One of my oldest slices of 'wisdom': why a certain amount of alcohol is essential to playing your best game of pool.
5) The Chairman in control - 21st January 2009
My catastrophically feckless buddy tries to "put his foot down".
6) Parenting Advice - 22nd January 2009
A couple of very funny pictures - suggesting that you should start your child drinking young.
7) The Three Month Rule - 22nd January 2009
Following on from my crucial rule-of-thumb about pool playing the day before, I offer my key theory on LOVE (well, in fact, a whole raft of inter-related theories - touching on such topics as the 'soulmate' fantasy, love at first sight, and long-distance relationships).
8) Hogan's - 23rd January 2009
A special post (the 1,000th item on The Barstool!), dedicated to old friend and regular commenter The British Cowboy, celebrating his former 'local' in Philly - quite possibly the best bar in the whole of the United States.
9) The Cast List - 25th January 2009
Photographic representations of the friends (and commenters) who have most often 'appeared' on my two blogs.
10) Great Drinking Songs (15) - 31st January 2009
Marlene Dietrich singing See What The Boys In The Backroom Will Have.
11) More thoughts on sobriety - 1st February 2009
My recent experiment with abstinence leads to this scrap of poetry.
12) Messing with the clock - 2nd February 2009
Over-indulgence on Superbowl day reminds me of another of my important theories, on the potency of daytime drinking.
13) The perfect name for a Chinese bar - 5th February 2009
I suggest Fubar as a bar name long before Chad Lager launches a bar in Beijing with that name. I want royalties, dammit!
14) Dream Bar - 9th February 2009
I have a series of dreams about an 'ideal' music bar in Beijing. Curiously enough, it is quite similar to the Mako bar - which didn't open until more than a year later.
15) Three Barmaids - 12th February 2009
A recollection of a summer long ago, when I was still young: the Anchor on Polstead Rd in North Oxford, for a very short while a little piece of heaven on earth.
16) HBH 119 - 13th February 2009
One of my favourite haiku, describing the phenomenon of losing track of time during a great, late-night drinking session. (It was a disturbingly common theme for me around this time.)
17) Revelations - 14th February 2009
I suddenly realise why I'm coming to hate living in Beijing more and more these past few years: it's because I'm becoming an old fart - in a city of teens and twenty-somethings.
18) Why we play pool - 17th February 2009
In the words of the immortal Fast Eddie Felson...
19) Dorian Gray - 22nd February 2009
I glance at my face in the wing-mirror of a taxi on the way home one night. It is a disturbing experience. (Don't overlook the follow-up comments.)
20) A similar state of drunkenness - 23rd February 2009
21) Last night's text message highlights - 4th March 2009
Three of my bons mots - that are almost as good as this one. I must have been going through an especially fertile spell.
22) The never-ending quest for VALUE - 21st March 2009
A consumer's price comparison on some of my favourite bars: where can you get the most alcohol for your yuan in Beijing?
23) Chinese bar fights - 23rd March 2009
Or restaurant fights, as they more commonly are. A curious phenomenon, indeed. (I witnessed a particularly alarming example up in Harbin a year or two back.)
24) Elements of consolation - 29th March 2009
I was feeling a bit glum after my latest short-lived romantic interest passed out of my life, but.... as so often, a wonderful night at the Pool Bar cheered me up.
25) Fine dinin' - 31st March 2009
I come up with a list of my favourite restaurants in Beijing (an enduring reference item for the sidebar).
26) Everything happens for a reason - 31st March 2009
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