Once I became eighteen years old I'd go out in Stevenage with my Stevenage mates, the majority of which I'd met from school. I never used to intentionally get wasted, and even when drunk I'd still be quite boring and fairly quiet.
Now don't get me wrong, some of the friends I socialised with were real friends, and I do still see them, yet there were others, especially when the dreaded evil one used to join us who I don't think I could ever class as a friend.
Anyway, if I am honest, I don't think I ever really enjoyed going out in Stevenage. At the time I guess I didn't know anything better, so I assumed that was what it was like for most people when they go out and get drunk, but on the whole I never enjoyed it that much.
So, as a big Buffy fan I was a member of a UK based Buffy posting board. I think at the time with my quite odd personality I drove a lot of the members mad, but there were a couple who would still chat to me and informed me that they'd meet up monthly in a London pub. It was a Buffy themed night which showed episodes on a big screen, sometimes had celebrities there, and lots of other Buffy type things going on.
For quite a while I did wonder if I should attend, and for months I didn't. Yet one day I decided to just go for it and meet some of the people there.
When I first got to the pub I remember being sat there very quietly hardly talking to anyone, and I remember thoughts running through my head such as 'What the hell am I doing here?' and I was tempted to do a runner. However after a couple of beers I got chatting to a few people, although I was still very quiet. Also people only knew me by my posting board name 'Spike', so would call me that name, which is why I still remain 'Spike' now.
Anyway, the night ended up being really good, and I met some cool people, I even crashed over at one of the members houses along with quite a few others. Her name was Sarah and she was the person I got to know best to start with. Out of the people I chatted to that night and am still in regular contact with, I think the only one is Teresa.
So anyway the next month I went again and really came out of my shell this time, that is also when I properly got to know Alex, Katie, and as well as us meeting Jayjay for the first time. I soon began to realise that these were genuinely nice people who I had a lot more fun with than my Stevenage friends. So for many years I'd go to these monthly Buffy nights, as well as meeting up with people from them on other weekends, and even attending Buffy conventions. At times there were some very geeky people there, but at the same time there were some very cool people.
I certainly believe it to be one of the best things I ever did, as not only did I meet friends there, but through them I made other friends, some of which have become very close and I really couldn't imagine my life without them now.
Obviously as the years went by I lost contact with some people. Not everyone got on with each other, so it was hard to move between groups, but I did always try to chat to everyone there and not let falling outs stop me from being friends with people.
Anyway I would not be the person I am today without befriending some of the people I did, and I'd probably be living a much more boring social life if it wasn't for them, and I certainly wouldn't be the 'Spike' people know, I'd probably not be 'Spike' at all.
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