dgeisert

Fringe

Friday morning I headed to King’s Cross Station to go to Fringe. I met Sergio and Craig at the station, as they were taking the same train as I was. The train happened to be on platform 4, so I got a picture where the Harry Potter filming actually happened. The train was easy, with a direct route to Edinburgh. We got in around 1pm, and headed straight to the dorms. We had to wait a bit beforehand, and I got to hang out with some of the Manchester group at a pub before checking in. The link to check in was way too long and they were being very slow about checking everyone in. I got the key, changed, and then found Jamie, my roommate, to let him into the room without him needing to wait another 30 minutes.

We got ready and headed straight to Brewhemia. The stage was in the back section, which was still quite large. We could only fit half the group on the stage. It was so cramped with the call time being a little too far in advance of the actual show. We did the warmup in an emergency exit hallway, and then went on for the show. The men were on stage with the women spread around the balconies. The worst part was that the musical director was only visible from the waist down for the women in the balcony, so for their parts he would squat and turn around to direct. It looked absurd, and nobody could really hear the music well. Despite that it was a great time.

After that I headed back to the dorm for the StartX AI Roundtable. After that I went to a show called Score where three dancers were hooked up to electrodes that would cause their muscles to contract. The dancers did some of the movements on their own, but also had the electrodes fire in sync so that their movements were coordinated by the tech director. It was strange and went on for four times too long, but was still fascinating. I was too tired to go to some of the later shows, so went back and got sleep.

The next day we had breakfast then headed to the church for the first of three Saturday shows. I got there very early, and then everyone showed up for a great performance. It was hard to hear the music again, but this performance was the only one with dedicated space for us, and a ticketed audience. There were over 200 people there, and I was amazed at how many came to see us. We did really well, and then we split up to grab some food before the second performance. We hung out in the park under the castle, where the second and third performances would be. We did one at the Scots memorial, then another at the band stand. Both went really well, and we had more practice and better layouts, getting to take up more room and make a big arc around the musical director.

After the two shows I quickly went back to change and made it to the “I wish my life were like a musical” show, which was really funny and had some amazing singers. Then I had drinks with some of the Manchester people again before heading to Arcade, which was supposed to be an immersive experience, but wasn’t all that immersive in my opinion. It was darkness with a choose your own adventure audio story. I again called it a night early by Fringe standards, but a normal night for me. Sunday I had breakfast then went to two shows, “Side Quest” and “Behind.” They were amusing, but neither was great. Side Quest was an audience suggestion based adventure story, and Behind was a woman’s stand up comedy routine vaguely based on how she saw her sex life like Henry VIII’s sex life.

The train back was much longer than the one there, as I took the westerly route. It worked out, but the wifi was even worse than on the way up.

I really appreciated the chance to perform at Edinburgh Fringe with the choir. It was amazing, and I really liked having the same group to perform with several times in a row. It was a lot easier to talk with other choir members, and the time between shows was especially good for allowing for chatting. I also heard more varied voices than usual. Some great, some decent. There was one baritone that kept singing an octave down, but it worked out. I’ll be taking at least one term break from West End Musical Choir, and we’ll see if I want to rejoin in the spring or not.

Weekend of London week 137

August 28, 2025 1

British Things with Non-Brits

Over these ten days I did some very British things, like fancy afternoon tea, visiting the Tower of London, and going to the BBC Proms.

Lynne invited me to go to the BBC Proms performance in Royal Albert Hall. It is a gorgeous building, but clearly not built well for the kind of performance we saw there. I’m not sure what kind of performance would actually work correctly in that space. The space itself was amazing, with a big ring of balconies around a central arena like space. The first two pieces were strange and new. I didn’t care for them, but could appreciate the skill it takes to play something so anti-melodic. The timings and pitches are so much harder when they don’t flow the way one would expect. We grabbed drinks at the half and the second half was much more typical of a symphony, and more to my liking.

Saturday Steph and I did another round of Bridge command. It was with a smaller group, only 5 people, and we had a few new people. I think it went really well. We were a little slow at points, but the crew came together well, and as far as I could tell we did really well overall on the mission. It is interesting play acting the diplomacy when I don’t know the lore all that well, but I still had a great time of it.

After that I met with Zaheer and Zaheera in Green Park for a picnic. I really enjoyed the picnic, and talking with the two of them.

I got home and prepared for the neighbours coming over for our third and final housewarming. It was really nice, and I think they all enjoyed the codenames game. I had a great time hearing all the gossip of the complex and learning all of their thoughts around the UK and King’s Cross area.

Sunday I did anther performance at Merkato Mayfair. It was a great time as always. I love singing there as the pressure is really low, but the challenge and friendliness of the group is amazing. I had such a great time, and really look forward to these performances.

Then we met Nancy and Punit for a late afternoon tea at Sketch. They had a gorgeous room and the bathroom was the most unique I’ve ever been in. The food was good, but nothing too special, and I really enjoyed getting to hang out with Nancy and Punit without Atlas there.

Monday was our 7th anniversary and we went to Fallow, which is one of the restaurants Steph likes to watch Youtube videos on. It is also one of the best in London, and we had a great time watching them cook from the Chef’s counter.

Tuesday I took most of the day off and met Jose at the Tower of London. We went all around the tower, and did almost every exhibit. The only one we missed was one I didn’t really care about. The crown jewels were amazingly sparkly with so many large stones. I was most impressed by the armour collection, especially the ones that actually belonged to kings. Jose and I had a lot of great conversation while there and I look forward to spending a few more weekdays with him when he is off.

Wednesday I finally made it to the new pub for dive club. It is a nice meeting room on the third floor of a pub. The karaoke room is just above, so some day I might stick around or show up early and do some karaoke.

Thursday I met Xiaomeng at Meta for lunch. It was great to see him, and I got to randomly see some of the other people I worked with as well. It was really nice. The fire alarm went off, so we headed back to my place and I showed him the new flat.

London Weekly 136, and 137.1

August 28, 2025 0

Housewarmings

Monday evening I had some of the choir people over for games. It was a ton of fun, and I hope to do it more often. We played Codenames, Drawful, Murder Trivia, and Quiplash.

I made it up to Yonder on Tuesday and Friday, but most the rest of the week I was working on the flat or moving things over. We moved the kitties on Tuesday evening, and they were expectedly unhappy about being moved. Lana was hiding behind our clothes for the longest time.

Friday we also hosted a housewarming of people from Dive Club and other social acquaintance. I really enjoyed having people over, but I want to do something about the noise in the flat. It can get really loud since we’ve streamlined so much of the curtains and lighting, so there isn’t much around to absorb the sound. The housewarming gifts were also really nice, and greatly appreciated.

Saturday we had Nancy, Punit, and Atlas over to watch the end of the series we were drafting together. We ended up both losing when the team neither of us picked won the whole show.

Sunday, Steph and I went to Chess Valley to hike. It is an amazing area for hiking, and has sooooo many blackberries everywhere. I gorged on blackberries and the hike was also great. We really lucked out on the weather.

The flat is almost together. We have a few deliveries next week and that should be it for all the large furniture.

London Weekly 135

August 10, 2025 0

The New Flat!

This week we really started putting the flat together. My hands were aching from all the screwing and pressing the furniture together.

Monday we got the first round of IKEA in. On Tuesday a lot of the furniture we got on Amazon came in. Wednesday was the dining room set and TV stand. Thursday was the second round from IKEA. Somewhere in there we got internet and a mattress.

I also had people over for the first time on Wednesday, for the second London meetup of N1AI that I’ve hosted. The first was mostly my AI interested friends and Nicola in the old flat. This was a great group, and we got to discuss a lot about how we would want to work together. We all did introductions socially and professionally, and that took up pretty much the entire evening. I enjoyed meeting everyone and hope to work with them in the future.

Friday we met Lata at Mestizo for some really good Mexican food. We also picked some up for our housewarming party.

On Sunday I joined one of the other Ready Singer One choir members to see My Neighbor Totoro again. It is such a great show, with amazing puppetry. Also, I had a really good book club discussion for Embassytown. It went all over the place, but the book really provides a lot to talk about. I would highly recommend it, especially for discussion groups.

London Weekly 134

August 10, 2025 0

Cat Sitting

This week was pretty chill. I tried to work from the Wellcome Collection, but they are closed on Mondays, so I worked from the British Library instead. That has been a great place for getting work done, but you have to show up in the first 30 minutes of it being open to be able to get a desk. Tuesday i was back working and climbing at Yonder. Then Wednesday was the start of my cat sitting Henry again. He is a cuddly cat when he wants to be, and he’s really taken a liking to me.

Friday I went to see Jurassic World with Radha. The movie felt like it was a formula, but put together in a strange way. They had so many strange and stupid decisions. Steph just happened to be diving in a cave that has Dinosaur statues around it, so she sent us a highly appropriate picture.

Sunday I had a great time at Merkato Mayfair singing with Ready Singer One. I really enjoy the time spent with that group and am actively trying to do more with them socially. In the afternoon on Sunday Giulio and I went back to work on some video editing. Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful week.

London Weekly 133

August 10, 2025 0

The Past and The Future

This week was just a normal week. I managed to get a build out to people with my application working, but it was too intensive to install, so they didn’t get around to it.

Over the weekend I had a great time. On Saturday I went to Hampton Court Palace with Steph and Diana. Later int he day Anel also joined us. The transit was having issues as it was raining quite a bit the night before and that morning. Add signalling issues at Waterloo and you get a lot of people not able to get to the palace reasonably. Luckily Steph and I hopped on a random train heading West and it happened to be going to Teddington. We stopped in on Jose and Diana at the Teddington Arms, and they had a rugby match on, so it was packed. We hung out there for a bit hoping others would be able to join, but they turned around at Victoria. We then walked through an amazing park full of dear to get to the palace. It was a lovely day once we got there, and it mostly stopped raining. We saw the end of the first joust of the day, then met Anel and wandered the palace for a little while. We went to the chapel and then went back out to just miss the end of the falconry show. We saw the entire second joust and it was good fun. Since it was raining earlier in the day it wasn’t packed at all. The joust was the playful and scripted kind, which is ok. I like it when they are competing more, even if it isn’t full tilting.

Sunday we met Roxanne, Alex, and Amy in Vauxhall for Bridge Command. Bridge Command is an interactive set where you act as a crew to a starship, like in Star Trek. I had a much better time as an engineer, and I ran around the ship fixing things. I also got to help with an injured crew member, and got a medical accommodation. I had a great time, and so did everyone else. I look forward to going back.

London Weekly 132

August 10, 2025 0

Back to the Grind

I got back and had lots of meetings with many people and groups about getting into my AI startup work.

There was still plenty of fun to be had. I got to do another performance/rehearsal at Merkato Mayfair with Ready Singer One. Steph came at the end and we walked a little around Hyde park, but there was a big concert with lots of people in cowboy hats. We ended up wandering to the Wellington Arch, which was way bigger inside that I expected. We also bought a lot of the English Heritage mead while we were there.

I did my typical club meetings of two choir rehearsals and getting drinks at Holborn BSAC. I made it to Yonder to do some coworking and climbing, which has since become a weekly thing.

Saturday we went to Hammersmith for The Empire Strips Back. It was a good show, although I liked the one in SF better. The British audience was also way less enthusiastic, but that is fitting for the Brits. Sunday we went to the Docklands Museum of London, which had an exhibit on mudlarking. It was decent, although I’m not sure if I prefer that one or the one in the Tate Modern more. After the museum we went to Roe, a restaurant that Steph has been watching youtube videos about. We had an amazing Sunday roast there.

The next week I was again going to my clubs, but only Ready Singer One was meeting for choirs. Dive club happened on Wednesday, and I met up with Punit at Yonder on Thursday. I took Steph to a cute Japanese cafe where they have the egg sandwich that she likes with the egg showing in the middle. It was decent, but the flavours weren’t as strong as we’ve become accustomed to.

George and Paul were in town over the weekend. We had to stop by Coal Office, but didn’t get much to eat there. We went to Fallow with George, and had an amazing lunch there. It is the same owners as Roe. Then we walked all the way back to our place, since there were some issues with the mass transit. The walk was long, but nice. We met Paul at a pub, and then we went to a Greek place for a late dinner. It was really good seeing them, and it felt a lot like old times. It makes me realise that I don’t miss California at all besides the people that we had great friendships with there. Those people I miss a lot.

During these weeks the renovations on our new flat progressed well.

London weeks 130 and 131

July 26, 2025 2

Malaysia 2025

Steph and I left early on Friday to get a flight from London to Kuala Lumpur. The flight is about 14 hours direct, and we made it there on time. We got to the hotel and were exhausted, but due to the time difference it was early morning. We decided to push through and went on a walk to the butterfly house. It was hot and humid, and I have not been used to that for a while, so I was sweating buckets. I fully saturated one of my button down shirts. The walk also was longer and more confusing than expected due to the large drainage ditches and highway. We made it there eventually, with a nice detour through a park and a call to Steph’s parents. We then made it to the butterfly house and saw lots of types of butterflies. It was really nice to see them all, and we took a relaxed time going through the air conditioned exhibits before leaving for some mall shopping.

Steph wanted to see a wagashi place, and it was in an art themed mall. Each store was an artist or group of artists, with some food mixed in. The wagashi place was a mix of art and food, and they had some extremely ornate exhibits of wagashi along the normal ones. For dinner we made it to Uncle Roger’s restaurant, Fuyoh!.

We caught the planes to Mulu the next day. It is a little strange how Malaysia has different immigration per landmass, but I guess that makes sense with the history and landmass layout between peninsula and islands.

Mulu is on Borneo and we stayed at the Marriott there, which was surprisingly nice. We met Jess and Diana there, and I crashed the first afternoon while they checked out the park. The main attraction for Mulu is the national park. It is a gorgeous bit of jungle, pinnacle mountains, and caves. We only did the jungle and caves parts, and didn’t do the mountain hikes as those were intense and multi-day.

We started off with the easy Botanical Trail, then went to the Racer Cave. This was an intro trek to see who would be able to do the more rigorous Clearwater Connection route. Steph and I were the only ones who ended up doing the Clearwater Connection. It wasn’t particularly hard, but it was long and everything was so slippery. I also didn’t enjoy the hand sized huntsman spiders. I had a good time in the river portion, but that only lasted around half an hour of the three hour trip.

We did the canopy walk, which was a long set of hanging walkways going from tree crown to tree crown in the rainforest. It was nice to do, but didn’t give a good view of any animals as I assume they avoid it. We went to the tower and it was much the same. Near the tower was an amazing strangler fig that had a gorgeous crisscross pattern at the base with the hole in the middle where it had killed off the host tree.

The last main activity was going to the gigantic Deer cave. It is one of the largest chambers in the world, with millions of bats calling it home. The cave is 148m high inside, and even more across. We also go to see some of the rarest cave formations, the showerheads, where water makes a pipe coming down from the ceiling.

We then went to Kota Kinabalu for scuba diving over two days. We did 5 dives the first day and 3 dives the second day. It was amazing diving and we saw: lots of nudibranchs, puffer fish, a seahorse, a turtle, lots of clown fish in anemones, and so much more. The reef wasn’t 100%, but it was doing much better than most reefs we’ve seen recently.

We said goodbye to Jess and Diana and headed back to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with Jeff, Patty, and Elizabeth.

Steph and I did our tours separate from Jeff and Patty, but we both went to the Batu Caves. They have been converted into a Hindu temple and have monkeys roaming around them. It was amazing to see, and the stairway was gorgeous. The temples themselves were so colorful and the atmosphere was delightful. I really enjoyed see them.

Steph and I also did a cooking class, and we got to see a typical neighborhood market and cook three Malay dishes: coconut rice, spicy noodles, and sweet pancakes.

We had diners with Jeff, Patty, Elizabeth, and their Aunt and Uncle. It was nice to talk to them, and I got to show them all my recent work. They were blown away by how well the AIs work now.

For the last evening we went by the mall under the towers and saw the fountain lights show. It was a good end to the trip and I was ready to get back. A 13.5 hour flight back the next day and we were in London.

What would be week 128 and 129 in London.

June 28, 2025 1

Chillin’ with the Kitties

This week was really chill, with Steph in Zurich. I did a lot of work, and met with a lot of people again. I am finally getting into making product instead of networking and that change feels good. I need to be careful to not get too focussed on product so I can continue on the company growth route.

The rest of my free time was spent coordinating on renovations to our new flat. I’ve really enjoyed sitting on the balcony over the canal. I look forward to living there.

I went to both choir rehearsals, and really enjoyed it.

Otherwise not much going on.

London Weekly 127